ACE.
I had almost sprinted straight into the building when I'd realised the horrible mistake I'd made. The guard behind me gave a shout.
Before I could even slow my pace to turn around, an arm was around my waist, and suddenly I was in the air. The speed of zooming off the ground like a rocket sent my hair blowing crazily as I gave a terrified gasp.
'It's okay, just brace yourself.'
I barely had time to process his voice before I was thrown through my window and sent sprawling across the floor. I'd landed on my grazed knees, and they hurt like hell.
I sat staring at the cardboard box and it's spilled contents in the deep blue glow of my room. Everything was dark, still and silent.
My heart was slowly steadying itself again, and my erratic breathing became more paced. I reached blindly through the darkness and pulled the box back towards me. Everything that had been in it was scattered across the floor. Reaching towards my bed and bedside table, I flipped my lamp on. The orange glow lit up enough of the floor for me to see what was there. I looked the objects over as I pulled them towards myself.
A couple of flimsy books... some old rags... a worn deck of cards.
I grabbed the biggest hardcover book and flicked to the back page.
Embedded in the thick back cover was a small leather flap. Nervously I pulled it open, and my breath caught in my throat as a dainty velvet bag came into view. I ran my fingers over the soft crimson fabric, then pulled the little old bag out. I held it up to the light and sighed.
Pulling the ribbons open, I tipped the bag into my palm, and a glistening silver necklace fell into my hand. Twisting the cold metal through my fingertips, I adjusted the chain until I could see the pendant that hung on the end. It was a complicated little treasure; a heart shape, but with an array of tiny wires, screws and cogs all over it. In the very centre was a minuscule key-hole, small enough to go unnoticed if you weren't studying it closely.
Carefully, I pulled the heart off the chain, slipping the chain back into the bag. Around my neck was a simple black necklace, without a pendant. I put the heart pendant onto it and secured it back around my neck, slipping it out of view under my shirt.
"You don't like the silver chain?" asked a deep voice behind me.
I may or may not have leapt ten feet into the air. "What are you doing here?" I asked, stunned.
Whisp lent on the window frame and looked at me for a second. "Um... I just saved you from getting spotted by the guards, and I don't even get a 'thank-you'? That's cold, Amelia."
I clenched my jaw and swallowed hard. I was so occupied with the box, I hardly even questioned how I'd been whisked into the air.
"It's Ace. And if I wanted your help, I would have asked for it," I said sharply, standing slowly up and walking hesitantly towards him.
With the backdrop of the starry night sky, Whisp was practically invisible. I knew he was strong, and it was quite intimidating having him there. Of course, I'd never tell him that. As far as anyone was concerned; nothing could ever intimidate me.
"That's the thing; you wouldn't have. I know you don't ask for help. You just want to seem tough. You don't even admit it when you're hurt."
I froze, watching as Whispering Death stepped into my room and paced about on the carpet. He picked up one of the books off the floor and sat on the end of my bed.
Had he not been incredibly adorable sitting there flicking through the book like an intrigued little child, I would have kicked him out already.
"What language is this?" he asked, holding up a handwritten letter folded within the pages.
"I don't know know - don't change the subject! I admit it when I'm hurt!" I argued, "I just don't complain about it like some people do."
Whisp put the book down and turned back to me. "And is that to encourage others, or to make yourself seem invincible?"
I paused, biting my lip like I always did when I was thinking or stressed. "Touché, Whisp."
Whisp gave a small laugh and I couldn't help but notice the familiar huskiness in his voice. However, whenever he spoke, nothing was given away. He lifted a gloved hand to his neck, and I noticed him pulling at the edges of his mask, bits of skin showing through as he rubbed the back of his neck. Although his hood left his face in darkness, I could see lines of sweat as he pulled the mask up over his jawline, stopping beneath his nose and showing a half-smirk of straight, white teeth.
I watched expectantly, hoping he would pull the mask entirely off, but he stopped there; showing nothing but a charming smile and a glass-cut jawline.
"Are you hot?" I asked, tilting my head a little. Whisp grinned, flexing his biceps.
"You tell me," he shot back. I smirked; that sounded exactly like something Rowan would say.
I winced at thinking about Rowan. Those taunting, dark brown eyes. How could he have hurt me like this?
Pushing that aside, I looked at Whisp.
I smiled, interested in how much more I could read of him when seeing his mouth as he talked. The way a person's lips moved was surprisingly helpful in painting their character.
There was something mischievous about Whisp; something snarky and sassy that you couldn't see when his mask was completely on.
"I mean temperature. You look like you're sweating under that mask."
I ignored the banter and planted my hands on my hips, standing before him like a school-teacher punishing a student. Whisp shrugged and rubbed his neck again.
