by T. Rudacille
***
“It's all very simple. Twenty-three chest compressions that keep blood circulating. ‘Rescue breathing’ into the victim's mouth in order to refill the stores of oxygen they have lost. This is First Aid 101.”
I had never been so happy to hear the voice of Brynna Olivier. I opened my eyes and saw only the darkening sky overhead. The dark purple was calming for my eyes that were hazed over with river water. The orange clouds hurt, though. I squeezed my eyes shut again to block them out.
“It was like a hydra! Do you know a hydra?” Nick was asking in a trembling yet excited voice, “But it had those tentacle things!”
“I wonder if we were to cut off its head if more would grow back? If two more heads would grow back...” Elijah mused with the same enthusiasm. I watched as their shadowy outlines swung their arms around like they were wielding swords or, if the sound effects Nick was making were anything to go by, light-sabers.
“I don't know!” Nick replied, “But I'll bet that two more would grow back!”
“Perhaps you two should try to behead that serpent and see what actually does occur? At the most, the Biblical symbolism of such an act would surely be discussed extensively by all those that heard your valiant, noble tale. At the least, it would be a thrilling event to witness for myself and your fellow comrades.”
Well, I was so glad that my almost-death was such a thought-provoking and exciting experience for them. I sat up quickly but immediately fell backwards again into someone's arms.
“Quinn!” Alice's lips were on mine quickly. Her hand was rested on my face. I forgot everything that had happened since I found her in the process of killing that native. I only knew that our whole fight had been so stupid, so I kissed her back.
“Strong woman you have got there, good sir. Completely unfazed by complete emotional and situational chaos. Even the thought that you might be done for could not sway her nobility.” Brynna came into my view behind Alice. “I am a little wary of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, so be happy that your erstwhile girlfriend was here to administer it.”
I was laughing through my fit of coughs. Alice waited until I was done, watching me the entire time with such relief on her face. I didn't know if it was just water dripping down her face or tears.
“I'm sorry.” I grasped her face. She shook her head before kissing me again.
“I love you.” She replied.
“I love you, too. Are you okay?” I asked, “Really stupid idea, Allie.”
“It was. It was so stupid!” She laughed through what I knew were tears for sure now. “I almost got all of us killed.”
“It was a valiant effort. But yes, we can all blame our near-death experience on you. We can all blame our nightmares filled with aquatic beasts on you, as well.” Brynna replied, and I watched her duck behind a tree, pulling James with her by the hand.
“I don't want to swim anymore.” Penny was telling Violet as she shook her head back and forth with wide eyes.
“Me neither. Not around here, anyway. When that thing popped up...” Violet giggled half-hysterically now as she shook with adrenaline.
“I think if I had had to pee, it would have happened right there...” Elijah replied.
“You're telling me.” Alice responded, “I'm surprised Brynna and I didn't fall over dead at the sight of it.”
“This is some place, isn't it?”
“Guys, come here!” Nick called from a few feet away. We followed his voice.
We found him standing, surrounded by the mouth of a cave; apparently, we had run parallel to the cliff as we floated downstream. I didn't want to think, even for a second, about having to climb up the steep slope.
“Well, it's either walk all the way back up the river and climb or try it this way.” Elijah told us grimly.
“Try it through the cave?!” Alice exclaimed in shock.
The trek back would be long and tiring. We had no way to camp now, as we had lost our supplies in the river. We also had no food again. However, once we arrived at the campsite we could look for rations boxes. Going into the cave didn't guarantee that we would end up where we needed to be, though. I was not looking forward to exploring the darkness inside.
Just as I went to voice all of these concerns, the noises of the forest silenced suddenly. We were all on edge; everyone except for Penny was looking around with white eyes. I looked up with my own, smelling the air and observing the thick, light gray clouds that blocked out the brilliant blue of the sky.
The natives were coming straight for us.
“You made peace with them, didn't you?” Elijah whispered to Brynna and James hurriedly, and we all looked abruptly in the direction where we had just seen a flash of movement.
“No. He healed her but he never said he would leave us alone.”
“But he let you leave the city!”
“He likes the chase, Eli. How many times must I explain this to you?” Brynna barked back in a furious whisper. We jerked our heads in another direction simultaneously.
“How do we know he's even coming for us?” Violet asked, “Maybe there are others around that they're after.”
“Everyone make sure that you can see in the dark. The sun is setting.” Alice instructed us quickly.
We all stood perfectly still, awaiting their first move. Maybe we would hear screams in the distance. Maybe Brynna and James had inadvertently made peace with them, and they weren’t hunting us. We couldn't be sure.
A scream sounded, high-pitched and girlish, behind us. We all whipped around to see Penny being dragged into the cave by hands that had suddenly appeared from inside of it.
“PENNY!” Brynna screamed, darting forward as the others descended on us.
I picked up a thick stick covered in thorns, barely wincing as my hands began to bleed. A man was running towards me, hissing and roaring with spit dripping from his large, lion-like fangs. I understood now. I understood why Alice had to do what she had done. That man, given one small chance, would kill me without a single blink or a second of remorse. If it was possible, he would rip into me while I was still able to process the pain. It was kill or be killed, a very old notion generally used to justify the taking of a life. In this case, it really was the only way. No justification was necessary on Pangaea.
I swung the branch with all the force I could summon. The man ducked the swing and instantly lunged forward to tackle me around the middle. As his arms locked around me, I recovered from the shock of not hitting him and swung downwards. The thorn-covered branch plunged into his back and he fell to the ground, wounded but not out completely. I hit him over and over again until a spray of blood splattered onto my face, and he didn't move anymore.
“Quinn, let's go!” Alice's voice called.
She was grasping the rocks at the corner of the cave's entrance. They were headed inside. James, Brynna, Elijah and Violet were already gone. Nick, Alice, and I were going after them. The other natives were retreating, watching us fall back into the darkness of the cave. They had little need to wonder if we would meet our deaths inside because one of their own had pulled Penny into its depths and would definitely finish us off. That's what I thought, anyway.
But no, as I turned back to watch the five remaining outside, I saw that their eyes were wide in terror as they watched us disappear.
“Guys,” I muttered back to Nick and Alice, “Maybe we shouldn't...”
“Come on.” Alice grasped my hand and pulled me deeper into the cave.
“I don't know what we ever did to them. They're accusing us of wanting to do something that no one wants to do. Not one of us wants to destroy this planet the way Earth was destroyed! But that's what they're accusing us of! It's not right!” Nick was exclaiming angrily as he stalked ahead of us.
“Look!” Nick and I watched as she picked up a large stick and Brynn's lighter. “She must have left this for us. Yeah, this is what she was burning the other day to make a fire. See this sap?” She held the branch right under my eyes that
were already confused by such vast darkness and their ability to see in it. Alice struggled to light the lighter, and I reached out to take it from her.
