by Sara Daniell
I’m actually envious of Darren Sully. I would’ve saved him if I could have, but if he was as miserable as I am, I’m sure he would’ve been mad if I did.
“That is disclosed information.”
I scoff. “Of course it is.”
For several awkward seconds, our eyes burn into one another. Both wanting to look away but for some unexplainable, bullshit reason we can’t. It becomes so unbearable that I feel like I might burst. Finally, I gain control over my eyes and quickly point them anywhere but on him.
“I’ll talk your way out of this one,” he whispers right before he stands up. “What you’re about to do is enough punishment.”
I look up at him. “What am I about to do?”
“Felix is here. Your first job is to make him forget you. Remember, you don’t know who he is. If you-”
“Okay!” I shout as I clench my fist tight. “Just stop talking,” I say a bit quieter.
He nods, tells me I have ten minutes, and then leaves the room. When he closes the door, I scream at the top of my lungs as I wrap my arms tightly around myself. I only have ten minutes to come up with a plan. I have to get back to the place where I’m in constant survival mode. Always prepared, never intimidated, and most definitely not backed into this metaphorical corner that the Constable have me in.
Think, Orion. Think.
The door opens, and white suits grab me by both arms. I let them. I keep a steady pace with them instead of trying to drag behind like I normally do. I study the mask of the one to my left and notice how shielded it is. Holy shit. It’s blocking mind control. It has to be.
I continue to keep a steady pace with them because the more we walk, the closer I am to Felix and Mom. We stop in front of a door that is labeled “Holding Room.” I take a deep breath when the door opens.
I see Kyle sitting at a large table alone. I’m seated beside him; then the white suits stand by the door and guard it.
“What are you doing in here?” I whisper.
“To make sure you do your job and to do it for you if you fail,” he whispers back. He grabs my hand underneath the table and squeezes it. I’m not sure how to react so I just let him.
“Do you trust me?” He asks quieter than a whisper.
I shake my head. “I have no idea how to do this. I haven’t been shown how.”
“It’s as easy as thinking.”
I raise a brow. “That’s all? I just think it, and it happens?”
He nods. “And you have to make eye contact.”
The doors open, and Felix is brought in. I wait for Mom to come in next, but she never does. The door shuts loudly; then Felix is escorted by one of the white suits while the other remains by the door. When Felix sees me his eyes widen. I let go of Kyle’s hand and grip my knees with both hands. I have a plan, but by the look on Kyle’s face, he does too.
Felix sits down across from me. My whole body starts to tremble.
“Orion?” he says in shock.
I stare blankly at him. Okay… If I have mind control and I’m supposed to make him forget, then I could also make him do whatever I want. He starts to open his mouth, but I stare into his eyes and demand in my mind that he remains silent. He closes his mouth. It shocks him so badly that he stands to his feet and goes to pound his fist on the table, but I lock my eyes on his again and tell him to sit with my mind. He sits, and his body starts shaking. I try to get over the shock that I’m actually doing this and concentrate.
Keep your eyes on mine. Pretend like you don’t know me. I’m going to get out of here, Felix. I swear to you I am. When I tell you, you can speak; you only ask where you are and who we are. Don’t act scared or angry. No crying. I love you. Now, speak.
He swallows hard then looks at Kyle and me. “W-where am I? Who are you? What am I doing here?” He stands up and looks around in confusion.
Kyle looks at him. “Felix, we need you to sit.”
I look at Kyle, and he motions with his eyes to the white suits by the door. I furrow my eyebrows as I try to figure out what he’s referring to. He does it one more time then turns his attention to Felix. Sage and I could communicate like this. One look and I knew what she was saying. But I don’t have that same connection with Kyle. We have no connection at all. So, how the hell am I supposed to know what he’s trying to tell me?
I watch the white suits as Kyle asks Felix questions. It’s so hard to concentrate when my brother is inches from me. I study them and rack my brain, but nothing comes to mind until one lifts up his mask a little to scratch his nose. If I could get the masks off I could compel them. But how?
