—Peony is not a killer, Barley.
I realize after I say it how small my voice sounds.
—No, Anza, she isn’t. But now she knows how to defend herself and isn’t afraid to do so.
-
“Do you believe them?” I ask Eli a week later. He’s on watch and I meet him atop the arch line. When Saeren, Estok, and Arlo connected with me, all three reported back that their respective towns had open discussions about us and would most likely support us.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Eli asks. True; Estok and Arlo are two of his trusted and he and Saeren have gotten close lately.
“It just seems odd that none of them reported any issues and think the towns will easily switch allegiances,” I respond.
He nods, considering the possibility that they might have been too brash in their judgments. “We’re not there to know for sure; we have to trust their conclusions and let them accept the consequences of being wrong.”
“The consequences could drastically hurt our cause, Eli,” I tell him.
“What other choice do we have? We can’t just order them back and do nothing. There are going to be risks.”
Knowing he’s right, I sit down and let my feet dangle down. “Who should we send to help them take the towns?”
“I guess the first question is how many do we send. We want them to be successful, but we don’t want to be too visible.”
“Or too oppressive. Is four enough? We could send one of each element; there’s already an Aer and Terra in each town so we would only need to send two more each.”
“With the average amount of Guardia and the town’s support, one of each element should be perfect. From my group, Andari and Timber are strong Aqua and Rob, Solar, and Eyara are good Ignis.”
“I don’t think Solar should go. As much as he’s been improving, he still shouldn’t be one of our representatives to the people.”
Eli nods his acceptance. “So we need one more Aqua and one more Ignis. Any preferences?”
“Amayi or Lyra would be good choices for Aqua. Ryoan for Ignis?”
“Lyra for sure. Amayi is too imposing.”
I gathered the six of them to join Eli and me at the fire pit that night. They joked around while they ate, but I stayed silent, studying them.
Lyra and Andari seem like twins, if twins could be so contrasting. Both are tall and thin, but Andari is blonde and has porcelain skin while Lyra’s hair is black and her skin is a nutmeg brown. They have their heads together, giggling about something the rest of us didn’t catch. Eyara, on the other hand, prefers to watch and keep to herself, always giving me the impression that she’s plotting something. She’s hard to get to know, but Eli trusts her.
Rob, Timber, and Ryoan are all so uniquely different in appearance and personality, but all three mesh well. Timber makes a joke and all of them laugh, even Eli. Ryoan’s laugh is boisterous and joyful, whereas Rob’s is more of a chuckle as he tries not to spit out his food.
Despite everything we’ve been through, this group is finding pleasure in a simple meal with close friends. We’re not mutants, we shouldn’t be torn away from our families because we could one day be a danger, and I wish the average citizens of Trinity could see that. After all this time, will they give us the benefit of the doubt? Can they change their view of us in such a short amount of time? Is this group the one that is capable of making it happen?
As they finish their meals and the conversation dwindles, they all look to me. They know they were called here for more of a reason than dinner.
“Tomorrow morning you will leave in pairs to join the advance teams in Meander, Preston, and Adelyn,” I begin. “Tomorrow night, your teams of four will take down whatever Guardia are stationed there and take control of the town. It will then be your job to peacefully manage the town and alter their views of us, all while ensuring that Trinity doesn’t take the town back.”
I watch for their reactions as I speak. Ryoan nods to my words, excited, while Rob and Eyara remain stoic, listening to their directive.
“I need you all to remember that the number one priority is to look fair, logical, and measured in the eyes of the townspeople. We need them on our side.
“Make sure that your attack on the Guardia is in the middle of the night and that you do not damage the town or the station. If any civilians attack, you must protect yourselves without harming them in return. Then, respond accordingly.
“Convince them that everything negative they’ve been told about us is a lie, both with your words and actions. Our narrative must reinforce the posters that the advance teams hung: We were ripped away from our families as innocent children and thrown into a work camp. Trinity lied to the people, feeding them falsehoods about our danger so that they would allow them to kill us off to protect the people. Despite that, they kept us alive to use us because they knew most of us weren’t and aren’t a danger.
“We just want to live our lives in peace, but the government of Trinity won’t allow it and can’t be trusted to fix it.”
25
Crow
My exuberance at the success of my trip, including Peony’s capture, fades the moment I step inside Rockwall’s gates. Commander Franklin stands in front of the large door. This is the first time I have seen anger on his features, at least directed at me.
“Follow me,” he manages to growl, then turns and leads me through the hallways back to the room where I first met him, giving me plenty of time to wonder what happened. I see Eliza waiting for me at the start of the hallway that leads to my office and the clinic, but she scampers off when she sees Franklin, fear in her eyes.
The Commander sits at the head of a large wooden table where four generals were already waiting and motions for me to join them.
“In Adelyn, a Compound Talist was found and you captured her, without removing her abilities, instead of killing her. Why?” General Ferrer asks.
I’m here because of Peony? “In all my years at The Compound, she is the only talist that has been able to circumvent my testing. She healed a girl in Adelyn, showing me her element for the first time. I wanted to do further tests on her.” I pause, confused at how my next question could be possible. “She was weak and broken down, impossible to be a risk. Has she been a problem?”
