Taken

13

It'd been a week since the battle, Stephan and Isaiah had officially gotten away and gone underground. There's been no sign of them at all, Isabelle was killed in the battle, and Tori was badly wounded. She'd been thrown from the top of the stairs and to the ground effectively breaking her spine as well as her pelvic bone. Her left lung had been punctured and Zach had been able to help stabilize her, but I haven't seen her.
Jarred and the others treated me like a plague, Ryan was cold towards me, and Marie- I'm pretty sure she's tried to poison me at least twice. I sat waiting for them while they were in another meeting. They'd been in three meetings all day every day since the whole thing a week ago. I felt exhausted for them. I don't honestly remember much, the first day I spent in and out of fever induced sleep, being that I was just a normal human I couldn't be given their marks. I had to heal naturally.
Their healers did what they could to help me, but I definitely had a lot of work to do on my own. I sighed now, today was the first day I was out of the infirmary. When the doors opened Austin, Alex, Trish, and Christian moved passed me without even seeing me. Their eyes were glazed over and they all looked exhausted. Austin had a slight bruise on his jaw that hadn't quite faded yet, but anything else he'd had was long since gone.
I was told Trish had actually got it the worse out of them and she seemed to be doing ok, though she did seem to have a strange guilt to her. They walked past without a glance or word my way and I couldn't help the disappointment that flooded me. I sighed, damn they're still not talking to me. I was just about to leave when I felt a hand on my wrist, I closed my eyes and prayed to Jesus that it wasn't who I thought it was. When I turned I saw Jarred and I internally cursed, "you're awake."
He said quietly, I bit my lip and nodded not trusting my voice right now. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. His face was shadowed and drawn. He was clearly tired and miserable, losing this battle and Tori being hurt was just taking its toll on him. I almost felt bad, almost. "What's up," I say trying not to show I hated being near him for even a second.
He scoffs, "don't try and act nice, kid. It doesn't work with me." I scoffed as he glared at me clearly debating whether or not he wanted to finish the conversation. Duty won out eventually and he continued, "The Elders want to see you, they have questions." I frowned, but he just continued with his snarky attitude.
I honestly didn't understand what Tori saw in him, he was an ass. A condescending ass at that. He tapped my forehead and I winced as he did, "dude seriously?" I asked smacking where his hand had been.
He sighed clearly annoyed, "look I'll make it easy for even you to remember: the council has questions. Which mean you better have answers, and to make sure you answer honestly we have someone there to keep you honest."
"I-I, what?" I said trying to follow where exactly he was going with this, but he was already turning back to the room. I stood there for a moment contemplating my choices. I could turn around and walk away? I'm not in this life they can't force me. But if I did, I'd never see Tori. I sighed and looked where Jarred had gone.
I swallowed and licked my lips before following him. The door shut behind me and I instantly felt trapped, in front of me sat an older woman. She had greying hair and a lined face. There were scars on her face some were old and healed but there were more new ones now.
Beside her on her right was a man with brown hair, and pale skin, his eyes were clearly bored and uncaring. Next to him was a woman with dirty blond hair, pale skin like snow and she too had barely veiled boredom in her eyes.
On the other side of the first woman was the one guy that was close to Tori. He had short brown hair, brown-green eyes, and unlike everyone else he at least attempted to smile at me and encourage warmth. Beside him was- "Jasper," I whispered. His head snapped and his eyes met mine. I turned to the woman in the center and felt fear start to bubble over as my breathing became shallow. No one moved besides the one guy. He leaned forward, the older woman just raised her brow and stared at me. I felt my body shake as I tried to force air into my lungs and calm down.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Jarred again, he rolled his eyes and pulled me to him, "calm down. He's not gonna murder you, he's on a tight leash right now, so breathe and calm your shit," I hiccuped as he rubbed circles into my back to calm me.
When I finally had my breathing down to a normal rate he stepped back and bowed his head down to the council. I felt my body shake under their gazes, "Cecilia," the older woman finally spoke addressing me and I shakily met her gaze. She had cold grey eyes and I forced myself not to avert my gaze, if Tori can do this I can. If Trish can do this I can. They knew nothing of this world, they walked in just as blind as I am, and they're total bad asses now. They just saved my life, the least I can do is meet this woman's gaze and not tremble like a god damn chihuahua.
