The Choosing

Chapter Sixteen

I was brought to a small, windowless room. There was a bed and a giant door that seemed to be made of steel.

"So this is going to be where you stay until we get what we want from you. Few things before I leave. As you can see, there are no windows, so no escaping that way. Also, that bed is nailed to the ground, so no using the bedposts as a weapon. The door is locked at all times, and even if you happened to open it there are at least ten guards outside your room. If you didn't get the insinuation there is no escape, so I would recommend co-operating."

I rolled my eyes, "Where is Cade?"

Alistair's face dropped, but he ignored my question, "Also, the ceiling tiles are stuck shut, so there is no way to hang yourself from the ceiling."

I bit my tongue and glared at Alistair solemnly. Regret flashed through his eyes before he shook his head and left the room.

I sighed and flopped onto the bed. I grunted as my knees made contact with the metal bar in the middle of the bed. I swallowed slowly but refused to make any more of the injury than that. They weren't getting any satisfaction from me.

I flipped to a sitting position on the bed and let my mind wander. I thought of Nova and my parents. My eyes watered but I refused to let the tears fall. Everything just seemed like it was for nothing now. I fought my whole life for nothing. Everybody I had ever loved was either stabbed me in the back or was taken from me. Everything seemed so wrong. Why me? I was so done with all of these feelings. I banged my head against the back of the bed. The pain brought some relief.

Maybe it was me. Maybe I was the common denominator. Everything that went wrong had me involved. I got Nova killed. I got my parents killed. I got Bobby killed. It was all me. Maybe, if I did something about it nobody else would die. Maybe if I surrender myself they'd let Cade go. I cared about him too much to let him die too.

I tried and tried to convince myself that I was worth it. That I didn't need to surrender myself, but deep down I knew it wasn't true. There was always this voice telling me that this was the only answer.

I wasn't sad though. I guess I had known this was going to happen. I had already made peace with my decision. If I could save one person I loved, I sure as hell was going to do it.

I rubbed my hand over my face and hauled myself up into a standing position. I walked over to the door. I banged on the door as hard as I could with the side of my fist. Soon enough a tall female guard stood before me.

"Get Alistair. I wish to make a deal with him."

She nodded and walked out of the room. I heard all of the locks click and I flopped back down on the bed. I propped my arm behind my head and waited.

Not long after, I heard the clicks of the locks. I stood up and looked Alistair in the eyes.

"I surrender."

Alistair's eyes widened, "Already I at least thought-"

"If you let Cade go," I said cutting him off.

Alistair looked up in consideration. It was better than his answer being immediately no though. I could tell he already knew what the answer was as he pulled out something from his pocket. It was a small black crescent-shaped thing. I studied it curiously. I had never seen anything like it before.

"It's a device Elder Ryann created. It allows you to send a message telepathically with anybody else that has one," Alistair explained.

I nodded.

Alistair sighed. It looked as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

"I didn't want it to be like this you know. "