Allyra stared at him – into those violet eyes, and she felt that this might be the first moment of honesty he’d ever given her.
“You always have a choice Jason.” Allyra said softly. “I believe that. I believe that we have a choice at every point in life, even though there are times the choices we make have consequences we might not like. It’s our responsibility to walk through life and tread gently, causing as few ripples as possible.”
Her words seemed to only bring him more anguish and he turned from her, closing his eyes. Allyra hovered over him for a moment, but as his breathing steadied and lengthened, she made to get up again. As quiet as she’d tried to be, her slight shift in weight was enough to wake him and his voice followed her as she walked away.
“I never understood it – I never understood how he fell in love with you so quickly.”
She froze and turned to look at him. His eyes were on her, his gaze surprisingly clear and intense for someone so drunk.
“But now – I think I finally understand.”
He turned in the bed and closed his eyes, and a second later he was snoring gently. Under sleep’s spell, his face was relaxed and peaceful, his skin as pale as dawn.
He looked young and vulnerable.
Allyra fought the urge to shake him awake, to ask him to explain himself.
There were secrets everywhere.
Chapter 35 – Allyra
Despite Jason’s night of excess, he was up before Allyra. Of course he would be one of those annoying super humans that never felt any ill effects.
The day dawned bright and fresh and without being told, she knew – it was today – the third Trial.
One of the anonymous Cleaners, her face obscured by the silver mask arrived to lead her through the beautiful College gardens.
She hadn’t much opportunity to take in the gardens of the Elemental College but there was something about the possibility of impending death that made her slow down and study the beauty around her.
The gardens were in full bloom and were a strange mixture between wildness and ornamental. Stranger still was the fact that it was full of plants and trees that shouldn’t have thrived in the cool mountain climate.
Fever trees, with their distinctive green bark and treacherous white thorns.
And paper bark trees – with shorter thorns but just as distinctive with their sweeping canopies and bark with the appearance of peeling off the tree.
Dispersed amongst the trees were the classic Cape fynbos, which even included a rare flowering queen protea, truly a royal amongst plants. It was too early in the season for the notoriously difficult plant to be flowering, but it flourished with Gifted intervention. The indigenous plants were mixed in with the classics – roses, lilies, tulips and lavender.
It was an explosion of color, one that shouldn’t exist and probably didn’t anywhere else in the world. Somehow it all came together with mesmerizing beauty.
Like a prisoner headed to the guillotine, Allyra drank it all in – the beauty, the sweet smell of flowering plants and the sound of bees and birds all around her.
Her guide led her through the garden, through a tunnel of trees, forming a canopy so solid that it was as dark as night. They emerged on the other side under the shadow of the mountain, in front of the entrance to the Great Hall.
They walked through the doors into the foyer, but instead of entering the Great Hall, the Cleaner led her to the side into a long corridor, where, according to Jamie she’d been held while she was in the Between.
They came to a stop at a random door and her guide gestured for her to go through. Allyra didn’t bother questioning it – she’d quickly learnt that asking a Cleaner anything was a fruitless exercise.
Jamie and Rob were waiting for her. With uncharacteristic haste, Rob rushed forward and she fell into his arms, hugging him fiercely.
Jamie hung back and she approached him tentatively, holding her hand out to him. He gave her a brief smile, but made no move to come to her.
Rob looked between them, a crease between his eyes. “What’s up with you two?”
Then he shook his head. “Forget it, we don’t have time for your melodramatic angst right now.”
“What are you doing here?” Allyra asked.
“You’re allowed to spend the day with friends and family. We volunteered.” Rob replied, slinging his arm over her shoulders.
“Well I wouldn’t want to take up too much of your precious time.” She replied, sarcasm dripping.
Rob buried his face in her hair and planted an obscenely loud kiss on her head. “I’m so glad that none of this has dented your sparkling cynicism.” He said fondly.
Allyra rolled her eyes, but didn’t miss the furtive look that the brothers shared.
Their communication was silent and practiced and so completely flawless that she felt like a stranger when confronted with it. But she wasn’t completely new to the language. She recognized the look as one that all Thiessen siblings had worn at one time or another. It meant only one thing; they were deciding whether asking for forgiveness was better than asking for permission.
She pulled out a chair and sat down deliberately, casting an irritated glance at them. “You might as well spit it out.”
Rob sat down in front of her. A shiver worked itself down her spine at the uncharacteristic seriousness of his expression.
“We have a plan to get you out.” He said.
She furrowed her brow. “What?”
“We don’t have a lot of time. Long story short – there’s a group of Gifted who are working against the current Council. Our parents were part of the group, so was your father. Now I’m working with them. They’re called The Rising and we have a plan to get you out.”
Allyra turned to Jamie, “You knew about this?”
Without looking at her, he shook his head, glaring at Rob. “No – my family decided I couldn’t be trusted with
