Band of Blackbirds (Book 2 in the Blackbird Trilogy) Read online

  Chapter Five

  Gabe flew through the crowd.I could barely keep up and felt like a white flag behind him in my long, glittery cape.No one noticed us or paid any attention.It was almost like we belonged there among all of those blonde haired people dressed in white with happy expressions on their faces.I was happy too, I had accidentally found Gabe, or actually he had found me.But I wasn’t happy for the Wall expansion, like the rest of Eutopia.I was happy that Gabe held my hand tightly again.

  In my stupor of happiness, I finally realized that we were headed back to where I had run from.

  “Gabe…”He didn’t hear me as my voice was lost to the flute-like music that filled the air.

  He stopped and turned to go up a flight of stairs and through the door I had escaped earlier from.

  “Gabe!”I yelled and stopped midway up the flight of stairs that led to the apartment.

  Gabe turned breathing heavy.His blonde hair curled with sweat over his eyes.“What?”He asked sharply.

  “I’ve been here…”

  “You’re back,” said the dark haired boy at the top of the stairs, “and with a guest.”

  He looked at me and smiled with raised eyebrows then motioned with his head to go up the stairs.

  “It’s better we get to my apartment and discuss everything there.”

  The boy vanished around the corner as Gabe looked back at me.I hesitated.

  “Em, it’s safe, I promise.”

  “But he was the one I was running from.How do you know we can trust him?”I asked as Gabe took a step upward and looked back at me.

  “--Because, he saved me from the guards that took Alicia-- I’ve been with him since I got here.He could’ve turned me in, but he didn’t.”

  I stood with crossed arms.Something didn’t feel right to me. I started to say something to Gabe when humming filled my ears.

  I tried to push it away, but couldn’t.The voice was powerful and gentle at the same time.For some reason as annoying as it was, it also had a comforting edge.I took a deep breath and let everything fade around me concentrating on it, trying to control the volume of it.I didn’t want it to take me by surprise like before.

  The amulet that sat next to my bare skin began to warm and felt electrified with something that reminded me of static electricity.The hair on my arms rose and like a quick, sudden gust of wind, the voice encircled me saying only one word—trust.

  I opened my eyes to see the dark blonde haired guy.His clear, light blue eyes gazed at me as if waiting for a response to something.

  “Does she do this a lot?” he asked Gabe with crossed arms sitting across from me.

  I didn’t realize, but Gabe sat next to me practically holding me up.I liked being next to him, I didn’t think I would be in his arms again.I wanted to savor it, but it felt uncomfortable with someone watching.

  “She’s a Receptor.We just found that out,” Gabe replied as my slightly numb senses wouldn’t allow me to speak yet.

  I closed my eyes again wishing the boy away and letting myself enjoy the closeness of Gabe’s arms.I never wanted to leave as the voice came back to me in barely a whisper.

  “Trust him Emily…he is one of us…he belongs.”The voice faded like a distant echo.

  I kept my eyes shut as Gabe ran his hand up and down my arm.I thought of what the voice had said.It is something that knows what is going on, like a watching entity that comes and goes.I wasn’t sure what it was or even if I could trust it, but I trusted Gabe.

  I opened my eyes fully and moved away from Gabe.

  “Sorry.”I apologized as Gabe pushed back my hair and tucked it gently behind my ear.

  “Are you alright?Can I get you anything?” the boy asked.

  He looked concerned.“No, I’m fine.”

  “What did the message say, Em?”Gabe asked.

  I looked at him for a moment as they both waited in suspense.“It’s a new one, not like a distress call.When I first got here it said not to take it to the Black Abyss because it didn’t belong in the Crystal City.”I looked at Gabe.“It also knew my name…it has different voices.”The thought of the thing knowing my name made my skin crawl.“Now it’s saying we should trust—what’s your name?”I asked looking at him.

  “My name is Ethan,” he said.“You are clever at escaping; I never thought I would fall for the second oldest trick in the book.”He pointed to the window that exploded with fireworks earlier and I had used as a diversion.

  “Before you took off I was going to introduce myself and tell you about Gabe here.He knew you were somewhere in Eutopia and when I found a girl in the forbidden zone; I thought that it must be the girl Gabe had told me,” he said and then burrowed his eyebrows.“What exactly doesn’t want to be taken to the Black Abyss?”