"Yeah, well... I won't have this mask for long," he said, pulling his feet up to cross his legs. I grimaced as his shoes touched my blanket, "This old thing is like a thousand degrees underneath. But I've made my own mask- well, almost, anyway. I just need one more piece; some kind of conductor... like wire or something..."
He continued blabbing about some high-tech science stuff that went straight over my head, as I turned around and picked up the small velvet bag on the floor. Whisp's words were cut short when I tipped out the silver chain and held it out to him.
"Would this work?" I asked, letting it sway back and forth. He followed it's path with his head.
"No, no I couldn't take it... no..." he began, shaking his head.
"Would. It. Work?" I pushed, making each word clear.
"Yeah... uh, yes. Yes, technically it would work perfectly, but I can't take that, it's yours. I wouldn't-"
I rolled my eyes and put a hand over his mouth. Blushing, I realised how soft and warm his lips were.
"Just take it. I don't need it," I said. Whisp took the chain in a gloved hand, and I let him breath.
"Thanks," he said, then he nodded to my knees, "That looks painful."
I stepped back and shrugged, "Nah, it's fine, really."
Whisp put the chain in one of the many pockets on his torso and stood up. "I don't think so. Sit down."
"What?" I asked, bristling at being told what to do.
Whisp took a step towards me and grabbed my hands. When he stepped forward again, I stepped back, only to realise his foot was behind mine and I fell backwards onto a couch.
Holding my hands made sure he could steady my fall, and bam. I was sitting.
"How manipulative can you get?" I asked in astonishment.
"A lot more than that. You'd be surprised," he said coolly. He let go of my hands and then proceeded to take his gloves off, then knelt down in front of me.
I hadn't noticed my jaw was hanging open until he wiggled his fingers in front of my face.
"Ta-da! Hands! Surprising, isn't it?" he asked with a grin.
I clamped my mouth shut and shook my head, lost for words.
"Now keep still. This won't hurt," he whispered. He pressed a few tiny buttons on his sleeves, then rubbed his hands together. I kept still in anticipation, though for what, I wasn't sure. When he placed his soft hands against my raw, painful knees, I could feel a hot tingling sensation surging from his skin into mine.
Suddenly everything went white, and a high-pitched ring echoed through my mind.
When I blinked, everything was normal again. I looked at Whisp, and he pulled his hands away, shaking just the slightest bit. When I looked down at my knees, they were clean and completely healed, soft as baby skin and without a hint of pain.
"Thanks, I... You... Wait, how?" I stuttered, rubbing my hands over the freshly healed skin. Whisp bit his lip and shrugged.
Then he smiled and began, "It's a sort of electro-magnetic pulse crossed with a healing catalyst. I send the charge through myself, then whatever skin comes into contact with yours, will heal it. That's why I had to take my gloves off- it only works for skin-to-skin contact, and only in small amounts. I'm trying to change that, though. Eventually I'll be strong enough to stop people from-"
His voice broke off and he licked his lips, his smile disappearing.
"You want to stop people from dying, don't you?" I asked quietly, after a moment's silence. Whisp shrugged and looked at the floor, then back up at me. He was still kneeling on the ground, and I was sitting on the couch, but even then he was practically my height. Even with his mouth out in the open, I couldn't tell who he was. I ached to find out.
"Don't we all?" he asked, his voice barely able to be heard. I nodded slowly and gulped. He was right. Everyone had someone they wished they could have saved, someone they wished they could have stopped from dying.
I had a list that was too long to count.
Breaking the mood, I stood suddenly up. "Do I know you?" I asked abruptly, raising an eyebrow. Whisp jumped to his feet and towered over me, closer than I'd expected. I felt my heart thunder in my chest as I breathed in his smell; spicy and spirited. I shivered at how delicious it was.
"Of course you know me. I'm Whisp. You called me that just before."
I shook my head and tried searching for his eyes, but they were, of course, hidden behind his mask. My eyes settled on his lips instead.
"I mean behind the mask. Do I know who you are without... all this," I gestured at his getup, and he smirked.
"I can't tell you that."
I raised and eyebrow and he grinned, looking at the floor. "Okay. We have met. Without the mask. But that's all I can say," he conceded.
I pursed my lips thoughtfully. Glancing at the edges of his mask, I felt my fingers twitch. I just had to know who he was. Or curiosity was going to kill me.
"So you're a student here?" I asked.
"I just said that was all I could say! No more," he said quickly.
As his voice raised a little, I could almost pick up on what he sounded like, but he was not loud enough. I pushed past him and sat down on my bed in a huff.
