Discovery at Nerwolix (24 page)

I let out a deep breath. “How was the week I
was gone?”

“Uggg…” Pratt falls onto the red linen.
“While you were off gallivanting with the Rogues, we were stuck
here with Perry. I
hate
her.”

“Oh yeah?” I brush a lock of blondish-brown
hair from her forehead.

“She has a comment about everything and it’s
ninety-nine percent bitchy. It’s like, if you don’t have anything
nice to say, just shut up.
God
,” Pratt swears, “I had to
force myself not to punch her every day.”

“But Hozfin wanted us constantly near each
other,” Mae crosses her arms as an unsettling frown forms. She
stands up and paces the room, her head down and her voice low. “It
was really tough. She reminds me of those girls in high school that
were so mean.”

Mae never talks about her life before
Harrizel. I turn to her, my interest piqued.

“But she’s
worse
,” Pratt huffs. “She
says doesn’t take any fault in the whole-Reid-Ansley-Walker thing,
but I think she actually enjoys it. It’s like she gets off on
seeing people upset. What
is
that?”

“It’s just so hurtful,” Mae sits down beside
me. “And there’s no reason for it. I don’t understand… if someone’s
not bothering you, why go after them? It’s cruel and there’s no
reason for it,” she wraps her arms around herself. “It just makes
no sense.”

Pratt sits up and we exchange glances before
I look at Mae.

“Were you…” I keep my voice fragile. “Did
someone…”

“Not someone…” her voice is soft, her eyes
still on the floor. She inhales a deep breath and lets it out
slowly. “The five most popular girls in the school. They would…”
she shakes her head, tears misting her dark eyes. She hiccups a cry
and suddenly, a giant sob breaks free, wracking her body with
uncontrollable shakes.

“Hey,” I throw my arms around her in a hug.
“Hey—it’s okay.”

“No,” she shakes her head, wiping her hands
down her face. “No, they left me. They left me out there.”

“Out where?”

She sniffles, crying harder into her
hands.

“What happened?” I turn her toward me. “Mae?
Mae, what happened?”

She sniffles again, wiping her eyes. Her
mouth drops but no words come out. Not at first. She gulps and
after a moment, tries again. “They stopped me on my way home and
they,” she quivers, “they… dragged me out of my car,” she tries
regulating her breathing, but is having difficulty, “and through
the trees. They… they meant to just leave me out there, steal my
car and leave me. And then… and then one of them…” her lip quivers,
her red eyes focused on the memory, “she pushed me. And then they
all took turns. They kept pushing me over and over and—and—there
was a cliff…”

“Oh God,” I find myself whispering.

“I saw them,” she finally looks up. “I saw
them looking down at me,” she sniffles, “but they didn’t help. They
just ran. They left me out there.”

A quiet moment passes when I realize what
Mae must’ve endured. What she must have felt. And the fact that
she’s a five-percent means the impact of the fall…

“Those bitches,” Pratt glares. “I’d kill
every one of them.”

“Get in line,” I mutter, deadly and low.

Mae sniffles again. “I just don’t
understand. I never did anything to them. I wasn’t anyone!” she
looks between us. “I was invisible!”

“They’re just mean bitches who had nothing
better to do,” Pratt growls.

“And then,” Mae hiccups, “and then I saw
Clarence. It was the first thing I remember. He was helping me up
and telling me about the war. He told me I was out there because I
was probably searching for food. When we got our memories back…”
she lets out a trembling breath, “I remember what happened.”

“Jesus,” I rub my hand down her arm,
soothing.

“I just…” she shakes her head, “I don’t
understand why they did it. I was
nobody
,” she whispers.
“Nobody.” She stars crying again and I pull her into another
hug.

“It’s okay,” I hold Mae as her body begins
quaking against mine. Pratt frowns, rubbing her hand up and down
her back. We exchange looks again, anger and surprise reflecting.
To know that Mae went through that, not only the physical torment,
but the bullying as well... Rage like I have never known grows
inside me. I want to hit something. Hard. And then again. And again
and again until I can undo what she’s been through.

