Hey babes! Back again with a new one for you! Sorry it's been a while. I've been busy with work and working on other stories. But I have not forgotten about this one.
This one is when things really start to get exciting. You'll see what I mean.
Enjoy!
"Are we really doing this?" Skye asks as she and Grant make their way inside the old building looking over a cliff in San Juan. She keeps her eyes focused on her surroundings, just to be on the safe side. She has a feeling that these people won't attack her because she's there for a specific reason, but she wouldn't feel right if she didn't at least keep herself on high alert.
Grant nods from next to her. "Yeah, we are. There's only one way to really know, right?"
"I guess so. It's just...really weird, all of this. I'm not sure how to feel about any of it."
"It's going to be fine," he tries to assure her and she gives him a small smile for it. She'd been hesitant to go through with this after meeting with Raina, but ultimately decided that she's done with wondering. She's ready for answers.
"You can't know that," she says to Grant, "but it's sweet of you to say. I'm just...I guess everything that Raina's told me kind of has me on edge. I'm supposedly going to be meeting my father, but what if everything goes horribly wrong?"
"I won't let that happen." He stops abruptly and turns to face her so he can look into her eyes. "You believe me when I say that I'll do everything in my power to make sure we both come out of this whole thing alive and unscathed, right?"
She nods. "Yeah, I do." And she does. There's no doubt in her mind that he'll do everything he can to protect both of them. To ensure that they get back to their son.
"Good. Now, are you ready?"
She takes a deep, shaky breath. "No. But it's now or never, right?"
He gives her a small smile before they continue their way through the building and up a flight of stairs toward a large set of double doors. The directions they were given to the room were pretty clear, that much is obvious, she's just not sure if she can really go through with this.
"Hey, you good?" Grant asks once they reach the room, one of his hands resting on the door handle, waiting for her to give him the go-ahead.
She nods, swallowing. "Mm-hmm."
He twists the handle and pushes the door open, the both of them remaining in the doorway, Grant standing just a hair behind her.
That's when she sees him, slowly standing from the worn-out couch in the center of the room. He looks just like the photo she saw of him, only older in the face and grayer in the hair. He's nervous, that much she can tell right away.
Slowly moving into the room, she can't help the tears that start to build in her eyes at actually seeing him in person. She stops just inside the room, needs a moment to take it all in.
"Do you want me to stay?" Grant asks quietly from behind her.
She shakes her head and looks at him over her shoulder. "No, I think I'll be fine. But could you...could you wait outside? I'll shout if I need you for anything."
He gives her a small smile and nods, reaching inside to pull the door closed. And then she's left alone with him, this man she's never met in her adult life, this man that's apparently her father.
"Look at that," he finally speaks up after moments of complete silence passing between them. "The way you tilt your head, it's just like your...Is it nature or nurture?"
She's quiet for a long time as he speaks, not quite having found her ability to talk to him just yet. But he doesn't stop talking, he rambles on, his nerves getting the best of him. It's obvious that he's been waiting for this, but wasn't sure what to expect from it.
She can't hold her tongue anymore when he tries to tell her about himself, saying how she doesn't know anything about him. And she breaks her silence. It wasn't what she'd intended to say to him, but it just comes out.
"You're a monster, a murderer. A trail of death wherever you go."
He looks almost hurt by her words, but she can't find it in herself to care too much just yet. He may be her father, but she doesn't know him. And he doesn't know her.
"Those are...all true. But you need to understand, my little girl was...you, were taken from me, and my world fell apart. It was the worst day of my life, losing you. But I didn't lose you, I wasn't careless, I didn't forget you were stolen from me!"
She moves back when his voice rises and he steps closer. She sees the realization flash across his face and he backs up, calming himself down again before speaking. She listens to him as he talks, starting to tell her about her life when she was just a baby.
"Hey!" she calls out when he drifts off, staring at the carpet beneath them, obviously off somewhere else in his mind.
He looks up at her and then stands from the chair he'd been sitting in, looking at her, but staying back. "This is the thing I want to say. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you, that I couldn't protect you...That I couldn't teach you about the stars…" His voice breaks and she has to fight back her own tears. "Or sing you to sleep. I know I'm a terrible disappointment, but I'm here now. And everything that's about to happen is supposed to happen. I'm gonna take care of you."
