by T. Rudacille
***
“Don't take anything.” Nick gently took the rations box from my hand and placed it back on the counter. “We'll get by.”
“Are you sure? There aren't any plants up here that we can eat. You know that we'll need water. The last thing we need is to be tricked by the Shadows again.”
“I doubt you'll ever be tricked by a Shadow again.”
I remembered the terrible pain that I had suffered through after being attacked by so many of those hideous creatures, and I shuddered. Nick's arms were around me, and I was squeezing him back, drunk on the much-needed comfort. The knock at the door broke us apart.
“Go in the other room with Penny.” He told me, and the intensity in his voice forced me to look at him. I gasped when I saw that his eyes were white. He was ready for the fight.
“Change them back!” I grasped his face. “Look at me!”
When he did, I saw that the ocean was dancing to the shore and back again in his eyes. I kissed him.
“Keep them like that. They'll kill you, Nick.”
“I know. Now go.”
I hurried into the room where Penny was fast asleep on the bed, still clutching the torn and beaten children's book that Maura had brought for her. I picked it up, observing the water-worn cover: Where the Wild Things Are. I remembered overhearing Maura telling Penny that the book was forbidden. I tried to remember the controversy that had surrounded the classic children's tale on Earth, but my heart and mind had remained behind with Nick. I faced the door, closing my eyes, and listening closely.
“Where is Violet?” My father's voice.
“She's asleep. Why? Is there a problem?”
“There most certainly is.” Rich replied. “Step aside, Nick. Daniel, I'll talk to her alone, if you don't mind.”
“Maybe you should get Mary...” Daniel started to say.
“Daniel...” The edge of warning in his voice set my absent heart beating at an even more rapid pace. The door opened and Rich Bachum stood before me, grinning from ear to ear with the same menacing mischief of his wife's sadistically gleeful smile.
“You're not sleeping.”
“I woke up when I heard the knock on the door.”
“Penny is tuckered out.” He observed, “What book is this?”
My eyes widened, and when my heart plummeted, the uncomfortable drop in my chest almost left me squirming. His smile vanished at the sight of the cover. He turned to me, his eyes blazing.
“Did you bring this from your house?” He hissed at me.
“No. I didn't bring anything. I was brought here against my will, if you recall.”
Cowardice and timidity held no purpose anymore. We were leaving whether those people liked it or not; if I had to change over and kill that man standing before me, then I would. Nothing would stop me from getting Penny, Nick, Maura, and I back to Brynna and Elijah.
“I know that we logged this down in our storeroom. We labeled it as contraband.”
Contraband. I tried to remember the exact definition of the term. I recalled the word “smuggle.”
“People brought all sorts of things that were forbidden. We gave everyone a chance to forfeit things like this.” He held the book up as though he were grasping a bag of week-old garbage that had been left to rot in the sun. He grimaced at the smell.
“Do you have any idea what this book is about, Violet? I'm going to assume that you don't, otherwise you would never let Penny even glance at the cover.”
“It's about a boy whose bedroom turns into a jungle. He meets huge monsters that make him their king. They recognize and respect his mischief. It's about standing up to what scares you. It's about conquering your fears.”
The expression of disbelief on the man's face was almost funny enough to double me over in hysterical laughter. Luckily, my common sense dictated that I should remain silent.
“This book is about convening with demons, Violet. The author himself said so.”
You don't know how difficult it was not to counter such a ridiculous lie with the truth.
“The man who wrote it was a homosexual. Do you know what that is? I'm sure you do, considering that you've grown up in the twenty-first century. You all have been exposed to that and so many other poisons.”
Rich enjoyed asking loaded questions he already knew the answers to. He was sly and conniving, much to my surprise. Through hearing Brynna's opinions on the matter, I had always believed that people who buried their noses in religion were blinding themselves to the reality of the world. They allowed hate and bigotry to fester in their hearts, morphing them into unrecognizable beasts far more dangerous than any Shadow or Reaper. They were stupid, plain and simple.
