The awakening, p.16
The Awakening, page 16
part #1 of Eve Series
and make it happen. I can’t just melt an injury… or death.”
She breathed in deeply before she continued, the words tasting bitter as they
left her lips.
“What I’m trying to say is that, I can’t just… kill someone. At least, not directly.
Stop their heart from beating, snap their neck…” Her voice trailed off.
“Nothing like that.”
“Oh.” It was Jason’s turn to be quiet, and he looked away. “Have you…
tried?”
“Of course not!”
“Then how do you know?”
Eve paused for a moment, almost unsure of the answer. “I don’t,” she finally
said. “And I don’t want to know, either.”
“So, what you’re saying is, you won’t hurt or kill someone, but you really don’t know if you can or can’t?”
Eve stared at Jason, her back suddenly stiff and her eyes glossed over with a
look of emptiness—of complete disconnection.
“Let’s change the subject, shall we?”
***
Rutherford Hall wasn’t much farther. Eve could see her balcony in the
distance—the light in her dorm room was off, and maybe, just maybe Madison was already asleep, dreaming about diamonds and couture or whatever else her
heart desired. Eve tried to remain optimistic—it was a change from her typical
mindset, but today’s tutoring session had left her feeling the slightest bit encouraged. Never had she ever been able to share her gift with anyone, aside
from her small feather trick with Armaan, and though her opinion of Jason
was far from decided, the arrangement itself was starting to feel a little less like a burden. He was intrusive— God, was he intrusive—but he was witty, and even kind. Yes, maybe Jason wasn’t so bad, and maybe Billington University
was the right decision after all. She rarely allowed herself to let go of her stressors, but she was beginning to think she could see a faint light at the end of
the tunnel.
As she opened the door to Rutherford Hall, that light quickly flickered out.
In front of her stood Heather, Hayden, and Madison, all three with their hands
planted firmly on their hips as if ready for battle. Madison stood in the center
as the leader, her pose threatening and her eyes filled with rage.
“You suckgasmic ASS-sack!” she spat, lunging toward Eve.
Hayden squealed and clapped her hands, entranced by the fuss in front of her.
Heather remained silent, but a devilish smile spread slowly across her lips.
Eve staggered backward. “What is this? What the hell is going on?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Madison barked.
“Tell you what? What are you talking about?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb with me, you stupid little shit.”
“Jesus Christ, Madison, what the hell is wrong with you ?”
The heiress thrust her face forward, close enough for Eve to taste her hot, foul
breath. “I know, Eve.”
“You know what?”
Madison bit her lip and balled her manicured hands into tight, quivering
fists.
“I know you’ve been seeing Jason.”
CHAPTER 5: THE LACE PANTIES
“Wake up, slophole.”
Eve groaned and opened her eyes. Madison hovered above her bed, her arms folded, her gaze as critical as that of a disapproving parent. A week had passed
since their confrontation in Rutherford Hall, but the heiress’s resentment was still fresh and lingering, much like the scent of her overpowering perfume.
The two girls had hashed out their differences with as much maturity as
Madison could muster—which was hardly any at all—and the busty blonde had
reminded Eve of her supposed betrayal every day since. Time heals all wounds
—it was a common saying, but apparently Madison was unfamiliar with it, for
with each passing day she wasted no time reopening the wound and jabbing at
it with all of her verbal might.
“God, Eve, I don’t know how you expect me to ever trust you again,”
Madison whined as the usual threesome marched toward the business building.
Eve rolled her eyes; the torture seemed never-ending.
“I mean, how could you keep such a huge secret from me? These private
rendezvous with the Jason Valentine— my Jason Valentine—”
“Hold it right there—‘private rendezvous?’” Eve interrupted. “I told you a thousand times, I’m tutoring him. It’s as simple and boring as that.”
“How do I know if I can even believe that?”
“You can’t. She has secrets. Who knows what else she’s hiding?” Hayden snarled.
“Shut up, Hayden,” Madison grumbled. “Look, Eve—if that is, in fact, your real name—if your connection to Jason is as simple and boring as you claim it to be, then why cover it up? Why the lies?”
Madison had a point—she was smarter than she appeared. God, Eve hated that about her. Even more than that, she hated the deceit—the excuses, the fiction, the lies on top of lies on top of lies. Was the guilt and worry an appropriate price to pay for some peace and solitude? After all, she felt far from peaceful;
in fact, she felt as if the whole campus was watching her, waiting for her to slip, to fall, to come clean. She asked herself: is it worth it?
Yes. It is.
“Answer me, Eve.”
She couldn’t answer. Not because there was no answer to give, which
certainly was the case, but because her mind had been transported elsewhere—
about ten yards away, to the front of the business building, where a small swarm of students had begun to form. They huddled in clumps, their eyes
panic-stricken and mouths racing, producing an incoherent jumble of words that Eve couldn’t decipher. It was gossip, most likely—petty, inconsequential ramblings as was typical across campus—but the paleness of their skin told her
that something was terribly wrong.
