AN: I never found the fanfiction that I was looking for, so I decided to write it myself. I'm writing this to answer some questions I've had and to fill in a few blanks that the original story left to imagination. This story takes place after "The Reckoning" and the Darkest Rising series doesn't exist. This is my first official fanfiction, so please don't make the kitchen too hot for me. I'll do my best to update regularly, but starting new projects don't always mix with college and a ton of resume building. Darkest powers is one of my all time favorite YA series and I hope to not disappoint. Also, the characters might be a little OOC from time to time. Bare with me.
All rights to the franchise, series, original characters, and original storyline go to Kelly Armstrong, my supreme overlord and mistress.
It's been three months since Chloe and the others escaped from the Edison Group. All seems to be getting back to some form of normalcy, but things aren't always as they appear. New faces and new dangers lurk just beneath the surface. Can Chloe drag her friends out of the grave she's unknowingly built for them, or will all their secrets stay buried forever?
Chapter 1
Cpov
It's dark in here. It's always dark in here. There's nothing around but more and more darkness. I feel like I should be afraid but I don't know what I should be afraid of. I know there's a floor underneath my feet. It's cold. metal. I think I'm on a bridge. I don't have any shoes on. Where are my shoes?
I can't see but I know not to lean over the bridge's rail. I can't go back and i don't know why. All I can do is go forward. So I take one step after another. My foot steps echo loudly.
I feel like I'm walking forever. How long has it been? 5 minutes? 5 hours? 5 steps? 5 miles?
Finally, I get to a door. I still can't see.
It's big and cold. colder than anything I've ever felt. It's so cold that it hurts to touch it.
But I have to open it. I need to know what is behind this door.
But the door doesn't have a handle. So I push and it gives way.
There's a light behind it. It's blinding. I fall and land on something cold, like I'm laying in a pool of ice. I still can't see. I think my bones are actually freezing.
As my eyes make feeble attempts to adjust to the immense new light, I see someone coming.
Someone is coming toward me. I can't see who it is, but I know it's a man.
He's tall. I see a hand reach for me.
I know I shouldn't, but I trust him. I trust this unknown figure.
I'm so cold. It's so hard to move. I can't feel anything anymore and I don't care. All that matters is holding his hand.
He can help me. He wants to help me. I need him.
I reach for him, willing my hand to stretch just a little farther. If I can get to him, everything will be better.
He can save me. He can save all of us-
I wake up to the sound of a door closing. Someone's awake. I glance over at my alarm clock. 3:46 a.m.
What the hell? Why is anyone awake right now?
I groggily rise to my feet. The cool wooden floor and blasting AC give my body it's final motivation to rouse itself. My eyes adjust to the dimness of my new surroundings as I remember where I am.
Tori's room. The small television in the corner is still playing muted reruns.
I guess I finally fell asleep after that third I Love Lucy episode.
I pad down the short hallway to the kitchen thinking maybe Derek and Simon were raiding the fridge again for another midnight snack. Maybe I'll join them this time.
But the kitchen was empty. So was the small connected living room.
Funny. I could have sworn I'd heard someone in here. Guess I was still dreaming.
Even as I thought it, a cold shiver still ran through my body. What if they were back? What if they didn't all die in that building? What if-
I can't breathe. I can't think. My world starts to sway. There isn't a nearby seat so I back up until my camisole clad back reaches the cool wall. I slowly slide down it, even as I tell myself to breathe. Chloe, you're being ridiculous. The Edison Group is gone and St. Cloud have more important things to worry about then a few lost experiments. No one's in the condo. No one's here. Stop being so paranoid. You're safe now.
I don't know how long I sat there. I spaced after my little melt down, feeling like I was trying to swim through cotton candy. There was sun streaming through the windows when I felt Derek's hand on my shoulder.
"You okay"?
At first, I didn't speak. These were the first words he's spoken to me in weeks. I needed to say something that would keep him talking. I missed hearing his voice, though I'd heard him speaking to Simon and Kit several times, missed hearing that familiar low rumble directed towards me. These days, I'd be lucky to hear a morning greeting, let alone an actual glimpse of compassion. It was also the first time he'd touched me in weeks. But of course, I had to open my mouth and ruin it.