I held the flame to the branch and watched it catch onto the wood. The sap fizzled and cracked, sending sparks dancing towards the stone ceiling of the cave. Alice swung the torch around to see the cave walls.
“Alright. It should burn for a while. Come on!”
I looked over my shoulder one last time before hurrying along in their wake. Both were on their mission to go after James, Brynna, Elijah, and Penny but I wanted nothing more than to turn back.
Something was waiting for us deep in the cave. Perhaps it was more than one thing; I had no way of knowing. But that familiar tugging had resumed in my chest, reminding me that all the decisions made up until that point had led to disaster. Our group was impulsive at best and suicidal at worst. I was the only level-headed one of the bunch. My head always overrode my heart, and I wasn't ashamed to admit it.
Now I was allowing my heart to guide me. I would not let Alice face anything alone now that I understood her ability to kill. I had experienced the same drive while facing the prospect of my own death. I had almost seen her get eaten by that river monster. I had seen her fight expertly when we were overrun by those Shadows. She was the one always protecting me and making the hard decisions, though I would never tell her that. I silently vowed to start splitting the heavy weight fifty-fifty.
I knew that no speculation or temptation would convince her to turn back. Nick was already five feet ahead of us, walking blindly into the dark with just a faint glow from Alice's torch.
“We've got to start thinking this stuff through.” I muttered to Alice, “We need to start planning, learning to defend ourselves. We need to make weapons.”
“Those are all good ideas, babe, but none of that helps us now. We need to focus on what we're doing. We'll talk more about that later.”
“I'm just saying. We're only going to get lucky so many times. Every time we've survived these random things this place throws at us, it's been because of luck.”
“That's not true,” Alice replied with a quick shake of her head, “It's been a miracle, actually. But only partly. The other part is that we're stronger now. We're faster, and we're better fighters. We're adapting. It's an even split.”
“I guess so.”
I didn't actually agree.
Violet
James and Brynna were ahead of Elijah and me. James held the torch up, and its flame lit the cave with an ominous orange glow. We were unstoppable, walking quickly after Penny. We couldn’t pinpoint exactly what had grabbed her, though we assumed that natives had been hiding in the cave, waiting for us to be foolish enough to enter it. When we had been hesitant, they had taken Penny, knowing that we would follow.
“I just want to offer a fair warning to each of you, though my justification is more than likely unnecessary.” Brynna told Elijah, James, and me quickly without looking back at us. “When I find those that took her, I am going to kill every last one of them.”
She was right; her justification really wasn’t necessary. We would all kill anyone who threatened Penny.
“She’s just a little girl.” I whispered tremulously, “Why would they take her?”
“Their business should have been with us!” Elijah spat furiously, “She’s five. She has nothing to do with this.”
“We’re keeping at least one alive.” James told us, and in his voice, I heard no room for negotiation. I didn’t want to spare a single one. I wanted them all dead for taking Penny. I could feel her fear in the back of my mind. It was distant, like a sickness held off by a vaccine but still present in the blood. Brynna could feel the full force of it. I knew by the way her body held tension in every muscle and her eyes bugged like she was expecting a physical blow. Once or twice, she looked over her shoulder at me. I knew that she was remembering scooping me up after I had been attacked. I knew thinking that I was going to die had petrified her. I wanted to apologize, but it wasn’t the right time yet. Soon, the opportunity would present itself, and I would tell her that though it wasn’t entirely my fault that I was attacked, I was still deeply sorry for what my almost-death had made her feel. I understood her anger at me.
“I’ll stay close, Brynn.” I muttered to her quietly after walking up behind her. She gave me an almost imperceptible nod in response. I watched as her hands balled into fists and then released over and over again. “We’re going to find her, I promise.”
“I should be reassuring you. I know you are as afraid as I am. I should be telling you everything is going to be alright.” There was a soft, almost inaudible pain in her voice that I had never heard before. Her genuine regret had surfaced because she thought she was falling short of her self-appointed duties. I walked up beside her quickly and squeezed her hand, feeling that her palm was wet with a cold, nervous sweat. Losing Penny was her worst fear. I had always known that.
“It’s okay,” I told her gently, “Just let me be there for you right now. It’s alright.”
This time, she didn’t nod or even look at me. Giving herself over to be cared for by another was not something she was comfortable with. But she squeezed my hand when I went to let go of hers; I had been ready to retreat from her when her anger and self-righteousness made themselves known. Instead, she was keeping me beside her and allowing me to silently soothe her fears by just holding onto her hand.
“Stop.” James held his hand up, and we halted but continued to stare ahead with our white eyes. Brynna tilted her head back to take one long inhalation.
“Natives.” She whispered to James.
“A lot of them,” James agreed, “Too many to count. We’ll never be able to handle them all.”
“Not in this tight space, no.” Brynna crept around the wall of rock that was in front of us. When she came back around, her skin had paled even more. “There are at least one hundred of them. I do not know what they’re doing.”
Elijah, James, and I walked around to see. To our immediate left, there was a staircase chiseled from the rock. We were on the makeshift landing, hidden by a rock wall about five feet high. I put my hands on the cold stone and looked over cautiously to see the natives engaged in what looked like a group interpretive dance performance. They were swaying their hands in the air, humming all together to create an eerie, echoing drone that bounced around the large open space of the cave.
Lion’s den. The term popped into my mind before I had time to suppress it. It was accurate; we were in their territory now. Our chances of escaping were slim. Our chances of fighting them all off were nonexistent.
“I had the very same thought when I entered Adam's home.” Brynna told me as she watched the natives. “Though I must say, this is a far stranger experience. It is even stranger than him.”
They twirled their wrists and reached their hands out far simultaneously. If we weren’t facing our swift yet painful deaths, I would have loved to observe them as they were. I had always said that it would be cool to observe primitive tribes going about their daily activities. For a minute, I watched, dumbfounded and fascinated, wishing I had a guide who could explain exactly what they were doing.
“Look!” Brynna whispered. I looked at her to find that she was standing behind James and holding onto him around the middle with one shaking arm. She was pointing up.
In the flickering fire light, we saw a mural that spanned the entire mass of the ceiling. It was a red painting of a four-armed man. In each hand, he was holding something different. In one, there was an eye similar to what would be found drawn on the wall of an ancient Egyptian temple. In another, there was a small stick-figure man pointing a bow and arrow at the sky. On the other side, the drawing’s hand was holding a flame encircled by black ash. And in the fourth, there was an apple. I was so busy trying to decipher exactly what the symbols meant that I didn’t realize the picture was caked onto the rock with dried blood. Over the many years, the blood had hardened; the image w
as etched onto the rock forever.
“We have to get Penny. We have to get her, James.” I heard Brynna whispering to him. When I looked at her again, I saw that she was standing on her tiptoes and pressing her forehead to the back of his neck. Both of her arms were around his middle now, and he was rubbing them gently.
