The Genesis

Seek the Genesis.

That was the message that came with the news that Lily's parents were gone. Gone where, she didn't know. Everyone said they died on their trip across country. Lily still harbored a hope that they were still out there. She was only one year old when they disappeared. Though Lily didn't know what the Genesis was, other than in the bible, those words stayed with her through her lonely childhood. For thirteen years, she moved from home to home, family to family. Occasionally, she made friends, but she was always pulled away again. Every time, it was the same. Until one day.

Mrs. Lorde called Lily to her office and told her she was being adopted. Her new guardian was an unmarried man, not even thirty years old and he wanted to adopt her. Today. No considerations, no rethinking. Now.

Mrs. Lorde and Lily packed the her things and Lily fell in step behind Mrs. Lorde to meet her new guardian.

Lily stepped through the door. The man's eyes flicked to where she stood expectantly. His eyes met hers and widened. Lily pursed her lips. Her eyes were an odd color, she knew. She had grown rather fond of her oddly purple eyes, but people still stared. But then, she realized something. As he turned his head, his eyes shone the same purple as her own. Her hair tumbled from behind her ear and into her face as she studied him. He was tall, his black hair gleamed in the sunlight streaming through the glass courtyard roof. He had a look of wonder on his lightly freckled face as his eyes looked her up and down. "Hello, Lily." He stumbled over her name. His voice was soft, but had a tone of confidence and authority to it. Lily smiled, but her mind churned.

He turned away from Lily, he and Mrs. Lorde spoke to each other for a few minutes. There was passing of papers and then the man turned back to her. "are you ready?" he asked. Lily turned to Mrs. Lorde, who swept her into a hug. "I'm happy for you, if you ever need me, just call. I'm here for you." Lily smiled. "thanks." She whispered.

As we left the courtyard, the man glanced down at me. "I am Griffin Ciaran." Lily licked her lips, her eyes on the ground. "Lily." Her eyes flicked to him as he made a slight sound of confusion. His eyebrows were drawn together, but they quickly released as he realized she was watching him. "There's my car." He said quickly, to avert her attention. He didn't succeed, she continued to watch him oddly.

Lily raised an eyebrow as her eyes fell on the fanciest car she had ever seen. It gleamed softly in the bright sunlight, the body was purple with black highlights. Seeing her skeptical expression, Griffin smiled. "It's a Lykan Hypersport, do you like it?" Lily pursed her lips. It looked awesome, but it seemed like a massive waste of money. She nodded anyway.

Inside the car was as sleek as the outside. Lily wrinkled her nose, but slid into the back seat. When Griffin settled himself in the driver's seat, Lily asked; "why are you adopting me?" Griffin's head jerked up and his wonderfully purple eyes met hers. "I'll tell you when we get to Tiluro." Lily wrinkled her forehead. "What?" Griffin sighed, muttering something about questions. "Home," He said. "my- our home." "Do you live with anyone?" Lily asked, twisting her satchel strap in her fist. Griffin was silent for a minute. "Yes. I live with a lot of people." Lily raised her eyebrow. "family?" He groaned quietly. "You're pushy." Lily ignored that statement and kept staring at him in the rear view until he sighed. "No. It isn't family. Look, I'll explain everything when we get home." Lily sat back, unsatisfied.

They sped down the highway faster than the legal speed, heads turned as the sleek car tore past. Lily ignored her surroundings. Her mind was in utter turmoil. She was happy to finally be adopted, but she expected to be adopted by a family, not a twenty-five year old man without family and that was another thing; Griffin said he lived with lots of people, but they weren't family. How did that make any sense? Lily sighed and shook her thoughts away. Griffin said he'd explain.

The car's gentle humming lulled Lily to sleep and when she woke, they were in the middle of the desert. The red sun was low on the distant mountain range, wind blew sand in all directions. Lily glanced at Griffin, his eyes were on the road, but occasionally, they would flick to where she sat in the back seat. "We have almost arrived." He announced. Lily rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and gazed out the window. Something flickered in the back of her mind, a memory, a feeling of familiarity. Then it was gone. Lily shook her head. She had never seen this place before. She wondered how there was a desert so close to town, but she didn't ask any more questions. She didn't want to get on Griffin's bad side on her first day.

Lily was startled out of her thoughts as the speeding car suddenly slowed. Out the windshield, she could see towering barbed wire walls and squat, grey buildings beyond it. Atop the walls were several men, all carrying guns.

Fear blossomed inside Lily, this was not a house or a home. She wasn't even sure if Griffin adopted her, she hadn't seen the papers they had exchanged. What if Griffin was going to do something terrible to her? She glanced fearfully at Griffin, who drove through the opening gate like everything was perfectly normal. It probably was for him. "I thought you said we were going to your home." She said icily, her fear now replaced with anger. Griffin glanced at her, a slight smile on his face. "We are home." Lily glowered at him. "What are you, an FBI agent?" Griffin laughed. "Of course not. Come on, I'll explain in a minute."