It was not all religious people, certainly not. But it was those who found hate in the ultimate message of love. The message was simple, Brynna said: Love others as you love yourself. People who justified their prejudice with the words of the Lord were sinners in His eyes. People who understood the true meaning and modeled their lives after Him were both brilliantly intelligent and faithful, deserving of their place in Heaven. She didn’t say that last part; I did.
“Now, all of this is assuming that there is a God. I do wish that I believed.” Brynna had told me through the thick cigarette smoke that swirled around, encasing her in a dense, dark fog.
Rich and his people were neither brilliantly smart nor faithful; they read the words but lost themselves in the meaning they created and imposed on the world. But saying that he wasn't intelligent shouldn't suggest that he didn't possess the cunning instinct of a wolf sauntering around a doe's den.
“Our people were infected with popular culture. That fascination with vampires was disgusting. Children, just like you, were reading those books and watching those shows. God, it was terrifying for Mary and I, as parents. To see children so enamored with becoming one with the darkness, of being fed on by creatures that were, in their most basic element, missionaries of Satan...” He shook his head at the memory and looked to the ceiling for Divine comfort. “You can't imagine what that's like. One day, when you and Nick have children of your own, you'll understand.”
I assumed his tirade against the infectious abomination that was modern day entertainment was over. I could not have been so lucky.
“It wasn't just new things that we made people get rid of when they agreed to take our oath. In one family, the father was a literature professor. He had brought so much filth like this to give to his children. I'm trying to remember their titles. Gosh, why can't I think of them? I'm sure you'd know them, unfortunately.”
Brynna had given a passionate speech in school about banning books. Her two friends had said that the teacher and students had erupted into cheers at the end.
“You should have seen how bad she was blushing...” Her guy friend whose name I couldn't remember had told me enthusiastically that night.
Years later, I had somehow convinced her to perform the now-famous speech for me. It had truly been an art of persuasive communication. In the speech, she had briefly described ten books that were commonly challenged by faceless groups or raging, biased individuals. They pushed their way to the forefront of my mind as I stood there with Rich. The temptation was too great; I rattled them off much to his horror.
“The Catcher in the Rye by Steinbeck, Brave New World by Huxley, 1984 by Orwell, Huckleberry Finn by Twain...” I stopped, switching gears in my mind to contemporary literature. I could see that Rich was becoming more on edge as I depicted my vast knowledge on the books he had deemed reprehensible. “And Tango Makes Three, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Har...”
“Oh yes!” He interrupted me loudly and aggressively. He was struggling to exert control over the conversation. “Those awful books about wizards and magic, we took a lot of those.” His eyes lit up in malicious glee to match his smile.
Brynna's favorite books...
“Witchcraft is a sin, Violet. Despite what all of you down there in your camp and despite what those books would ha
ve you believe, witchcraft is a sin. I know that to you, it seems like just an innocent book. Most of these things do seem innocent, but they’re not. The influence they hold…” He shuddered in genuine disgust. “Kids were running around, wishing they were witches.”
“And wizards.” I added.
He scowled darkly at me but continued, undaunted.
“That's what Don and his people are, when it comes right down to it, and I will not suffer a witch to live. Neither will Tyre. Mary and I both are genuinely repulsed that this same man, the literary professor, I mean, was allowing his children to read those books. The whole family was exiled for that reason alone.”
“So you, the good and faithful leader of these people, threw an entire family out onto the slopes of the mountain, knowing that they would starve or freeze to death.”
“You make it sound terrible when you say it like that. No, Violet, that's not how it happened. We gave them a rations box and a knife. There are plenty of mountain animals to hunt. Anyone can make a fire.”
“How very generous of you.” I whispered icily. The animal inside of me was rearing its head, clawing to the surface to escape the darkness that was slowly extinguishing its life. I had been in the Bachum camp for under twenty four hours and was already sensing the destruction of the evolutionary force I had allowed to thrive within me. Now, the predatory instinct, fueled by the fury of a guardian grieving the loss of innocents, was coming out to play.
“That family was a danger to our group. Mary and I had to do the same to many others who didn't follow our laws. They were pathetically stupid people who were holding onto tokens of the past that are irrelevant now and were always disgusting in terms of morality. Things have been better since we burned all that garbage and threw out those people who brought it to our camp. Don't you see why Mary and I had to take action?”
