Reborn Heart of Steel

“Bri!” Chase’s voice sounded in my ears and out of the blue he was at my side hugging me tightly. I hugged him tight, pressing my face closer to his chest so that I could smell him. ‘What happened?’ he wanted to know, sounding anxious and alarmed. “What did they want?” I retreated a step, making myself look around alertly at the streaming throng lining the hallways. There are too many people who stare at us, too many whose ears are inclined towards the ground, waiting to hear something juicy in passing. “Not here,” I whispered. ‘During or after school I will tell you everything I promise’. Chase only nodded, but his eyes were painted with questions and worry. But he trusted me indeed, had always trusted me even when there was reason enough for him to do otherwise. That level of trust fell on my lap, which was one more burden that I did not know I could handle. The rest of the day at school was murky, as if he were moving through hazy fog. Aside from that, I was mechanically moving my body around while my mind was in a constant state of worry. Every stranger I met in the hallway made me nervous as anything, every sound gave me a start. Even before that, by the time the final bell rang, I was too nervous to keep my eyelids open and was expecting danger with every shadow. Chase was loitering by my locker when I got there, his expression one of concern. “Ready?” he asked softly. I nodded, although I seldom felt so unprepared. We walked in silence to the car park and as we reached the car we could hardly look at each other. In the course of closing in with Chase’s car, I noticed that there was a familiar figure leaning against it. Alessandro stood up as we approached and when he noticed our faces, his dark eyes clouded up. “Chow, what is it?” he said abruptly. ‘I’ve been messing around all day! Now, Brianne, you tell me, what is the real story?’ The more I turned my gaze over the bustling lot, the nearer I felt to becoming a victim of my father’s numerous warnings. For the second time that day, I said,” Not here. “Come to the clearing, I will explain your question there. ” The boys looked at each other but did not bother to dispute the statement. Barely had, sentence been uttered when we called up Chase’s car and, in silence, dropped him and drove off filled with many unasked questions. By the time we cleared the town and were driving through the woods, to the small isolated spot we used to frequent most times, my mind was still trying to grapple with what was said. How could I possibly try and convey the sheer scale of what was now facing us?

The clearing was exactly like the one in my mind a little piece of sanity in the mad, mad world of my existence. And then Chase turned into a car park, we all stepped out,. The sweet smell of pine trees and flowers did not have a calming effect on my nerves. “Okay, we are here,” Alessandro exclaimed and folded his arms across his chest. Can I just ask, Bri, what is all this then? In a bid to prepare myself for the event, I was forced to take a deep breath. Then, very quietly, hesitatingly, I said all that had happened, from beginning to end. The letter, the threats of The Raven, the time which the police were giving me. As I spoke, I saw their expressions shift from disbelief to hatred, then to the hint of terror, then to a resolve they could not hide the same look my own face must have had many times in the past. When I had done speaking, no sound could be heard in the entire clearing. Chase was the first to break it, his words clipped and furious. ‘I will kill him’, he said calmly. ”But if he dare approach you, which I know he is planning to do, let me assure you, I will shoot him dead. ” Alessandro agreed with her, his relaxed and friendly attitude turned into a look of determination and menace. “You tell that sick person he ain’t going to touch you Bri, you tell him ain’t none of us going to let him hurt you, and we’ll work this out. ” How can I doubt what they know, their backing that was so strong, it seemed to threaten to strangle me? Heat filled my face, and I dashed the tears that had filled my eyes back into them. ‘You are not wise to this,’ I answered weakly. “That’s what I have been saying all along. He is using you against me. As long as you are still with me, you are in the firing line. ” Chase moved closer, and taking my face into his palms, he looked deep into my eyes. “Please, look at me,” he told them, in a tone which could not have been more commanding. “We are in it, Bri. We have been from the start. Do not use the shield you have put up to keep us at a distance. We are better when united. ” Alessandro got closer to me, and placed his hand on my shoulder. It was hot. ‘Chase is right. The Raven wants to make you so lonely, and that’s why he wants you to come home alone. We are not going to let that happen. ‘ I looked between them, these two boys, who had become my brothers, who had accepted the worst of me and stayed. So, at that instant, a decision was made. That is not to say that I would not continue to push them away. But I also wouldn’t let them die for me, a cause that could be far from their concern.

‘Well,’ I said, standing up straight, ‘If that’s the case, then we will fight. ‘ But we will do it smartly. We will do it on our own and not as he wanted it to be done. ” Chase’s eyes brightened with something more like a battle-lust. “That’s my girl!” He went on to hug me very tightly. “So, what’s the plan?” I stopped immediately, and my brain was already computing the many options that could come from it. ‘First, we require intelligence,’ was what he said about the Phoenix Organization expanding, plotting, ‘We need to gather more details about what they are up to and who is participating. ‘ Alessandro nodded thoughtfully. “There has to be something I can do for you. I could try to contact some of my relatives to see if there’s any talk about new players in town. ” “Good,” I said. “You think you can get through to your old man, Chase? Ask him if he’s seen any form of irregularity at the factory new faces, weird shipments, anything like that. ” Chase grimaced but nodded. He and his father had never been close at the best of times, but he would do it. For me. ‘And what about me?’ Alessandro asked. “What’s your move?” I did not feel like I was ready for what I was prepared to do, so I inhaled as deeply as I could. The boys looked at each other worried. They knew what it was like between my mother and me, what suffering there was in that relationship. But the demons also understood that I was on the right side. Chase took her hand and looked directly into her eyes, “Are you sure?” ‘If that is the case, I can go with you,’ I replied gracefully. I shook my head. “Oh, no, this I will have to do myself,” But as she said this she was quite polite and was in the act of saying thank you gracefully when she was interrupted.

Right at the twilight when the shadows started to stretch across the clearing, we decided our strategy. We had agreed to reconnoiter and reconnect at this place in the evening after school and discuss what we had gathered and how to proceed. That was not much, but it was a way, and a beginning of something. A way to regain some measure of control in a circumstance that was totally beyond one’s control. This was further evident when we were walking back to the car; there was a new feeling that we gave each other. That was my encounter with the man who was to become my husband a man who existed in a constant state of terror, a man of whom the fear and the threat have never entirely gone away. But there also lies something more: purposiveness the impelling and compelling big ‘we. ‘ No matter what The Raven had intended, no matter what other atrocities they had in store for us and for him, I would be there for him. The ride back into town was spoken in quite as far as the rest of the car, but the general still held a tense silence. Not weighed down with the things that are not said but filled with the desire to push forward. That was the thought I had as Chase was driving me home, and I looked at myself in the mirror. There she is, the girl looking back at me, scared. But she was also aggressive, warlike that girl, she would not back down without a fight.RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only