“Calico. I know you want the Southern City to go down, I do too, but going there alone with only a small group of Morphs, isn’t the answer! You’ll get killed!” I take a deep breath. Unika is right. I know this plan won’t work, but I have to do something. “But if you want to gather Morphs to make a plan, I won’t stop you,” Unika looks at me and smiles. “I’ll help you.”
“Calico!” August says, as he and Bella come out of the Visitor Building. “Why did you leave? Where did you go?”
“I was mad. I’m tired of the Southern City, killing all the morphs. I went down to the mayor’s office this morning to tell him I wanted to help fight that city, but he called the invasion off. The Southern City doubled their amount of guards or something.”
“Understandable.” Bella says, fidgeting with her necklace. “Who is the new Mayor?”
Everybody looks at me with anticipation. “J. J. Stancy.” They all nod, looking like they approve of the city’s choice.
“Well, I gotta go. See you guys later.” Unika hugs me gently then walks in the building.
“Who was that?” August asks.
“Some Morph I met yesterday.” I answer dully. I stand here unsure what to do. It shouldn’t be awkward standing here. But something about right now seems different. I’ve known August and Bella enough to get used to them. At least a bit. Why am I so tense? “The Mayor also stopped the search parties going into the forest to look for lost Morphs. He claims the city needs the soldiers more.” I roll my eyes.
“I say we gather all the Morphs we can find in the forest and bring them all here for safety, then talk to them about the Southern City.” August blurts out randomly and leans against the wall beside me. It’s like he read my mind.
“Yeah. I’m sure they will have loads to say about the people who are going after them.” Bella replies. She rummages in her purse and pulls out a mini mirror and looks at herself in it with looks I’ve only seen in magazines. The “I’m so perfect” looks. It’s hard not to love Bella, but sometimes she’s just a little too full of herself.
My mind goes back to reality. I think of August’s idea again. Just gather all the Morphs we can find in the forest and tell them what’s happening and get them to fight the Southern City with us.
“It’s a good idea, but it seems a little unrealistic. You know? How are we supposed to get all the Morphs here?” I ask. The Morphs could think we are part of or being controlled by the Southern City and run away from us. Not trust us. Or even think we’re trying to kill them right there. I doubt they’ll stay for very long to hear us out. But I think of Bella and August. They seemed relieved to find another Morph. Maybe the others will, too?
“I don’t know, but we could go out into the woods and gather a few nearby ones? Just tell them what’s going on and try to get them here to safety.” August replies, taking me out of my thoughts.
“And that won’t be weird. What are we going to tell Mayor Stancy when we come back from the woods with a bunch of Morphs?” Bella walks in front of us. Putting her mirror back in her pocket. She has a shiny coat of lipstick on now.
“Especially now that he has a new rule that no Morphs are ever to leave the city walls anymore.” I add. Bella and August both sigh with frustration.
My mind is wandering again. It’s hard to focus on August’s reply. But I hear bits and pieces. And the last part. “We can tell Mayor Stancy before or after we leave. I’m sure he’ll understand. In fact, he’ll probably be very proud of us for bringing Morphs to safety.”
Bella rolls her eyes. Mayor Stancy might be happy for us, but he also said that we are not allowed to leave the city under any circumstances. We are Morphs and have to stay safe. I hate the rule to be honest, but I can understand why Mayor Stancy made it.
“Calico, what do you think? I don’t listen to the bear anymore.” Bella says.
I think for a moment. Should we do it? Even if Mayor Stancy disagrees? Just gather the Morphs? Should we? Yes? No? Maybe?
“I think we should do it. Just gather all the Morphs we can find and bring them here. We can discuss the other things when they’re here. But we should get them to safety.” I didn’t even know I said it until I stop talking. Did I say go back into the forest and gather all the Morphs? Back to that terrifying, trap infested forest which I used to love before the all of this mess, but now hate and loathe?
“Great! Let’s go tell Mayor Stancy!” August gets up from the wall and heads to the door.
