Sleep

by Deborah Anne-Marie Palmer

  Lys hesitated. She might not have been clairvoyant, but even she knew that whatever was going to upset her was waiting at the send-off. She briefly wondered if this was what Rosie went through all the time. "Okay." she decided to face whatever was coming.

  Once they reached the designated departure point, Tilda instantly found her cousin and exchanged her good-byes. Lys warily scanned the crowd of volunteer rebels and their loved ones, waiting to see what could set her off. At first she didn't recognize anyone, apart from a few of her 'Mazing' colleagues wishing their older relatives well. Of the rebels who had come to their town, she only recognized Polly, naturally, and a young man she thought might be called 'Watts'. She almost released a sigh of relief, and then she saw him.

  Chapter 11

  "Mason?" his only response was to flinch. "Mason! Look at me!" At this point Polly noticed her too. She signaled a few people, who created a telekinetic construct around the group. "No! Wait! Mason!!! Talk to me! You can't just leave!! Mason!" without even thinking, she created her own construct, determined to follow.

  "Hold her!" she heard as she almost caught up with the ascending group. Immediately, she felt herself restrained by three levels of telekinetic bonds. She struggled with all her might, yet she did not have the power to overcome three telekinetics. Futilely, she stretched her arm out as she watched the rebels launch themselves through the forcefield that surrounded Gentry. Mason never looked back.

  Only after she had lost sight of them, did she give up her struggle. As if on cue, the bonds that held her in place brought her back to the ground. The people who had restrained her appeared to be Tilda, Cove, and a girl she vaguely remembers being called lra. Among them stood Rosie, who undoubtedly told them to hold her in the first place. Lys took a deep breath as she approaches her. Despite being overcome with a slew of emotions, she makes it a point to remain silent as she passes the other girl. After a few steps, Rosie falls in line with her. She remains silent as well. They walk like this for minutes, until they wind up at the still abandoned Power Core. Lys flexes her fingers as she looks at the waste left behind from the rebels and previous Amps perfecting their abilities. She feels the need to do something, but is not sure if she should trust herself in this state of mind.

  "Do it."

  "AAARG!!!" she screams as she launches a boulder towards the building that houses the Core. The boulder shatters, but the building is in no worse condition than before.

  "Keep going."

  "Why did you stop me?!" she yells as she semi-subconsciously throws a drone part towards her counterpart. Rosie doesn't even flinch.

  "I had no choice. If I let you go, you would have never returned."

  "Then why didn't you warn me?"

  "Because it would have made no difference."

  "I could have told him that it was dangerous. That he could die. He would have listened to me."

  "You know that's not true."

  "So, you're going to let him die just because you don't want me to die? Do you know how selfish that is?!"

  "Yes! I know!!!" It's not the fact that Rosie's angry that surprises her, but that she raised her voice. It actually softens her own indignation. "I try to help you, I try to help everyone. Yet, despite my powers, I'm just a selfish little girl. A little girl who doesn't want to lose her best friend. So even though I know I don't have a lot of time left, I stick to you. I know, those weeks where I avoided you might speak to the contrary, but that was only because of this moment. As soon as Raye started talking about the rebels, it brought me to this moment here. Sure, there were other moments surrounding this, but this was the hardest. This is the first time I don't know for sure what will happen. Because I knew that if I kept you from going with him, kept you alive, I would wind up here. And depending on how you felt, I could lose your trust completely. Hell, even If you do forgive me, I would still lose something. But I still did it. Because I don't know what I'll do without you. And if there's a chance I could stay by your side just a little longer, there's nothing that would stop me."

  "Rosie ..."

  "However, as much as you mean to me. I would never prevent you from saving him. Because I know how much he means to you. I don't know why. I've spent almost the same amount of time with the Selle's as you did with him, and yet I don't feel as strong an attachment to them as you do to him. So if I knew he wasn't returning, I would never hide it from you. So even if you don't want to have anything to do with me after today, you should at least be assured that he will return."

