Young Writers Society

Chapter 2: Sanctuary

“Lys… wake up.”

My eyes fluttered open as I began to wake. I was welcomed by a deep and piercing stare whose owner’s face was only inches from my own. The tips of his coal black hair brushed against my face, while the tips of his fingers caressed my cheeks gently.

“Are you finally awake?” He asked in a somewhat soft expression. My eyes failed to draw away from his gaze and I almost instantly recognized him. I felt the warmth of soft blankets wrapped around my entire body and the memories of yesterday came flooding back to me. I let out a small sigh before I forced my sore body to sit up.

“So, yesterday wasn’t a dream?” I uttered quietly as I glanced over towards Cale, as if asking for answers. His expression became somewhat mocking as he smirked, “Sorry.”

“Where are we?” I uttered quietly towards the quiet male figure.

“Your home.” He responded before he began to lift his head and his dark gaze looked at me one last time. “You fell unconscious while we were escaping.” He stated plainly before he seemed to collect himself. His gaze turned hard and far less vulnerable then he was only moments ago. “So, I had to make a few arrangements.” He pushed himself away from me and stood on his feet, making his way towards the door. He grabbed the handle and pulled it open. “There are changes of clothes in your dresser. Try to hurry and get dressed. We’ll be leaving soon.” He spoke over his shoulder before he began to take his leave.

“Wait!” I shouted, as I started to slide out from under the blankets and placed my feet onto the floor. He stopped in his tracks and he turned his head slightly to look at me in question. There was so much I wanted to ask him. I wasn’t entirely sure what was truly going on; let alone whom this person was. And something told me that it wasn’t going to be to my liking. Not that it ever was. Yet, he saved my life twice already it would seem. So, if nothing else, I wanted to thank him.

“I suppose I should thank you.” I finally managed to say, waiting for whatever he’d answer with next.

“…You haven’t changed, Lys.” His voice was smooth and gentle, his eyes piercing as he glimpsed back at me with an amused expression.

He turned his head and walked out the door, shutting it behind him. I stared after him for a few short moments until I lowered my head and let out a small groan. What’s he going on about? I thought to myself.

I slowly began to stand myself up, shaking somewhat heavily as my muscles fought to maintain balance, struggling to get use to the sudden change of pace. I walked over to the dresser placed against the wall and pulled back the first drawer. Sure enough, there laid a pure white dress, perfectly folded with all the extra amenities I’d need.

I reached my hands in and caressed the white fabric before smiling ever so slightly. It would seem I had a small stroke of luck after all. I felt a surge of warmth as I grabbed ahold of the dress, and soon after, replaced the clothes I had already been wearing, following his orders. I let out a small breath and walked over to the bedroom door, unsure of what would be awaiting me outside. I couldn’t hear much of anything and I began to slide myself out. I stepped into a small hallway and cautiously made my way towards the direction I had seen Cale take before he had shut the door. I tensed up a bit as I reached the end of the hallway and paused in my steps as I took notice of Cale staring out into a large, and brilliantly white city through taller then man-height windows.

I began to walk once more and stopped as soon as I reached his side before I stared down at the vibrant city that lay directly below the apartment. “It’s beautiful.” I stated as I glanced over towards him. His eyes drew from beyond the windows and he peered in my direction until he returned his gaze to the city once more. “Its called Sanctuary, a place of refuge, or simply an escape route for the troubled.” He paused for a brief moment, “Don’t let its appearance fool you.” He finished. I scanned over the city and all its different attributes. There were several highflying automobiles and ships that flew in what appeared to be imaginary highways between the large white buildings on each opposite side of them. There were billions of people walking along the sidewalks below. However, my thoughts began to trail off and my stare shifted over towards Cale’s direction.

“The other day,” I began and Cale’s attention became focused on me while he shifted his stance a bit more comfortably. “Why did you save me?” I could see Cale’s expression become a bit drawn back by the question as if he didn’t want to answer.

“Who are you.. exactly?”

I was interrupted as I heard a sudden chuckle, and I jumped as I turned to face him. Cale’s ash mauve eyes were staring directly at me. He placed his hands right above my own head before he leaned himself in close.

“Are you that curious about me?” A dark, yet teasing tone leaked from his lips and I couldn’t help but widen my eyes in surprise by the sudden approach. However, my eyebrows furrowed and I narrowed my gaze as the surprise wore off.

“Of course.” I uttered, “Isn’t it only natural to ask questions after situations like this?”

Cale smirked and pushed himself away. He turned away from me and began walking towards the door and picked up his coat along the way. “It’s nothing you should be concerned with.” He paused in his steps before he looked back towards me. “I made a promise with someone. That’s all.” He answered before he urged, “Come on.” He opened the door, and I couldn’t help but hesitate as he waited for me to follow.