"So then let me leave," she says to him. "Tell those guys outside to stand down so I can go." This is all too much, she can't deal with it. She needs to see her son, she needs to see Adian.
He looks almost shocked by her request. "What? Oh. Maybe I haven't been clear. You're exactly where you're supposed to be. This is your destiny."
She definitely doesn't like the sound of it or the way he's looking at her. She doesn't know why she thought any of this was going to be a good idea, but now she really, really wishes she hadn't come.
.
.
.
There's a sinking feeling in her gut as she watches Raina. Watches her circle the pedestal in the center of the chamber deep down beneath the old building in San Juan. She listens as she spouts off more crazy rantings like before, talking about blessings and gifts, and giving life. It's all too much. Everything about this is too much. She'd followed Raina down to stop her, after getting away from her father, to keep from doing whatever it is she plans on doing. She doesn't know what's supposed to happen, but she doesn't trust Raina in the slightest. Never has.
"Make it stop!" she shouts when the Obelisk in Raina's hand starts to glow and hum.
Raina simply laughs quietly in delight. "I can't. Neither of us can now."
She lowers the gun she'd had trained on Raina as they both watch the Obelisk slowly float over to the pedestal, setting itself down in the center of the bright beam of light.
A low rumbling draws her attention to the walls of the chamber, a clear sign of the doorways around them starting to close one by one.
"If you want to leave," Raina says to her, "now's your chance."
She watches with wide, frantic eyes as the entrances seal themselves up. She wants to leave, she has to leave. But there's a part deep down inside that can't.
Her eyes go wide as the last chamber door closes, sealing her inside with Raina. And Grant.
"Grant? You followed me? Why did you follow me? I was supposed to be doing this alone. I knocked you out!"
"Not well enough," he tells her. He takes a small step toward her, placing one hand on her arm, his eyes looking straight into hers. "And you're crazy if you think I'm letting you do this alone, Skye. Not when we don't know what's going to happen to you while you're in here. You could die for all we know."
"So you thought you'd risk your life too?" she asks, her voice getting higher and her brows raising. "Adian can't lose both of his parents, Grant. I won't have him growing up like I did. One of us needs to make it through for Adian's sake."
"One of you will be making it out," Raina speaks up, her eyes glued to the Obelisk. She looks up at them. "Just...not the unworthy," she says, looking straight at Grant. There's no need to expand on that, she knows exactly what Raina means to say.
"And that's exactly why you shouldn't have come down here," Skye says to him, hitting him repeatedly in the chest.
He grabs hold of the hand on his chest, looking straight into her eyes, and she swallows down the lump in her throat. "I wasn't going to let you go through this alone."
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the Obelisk moving and chances a glance to find the structure opening up, revealing shards of a type of crystal she's never seen before.
"How do we stop that?" Grant asks from beside her.
She shakes her head, her eyes glued to the pedestal. "I don't think we can."
"Well, what's supposed to happen?"
"Something beautiful," Raina speaks up, looking at the crystals with a sort of odd fascination that makes Skye's skin crawl all over. Then again, this is what Raina's been chasing, what she's been after for however long.
They all watch the crystal for another moment before they're knocked back by a large gust of wind. A high-pitched mumbling fills the space around them and for a moment nothing happens.
Her brows furrow together a second later, an odd tingling sensation starting in her toes and the tips of her fingers.
She looks down to see some kind of dark substance working its way up her body faster than she'd like. She doesn't know what it is, and that sinking feeling from before returns in full force.
She casts her eyes up and locks with Grant's, finding the same substance working its way up his body too.
The panic is clear in his eyes.
"Skye!" He reaches out to her as the substance crawls across his arm, locking it in place.
She reaches out to him on instinct. "Grant? Grant!" The substance covers her arms and legs, keeping her in place, her fingertips nearly touching his but not quite.
The last thing she sees is the worry and concern he has for her in his eyes, clear as day. And then everything goes black.
So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!