Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"What do you mean Paradigm is on fire?" Aviva asks me confused as I stand a sizable distance away from the engulfed building.

"It's on fire," I repeat and there is a long pause.

"Lena, Paradigm is on fire," Aviva says, and I hear shuffling.

"What? How?" Cathleen asks me.

"I'm not sure," I admit while scratching my head. The building was mostly made of metal and concrete but that doesn't mean it wouldn't burn. The flames continue to climb higher and higher and I think of the three other buildings that have gone up in smoke this month.

"Maybe someone is trying to burn some evidence," I say thoughtfully.

"But what would have been in those two warehouses and the random house?" Cathleen asks me and suddenly I am exhausted. Checking my watch, I see it is getting late.

"I wish I had even a shred of a clue," I grumble. I was no further to getting answers almost three months later than when this whole mess began. Trying to tap my watch, my hand misses, and my body sways.

"Zana?" I hear someone ask and I crumble to my knees. Trying to open my mouth to respond to them, the world spins violently and darkness looms on the edge of my vision. Faintly I hear voices, they all sound female, but the noise distorts, and I blackout.

My heart kicks into overdrive, I can't place where I am, but I am being jabbed with something and there is so much screaming. The voices are horrifically shrill and pierce my eardrums leaving my head throbbing. Trying to make the noise stop, it only grows louder as does the scene around me. Prying my swollen eyes open, I see blood all across the hallways, the scent is consuming, and I choke and start crying. I see the bodies sprawled on the floor, lifeless as crimson just continues to flow out of them. The guards are fatally wounded as well, they lean against the wall with tears in their eyes.

"Close your eyes Zaney!" Someone screams and I see a woman leaning on the edge of the metal surrounding me.

"Close your eyes sweetie," a calmer voice says, and I see her face for a moment, her one eye is swollen shut and there is a massive gash across her neck. I see a spray of half-cracked crystals around the wound and tears blur my vision.

"Close your eyes Zaneliah," she says sweetly, and I do before I hear a deafening bang. My heart races away and I don't dare to open my eyes for a moment until I hear a thud. Glancing down at the woman on the floor, her eyes are still open, but now unseeing, the compassion is gone. Focusing on the massive gaping wound in-between her eyes, I fall over and my back hits metal bars.

"A warzone is no place for a child," I hear a calm voice say and when I look around, I see red boots. The lid is lifted off of the cage and I am pulled up and sat on someone's hip. Glancing into the piercing blue eyes of the man who performed experiments on her, he gives me a reassuring smile before we turn to leave the room. I memorize the way his nose slopes low before hooking to the left slightly, his cheekbones are overly sharp, and he is very thin. His teeth are bleached and straight and lead to his slightly to large mouth surrounded by a faint bit of blonde stubble.

"My name is Soren, I will take good care of you, okay?" He asks me with a tight-lipped smile, his eyes show how angry and dead he is inside.

"You're a worthless piece of trash!" A voice screams and suddenly we are on the street. I now hit his shoulders, my hands are jammed in my pockets and my head hangs low. That isn't something I haven't heard before.

"Answer me!" He screams before I am shoved, I don't have time to even remove my hands from my pockets as I smash face-first into the ground. I feel the sparse crystallization on my face, I was hitting puberty and the disease I supposedly have is getting worse.

"Just leave me alone," I grunt, and he grabs me by the hood, choking me. Tears form in my eyes and I try to wriggle out of his grasp. His hauntingly angular face is only a few inches from mine.

"I should leave you to die, you pathetic excuse for a human being!" He screams at me before managing to throw me onto my side. I feel his hand grab me by the hood and then I feel my skull hit the pavement. The pain is mind-numbing and I feel the crystals getting thicker as he grips me even tighter and smashes my head three more times before kicking me in the stomach. I taste blood and rollover. Barely being able to open my eyes, I just can make out his signature red boots storming away from me. I guess he did leave me to die.

Rolling over, I fall off of something and my eyes spring open. Looking around confused, I see photos with familiar faces, and instantly someone is helping me back onto the couch. Looking through her incredibly thick lenses, I can sense the woman's panic and confusion. She looks me over as a few other people join us in the room. What happened and where am I?

"Zana!" Someone says and another woman stands in front of me. Looking at her buzzed hair and flatter nose, I try to figure out who she is. I keep seeing flashes of the blonde man and reality and my subconscious blur.

"Can you hear me?" She asks me confused. Glancing at the other two people standing a bit away, I know everyone in the room, but I don't know how I do.

"Arlen Reid," I splutter out and there is a long pause.

"Pardon?"

"Arlen Reid, where is he?" I ask confused. My frustration continues to mount as I can't remember who anyone in the room is.

