There has always been something so elusive about the color black. It has no boundaries as to what it can match, or to whom it looks good. Black has a certain mystery to it, an untold story behind what it is or where it came from. Black can be anything to anyone. It can be alluring, deep as onyx, a black hole for one to fall into. Black can mean darkness, an unspoken surrender into the void of death itself. I have always found black to be an adventure, like an unexplored room, or the deepest parts of the ocean. The best way to reveal its secrets, the truth behind the curtain, is to dive in.
That's why when I see Liam's eyes, I hesitate. I want to allow myself to fall in, to simply let go of the guards I have set up and dive into the deep darkness in front of me. I find myself watching and waiting, if for no more than a second, for something to be revealed to me. Suddenly, his eyes are no longer what are before me, but a calloused palm. Darkness covers my eyes as someone wraps their hand in front of my head, snuffing out the allure I felt in Liam's eyes.
I let out an embarrassing yelp, and kick out until my foot connects with something. I hear a thud, and then a sound like someone trying to make a snow angel in the rubble. My legs throw themselves out again, and I flail the rest of my body to make it as hard as possible on whoever is dragging me. Eventually, I set my resolve and open my mouth, clamping my jaw down on the hand currently blinding me.
"Shi- for God's sake Leah it's me!"
I immediately drop my guard and allow my body to go limp. I release the hand and squint my eyes against the light that flows in once he stops blocking my vision. Jax paces in front of me, holding his hand and shaking it out a few times, checking if I broke the skin or not. "I swear if I get rabies-"
"Then it will be your own fault! You freaking attacked me!"
"I was trying to keep you from looking in his eyes!" Jax yells back, nodding his head to the now seizing Liam.
"Oh my God," I say as I run closer to Liam's seizing form, careful to avoid eye contact. His body jerks, starting at his core and then extending outward down his limbs. My knees scrape the ground, and once again I'm grateful for the textured knee protection that comes ingrained in the standard camo pants at the agency. A stray arm flails, smacking me across my thighs and brushing my abdomen. I latch my hands onto his arms, pushing them all the way down to hold his upper body still while slinging myself across his body and straddling his hips, using my legs to lock around his and hold them down. The end result is Liam face down on the ground, flopping like a fish with my curved form sitting on top of him. He thrashes a few more times, and then his eyes clear back to their usual pale gray and roll back into his head. His body loses all tension, relaxing completely on to the hard ground.
When I'm sure he's out, I slowly peel myself off of Liam's unconscious form. I grab onto his side, turning his light body over. Jax helps, and eventually, we have Liam laying on his back, his head turned to face me, eyes closed and mouth slightly open and covered with a white foam. Jax lets out a string of curses, opening one of Liam's eyelids and shining a light into it. When he gets no reaction, he shifts his weight onto his knees and leans forward, putting his ear to Liam's nose and putting two fingers to the boy's wrist. I watch, my whole body clenched in anticipation. The Agency will not be pleased if we lost Liam, and I honestly care for him. He's one of my friends, and one of the only people at the Agency that is close to my age.
I feel my teeth grind against each other, my knuckles white while I find myself holding my breath, lungs full to the brim with oxygen begging to be released. Jax finally breathes a short sigh of relief, and he brings his eyes to mine and nods. Liam's alive.
"Thank God," I mutter under my breath, releasing the air that I had been holding in a deep sigh, breathing fresh air into my lungs. I fight the sudden urge to cradle Liam's head and force myself to stand.
Jax mutters a few more curses while examining a wound on Liam's head, probably from his thrashing and smacking it on the rubble. He shakes his head, auburn locks falling into his eyes from the longer section of hair on the top of his head. I find myself still catching my breath, breathing hard and loud.
"What," my voice is small and shakey, "Was that? Did you see that? His eyes-"
"I know."
"They turned--"
"I know!" Jax shouts, his voice rumbling around the room. His golden eyes snap to mine before dropping back to the floor. "I saw it too."
"How is that even possible? There's no one here!" I wave my arms around for emphasis, gesturing to the empty room full of dust and rubble, with no life forms inside other than us. I whirl around to face him, almost losing my footing on the uneven ground.
"Not at the present moment, no. But we can't rule out the possibility that someone else is in the building with us in a different room, or maybe even watching us. We need to move." With that, he sweeps Liam's body into his arms and stands, his shoulder and arm muscles taught against the shirt.
My mind still reeling, I step closer to Jax and readjust Liam's head, hoping to make his sleep more comfortable. It's a pointless action, I know it is. But I can't help it, I want to help him. When I look back up, I find a pair of golden eyes staring into mine, soft as honey. Jax's expression is mixed, holding more emotions than he's letting on. But his eyes hold a familiar pull, a memory lost in nights past. They linger on my face, gazing into my eyes, tracing the slope of my nose, finally resting on my full lips. A shiver runs down my spine as his eyes trace the shape, outlining the arch of my top lip, and the full curve of my bottom lip. They hesitate there, lingering a moment too long to be platonic, before closing themselves behind his eyelids and hiding from the world. When Jax opens them again, whatever secret or memory they held is gone, like a vapor in a wind, or a secret whispered into an ear that has forgotten the sound of the voice. His honey eyes have returned to bronze, hardened and ready for whatever he might have to do if they encounter unwanted company.
"You are going to have to take the lead," Jax's voice is directly in my ear again, despite his lips being nowhere near it. "I won't have the focus for it while I'm carrying him and trying to keep us as silent as possible." He nods to the redheads sleeping form, his body curled into Jax's chest.
I give Jax a curt nod, and turn to analyze the exits. I lean myself against the door frame, looking down the continuous hallway that leads out of the briefing room. The map floats to the forefront of my mind, the layout of the building laid bare before my eyes. I trace the way we came, outlining it in an imaginary red, and follow it all the way to our current location. Then, I follow the hallway's path, watching as it leads out to a different exit than the one we came in. I blink a few times, focusing my vision on the real world, and look down the direction that we came from.
Light floods into the hallway from fallen bits of ceiling, the light of the sun filling as much space as it can. The rubble seems relatively undisturbed from when we came in, and I don't see anything unusual or any signs of an unwanted guest. My eyes fail me, but my gut does not. While I may not see anything, my intuition flares at the thought of walking down the path from which we came. For whatever reason, my gut tells me not to go this way, even though it's already been charted. I turn my head to the left, gazing down the other option. My previous studies with the map showed that there is an exit down this way as well, but we have no guarantees that it will not be blocked or destroyed by the fallen rubble. Despite the unknown and the darkness that seems to hold secrets untold, I feel drawn in this direction. For whatever reason, I know this is the way we need to go.
"We have to go to the left," I state, my voice even and strong, I turn my head to face Jax, my eyes locking onto his. He furrows his brows, a silent question held in his expression. "I can't explain it, I just know that we have to."
Despite my explanation being plain and vague, Jax nods his head, then gestures for me to start leading. I steel my gaze, resolution filling my body to the brim. I straighten my back and begin walking.
Without looking back, I plunge myself into the black.
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(A/N) Hey guys! Thank you to everyone who has read my book so far, I hope you're all enjoying!
If you guys have any comments please please PLEASE go ahead and comment on it! I would love to see what you guys have to say, good or bad or any questions I can help answer.
I love you all!!!
-Taylor
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