Liberation

Chapter 14

Cassia's point of view:

A strong aroma awakens me, the smell of muffins and coffee signaling that Evelyn has made breakfast.

"Alright everyone, breakfast is ready!" Evelyn yells from across the hall, confirming my assumption.

I rise out of bed, the cold floor sending shock waves through my bare feet. I walk over to a mirror, brushing my blonde hair out of my tired blue eyes.

Still heavy with sleep, I stumble my way to the kitchen. Adam accidentally runs into me on the way, but he's too tired to even excuse himself. He just waves his hand and mumbles something that sounds like an apology. And I take no offense.

"What in the world happened to you two?" Evelyn asks when we get to the kitchen. "Couldn't sleep," I mumble, although it's quite the opposite in reality. The mission to find Henley took longer than we expected, so we're all sleep-deprived. Adam further illustrates this when he sits down at the table for a few seconds before he gives into sleep and falls out cold.

"The poor guy, can't even keep his eyes open," Caleb sighs as he sits down beside his wife with a cup of coffee.

"Where's Julia and Peter?" Genevieve asks, messing with her eyes so they switch from cat's eyes to human. "Genevieve! I've told you: no shape shifting at the table!" Evelyn scolds her daughter.

"I'll go get them," I sigh, knowing I'd be the only volunteer. Julia and Peter are going to get a piece of my mind for making me walk all the way up these cursed stairs.

When I finally make it up the stairs, I first go to Julia's room, only to find that she's not there. The sheets on her bed haven't even been moved, almost like she didn't go to bed at all. But when I wander across the hall to Peter's room, my confusion disappears.

On his bed the two lay side by side, tightly wrapped together as if they were afraid to be taken apart. Their cheeks are pressed against each other, rosy and pink from the warmth they share. They are both ageless asleep; they could be children, or they could be adults. One could not tell the difference. It's a beautiful moment, the way he cradles her head under his chin while her arms envelop him.

Seeing the two of them makes me happy, but a little bit sad at the same time. I've been asked out from time to time by some of the handsome men at my healing academy back home, but I turned them all down.

Julia told me that you know you love someone when you feel that first spark, the small flame that'll eventually consume you both like a wildfire.

But in a good way.

I decide to leave the two of them alone, not wanting to disturb something so at peace.

But before I leave Peter's room, I hear a knock at the door downstairs. Quietly making my way to the nearest window, I peer outside to see if I can catch a glimpse at who has come. And when I do, my blood runs cold.

Henley and Will stand in the doorway with police, trying to request permission to enter the house but being refused by Caleb.

Jacqueline suddenly bursts into the room, waking up Peter and Julia and effectively scaring the day lights out of me.

"What's going on?" Peter asks groggily.

"She's come to investigate every home in the society! I have to change you right now! My dad can't hold her for long, hurry and get up!" Jacqueline says frantically, a look of terror in her eyes.

She walks over to me and touches the center of my forehead, and immediately my hair turns black and my skin becomes pale. My nightgown has been replaced with a grey t-shirt and matching jeans.

I look over at Julia and Peter, relieved to see no more green and brown eyes. "Hurry!" Jacqueline whispers harshly as she ushers us down the stairs.

*********

"Caleb, I must insist that you let us in! It's just a routine house check," I hear Will say as he pushes himself and Henley into the house right as we make it down the stairs.

"Search everywhere," I hear Henley whisper to the police, so quiet that I'm wondering if I'm just starting to hear things.

Adam, Genevieve, and Victoria come join us at the stairwell, unnerved to a state of panic at their intrusion.

"Quite the lovely home you have here; I presume one of your children can make it look like this?" Will questions as he examines some of the decor of the home.

"Yes," Evelyn says in a meek voice.

"Ah, such a wonderful power. The ability to disguise what is real into what we deem desirable. Your daughter is very talented," Will says, gesturing to Jacqueline.

Henley, however, pays no attention to Evelyn's daughters. She instead eyes me, Adam, Peter, and especially Julia, my heart thumping so hard that I'm afraid it might burst from my chest. There's something unsettling about Henley this time, almost as if she's desperate for anything that could lead her to Julia.

"You," she says, pointing a finger at Julia. "I remember you from the pill administrating. What did you say your name was again?" She asks.

"Gwyneth," Julia says, her voice shaking.

Henley looks like she wants to drag Julia off right here and now, even if her suspicions aren't confirmed, but she forces herself to restrain.

But even as she, Will, and the rest of the police head back for the door, Henley turns back around and says to Julia with a sickening smile, "Have a wonderful day, Gwyneth." And then, they disappear back outside.

"She...she knows," Julia says, her disguise fading and showing absolute and utter terror in her green eyes. "She knows it's me. She knows it's me!" Julia repeats, looking deranged and mad. "She's going to kill everyone, but not just here. She's going back home to finish the job. We're going to lose everyone! No one is safe!" Julia shouts as she falls on the ground in a fit of sobs and screams.

"Julia, please calm down. This isn't good for you," I caution, my healing nature showing itself as I sense her starting to very slowly lose her sanity.

"It's all my fault it's all my fault it's all my fault! I saw what she was going to do and it's all because of me! It's all my fault!" She yells, not even Peter's attempts at trying to calm her down working.

"Your fault?" Caleb asks, puzzled.

Evelyn steps forward, a look on her face somewhere between anger and fear as she begs the question no one wants to answer.

"What...did you...do?"