The Institute (32 page)

Drew hangs his
head, “I’ll admit, I got in way over my head with you,” he says
defeatedly. “You have to understand that I have lived the majority
of my life here. I had never felt the way you made me feel before,
I didn’t know what to do. I was torn between doing what I was
supposed to and doing what I wanted to. I know I did wrong, I don’t
know how many more times I can apologise. I just hope that we can
at least be civil seeing as we are going to be spending the next
however long together on this assignment. Do you think you can do
that?” I look around the room, I look at the walls, at the floor, I
look anywhere but at Drew. I know he is telling the truth, I can
sense it but can I forget what he has done and be civil? Can I work
alongside him without constantly fighting with him? “I’m not
expecting you to forgive me today or even tomorrow, I’m just hoping
that you will be able to put your feelings aside for a while so we
don’t have to keep having the same argument over and over again. I
don’t need to be reminded of what I’ve done, I will never be able
to forget it. It lost me the only girl I have ever truly lov—“

“Don’t even
finish that sentence,” I stop him. “Okay, here’s the deal: I can be
civil, I can pretend I don’t hate you and I should even be able to
pretend that I am your wife but you cannot talk like that … ever.
Okay?” The last thing I want is to get confusing feelings about him
right now, I can’t be sucked in by his words. He blew his chance,
I’m not going down that path again.

He nods. “It’s
because of him isn’t it? Actually, don’t answer that. You have a
deal.”

Chapter
Twenty

I’ve been
checking in with Headquarters every day to see if they have word on
Chad and his partner yet and they haven’t, which is quite normal
for the beginning of an assignment apparently. But he hasn’t even
checked in or anything. I guess they aren’t worried though, with
his tracking bracelet, they would know exactly where he is – they
just aren’t telling me.

But today is
the day I leave and Shilah has come to see me off. I said my
goodbyes to Tate last night. Shilah is sitting at my dining table
eating my breakfast, just like Chad used to do. What is it with
boys and stealing my food? I’m putting last minute things together
like my toothbrush and toiletries, they dropped off an already
packed suitcase last night with clothes that aren’t Institute
branded for me.

As annoying as
this place is, I do weirdly think I’m going to miss it. I have
friends here and I have my brother, out there I have Drew … and a
small possibility of seeing my Dad. I won’t be able to see him
frequently, but I’m hoping I can manage to sneak away just once. I
find it funny that a few months ago I was trying to sneak out so
Dad didn’t find out I was going to see Drew and now I’m going to be
sneaking out so Drew doesn’t find out I’m going to go see my dad.
Life certainly seems backwards right now.

Shilah walks me
to the furthest point he is allowed to go, which is just before the
walkway that leads to Agent Headquarters. I give him a hug goodbye,
“Wait here a minute,” I say. I grab my stuff and start heading
towards the doors to the walkway. I look back to see Shilah has a
confused look on his face, but his face turns happy, no, ecstatic
when I open the door and rays of bright shining sunlight come
flooding in. I yell to him, “It’s something for you to work
towards.” I smile at him before turning and walking away.

When I reach
the other side, I meet up with Drew and we start heading down to
the garage to pick up our car. I haven’t been down this way before,
we have been having all of our meetings in the conference rooms. We
get in an elevator and Drew presses the ‘G’ button.

Drew leads me
into the parking garage where all of the cars are kept. He lifts
the key into the air and presses a button, lights of a car nearby
flash at us. I see that they have not put any thought whatsoever to
providing us with a car; we have been given a car worth more money
than my farmhouse back home.

“How is a
newlywed, fresh out of high school couple meant to be able to
afford a car like this?” I ask Drew.

“Oh, we won’t
be using it once we get there. This is just to get us to where we
have to go.”

“Wouldn’t it be
quicker to catch the train?”

“Well yes, but
with our bags and belongings, this is just easier. It will be there
for us in an emergency as well, it’s just a safety precaution for
if something was to go wrong.”