“I know, baby. I’m working on it.” He whispered back as his eyes scanned down below for a way through that wouldn’t alert them to our presence.
“I have an idea.” I whispered. Out of reflex, Brynna scowled at me but then immediately relaxed her face. Her anger at me had dissipated. There was just no time for it.
“What is it?” She asked.
“We need to create a diversion.”
“Alright. Let me through.” Elijah whispered but then, there was silence in the room below us. We all instantly dropped down to our knees to hide below the wall.
“On this night, we offer a sacrifice to the One God,” A man’s deep voice was saying, “The All-Knowing, All-Seeing gift-bearer will receive our message of gratitude. He will receive the body and soul of this child who will not reveal her name.”
“Good girl, Penny…” Brynna whispered as she moved back and forth on her feet slightly, ready to spring forward at any minute.
“Until we know the child’s name, we cannot continue.”
“But He will strike us down!” A woman’s voice exclaimed frantically.
“The others will overtake us!”
Someone, perhaps the cave-idiot, stood up and spoke in a humble voice.
“Why are we speaking in the tongues of the Earth man?”
“Because we are not alone, Even. Three orphans of Earth have followed us. They are there.”
All of us looked at each other in horror.
“Can you not smell the poisonous air from their destroyed Orb that clings to them?”
In response to his rude comment, there was an outpouring of laughter.
Brynna jumped up, her eyes ablaze. James followed her as she began to descend the stairs. Elijah clearly wanted to follow but his steely resolve from a moment earlier had vanished only to be replaced by useless fear. I stood because I was unafraid of those barbarians and all their ridiculous babble.
“So, your speech was rousing, as I am sure you know.” Brynna's voice carried around the opening, reflecting the authoritative tone back to me. Where she found the courage to be so forceful in such a terrifying situation, I didn’t know. If we survived, I would ask her in hopes of being able to emulate it someday.
“But you are lying to your sheep, sir. Yes,” She looked at the many natives who were glaring at her, “I called you sheep. I want my sister.”
I took a step closer to James when I saw that some had allowed their eyes to turn over white and their fangs to shoot out. It was going to get real very quickly.
“Sister?” Their leader asked.
“Yes. It is an English word meaning ‘female born to other children of the same parents, in relation to the other children.’ Sound familiar?” Her words were dripping with their usual sarcasm and condescension, but her body was trembling with fury that threatened to boil over at any moment.
“James...” I whispered, but he shushed me. After a moment, he reached back and put his arm around my shoulders, and I immediately felt a little safer.
“Whatever Higher Power for whom you are currently gesticulating will have to wait while you find a substitution.” Brynna continued. “I want her back now.”
Their leader took a step back upon meeting her eyes.
“But she is of Earth…” He was trying to retain his composure but it was escaping him, “I was told you are of Earth. It is true that you are changing, but how?!”
Her patience evaporated. Whatever fragile hold she had on her self-control slipped from her grasp. In a blink, she had lunged forward and tackled him. His body was twisted backwards over a rock that rose from the ground. In her rage, James, Elijah, and I found ours. It was beginning to become apparent that when one of us snapped over into animal-mode, the rest would quickly follow suit. It was like an infection that spread through the air between targets.
I grabbed the first person nearest to me and threw him to the ground. I hissed in the man's face as I grasped his throat tightly.
“You are not of Earth! It is a lie! This is a lie told by the Others!” The man who had led the ceremony exclaimed not in fear, but in fury of his own. “I cannot believe this. I cannot believe the One God would...”
“Bring her to me.” Brynna ordered furiously. “James!”
“What?!” James barked at her as his hands clamped even more tightly around a young man’s upper arms. The boy, barely older than me, grimaced in pain.
“Whichever one you are holding, bring him.”
“No! James, no!” A woman erupted into a fit of tears that should have softened us. But I felt no sympathy for any of them. I allowed myself not to worry for even a second about preserving or ending their lives. There was one option: Kill or be killed. I knew it. We all knew it.
“You shut up!” I screamed at the woman as another of her kind held her tightly.
“Please, he is my only son! Mister James...” The woman was attempting to fall onto her knees, but her fellow cave-mates held her up. Her pleas for mercy would soon turn to Brynna, I was sure. My sister was the person ordering her only son to be taken from her, after all.
Brynna was unconcerned with the woman. Her eyes were fixated on the man she was holding to the rock. Her focus was only on keeping him alive long enough to learn Penny's location.
“Bring her to me, or I will rip you and every last one of your people apart. This is only mild aggravation. I do not think that you want to see rage.” Brynna told the leader slowly and fiercely, as though he didn’t comprehend her words or was purposely disregarding how serious she was.
“Just kill him, Brynna!” Elijah shouted in beastly rage, “Stop playing with him and kill him! He took Penny!”
“I can see everything you see except the reason.” Brynna whispered, and I looked over at her to see that she wore a quizzical expression on her face. “I have seen faint pictures of all things. But this…”
“You do see all things?” The man raised his head up, looking at her intently. She snapped out of her reverie and pushed his head back down forcefully. He gave one weak exclamation of pain.
“Bring the girl!” He shouted into the dark corridor just off of the open space we were standing in. “Is she yours?”
“She is my sister. Weren’t you listening?!” Brynna shot at him angrily before turning her eyes back to the corridor.
“How strange, the light in your heart for her…” He reached up and placed his hand on her chest. Instantly, James pulled the boy away from the wall by the back of his shirt and stormed over. But Brynna had already snapped the man's wrist clean in half. She looked intoxicated as he screamed in pain; there was a small smile on her lips and her eyes had closed. James grabbed his broken wrist and squeezed it hard. The bone shifted and a disgusting squishing sound could be heard. The man screamed again, and they both laughed softly in response. I would have cringed at what they were doing, but my blood-lust was shrieking in feverish desire to see the man tortured. I found myself laughing along with them. The sound reverberated back at us, amplified and hysterical, downright hyena-like. Some of the natives, whom earlier had been so ready to fight us, were beginning to shrink back into the shadows, their trembling no longer of indignant rage but of fear.
“I should snap your neck next.” All of James’s lighthearted amusement disappeared abruptly and his voice raised to a frighteningly loud shout, “You will not touch her!”
After his pain had subsided, the leader managed to say through gritted teeth:
“And you are a Protector now…”
“Let us help you, please!” A woman who still wanted to fight despite our show of adrenaline-induced hysteria pleaded with the leader breathlessly. Her fangs were glinting in the firelight, and
her eyes were fixed on James and Brynna; I saw in her the same strong, undeniable urge to fight that we were all experiencing currently.
“No!” The man shouted indignantly, “I do not need your help! Stay back!”
“Brynna!” Penny’s voice screamed as two men dragged her into the open space by her tiny arms.
