My Savior's Secret

Chapter 10

I stayed up past midnight with my laptop open in bed, attempting to find my own sources for the news I’d accidentally seen yesterday. What were volyrs? Were they rabid? What species were they? I had ten tabs open on different types of birds, but nothing came close to what I’d vaguely seen in the footage. Nothing on volyrs. It was a term, an animal, that was born and hidden in Etheria.

There was nothing on VDA either. Or nothing about Etheria in general. Was there some special database or virtual private network exclusive to Etherian citizens?

I might as well be wasting my time. Based on what I’d heard, VDA was some type of animal control system. Was that what my parents had cracked their skulls open for, for more than 20 years? This creature that had run them to the ground?

Randine had made it clear over dinner that the VDA wasn’t transparent to the public. Seeing those black-armoured people, the VDA exuded mystery like that of the FBI. He’d said I was lucky to listen in. As if I got anything valuable from it. The Weverins had kept mute when I brought it up over dinner today.

I shut my laptop and lifted the pocket-watch hanging on my necklace. The bronze flap was oldened by scratches, dull in luster, the clock inside dead. Why did they always give me things I couldn’t throw away?

My next visit to the forest was weird. Unexpected apprehension overtook my body before I entered the trail, scanning the trees as if something dangerous lurked inside. Still, what difference did it make if I lost my life? The world wouldn’t quake without me.

I plugged in my earphones and went in.

The trench coat was gone on the tree, so Ausmane must’ve come by. I went to the glade as usual. Clouds filled the sky, not a ray of sun over the grass proving that a glade without sunlight was empty. I went back in. A remote, inexplicable feeling in my gut told me I wasn’t alone in the forest, which heightened the deeper I went.

I followed my instinct and returned to the stream. The water sloshed gently against the boulders, and I followed alongside it, up rocky walls, deeper into the forest. The trees clustered closer, and large rock structures rose. Past the trees was a small, circular clearing, and inside was an aquamarine waterfall which flowed to the stream.

More mossy boulders surrounded the falls, but as I didn’t expect but wasn’t surprised to see either, one was occupied. A dark mantle hung from the occupier’s back, veiling the rock and clumping on the ground. The stranger flung a rock into the water and it skipped thrice before sinking.

His voice ascertained his presence.

“Who’s the one stalking who?” Did he have eyes at the back of his head? I removed my earphones and tied them around my phone. “Don’t say you happened to see me. It’s getting old.” The nerve of him to pretend as if I’d used that excuse.

Bottling every deviant thing that had happened between us and chucking it to the netherworld, I marched towards him and put my hands on my hips. “Tell me your name.”

“What if I don’t?”

“I’ll never see you again.”

He turned his head enough to catch me from the corner of his eye. He wasn’t wearing a mask. “Good for you.” The dominant jade in his eyes flood my head with everything that had happened last time.

I crossed my arms across my chest. “No, because I have things to ask you.”

“You’re quite needy.”

“This time, I need you to especially not care and forget I ever asked anything.”

“Oh? Why is that?” God, I hated his sarcasm. He made everything I said sound dumb.

“Tell me your name first.”  

“You already know it.” I went slack-jawed, and he jumped down the rock, boots creating a thud. “I heard you.” I didn’t even say the name in full. His ears must be ultra fine-tuned. Other than messing with me, he didn’t seem to care at all. He picked another flat rock from those scattered around. “What’s your next stupid question?”

My eyes dropped to the hem of his airy cloak. “Doesn’t you mantle get dirty?”

“Next question.”

Pleased by his willingness to even hear the next, I crouched at the water edge. “Is this the north? This forest?”

He gave me a puzzled look. “You ask the weirdest things.” He swung the rock farther into the lake. “It’s stretches to the north, but no. This part of the forest is closer to the city.”  

The rock skipped five times, the last ripple ending near me before dying down. I looked over the edge into the placid, undulating water from the waterfall.

I grazed the cool surface. “Do you know about volyrs?”

The rock he threw made a single loud splash. Guess he chose a bad one. “How do you know about volyrs?” I looked back at him. His brows were strewn together. Firm. Suspicious.

“I saw them on the news,” I replied, curious at never seeing him this serious.

He didn’t look happy when he foraged for another rock. “It’s impossible to hide now that they’re coming into the city.”

“Don’t you work for the VDA?” His shot me a frigid look, one that made my form falter and hold the ground for balance. Broody Ausmane didn’t bode well. “I didn’t mean to pry, I swear. Randine told me about Elliot and the VDA, and you came up.” That wasn’t entirely true, but it was best to keep that rancor in his face to a minimum.

“What do you know?” he demanded.

“I don’t know what you do, or even what VDA does,” I said. “I didn’t care before I saw that video, the news or whatever. I just want to know how much danger I’m in by being here.” How close I was to defying my mother’s wishes.

A few tense seconds went by, and his eyes relaxed. “Stay in the mansion. They rarely make it to the clan communities.”

“Why?”

“They’re heavily guarded. The clans are entitled shits.”

I refocused on the water and mumbled, “You’re calling my entire family shit.” Surprised I bothered to defend them, I bunched my hair to one side and leaned further. A reflection of my face surfaced.

Wavy dark hair, almond-shaped eyes that always seemed ghostly, pointed nose, ruddy lips that spoke as they desired, slender jaw joining my long neck where my necklace disappeared into my sweater. Did I really look like my mother?

A ripple from the rock Ausmane tossed distorted the reflection.

“Leave Etheria,” he said. “Sooner the better.” I ignored him and leaned in further. He didn’t have to tell me leave, especially with that tenacity. He leapt to a rock closer to me, lowering with elbows on his knees. “Might want to get back or you’ll fall right in. You have a knack for falling.” First telling me to leave and now making fun of me?

“I can’t wait to see you fall one day,” I muttered.

“I can’t wait to see you climb.”

Shock colored my face. “Really?”

He narrowed his eyes as if to seriously consider it. Then they changed, becoming light with mischief. “How about this? I’ll answer another question if you climb a tree.”

“Can it be any question?” He raised an eyebrow as if to give me the option to bail, which was all the more encouragement. “You're on."