by Tahereh Mafi
They’re actually looking at me now. Listening.
“They have given you nothing but meager wages and promises for a future that will never come. They have divided your families and forced them across what’s left of this earth. They have starved your children and destroyed your homes. They lie to you, over and over again, forcing you to take jobs in their army so they might control you. And you have no other choice,” I say. “No other options. So you fight in their wars, and you kill your own friends, just so you might feed your families.”
Yes, I have their attention now.
“The person you allow to lead this nation is a coward,” I say to them. “He is a weak man who’s too afraid to show his face to the public. He lives in secrecy, hides from the people who rely on him, and yet he’s taught you to fear him,” I say. “He’s taught you to cower when his name is spoken.
“Maybe you haven’t met him yet,” I say. “But I have. And I was not impressed.”
I can’t believe no one has shot me yet. I don’t care if they’re supposed to be unarmed. Someone probably has a gun. And no one has shot me yet.
“Join a new resistance,” I say to them, calling out to the crowd. “We are the majority, and we can stand united. Will you continue to live like this?” I ask them, pointing to the compounds in the distance. “Will you continue to starve? Because they will continue to lie to you!” I say. “Our world is not beyond repair. It’s not beyond saving. We can be our own army,” I say to them. “We can stand together. Join me,” I say, “and I promise things will change.”
“How?” I hear someone shout. “How can you promise something like that?”
“I am not intimidated by The Reestablishment,” I tell them. “And I have more strength than you might realize. I have the kind of power that the supreme commander cannot stand against.”
“We already know what you can do!” someone else yells. “That didn’t save you before!”
“No,” I say to them, “you don’t know what I can do. You have no idea what I can do.”
I reach my arms out in front of me, both hands pointed in the direction of the crowd. I try to find a good middle. And then I focus.
Feel your power, Kenji said to me once. It’s a part of you—a part of your body and mind. It will listen to you if you can learn how to control it.
I plant my feet. Steel myself.
And then I pry the crowd apart.
Slowly.
I focus my energy on recognizing the individual bodies and allow my power to move fluidly, working around the soldiers in a gentle fashion, as opposed to rushing through them and accidentally ripping them apart. My power clings to their forms as my fingers would, finally finding a perfect center that divides the group into two halves. They’re already looking at each other from across the courtyard, trying to understand why they can’t move against the invisible walls pushing them apart.
But once the energy is set in place, I open my arms, wide.
Pull.
The soldiers are knocked back. Half to the left. Half to the right. Not enough to be injured, but just enough to be startled. I want them to feel the power I’m containing. I want them to know that I’m holding back.
“I can protect you,” I say to them, my voice still ringing loud over them. “And I have friends who could do more. Who will stand beside you and fight.”
And then, as if on cue, the group of them appear out of thin air, in the very center of the courtyard, in the space I’ve just cleared.
The soldiers jerk back, stunned, shifting farther into their corners.
Castle reaches up one arm, coaxing a small tree in the distance to uproot itself. He uses both hands to pull it out of the ground, and once he does, the tree careens out of control, flying through the air, branches rattling in the wind. Castle pulls it back, yanking on it with nothing more than his mind.
He tosses it higher in the air, just over their heads, and Brendan raises his arms.
Claps his hands, hard.
A bolt of electricity hits the tree at the base and travels up the trunk so quickly, and with such extreme power, it practically disintegrates; the only remaining pieces rain to the ground.
I was not expecting that; they weren’t even supposed to be helping me today. But they’ve just created the perfect introduction for me.
Now. Right now.
All the soldiers are watching. The courtyard has been cleared. I find Kenji’s eyes down below and check for confirmation.
He nods.
I jump.
A hundred feet in the air, eyes closed, legs straight, arms out. And I feel more power rushing through my being than ever before. I harness it. Project it.
And land so hard on the ground that it shatters beneath me.
I’m crouched, knees bent, one hand outstretched in front of me. The courtyard is shaking so badly that for a second I’m not sure I haven’t caused another earthquake.
When I finally stand up and look around, I can see the soldiers much more clearly. Their faces, their worries. They’re looking at me in awe, eyes wide with wonder and a touch of fear.
“You will not be alone,” I say to them, spinning to see their faces. “You don’t need to be afraid anymore. We want to take back our world. We want to save the lives of our family members, our friends. We want your children to have a chance at a better future. And we want to fight. We want to win.” I lock eyes with them. “And we are asking for your help.”
There’s absolute silence.
And then, absolute chaos.
Cheers. Screams and shouts. Stomping feet.
I feel the mesh square tugged out of my hand. It flies up into the air and into Warner’s hand.
He addresses his men.
“Congratulations, gentlemen,” he says. “Send word to your families. Your friends. Tomorrow, everything will change. The supreme will be here in a matter of days,” he says. “Prepare for war.”
And then, all at once.
Kenji makes us disappear.
