SURVIVE (THRIVE: Book Two)

Chapter 35- Impossible

"Are you kidding me?" Cleo asks angrily "This is why you were supposed to show us what she looked like."

"I didn't think that out of the thousands of people in the city, you would just happen to stumble upon one of them and stupidly decide to take her." Winona explains frustratedly "Do you know what repercussions this is going to have?"

"I..." Sterling says nervously "Well, you know what, I'm not sorry."

"What?" Marissa asks, confused.

"We already knew that they were looking for me, now there's one less person who knows who I am." he explains defensively "As long as I don't go waltzing through town, I think I've covered my bases here."

"Yes, but don't you realize how dangerous she could be to us?" Cleo states aggressively "What if she tries to contact one of the others?" she asks nervously.

"Not possible, the whole compound is basically a psychic dead zone from their methods." Winona states bluntly "I suppose you're right. As long as they don't see you again, they still have nothing to go on."

"Huh, at least Gael did something right." Cleo rolls her eyes "So, what do we do with her?" she asks as she looks over my body.

"Ember doesn't want her, so I suppose that's up to you," Winona states as she points at Sterling.

"That was fast." Marissa states as she looks around the room "So, she's decided on Artemis then?"

"It appears so." Winona states as she begins to study me "Before we resurrect her, I think we have a bigger issue to direct our attention to." she sighs.

"No," Cleo states, suddenly sounding nervous "He's not ready to see her."

"Honey, Kai can't just stumble upon her by accident." Tex says as he goes to her, taking her hands "It's time that he meets her."

"I agree, if she's already here, there's no point in waiting," Marissa says calmly.

"As long as he doesn't do something stupid, I don't care." Sterling says as he begins to walk away "But when he's done, she's mine."

"Fine." Winona states "I'll fetch him." she says as she leaves the room. Everyone falls silent for a moment and I suddenly realize that I'm finally getting feeling back in my arms and legs. I wasn't sure how long the paralysis would last, but now that it's wearing off, I need to figure out what to do, and fast. I have no idea who Kai is, but I'm guessing that I'm not going to want to meet him.

"I still don't like this." Cleo sighs as she paces around the room.

"What, her being here or Kai talking to her?" Marissa asks as she hops onto a counter.

"Both." Cleo nervously says "She's dangerous."

"Not as much as the rest of her family," Tex explains as he looks down at me.

"That's a rude way to put it," I state as I roll my head back to look at him, and suddenly, they all turn their attention to me. As I begin to sit up, they all watch me cautiously.

"Well, well, well, Sterling should have done a better job." Cleo states as she wanders over to me "Seems like I'm the only one here not underestimating you." she scoffs as she looks at the others.

"Why is that?" I ask as I glare up at her.

"Let's just say that you never truly know who a person is deep down until they choose to show you," she explains as she leans over, resting her hands on the altar. "I won't ever make that mistake again."

"Look," I sigh frustratedly. "I'm not going to pretend that I have any idea what's really going on here, because everything you're all saying is just complicating things more and more. But, the least you can do is tell me who you really are. I know that you're not Cleo and Marissa, so who are you really?" I ask bluntly, and they all suddenly seem intrigued.

"Clever girl, I didn't realize that you had known them before." Marissa says as she comes over and leans on the altar "You're not wrong, we aren't them." she explains.

"You used the old rituals from the caves to steal their bodies, didn't you?" I ask "Winona must have used her position to go down there and study the symbols so that you could do all of this." I explain confidently.

"Sounds like you've really given this some thought, although," Cleo's voice begins to sound soft, almost melodic "Why would she need to go through all of that trouble when we already knew what they said?" she smiles at me twistedly as she tilts her head to the side as if she wants to read my reaction carefully.

"How is that even possible?" I ask nervously, unable to break eye contact.

"Little girl, it's simple, really." Marissa states as she begins to chew on her fingernail, staring up at the ceiling "We're the ones who wrote them in the first place." Suddenly, they all begin to smile as my stomach begins to knot. I feel a cold chill resonate through my entire body as I process what they had just revealed.

"No..." I mutter, practically unable to speak "There's no way you're the Ancient Ones..."

"That priestess spent so much time figuring out how to reincarnate your family, but it would have been so much simpler if she had just done what that ritual originally intended; resurrection," Tex explained.

"Coming back to life by stealing other people's bodies?" I state, my throat tightening "That's sick." I choke as I begin to breathe heavily.

"I like to think that they're sacrificing themselves for the greater good." Cleo shrugs.

"I'm guessing that that's not by choice," I state angrily.

"It used to be," Marissa explains as she shrugs "But eventually people got tired of the old ways and we had to improvise."

"We figured that we would wait until no one alive could remember what we had done, then come back again. But, something ended up standing in our way." Tex sighs "The temple we had built became inhabited by the sages who had long forgotten their true purpose, and one, in particular, decided to take it upon herself to mock what we did and change it for her own desires."

"When that priestess used our ritual on your family, suddenly everyone began to worship you as if it was some miracle." Cleo states angrily "That should have been us, but they all beat us to it."

"We knew that going against them would be foolhardy since the people would see us as the villains to them, so we have been living incognito ever since." Marissa explains as she paces across the room "Keeping our eyes on you all, among other things, was hard, but we still had our fun every so often."

"What do you mean, fun?" I ask angrily.

"That's none of your business." Cleo scoffs. Suddenly, I hear footsteps approaching from down the hall. After a moment, I see a young man come in. His skin is pale and he has medium-length black hair. Then suddenly, I see it; the tattoo of a hex on his forehead. I had seen a drawing of this before.

"No..." I say in disbelief as he silently approaches me "It couldn't be... you're supposed to be dead. My mother destroyed your soul, I'm sure of it."

"Your right, she did destroy Gael's, but I'm not him." he sighs as he looks at the ground solemnly "My father is dead, and my mother is the one responsible," he explains.

"What the fuck..." I say as my eyes widen.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, sister."

Part 1: The Eternal Ones

End