  "... You swear?"

  "Yes."

  "Will he be hurt?"

  "Not this time."

  "This isn't the only time?!"

  "Are you really surprised?"

  Lys thought about it for a second and couldn't fool herself into thinking otherwise. She didn't know if Rosie had heard the conversation Mason had with his sister, but knowing how devoted he was to Polly was all she needed to know.

  "Is there anything I can do?"

  "There is. But I don't know the details yet. I could ask the clairvoyants ..."

  "Don't. As angry as I am with you, I don't want to subject you to those creeps. I'll settle for you guiding my decisions."

  "So ... How are we?"

  "... We'll talk when Mason returns."

  She spent the next four days reading. Nothing too complex, mostly just words Mason had taught her. These included a few names, some food items, and the word 'book'. Sometimes she would look through one of the books he had given her to practice, see if she could spot a word she recognized, or try to sound some new ones out. She never got far with writing. Always grew tense when her letters didn't look quite right. On the fourth day, Rosie lead her outside. She tried not to run, still wary of what she would find. Rosie had taken some time out of each day to reassure her that he would return unharmed. Yet, something in her tone made her doubt she was getting all the information. When they arrived at the reception point of the town, the group entered the sphere almost simultaneously. Once the TK construct landed, Lys immediately scanned them to find Mason. Within seconds she had her sights on him. He was holding his sister up, who seemed to have injured her upper arm. He looked unhurt physically, yet seemed more damaged than Polly. She takes her eyes of him for a moment, to mutter her thanks towards Rosie, then determinedly walked towards the siblings.

  "Polly, I need to talk to your brother."

  "Geez kid, can it wait? We just got here, and we need a spell to catch our breaths."

  "I'm not asking." she snaps, already forming a construct beneath her feet.

  "You're girlfriend's weird, Mase."

  He's only response to that quip is to scowl at her, and for that second his weariness dissipates. "I'll be back later."

  "I'll find someone to fetch you, once you're done." She noncommittally responds. She salutes to him glibly as they take off, which causes her to wince. It is the first time she indicates that she can feel her injury. Lys takes them to one of the landing platforms in complete silence. When they land she looks to him expectantly, waiting for him to finally acknowledge her. He sighs before he allows himself to look at her again.

  "So, what do you want to talk about?"

  Chapter 12

  Lys gathers her thoughts before she responds. "Are you hurt?"

  Mason lets a humorless chuckle escape him. "I somehow expected an angrier question."

  "I've been angry for the past few days. Now I'm just tired."

  "Me too." He responds as he takes a seat on the edge of the platform. Lys joins him before she speaks again.

  "So are you?"

  "No, I'm not hurt."

  "But you're not okay."

  "... You're not wrong."

  "Is this really what you wanted to do? What you want to keep doing?"

  "This isn't about what I want."

  "So you don't want to do this. And I don't want you to do this. So why are you doing it?"

  "Because I need to."

  "They got plenty of recruits wh
o actually want to go, why do you need to do this?"

  "My sister ..."

  "Your sister is not an acceptable excuse!"