“I thought it was a refuge?”

His voice suddenly sounded overtop of my own. “Not for us.” He responded, as if he knew what I was going to say next. “We can’t stay here.” My eyes glared a bit as my body tensed in slight irritation. I hardly knew anything, and he obviously had no intention of revealing any part of it to me at the moment. “Why should I follow you?” I asked, beginning to announce my concern. “I don’t know who you are or what I’m doing here.”

I watched as a pleased expression fell over his face. Cale held out his hand suddenly and he grinned a bit mischievously. “Trust me.” A feeling of uncertainty came over me. “I’m only looking out for your best interests.” He uttered. Why was it so easy to believe his words? I didn’t like it. I didn’t like how easily I could be falling into a trap or how easily he seemed to hold me in the palm of his hand while he stayed in the shadows. I felt toyed with. Yet, at the same time I felt as if he wasn’t going to harm me of any sort. He truly wanted what’s best for me. He seemed credible in his own way, why I was uncertain. However, despite this, I didn’t trust him.

“Besides, I’m afraid, you don’t have a choice.” His gaze hardened and he appeared to give off a smug expression. “You’ll be needing protection. And in your current state, you couldn’t manage five seconds without my help.”

“Protection?” I didn’t like how things were headed. Even with how reassuring his words earlier were, I felt anxious. Something was off about him, and the way he acted so familiar made me unsettled. I tensed up, and my hands clenched tightly.

Cale watched me and I could tell that he was studying my actions and his teasing facade faltered. “Isn’t it obvious?” He questioned with a now somewhat serious expression, “You really think the people who imprisoned you would let you off the hook that easily?”

My eyes widened somewhat as he reminded me of the circumstances I was in. He had rescued me from my very own sacrifice, and now he was saying that they were still after me?

“Why? I don’t understa--”

“Does it matter why?” He grumbled as he interjected. “They’re after you. Does it really matter what reason they have?” A scoff rose from his lips as he grew a tad bit frustrated, cutting me off from any hope of getting further explanations from him. I couldn’t help but let out a defeated breathe. There was only one option laid out before me. Even if I didn’t like it all to well, I could only go along with him. If what he said was true, and I did manage to have people coming after me. I would surely just end up back where I started, a corpse that was just set to die. I would never go back to being in that situation.

“If I follow you.” I began; “You have to answer some of my questions.” I announced my conditions and I saw him let out a deep sigh before he lifted his head to gaze back at me. “Fine.”

I finally decided to take ahold of his hand and as soon as I consented, we were out the door and stepping onto a small elevator that sped down quickly towards the city life below. As we reached the ground, the elevator’s doors opened and I was immediately lugged out into the massive crowds of people that forced their way back and forth along the sidewalk. I could barely catch glimpses of what was going on around me, just the loud noises and blurs of people passing by. Cale would only stop on a rare occasion and check his surroundings, which I would quickly, steal the chance to catch a breather before he would yank me to proceed further.

“Where are we going?” I grumbled.

“Just follow me.” He quickly snapped back, glancing over his shoulder once again. His grip around my arm tightened, as he grew tense, obviously beginning to get frustrated. I forced my eyes to finally follow his in question as to why he was suddenly so uptight. I understood now as my eyes settled in on the vast amount of guards that were now surrounding the area, patrolling the streets. I had failed to notice that we had passed nearly five already.

“There’s so many of them.” I mumbled, as if in hopes that no one but Cale could hear.

Cale nodded slightly in acknowledgement before he answered, “I didn’t expect them to be so persistent.” He let out a small groan. “This could be even more irritating then I expected.”

I stayed close to Cale as he continued to lead me successfully down the streets unnoticed and my hands couldn’t help but clench up a bit around the hand that led me. “Are they here to take me back?” I heard a small laugh and my gaze shifted towards Cale who appeared to be far more entertained then concerned. “They’re not after you.”

I became a bit confused, “Then, wh—“ my voice was caught off as I heard a guard call out, “There he is!” and point in our direction. Immediately my eyes glared up at Cale’s face. “You?!” However, I had no time to manifest my anger nearly enough before I was yanked into a sprint, failing to receive any sort of explanation. I could hear squeals of pedestrians as we shoved past them, and the honking of car horns as both Cale and I ran through several streets in order to escape the increasing amount of guards that chased after us. And before I knew it, we stood at the edge of the vibrant city. I let out a heavy breath before I wrenched my hand out of his grasp quickly. Cale paused in his steps and turned in response to the action.

My eyes glared and I made it quite clear that I wasn’t moving another step without some sort of information. “Explain!” I demanded. Yet, it didn’t faze him in the least as he just simply stared back with a blank expression, only to just grab ahold of my waist and lift me up onto his shoulder with ease. “You’re always like this at the most inconvenient times.” He muttered exasperatingly.

