Darkness Fades (Page 27)

There are other things more important than Sylas and Aiden. You need to realize that you can’t save everyone. Not if you are going to save the world.

His words haunt me. I shake my head to try and clear it, but it doesn’t work and I hear them again.

There are other things more important than Sylas and Aiden. You need to realize that you can’t save everyone. Not if you are going to save the world.

“You’re right, we should keep going,” I tell him, not liking myself that much at the moment.

His lips curve to a pleased grin. “I think you are finally starting to understand what you need to do.”

“Maybe.” Or maybe Monarch’s just stuck in my head.

Sylas draws his hood over his head and tucks his hands up into his sleeves. We start moving again as the sunlight casts against our backs. Sylas slows down a little, but not enough that it makes me feel like I’m lagging. Finally, after racing around rocks, going uphill and downhill, we arrive at the colony.

There are two guards posted on top of the wall created from scraps of car. It’s the same two that were there when Aiden and I left. They stand up on the wall, pointing their knives at us as we approach.

“Stop where you are, both of you,” the guard closest to us threatens, raising his knife in a threatening manner.

Sylas and I both stop at the bottom of the wall and stare up at them. The one guard hops down in front of us, landing with a grunt, then holds his weapon out as he circles around us.

He walks up to me, eyes roving my long, black hair and short height. “I remember you. You’re that Kayla creature that left here not too long ago.” He eyes me over again as Sylas’s jaw tightens and he inches closer to me protectively. “Mathew told us that we’re supposed to let you back in when you return.”

His scrutinizing gaze diverts to Sylas. He aims the tip of the knife at his chest. I’m worried Sylas will retaliate, however he tips his head down away from the sun.

“But you’re not the same guy who was here before,” the guard says suspiciously. He pauses. “He can wait here. We don’t know what he is or what he wants.” He shoves the weapon into Sylas’s chest and the blade glazes through the fabric of my jacket he has on.

Before I can blink, Sylas smashes his elbow into the guard’s face then, without missing a beat, he thrusts his knee into his wrist, steals the knife and flips it around so it’s aimed at the bewildered guard’s face.

The guard on the top of the barricade lets out a scream and then I hear the sound of a ringing bell. I’m not even sure where the hell it’s coming from, but I do hear a rustle of commotion from the other side of the barricade. Sylas continues to stand, pointing the weapon at the guard’s throat who doesn’t dare move. The other guard jumps down and points his knife at Sylas.

I’m deciding whether to knock Sylas out or the guards—which way would make things easier—when Mathew arrives at the top of the wall. He peers down at us with his pale eyes, taking in the situation, then turns and very unsteadily climbs down. The guard with the weapon aimed at Sylas says something to him in a low tone when he approaches us.

Mathew shakes his head and shoves away the knife the guard’s holding then smiles at me. “I’m glad you made it back and that you brought Sylas with you.”

Sylas is startled, but he still keeps his head down because he has to. “How do you know my name?”

He ignores Sylas’s question, eying the knife in Sylas’s hand still pointed at the guard. “Let me apologize for the way the guards treated you. Sometimes they get a little too protective of our colony, but then again, I can’t blame them.”

Sylas hesitates, his muscles stiff, then finally he turns the weapon back around and hands it to the guard with an irritated look on his face.

“I’ll let it go this time,” Sylas says in a low tone. Even though I can’t see his eyes from below his hood, the warning in his tone causes even me to shiver. “But next time I won’t.”

The guard takes the weapon, glaring at him, yet he doesn’t say a word. He quickly climbs back up the wall and the other guard follows.

Mathew motions for us to follow him and we all climb up the wall and down the other side. As we move, I notice that Mathew looks different then when I saw him just a couple of days ago. His eyes and skin seems to be much more pallid and he really struggles to get up that wall. I wonder if he is starting to change faster now.

Mathew picks up his walking stick and then we head down a dirt path towards a building. “Did you find the papers, Kayla?” He looks at me inquisitively, waiting for my response.

I pat Sylas’s pocket. “They’re right here,” I tell him.

Relief floods across his face as his legs shake in the attempt to bear his weight. “Good. Let’s hurry inside my lab and see if I can make sense out of them.”

The word lab sends a red flag up in my head and apparently in Sylas, too, because he slams to a stop, grabbing my arm and pulling me back.

“Wait just a minute… you knew my name…” He trails off, muttering under his breath. “Yet you can’t really see my face beneath the hood.”

“Because I could tell who it was,” a familiar voice rises behind us, causing Sylas and I to spin around.

My jaw drops at the sight of Aiden standing behind us with his hood pulled down and a dark smile on his face. “Glad to see you’re back to your old self, brother.”

Aiden stares at us as we remain silent, looking back and forth between the two of us like he’s waiting for us to say something. We don’t because we don’t know what to say; what’s going on? Why is he here? Does he remember telling Monarch about the papers? Or maybe he doesn’t even understand any of this?

“Aren’t you glad to see me?” he asks.

I manage a fake smile, deciding that I’ll play along until I figure out what’s going on. “Of course I am, but… what happened to you? Sylas and I tried to find you after we were separated.”

“I managed to escape the abominations,” he says. “I went back to the cave and waited, but when you didn’t show up, I decided that maybe I missed you and you’d come back here.” He gestures at the town that surrounds us. “So I came back, too.”

I’m not buying it at all, though at the same time, maybe that’s what he thinks really happened. Especially after what I heard Monarch say to Gabrielle in the street about him telling the truth against his own free will.