by Elodie Colt
“No, I don’t have any family left,” she answered impassively. “Maybe a distant uncle somewhere in Europe or one or two cousins, but no one I’ve ever met so far.”
Jimmy nodded. “What happened to your parents?”
Bryceland sighed and rubbed her nose debating how much she should reveal. “They died in Hurricane Marlene in Florida when I was thirteen.”
I didn’t miss Jimmy’s fearful flick of a glance in my direction, although I was hidden behind shaded glass which only allowed observation from one side. Hopefully, Bryceland hadn’t noticed.
Hurricane Marlene was one of the few natural disasters that had been the work of a Natural. Eyewitnesses had claimed they’d seen a woman on top of a cliff screaming in agony with hands lifted to the heavens before the monster storm hit home. It had hit the east side sweeping the south part of Florida full force and extinguishing the Bahamas completely along with half of Cuba.
As far as we knew, the main compound in Florida had detained all pieces of evidence to avoid a worldwide distribution of crazy conspiracy theories. How many other natural disasters were the creation of the next evolution, nobody knew. The question was if Bryceland’s parents were somehow connected to the events in Florida.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jimmy said compassionately. “So, you’ve been the only child of your parents?”
Clever move of Jimmy to phrase his underlying question. However, the look on her face could have shot daggers.
“Listen, I didn’t come here to be interrogated by you about my past including everything I’m trying hard not to be reminded of!” Her voice got louder with each word, and she slapped her hands on the surface of the table in front of her.
Jimmy stayed perfectly calm. “I know, but I need as many details as I can get. I won’t be able to help you otherwise. And I need to know everything about your heritage so that we can find possible connections.”
Bryceland was breathing rapidly in an attempt to calm down. “I already told you. I don’t have any family left,” she said brusquely and scowled at Jimmy, daring him to continue with his interrogation on this subject.
“Did you have any siblings, then?” He emphasized the past tense. It was clear that Bryceland was trying desperately to sidestep his questions, but Jimmy wouldn’t back down.
“A sister. She was killed.” Her voice broke on the last word, and she swallowed around the lump in her throat. My heart hammered in my chest, and I closed my eyes in a silent prayer. I already knew where this was going, but I still dreaded her answer. Jimmy stared at his hands for a few seconds and then back at her again.
“Was her name Shawna Bryceland?”
There were a few seconds of complete silence as we both waited for her reaction. We already suspected for them to be related, but we needed to be sure.
A familiar flash caught my eye—the Flare. Usually just a communicational function between Roes, but also a sign of an activated power. Her ability just got triggered.
This was the moment we’d been waiting for. I hoped Jimmy knew what he was doing. I could run in there and try to get a hold of her, but without knowing what her ability was, defending was difficult.
“How do you know about her?” she shouted and pushed herself out of the seat so forcefully it hit the floor with a loud clank and crashed into the nearest wall.
Now it was official—Shawna had been her sister as well as the second Natural on my list of failures. I didn’t know the girl opposite the glass panel, but we were connected deeper than I would have liked—through the deaths of our siblings.
I shot out of my seat, too, in case I needed to storm in and keep her under control. She looked dangerously close to an outburst, but then her eyes rolled slightly out of focus, and she tumbled forward. Was she going to faint? As a Racer, Jimmy could catch her quickly, but I suspected he wanted to watch what happened next.
She caught herself in the last moment. Shock spread over her face, but then her eyes found focus again. They wandered to the floor, and I followed her gaze. The tiles were cracked in one spot. It looked like two got ruined by something heavy that had crashed down from above.
“Are you all right? Do you feel dizzy?” Jimmy asked with concern.
“I’m fine! I told you I was clumsy, especially when I’m angry,” she snapped and slapped her hand on her forehead in desperation.
I scrutinized the ruined tiles where sharp edges were jutting out. I was positive the floor had been spotless before. Jimmy hadn’t noticed. We’d have to wait to see the footage later to find out what happened.
“How the hell do you know about Shawna?” she demanded to know with crossed arms, now more in desperation rather than in anger. Tears glistened in her eyes, but she pressed her lips together to prevent them from falling.
“Four years ago, we were tracking the Hunters and found out about a Natural they were chasing. Unfortunately, we came too late. We weren’t connected to the traffic system back then and didn’t have the technical equipment,” Jimmy confessed.
“How long did you know about her being my sister?” she asked downcast. Yes, it had been a wise decision to keep her in the dark about Ricky being my brother.
“We found out a few days ago, but I wasn’t sure until now.”
“So, the ones chasing me are Shawna’s killers?”
“Hunters? Yes. The same people? I don’t know.”
“What are you going to do about them?”
“Track them down before they can track us down and wipe them out. That’s what we’re doing here, and that’s why we’re training here… to be ready for battle.”
The look on her face changed from coldness to adamant resolve in the blink of an eye.
“When will I be ready?” she asked with a stronger voice than before.
I was surprised she didn’t question the moral aspects of Jimmy’s answer about killing the Hunters. She seemed to be a good and innocent girl to me, but she’d also developed a dark side, probably ever since her sister’s brutal murder. I knew the feeling all too well.