Suddenly, Felix starts yelling at the top of his lungs. He starts flipping chairs and tries to turn the table over. The white suits run over and tackle him to the ground. Kyle looks at me, and we both immediately jump on the white suits and remove their masks. I grab the dark shaggy hair of the man beneath me and pry his eyes open as he fights me. I lose my grip on him when he shoves me off then jumps on top of me. I still hold his mask in my hand and grip it tightly as he tries to get a hold of it.
I watch his eyes as I fight against him, and the moment he looks into mine, I react.
Look at my eyes. He stares at me. Let go of me. He releases me. If you have a weapon, give it to me. He reaches in his pocket and hands me a syringe full of green liquid. I take it and put it in my pocket. You won’t tell anyone about this, and you won’t leave this room until Kyle, Felix, and I do. He sits on the floor by the other guy in the white suit.
“Orion, their clothes!” Kyle yells in a hurry. He starts undressing the guy he tackled. I sit frozen, watching him. “Orion!”
Shit, he’s serious. I scramble to my knees and start undressing the other. Kyle starts taking off his clothes, and I take off mine. We both hurry into the white suits and put the masks over our faces. I remember the syringe and take it from the pocket of my pants I took off and stick it in my new pocket. He instructs Felix to walk with us, and we hurry to the door.
“Walk slow. I know a way out,” Kyle says quietly as he opens the door.
We walk slowly with Felix behind us. I feel like I can’t breathe. I make every turn Kyle does, and soon we make it to double doors. He opens them, and we walk down another long hallway. We walk up to another set of double doors that require a key. My heart sinks to my feet. We’re screwed.
To my surprise, Kyle pulls a key from his pocket and opens it. There’s no time for questions so I just follow. I look over my shoulder to make sure Felix is still behind us, and he is. We keep walking until we make it to a single door. I look at Kyle.
“Run.”
He slings the door open, and I run. I have no idea where I’m going except straight. I hear footsteps keeping up with me and pray that it’s Felix and Kyle. I’m not looking back. I have to focus on getting away from here. I stop when I come to a fence. I turn and see Felix breathing heavily, waiting for me to do something. I don’t see Kyle, but I can’t let that distract me.
I pull the mask from my face and start climbing the fence. “Felix! Hurry!”
He starts to climb, and my heart pounds in my ears as I crave the other side of the fence. Once we make it to the top of the fence, I swing my leg over and try to find support but fall the whole way down instead. I look up and groan as I hold my side that’s piercing with pain and watch Felix climb the rest of the way down.
He holds out a hand and helps me up. My side is burning, but I have no time to concentrate on that. We have to go. I take Felix’s hand, and we run like hell.
We run through open fields because there are no trees or houses or anything for miles to hide in. We’re easy targets, but I don’t let that slow me down. If anything, it is motivation to keep running.
“Damn, Sis; I can’t go any further. I need to catch my breath for a second.”
Felix slows his pace behind me until he’s completely stopped. I curse under my breath and stop as well. I walk over to him, and tears pool in my eyes.
“Please, we have
to go. We can’t-” I stop when his arms wrap around me.
I freeze and wince as he puts pressure on my side, but the pain is forgotten for a moment when I concentrate on him. I almost forgot what an embrace from someone who cares about me feels like. It feels foreign when I lift my arms to embrace him. It feels good. We stay in the embrace for several seconds until he pulls away and looks at me.
“Okay, now let’s run some more.”
He kisses the top of my head, and we run. When we finally make it to the edge of some woods, I shake my head.
“They’ll expect us to be in there. Maybe we should stay in the open,” I say breathlessly as I sit down.
He sits down beside me and wipes sweat from his brow. He nods as he catches his breath.
“Okay.” I can tell he is hesitant but doesn’t argue.
I pull my knees to my chest and put my head in my hands as I breathe through the pain. I lift my shirt to look at the stitches which are still intact, just red and swollen. I pull my shirt back down and look at Felix.