We get in the
car and Drew starts to pull out of the car park. We drive up a ramp
and out of the exit onto street level. My anticipation and
adrenalin start building, I am free … well, sort of. Elation
crosses my face as I look out of the window and just stare at what
I have been deprived of for such a long time. I look out at the
barren land on either side of the road and remember a time I
thought it was an eyesore. It’s amazing how life can change in such
a short amount of time. You don’t really notice just how far you
have come until you are taken back, back to a time of complete
innocence.

Drew starts
humming, putting an end to my euphoria and bringing me back into
the present. The present where I am currently being sent on a witch
hunt to arrest more of my own kind. Is my so called freedom really
worth that? I guess I won’t know for sure until I have to
experience it.

“I’m not going
to have to put up with that the whole way, am I?” It is bad enough
putting up with Chad’s incessant humming whenever we are around
Tate, I don’t think I could handle a whole car trip with Drew doing
it. “How long is this going to take us anyway?”

“It will be a
few hours. Maybe about three, if we make good time.”

I grunt. “We
should have just taken the train, or at least I should have. I
could have met you there tomorrow.”

“That’s the
newlywed spirit!” he says in a sarcastically upbeat tone. I think
he’s trying to break the tension between us but all it does is
remind me that I have to pretend to be in love with him and while I
can now look at him without wanting to inflict violence, we are a
long way from becoming even friends, let alone anything more.

I still cringe
when I think of those times we spent together back home, the memory
of his hands on me, his lips on mine, the way he anticipated my
every move, my every need. The moments themselves bring feelings of
fondness, of young love and of joy but the significance of his
betrayal has tainted those memories making them moments I would
rather forget.

We are silent
for what seems like hours, but when I look at the clock on the
dashboard it has only been forty-five minutes. I think this is
going to be the longest car trip ever. I fidget in my seat and let
out a sigh.

“Can I ask you
something?” I’ve been thinking about this for a while but haven’t
wanted to ask him because I don’t think I truly wanted to know the
answer.

“Hmm, this
sounds dangerous. I’m just going to go with, no those clothes don’t
make you look fat.” he smirks.

“Be serious,
for one second please.”

“Fine, what is
it?”

“So that isn’t
really your mother is it, the one who is now partnered with Chad?”
I ask. He shifts in his seat.

“Allira, it’s
my job. I—”

“Okay, no need
to explain, I was just curious. You came to our house that night so
we wouldn’t leave didn’t you?”

“We figured you
were a flight risk, yes.”

“Why did you
start investigating Jax? What was it he could do?”

Drew sighs,
“Are you sure you want to have this conversation?”

“No, but I
can’t think of any other way to pass the time.”

“Jax was
basically invincible. Well, so we thought; clearly he had his
limitations. I guess no matter how strong you are, being thrown
from a car is going to do some damage. Maybe invincible is the
wrong word. He could withstand a lot more than the average human,
from what we could tell anyway. It’s probably why he thought by
crashing the car he had more of a chance of survival than I
did.”

“And do you
think … never mind.”

“Do I think
what?”

I don’t think I
want to ask the question, I’m too scared of what the answer will
be, but I have to know. “Do you think you would have suspected
Shilah if I hadn’t helped you that day?”

“Your family
was actually on our radar, not enough to bring an investigation on
you, but they’re always suspicious of people who move around a
lot.”

“Oh.” I was
right, I didn’t want to know the answer. This whole thing was my
fault. I’m suddenly glad I’m not allowed to go and see Dad, I don’t
think I could face him.

***

Drew and I sit
in silence again until about an hour later when he pulls off the
highway and into a familiar street.

“I thought you
might have wanted to see this,” he says as he parks the car on the
side of the road.

I sit up and
lean forward so I can see out of the windshield. I recognise the
rickety picket fence across the street that confines an old run
down farm house. I jump out of the car in excitement, Drew brought
me home. Only, it is not home; the house is all boarded up, the
mail box is overflowing, the grass is dying and brown.

“We lost track
of him not long after we arrested you,” Drew says. “I’m really
sorry.”