“No, I don't, Rich.” My voice was trembling, and my hands were bawling into fists. “I don't believe what you believe. Does that mean that I'll be exiled?”
“No.” He whispered as he walked closer to me slowly, his eyes blazing. “All that means is that we'll have to break you the same way we broke Maura.”
No fear. Not an ounce. Not a whisper. I closed the gap between us and glared up into his eyes.
“I am taking Penny, Maura, and Nick. We are leaving tonight. For your own sake, don't try to stop us. You disgrace the code you claim you follow. You know nothing of God.”
“And you do?” His hand grabbed my chin in a painfully tight hold. He was spitting his words at me through clenched teeth. “Why? Because your sister is a mutated freak who put these ridiculous ideas into your head? If I have to beat that filth out of you myself, then I will.”
“You won't touch me!” I barked at him. All suppression failed; my eyes turned white as I prepared for the fight.
“Don't you dare look at me like that! Don't you look at me like I'm something to eat! I am your leader! You will do as I say! Or you will be...”
We were standing so close together that only one fighting action was prudent; I brought my head back before lunging forward abruptly yet forcefully. After my head slammed into his, the grip he held on my face released, and he stumbled backwards, grasping his nose. I could have sworn that I heard a whimper escape him.
I was going to kill him. Outside, thunder rumbled overhead. The clouds in the sky were stabbed by lightning bolts, bleeding snow onto the earth. One particularly loud burst of electrical energy split the roof of our home in two. The wood of the roof burst into flames. Rich stared up, eyes wide in giddy adulation; he believed his warped perception of God was going to strike me down with one perfectly aimed lightning bolt.
Unfortunately for him, he was very, very misguided in that belief.
Rich propelled himself backwards by rapidly kicking his feet. Each time he scooted away, a bolt of lightning struck the hardwood floor just in front of him. He was narrowly avoiding being fried to a crisp each time. Penny's arms were wrapped around my legs as she watched through her fingers. The fire was beginning to fall around us as the roof caved in. I kicked open the bedroom door to find my father, Maura, and Nick staring, wide-eyed, at us.
“They're my feelings,” My voice conveyed my surprise. “They make things happen...”
“What did you do?!” My father shouted before running into the room where I'm sure Rich was huddled in a corner, praying for my swift demise. The cabin dropped sideways as one of the stilts split in two, sending us all hurtling into the far wall. Nick's body slammed against the window, breaking it open.
“Nick!” I shouted after spinning Penny around so she could attach to my back. I could hear Maura sobbing.
“It's okay!” Nick shouted to me over the blazing inferno that was claiming the cabin. “I'll land on my feet, and you will, too! Come on!”
I looked back at Maura and reached out to her. Tears were falling freely down her face as she looked between my father and me. I was offering her an escape from the torment those people would continue to subject her to as long as she lived. My father was more than likely going to burn to death or die on impact when the cabin crashed onto the pathway below us. I didn't quite see how any deliberation was necessary. The fire engulfing the house and the smoke filling the air didn't aid my patience or understanding. I mentally noted that I would give her a mere ten seconds to make up her mind.
I understood she loved him. I understood she had longed for twenty-plus years to be married to him. But his cruelty had only increased as the years went on. Pangaea was a new chapter for all of us, but for him, it was a clean slate to be dirtied by his relentless need for inflicting pain. She had suffered the worst of his pent-up sadism. I needed her to make a decision before we all met our ends.
“Violet, we have to go!” Penny screamed in my ear.
I still didn't reach out and pull Maura towards me. I would not suffer her resentment later. I would not hear that I had forced her to abandon the love of her life. Maura was always one to point fingers. She was an insolent child when she didn't get her way. If I pulled her out of the burning house, she would tell me later that she had wanted to die with him. I would be the one who ruined her plans, even by saving her life.
Only after she nodded to me and reached out for my hand did I pull her towards me. Without thinking for a minute about the drop or my legs shattering upon impact, we plummeted to the ground.