He lies back in the grass. “What’s the plan, Sis?”
I want to bitch at him about lying down, but I can’t. I know we need a short break.
“Stay here? Run some more? Hell if I know. Right now I just need to be able to breathe so I can think.”
He turns his head to look at me. “I can’t believe I’m looking at you right now.”
I lie back in the grass beside him and look at the sky. “You shouldn’t be with me. I’m trouble, Felix.”
“You’ve always been trouble. I knew what I was getting myself into when I ran with you.”
I turn my head to look at him. “No. You have no clue what you got yourself into. And what about Mom? You know we can’t go back to our house.”
“What about Mom?”
I raise a brow at him. “She will freak.” He shakes his head and looks at me seriously.
“How can she when she’s dead?”
I sit up. “W-what?”
“She killed herself a few weeks after Dad died.”
I look at him and blink. I should probably cry, show some sort of remorse, but I don’t think I’m capable of anything at this moment except figuring out a way to get Felix and I out of this shit alive. I don’t have time for emotions that won’t change a damn thing. Mom is dead, and tears won’t fix it. I lie back down in the grass and close my eyes. I feel the side of my shirt lift up and smack Felix’s hand away.
“What happened?”
“I was stabbed. Can we talk about something else?” He wants to argue so badly but doesn’t.
He sighs heavily as he nods. “Like what?”
“Something normal.”
He lies down beside me and looks at me. “There’s one problem.”
“And what would that be?”
“Nothing is normal. Not anymore. And honestly, I don’t think it ever has been.”
I laugh. “If you could define normal, what would it be?”
He thinks for a second and grins. “Mom’s lasagna.”
“Hell yes. And that Oreo dessert she would make with sugar and that white fluffy stuff.”
“Cream cheese.”
I sigh. “Heaven.”
He laughs and nods. His expression then turns serious. “So, not even a hint as to how you were stabbed and what has been going on all these years?”
I stare at him. Where do I even begin? I run my hand through my hair and shake my head. “Not yet. I just want to focus on figuring out our next move.”
“Can I say something without you getting pissed?”
I half-grin. “Maybe.”
“I really think being out in the open is a bad idea. Yes, they will expect us to be hiding in the woods, but it’ll still make it harder for them to find us.”
“I guess nowhere is safe. Let’s go.”
We stand to our feet and start walking. I feel something rubbing against my leg and feel in my pocket. The syringe. I pull it from my pocket and show Felix.
“What is that?”
I shrug. “Not sure. When I compelled the white suit to give me his weapon, this is what he handed me.” I put it back in my pocket. I tug a little at the suit I’m wearing. It fits tight but not as tight as it did on the guy that was wearing it. One thing’s for sure, it’s uncomfortable.
“So, you really have mind control?”
I look at Felix in his eyes. Poke yourself in the eye. He pokes himself in the eye then curses. I laugh.
“I’m still in shock myself.”
He rubs his eye. “Seriously? You couldn’t have me do something, I don’t know, less painful?”
I laugh again. “Sorry, it was the first thing that came to mind.” My smile fades, and I stop walking.
Felix stops and looks at me funny. “Why are we stopping?”
I run my hands over my face. “Daaammmmiit.”
“What?”
I curse a few more times then look at Felix. “We lost Kyle along the way.”
“Oh shit. Should we go back?”
I shake my head and start walking again. “No. We can’t. It just dawned on me that he wasn’t with us. That’s all.” I look at Felix. “How far are we from Dandux?”
He hesitates before responding. He’s probably trying to figure out how to feel about me switching subjects and moving on like Kyle being left behind isn’t a big deal. But it’s not. Not when you’re running for your life. Literally. He rubs the back of his neck and catches up with me so he’s right beside me.
“It took about thirty minutes by car. Did you know there are such things as cars?”
I laugh coldly. “And guns, and street lights, and a bunch of-” I look at him oddly. “You said by car. They don’t have cars here.”
