One Wish, One Choice

by Abby Hope Patrick

  “I just don’t feel like it.” His voice was firm but sad. Anja hated it.

  “If you don’t go in everyone will think you have a fear of water and tease you about it for the rest of your life.”

  He just shrugged, dismissively. Something was stressing him.

  All right, I’ll have to work a bit harder then.

  “Well if you won’t go in the water then the water will just have to go to you.”

  He turned his head just in time to see her dump the contents of the water bottle all over his head, soaking him. He gasped, sputtering as the water ran down his face. Anja burst into hysterical laughter at the look on his face.

  Kano was chuckling as he said. “Well, I guess now there’s no reason not to join them.” He smiled, extending his hand out to Anja. She took it and he helped her keep her balance as they moved into the freezing water.

  Anja didn’t join the water fight but instead found a rock that was just above water level to sit on.

  The water fight didn’t last very long. The others struggled back to shore with the water containers, shivering. All the boys offered Anja their jackets that had been on the bank during the fight. She declined them all, though she wasn’t sure why. When people offered her something a “No” just seemed to slip out before she could consider the offer.

  Saskia made a beeline for her as they walked back. She pulled off her cardigan and wrapped it around Anja’s shoulders,

  “See, now you can still be a strong, independent female without freezing to death,” she said, making Anja smile.

  Carrying the containers back was a lot harder than getting them there. Anja, however, was relieved, because it meant they were all walking at the same slow pace that she was.

  They were nearing the barn when Faye froze. Anja watched nervously as Faye’s hands moved speedily into her backpack and pulled out the gun that they’d taken from Carl. The whole group fell silent as Faye aimed the gun towards a cluster of trees.

  In unison, the group moved forward towards whatever Faye had heard. The gun was re-loaded and ready.

  Anja held her breath. Faye silently ducked around a tree to her right. Kano rushed after her, with the rest of them following cautiously behind him.

  Rufus’s hand shot out in front of Anja, trying to stop her. But after a quick glare from his sister, he let his hand fall and instead helped her walk around the big oak.

  A uniformed guard stood stiffly amongst the trees, his hands held high, Faye’s gun pointed at his face.

  “Don’t hurt him,” Kano whispered in her ear, his voice carrying in the deathly quiet forest.

  Before Faye could reply, Jabez Atgas stepped out from behind a tree to their left.

  “Yes, please don’t shoot my guard,” he said. “I’d hate all the paperwork.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Jabez!” Her friends shot Anja a confused look before pinning their eyes back on the white-haired boy.

  He nodded, “Last time I checked that was my name.” Jabez didn’t seem at all unnerved by the gun pointed at his chest. “I would prefer for you not to shoot me either.”

  Anja took a shaky step forward. “Faye, please put the gun down.”

  “No. I don’t take orders from any of you.” She stopped glaring at Jabez just long enough to shoot Anja a furious look.

  Kano stepped up. “Don’t be an idiot. If they were here to harm us, they’d already have done it.”

  She still didn’t lower the gun. Kano took a breath in and then turned towards Jabez.

  “If you don’t want to be shot, I recommend you explain why you’re here, and quickly.”

  Jabez took his time to reply until Anja could almost see the steam coming out of Faye’s ears.

  “I followed you back from the market,” he said at last, “but I lost sight of you in the forest. But never mind that. I need to talk to all of you, it’s important.”

  Miles spoke up, directing his question at Kano. “What should we do?”

  “We have to take them with us. I mean, what else are we going to do? Leave them out here?” He said it with humour, but Faye shrugged as if she were considering it.

  “I don’t want them to see where we’re staying,” she said.

  “Alright, then you can blindfold them.”

  Before Jabez could say anything, Faye ripped the bottom of her top off and tugged it around his eyes. He threw his hands up in exasperation but didn’t argue. She did the same to his guard.

  Anja’s insides squirmed with guilt, after all he’d done to help get them out of those cells, they were treating Jabez like a prisoner. It just didn’t feel right to her—but what else could they do?

