Hey! I finally updated :) Sorry for the wait! Sam is seventeen in here, I just forgot. I'm smart. Oh, if you're wondering about Seven's legacy, she only has the one I've been mentioning and Telekinesis, which every Garde does; it will be explained in further chapters! Disclaimer: After a while of admitting that I don't own 'I Am Number Four', it gets depressing. Sorry about any spelling, grammar, etc. mistakes. Hope you like! Comment of you want!
Two teenagers sat on the side of the road, a motorcycle laid on the grass beside them along with two duffel bags and a backpack, the color of a starless and moonless night. The face of the older one-more prominent cheekbones-was debilitating, eyes hazing over slightly with sleeplessness, but looked as if she was fighting it. She sat in the cool Illinois' grass that streaked either sides of the black road. She had her hands supporting her slightly leaned back position, digging into the grass and the dirt below. The younger one-more prominent eyes-was also debilitated, but unlike her elder she was not fighting, in fact she was overly content with allowing the desired sleep to wash over her and wrap her up.
The air was cool and breezy, sweeping over them and prickling there warm skin. The sun was now rising, casting its glow along the night ridden sky. Hills weaved on either side of the rode miles back, shading some of the dawning sun.
The motorcycle that lay next to the two weary teenagers was out of gas and in a state of uselessness to them. There wasn't a gas station for miles and they had walked all they could. There throbbing limbs rested against the grass watching as a car rarely streamed past them.
Deciding minutes later that they couldn't just mop around, the pair lazily got up; stretching there stiff and throbbing muscles, and thought of any way they could pull themselves out of this situation. They were on the side of the road with no gas station for miles in the middle of Illinois. Not much options there. Number Seven had suggested that they could highjack a car, one of the few that seemed to come through this endless road, in attempt to lighten the mood and try and forget about sleep and everything to do with it. They hadn't slept in days. Number Six stared at nothing in particular as if she was actually considering it before she dismissed it with a small smile and a nod of her head.
Number Seven strode of a bit further to grab her backpack and slung it over her shoulder before stumbling her way back and mumbling something about 'stupid rocks'. When she walked back to where her sister was apparently deep in thought if the look on her face was anything to go by. The youngest of the pair watched her elder for a moment in amusement. The elder's head snapped up in realization and she suggested the last resort of the situation: hitchhiking. She herself wasn't very fond of her own idea about getting into a strangers car, but they had to get out of here and find Four.
Her younger sister was too tired and sluggish to argue with the other Garde right now. Right now, all she wanted was to lie down and fall asleep, well get to a motel then fall asleep.
They stood on the side of the road sticking their thumbs out and waiting. As minutes passed so did cars.
"Uh!" Number Seven complained with annoyance. This was getting ridiculous. It had been a good thirty minutes since they had decided to go through with Number Six's if-you-want-to-sleep-you-better-hitchhike-with-me plan and no one had even bothered to stop to spare them a glance, well how kind of them.
Number Seven stuck here thumb out further as if hoping that would help, but more out of annoyance and lack of patience at that moment.
"This is taking forever, Six." She said as she lulled her head to the left. The other lorien gave her an amused look before turning her head toward the road.
"Be patient and help will come." She said wistfully.
"Are you quoting someone?" She said with her head still lulled to the left, lazily as she narrowed her eyes.
Her elder gave her a small smile before turning her eyes toward the road.
Several minutes past and the sun was now fully glowing in all its glory in the could-freckled sky. The breeze seemed to carry Seven's patience with it and fuel the tension.
They stood as they had before on the side of the road with their thumbs stuck out and ever increase tension. They were just so tired and all they wanted to do was give into the sedative whispering desire of sleep in their heads.
A red pick-up truck slowly made its way down the road before them. Its pace pinned the driver as either a careful one or an elder one, maybe both. The pick-up truck was a dark red, the color of bricks on a firehouse, and was well cared for, but the dents on the side made it clear that it had seen better days, far younger ones. It drove smoothly down the road, carefully. The driver came clearer into view; an older man with squared thick glasses and hardly any hair. He narrowed his eyes, gently on the two of them in wonderment before smoothing over the road closer to them. He came to a stop a few inches ahead of them.
