Free Graced by Sophia Sharp

keep hostage the unlucky ones who came upon it for generations.” He laughed unkindly. “Their fate was sealed when they came in after you.”
    “And… you?” Laura asked. “How did you escape them?”
    “Girl, the tunnels you know have many secrets, ancient and forgotten. They aided me when I needed it most. But that is neither here nor now. Tel me, you found the archive?”
    “Yes,” Alexander nodded. “Although it is not what we thought.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “A long story,” Madison interjected. “We’d best go somewhere we can sit down.”

Chapter Ten
    ~Plans~
    Rafael listened, mostly in silence, as everybody took turns relaying him the previous weeks’ events. Everybody but Laura, that is. Whenever she tried to speak, she was hushed down as the others al upplayed her role in events – so much so as to make her uncomfortable. And every time she tried to correct something that Alexander, or Logan, or even Madison said and exaggerated, she got quickly cut off as someone else jumped in.
    As it were, living through some of those memories proved unfamiliarly jarring for Laura. She shivered as she remembered. Fighting against the demonic creature. Caring for Alexander when he got il . Not knowing if he would survive, and feeling whol y responsible for it. Having Logan leave her. But they were only memories, now. And besides, knowing how everything turned out so far was reassuring. It was the future that was real y unnerving to her, the uncertainty of it al . How would they go about finding the elders, and how would they fight them? Would they even be successful? At least it wasn’t like the future of the entire world lay on her shoulders. But the future of her world definitely did. Only when the others were done speaking, finishing off with what Gabriel e said to them, did Rafael lean back and exhale.
    “What you need to do… wil not be easy,” he began. “The fight against the elders wil take al the resources you have. More, even. They are wel protected, and keep their location hidden from al . Their entire existence is shrouded in mystery and deceit.”
    “But you must know something about them?” Laura asked.
    Rafael nodded. “I do. But believe me when I say they are formidable foes, and you need to take them as such.”
    “Of course we know that!” Laura exclaimed. “But going against them is what we must do.”
    “A strong sense of duty for someone so young,” Rafael said cryptical y. “I hope your spirit does not waver as you get closer to the fight. As it is, I… I wil help where I can.”
    “You wil ?” Laura had been waiting to hear those words ever since they first identified Rafael as someone they would need to speak to to find the elders. She wasn’t taken by surprise, exactly, but it was stil final y… reassuring … to have someone that both Madison and Alexander spoke so reverently of support them and their mission. “Thank you!”
    Rafael nodded gruffly. “Don’t thank me yet. We haven’t accomplished a thing, and there’s much to do. Besides, as it were, the elders are the ones who have made the first move.” He motioned towards the desecrated wal . “They are destroying al relics of the past, trying their best to hide anything that could even hint at a time before their rule. The hieroglyphs here, and the broken tower outside, prove as much.”
    “That’s why we need to take the fight to them ,” Laura pressed. “If we can break their rule, al the other Vassiz wil become free. They won’t be saddled by obeying the elders anymore. And they’l stop chasing us.”
    “A simplistic explanation,” Rafael said slowly, “but one that might prove more true than you can imagine. It is a blessing, to have such innocence.”
    Innocence? Was he insulting her? But something about the way his eyes remained on her, dark and heavy, reassured her he was not. He was weighing her, she decided, trying to get a gauge on what she was real y like. And, she realized, he