Bill scrambles to his knees, looking in every direction for what could have caused such a phenomenon. Then his eyes fall on me.
“Mora?” he says. “You’re back.” He stands to his feet and looks down at the guard on the ground. “What in the world is going on? We’ve heard rumors about you.”
“All of them true, I’m sure,” I say hurriedly. He rushes toward me as if to get a better look. “I’ve got to get to Jake and Grandma.”
He reaches out and grabs my arm before I can move. “They’ve got a tight rope on them,” he says. “Ever since they came in here. We knew you must have spoken to Jeremiah, but to see the Screven guards come in without you was weird.”
“There’s a lot to explain,” I say, pulling my arm from his grip. He lets go easily, and I continue my walk to my home. Bill follows closely behind.
“They say you’re a fugitive. That you and some others killed a bunch of guards.”
“That part isn’t true,” I say as I step behind a tree to hide from a group of guards making their way to the Tower. Bill quickly steps in behind me. “If you don’t want a bullet in your brain, I’d suggest you go back to your home,” I say.
“If the rumors are true, then I would say that was a threat coming from you.”
I raise up my hands. “I’ve got no gun.”
“I hear you don’t need one anymore.”
“How many guards are posted at my house?”
“Normally, five,” he says. “Now I bet there are twenty.”
“Thanks,” I say, beginning my walk again.
Bill follows.
“Go back,” I say. “I don’t want you involved with this.”
“I’m an elder,” he says. “I don’t have to do as you ask.”
I turn on him. Lifting up my palm, it’s as though I shove him to the ground with the force of a truck. He slides across the dirt on his back for a good ten feet. He begins yelling and cursing, and I fear the guards will hear him. But he won’t follow me anymore. My hasty walk turns into a jog, and from there it’s an all-out run until I reach the building nearest my home.
I stand in the darkness, scanning the area to see how many I might have to take on alone. Bill was right. About twenty guards surround my home, undoubtedly with Jake and Grandma inside. The guards won’t be a problem for me, but for my family, it’s another story. I can’t just go in thinking I can tear the guards apart without consequences. I’d bet several of them have a weapon trained on my little brother and grandma. No supernatural power could help them here. Except for maybe invisibility, but that is a gift I don’t possess.
The alarms throughout the village cease, and the silence is instant. The others must have made it to the top. Closing my eyes, I see all of them together inside the control room at the top of the Tower. Screven guards lay at their feet. Heather is busy looking for the controls to the loudspeaker system. Danny looks over his few scrapes and bruises. Aaron seems to be glowing from the electrical energy inside him. He certainly found his power source.
“You didn’t fry the speakers did you?” Heather asks.
“I didn’t think I did,” Aaron says.
Heather messes with a few of the buttons until a loud screech sounds through the air, then silence.
“It’s ready, go ahead,” Heather’s voice echoes over the village as the microphone picks up her voice.
I open my eyes, knowing Aaron now stands over the microphone.
“Soldiers of Screven,” he begins. “The Tower of Springhill has been taken and all of you are completely surrounded.”
I stand and watch as the guards surrounding my home look at each other and whisper their confusion and hold more tightly to their guns as uncertainty seizes their spines.
“You are now ordered to drop your weapons to the ground,” Aaron continues, “place your hands on your heads, and get on your knees. This will show us that you wish to live. Otherwise, you will be killed. There is no other option for you.”
The guards turn their heads more frequently now, unsure if what they are being told is true.
This is Connor’s time to shine.
“The countdown will begin for those of you still standing. Five…four…three…two…one…”
A shot from somewhere in the woods echoes through the night air, and one of the guards standing in front of my home falls to his knees, blood drooling from the exit wound in his chest.
The guards duck low, still standing as they scan the dark woods for the unseen shooter.
“Let’s try that again,” Aaron says. “Five… four… three…”
A couple of the guards drop to their knees, placing their hands on their heads. Others stand in bewilderment.
“Two… one…”
Another shot, another guard dead on the ground. The rest of them drop to their knees in surrender, fear gripping their insides.
The screaming starts.
“No!” a guard yells. “Get back up! As your commander, I order you to stand!”
The commander runs to the front door of the house, pistol drawn, and barges in as Aaron begins another countdown. None of us wore the Screven wristbands, and we don’t have radios, so the plan was for Aaron to stop after three countdowns.
A couple of the guards stand at the commander’s orders, more afraid of him than the phantom shooter.
“Two…one…”
The third and final shot sounds through the air and a third guard falls lifeless.
The commander smashes open the front door from the inside, pulling Jake and Grandma out onto the porch. He jerks them in close to himself, using them as a shield against Connor’s gun. I’m not confident in Connor’s aim at night to be able to take out the commander in a standoff. What if he misses? What if he hits Jake or Grandma? It’s up to me now, and that’s what I was afraid of. I have the ability to stop bullets, send objects flying at targets, or even slam someone with an invisible, crushing force, but I’ve never been in a standoff where someone I cared about was in harm’s way. I’ve never had to rely on such accuracy. If I mess up even a little bit, all will be lost.