A soft cry of relief escaped both Brynna and myself as we ran forward to throw our arms around Penny. Our little sister's entire body was shaking with fear and cold and delicate cries.
Elijah charged one of the guards but stepped back upon seeing our sister. Physically, she was perfectly fine, thank God. But there was a terror in her eyes that replaced the glow of youth we were so used to seeing in her.
“Hold on, baby girl.” Brynna instructed softly. Penny wrapped her arms and legs around Brynna's middle. Brynna shed her jacket and maneuvered Penny into it. “Shh... Shh... You're alright, baby. I've got you.”
“This is your leader, ladies and gentlemen.” James pointed at the man whom he had just released. “He has been attacked and injured by two people who were barely even trying. If any of you try to follow us, you will see the full extent of what we can do!”
“If you take one of ours, it will mean that you wish to go to war!” Their leader called after us in warning, as though he was telling us that for our own good before we made a terrible, life-threatening mistake.
“Shh…” Brynna whispered to Penny. James grasped the back of Brynna's neck and led her along ahead of us. Penny was attached to the front of her chest and crying into her shoulder.
“Do you want me to carry her?” He asked her softly.
Brynna shook her head as I ran up to walk by her side. My hands flew up to rub Penny's back and to stroke her hair.
We allowed our feet to guide us back the way we had come. We had been in such a panic when we were running into the cave after Penny that we hadn’t marked our trail. Luckily for us, our instincts were getting stronger. At their current level of strength, they could lead us to safety.
When we emerged from the cave, Alice, Quinn, and Nick were sitting on the ground, waiting for us.
“Good teamwork, guys.” I spat at them sarcastically as I ran my hand down the back of Penny’s soft hair again.
“Who is that?!” Nick demanded furiously. He pointed to the boy who was struggling to free himself from Elijah’s tight grasp.
“Is she okay?” Alice ran over and touched Penny’s back.
“We are taking him, whether you like it or not!” I heard Elijah bark at Quinn and Nick. “We went in there. We saved Penny. We’re making the decisions from here on out!”
“He’s one of them! Are you mad?!” Nick asked, and he looked between all of us, awaiting further explanation.
“No, we aren't. In fact, this is the sanest thing we've done since we've been here!” James snapped at him before grabbing the boy by both of his arms and dragging him off.
His cavalier nature that so smartly rivaled Brynna's arrogance and disdain for all things was gone. He was losing his grip on the situation, and it was wearing him down right before our eyes. Now, we had a prisoner. What were we supposed to do with him?
Nick's gentle touch on my arm snapped me out of my thoughts.
“I don't want to talk to you.” I walked away from him, trying to force my eyes to turn back over to their normal brown by blinking feverishly.
“Why? What did I do?”
“You stayed out here!”
“Yeah, and we had to kill four natives! They dragged us out of the cave. They were going to kill us!”
“And then you just decided to let us handle that situation on our own? A five-year-old girl gets pulled into a cave by God knows what, you kill some natives, and then you just call it a day? Forget the fact that you and I have both been toying with the idea of having a relationship. Not to sound like an overly emotional stereotype, but how would I ever be able to trust you?!”
“Maybe because I've saved your life before!”
“Excuse me?!” I whipped around to face him. “When have you ever saved my life? If I recall correctly, I was the one swooping in to play Han Solo to your Princess Leia! I was the one fighting natives!”
“Did you just use a Star Wars reference?”
“Yeah, I did! As if you didn't know that I was a nerd already!”
“Why are you so angry?”
“Because, Nick! The three of you just sat out here while we faced those natives in the cave. I get that it's the twenty-first century in Earth time and that women can stand up for themselves. That's not what this is about. It's about you being able to defend me if I need you to! If I get myself into a bad situation, I would need to trust that you would be there for me. Look at James and Brynna! She almost gets eaten by a dinosaur-slash-kraken-slash-Loch Ness Monster-thing and he jumps in the water to save her! Penny gets dragged into a cave, Brynna runs in after her, and James follows. Do you see what I'm saying here?”
“Well, haven't your sister and James been together for a long time?!”
“No! They just got together like, a week ago!” I sighed heavily and looked up to the sky for guidance.
“I don't know what you would like for me to say, Violet.” He told me softly. “Whatever it is, just tell me, and I'll say it, alright?”
“This conversation is stupid. This whole thing is stupid. I shouldn't expect anything of you. We never set anything in stone, right? Plus, I don't need anyone to save me.”
Brynna's pride and self-righteous anger were flying from my mouth before I could stop them. Pride might have been a sin, but Brynna wore it like a badge of honor and rightfully so. Though she was currently going against every life principle she had ever established in terms of men and relationships by engaging in a romance with James, she had always been right about them. They were untrustworthy. All were cowards at their core. All would save themselves over their female partner if the choice was given because they lacked our maternal, caring nature that was cruelly inflicted on us by the Gods.
Brynna's words, not mine.
But now, they were becoming mine. I stormed away from Nick, sickened by the sight of his face. How I ever believed that I could trust him after all Brynna had taught me was beyond my understanding. I was finished with dating. If my life was in danger, I needed a boy who would kill in order to save me. That was only if I needed saving. I needed a boy who would follow me into almost certain death with no hesitation. It was a grand, romantic thought that should have been accompanied by a string quartet and swans soaring overhead in a perfectly synchronized flight. It was so ridiculous.
It wasn't entirely unheard of, though. I watched James and Brynna walking ahead. Even as he steered the boy through the trees, he glanced at her every few seconds to make sure that she was beside him. In the fights that I had witnessed, he had never treated her as though she couldn't defend herself. It was only because he was her boyfriend that he accompanied her into dangerous situations. It wasn't because she needed to be saved by a big, strong man. Despite my anger, I smiled as I watched them walk. Brynna deserved no less than the man she had; he was kind, strong, and brave to the point of recklessness. He was even good-looking, to top it all off.
“Maybe I need to start looking for a man twice my age.” I mused to Alice.
“I should have followed you.” Alice ignored what I had said. It seemed to dawn on her, and she looked at me with her eyes widened. “No, don't do what she's doing. He's a great guy, don't get me wrong. But they'll never last, Violet.”
“What?” I took a step away from her. That anger that had dissipated so quickly took hold of me again.
“Come on, are you serious?” Alice asked and she actually chuckled slightly in disbelief. “She's twenty-two. He's like, forty-five. When has that ever worked?”
“On Earth, maybe it wouldn't have worked. Maybe it would have. We'll never know, will we?” I snapped at her bitterly. “You don't know my sister. You might think that you do, but you don't. She really cares fo
r him. She trusts him. You have no idea what that means in Brynna's world.”
“Does she love him?” Her voice was saturated with lighthearted sarcasm.