Lily and Griffin stepped out of the car and Lily's eyebrows shot up. There were soldiers in dusty tan fatigues everywhere, one approached and touched his brow in an informal salute to Griffin. "Good to see you back. I assume things went well." Griffin smiled. "Obviously." He gently pulled Lily out from behind him. The tall soldier's gaze met hers. "She's got your eyes, Griff. You may be right." Lily glanced up at Griffin. "What is he talking about?" Griffin didn't respond, but turned, motioning for her to follow. "Let's go."

They entered the largest of the grey buildings, the roof was high and the building lit with buzzing, white lights. There was a counter in the far side of the room where a single man sat. "hey, boss!" the man called. Griffin acknowledged his greeting, but took a sharp right. There was a large, silver door. Griffin passed a small card over a red light, it flashed green and the door slid open.

On the other side, was a brightly lit room, white and sterile. There was a cot in the corner and a desk with a cabinet above it. "I need to be sure of something, please sit." Griffin pointed to the cot. Lily sat tentatively on the edge, watching Griffin with wary eyes.

His back was turned, Lily heard the clinking of metal on metal and when Griffin turned, he held a long needle in his hand. It wasn't a syringe, but Lily shrank from it anyway. "What are you doing?" She cried. Griffin gave a reassuring smile, but Lily only found it alarming. "I just need one drop of your blood, I just drove three hours to get you, why would I harm you?" Lily swallowed. Griffin offered his hand, his face inquisitive. Lily slowly out her hand palm up on his. There was a flash of recognition in Griffin's eyes, but it disappeared as Griffin pricked Lily's finger. A crimson bead of blood welled from it. Griffin wiped it away on a square of plastic and walked to the desk again. Griffin stood still, seemingly doing nothing. Lily stood and craned her head to see what he was doing. He startled her when he suddenly tore his hand through his hair and let out a long breath. He turned to Lily. "I knew from the moment I saw you, but I had to be sure. Lily, you're my sister."

Lily was frozen. Her head spun. Memories spilled into her mind, none of them included a brother. "that- that's impossible." she said, her voice small and uncertain. "I never had a brother. It was only me, mom and dad. No one else." Lily turned and ran. The door opened as she ran towards it. She slammed into someone and stumbled around him, it was the tall soldier from a few minutes ago. He caught her arm before she could get away. She pulled against his grip, angry and confused tears streaming down her face. "Let me go!" She screamed, tearing at his fingers. He pulled her towards him and got a better grip on her arm. "What is going on?" He asked urgently. Lily didn't answer, Griffin came running out the door. "Lily!" He called. Lily shook her head and crouched on the floor, cramming her knees over her ears. Then there was blissful silence. The soldier's fingers released her arm and his quiet, urgent voice whispered to Griffin. He waved the soldier away wearily. "I know, I know. I will." More whispering. "Okay, but considering how she took the other news, it won't go well."

The soldier's footsteps faded away and Lily lifted her head, her eyes red. Griffin was crouched in front of her. She glared at him. "what now? More lies?" Griffin scratched his neck awkwardly. "I need to show you something. I'll explain more on the way." Lily shook her head defiantly. "I'm not going with you anywhere. I'll walk back to Mrs. Lorde if I have to, but I'm leaving. You're insane." Griffin growled in frustration. "Just come with me. If you don't believe me after this, nothing will make you believe me." Lily sighed and swiped her shirt sleeve across her face. "fine."

Griffin led Lily out of the building, a few of the soldiers stopped to watch as the two walked purposefully in the direction of a building to their right. Griffin waved them back to their duties and their eyes left the pair.

The massive door creaked as Griffin heaved it open. Lily frowned at piles of dusty bins and racks of packaged objects. Griffin saw her expression and smiled. "Just wait." they picked their way through the dusty bins until they came a shelf on the farthest side of the room. Lily frowned at it, trying to see what was so special about it. Griffin picked up a dust-covered old phone and flipped it open, punched in a three digits and hit send. Slowly, the shelf slid up to reveal a staircase behind it. Purple lights lined the corners and shimmered oddly. Lily couldn't help gasping. "What is this for?" She asked. Griffin's smile grew. "You'll see." He bounded down the steps three at a time. Lily ran after him, her heart pounding with excitement. Considering how weird everything had been in the past half-day, who knows what could be hiding down here? Well, Lily wasn't disappointed.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she became aware of a bright purple light emanating from the hall at the end of the stairs. Griffin was at the end of the hall, waving to her. Lily ran to him and her breath caught in her throat at what she saw.

In the middle of the room, there was a glass cylinder that reached from the floor to the roof, in front of it was a console covered in an insane amount of buttons. But none of this was what attracted her attention. Hovering in the center of the glass cylinder, was a pyramid. It was small, but it emanating a powerful, shifting light. A humming sound filled the air as she neared it. "what is it?" Griffin smiled, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder and she allowed it. "Lily, this is the Genesis."