Changed Forever

Chapter 9- Escape

Anna made a minor cut on my hand, instructing me to heal it. I took a deep breath and focused all my attention on mending the damaged tissues and bringing the skin together. The skin began to pull together as the blood seized to seep from the injured area.

I smiled victoriously as I looked down at the pale skin of my arm, which held no signs of the previous injury. "I did it" My smile grew as I looked back at Anna, who held a look of pride and admiration. "That's amazing. You learned that pretty quickly", she said with a proud smile. "Drake would have helped you too, but he's been busy lately".

"How are the investigations going, by the way?" I asked, wanting to feed my curiosity about the witch from earlier.

"I don't know much," she replied, "but so far, they haven't found a lot". I nodded, even though I was disappointed. Anna said she had to leave now, then we said our goodbyes, and she left.

Anna didn't live in the mansion for some reason, but I never bothered to ask, not wanting to get into her privacy. She would drop by occasionally to see Drake, but mostly kept her distance from Duke. I'm not sure what is going on between the siblings, but whatever it was, it didn't seem like my business and I didn't want to interfere.

Not having anything else to do, I made my way toward the large living room. It was late, but I didn't want to go to the 'room' that had been prepared for me, so instead I sat on the couch, taking in the warmth that the fireplace provided before turning on the television. I don't remember the last time I watched television. It's probably been months.

I turned on the news channel, not in the mood to watch anything else. It surprised me to see that the news channel was a human station. I glued my eyes to the television, and I watched with utmost focus, really wanting to know anything I could about the life I had left behind.

"The Vipers, who had been arrested by the Moonlight Security Agency about a month ago, have been sentenced to an execution," the new reporter announced, and I felt a gasp leave my mouth, not believing what I just heard.

"It is believed that the Vipers are in some sort of cooperation with Blaze. They have refused to be questioned and are considered irrelevant, so their execution would take place a week from today." I immediately switched off the television as I felt salty tears run down my face.

This can't be happening. It can't be happening.

They had sentenced my brothers to execution all because they didn't want to provide information about- me. It's MY fault. I made them promise not to give away my identity now it's leading them to their grave.

Society is just so cruel. I can't believe they're going to kill teenagers and a young adult just because they committed a few crimes and refused to hand in some information. Maybe we've committed a few serious felonies in the past, including murder, but we're still kids. Society should at least consider that.

The Vipers had been the name the society had developed for my brothers, associating their behavior with that of cunning snakes.

They called Zane, Anaconda; called Donald, Mamba, and called Blake, Taipan. I, on the other hand, am not a part of the Vipers, but had already made my impact on society. Once, I had to defend myself through arson. I burned a building filled with criminals, which kind of made me a criminal as well, and that's how I earned the name Blaze.

In a very twisted way, society had begun to fan over us. They followed every crime we did in the same manner that one would follow the life of a celebrity. A broken laugh escaped me at the thought. Tears began to build up in my eyes before flowing down my face, leaving a trail of wet streaks.

I need to find them. I need to save them.

Before I could think of an escape plan, a guard approached me and reminded me about the curfew. The one Duke made that didn't let me be out of my room past eleven at night. I sighed heavily before following the guard toward my 'bedroom'.