"Yeah. I'm fine". My voice was hollow and cracked, like I'd been crying even though I know I hadn't. It was cold and defensive and unwelcoming. He let go of my shoulder and it wasn't until then that I realized how cold I was.
How long have I been sitting here? I forced myself to not think about it, shutting off my thoughts and shoving them into a file in my brain to read later.
He was still standing over me, looking at me like I either had all the answers or none of them. It was an odd look, a look I wasn't used to, one I didn't mind. I liked it when his eyes were on me, even if they weren't holding the warmth and affection I'd seen such a short time ago.
I still wasn't used to his new look. Kit had forced him to get a haircut and now his eyes were on full display all the time.
I looked away before I could say something that would send the wrong message and focused on getting up off the cold floor.
"What are you doing up? It's early."
His lips quirked up at the corner in a way that simultaneously made me want to punch and bite him. I blushed at the thought against my will while silently cursing my gene pool for giving me my mother's freakishly pale skin. While it made her look like a porcelain doll, I ended up more like an overly-bleached bed sheet.
"I could ask you the same." There was a pause that I didn't mind. It allowed me to get my thoughts together just in time to have them blown away by his next actions.
"Derek"-
"It's cold out here and you're shivering. Here."
He pulled off his hoodie and slipped it on me before I had time to object. As he finished pulling it over my small frame his hands rested on the the hem of the mountain of fabric, brushing my pajama-pant-covered thighs. Still, I gasped as though he'd touched my bare skin.
My mind began to wonder and I quickly stepped away from him and hit the wall with another gasp. My mind was wandering to places it shouldn't and I needed to get away from him and out of this hoodie.
It smelled like him and was still warm from being wrapped around him. I felt like I was drowning in him and I didn't want to stop. I all but sprinted to the bathroom mumbling something about having to pee. He let me go.
I reached the bathroom and hastily closed the door, trying my hardest not to think about how I was still shivering, but not because of the cold.
His essence was all around me as I ripped off the hoodie like it was made of poison.
I could still smell him all around me. He smelled like pine trees and dewy grass and soap and something that could only be described as Derek. It was on my clothes, in my hair, refusing to leave my nose with every sweet, torturous breath. My legs still burned where he'd touched me. I was officially at war with myself.
You can't do this Chloe. You can't keep freaking out like that every time Derek gets too close. You can't keep running away. You can't keep acting like he's the plague, everyone is already starting to notice.
I knew my inner voice was right but I couldn't think about what was right. All I could think about was Derek. All I could smell was Derek. All I could see when I shut my eyes were flashes of Derek. Derek smiling. Derek laughing. Derek kissing me, over and over until I couldn't heart felt like it was going to jump out of my neck and i was still shaking. Right now, he was my entire world and I couldn't have that.
I ripped off the hoodie along with the rest of my clothes and stepped in the shower without waiting for the water to heat up.
The ice of the shower did wonders to shock my brain to other topics of interest and the hot water that came after seemed to at least relax my body. As I washed off, I stared at the huge black hoodie on the tiled floor, wondering where Derek had been or where he had been going.
He had been fully dressed in jeans and and boots.
As I stepped out of the shower I grabbed towel, only to realise that in my rush to get away from Derek, I'd forgotten my clothes. Great.
With a sigh, I secure the towel and open the door. Simon is waiting by the door, towel and clothes in hand. His eyes travel over me quickly and we both blush furiously.
We both mumbled apologies and pass each other on our ways in and out. He shuts the door and starts the water. I hover by the door for a moment, deciding on what to do. My clothes were in Lauren's rooms. With another sigh, I opted to borrow something of Tori's. She's gotten so thin recently that we're practically the same size.
I make my way back to her room with no delays. Derek isn't in the kitchen anymore and part of me is relieved. Another part of me feels otherwise. I ignore my feelings as I walk into Tori's room without knocking, knowing she's still asleep. She sleeps all the time now.
Just as I suspected, she's cocooned in a mountain of sheets and covers, oblivious to the world.