“I’m sorry,” Mae pulls back with a sniffle.
She runs her hand under her nose. “I didn’t mean to get into all
that, but being around Perry just reminded me. If she went to my
school, she would’ve been one of those girls. I know it.”

Neither Pratt nor I know what to say.

“Anyway,” she wipes the tears from her
cheeks and looks between us, “let’s change the subject.”

But I don’t know what to talk about.
Everything fails in comparison to what was just admitted. How could
we gush on something trivial after that? A quiet moment passes and
then Pratt speaks up, breaking the hard tension. “Where do you guys
think Ariana is?”

Another beat of silence.

“I don’t know,” Mae mumbles, her voice soft
and low. “But I hope she’s alright. I miss her.”

“Me too,” Pratt slumps over. “Stupid Perio.
But she’s got to be safe, right?”

They both look to me for an answer.
Honestly, I believe that she is, but since I don’t know for sure, I
hesitate. A tremor of fear reflects at my pause, so I nod quickly,
trying to reassure them. “Perio wouldn’t hurt her. Wherever she is,
she’s safe.”

“You think Tucker’s losing his mind?” Pratt
frowns.

“Probably. Queen Ravan too. I wish… I wish
we could find her. Get her back from him. He’s probably treating
her fine but she doesn’t belong with him.”

“Maybe after this invasion…” Mae
mutters.

I’m trying not to think about the upcoming
battle or the Vermix or anything that has to do with the war. But
it’s hard. It seems my entire life—and everything before I awoke to
Clarence—revolves around it, revolves around the prophecy that
started this whole thing. Shrugging, I fall back to the bed and
stare up at the ceiling. “We’ll get her back.”

Mae leans back with me, Pratt quickly
following so that we’re all looking up to the wooden ceiling. A
silent minute passes.

“We need to do girl talk more often,” Pratt
decides.

“I agree,” Mae nods.

“Me too.”

“Reid’ll probably hate it,” the little
Roguetta grins. “He wants all your time.”

“Him and Walker,” Mae laughs, turning her
head towards mine. “Jeez, Fallon you are
quite
popular. Do
Jace or Able have any secret crushes we don’t know about?”

I snort. “Uh—no.”

“Nope,” Pratt agrees with a grin. “It’s just
Reid and Walker in love with her.”

The comment stirs the familiar ache deep in
my chest, but I ignore it. Like I’ve
been
ignoring it, every
time I want to tell Reid those three words and every time I wish he
would say them back and doesn’t. But I don’t want to think about
that. They don’t need to know how—

“What?” Pratt interrupts my thought. “What’s
that look on your face?”

“What look?” I try to wipe all emotion.

But it must not work because Pratt leans
forward. “What is it? Fallon?”

I bite my lip. Do I tell them? It’s not
something I was hoping to talk about—ever. But being with Pratt and
Mae… maybe it’s the best time to get it off my chest. I let out a
deep breath and find the words I’ve been too afraid to admit out
loud.

“I told Reid I loved him.”

“That’s wonderful!” Mae exclaims.

“And he didn’t say it back.”

“Oh,” her face falls. It’s quiet for a
second and then she looks up. “You know he does, right? I mean,
it’s so obvious.”

I offer a vague shrug.

“And actually,” Mae frowns, confused now,
“I’m really surprised he hasn’t said it. When he looks at you…”

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just…” she blushes, “…when he
looks at you, it’s like you can hear his heartbeat.”

“Fallon,” Pratt exhales, as though she’s
annoyed she has to say it. “Reid has been in love with you since he
first saw you.”

“What?
”
I turn to her.

“You don’t even know…” she shakes her head.
“When Sampson knocked you out that first day, when you ran into
Ellae, and Reid had to carry you back… actually, he didn’t even
have to. Sampson was going to do it, but then Reid just picked you
up. He kept…” she squints, trying to picture it, “he kept looking
down at you… like…like he couldn’t believe you were in his arms. He
just kept watching you breathe. It was kind of creepy, actually,”
she laughs. “But I’ve never seen him look at anyone that way. Not
even Ansley.” Pratt sighs. “
That’s
why I threw you that
Gupple and tried bringing you to him for food. I figured he wanted
an in.”