  I straightened and looked at Gabe as I cleared my throat stalling.

  “Ethan is with us Em.If it wasn’t for him I would be with Alicia.I have already told him everything,” Gabe said.“He knows who we are, where we come from… and about the amulet.”

  “Gabe and I had made a deal.”Ethan looked at me.“I would help him and he would help me escape.You see, I can’t remember my past as a child growing up.It is a blank spot in my memory that was affected when the Wall went up.I was found in the forbidden zone when they started expanding the Wall.I don’t remember any of it.My first memory is someone finding me and asking my name—I couldn’t tell because I didn’t know. That was about five years ago and since then I was kept in a Havenhouse—a place for parentless children.One day a recruiter came and chose me to train to be a scout.I excelled, but something never felt right.Not having any memories of a childhood have haunted me, and no one here can help.I believe now that I am not from within the Crystal City, but elsewhere.I think I have ties outside the Wall that I want to find.”He smiled slightly.“What I and the amulet say convince you now?”

  I felt the pendant under my shirt and gently stroked it with my fingers.Something so small that was so powerful, hung from my neck. It said to trust Ethan.The only thing is that I don’t trust the amulet yet, but I do trust Gabe.

  I gently stroked the amulet using my shirt as a buffer between my skin and it.Each time I connected with it, I felt more voices were speaking or trying to be heard.Each one different, like layers of sedimentary rocks, they all wanted to connect to me with different messages.

  “Can I see it?”Ethan asked breaking the pending silence that I was oblivious to.

  I stopped caressing the amulet and hesitantly pulled it out.Its blue-silver tone reflected the light brilliantly, as if it wanted to be seen.Ethan only leaned closer to examine it without touching it.

  “You say it knows your name and has different voices?”Ethan gave me a skeptical, but inquisitive look.

  “At first it was just whispers in Atlantis, but I can hear different voices and they’re disagreeing with each other.”

  “Humph, that is strange.” Ethan sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin with his fingers.His eyes were still studying the amulet I let dangle in front of me.

  “So where is this Black Abyss?”I asked resting my eyes on Gabe and breaking the awkward silence, “Ian is outside with a tribe of Outlanders.We have to save him, Gabe-” I knew I had to tell him sometime who Ian was to me.“He’s my brother.”My words were quick.I felt like I blurted them out as Ethan and Gabe looked at me.

  Gabe’s mouth dropped and he pushed away from me a little, almost like he didn’t believe me.I didn’t know how to tell him and with each minute that passed was time lost to save him.

  “Your what?” his voice was sharp, “How--”

  I took a deep breath and felt Ethan’s curious eyes on me.I looked at Gabe ignoring Ethan, and tried to imagine it was just Gabe and I.I took Gabe’s hand in mine.They were strong, like every muscle was thick and full of strength.Gently, I caressed them as his grey eyes penetrated through mine trying to read what I hesitated to say.

  I told Gabe everything that happened from the time I was captured and on the
Dragon clan’s ship.I told him how I stabbed David and went into the water with Ian and the portal that led us here.Gabe, and I know Ethan listened intently as I told them about my mother who was not only royalty, but an Unseen. I told them about Caleb, and how he knew that Ian and I shared the same father.

  “I am from here.My mother hid me from Eutopia because she didn’t want me to have the same fate only she died before she could complete her destiny and now I have inherited that destiny,” I said.“That is why I need to find the Black Abyss.”

  “I would take you to it, but no one knows where it is.Well, actually no one cares where it is and most Eutopians think of it as a myth.”Ethan got up and went to the window.“I have never been outside the Wall.”His voice seemed distant.“No one here cares what is beyond it, but I do…I believe I have family out there.”

  Ethan turned and looked at us.

  “We’re not going to find the Abyss by sitting here,” Gabe said.

  Suddenly, the door pounded with a frantic knock.

  “You get out!I know there are more of you in there.I don’t want trouble here with your kind!”I recognized it as the woman’s voice I heard earlier.

  “I’m paid through the end of the week!”Ethan said in a harsh voice.

  Something then skidded from under the door to rest in front of Gabe’s feet.He picked it up and handed the brown envelope to Ethan.

