57 Can I Really Leave?

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

I am beyond excited to make both of my big announcements at the same time. The first is I was accepted into the Wattpad Stars Program! I've wanted so badly to be a part of this from the moment they announced the program last year around this time of year.

Secondly, my story, Of Sirens and Beasts, won the Once Upon Now contest! It's going to be published in an actual book on October 11th! My story is included with stories by these lovely ladies: BrittanieCharmintine, Fallzswimmer, JesseSprague, liveandlove10, tasting_stars, rskovach, Christine_owen, JessicaBFry, tamoja! I wouldn't be able to make either of these announcements if it weren't for you! So a humongous thank you! If you'd like, you can add the Once Upon Now Anthology to your bookshelf on Goodreads. I'll include the link as the external link for those reading on a computer.


Iris~~

The Society does not take the news well.

They're scared and paranoid of what will happen next. Those feelings only increase when two more Amoris are reported missing.

They're more unsettled about the Amoris being taken than about Jonas, their Preeminence.

They're convinced Earth would not be able to handle the knowledge of their existence, and that when Erik reveals what they are to the world that there will be riots, looting, arson. Not only in Elleany but all across Earth.

But most of all they worry what the world would do to them. Not just the Amoris but any of Society member when the public learns how much Amorian blood flows through them compared to the human kind.

My suitcase still lies open on my bed. Nothing new has been added to it since this morning. I don't know how I can be expected to pack when the rebels have the Expired Preeminence.

The rebels were my family. I know them. I know their hatred for the Order, and that in their eyes, Jonas is their perfect punching bag . . . until they go too far and kill him. They wouldn't even intend for it to happen.

They'd celebrate anyway.

Colton has been below the Estate questioning the rebels. He alleges he hasn't gotten to the torturing part of his interrogation, but I have a feeling we have different opinions on what constitutes torture.

Whenever I offer the Society my help, I'm turned away. They only want what I can tell them about the rebels, but since I don't know where their base is, the Society deems me useless. I pick up a shirt from the pile on my bed, intending to force myself to fold it when there's a knock on my door.

"Iris? It's Abella and Alix," the princess's voice says. "May we come in?"

Royalty visiting me . . . any other day I would find it remarkable, but today I can't bring myself to care that they have fancy titles.

I open the door. "Hi. Yes, please come in."

"Merci," Alix says as they walk past me, their heads turning toward my suitcase.

I shut the door. "What can I do for you?"

Abella frowns, looking at her brother. "With everything that's happening, we've decided we need to return to France early."

Alix again glances at my suitcase. "Tonight. Can you be ready?"

It's like I've been punched in the stomach, the air knocked out of me. "Tonight?"

Abella grimaces, threading her hands together. "I know it's rather abrupt, but our father is not in the best of health. As his heirs, the situation here has escalated too much for us to remain. We do not have Expiration Dates as you do to keep us alive."

"Believe me," the prince says, "we wish we could remain and help. Jonas is our friend. It kills us not to be able to, but we have to think of our own country."

I press the side of my hand against my mouth, feeling the world shrink even as it expands.

I've been set on France, mentally preparing myself for a life outside of Elleany, studying French well into the night.

Staying in Elleany means constantly living with the fear that an Amoris will discover I'm Expired. Jonas assured me there'd be no future for the two of us even if I stayed. Originally, I'd have to watch him marry an Amoris, have children, live his own life. And so France was my target. How could it not be?

I could live with seeing Jonas happy with someone else.

I could live in fear of an Amoris discovering my secret.

What I couldn't live with is leaving Jonas in the hands of the rebels.

How could I ever allow myself forgiveness if I did that?

I have to save him.

And then maybe I can go to France. If that's still an option.

But all that matters right now is bringing him home. Alive.

"I'm sorry, but I can't come with you. Thank you for everything though."

Frowning, Abella nods. "I understand. Find him. They don't know how lucky he is

to have you."

Alix places his hand on his sister's shoulder. "You'll always be welcome in France."

A few minutes after they've left my room, I receive a call from Seong-ho. "They've contacted us."

*****

I meet the Order and Brydan in Gwen's office. Seong-ho isn't present.

Gwen had this space before she took Erik's place and so everything is arranged to her taste. The chair she sits in behind her marble-topped desk is white and throughout the room are silver accents, a favorite color of the Society. Gwen massages the sides of her head. "They sent it by email."

Eli snorts. "Intimidating."

Gwen raises her eyes that are the same color as her twin's and Jonas's. Her stare is pure ice. "In exchange for Bently's mother, they want us to make Marks optional and want the three rebels we have prisoner."

Percy crosses his arms, leaning against the wall beside a painting of splotches of gray and purple. "All for one person?"

"That person is an Amoris, and they know that. That's the issue."

"But they have two other Amoris," August says. "Unless it's all three of them, meeting their demand is pointless. They can still expose the Amoris."

Gwen closes her eyes, her forehead scrunching as she leans her elbows on her desk and rests her weight on them. "I have a team trying to determine where the email was sent from, but I can't imagine they'd send it from one of their own computers." She opens her eyes to look at her brother. "Have the identities of the prisoners been determined?"

Arms crossed, Colton nods. "Facial recognition ID'd them days ago, but their addresses are all in different cities."

Gwen's lips scrunch up to the side. "Are you able to see the location of where their faces most show up in photos?"

Sebastian leans against the wall beside Percy. "It takes time. We've had people working on it since before Jonas was even taken, but there's a lot of machine error."

Percy presses his lips into a thin line.

Gwen's eyes narrow. "What?"

"We still wouldn't know where in the city their base is."

"It'd be faster to torture them," Colton says.

Dropping my chin, I sigh. "I'm not sure it would. I was trained to withstand torture, and I'm sure these rebels were trained similarly. By the time you get something out of them . . ." Jonas could be dead. "Well, we might have already been able to get a lead on the base's location. They like to make their bases as almost undetectable as possible. And most that I've heard of are underground." Like my uncle's bunker of weapons in Nevada.

Colton scowls. "So, it's underground and undetectable. I'm failing to see why torture would be slower."

"They have to put entrances somewhere. Once you know the city, look at security cameras. See where people are going into a building and not coming out. It will take time, but you're the Society. You have a lot of eyes at your disposal."

Gwen wets her lips, glancing at her computer screen. "Shouldn't you be getting ready to leave?"

"I'm not going. Not yet."

The room falls silent, my words hanging there between all of us.

Do they think I'm foolish? Lovesick? Pathetic?

Enzo, the Douze, looks at Gwen and breaks the silence, "Did they give a time when you have to respond by?"

"Three days for us to make the announcement or they broadcast they've captured Jonas and reveal his Expiration Date and the existence of the Amoris."

"And what about the Rosens?" Eli asks.

"I'm questioning them in an hour." August rubs his jaw. "I don't think I'll get anything."

Gwen rubs her thumb against the side of her computer screen. "Let's see if they can determine what city, and, Colton, you should continue questioning the rebels, but I'd say hold off on the torture for just today. They won't break easily, but if we can at least get the name of the city, then you can target your questions and your . . . technique."

Colton's jaw clenches. "Does everyone else think I should wait? Isn't time of the essence?"

"We could take a vote," she offers, and they agree to that suggestion. As they see this as an Order matter, Brydan and I are not allowed a vote, but in the end, the majority of the Order sides with Gwen.


You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net