“Wait a minute Grizzly.” Bella puts a hand on his chest and pushes him back. “We should plan this out before we go tell him anything.”
“We have a plan Birdy. Go out and get the Morphs in need of help!”
“Stop calling me a Birdy. My name is Bella! Say it with me now, Bel-la!”
“And my name is August! Au-gust!”
“Guys!” I say. All they ever do is fight, and frankly, I’m done with it today. I have enough on my plate already without these two fighting like two siblings. “We can tell the mayor tomorrow. Let’s go back to our rooms and just relax tonight, and tomorrow we can tell the mayor and go out.”
I walk past August and Bella and go into the Visitor’s Building. The warmth surrounds me as I walk to the elevators. I’m a little wet from the rain outside but I don’t care. Soon I’ll be in warm fluffy pajamas in my warm, cozy bed. The entire thought of what we’re doing tomorrow is fading away from my mind like smoke blowing away from a fan.
Chapter 31
The next morning, clouds fill the sky. Nothing but dull grey light fills my room. I’ve overslept. It’s after ten in the morning. I quickly get dressed and go down to the dining floor. I pick up a cherry muffin and go find Bella and August. Nothing is in my mind until I find them in the corner table. They are not fighting, but talking quietly, looking at a map they had spread out over the table.
“Hey.” I say.
“Hey.” Bella looks up. “We were just going over where we will go first. We were thinking the east side of the forest first, then walk around to the north and so on.”
I nod and bite into my muffin. It has a cherry jelly filling and makes my face turn bitter. I hate jelly filled anything. I pick off the actual muffin on the top instead.
“When are we leaving?” I ask. On the outside I know we’re doing this, but on the inside, I have a feeling creeping up on me telling me we will change our minds right before we leave. That we won’t do it.
“Now if possible. We will tell Mayor Stancy first then leave.” August rolls up the map and stuffs it in a bag beside him.
“What if he says we can’t?” I have a bad feeling that we shouldn’t even be going at all now.
“We’ll go, anyway.” Bella gets up and messes with her hair for a few seconds.
Before we enter Mayor Stancy’s office, we look at each other. Then August knocks.
“Come in!” The voice of the mayor alerts me a little. I know he’ll say no to us leaving. “What brings you three in?”
“We want to leave to help the other Morphs out in the forest,” August says. Very straight forward and to the point. “After we gather as many as we can find, we’ll bring them here to safety and discuss the Southern City with them.”
“It’s a kind gesture, but you can’t leave the city. You need to say here with the protection. If you leave, you are risking your lives. They might kill you going back into that forest.” I’m agreeing with Mayor Stancy.
“We know, but it’s a risk we all agree to take. We want to go out and help the other Morphs. It’s not like you’re doing anything about it.” August did not just say that. Did he?
“I’m sorry, but you cannot leave. And I’m doing everything I can to help those Morphs out there. Don’t say that I’m not doing anything.” Mayor Stancy gets up and walks around his desk to us.
“You’re not!” August, would you stop insulting the mayor!
“You are staying here and that’s final. I’m still trying to contact everyone’s families, but the Southern City
is hacking into our phone systems. Just be patient and stay in the city limits.” Mayor Stancy walks to his door and opens it for us. “I need to finish up some work. You can leave. And please, stay in the city or else I’ll send guards to watch over you twenty-four-seven.” I nod as the three of us leave.
Once we’re out of the Mansion, I feel I can breathe a little better. “We’re going anyway, aren’t we?” I say as we walk past the gates.
“Obviously,” Bella answers. “But we should gather some food before we leave. Who knows how long we’ll be out there.”
“Definitely.” August replies.
We didn’t really need to tell the Mayor anything if you think about it.” I say.
“I know, but I just wanted to get my anger towards him off my chest. He’s not doing a single thing to help, and I had to tell him that to his face.” August steps closer to me.
