Chapter 19: Chapter 19

I had prayed so earnestly the previous night to whatever was up there that everything would turn out a dream and I’d see Leon wide awake toiling with my hair like he always did.

Unfortunately, I got nothing out of the two I asked for. If anything, I got worse because sleeping on the wooden floor wasn’t as comfy as it seemed when I walked into the room.

I groaned as I stood up and stared at Leon’s still body with endless sighs. I looked around and knew that there was no way I could stay there without feeling like crying my life out so I decided to go back to Brielle’s house and have my bath. I also thought of calling Camila to let her know of the latest developments.

For some reason, I couldn’t leave without saying something to Leon. It was almost like there was something in me that was pushing me towards him so I walked closer to the bed he was on and placed my hand in his.

“I know you’ll be fine,” I whispered. “I just know you will. You’re a fighter. It’s what fighters do.”

When I tightened my hand’s grip on his, I felt a sort of pain shoot up through my hand to my chest and I staggered backwards. The pain didn’t even last up to a minute and it went away just as quickly as it had come. I glanced between my hand and Leon’s and I was coming up with nothing.

I took deep breaths to steady myself and I kissed him on his right cheek then cast one final glance at him before leaving the room. I took my phone out of my pocket and sent a text to my mother to see if she was holding up well and if my father was fine before replying Brielle’s worried texts. I also saw Emrys’s missed calls and told him I was still alive.

Once I was by the door to the living room, I saw Tobias already there talking on the phone with someone I assumed was his father. Probably to inform him of the situation his son was in. I stood by the door waiting for the call to be over before I would walk in and ask to be taken back to Leon’s house so I could get my car and go.

The call didn’t even last long which I guessed was because of the strained relationship between Tobias and his father. It was almost like the man couldn’t get along with anyone.

“How long are you going to stand there?” Tobias asked without even looking in my direction and I chuckled while walking in. “You want me to take you back, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I don’t think I can stay here for one more second without feeling like joining Leon,” I said trying to sound like I was making a joke but it didn’t work out too well.

Tobias gave me a small smile. “I understand how you feel. I already told Amara we’d be going and she’s fine with it. She’s busy attending to other people who are in need of her powers.”

I nodded. “So, we’re leaving now?”

“Sure,” he said and stood up. “Let’s get out of here.”

As we walked out of the house, I realized that the house didn’t look all that scary when the sun was out. I mean, it still looked quite odd but it was much nicer than at night when your heart was more likely to jump out of your chest.

I felt something graze my leg and I screamed immediately not knowing what I thought it was. When I looked, I saw that it was a nice-looking low tree branch and heaved a sigh of relief only to see Tobias snickering by my side.

“Is there anything that doesn’t scare you?” he asked amidst laughter.

I looked up thoughtfully as we made our way to the car and I opened the door. “Well, I don’t mind cats depending on the hour I meet them.”

Tobias laughed and shook his head as he got in and I followed suit. “You’re a case.” He started the engine, we put on our seatbelts, and although I braced myself for the impact of the speed by like last time, he actually drove at a normal pace. “Thank you for all you’ve done for Leon. He really needed someone like you.”

“I guess I needed someone like him too,” I said with a small smile. “What happens now?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know. I still have faith that he could come out of it and that’s why I haven’t declared him dead yet. “

“But?”

“But Amara is so certain he can only end up alive if the gods themselves decide to step in. I believe her because she has dealt with so many cases like this.”

I was about to reply then all of a sudden, he stopped the car and began to clutch his stomach like he was in severe pain. His eyes had changed from their usual grey color to a gold one and his veins were threatening to pop out.

“What is wrong?” I asked him while panicking hoping that he wouldn’t punch me in the face because I wasn’t sure he was his normal self.

“Get out of the car,” he ordered through gritted teeth but his voice came off as strange to me. It was almost like he wasn’t the one actually speaking.

“What?”

“Get out.”

I didn’t want to argue because I was scared for my life so I did as he said and opened the door to go out but he caught my wrist and stopped me. I was suddenly confused. Did he want me to go out or did he want me to stay? I voiced out my questions.

“Help me,” he muttered.

“I don’t know what to do,” I cried just as hopeless as I was with the other brother. “How are you feeling?”

The gold in his eyes were becoming more prominent and it terrified me. “I feel like I’m being stabbed continuously.”

My eyes widened. “How do you even know what it feels like to be stabbed?”

“Let’s not worry ourselves with that little detail,” he struggled to say. “Back of the car. Black bag. Pills.”

I knew that was the only way I could help so I moved to the back and looked around for a black bag. I found it after a couple of minutes and poured out all its contents hoping to find the pills he was asking for. They weren’t that hard to find because I found a bottle containing odd colored pills.

I rushed back only to find that Tobias had already opened the door and was laying on the road while cars rushed past. I shook my head and ran out of the car handing the pills over to him immediately I was by his side. He popped a pill in his mouth and I watched as he started to regain himself almost immediately.

