CHAPTER 3

I’m awake but my eyes feel too heavy to open. I’m lying down on something soft, definitely not where I passed out. Everywhere is silent for a few minutes before a girl speaks up.

“She’s breathing but she isn’t waking up. Should I just dump water on her?” Sounds like the waitress from the diner.

“Probably. I don’t know. Why’re you asking me?” A guy answers.

“I’ll do it.” I hear someone leave the room and come back in a few seconds. The lady whispers a countdown from 3 as I try to open my eyes. As the countdown ends, I’m drenched in cold water, waking me up completely.

I jump up from the couch, my blades already out. I’m already in a fighting stance, surveying the room.

“Where am I?” The first question I ask.

The other three people in the room stare at my hands in amazement. They look at me, and then each other before settling their eyes back on the sight in front of them.

“I guess we were right.” The lady says.

I glare at the people who seem to have kidnapped me and try my best to steady myself as I’m still a little weak.

“Where am I? And what do you mean you were right?” I ask.

“You’re in our home and we were right about you being a Zorian.” My eyes go wide in shock.

How do they know that?

“We know that because we’re Zorians too.” The lady answers like she just read my mind.

“I’m Thea, he’s Joey,” she points to the huge guy to her left, “and he’s West.” The one on her right who looked like he was forced to be here, a light scowl on his face.

“How am I supposed to just believe you?” I ask still maintaining my combat stance. I could definitely take these three, all my years of training will finally be put to good use.

“That’s up to you. But we at least need to know who you are first. How long have you been here?” Thea asks.

“How am I supposed to know? You brought me here.” I start to feel weak again, my hunger getting the best of me.

“She means how long have you been on earth?” Joey says.

“Oh right, about 17 years now.” The surprised looks on their faces return.

“What?” They seem shocked.

“How the heck have you been here for so long? And he hasn’t come for you yet?” I know exactly who Thea is referring to, the one I’m running away from.

“I don’t know. And he’s the reason I’m on the run anyways. My mom said he’s here and he’s coming for me.” I finally give in and land on the couch, massaging my sore, jelly legs.

“Ok now I need to know more. But first you need to eat, you look dead. Follow me.” Thea leaves for the kitchen, Joey and West follow, with me in the rear.

The small table is already set with enough food to feed two people. Everyone takes a seat but I still feel very sceptically. My stomach churns at the sight of the food so I give up and decide on eating before thinking rationally. In about five minutes, the plates are empty and I down the glass of cold water before relaxing on the chair.

“You sure do eat a lot.” West speaks for the first time.

“Now we can talk. Where are you coming from and where are you going?” Thea places her hands on the table, waiting for me to start.

“And we don’t even know your name yet.” Joey adds.

“My name’s Onda. Onda Thorne.” I start.

“Like I said, I got a message from my mom. She said Darius is here and he’s coming for me and this time he’s not leaving till he finds me. That’s why I’m running.”

“Where’s your mom?”

“She’s on Zorah. She left a few years ago thinking that if she went to work for him that he’d leave me alone but it didn’t work out that way. He still wants to take me back.”

“So you’ve been on your own for how long?” More questions.

“About 6 years now.” Thea clears the table, taking the plates to the sink.

“Woah, that’s tough. So why is he after you? You were smuggled out? You owe him something? Or is it your mom?”

“That, I don’t know. And where’s my bag?” I head back into the living room to look for my bag.

“I think she’s the one I saw.” Thea whispers as soon as I leave the room.

“How are you so sure? How do we know that she isn’t working with him?” Joey asks in a hushed tone.

“Thanks for the food but I have to leave now.” I shout so they hear in the kitchen and they all race to the front door to stop me.

“Where are you going? Do you have anywhere to go?” Thea asks.

“Not exactly. I think that’s the point of being on the run. You have no destination until you’re no longer being hunted. I’m just going to keep moving until he leaves.” I try to move them aside to get to the door.