What could I even use? I wish I still had my knife, but even that could prove too dangerous. What if I sent it straight for the commander’s head and in the last second he pulled Jake in its path? Would I be able to stop it in time?
“Come out and show yourselves!” the commander yells. His pistol moves from Grandma to Jake, back and forth. “I know there’s only a few of you! You’re nothing but murderers using scare tactics to stop good people from being protected.”
Lies. I can’t know for certain if this is something he has been ordered to say or something that he truly believes — something planted into his brain directly from Jeremiah. It doesn’t matter.
Out of the darkness, I step forward into the faint light of the moon. The commander’s head jerks toward me, as do Jake’s and Grandma’s.
“Mora!” Jake says through tears.
I want to smile at him, but I don’t turn my gaze from the commander.
“You,” the commander says. “You’re the one they’ve been telling us about. You’re the one with the powers.”
“Put down the gun,” I say. “You’re outmatched. If you hurt them, you and all your men will die.”
“No doubt, I’m sure,” he says. “You’ll kill us just like you killed the guards in Salem. In the darkness. Without mercy.”
My first instinct is to argue with him. To make sure Jake knows that I never touched those men. But the commander is just trying to draw me in. I won’t have it.
“Let them go,” I repeat.
“I don’t bend to the wishes of a murderer.”
I’m not sure what to do. The others and I went over this possibility during our planning, but we were never able to come to an agreement on how to get out of the situation. Aaron just said, “Do what you do. You’re a Starborn.” Connor would stare down his scope, as I’m sure he is now, looking for an open shot. I told him not to do it unless he was completely sur
e. Apparently he isn’t.
But how can I just do what I do? My brother and grandma’s lives are at stake. What can I do?
The commander’s pistol goes back and forth from Jake’s head to Grandma’s head. He is obviously frustrated and scared. He knows what he’s up against. Perhaps he truly believes that we killed all the guards in Salem. Maybe that’s the story Jeremiah has fed him. Truth is, I only killed Krindle. Rob died in the explosion. But those two were the real murderers. They killed their own guards so they could blame it on us. And they had somehow called in a giant herd of greyskins. Jeremiah had declared war on the Starborns.
The commander’s hands are shaking. I’m afraid that he could accidentally pull the trigger.
“Just put down the pistol,” I say.
“Give yourself up.”
“Okay.” I kneel to the ground and lift my hands in the air. “You’ve got me. I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize my family.”
The commander seems perplexed by this. His skin is slick with sweat and his teeth grind in anticipation. I kneel calmly.
Just do what you do.
My left hand falls slightly. Through the air, I grab hold of the commander’s wrist. His eyes widen in terror as he feels the invisible grip. With all his might he tries to move the pistol to Jake’s head, but I won’t let him. He tries to resist as his wrist contorts and turns toward his own head.
His arm shakes in resistance and he falls down to his knees as the barrel of the pistol is forced against his temple. He shouts out in fear, knowing he has no control over his next move. To anyone else looking, it would seem to be an act of suicide, but everyone knows better. All I have to do is focus on his finger to squeeze and pull the trigger.
Grandma and Jake scramble away from the commander toward my direction, but my eyes stay focused on the man that intended to kill them.
“Mora, we’re safe,” Grandma says through relieved tears.
I can barely hear her. The commander and I stare into each other’s eyes. He knows I’m about to kill him. I know that I don’t have to. I can’t help but listen to the voice in the back of my mind.
Jake is watching you. All he has heard in the past two days is that you’re a murderer.
My breathing is heavier. I want to pull the trigger. I have no desire to kill this man, but for a moment I imagine he’s Jeremiah. The man who had been the hope of our village only days ago is now our enemy. The commander is not the one I have to worry about. He is not the man that Jake should see me kill.
With a flick of my wrist, the pistol flings out of the commander’s hand. With another swing, I slam his head against the ground.
I can’t help but feel relief when Jake wraps his arms around my shoulders and my grandma kisses me on the cheek. Behind us comes the footsteps of Danny, Heather, and Aaron.
“Everyone okay?” Aaron asks.
“Yeah,” I say, looking at him in the eyes. His smile is bright even in the darkness. I hug Jake again, and am about to tell the others to begin gathering the guards when I see the commander moving. He kneels on the ground and pulls a gun from the dirt, aiming it at us. I’m about to try and block whatever he may send our way but a shot from the woods is all that is needed to stop the commander. Connor’s bullet shoots straight through his heart, ending whatever leadership these guards may have had.
I don’t know what the villagers of Springhill have been told about the Starborns. No doubt it has mostly been lies. But all of them will learn soon enough what has happened and what is going to happen.
All that matters is that Jake and Grandma are safe.
Jeremiah has already given Springhill what it needs. The materials for an impenetrable wall have already been delivered. Springhill’s protection is secure. At least, now that I’m here it is.
CHAPTER TWO
THE SUN IS up and the fifteen-or-so Screven guards that remain are locked up in the basement section of the Tower. The bodies of all the dead guards have been picked for supplies and buried.