  "... Do you know how we got separated?" she thinks about telling him that she doesn't care, but swallows her words instead. "We were going through some Haven trash. Those people live in such excess, that they through their food out. Not even because it's spoiled, just because it's too much. So the braver foragers tend to route through it. The only reason we learned to read, was so that we could tell the difference between the real waste and the simply wasted. However, that had not been enough for me. I just loved it, putting the letters together and bringing out meaning. So despite Polly telling me not to bother, I had taught myself how to read more then the basic words we needed for survival. And on that night, I paid for my selfishness." He took a break to gather himself. "That night while we were searching for food, I came upon a few books. I was surprised, since I assumed all Haven literature was digitized, and yet here they were, still in mint condition. And they had been thrown out. I searched for another bag in the heap so that I could secure them. The heaps get destroyed for energy and I just thought it was a pity to leave them there. I think my sister rolled her eyes." A chuckle. "It didn't take long for us to gather the food we needed, but there were so many books. I couldn't bring myself to leave any of them. We were pushing our time limit, but I didn't care. Then suddenly, I heard barking." he shudders before he goes on. "We were out of time, and their first response to intruders is always to send their deranged mutts. We tried to hide, but we knew they would find us too. Simply running for the fences wouldn't help either, as they would probably catch us before we made it. So Polly decided to act as bait. She handed me her bag and told me to run as soon as she's taken the dogs away from me. I told her I would do it, that it was my fault and that I didn't want her to do this. That's when she snapped and said, 'Maybe if you did what you have to, instead of what you want, then we could have walked out of here safely.'" a sigh. "I did what she told me. Her plan worked; the dogs never came near me. And that was the last time I saw her before getting here." He takes another break to swallow, before continuing. "I can't say no to her, not anymore. I've had three years to do what I wanted. And I've been miserable. I promised myself, I wouldn't put my needs before my duties anymore. And besides, this is important to me too in a way. If we can incapacitate the Havens, then other families, other siblings, won't have to live in such fear. Won't get separated, or destroyed. If I help, I can prevent that from ever happening to someone again."

  "What about me?" She interrupts. He looks at her curiously before she explains. "I mean what I did. I spent a large amount of my life living like an animal so I could save people. I had no choice but do what I had to do. Isn't that enough? Do you really need to go and start some kind of fight?"

  "You have no idea, how grateful I am to you. But like you said, you were there for most of your life. You and the other shore children shouldn't have to do that either. You shouldn't have to wonder why you live in a cage while other children point and stare at you. Or not know the difference between water and acid. Or witness a starved boy bludgeon a dog to death on your first night of freedom." He says this as he puts his hand on hers. "Polly doesn't want to conquer the Havens. She just wants to frighten them. Cow them into leaving us alone. This way we wouldn't have to hide our paths, we could freely bring other refugees here, without interference from their dogs or what have you. So yes, I don't want to do this. Yes, I'm extremely scared, but even though I'm afraid, I can live with that fear knowing how much I'm helping in the long run. Do you understand?" Lys shakes her head a little.

  "Not really, but I think I will." She stands up. "Ready to go down?"

  ___

  Once they're back on the ground, they are soon met by one of the rebels who leads Mason away to his new home. Lys wonders if they have a clairvoyant in their group as well. As she thinks about this she runs into Rosie. "I've made one of the rebels move Mason's things. I hope that's okay."

  "It's fine." she responds listlessly. "How long?"

  "A month."

  "Will he return?"

  "Yes."

  "Will he be hurt?"

  "Yes."

  "... if I tell him will it change his mind?"

  "... No."

  Lys sighs. "I thought so."

  The month passed relatively peacefully. Lys tried to find some kind of routine in her dread. With the secret out, Mason began involving her in his life a little more. He made it a point to spend some time with her everyday, so they wouldn't lose touch after he had moved away. Sometimes, he would even have time for lessons. Once they were done socializing, they would walk back to his home, where Polly would greet them with a snide comment. These comments irritated Mason, and confused Lys. After that, all that was left for her to do was wander around until night time, when she would join her friends in a 'Mazing' tournament, or some other game, or simply train. During her daytime wanderings she would ask some people about the Power Core. During one such day she ran into Cove.

  "I don't suppose you know anything about the Power Core?"

  "Sorry. I might have been born here, but my family were originally refugees."

  "Oh, I had no idea."

  "Yeah ..."

  "... is everything alright, Cove?"

  "Yeah, it's fine. I'm just a bit worried."

  "About the Rebellions? Did your family join?"

  "My cousins and older brother, yeah. They're fine now, but they don't have powers. They're going to head out again and I don't know if they'll come back."

