Chapter 30: Chapter 25

Ellie sat quietly in the training room, staring at the effigy in front of her. She had been there since their last session had ended, trying to figure out the mystery of where her father could possibly be. A rough sigh escaped her lips as she rubbed her hands on her face.

“If you keep staring at that statue, people are going to start questioning your motives again,” a familiar voice spoke from the entrance.

The blonde cast her gaze to the latino boy making his way toward her, “What do you want, Garrison?”

“I can’t just come around to talk?” he questioned, a crooked smile twisting his face.

Ellie looked back to the statue, “No.”

A sigh left the emissary's mouth. Finally reaching the blonde, he took a seat beside of her, making himself comfortable, causing Ellie to flick her eyes toward him for a moment. Garrison had to admit she looked like she could use a friend.

“What’s going through your mind, Sweetcheeks?”

Ellie furrowed her brows, her lips dipping into a frown. She remained silent, not wanting to give in to his curiosity, yet wishing she could tell someone. The burden of keeping the secret that her father was alive was eating at her, but she couldn’t share such sensitive information with Garrison. Anastasia would put a stop to her search immediately.

Then there was the fact that she was considering disregarding everything that Jasper had asked of her and forcing her way to him, if only to survive, but she didn’t want to think about that at the moment. She had bigger fish to fry.

“How’s Felicity?” she asked instead.

Garrison knew what she was doing. It was something he did himself when he was trying to avoid the pain of being the “less valuable” Reynolds sibling, but he would play along for the time being.

“She misses you.”

“It wouldn’t be a problem if they would just let us talk,” Ellie huffed, crossing her arms.

The council was being too controlling. They were always this way with her, and it was maddening.

“Have you figured out a solution to your little problem yet?”

Ellie rolled her eyes. Of course this was why he was bothering her. As soon as the council found out about the fact that she was dying, they were all trying to think of ways to persuade her to actually find her tether. It only made sense they would bring Garrison into the equation.

At the scoff she unknowingly released, he turned to her with knitted eyebrows. “Well, have you?”

She raked a hand roughly through her hair. “We both know the only way to stop this is for me to go to him.”

Garrison leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Then go to him.”

“He wouldn’t want that,” she said, pulling her gaze back to the statue of her father.

He snapped his head toward her, eyes narrowed. "And who cares what he wants? What about you? Are you just supposed to die? Is that what he wants?"

"It doesn't matter,” Ellie shook her head. “They would be gone as soon as I made the decision to go.”

Garrison sighed. Why did she have to be so impossible? “Then call them. Let them know what’s happening to you. You shouldn’t have to die because he doesn’t want to see you. You are just as important as he is.”

Ellie raised an eyebrow, causing his cheeks to redden.

“Listen,” he said, trying to push the growing blush away, “If you’re not going to him because you’re scared, you don’t have to worry. If it makes you feel better, I’ll go with you. You won’t have to face him alone.”

She licked her lips. “I’m not afraid of him.”

“Then what is it? Why die because of him?”

She stood from her seat on the floor, dusting her black uniform when she reached full height. She could tell him. She, strangely enough, trusted Garrison, even if it was only a little bit. That was more than she could say she about her current trust for Anastasia. Or Jasper. Unfortunately, she was running out of time. If she didn’t work something out, she would die.

To die at only eighteen…what an adventure.

She didn’t want to lose her adult years because she was too stubborn to admit they were all right. She was afraid. She was letting him control her, just as she had every man that had ever been in her life, and she just couldn’t stand for that any longer. This was her choice and her choice alone.

She could go to him and live, or she could stay cooped up in their little facility and die.

And the decision was made.

She turned to face Garrison, and he could have swore that she was a different person. There was a new light behind her eyes, one he had yet to witness, and it was breathtaking.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” he asked, searching every inch of her face, drinking her in as if she was the last sip of water on earth.

“Let’s go,” she said, reaching a hand down to him.

Garrison tilted his head to the side, taking her hand in his and standing. “Where are we going?”

“To get my life back.”

