Chapter 12 – Jayden's Past
My head was once again in a spin. Sam was going to give me further instructions? What does his message mean? Infiltration of a base, sounds like military…Trust no one? Does he know something? There wasn't much I could do in the meanwhile, but wait for him to contact me again.
"We were just getting worried about you," Sarah was saying as I entered the room. I could sense that she was not too happy with me disappearing on them.
"There was a long queue and I couldn't decide what I wanted," I said, looking at Jayden fleetly and as casually as possible. His face was unreadable, as usual. He stood with his arms crossed against the kitchen counter. I couldn't help but marvel at how much like a home it was inside the warehouse. It had been built as a place for scientist to work and live, although currently there was only seemingly Sarah. I didn't want to ask too many questions.
I sat down, opening the toasted sandwich and took a bite with them both watching me. It felt so awkward...then it hit me...I spat it out. It tasted gross, and apart from that, it was cold...something that surely didn't escape vampire intuition.
"Ugh, that's horrible! Cold too. I'm never buying there again!" I said, tossing it into the kitchen bin.
"I am tired. Where can I sleep?" I asked Sarah, not wanting Jayden to pick anything up from my face.
"You can use the guestroom, second door on the left down the corridor," she said looking a bit confused. I didn't want to have to explain anything to them, and I was tired. Exhausted. I felt like I haven't slept for weeks, which was almost true.
"Thanks, goodnight," I said, and quickly made my way to the room. I felt safe when I had the door closed behind me. I dug in my duffle bag until I found my pajamas. Thankfully this room had its own bathroom, so I didn't need to ask Jayden or Sarah where it was. I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, and headed for bed.
I tossed and turned, but eventually fell asleep with millions of thoughts milling in my head…of my dad, the mutant werewolves, the covenant, the strange letter Lily gave me from Sam?
I found myself in a cold stone room like before. Again I could smell the earth and hear water trickling somewhere, as mist swirled around me. This time I quickly grabbed a torch from a wall and made my way down the corridor I had gone down before. I reached the room where the podium with the coffin would be. I bent over to look inside, but instead of seeing myself like I had before I saw Lily's! Dressed in white, serenity on her pale face and her hands folded together. I knew she was dead.
"No!" I cried in agony. I staggered away, my legs no longer able to hold me and crashed down on the cold cobbled floor. Mists swirled around me once more.
"You must choose," I heard a voice whisper from the dark corners of the room.
"Why?" I yelled. The hall echoed my cry. "Before it had been me! Why her?"
I waited until the echoes died down. The mists swirled with energy.
"Much danger awaits..." the whispers finally said to me,"...and your choice will not be simple..."
"What choice?" I asked, but now there was only silence. "Answer me!" I yelled angrily. Why would the stupid dreams not just be straight forward?
"Holly...holly...holy..." The whispers changed, until I recognized the voice. Jayden's. I finally woke from the dark cold room and found myself on the floor in the guestroom Sarah said I could use. Jayden was crouched next to me, holding on to my shoulders.
"What happened?" I asked him wide-eyed, teeth clattering. My body was ice cold. Sarah stood at the door.
"You were having one hell of a nightmare as far as I can tell. You were screaming. Did you have a vision?"
One part of me wanted to just tell him everything, but something was warning me not to. I settled for half-truth.
"I...think I did. I can't remember much of it though. It was terribly confusing...I just know I was very afraid."
Jayden folded a blanket around me.
"At least you're fine now," Sarah was saying, "I'd be back in the lab if anyone needs me."
"You okay?" Jayden asked. I was now sitting with my back against the bed, with my knees pulled up against my chest. He was sitting next to me, as if trying to be casual and put me at ease.
"I…I don't know…I am confused…and afraid," I confessed," I want all of this to stop, these weird dreams to go away. I've only just turned 17 for crying out loud! My whole life still lies ahead of me! I don't want to be an executioner or whatever and have to go and fight monsters and probably die! I just…I just want…" even though I was fighting hard not to, I started sobbing. Great! That is so mature of you, Holly! I covered my face in my hands. To my surprise I felt Jayden put his arm around me, rubbing my shoulder as if trying to warm me up.
"There is nothing wrong with that," was all he said.
Later when I got a grip on myself, I gathered enough courage to look up. He looked somehow relaxed now. No frown, no bitterness, no anger. Calm. Wow, I forgot how handsome mr-polarbear-with-the-sore-tooth was…His long white hair was loosely tied. I wonder if it is natural? I've never seen a vamp with white hair before, now that I think about it. Maybe he dyed it? Still, it looks great… Shew, and how young he looks for a four-hundred year old guy! I wonder if I will age slower, being a half-blood?
"Do you think visions can foretell the future?" I asked to stop myself from just staring stupidly at him. At least I don't think he had noticed. He wasn't looking at me when I was um…examining his features…
"They can warn you of possible outcomes, but nothing is set in stone. We all have choices, which can affect how things turn out at the end."
"So I can change the vision?"
He looked at me reflectively.
"You want to?"
"Yes."
"I know how disconcerting and twisted visions can be," Jayden said and then sat in silence for a while, as if unsure whether or not he should say something more.
I glanced at him, trying not to put pressure on him. If he didn't want to tell me, fine with me I still wanted to know, very badly, though. There were so many things about him I didn't understand. His mood-swings just to name one. Anything to help me out please! I just didn't want to end up looking like an excited puppy, wagging it s tail while happily staring at his master...
