‘Really…?!’ Sandor screamed looking up into the camera that was now visible. She coughed a few more times and then went into my cell.
‘Please return to your cells,’ Catherine’s voice came over the speaker.
‘Make me!’ Sandor cried sitting on my bed.
I stood there unsure what to do. They’d been testing us all along. I joined Sandor in my cell, sitting on the bed beside her.
‘They’ve never done anything like that before. They’re so cruel!’ She spat the words and then noticing that she still had her top wrapped around her face, she took it off and pulled it back over her head.
‘They must have been trying to see what we would do,’ I said, wiping the sweat from my forehead.
‘Did you know you could do that?’ She gestured towards her cell.
The alarm shut off and the outside doors opened. We stayed where we were as Catherine rounded the corner, surrounded by armed guards. I almost jumped up to go to her, but Sandor put a hand on my arm. Instead I started to clap as the Perfect crossed her arms over her chest.
‘You’re getting a little too cosy,’ she said quietly as she looked at Sandor.
‘You’re getting completely out of order,’ Sandor said, just as quietly.
‘Says the one who killed people.’
‘Hypocrite!’ Sandor said, jumping up. The guards came forward and took her arms, holding her steady. I got to my feet, but Sandor shook her head at me.
‘You will pay,’ Catherine said, turning to walk out of the cell.
‘I think she already has,’ William said from the entrance. We hadn’t noticed him standing there. He was holding his fists tightly at his sides.
‘We were seeing what they would do in an emergency,’ Catherine said, folding her arms over her chest and cocking her hip.
‘Without my agreement,’ William said, spinning and walking towards the exit. ‘Put them back in their cells and then come with me,’ he called as he went.
‘Well, Dragon man, you’ve proved very useful,’ Catherine said, turning back to us and gesturing to the guards to take Sandor away. They pulled her and she stumbled.
‘Don’t you hurt her,’ I hissed, taking a step forward.
The guards paused and looked at Catherine who stood there with a grin on her face. She nodded at them to continue and then came over to me. Laying a hand on my arm, she went up on her tip-toes and took a sniff of my hair. ‘Not only are you gorgeous, but you can breathe fire,’ she whispered in my ear. I took a step back but she just laughed. ‘You think you will have a choice when I decide to…’
‘Catherine!’ William barked from the other end of the prison.
She growled as she stepped back and spun away from me. ‘For now, lover,’ she whispered before my cell bars shut behind her.
I shuddered at her words. I was the same age as her son and the things she’d been thinking made me feel sick. I lowered myself onto the bed and bent forward. I was usually a tough man, but today had been overwhelming. I looked at my feet. They were bare. The ridges up them were smaller than the ones on my arms. I wondered if Catherine only wanted me because of them. I was a fascinating freak to her. One that she believed she had power over because I looked different to her kind.
‘Don’t let her get to you,’ Sandor called.
I laughed. I may not agree with the way Sandor had bombed this place, but she had her reasons. The way Catherine wanted to treat me was probably nothing compared to what other Avoidables had endured. Artie had told me that the angels had only managed to come down a few years ago. They’d been waiting for Hope and others to grow up so they could synchronise the events that were now meant to unfold. William was obviously not in on the recent fire drill.
‘Did you hear me?’ Sandor called.
‘Yes, don’t worry, I won’t,’ I replied, rolling back to lie on the bed. ‘Was she the one that did stuff to you?’
‘No, my tormentor was an older man.’
She said it so quietly, I almost didn’t hear her.
An image of the man that had interrupted our meeting with William a few weeks ago came into my mind. We’d all felt his distaste when he’d seen us.
‘We will make this right, Sandor. We need to be treated more fairly and I think this trial will make it happen.’ I ran my hand through my hair and then took it away as I remembered the look on Catherine’s face when she’d smelt it.
‘I’m not sure I can be as optimistic as you, Purple, I’ve seen these guys at their worse. You think that was bad? That was tame,’ she replied. I could hear her pacing as I rolled over towards my wall and sighed. I couldn’t tell her that there were now angels in the government fighting to make things better for us. I would just have to keep reassuring her when things got tough.
Chapter Thirteen
‘William wants to see you,’ a guard said, stepping through the open bars in my cell and gesturing with his gun.
‘Doesn’t he want to see me?’ Sandor called.
‘No, stay quiet,’ the guard said, opening the outside door and ushering me though.
‘You’re John aren’t you?’ I asked as we crossed the small courtyard.
‘Yes,’ he muttered, looking around them.
‘You remember me don’t you?’
‘Yes, now face forward,’ he said, pushing my back.
I kept walking and thought about the time a few weeks ago when this guard had come over to the Lower Side to get Jason out of there. He’d been rude to Hope and I’d wanted to hurt him.
‘I bet it’s tough being married to such a ball breaker,’ I grunted as he shoved his gun butt into my lower spine.
‘I said face forward, that generally means shut up.’
We came to the same meeting room where Hope, Artie and I had first found out that William was an angel. The big dining room with ornate paintings and a long polished wooden dining table was empty.