He nods. “Oh yes they do. I didn’t know they did until I was brought to the Constable Headquarters by one.”
“Sneaky bastards,” I mumble then look around.
It’s getting dark so it’s hard to see anything ahead of us. “If there are cars here, then there has to be a hidden road somewhere. We need to get to Dandux so I can go talk to Sage’s parents. I found out something about Sage, and I need to try to dig through her room to see if I can find anything that might help. I have a feeling she knew a lot about the Constable.”
The way Kyle, Marah, and Dex acted that night in Kyle’s room at the mention of Sage was strange. Something is up, and I’m going to figure it out.
“Okay. Let’s rest here. Then when morning comes, we can try to find Dandux. And what exactly happened to Sage? The Constable told her parents that she drowned in the river near her house.”
Images of Sage’s body, lifeless and mangled on the fence post, creeps into my mind. I don’t answer him. I don’t want to talk about it right now. Plus, I don’t want to waste time. There’s no telling what they’re doing to Kyle right now. We need to do what we have to so we can get back to help him. But Felix is right. We’re no good in the dark. We’ll just get lost.
I point to a spot ahead of us that is thick with trees. He doesn’t push the topic of Sage as we walk over. I sit down and lean against a tree.
“You sleep first, and I’ll keep watch. Then when I can’t stay awake any longer, I’ll wake you up.” Felix nods and lies down.
“This is so fucked up, Oreo.”
I smile a little. I haven’t heard my nickname in a very long time. It’s refreshing.
“You have no idea.”
I stand when I hear twigs snap in the distance. I can’t see shit. It’s way too dark. I nudge Felix in the side with my foot.
“Wake up,” I whisper in a panic.
He slowly sits up and rubs his eyes. “Wha-” he stops when I put my hand over his mouth and point in the distance. He stands up and moves close to me.
I tap his shoulder, and when he looks at me, I point up towards the tree. He shakes his head, and I nod. He shakes his head again so I grip the front of his shirt tightly. I point sternly at him with my index finger then up towards the tree again.
He starts to shake his head again, but this time I point to my eyes then to his. He looks up towards the tree and sighs. I let go of his shirt and motion for him to go first.
As we climb, I remember that Felix is deathly afraid of heights. I could climb faster if it weren’t for my side hurting and being weak. I slip on a branch, and I’m hanging by one hand. Shit! I do my best to swing myself a little to reach the next branch. I don’t look down until we’ve reached as far as we can go. I find a sturdy branch to sit on, and Felix does the same.
I look at Felix. “Don’t. Look. Down. You got this, Felix. It’s going to be just fine. Just breathe,” I whisper.
I close my eyes for a second and breathe in and out, concentrating on the air filling and leaving my lungs until the pain in my side decreases. I open my eyes and look at Felix. He closes his eyes and hugs the tree. He puts his forehead against the bark and curses quietly over and over.
“How far up are we?”
I look down again, and the moon shines on the ground just enough for me to see just how high up we are. If we fell, we’d die for sure. I look at Felix.
“Not too far up,” I lie with a slight smile.
I look down when I hear footsteps beneath us. Felix looks at me fearfully. I shake my head and put my finger to my lips. He nods then closes his eyes. I watch as Hunters swarm the area beneath the tree. One, two, three... Eight... Twelve… Dammit.
I take a deep breath and hold it in. They look around then continue to walk. One drags behind and looks up, right at us. I’m not sure if he can see us or not. I press myself as close to the tree as I can get. Felix is already close to the tree so I don’t say anything to him. His eyes open, and I concentrate on them instead of the Hunter beneath us. I let out the breath I was holding, and my heart starts to beat fast, and my breathing becomes labored. I hear the footsteps move further away and look down. He’s gone. They’re all gone. I let out a sigh of relief.
“Gone,” I whisper.
Felix nods. “Can we get down?” he whispers back.
I shake my head. “Morning,” I say quietly.
He looks like he’s going to be sick but doesn’t argue.