the species that was never supposed to survive."
The door opened, and Ana, Orion, Lena, and Morgan came back in. Their
conversation came to an abrupt end.
“Is there something I can do first before you send me to bed?” Rose asked as they all
began getting ready to leave.
“Go ahead,” Ana said. “But if it's something outside, you have one hour. After that I'm
closing the doors and no one is getting back in. Everything is cancelled tomorrow except
necessary jobs, for we need time to get everything together.” Daniel drew a number one
on a paper and pulled it off to show they meant it.
Rose, grinned, nodded and walked towards the big chair. In it she picked up the arrow
and spear she had been gifted by the guard. Her leg shook with new pain from a wound
she thought was long gone, but she shook it off.I’ll bandage it later,she thought. As she
walked, someone grabbed her arm, and she stopped.
“Where are you going?” Lena asked.
“To find a friend.”
She let her hand linger on her arm. “Is it who I think it is?”
Rose shifted her weight. “Probably.”
Lena examined her. “I'm coming.”
“No, you should stay with Morgan, she needs you.”
For the slightest second Lena looked as if she had forgotten Morgan while she stood in
the room. Her eyes stared at Rose like she was the only thing that they could see. Rose’s
pulse skipped a few beats.
“Promise you'll be back at a decent time.”
“Define decent,” she teased.
“I will go get you if I have to. I promise.”
Rose sighed. “Fine. I promise I will be back at a decent time.”
“And?”
“I won't go looking for more trouble.”
“And?”
“I won't follow the path if trouble finds me.”
“And?”
“And I won't eat sleep or breathe unless you're watching me.”
Lena grew serious; her face said that she wanted her to know it was not a game.
“Rosie.”
“Yes.”
“I need for you to be careful.”
“You know it.”
“Don't do anything stupid."
“Okay."
For a second they just held each other. Ana cleared her throat and both girls colored
up to their cheeks.
Rose flooded the room to go find Noah, before anyone could remember how much
they did not trust that she would get back home. He had disappeared after his dad did
which no one could blame him for, as losing the same person twice in one year, must be
hard. For a second, while they were out there, Artisan was back. He was clean and functioning. His skills and knowledge were the reason why their people were back, and
his sacrifice was the reason they were all still alive. Him and Alex. Where was Alex? She ran to the school but, surprisingly, did not find him there. It was empty and
deserted as even the animals were let out. After that she checked by the maskers usual
hiding place. Then she went to the rock from the funeral but was surprisingly unlucky.
The water had been refrozen however, and she knew someone had been there. After a
moment of consideration, she found Noah in the funeral house; his face was dry, although
she had expected it to be streaked with tears. A bad sign.
“Is it my turn to yell go away?” he asked upon noticing her.
“No, you have to melodramatically run out of a room first.”
His smile was a weak one. Rose wrapped both arms around him and placed his head
on her shoulder; for a moment they stood in silence.
“Can we get him back?” he asked with all the courage a preteen could muster. Rose rubbed his hair. “Yes. If we can cause tornadoes and build planets and bring
people back to life, we can get him back.”
He sniffled. “It's hard to believe.”
“There's a way to do everything, Noah, most people just haven't thought of it yet.” “And you think it will be us who do it?”
“I think it will be someone, and that is all we need to know.”
Noah let go. He was still in his fighting gear with a sword at his belt - another bad
sign. He sat on the bench and grabbed her hand so she was sitting too. For a second he sat
as if he was so weak he might fall over, and Rose got scared about the rising carbon
dioxide levels.
“Whose side are you on, Rose?” he asked after a pause. “For the war we both know is
coming.”
With the decision of her choice, she looked out the window, not wanting to make eye
contact. “Ana's. I don't know why she's done, some of the things she's done but for now. I
trust her.”
“But the way they treat the prisoners.”
“I know.”
“And the poison air they've been sending to the other cities.”
“I know.”
Noah picked up a stray pearl from someone's popped necklace and spun it between his
fingers. “There's no way they got those things done on their own. We have to figure some
things out, like who's really doing what.”
“I just don't understand what happened, it's like the world changed after Max, or after
they took Max down. We weren't perfect before, but now there's war everywhere.” “It’s because they were all thinking about it and Max managed to do it. You must
have no idea how many people looked up to him, even my father. I mean think about it, if
you could be as strong as him, wouldn’t you think that you can change the world?
Sometimes it’s for the good, sometimes it’s for the bad, but that’s the goal in the end for
us right?”
“So now we have a world of people that want to be most powerful and it's our
responsibility to stop them.”
“One thing is for sure. If we go down before we finish, we're taking Elesto and Vister
down with us.”