“Yeah, I think she does, actually!” I replied indignantly. “Just because you and your boyfriend, who is your same age, can't make it work doesn't mean that Brynna and James can't. She's way mature for her age, and he loves her, too!”
“You're clearly not that mature for your age or else we wouldn't even be having this conversation.”
“Oh, shut up! All of you! How's this?” I had stormed ahead, but I turned back to face her, Quinn, and Nick. “You're cowards! All of you! We went into that cave after Penny, and you all stood out here and waited! If that had been any of you, I would have followed you. But you all are cowards!”
I turned around and walked quickly to catch up to Brynna, James, and Elijah. I didn't hear their snippy retorts. I wasn't even sure they had spoken any. I just knew that as soon as we met up with Don Abba's people, we were shaking those three immediately and continuing on our own.
It was the first seismic shift in our mindset. It was mirrored almost exactly in the other groups, though I wasn't aware of that yet. The question of cowardice was being posed to every man, woman and child by the circumstances that brewed beneath the fragile grasp we held on our lives. Being considered brave meant more than just being able to fight natives with every last bit of superhuman strength we possessed. It meant more than not succumbing to the fear that one would starve or dehydrate sooner rather than later. It also meant that one had to be able to make the tough, sometimes merciless decisions.
The boy we had stolen was one of those decisions. I watched as James and Brynna dragged him along, noting that he was maybe a year older than me, if that. Because of his sandy hair and tan skin, I was reminded of the surfer boys back home who lounged around on the beach all day. Some had been annoying because their ability to stand up on a board that was being thrust about by waves made them cocky enough to think that they could have any girl they wanted. But most had been harmless and just looking to have fun. It was a stupid thought, I knew. The boy we had taken had never seen Earth and was, in reality, nothing like those boys. I had to stop sympathizing, or else I would be as much of a coward as Alice, Quinn, and Nick were.
“What are we going to do with him, Brynn?” I asked after we had stopped walking. It had taken hours, but we had put as much distance between us and the cave as we could. James was pulling vines that crisscrossed around the trunk of an old oak tree; he used them to tie the boy to it.
“I hope he camped frequently as a child and knows how to tie a rope. Those knots have to be strong. I am sure that if we give him half the chance, he will break free and kill us all. We are going to need to keep watch over him for as long as he is with us.” She ran her fingers through her hair. I knew she was purposely evading my question because the answer had not come readily to her.
“I have many questions for him, none of which will help us substantially.”
“Like what?” I pressed her.
“Well, I want to know why they took Penny, first and foremost.”
“That man said they were going to...” I stopped, feeling a lump in my throat as horrible images of Penny being offered up as a human sacrifice to some faceless God bombarded my mind. “Well, you remember what they said.”
“They said that they would sacrifice her.” Brynna clearly hadn't heard a word I had said. “But why?”
“It was a religious sacrifice.” Elijah answered after coming up behind us. “You saw the way they were dancing around like that. Plus, there was that thing painted on the ceiling with the four arms. It's their deity.”
We blinked up at him in disbelief, neither one of us knowing how he knew that.
“What? I took Anthropology freshmen year.”
“Right. Indeed, you did. See?” She looked at me, “The benefits of a liberal-arts education. All that you just said will more than likely make up the bulk of that boy’s answer to my question. It does not help us at all. We could ask him for the whereabouts of a safe place to live, though I sincerely doubt that any place on this planet is safe from the eyes of the natives.” Brynna adjusted Penny, whom she was still holding to her chest. I moved Penny's hair out of her face to find that she had fallen asleep.
“It was too much for her. I cannot imagine the fear she must have felt.” Brynna muttered to us. She was trying hard to suppress the note of sadness in her voice that was brought about swiftly and easily by the thought of Penny in any kind of pain. “She just needs to sleep.”
“Do you want me to take her? Your arms are shaking because you've been carrying her for so long.” Elijah pointed, and for the first time, I noticed that Brynna's arms were shaking somewhat severely.
“Are you cold? Do you want my jacket?” I remembered that she had shed her own to give to Penny. While we were walking and it got colder, Brynna had pulled the hood up over Penny's head. I smiled slightly, thinking how cute Penny looked inside of the sweatshirt that, despite Brynna's small size, was still much too big for her.
“No. Keep it, dear.” She laid her head against Penny's. “And it's alright. I'll just sit down.”
“You can't carry her around forever, Brynn.” Elijah told her gently. “They're not going to get her again. I promise.”
“Promises are just words, no matter how honorable their intentions may be. There is no way you could possibly guarantee that Penny will not be taken by them again. The chances of them stealing her from me while she is attached to my chest are slim to none. And she is, quite literally, attached to my chest. Look...” She carefully maneuvered her hands so that she could push Penny away ever so slightly without waking her. Elijah and I both grimaced upon seeing that where Penny's bare skin met Brynna's, they were linked together.
“Oh my God...” Elijah muttered. He looked away and rubbed his eyes as a shudder of disgust passed through him. “How are you going to pry her off?”
“When she or I want to let go, we will let go, Eli.” Brynna replied with a sigh. “It is part of the mutation, I am assuming.”
“James, have you seen this?” Elijah pointed at Brynna when James came over to us.
For a moment, his eyes widened as he thought, I'm sure, that Brynna had been injured in some way. But then, he saw that Elijah was referencing Penny's attachment to her skin and he calmed.
“Oh. Yeah, I pointed that out to her. I assume it has some evolutionary meaning that I don't really feel like speculating about right now.”
“What are we going to do with him?” I expected the straight answer from James that I had wanted from Brynna. He didn't disappoint.
“We're going to find out what we want to know from him. After that...” He paused for a minute. Then, he shrugged, raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “I don't know.”
“What do we want to know from him? What can he tell us?” I prodded him further.
“We need to find out where we can go. We need a place where they can't get at us as easily. Then, we're going to find out why they're trying to kill us.” James continued breezily. “I also need to know if they have any weaknesses or if there are any kinds of real weapons on this stupid planet. Probably not, though.”
“I don't know. Their city was quite advanced. I am sure they have ways of protecting themselves. They more than likely do not manufacture guns, but knives and spears existing somewhere is certainly a plausible scenario.” Brynna chimed in.
“We're never going to be able to fight them with knives and spears.” My eyes were widened as I looked between the three of them.
“We will learn. We have adapted to survive this much, have we not? If we are meant to fight with knives and spears, then it will be done.” Brynna reassured me. “Did anyone else gather that the natives are split into two factions that I assume are at war with one another?”
“No. Where in the world did you get that from?” James asked her, “Did you read their minds?”
“O
ne of the people, in her fit of pious terror, mentioned that their God was going to let the 'others' attack, if Penny was not sacrificed immediately. 'Overtake us' were her exact words.”
