Salient Secret

Chapter 40

"Wakey wakey Avey wavey" 

I open my eyes and find Dane standing next to my bed, just as I'm about to scream he puts his hand over my mouth.

"It is in your best interest to shhhhh, we wouldn't want my dear sweet Emilia sneezing in the wrong direction now would we..." I sit up and he brings my attention to the same little girl I saw earlier today, now standing next to Dane. "You almost had me fooled I'll give you that, but I have ears and eyes everywhere Avery, if you ever try to lie to me again..." he brings his face right next to mine, "I'll make you watch me slit your mothers wrists...after all, suicide does run in the family," he moves back with a fake frown that turns into a smile. 

"What do you want?"

"It's simple really, I just want to know what you can do."

"You saw what I can do."

"My injections have never given anyone just one ability, it's always 3 or more." I only know of two things I can do which is not feel pain and heal. 

"I only know of 2."

"It's still early, some abilities take time to develop fully... show me what you've learnt so far," I reach for the knife he is holding and he grabs my hand and holds it very tightly, "Do you want me to show you or not," I say with attitude laced in my words, he lets go of my wrist and lets me take the knife, I take it and drive it through my hand with a straight face. I pull it out and he moves closer to watch it heal.

"Remarkable..." he says still studying it.

"There, I've shown you, now leave," I say after pulling my hand away from him.

"Okay, I can take the hint, you'll be hearing from me again," he picks Emilia up, and walks out my room, I run to the door and look out into the hall, but he isn't there, he vanished.

I have more questions than ever, how did he know about my powers, how is he coming and going so swiftly, what is he going to make me do, what is the main goal, why is he recruiting gangs to do his dirty work, why does he have such a grudge against the Grayson family, the list goes on... All these unanswered questions with no one to answer them. 

I'm so tired of feeling helpless and in the dark. I need to be prepared for when he comes again, I will not become one of his puppets. 

I spend the night trying to do everything Palmer put into my head, the results are unreal, my body does exactly what I'm thinking of doing, it's as if I'm not in control. I find myself on the edge of my windowsill, half a second later, with a perfect landing, I'm on the ground. The sun is rising, I run as fast as I can to the only place I can think of that will feed my spirit at this moment... the warehouse. 

I don't know how, but I managed to remove the lock on the door. I make my way to one of the boxing bags and I give it my all, I find myself inside the ring practicing my new found skills. After landing one of my flips, I find myself standing in front of a huge figure. I look up.

"What do you want Arlo?" I spit.

"To help you."

"I don't want your help," I say walking to the edge of the ring to get out,

"Well you're going to get it." With that being said, I feel his big arms around me, the next thing I know I've been body slammed onto the floor. He is trying to force a fight out of me, and it's working... 

I close my eyes, focus on everything Palmer put into my head and use it to lift up out of Arlos grip, he looks surprised, "Finally, a challenge," his words are followed with a punch in my face, I stumble back, heal and run towards him, he starts running towards me, I drop to the floor and slide, sweeping his feet off the ground, causing him to fall straight on his face. He rolls over and I see nothing but blood, his nose is broken. I rush over to him and feel the energy coursing through my body into his, his nose clicks back into place and I help him up.