November 7th-8th, 2099

 

Leah waited for Aiden to be finally asleep, and as the morning sky lit up, walked out of the house.

After walking for a little while, she stopped briefly to look back at the path behind her. In that moment, she considered turning back, but refused, knowing her daughter was in the hands of someone who could use her for every wrong reason possible. Leah continued walking, stripping off certain articles of clothing until she was barely covered. Once she was down to her bra and undergarmets, she stopped, and closed her eyes. As she relaxed her body, her arms began to transform, slowly spreading bright, ember colored feathers from her fingertips to her shoulders, then reaching all the way down her back to her tailbone. As the feathers began taking form, the skin on her arms started being replaced fully by the brightly colored feathers until a full wingspan was seen.

 

Eventually nearly the entire back side of her body stretching towards the front side was replaced by a phoenix type form. During the entire transformation, she felt eyes watching her, but in a non threatening manner. When Leah finally opened her eyes, she was standing on a pile of ashes, and standing face to face with a young woman who looked shockingly similar to Marianna, yet had what seemed like the sort of attitude Leah remembered having as a child and teenager. They stared at each other for a moment, until finally the woman spoke up

 

."What are you doing here?"

 

Leah smiled. "I was about to ask you the same thing. I'm sure your mum is worried about you. There isn't a single home for two miles."

 

The woman stared Leah down for a moment. "How did you do that?"

 

"Do what?" She pointed at Leah's wings.

 

"That. And why?"

 

Leah shrugged.  "I don't know why. I suppose I was just born this way. Don't you have something unique that you were born with?"

 

The woman frowned. "Yeah, a tumor in my head that is going to kill me if I stay out too long. I have to go." She turned and started running down the path. Leah went to run after, only when she went to touch her, learned the hard way that the woman was merely a hologram, which flickered away. Before a trap could close in on her, she was swooped up by a net. Rushing into a panic, Leah's human form returned, leaving a half naked woman being carried off in a net. Moments later, she was lowered to the ground far off from the path, and caught a glimpse of what grabbed her. And the what, became a who.

 

"You shouldn't be here!" The woman panicked. "You need to get as far from here as you possibly can. I'll distract them."

 

Leah found herself stunned, as the same hologram that had tricked her the first time, was talking to her again. Only when the young woman actually touched her, and picked her up, she got a closer glance of her. Only the eye contact was broken by the woman pushing her up the hill.

 

"Go!" She ordered, as she slipped on black shorts and a tank top.

 

When Leah refused to move, the woman pressed down hard on an unusual spot on her body, forcing it to go back to her ultimate form. Seeing cars driving up in the distance, Leah rose up, and made her way back to her home. By the time she got there, Aiden was already lugging the essentials into the plane, a shirt and pants in hand for Leah.

 

"We need to go-"

 

"I know," Aiden interrupted. "The animals gave me a clue that there was something coming." He hinted at all of the squirrels, chimpmunks, and other animals, running up the mountain for safety. Leah put her clothes on, and helped Marianna into the plane, glancing at Aiden.

 

"Is it out?"

 

Aiden nodded. "Yep. Checked this morning, and chucked it off the side of the mountain."

 

"Good." Leah sat down in one of the pilot chairs, and waited as Aiden shut the door beind Marianna, and started up the plane. As they took off, Aiden noticed an odd haze begin to shroud over the sky, but before he could say anything, Leah hit a button which launched them into the sky past the haze and  a good few hundred feet in a matter of moments. "Keep going, love. They were just trying to trap us in."

 

Without asking questions, he kept the plane at turbo speed for the next half hour, until they were eventually far away enough where it was safe enough to slow down and look for a landing space. Marianna stared out the window, trying to piece together everything, but it was doing nothing but frustrating her. Except for one thing, which was Ryan, and the look in his eyes. It wasn't him at all. Leah walked over and distracted Marianna from her thoughts by placing a hand on her shoulders.

 

"Everything alright, deary?"

 

Marianna said nothing, and continued staring out the window.

 

"Don't worry, we'll figure everything out eventually. Right now all we need to do is figure out where your parents are, and then we can go from there. All that matters at this very moment, however, is finding somewhere to stay for the night."

 

Aiden cleared his throat. "Leah, you need to call Nate, he has a place a couple states away that's big enough to hide this thing."Leah nodded, taking out her phone and calling the number. At first, she wasn't sure if he was going to answer, but then he finally did.

 

"Hello? Can I help you?" He answered.