The largest grin Ellie had ever seen spread across his lips, causing the corners of her own to tug up. It warmed her from the inside out, and before she knew it, a small giggle bubbled forth from her lips.

It felt right.

It felt free.

Her laughter only made Garrison’s smile bigger. He hadn’t seen a true smile on her face the entire time he had known her, and it made him the happiest to know she was laughing in his presence. He never thought he would get to experience it.

The moment wouldn’t last long enough.

Ellie’s cell phone rang, an unknown number scrunching her eyebrows together.

She answered, a light laugh still in her voice, “Ellie speaking.”

“I know you’re angry, but I need you to listen to me,” the familiar bell-like voice chimed.

“Alice?” Ellie questioned, all joy gone from her being.

“You cannot come to us,” she pleaded, voice desperate.

“Alice, I-“

“I need you to trust me,” she said. “You cannot come to us right now.”

Ellie frowned, anger brewing beneath her skin. “I nee-“

“Eleanor,” she said, voice stern. “No. You must stay where you are. You-“

“I need to see him!” Ellie finally said, her free hand balling into a fist. “I need to.”

Alice was silent for a moment before speaking the only words she knew would keep her put.

“He doesn’t want to see you.”

Ellie froze, all anger disappearing from her body. Her lungs constricted upon hearing the words she had dreaded since Jasper had left. He didn’t want to see her. He didn’t want her.

A lump grew in her throat, making it hard to swallow.

“He-“

“He doesn’t want to see you, Ellie,” she said, forcing the words out of her mouth, knowing it was going to cost her tremendously in the end, but this was the only way to stop the future she saw from happening. It was the only way to ensure she would live. “You need to leave him alone. If he wanted you with him, he would have stayed.”

No words could escape her lips. The lump continued to grow, choking her as she tried to hold back her emotions. Her eyes burned, hot tears brimming the lids.

“Goodbye, Ellie.”

The line went dead.

She couldn’t hold it back anymore.

Ellie threw her phone across the room, smashing it into tiny pieces before a loud cry filled the training room as she collapsed onto the ground, broken sobs leaving her body. Alice had confirmed her worst fears. The one person she was supposed to love forever truly no longer wanted her. He left her alone just as everyone she had ever loved had done. What was so wrong with her that no one wanted her around? Why did everyone leave her?

She slammed her fists into the hard floor in front of the statue, never hearing the strangled cries escaping her lips, never feeling the blood leaving her knuckles, only feeling the intense pain coursing through her heart.

Warm arms wrapped around her from behind, attempting to calm her, but she couldn’t see through the pain.

Hadn’t she been through enough? Her parents, Ethan, Allison, David…Why did she have to lose Jasper, too? Why couldn’t he just stay? Why couldn’t he want her?

The questions burned through her mind, torching the areas that kept her sane, licking at the walls of her insecurity like flames dancing in the wind.

She cried into the arms holding her up. Tears leaked for her mom, for Allison and David, for poor broken Bella…they leaked for the loss of the family she could have had if she hadn’t been forced to bear this gift, but most of all, she cried for her loss of freedom.

Jasper was the last piece holding her back, and the only piece holding her together. He was the biggest reminder that she didn’t have to hold back when it came to love. After everything with Jesse and her trial… he brought her back, made her trust again, not only him but herself.

She could remember the moment so clearly hearing him talk her down from her hysteria when she killed James, protecting instead of hurting those she loved at all costs. Realizing she would never have to enter that stupid trial room ever again, where the council decided whether she would continue to be in exile or whether she was to be granted freedom.

Ellie’s eyes widened as she pulled away from the arms around her, a loud gasp leaving her lips.

Garrison watched as she pushed away from him and quickly stood, bringing her hands to her face and roughly wiping at the tears still dripping down her cheeks.

“El?” he questioned, his gaze wary of her intentions.

She looked like a deer in headlights. Her face was pasty, clear shock written across it.

“I-I have to go,” she whispered, promptly running from the room.

“Ellie!”

A sigh left his lips. The council would not be pleased that she now knew, but who was he to judge? They didn’t always make the best decisions, and right now, that broken girl needed a friend.

It was someone’s turn to help her.