  “There, there is your money—refunded in whole.Now get out!”Her footsteps pounded down the stairs as we looked at each other.

  “Well at least she is honest about giving me my deposit back.”Ethan counted the oval, silver threaded money and stuffed it into his pocket throwing the envelope behind him.

  “Where do we go now?”I asked.

  Gabe tightened his fingers around mine as I looked at Ethan.

  “To get Alicia out,” Gabe said and stood up. “We don’t have much time left.”

  “Wait, there is something else—a girl I saw in the street just before you found me.”Gabe stood in front of me as Ethan put his coat on and looked around the room.

  “We need to get going,” Ethan said in a quiet voice.

  “They took her inside a tall building with arched doors…they screamed out that they wanted to purify Eutopia…she said something to me before they took her.She said ‘save us’ and she looked--”

  “She looked like one of the Outlanders—dark hair, eyes…” Ethan lowered his head and turned towards the window.“I’ve seen many go to be ‘purified’ by what the laws of Eutopia call murder.”He stood in front of me.“She was probably caught when the Wall expanded.Some Outlanders are found right away and others hide as best they can, but ultimately they are found.”

  “She asked me to save her--”

  “If you want to save her and her kind,” Ethan said, “then let’s get going or we will be joining her.”

  Eutopia was in a simple word--beautiful.Everything from the buildings to the people blended together in perfection.There was no trash on the street, no bums or anyone loitering outside the polished store fronts and each street we turned down, which was more like a large alleyway, everyone had the same pleasant expression that repeated over and over again.I also noticed that everyone was about the same age.I didn’t see any handicap people or elderly and no young children.It was a disturbed beauty that made me feel uneasy at the same time in awe of it. Even though I enjoyed looking at, it reeked with an underlining festering boil that couldn’t be seen, but felt.It was simply too perfect.

  “You can hear different voices?”Gabe whispered in my ear as we walked side by side.

  “Yes.The more I connect with it the more I hear,” I said as we passed the several blonde headed people all dressed in white, flowing clothes.“This place is creepy.”I barely whispered.“Why does everyone have blonde hair?”

  “Ethan said it is a mark of perfection.Everyone is the same and everything has its place,” he replied looking forward.

  “Yeah, but it isn’t normal.”I glanced at the smiling faces of the people that walked joyfully by practically skipping.“It’s still creepy.”

  Ethan was a few steps ahead and peered back at us to make sure we were still close by.

  “Maybe….it’s certainly clean…and very pretty.”Gabe’s eye glanced at a scantily dressed girl all in white that nearly blended in with her powdery skin.

  I looked at him with a crossed expression.“Really,” I wasn’t amused.

  “Yeah, the architecture, that’s what I was looking at,” I smiled as Gabe wrapped his arm around me. “And, I like to see you smile…everything will be alright Em.”

  Gabe always made me feel secure like everything was really going to be all right.He along with Alicia risked jumping into a portal that could have led them anywhere.I’ve never had true friends before.

  “So, how are we going to get Alicia out?”I asked in a low voice.

  “Ethan and I came up with a plan to break into the jail tonight.There won’t be as many guards on duty.”Gabe stopped walking as Ethan stood looking up at a tall building that started off as organized, grey stone then slowly turned into twisted, deformed icicle-like spires that glinted in the sun.

  “This is it.”Ethan announced.“You’re the daughter of an Unseen, you will go in first.”

  “What!” I exclaimed.“I don’t know the first thing about that.”

  “You don’t have to.The sensor there can pick that up.Don’t worry, we will be with you…and this will definitely beat breaking in and possibly getting caught.”His eyes shifted to Gabe.

  Alicia risked her life to save me.The least I could do is try to get her out.I looked up at the massive building like it was a laughing giant looking down on me.I took a deep breath and looked at Gabe.He smiled and then nodded his head slightly towards the double doors of rippled glass.

  “I am your accompanying Wall Guard and Gabe is our drunk disturbing the peace.”I looked back at Ethan questioning his excuse to get inside.

  “Trust me, it will work.Just play along.”Ethan stood behind me with Gabe beside him.

  I took a deep breath and went through the glass doors.

