Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) (27 page)

"And how do
you plan on finding Lucas? He's the oldest known Zhulik alive and no one has
been able to defeat him yet or even find him in hundreds of years."

"I don't
think I'll have a hard time finding him. I have a feeling he'll come to me or
lead me to him."

"That
reminds me," Riley interrupted, pulling a small envelope from her pocket.
"This was delivered to you this morning."

I stared at it
in confusion, afraid to touch it in case it was rigged to explode or produce
another portal of angry demons. When it didn't do anything and everyone
pestered me about what was inside, I finally opened it.

Inside was a
single photograph. It was a picture of Lucas, with his arm wrapped tightly
around a terrified Ivan, standing in front of a dilapidated castle. Written on
the back of the photograph were the words:
Catch me if you can
. My eyes
were burning again and anger made my stomach ache. I couldn’t stand to
see how scared Ivan looked and I almost hopped out of bed to start going after
Lucas immediately. The reasonable side of me won, though. There’s was no
way I would make it out of this room without someone tackling me and dragging
me back to bed.

I showed to it
to the crowd around me. The uneasiness in the room grew. Nobody was comfortable
with a power crazed Zhulik on the loose and it seemed like none of them had any
confidence in me being able to defeat him.

I stared at the
picture for a long time, trying to figure out where they might be but decided
to let it go for now. I would have to wait until I was deemed fit enough to
leave before I could go after him. Right now, I just wanted to see Felix.

The crowd around
my bed was ordered to leave and they all scurried off to do their own things.
Riley and Rema helped me out of bed and led me to the intensive care unit.
There were a few other Lovac in here from the battle, most of which looked much
worse than Felix. He sat up in his bed, eating some food. He was still pale but
not as chalk-white as the last time I saw him. When he saw us coming he put his
food down and smiled brightly.

"Hey,
Avery. How are you feeling?"

"I'm sore
and tired but I'm alive. You?"

"About the
same except with a good portion of blood missing from my body. I'm recovering
well enough though that I should be moved to the normal infirmary in a day or
two."

"That's
great. Are you going to be well enough to help me track down Lucas in a few
days?"

The confused
look on Felix's face told me that no one had the chance to inform him of everything
that happened last night while he was passed out. "You didn't kill
him?"

"A demon
helped him escape. He took a Nesmyr with him to try to force me to find him and
battle with him again."

"If you're
smart, you won't try to go after him. He's probably already killed the Nesmyr
anyways. He just wants to lead you to a death trap."

"I have to
find him and he won't kill the Nesmyr. If he wants me to play his stupid games
then he's going to keep this Nesmyr alive until I come for him."

"Why?
What's so special about this Nesmyr?" I could hear the bitterness in his
voice and I knew he already had a good guess.

I paused.
"Can we be alone?" I asked Rema and Riley, who didn’t
hesitate to move a few feet away. I sat on the edge of Felix’s bed and
threw my arms around him. He pulled me closer but he was tense. I didn’t
want to tell him. I wanted to stay in his arms forever and forget I even had a
Dimidium.

"Avery,"
Felix said, his voice was gentle this time. "Tell me what’s going
on."

I pulled back
and wiped the tears away from my eyes. I looked at the ground as I spoke.
"I... I think he's my Dimidium." Saying those words hadn't been
anywhere near as hard to say to the council members as it was to Felix. I
looked up to see rage and sadness pass over his face. He was mad that I found
my Dimidium before him and sad because of his feelings for me. My heart ached
and I wanted to reach out and comfort him but I held back. I knew I needed to
start distancing myself from him, no matter how badly I just wanted to get closer.
We weren't meant to be together and we both needed to accept it.

"Get
out," he finally said.

"Felix,"
I said, wanting to reason with him. I didn’t want him to banish me from
his life. Not this quickly.

"I said get
out," he almost shouted. I saw a few of the nurses flinch at the harshness
of his voice and Rema and Riley moved forward to urge me away. I thought about
fighting them and trying to talk some sense into Felix but I came to the
conclusion that he needed time to think it over by himself and come to terms
with it. I let Rema and Riley steer me away. I glanced over my shoulder once
and was surprised to see a single tear fall out of Felix’s eyes.

Once I was back
in my own bed, Rema excused herself and Riley sat down next to me and tried to
comfort me.

"Don't
worry about Felix," she said. "He'll calm down in a day or so and
realize how much of an idiot he’s being. He should be happy for you. I
am. As much as it hurts to know that my Dimidium might be long dead, I can
still be happy for you."

The tears in
Riley's eyes spilled over and my heart ached even more. I knew that I
wasn’t the reason Lucas helped Kamila kill all of those Dimidiums but I
felt like I was linked to it. I was the reason that these people I now cared so
much for were so full of heart ache.

"I promise
that once I kill Lucas, I will do everything I can to help you find your
Dimidium. We don't know for sure if Kamila got to him or not."

She gave me a
sad smile but changed the topic. "If Felix won't help you find Lucas, I
will. We'll start searching when you're back to normal. For now you need to
rest though."

I had only been
awake for less than an hour but my body and mind were still exhausted from the
night before. I nodded in agreement and Riley squeezed my hand gently before
leaving the room. I rolled over and sunk my head into the soft pillow, quietly
crying while thinking of how messed up my life had gotten in two short weeks.

I still
couldn’t believe my mom was gone and my life would never be the same. How
did my stale life turn a complete one-eighty?

How was I
supposed to find Lucas and Ivan before something terrible happened? I knew
Gladys would never forgive me if her grandson was murdered but I didn’t
know if I had it in me to defeat Lucas. He was so powerful and seemed to have plenty
of allies in the Zhulik and demon world. I would probably need an army to kill
him; an army that I didn’t have.

And what about
Felix? It tore me up to know that he wasn’t my Dimidium but what was even
worse was that he would probably never find his. Kamila had probably killed his
long ago, giving him a death sentence.

What the hell
was I going to do?
Was my last thought as I finally fell back asleep.