"What colour are your eyes?" I asked. This question seemed to take him by surprise, and Whisp stiffened. He said nothing, but turned slowly around. "Hello? Whisp, what colour are your eyes? Can't you tell me that?"
"I could show you," he said, pulling the silver chain out of his pocket, "But honestly. You won't figure out who I am."
I scoffed, "You think that's what I'm doing?"
Whisp grinned and nodded, "Uh, yeah. You couldn't make it more obvious if you tried. Of course you'd want to unmask the handsome stranger, what girl wouldn't?"
"You're conceited," I said shortly, crossing my arms.
"...And somehow I still take your breath away. Now, wait here," Whisp finished for me. Then he dashed towards the window and leapt out.
I paced back and forth in the dim light of my room. What was I doing? I had no idea who he was. There was literally a masked stranger that had followed me back to my room in the middle of the night, and now he was flirting with me. At least, I thought he was flirting.
I was so confused. I had to know who he was.
Smirking, I stretched my arms and looked at the full-length mirror that was on my cupboard door. Whisp thought I wouldn't figure out who he was.
But that's where he was wrong. I never forgot a person's eyes.
"I'm back," whispered a voice, just as a hand ran up my spine, stopping between my shoulder blades. I pulled away and turned to look at him. In his other hand was a black piece of material, shimmering slightly in the almost-darkness.
"Well? Are you going to put it on?" I asked, gesturing at the mask.
Whisp hesitated, then held up his new mask. It was the classic superhero style, with two gaps for his eyes and a bigger space where his mouth and jaw would be. He ran a gloved finger around the gaps of the eyes.
"Okay, but you've gotta stand over there, facing the wall," he ordered.
I narrowed my eyes, but walked towards the opposite side of the room.
"Further... further... there. Now turn around and don't peak."
I rolled my eyes and looked at the wall.
"Don't. Turn. Around. Not until I say so."
"I won't!" I quipped, "Calm down."
There was the slight shuffling sound as he swapped masks. And oh man, how much I wanted to turn around. But somehow I couldn't.
And I suddenly realised why.
I was scared. Scared of who I would see. I knew he was somebody I already knew, someone close to me, most likely. And even though I couldn't hear his voice clearly enough, his personality, his mannerisms, they were so familiar.
He was so much like Rowan.
And I'd thought that all along, yet I didn't do anything about it. If I'd been certain it was him, I would have gotten rid of him long ago.
But perhaps I didn't care if he was Rowan or not.
Maybe I just wanted him to be there, no matter who was behind the mask.
I wouldn't have stood there, my back turned on him, if I didn't trust him. But then again, the eyes I expected to see were a dark, menacing brown.
"Okay... I... You can turn around now," Whisp breathed, standing right behind me.
I turned slowly around, barely breathing, my back up against the wall. Why was I so nervous? When I looked at him, he was looking at the floor, his new mask in place, and his hood still on. His lips, now visible even with the mask, were curled up in a small smile. I immediately looked to his eyes, waiting for him to look up so I could see what colour they were. I hesitantly stepped a little closer, so were were almost touching.
And then he looked at me with beautiful aqua eyes.
I froze, my heart practically stopped. "You... have green eyes," I whispered, barely making a noise.
Whisp shrugged then responded, "Actually, I think they're kind of blue. I'd say it's just this lighting."
"Aqua then," I compromised, "You have sea-green eyes."
"I suppose so," he said.
I was stumped.
I'd never met anyone with eyes like that. Nobody's eyes danced and glimmered the way his did. Nobody's were as bright and vibrant as his were. My mind began whirring with possibilities; who did I know that had blue-green eyes?
Josh? No. His were far too grey.
Lux? Nope. He had brown eyes.
Dallas? Nope. Hazel.
Andy? Nope. Brown, again.
Oh my gosh.
Tyler.
Tyler had blue eyes.
...
JOSH.
I groaned and rolled over to stare at a stark white roof. My roof. How had I gotten here?
Last night's events slowly came back to me. Sneaking to Ace's room, helping her get to the bridge to meet Agent Lux, waiting behind that ledge. Oh.
Someone had knocked me out.
But they mustn't have meant any harm, because I was safely back in my room with nothing but a slight headache to complain about. I squinted at my watch and rubbed my eyes. 6:15.
Would Ace be awake? I took the chance and dialled her room number into the holographic screen that appeared from my watch, 18-8-8, not hard to remember.
"Um? Hello?" her voice came out clear but she sounded tired.
"Hey Ace, It's Josh. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay."
"What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I didn't know you could call on these things, though. I feel like a secret agent or something talking into my watch." There was the sound of shuffling and a small yawn.
"Did I wake you up?" I asked, suddenly realising she was probably really tired after last night. After whatever happened.
