Life by Patricia Silva (e books for reading TXT) 📕

"Would Sophia want it to be you?" he asked, wiping my tears away.

I stepped away from him. "No, of course not. But..."

"Siena, look. We can find a way to protect both of you. We can... we can keep you together, in the same house. We'll get others to help defend you when this C.H. comes... Who is C.H.?"

"I don't know, that's what the letter was signed." I handed him the letter and he read it over a couple of times.

"I'll call Lisa again," he said softly, "We'll talk about it."

I nodded. He called her and they talked about it. I sat there and listened but, at some point, I tuned it all out and started thinking.

I thought about Sophia. Was she listening to her mentor on the other side of the phone? What was she thinking? Was she scared? Of course she's scared. That is, if she knew. Maybe she shouldn't know, maybe that'd be better for her. If she found this out would she have bad nightmares? I knew I was going to have nightmares.

What about Blake? Should I tell him? What would he say if I told him? He would want to help. But, Tomas wouldn't want him to. He hates him. I don't even know why. What could anyone in his family possibly have done to Tomas to make him hate Blake?

Eventually my thoughts ended and Tomas hung up. He asked me if that all sounded good and I nodded. Appearantly I'm getting pretty adept in lying. I heard nothing, but honestly, I didn't want to hear any of it. All I wanted was to lay in bed and sleep.

I wanted to have a nightmare.

I wearily blinked my eyes open. It was 6:30; time to get up. I peeked through the curtains at the bright, happy rising sun. It's as if it were mocking me. Such a bright, beautiful day. Might as well make my last days here bright and beautiful, right?

I put my uniform on, went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and comb my hair, then grabbed my backpack and went downstairs. I entered the kitchen, where Tomas was leaning against the counter, sipping a cup of coffee.

"Good morning, Siena," he said in a trying-too-hard-to-be-perky tone.

"Morning," I replied, not-trying-for-anything toned.

Tomas sighed. "Siena, you shouldn't be worried about anything."

"I'm not worried about anything. I know what's going to happen tomorrow. I'll admit, I'm a bit scared, but definately not worried."

"Well, I guess that's good."

"Does Sophia know?"

He sighed again. "Yeah. She over-heard Lisa and I on the phone last night. Lisa had to tell her."

I nodded, looking down. Tomas stepped forward and pushed my hair behind my ear.

"Sophia is going to be just fine," he said firmly.

"I know she is," I replied.

I did know that she was going to be fine. That's because I knew what was going to happen the next day. Tomas thought he knew.

"We've already gone through this, but both of you are going to stay here. Lisa and I are going to stay up. Some of my friends are going to come over, they're going to help, too. Okay?"

"Sure."

"Sure? Siena. You are going to stay here. you are not going out there, is that clear?"

"Yeah."

"Siena, I'm serious."

"I know you are."

He leaned in and kissed me on the forehead. "You're both going to be safe."

I nodded. What the hell's wrong with me?

And so the day went on. A normal Friday. School was over and Lisa picked Sophia up, she offered to pick me up too, but I told her I wanted to walk. There was still one thing I had to do.

I opened a portal behind the dumpster, like I did everyday, however, today I opened it into the forest. The clearing where Blake and I always meet. Sure enough, right when I stepped out of the portal, I saw Blake in the distance, heading this way. I leaned against a tree and waited for him.

"Well, well, well," he said as he approached me. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

He grabbed me in a tight hug, and I hugged him back.

"I know, I'm sorry. I've just been really busy lately," I said.

He let go and stepped back. "Yeah, I know. The whole princess thing."

"Yeah, but I mean it's not just that."

"School?"

"Um, sorta... not really."

"Oh." He put a hand on the back of his neck.

"It's just... I don't know, my mom. She's just been acting pretty wierd lately."

"Why? What is she doing?"

"Well, she's just been leaving me and my sister with our mentors and every time we ask her where she's going, the answer is always 'to take care of business'... I don't know."

"Man, that sucks. She can't even tell you where she's going, that's pretty bad."

"Well, I never really associate her with good, so."

"At least you have Mr. Carter, right."

Blake and his brother, Kyle, didn't have the advantage of having a mentor to care for them if something ever happened to thier parents, considering thier father was their mentor.

"Um, yeah... Actually, he's sort of the reason why I haven't seen you in so long," I said looking down.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"After we went to that old house... I had scars on my face and Tomas saw them. He got a bit freaked out and I had to tell him the truth. After that, he didn't want me to see you again or even go into the forest again."

Blake looked down. "That's what he said?"

"Well, basically. What he said, word for word, probably was a little more... harsh."

"Oh... I really am sorry about, you know, all that," he said, his bright eyes beginning to glow.

"It's alright, Blake, really, that wasn't your fault. Tomas overreacted, alot."