We go back to the Visitor Center and change into better clothing. For once, Bella is not wearing stilts for shoes. She now wears flat black boots. We all wear hoodies and packs on our backs. Before we leave, we sneak in the dining floor and sneak some food into our packs. Then we’re off. We try to look like we’re heading home from school, but it’s hard to keep our pace at a normal speed. We’re walking fast. We walk into an alleyway between a building and the wall and stack a few crates to climb over the wall. Once my feet hit the outside ground, my first thought is to climb back over the wall. I instantly feel unsafe and vulnerable out here.
“So, we can head to the river ahead and just walk around that area then head left.” August says, looking at a smaller version of the map he and Bella were looking at earlier.
I stay quiet. I know we would get in a ton of trouble if Mayor Stancy found out we are out here.
Chapter 32
I hear the rush of the river. Once we get to it, I have a strange feeling inside me. I look around but see nothing. Something, or someone, is here with us. We’re not the only three people here. I don’t feel the familiar feeling of another Morph around except for Bella and August. Although, this feeling seems a little familiar. The Hunters maybe?!
“Keep a close eye out. I think the Hunters are close.” I say to warn them. I can’t keep the fear out of my voice.
“The Hunters are here?” Bella asks with an urgent tone.
“I don’t know, but I think they’re close by. Just watch out.” I walk to the river and kneel beside it. Something is out here.
“I feel it too.” August says, looking around as he walks closer to Bella and me.
The sun is setting and casts dark golden rays of light through the trees. I love this time of day. When the sun is so beautiful, the birds are singing with loud, proud voices. But there is no sound right now. Only silence. Silence as quiet as the night. No wind to rustle the trees, no birds chirping or singing. Only the gush of water in front of me. Something is defiantly off here. The Hunters may be close.
Suddenly, Bella gives out a scream. A scream so loud I whip around as August yells, “Hey!”
I knew it! The Hunters! They’ve got Bella and fighting August. I run over to the scene, but what can I do? I’m smaller than everyone and more fragile. There’s only three Hunters, but I can see more coming. They’ve got Bella pinned against a tree and August in a tangle of arms. I try to yank the one off of Bella, but one grabs me from behind and pulls me over to a tree trunk. I kick and scream, but it’s no use. They have trained these Hunters for years. There’s no way I could ever get loose.
As my back hits the trunk of the pine, I can finally get a look at the Hunter who got me. It’s a girl who looks only about a year or two older than me. The Southern City must get desperate for Hunters now if they are recruiting much younger ones.
I hear a few beeping noises from where Bella and August are, but no shocks. I’m surprised. They usually kill the Morphs in an instant after they find out they are Morphs.
The girl holds me down with one arm as she takes out her scanner. Gosh, this girl has a strong hold! In fact, she’s crushing me a little between her arm and the tree.
She gives me a few quicks scans, and the scanner goes insane as usual. My heart is pounding so fiercely. I feel like a heart attack is on the tiny little wire of my life. My head is pounding too. Mostly from my heart, though. I can feel the beat in every inch of my body. I can hear nothing but the beat.
I look at the girl. I’m a Morph. Why isn’t she killing me? It puzzles her face, looking down at her scanner.
“Zara.” She calls, not moving an inch. Zara? The mayor? Or is that just a coincidence that another Hunter is named that?
“Right here. Why aren’t you killing them?”
“Look.” My Hunter turns slightly to the left as the mayor of the Southern City walks over to us. How can she walk in the woods with those six-inch heels? And that skin-tight red dress? But I have to admit, to my bitterness, that her hair is lovely. Looks like she cut it and curled it to look more of a twenty’s style.
She looks down at the scanner and puts on a serious face. Well, more of a serious face. Then looks up at me and back at the scanner as if it lost her in thought.
“Hold on a second.” She walks off to where Bella and August are. A few minutes later, Mayor Zara’s voice calls out, “Lock the boy and red-head up. Kill the blonde.”
Chapter 33
“NO! Please! We’ll do anything! Please don’t kill Bella!” I struggle under the girl’s grasp. I try to rip her away, but she doesn’t budge. She’s just as lean and delicate looking as I am. “Please! We’ll do anything! Just keep her alive!”