  People, mostly men, darted this way and that dressed in silver, mesh-like uniforms that reminded me of steel wool.Circular desks sat off to the side with S shaped, plastic-like chairs surrounded the desks, some with people in them and some vacant.Music played overhead, but couldn’t be heard over the multitude of voices littering the sweet smelling air.My eyes followed the white walls upward that ended abruptly and transformed into the thick rippling glass that I could see outside.It filtered the sun overhead and filled the whole space with soft light.

  “Go to the desk to your right.”Ethan whispered in my ear and then poked me in the side.

  I looked at the desk to see a young girl behind it looking at a clear glass tablet. I stepped closer and could see her blue eyes move from side to side reading something.

  “What do I say?”I whispered back at Ethan.

  “You’re escorting me and our disturber here to level ten,” Ethan said quickly.

  I kept my eyes on the girl and stepped to the front of the desk.She didn’t say anything at first, only kept looking at her tablet.

  “I need to go to level ten,” I said in a low voice.

  “What’s your clearance?”She asked, still not looking at me.

  “I am…I’m…”I tripped over my words then motioned back at Ethan.

  Her eyes lifted and met mine.Her face was rounded and her lips looked like she had them puckered for a kiss.She was pretty, but reminded me of distorted dolls with the exaggerated features.

  “If I may help the Unseen, she is escorting us to level ten.We have a disturber of the peace in the Princess Gardens.”

  I looked back at them as Gabe ignored my stare and winked at the girl slightly wobbling to appear drunk as he leaned on the desk.

  “I was looking for a princess and you look like you might be one.How about you and I…”Ethan suddenly pulled him back and away from the
desk.

  The girl half smiled at Gabe with her sultry eyes that glinted with curiosity.She arched her left eyebrow as the corner of her lips pointed upward like two sharp arrows.I wanted to look at Gabe that way, and maybe I did, but she had an aura about her that reeked with sexiness.And Gabe was looking at it.

  “We need to take him for processing first.”Ethan held Gabe by the back of his shirt.

  “Oh…processing…that sounds like fun maybe princess and I should try that later on.”Gabe played his role all too well.“What do you say?”He pulled himself from Ethan.“You’re too pretty to be in a place like this…maybe I could be your prince?”

  Ethan this time pulled Gabe back nearly knocking over a vase of flowers that sat on the corner.The girl quickly steadied the vase as I could see her cheeks flush.

  “Enough!”I turned to him with glaring eyes.

  Gabe shrugged his shoulders and flipped back his hair as he secretly winked at me.

  “Well, I still need your clearance,” she said looking up at me as she bent over and pulled another small, glass tablet with slender metal legs that barely lifted it from the desk.

  “Put your hand on it.”Ethan whispered in my ear as she pressed what looked like buttons along the side.

  “There it’s all ready.”She sat with her hands folded on the desk in front of her.

  She didn’t look at me, but kept her eyes on Gabe.I didn’t look at him, but she smiled several times flirting with Gabe.I felt his disturber-of-the-peace-act had gone a little far.

  I then placed my hand on the glass tablet and for a brief second it lit up and then faded.She motioned for me to take my hand off and then pressed some more buttons on it.

  “Thanks,” I said as she glanced up at me and then looked like something caught her eye.

  “Wait,” she said, “you forgot your badge.”She handed me a thin business card size, thin, plastic badge that had a hologram of some emblem in it.I clipped it on.

  I smiled at her as something caught her eye when she looked at my shirt.I then remembered that I forgot to put the amulet under my shirt.

  “Oh, your necklace,” my heart began to pound in my chest. “That’s pretty.I have to ask where you got it.That is if you don’t mind telling a Processer.”She leaned over and smiled at Gabe.

  Gabe smiled back and tried to loosen his grip from Ethan.“She got it from me and I can give you one too…if you want me to.”

  “Get going and shut –up.”I turned and looked at Ethan hoping he would lead the way to level ten.

  Ethan motioned with his eyes that I go first and then whispered what way to turn as we walked past several people until we came to a door down one of the long hallways.We went in and finally we were alone and in a darkened stairwell.

  “Put the amulet under your shirt.”Gabe stepped in front of me and pulled the neckline of my shirt out to let the amulet fall under it.“That could have cost us,” he scolded.

  “I could have done that.”I hissed rearranging my collar.“And I didn’t know it was out.”My voice slightly echoed in the stairwell.