"It has been two hundred and seventy three days since then," he said looking at me briefly before returning his gaze to the wall opposite us. His facial expression looked strained.
"Her name was Lynnette. I called her Lyn. We were married only two years but those were the most precious of all my four centuries."
I sat in shocked silence.
"She was a half-blood, like you. She had the same way of tilting her head slightly to the right when someone spoke to her. Sometimes you even laugh the same way she did. It drives me insane!"
I still sat as if a bucket of ice cold water had just been thrown over me. I knew the guy was hundreds of years old, but hearing a teenage-looking guy tell you he'd been married and experienced death is a weird thing to experience.
"Anyway, that's not the point I was trying to make," he said with a sigh, "I was involved with the Covenant then. I knew something strange was going on, but couldn't get clarity. I started having weird dreams. At first I thought they were just nightmares, but then some of it came true. That really freaked me out. I spoke to a shrink at the covenant, and they encouraged me to develop my ability to have and understand these visions. They said the ancients gave me a gift. Now I know they used my ability for their own good. I told them whatever I saw in the hope of preventing disaster from happening. I often saw how people would die. They told me they sent agents to prevent it. I only later learnt that they never did and that these deaths happened because of them. The ancients were trying to show me the true heart of the Covenant, but I was stupid. Or maybe I was scared of facing the unknown... One night I had a vision of myself dying. I was perplexed, and afraid. I told Lyn about it, but she said that she was sure it wouldn't happen and that I should speak with the covenant. I ignored my gut feelings, because I'd been told everything would be fine..."
I glanced at Jayden again, and saw a tear run down his cheek which he didn't bother to wipe away. It was like he was completely unaware of it as his gaze was fixed solidly on the wall as he continued.
"The irony is that in a way I had died, when they killed Lynnette..."
I gasped in shock.
"They? The covenant?" I asked before I could stop myself.
"Yes. She had learnt the truth, that the covenant was busy killing off everyone which they considered a weakling and abomination, all the people I saw die in my visions."
"You mean half-bloods?"
He nodded.
"They only kept me alive because I was valuable to them in the biological science development department. I had believed she died in a car accident. A truck's wheel had burst and sent it right into her car. It caught fire and exploded. I only learnt the truth four months later, when I discovered a secret file on her. It showed how they had monitored her movements and that the whole accident scene was planned."
Jayden didn't say anything for a while, so I felt I had to say something.
"I'm so sorry, Jayden."
When he looked at me then, for a moment I could see right past his shield he always carried around him, a glimpse of someone who felt lost at sea and I wanted so much to comfort him and tell him everything would be okay. Then the next moment his features hardened to the Jayden I got to know at McGuire High, a.k.a. mr-polar-bear-with-the-sore-tooth. He seemed to only now realize that he was crying and quickly wiped his face with his sleeve.
"Learn from my mistakes, Holly. Visions can be very twisted. Don't rely on them. Whatever you saw tonight, view it as a warning, but trust your instincts foremost. That is my lesson to you."
He got up.
"I ll be in the lab with Sarah if you need me. Hopefully we'll have some answers by this evening."
I was feeling so confused and scared...I called Lily on my "watch". It kept showing the requesting signal, but no connection... I felt a cold shiver creeping up my spine. What if something really did happen to her? What if someone followed her from the park? Just then a sleepy voice answered.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" She sounded annoyed, but I was very relieved.
"Thank goodness, you're okay..." I said more to myself then to her.
"What? Is something wrong?" she now asked sounding wide awake.
"I was just worried...wanted to make sure you're okay."
"I'm fine. Are you okay?"
How did she know?
"I...think I am...I had this freaky dream, it's just upsetting me a bit. I'll speak to you again in the evening," I said while the words in the letter rang through my head: "trust no one". I never know who might be listening in...
"Okay, I'm going back to sleep now. I suggest you do too. Chat later."
I had so much to tell her, but how do I know what is safe and what not? I don't want to put her in danger by letting her know things she shouldn't. Who can I trust? Jayden seemed to care, but I never truly know where I stand with him. Sarah? She's supposed to tell me what to do, isn't she? Or is it Sam? So far she hadn't given me any orders or anything, but she seems very interested in the bloody blade we found. How am I supposed to know what to do?
Just then I became aware that something was weird in this room... Why was my head about level with the chandelier hanging from the ceiling? I looked down. Big mistake... I was so shocked that I didn't even think to yell as I plunged down, luckily onto the bed.
It knocked my breath out of me, as the base protested dangerously to my landing.
What on earth... was I...hovering? Flying? How did I do it? I tried willing myself up in the air again, but this time no success. Was this a new power coming to the surface? That would be so cool! I went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face. I drank some water too, then looked into the mirror to see if I could save my hair which no doubt would be looking like a haystack by now. There was no reflection...
Great, this is starting to freak me out! Have I died? I looked under my bed, just in case my body was there. Nope. I didn't understand this...Jayden, Lily and the other vamps do show up in mirrors, why not me? I went back to the bathroom. I got quite a fright, when suddenly my reflection did show. Perhaps I'm going insane. Oh, well...I brushed my hair and tied it up. Then set off to the lab to see what Jayden and Sarah have discovered so far, as it was impossible to get back to sleep now.
I was scared, terrified of all the weird dreams, and now these changes... I wish dad was here. He'd help me understand it and feel like everything's okay.
I let out a yell as I suddenly walked into someone right outside the lab.