Just as I hear the hum of electricity from the shock-weapon, Mayor Zara says, “Wait. I don’t want to listen to these two whine about the blond. Lock her up with them.”
I let out a massive sigh of relief. Bella will not be killed, but could it be better than where they’re taking us?
“Come on.” My Hunter lets my chest breathe again and yanks me towards the others.
“Although, now that I think of it, I have a better idea. Bomb the boy and red-head and bring the blonde with me. Then take the two down to the cellar and I’ll meet you there.”
Bomb us? As in kill us? Explode us? My head is spinning from the new information. What does “bomb us” mean? “What does she mean?” I ask in a shaky voice to the girl. “Are you going to kill us?”
The girl stays quiet as she rummages in her brown bag by her waist.
I look at August. He doesn’t even look like himself anymore. Just an innocent boy looking down at the forest floor. A boy who looks like he’s younger than he is. A boy who looks like he gave up on the world and his life. Those innocent eyes, staring vacantly at the ground. It’s hard to look at him and not feel sympathy.
I can feel the emotions rising inside me. I can’t tell them apart, but I know for sure it’s sadness mixed with anger and fear. I look over to Bella and see tears gently falling down her cheeks. She doesn’t struggle either and just stands limply with Hunters pulling her arms back. She doesn’t look like herself either. She too looks younger and more innocent.
I pull my attention to me now. Do I look like myself? Do I look innocent? Do I look like a child being punished too? I don’t know.
The Hunter beside me looks up with two purple balls in her hand. They’re about the size of tennis balls but look like purple marbles.
The fear is overtaking me now. I gently try to loosen the grip she has on me, but the girl only tightens her grip on my arms. And gives me a quick death-defying stare. I feel a few tears run down my cheek. I focus now on my family. If I will die, at least I want my family to be the last thought in my head. I think of Aurelian and Jayce. Jericho and mother and father. What are they doing right now? Wondering if I’m okay? Or have they already moved on from me knowing that I have probably died by now? Or are they locked up by the Southern City?
I can’t bear to think about them any longer, so I look back at August and Bella. Just a girl and boy. Just an owl and a bear. Just two innocent kids.
“Okay, let’s go,” Mayor Zara snaps, interrupting my thoughts. “Bring the blonde with me. Come on.” She walks away to what looks like nowhere but the forest. But I can barely see it. Far away, there is a shape that looks like a car. I don’t pay attention to it.
“No!” Bella is yelling and struggling in Hunter’s grasp. She kicks her legs and tries to free her arms, but it’s no use. The Hunters are too strong.
“Bella!” I yell and try to get free too, but my Hunter is too strong.
“Well?” Zara says from far away. “What are you waiting for?”
My Hunter tosses one of the marble balls to the Hunters holding August. We only have time to yell ‘Bella’ one last time before the Hunters throw the balls on the ground, setting smoke free. The Hunters have small see-through masks on. The smoke smells like a campfire. That sweet and bitter smell that I’ve never really liked.
I hold my breath as the dark purple smoke crawls up to my head. It circles around us lazily and climbs up the tree trunks. I feel the grip of the Hunters loosen and then I am free of her grasp.
“Calico!” August says. I barely make out his silhouette before my eyesight blurs the slightest bit.
August walks up to me, covering his nose and mouth with his hands. I try to do the same, but I feel myself getting weaker and weaker. It’s harder to hold up my arms. It’s hard to even stand. I feel my legs shake from the fatigue and my eyesight blurs even more.
“Calico? I just want you to know. I’ll always be there for you. Even if I die, I’ll be there for you for eternity.” I barely hear him, and it doesn’t help that his voice is weak and quiet. I try to focus on August, but my legs give in and I fall hard onto the ground. It feels nice to lie on the ground. I close my eyes but open them again for fear of something. I’m not sure what. I can’t even think straight right now. I can’t think of anything. Suddenly, the thought of me being a Morph comes to mind but goes away immediately.
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