**R*E*P*O*S*T** check out the ending for answers.

*hint* the picture is a clue. Enjoy. :)

Chapter 58 – UNAPOLOGETIC (SAMSON CONRAD POV) PT.2

"You went to very long lengths to get that book and now we just aren't reading it? Because Fatima said so?" Rafael questioned, aware that I could hear these questions though not that I was close enough to hear it.

Imogen explained.

"What if it said something about how to help the Six Souls?"

"You mean to tell me that you've spent your life believing one thing and for all you all know you're driving guns blazing into danger?"

"So everyone left Bend on her word?" I had to roll my eyes on this one. Yeah my family and the others that were loyal to dad left. Those that stayed with Nick according to dad had been drugged and carried out of his house.

"Luca are you sure you can trust this girl? What do you all know about her?"

On and on his questions went for the day we spent in Bozeman and still in the car though now he was slightly less obnoxious about his questions. I understood that he had questions but he left curiosity and was sliding into touching a nerve.

Hours later the questions kept rolling in.

"So you all know that there is some type of doom headed towards everyone's way and you're doing shit about it?" Rafael asked calmly his tone and behavior giving nothing away easily, not as much as his words though. Sitting in the back seat with Imogen and Fatima while Rafael and Luca sat up front, I glance at Fatima, her gaze planted on Luca.

It had been that way since we left Bozeman, heading to the next house on the way Williamstown four hours into five-hour drive to a town next to Medora North Dakota.

"I mean you're going and doing everything from demanding that I bring a book along to driving to a location that you do not know what is there. She knows that danger is coming, or else why do everything you're going-"

"You're here because we needed the book and could not drive back to Bend," Fatima says dryly. "If we want or need your opinion we will ask for it, right now we don't. You have no worth so stop asking questions and throwing your opinions out there when it's clear you do not understand what is truly happening-"

"Faith!" Luca snaps, his eyes on the rearview mirror, looking at Fatima.

Pulling the car over he turns in his seat to face her.

I thought for sure that Fatima would shrink back in fear instead I'm utterly surprised.

Her tone just as harsh she snaps back. "What? I'm telling him the truth. He's here because we wanted the book, we have the book so his running commentary on our decisions are unneeded."

My tongue is ready to fall off out of my mouth. Imogen is looking no better than I am.

The shaking pulls me out of my shocked gaping.

"How are you going to feel if millions of people die?" Rafael asks.

Imogen starts shaking her head. "We have no idea what's going on here but-"

"I'm sure Imogen and Luca have more deaths on their hands than I do," Fatima shakes her head as soon as the words are out. "No, not Luca and Imogen. Rhys and Seraphima. They've failed for years. I'm sure Jaxun has just been murdering people left and right."

"That's not exactly the same-"

"Jaxun was to be captured. He hasn't been. He escaped in Zedwood under their watchful eyes. You're talking about things that you don't even understand. And right now, you feel guilty," Fatima says.

Imogen nods. "You're here, safe, and everyone around us, you know that something bad is coming and you feel bad that you're going to be okay," I press my lips together.

There is a beat of silence before Fatima sighs. "What do you want us to do Rafael? Where do you expect us to put these millions of people? How do we protect them all?" Fatima asks in a softer tone.

"I have no idea what is going on," she shrugs. "So yeah, everyone is in danger but where do you expect them to go?"

Turning back to face the front, Rafael relaxes back into his seat, the quietness in the car lingering even when Fatima and Imogen go back to searching the internet for more information on the town we were headed to.

It was a different experience right now.

The documents stated we were looking for a town or location called Willowdale but there was nothing nor had there ever been. The images we pulled up were much like the other properties however this was all flat land. There should be something; instead all we saw were jagged land. For once towering trees did not canopy the property we needed to find; and that only perplexed us further.

Rafael was correct in his assessment, we were going in blindly, but at least it was not Fatima on her own. She had us, me.

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Fatima Ashlynn POV

There was too much piling on but I couldn't lie and say that some of the things that happened in the last couple days were all bad. They were not at all. Scary but that didn't mean it was bad.

Going back to ignoring Luca and Rafael, my thoughts and concerns still a jumbled mess; I look for more details related to the town we were heading to, with no luck at all.

Or maybe I was missing it all. That could be possible. My mind was consumed by fears of whether I could trust Luca – because of Rhys. I did not want to judge but everything from the books... Luca and Imogen could not recall on their own the language that Wyatt had taught me. That among a few things left me uncertain at the poorest possible time.