General Hoi laughs once, a short staccato burst that would necessitate a reaction if it came from anyone else. I purse my lips instead.
“She killed ten guards and escaped with your soldado,” General Gradinaru says.
General Ferrer continues before I can respond. “In all your years at The Compound, you requested one single talist be trained for the Guardia. Knowing that we only accept those extremely trustworthy and malleable, why did you choose Gray Haven, the one that was sent back to us for extreme insubordination and refusal to complete a mission?”
Gray was sent back? What could he have done that would have resulted in him being sent back for execution? Why did Peony of all people come to break him out? I think back on the rally in Adelyn, remembering her presence right there near us healing that girl. She had to have seen us before that; was it her plan to get caught? Did she play on what Commander Franklin and the Generals have pieced together in order to free Gray?
How do I respond to Ferrer? I can’t tell him Gray is my son, but I have no other reason to give. I push aside my thoughts and stare him down, instead.
“Haven killed another fourteen on his way out with the girl,” Ferrer adds.
“Don’t you have another talist here at Rockwall, hidden away as your assistant?” General Lewis asks. “Was she involved?”
“Eliza couldn’t have,” I say immediately. “She was one of the first to volunteer for the serum at The Compound—”
“Did she receive the serum?” General Lewis asks.
“No, I took her on as my assistant instead. She was completely broken by the death of her sister and just wanted to survive. She is very loyal to me, to us, for giving her this life,” I respond.
&nb
sp; I gave Eliza a second chance like they gave me. She is ours and will continue to grow to be one of us, just like I did.
Clarity comes when my mind settles on that one snag: How did Peony know that Gray was here when I didn’t even know?
I think through all other possible ways that word would get out, but I would be privy to all of them. Eliza had to have used her Aer abilities to tell someone. Why they would risk Peony’s capture—let alone choose the girl to begin with—just to save Gray still eludes me. There have been plenty of Compound Talists that I’ve injected that weren’t noticed or saved.
I push those thoughts aside and return to Eliza, my little traitor. No wonder she ran; if she were innocent, she would have merely looked confused.
“I see your mind working, Crow,” Franklin says, his voice firm but not angry this time. “Do you still think your assistant trustworthy?”
I meet his gaze. He has always been fair and his tone tells me he is still ready to be. I must be honest with him; if I double down for the girl and she betrays me again, I’ll go down with her.
“No,” I respond, my voice quieter than I would have liked.
He nods. “If you administer the serum, will that change things?”
When thinking of Eliza and all she has done in these few months, I want to agree. If we take away her ability to reach out to the others, she wouldn’t have the option to rebel… but, if she told them about Gray, she was probably telling them things the entire time. Did she accept the job as my assistant for that purpose to begin with?
I scoff at myself internally. Of course she did. I brought Anza, the leader of the rebellion, the little revolutionary, into the serum group while Eliza was there. Is Anza the one she’s been relaying information to? Was she immune like some of my first here at Rockwall?
Rage heats my blood and I let it answer for me. “No, sir. She should be executed and hung.”
He turns back to the Generals. “I trust Crow’s assessment of the talists. However, if even the meekest and most trustworthy have proven themselves to be this dangerous, we need to plan for what they all have in store for us. Up until now, we’ve considered them gnats; that needs to change.”
“Yes, sir,” they all say in unison.
General Gradinaru pulls out a map and unrolls it onto the table. I catch Franklin’s eye and motion, questioning whether I should leave, but he shakes his head, allowing me to stay. I nod, humbled.
“We know that the recent attacks haven’t been the work of the citizens as we’re supposed to believe and there is a pattern to the locations of their targets,” Gradinaru says. He marks off the armories that have been attacked with Xs, also adding the Ignis that was spotted in Spring Creek. Then he circles the armories that were ignored.
“As you can see, the armories left standing are on the fringes of our land. If we can assume that they leave and return to their base for each attack, which makes sense considering the timing, then the center of the targets should determine their location,” he continues, circling an area in the center of our territory where two of the old arch lines intersect.
“One of our messengers discovered that the Caddo border station had been attacked and, now that Gray Haven escaped,” he continues, pausing to look hard at me, “the only survivor that we have access to is Cataleya Walry. Soldado Walry told me that they had been on their way to raid this location when she and Haven were returned.” He circles an area northwest of Lavon Lake.
“None of the attacks are centralized there and they’re obviously strong, so I think we should save them for later and annihilate the first location.” Gradinaru jabs where the arch lines intersect.
“Do you agree, Crow?” Commander Franklin asks. Gradinaru’s eyebrows pull together, irritated that I’ve been consulted.
“Considering the damage that General Gradinaru says the northern group can deal, I would think that the Compound Talists are at the centralized location and agree that should be our target.”
“Your serum rally where the girl was captured was in Adelyn, which is closer to the northern location,” Franklin offers. “Both escapees were able to do considerable damage like those there.”