Number Six walked forward and peered at the man through the windowless car door, her younger sibling following suit. The man-short and almost round-had wrinkles and a furrowed brow. He looked to be around seventy or eighty, if you were to guess, and looked to be the type of man to have children well past being children and even grandchildren possibly ten or twelve. He seemed friendly enough.
Number Six asked the kind man if he could give them a ride to the next gas station or motel, motel sounded better to Seven where she could actually sleep.
The man nodded, but seemed suspicious about their story.
The lorien siblings managed to lift the motorcycle out of the grass, where it was dug in pretty well, and into the truck along with their two duffel bags. Number Seven kept her backpack with her just in case. You could never be too careful and that was even more so when you were a Lorien.
She climbed in the back seat of the old pick-up truck and left her sister to the front. She earned a half glare as if to say 'I'm really not in the mood to scold you or anything really'. She pulled herself into the front seat and thanked the man who told them it was no problem.
The youngest in the car nestled herself further into the corner of the seat where it met the metal of the car. She tugged the seatbelt over her chest and lap and clicked it into place. Dropping the bag onto the floor she heard her sister ask where the next gas station was.
"Oh, that you won't find for miles. I'm guessing that's why you two where hitchhiking, right? Ran out of gas?" He said as he drove slowly, as he always seemed to do, down the road.
"Yes. We were just going for a drive."
The older man chuckled. "No exactly the best thing to do in Illinois when you don't have extra gas on you."
"I certainly learned my lesson."
Six laid her head against the cool glass of the back window. It was welcome and seemed to momentarily take her mind off of her many colliding thoughts. She had thought about the dagger she had in her pocket, could feel the outline against her hip. She always kept it there or either attached to her ankle or stuffed in her boot, which she wasn't wearing them and didn't particularly care to the leather strap binding around her lower leg at that moment. She could feel the smooth and sharp curves of the dagger biting into her hip and thigh. She could feel the stone that centered the dagger's hilt beam with light warmth seeping into her leg comfortably. The dagger definitely wasn't from the planet they currently resided on: Earth. The dagger neither metal nor steel, but something stronger, more powerful was from her home planet Lorien. It was her mother's dagger, something that was sent with them when they left their birth planet
She thought about the life she never knew of on Lorien. How she could never seem to remember any of it except a tree that resided in front of her parent's house. She could only remember in her sleep and then it would disappear slowly from her grasp like the afterward of a dream. She would try to remember, but it seemed that she couldn't as if she hadn't been there at all. She asked her sister about Lorien who told her the vague memories of greenery and tall trees, what she had remembered. She felt a hidden jealousy that her sister could remember, really remember what it looked like, how it felt and yet she couldn't.
She thought about her older sister who was currently taking to the man, apparently named Ren, giving them a ride. She overhead parts of the conversation and decided to stick with this train of thought rather than the previous.
Number Six sounded calm when Ren asked what they were doing out in the middle of the Illinois road. And although they had told him it seemed as if he didn't quite believe that story. There was a shear parental urgency to his voice as if he was asking his children. It calmed them both a bit. They told him they were going for a trip, it was more like a trying at survival then a trip, but she wasn't going to argue.
"Sure you weren't running away from your parents?" He asked as he raised an eyebrow, his eyes never leaving the road.
She wanted to say that she didn't have any parents because they were dead along with her Cêpan. She wanted to bit it out and tell him the truth, but she couldn't.
Number Six had denied the accusation and said that her parents had long passed. That she was eighteen and had gotten custody over her younger sister because of the lack of close relatives. Ren apologized and there was something in his voice, sadness and understanding. He told them that they reminded him of his children, trying to make it through the world without anyone to help them, always independent, set out on proving themselves. That sounded a lot like them.
He continued further on the discussion of his children and their children, even his wife. It was nice hearing someone else's story rather than dwelling on yours. The man was kind enough as he told his story. Behind every person there was a story, something to be learned from, and the older and wiser people got the more their story grew, the more they have to tell. It was no different on Lorien except their stories were maybe a bit more…..interesting.
Still it was nice to hear someone's story, the telltales' of their life.
Number Seven rested her head more comfortably against the seat and rested her head against the cool window. It touched her burning skin, running through her veins.