‘Sit down,’ John said.
I walked forward and went to sit down on a chair.
‘Not there, there,’ he pointed to the floor.
I scowled at him as the corners of his lips lifted in a sneer.
‘Do it!’
He brought up his gun and was about to swipe it at my head, but I grabbed it and had it pointed at his chest within a second. His gasp was audible in the empty room.
‘What power do you have now Perfect? What makes you feel you can treat people this way?’ I said, pushing the barrel of the gun into his hard chest. He was shorter than me but his brawn was almost a match for mine.
‘I…we…’
‘We are just like you. We may have physical flaws, but your mental flaws far outweigh our defects. We are all still human.’
He snorted and I pushed the gun harder into this chest. Gulping, he let his face go blank.
‘Okay, a form of human then. You hate us because you’re scared of us but the fact is, we just want to be treated fairly.’
‘Grand speech, Purple, now will you let my guard go,’ William said, coming into the room.
I lowered the weapon and smiled as John shuddered.
‘Sir, he overpowered me,’ John said, his face flushing red when William raised his eyebrows at him.
‘Lying is such an ugly trait, John. I thought you were supposed to be a Perfect?’ William said.
John ducked his head and took the offered gun from me.
‘Get out,’ William said, taking a seat at the table.
‘But, Sir, he could hurt you.’
William’s back went stiff. We both saw his navy suit jacket straighten.
‘Okay, Sir,’ John muttered, turning and going out of the room.
‘It amazes me that Jason came from that couple,’ William said, gesturing for me to sit opposite him.
‘Yeah, me too,’ said a voice from the corner of the room.
I looked over near the huge fireplace and saw a chair that faced away from us. Jason stood up from it and smiled when he saw me.
‘I’ve been learning how
to shield my thoughts from you,’ he said, coming to sit next to me.
I scowled at him but that only made him laugh. It annoyed me that I’d not realised he was there. I was usually so vigilant. I was obviously so caught up in teaching John the guard a lesson that I’d not even felt him in the room.
‘We’ve been training all the angels,’ William said, folding his arms on the table surface.
I looked around us.
‘It’s okay, this room is completely safe to talk in. I made sure of that,’ Jason said pointing to the camera in the corner of the room. It was cracked and broken.
‘Purple, we need your help,’ William began. ‘Catherine is determined to get Sandor executed, but she wants to do it in a medieval fashion.’
‘Like a witch hunt?’ I guessed.
Jason nodded and stood up. He started to pace the floor behind me. His footsteps were muffled as the carpet absorbed the thud of his boots. I looked at him and saw that his mousey hair was dishevelled and he had stubble on his usually clean chin. He wore tatty jeans and a buttoned up light blue shirt.
‘So they will set out to humiliate her to teach the Avoidables a lesson?’ I swallowed hard.
‘Yes, she wants to do a public hanging. Literally like medieval times. It’s disgusting, William, no one has been publicly hung for a thousand years.’
The pacing got faster.
‘I know, Jason, I have a plan if you’ll just sit down.’ William gestured to the chair next to me. I nodded my agreement. His pacing was starting to do my head in.
‘Okay, let’s hear it then,’ he said, plonking himself down.
‘Although Perfects are pretty ruthless, they’re still capable of love. They are humans after all. They might have let their egos rule them, but they’re still a sucker for a love story.’ William stood and went behind his chair. He put his hands on the top of it as he looked at us.
‘A love story…?’ I muttered, not quite believing what he was saying. An image of Alia standing naked in the bathing room made me cough. I was glad I was sitting at a table.
‘Yes, we appeal to the jury’s natural nature by providing a love story. Is there someone at the camp that Sandor is involved with?’ he said, looking at me.
I glanced at them both and nodded.
‘Then you’ll go back to the camp and brief them on our plan.’ William nodded and went to walk away.
‘Is that it?’ Jason asked, standing up and facing his leader.
William raised his eyebrows.
‘Sorry, Purple, in about ten minutes I will call all the guards to a meeting. I want you to go out the way you came in the first time you snuck in here with Hope.’ Nodding he strode to the door.
‘Wait!’ I called.
He spun back to us. ‘What is it?’
‘So I go back to the camp and tell them that Leon and Sandor must play along with a love story. But I don’t know the love story? So how will I know what to say to coincide with what Sandor says?’ I walked over to the angel. I looked into his eyes and saw the light. His pupils were white instead of black. It was something I’d never noticed before.
‘You’re not much of a romantic are you, Purple?’ Jason said behind me. I could feel his smirk even though I couldn’t see it. The image of Alia popped into my head again and I had to shake it.
‘I’m not so sure,’ William grinned.
‘Tell them to say that Sandor bombed the compound because of love.’ William turned to go.
‘Will they call Leon to the stand then?’ I replied.
‘They won’t quite have the courage to let an Avoidable testify, but I will. It will be you and Hope that need to persuade the rest of the Perfect jury not to execute her.’ With that William turned and went out of the room.
‘Good luck with that,’ Jason said.
‘Will you let Sandor know?’ I asked.