  Faye followed behind them, the gun slightly raised. Kano was holding Jabez’s sleeve, weaving him in between the trees. He only occasionally hit a tree stump or two, Anja had the feeling Kano was letting him stumble on purpose. She caught Kano’s eye and he grinned, carelessly allowing Jabez to narrowly miss colliding with a tree.

  Miles was leading the guard and was being a lot nicer about it than Kano.

  At last, they arrived back at the barn. When they were inside, they took off the blindfolds and gathered everyone around the small dining table, which was carved from the trunk of a tree.

  Anja struggled to sit, her side aching. Jabez watched her, confused, “Is something wrong?”

  “Yeah, I’ve kinda got a hole in my side.”

  Rufus perked up. “You can’t take all the credit, I had it first.”

  Jabez stopped, looking from Anja’s side to Rufus, who carried on, “I’ll explain. You see, I was shot, then Anja used this magical necklace thingy to take the bullet hole from my side and onto hers.”

  Jabez’s eyes flicked to every face in the room, as if waiting for them to burst into laughter at the joke Rufus had just made. But no one laughed. He took a seat.

  Faye glared at Jabez, who looked unnerved by her presence.

  “You can’t leave this place again,” he said, wasting no time getting to the point. Anja didn’t blame him. He seemed to be in a hurry to leave, and she knew there would be a lot of questions for him if he was discovered here. “You were lucky today, if anyone else had seen you then they would’ve arrested you and this time no one would be able to get you out.”

  “How is she justifying our arrests?” Miles’s bushy eyebrows furrowed.

  “My mother has said that Rufus is a Sorcerer supporter and has been plotting against the government. She’s painting you all as terrorists and criminals.”

  “I mean you guys did break me and yourselves out of prison.” Rufus shrugged, although Anja could see he was worried. He knew what they’d do if they caught him again.

  “Why did you risk coming here?” Anja asked. Is he brave, or just stupid? It was something she was still trying to figure out about herself.

  “I didn’t help you get out of those cells for you to then be put back in them.”

  Faye leaned forward, placing her palms on the table and glaring at Jabez as she spoke.

  “Why exactly did you help get us out? What did you have to gain from it?”

  He looked Faye in the eyes as he said, “I never had a sibling. My father never wanted to have more children, he said I was enough of an annoyance. Anja has what I never had, and I saw what my mother was doing by stripping her of that.”

  Faye removed her hands from the table, folding them tightly across her chest.

  Rufus was looking increasingly ill as he sat listening to the conversation, a fact only Anja seemed to notice.

  Saskia piped up, “What excuse did you use for coming here?”

  “I think you overestimate how much my mother cares about me. But she does keep tabs on me using my guards. Sadly for her, I know which guards are loyal to her and which are loyal to me. Even though she’s corrupt they will stand by her, until we have proof, real proof. This is where I need your help. Going under the radar isn’t easy when you’re the president’s son, so I can’t do anything important withou
t being noticed.” He paused looking at the group, pondering whether to continue or not. “But you can.”

  “I’m in.” Rufus stood, taking a second to find his balance. “Anything to get revenge on that bitch.”

  Jabez chuckled. “It’s nice to know we have the same opinion of my mother.” They grinned at each other.

  Anja stared at her brother. “Are you sure? It didn’t go well last time you stood up to her.”

  “Even more reason to try again. Those in power have the opportunity to try and make the world better but Atgas has made the decision to punish those trying to fix what she continues to break. Things need to change and taking her power away is the first step.”

  Anja looked around the group. She saw the same expression on each of their faces. They all wanted revenge and Jabez was giving them an opportunity to achieve it.

  Jabez continued, “If you can get evidence that she ordered Rufus’s wrongful imprisonment you’ll crack her ‘perfect shell’, and then more cracks will be discovered. But the documents you need aren’t on any computer system. My mother’s copies will have been destroyed, but the official copies are locked away.”