“And you think that by the others, she meant maybe the people in the city?” James asked. “Well, it would make sense. Why would those people be living in a cave when they could be living in that huge city? Do you think that them being at war with each other could help us?”
“Yes, I do,” Brynna answered, “But the reason why it will help us is one that, depending on your own personal morality, might repulse you.”
“Are any of us really that moral anymore?” I asked with a shrug.
There was silence; apparently, I had just said something deep that required a moment of thought. In that silence, I mused on the subject as well. Sure enough, I arrived at the conclusion that we weren't moral anymore. The longer we stayed on Pangaea, the more we embraced heartless brutality. We didn't really have a choice in the matter.
“What's your idea?” I wanted to break that uncomfortable quiet because the idea of losing my humanity was one that made my heart bound upwards into my throat. I feared becoming completely superhuman, as I now was able to understand and acknowledge the full implications of the change.
“I know the way I just know sometimes that this boy is important. I am sensing a familial connection to their leader. That man whom I assaulted, the one who was speaking, is their leader.”
“If there's a familial connection, why didn't he stop us from taking him?” Elijah asked.
“Perhaps he thought it was wiser to pretend that the boy was nothing than to give away his high standing. We would be more likely to hurt him if we knew he was of 'royal' blood, correct?” Brynna leaned forward in earnest as she explained.
“Yes.” James agreed, “I know what you're going to suggest. Do you want me to tell you?”
“Absolutely.”
“You think we should hand him over to the city-natives in exchange for our safety. He'd be a peace offering.”
“Indeed. I do not want to think for too long about what they might do to him. It will weaken my resolve to go through with the plan. But if this is our chance to live safely, then we need to take it. Running from them is only a temporary solution. It is not even a sure bet that we will escape them every time they come for us. This is our chance to guarantee our own safety.”
“But he's a kid!” Alice's voice exclaimed behind us in horror. We all jumped before turning around to see that she, Nick, and Quinn had been listening.
“The three of you were disqualified from these negotiations before they even began, I'm afraid.” Brynna informed them in a fake, rueful tone, “You gave up your rights to determine the fate of our young prisoner when you decided to sit, twiddling your thumbs, as we dragged him out of the cave with us after saving Penny.”
“You said something about them offering up Penny as a human sacrifice.” Quinn told us.
“Yes, I suppose if you were rudely eavesdropping, you would have heard that snippet of our conversation.” Brynna responded icily.
“So now, you want to offer up this guy as a sacrifice!” Quinn shouted in disgust, “He's a kid, just like us! You're no better than them if you do this. For all we know, he's never done anything a day in his life to deserve being killed!”
“We don't know that they'll kill him.” I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled at him.
“It's a pretty safe bet that they're going to kill him, and you all know it!” Alice looked at us with tears in her eyes. “I want no parts of this!”
“No one asked her to have a part in it.” I told Brynna, James, and Elijah angrily. We watched as she huffed off.
“Ignore the little girl, Violet,” Brynna replied, “She is just trying to be heard. After we turn this boy over, are we going to join up with Don’s group?”
“We don’t really have a choice. Even if they guarantee our safety, there’s no way that we can hunt for the rest of our lives on our own.” Elijah looked around us, seeing what the rest of us saw; either the forest was scant in animal population or they were very good at keeping themselves hidden from hungry apocalypse survivors.
“I want to shake Nick, Alice, and Quinn.” I proclaimed suddenly. “They’re a liability, don’t you think?” I looked at Brynna, knowing that if anyone was going to be in agreement that we had to abandon the three kids who were tagging along on our little adventure, it would be her.
“I do not know if that is necessary at this point. They may still be of some use. Until we join up with a larger group, we need as many eyes and ears watching and listening for threats, even if that is all we will get from them. Their fighting skills are archaic, barely above average. Ours have adapted further than I ever could have imagined.” Brynna looked back at the boy tied to the tree. His head was lolling from side to side, resting on his shoulder one minute and then falling forward so his chin touched his chest the next.
“What’s his problem?” I asked.
“While you were arguing with Nick, he tried to run. James and I took him down. He’s a native. He should be easier to handle like this.” Elijah told us as he chewed a piece of grass.
“Get that out of your mouth.” I scolded him.
“I suppose now that we have successfully carried out a rescue mission and intimidated our enemies in combat that Elijah is a cowboy slash super soldier. I find his imaginary world very cute. Surely, a full-fledged paracosm is just around the corner. We may soon find him barking out orders to his imaginary platoon or pretending that he is shooting at train robbers whilst atop a galloping horse.” Brynna smiled at him ruefully. I cracked up, mentally noting how surprised I was to have understood everything she had said.
He pretended to kick her in the leg.
“Actually, I’m just hungry, asshole.”
“Do not refer to me by that disgusting term, you foul-mouthed perversion.” She was only feigning great offense, and we laughed again.
“You're hungry!? We could eat him!” Alice shouted sarcastically to us.
“Go away!” I shouted at her, “If you have a better idea on how to handle the situation, by all means, let us hear it!”
“You sound like me.” Brynna said with a grin.
I fought the urge to smile because I was scowling at Alice still.
“You weren’t attacked by those things. Your sister wasn’t taken by them.” I felt that animal rage that had exploded inside of me as I got out of Miranda’s car that day resurface. “You can barely fight because you’re trying not to change over! We’re embracing whatever is happening to us. The three of you stand no chance against them, but we do. Besides these new abilities, we have him!” I pointed at the boy, “And he may just be the only peace offering we will ever have our hands on!”
“He’s a human being! I mean, he’s not human, but he’s…”
“We have the same abilities he has, and yet he tried to kill us.” I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes. “I am done with this conversation. Keep your poor attempts at debilitating sarcasm to yourself. They make you look pathetically ridiculous.”
“Very nice.” Brynna said to me proudly.
“Thank you.”
She was gently pulling Penny from her chest. I crinkled my brows as I watched their skin separate. Not even a red mark was left behind on either of them. She handed Penny to me, and I turned her sideways to press the skin of her chest to my own. It didn’t attach.
“Alright, nothing too gruesome, if you please.” Brynna said softly to James, who was glaring at the boy in silent fury. “Hey…” Brynna reached out to put her hand under his chin and turned his head so he was looking at her. I watched from a distance as his white eyes changed over to their usual brown at the sight of her. After glancing over her shoulder to make sure Elijah’s back was turned, she stood on her tiptoes to kiss James quickly. I had never seen her in a relationship before, but I knew from watching them periodically over the previous days that she was more than fond o
f him. It was strange to see that loving side of her worn so proudly on her sleeve. Even as those Pangaean powers began to overtake her Earthly human nature, the humanity that had long been suppressed was growing stronger by the day; it was clawing its way to the surface in a fight for its already significantly weakened life. It was truly strange to witness, after knowing Brynna as being cold and emotionless for so many years.