"I'm still sorry, though." He looked me in the eyes and I shook my head.

"Anyways, tomorrow's your birthday," I said with a grin, he smiled back.

"Yeah, I know, it's no big deal," he said with a shrug.

"Yes, it is, you're turning fifteen."

He shrugged again, with a smirk. He wasn't wearing a jacket, so I could see just how muscular his arms were.

"Well, I got you something," I said with a grin.

"You didn't have to get me anything."

"But I wanted to," I said as I took the present out of my backpack and handed it to him. He unwrapped the necklace from around it and looked at it.

"Cute," he said with a smile. He put it around his neck and unwrapped the blue wrapping paper. He turned the book over and read the back with a grin on his face.

"Cheesey love story, huh? Is there something you're trying to tell me, Siena?" He winked at me.

I laughed. "Ew, no. You know how you always say that you want to get into reading but you can never find any good books? Well, I used to be the same way, then I read that book and it got me reading all of the books in Tomas' house."

"Well, maybe it'll work for me, too. Thank you." He hugged me.

"Sorry it's not much," I said.

"No, but really, it's great. Thank you!"

 He looked me in the eyes and grinned, I looked down and grinned.

"So, what are you doing this weekend?" he asked.

My smile faded. "Not much," I shrugged.

"You wanna come to my house tomorrow? Get away from your mentor for a while?"

"Um...I can't."

"Why not?"

I shrugged.

"There's gonna be cake." He nudged me with his elbow and I smirked.

"I really want to, but... I'm going somewhere...I'm sorry."

"The castle." He looked down.

"Not exactly. I don't really know where I'm going exactly, but I know it's far away. And it's going to be for a while..."

"Oh, ok."

"Blake...I'm really sorry..."

"It's ok. It's no big deal."

"I'm sorry, not just for that."

"Then for what?"

"I just am..."

He hugged me for a long time, and eventually his lips landed on my cheek and stayed there for a long time. He pulled back, pushed my hair behind my ears and looked me in the eyes.

"I haven't seen you in months, and now you're leaving me."

I looked down and a tear escaped my eye.

"I'm really sorry," I murmered. Blake wiped my tear away and shook his head.

"No, don't be sorry, I mean it's not your fault."

I shrugged.

But it was my fault, wasn't it? I mean, I was the one who was choosing to give up my powers. No one was forcing me to do it. Even C.H. said I had a choice. The choices were very clear. Their consequences were very clear. What was starting to become unclear was whether or not I was making the right choice.

A wolf howled in the distance, startling both of us.

"That's my dad," Blake sighed, "I've gotta go. I guess I'll see you sooner or later?"

"Goodbye, Blake."

"Oh, come on. Don't say goodbye. Goodbye means, like, forever. See ya later?"

I looked behind me, to where Tomas' house would be. I turned back to Blake and half smiled. "Goodbye."

 Blake chuckled lightly. "Goodbye," he replied.

He went to his family and I went to mine.

Blake didn't understand, but I didn't really want him to. He didn't know anything, and he, hopefully, wouldn't until it was too late.

I walked slowly through the forest, goodbye repeating in my head.

Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was around midnight and sleep was not a thought that came to my head. I couldn't help but think that at this time tomorrow I was going to half-willingly be taken away, have my powers taken away and who-knows what else.

I was staring at the dim light peeking under my door that came from Tomas' room. Throughout the night there had been rustling noises coming from behind his door. I had a feeling that because of this no one else in the house was getting any sleep either.

 I reached for my watter bottle next to the alarm clock, but it was empty. I got out of bed and went down the stairs.

"Where are you going?"

I turned around. Tomas was standing at the top of the stairs.

"To get water...?" I said, holding up the empty bottle.

"Oh," he replied as if he was expecting me be on my way to another planet.

I went into the kitchen and turned the light on, Tomas followed. I threw the empty bottle in the trash and grabbed a full one out of the fridge.

I turned to Tomas, who was still wearing a plaid shirt, jeans and shoes, instead of pajamas.

"What are you still doing up?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep, I guess."

I nodded thoughtfully.

"Siena... I know that you're planning to go into the forest tomorrow night," he said.

"No, I'm not," I lied.

"Siena." He raised a brow.

"I'm not. I was, but not any more."

"Oh... Well, good." I sure was getting good at lying.

"Sophia and I are gonna be safe here. I trust you, and Lisa...and who ever else is coming over. I trust them and as long as I do, Sophia will, too." Might as well make him sure of it, right?

He grinned. "Good. You should go to bed now."

"I was on my way."

"Okay. Goodnight."

"Night."

He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. I smirked and went back to my room. I sat in bed and brushed my fingers against my cheek. I thought about the scars that had once been there. I thought about all of the times Tomas has kissed me there. All of the times Blake