So that's exactly what I did, I saw her mouth twitch in amusement but she didn't smile. "You're here before us to explain your story. No one knows what happened while you were kidnapped. No one useful anyways," she said in an undertone. "We need to know." I nod once showing I understand and try to bring my thoughts together. After a moment, I look back up and clear my throat, just slow and steady, keep your ducks in a row and tell it like it is. Nothing to fear.
I felt eyes on me and glanced to my side to see Jasper watching me intently. I shuddered under his gaze before turning back to the woman, my words came out slowly at first,"I remember training with Trish and Alex."
She nodded as did Zach, "yes they said this in their own statements. Why were they training you?" I bit my lip and answered as honest and coherently as possible. "They were teaching me basic defense and I tried to do a surprise attack on Alex but it- didn't work out." I say it quietly, clearly embarrassed, and hear Jarred chuckle beside me. I clear my throat, "anyways, he caught me and knocked me back and as he did, I lost my footing and rolled down the hill. When I did that, I hit a tree and I remember two people being there. I thought it was Alex and Trish coming to make fun of me and help me but it turned out to be Isaiah and Isabelle." I feel a lump in my throat as I say Isabelle's name but push past it.
Jarred turns his head towards me but I ignore him, "I-I think they wanted Tori but they got me instead." I said and paused, the woman leaned forward again, "what makes you say that?" She's not rude just inquisitive, I sigh, "I- they said things about me not being who they wanted but since I was literally at their feet, I think they just decided to take me instead." My eyes teared up and the woman leaned back slightly annoyed, "sorry, um," I say taking a deep breath, and trying my damndest to compose myself.
"What happened after they took you?" The man with the short brown hair asked, "erm," I say addressing him and he smiled, "my names Zachary. This is Katherine," he says gesturing to the older woman, "down there are Crystal and Joshua. I apologize for the lack of communication and the forcefulness of all this. It must be quite trying for you, but if you could help us we'd appreciate it."
I feel my spirits lift at his kindness, it seemed genuine and I felt myself wanting to talk to him more. So, that's what I did. I looked at him and spoke to him. After a moment I think he caught on because he started directing the meeting, "so, after they found you in the trees what do you remember next?" I bite my lip, "I woke up in a room. I remember I was confused and scared," I say trailing off. He nods, "that's an understandable feeling. Waking up in an unknown room in an unknown place is sure to freak anyone out."
"I remember the room was white and there were no windows, it was only a minute I was alone before they came in. Isaiah and Isabelle," I say clarifying who 'they' was. "They spoke a lot-"
"About what?" The other woman, Crystal, asked. Her voice was strange it was nasally but not and she seemed completely bored with the entire situation. Why be apart of this council if you have no care in the world? "They spoke about a lot of things really. I think they were trying to win me over, use me against you guys- well Tori and her family not you specifically cause ya know I didn't really know anything about you." I stop for a second to catch my breath, I've got to stop rambling, it's going to be the death of me.
"S-sorry," I say quietly feeling my face redden. Zach smiles, "don't worry. We're in no hurry take the time you need to get everything together." I take a deep breath and mentally punch myself, "ok. So," I went to speak but felt my mind pause. It was strange, I wanted to speak, to tell them everything that happened and just be done. But- I couldn't. Can I trust them? What if what Isaiah said is true? I mean, they were just trying to get their brother back. Isabelle is- she's dead now. Because of them. She never once got to plead her case, they took her baby and now her life.
"I- I remember they talked a lot I think they were trying to sell me on their beliefs? I don't know how to explain it, I think they were trying to make me see they weren't the bad guys. They were the good guys who'd been hurt, not the ones doing the hurting." I dropped my head trying to hide the tears that had filled my eyes. Zach cleared his throat and I heard as they spoke amongst themselves, I looked up and slightly sniffled causing Zach to turn to me. He smiled kindly, "I think we've heard enough for today. You may go Cecilia."
I nod my head and turn to leave as quickly as possible. This room scares me and I don't want to spend anymore time here if I don't have to. Jarred opens the door and closes it behind us. "Wait, why did you leave?" I ask quietly and he shrugs, "I wasn't really needed anymore. Go do whatever you want, don't visit Tori and don't bother us." With that he turned and headed the same way Trish and the rest of them had gone.
Well, what do I do? I sighed and bit my lip, I couldn't help but compare my time spent with both sides and was sad to say that the 'bad guys' treated me better. I felt more welcome there than I do here. I sighed and forced myself to walk back to my room maybe a nap will help.