Contradicting Worlds

"We kept it just like how you left it in hopes that you"ll be back." I turn around to find Isabella standing and leaning against the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. Grat.i.tude filled my chest, making me smile contently.

I shake my head and turn around once again to examine the rest of the room. "And you"re right... Just like always... I"m back." I trail my fingers over the top of my old table, a lingering thought in my mind. I push the mattress up to reach beneath. My hand roams around under until it finally felt something hard and rough in its grasp. I clasp the hilt of the very first weapon they gave me and drag it out from under the fabric case.

My free hand wanders around it, feeling the familiarity in it. I slide my fingers over the edge of its spade-shaped blade. "Missed it, didn"t you?" I look at Isabella to see her still leaning against my doorway, she"s watching me with such expression on her face.

"Yep," I said, popping the p.

"Are you scared of tomorrow?" I knew she"s going to ask that but hearing it out loud causes fear to blossom in my heart, vanishing my smile almost instantly.

After I told them that I want to cross the border, of course, they protested instantly. Especially the team leaders because they said we don"t know what"s beyond the borders. The thing is, I want to tell them that I know what"s beyond the borders but that will only spark up questions I"m not yet ready to answer. So instead I told them that I am not pushing anyone into going with me and that I can go alone and do this all by myself but of course my friends object immediately. They told Haida and all of the team leaders that they are ready to come with me. I told Haida my plan and she surprisingly agreed to it without having a second thought. But she sure gave us a deadline. That is, if we do not come back after 30 days, they won"t offer us the help that we might need anymore. We all agreed, even Isabella, Aimee, Dani, and Lia even when Haida told them that if this mission fails they"ll lose all connection they have with the hunters. So that"s how we end up, me and my friends, going to the north first thing tomorrow morning.

"No, I"m not," I finally said. It"s all honesty. I"m not afraid for tomorrow and that we might encounter the entire army of minions of Sarah along with our journey. I won"t be surprised if I found her battalion on the other side of the border. What I am afraid of is finding the truth about my parent"s death. Or if I will find the right person who will provide me the answers that I need. Or if I am right in stopping Sarah. "I am more afraid of finding out the truth," I said after releasing an exasperated sigh. I sat down on the edge of my bed, facing her. "It...it just...always seem to be running away from me. The truth. And then when it"s within my reach, it"ll take off, running away again and leaving questions in its wake." I throw my hands in the air and slump down.

She moves from where she"s standing to sit beside me. I look at her and I don"t care if I look pitiful or not. She grabs my hands that are clasped in front of me and she uses her other hand to brush away the locks of hair that are fallen over my forehead. Then her arm went around my shoulder and I lean into her, resting my head on the crook of her neck. "We are all afraid of finding out the truth. That"s why it always run away whenever it"s within reach because it knows that we are not ready to accept her yet. But that"s also why we are doing this together right? We are going to unlock the secrets together. Then we"re going to accept them, and move on because that"s the only way we can get out of this dark twisted world."

I nod and I hug her tighter, seeking comfort. Isabella has always been the sister figure to me whereas Juliana was my best friend. I remember her protecting me when we were kids. She"s the sister to all of us. She takes care of us when we were sick or wounded or when the nightmare hunts us. She has always been there. She"s the eldest so she"s the mature thinker among all of us when we do something wrong, she"ll scold us. When we make the wrong decisions, she"ll set us on the right path. But I know, deep down inside me, she has her monsters to fight.

A knock came upon my wide-open door. We both look up at the same time and see Nate smiling at us. "Am I interrupting something?" Nate said. Isabella and I broke apart with smiles on our faces and we laugh lightly at the familiarity of the scene we are in.

"No, you"re not," I a.s.sure him.

"That"s right and I was just leaving." Isabella stands up and head for the door but stop to pat Nate on the shoulder. "Remember that I"ll cut your b***s if you hurt her." With that she walks away, leaving a wide-eyed Nate on my doorway.

"She"s not joking, is she?" He asks as he steps in and locks the door behind him.

I shrug before replying. "That"s up to her if you hurt me." Then I look up at him as he saunters his way to me and drops to my side, his arms outstretched behind him and he"s leaning on the heels of his hands. I feel him shift his position as I chew on my bottom lip. A hand is placed on my cheek and he turns me to face him, his other hand freeing my bottom lip from my teeth.

"What is it?" There"s gentleness in his voice that is not hard to miss.

"Will you hurt me?" I fixated on his forehead because I am afraid to look directly in his eyes.

"Look at me."

"I am looking at you." I insisted.

"No, you"re looking at my eyebrows. Look in my eyes, Recca." The nickname sent a warmth jolt in my heart and I was forced to look into his eyes. "You are my siren, you know." He said, putting his forehead on mine but I inclined myself from him.

"Huh?" I ask in confusion.

