Isle of Sanctum | The Aya Thrasher Chronicles | Book 1 |[Editing]

Chapter Forty-One

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

RAYNE

I had worn the gloves to my session the day. Camden seemed pleased to see me wearing them. "How do you like them?" She asked.

I half shrugged. "They help the pain," I said.

"Good, I'm glad," she replied.

After our session that day, Camden told me we were going to meet with the Wyres again. I was starting to have doubts. What if she was wrong? What if Serina wasn't bad? There was a risk I was wrong getting involved with the Wyres, but it was a risk I needed to take. Instead of meeting where we met last time, Camden took me to an underground bunker near the edge of town.

It was getting late. I hoped that the meeting would be short. I wanted to be back in the suite before the others got suspicious. Ever since the first meeting, paranoia had been slinking its way through my brain, like a parasitic worm.

"They have come up with a good plan," Camden said when we entered.

I rubbed my arm. "I don't know—what if we're wrong about this. I'd be betraying all of my friends."

"We aren't wrong and they aren't your friends," she snapped.

As soon as she said that, something hit me. Why had I listened to Camden? The others didn't seem bad. Serina didn't seem bad, now that I thought about it. I was already in too deep. All I could do was hear the Wyres out. Perhaps they could say something convincing enough to draw me back in.

Inside, I could feel the stares of the Wyres. All eyes were on me. It was kind of nice to feel needed. If that's what it was.

"Hello Rayne," the Commander spoke softly, but it sounded quite creepy. "There's something we'd like you to do."

I stared blankly at him. What could they want me to do? Kill someone?

"We'd like you to put on the mercury helmet," he said.

"What's that?" I asked.

One of the twins brought out an old timey looking helmet. "Because of the missiles, you have been exposed to a lot of mercury. A substance over time that could be very harmful to your health. This helmet will clean the mercury out of your blood," he explained.

Mercury. That was all I felt a sense of relief. The twin slid the helmet over my head. I could feel the cool silver ruffing against my hair. It was dark inside. Like a costume mask. Surprisingly, the air around my face was calm and cool. Not stuffy, like I had been expecting it to be.

"You all good, Rayne?" I head Camden ask.

I nodded my head. The heavy helmet was tilting. I wasn't sure if she could understand. I felt one of them pushing on the helmet. A button of sorts. Then a strong red light appeared. So strong it was like staring directly at the sun. My eyes weren't burning though. The longer I stared at the light, the more soothing it became. I felt like I was relaxing at a spa. I heard Camden say something else, but I couldn't make sense of what she was saying. Probably because I was on the brink of falling asleep.

Then I saw Serina. She was just standing there beyond the red light. I looked down she was standing over a body. I gently kicked the body and it rolled over. Immediately, I recognized the face. It was Lake.

"You should have listened to the Wyres," Serina's voice turned robotic then she disappeared. Then I woke up to the twin removing the helmet from my head.

I saw all three of them standing there. They were staring at me again.

"What's wrong?" Camden asked. "Did you see something?"

I didn't know what to say. Was that even real? What was that? A vision? Was I becoming like Aya now? I just nodded slightly.

"Everyone always sees something. It's just the cleaning agent messing with your brain," Sam explained.

"There's something else we need you to do," the emperor said.

The vision had reassured me that Serina was up to no good. I could never forgive myself if Lake ended up dead just because I was second-guessing myself. "Yeah?" I replied.

"We need you to retrieve something for us," he said. "Something from the mayor's sacred ground."