Jimmy watched her for a moment before answering. “I know where you’re going with this, Haylie, but revenge won’t bring your sister back.”
“I know,” she replied crestfallenly as her hope vanished.
“Please, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not the one to tell you that revenge is the wrong way. I’m just telling you to ask yourself what you’ll gain from revenge. If you want revenge, then take it. A lot of people in this compound lost someone close to them, and to most, revenge is the only motivation. However, it’s no use to throw yourself into battle blindly. You need to train hard, you need to know your enemy and, most importantly, you need to know yourself and your ability.” Bryceland nodded but hung her head in defeat. “I know that everything is too much for you right now, and I’m sorry I had to push you into the cold water, but I promise you that we’ll do everything in our power to help you. You can count on us,” Jimmy told her in a soothing voice.
“What did you mean ‘a lot of people lost someone close to them?’ I thought the Hunters were hunting Naturals?”
“Naturals are certainly their priority, but they also hunt everyone who’s not on their side.”
That was only half-true, but I understood Jimmy’s hesitance, especially after Bryceland’s outburst. She would learn soon enough that the Hunters were also haters of regular society, meaning everyone who wasn’t a Roe. In their opinion, they weren’t worth living on this planet. Thankfully, their numbers weren’t large enough to act in bigger operations, though none of us knew how many wars in this world had been their doing.
“All right. Your classes will begin tomorrow. Scott will go through the schedule with you in the morning.”
“Can I leave the compound? Or am I caged in here now for the time being? I could use some fresh air.” Her voice trembled, as well as her fingers which she tried to hide with shoving them into her jeans pockets. She’d gone eerily pale over the last half hour.
“Of
course. You can use the back exit, it leads to a cemetery. I’ll show you the way.”
~~~
“What do you think?” Jimmy asked when he returned and perched on my desk.
I swallowed the last drops of my protein shake. “That life fucked her hard.”
Jimmy huffed a dry laugh. “Yeah, you could say that. Did you see the Flare?”
“Yes, and as far as I saw, it caused her to stumble.”
“Haylie told me she was suffering from coordination problems and was clumsy all the time, which is why she started with sports.”
I glanced at him in confusion. “Clumsy? I saw her jumping over a staircase and land like a panther.”
“I know. I don’t understand it either.”
“That wasn’t just clumsiness in there,” I explained and pointed to the meeting room. “Her power took over, and she lost her body control for a moment. See the broken tiles on the floor?”
Jimmy leaned in closer to the monitor. “What happened there?”
“I don’t know, but I swear the tiles were just fine this morning.”
“Maybe she made a cut with the chair?”
I shook my head. “That wasn’t the first time someone lost control in there and knocked something over in a rage.” I would know—already ruined a chair or two in there. “Wanna try to smash the chair on the floor? I’ll bet you won’t even make a scratch.”
“Do you think it was her?”
I shrugged. “Only one way to find out.” Resting my fingers on the keyboard, I sought through the footage on the computer.
“She thinks she’s clumsy, but maybe she’s not. Maybe she’s losing her balance every time her power comes up. It would explain a lot.”
When I found the right file, I pressed play. “See, the tiles are whole,” I observed.
We watched closely to what had happened only minutes before—Jimmy’s question about her sister, her outburst, her stumble, and then the tiles cracked. I zoomed in and played the recording again. The fissures appeared directly under her shoe.
“It was her. She cracked the tiles with her foot,” Jimmy muttered in surprise.
“And what power should that be? Please, don’t tell me it has something to do with earthquakes,” I mumbled. If she were a Natural who had control over the element of earth, she was a ticking time bomb in this underground compound.
“No idea, but we’ll figure it out.”
“Why did you allow her to leave, anyway? She could run away for all we know,” I wanted to know. I didn’t think it was safe to leave her alone after such a short time.
“She’s a Natural, Dylan. She belongs out there with nature. The compound will become a cage for her, and I need her to feel relaxed and comfortable. Otherwise, everything could backfire.”
~~~
I packed my things to leave the compound for a smoke I desperately needed. I sometimes felt caged in myself, although I was no Natural.
When I exited the compound, though, I found I wasn’t alone. Shit, I thought Bryceland was already back inside.
Great. I chose this spot to have my privacy, and except for a few nights when Jimmy would come up, the place was void of any human beings. Not so now, because I could see Bryceland near the forest kneeling in front of…
Ricky’s grave.
I came to an abrupt halt frozen in the motion of putting the cigarette into my mouth.
She was crying. She didn’t make a sound at first, but I saw her shoulders shaking. Lifting her hand, she traced the lines of the engraving in the makeshift headstone I’d created for my brother.
“I’m s… sorry…”
I was barely able to hear her words from where I stood, but the wind somehow carried her voice in my direction.
“You were too young. Shawna was too young. I should have protected you both. I’m sorry. So, so sorry…”
The outstretched hand was trembling and moved in front of her mouth. She hung her head while crying silently, whipping her body back and forth as if trying to soothe the pain.