Now I sit at a table with the three elders of Springhill. Aaron sits to my left while Evelyn sits to my right. Next to her are Danny and Heather while Connor sits at the end of the table alone. None of us have slept at all. I can’t speak for the rest of them, but I’m exhausted.
Somehow in the wee hours of the morning I was able to persuade Grandma and Jake to go back to bed and try to get some rest. This was only after they demanded that I tell them what all these stories were about. I told them that it was all a big misunderstanding. That these new abilities came about just a day after I had left Springhill. Neither of them would have believed me if I hadn’t displayed them last night.
“They’re calling you the Starborn?” Jake asked.
I nod.
“Man, I wish I could do that stuff too.”
At eleven years old, I’m not surprised Jake finds the power amazing. I still have trouble wrapping my mind around it too. But Grandma was more concerned with the reports of our crimes. Reports that we destroyed Salem.
The elders have the same question.
Bill, Austin, and Linda sit in front of me awaiting an answer. Did we kill the Screven guards in Salem?
“Only one,” I say. “His name was Krindle. I saw another die, but it was shrapnel from an explosion that killed him.”
“Explosion?” Linda asks.
I can’t help but shake my head at them. They have no idea what has happened over the past few days.
“Krindle was responsible for the deaths of the guards at Salem,” I continue. “He and Jeremiah collaborated to make it look like we did it. Somehow he managed to attract hundreds, if not thousands, of greyskins to attack the colony.”
The oldest of the three, Austin, speaks up next. “How and why would he do that, Mora?” The white hair around his ears is frizzy and the top of his head shines from the reflection of the morning sun. I’ve always considered him to be the kindest of the three elders too. Some days he would come to my family’s house for dinner. He often brought his home-made sweets for dessert as a treat for us. After my parents died, his visits became more frequent. He was concerned for me and my brother, but it became obvious that his main concern was for my grandma. It was Austin who hated the idea of me going out alone to talk to Jeremiah in the first place. I’m sure he feels justified in his reservations now.
“I have no idea how he got the greyskins to attack Salem,” I say. “But it had to be planned. The colony gates exploded after the Screven guards were killed. They were rigged to detonate so the herd could get through. That’s how we know it was planned.”
“But why would he want to frame you for these crimes?” Austin asks.
“Because we wouldn’t collaborate with him,” Aaron answers. “He wanted us to recruit more Starborns to feed his power-hungry regime. He’s looking to take over the world, village-by-village. With the power of the Starborns, he could do it too.”
“Yeah, about that,” Bill says in his usual crass tone, “what are you anyway? Sorry, Mora, but you didn’t have these abilities when you left Springhill. Did you?”
“No.”
“Then how is it you’re able to throw me to the ground without even touching me?”
“The vehicle I took ran out of gas. I was attacked by greyskins and somehow I was just able to move things with my mind. It saved my life.”
“That’s how it works,” Evelyn says. “Starborns usually don’t discover their supernatural gifts until they are in need of them.”
“And what is it you can do?” Bill asks.
“I’m not here to answer to you,” she says coldly. “One of your own is here telling you the truth. You can accept it or not. Either way, you’ve got a madman coming after you.”
“Who? Jeremiah?” Austin asks.
Evelyn nods. “He’ll be back. Your job is to raise your defenses. He’s unwittingly left you the materials for a wall around your village. I suggest you start building.”
The room is silent for a long, awkward mo
ment. I’m glad Evelyn spoke up. There’s no reason or way to explain my abilities to the elders. There is nothing I can do to make them understand.
Looking to my right, my eyes catch Connor’s. A slight grin forms at the corner of his mouth and he gives me a nod. I try to smile back, but I’m not sure that it shows. I’m so thankful for him. He has saved my life more than once. More than twice. And last night he had saved me from killing the commander in front of Jake. It seems that every step along the way, Connor is looking out for me somehow. What’s crazy is that he has no special abilities like the rest of us Starborns. He’s not a Starborn at all. He is normal like all of us used to be. Like the elders that sit in front of us. Like all the people in the village of Springhill. But to me, he’s not normal at all. There’s something about him that I just can’t get out of my head.
Then there’s his brother, Aaron. He has so much to show me. Because we are both Starborns, Aaron and I share a connection unlike any other. More than once, I have allowed my attraction for him to take over. I’ve kissed him; I’ve let down my guard and shown him that I wanted him. Maybe even needed him. But Connor saw it. And it hurts to know that I may have hurt him.
The thought of losing either of them right now seems unbearable. We’ve all been through so much together already. That’s why I can’t think of either of them. I’ve got to try and focus my attention on here and now. Springhill is in trouble because of me. Now I’ve got to fix it. Jeremiah will be coming.
Austin breaks the silence by clearing his throat. “I don’t know if you’ve heard any of the broadcasts over the radio lately, but ever since we got news of you being fugitives, we’ve started recording some of what Jeremiah has been announcing.”
He nods at Linda who pulls out a device and presses play. The sound of the broadcast is heavy with static and fades in and out, but the voice is clear enough. Jeremiah speaks with a vengeful tone.
“…mayhem through the streets. There is no telling how many may have survived, but reports have come that most are dead in Salem.”
If It Kills Me Page 2