The phrase “angry mob” is one that so rarely gets used seriously, at least if one is talking about torches burning, guns loaded, nooses tied, the town coroner carting along an empty, wooden coffin, and all of that. In fact, most people never see one like that. However, the crowd coming towards us consisted of people who were practically gnashing their teeth as they shouted about punishment and fiery pits.
“Time to go.” Nick told us. He pulled Penny off of my back and threw her onto his. I kept a firm grasp on Maura's hand as we kicked our way through the knee-high snow. If I didn't calm my fury, their whole village would be buried.
“They're coming! Nick, they're coming!” Penny was shrieking as we ran.
I chanced a glance over my shoulder to find that the mob was closing in. The burning cabin fell away from the mountain before crashing to the earth in a spectacularly loud explosion of wood, flames, and billowing black smoke. Mary Bachum screamed.
“Violet, you have to do something!” Maura urged me as she looked back. “They're getting closer!”
I could feel their monstrous energy. I could feel their thirst for our blood. They would hang all of us from the highest point of their temple. They would sacrifice us with sadistic glee. We were dangers to their way of life. We knew where they were, and we would return with other “mutated freaks” to take them down. They would gladly kill us all, including Penny, who was too young and too innocent to fight or understand.
They would kill Penny. I remembered Tyre talking about sacrificing her to his God. Snowballing from that thought, I remembered in its entirety the conversation Rich and I had just
had about all the people he had left to die simply because they hadn’t believed what he and his crazed wife did. Their followers might have just been scared survivors, but they were also incredibly dangerous in their own right. If Rich and Mary pointed, they would swarm a target and rip him or her to pieces. Then, they would drop to their knees and scream their thanks to the heavens as their victim bled out on the ground.
That kind of blind and bloodthirsty devotion was evil, too.
The mountain gave an almighty rumble that sent several more houses tumbling to the ground. We ran even faster to avoid them. I could hear the whooshing of a rushing wave of snow cascading down the mountain towards us.
“RUN!” I screamed over the deafening noise.
We narrowly escaped it. I turned back, huffing and puffing to catch my breath. The avalanche had killed the mob, maybe. It created an impenetrable barrier between us, most certainly.
“So I have to admit, your power is cooler than mine.” Nick told me through his gasps for air.
I smiled slightly, realizing then that I wielded a power far greater than I ever could have imagined. I couldn't wait to tell Brynna and Elijah.
“Well, we don't have to worry about them anymore.”
Something tugged at the giddy excitement I felt at escaping the Bachums' camp. Something Maura had said earlier was playing back to me like a deafening, relentless taunt screamed by children on a playground. I turned to her to find that she was looking off into the distance at the stars twinkling in the now all-clear sky.
“Hey...”
We were all soaking wet from the snow and shivering as the adrenaline died away. Maura, who had not evolved, would be the first to die if someone was meant to be taken that night. I wrapped my arms around her, praying for a surge of warmth that would comfort her. To my immense surprise, heat blazed between us. She turned to me, wrapped her arms around my back and buried her face in my shoulder.
“There was something you said earlier that I need you to tell me now.”
She nodded, knowing what I meant. Her head moved up, and she whispered her secret in my ear. My eyes bugged in terror as I looked up at Nick.
“What?” He was utterly panic-stricken by the expression on my face. “What is it?”
The warmth was extinguished between Maura and I as easily as a quick blow snuffs out a candle. My entire body was shaking but not because of the cold. I struggled to find words. I struggled to make a sound. Her secret was one that was hardly believable, and yet I believed. I knew, the way we just know things, that she wasn't lying.
“What?!” Nick demanded, now walking towards me.
“We have to get to Brynna! I have to tell Brynna!”
Brynna
James’s arms snaked around me as I zipped my jacket onto the girl we had found. From the stunted gasps of cracked, frozen lips, I had learned her story. She and her family had been exiled from the Bachum camp for possessing books and other trinkets deemed morally objectionable. She, her brother, and her mother had survived for two days before a blizzard that came from nowhere claimed their father and forced them to keep trying to move down the mountain. I asked for her name simply so an attempt could be made on my part to comfort her. I couldn’t imagine losing someone I loved in such a brutal, unforgiving stream of events. I couldn’t imagine the permanence of death when Penny and Violet were still missing.