“Let me do the talking.” Brynna told him.
“I don’t want you talking to him.” James replied just as quietly. “He’s dangerous.”
“Are you suggesting that I cannot take care of myself, James Maxwell?” She asked in a tone slightly more teasing than I would have expected of her.
“Of course not.” He smiled slightly as he kissed her again. “I know very well that you can. Is it such a crime for me to be concerned about you?”
“No.” Brynna shook her head. She was all seriousness now. “It is not at all, honey.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to talk to him?”
“I am sure.”
I looked off to see if Elijah was returning from his trip to the oak-tree-makeshift-bathroom ten feet from us. Sure enough, he was walking back, his hand ruffling the back of his hair as he looked at the ground. He seemed lost in thought but I couldn’t blame him; huge decisions were about to be made and their consequences would be felt for years to come. There was no escaping the magnitude of the conundrum in which we found ourselves.
I picked up a small rock and threw it at James and Brynna.
“Ow! Stop hitting me with things!” Brynna exclaimed, and she rubbed her ribcage quickly where the rock had hit her.
“I’m sorry!” I squealed before covering my mouth, “I was trying to hit your leg!”
“All of these new powers, and you can’t throw a rock accurately? Such a shame but so funny, as well...” James replied jokingly as he looked up at the sky.
“Shut up, James.” I laughed.
“That seems to be a popular sentiment around here.” He muttered, and Brynna and I both giggled somewhat obnoxiously.
“What’s so funny?” Elijah asked when he came back.
“Nothing.” I replied, “James is being his typical self again, so that’s a plus for everyone.”
“Good. You were starting to get kind of Goth on us, man.”
“Are there even still Goths?” I stopped after feeling a quick tug in my heart, “Were there still… never mind.”
“I am going to ask him questions.” Brynna informed Elijah. “I have requested that nothing too monstrous occur. Are we in agreement on that?” Elijah and James nodded, “Alright, then. Come along.”
Brynna turned and walked over to the boy who had just awoken. He was looking around, clearly trying to determine his surroundings.
“You and Penny stay back.” Elijah put his arm out to stop me from walking forward. “You can listen. But stay away from him.”
I nodded and sat down behind a large rock that obscured Penny and me from the Pangaean boy’s view. I could hear perfectly despite the distance between myself and the prisoner. Enhanced hearing was proving to be more and more useful the longer I was able to control it.
Brynna skipped traditional greetings. There were no niceties to be observed with that violent boy. However, in her strategic move to break down his defenses, she did ask his name before plowing ahead with her questioning.
The boy sounded slightly bored when he answered.
“Jonathon,” He narrowed his eyes at her, “I know that your name is something rather strange, is it not?”
“You’re not going to know her name.” James said a little too calmly to be believed. I knew that beneath the surface, his fury raced along with his heart; I could almost hear the rapid beats in my mind.
“Are you of importance to the man who was speaking?”
“I suppose so, yes. He is my father.”
“Your father offered little help as we dragged you from the cave.”
“He was more concerned that his sacrifice was getting away, if I had to decipher the meaning of his apathy.”
“That's why?” Elijah replied. He looked at James and Brynna. “He allowed his son and his sacrifice to be taken. I’m not so sure that we should fear this guy.”
“You should, if you are wise!” Jonathon glared at Elijah. “He is commanded by the One God.”
“The God that was painted on your ceiling in blood?” Brynna asked calmly.
“Yes. The God that bestows us with gifts and miracles is the one to which we were going to sacrifice the girl.”
“So, now what? Now that you did not sacrifice my sister, what is going to happen to you?”
“The others will stand a better chance of overtaking us.”
“You’re giving away this information rather freely. Why are you not hesitating in telling us all of this?” James asked, and his voice betrayed his growing anger now.
“Because you are not our greatest threat. Why should I fear you knowing our secrets? You will soon be dead. We know that a heavy darkness is descending on our lands. You humans will be the first to perish in it.”
“You are well aware that we are not humans anymore.” Brynna told him.
“I do not know what you are, and it does not matter to me.” The boy was getting angry now, too. “If you do not return me to my father, he will kill you. He will kill every last one of the people you brought with you on your vessel.”
“‘The others,’” Brynna said questioningly, “Are they the ones who live in the city? Is my theory correct that you are two separate factions at war with one another?’
“The city dwellers…” The boy repeated in such disdain, I’m sure Brynna was jealous. “All their progression, all their love of new and shiny things, they desert the One God. He will not reward them. I do not know why my people believe that they hold any power.”
“That’s an affirmative on your theory being correct, dear.” James told Brynna.
“Have your cave-dwelling people attacked us before? Have you attacked any of the survivors from Earth?’
“No. You are but a nuisance. When our war with the city is won, we will turn our gaze to you. Then, our world will be pure again.”
“May I ask you something that is rather unimportant?”
“Only if you tell me your name.”
“Knowing my name will not aid you in any way, Jonathon. Surely, you know that. Here is the prelude to my question: Adam, the leader of the city, informed me that you have studied our kind for ages. Clearly, you hold us in high regard. Now for my question, though I assume you will not answer it truthfully: Where is this animosity coming from, dare I ask?”
The boy was silent.
“Like I said, it is unimportant. If you do not answer, I will say that my question was just yet another instance of me thinking out loud. Though, this next question will interest you, because it concerns your fate: What do you think Adam’s actions would be if we were to turn you over to him?’
I peeked around the wall to see that the boy’s eyes were wide and he was stuttering in his attempts to get his fear under control.
“You cannot… my father will… I…”
“His actions will be violent and painful, we can assume.” Elijah answered for him.
“Are you attempting to make peace with him?” The boy demanded in a shaking voice. “Are you going to trade me so that he will spare your lives? You can give me back to my father, and he will protect all of you. He will not sacrifice the girl. He will protect you! Adam spares no one! You cannot make peace with him!”
“Why are we listening to this? We have the upper-hand. He knows it. He’s trying to talk his way out of this. If we go back to that cave, we’re going to get ambushed.” Elijah informed the other two. The boy's promises were empty ones. They were absolutely impossible for anyone, even him, the son, to guarantee. We controlled his fate, and we had to use that fact to our advantage.
Yet I was beginning to sympathize with him. Seein
g his youth up close and musing on his resemblance to kids I might have known on Earth were putting the wheels in motion for my heart to change course. Brynna looked at me, sensing that new reluctance. She walked over and grasped my arms gently.
“You do not have to have a say in this. You can walk away from this decision with clean hands, and I will not think less of you. I know that my opinion of you is not something about which you care greatly, but I wanted you to know that I will not judge you if you choose to stay out of this.”
“How can you say I don't care about your opinion of me?” I asked her softly. My throat clenched when I raised my brown eyes to meet her startling blue ones. “Yours is the only opinion that matters, Brynn.”