  Anja could start to see what he was suggesting, but Kano had already jumped ahead to what needed to be done.

  “The Husington Tower,” he muttered, staring at Jabez as if he could kiss him. “Genius.”

  “I know,” Jabez replied.

  Saskia raised her eyebrows, placing her hands on her hips. “Can someone explain what the Husington Tower is to people who aren’t as smart as you?”

  Kano’s face was alight with revelation. Anja could already see the gears in his head turning. “It’s where the government keeps all their records. If any order or law is put through there will be records of it in there. Inside will be official documents that will contain proof that she ordered Rufus’s kidnapping.”

  Jabez’s lip curled. “Exactly. I can’t get in there unseen. But I’m sure that you guys can. I can supply anything you might need. All I want in return is while you’re in there you procure a specific document for me.”

  “We’ll do it,” Faye announced.

  Her words seemed to snap Kano out of his head. “Okay, but we need to discuss this a bit more and I’m going to need more details on this document.” He turned towards the group. “The rest of you can go and rest.”

  Anja was grateful, Kano always seemed to be able to sense when she was getting to the end of her rope. She began to rise, the pain in her side flaring until she was forced to bite her lip to prevent herself from shouting out. Jabez rushed forward to help her to her feet, but Kano got there first. He helped her up, then told Rufus to take his sister outside for some fresh air. All the while Jabez’s eyes shot daggers at Kano’s back.

  With Saskia’s cardigan still wrapped around her, Anja and Rufus went to sit down by a tree just outside the doors. Rufus had a glass of water in one hand and in the other, he had some more pills. She was relieved to see them. The throbbing in her side was coming back and it was making every small movement hurt.

  “Damn. That was pretty intense,” he said as he handed the pills over. He began to pass her the glass but froze. Anja caught a glimpse of light from the corner of her eye. She turned to stare at Rufus. The glass fell from his hand as he jumped back, the contents pooling on the ground.

  “What the hell?” Anja snapped.

  Rufus began gasping for breath, shaking his head from either side.

  “You’re worrying me…”

  Suddenly he shot to his feet and ran inside.

  “Rufus!” Anja called to him, but he’d already disappeared.

  A few seconds later Kano appeared at the barn doors. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know.” She tried to find a firm grip on the tree to pull herself to her feet. She gasped, clutching the wound in her side.

  Kano rushed forward and helped her up. He stared at the fallen glass and then to the barn. Anja moved inside as quickly as she could, with Kano striding beside her, his hands out in case she were to fall.

  They found Rufus inside the barn with his back to them.

  The guard stood in front of Jabez, a human shield.

  Anja reached out to grab her brother’s shoulder, but he jumped away, panting.

  “Don’t touch me.” His eyes wouldn’t meet hers. “My hands…they…they…” He looked up at them at last. “Watch.”

  It took a moment, his face contorting with concentration. His hands began radiating light, it shone through his skin and spread to the air around them.

  Anja’s mouth fell open.

  Faye had run up to them and was yelling something but it took her repeating it for Anja to process the words, “Give him something metal!”

  Anja reached into her pocket and pulled her penknife from it.

  “Rufus, catch!” She threw it to him.

  His hand shot out and he caught it, holding it tightly. The light turned from a glow to a few thin strings, which entangled the penknife. The light flowed into the metal and it began to lose its shape, melting in Rufus’s grip. He dropped it, staggering backwards. The light in his eyes faded.

  “What was that?” Jabez breathed, staring at the pile of melted metal with amazement.

  “Sorcerer light,” Faye spoke quietly, her voice less than a whisper.

  Rufus stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and rushed up the stairs.

  Anja moved to follow her brother. The pain was disturbing her vision, her head pounded, but she managed to make it up to her room, where Rufus was sitting on the edge of her small bed, looking deflated.

  She collapsed on the bed next to him.