SIXTY-ONE
We’re running through the courtyard and right through base, and as soon as we’re out of sight, Kenji pulls back the invisibility. He darts ahead of the group, leading us toward the training room, winding and twisting and darting through the storage facility and up the shooting range until we’re all toppling into the room at once.
James has been waiting for us.
He stands up, eyes wide. “How’d it go?”
Kenji runs forward and flips James into his arms. “How do you think it went?”
“Um. Good?” James is laughing.
Castle claps me on the back. I turn to face him. He’s beaming at me, eyes shining, prouder than I’ve ever seen him. “Well done, Ms. Ferrars,” he says quietly. “Well done.”
Brendan and Winston rush over, grinning from ear to ear.
“That was so freaking cool,” Winston says. “It was like we were celebrities or something.”
Lily, Ian, and Alia join the group. I thank them all for their help, for their show of support at the last minute.
“Do you really think it’ll work?” I’m asking. “Do you think it’s enough?”
“It’s certainly a start,” Castle says. “We’ll need to move quickly now. I imagine the news has already spread, but the other sectors will surely stand down until the supreme arrives.” Castle looks at me. “I hope you understand that this will be a fight against the entire country.”
“Not if the other sectors join us, too,” I say.
“Such confidence,” Castle says. He’s staring at me like I’m a strange, alien being. One he doesn’t know how to understand or identify. “You surprise me, Ms. Ferrars.”
The elevator pings open.
Warner.
He walks right up to me. “The base has been secured,” he says. “We are on lockdown until my father arrives. No one will enter or exit the premises.”
“So what do we do now?” Ian asks.
“We wait,” Warner says. He looks aroun
d at us. “If he does not already know, he will within the next five minutes. The supreme will know that some members of your group are still alive. That Juliette is still alive. He will know that I have defied him and stood against him publicly. And he will be very, very angry,” Warner says. “This much I can absolutely guarantee.”
“So we go to war,” Brendan says.
“Yes.” Warner is calm, so calm. “We fight. Soon.”
“And the soldiers?” I ask him. “Are they really on board?”
He holds my eyes for just a moment too long. “Yes,” he says. “I can feel the depth of their passion. Their sudden respect for you. There are many among them who are still afraid, and others still who are rigid in their skepticism, but you were right, love. They might fear, but they do not want to be soldiers. Not like this. Not for The Reestablishment. They are ready to join us.”
“And the civilians?” I ask, amazed.
“They will follow.”
“Are you sure?”
“I can be sure of nothing,” he says quietly. “But I have never, in all my time in this sector, felt the kind of hope in my men that I felt today. It was so powerful, so all-consuming, I can still feel it from here. It’s practically vibrating in my blood.”
I can hardly breathe.
“Juliette, love,” he says to me, still holding my eyes. “You have just started a war.”
SIXTY-TWO
Warner pulls me to the side. Away from everyone else.
We’re standing in a corner of the training room, and his hands are gripped around my shoulders. He’s looking at me like I’ve just pulled the moon out of my pocket.
“I have to go,” he says urgently. “There are many things that must be set in motion now, and I have to reconvene with Delalieu. I will handle every aspect of the military details, love. I will see to it that you have everything you need, and that my men are equipped in every possible way.”
I’m nodding, trying to thank him.
But he’s still looking at me, searching my eyes like he’s found something he can’t bear to walk away from. His hands move to my face; his thumb brushes my cheek. His voice is so tender when he speaks.
“You will go on to greatness,” he whispers. “I have never deserved you.”
My heart.
He leans in, kisses my forehead, so gently.
And then he leaves.
I’m still watching the elevator doors close when I catch a glimpse of Adam out of the corner of my eye. He walks up to me.
“Hey,” he says. He looks nervous, uncomfortable.
“Hi.”
He’s nodding, staring at his feet. “So,” he says. Blows out a breath. He’s still not looking at me. “Nice show.”
I’m not really sure what to say. So I say nothing.
Adam sighs. “You really have changed,” he whispers. “Haven’t you?”
“Yes. I have.”
He nods, just once. Laughs a strange laugh. And walks away.
SIXTY-THREE
We’re all sitting around again.
Talking. Discussing. Thinking and planning. James is snoring soundly in the corner.
We’re all caught somewhere between being excited and being terrified, and yet, somehow, we’re mostly excited. This is, after all, what everyone at Omega Point had always been planning; they’d joined Castle hoping it would one day come to this.
A chance to defeat The Reestablishment.
They’ve all been training for this. Even Adam, who somehow convinced himself to stand with us, has been a soldier. Kenji, a soldier. All of them in peak physical condition. They are all fighters; even Alia, whose quiet shell contains so much. I couldn’t have asked for a more solid group of individuals.
“So when do you think he’ll be here?” Ian is asking. “Tomorrow?”
“Maybe,” Kenji says. “But I don’t think it’ll take him more than two days.”
“I thought he was on a ship? In the middle of the ocean?” Lily asks. “How is he supposed to get here in two days?”
“I don’t think it’s the kind of ship you’re thinking of,” Castle says to her. “I imagine he is on an army vessel; one equipped with a landing strip. If he calls for a jet, they will deliver him to us.”
