Dissident

by Lisa Beeson

  “Shut your mouth and be still, Brenna,” Mara commanded.

  Brenna’s mouth immediately shut and she stopped struggling. Jonah glared at Mara, but did nothing except continue to hold his sister.

  Tears streamed down Brenna’s face and they all flinched at the two loud cracks of gunshots that echoed around the corner.

  Soren’s scream of terror turned into a battle cry of, “Stop it!” as he ran towards his grandmother. She had just made two men kill each other. He had to make her stop. He could not let her hurt anyone else.

  Half way down the hall, Soren was about to leap over one of the dead bodies, when his muscles froze mid-stride, becoming as stiff as stone. He couldn’t move anything, but his eyes. He screamed, but his mouth would not open. He could barely breathe.

  “Thank you, Isaac,” Mara said to the boy, laying one of her slim hands on his shoulder. “Asa, Claudia, it’s safe to come out now.”

  Asa and Claudia came from out of the shadows. As they came closer to the light, Soren saw that their faces were stained with tears. “What should we do about their bodies,” Asa asked, motioning back into the room.

  “We can come back for them later,” Mara said stiffly, her thinning lips and slight twitch in her left eye the only signs betraying she had any feelings at all.

  Soren wondered who was in the room.

  Mara came out of the doorway to walk past Wyatt’s frozen, crouching form, viciously scraping one of her long fingernails across his shoulders as she went. “Right now, we must magnanimously take these traitors back into the fold. We must take care of our own, no matter how mistaken and ungrateful they are.”

  “We’ll never help you,” Jonah stated with pure contempt.

  “You will if I tell you too.” Mara gave him one of her withering stares and he looked away. “And if you still somehow defy me, then at least you won’t be helping them.” She motioned to the dead men on the ground, whom she must have made shoot each other before their group had gotten up there.

  Soren wanted to wake up from this nightmare of death and evil.

  “Mara…” Gordon croaked. “No more of thi–” he began, before coughing and hacking up mouthfuls of blood.

  “Asa please put my brother out of his misery,” she said, ignoring the dying man’s last plea, not even bothering to look down at him.

  Asa carefully picked his way through the rubble and carnage to where Gordon lay broken under the cement. He took a syringe from his lab coat pocket, then stuck it into Gordon’s neck. “Be at peace, my friend,” he said sadly.

  Wyatt yelled something behind his closed lips, until a soothing frequency moved through the hallway, which calmed all their frayed nerves.

  “Isaac, release them,” Mara commanded the boy.

  Immediately Soren’s muscles unfroze and his stalled momentum suddenly propelled him forward. Not wanting to fall on the dead man, Soren lost his balance and pitched towards the ground. He tried to catch himself, but his face exploded with a starry burst of pain when it struck against a chunk of cement on the floor.

  Soren’s head swam with agony and blind confusion as he tried to push himself up, howling in anguish from the sharp pain throbbing from his mouth and the bridge of his nose. Blood gushed into his mouth, making him feel as if he was choking and he could feel a gap where his front two teeth should be. My teeth are gone! Panicked and terrified, his eyes swept around looking for anyone or anything to help him. He saw Isaac’s face spread into a reptilian smile as he took in the damage to Soren’s face.

  “Oops,” Isaac said with a malicious giggle.

  “Isaac,” Asa said in rebuke, as he and Claudia rushed over to help Soren sit up. Asa laid his hands on Soren’s face, checking the damage to Soren’s nose with his fingers, making it hurt even worse. Soren tried to jerk away, but Claudia held his head still, making her calming sounds as Asa continued to work.

  Eventually, the excruciating throbbing began to ebb away. Once the pain was gone and the bleeding stopped, Asa and Claudia let him go.

  His hand went up to his mouth. “My teeth…” he whimpered.

  “It’s alright, they were just baby teeth,” Asa assured him. “I made it so your adult teeth should grow in just fine.

  Soren let out a sigh of relief. They tried to help him up, but he pushed them off and stood up on his own. Even though he was glad the pain was gone, he did not want any more help from them. He shot Isaac a hateful glare that only made the boy giggle even more.

