I do not own the Twilight Saga or any of the characters except for the ones I have created myself.
This is merely an attempt to prolong an enjoyable reading experience.
Maya withdrew her hand gently and I allowed my own to fall by my side.
"Nah, I'm not you're tour guide, that'll be Torrin's job. I kind of just figured you hadn't really been introduced to anyone yet, unless you count the two walking penises earlier." She spoke with a grin playing at the sides of her mouth.
"You handled yourself pretty well with them. The best thing you can do is show them who's boss from the start."
"Thanks, I figured as much." I was smiling back, I couldn't help myself.
Her expression melted seamlessly from cheeky to compassionate, I noticed her eyes were a wonderfully intricate hazel with flecks of gold. The overall effect of her hair, skin tone and eyes was striking.
"I know you're probably scared but you're in a good place with good people."
Her eyes shone with sincerity as she spoke and I found myself unable to resist liking her. She looked sweet and honest and her delicate features made her seem soft and harmless.
In deciding that I liked her I found the burning in my throat easier to ignore. I suppressed it with sheer force of will and as I did so her heartbeat became less of an enticing and incessant thump and more of a background beat that I could phase out. Her smell was more difficult to block. I found her meadow flower aroma infinitely more mouth watering than the food that had sat in front of me just a few minutes ago and each small movement of her body seemed to gently waft a little more of it my way. It was still tolerable, however.
We both turned as the door hissed again and Mina bustled through. She made a bee line for the plates of cold food and began scraping them off and clearing them away before she even noticed us. When she did, she gave me her best impression of a warm smile. Her expression changed as she noticed Maya.
Mina actually managed to look down on Maya despite being several inches shorter, I considered it quite a talent, wondering if it was a look she practiced often. It certainly seemed to look a lot more natural on her than the simpering smile that never reached her eyes.
I noticed whatever feelings there were between these two, they were mutual, when Maya's tone turned into mock sincerity and she said, "Why Mina, those shoes show off your kankles beautifully." She turned and breezed out of the room before Mina had even taken a breath for her retort but the words "Don't you have a Ficus to water somewhere?" followed Maya out of the room as though Mina had sharpened and thrown them like a spear.
I silently put the distance of the room between myself and Mina, not wanting to be dragged into any bitching. Mina, however had other ideas and talked at me as though I were some sort of co-conspiritor "Little madam thinks she's special you know? Well I can't see how making grass grow is very special, can you?"
Unsure of whether the question was rhetorical or not, or what the hell she was talking about for that matter I decided not to answer.
Mercifully I was saved by the door hissing open once more and a ghost of a woman stepped in.
She looked about nineteen years old with a fresh but angular face. Her hair was the colour of starlight and cascaded in waves over her shoulders to rest around her hips. Her lashes and brows were the same colour, making them seem almost invisible in the right light but making her eyes stand out with striking and unavoidable force. Her irises were two grey storms that mutated and crackled with such power that I was unable to look away.
Expecting her to have the voice of the angel, I was surprised when my ears were met by sultry, gravelly tones. "I'm Torrin, you're friendly tour guide" she said sarcastically.
She smelled of something I could not name, something I could not remember.
"I'm Ness, the tourist" I replied in what I hoped would be interpreted as a friendly tone.
Her lips pulled up in the faintest of smiles as she turned to head back out the door. It began to hiss shut and my body lurched forwards as I darted forwards after her, shocking myself when I ended up outside in the corridor before she did.
I had expected a gasping reaction from Torrin but she was quick to disappoint, merely regarding me with curiosity before setting off down the winding walkway.
"I'd tell you to try and keep up but I see that's not going to be a problem."
********************************************************
Torrin showed me room after room in the rabbit warren that was The Hub. There were laboratories, living quarters, a large gym, a dining room that could seat over a hundred people. There was a massive room that looked like a jungle where I met Maya once again, perched on an enormous Venus Fly Trap. She grinned and waved to me, telling me to come back later and she'd give me a separate tour of her 'garden'.
When I had asked her about the lack of windows, Torrin explained to me that The Hub was actually an underground base, built after the Crane Industry building was destroyed by Humber. It's location was a heavily guarded secret to ensure that it did not suffer the same fate as it's predecessor.
I found myself feeling suddenly claustrophobic after she had shared that little nugget of info.
When the tour was over I made my way back to the jungle room where Maya was waiting for me.
As I stepped inside moist air clung to my hair, skin and clothing. I smelled trees, plants and flowers all around me and was reminded of scents that were forgotten, my brain tried to place them but the struggle was lost and I gave up as I heard Maya approach.
I looked directly above my head to see her perched on a thick branch of a tall tree, she smiled cheekily and beckoned for me to join her.
I didn't even have to think about it, I just shot up the tree and there I was, sitting beside her. "You move like a cobra strike." She said with a hint of awe in her voice.
"Um….thanks" I told my knees.
"We're all special in our own ways here but none of us can move like you."
I was about to answer but she cut me off, "You're strong too."
It was a statement, not a question.
I decided to play dumb and see where the conversation took us. I raised my head slowly to meet her eyes. "Am I?"
She rolled her eyes "You almost broke Nestor's arm and you didn't even look like you were trying. Not that I mind, if you ask me, that oily fuck would benefit from having a couple of bones broken."
I silently agreed with her, remembering the way he had appeared out of nowhere with that leering face.
"Anyway I heard Mr Crane saying that you move real fast and he thinks you've got some sort of super hearing and super sight. I think you definitely have super sight if you can hear a shadow creep up on you."
Her word vomit confused me "What do you mean by that?"
She looked at me like I was slow "Didn't anybody tell you?"
I held back a retort that would have sounded like "If I knew what the hell you were talking about I wouldn't have asked the fucking question."
Instead I simply said "Tell me what?"
"There's a group of us who live in The Hub, we used to live real rough down in the old subways of central city until Crane found us and offered us something better. Now we've got gifts and we use them to help people."
She gestured with a hand and hundreds of vines seemed to appear out of nowhere to twist over her body like snakes. She smiled widely at me as the vines unwrapped and began twining themselves at her feet to form a perfect green staircase to the floor.
She walked down them with willowing grace, turning to face me once she had reached the bottom. With another hand gesture the vines slithered into the earth beneath her feet and disappeared.
She looked proudly into my utterly gobsmacked face.
"Cool huh?"