  For the first time Gabe was angry at me.I could see it in his grey eyes that swirled like storm clouds.I was angry at him too and could feel tears sting the back of my eyes.

  “Where’s level ten?”I turned my attention to Ethan.

  “Well, we are on the first level…so ten flights up.”

  “We have better move fast then, Alicia can’t wait much longer,” I said jumping in front of Ethan as I let my hurt eyes pierce Gabe’s.

  “Em, wait,” Gabe grabbed my arm.

  I spun around and let my eyes that began to water, peer into his.He stood on the step below me and gently ran his hands up and down my arms.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.It’s just that we could’ve been caught and…if anything would happen to you…”

  “No, I should have paid attention.”I let my breath out and my anger faded as I wiped the tears from my eyes.I hated crying and much less when someone was looking.

  Ethan stepped behind Gabe and cleared his throat.“We really need to move and I know this is a touching moment and all…”

  “Alicia needs us.Let’s go.”I turned and led the way.I figured I wouldn’t get lost going up ten flights of stairs where each exit door was clearly marked as to what level we were on.

  Gabe was behind me as we made our way up each flight of stairs.In our silence, I thought of Alicia.She had risked her life too coming here, and I still didn’t know why she did.She had made it clear that she didn’t like me when I was in Atlantis, but I also know she struggled with her gift of healing as much as me with my Receptor abilities.She’s part of the Phoenix clan of the Alliance, the most gifted of each of the four clans.Only Alicia’s powers are too strong for her leaving her weak after she uses them. I didn’t want to waste any more time and went as fast as my feet would go.

  Finally, we reached level ten and I nearly burst through the door when Ethan stopped me.

  “We don’t want to make a grand entrance with swords drawn and screaming our battle cries.”His voice almost sounded amused.“We need to just go in normally—like we aren’t here to break someone out.”

  “Sorry,” I said, “just nervous.”

  Ethan grabbed hold of Gabe’s arm and motioned for me to open the door.

  “Go straight in and down the hallway.There is a door at the end.Go through that door and don’t make eye contact with anyone.Remember you are an Unseen and have a right to be here without question.”

  I walked in with Gabe and Ethan behind me.We were lucky that the stark hallway was empty and there was no one to stop us. I passed by each of the closed doors half expecting one of them to burst open, but they never did as I opened the door to another stairwell that led upward.

  The walls were made of smooth cement and curved almost into a spiral.Small blocks in the wall illuminated with a cool light.The passage was narrow and we had to go single file.

  “How far?”I asked.

  “Not much farther, I think.”Ethan replied.

  “What do you mean you think?”I stopped and turned to face him.

  “I’ve never been in this part. It’s called the eleventh floor and is not operational.If your Alicia is anywhere in this building it would be there.”

  “You mean you’re not sure?’I looked at him.

  Ethan stepped back slightly.“What do you suggest we do—go and ask where they’re keeping her?”

  “No, I thought you had a better idea where she was.”I looked up at the curving steps.

  “Times wasting, we need to keep moving.”Gabe said looking more at me.“Ethan would know Em.I’ve trusted him this far.”

  I looked back at him and then turned continuing to ascend and hopefully where they were keeping Alicia.

  The steps ended abruptly at a solid, metal door.I looked back at Gabe and Ethan.

  “Open it slowly.You still have clearance for everything.”Ethan tried to encourage me as I took a deep breath.

  I simply pushed the door open. There was no latch or knob.I found it strange that such a secluded place wouldn’t be locked up.The air was cool and our footsteps echoed in the large room.Gabe stepped in front of me as slivers of light cut the darkness like evenly spaced swords.

  Ethan walked beside Gabe and I was now behind them both as we crept like spiders across the gritty floor.Without warning, a light blasted overhead stopping us in our tracks.

  We looked around blindly trying to see who were around us.My heart raced as Gabe stood protectively in front of me.

  “Tell them you’re an Unseen.”Ethan whispered back at me.

  I looked at him with uncertainty and swallowed hard.

  “I’m an Unseen,” I held up my badge and circled around so whoever was there could see, “I’m bringing a prisoner.”

