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T h e H o l l o w s I n 
O U R F R E E D O M
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A L E X I

I woke up, Jace's arms wrapped around me. But I felt as though I didn't deserve it. I didn't deserve him.

Last night, I had made out with Jonah. I didn't have sex with him, but I made out with him.

It really depended on what you defined as cheating, and what you defined as a relationship.

Jace had never asked me to be his girlfriend. I had never asked him to be my boyfriend. And although the thought of having Jace as my boyfriend joyed me, we had never asked—we had only told each other that we loved them.

But was that it? Was that enough to define a relationship? Or does it need to be said, need to be written down?

The second issue was the definition of 'cheating'. If Jace defined a heavy make-out session as cheating, and we were in a relationship, I guess I had cheated.

I know that everyone would be screaming at me if I told this story to them, but it's okay because I know it too. I know I cheated. I could just feel it.

I guess that's it. Perhaps the other person doesn't think it's cheating, but you'll be able to feel it. Of course, there'll be exceptions, for example, for those who lack a moral compass. I didn't know if it was an achievement or drawback that I actually had one.

Despite all the trivial matters, my subconscious knew what I had done. I felt as though I didn't deserve it. I didn't deserve him.

I cheated on him. Jace didn't know that. But I was certain.

He stirred suddenly, scaring me for a moment.

"Morning," Jace said, rubbing at his eyes before taking running his fingers through my hair.

"Morning," I responded, staring up at the ceiling.

Last night, I had lied to Jace. I could've told him then, could've admitted the truth. But it was much too late now—I have both cheated and lied.

"Hey," Jace said suddenly, hoisting himself up so that he was leaning on his elbow and facing me. "You okay?" He asked, and I could feel his eyes scanning me.

I looked away from the ceiling to smile up at him. "Of course, how are you?" I asked.

He seemed to frown, albeit not very noticeable. "Have you seen her lately?" He asked, making me frown. What?

"What?" I asked, echoing my thoughts, "who?"

His expression seemed to soften. "Sapphire."

Oh.

I had seen her. In fact, I think my guilt over what I did to Jace made it worse. Perhaps because I committed the act with Jonah—her boyfriend when she had been alive.

I swallowed. "No," I told him, watching his lip twitch slightly. "I guess it was just a one-off thing—like maybe I saw her out of shock."

He stared at me for a few moments. "You're lying."

My eyes widened slightly; he really could read me. I was a failure at reading him—I think perhaps his therapist exterior threw me off. He shows his emotions frequently, but he tries to be moral and modest about it.

I think it was easy to hide the truth from him last night because I had used the ruse of tidying up the bathroom and changing the towels to take his eyes off me. Such a coverup was not possible now, not when I was in bed with him, with him hovering over me, about two centimetres away from my face.

I shook my head. "Whatever you say, Jace," I said, my tone light as I shifted away from him and sat up, reaching down to the documents that Toby had given me yesterday.

"Hey," Jace said suddenly, and I frowned over at him. "No work on the bed."

I pulled a face at him. "And who invented that? Your mum?"

I watched his face contort in some sort of morph between confusion and hurt. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

I swallowed, averting eye contact and looking down at the papers, my hair covering my face.

"No," I said, laying the documents out in front of me, "but I wanted to ask you something." I tucked my hair behind my ear, turning to look at Jace. He gestured for me to carry on.

"Your parents' names are listed here," I told him, showing the front page. He frowned, reading the lines of writing.

"Is it possible that they were part of this...organisation?" I asked, gesturing to the title of the documents, though I had never heard of the organisation before.

I watched him for a few moments as he furrowed his eyebrows at the page. "I suppose so if they're mentioned here, but I can't imagine what it would be for." He said, lost in his thoughts.

"We could ask them?" I suggested, hopeful.

"No," Jace said, shaking his head, "my mum would probably rather die than tell us anything." He told me.

I frowned at him. "I didn't mean her."

Jace frowned. "My dad?" He asked, glancing between the documents and my face. I hoped that my expression was as convincing as it could be and, soon, Jace sighed.

"Fine," He said, "let's go now; he's probably outside gardening." He told me, slipping off the bed.

"Gardening?" I asked, watching Jace start for the bathroom.

"Yes, Lex, gardening—are you coming for a shower or not?" He asked, opening the bathroom door.

I stared at him. "That is an offer I feel obliged to take, Clarke," I said, hopping off the bed and darting into the bathroom.

I heard Jace laugh at me, shutting the door behind him.