Rose grabbed the pearl from him. “I was already planning on it.”
“When do you think we should start?”
She rubbed her chin. “Tomorrow isn't soon enough."
“I was thinking of another prison raid tonight.”
“Be careful, they might give you another hearing.”
“I would do terrible in prison.”
They both laughed, remembering the thought. If Rose had not of been there, Noah
would have been torn apart and given no chance. For a second she thought of going back
to Daniel’s house, and it made her sad. Her best friends were here. Especially Lena. She
didn't want to think about not having Lena.
“I can bring people back to life.”
“I've heard. How do you feel about it?”
“It makes me want to travel the world helping. I mean, think of how much good I can
do.”
She thought about all the help she could give, but Noah quickly burst her bubble by
saying, “Only if it was a true accident, Rose, or a murder someone didn't deserve. For
some people, it really is their time. You have to let people let go, Rose. If not it's
unhealthy.”
This whole entire thing was unhealthy. Couldn't he see? She was given her power
because she was unwilling to lose anyone else. If he were murdered tomorrow, would he
expect her to let him stay dead?
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
“If I have my power, what does that tell you?”
He snatched the pearl back from her “That people are going to want it and
more
importantly they're going to want you. EVERYWHERE. NO MATTER THE STATUS.
This isn’t something you can walk around saying meaning you have to be careful now or
you’ll die or worse, be chained and forced to do someone's will”
“Well, be careful yelling it out like that, someone might overhear you.” He grew quiet, then whispered, "I almost forgot about that. Will they really? I
haven’t seen anyone around in ages.”
“They will… In fact, you're right... maybe not.“
“Why not?”
“Ana sent them back home.”
Outside a large bird was heard flapping its wings and making loud chirps. Rose was
strongly reminded of a human invention she had run into called "lawnmower."
“So they're really not watching us right now?” he yelled over the noise.
“No.”
“Maybe I should go home after all.”
She put her hair behind her ears. “Home?”
“With my mom. She stopped by to get me, and I quickly denied, as I expected to be
rightfully followed.”
Rose shook her head. “They're too preoccupied that they don't care. And besides me
and you saved the world, so why would they be after us?”
“We helped. That's all.”
“Without us they wouldn't have known it needed saving,” she reminded. A loud noise
sounded, and they could tell that the bird landed on the roof.
“That's another thing. Do they know what they're going to do about this whole
unspeakable and people-like Disaster thing?”
“Probably not. If it was like the sun - the same thing every day - it would be different
but this is not the sun."
“So that brings me back to my point. Basically we did nothing, ” Noah said angrily,
failing to push back his cynicism. His eyes darkened like the sky during an eclipse, and
Rose’s heart reached out to him.
“We did enough, and we can still celebrate. In fact, I insist we celebrate. Please come
with me and we'll have lots of fun before the night is over."
“To where and to get what?”
"Games and food,” she offered thinking about going to get Lena and setting up a nice
arrangement in the living room. If Ana was still in a good enough mood, she might even
join too. Daniel would definitely come if there was chocolate. There were so many people in the house, in fact, that it might turn into a small “we got them back” party that was well deserved.
“You don't look in the going home and celebrating mood."
“I most definitely am up for going home and celebrating. I'm only up for an hour…
no, wait, thirty more minutes of stuff outside.”
“Thirty minutes?” He asked.
“Curfew,” she admitted.
“Really. Curfew looks good on you. Perhaps I should wear it too” he pretended to be
hurriedly packing up his things to leave, and she laughed.
“Luckily you won't be forced. Just me.”
“Good. Someone always needs to be out causing trouble. You think Lena and Aylea
will get this 'curfew'? If they did things would get really boring.”
“Of course not. In their defense they only really did bad things when I made them.” Rose squeezed his hand and gave him a long hug.
“If we’re really celebrating, don't you think it needs to snow on a beautiful night like
this?” he asked, so heartbroken and suggestively that she had no choice but to agree. “It does.”
“Come on then.”
They got up and turned to leave, but Rose stopped dead in her shoes, for there was a
boy standing right in front of her. He had pretty brown eyes and a strong, defined face.
When he shook, little bits of sand fell off his head and he wore shorts dead in the middle
of the night even though it was winter. Beside her Noah drew a weapon, but she made
him put it away. Somehow she knew it was her little brother Sage.
Biography
Tatiyana Perkins grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was thirteen years old when she first started to write the First Strikes Disaster series and she completed the first book when she was seventeen. If not writing you'll find her playing music or drawing in her notebook. She is currently pursuing a degree in English and has many other series that she'd like to bring to life.
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