Was Imogen bad? Seraphima was Rhys' soul mate... was it possible that maybe finding love had changed him? Or did Rhys corrupt Seraphima? Did they fail in completing their mission because they were in favor of the horrendous actions Jaxun had taken? Was Wyatt wrong? Had they sent the wrong – no... Imogen said they volunteered...

Ideas were turned over and over, analyzed silently. I could play it one of two ways... act normal, or begin to watch Luca like a hawk. Each time I thought I had a decision made, it was thwarted by truths – we asked one another 'who is Robert Delaney?' and he passed. However his response for that question mean that he was no longer a Dark Lord? No. All it showed was that Luca was not working with the Loyalists.

What if it was all a trick? That was the second option I had come up with. What if Rhys and those that volunteered had actually let Jaxun go from Zedwood – aided him? Then volunteered to come to this realm to meet up with Jaxun? They couldn't remember the language, could that lapse in memory also remove the truth that they weren't here to stop Jaxun but aid him in his destruction?

Round and round I go in my head until the car comes to a stop and I snap my head up to search the area. "Where here," Luca says softly. Blinking, I note the bridge, gate and dwellings in the distance, everything covered by a thin dusting of fresh snow.

"Okay and where is here? There's nothing here," Rafael says as Luca, Imogen, Samson and I step outside the snow crunching below our feet. The cold nips at my face and I miss the warmth of the car.

"Do we trust the bridge?" Imogen questions.

Looking around, I push aside the fact that when we looked online it did not show us the same scene we were looking at now. Or at least I try to push it away.

Beneath the snow on the gate a gold crest on the black iron captures my full attention.

"What the hell are you guys talking about? There's – there is nothing here but – but-" Rafael's panicked tone pulls my attention from the familiar crest.

"There is a bridge right here and lower down there's the gate," Luca says slowly, eyes darting between said bridge and gate to Rafael. "You cannot see it?" he asks pointing.

Shaking his head one of Rafael's eye opens wider than the other, "No I'm just messing," he says sarcastically, "No, I'm serious, I cannot see anything but snow over a few trees and land as far back as I can see. He points to the same place as Luca.

"So we-" Luca whips his head towards us, "you all see the bridge and gate, right?" I nod, as do the others.

Ever concerned over this predicament, I cannot help when my gaze shifts back to the crest on the gate. Searching my memory, I try to place the strange shape.

The wind cries and stray flakes dance and fall on my face, lashes, but I am transfixed. The others voices go to a low hum in the background. "Why can't-"

"How will her blood activate?" the snow-covered gate fades and is replaced by an office or conference room. My point of view shifts and I'm peaking from behind a wall, Wyatt and the other grownups fight. Their loud voices captured my attention.

"There will be a trigger event that will cause the chemical change-" Wyatt says strongly, his voice is louder than everyone else's.

The men and women in the room shake their heads.

"The amount of power needed to make the change Wyatt," one woman says.

"She is a GMO – the event will change her makeup-" leaning forward to get a glimpse of the picture behind Wyatt, I accidently drop my cup. It clatters loudly connecting with the concrete floors, capturing the attention of everyone in the room. There are too many scary eyes on me.

Wyatt is the only kind ones.

Frozen I stand still as my stomach gets uneasy.

Wyatt leans forward touching the table and the image behind him disappears. "Sweetheart," he said calmly, happy to see me, a smile. The only nice adult in the room and it settles my worried heart. I blink just as he comes towards me, but when I open my eyes I see a worried Samson, not Wyatt.

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© 2016 roxann_season All Rights Reserved

clues clues.

So thanks for reading, commenting and voting. Theories?

many might be frustrated with Rafael but give him a chance... he's more concerned and crass than trying to make trouble. we see it as another obstacle but really... if i was in his position i think I'd ask the same things... not the same way but just out of curiosity...

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SO ONE OF YOU GUESSED RIGHT:

WHICH MEANS?? (i know you guys can do it!!!)

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SO IT'S SO AWESOME because if you guys commenting shared all your ideas you'd put together the clues and solve the puzzle here... I read all the comments and a few of you... you're like 75% there to figuring it out.

Okay I have homework to get done BUT when I'm done, after a nap I'll work on the next update.

Do Samson, Imogen, Luca and Fatima investigate or get the hell out of the area?