“Let go!” I scowled and desperately tried to break away from his hold. However, it was no use, he was right after all. In my current state, I couldn’t defend myself for any more then a couple of minutes. However, I heard the clicking of guns being cocked. Cale’s focus was straight ahead, narrowed and stern and I followed up to where his attention was now laid. My emerald eyes took in the troops that now surrounded us and pointed their various weapons directly at the two of us. They were heavily dressed in the finest armor available, black and appearing to be made for a specific purpose.

“We should have never taken so long.” He muttered ever so quietly towards me, his hand gripped a bit tighter around my own. Although, a grotesque complaint sounded from his lips, “Something we could have avoided if you hadn’t inconveniently passed out.”

What was he trying to get at? My worried gaze got distracted as it turned into a scowl and I couldn’t help but shoot back a bit defensively.

“You didn’t have to save me!” I shouted and it was only responded to by a simple chuckle before he shook his head, “I did.” He paused for a brief moment before continuing, “I did have to save you.” He assured, only to refocus his attention on the task that was at hand, defeating the soldiers surrounding us. I was a bit shocked by the way he was acting, He’s far to relaxed. Was he always this calm and collected during times like this?

I recognized his stance and expression from the day he had rescued me. “Try not to be to heavy.” He ordered once more as he finally began his approach towards the soldiers with me remaining in one arm.

“What are you doing?!” I began, “Don’t fight with me on your shoulder!” I shouted. However, he just situated me to the way he liked, ignoring my request. “I’ll only need one arm.” He stated rather nonchalantly.

“You’re going to get us both killed!”

“Have some faith.” He stated. “I told you didn’t I?” He paused. “I’m going to protect you.” His voice was collected and had a hint of pleasure shrouded within his words. However, the statement reassured me. He didn’t seem cautious or unsure about what was going on at all. I believed him. In that very moment, I had no doubt that he could proceed to do what he stated. And all I could do was watch as he turned away from me. A menacing aura surrounded him almost instantly. I could sense the atmosphere changing and he drew himself back, ready to attack. Yet, unexpectedly, the soldiers screamed out in pain one at a time before they fell down onto the ground abruptly and revealed a blonde-headed figure that stood comfortably with his hands shoved in his pockets behind the mess. I froze as I took in the figure, analyzing every last detail. It was him, the announcer who had sentenced me to death. Percy.

What was he doing here?!

I was suddenly grabbed by the wrist, which yanked my attention back onto Cale. His coal black hair fell over his face perfectly as his stare looked directly at the other man that stood not to far away from us.

“You’re late.” Cale exclaimed with an irritated appearance. Percy shook his head and planted a large smirk across his face before he lowered his head and bowed in apology. “My apologies.” His icy blue eyes gazed directly towards us with a somewhat malicious stare. “I figured one, such as my very own master, could hold them off for a short while as I made a few preparations for the princess’s return.”

Percy raised an eyebrow as he lifted his head to look at Cale’s own glare. “Was I mistaken?”

I heard an exasperated scowl sound from beside me. “Just do your job properly.” Cale demanded, failing to release my wrist from his grip as he proceeded forward towards a vehicle that I hadn’t managed to notice earlier. I was confused as to truly what was going on. It was obvious that Percy was working for Cale. However, ‘master’ was a bit much wasn’t it? All I could picture was a high-class butler at the moment, and by the looks of Percy’s dress code and light blonde hair. I would say he didn’t quite fit the image I had in mind. More importantly, I became even further concerned with the fact that the one person who had deliberately sentenced me to death, was an ally? Or, currently appeared to be. Which, I wasn’t sure.

As Cale and I reached the car, Percy had already pulled the door open for our entrance into the vehicle. He ushered his hand towards the inside of the car, urging us inside. “I’ll be sure to work harder next time.” He reassured calmly with a small grin across his cheeks. I slid myself in after Cale and was a bit blown away by the vehicles interior. It was incredibly high class for this day and age. And it was quite obvious that Percy had spent time choosing this particular air-gliding vehicle for his liking. It wasn’t any more then a single second before Percy had reached the front driver’s seat.

A large screen, that covered the entire front windshield, suddenly appeared as Percy started the car. A female animatronic voice sounded, welcoming us before asking for the location or address that we wished to visit. I saw Percy type in a few short coordinates and before I knew it the vehicle had started on its way.

My eyes narrowed a tad bit and I glanced over towards Cale who quietly stared out the side windshield. “Can I at least know where we’re headed?”

I heard a sudden alertness sound from Cale’s throat as he took notice of my existence. His dark eyes stared at me for a few moments, before he smirked. “You’ll see.”

I let out a quick scoff under my breath, “Of course not.”