After travailing back down the mountain after my slight emotional hiccup, my mind was hatching circumstances that might explain the abandoned village. The theories ranged from sane to ludicrous, logical to fantastical, all at once, in a tornado of words, pictures, and sounds. I squeezed my eyes shut as I placed the girl down on a bed of half-frozen moss in the forest.
“We need to keep moving.” I told James softly. I felt his jacket being placed around my shoulders and then his perfectly strong arms again.
“I know.” His lips pressed to my shoulder. “It’s still too cold here. They’ll never last the night. We might not even make it.”
I nodded, tensing as the girl laid her head in my lap. She was thirteen at the most and still, I cringed as she desperately attempted to forge a bond with me. I could not afford attachment to any outside party. James, Alice, and Quinn were each another inch of width in the threshold of catastrophe. Any more, and my heart might have spontaneously ceased to beat.
“Be nice.” James whispered to me, “She’s afraid. You’re helping her.”
As quickly as the iceberg had sprung forth from the waters, it melted away into the surrounding mass. The ocean moved calmly again at James’s command.
“You know we can’t afford this right now.”
The girl slumbering peacefully in my lap was named Ellie. Her little brother, called Oliver, was the same age as Penny. Their mother, who had never regained consciousness even after we had carried her to those slightly warmer temperatures, was named Savannah. The girl would not tell me much about the Bachum camp, though I would surely continue to question her until I had gotten my answers. There was no alternative route anymore; if those strangers knew the Bachums’ secrets, then I would know, too.
“They sent in spies. That’s a tactical maneuver we never could have expected of them.” I told James softly. “We don’t know how many there were. We don’t even know if they are still amongst us. We won’t know how much they know until it’s too late.”
“They’ve already destroyed the house. There’s not much else they can do, is there?”
“They can eradicate us completely while we’re vulnerable. While we’re crawling about, searching for shelter and starving to death, they can hit us. That’s plenty. You may chalk this up to an effort on my part to tailor all of their actions mentally to involve me, but I think that they took Penny and Violet to distract me.”
“Of course they did, baby. But it wasn’t just you. They took so many others. It was a risky move on their part, though. They would either cripple us or piss us off.”
“They’ve done both, I’m afraid. I’m finding it harder to focus. I can’t summon whatever force enables us to fight so efficiently. At least, I can’t summon it as easily. The worry is too great. I can’t stop thinking about what Penny and Violet might be enduring.” I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. “I’m exhausted, but I won’t sleep until they’re safe.”
“That’s not doing them any good, Brynna. You’re right that it’s partially worry; that's why you can't use the change as easily. But you’re tired, and that’s not going to help you or them. Just close your eyes for…”
“No.” I firmly replied. I deserved not a moment of the peace that came with sleep. It would be an insult to my sisters if I allowed myself to relax while they were missing and awaiting my rescue.
“Do you feel them?” James asked me softly.
I looked back at him, brows crinkled in an expression of aggravated confusion.
“Brynna, your power is that you know things. Use it. Close your eyes and try to feel their presence. Try to feel what they’re feeling. You can do it. I know you can.”
“I don’t think that is how it works, James.”
“Just try.”
I sighed in exasperation at his faith in my power. I was losing my strong trust in the evolution; it was an inconvenience to feel the rushing stream of fear, doubt, regret, and sadness felt by those inhabiting Pangaea. Their thoughts screamed to be heard and sympathized with. My own thoughs and feelings were amplified tenfold by what I heard and felt in others.
A whirring noise drowned out the silence that surrounded James and me. Contorted voices shouted, their words indecipherable. Sobs and beating hearts shook the very foundation of my mind. At the center of the chaos was a glowing light, radiating warmth and tranquil silence. In that soft, beautiful eye of the storm, I could see Penny. Her innocence and inner peace were wrapping around me, a blanket of serene warmth to save me from the cold of the other agonizing emotions.
“I didn’t like them very much. And Brynna will be so happy! Maura is with us a
gain!”