At that moment, my hate for her crawled to the back of my mind for the time being. I felt like I was invading a private moment, but there was still a tiny part of my brain that couldn’t forgive her. I battled with myself between letting her be and pushing her away from the holy spot that was Ricky’s resting place. In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to do the latter, so I put the cigarette back into the pack and leaned against the tree trunk, waiting.
Every sob, every cry, every whimper felt like a hot knife in my stomach, each one even more unbearable than the last. I closed my eyes to keep the pain in check, mourning for my brother, her sister, and maybe also for herself.
Minutes passed, and rain started to fall from the gray sky. It felt like the earth mourned with her. The slow drizzle became heavier, and soon she was kneeling in mud soaked from head to toe. She didn’t seem to notice.
Just as I couldn’t bear it anymore and was close to pulling her away to get her inside, she rose and stared a few more moments at the headstone in front of her.
“I kept my promise. I’m here now, Ricky,” she mumbled.
I took the chance to close the distance between us until I was standing behind her.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said in a low voice but loud enough for her to take the underlying warning.
She whipped around as her eyes darted up to mine, a startled expression on her face. Raindrops fell from her hairline down her lashes, running over her cheeks. For a few seconds, I was lost in her eyes that were still glistening with the tears she’d shed.
They looked like the colors of autumn surrounding us—warm browns with golden specks coming from a burning orange with a yellow tint around the pupil and fading to a deep chocolate brown on the outside. It was like the tears turned the shades into a vivid pool of swirling, hypnotizing colors, and I had to blink a few times to prevent from drowning in them.
I didn’t know what kind of reaction I’d expected—maybe fear, maybe hatred, maybe no reaction at all. But her eyes were questioning, watching me intensely and searching for answers I couldn’t give her.
“Ricky… Ricky Dwight?”
Her words were barely a whisper, emotion squeezing the air out of her lungs. At first, I didn’t know what she meant, but then it hit me—Ricky’s full name was engraved on the headstone.
But hang on, she didn’t know my surname. I’d never told her, but… fuck, Jimmy had. He’d introduced us all the day before which meant she now knew what I wanted to keep a secret for her sake. Or my own.
I didn’t say anything, couldn’t say anything. What was there to say? Yes, he was my brother, and you’re responsible for him lying buried under the earth. It didn’t feel right somehow, although the words were burning on my tongue.
My silence was confirmation enough, and she swallowed hard. She crossed her arms, and I braced myself for an accusation about why I hadn’t been truthful with her in the first place. I was already thinking about how to fire back an answer when she said in a deadpan voice, “You should have killed me when you had the chance…”
And with that, she stepped around me and headed back into the compound leaving me baffled and with the echo of her words in my mind.
The annoying sound of the alarm brought me out of a deep but restless sleep. Horrible dreams had haunted me causing me to drift in and out of dreamland…
I stood in the cemetery. A storm built up swirling leaves and debris off the floor, giving the place an even scarier atmosphere. Ricky’s pleading eyes shined back at me as he floated out of his grave, transparent like a ghost.
“You didn’t protect me… You didn’t save me… You… failed…” he cried over and over, advancing on me until I recoiled. I tried to tell him I was sorry, that I’d done everything in my power to save his life, but no words came out as if someone had cut my vocal chords.
Then, Ricky’s appearance changed. He grew long blond hair, his eyes changed to a soft gold, and his body morphed into a more feminine
one. I recognized the girl in front of me before the face had completely transformed.
Shawna. My little sister.
“You failed,” she repeated the same words dripping malice and loathing.
“You failed them both,” a voice cutting like a sharp blade through my heart made me whip around.
Dylan stood behind me—angry, dangerous, and predatory—his broad chest heaving with rage, his stormy eyes flashing a dark red instead of the appion I’d become used to, making me shiver in fear.
All of a sudden, Shawna clapped her hands together, and the earth broke apart crumbling under my feet until I fell into an endless depth.
I put my head into my hands and took a few breaths to calm my racing heart, Dylan’s diabolic red eyes still branded into my retinas.
He had every right to hate me. I wouldn’t react differently if our places were switched. And God, that moment when I read Ricky’s full name on the headstone… everything got dragged to the surface again until I couldn’t control my emotions anymore.
I’d cried. Cried for everything that had happened, cried for every failure that made up my miserable existence, cried for every loving soul I’d lost. I hadn’t cried for so long except for the single tear I’d shed when saying goodbye to Lauren.
Lauren… God, I missed her so much. What I wouldn’t give to run back into Lauren’s welcoming arms and tell her everything. Maybe I should do just that.
I took my phone from the nightstand and was already in the process of dialing Lauren’s number, but before I could connect the call, a knock on the door interrupted me.
“Y… yes?” I cleared my throat around the emotions that still seemed to choke me.
“Good morning, sunshine. Scott here. Jimmy asked me to talk to you before class. Can I come in?”
“Uh, sure.”
The door opened and blond dreadlocks popped in. Scott smiled when he saw I was still in bed. “Sorry to wake you.”
“No worries, I was already awake,” I replied with a forced smile.
“Wow, you look bad,” Scott discreetly stated when he closed the door behind him. The comment was the opposite of a compliment, but it made me laugh nevertheless.