Part 3

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything… but, you'd think they could afford slightly better places," Ava mused aloud, looking around and taking in their new space.

"We're meant to lay low. A luxurious loft or the penthouse suite of a five stars hotel don't exactly spell 'incognito'," Beatrice pointed out as she moved around the small apartment.

Beatrice had been given money, passports, some weapons and gears they might need. She had been presented with a map showing the locations of the different hideouts owned by the OCS. The plan was for her to choose one for her and Ava without telling anyone which one she'd pick. The less people know where they were the better.

She had chosen one in Switzerland, and she had memorized the coordinates of five other places just in case they had to be on the move quickly.

They had left the last convent in Italy right before dawn, escorted by a small team. After an hour they had parted ways with them. She hadn't taken the most direct road to their destination, instead she had taken several detours for the first hour just to make sure they weren't followed. Once she had been satisfied that they had had no tails, she had settled on their journey.

"Fair point," Ava conceded with a tilt of her head. "I like the décor… who knew beige could pop?"

Beatrice grinned with amusement. For the first time since what seemed like ages ago, she felt like they were back to normal with Ava being a smartass any chance she could get.

The apartment was small, cosy. One kitchen, one bathroom, one water closet, one living room slash bedroom…and now they were both staring at the one elephant in said living room: the bed.

The only bed.

"I'll… take the couch," Beatrice announced after a long silence.

"There's no need… I mean, it's big enough for the both of us."

"Yeah well… my experiences sharing a bed have been painful. Lilith elbowed me in the face and Camilla almost smothered me with crocodile death rolls."

While both incidents were true, if Beatrice was honest, the reason behind her reticence to share a bed with Ava had more to do with the fact that proximity to Ava tended to stir things in her she'd rather not think about.

"Crocodile what?" Ava chortled with a frown.

"Crocodile death rolls, aggressively tossing and turning in one's bed."

"Is that really what the dictionary says?"

"I don't know about the dictionary, but that's my definition," Beatrice pointed out.

"Well, I learnt something new today."

Beatrice dropped the bags she was holding in the corner of the room, then extracted a tablet from one of them. Ava sat next to her and silently watched. While she was still new at using technology, she had a deep understanding of it, after all, being paralyzed for over a decade meant her mind was the only muscle she had been able to work on and developed to her liking.

It barely took a couple of seconds to figure that Beatrice was using and encrypted interface. After a couple of minutes, Beatrice put the tablet down. "I've sent a message to the HQ, they'll reach us when they can," she explained.

At her words, the anxiety Ava had managed to tamp down resurfaced. She briefly hesitated but then voiced her mind. "What's the plan?"

Beatrice took a deep breath. She thought about all the meetings she had had with the rest of the OCS. They were in an unprecedented situation. They were also in the dark as to what they were facing, which meant they didn't have any real plan.

The only certainty they had right now was that at some point they would face Adriel once more.

"We have to lay low. That part means we'll have to find jobs to provide for…"

"Jobs… just how long are we supposed to stay here?" Ava rose from the couch and started to pace.

"I don't know, Ava," Beatrice said calmly. "To be perfectly honest, there's very little anyone know. As of right now, for us, the plan is to lay low, keep you safe, train you and wait for further directives."

Ava stopped her pacing and looked at Beatrice. "…train."

"Yes." Beatrice could feel Ava's dread, unfortunately her next words were not reassuring at all, so she softened her voice in an attempt to keep Ava calm. "There's no telling when, but facing Adriel again is inevitable. Running away won't be an option the second time around, so we have to make sure you're ready. And…"

The air seemed heavier to Ava. She could barely breathe; she felt some invisible force coiling around her and slowly constricting her whole body. She didn't want to be here, she didn't want to fight, she didn't want to face Adriel again.

She couldn't…

That thing Adriel did to her when she was in the tomb… she couldn't face him again, no amount of training would help her. She was going to die… that was it…

She hadn't signed for this, this was not her life… she… couldn't… she didn't want to die… this wasn't her fight, this wasn't…

Beatrice watched in horror as Ava mentally spiralled down. She was heaving now and Beatrice was afraid she might pass out soon. In a second, Beatrice stood up in front of Ava, grabbed her face to force her attention back on her.

"Ava, look at me…breathe."

Try as she might, Ava couldn't suck in oxygen.

"Breathe," Beatrice said again. "In and out… slowly."

Ava forced herself to focus on Beatrice and match her breathing.

"That's it…in… and out…"

If her breathing was back under control, the fear was still burning through every inch of her body.

"Listen… I know this is a lot," Beatrice spoke softly. "And I know you're scared, but we'll figure things out and I won't let anything happen to you, you hear me?"

Ava searched Beatrice's eyes, she saw no doubt, no hesitation, only certainty. "Ava, you have my word. I won't leave your side or let you get hurt… I promise."

Part of her kept thinking that Beatrice was making a promise she wouldn't be able to keep, because she didn't know what Adriel was capable of. The other part of her was reassured though, for she knew that Beatrice would keep her word no matter what, even if she failed in the end.

Ava believed Beatrice, more importantly she trusted her. She was still scared out of her mind, but she wasn't alone. She had Beatrice and Beatrice had her back. As long as that statement was true, things would be okay.

"I promise," Beatrice repeated once more.

Ava gave a feeble nod. "Okay."

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