‘I won’t need to. William is dealing with her.’ Jason stepped forward and offered his hand. ‘I got a deal for you,’ he said.
I looked down at his hand and then directly into his eyes. Nodding for him to go on, I cocked my head to the side.
‘If you tell Hope I miss her and that I will prove my worth to her, I’ll get you the names of the Perfects on the jury.’
His face was still. There was no hint of humour or arrogance. He was starting to get a back-bone. I took his hand and shook it.
‘Deal! Make sure you get it to me quickly,’ I said, letting go of his hand and going out of the door. It was time to go back to the camp and figure out a love story.
Chapter Fourteen
‘Purple’s back,’ Layla shouted as I walked into the centre of camp.
She was sitting around the fire eating her midday meal. A few people gathered around, while someone went to fetch Leon.
‘Purple?’
I turned to see Hope standing with her one arm on her hip. It was free of its cast. Her hair was hanging past her shoulders. She was getting more colour on her pale skin.
‘You need a haircut,’ I said as she jumped forward and threw herself at me. I opened my arms in time and held her to me.
‘I was worried about you,’ she whispered as Leon, Deep and Noland approached.
‘It’s good to have you back, brother,’ Deep said, thumping my back as I let go of Hope.
‘It’s good to be back,’ I replied, nodding at the others.
Alia rounded the corner of a tent and as she did, I felt something move in my chest. I pressed my hand against it.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked as she came up to me and laid a hand over my hand.
I knew I was frowning, I could feel my forehead muscles pulling towards my eyes.
‘Nothing,’ I coughed, patting her hand with my free one.
‘Good, I thought you might be having a heart attack,’ she laughed, taking her hand away and sitting down on one of the benches. The others followed her lead, leaving me to stand.
‘I’m not that weak.’
‘Not when it comes to the heart, no,’ Deep drawled with his rough tone.
I growled at him but stopped when Alia burst out laughing.
‘It’s true,’ she said.
I felt slightly defensive and wondered why. I’d never fallen in love and thought it was too much like a pain in the butt to even think about it.
‘Maybe, but women are hard work,’ I said laughing as Alia laughed, Layla threw her bread roll at me and Hope glared.
‘So, tell us what happened,’ Leon interrupted.
I turned to him as everyone went quiet. I was unsure how I was going to word this as I needed to make sure they knew nothing of William.
‘I managed to escape. Sandor is well,’ I felt my throat close as everyone raised their eyebrows at me. ‘As well as she can be in prison.’
‘Are they treating her badly?’ Leon said. He was sitting straight. His tension was worse than I’d ever seen it. Maybe the love story could be true.
‘No, they seem to leaving her alone. They tested me. They know I can breathe fire.’ I stopped when the noise around us rose as they all asked questions.
‘Be quiet!’ I said, hiding my smile when they all went still at once. I’d never liked to be a leader, but I was finding this quite easy.
‘So what next…?’ Leon asked.
He was the true leader. He always looked for the next step.
‘Sandor and I came up with an idea for the trial. She said that she’d learned that Perfects are gullible when it comes to love stories. We need to make out that it was love that caused her to bomb the compound. We show the Perfects that we have feelings too. Maybe, just maybe, if Hope and I can persuade the jury, she’ll be let off.’ I shrugged. It was the best I could think of. William was using his power their end, I had to use our power this end.
‘You know nothing of love. Why did you come up with this stupid idea?’ Noland drawled in his deep voice. I saw Hope shudder next to him and wondered if anything had happened between them since I’d been away. I cleared my throat.
‘I think he knows a little more about love than we give him credit for, Noland,’ Alia said. Everyone turned to look at her, including me. ‘Just trust me.’
I swallowed hard at her intense gaze, remembering that she could read my aura. What did she know about me that I didn’t know about myself? I shook my head and looked back at Leon. Alia knew nothing about me. Noland was right, I knew nothing of love.
‘We can do a love story. It’s what keeps us Avoidables alive,’ Leon said, standing. ‘For now though, you need a bath.’
Everyone laughed again and I strode away, leaving the mirth behind me. I’d flown back to camp and spending a few days in a cell without a bath had been something Catherine enjoyed. I’d refused to shower when I’d seen the secret camera embedded into the wall.
I entered the bath chamber and saw one male there. He nodded and went out, leaving me in peace. I stripped off my black t-shirt and leather trousers. The warm water caressed me as I lowered myself into it.
‘Was Sandor really okay?’
I spun to see Alia, in a long green dress, approach the pool. She pulled the dress up to her knees and sat on the edge, dangling her legs in.
‘How does this place stay so clean?’ I asked, looking into the water.
‘It’s a spring so it runs clean and we created cleaning agents to help it.’ She put her fingers into the water and swirled them around.
‘Sandor is truly okay,’ I said, ducking my head completely underwater. When I came back up, she was about to pull her dress over her head.
‘Don’t!’ I said quickly.
‘What is it?’ she asked, lowering the dress and frowning over at me.
‘You said that I knew about love. What made you say that?’ I ran my hand over my hair so the wet streaks lay away from my face.
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