"Who is that, Zana?" The one woman asks.

"My name is Zaneliah," I say confused and everyone looks confused.

"Zaneliah, who is Arlen?"

"He's my caretaker, not a very good one mind you," I grunt and when I look closer. I see black crystals hanging around all of their necks. Looking down at my hands confused, I see the same sort of crystal on my wrists.

"Zana, I am your caretaker," the one woman says carefully and my head spins. I know her, but she's my caretaker? Why can't I remember her?

"Where am I?" I ask confused. Looking around the pristine apartment, I know I have never been here before.

"You're in our apartment Zana," the woman with glasses says as the woman with long black hair joins her side.

"How did I get here?"

"You passed out while seeing that Paradigm was quite literally on fire,"

"Paradigm," I mumble and suddenly the logo is etched into my mind. Stumbling backward my knee's hit the edge of the couch, staring down, I don't even remember standing up.

"Zana!" A new voice says, and I look up horrified. Where did that man and woman come from?

"Faith, hold on," someone says and my headaches. Faith? I know Faith, she's a musician, she's Cathleen's cousin.

"Cathleen," I say confused. The woman with long hair responds and slowly everything starts to click.

"Oh my gosh, Thalia," I say horrified. How could I not recognize her? She walks over and pulls me into a bone-crushing hug.

"What happened Zana?" She asks me quietly.

"I... I don't know," I say remembering the sudden exhaustion and the feeling of spinning.

"Well you are safe now," she says and slowly I can place everyone else in the room. Sitting down, I hold my head in my hands. Thalia sits by my side and a much smaller frame sits on my other side. Looking at Faith, I can see the calculated, concern in her features. It's an expression that used to scare me, but now it makes me feel safe.

"What's going on Zana?" Faith asks me quietly and I stare down at my hands. I can still hear the crackling of the flames and the women's laughter. Was that Aviva and Cathleen's laugh? Who else would have been there? Why do I keep ending up with more questions than answers!?

"I just passed out, it's been hard adjusting to my new schedule," I fib, and I can feel the intensity of her gaze. Keeping my gaze downwards, my vision blurs and I see his sharp angular features. How did anyone ever by that he was my caretaker?

"I want to go back to Circa City," I say, and no one responds.

"We would prefer if you let Dr. Hayes check on you before we take you back," Aviva says seriously, and I shake my head.

"I want to go home, I am fine," I snip and stand up. Thalia and Faith look surprised.

"Zana," Cathleen says, and I give her a sharp look.

"I want to go home," I say seriously, and Cathleen sighs and grabs Thalia and I takes us back to our new apartment. Thalia walks into the kitchen to start preparing a late meal but I am already deactivating the tracker in my boots and watch. Turning off my location services, I don't even pause for a moment before darting out the front door.

"Zana!" I hear a voice yell, but I am already halfway down the stairs and out the back exit. Running away from the apartment, a sense of panic devours me, and I can barely focus on anything. Jumping, my boots kick on and I'm off.

The wind whips at my face and I angrily yank my mask on. I keep seeing his face over and over again. Banking hard, I shoot clear over the city ignoring everything. My earpiece dings and I turn it off. Cranking up the speed, the world starts to blur around me, and my heart races away. I tremble slightly as adrenaline rushes through me. Where am I even going? I realize my hand is tightly clutching the stone and I don't even remember pulling it out.

Forcing myself to slow down, I realize I have left the limits of the city and am over the water. I see a small island and I carefully land on the beach. Glancing around, nothing seems familiar.

"No way," I hear a male voice say, and chills go down my spine.

"Arlen," I say coldly and when I spin around, he looks even thinner than I remember. His blue eyes look sunken in and his back is arched.

"How did you find me?" He asks miffed, he takes a long swig of a clear bottle.

"I trusted my instincts,"

"Well, what do you want?" He snaps and I don't even react.

"What is my real last name?" I ask him and he sneers and takes another swig.

"Ballek, don't ask me how to spell it,"

"Why did you take me from Paradigm?" I ask confused. Staring at the lanky, dying man in front of me a sense of desperation consumes me. He is the only one with the answers I have been so heavily and frantically seeking.

"Oh no, I am not drunk enough to stand here and answer all of your pathetic questions," he slurs, and I am not even phased by his response.

"Your dying," I say softly.

"We're all dying," he counters like a child. His yellowed eyes burn with rage, but he isn't as scary as I remember, he almost appears frail.

"Why did you take me from Paradigm?"

"I told you I am not answering your questions!" He snaps and I walk over to him, grabbing the bottle out of his hand, I smash it onto his shoulder. He falls backward and I stare at the glass in surprise. Why did I do that?