A tiny body wriggled its way from the group and glared at Eve; she had been
caught staring, her gaping much more obvious than she had intended. Even
worse, it was JJ who had noticed.
“Did you need something?” JJ glowered.
“What’s going on?” Eve asked.
JJ raised her eyebrows. “I’m surprised you haven’t heard. Guess the news
hasn’t traveled up to your pedestal yet, princess.”
“Look, as much as I love the ridicule, an answer would be nice.”
JJ looked straight through Eve, consumed with so much more animosity
than usual—with hate. Her lips parted slightly before she spoke, and in that moment Eve sensed the slightest hint of fragility.
“Another chimera was dissected.”
Like a punch to the gut, the words left Eve breathless, motionless, and
stunned. She had forgotten the Interlopers, having been distracted by bickering
blondes and tutoring duties, as if such disturbances took precedence; but there
was a war going on, all across the planet—and Billington was the eye of the storm.
“Is he—”
“She’s alive, but barely. Her chest was sliced open, just like that Jason guy.”
Eve choked slightly, her face flushed and body hot. “God—”
“Do I detect some compassion?” JJ sneered. “And here I thought all
Rutherfordians were soulless. How utterly human of you.”
Eve didn’t speak. Instead, she stared at the ground as she thought of the Interlopers, of chimeras, of people like her being ripped to shreds, of their screams and suffering at the hands, or talons, of such calculated cruelty.
A quick slap to the arm awoke her from her spell—it was Madison, of
course, accompanied by Hayden, the two girls waiting less than patiently for their withdrawn third member.
“You done?”
JJ laughed, looking over the two blondes without a hint a subtlety. “Is this your gang?” She rolled her eyes. “Figures. Three pretty harpies all in a row.”
Madison tugged at Eve’s arm, dragging her away from JJ and through the
double doors of the business building. And just like that, Eve was welcomed
back to the pedestrian reality of her daily life—the pitiful triviality of being a Rutherfordian.
“Who was that?” Madison snorted.
“Yeah, and why did she call us all herpes?” Hayden mumbled.
“Is she another secret friend? God, I hope not. Did you see what she was wearing?”
Eve ignored their prattle. “Did you hear about the abduction? I had no
idea…”
“Who cares? What, have your dates with Jason turned you into a chimera sympathizer?”
Eve yanked her arm from Madison’s grip and glared at her dorm mate. “I’ve
already explained myself to you, and I won’t do it again. I’m tutoring Jason, and that’s the end of it. From this point forward, we’re going to forget about
the whole thing and move on.”
“You would like that, wouldn’t you?”
A voice chimed in from behind Eve. Reluctantly, she turned to face the smug
grin of Heather McLeod.
Eve didn’t bother to mask her revulsion; it was, after all, Heather who had divulged her meetings with Jason. Just some common sense and a bit of digging
around was her method of uncovering the truth, or so she’d boasted between self-satisfied smirks.
Eve scowled. “What do you want, Heather?”
“Me?” Heather pointed to herself, innocently. “Well, I don’t want anything.
I’m just saying, how can we move on if we know you’re not telling the truth?”
“Yeah, my point exactly,” Madison snapped.
“Oh, for God’s sake, Madison, you don’t even like Heather.”
“Another lie! God, Eve, you don’t quit, do you?”
“What I don’t understand is this,” Heather continued. “How can you possibly
be tutoring Jason? I mean, you’re a freshman and he’s a sophomore, after all.”
“This is college. There are plenty of sophomores in my classes.”
Heather offered another patronizing smile. “That may be true, but Jason
Valentine isn’t one of them.”
And with that one statement, everything changed. The hallway grew smaller,
darker, and suffocatingly enclosed. Heather looked so harmless with her pearl
headband and polka dot dress, but within her eyes was a dangerous deceit.
“You see, volunteering at the medical ward has its perks. I have access to all
sorts of documents and records, though I use the term ‘access’ loosely. I found
your entire class schedule right away—sort of surprised to learn about Hand-
to-Hand Combat, if I do say so myself.”
“Don’t get me started. So gross,” Madison muttered under her breath.
“Of course, I had to compare it to Jason’s schedule. The funny thing is, he
doesn’t have a single class with you.”
Madison and Hayden gasped, and their mouths dropped open in unison. Eve
clenched her jaw tightly, her entire body suddenly consumed with contempt.
“That doesn’t—”
“Mean anything?” the redhead interrupted. “You’re right, it doesn’t. You
could simply be tutoring him in a topic that happens to be your area of
expertise, a possibility I naturally considered. It makes sense—you did get into Billington solely on smarts, right Eve?” She winked and chuckled to herself.
