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When I turn to take in the room, my stomach drops.
The Top Elder…no, Jedaya is standing in the middle of the room, a sick smile on his face. This isn’t what causes despair to fill me, however.
No, that’s caused by the sight of my best friend strapped to a chair in the center of the room, her amulet crushed on the floor in front of her.
Chapter 22
“Hello, Amelia.”
I press myself against the door, eyes wide. Suddenly, I wish I would have kept something on me to use as a weapon. Not that it would do me much good; Even though I’m highly trained, there’s only so much I can do against a supernatural force.
“It’s rude not to respond to the Top Elder, Amelia.” His voice is steady and calm, but his eyes are dancing with amusement. The first time I’ve ever seen emotion in them. It almost feels unnatural. He slowly walks over to Olivia, who is attempting to yell through her gag.
This moves me into action. “Of course. I apologize,Jedaya.” I’m not sure if this was the right move, but it’s the move I’ve taken. My anger at the situation has my mouth running ahead of my brain, it seems.
Jedaya pauses briefly on his way to Olivia, casting me an unreadable look, and then he pivots to face me fully. “Ah, he told you. But did he tell youwhywe hide our names?” A faint smirk appears on his face when I falter. “Then what good will that do you, little girl? You may have fangs, but you’re sorely lacking venom.”
He's right. I’m at a disadvantage. The only thing I can do is keep him talking so that I have time to survey the room, and hope that the Dark Elders take down the protection field soon.
I clear my throat and raise my head, trying to exude confidence. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t reveal other things. Damning things that I’m sure our community would love to know about.” I try to be discreet as I glance from him to my surroundings. The room looks so familiar, but I can’t quite place it. My eye catches Olivia’s for a brief second, and she moves her gaze to a spot to my left, as if she’s imploring me to look.
I turn my eyes back to Jedaya. “What you’ve done to us, keeping everyone away from their true purpose.” My lip curls into a sneer, real anger beginning to course through me. Everyone in the Society has been leashed and they’re not even aware. We’re kept like dogs in a kennel and trained to please our master. “It’s disgusting.”
His expression has not changed, which only serves to annoy me. “I have lived a very long life, Amelia. You have not seen the chaos that ensues when your kind are left to their own devices.” I breathe a sigh of relief when he takes a step closer to me and away from Olivia. “The people don’t crave ascension, my dear. They craveorder.”
As he’s talking, I take the opportunity to glance to my left. There’s a large black box with a set of toggles and a bright red light in the middle of them. My brow furrows.
What is that?
I look back toward Jedaya, and then past him at the ornate white wall. That’s when it hits me. I’ve seen that exact wall behind Jedaya time and time again.
Every night, our hover screens are filled with end of day announcements, and this is the exact scene we see. That means the box to my left is the projector.
Suddenly, I have an idea.
When Jedaya takes another step toward me, I slide further toward the left. I need to try to get in front of the projector without tipping him off; just enough to turn it on. “Who decided that? You?” I scoff, inching discreetly toward the projector. “You don’t have the right to decide for every human being. That’s the beauty of us; we have free will.”
He looks at me with pity, not taking his eyes off mine. “You are so very young, to think that way. Yes, humans have the ability to ascend to Elderhood, but at what cost?” He pivots slowly on his heel and walks toward the wall, hands behind his back.
I blink, surprised. He’s turned his back to me. I can easily move toward the projector now, but this seems a bit too easy. Why would he turn his back to me?
I push back that thought, writing it off as arrogance, and take the final few steps, reaching with the tips of my fingers behind my back to make sure I can reach the toggles.
“I was young once, too, Amelia. You know this. Head full of dreams, of all I would accomplish once I had ascended.” He sighs and turns back to me, moving until he is just behind Olivia. “You could have done so much for the Society, Amelia. You showed suchpromise. Just like your father.”
I ignore his taunting, instead focusing on his placement next to my best friend. “Stay away from her.” I want to rush forward, do something to keep him away, but I know I can’t move from this spot. I look at Olivia with an apologetic gaze.
Her eyes, however, are determined. She’s glad I caught onto her idea and is now waiting for the inevitable. But what will happen when I turn it on? If it makes enough noise, Jedaya will notice, and he’s much too close to Olivia for comfort.
His lips slowly form a grotesque smile as he runs his fingers through her hair. “I am not hurting her, Amelia. However, that will be a different story if you do not back away from the projector.”
My heart sinks. He knows, of course he knows. Desperate frustration begins to take over. I start to wish Arman prepared me more for these sorts of encounters; it’s glaringly obvious that I’m just a girl who has been thrust into the middle of a centuries-old feud, and I have no idea what I’m doing. I think about doing magic, but my energy is almost depleted, especially from putting so much behind breaking the barrier, and Jedaya is obviously much more powerful than me.
I catch Olivia’s eye again. I expect to see fear or anger, but instead it’s that same resolved determination.
My Olivia, always a fighter.
She would do so much better in my place. She would always do what’s right, no matter the cost.
