Aaron was a voice of influence down here and nothing short of a celebrity, which was the reason behind this stupid party. Dave had received a similar welcome to his cousin and since everyone could see his infatuation with Lills, she too had been cautiously accepted. It was me that they had a problem with, and it wasn't just the dirty looks or the twitching fingers wishing they could skin me alive that gave it away.
It was Aaron's obvious avoidance and the frustration that radiated from him every time he looked in my direction. I was pretty sure the only reason I was even at this infuriating waste of time was because of Lills. And Burney.
I could accept the Scorchers general dislike of me. They needed someone other than their beloved Aaron to blame for putting their home at risk of exposure, and him slapping me with a permanent babysitter had done nothing to soothe their nerves over the situation. What I couldn't understand was Aaron's behaviour towards me.
He'd been immune to everything on the outside. Fear, teasing, tantrums, the lot. It didn't matter what happened he always stayed the same, brooding yet dependable. If something bothered him, he’d make a scene, do some yelling and then it was done. Forgotten. But this time?
"Why's he making you do this?" I asked my only companion. We were huddled in the far corner of Aaron's new room, the other celebrating guests refusing to come near us.
Burney shrugged. "Practice I guess."
"For what? Keeping real prisoners?"
He laughed but I could tell he was wondering the same thing.
"Could you at least stop sleeping outside the door?"
"Aaron said I wasn't to leave your side."
"Then sleep in the room with us."
"I don't think -"
"It's not your fault he's being a turd," I said, cutting him off. "And I'm pretty sure he never said anything about us not being friends."
"Friends?"
"We may as well be," I said, studying the backs of the nearest people, which was still a good six feet away. "You're the closest I'm gonna get to one in here besides Dave and Lills. Have you seen the looks I've been getting?"
He grinned. "They’re hard to miss."
"You only think it's funny because they're not fantasizing about how many ways they could dispose of you."
"You're being oversensitive."
"I am not! That guy over there," I said, pointing to a broad shouldered red head that looked like he had bruises under his eyes, "hasn't taken his eyes off me once."
"Maybe he thinks you’re hot."
"Or maybe he thinks he could leap over here and finish me off with his bare hands in under ten seconds."
"Stan? Five seconds. Possibly four."
"Lucky I've got you then."
He snorted. "That was including me."
I dropped my gaze from Stan's and glared at Burney. "Thanks for making me feel better."
"That's what friends do," he said, his grin broadening.
Lills arrived in front of us hand in hand with Dave. "How you holding up?" She asked, nudging my foot with hers.
"Fine. Except my friend here just admitted that there’s no point protecting me, since he wouldn't be able to save me anyway."
"Friend?" Dave asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Apparently," Burney said, a little too dryly. "Though I think she's forgetting that I'm supposed to be protecting everyone else from her."
I shot him a dirty look before answering Dave. "I figured I'd upgrade his status since he'll be bunking in with us from now on."
"I told you I - "
"I don't care what you told me! Either you move in, or I’ll start sleeping out in the hall with you."
He rolled his eyes, but I could tell the thought stressed him.
"What? Do you need to ask Aaron's permission first?"
"No."
"Then what's the problem?"
"I don't know how you do it," he said, giving an exasperated look at his cousin.
"I've got the easy one," Dave answered, putting his arm around my twin.
"Easy?" she gasped, pulling away from him.
"I didn't mean easy as in easy, I meant easy as in... Forget it," he said, shaking his head. "You're not easy, you're perfect."
"I should think so," Lillith beamed, slipping her arm around his waist.
I pretended to gag.
Dave grinned at me and Lills stuck her tongue out. Burney cleared his throat. "How's things on the other side of the room?"
"Not that interesting. Maybe a little more than this though. Has Aaron been over yet?"
"Nope."
"I wonder why?" Lillith asked, directing her gaze at me.
I shrugged. I wasn't about to tell her my theory behind it.
"I'll go find him," Dave said, giving her a peck on the cheek.
"You don't need to do that," I said, hoping he wouldn't hear the panic in my voice.
"He's right there. Aaron! Oi! Aaron!"
He turned and looked at us, his eyes brushing over them and landing on me a second before he looked away again.
"Aaron! Get over here!"
He glanced back at us and nodded, excusing himself from the brunette playing with a thin silver chain at her throat.
"What?"
"What do you mean what? You haven't said hello to Fayle and your brother yet."
"Hello," he said, barely looking at us. "Is that all?"
"What's your problem?" Dave asked, stunned over his cousin's obvious disdain at having to stand there.
"Nothing."
"No, I've seen nothing and this isn't it."
"Fine. It's nothing I want to discuss. Better?"
Dave frowned. "Aaron -"
"It's okay Dave," I said, getting to my feet. "It's obvious to everyone that I'm the issue here. I'll go so everyone can relax and enjoy their party."