Part of me envied her. I didn't get much sleep these days, but she seemed to be making up for both of us. I grab a light gray t-shirt and a black skirt that i could cinch tighter if I needed to. I also grabbed my doc martens off the floor. The black ones with the flowers all over.
I get dressed and slip into my shoes, then stop to look in the mirror. I've sort of made that a habit.
Short hair dyed brown, big blue eyes, pale skin, slightly flushed cheeks, red lips. These days I had to remind myself that this was who I was. This was my body and I was still inside it, no matter how different it looked in a mini skirt and maroon lipstick.
After everything that went down with Davidoff, we all crashed from motel to motel for months until we stopped at this private condo in a secluded area miles out of New York state. I'm actually not even entirely sure where we are and I won't ask. I don't want to know. Once we got to the condo, we immediately raced for the shower and surprisingly, I beat Tori. The shower was hot and it was nice but I was shocked at what I saw when I stepped out of the shower.
The shower was small and the bathroom was smaller, but I didn't care. I loved feeling the water run down my back and smelling the soap on my skin. I felt like I could finally relax after weeks of bird baths in dirty old sinks and wipe downs with sanitary wipes. When I stepped out of the shower I froze. Directly in front of the shower, across from the low-sitting toilet, was a wall length mirror that spanned the entire sink and counter.
To say the least, I looked ghastly. My hair was was a mess of tangled, dry-looking, grayish-blonde knots, resting at least three or four inches longer than I remembered it. It was touching the bottom of my shoulder blades now and my roots were terribly matted and obviously another color. I'd lost weight. I'd lost a lot of weight, not that I had much to start with. And I was taller, still shorter than Derek and Tori but still. I stared at myself in the mirror. I looked hungry and tired and sad. And I most definitely had been.
I was knocked out of memory lane when something large and soft hit me in the head with enough force to make me take a small step back. I looked down to see Tori's black pillow at my feet. I looked up to see my assailant glaring at me through a mess of long, tangled locks the same color as mine.
"Why are you wearing my clothes"?
I glance down at my watch. "Why are you still in bed at 10 in the morning"?
"Because I have nothing better to do with my time."
Her voice was still groggy from sleep but her eyes sent me her silent scorn in waves. That's how she is now. Sleeping all day and all night, barely eating, and when she is awake, she reminds me of the Tori I met at Lyle House.
Kit says she's dealing with a lot, but aren't we all? I know her mom died, and I know I'm the reason she did. So I'd understand if we were back to our original terms, but it doesn't explain why she's so depressed and angry all the time or why she won't eat.
I look back up at her with a sigh. Her collar bones are protruding so much that she looks like a sick bird. She's propped up on one arm, glaring at me. I don't know what to say, so I turn away from her and refocus myself at the mirror.
I used to look so different before all this. Before the ghosts. Before Lyle House. Even if it had been a false reality, it had been my world. I missed my blonde hair and baggy clothes that I could hide in. I miss my dad. I even miss school. Now I just look like someone else, someone not me.
In the mirror I see a girl with tired eyes. All the running we've been doing seems to have triggered another stage of puberty. I am now a very proud, very average 5'3" with boobs. They aren't big, a solid B at best, but they're there so I'm not complaining. My hair is cut in a short bob with bangs that are slightly too long. And I'm not the only one that looks different.
Along with her sudden weight loss, Tori grew her hair out before she dyed it like mine. It reaches the middle of her back. Simon and Kit were trying to play up the traditional Asian-American look with short, black hair. Simon had to dye his, which he wasn't' too happy about. Derek got new clothes and a hair cut. Lauren dyed her hair the same color at Tori and mines.
When turned back to Tori, she was laying down again but now she was facing the wall. She looked so small now, all wrapped up in her cocoon of covers and blankets. I still can't figure out why she's so cold.
Oddly enough, I'm kinda starting to miss when she wasn't my friend. She may have only opened her mouth to ridicule me then but at least she was present. less distant. I walked over to her nightstand to check the time.
8:15 a.m.
How long was I sitting on that floor?
With a resigned sigh of approval of my clothes and a new determination to not think about how I managed to rack up over three hours of lost time,I stepped out of Tori's domain, more determined than ever to find breakfast before delving into my mental timeline issues.