"While I was in the North, I kept hearing this siren. It was...I don"t know...kind of calling me? That why I agreed with the judge in the first place. To come here. Because I felt like I need to be here. And I was right to choose this path because it leads me back to you." I would have teared up by now if something in what he said didn"t catch my attention but it did.

"Who is the judge?"

"I don"t what his name is." He raises his right shoulder slightly. "We kept it confidential in the north. We are called by our codes. And this judge..he just...knows me. I mean, he knows that my name was Raven and he kinda knows everything about me. He"s also the reason why I was away every time. I report to him about what"s happening here in the south. But I stopped giving him information a little over a month ago. I was actually ought to come back after 50 days but I didn"t, so I am sure that I am considered dead now."

"Why didn"t you come back?" I said as I cup his face in my hands.

"Isn"t it obvious?" He laughs a little while I shake my head. "Because you are my siren. The moment I saw you in the woods, everything felt right. Me coming here felt right. At that certain moment, I knew you were my siren, the one who"s calling me all along." Thick silence envelops us as our foreheads touch and our breathing turn in perfect sync. "Do you remember the time when we were kids and we used to sneak out of our practice and go to our haven?" I nod as I giggle. "And then Sarah"ll catch us sneaking back inside and then we will be punished by having extra practice the same day but we wouldn"t blame each other because it was all worth it. Do you remember that night when we broke the curfew because there was a meteor shower scheduled for that day?" I bit my lip and nod, slowly closing my eyes, allowing myself to reminisce. "You told me that since it"s a meteor shower we can make thousands and thousands of wishes. And then that time when we were practicing and Clain was trying his portal powers. He talked to Isabella for doing his test drive and he cut off Isabella"s hair and he blames her for having such long hair. We laugh our a.s.ses out because Isabella looks ridiculous in her new hair cut and she would chase us with her papers." We laugh at the memory. "Do you remember that you used to creep into our room and we would hold back our laughter because of Stew"s snoring habit? Then that time when you couldn"t control your fear powers causing all the kids to have nightmares every night for five straight days."

"Then you said it was because of you but I said it was because of me then Sarah got angry so we were both penalized."

"Yeah. I can still recall that little origamis that holds our wishes, dreams, and everything that we can"t say to anyone."

"You remember that?" I snap my eyes open and he nods.

"I remember everything. Including that pinky promise that we made under the blanket of stars. You said that multiverse is real and every time we die, we get reincarnated to another different universe. You made me promise that if we die, and get reincarnated, we will find each other and we will be friends again." My eyes water because he remembers. That laughable promise that we made. "And I"ve found you now."

"But this is not our second life," I said in a small voice.

"But we can pretend. Right this moment. We can pretend that we"ve been dead and that somehow we found our way back into each other"s arms again." The first tear falls and he wipes it away and kisses the abandoned s.p.a.ce by the lone tear. "I love you, Recca, and I will never hurt you. I can"t hurt you." The sincerity in his voice is so crude that it makes my insides shiver.

I shake my head at him, realizing that we are so close to each other the moment our lips brush against each other. "I love you too. But you don"t make promises you can"t keep. You will hurt me, Nate. Not now maybe. But eventually in a whole lot of a different way and I don"t know if I can bear that kind of hurt again, Nate. So don"t make promises."

"Then let me rephrase that," his hand going through my hair. "I can"t promise that I won"t hurt you." His voice cracks and I know that tears are forming at the edge of his eyes because we both know what we"re talking about and it is not him walking away from me. It is the possibility that we might hurt each other when the out time comes to take us. "But I promise to love you and protect you in any way I can."

Our eyes lock and suddenly everything felt new. Raw but good. Better. Best. It"s like there"s no secret between us and there"s none. We are each other"s shield. We are each other"s minds. Each other"s body. We are each other"s soul. And together we are one.

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*CLAIN"S POV*

"Wait, wait, wait," I said, putting up one hand to silence Roderick or whoever he is. "You are Roderick? The Roderick? As in Sarah"s right-hand man?" I ask. Earlier when he knocked on my door and told me that he knew Stewart is staying inside, I was so nervous that I might have p.i.s.sed on the spot. Thank G.o.ds I didn"t, because that would be so embarra.s.sing and unmanly. I let him in when he said he can offer us the help that we need. At that moment I didn"t have much of a choice. So that"s how we end up sitting around my dining table, all three of us cramming around it.

"Yes." He answers curtly.

"Ohmyghad." I breathe out. "You certainly don"t look like him. I remember him."

"That was years ago. I"m getting older." He said that as a matter-of-fact.

"Okay," I drawl out, still warily watching over him because we can"t trust him especially since he was once Sarah"s right hand. "How can we trust you?"

He sighs heavily as if he"s been hearing this question all the time. Maybe he does. "I don"t need you to trust me. I just need you to believe in me."

"Believe in you?" Stew said. His eyes turning into slits as he studies the man.

"Yes. I know you have your memories back now and that you two are planning to go to the south." We turn rigid instantly. "But you don"t have to. The other 6 will be here three days starting from tomorrow."

