Grey
Chapter Ten: Secrets
Jeff and I decided to leave before the others. Or Jeff decided, and I just followed after him. His tail, still out, was swishing from side to side, and I had a hard time trying to avoid it. As I followed it back to its root just above his ass with my eyes, I blushed when I could see the naked skin under his shirt as his tail moved. I quickly looked away. I found out shortly after that we weren’t heading for the great hall at all but we were walking toward the Office again. Just looking at the building made my stomach clench and I wanted to kick it – despite how much it would hurt when my foot collided with the wooden wall. ,,Jeff?” I asked and caught up to his side. ,,Why are we going to the Office? I thought-” ,,You wanted to find out, right?” Jeff asked and smiled at me ruefully. ,,Well, now’s the time.” As we neared the building, the twin women moved outside, shot us a frowning look but hurriedly moved toward the great hall. Just inside we found Blake putting on a gray jacket. ,,Blake,” Jeff said and stood still in front of the door, blocking the exit with his body. ,,We have to talk.” Blake looked up slowly, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. His eyes gazed toward me before they settled on Jeff instead. His lips thinned visibly, and he straightened even more. It seemed like he had also gotten some sleep as the rings underneath his eyes had mostly disappeared. The way he stood now, his posture, his expression, spoke of superiority and leadership – reminding me of an alpha wolf glaring at its pack. If I hadn’t been standing behind Jeff I would probably have fled the room, though I hated to admit that to myself. ,,What is it, Jeff… Grey?” His eyes shifted to mine the moment he said my name. ,,Is it about those Mechanicians? I told you I would tell you about it another time. Not now-” ,,We’ve already told him, Blake,” Jeff interrupted him, and by the crossed look on Blake’s face I guessed he wasn’t used to being cut off. Jeff gave him a questioning frown. ,,Did you honestly expect him not to find out anything on his own?” Blake looked at us as if he wanted to sigh, but no air left his mouth as he breathed through his nostrils. His eyes shifted back to Jeff. ,,You know he was going to ask me more about them than what is commonly known by all paras. The only one who has that knowledge…” As he spoke, a weird gleam entered his gaze but it was gone the second I really noticed it. ,,…is me.” ,,And Zeke,” Jeff said, crossing his arms and moving further inside the building, motioning for me to follow him and close the door behind us. ,,And whoever it is that Zeke is working for.” Swallowing and clearing my mind of fear, I stepped forward to stand beside Jeff, although I could physically feel how badly he wanted me to stand behind him. To protect me? From who? Blake? Did he think Blake was dangerous? Interesting. I thought they were the best of pals considering how much time they had spent together while I was becoming friends with Carl. I shook the thoughts to the side, not going down that slippery slope right now. ,,It won’t be a secret for much longer, Blake,” I ventured and managed not to avoid his gaze as he glared at me. By now, Blake finally did sigh. ,,I suppose you are right.” His eyes shot up again to capture mine, a hard edge to them, and his mouth thinning even more. ,,But then you won’t need to hear it from me, do you? You’ll just have to wait until Zeke really publishes it to all the paras. As you told me he spoke about.” I stiffened and could feel Jeff’s concerned gaze boring into my face. ,,You don’t trust me?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper as I looked straight back into his eyes. ,,You think I lied to you about the meeting with Zeke? You think I’d-” ,,We only have your word for it,” Blake started saying, moving closer toward us, totally ignoring the low threatening rumble coming off of Jeff. He didn’t even look away from my eyes. ,,And for all we know you could be one of them.” I fought the urge to cower and hide. I couldn’t let myself be intimidated by the threatening vibes coming off Blake. If I did he would win. Though I wasn’t quite sure what it was exactly it was that he would win. ,,But I’m not.” I only looked away from Blake for a moment to glance at Jeff. ,,I don’t smell entirely para.” Although that was about the weirdest thing I had ever said, I continued. ,,Jeff can also smell human on me. Therefore-” Blake smiled. Condescending, cold. ,,That only means you’re half-blood. You’ve figured that out as well. Tell me, what did you do