“But I compared your majors and curriculum, and the answers I uncovered
were rather disconcerting. You’re a business major, and our Mr. Valentine?
Why, he’s majoring in political science, a concentration you haven’t a single vested interest in.”
“We’ve all seen him in the business building—”
“On his way to Leadership Development, a course required of all
sophomores and one you’re certainly unqualified to tutor for as a freshman.”
Heather folded her hands together. “And so, it appears we’ve come full circle,
haven’t we?”
Eve paused, her mind inundated with facts—facts that were most certainly
true. Facts that Heather had meticulously investigated, and for what purpose?
Eve felt her temperature rise and her face redden.
“Well, you’ve obviously done your homework, Heather.”
“I’m anything but imprecise.”
“You’re anything but mentally stable.”
Heather giggled, pleased with Eve’s obvious anger. “How do you explain all
of that, Eve? I mean, how can you tutor someone if you don’t even have the
same classes, much less the same major?”
Eve wanted to speak; she wanted to curse and demean Heather, but she
couldn’t find the words. She had run out of excuses, as there was nothing left to
tell—nothing but the truth, and she couldn’t possibly reveal that. Rage and humiliation bubbled within her, so much so that she hardly noticed Armaan
approaching. He stopped at her side and looked back and forth between her and
Heather, completely perplexed by the scene in front of him.
“Um…” Armaan stammered. “Eve? It’s time to go.”
Eve neither moved nor responded. All she could do was stare at the
despicable redhead in front of her.
“Looks like they’re summoning you for your ‘tutoring’ session,” Heather
sneered. “Or whatever it is that you two do together.”
Eve finally broke away from Heather ’s gaze and looked down at Armaan.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.” She shot one last glare in Heather ’s direction
and followed Armaan out of the building.
“This isn’t over, Eve!” Madison shrieked.
“Yeah, this isn’t over, Eve!” Hayden cried, her voice shrill and pitiful.
“Shut up, Hayden! God, I just said that!”
Eve marched in silence by Armaan’s side, her fists still clenched and her
mind racing. She was stuck in the exact place she had feared she’d end up since
her sessions with Jason first began—and she had gotten there so much more
quickly than she had anticipated.
“What was that all about?” Armaan asked, looking over his shoulder at the girls who were now far behind him.
“They know.”
“They know what?” Armaan gasped. “Do they know you’re a chimera?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t know.” Eve sighed. “They know something’s up. They
know I’m meeting with Jason and that it’s not for school.”
The stress was overpowering, feeding off of her strength like a parasite. Eve
appeared composed—she had a knack for that—but inside she was frantic and
scattered, a tangled mess of emotion and preoccupation. As she made her way
across campus and through the medical ward, each face she encountered—
Armaan’s, the security guard’s, even Jason’s—seemed warped and disfigured
until it managed to resemble Heather ’s. She tried to shake it—Heather would
be so pleased if she knew she was lingering in Eve’s thoughts, and that evil smirk was unbearable to imagine. No, she couldn’t give Heather the
satisfaction, she wouldn’t. And yet, even with the strongest conviction, she couldn’t help but think about the dramatics to come. They’re going to find out.
The phrase rang in her ears like an endless taunt. It’s only a matter of time before everyone knows.
***
“Everyone knows.”
“What?” Eve snapped.
“That Dr. Dick hates chimeras.” Jason removed his eyes from his spoon,
which was gracefully levitating in front of his face, and looked at Eve. “We
were just talking about this.”
“Oh,” Eve mumbled. She was in the isolation wing, sitting in the folding
chair beside Jason’s bed, far away from Heather ’s prying eyes. She let out a long, relieved breath. “Sorry, I must’ve gotten distracted.”
Jason sent his spoon soaring across the room and into the sink, his brow
furrowed. “You okay, Eve? You’ve been acting funnier than usual.”
Eve envisioned Heather ’s duplicitous smile and quickly forced the redhead
from her mind. “It’s just been a weird day…”
“Is this because of the abduction?”
Eve’s eyes abruptly shot toward him. “You know?”
Jason hesitated. “I heard the alarm,” he explained. “It echoes through the
whole ward. Not sure whose genius idea that was. It’s like some god-awful
signal letting everyone know that another chimera has been sliced and diced.”
Eve sighed; she hadn’t even thought about Jason, about how the news
affected him. It was incredibly selfish of her, she realized now, but it had been
so long since she’d had to think of anyone but herself. As hard as it was for her
to admit, she wasn’t operating on her own any longer; she was bound to Jason,
at first through force and now through—well, she wasn’t quite sure, but he had
grown on her in an unfamiliar way. Perhaps this was what friendship felt like.
“How are you…” She faltered, fumbling to find the perfect words to say. “I