 

"Hey, it's Leah. We've only met a few times in the past twenty years, but we need your help. We're a few states away from you, and need somewhere to stay for a while."

 

"I know. You dumbasses are right on radar. You better get that turbo speed going before you get yourselves any deeper under their scope."

 

Before Leah could say anything, the line went. The rude man had hung up on her. Back in the path they left far behind, Leilani awaited Rye as several groups of burley men and women searched the grounds. The sun was starting to set, as she waited, sitting atop a large boulder. Little did she know, but a young man from one of the many families against Rye's rule was slowly creeping behind her.

 

That was, until he got within a foot of her, and gave himself away by stumbling back for a split second. The brief moment gave her an opportunity to pull him off of the boulder and down on the ground.

 

"I suggest you get away from me before I rip your nasty balls out," she ordered in a threatening tone. For a moment he seemed stunned, but then he carelessly tossed her off of him, and started walking away from her.

"You're obviously not her," he mumbled under his breath, as he walked away.

 

Leilani stood, now angry. "Hey! Get back here!"

 

He paused for a moment, glancing momentarily at her. "I suggest you run back to daddy, Leilani. You aren't ready for what his cruel world has in mind for people like you."

 

"Excuse you?!" She ran over to him, as he was starting to walk away again, and forced him to turn and face her. "What the hell do you mean, people like me?"

 

He laughed a bit. "You wouldn't understand. What are you, twelve, thirteen maybe?"

 

Leilani turned red, flustered and angered. "What the hell does that matter?"

 

He turned away again, and moments before vanishing before her, said, "Go back to daddy. Until you really know, you won't last a minute in our world."

 

Leilani stood in shock, until she found Rye standing behind her, with a hand on her shoulder. "I think you've had enough excitement for one day. You've almost missed your medication, Leilani." He held a small plastic cup out to her with two large pills. She hesitantly took the cup, but when she didn't immediately take the pill, he nudged her to. "Come on, Leilani. You need them to stay well."

 

She nodded, and regrettingly put the two pills in her mouth.

 

Rye nodded, and handed her a bottle of water, which she took a sip out of to swallow the pills down. When he was satisfied that the pills were taken, he walked her to the car. About ten minutes later, while they drove back to their home, Leilani began throwing up in the car.

 

Rye shook his head in dissapointment. "I'm so dissapointed in you, Leilani. How long have you been avoiding taking your medication?"

 

Unable to speak, she continued throwing up, gasping for air each time she heaved.

 

Rye chuckled. "I suppose based on how much your body is rejecting it, you've never taken your medication. You're such a reject, I don't even know why I put so much effort towards keeping you alive all these years."

A few minutes later, the car stopped, and Rye opened the door, allowing two men to carry Leilani out to a building she had never seen before in her life. As they carried her away, they left a trail of vomit and blood behind them. They brought her into the building, where they released her on the tiled floor. Once she was finished spilling her guts on the floor, she crawled over to the small bed in the room, and curled up on it. A few moments later, she caught a chill, and re-adjusted so she could pull the blanket over her.

 

Eventually she fell asleep, not aware that the rude man from earlier was watching out for her from a part of the room where he was perfectly hidden. A few hours later, he cautiously aproached her, and hovered his hands just above her shoulders, only she jerked awake. He hid in the shadows of the room, and sent out a few guards to ensure that even if he left or fell asleep, she would be safe. As much as he knew she didn't understand how the world worked, he was ordered to find and relocate her. Didn't matter where, so long as Rye got his greedy, selfish hands off her.Leilani turned her head, and found herself face to face with a pair of grey, almost illuminating eyes.

 

They seemed to be observing her, but only for a brief moment, as the creature they belonged to became distracted with something else. The door was opened, followed by the sound of several necks and limbs, snapping. Before she could so much as squeak, a hand went over her mouth, followed by a whisper:

"Save your energy...we're bringing you home."

 

Marianna woke to a random knock on her bedroom door. When she went to get out of bed to see what or who it was, she saw a body curled up on the floor next to her bed. She cautiously approached the body, and noticed that it was a young woman. Rather than trying to see if she was moving, Marianna quietly left the bedroom to find Leah. She knew Leah would most likely know what was going on more than Marianna did. Only when she went to open the door, a figure appeared in front of it, forming out of the little shadow in the room.

 

The shadow of a person formed, and held a finger up to his lips to ensure she didn't make a sound. As Marianna stood in shock, he made his way over to the young woman, watched her for a moment, and then dissapeared into the shadow in the corner of the room. Leaving Marianna beyond confused, and waiting for the mystery woman to wake from what she assumed was sleep. Before Marianna could get anywhere near her, the door opened, and Leah stood in the doorway.