Aaron met my eyes with one's brimming with frustration and I felt a rush of satisfaction. "Come on Burney, let's get your stuff."
"What stuff?" Aaron's question was directed at Burney, though his eyes stayed on me.
"She's making me sleep with them."
"Why?"
"Because he's not a dog and he shouldn't have to wait in the hall every minute I'm in my room," I answered.
His jaw tightened and he looked at his brother. "Just make sure you watch her," he said a second before he strode away.
"Okay, what's going on?" Lills asked, her eyes darting between me and Aaron's retreating back.
"I have no idea," Dave said, shaking his head.
I nudged Burney. “Come on.”
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."
"Then do it faster. Stan's staring at me again and it's freaking me out. See ya you two."
"What? No, wait up!" Lills called.
I bit my lip and slowed my escape. "I've got to help Burney get his stuff, we'll catch up later, okay?"
"I'll help."
"No need," Burney said, an apologetic look on his face.
"Oh. Are you sure?”
“Definitely,” he said, ushering me towards the door again.
“We’ll see you back at our room then!"
I nodded, mumbling something that sounded completely uncommittal as we made it out into the hallway.
"So..." Burney said, leaving the word hanging above me a moment. "You wanna tell me what's going on with you and my brother?"
"No." If I wasn't going to tell Lillith, I sure as hell wasn't going to tell him.
"I did just cover for you with your sister," he said, pushing a purple curtain aside.
I'd picked up on the colour coded wings during my venture out the day before. It had helped me find my way around a little better, even if all it did was tell me I was going down the wrong hallway. Burney had stayed behind me, laughing to himself at my stubbornness, but after my run in with Aaron I'd needed a decent distraction, and finding my own way back to our room had been the perfect one.
"Is this your room?" I asked, changing the subject.
He nodded, a wry smile lighting his face. He knew what I was doing, but he let it slide.
His room was as big as the one Aaron had claimed from his mother, easily six times my own little hovel. The nine sleeping mats spread out on the floor left no room for furniture, though countless piles of clothes littered the place, their obnoxious smell making me wrinkle my nose.
"Who do you share with?"
He shrugged. "Any of us whose parents aren't around anymore. They have a girl’s version in another wing, the yellow one you wandered into yesterday." He shrugged. "It's not that bad. Not once you get over the shaved eyebrows and occasional rat in your shoe.”
"Yuck."
"It'll happen less with me gone," he whispered.
"I'm sure it will," I said with an answering grin. "Though if anything like that happens to me..."
"You'll make my life hell. I'm well aware," he said, rolling his eyes as he handed me his pillow.
"So what's the deal with you and Aaron?" Lillith demanded.It was the third time she'd tried this line of questioning in as many days, and so far I'd managed to avoid both it and her."Nothing."Burney snorted and I shot him a dirty look."What? We all know it started when I took you to see him.""It did?" Lills asked, latching onto the new information."They were yelling at each other from the moment we got there.""They're always doing that," She said, dismissing it with a shrug."Are you serious? No wonder he's been crabby since he got back."I raised an eyebrow. "You mean he's not usually so... pig headed?"I'd noticed his decline in mood on the outside, it was hard to miss, but I thought that was just our restless lifestyle taking its toll on him like it had on the rest of us."Nope. Well, he's always had a temper, but not like this. What were
His eyes flew open, but he didn't say anything.I took that as a sign to go ahead and unfold the edge of the damp cloth, dabbing at the blood on his split lip."He hit hard, huh?."He nodded, still silent as he watched me find another clean spot on the hand towel."You're lucky he missed your nose. I would've needed more than this to clean that up."He ran his tongue over his swollen lip as he watched me inspect the damage to his shoulder. I winced. The wrist sized welt was purple, verging on black with its budding bruise."This whole not yelling at me thing is a little unnerving," I whispered, folding up the cloth and putting it back on his shoulder. I stood in front of him a minute longer then sat beside him, giving up on talking."What are you doing here?" He finally asked, his voice thick from his fat lip."Lills said I needed to apologise to you.""For what?"I waved a hand
I woke, surprised to find a blanket draped across my shoulders and a body beside me on the bed."I didn't think you were coming back.""I wanted Lills to have her time with Dave," I whispered, terrified of moving and scaring him away. "Burney went to his own room. I figured it would be okay since I'd be here the whole time.""I know, I saw him.""You didn't get mad at him did you?""No."I nodded. "Thanks for the blanket.""You looked cold."I lifted my chin and met his eyes. "For someone who hates secrets, you've got a lot.""Fayle -""It's okay, I'm not asking you to talk about it."He studied my eyes a moment, weighing up his next words. "I promised myself I wouldn't move on until I found her and freed her, and then you...""Messed with your plans?""Yes.""Is that why you stayed with us? In case we found her whilst searching for Nick?""We knew th
"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