Among the Shrouded, page 28
“What?”
“Today would have been Kate’s twenty-fifth birthday too.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No. She told me on the car ride to find her sisters last week.”
They stared at one another and she suddenly felt as though they were connected by something far more powerful than anything she had ever felt before.
“That’s weird,” she said.
“Really weird,” he agreed.
“Do you know what else is weird? Something Kate said to me after we were rescued from the basement. Do you remember when she said I was “brought” to her and that she asked for me to come into her life to correct everything that had gone wrong. It was almost as if she thought she had some sort of a superpower.”
“A superpower like seeing auras?” he asked.
“Maybe,” she said. “If I have my gift, why couldn’t she have a gift too?”
“It would make sense,” he said. “You were born on the same day.”
“You were born on the same day too, Thomas. So what’s your superpower?”
He smiled strangely at her. “If I tell you something, do you promise not to think I’m crazy?” he asked.
“I think it’s a little late for that,” she laughed.
“I’m serious.” He paused briefly before continuing. “So, before the shooting, I’d been thinking about why you can’t see my aura.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. I figured there has to be some reason it’s not visible to you. Almost like I have some sort of shield around me that keeps you from seeing it.”
“Okay…” she said.
“I know. I told you it was going to sound crazy, but stick with me.”
“Like glue.”
He smiled again. “So if I have this shield around me that keeps you from seeing my aura, maybe the shield also protects me from stuff.”
“It didn’t protect you from the bullet they pulled out of your brain.”
“No, but it kept the bullet from killing me.”
She looked at him skeptically, unsure of where he was headed with his self-analysis.
“You said yourself a while ago that you didn’t know how I survived the foster care system. You said most kids who are in my situation end up a mess. But not me. I had horrible experiences, and yet somehow, I always managed to avoid getting seriously hurt and I remained emotionally undamaged, for the most part I guess.”
“And this is because of your shield?”
“Yeah. Maybe. And there’s something else too.”
“There’s more?”
“Ha ha, Mia. Yes. Something I’ve never told you.”
“Now you’re keeping secrets?” she said, sliding closer to him on the bed.
“No. Not secrets per se. It’s just that sometimes, when something bad is about to happen to me or if I’m about to put myself into a dangerous situation, I know it. I can sense that I have to get away. I can’t ignore it. It forces me to listen. And to act. It’s how I’ve managed to keep myself out of harm’s way for so long. A voice in my head tells me what’s coming.”
“So you have a power too,” she said.
“I think maybe I do.”
“So you, Kate and I were all born on the same date and all seem to have an ability that helps us get through life.”
“Something like that,” he agreed.
She thought about his disclosure and found she had no trouble believing it was true. However, there was one inconsistency she was having difficulty reconciling.
“So if a voice inside your head tells you when something bad is about to happen, then why didn’t you feel the danger at the holding facility with Kate?”
“I’ve never felt it stronger in my life. I knew exactly what was coming before I ever saw it.”
She looked at the man before her, his head wrapped in layers of gauze and his face swollen from medication, and in that moment, she had never seen anyone more perfect. It was suddenly obvious to her she was in love with him. Deeply and powerfully in love. And the reason she was in love with him was because she already knew how he would answer her next question.
“So, why didn’t you just leave if you knew you were going to get hurt?”
“Because I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave Kate there to fight alone. I had to help her.”
“Even though you knew you might take a bullet for it?”
“I was hoping maybe I could avoid that part with my awesome Kung Fu moves. I guess I could use a few more lessons, huh?”
She couldn’t keep herself from smiling at him. In that moment, it felt as though one chapter of her life was ending but that another was getting ready to begin. “So what now?” she asked, resting her head against his chest.
Thomas took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “I guess now I get better, you make sure Dalton never hurts another woman, and we live happily ever after.”
“That sounds like a pretty optimistic ending.”
“Cautiously optimistic,” he corrected her.
