"You idiot! What the hell were you thinking?"
I flinched, the shouts filtering in from the hall hurting my already pounding head.
"It was Stan who said to do it!"
"And if Stan told you to put a gun to her head and fill it with led, would you do that too?"
"I was making sure I took her weight, but she caught me off guard!"
"It's Fayle!" Aaron roared, as if that were explanation enough.
"Would you two shut up?" I groaned. It felt like every word they said was a kick to the side of my head.
Aaron bridged the remaining distance between us and came to a squat beside me. "How's your ribs?"
"Fine."
"Your shoulder?"
"Still burnt."
"Your head?"
"Better if you'd lower your damn voice."
He shook his head. "There'll be no more practices with Stan. Got it?"
"What! No. Stan said -"
"I don't care what Stan said, I'm telling you no and never again!"
"Don
"Come on Burney," I whispered, nudging him with my foot. "Wake up.""Seriously?""I need to pee."He pulled his blanket over his head. "Then go pee.""And if Aaron sees me?""He won't. No one will. Why? Because everybody's asleep!""Shhhh! You'll wake the love birds."He grunted."Come on, I really need to go," I whined, nudging him harder."Then go!" He hissed back, lowering his blanket to glare at me."Fine, but I'm not covering for you if I get caught!"He muttered something that sounded like a curse, but he didn’t get up. I shook my head, stifling a smile as I slipped from the room. I liked having Burney by my side, but being alone was nice. Really nice. I took my time walking the corridors to the largest cavern then turned right, heading past the dining hall and down to the very end.The water caves were made up of three separate rooms suspended over a fa
"I couldn't confirm it, but I have few doubts.""No! It can’t be. Lillith would know if he'd been taken!""Has she... Dreamed or whatever it is she does since you've been here?"I sank down onto the step beside him. "No." Which meant it had been what? Close to three weeks without checking? How could we have gone so long without doing something to look for him?"So there's a chance it's him," Aaron prodded.I nodded, feeling like someone had reached in and yanked my heart from my chest. "Why do you think it’s him?""One of the things he had on him when he was caught was a silver locket with a picture of twin girls inside. I was told they were about thirteen years old, with white hair and purple eyes."I wiped a stray tear from my cheek. "That's the last picture we had taken of us before..." Before I'd hacked my hair to my shoulders and did my best to forget who I was and what I could do. "The locket was Lills. She gave it to him fo
"Are you alright?""I'm fine. I just want this over with," I whispered back, keeping my eyes forward and locked on a twitching Aaron. I'd never seen him nervous before, and it was putting me on edge. My eyes flicked to the orange curtain that parted, allowing the beloved councillors to step through. "Here we go," Lillith breathed, taking my hand. I squeezed it, faining confidence. She still had no idea what we were doing here and I hadn't had the heart to tell her. As for the part about Nick... That secret would stay with me for as long as I could keep it. Forever if I had the choice. The five councillors, two women and three men walked in and took their places on the curved row of chairs facing us. They looked like normal, every day people, with grey in their hair and lines at their eyes. They were dressed in formal robes, stark white with a deep hood folded back over their shoulders. A blazing torch of orange fire had been stitched over their hearts, its colour
"I wonder who will cover drills for Stan.""No idea," I said, leaning my head against the rock wall. We'd been told to wait in our rooms until called for our briefing. We'd been waiting two hours. "Me neither. I wonder where Dave and Lills are."I shrugged and he went quiet."I wonder why Aaron -""Would you quit wondering for two minutes?""Geeze, snap my head off why don't you.""Sorry.""I'm sick of waiting too you know.""I know.""And getting crabby at me isn't going to speed things up.""I know," I said again, eyeing our blue curtain.He sighed. "She won't let you leave without saying goodbye. What? You think I don't know you well enough to know what's bothering you?"I gave him a side eye. "Aren’t you full of suprises."He grinned at me as he rocked his chair back, balancing it on two legs. "I know you better than you think.""Yeah?" I said, his smile relieving some of my anxiety. "Like what?""Like you miss your gun."I rol
I opened my eyes, staring at the wall a few inches in front of me, the hushed voices drawing me back into the waking world. Lillith? I steadied my breathing, hoping it was enough to keep them from noticing the change from my sleeping state. "Are you going to say goodbye?" It was Burney."I don't think I can.""She's pretty upset about not seeing you.""I know she is," Lillith whispered, sounding like she was about to cry. "You'll take care of her for me, won't you?""You know I will.""If anything happened to her...""I'll keep her alive, I promise.""Thank you," she said, her voice hoarse. "I'll go now, and let you get some sleep.""Where are you guys sleeping?""With your brother.""Lucky you.""I don't understand how you two could come from the same mother," she said, a mystified smile filling her voice."Me either.""Don't tell her I was here, okay?""I won't.""Thanks Burney. Oh, one other th
Mike strode over to Stan and Ronnie. He was the tallest of us, a sandy haired string bean of rope like muscles dressed in dark green trousers and a checkered shirt. He beckoned us over. "You two ready to go?""Yep," Burney said, his face smeared by a giant grin. I nodded, unable to match even half his enthusiasm. We were leaving and Lillith hadn't come. She'd told Burney last night that she probably wouldn't, but somewhere in me I'd held to the hope that she would. Probably wasn't a no. Burney put his hand on my shoulder, as if reading my thoughts. "Time to cover up," Stan said, handing Burney a strip of cloth and a clean pillow case.He took it, shooting me an apologetic look before stepping behind me. "Ready?"I sucked in a deep breath and nodded, searching one last time for Lillith's face before landing on Aaron's. His blue eyes met mine, piercing me, holding me steady as Burney lowered the red blindfold and knotted it, blanketing my world i
I lay on the only bed in the room, the one I'd been made to share with Burney, feeling like this part of my motel hopping life had never stopped. "Do you think it'd fall on us if I touched it?""Huh?" Burney asked, opening his eyes. "Nothing," I said, staring back up at the custard coloured roof. There had to be a leaky pipe running above us, or a hole in the roof somewhere."The lights are done," Mike said, striding from the small bathroom nestled in beside the kitchenette. The room's layout was almost identical to the last place I'd stayed in, it just looked a heck of a lot older and not as well lit. "I'm going next door for a bit, stay put til I get back.""We will," Burney answered, closing his eyes again. "Bang on the wall if you need me."I waited til he'd shut the door behind him and I'd reach the count of thirty before I got up. The lighting in our room sucked and I wanted to make sure Mike had done the best he could with our extra
My consciousness skirted around the edges of my sleep fogged brain. I didn't want to wake up yet. Opening my eyes and dealing with reality meant thinking about Lillith, left behind with Aaron and Dave. It meant worrying over how easy it was to get a hotel room and how many rooms were taken. And it meant thinking about Nick, and how we were going to rescue him. I snuggled closer the warmth next me, letting Burneys regular breaths lull me back into my false sense of safety. It would all be okay. It had to be okay. Didn't it? Glass shattered and a woman screamed. Burney and I were on our feet in an instant. "Ronnie?"My friend nodded."Where's Mike?""Not here," he said, glancing at the couch. Something thumped into our shared wall, knocking the faded picture of a sunset off its nail. It shattered on the carpet."Where are the guns?""With Stan.""Then let's go," I said, sprinting for the door."Fayle!""What?" "Catch," he said, throwing me a