Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) (22 page)

To my surprise,
Ellie turned back to look at me for guidance. I stepped up next to her and put
my hand on her arm. "It's okay. You can do this," I muttered to her
and squeezed her arm gently for encouragement.

She nodded and
turned back to the council. Her voice was still quiet. "I was watching TV
in the living room when the doorbell rang. Both of my parents were upstairs at
the time so I went to answer it. It was my Uncle Colin but he," she paused
to choke back some tears. "He was different. He had red eyes now instead
of blue. I was so shocked and by the time I realized what he was he already had
a hold of me. I screamed and I heard my parents come running. They just reached
the door when Uncle Colin sprinted away with me."

"Where did
he take you?" Gladys asked.

"He took me
to some old caves deep in the woods. He met up with another Zhulik there. Uncle
Colin wouldn't give me to the other guy until the other guy promised Uncle
would get his reward."

"Do you
know what the reward was?"

Ellie shook her
head. "I don't know for sure. When I was locked up I heard the Zhulik
guarding me talk about getting their reward too. They made it sound like it was
some kind of power and they couldn't wait to be so much stronger
afterwards."

"Do you
know what happened to your uncle?"

"No. Once
he gave me to the other Zhulik he left. He said he needed to go home for something
and when he came back, the Zhulik guarding me wouldn’t let him see me. I
heard him in the hallway just before Avery and Felix rescued me."

"Did you
hear anyone talk about what was going to happen to you?"

She nodded her
head slightly. "Anytime I made any noise or cried they would threaten me
to get me to stop. They kept saying that if I didn't, my death would be a lot
longer. They kept talking about a woman coming for me."

"A woman?
Do you know who?" Gladys asked, sitting on the edge of her seat, anxious
for more information.

"No. They
never said a name."

"Thank you.
You're a very brave girl." Gladys sighed, disappointment washing over her
face at the small bit of information Ellie had. Then she turned her attention
to Felix and I. "Do you know how many other Nesmyr are being held captive
there?"

Felix looked at
me to answer. "From what I could sense, there were at least seven. Six
now, since we rescued Ellie. There might be more, deeper in the caves depending
on how far they stretch. There are at least two Zhulik guarding each Nesmyr,
too. Some have three."

"Can you
tell if any of them are upper class or not?"

This question
caught me off guard. Felix warned me that most of the upper class Nesmyr only
cared about other wealthy Nesmyr but I assumed that the council might be a
little bit different. I guess I was wrong.

"No, I
can't but I don't see how that matters. They're all Nesmyr and they all need to
be rescued. If you're not willing to set up a rescue party for Nesmyr that
might not be as wealthy as you are, then I'll do it myself."

I hadn't
expected to sound so rude but I was shocked at how vain these Nesmyr could be.
Everyone in the room was staring at me with wide eyes like I had just spat in
all of their faces. I stood my ground though. I crossed my arms across my chest
and held my head high while I waited for an answer.

Gladys cleared
her throat before responding. "Well, then. I guess we better contact some
of our best Lovac and get a rescue party started. Does the council agree?"

They all nodded
and mumbled yes. The Nesmyr members still looked like they were in shock but
all of the Lovac members were beaming with pride over me. I didn't think very
many people stood up to the upper class Nesmyr and got away with it that
easily.

"I think
you two better rest up now," Rema said. "We'll inform all of the
Lovac we can. I want both of you there but I want you to be completely rested,
so you won't be able to head out until tomorrow morning. I don't want you going
in the middle of the night when they're at their peak strength."

"I don't
think we can wait that long," I said. "Felix and I overheard a few
Zhulik talking about a ceremony they were having at dusk. I think we need to
attack before this ceremony happens."

The council
members took a moment to murmur among themselves before Gladys spoke again.

"It's not
safe to attack Zhulik when it's still dark out but we're going to trust you on
this. You will leave an hour before dusk. That still gives you a good ten hours
to rest and prepare yourselves."

The council
started to break apart then. A few of the members rushed out of the room to
start preparing supplies and informing Lovac of what was happening. Felix and I
were dismissed but before I could make it out of the room Gladys approached me.

"Young Lovac,
may I have a word with you?" she asked.

Felix gave me a
worried look. I was definitely in trouble for standing up to her earlier. She
pulled me aside but the look in her eyes was that of worry, not anger.

"Standing
up to me like you did was very brave," she started. "But I want you
to know that I do care about the lower class Nesmyr just as much as I do the
upper class Nesmyr. I was one of the first lower class Nesmyr to work my way up
to upper class. I know what it's like to be stepped on by the wealthier Nesmyr.
I try to make life for all Nesmyr as good as it can be.

"The
reason I wanted to know if you knew if there were any upper class Nesmyr in
those caves is because I just learned that one of my grandsons went missing
last night. He just recently turned eighteen and went out with some friends to
celebrate but he never came home. I'm worried that he might be down there.

"I know you
want to go back to those caves right away and I wish you could too. If he is in
there, the longer we wait, the higher the chance of him being killed is but I
know you need to be there for this to be successful and you’re in no
shape to fight right now. So get some good rest and when you go back this
evening, please keep an eye out for my grandson. He shouldn't be too hard to
recognize. For a Nesmyr, he's very muscular and has long blonde hair. His name
is Ivan."

Suddenly, I
regretted being rude to her. She genuinely seemed to care about all of the
Nesmyr community and was very worried about her grandson. I agreed to try to
find him for her and bring him back to her family safely. She had tears in her
eyes as she gave me a quick hug, telling me how grateful she was and how lucky
we all were to have me around.