“Stop saving them,” a female voice harshly whispered in my head and I fell to the floor immediately, a massive headache causing me pain.

“Here, take it,” Tobias said and handed over the bottle of pills to me and I took one. The pain went away immediately. “What the hell just happened?”

“I think someone wants your family dead,” I muttered while thinking about the voice that spoke to me. “She said I should stop saving you.”

“She?”

“Yes,” I said with a slight nod. “It was a female. There was no mistaking that but her voice wasn’t familiar. I mean, if it was Avyanna, I’d know but I can swear it wasn’t her.”

Tobias stood up and gave me a hand to help me up. “I don’t know who else it could be. There is no one that has Avyanna’s powers. I’m sure of that.”

“Maybe there’s one alive that you people aren’t aware of?”

“If there is, then it’s bad news for us. We can’t attack anyone if we have no idea who our enemy is,” he said softly. “You have to be careful. Trust no one. I’m telling you this because I noticed you easily trust people. Everyone is a suspect until proven otherwise.”

“Roger that, Captain,” I said with a mock salute trying to ease the tension in the air.

“I’m serious. This is a dangerous matter we’re talking about,” he said and from the look in his eyes, he wasn’t ready to play around. “I could have died.”

“Your eyes were gold,” I whispered.

“I was trying to shift but whatever was happening was controlling me and making it nearly impossible to shift,” he said and shook his head. “I don’t know what we’re dealing with but wherever that came from, it’s going to be very bad for my kind if we eventually go to war.”

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know,” he muttered. “Let’s just get you back home. I’ll send your car to you later. You need to be somewhere safe.”

I didn’t want to talk because I was still thinking about everything so I nodded. We got into the car and started the drive again but this time, the silence was like a heavy blanket over us

while the big question stared us in the face. If it wasn’t Avyanna doing all this, who was it? I still couldn’t cross her out because, for some reason, she appeared like a shady person.

I thought and thought about it until I felt like I was going to lose my mind if I kept on hitting dead ends while trying to figure out who our criminal was. I raked my hands through my hair and sighed.

“All I wanted was to find myself, to find love. I didn’t ask for all this,” I said with a slight groan as I thought about everything.

I looked at Tobias and saw that a brow was raised. “Find yourself?”

I nodded. “I mean, of course, most of my plans involved coming here to get Emrys to fall in love with me, which is going quite well if you’re wondering, but I also wanted to know who Paris is outside work. Like, who am I really? I guess I figured if I moved to a new city and met new people and have no job, I’d get an answer to that.”

Tobias chuckled at that and I noticed it was another thing he had in common with his brother. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. That may have been where you got it wrong. Life is all about creating yourself. What is the story people will tell when you are dead? What will you be remembered for?

“Many times, we do a lot of things believing the universe knows who we are but really, the choice is ours. You make yourself what you are and it is your choice what you can be. The answer cannot be found by changing your environment. The person who can answer your question is you.”

I was quiet for a minute or two. “Has anyone ever told you that you are a lot like Leon?”

He laughed at that. “I believe people have said that but the truth is, I learnt to be this from Leon. As weird as it might sound, he raised me.”

“I get what you mean,” I said with a smile as I thought about Leon for nearly the millionth time. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“I mean, everyone must think I’m stupid for crossing miles to be with someone that never bothered to look for me. I should be ashamed of myself.”

“Isn’t it going well?”

“It is but I keep thinking that maybe I should have stayed and waited for him instead of acting so desperate. The thing is I fell in love with him so fast that I couldn’t help doing anything to get him to notice me.”

“Why are you suddenly asking?”

I sighed and leaned back in the seat. “Leon never approved of it and I’m thinking if I had stayed back like he had asked to, if I wasn’t so stupidly in love, Leon wouldn’t be here and he wouldn’t be half dead.”

Tobias bit his lip thinking of a perfect reply. “Do you know what Leon would have told you?”

I sat up straight. “What?”

A smile graced Tobias’s face as he thought about it. “He would have said, ‘Never be ashamed of how much you love or how quickly you fall. Love fully, love completely, but most importantly, love neutrally and don’t you ever apologize for it. Don’t ever be sorry for loving the way your heart knows’ and he would have been right.”

“How do you know that’s what he would have said?”

His smile got bigger. “He told me that a long time ago and I have no doubt he would have said same to you.”

I smiled because his smile was quite contagious just like Leon’s. “I think you’re right.” We didn’t say much after that but it was only because we were already at Brielle’s house.

There were no cars around showing that Brielle and Emrys weren’t home. I wasn’t surprised by Emrys not being around but Brielle didn’t work on Mondays and considering the problems we were experiencing; I was actually worried.

I thanked Tobias for everything and came down from the car giving him a slight wave as I watched him drive away. Once he was out of sight, I smiled to myself and walked into the house with the personal key I’d been given.

The house was so empty and cold as I walked through the house with a sigh. All I wanted was to have my bath and get proper rest but that was thrown outside the window once I walked into my room and was left wondering what the hell had happened.