"Oh no, not at all. I was... actually um, yeah. But that's okay- I had to get up anyway, I've got a killer back-ache," she reasoned. I felt guilty about waking her up; but it was justifiable, anyway.
"Ace, what happened last night? How did you get back to your room?" I asked, sitting up. I was still in my clothes from last night, although my shoes were on the floor at the end of my bed. Interesting...
Ace didn't answer for a while, and I almost asked her again, when she replied, "You know... I um... I figured it out. Everything's fine. What happened to you, though? You're back at your room, right?"
I nodded, despite her not being able to see me, "I'm okay. But somebody knocked me out and brought me back here. I have no idea who it was, but I don't think they meant any harm. I mean, they took my shoes off before they put me in bed. It was someone with manners, at least."
There was another silence from Ace. "Hmm. That's funny," she replied, "Anyway, I better get ready for breakfast. See you later."
There was a click, and she was gone. I tapped my watch and the hologram call-screen disappeared. As I got dressed and ready for this chilly day, I kept thinking about that conversation.
Ace was behaving suspiciously, I could hear it in her voice. There was something she wasn't telling me. Something had happened while I was knocked out, and Ace didn't want me to know what.
I guess I'd just have to ask her about it. But screw it, I was going to go back to sleep.
...
As morning dawned for a brisk day at the Academy, Joshua fell back to sleep. The gentle sunlight that streamed through his window and danced on his face didn't feel so soothing when his mind was wrapped in torment.
He heard screams. The screams of a small girl as she pleaded helplessly for her life. These bitter cries were met by the merciless barking of a soldier; but not one like he'd seen before.
As Josh stirred, he watched a looming figure stalk across his mind, with hands like haunting trees in the woods, and eyes that glowed a fiery red, his teeth sharp.
Josh battled to get his hands on this monster, this creature of the darkness, but whenever he got close enough, he was thrown back against a wall, and the soldier drew closer and closer towards his cowering little sister.
'Annabelle... No...'
The soldier lifted a heavy firearm as Josh choked out his plea. With lead in his heart and knives in his soul, Joshua watched in horror as the Council creature slowly pulled the trigger, laughing menacingly the whole time.
Everything moved so slowly as the bullet flew swiftly towards Joshua's sister. He tried to race after her, but it was like running in molasses, as if his legs were tied together with chains.
There was an ear-splitting scream as the bullet hit little Annabelle's chest, and she stumbled backwards, falling towards the ground.
Joshua woke up the second he saw his sister's body touch the floor.
...
He was sitting bolt upright, drenched in sweat with his sheets wrapped around his legs, the other blankets strewn across the floor.
"It was just a nightmare," he whispered to himself, "It's all over now."
Groggily, he limped out of bed and stumbled towards the bathroom. His small apartment-style room was stuffy, and he felt like his chest was tightening with every second. Staring at the mirror, he filled his hands with cool water and poured it over his face, letting it run down his neck and chest.
Then his stared accusingly at his reflection. It was all his fault his sister had been killed. If only he'd saved her. If only he'd somehow escaped earlier and saved little Annabelle Rigby.
But his grey eyes softened when he realised the truth. Ace's brother had been right. Zye had said there was nothing he could do, and it was true.
When the Council wanted something done, they got it done.
That included the killing of an innocent little girl.
The Enigma Council always got what they wanted.
'Well,' Josh thought, his brow set in determination,
'Things are about to change.'
...
ACE.
"Tyler!" I yelled, jogging across the courtyard. I wrapped my arms around myself as I slowed down, shivering a little in the cold, then falling into step with the tall blond boy walking towards the cafeteria.
"What's up, Ace? Everything alright?" Tyler asked, concern evident on his face. I said nothing, but studied his features carefully.
That sharp jawline, those straight white teeth... Could he be...? He was tall, but was he perhaps too tall?
"I, um... I wanted to know if you slept well? Had a good night?" I asked, suddenly realising how I was staring at him.
Tyler smiled a little and shrugged, "Yeah, it was fine. Why?"
I paused, looking for a giveaway. I had my suspicions that he was Whispering Death, but then again, how could I be certain? It was almost definite that he would play dumb and give nothing away.
I had some walls to break down.
"I was just wondering," I smiled, bumping my arm into his, "Come on, let's go get some breakfast."
I slipped my hand into his and pulled him towards the Cafeteria.
Tyler's gaze flicked to my hand in his and his eyes grew wide. Then his cheeks began to glow pink and a huge grin appeared on his face.
I smiled sweetly and we walked onwards.
Was I making a move? Hell yeah, I was.
Anything to get closer to finding out who was behind the mask.