The Unveiling

Chapter Sixteen

Spending time with Shay was like giving me a taste of my old life - it was the taste of childhood forgotten candy, somehow sweeter in memory than on the tongue. Not because the candy was no longer sweet, but rather because you had changed and so had your tastes. New experiences had a habit of changing you in fundamental ways, you often didn’t even realise. Shay made a pit-stop for two vanilla swirl milkshakes - a long standing tradition from when we met. 

I twirled my straw in the plastic cup, making scraping sounds against the rim of the cup. Shay shivered in annoyance. 

“Quit it,” he drawled, “you know how I hate that sound.”

I laughed, brushing some of his shaggy streaks behind his ears.

“It hasn’t been the same,” he spoke quietly, as if that statement was as much self-admittance than anything else. 

“It hasn’t been the same without you,” he whispered. “Thom’s been kicking himself since you left, I guess he thinks he should have pursued you harder, treated you better - I mean you’re an angel, so he’s on a self-loathing whirlwind, and Rogue just wants to talk about how you’ll change the world. And I get that, I mean I’ve known there was something different about you since I met you, but I guess we just miss you.” 

We sat in silence, his car vibrating quietly as I waited for him to say more. 

“But it’s more than that,” he continued, just as I knew he would, he needed this - needed to get it off his chest, and so I sat and listened. In everything that was happening, it was the only thing I could offer. 

“Even if you were to come back to us, it wouldn’t be the same - everything has shifted.” 

I nodded my understanding. It was the very reason I hadn’t tried to run back ‘home’ to them - because the day I walked out of the lab, it stopped being my home - because it had to. There would be too much danger with me staying there, and with that danger came a different kind of expectation. I saw it on Shay’s face when I told him about my bloodline - I saw the hope, as if I were some sort of salvation. I don’t think I could have handled disappointing Shay and the rest of them. Mayor Winters? Sure, I mean I didn’t want to disappoint her, but I’d also just met her - the weight was different. 

“What’s happening underground?” I asked carefully. If there was something I needed to know about that was happening in the streets, Shay would be the one to tell me. 

He shook his head, “I’m not sure,” he said, “they’re talking about all the gangs merging - unifying to fight against President Gaol’s rule.” 

My eyes widened in shock. He nodded. 

“Exactly! I just can’t see myself working side by side with the likes of Aero and his gang of bulldogs.” 

“Source no!” I agreed. 

Aero had his own setup with a bunch of shifters - all from the canine family, and the horror stories I had heard about his gang and the things they did to ‘trespassers’ was enough to make my skin crawl. 

“Yeah,” he agreed, “but maybe we need to be unified if us commoners stand any chance against the ones higher up. But Aero is full of s**t, he keeps telling the streets that I don’t even know you and that I’m all talk. Doesn’t matter I suppose.” 

Silence enveloped the car for a few seconds as I wondered if I was suddenly cast in the same category. 

“I know you’re not like them,” he spoke reassuringly, “you’re as much a pawn in this whole game as we are.” 

“I wish I wasn’t,” I croaked as he drove towards the compound. 

“This Fae guy seems to be looking out for you though,” Shay steered the conversation. 

“Yeah, I guess,” I answered, “I just haven’t figured out why.” 

“Well the realms did just throw us all together and leave us in this boiling pot to stew, so now that the chips are down it is kind of their responsibility to help fix it.” 

“From what I’ve seen the mother-races from those realms haven’t cared for centuries, I’m not sure a race war would make a difference now - I mean, it’s not like this world hasn’t had wars before,” I countered. 

“Yes, but those were human wars. Things are different now.” 

“Maybe,” I answered. 

“It doesn’t hurt that the Prince is a looker,” he mused. 

He slowed down as we neared the boomed gate and smiled at me, “You look happy Reya.” 

This was our goodbye. “Don’t break any more boys’ hearts,” I answered with a grin as I launched myself out the car with all the bravado of a performer on broadway. 

I marched towards the gates where two guards were already waiting for me. 

“You should be ashamed of yourselves,” I gushed, “how could you send me out with someone like that?” I demanded. 

The stood back, looking slightly sheepish at my outburst. 

One guard licked his lips and asked, “W...What exactly happened Miss Reya?” 

“I went to the bathroom and I was AMBUSHED,” I huffed, “Oswald was of no use whatsoever, if my old friends hadn’t arrived when they had I don’t know what I would have done,” I fanned myself dramatically. 

“Honestly, I am the only living angel in this realm and that was your form of protection,” I pushed past them as they muttered apologies and promises to inform Mayor Winters as I trudged up the street to the place I currently called home. 

The house was dark and unwelcoming without Chase’s presence there. Somehow between all the madness that had occurred I had come to consider him a constant. I hadn’t stepped two feet inside before a light rapping could be heard on my door, as though they had been waiting for my arrival. 

Standing in the cool night air was Paul. 

“Mayor Winters is expecting you,” was all he said as he patiently waited for me to walk out the door I had only entered moments before. It was odd seeing him by himself, and I felt a pang of longing for the life lost. 