“Wow.” Brendan leans back, rests on his hands. “This is really happening, then? The supreme commander of The Reestablishment. Winston and I never saw him, not once, even though his men were holding us captive.” He shakes his head. Glances at me. “What does he look like?”
“He’s extremely handsome,” I say.
Lily laughs out loud.
“I’m serious,” I say to her. “It’s almost sick how beautiful he is.”
“Really?” Winston is staring at me, eyes wide.
Kenji nods. “Very pretty guy.”
Lily is gawking.
“And you said his name is Anderson?” Alia asks.
I nod.
“That’s strange,” Lily says. “I always thought Warner’s last name was Warner, not Anderson.” She thinks for a second. “So his name is Warner Anderson?”
“No,” I say to her. “You’re right. Warner is his last name—but not his dad’s. He took his mom’s last name,” I say. “He didn’t want to be associated with his father.”
Adam snorts.
We all look at him.
“So what’s Warner’s first name?” Ian asks. “Do you know?”
I nod.
“And?” Winston asks. “You’re not going to tell us?”
“Ask him yourself,” I say. “If he wants to tell you, I’m sure he will.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Winston says. “I’m not asking that guy personal questions.”
I try not to laugh.
“So—do you know Anderson’s first name?” Ian asks. “Or is that a secret, too? I mean this whole thing is really weird, right? That they’d be so secretive about their names?”
“Oh,” I say, caught off guard. “I’m not sure. There’s a lot of power in a name, I guess. And no,” I say, shaking my head. “I don’t actually know Anderson’s first name. I never asked.”
“You’re not missing anything,” Adam says, irritated. “It’s a stupid name.” He’s staring at his shoes. “His name is Paris.”
“How did you know that?”
I spin around and find Warner standing just outside the open elevator. It’s still pinging softly, only just now signaling his arrival. The doors close behind him. He’s staring at Adam in shock.
Adam blinks fast at Warner and then at us, unsure what to do.
“How did you know that?” Warner demands again. He walks right through our group and grabs Adam by the shirt, moving so quickly Adam has no time to react.
He pins him against the wall.
I’ve never heard Warner raise his voice like this before. Never seen him so angry. “Who do you answer to, soldier?” he shouts. “Who is your commander?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Adam yells back. He tries breaking away and Warner grabs him with both fists, shoving him harder against the wall.
I’m beginning to panic.
“How long have you been working for him?” Warner shouts again. “How long have you been infiltrating my base—”
I jump to my feet. Kenji is close behind.
“Warner,” I say, “please, he’s not a spy—”
“There’s no way he could know something like that,” Warner says to me, still looking at Adam. “Not unless he is a member of the Supreme Guard, where even then it would be questionable. A foot soldier would never have that kind of information—”
“I’m not a Supreme Soldier,” Adam tries to say, “I swear—”
“Liar,” Warner barks, shoving him harder against the wall. Adam’s shirt is starting to tear. “Why were you sent here? What is your mission? Has he sent you to kill me?”
“Warner,” I call again, pleading this time, running forward until I’m in his line of vision. “Please—he’s n
ot working for the supreme, I promise—”
“How can you know?” Warner finally glances at me, just for a second. “I’m telling you,” he says, “it’s impossible for him to know this—”
“He’s your brother,” I finally choke out. “Please. He’s your brother. You have the same father.”
Warner goes rigid.
He turns to me.
“What?” he breathes.
“It’s true,” I tell him, feeling so heartbroken as I do. “And I know you can tell I’m not lying.” I shake my head. “He’s your brother. Your father was leading a double life. He abandoned Adam and James a long time ago. After Adam’s mom died.”
Warner drops Adam to the floor.
“No,” Warner says. He’s not even blinking. Just staring. Hands shaking.
I turn to look at Adam, eyes tight with emotion. “Tell him,” I say, desperate now. “Tell him the truth.”
Adam says nothing.
“Dammit, Adam, tell him!”
“You knew, all this time?” Warner asks, turning to face me. “You knew this and yet you said nothing?”
“I wanted to—I really, really wanted to, but I didn’t think it was my place—”
“No,” he says, cutting me off. He’s shaking his head. “No, this doesn’t make any sense. How—how is that even possible?” He looks up, looks around. “That doesn’t—”
He stops.
Looks at Adam.
“Tell me the truth,” he says. He walks up to Adam again, looking like he might shake him. “Tell me! I have a right to know!”
And every moment in the world drops dead just then, because they woke up and realized they’d never be as important as this one.
“It’s true,” Adam says.
Two words to change the world.
Warner steps back, hand caught in his hair. He’s rubbing his eyes, his forehead, running his hand down his mouth, his neck. He’s breathing so hard. “How?” he finally asks.
And then.
And then.
The truth.
Little by little. It’s pulled out of Adam. One word at a time. And the rest of us are looking on, and James is still sleeping, and I go silent as these two brothers have the hardest conversation I’ve ever had to watch.