My face drops.
He puts a hand on my shoulder. I shake it free and walk across the
street to the place I called home for almost three years. It may
not have been long to some people but it was the longest I’d ever
lived anywhere.

“Why didn’t you
tell me sooner?” My tone is not angry, I’m too upset and worried to
be angry. Where could he be?

“I wasn’t
allowed to. I really shouldn’t have even brought you here. In fact,
we’d better go.”

I go back to
the car and I feel comfortless. Everything is my fault.

“I’m sorry, I
shouldn’t have shown you this. I just thought you might have wanted
to know,” Drew says.

“No, I’m glad
you brought me, I just wish I knew if he was okay or not.”

“I’m sure he’s
fine,” Drew tries to reassure me but I can sense he doesn’t even
believe it himself. For a moment, I see Eminent Falls Drew, and not
Agent Jacobs.

“Thank you,” I
say, “for trying to make me feel better.”

We drive in
silence again and arrive at our new house about thirty minutes
later. The sun is beginning to set which confuses me, the clock in
the car says it’s 12:10pm – it’s only lunchtime.

“Is this clock
right?” I ask Drew.

“Oh! I forgot
to adjust it when we left.”

I look at him
confused, “Adjust it?”

“I’m surprised
you never noticed the Institute operates at night. It’s not a
complete twelve hour switch, our 9am is the real world’s 3pm. They
have a skeleton crew on during the day, we’re only waking up as the
students on tours are leaving.”

I’m stunned. It
still amazes me that anything can shock me with everything that has
happened, you would think I would be used to it by now but this
does make a lot of sense; I did always wonder why we never saw
anybody on those tours. I wondered why it looked like the sun was
setting while I was taking my field agent fitness test. Drew and I
always met at Agent Headquarters in the morning and were never
together for longer than two hours so I couldn’t have worked it out
then either.

“It takes a
while to get used to but when we go inside there should be some
food stocked in our fridge. I suggest we go in, have some dinner
and try to get some sleep,” he says.

“Sleep? I’ve
only been awake for four hours, how am I meant to sleep?”

“Well if you
don’t sleep soon you will experience what they used to call jet lag
– it used to happen when people travelled to a different time zone
– you need to reset your body clock to its new timetable and we
will be starting early in the morning. There’s a diner a few blocks
away where Ava Johns used to work, we’ll start there. You’re going
to have to try and sleep or you won’t be at the top of your
game.”

I sigh and
start unpacking the car, feeling like I’m a child being sent to
bed. We walk into our new home with our luggage. For a quaint
little cottage, the inside is neat and modern, more so than what I
am used to anyway. The living room is to my right and the kitchen
and dining room is right in front of me. I walk down the small hall
to the left and pass a bathroom on my right, until I reach the
bedroom, the one and only bedroom. They don’t really expect us to
share a room and a bathroom do they? They do know we aren’t
actually married, right?

I feel
frustrated, this isn’t the best start to my first assignment. Drew
follows me into the bedroom.

“Oh. Well this
is awkward,” he says.

“No kidding.
What do we do?”

“There’s a
couch in the living room, I’m sure you’ll find it very
comfortable,” he smiles. “Okay fine, I will take the couch,” he
says, catching the unimpressed look on my face.

***

I am woken by
hands clasping over my mouth, and grabbing at my legs. I try to
scream but my voice is muffled, I’m sure Drew won’t be able to hear
it from the other side of the house. I’m starting to feel light
headed, I don’t know if it’s from attempting to scream or if the
rag they have placed over my face is not letting enough air get
through. The more I fight, the more light headed I get. I need Drew
…
I can’t believe I’m wanting Drew to come rescue me,
I
think as I pass out.

***

I can hear
cicadas chirping as I emerge from my unconsciousness. I look up and
see a figure of someone standing above me, a girl my size with long
auburn hair. I would recognise that hair anywhere, even in the
dark. That hair belongs to my best friend; standing in front of me,
is Ebbodine.