before you started working for Ayers and supposedly got drugged with sedatives? Hmm?” I managed to close my mouth before I began cursing the man to hell. There was something about Blake, something right now, that made me want to kick his ass and then tear his entire face apart, bit for stinking, fucking bit. I hastily cast a glance at Jeff before I looked back at the leader of Portobello Road. ,,I don’t remember anything before I worked there. I don’t even remember starting working there. It’s all a blur.” ,,So you don’t remember any family? Convenient.” Before I could say anything against his allegations, Jeff snarled and lunged forward, only stopping once Blake and he were so close their chests were touching. A steady growl came from the back of his throat and I could almost feel the vibrations in the air when Blake started rumbling, too, his wolf-side for the first time peeking out. ,,Stop it, Blake, or I’m gonna rip your heart out.” Jeff straightened to his maximum height and the two paras stood at equal altitude. ,,Don’t say shit like that when I can hear it, you got that? You know there are others who have been drugged that doesn’t remember anything either. Why should Grey be any different?” Blake continued steadily growling, not losing eye contact with Jeff. ,,Because he is different, Jeff. That’s why the Blood are after him. That’s why the hunters are after him. Did you keep him from watching the News on TV or something?” He suddenly lunged himself back and away from Jeff, as if he was afraid he would attack the other man if they stood too close. ,,We don’t know anything about him, and how convenient is it that he doesn’t remember jackshit?! You tell me that, Jeff, or are you too much in love with him that you don’t see any of it? Denial is a strong son-of-a-bitch!” Jeff’s growl suddenly grew thunderous, his tail sweeping the floor clean, fur sprouting from the skin on his arms and legs that were visible. Before Jeff could say anything, though, I cut in, making them both look at me again. ,,What? The News? What’s supposed the be on the News?” I looked from one pair of eyes to the other. ,,What’s going on?” Blake turned toward me with that tight smile and narrowed eyes. ,,Although you got away from your subjugators, Grey, that doesn’t mean they’ve forgot about you.” He turned toward the coffee table where I suddenly noticed a newspaper with a picture of a politician I couldn’t name on the front page. He took it up and began turning pages until he reached the middle of it. He then turned it toward me and I found myself just staring at the article. There was a big picture spread out over the top of the double page-article. It was various pictures taken of me – me – in different situations. It showed me presenting one of the cars I had designed, me working with Shawn looking over my shoulder, me touching my computer screen with closed eyes, and – the biggest picture of them all – me swallowing the sedative pills of Pheriodoxin in the canteen with Mrs. Langston watching me with an unusual weary look on her face as she seemed to make sure I took the pills. Over the top it said, Uncontrolled rogue para still on the loose. The hunters have no leads. As I scanned the text I saw that my name was not mentioned anywhere – only branding me as the uncontrolled rogue – while Ayers’ company was mentioned quite a lot. Apparently he hadn’t mentioned a para designing his cars in his commercials, and people were quite upset with that. But that was something someone had leaked before I had to escape from there. I looked up from the article and avoided Blake’s smug glance at me of being able to tell me something I didn’t already know. I turned to Jeff instead. ,,How long have you known?” I asked him. Jeff stared at me, his eyes wide open, looking apologetic, and his mouth opening and closing. ,,How long. Have. You. Known?” I asked again, biting the sentence into pieces. Jeff finally seemed to regain his ability to speak. ,,Some time, but I was gonna-” ,,When?!” I cut him off, pushing the fact that I was letting all my anger at Blake out on Jeff instead away. ,,When were you going to tell me?!” ,,When you had settled in here,” Jeff hurriedly answered and approached me, his arms out in an open invite. ,,I’m sorry, Grey…” His arms neared me but I turned away, regretting it instantly when I saw his hurt expression. I turned my gaze to Blake, trying to fight down the bad conscious welling up inside of me from Jeff’s reaction to my rejection. I pinned the wolf-para with my glare. ,,What did it say in those documents?” Blake stared back at