  My words echoed with no reply.We stood in silence looking at each other when more lights blinked on.The long room was brightly illuminated.I looked around to see who was there, but found the room
empty.A cell with liquid-like walls, several feet away, reflected a person behind it. I could see their dark hair and slender figure.I thought it might be Alicia, but it was hard to tell from the distortion of the rippling wall.

  “You’re not bringing me your lover as your prisoner, are you Emily?”A voice asked.

  I stood holding my breath as footsteps, slow and precise came closer to us.From behind the rippling wall, a silhouette appeared.He came closer wearing a long black coat, dark hair and a patch over his left eye.He smiled and came closer fixed solely on me.

  “David?”I recognized it as him, but questioned myself in disbelief.

  “Nice to see you again, unfortunately, I can only see your lovely face with one eye.”He smirked slightly as he tilted his head to the side.

  “How did you get here?” Gabe asked looking at him. “And what did you do to Alicia?’

  David glared slightly at Gabe as he stepped closer to us.

  “Alicia is fine; you three are not going to be so fortunate.And as far as me getting here, don’t you remember Gabe?”He smiled slightly at Gabe.“I was always talking about other worlds and why the Alliance never investigated them, but as I realized how much the Alliance has and what they aren’t doing with it, gave me an idea.All that magic and no one using it--”His voice was low as he stood in front of Gabe, “I asked you several times to join me, but you chose someone else.”He nodded towards me without meeting my eyes in disgust.

  “I thought you were just talking, not serious.We took an oath to the Alliance to protect and honor all before us…not to let their lives be lost in vain.”Gabe stared at David.

  “I never just talk and I’m serious.”He took a step back, lifted his gloved hand and motioned with his fingers as footsteps came from behind him.“And all of those who died protecting the Alliance’s treasure were stupid to not take advantage of it.”

  “You get the girl and I will handle the boys, understand?’David said in a calm, even toned voice to the girl that stood beside him.I looked at her and realized she was the same girl at the desk several floors below us and had given me my pass.

  Her puckered lips curled into a smile that reminded me of a fat rosebud opening quickly from the effects time lapse photography.She nodded in agreement as Ethan and Gabe pulled their daggers out only to be hurled through the air by David’s extended arms.

  “Really, I don’t want to hurt you Gabe, and I do forgive you.”Gabe flew through the air and slammed into the wall across the room from the invisible control of David’s extended finger.

  Ethan was pinned against the wall like a limp doll.I looked back at Gabe as blood ran down the side of his cheek.

  “Stop!” I yelled as I tried to lunge at David.

  The blonde haired girl let out an animalistic growl and pounced on me like a lioness protecting her young.I was pushed to the ground as she bared her teeth and held me by my arms.Her eyes widened and her face became even more rounded with a forehead that protruded with glittering, silver scales.Her hair curled like each strand of hair was a golden serpent waiting for her command.In the matter of seconds her human-like appearance changed into something that crossed between a demon and an angel.

  Suddenly, I could feel the amulet burn on my chest.The girl’s strength increased and something inside of me gained strength as well.I thought of David hurting Gabe and Alicia.I felt my insides change like the rocks beneath the surface of the Earth being compressed and heated and ultimately changed into something else.Strength filled my muscles and fear evaporated like it had boiled out of me.

  “Get off of me!” I yelled through clenched teeth as I shoved the girl through the air.

  Still lying on my back, I waited for her to land on me, but she only went higher.

  I looked into her wide, surprised eyes as her flaying arms made her look just like an angel being propelled through the air.Suddenly, her body stopped and went limp as one of the long, slender spikes that protruded from the ceiling, ran through her like a pushpin.Red blood seeped through her clothing as her arms dangled and her opened, empty eyes stared down at me.

  All I could do was look in awe at her lifeless body.I then thought of Gabe and hoped the same strength was still in me as I got up and jumped on David’s back.

  I put my hands around his neck as the amulet burned on my flesh almost angering me.David grabbed hold of me and flipped me over his head to the hard ground with a slam.The air was released from my lungs and I gasped trying to let a single breath in as he kicked me in the ribs.I curled in pain as the strength I had felt seeped from every pore leaving weakness in its place.

  I tried to get up and save Gabe and Ethan, but my body was paralyzed and all I could do was hear Gabe scream out in pain and curse David’s name.