They lay quietly entwined together on the tiny hospital bed. Thomas had fallen asleep for almost an hour when Mildred appeared at the door with a small chocolate layer cake.
“They called and told me he came to overnight,” she said, her voice full of panic. “Has he fallen back into the coma?”
“No,” she said smiling, “he’s just sleeping. We should wake him. He’ll want to know you’re here.”
When Mildred found out it was Mia’s birthday as well, she insisted they both blow out the candles on the cake together. As the flame disappeared, she closed her eyes and sent her birthday wish wafting into the air with what was left of the candle’s smoke.
“What’d you wish for?” Thomas asked.
She kissed him gently on the lips. “I can’t tell you or it won’t come true. But don’t worry,” she said, smiling at the aura-less busboy who had won her heart, “I think my wish may have already come true.”
Dearest Reader,
When I decided to write Among the Shrouded, I knew I wanted to give a voice to the thousands of women living in our world who have been forced into sexual slavery. Please know that although I’ve written a work of fiction, there’s nothing fictional about the real-life human trafficking occurring all over the world each and every day.
According to The Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking:
“An estimated 2.5 million people are in forced labor (including sexual exploitation) at any given time as a result of trafficking.
The majority of trafficking victims are between 18 and 24 years of age.
43% of victims are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation, of whom 98% are women and girls.
Estimated global annual profits made from the exploitation of all trafficked forced labor are $31.6 billion US.
In 2006 there were only 5,808 prosecutions and 3,160 convictions throughout the world which means that for every 800 people trafficked, only one person was convicted in 2006.”
I implore you to learn more about what you can do to increase awareness or help stop this form of modern day slavery by taking a few minutes of your day to read the information on the following websites:
www.ungift.org
www.unodc.org
www.unglobalcompact.org
www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civilrights/human_trafficking
In the words of the great 18th century abolitionist William Wilberforce, “You may choose to look the other way but you can never
say again that you did not know.”
Sincerely,
Amalie Jahn
Source:
(http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issues_doc/labour/Forced_labour/HUMAN_TRAFFICKING_-_THE_FACTS_-_final.pdf)
About the Author
Amalie Jahn is the author of Among the Shrouded,
The Clay Lion, and many, many to-do lists.
Visit her online at www.theclaylion.com.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1 MIA
CHAPTER 2 THOMAS
CHAPTER 3 MIA
CHAPTER 4 THOMAS
CHAPTER 5 KATE
CHAPTER 6 MIA
CHAPTER 7 THOMAS
CHAPTER 8 MIA
CHAPTER 9 KATE
CHAPTER 10 THOMAS
CHAPTER 11 KATE
CHAPTER 12 MIA
CHAPTER 13 KATE
CHAPTER 14 THOMAS
CHAPTER 15 KATE
CHAPTER 16 MIA
CHAPTER 17 KATE
CHAPTER 18 THOMAS
CHAPTER 19 MIA
CHAPTER 20 THOMAS
CHAPTER 21 KATE
CHAPTER 22 MIA
CHAPTER 23 KATE
CHAPTER 24 MIA
CHAPTER 25 KATE
CHAPTER 26 THOMAS
CHAPTER 27 MIA
CHAPTER 28 KATE
CHAPTER 29 THOMAS
CHAPTER 30 MIA
CHAPTER 31 KATE
CHAPTER 32 THOMAS
CHAPTER 33 KATE
CHAPTER 34 THOMAS
CHAPTER 35 MIA
CHAPTER 36 THOMAS
CHAPTER 37 MIA
CHAPTER 38 THOMAS
CHAPTER 39 KATE
CHAPTER 40 MIA
CHAPTER 41 KATE
CHAPTER 42 THOMAS
CHAPTER 43 MIA
CHAPTER 44 THOMAS
CHAPTER 45 KATE
CHAPTER 46 MIA
About the Author
Amalie Jahn, Among the Shrouded
