Unfaded (22 page)

But Rafferty
had been waiting for her all along. But he, like the others hadn’t been expecting the second birth and was only able to stop the one carriage. Plucking his child away, he took her to his home at the furthest corner of the unknown world. He raised her the only way he could, showing her only the truest horrors that exist on earth. He showed her what humans were truly capable of. Their cruelness. Their stupidity. Their ability to destroy the very things they try to build. Their wars. Their plagues. Their inability to truly understand anything that is different. The child’s heart became black with darkness and her evil soul became legendary as she grew. Her name was Dialexa and she was feared across all ends of the earth.

             
The other girl escaped with her maid out of the woods and into another part of the world far away from the beautiful forest and the feuding Unfaded. Aside from the terrified maid, only one other person knew of her whereabouts. But alas, her mother, weakened from the birth, developed a terrible fever and the blood life slowly slipped from her body. She barely made it through the first night and died shortly after, secure in the arms of her father. She never came for the child and the poor maid, confused and unable to come up with a plan of her own, eventually gave her over to a village where she was raised as one of their own. She spent her childhood in the isolated hills and valleys where people lived simple and easy lives. She learned how beautiful the morning sun looked as it rose over the hilltop. She took care of her adoptive father’s house and helped him with the animals and cultivating the farm. She studied healing and it wasn’t long before people came from all over to beg her expertise. Her name became Apani.

             
But her perfect life was not destined to last.

             
On her eighteenth birthday, Dialexa was already feared throughout the Unfaded Kingdom. Her cruelty and cunning were talked about in whispers by those who knew her name. Like her father, she loathed all things human, especially herself because she wasn’t pure blood. She could often feel the humanity inside, trying to break free. It created rifts in her aura and kept her from becoming the true demon she wanted to be. She wanted power and convinced herself that humanity was to blame for her mistakes and weaknesses. If the humans were gone she’d never have to compare herself to them again. She conspired with Rafferty to create a war between the Unfaded and the humans. A war so gigantic and bloody, in the end there would be no more mortals to walk the earth. But Aelin refused to allow them to play their game. She decreed by Unfaded law, that anyone conspiring with them would be excommunicated and forced to live amongst the humans. It was enough to keep many of the Unfaded from joining their side. But some of them, mostly the ones who were tired of Aelin's rule, came over willingly. Bit by bit, the army grew.

             
But before Dialexa could begin this war, she was determined to find her sister. Her twin sister whom she believed would be exactly like her. If she could find Apani, then she’d become indestructible.

             
It didn’t take long for Dialexa to track down her sister. Blood calls to blood and the Unfaded had a way of recognizing their own kind. A sixth sense one might call it but it was more of an awareness. One could feel and see energy if they understood it enough. Dialexa was able to take it one step forward because she was a twin. There was a special bond that kept them together, even though they’d never met.

             
Apani knew her sister was coming a week before the arrival. Even more interesting, no one had ever told her about Dialexa because her adopted family didn’t know themselves. But she’d always been aware of her other half. There was power between them. So much that it called to her from across the world. Even though Apani wasn’t aware of her Unfaded heritage, she did recognize she was different. She could do things that others couldn’t. She could heal people just by touching their skin. She could use the energy inside her body to light up an entire evening sky. And sometimes she could whisper to the wind and send messages to the sister she’d never met. She kept these things to herself, knowing full well that the villagers wouldn’t understand and would be frightened if they knew what she could do.

             
When she knew Dialexa was close, Apani packed a few supplies and hiked out into the field to meet with her. Being that she’d spent her entire life in the peaceful village, she was unable to recognize evil when she saw it. She embraced her sister without fear, without knowledge of the horror’s her sister had created.

             
Dialexa knew immediately that she could use her sister to her advantage so she convinced her to come away with her. She promised to show her the wonders of the world and give her the link she needed to understand her birthright.

             
Apani agreed and together they headed off into the world. There would be no stopping them.

"
You were both terribly powerful, more than anyone had ever seen before. The story gets a little muddled after that. All I know is that eventually you were trapped and cornered by Aelin and her people. To escape, Dialexa placed a curse on the two of you, stating that each time you were killed off, you’d be reborn. Since then, members of the Council have made it their lives work to keep either of you from reaching your full powers. Until the curse is broken and neither of you live again.”

Every time this
Unfaded falls, I shall be reborn.
The words came into my head as if they’d been there all along. Had I once spoken them, or was it my sister, cursing us on our deathbed?

“What happens if we reach our full powers?”
My stomach clenched, I knew the answer couldn’t be good. Why else would they kill us over and over for thousands of years if the answer was all rainbows and unicorns?

“The world ends,” he said.
“The humans. All gone.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “How can that be possible? Do I look like the kind of person who’d want to destroy the world?”

Kian shook his head. “That’s why I’m hated by my own kind. I refused to believe the stories. I’ve made it my life’s journey to save you, not hunt you down and kill you.”

“How many
Unfaded are there?” I asked. “I’ve all ready met Anique and Sobek. How many of them are looking for me? What about my sister? Is she alive?”

Kian took a deep breath. “There aren’t many
of us left in the world. We’re a dying breed if that sounds possible. War destroyed the majority of us and the rest have slowly died through accidents, murders, and whatnot. See, we may not age but we can still die. It’s harder but still possible. There’s maybe a thousand of us left, scattered throughout the world. The majority of them are peaceful and keep to themselves. Not all of us agree with Aelin and the council’s decision to continue hunting you. But aside from Micah and me, there’s no one around to protect you. And Anique and Sobek are believers.”

