"Ava!" a voice calls out my name from the campus lobby on my way to meet Aiden in the parking lot. "We need to get home right away!"
"What about the movie?" Aiden and I planned on going to the cinema this morning before he is half dragging and half carrying me to his car right now. I trip over a few times trying to keep my own pace.
He does not say anything, so I assume we are not going anywhere but home right now. When we get to his car, Aiden unlocks the door and pushes me harshly inside. My brother is not the kind of person who would do violence towards anyone, and he was usually so calm in any given situation, but there is something wrong with him today. I become so stunned in my seat when Aiden snatches my seatbelt, struggling to sling it over my body.
"I can do it myself, Aiden!" I say to him with a shaky voice.
Once we're on the road, I ask him what's going on, but he ignores me. We drive in silence, which is terrifying because Aiden rarely acts like this. He is only quiet whenever he is scared, and the last time he was like this was 7 years ago when I accidentally fell over a gorge and almost died in his arms. I just turned 14 back then, and he was only 16.
My family comes from the Royalist bloodline which works in the Monarch and is a respected one in Suburbia. The Monarch only accepts Royalists and Riotist, which are the pure bloodlines from the Obel and Rebel descents. Anaral people from the Alloyist bloodline always live hiding in the shadow, they were born without the right to be in ruling with the Monarch.
The council thinks that Anaral belongs in Faubourgh after they die. Just because they turn into a zombie-like creature called Demits, it doesn't mean that the Alloyist can't live in a democracy like the rest of the bloodlines. But that's how it has always been in Suburbia and other parts of the world.
When we finally get to the house safely, Aiden wastes no time dragging me inside. Everyone is already waiting in the parlor lounge when we walk in.
"Is everything okay?" I look at my father who's sitting across the room, excluding himself from everyone. He refuses to return my gaze and keeps staring at his feet. He looks giddy, it does not suit his image as someone with power and authority in this household.
Wanda, my Helper who has been with me for 10 years, is suddenly beside me.
"Miss Ava, please sit down!" Wanda takes my hands and leads me to the nearest sofa. I breathe through my gritted teeth and hold the air in my throat, hoping that I won't scream my frustration at anyone. They're acting as if the world is going to end but no one is willing to give me an explanation.
"Father," Aiden speaks up after tormenting me with silence since the ride from campus. "We don't need the Helper to be involved, do we?" as he's eyeing Wanda beside me.
My father clears his throat before taking a sip of cold water in his hand. Where did he get his drink from? "Yes, we do."
Aiden nods his head and falls silent again.
"I want everyone to listen carefully," my father says calmly even though there are only five of us inside the room. He's not using Obel's authority tone, the power that only Obel possesses. This power can manipulate your brain like hypnosis, and this power can make you do things without being able to stop it. He contemplates at first, but he finally manages to speak up, "Ava, your name is on the list of the 'Test Subject'."
"What?" I'm not completely surprised by his news because I always knew that this day would come eventually. I just didn't expect it to be today.
My father falls completely silent again this time because he probably has the same idea.
"Are you sure you're not mistaking someone else's name as mine?" These people, the Monarch, still have not yet let go of the accident that happened to me years ago. I was young and not to mention, dying when they discovered something wrong with my blood that the hospital sent them.
The cells in my blood are different from all the Obel in my family, and even the rest of the Obel in this world. It's not something new, it's just... rare. It almost resembles the Rebel but also not quite the same because some of the cells they tested also belong to the Obel bloodline.
I feel so colorful like a rainbow in a stormy sky. Obel can transfer cold to other people, and Rebel can transfer heat. They're the polar opposite of each other, but they also complete one another. It's not like a magic trick you see on tv or a superpower that special characters possessed after tragically being hit by a huge meteor. It's something both Obel and Rebel develop genetically while growing up, and it can occur only through a skin-to-skin interaction. But when someone has an overwhelming ability to surpass the physical touch level to use their power, the heat or cold could emit even from afar. I witnessed that once on the day Lucas released his anger toward his mother before running away from his family.
Where I, on the other hand, can transfer both cold and heat based on the blood that is running through my veins. The same confusion was going on with Lucas when he was around the same age as me when I first discovered this phenomenon.