  “Soren, Wyatt, Jonah, and Brenna,” Mara said in her commanding voice. “You will follow me back up to the Olympus Tower without saying a word.”

  Soren began moving to follow Mara, as did Wyatt, Jonah, and Brenna. Even if he wanted to fight against the compulsion to move his feet with the light in his chest, the calming frequency Claudia produced made it impossible to stir up the fire to do so. Salty tears of heartache and frustration slid down Soren’s cheeks to mix with the coppery blood still around his mouth.

  …I don’t want to be brave anymore. I just want to go home.

  Chapter 22

  Terrified screams ripped through Skylar’s throat as she sprinted through the woods. Blindly fleeing her brother’s phantom monsters, her binoculars pounded against her back as her heart slammed against her chest.

  Branches clutched at her arms, face, and pulled at her wild hair, but she ignored the sting. She had to get away. Even though the fear was her brother’s, it was so real and sharp. It felt like little knives against her skin – forcing her into movement.

  When the panicked fear slid into a sense of safety, Skylar felt able to slow down and stop running. Tears flowed freely as she panted, gasping for air. Her twin had never been that scared before in his life. What was happening to him?

  Looking around as she caught her breath, Skylar realized that she had never been this far into the woods on the backside of the property before. Nothing looked familiar. She was lost.

  She heard the sound of crows cawing in the distance and decided to head in that direction.

  Walking for what seemed forever, she heard people rushing through the woods shouting her name. As they came closer, she recognized the voices as Noah and Jamie. After wiping the tears and snot from her face, she shouted, “I’m here!”

  The sound of running came closer and Noah burst into view with Jamie close behind him.

  Noah ran to her and when he saw nothing wrong except for the small scratches from her run through the brush, he asked in a calm voice, “What happened, Skylar? Why were you screaming?”

  “Soren was so scared,” she whimpered, her eyes welling up again with the thought of it. “He wanted to get away. He wanted to run as fast and as far away as he could to escape… something.”

  “How do you know he was scared?” Jamie asked quietly.

  “I felt it,” Skylar said. “Sometimes I can feel his feelings when they’re strong enough.”

  Soren’s dread turned to sharp fear again, making Skylar’s muscles tense with adrenalin, ready for flight. Terror squeezed her chest, strangling the air in her lungs. The terror turned to a fierce determination right before a sudden white burst of pain exploded in her mouth and on the bridge of her nose, radiating out across her face. She fell to her knees and wailed in sympathetic pain, while the world wavered around her in a confusing blur.

  The pain was so acute she could not catch her breath.

  “What’s wrong,” Noah asked, as he knelt down in front of her, gently taking her hands away from her face.

  “Are you okay? What’s happening?” Jamie asked, crouching down beside him.

  Skylar could not answer them. A paralyzed cry unable to break free silenced any sound she tried to make.

  When her lungs finally allowed her to take in a violent gasp of air she wailed, “They hurt him! They hurt him so bad… They hurt my brother!”

  Jamie picked her up and hugged her close not knowing what else to do, as Skylar’s body shook with uncontrollable sobs.

  As Skylar c
ried for her brother’s pain, she checked her new two front teeth growing in with the tip of her tongue, making sure they were firm in her mouth. It had felt like they had been knocked out.

  As the sympathetic pain slowly dissipated, a severe homesickness settled in to take its place. “I want Soren…” she whimpered into Jamie’s shoulder. “Why haven’t they saved him yet? Ari promised me she’d bring him back, but it’s been forever.”

  “They’ll be back with him soon,” Noah assured her.

  Skylar drew back to look up at Noah, swiping away the strands of hair sticking to her wet face. “Did Cass say that?” she asked, hope igniting in her chest. “Did you talk to Myles?”

  Noah shook his head, feeling sorry that he had gotten her hopes up. “But I’m sure it could be any time now. We just have to be patient a little bit longer.”