"I see your violent tendencies haven't ceased," he spits out.

"I had violent tendencies?" I ask surprised, I've always been a fairly non-confrontational person as long as I can remember.

"Only with me of course, that is when you were actually home," He snaps before slowly standing up. He carefully keeps some distance between us.

"What do you mean?"

"You always used to run away from the apartment, I couldn't even find you when Child Services came knocking on my door,"

"I ended up in the orphanage after you put me in the hospital," I growl out frustrated. I wasn't an idiot; I know that part of the story.

"Yes, and they came to my apartment every year because no one believed for a moment that I was your actual caretaker," he drawls out.

"Why did you take me from Paradigm?" I repeat and he sighs.

"Your mother was dead; half of the guard and specimen were also dead. Paradigm was going to go under pretty rapidly and I wanted to take my finest work with me," he says in a cold voice.

"Finest work?"

"Yes Zaneliah, do you think you would be as strong as you are, and as damage resilient, if I didn't do what I did?" He asks me and my stomach churns.

"What did you do to me?" I ask him alarmed. My body aches in the back of my hands and the bend in my arm burns.

"What I did to everyone, experimented as I deemed fit," he says with a lazy smirk. A chill goes down my spine.

"You're sick," I say alarmed.

"I was just doing my job," he says with a shrug and there is a dangerous look in his eyes. Glancing down, I see he is still wearing the same red boots, although they look much browner now.

"You should watch what else you ask questions about Zaneliah, you might not like the answers you find," he says darkly and my heart races away.

"What did I do that day, when you smashed my head into the pavement?"

"You were being the same brat you've always been, you refused to tell me anything or even answer me and I completely lost my cool," he says with a shrug. He pulls a beer bottle out of the pocket of his pants and cracks it open with his hands.

"Why don't I remember anything clearly from before that day?" I ask him and he pauses.

"What do you mean?" He asks me, and I see a light in his eyes, I have his attention.

"You visited me in the hospital at one point and then when I woke up, I had no recollection of anything," I say, and Arlen looks taken aback.

"I never visited you in the hospital, I washed my hands with you when I walked away that day," he says, and I strain to remember the memory. I can still hear the faint whispering of a male voice in my ear and the burning. He finishes his beer and walks away. Staring at his retreating figure, he disappears into a small house and I don't bother to follow. I finally have some of the answers I have been so searching for.

Trying to orient myself to which way is back to the city, I become exhausted again. Jumping up and down, I try to shake it off and quickly leave the beach behind. Slowly turning everything back on, my boots make a weird noise Checking my watch, I see that all my levels are normal. Slowing down slightly, I go to look at one of my shoes when I am flung clear across the sky. Spinning violently, I try to orient myself but when I finally do, I am dropping towards the water. Slamming my fingers onto my watch, it lets off the distress ding right before my back lights up in pain and I am sucked under the tide. Clamping my mouth shut, I try to swim and get to the surface, but I only end up flailing and sinking further. The world starts to go black and my chest burns.

Something grabs me and suddenly I am not in the water. We smash into the ground and I am dropped, vomiting up buckets of water. Saltwater drips into my eyes making them burn and I vomit again.

"What the hell happened to her boots?" I hear Aviva ask confused and I feel someone kneeling in front of me. Looking up to a soaked Orion, guilt consumes me.

"Are you okay?" He asks me while my shoe is ripped off my foot. Orion steadies me and I roll over onto my butt. Trying to catch my breath I see Aviva standing there with a perplexed look on her face. She is examining my shoe which is missing the entire sole and every part of the mechanism that would allow me to fly.

"I'm okay," I say, and I am surprised by the truth. I don't feel frantic or desperate, I can sort of think straight and my sole focus is on my boots. Ripping the other one off I flip it over and see that there are some metal shards that look twisted and torn.

"Zana, what the actual hell?" Aviva asks me confused.

"I was just flying and suddenly I was flung across the sky and crashed into the water," I say confused. I took such good care of my boots! It's not like they would have just fallen apart. I was too far away from Arlen for him to have done something too, I was halfway back to the city's edge.

"Give me the other one, I need to get the final data they held. Ion, can you take her home?" Aviva asks me exasperated. He sighs and helps me up.

"Thalia is about to rip your head off," he says seriously, and I cringe. I wasn't surprised by that, but I also can't pinpoint why I was so distressed and needed to leave at that moment. My emotions felt so frayed and unlike my own.

"That's to be expected," I grumble before we disappear.

First Greyson... now even Zana is acting a little strange. I wonder what could ever be the cause of that. All important things to remember as we go into the epilogue anddd the next book!

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XX Cc