She veered her thoughts away from her warm skin and thought about, well there was nothing else to think about other than her illuminating ankle, covered safely by her pant leg. She swallowed thickly. She had tried to convince herself it was just a 'phase' which she knew was a ridiculous lie. She tried hiding her glowing ankle from her sister, but she knew and Number Seven was aware. She didn't say anything about the matter and neither did her sister. She wondered what it meant as she ran her clammy hands over her jeans-they always seemed to be this way now. There was something her elder wasn't telling her. She would look at her burning ankle and smile, just smile at her like it was normal to have a glowing ankle that never seemed to stop. There was definitely something going on, something she didn't know of that her elder did. It was very unnerving and a bit infuriating at the same time.
She sighed and watched the passing green scenery and the dwelling sun-like a reminder to her.
When the night had nearly dawned they arrived at a motel. Ren had agreed to take them to the closet one and even gave them container of gas.
"Thank you so much." Number Seven said as she took the container while her sister yanked the motorcycled out of the truck and got the duffel bags.
"No problem. It was nice meeting you and make sure you two be more careful." Ren said with a smile.
"We will!" The younger stated as Ren drove off.
The pair smiled at the kind man before they walked toward the motel. This one was nicer than the last. It had wooden wall painted dark blue and a sign that said 'Motel' simply on it in red letters backgrounded with dark blue as well. At least it didn't have a flickering neon sign on it like the last.
They took refuge in one of the top rooms. Six barged the door open with her shoulder after stuffing the key in the lock. To the right of them was a small kitchen, sofa, couch, T.V, a living room. To their left was a small hallway with two rooms and a bathroom.
Number Six dropped the duffel bags and kicked the door closed with the back of her shoe before pulling at her jacket. The other Garde put the gasoline on the kitchen counter. She watched with amusement as her sister stumbled to the couch and fell on it burying her face in the small pillow.
Sleep sounded amazing right now.
"So tired." Six mumbled from the couch, the pillow muffling her words.
Number Seven smirked as she pulled off her black sweater.
"Yeah because you did so much just sitting there in a car. Poor Six, poor, poor sister. I feel your pain, really I do."
Number Seven smiled when she earned a glare from the elder and laughed when a pillow was thrown at her before she caught it neatly in her hands, pulling the pillow close to her chest.
"Thank you."
"Shut up and go to sleep." Number Six stated, muffling her words in another pillow she found at the other end of the couch.
Number Seven laughed despite feeling debilitated.
"Of course, Six." She said as she toed off her shoes and stumbled to the sofa.
She lay in an awkward position with her head and feet dangling from either side off the arms of the chair. It wasn't the most comfortable of positions, but she didn't care as sleep hazed its way over her mind and relaxed her. The last thing she felt was the dagger still in her pocket pressing into her hip.
~o~
She heard the low rumble of the ground and she staggered up what looked to be a grassy hill. It was dark, the kind of night that hides it's moon and stars. She had to squint to even manage to barely see. She heard a scream and whirled around. The scream was replaced by sobs and pleading to 'Stop, please! No!' She could barely see and she secretly felt scared, but she remembered what she had been told:
"Don't focus on what you can see. Looks can be deceiving. Focus only on sounds, voices."
She closed her eyes that had seen shadows here and there and focused on sounds. The crackling of leaves under shoes, the midnight breeze howling through the air, the rustling sound of fabric-someone was struggling, inhumane laughing, a scream, more rustling fabric-more frantic than the last, a scream, a sob and the sound of tears hitting her palm.
Seven woke startled, her eyes snapping open and she felt as if she had been swimming and then she broke water, gasping for air as she push the side of her face into the pillow. She felt the tear-stained pillow against her cheek. She gripped the pillow with her hands, her face pained. She felt like crying…again.
She grasped what she could from the 'dream', sounds, and ran through it again. The voice that was screaming sounded oddly familiar, but she couldn't pin it because it started fading like the afterward of a dream, slipping from her mind, until all she could remember were the words said and the sounds of that person in her own voice. It was an odd thing, hearing herself scream and plead, and quite twisted. She tried to remember the voice before she woke, but it didn't work.
"Uh!" She buried her face in the pillow and hit her hand against it. She hated this. Having to go through that and not remembering the voice, but only the words. Remembering words for her was good, but if she could pin the voice that was better. She would be able to know who it was and try to stick with them to prevent it.