I entered his sedan wordlessly, in fact, the entire drive was conversation-less. Before I knew it Gerald the butler had swept me up into Mayor Winters’ study, the plush emerald carpets welcoming me once more. 

By the time I entered, a screen with President Gaol’s face on it was already set up, and him and Mayor Winters seemed deep in an argument, whilst Chase sat opposite her in a wingback chair. 

“She’s just arrived,” Mayor Winters announced, as if the President and Chase couldn’t see that for themselves. 

I trudged wordlessly towards the wing backed chair next to Chase’s, he raised an eyebrow at me in question, I simply shrugged my shoulders indicating that I’d fill him in later. 

“Why,” President Gaol’s eyes narrowed on me, “did you leave the restaurant without Oswald,” he seethed. 

I opened my eyes wide in shock, looking up beneath my lashes at just the right angle. 

“Why did I leave without Oswald?” I repeated, almost innocently. Chase shifted slightly in the chair next to me, as if he was getting ready for my performance. 

No one said a word, they simply waited for me to continue. 

“I was ambushed on my way to the bathroom,” I spoke, my voice wavering slightly. 

“Ambushed?” Mayor Winters repeated in genuine shock. 

“Yes,” I nodded, “A few commoners grabbed me and, well I was so scared of losing control of my power without Chase there that I simply froze.” 

President Gaol and Mayor Winters both stared at me, and I was fairly certain that Chase was suppressing his grin. 

“What did they look like?” President Gaol asked softly. He wasn’t buying my story in the least. 

“I’m not sure,” I spoke quickly, “they were all wearing blue though - it all happened so fast.” 

“And Oswald wasn’t there,” Mayor Winters said - it was a statement filled with meaning. 

President Gaol grunted, but still asked, “Pray tell Reya, how did you get back to base-camp?” 

I breathed a sigh of relief, perhaps a bit too dramatically, “I was so lucky that Shay was there to bring me home, he managed to push them off and keep me from harm.” 

“And where was Oswald when all of this was happening?” Mayor Winters asked. 

“At the table eating crab,” I smiled blandly. 

“I told you that he wasn’t fit to look after Reya,” Mayor Winters berated the President. 

“I’m not so sure,” the President answered. 

“The Prince should have been there with her, it was an insult to him to exclude him from this activity,” the mayor pressed on. 

“That’s right, I am incredibly insulted,” Chase chimed in. It was my turn to suppress my laughter. 

“But this Shay character…” the President trailed off. 

“Yes?” 

“He is also a commoner - isn’t that right?” Gaol licked his lips in anticipation, as if readying me for my fall. 

I smiled sweetly, “Yes he is, but he is not part of the gangs that don’t like us here in basecamp.” 

“And which gangs might those be?” Gaol asked. 

“Oh,” I bit my lip nervously, “I think they’re called the dogs or something,” I raised my eyes to the ceiling as if racking my brain mentally. “The bulldogs,” I spoke confidently, “that’s what the men outside the bathroom said anyway.” 

Gaol’s face blanched. He had obviously heard of them. 

“And Shay saved you from these bulldogs?” 

“Oh yes,” I nodded my praise

“You let Reya out with Oswald without consulting me, and she was accosted by a bunch of thugs! I hope that Oswald is reprimanded fully for his lack of attention and trust in this matter” the mayor seethed. 

“Miss Winters, may I remind you of your place,” Gaol spoke quietly, his voice filled with the unmistakable threat. 

Mayor Winters smiled, and it was vicious. 

“Thank you for that apt reminder Mister President, now may I remind you that Chase has authority over Reya in this period, and we wouldn’t want to transgress against the treaty and agreement we have with his realm.” 

“Goodbye Mayor Winters,” was the last thing the President said before flickering off the screen. 

“Well,” the mayor said, turning her full attention towards Chase and I, “now that we have that settled I hope that all external trips are made with Chase as your escort, hmm?” 

She ended it with a smile, and for a situation where one of the people she was responsible for had supposedly been attacked, she looked far too pleased with how things had turned out. 

As Chase and I left the Mayor’s house, I felt the brush of paper against the palm of my hand from Gerald as we walked out the door. 

I clutched that note, refusing to open it until we were safely behind the doors of our house, for fear of anyone seeing. Chase noticed as well, and simply quickened his pace. 

As the door shut behind me, he turned, pinning me with his stare, “What does it say?” he asked. 

I unfolded the piece of paper, hands shaking slightly - the talk of war may have that effect on a person. 

Scrawled in Shay’s writing it read, 

“Gangs are officially unified under the red robbins. We need you as our champion. 

Endless milkshakes when we win this thing. 

Shay’ 

He promised that he would let me know if anything changed, and it seemed not long after he delivered me to basecamp, the gangs all unified under the red robbins. 

But who were the red robbins? I hadn’t heard of them before. 

Chase shook his head at my unspoken question - he didn’t know either. 

Before slipping off to bed, Chase dutifully pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of the note. I briefly wondered who he was sending it to, but in the end it didn’t matter.