 

“Is everything alright, love?”

 

Marianna nodded, but kept looking at the young woman. “I think we have a problem...”

 

“What do you mean....” Leah looked over Marianna's shoulder at the woman.  “Go downstairs and grab some water, will you? I'm going to check her out and make sure nothing's wrong.”

 

Marianna nodded. “Alright,” She said in a sleepy tone, before wandering out.

 

Leah walked over and knelt by the woman, and the door shut. She froze for a moment, but returned to inspecting the woman. With the light shut off, she could barely make out her face, even with her ability to see better in the dark than the normal human could. She stood, and walked over to the bedstand to turn the lamp on.

 

When she did, she saw a familiar face in the corner of her eye. “What happened to you, Evan?” She asked, knowing very well who it was. There was a moment of silence. “I'm not a complete idiot.”

 

A moment later, the figure of a man formed out of the shadow in the corner of the room, and knelt down beside the woman curled on the floor. The woman Leah now recgonized as the one from earlier.

 

“Leilani?”

 

Evan and  turned to look up at Leah. As soon as he got a good glance at her, he smiled. But moments later, t he smile was replaced by an almost frown. “Remind me again why you left?”

 

Leah shrugged. “I can't even remember, love. It's been far too long.” She paused. “Did you bring her here?”

He nodded.

 

“And I suppose you won't be staying?” The silence answered Leah's question, and she frowned. “You know, it would be nice if you actually stayed a night somewhere. You don't have to always be on the go.”

 

Evan nodded, and lifted Leilani from the floor, carrying her over to the second bed in the room. “Is here alright?”

 

Leah nodded. She walked over to the other bed beside him, and rested her chin on her fists as she looked over at Evan trying to tuck Leilani in. That was until she felt another set of eyes on her. “Could you please tell your friends to stop breathing down my back? You know I always hated that.”

 

“They're just curious, Leah. They haven't seen you in over twenty years.”

 

“Yeh, I know...”A few minutes of silence went by, until Leah could barely stand it, and spoke up. “Are you sure you can't stay the night-”

 

“Why can't you just come home?”

 

Leah sighed. “I have a new family to look after now. And one of them knows about...”

 

Evan's hands went to his face. “Jesus, Leah. How did you manage to get caught?”

 

“Apparently he was spying on me for a while, and caught me mid transformation.”

 

“Great.” He sighed heavily, but a moment later turned his attention towards the two black figures, whom were making their way towards the door. “Get back here!” The shadows hesitantly crept back over and sat on the bed beside Leah, and Evan knelt in front of her. He took both of her hands in his, and looked up at her. “I need you to come home.”

 

The almost pitiful look in his dark, but soulful eyes, made Leah look away, biting her lip out of hesitation. “No, you don't need me to come home.”

 

Evan looked away. “You're right, I don't need you to do anything, but...”

 

“But what, love?”

 

“I...”

 

“What?”A knock on the door made Leah jump, but when she looked back, Evan was gone, along with his little shadow minions.

 

“Leah? Everything okay?” It was Marianna.

 

Leah, still unnerved, answered, “Yeh, everything's fine.” She then realized the door was more than likely locked, and quickly went to unlock it, letting Marianna in. “Everything is alright, just get some rest, and I'll be in in the morning.”

 

Marianna nodded, looking over at the other bed. The only light came in from the hallway, and it was a dim hallway light. “What about her?” Leah looked over at Leilani.

 

“I took care of her, love. She's passed out for the night. Just get your rest and I'll be back in around nine.”

Marianna nodded, placing the glass of water on the nightstand, and hugging Leah. “You get some rest too, Leah.”

 

“Don't worry about me, love. You just get your rest.”

 

“Alright. Night.”

 

“Goodnight, love.” She left the room, shutting the door behind her as soon as she knew Marianna was in bed. Her heart somehow felt different...a different sort of weight she wasn't familiar with. She walked down the hall, until she found the door to the covered balcony. There was a little couch on both sides of the door, and little tables for coffee. Apparently Nate had a wife who loved sitting on the balcony with her tea or coffee, just listening to the wildlife. She died of cancer a few years after they finished the home, which was what drove Nate to choose immortality. He didn't think it was a coincidence that she got cancer weeks after her first visit with the government doctor, and was bent on making them pay.

 

Even if it meant going to the edge of the earth to do so.