  Skylar slumped back against Jamie’s shoulder with a wordless whine. If Jamie hadn’t been holding her, she would have dropped to the ground in a miserable, boneless puddle. She was done. All Skylar wanted more than anything in the world was for Ari and Soren to be with her right now. Not later. Right now. She did not want to wait anymore.

  Fresh tears flooded her eyes. What if Soren got hurt again before Ari or Cam could save him? What if they never came back at all…?

  Noah started picking out the twigs and leaves from Skylar’s wild mass of hair. “You’ll get your brother back, little lioness. Don’t give up hope.”

  Skylar turned to look at Noah’s kind face. She liked the name “little lioness.” It made her seem brave and strong. And Lions happened to be one her favorite animals. She liked how the girls were the ones who went out and hunted. They took care of their prides no matter how hard things got.

  “You know what,” Jamie said. “My mom used to say that waiting makes the reward even sweeter.”

  “Does it?” Skylar asked with a sniff and a swipe at her leaky nose.

  “Yep,” Jamie said with a nod. “And it makes you appreciate whatever it is you’re waiting for even more.”

  Though Jamie was trying to be comforting, Skylar could feel the heartache and fear swirling around her heart like a dark cloud. Skylar recognized the ache in Jamie’s heart as similar to her own. They were both hurting and they were both scared for their brothers

  Skylar drew back to look at her. “You miss your brother real bad too, don’t you?”

  Jamie bit her bottom lip as her eyes got shiny, and she nodded.

  Though other people’s emotions were messy and confusing, Skylar was tired being alone. She was lonely. The lioness needed a pride or she would perish. “Maybe…,” Skylar started, trying to find the right words. “Maybe we can wait for our brothers together. And then maybe it won’t hurt as much.”

  Jamie smiled, and the smile actually reached her eyes this time. “I’d like that.”

  Skylar leaned in and wrapped Jamie up in a fierce hug. She liked the way Jamie smelled. It reminded her of s’mores by a fire.

  Jamie squeezed her back, before gently putting her down on the ground.

  Skylar was surprised that her bones felt solid again. With Jamie and Noah, she could have the courage to wait a bit longer.

  Jamie looked at Noah with a question in her eyes. He hesitated, then shrugged as if saying it was her call. “Well what exactly did it say? Did they send any other messages?”

  “I barely looked at it before we started running,” he answered right before his eyes flashed with panic as he patted his pockets and looked down at the ground around him.

  “What?” Jamie asked.

  “I must have dropped my phone while I was running.”

  “We’ll look for on our way back,” she assured him.

  “What are you talking about,” Skylar asked, looking between them. “What messages?”

  Jamie looked back down at Skylar and said, “Now, I don’t want to get your hopes up, but right before we heard you screaming, Noah and I were walking around the property and he got a message about something happening back at the farm house.”

  Skylar bounced up on her tippy toes. Hope inflating her chest like a balloon. “Do you think it could be about Soren or Adam?”

  “Calm down,” Jamie said, while gently putting her hands on Skylar’s shoulders to press her bouncy feet flat on the ground. “I said not to get your hopes up. It might be that George somehow made a brand new species of plant… Or Hugo found a buried treasure on the property… Or maybe it’s just that the Tahanas made a kickass desert. It could literally be anything.”

  Skylar took a deep breath and nodded that she understood. It could be anything, she told herself.

  “You want to come with us to find out what it is?” Jamie asked as she brought Skylar’s binoculars around from her back to hang in front again.

  Skylar nodded, taking Jamie’s hand with a little skip. The spark of excitement burned bright in her heart, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that the big something most likely wasn’t about Soren. But what if it is…?

  “Did you find any treasures today?” Noah asked Skylar as they started making their way back through the woods.

  Skylar grimaced and shook her head. “Not yet.”

  Noah reached deep into his pocket and pulled something out. “I found this earlier and it made me think of you.” He held it out on the palm of his hand so she could see it better.

  It was gray stone in the shape of a small pine tree. The edges were chipped and worn, but it looked as if it could have been sharp once. “What is it?”