When I found
Felix waiting for me outside of the meeting room, he attacked me with
questions. I left out most of the details but explained that she asked me to
try to find her grandson that might be in the caves. He was just as surprised
as I was that she hadn’t yelled at me.

I noticed that
Ellie wasn't with him anymore and Felix explained that the council released her
to go home. Her parents had been waiting for her out here while we finished up.
They had a teary reunion and took her home. He also handed me a check from
Jeremy and Colette for finding their daughter.

Felix almost
cried when I ripped it up and told him I wouldn't take any money from the lower
class Nesmyr. He told me I was crazy and that I needed to be grateful for any
money I got. I told him that I didn’t care about the money. I
wouldn’t take any of it from the lower class Nesmyr.

 We both
went back to our rooms then. Felix tried to get me to come back and sleep in
his room with him but I declined. I knew I would get better sleep with him
around but I wanted some alone time. I enjoyed my time with Felix but I needed
to wash the blood off and try to clear my head from the events of the day. He
understood and didn't push too hard but said his door would be unlocked if I
changed my mind.

Back in my room
I took a long bath, making sure I kept my eyes open so I wouldn't start
drowning myself again. I cleaned all of the dried blood off me and made sure I
smelled like fruit and flowers before I dried off and crawled into my own bed.
It wasn't the most comfortable bed I had ever been in but right now it was like
sleeping on a cloud. Just as I closed my eyes and felt myself start to drift
into sleep I heard a knock on my door.

I groaned and
crawled out of bed to answer it. Standing outside was a Nesmyr employee with a
small box for me. He handed it to me but didn't explain anything before he
left. I sat back on my bed and opened it. Inside was a small vial with a pink
liquid in it and a note.

Avery,

I think you
deserve a decent night's sleep after your first job and to prepare for your
next. This vial is a special fairy enchanted liquid to help keep the darkness
away for eight hours and enhance your power for up to twenty-four hours. A few
drops is all it takes. Make it last. I sent one for Felix as well. You both
deserve it.

Rema

P.S. You were
amazing at the council meeting.

A vial of fairy
enchanted liquid to keep the darkness away. I wondered why every Lovac didn't
have some of this but then I remembered what Thorkell had said about fairy
prices, which explained why it was so small. There were probably only thirty
drops in the whole bottle.  Right now, I needed to sleep and I was more
than excited to sleep without the darkness interrupting me. The vial came with
a small dropper and I dropped a few drops on my tongue. It tasted like sugar
and alcohol, which wasn't very good but it worked. I fell asleep within minutes
and I slept for a full eight hours, uninterrupted.

The sound of my
stomach growling pulled me out of bed. I ordered my usual bowl of pasta and got
ready for the events that were coming. I wondered how many Lovac were going to
the cave with us and I hoped we all made it out alive.

I checked the
Lovac online forum to see if any announcements about what was going on had been
posted and sure enough, there was a large announcement at the top of the page
asking any available Lovac to report to the gym at headquarters in less than an
hour. There was also a notice that no new job postings would be allowed until
this crisis was resolved.

I slurped down
the noodles slowly, savoring every minute of it. For all I knew, it could be
the last thing I ever ate. I felt like I was in a dream. Two weeks ago, I was
living with my mom in a small house, worrying about what I wanted to go to
college for. Now I was preparing to kill a large group of evil creatures, one
of which was my father. I didn't know if Lucas would actually be there but I
had a feeling he had something to do with all of this and I had to find some
way to stop him.

I sat in my room
doing nothing but eating and thinking until it was time to leave. I was beginning
to regret wanting to live an exciting life. Being human was much easier and
much more relaxing. I didn't have a choice though. I couldn't deny that I was
just an ordinary human any more. There was something special about me and I had
to use that to my advantage to help these people.

Felix came to
get me twenty minutes before we were all supposed to meet in the gym. I threw
on some of my new clothes and I put my newly cleaned stake in the holster. I
pinned my hair up so it wouldn't get in my way while fighting. Then I checked
myself in the mirror. The person looking back at me looked confident and
fierce. I was surprised it was me.

"You look
like you were born to fight," Felix said when I was finally ready.

"I
was," I said and it was true. I wouldn't have been given the power to be
able to fight if I wasn't meant for it.

"How did
you sleep?" he asked, when we left my room.

"Thanks to
that fairy liquid, I slept amazing. I feel amazing, too."

"That was
incredibly nice of Rema to give both of us some of that elixir. I've used it
once before and wished I could afford it ever since. It's incredibly rare and
expensive."

"I'll
definitely make it last then." I said, as we headed down the stairs and
towards the gym, the knot in my stomach growing with each step. To my surprise,
Felix grabbed my hand, not caring about what others might think.

Felix proudly
held my hand all the way to the gym and even up to the stage they had set up
for us. A few Lovac gave us curious looks but there were no questions asked.
The crowd in the gym was small and I felt my heart sink at how little our army
was. With Felix and me, it made eighteen Lovac here to fight a large group of
Zhulik. I knew there were at least fourteen Zhulik we could expect but if the
cave extended further down than my power was able to sense then it could be
much more.

The council
called Felix and I up to the stage and everyone quieted down. I looked into the
small crowd and recognized Riley and Axel standing next to the tall blonde
Lovac they called Leslie and another shorter Lovac girl I hadn’t met. I
smiled at Riley and Axel winked at me. I rolled my eyes at him but sent up a
silent prayer that they would both survive this.

"I want to
thank all of you who have come to help fight," Rema said. She was
apparently in charge of this small meeting. "Avery, can you tell everyone
what the layout of the cave looks like and if you have a suggestion on how the
attack should start."