She opened her mouth to respond but for once, she came up short on the correct words to say. That’s what I assumed, anyway. But a very small, very naïve part of me believed that I had moved her with what I had said.
She cleared her throat and gave a response after a few short seconds of gathering her many thoughts.
“Either way, I do not want this on your conscience.”
“You would rather me think less of you? I’m not saying that I would. But I might, when we reach the end of this. He’s so young. He’s my age. Do you understand where my sympathy is coming from?” I stopped and chuckled softly to myself. The sudden change in my mood provoked a small grimace of confusion to form on her face. “Of course you understand it. That was a stupid question.”
“I do. I want to do the right thing by all of us. On Earth, the right thing never involved handing over a boy to his family's bloodthirsty enemies. We never would have to trade him when he is perhaps innocent of all the charges we hold to his father. We would never have found ourselves making such a terrible decision. But things are different now. I have told you that before. Do you remember when we saw that horrible film about the end of the world?”
“Yeah. I can’t even remember what it was called now…” I smiled after remembering how Brynna had rolled her eyes and thrown her hands up in exasperation at the stupidity of what was happening in the movie.
“I do not, either. But do you remember how afterward, I told you that I believed the world’s fascination with the end of civilization was prophetic in a way. You were so afraid. You always took all of my rambling beliefs to heart, even the most conspiratorial. Even the most ridiculous. Bringing this memory forward has a purpose. It is relevant to what we are currently trying to decide. I understand the fascination now. We are living free of restrictions, both legal and spiritual. It tells us more about ourselves as people than we ever could have discovered living under law. Instead of some faceless judge deciding this boy’s fate, it is us slamming the gavel, if you will.”
“Do you like it? Do you like having that responsibility, Brynna?”
She shook her head back and forth and puffed on the cigarette that I hadn’t seen her light.
“I never had a desire to play God, Violet Mae. I only wanted to spectate as others tried. I need you to remember that, no matter what may occur from here on out.”
I nodded and studied her face. Her exhaustion was becoming more evident as the days passed. I’m sure the weariness in her eyes was reflected in my own. I reached out and grasped her hand.
“James wants to hand him over.”
I brought up James simply to gauge her level of attachment to him. I was curious to know how deep the bond had forged itself inside each of them.
“Yes, he does. He feels no sense of reluctance to do so, either. He will do anything to keep us safe, no matter how cruel.”
“Are you okay with that?”
Brynna nodded.
“We are two completely different breeds. Men take action with little thought. Women think for ages but rarely act.”
“That’s not true. You’ve acted on impulse quite a bit here of late.”
“That was different. I was emotionally motivated to protect the people I love. Then again,” She looked up at the stars that were beginning to awake for their nocturnal watch over the world, “His motivation is the same as mine. Perhaps my whole theory is ridiculous.”
“Whoa…” I reached out and grasped her hand. “You have never admitted to flaws in your reasoning. This is a big moment. If Hell was still beneath our feet, I would have felt it freeze over through my shoes.”
“Shut up…” She murmured through a small smile. “You are curious about mine and James’s relationship.”
“Well, not curious. When you say it like that, it sounds creepy, like I want intimate details of your love life, or something…” I looked at her, suddenly serious, “Brynna, did you two…”
“That is none of your business!” She exclaimed as she grasped her heart in genuine shock at the question, as though she were a sixteenth-century, God-loving maiden asked for relations outside of marriage by a sleazy, smooth-talking king. I giggled.
“You totally did!”
“I did nothing of the sort…’
“Brynn,” I took her hand again, “I’m not twelve anymore. I’m old enough to know that these things happen. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go mimic your sinful actions.”
She laughed again.
“Do as I say, not as I do. Isn’t that the old expression?’
“I don’t know about old. But it certainly does get thrown around a lot.”
“It is generally used to excuse hypocrisy, which is why I refrain from saying it. Just remember that mine and James’s relationship is to be kept from Elijah at all costs.”
“Of course. He likes him a lot right now. He thinks he’s hilarious. Just let him find out that you two are involved, and he’ll think James is Satan preying on young virgins. I approve, though, Brynna. I know that you don’t need anyone’s approval, but you have mine.”
She nodded and looked at me, still smiling slightly.
“In the same way that my opinion matters greatly to you, yours matters greatly to me. If you ever tell anyone I said that, I will injure you severely, far worse than any Shadow in the woods ever could.”
My heart surged. Brynna had always done whatever she saw fit to do, with no regard for what anyone, even those who believed they were close to her, thought of her actions. Now, she had just admitted that what I thought mattered to her. It was a moment that repaired and strengthened the bond between us. Watching her reckless courage and wishing I possessed a fraction of it had ignited the electrical surge that was pulling us back together. Her gentleness that I had long believed to be permanently dead was beginning to resurface, making it easier for me to see her clearly. My heart still ached for our mother, whom Brynna had heartlessly left behind. I had been so thrilled to find that our father was alive but now, I wished that her cold decision had been reversed. I wished that he had been left to die and our mother had been spared. A part of me even wished Maura had died with him.
“Forget about her.” Brynna told me as we walked back towards the boy.
“Brynna!” I covered my ears like I always did when she entered my mind to read my thoughts, “How do you do that?!”
“When someone has a sudden change of mood, generally going from very happy to very sad or angry, as you just did, their thoughts scream what their mouths will not say.”
“I just don’t want to talk about it. Do you know what I realized?” I said in an attempt to change the subject. “You talk like them.”
“Like who?”
“The Pangaean people. They’re all really eloquent, aren’t they?”
“They are, indeed. Though, I was eloquent long before we arrived here. I chalk that up to my vast intelligence, as you very well know.”
“I know. Or maybe…”
“If you are going to suggest that fate, which is a fallacy, mind you, had anything to do with this, I am going to scowl at you.”
“Okay.” I shut up.
We had reached Elijah and James, who were pulling the boy up onto his feet. Elijah tied his hands behind him with the vine, utilizing his knowledge
of knots that he had acquired in Boy Scouts. Apparently, he never forgot the lesson.
“Alright, let’s go.”
“Just take me back to my father. He’ll kill me! Adam will kill me, and then my father will come after all of you!”
“Shut up!” Elijah snapped at him as he walked him forward. “I’ll kill you myself if you don’t shut up.”
“Eli!” I exclaimed in horror. I was truly shocked that he would even suggest mercilessly murdering someone who posed no real threat.
“Just keep walking.” Elijah shot at the boy.
And so we were walking again, Elijah and James leading the struggling boy forward in the direction of the city. Brynna followed closely behind, cradling a still sleeping Penny. I followed her, trying to fight against my stubborn heart that knew what we were doing was wrong. Alice, Quinn and Nick moved in our wake, mumbling about heartlessness and bad decisions.
I almost turned and joined their group.
Part III: The Almighty Split