Just imagine having two different blood cells (and I am not even talking about the red blood cells, white blood cells, or the platelets) which are supposed to be enemies under your skin, probably fighting each other to reside permanently in your body.
Whenever I get angry or emotional, the blood that runs in my veins will be Rebel's blood. Hot, a warm-like liquid, the same as tomato soup on an autumn evening. But when I get sad or anxious, the blood that runs in my veins will be Obel's blood. Cool, like a fresh glass of cherry juice on a summer day. Also, when I don't feel any emotions, I will be like a normal Obel because I was born as one.
I have to learn all of that a hard way, without help and information from any source. The hospital couldn't help me, instead, he sent my name and listed me as a 'Test Subject'.
"This is why we are all gathered here now," my father says. His eyes are scanning everyone before stopping in Wanda's direction.
I can hear her swallowing hard, a nervous gulp that indicates she's nervous. She knows something.
"But why?" I ignore her existence for a second as I try to rack my brain. "The accident was 7 years ago! Why now?"
My Mother who's been quiet finally speaks up, "because they've run out of blood samples-"
"You mean lab rats?" I can taste the disdain in my voice.
"Ava!" Mother hushes me even though I was not wrong with my chosen word. "So they gathered a new batch of subjects from their archives..." she falters at the end of her sentence, reluctant to finish whatever she's supposed to say.
"They picked several names, including Lucas. But since he's missing for years now..." my Father pauses, knowing exactly where this is going.
"They switched their option to me," I finish their statement just to make it faster and clearer that I'm not safe here in Suburbia anymore. Okay, I get it! It's probably because we were neighbors, they picked the closest candidate as his possible substitute. "What happened to the former lab rats-"
"Test Subjects," as Mother corrects me.
How dare she say that as if I was supposed to be proud of getting such a title? She made it sound like an achievement or something.
No one says anything again, but from the way my brother shifts his body in his place, I bet he knows something too like everyone else is present. He's been working in the Lab, thanks to our Father for his help getting him the job, so he knows everything about the Test Subject and the Monarch's never-ending research.
"Aiden," I shot him a glare. "Do you have anything to do with this?"
The look on his face shows that he is as clueless as everyone else, "you know I don't work in that department! They don't specify anything regarding the Test Subjects when it turned out to be a failure."
"But what happened to these people when they become useless?" I've heard rumors going around the campus as more people were gone missing after they showed symptoms I've been trying to hide from everyone. Some people said that the Monarch kill them so they wouldn't tell anyone about the research. Other rumors said that they were thrown away to Faubourgh. "I know they don't just take blood samples, Aiden! I know the procedure is more than just that..."
"Miss Ava," Wanda grabs my arm when I reflexively take an angry step forward toward my cowering brother. "You should calm down!"
"People like me were missing, Aiden!" I almost yell at him from the repressed emotion that is building up inside me. "They are now gone since they were taken away by the Monarch, and people act as if they never really existed just because they are afraid it will happen to them next!"
The room falls completely silent and the only sound I can hear is my rapid heartbeat. My Father is still staring at his feet his bunions are more important than his daughter's life. My Mother looks sad, but she is more tired than having real emotions toward me. She has given up on my 'secret' conditions for some reason I don't understand.
Aiden holds his breath as if letting out a single word would only make me angrier at him.
"Is no one going to say anything?" I almost break down in tears when I get no reaction from them. "Glad to know I have a very supportive family," as I sniffle back a snort from my quieted cry, covering my disappointment with a sad smile.
I walk out of the room, leaving my mother to weep loudly and Wanda in a conflict between chasing me or comforting my mother.
Aiden calls out my name several times, but I don't look back as I storm towards the stairs and lock myself in my room for the rest of the day. It's only a matter of time before I'll be taken away by the Monarch.
Who knows what is beyond my future that is seemingly too short to look forward to?
Deep inside my heart, I cuss at my parents for being Obel and unable to guarantee my safety. I feel betrayed by my brother who I thought was the only person I could find support from. I hate Lucas for leaving Suburbia and putting me in his absence. I yearn for Liam's presence because I know he'd be the only logical person that will help me out in this kind of situation.
I have no one to run to.
What is going to happen to me?
Am I allowed to be scared now?