Gabe driving out into the middle of nowhere.
Him shooting her.
Jack, her crazy saviour who believed they were cousins. But now that Faith really thought about it, she noticed that they did look alike, with their black hair and violet eyes, although hers were a few shades darker than his. But that didn’t mean they were cousins. A lot of people had violet eyes, didn’t they?
She got up – ignoring her protesting shoulder – and walked over to the floor-length mirror that hung on the back of the door. She pulled her top up and over her head, and tenderly reached over her shoulder to touch the white blood-stained bandage. She carefully peeled it off, but it was like a bandaid and stuck to her skin, so she ripped it off quickly. She gasped when all she found was a humongous scab. That was when she noticed she was wearing completely different clothes than she had been when she was shot. She hastily put the pink singlet and tried not to cringe at the colour. When would the world realise that girly colours and clothes just weren’t Faith’s style. Curious about her whereabouts, she opened the door and stepped into what appeared to be a never ending corridor of medals, awards and certificates of honour. She peered at a charcoal black one to her left and read the inscription:
Mark Light
Faithful soldier of World War II
1939-1945
Faithful soldier of World War II
1939-1945
Next to it was a picture of a man who looked scarily like Faith. Maybe Jack was telling the truth when he said they were related. Almost like her thoughts conjured him, Jack came out of the room adjacent to the one she’d come out of and smacked right into her.
“Ouch!” she cried out as she was knocked onto her arse.
“Sorry,” Jack mumbled as he helped her back to her feet.
As Faith stood in the middle of the dimly lit corridor rubbing her sore bottom, it occurred to her that for the bullet wound to have scabbed up already, she’d had to have been her for weeks.
“I have to go –”
“Where do you have to go?” Jack interrupted. “Home? To a father who abuses you and a mother who probably isn’t even worried about where you are?”
Jack knew he was being harsh, but Faith needed to know that she didn’t belong with people like the Blackwoods. She needed to be with her real family. “You don’t act like the Blackwoods, you don’t talk like them. Surely you’ve noticed that you don’t even look like them?”
Faith considered this for a moment. “So you’re saying,” she began, “that I’m not related to the Blackwoods?”
“No, you’re not. I have your birth certificate right here.” Jack pulled a piece of paper from out of his pocket and pretended to read it. “Nope, nothing here about the parents of Faith being Gabe or Mary.”
Faith rolled her eyes when she recognised the piece of paper. “That’s not my birth certificate. It’s a note from the school about parent/teacher interviews.”
Jack rolled his eyes like she had and said “what I’m trying to say is, you’re not related to them.”
“Then who is my family?” Faith stared into Jack’s violet eyes and saw that his emotions were easy to read as they flickered across his face. Right now, he seemed sad and a little hesitant.
“It’s a long story,” he finally said.
“Tell me everything.”
* * *
“And that’s what happened,” Jack concluded. Before he began the story, he’d led her down a flight of stairs and into a lounge room that held more chairs than a furniture store. When they’d both gotten comfortable, he’d told her about how half her family had been murdered by rogue assassins. She felt sorry for Michael, who had grown up with no parents, and Jack and Mitchell who had grown up without a mother. But mostly she felt angry that people could live with themselves after they took innocent lives and left children orphaned.
Jack watched as ambivalent emotions played across Faith’s face. He saw her anger, her sadness and her pity.
“Will you stay with us?” he asked. “Your real family?”
Faith looked up at him with tears in her eyes and nodded. She just hoped that they would treat her better than the Blackwoods had.
“Do you want to be left alone for a while?” Jack asked.
Faith nodded and he got off of his green sofa to leave the room. He walked into the foyer where Hayley was waiting.
“You didn’t have to make up the entire story about how her parents died,” she mumbled.
“I know,” Jack said, running a hand down his face. “But what was I supposed to tell her? ‘Half of your family was hunted down and killed by flesh-eating monsters. By the way, you’re a vampire!’ I don’t think that conversation would go very well.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Hayley admitted.
Jack poked his head around the doorframe and saw the tears streaming down Faith’s cheeks. “Will you keep an eye on her while I go call dad and tell him that we’ve found the Lost Light?”
“Sure,” Hayley said with a nod.
“Try and make her feel welcome.”
Hayley nodded again, but this time Jack saw something flash in her eyes. Jealousy? He shrugged it off and walked across the foyer and out of the mansion.
Hayley stared after him, wishing he would come hurrying back and give her the kiss she’d been dying for since the day they met. With a sigh, she turned and strode into the lounge room towards Faith, knowing that Jack was too oblivious to know that Hayley was completely and utterly in love with him. She plonked herself down on the seat next to Faith and sighed again. So, this was the girl who seemed to have all of Jacks attention. Even though they were cousins, Hayley didn’t like having Jack’s attention focused on another girl.
Without warning, she said, “I don’t like you very much.”
Faith blanched at Hayley’s straight-forwardness. She’d known that Hayley didn’t like her from the waves of hostility that were practically rolling off of her, but she hadn’t expected her to be so blunt about it. It’s not like they had anything in common. Hayley was the type of girl who could pull off her long legs and straight brown hair that came down to the middle of her back. Where-as Faith was short at 5’6” with wavy black hair.
“Why don’t you like me?” she finally managed to ask. Despite the fact that she was trying as hard as she could not to cry again, her eyes welled up with tears.
“Because you’re taking up too much of Jack’s time,” Hayley replied. “That’s time that he could be spending with me.”
Before Faith could even formulate a response, Jack came strolling back into the room with a grin on his face. “I just got off the phone with Dad,” he said. “He was so excited when I told him about you, Faith, that he called a Covency Meeting. Michael was with him and he said he’s going to come home, too.”
Faith looked back and forth between Hayley and Jack, hoping one of them would give her an explanation. She finally gave up waiting, she blurted “What’s a Covency Meeting?”
Jack shared a quick glance with Hayley, and Faith swore that they looked panicked.
“It’s um…” Jack began.
“It’s a group of people who’ve been looking for you since you were kidnapped. Every now and then they have a meeting and share any information or leads they have on you.”
Jack looked relieved, and bent down to whisper in Hayley’s ear, “What were you saying earlier about me lying to her?”
Hayley nudged him in the ribs and he grunted.
“During the meeting,” Hayley continued, “the teenagers have a dance. You’ll be going with your cousin Michael, as Jack and I are too old to go with you.”
“When is it?” Faith asked.
Jack and Hayley replied at the same time.
“Tomorrow night.”
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