Cipher Code {complete}

Chapter Forty Seven: The Way Out, A Price.

"You're not as dull as you appear then." Eva stretched her fingers in Dawn's direction, the broken strings pulled by an unseen force and slipping into her sleeves. "I couldn't believe that my son had a thing for you at first."

"But now you see it, Darling." Hezekiah said softly to his wife. "The fire in her spirit, the spark in her eyes. She would have made a good daughter-in-law."

"By that you mean that she would have contended with me for Elton's poor heart." Eva threw Dawn a scowl but all her previous animosity seemed to have vanished.

The leader of the Cipher squad let out a breath of relief. She wasn't sure how to feel about all this, but somehow she was glad. She had always wanted to meet Elton's parents but she had never expected them to be so. . .

"Eccentric?" Hezekiah offered a word and a blush crept onto the professor's cheeks as she let out a cough.

"Elton's married." She managed to croak out.

"Of course we know." Eva stood up and brushed her hands on the bottom half of her jumpsuit. "My husband wrote the book that reveals all, you know?"

The pride she felt was audible.

This time it was Hezekiah's turn to scowl. "That woman, I warned him that she would bring disaster to this family."

"Oh dear, it was love. Nothing can change that."

This was the moment that Dawn realized that the couple somehow had a way to communicate with the outside world. Aren't they afraid of me reporting this to my father?

"Don't worry, that runt knows well enough." Hezekiah's gaze flashed with anger.

Eva scoffed. "It's not like he can do anything to stop it."

"If you both are so powerful, why are you still here?" Dawn thought out loud, not that it mattered if she has thought it in her mind. As it was, it made no difference.

"For love, good girl. Your father fancied my wife. . . You can guess the rest."

"Anywhere outside these cells we are fugitives by law. . ." Eva shook her head, "no, by the Code. He has trapped us here for an eternity. We cannot leave without threatening the safety of others," now her expression turned helpless, "we are abominations."

"Then the pendant?" Dawn frowned and held up the blue teardrop. "What can it do?"

"It can store our souls, our powers, then transfer them into another vessel." Hezekiah explained quietly.

Dawn raised a brow. "That sounds awfully convenient."

"It's a family heirloom actually, it has many other purposes." Dawn was surprised that Eva was the one to help her understand.

"You said that my father took your powers, but," she motioned to the strings twisting around Eva's cell like a den of snakes.

"He took them alright," as Eva spoke her strings twisted along the bars of her cell until they began cutting into the metal, "these powers are new, freshly cultivated from our years of solitude."

Dawn swallowed what would have been a gasp. It was rare—almost impossible—to develop powers. Abilities were either innately or artificial, they didn't grow like muscles at a gym. No amount of hard work could get someone a power, it just didn't work that way.

"Stop limiting your mind to the ways of the mundane, child, it will be your downfall." The moment Hezekiah warned Dawn about her way of thinking, the metal rods that barred Eva's cell broke into pieces and the woman stepped out, stretching her arms above her head and yawning.

"Should I break you out, love?" She turned to her husband with a smile.

Hezekiah look down at his nails then buffed them against his jumpsuit. "Don't bother, at this rate you'll be naked."

Dawn narrowed her eyes at the couple, finally noticing where Eva's strings had come from. The sleeves and legs of her jumpsuit had been shortened to the elbow and knee respectively. The rest of the material floated around her harmlessly; the weaponized strings were mere threads of cloth.

The white-haired woman only shrugged, taking quick steps towards Dawn until their noses were almost touching.

Shocked, the professor stumbled back. But Eva tugged on the younger woman's wrist and pulled her forward.

Now Dawn noticed how much taller Eva was than her, she resembled a pole in that aspect and Dawn was forced to look up to her. The woman's fingers left Dawn's wrist and moved to her neck, her sharp fingernails trailing down her skin until they clasped the pendant in a tight hold.

"I wonder if he brought this here to tempt us or if he just wanted his daughter dead." Eva chuckled, her nails scrapping against the teardrop that hung off Dawn's neck.

Hezekiah's hands curled around the bars in front of him as he glared at his wife. "Control your temper, Eva."

"Of course, I know, love." Eva let out a laugh that sounded anything but reassuring. "This is our key."

Her husband said nothing, but the look in his eyes spoke volumes. Eva did not so much as spare a glance his way.

"I have to do this." she almost whispered.

"Can you tell me about the prophecy?" Dawn asked suddenly, cutting into the awkward silence that had taken over the conversation and staring straight into Eva's eyes. For some reason she didn't sense any threat from Elton's mother anymore.

"You've got guts, girl, I'll give you that. So we'll meet again." Crossing her arms, the woman took a step back and tilted her head slightly. Her eyes seemed to grow wide, dim holes in skull as her neck tipped back and she fell to the floor.

At her actions, Hezekiah let out a sigh and tightened his grip on the bars. The metal disintegrated into dust before Dawn's eyes and the man glided out of the cell, stopping by his unconscious wife only to bend down by her body and place a swift kiss on her paling lips.

"Let's go." he said.

Dawn stared at him in confusion, taking a step back to make way for him as he walked past her. What just happened?

"It's best you forget everything Mordecai told you," he said after a breath, "he likes thinking he knows everything when actually he's as clueless as the rest of the world."

Hezekiah raised one hand in the direction of the door Dawn had come through. Before the leader of the Cipher squad could warn him about the suction force that had drawn her in, a portal appeared, a swirling mass of color floating right above the spot he had pointed to.

As the man moved towards it, Dawn's awe wore off. "Where are you going?"

Hezekiah made a half-turn and flashed her a smile. "I thought you wanted answers."

Dawn was about to follow him, but then her gaze shifted to the body in the center of the room. "What about Eva?"

Hezekiah paused for a second then raised his head as though looking into a place beyond the white walls of the prison. "She is gone."

At his words the pendant on Dawn's neck warmed and she gulped, deciding not to ask anymore questions about it. "What will happen if I follow you?"

"You will achieve what you have always wanted. Good girl, all your dreams will be realized. . ."

The professor had almost stepped into the portal when she heard the rest of his words.

". . . for a price, of course."

And with a light shove from behind, she once again found herself falling.

†