Chapter Seven

          "Tell me," Apollo mused, "what do you remember about the Outer Arc?"

          Ellie turned away to avoid looking him in the eye. His strange gaze was, somehow unsettling. It reminded her of someone else, someone she didn't want to remember. Not that she remembered much, anyway. There were bits and pieces, things that didn't make any sense at all. Only one thing remained clear: her hatred for the Organization. Why she hated it, she couldn't remember. Aside from the obvious reason, of course. She'd always blamed her parents' deaths on the Organization. But there was something else, something that had to do with her mother and one of the Organization's men.

          "Not much," she murmured. "Just tiny bits and pieces."

          "But you remember the Organization," Apollo confirmed, "and me."

          "How could I forget you?" Ellie hissed as she knifed him an angry look. "You betrayed me."

          Apollo raised a brow. "Touché."
          "Care to explain why?"
          He turned away. "You don't need to know that."
          Ellie grabbed a hold of his tie and yanked it, making him face her again and hissed, "Yes, I do. I can't trust you if you do this to me."
          "Do what to you?" Apollo's voice was a low growl, laced with a hint of a threat. A sneer curled his lips as he spoke. It unsettled Ellie a little, but at this point, she was far too irked to be bothered with his strangely eerie heterochromatic eyes. "I saved you from being a pawn in the Organization's plans; you ought to be thanking me, my dear Lady Cloade."
          "And made me a pawn in your plans. You sold my parents out to the Organization to save your own ass. And then you manipulated me to suit your own selfish need."
          Apollo's eyes were deadly. Anger flashed in their jagged irises, telling Ellie that she'd crossed a line - and that it was best that she back away before anything bad happened. Ellie could tell that he was having trouble keeping his composure. The sneer on his face appeared to become more pronounced for a split second before he erased all trace of expression from his face.
          "You don't know anything, milady," Apollo rasped. "You wouldn't know about the monarchy that ruled the Outer Arc before Lionel Ashcroft changed things."
          "That has nothing to do with anything," Ellie replied.
          Apollo studied her face for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to strangle her to death. Ellie flinched under his scrutiny, realizing that this was a different side of Apollo. There was something strangely off about him. Apollo had always been a rather strange and unsettling character, but in that moment he seemed a little more than just unsettling. Frightening, even.
          Something flashed in Apollo's eyes for a moment, a glint of an unfamiliar emotion that wasn't quite malicious. But before Ellie could tell what it was, it was gone from his eyes, replaced by Apollo's usual cool but creepy gaze.
          "You're right," he muttered quickly, seeming to have regained his calmness. He rose to his feet and straightened his tie. "And I reckon it's about time we get going."


          "The fuck?!" Taran hissed as he tried to put out the flames. "What did you do now, you freak?"
           "I swear I didn't do anything!" Eduard protested. "Everything suddenly caught fire!"
          "Stop it, you two! Let's get out of here!" Adele ordered. "We can't do anything about the blaze now."
          All around them, the flames raged, eating away at every inch of the room. Bright yellow fire flickered and danced around the room, running up and down the walls, searing scars in the floor and the furniture. Tendrils of it threatened to engulf the three of them, the heat radiating from them making Eduard sweat as smoke filled the air.
          "Well, at least save the damn house!" Taran snapped. "We won't have anywhere to go if this dump gets burned to the ground! Shit, hasn't anyone called 911?"
           "Don't be stupid, Taran! What's a house if we're all dead?"
          Eduard didn't say anything to either of them; he simply bolted out through the door and ran.


          You ass, he chided himself. Finally safely away from the raging inferno, Eduard had realized that he'd left his mother and brother behind ... and he wasn't even sure if they had gotten away safely or not. For all he knew, they might have been trapped by the blaze and couldn't make it out in time ...
          Not your problem, a voice spoke in his head. A different and more rebellious voice Eduard couldn't recognize as his own. As if they're your real family.
          A strange feeling stirred within him. It was like the fire that had raged just moments ago. A blazing inferno full of life and energy. He couldn't quite describe it; there was no word for this emotion. There was nothing he could compare it to, except for the inexplicable fire that had started in his room. It was almost magical. And he liked it. He loved he way it felt. He didn't know why, but it felt good.
          "Yeah," he whispered to himself as a smile curled his lips. "They could go to hell, for all I care."