Standing a few feet from her light, Violet was thinking of Nick and the telling of a long-held secret. That particular revelation that stood firmly at the forefront of her mind would rip the ground out from beneath us all. My heart pounded in trepidation as I emerged from the sea of feeling and thought. Only my own mind was screaming.
“They got away.”
“See? I told you. You can do it.” James boasted with an air of jest to his words.
I smiled back at him before whacking him lightly as I always did when his sarcasm took gravity from a situation that warranted grave seriousness.
“They’re very close. Come on!” I pulled him to his feet and turned to Elijah, who was dozing against a tree. “Eli!”
“Yeah?!” His voice bombarded the forest with noise. He looked around wildly, expecting a fight.
“Watch them. Let’s go.” Two commands in one breath was not even a record for me.
“Where are you two going? Do I even want to know?” Elijah called after us.
“Violet and Penny are close!” I called over my shoulder.
“What?!”
“Stay here!”
After going through so much trouble to save Savannah, Oliver, and their mother, one would assume that Elijah would have listened. However, he left Alice and Quinn, both sleeping, to guard the new additions to our merry band.
“What do you mean they’re…?”
But upon breaking through the trees, I saw four and a half shapes trekking towards us, lifting their feet to step through the still melting snow at the foot of the mountain.
“Oh my…” No witty remarks or elaborately formed exclamations could adequately express the relief or the joy. Tears might have sufficed, but then, I was not one for crying, as I am sure you have gathered.
Violet cried enough for the two of us. I did break my code of conduct by kissing her cheek twice, though. I held her so tightly, I thought she would be crushed. The previous twenty-four hours seemed so long, an endless stream of time with only darkness at the end. Every inch of my all-knowing ways could not have predicted the outcome of Violet and Penny being taken. I had been unable to see and thus, I was left to wonder and speculate with only the darkest tools of my mind to mold the future.
And yet there they were, right in front of me. I scooped Penny up, my trembling arms locking around her small body so that no one could take her again. I looked her over before turning my searching gaze to Violet, whom Elijah was now practically suffocating in an embrace. If there was one bruise, even a paper-cut… But there was none.
To call her an elephant in the room metaphorically would be accurate. To call Maura an elephant in the literal sense was far too generous. Her clothes hung from her skeletal frame, reminding me of the gruesome images shown during Health class to warn of the dangers of eating disorders. The bruises that covered her did not spark a rage in me; I felt merely a dim concern. For a moment, I wished that I could feel something towards her. I wished that I could rush to her, inquire about her well-being, and promise her that I would remedy any pain she was feeling. For a moment, I thought those feelings would emerge, but in my mind, I saw her hands flying up to cover her ears. Ice saved me from sympathy.
“You look…” I started to say, but she nodded.
“I know. Are you going to gloat, Brynna?”
Malice was absent from her voice. In fact, when she spoke those words, I heard only quiet pleading.
“Do you think so little of me?” I whispered to her so the others couldn’t hear.
“I left him. I left the life we had built…”
“Don’t get sentimental.” My voice rose one octave from an only slightly gentle whisper to an aggravated hiss. “Look what he’s done to you!”
“It wasn’t him.” She muttered with her eyes fixed below her on the ground.
“Why won’t you look at me?”
“I can’t tell you anything about them, alright?” Her eyes rose to meet mine, and I saw a mirrored image of myself; defiance was staring back at me. “There are good people up there. People that I don’t want to see get hurt…’
“How very noble.” I turned away from her and thought I heard her crying softly.Elijah, despite his earlier anger towards her, swooped in to comfort her, knowing that I could and would not.
“It’s alright. It’s okay.” James told me softly as he squeezed both of my hands. I looked past him, out at the mountain and the surrounding land glowing in the twilight. The greenery was beginning to spring forth from the snow, gasping for the fresh air. I could sympathize with that, surely.
“You don’t owe her anything.” James told me. “Don’t think that you do.”
I nodded.
“Even if there is no debt, we still have to take her with us. We can’t leave her. Any person with a scrap of goodness in their heart deserves a chance, James.”
“I know. Of course we’ll take her with us, baby.”
