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Chapter 14
CHRISTY
My eyelids flutter open, the vision lingering like a suffocating blanket. It feels burdensome, heavy. I’ve never had a vision of something that’s happened in the past. Never. Yet, I know that wasn’t a dream. I feel the truth of it in my bones. Jakub, Konrad and Leon became The Masks to survive. It’s a sobering thought, and I’m not certain how I feel about it.
“Hello,” I croak, my throat dry, my body stiff.
“So she awakens…”
I shift uncomfortably, peering into the semi-darkness. “Jakub?” I whisper, confused by the softness in his voice.
“I’m here,” he says.
Fear and a lingering sense of sorrow cascades down my spine as he steps out of the shadows and into the muted light. The flickering candles and dying embers of the fire lit in the hearth edging him in the ghosts of the past.
My breath catches in my throat,thisis how I see him in my visions. Just like this.
“Your mouth is open,” he points out.
I slam it shut, drinking him in as he stands before me in a black roll-neck sweater and charcoal trousers, an air of sophistication rolling off of him. There’s power too, and a sense of rigid self-control beneath the grey mask he wears. It sits over his nose and cheeks, revealing his mouth and strong jaw.
“What time is it?” I ask, mentally checking myself for any lingering pain. Apart from the usual dull ache from the scars that never quite goes away, and a foggy head from the vision, I feel okay. I’m warm and am lying on the soft mattress of Jakub’s bed.
“It’s time to meet the Numbers,” he replies, stepping towards me.
“Right now?” I push up onto my elbows, shifting backwards on the bed. My head is still groggy, my body feels weak despite resting these past few days and being cared for by Nala. She’s been kind, thoughtful, bringing me everything I need to make me comfortable including a change of clothes, even if it is this awful white dress that is apparently my uniform aside from when The Masks dress me up like a doll to appease their whims. She even brought me some books to read and my own foundation so I can keep my mask in place.
“They’ve been wanting to meet you.”
“Dressed like this?” I repeat, groaning as I move, the after effects of the vision lingering. I still feel like a part of me is back there watching those boys take their first step towards the monstrous men they are today. It’s a little difficult to digest.
“Exactly like this, but first I want you to lie back down.”
“What? Why?” I ask, moving to sit up.
“I didn’t get long enough...”
“Long enough?” I whisper, disliking the way his eyes darken as he stares at me.
He cocks his head to the side. “To watch you sleep.”
“You’ve been watching me sleep?” I ask, feeling creeped out. Which seems ridiculous given everything I’ve been through. It’s just that when I’m deep in a vision I’m completely under, oblivious to the waking world around me.Vulnerable. My aunt has often said that it’s as though I’m in a coma. Nothing and no one can wake me.
“Yes, I wanted to know what you looked like sleeping in my bed. I wanted to know if it would turn me on…” he says without a hint of embarrassment.
“And does it?” I ask, shifting uncomfortably, steadying my voice even though my heart is thumping a million miles a minute. I don’t want him to be attracted to me. I don’t want to be some kind of experiment, and I definitely don’t want him to act on whatever perversion makes him hard, but I ask the question regardless. Better to know what your enemy is thinking so you can prepare yourself for the fight, and Iwillfight.
“No.”
There’s a bitterness to his response that fills me with both relief and a twisted kind of disappointment. I don’t want him to want me, but equally being unattractive when I’m completely bare is hard to swallow, let alone when I’ve covered up my birthmark to make myself fit the mold of beauty.
“Then whatdoyou want from me?”
“Everything,” he replies.
I try to search for the boy he once was and come up empty. All I see is a man trapped beneath a mask with no wish to get back to the boy who refused to kill his beloved pet. “Everything?”
“I want everything,” he repeats cryptically.