me, a battle of wills brew between us before he sighed almost soundlessly and looked to the side where there were pictures and other news articles nailed to the wall. A look crossed over his eyes before disappearing almost instantly and he looked back to me, a suddenly curious expression on his face. ,,It’s not much,” he finally said, though I could hear how reluctantly he spoke through his teeth. ,,Only that they have sent messages. Coded messages. To Earth.” What felt like en electric shiver ran down my spine as I interpreted what he was saying. ,,To Earth?” I asked, wondering whether I had got it wrong after all. When Blake did nothing but stare at me silently, it hit me what he meant. ,,You mean… the Mechanicians are- are aliens?!” The thought itself was so weird and far out that it almost made sense – in some very abstract way of thinking it was the only thing that really could be true. ,,But, how-” Blake shook his head and drew up his shoulders before slumping them down once again. ,,I do not know. Only that the messages came coded through a signal picked up by a random satellite in orbit. I think most governments have seen it but… no one knows what it says.” At this, he got a shine to his eyes as he stared at me. I took a step backwards, stunned by how intense his eyes suddenly shone, his lips slightly apart. ,,What, you think I’d be able to understand it?” Blake seemed to get himself together as he shrugged almost non-commenting but I could still see the lingering intensity in his gaze. ,,It was sent in a code by a signal. Electrically. That’s the language of the Mechanicians.” He said in a tone that made it sound a bit more metaphoric than literal. ,,And you have the same powers as they do, Grey. Perhaps you can speak their language as well.” Already in the middle of Blake’s sentence I was shaking my head in resignation. ,,So now you trust me, Blake?” Blake just shrugged this off with a movement of his shoulders. ,,Well, what can we do about it anyway? The documents are gone – so is the message – and the only way of getting it back and figuring out who the Mechanicians are and what they want, is to get access to that message.” Blake suddenly straightened his back and adjusted his clothes before he nodded toward the doorway behind us. ,,Now, if you don’t mind, of course, I’ll be heading to the great hall where the others are waiting for me. Us. Come.” Then he started walking and was out the door in less than ten seconds. I shook my head in disbelief and headed for the exit, too, when large, strong arms entrapped mine to my sides, and I could feel Jeff’s chest flush against my back. ,,Jeff?” ,,I’m sorry, Grey,” Jeff murmured into my hair at the top of my head. ,,I was going to tell you about it, but-” I found myself patting his arms around me soothingly, and instinctually I leaned back into his embrace, my head resting against his shoulder behind me. ,,It’s alright,” I said before I could really think about it. I patted his arm one more time before we moved out of the Office. The sky, which had been covered by thin clouds earlier, was now completely dark with heavy ones. And it was raining. As we stepped outside and began moving down the steps from the porch, Jeff put his arm around my waist and we ran together toward the great hall. Behind us I could hear someone padding against the wet grass and I saw two persons running toward the Office and getting inside. One of them was definitely Raven but the other one – also a woman, judging by her skirt – I couldn’t see because of her rain jacket. They got inside before long and I lost sight of them. I frowned slightly but figured Raven and the other would get over to the great hall sooner or later. We made it in time to see Blake up on the little stage talking about the result of the search for Zeke; how he had actually betrayed us, and that he had sent Raven to check whether Proctor was a part of it or not. Somehow it surprised me a little that he was being so honest. For a moment I had got the mental image that Blake would keep all the juicy parts to himself. As I looked up at him, I realized that I really was nowhere near figuring that man out. While people asked questions and began debating what to do now – suggestions varying from hunting Zeke down to sit back and observe what would happen next – Jeff and I found Red and Denny sitting with Mary and another para called Gregory who shared the apartment building with her. I had only spoken to Gregory briefly before, but what I got from him was that he had been a musician when he suddenly found out about his Talent – the same as Mary’s: He was a wind-blower – and he decided to search for a place such as Portobello Road. He said he had been a local celebrity in his town. Although he seemed like a nice and open guy, he got a bit more vague when speaking about why he had had to leave his home town. ,,I found out about my Talent at the wrong time at the wrong place,” was all he said about it, looking remorseful. Now, Gregory and Mary both looked surprised, and Gregory was on his way to participate in the debate. When Jeff and I reached the others, Red sat on her fiancé’s lap, patting his arms around her stomach, caressing her in return. It was clear that they were both looking forward to having their baby in these upset times, and I couldn’t think of other people being more ready as parents as them. We sat down beside Mary, across from Red and Denny, with me in between Jeff and the wind-blower para, Jeff’s arm securely slid around my waist, our sides and thighs touching. It seemed almost like Jeff wanted to verify that there were no bad feelings between us by touching me as much as he could, like a child looking for the boundary when the parent would say the irrevocable ,,NO!” Though thinking of Jeff as the child and me as the parent was a bit too weird for me to continue that thought, so I shrugged it off and tried to forget about it. I looked to my side when I felt Mary’s eyes boring into me and found her staring with mild amusement evident in her expression at the close proximity between Jeff and myself. But when she noticed that I had caught her staring, she only smiled and squeezed my shoulder before she turned toward Red and Denny. ,,So it finally happened?” Mary waggled her eyebrow at the expecting couple and received big smiles in return. ,,At last!” Both Denny and Red corresponded in unison, Red winking at me when she caught me blushing. Jeff drew us tighter together and began purring when I let myself go and just be embraced. I rolled my eyes at the twinkle in the healer’s eyes and averted them. ,,Liana’s back!” someone suddenly shouted, and I felt a spark of recognition at the name and turned around in time to see a crowd of people surrounding Raven and another woman who was completely out of my sight. ,,Liana?” I asked hesitatingly as I tried to remember where I had heard the name. I turned to look into Jeff’s smiling eyes as he also tried to get a glance at the returning celebrity that every para in Portobello Road seemed to know. ,,Blake’s wife,” Jeff said. ,,You know, Hutton’s daughter, Juliana-Marie, Liana for short? She’s home a bit earlier than expected, though…” I didn’t hear anymore as I suddenly managed to get a good look at the woman, and my whole body tensed and stiffened. I only saw her for a brief second before someone moved in the way, obscuring her from view, but that millisecond was enough. My heart began suddenly pounding faster and my head felt light as a sudden tear fell down my cheek. A slight tan, lean musculature, not as tall as me but close enough. She had high cheekbones, a small nose and chin but a straight jawline and big round blue eyes. Her hair, though tied back into a ponytail on the top of her head, was long and smooth. As black as mine. I stood up from Jeff with ease and moved toward the crowd surrounding her. My legs felt heavier than they used to and for a moment I wondered whether they would give out from under me. Thousands of thoughts soared through my head. Most of them were a repetition of the question How? This scenario was so unlikely that it had seemed impossible. When Blake finally made it down from the little stage and moved toward his wife, the crowd dispersed and I could see her again. The way she moved her hands, waving at her husband, had my skin aching for her to cares me again. Like she used to do. Mother… Momma… Mom… I couldn’t believe it. And neither could she as she turned her head, moving her eyes over me and past me – to suddenly rear her head back and lock eyes with me. Her eyes widened, the white totally surrounding the color and the pupil. Her hands moved up to her mouth and she paled visibly. She began walking toward me, ignoring everyone, even Blake and the crowd. She let her hands fall and I saw her mouthing a word… no, a name. ,,Jackson.” My name. Everything suddenly went black when we reached each other and her fingers touched my cheek. It was in the middle of the night. I had had a nightmare and was preparing to climb out of my big boy bed when I heard something from outside. Hesitatingly, I moved toward my window with my teddy bear in hand and looked out.