  "Makes you wish you could do something, doesn't it?"

  "Like what? Join up so I could protect them?"

  "Something like that. Or just prevent them from going."

  "How would you do that."

  "I don't know." she shrugged forlornly.

  "So ... Why are you interested in the Power Core anyway?"

  "I can't really explain it. But you know how we always wind up going in that direction, without even thinking about it?"

  "Yeah?"

  "I just got this feeling, that there's something really important I need to find out. Something that could change everything. And I think I've had it ever since I got here."

  "Huh." was all he said as he got on his way. Unfortunately, this was the most information she got about the Power Core.

  Ty and Raye would always ask about Mason's well being, but Mia tended to avoid the subject. Although, she always made it a point to leave some soothing tea blends for Lys to take once she overheard that he was having trouble sleeping. So between reading, wandering, 'Mazing', and tea, the time for the rebels second strike was upon them. This time Lys accompanied Mason to his send-off. "I'm glad I get the chance to say goodbye this time."

  "Again, sorry about that. But to be fair, I doubt you really wanted to say goodbye then."

  "You're not wrong." They share a short laugh before the heavy mood overtakes them again.

  "Rosie says you're going to get hurt. If possible, could you try to prove her wrong?"

  "I'll do my damnedest. Thanks for the warning."

  "My pleasure ... Goodbye, Mason."

  Mason is silent before bending down and kissing her forehead. "See you soon, Lys." He then turns to join his group. Watts whistles amusedly as he comes towards them, and gets punched in the arm for his troubles.

  "Ouch!" Watts cries perturbed.

  "Knock it off." Polly said stoically

  "You make fun of him all the time."

  "I'm sorry, did you suddenly become his sister?"

  "No, I would make a terrible you." This is the last part of the conversation Lys hears, before the volunteer telekinetics throw up their constructs, and head for the forcefield. This time, Mason waves as they leave the sphere. Lys is about to set off in some random direction when Rosie comes up to her and takes her hand.

  "Will you take a walk with me?"

  "Where are we going?"

  "I'm not sure
, but I know you've been curious about something and today is the day you find out more about it, provided you go where I take you."

  "Then lead the way, my friend." the two hop along blissfully, almost like regular children. Lys can tell it's an affectation, because despite her behavior, her movements have a weariness to them. She had tried to ask her what was troubling her, but Rosie didn't know how to explain it.

  "At this point, I'm not sure what will happen." she would say. "All I know is that I'm going to be lonely." Lys shook these thoughts out of her head once she saw them approach someone. It was an elder woman sitting on a bench, watching some telekinetics fish. Rosie sat herself beside her, and beckoned Lys with her eyes to do the same. Once she had taken a seat Rosie nudged her. "Talk to her." she whispered. Lys looked back at her friend uncertainly, then cleared her throat.

  "Good day, ma'am." she began. "Mind if we keep you company?"

  "You can do whatever you want."

  "Thank you." some silence. "... Sooo, have you lived here long?"

  "My whole life."

  "So you must know a lot about, Gentry."

  "Eh, not that much. By the time I was born, Gentry was long underwater. But my grandmother, now she was here before that."

  "Gentry was not always under water?"

  "No. In fact, this entire section of the ocean used to not exist. It was just a valley back then. Or that's what my grandmother said."

  "So what happened?"

  "I'm not sure. Grandy used to tell me and my brothers stories about old Gentry, but we usually drowned them out. Grandy, bless her, was a sweet old woman, but she could not tell a story. Either way, I think there was some kind of struggle. A battle or something, I think. Things were looking dire, but then something amazing happened and we had this force field, and then we were safe."

  "What was so amazing? Did somebody finally build the Power Core?"

  "I think so? It's strange, the way Grandy would tell us made it sound like the Power Core wasn't so much built, as built around."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well, the one thing I remember clearly from Grandy's stories is this phrase: The Core lives. Now, what on earth do you think that could mean?"