  Rufus spoke quietly, “Let’s not talk about it right now. Let’s just ignore what’s going on for five more minutes.”

  She nodded, letting the silence settle. Finally, Rufus broke it, but not with the words Anja thought he would say, “How’s the wound?”

  “It’s pretty unbearable.” I mean, there isn’t much point lying…

  Rufus’s forehead creased. “It shouldn’t be. It’s stitched up and you didn’t have a long enough break without the drugs for them to stop working completely.”

  “Then why does it hurt so much?” Anja couldn’t help the irritation in her voice, jagged and sharp from the pain. She pulled herself slowly up as Rufus moved across the bed and lifted the side of her top. She winced.

  “Bloody hell!” he exclaimed. “You’ve torn the stitches!”

  The bandage around her stomach was sticky with fresh blood. She must have torn them while pulling herself up from the ground when Rufus had run inside.

  Her brother’s hands ran through his hair. He swore multiple times, then began yelling for help.

  Anja was feeling very dizzy, her mind unfocused. The others rushed in a few seconds before she fell back, the world spinning, onto her bed.

  She could hear Rufus shouting, even though it was muffled.

  Her eyes focused on Kano who was pulling a medical kit out from under the bed.

  It was all overwhelming her, but Anja refused to let go. Her breathing staggered and she kept gasping as pain spread through her body. She was half-listening to the other’s conversation.

  That’s when Jabez and his guard burst in. Jabez was shouting at Kano, who was ignoring him.

  Rufus went unusually still beside her, she could see his head was turned towards Jabez and he was shaking it from side to side.

  “What’s going on?” Anja croaked to her brother, who was the only one near enough to hear her.

  “Jabez thinks I can help. He wants me to transfer your wound to his guard.”

  Anja took a second to process what he had said. “You can’t do that,” she whispered. She was suddenly very aware of Kano, who was cutting away the bandage from around her stomach.

  “I don’t know if I can, but I could try,” Rufus replied.

  “No,” she snapped. “That isn’t fair.”

  “None of this is fair, sis. You might not surviv
e losing more blood, but he could. Jabez could take him to a proper hospital to get patched up. It could work…” Rufus was convincing himself as he spoke.

  “I don’t want you to.” Anja gasped as Kano pulled away the last of the bandage.

  Kano’s eyes met hers and in that second, she knew they didn’t have another choice. They were low on medical supplies and she was low on blood. Without a real hospital, she wouldn’t make it.

  Jabez shoved his guard forward. “You better do this quickly.” His voice was steel, his eyes glistening.

  Kano stood in the way, refusing to move. He leaned forward so Anja could hear him clearly even through her foggy mind. “I won’t let them if you don’t want me to.”

  Tears rolled down Anja’s cheeks. The pain was unbearable, and she knew she wouldn’t be conscious for much longer. At last, she found her voice. “Let them.”

  He moved aside and the guard took his place. Anja saw the determination on his face, but there was fear in his eyes too.

  “I’m sorry,” she mouthed to him.

  Rufus stared down at his hands. His arms were shaking and his hands slowly began glowing. Sweat was dripping down his face as the light danced around his fingers. He placed one hand on Anja’s wound and the other onto the guard’s side.

  In one blink, his eyes glowed white.

  The light was too blinding for Anja to look at. She moved her line of sight to his arms, which were shaking furiously. But whatever he was doing, he seemed to have it under control.

  After a few seconds, she began to notice that the room was coming into focus again. She coughed, but the pain she expected to erupt inside her body was absent. Her eyes shot down to her side, where the light was skipping over her skin like sparklers. The skin was smooth underneath his hands, the bullet wound gone.

  She swore, then stopped when Rufus pulled away, the light slowly fading from his eyes and hands.

  And that’s when she really did faint.

  * * *

  Why do I always faint?

  She opened her eyes. Her body felt light, weightless.

  Kano was sitting on a chair next to the bed and the others were all standing around her.