As anyone would in an early 'relationship', I shoved Jace into the shower and hid outside it, going to the toilet before brushing my teeth. When I decided that he was taking too long, I started to run the bath.

"I think Sky's parents will kill us for using all this hot water," Jace yelled from where he was in the shower.

I rolled my eyes, "You're the one continuously using the water, I'm just using a fixed amount." I rose my voice to reply, hearing grunts in response.

I laughed, before taking my clothes off and slipping into the bath. I was all clean when Jace got out of the shower, though I remained submerged in soap suds.

"The longer you spend in there, the less likely we are to get these answers today." I heard him say before the tap started to run.

I opened my eyes, yawning before reaching upwards to grab a towel. As I slipped out of the bath and wrapped my own towel around my body, I watched Jace brush his teeth with his towel around his body.

I swiftly left the bathroom, so as not to be caught staring, and started trying to compose an outfit. Jace exited the bathroom soon enough, and we both began to dress. When we were ready, we shared a quick kiss—which I absolutely adored, though felt guilty about—then left our room.

We found Jace's dad in a greenhouse, gloves on as he lowered a plant into a plant pot.

When Jace knocked on the door, Jim finally noticed us and smiled. Jace introduced the conversation as I looked around us at the museum of plants. It was probably a life goal of mine to own a greenhouse this beautiful, but the nearest I've come is making daisy chains that I used to try to strangle people with.

Anyway.

"Jim," I stepped forward, watching him smile over at me, "I–we were hoping that you could explain something."

Jim frowned, glancing between Jace and me before pulling his gloves off, resting them on a nearby plant pot and nodding. I pulled the papers out quickly, thrusting the front page into his hands. "Toby gave me these; I noticed yours and Kathleen's names were on the front."

A look of realisation crossed his face as his eyes scanned down the paper.

"You recognise these?" I asked, watching his face brighten. I frowned over at Jace.

"Of course," He said, "these were the introductory documents to a very important project Kath and I once worked on."

I furrowed my eyebrows at him, "Could you tell us more about it?" I asked him.

He smiled at me, "It's all in there," he said, gesturing to the papers I was holding, "isn't it?" He asked.

I frowned down at the papers.

"It's all over now, anyway," he said, passing the sheet back to me.

"Well, you said it was important," I told him, making him smile, though he had tried to go back to his gardening.

He glanced over at me, "You're good at interrogations."

"Then why are you still holding back information?" I asked, making the two men fall silent.

Jim sighed. "It was something archaic, a brief project. It was much alike to what the Academies offer now, just smaller."

I stared at him. "They stole your idea?" I asked, shocked.

He laughed, "No, of course not, the people who went onto establishing the Academy were the leaders of this project—they just expanded themselves."

I stared at him. "So...what was it like?" I asked him, watching him cave into his thoughts.

"It was just one 'Academy', set up in Cornwall, and for a very small group of people." He told us, seeming to be lost in his memories.

"So were these the first group to be recognised as in danger? The Special One's—or N.R.W's?" I asked him, though watched as he frowned.

"What?" He asked, shaking his head, "no, these people were not in danger at all."

I froze. "You mean...the Academy created a place for people in danger, though the original idea didn't include any persons in danger?"

He frowned, nodding slowly. "It was more like a community home—the leaders had a friendship and alliance with all the residents." He told us.

A project by the Academy. Before the Academy even existed. For people who weren't even in any danger. Then the Academy turned into what it is now, a home and guaranteed protection for people in danger.

A mystery was calling to me at that moment, and I blindly followed. For, what would you not do for the truth?

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I actually really like this chapter and idk why

it's not that special lmaoo

I know this is a day late but I had so much homework and my mind was so busy :/

anywho

-Alexi and Jace who ?

FABULOUS SONGS

Songs that played when I was writing this chapter (in order):
Half Light - BANNERS
People Help The People - Birdy
Moving Mountains - Skylar Grey
Youth - Foxes
Summer Air - Glades
Earned It - Bootstraps
Go Your Own Way - Lissie
Mirror - Ellie Goulding
Love Sick - Lij Gilmour
Shaking Heads - Foxes
Raise the Dead - Rachel Rabin
My Eyes - The Lumineers
Carry You - Ruelle ft. Fleurie
Rival - Ruelle
Sweet Dreams - Emily Browning (FIRST BOOK FEELS)

END OF FABULOUS SONGS

Date written:
25/05/18
26/05/18
28/05/18

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Next update: legit tomorrow
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CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE SPOILER:

Something's up with Sky.

Something's burning outside.