I heard a shriek of joy behind me, and Alice was flying through the trees, running to Violet and Penny. Violet screamed, too. I had missed the emergence of their friendship, though when I thought back to those peaceful days in the kitchen, I remembered their long talks about typical nonsense. To hear such inane conversation normally provoked an eye roll and a disdainful remark from me about the vapid nature of youth. But in their case, it warmed me to see such normalcy. I wanted them both to be young and happy.
“I almost had an asthma attack chasing you, and they’re really uncomfortable, so don’t ever get taken again.” Quinn told Violet. She giggled raucously in response and returned his warm hug.
There was one person to whom I had not spoken yet. I walked over to Nick and stood on my tiptoes to embrace him. When that awkward moment of warmth expired, I went to pull away immediately.
“Stop being weird.” He told me.
I smiled and held onto him for a minute longer.
“Thank you. From her thoughts, I gathered that you were taking care of her.” I informed him.
“No way. She was taking care of me. It was her grand escape plan.”
“Well, just so you know, she was thinking that she couldn’t have done it without you. I suppose that warrants a pat on the back. So…” I reached back and clapped him on the back once.
“Ow.”
“Pansy.” I grinned and then turned to the group at large. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we…”
“…are going to follow Adam back to the city.”
Adam’s appearance was sudden and unwelcome, and why was I still surprised? I jumped when I realized he was standing just in back of me, so close that we were almost touching.
“Back up two steps.” I snapped at him, “I value my bubble.”
“What bubble?” He asked me, sounding blithely amused, which was also quite common for him.
“If you don’t take two steps back, I’ll tell you all about it.”
Don and a group of four others came stomping out of the trees, looking disgruntled.
“You know, you really should tell me when you’re going to take off like that. We almost lost you!”
Don, in typical passive aggressive fashion, scowled at me instead of Adam.
“Hello, Don.” I greeted him with a winning smile of pure taunting. The grin vanished abruptly from my face as I looked back at Adam, rolled my eyes and moved to stand beside James.
Though it was a doubtful scenario, I was starting to wonder if Adam was, as Violet would put it, “into me.” Surely, a leader of so many who was several thousand years old would have no interest in me. But his subtle glances and his knowing smiles were strange. Perhaps he wanted to kill me, which would be far more desirable a scenario than him coveting my affections. However unlikely, I still made a point of standing beside James when Adam was present so as to make the point crystal clear: James was the man with whom I had chosen to be romantically involved, and that more than likely would not change. Though both men were, if honesty is required, incredibly good-looking, James was also
kind, humorous, and, though this is awkward, very skilled at copulating. Adam was nothing more than a warlord who hid in his vast city, manipulating circumstances in the world at large to create the most entertaining spectacle, which he would watch with rabid enthusiasm even as lives were ended violently. In fact, the more violent the deaths, the happier he would be.
But I digress. This is all unimportant.
“Brynna, I need to talk to you.” Violet took my hand and pulled me away from James.
The secret! In my relief, I had forgotten ever learning that there was a revelation to be told.
“What is it? I know there is something significant.”
“It’s more than significant.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. She looked behind me to ensure that no one was eavesdropping. My anticipation grew.
“What is it?” I demanded again.
“Well, I’m sure that you know that the Bachums sent people to spy on us. They sent them so they could attack us from within, you know? And they’ve joined with the other natives. You know, the ones that Adam is fighting...”
“Yes, I know, I know. Now, what is the secret?” My impatience was growing.
“Brynna…” Her hands grasped mine, and her eyes looked behind me again.
“Get up!” A voice shouted, and now, I whipped around.
“Stop!” Violet was screaming and running away from me. Though the sight before us should have erased the questions from my mind and spurred me to immediate action, I still found myself mentally pouting, knowing it would be even longer before I knew the hidden truth she was withholding.
Maura had fallen to the ground, her body weakened from whatever physical abuse she had been forced to endure. Don was pulling her up roughly by her arms, trying to force her to stand. When he finally managed to maneuver her onto her feet, he moved forward so his face was close to hers.
“You’re with him?!” He bellowed in an intimidating show of brutal, verbal force. “You’re with him, and you think we’re going to take you in!? I want to know everything, do you understand?!”
