The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 73

It wasn't exactly easy to settle back in to normal life. I found it hard to try to cover up my new personality, or hide any scars or wounds that could tell a story or two. I had to try to act as a normal, young adult, which seriously wasn't working out well.

'Now will you tell me what happened?' Rose asked wearily once again.

'Like I said, it's... confidential,' I said, closed and mysterious. 'Government business.'

'I can tell you're lying,' Rose raised her eyebrows at me. 'You're not kidding anyone. Just, please. You can trust me.'

'It's not that I can't trust you,' I said, concerned for Rose. 'I just... Can't tell you. I'd be putting you all in danger. Especially you, Rose.'

'I don't care about whoever's threatening you or what you're afraid of!' she suddenly exclaimed. 'If you could survive through it, I can survive. And you're home! You're safe.'

'You don't understand,' I shook my head.

She really didn't understand. She was too naïve; too young. Exactly like me when I was seventeen. She wasn't even an adult, yet she thought she could handle Merlyn's, or even Slade's, fury. Me telling her wasn't worth her life.

'I know I probably won't understand half of what you went through,' Rose said maturely. 'No one will, unless they were there with you. But if I know what we're up against, I can help you fight them. I could be useful instead of just being a target.'

'I, I need some time,' I closed down. 'To think about all this, you know?'

'If there's anything I can understand, it's that,' Rose said unpredictably; empathetically. 'Take your time. You only just got back. I haven't been able to talk about Leyla's decisions for a long time now. But when you returned, I felt like it was time to tell someone who didn't know what Leyla was thinking of doing. You.'

'I-I didn't know,' I said, shocked. 'You haven't told anyone she's looking for me?'

'No,' Rose shook her head. 'We just told everyone she went to uni early. But more people knew about you. Your friends from uni tried to help us find you too. That's why we couldn't keep it quiet.'

'Who else found out?' I asked worriedly.

If many people knew of my escape, and then of my return, they could also be in serious trouble. I couldn't know what Merlyn would do.

'The press wouldn't take the story on,' Rose told me sadly. 'Just another disappearance. We didn't really tell anyone else, actually. No one believed us, since you were an adult by then. Everyone thought you were just taking charge with your life. But more people do know about your disappearance, compared to Leyla's. And more people are probably trying to find you.'

'They are?' I asked, even more worriedly.

'Yes,' Rose nodded. 'Ethan. Isaac. Your friends from uni. Like I said.'

I'd forgotten what they were called, my memories at university so long ago. Putting their names to their faces, I remembered how we spent our Friday nights in Manchester's nightlife. With Harper by our side.

And then I remembered it all so clear. How Merlyn had shot her with that deathly black arrow right in front of me. How the blood oozed out of her chest. How he put me on that road of darkness from the very start. I couldn't stop him. I was too broken. Too weak. And I couldn't bear to see Merlyn do that to anyone else close to me. Ethan. Isaac. My parents. Rose.

'Anyone else?' I asked despairingly.

'No,' Rose shook her head. 'Well, there was one more person. Our lawyer, well, the guy who tried to help us with the case. He was so helpful, he even acted a bit like a psychiatrist. I can't remember for the life of me what his name was though... I think he had an American accent... His name began with an M? Merlyn?'

He had been tracking my family from the start. No wonder he was so confident that I hadn't tried to reach out to them. He knew all along.

'I have to go,' I suddenly said, my mind muddled and my emotions taking control of me.

I wasn't the innocent girl who left that house. I had seen and done too many horrible things. I had risked everything for them all to be safe from Merlyn by actually agreeing to his standards. And I couldn't just throw everything away like that. I had to get out of there, away from all the childhood memories that would be too painful to relive.

Throwing my essentials into my bag, I hurtled down the staircase, away from everything. I ignored Rose's cries, or my parents' shouts as I sped out through the doorway. I couldn't let them live in the danger of Merlyn's wrath.

The sound of my new phone Amanda had provided me with ringing to the tune of My Chemical Romance's song 'This Is How I Disappear' interrupted my escape. How fitting.

'This really isn't the time,' I said angrily to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

'Oh, I think it is,' the person on the other end of the phone hissed.

It was Merlyn.

Nearly dropping the phone in shock, I tried to console myself and listen to what he had to say. Whatever it was, I knew it wasn't going to be pleasant.

'How did you get this number?' I hissed back, running towards a quiet alleyway.

'I'm smarter than you think, Aria,' he said, as though he was smirking while he spoke. 'Its been a long while since we... Talked.'

'You did more than talk, Merlyn!' I scorned in a hushed voice. 'You ruined my life! On the island I realised how you were just using me.'

'Oh, so we're using surnames now?' Merlyn asked sarcastically.

'I'm serious!' I raised my voice. 'If it wasn't for you, I would be happy, living my life in peace instead of fear.'

'Oh, you should be scared,' Merlyn said scarily. 'You see, as you shared your little outburst with me, I had enough time to trace the location of your phone. Now I know exactly where you are, Aria. Right near your house, I see?'

Oh no.

I was in big trouble.

'If you lay a finger on them-' I shouted angrily.

'See you soon, Aria,' Merlyn said before ending the call.

I had to go back and protect them. Leaving wouldn't help now. They needed me, more than ever.

Running back to the house, I unlocked the door and burst into the living room, where my parents had been last. Rose was with them, all of them seeming to be alright. But when I walked towards them, I found that Rose had been crying, her eyes red from the tears.

'It's Ethan,' she cried. 'He's dead.'

'What?' I asked, shocked.

Ethan couldn't be dead. He couldn't.

'There was a gas leak in the building he was working in as an engineer,' Rose says sadly. 'He was still working while everyone had left. The police say it wasn't an accident. One of the pipes were punctured. By a black arrow.'

Merlyn.

Looking to my parents, I saw they were intensely watching the TV screen. Joining them, I saw the events unfold, images of the same building Ethan had been in being blown up by gas explosions.

'I didn't even get to say hello,' I wept.

Then my phone rang again.

'I told you you should be scared,' Merlyn's voice growled as I walked into the kitchen.

'What do you want?' I whispered.

'Meet me at Isaac's house tonight,' he commanded. 'Unless you want him dead too.'

First it was Ethan, and now Isaac. Was there no end to Merlyn's wrath?

'Aria!' I faintly heard Isaac's voice in the background. 'Don't do it! Don't-'

And then the call ended.