When I saw nothing, I shrugged, turning toward the door out to the hallway. My mother’s room was just down the hall and I could see the door was open just a crack. I silently bounced toward the door with my bear dragging along the carpeted floor while I tried to forget about the nightmare I had had. Just as I reached out toward the door, I saw something move inside. I stiffened and tugged the bear to my chest. I moved to the side so that I could look through the crack between the door and the edge. What I saw made my heart pound with fear and panic. There were strangers in the room! And my mother didn’t seem to know it. I could see her form lying on the bed while three men looking like the army-men from grandpa’s old collection of toys stood around it, one of them with a syringe – such as the doctors had I had seen on TV. As the needle neared my mother, fear made me involuntarily make a hiccup sound and the three uniformed men turned toward me. The nearest man kicked the door open and I fell to my butt on the carpet. ,,Hey, looky here,” one of the men said in a tone I didn’t like. ,,The prize wandered in itself.” I began scrambling backwards, abandoning my teddy bear between the bedroom and me. ,,Don’t hurt my momma!” I squealed and ducked back when they began laughing, making my mother shift under the covers. ,,We ain’t gonna hurt your precious momma!” one of the other men said as the other one moved out into the hallway. ,,As long as you come with us, no one is gonna hurt her.” The man held out his hand. Utterly terrified, I could do nothing but sit there and stare at the big, calloused hand. I looked into his eyes, steel gray and cold. ,,Really?” I stuttered out. ,,You promise?” ,,Pinky promise,” he said mockingly and grabbed my hand, hauled me up and carried me over his shoulder. Suddenly panicking and seeing my mother waking up, I screamed. ,,Momma! Momma! Momma!” ,,Jackson! Let my son go! NO!” My mother sat up in the bed and began scrambling toward the closest of the men, but another of them grabbed her by her hair and yanked her to the floor. She screamed as well. As I began crying in horror, the lights began buzzing and shifting from turned on to turned off. It spread to most of the houses in the entire neighborhood. ,,Shit, Thayer!” one of the uniformed men spat out, looking through the open window form which they had probably come. ,,Get the kid to shut the hell up!” ,,Julie?” I heard from downstairs as grandpa and grandma made their up the stairway. ,,Dad! Mom!” my mother shouted before the man holding her hair tugged her down. ,,They’re taking Jackson!” Just before everything went black for me, I heard the man carrying me – Thayer was his name – grin aloud, moving to the window. ,,Damn right we are!” Then we were gone, and I blacked out. ,,Jackson! Jackson! Oh, my God, Jackson! Jacks!” I heard a voice in a mix of crying and laughing.
Delicate arms were holding me, and I slowly blinked my eyes open, wincing at the pounding headache forcing its way to my forehead. When I saw her eyes, everything came back to me, and I realized that meeting my mother – Juliana-Marie Hutton – here in Portobello Road had not been a part of my dream – my nightmare. It was real. I stopped thinking and just stared at her, not really noticing the tears sliding down my cheek. She smiled at me, too. Tears were streaking down her cheeks but I suspected they were tears of joy and not sorrow. She looked as if a burden weighing a thousand tons had just been removed from her shoulders. She gently brushed my hair away from my face – just like she used to do when I was little. And that was when I noticed the person standing behind her. Blake. I suddenly froze as I stared at the man who was my mother’s husband. Did that mean… No! It couldn’t be! No, no, no! There was no way in hell that Blake was my father!
Hi there! Hope you liked the chapter ^^ Feel free to R&R, it makes me so happy, so happy (sing-song-voice) xD
eroburn; Haha! I'm glad you liked it! I was a tiny bit worried it was getting too sappy. Man am I relieved that it wasn't! ^O^ Well, I've always found it a bit hard to make the two antagonists made for each fall in love with each other - and still make it seem natural! I sure hope it is so between Jeff and Grey in this story! xD I'm glad you're liking the mystery => It's what I'm planning for the story, and I just hope that no one has it figured out yet (grinning evilly). Well, I hope you like the chap! And I just wanted to tell you that I have no candy with me now - only cookies, though... I think I already ate them all... Wonder when that happened??? ^^
smint45; Secrets and revelations, eh??? ^^ I'm glad I wasn't getting too sappy in the prior chappy and I'm glad you liked it, but Jeff and Grey still have a lot to learn xD And now I got to update a bit earlier than the previous one! Hope you liked it! FortunateM; Well, I was a little stressed because it had been so long since I had last updated, but am thinking of editing the chapter when I've got the time to... And it was only in the last part of the chapter that I found my muse so that I could write more freely: Music! I ended up listening to most of Hans Zimmer's greatest soundtrack music before I was done with the chapter, haha ^^ I do hope their relationship is moving along in a natural way and not rushed as they still have to get to know each other better and get accustomed to each other ;D Well, Blake is human(LOL) and I like it when the leader isn't as 'good' as he is supposed to xD More about Fallon in the next chapter!