“Put a leash on your dog. A muzzle, too, while you’re at it. We’re trying to have a discussion.” I snapped at Adam as I watched Violet grab hold of Don and throw him off of Maura.
“She’s his wife!” Don had gotten back onto his feet and was pointing an accusatory finger at Maura.
“I left him, didn’t I?” Maura screamed back, but her voice was trembling under the threat of tears.
“She came with us willingly. We didn’t take her.” Nick explained hurriedly in an attempt to help.
“You all know that we can’t just let her come live with us like nothing has happened! For all we know, they wanted you to take her! She could run back to them any time she wants! They know you three trust her!”
“And what would she tell them?” I demanded with a derisive giggle. “I’m sure our forages for berries and roots and our hurried search for shelter will be most pivotal in determining their next course of militaristic action.” I rolled my eyes to the sky, begging for an intervention that would swiftly remedy the stupidity of those individuals around me.
“You’re just mad because of what they did!” Violet proclaimed furiously. “You’re just trying to punish her for what Mary and Rich did to us! It wasn’t her fault, Don! She’s suffered enough! She wants to be on our side now! You’re just trying to make her suffer because Mary and Rich took our people and burned down the house!”
“They killed ten of our people, so yes, I am.” Don replied quickly and curtly. “Now, shut up and get out of the way.”
I zoomed forward in a blur, appearing in front of him before he could even process that I had moved at all. His hands were wrapped around Violet’s wrist, and he had been in the motion of pushing her away from him forcefully. Upon seeing that my fangs had emerged, he immediately let her go.
“You and I do not see eye to eye. That has never yielded favorable outcomes, has it, Don? If you ever touch her again…”
“Brynna, I’m not a spy. I don’t care about this war. I just want it to be over.” Maura was telling me quickly as two of the men cuffed her hands behind her back. “Brynna, please don’t let them do this!”
“What is it that you are planning?” I demanded. “What is it that you think she can tell you?”
“It’s not a matter of her telling me anything. It’s a matter of what she’ll tell them. Weren’t you listening?” Don snapped at me. I chose to ignore his condescension.
“Walk.” One of the men who had cuffed her hands was steering Maura forward.
“There are three others from their camp in the trees. That’s what she just whispered to him!” The woman speaking pointed at Alice, who gasped and covered her mouth. I rolled my eyes again.
“I’m sorry! Brynn, I’m sorry!” Alice uncovered her mouth to apologize but quickly covered it again.
Savannah and Oliver’s mother had regained consciousness. Because she was an adult, they cuffed her hands as well.
“Mama!” Her son screamed, and my heart panged in painful sympathy.
“Please do something!” Ellie was imploring James and me, as though we had extensive control over Don and his lapdogs. I so desperately wished that was the case but alas, it was not.
“I will do what I can for all of you when we arrive where we are headed.” I managed to tell her quickly as two other men pulled her away from me. “Don’t worry, Ellie!”
With one hand, I latched my fingers around James’s. With the other, I ran my fingers through my hair and drew in one deep, trembling breath. There would be blood shed that night and pain experienced by those poor woman for whom I was involuntarily responsible. I had several miles to prepare for that grim reality. My plan would have to be formulated before we reached the city.
Throughout the entire duration of the walk, Violet never stopped screaming at Don. Every couple of minutes, Elijah would threaten him with some painful and degrading consequence, should harm befall any of the prisoners he had taken. Adam sauntered along at the front, looking pleased with himself. Why wouldn’t he be? He had his bloody show.
“Do you think I owe her something now?” I asked after several minutes of silence. When James did not answer, I turned my fiery gaze onto him.
“Yes. But you and I both owe that woman and her children far more.” James told me softly. His grip tightened comfortingly on my hand. Since we were close to the back of the group, I allowed myself a small showing of weakness: I rubbed my head against his shoulder and left it rested there until we had broken through the trees.
I dreaded what might happen in the city for good reason. The end of a time was upon us. A seismic shift in climate was brewing. I watched the last of daylight disappear completely; we were suddenly plunged into darkness so thick, it could only have been symbolic.
By the time the Pangaean sun rose, our world would be in ruins.