"How do you know?" Stew said. I kept my mouth shut and let Stew do all the talking because honestly, we both know that I am not a good talker.

"It doesn"t matter how I know. The only thing that matters is what I will tell you after your friends arrive. I"ll give you this," he reaches inside his pocket to pull out a small device that is close to a cellphone. But it"s so tiny that it can be mistaken as normal remote control.

"What is that?" I ask as Stew get it from Roderick"s grasp. I mean, s.n.a.t.c.h it. He s.n.a.t.c.hes it from Roderick"s grasp.

"That is a device that sends signals directly to my phone. You click the red b.u.t.ton and it will automatically send a signal to me."

"Signal for what?" Stew said just as I mutter cool. He looks at me and I avoid it then I cough in an attempt to cover my nonsense sputter.

"Signal that you and your friends have arrived here safely inside this house. It doesn"t matter if you raise suspicions or what. What matters is that all of the 8 Gammas are complete, no one should be missing." He rests his chin on his clasp knuckles. "3 days starting from tomorrow, I want the two of you to go to the border. Tell the patrols that you"ll be patrolling that day. And that you are under my supervision. I want you to watch the south side of the border, that particularly. Stay alert for any sign of movements and any sign of human appearing."

"You"re missing something here. I can"t go with him." Stew said, giving the remote back to Roderick but Roderick push it to him again. He"s right, he is an exile. A wanted exile for that matter.

"Don"t worry about it. Here," He pulls out an ID inside his back pocket and holds it out for us to see. "This is your identification card. You are now registered as a warrior and not an exile. I"ve also deleted all the files that make you a wanted criminal. And don"t worry about hiding your ident.i.ty to them. You need not walk around wearing that hoodie. I a.s.sure you that they will not recognize you." His voice is calm enough that I almost believe him. Almost.

"Why do you want us to patrol that certain side?" I ask in a curious tone.

"Because that where your friend is coming from. You need to be alert to any kind of movements or the rustle of leaves because they will be under the influence of invisibility." He said these things as if he"s lecturing us and we"re his students.

"How do you know all of this?" Stew asks. His tone turning to accuse.

"I told you it doesn"t matter how. And I don"t need you to trust me, I just need you to believe in what I will say."

"And that is because?" I ask.

"Because I have done enough wrong things in my life and it is now time to redeem myself."

We were silent after that. Just having a little staring contest and all. And then Roderick broke it out by spouting nonsense again. "Show me around the house. It is time to tighten your security system."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

*REBECCA"S POV*

Someone is knocking on the door and I hear Nate groan beside me, steering a little, his arm tightening around me. My lips have a ghost smile on it as I remember the night before. He made me feel the things that I have longed to feel these past few years of my life. And I did the same thing to him. We made up for the lost time and--if--for the future time that will be lost.

"Wake up, love birds," A very familiar and unwelcome voice said, sounding so close and clear. My eyes part in shock and I let out a loud yelp when I found the door in my room wide open and Riley was standing there, leaning with her back in the frame of my doorway. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she"s smirking at us. Nate jostles awake and as if acting on instinct he immediately covered my body with his as I buried my head in his chest in mortification.

"What the h.e.l.l Riley? Really?" There"s no sleepiness in his voice but he"s not angry only irritated. I peek through his shoulder and find Riley rolling her eyes at us. I can"t believe I"m friends with her.

"Yes. Really. It"s time. We"ve gotta move." Nate and I turn rigid with tension. Our arms are secured around each other, our breathing turned ragged. Our dreaded day had come and we can do nothing about it. Nathaniel was the first to recover.

"Alright. We"ll come around. You can go now." The irritation in his voice is gone, replaced by trepidation and Riley felt that too because her face fell and she wordlessly leaves us, closing the door gently behind her.

I let out a heavy breath, furrowing deeper into Nathaniel"s warmth. His body relaxes with mine and we let ourselves enjoy the last few minutes of tranquility before eventually moving to take a bath. Together we bathe, letting our fret and anxiety be washed away by water even though the moment is fleeting.

Once we"re done, we walked out of my room--hand in hand--and joined everyone in the s.p.a.ce area where Haida with the team leaders and the rest of my friends are already waiting for us, their duffle bags slung on their shoulders. We all share weak smiles at each other. There are two military jeeps park in front of us and there are boxes inside too. "Mica here told me the best way and the fastest way for you to cross the border," Haida speaks.

I know exactly what she"s talking about so I nod. We all head inside the jeeps and we set our duffel bags inside the boxes, ensuring that our weapons are with us and not inside those bags. We were divided into two groups because we can"t cram up inside one jeep with all the boxes. I"ve recognized the two people in front of the jeeps as the hunter"s a.s.sa.s.sin/warriors-in-disguise. They are the people who bring news from inside the walls. They"ve got fake IDs. All I am praying is that we pa.s.sed the gates without complications and that we made it safely across the border.