“Well why not just stay with us? If Darius is coming for you, he’s most likely coming for us too. That’s why we’re together, so we can defend ourselves whenever that happens.”

I look between the three of them. Why do they want me here so badly? How am I sure they’re not even lying about who they say they are? Can I really trust them? Questions race through my mind as I look between the three people stopping me from leaving the house.

                                                                                *************

The four of us are seated in the living room. Thea, Joey and West on one couch and my lonely, innocent self on the chair facing them.

“Ok since no one wants to go first.” I finally break the silence, “When did you guys get here and why are you here?”

The three of them cautiously look between each other before Thea speaks up.

“Well I’ve been here the longest, excluding you that is. I’ve been on earth for about six years now. Then there’s Joey, he’s been here for four. And West’s been here the shortest, two and a half years.”

“And why are you here in the first place?” Thea stares into my eyes like she did before, before answering.

“Well obviously we’re not supposed to be here but we’re all here for the same reason. We were banished to Petra but didn’t want to be there so we came to earth and Darius’s job is to bring us back. You?”

“Umm… I was actually adopted. I don’t know my birth parents, heck I don’t even remember anything about Zorah but my adopted mom’s told me a little about the place. She told me that she got me from Darius because she wasn’t able to have kids of her own and after a few months, he demanded that she return me so we fled to earth and here we are.” A brief summary of my life.

“Woah, that’s crazy. So what happened when you got here?” Joey asks.

“Well we were alright for a while but then he came here to get me and my mom and I started moving from state to state for years. We even lived in Canada for about three years before she decided to go in my place, thinking he’d stop then. Been on my own ever since.”

“And how old are you?” Surprisingly it’s West that asks.

“I’m turning 18 in about a month.” I answer excitedly, “What about you guys?”

“I’m the oldest, 19. Joey is 18 already and West should be older than you with just a few weeks actually. His birthday was about two weeks ago.”

Great, I’m the new kid and the youngest. Just great.

“Don’t worry, being the youngest is not such a bad thing. So is being the new kid.” Theas says, once again answering my thoughts.

“I’m sorry but can you read minds or something?” I finally ask.

“Oh yeah, I can. Sorry, it’s kind of a habit.” That explains a lot.

“What else can you do?” I ask as Thea gets up and starts to walk upstairs.

“As for our powers you’ll get to know as we live together, no need to rush things. Follow me.” I grab my bag and follow Thea, leaving the boys behind.

We walk up the stairs and into a short hallway with three doors on the left and one on the right. Thea walks us past the first and second one, stopping in front of the third.

“We don’t have a spare room so you’ll have to share with me, the boys have their own separate rooms.” She pushes open the door to reveal a spacious room with a blue theme.

The walls are blue and grey and so are the decorations on them, with only a few black posters and frames. A huge bed is by the wall with bedding that matches the walls. A black chest drawer is on the right beside a door leading to what I’m guessing is the bathroom. The spacious closet is half open revealing the colourful clothes inside.

“I don’t know if you can tell yet but my favourite colours are blue and grey.” Thea says.

“Oh really, I didn’t notice.” I laugh and drop my bag on the floor, beside the door.

“The bed is big enough for both of us so you don’t have to worry. The bathroom is right there,” She points to the door beside the drawer, “the boys share a bathroom but I have my own, lucky me. The closet is on your left and seeing how little you packed, I think we’re going to be sharing clothes for a while. You can go take a shower, I’ll pick out something for you to change into.”

“Thanks.” I head to the bathroom but pause to ask a question.

“Wait, how did you know that I’m not from here? At the diner, I remember you guys all looked at me weird before taking me outside to question me.” I ask.

“Because Zorians can sense other Zorians. That’s how I found the boys. So when you walked in, the air in there just felt different. We thought you were one of Darius’s minions that’s why we were a little aggressive.” Thea explains.

“Wow, I never actually knew that.”