I nod. “Yes, but if things are as they were at The Compound, then the leader of the centralized location is Anza Hartwell. The girl that attacked here, Peony, was always at her side. They would have returned there.”
He nods, accepting my assessment. “Lewis, arrange the immediate execution and hanging of Eliza Blackhaw. Gradinaru, work with Hoi and Ferrer to crush the forces at the centralized location. I want no prisoners. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
-
Eliza was executed at dawn, exactly the same way that the spy Iyin was years ago. This time I did not fear being exposed, but I did feel a twinge of loss.
I had hoped to have given her a second chance like the one I was given. She pretended to accept it, but really just used the opportunity to help her kind much the same way Barley had wanted me to. Would this have been me if I had accepted? Would I be the one standing there, awaiting my death with my chin held high?
Discovering Gray brought these feelings back to me. He ignored my attempt at giving him a second chance as well. I can only hope that he is as skilled as they say and that he survives the coming attack. I thought to tell Eliza and ask her to warn Anza, just to give my son a better chance. I easily pushed the thought aside, knowing that any preparation on Anza’s part would reflect back on me.
I closed my eyes as the shots rang out.
26
Zazi
Well past midnight, when the bar’s patrons have dwindled, Ama grabs her bag from beneath the bar and waves goodbye. The stragglers cheer for her and, when she rolls her eyes, their roar becomes laughter.
A moment later she’s back inside, brown eyes wide in fear. “What’s going on?” Kale asks, moving towards the door.
“A group of talists is attacking the Guardia station down the road!” When she says this, everyone left downs what they had left in their glasses and joins Kale at the door.
I move from table to table, my head down, collecting the empty glasses into my bin. Almost two weeks ago, the talists took Preston to the west and Adelyn to the northwest, though the latter wasn’t taken as well by the townspeople. Almost immediately, the posters showed up here in Brook.
“What do you think?” Kale had asked me, handing me the one that had hung on the outside wall of Flare. It depicted a child crying in a cage and said WE’RE HUMAN, TOO at the top.
I had pushed it away, not wanting to look at or talk about it. He didn’t bring it back up.
Patrons at the bar did. Referencing the posters, they discussed the issues. One of them illustrated roll call at The Compound, hundreds of us in rows, with a guard pointing his gun at a corpse on the ground. TRINITY LIED was written on that one.
They all spewed the propaganda that Trinity had repeated that talists are dangerous and need to be killed for our safety… until they realized that was the point. Trinity said talists needed to be exterminated, but they didn’t kill us. We were kept alive and used because most of us weren’t dangerous enough to bother killing.
We. I keep including myself, though I’m not sure if I can anymore. I’m not a talist anymore. That was taken from me and my life has only improved since then.
I stare at the T branded on top of my symbol. My life has improved because I turned away from what I was and took on the privilege of society’s default. What does that make me?
“Alive,” Kale had answered when I had allowed myself to speak those words to him. I wasn’t sure whether he implied I had dodged death carried out by Trinity or myself. I guess both would be accurate since I hadn’t followed the others after the explosion. The truth is that I don’t know if I deserve it.
I knew the attack was coming. A few days ago I caught sight of Cillian standing in the shadows of a building, visible enough that nobody would think of him as a talist but faded enough to remain unnoticed. I s
tared at him from the middle of the street and he stared back. When his eyes flicked to where my symbol should have been, he looked back at me and pressed a finger against his lips.
I didn’t tell anyone, not even Kale, but most importantly not the Guardia. Though I’ve been hesitant to pick a side in this fight, I know that means that I’ve chosen and that I am complicit.
“We’ve closed early,” I hear Kale say at the door now.
“I just want to talk to Zazi,” a voice says. I look up and Kale opens the door wider so that I can see who waits, though he keeps his arm up to block the way. I don’t remember his name, but I recognize him from The Compound and he wasn’t one of the assholes, so I nod.
He sits at the bar, but faces me as I wipe down the tables. “Can I talk in front of him?” he asks, referring to Kale.
“Yes,” I respond, not looking up.
“I’m Rob; not sure if you ever knew my name. Cillian asked me to come thank you for staying quiet.”
I nod.
“What should we expect from the townspeople here?” he asks. “I figure you have a pretty good vantage point to know, working here. We had a rough time of it up in Adelyn.”
I don’t respond, unsure of what I’m supposed to say. Do they expect me to jump in and help them like I’m a part of their group, as though I’m still one of them? Even if I wanted to go back and make different choices, I can’t.
“Were you good to him back there?” Kale asks Rob. I stop wiping and look up.
Rob shrugs. “Zazi mostly kept to himself. I never talked to him to be able to answer one way or the other, but I didn’t mess with him. I don’t think anybody did.”
Kale meets my eyes and I nod, almost unperceptively.
“Your posters helped,” Kale says. “They got people talking in here and at first they were completely against you, but the posters helped them figure shit out. What is your plan?”
Rob nods, accepting the question. “We are starting to take over towns and installing teams of four talists, one per element, in each. The goal is to establish ourselves, reduce Trinity’s reach, and get the public on our side.”
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