“What about my sister.”

“As far as I know, she’s still alive. Reborn as you were. But location unknown.”

“So you mean somewhere in the world there’s another girl like me having the same memories and probably completely unaware of what they mean?”

“Probably.”

I leaned back and closed my eyes.
I felt sorry for that unknown girl. What would have happened to me if Kian hadn’t been here to explain things? I probably would have ended up in a psychiatric hospital thinking I was Napoleon or Marilyn Monroe or something equally freaky. But was Kian telling the truth or was I simply looking for an excuse? Thinking hard, I knew I was beginning to believe him even though the sane part of my brain was screaming at me for being so gullible. But I couldn’t ignore the things that were happening to me. The visions were real. The timing thing, however, was nagging me.

“How is it that I never had any of these visions until I met you?” I demanded. “It’s awfully coincidental if you ask me.”

“It could be,” he said. “But I think it’s more likely that a part of you recognized who I was. We can spot our own kind.”

“So seeing you triggered something in me?”

“Yes.”

“Did you know the second you saw me?”

“No,” he admitted. “I could sense something but I wasn’t sure. Either was Micah. But once again, you’re an exception. You’re...”

“Yes, cursed,” I finished for him. “I get it.”

“We watched you for a bit,” he said. “I was certain within a few days but Micah took a little longer. But he doesn’t know you like I do.”

He knew me. Not me, someone else who was still me.

“Can I see that picture again?” I asked.

Kian pulled out his wallet and handed it over again. The blond
e haired girl stared out past the camera and straight into my eyes. Beautiful and young, but there was something in her face that caught my attention. She
knew
in this picture. She
knew
who she was. She
knew
she didn’t have much longer to live in the world.

“How did she
react when you explained to her what she was?”

“You responded the same way,” he said. “You told your father that I was insane and he chased me through the fields with his shotgun.”

I smirked. “Yeah, that sounds like something I might do. What happened next? What changed my mind?”

Kian looked down at the floor. His eyes squeezed shut tightly and he rubbed his hand over his forehead. Shoulders slouched forward and when he finally raised
his head, his eyes were smouldering.

“What happened?” I asked.

“They came for you in the night,” he said. “They killed your entire family because there should never be witnesses to Unfaded crimes. You only escaped by chance. I found you wandering the prairie, dehydrated and ill with fever, screaming from the visions that refused to leave you alone. They had driven you half-mad. You had little sisters, three of them under the age of seven. Two brothers. You never got over them. But you believed.”

I placed my hands to my mouth.

“I managed to keep you alive for two more years,” he said. “We travelled halfway across the world before Dialexa caught up with us. That’s when you left me and by the time I found you again, it was too late.”

I glanced down at the picture again, the two of them, holding hands, comfortable with each other. There was something there I hadn’t noticed until now. It was Kian’s retelling of the story that made it so obvious.
The emotion in his voice was so clear. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it until now.

“You loved her,” I said.
              “Yes,” he said.

His lips were parted as he waited for me to respond. I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t that girl. No matter whom he expected me to be, no matter who I might have been in the past, I wasn’t her. Not anymore. I had a new life, new memories, new experiences that had moulded me into someone completely different.

I opened my mouth but his hand reached out and touched my arm. “No, he said. Don’t say it. Just understand me. I’ve always loved you. Over four hundred years. Ever since I first met you.”

“But I’m not that person,” I said. “I’m not her.”

“Yes, you are. You’re all those girls. It’s your soul I love, not the body that comes attached to it. But I’m willing to wait if that’s what you’re about to say. You don’t love me. I can’t expect you to. You barely know me.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ve waited a
long time for you to come back to me. I can wait longer.”

His eyes stayed fixed on mine.
He wanted me to say something but my mind was such a mixture of emotions and thoughts I couldn’t fixate on just one. It was like I’d fallen into a play in which I no longer remembered my lines. What would Romeo have done if Juliette had refused him? What if Emelye had forgotten about Palamon?

Kian reached out and gently stroked t
he side of my face. The touch against my cheek was more intense than anything I’d ever experienced. Even when he pulled his hand away I could still feel it as if his fingers had burned my skin in the most wonderful way. All my nerve endings were on fire. He leaned forwards towards me and my lips parted against my will.

But the kiss
never came.

             
There was a knock on the door, two short raps and a longer one. Kian immediately pulled back and it was like my entire body churned to a halt. I had to force myself to start breathing again and when I did, I inhaled several times like I was hyperventilating. Kian got up off the bed and opened it. Micah entered the room, unaware of just how lousy his timing was. I grabbed my jacket and pulled it close, trying to get my arm into the sleeve but unable to actually make it work. My brain just didn’t want to deal with such a simple task. It was too busy working overtime on everything else.

“I should go home.” I stood up, jacket half on my body
. I fumbled again and finally managed to make it work. I left it open, the zipper would have been too embarrassing to try to handle.

“I’ll drive you.”

I let him. It was colder out and I just didn’t want to be stuck walking this late at night. We drove in silence. Half a block away from my house I insisted he pull over. I didn’t want to take the chance of the engine waking up Dad. I’d walk the rest of the way. Kian turned off the engine and walked with me. He even went as far as to follow me to the backyard where I was prepared to climb back in through the bedroom window. The house was still silent. No one appeared to have discovered my sneakiness.