  “An old arrowhead,” he answered. “It’s most likely from when the Quapaw tribe used to hunt around here.”

  Skylar’s face lit up. “A real arrowhead, like from a real arrow?” Excitement bubbled up in her chest. She imagined being an ancient huntress with her own bow and arrow, stalking through the forest.

  “Can I have it?” she asked hopefully. She knew he probably wouldn’t want to give up such an awesome treasure, but she had to try.

  Noah’s mouth curled up in a smile and he nodded. “It’s yours.”

  “Really!” Skylar eagerly took the arrowhead from his hand before he had a chance to change his mind. “Thank you so much! This is awesome!” Holding it up, she inspected it more closely through one of the lenses of her binoculars.

  “If there’s one, there’s bound to be more. You want to help me look for more while we look for my phone?” he asked.

  “Uh, yeah,” she said, as if the answer was obvious.

  “Come on, little lioness,” he said. “You can see better from up here.”

  He leaned over and tickled her sides as he picked her up. She giggled as he lifted her over his head and then placed her on his shoulders. Up there Skylar felt like a giant.

  Searching for more arrowheads with her binoculars, she thought about the people who had made them. She had never heard of the Quapaw tribe before. “Are there any people from the Quapaw tribe still around here?” she asked.

  “You’re looking at one right there,” Noah said reaching over and patting Jamie on the back.

  Skylar gasped. “Really? But you don’t look Native American.”

  Jamie chuckled. “I’m only a little bit Quapaw from my great-great-something grandmother on my father’s side.”

  “Tell her the story,” Noah urged Jamie with a nudge of his elbow.

  Jamie rolled her eyes, then looked up at Skylar. “Do you really want to hear it?”

  Skylar nodded emphatically. She loved stories.

  “Okay, fine,” Jamie said with a sigh. “The story goes: When my great-great-something grandmother was a young woman, she had a dream that a stranger would come to her in the snow and that she should help them. Well, winter passed, and there were no strangers needing her help, so she dismissed the dream as just a dream.

  “But then, just as the blossoms of spring were emerging into full bloom, there was one last freak snow storm of the season. My great-great-something grandfather, who was trying his hand at the fur trade in the Ne
w World, got lost during the storm and wandered near their village as sick as a dog. Though she was surprised that the stranger she was supposed to help was a white man, she took pity on the poor schlub and nursed him back to health. During the time they spent together, they fell in love. And after proving himself worthy to her parents and the tribe, they were granted permission to wed, and their descendants have lived on this land ever since.”

  “That’s so cool. Are they buried in your family’s cemetery?”

  Jamie nodded. “They’re the oldest ones there, in the far back.” She took a couple steps and said, “I really should get new markers for them all.”

  “Maybe your great-great-something grandmother is who you get your seer dreams from,” Skylar said, thinking of Jamie’s metal sculptures.

  Jamie shrugged and nodded. “Most likely… now that I know what they really are, it makes sense.”

  Looking at the arrowhead with a sinking heart, Skylar reluctantly held it out to Jamie. “Here, you should have it.”

  “Why,” Jamie asked, confused.

  “Because it might’ve belonged to your family.”

  Jamie smiled. “Nah, you keep it. I got some stuff up in the house to remember them by. I can show you later if you want?”

  “Yeah, okay.” Skylar eagerly enfolded the arrowhead back in her tight grip, thankful she could keep it. She really hadn’t wanted to give it up.

  As the three of them made their way through the woods, with Skylar searching the ground ahead for more treasures and Noah’s phone, it almost felt as if they were a little family. The thought felt like a warm little ember in Skylar’s belly. She knew better than to get her hopes up about having her very own parents again, but sometimes she liked to pretend. She also thought that Jamie and Noah would make really cool parents. She, Noah, and Ari could go on exploring adventures, while Soren and Jamie could make awesome artistic creations together. But then, as she thought about it, Skylar wanted to make metal animal sculptures with Jamie and all her awesome tools as well. Maybe all of them could work together to make a whole zoo of robot animals that they could all ride around Paradise Glades on…