She heard the creak of a door and peered over the couch, not before wiping the tears away from her cheeks of course. She saw it was her sister, stepping out of the bathroom fully clothed with one of the duffel bags. She doubted it was the one with the innumerable amount of weapons in it.
Her sister had a dark pair of straight-legged jeans on along with her dark leather jacket and dark shoes. Her hair had been put in a ponytail and she had her loose bangs tucked behind her ear.
She looked up from something in her hand, a device of some sort that she couldn't see, to her sister before giving her a small smile.
"Morning, sleepyhead." Six said as she walked toward the counter and put the duffel bag containing their clothes and such in it on it.
"Morning." She said as she pushed herself off of the couch and walked toward the bathroom, not forgetting to grab the duffel bag Six set on the counter moment ago.
Moments later she came out of the bathroom fully clothed. She wore dark skinny jeans and a gray tank top. Her hair hung naturally in loose disheveled waves down her back. She carried the duffel bag to the counter where she set it down.
Her sister was leaning on the counter, her forearms pressed against it, holding her weight. A laptop sat in front of her as she typed away and read over it.
"What are you doing?" The younger Garde asked as she peered at the screen.
"Just making certain he's there." Number Six said and she didn't have to ask who she meant.
The mention of just Four in general made her dry hands clammy. The only time that she got clammy hands was when she was nervous, which seemed to happening a lot now. She had no reason to be nervous. She wasn't nervous about meeting him, no, she wasn't- she wasn't. Her ankle seemed to never stop glowing anymore, which infuriated her. Her skin was always warm to the touch and she didn't know what was happening anymore.
She was quiet, in thought, for a long moment before Six took notice of her lack in conversation. Six turned around and furrowed her brows.
"Are you alright?" She asked as she looked over her sibling. She seemed a bit…..off. She seemed a little nervous.
"I'm fine." She waved her elder sister off. "We really should be getting going." Seven said trying to dispatch her sister's suspicion.
Number Seven started to pick up a duffel bag that had various weapon in it before she heard her sister's agreement. Number Six handed the other Lorien a pair of long, black boots. They felt soft with short fur. Number Seven didn't argue about why she should wear those-her older sister's boots.
As if reading her mind she stated, "So they add an extra layer of protection on your ankle."
Number Seven knew what she meant. She meant so it wasn't as visible which she guessed was the same thing as she tugged one knee-high boot on over her pant leg.
When she managed to get them on, stumbling more than once, she grabbed an extra dagger from the duffel bag and slipped it in her boot, satisfied that she didn't have to have the binding leather strap around her leg. The other dagger sat against her hip, biting into her thigh, a feeling she had gotten used to.
Number Six followed Seven out the door with one duffel back-her sister carrying the other-and the tank of gas, occasionally fidgeting with her belt which 'doesn't stay in damn place' . They made their way out of the motel and onto the motorcycle, this time hopefully with enough gas.
~o~
The Illinois wind whipped through her hair and smelled of fresh grass. It was a little calming to her, taking her mind off of the impending meeting. She watched the sun rise high above the sky, resting there in its glory, and then slowly descend into the hills. They made a few stop for gas and food, but nothing else. Her elder was determined to get there before the next day.
When they finally pulled into Paradise, Ohio the sun has long past disappeared. The town is small, but somehow…homey, even to her. They drove through the streets and on either side of them are always streaked with shops or homes. On one particular house a crowd seemed to gather, along with an emergency truck and reporters.
Out of curiosity they pulled over to the crowd and overheard:
"The mutilated bodies of two paranormal website operators where just found a few hours ago. The police are not saying they have any leagues or even why these two were murdered" A reporter stated
They walked back to the motorcycle after that and Number Seven turned her head back to the burning house. She felt drawn to it somehow or maybe it was the people that use to live there.
She might not have an idea who murdered them, but they do.
"We need to find Four, now." Six stated as she pushed her way out of the crowd.
"Where would he be? All of Ohio is looking for him and the Mogadorians." Seven said as she slung herself on the back of the motorcycle hearing it purr to life. Six speed down the road without another word.
She was starting to think there were quite a few things her elder sister didn't mention to her.