“But…” I glance quickly at Mae, confused.
“But he didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Of course he did. He was already super into
you.”

“Why? We didn’t even know each other.”

Pratt shrugs. “Guess you should ask him
that.”

“We’re not late, are we?” I hold back the
curtain to Tucker’s home.

Pratt, Mae and I peer into the packed room.
All the Rogues and Dofinikes are here, spread throughout the space,
quietly chatting with one another and nibbling on strange fruit.
Walker leans into the corner on my left, eating the same
yellow-green melon I had for breakfast while Reid is paired off
with Sampson and Clarence in the back right, the conversation
stopping at our arrival.

“No,” Sampson gestures us in. “We’ve just
started. Come in, grab something to eat and we’ll begin.”

Pratt and Mae enter first and I’m right
behind them. Walker chews with a grin as I pass him, bringing the
melon to his mouth for another bite. Reminded of his comments
earlier, I do my best to ignore him and focus on the bowl of fruit
in the middle of Tucker’s bed. It’s still hard to believe he has
feelings—actual feelings—for me. But it’s Walker.
Walker
. I
can’t really blame him for what happened on Harrizel, but even if
things were different, even if I hadn’t fallen for someone else, it
probably wouldn’t work. Walker doesn’t do what Reid does. He
doesn’t stop my heart with just a look; he doesn’t make me
breathless with just a thought. He doesn’t erase the rest of the
world when I’m near him.

Pratt and Mae both swipe a melon. I start to
reach for my own when Able hands me a small dark fruit. “Gotcha
one, bestie. Hey,” he leans in, lowering his voice, “got to talk to
you.”

“What’s up?”

He glances behind him, to a distracted
Blovid speaking with the other Dofinikes, and then to the girls
sitting on the red cushions. Able turns back to me and tugging my
arm, he gently pulls me close to the wall. “Uh,” he glances behind
him once more. “Boss mentioned you were having some girl talk
earlier?”

“Yeah,” I cross my arms.

“What uh…” his embarrassed grin turns into a
laugh, “what’d you talk about?”

“A few things…” When he doesn’t respond, I
go on. “Is there something you’re wondering about?”

He shrugs with a nervous smile.

“Alright,” Sampson’s voice outweighs the
others. “Everyone have something to eat? Yes? Please,” he gestures
to Tucker’s bed and the plush red seats around the wooden
abode.

Everyone sits except for Reid, Blovid and
Clarence who are situated on either side of Sampson. I’m perched
between Able and Pratt, watching as Walker saunters past me to sit
next to Pratt.

“And if you’re still hungry, we’re having
roasted Horrop here in a while,” Clarence adds.

“
Yes
,” Jace celebrates.

“Thank God,” Werzo agrees. “This fruit diet
was killing me.”

“It’s been two days,” Able laughs. “Come on,
guys.”

“And that’s two days too long. I need real
food,” Werzo places his hand over his stomach. “Something from an
animal.”

I take a bite from my fruit as Sampson paces
the room. “Alright, I wanted to speak with you all about what
happened earlier—what I think it was.”

“They were spies, right?” Jace crunches down
on melon.

“I don’t believe so, no.”

“There’s no way they could’ve been the first
round,” he chews, “Reuzkimpart wouldn’t send eight in at a
time.”

“No, I don’t think that’s it either.
Reuzkimpart isn’t the type to send in spies—he doesn’t care what
he’s walking in to—he believes he always has the stronger, upper
hand in every situation. But, he’s also not foolish enough to send
in so little.”

“So what is it?” Werzo asks. “What were they
doing here?”

“Searching.”

“For us?” Tucker frowns.

“No.”

“But Reuzkimpart wants you,” I say, turning
to Blovid. “Both of you.”

“And he plans on finding us, whether it’s in
this invasion or afterward. But those eight Vermix were sent here
for an entirely different purpose. I believe,” he inhales, “they
were the first to scout for Nerwolix’s Gift. We found them up near
the Hylas Mountains—that’s a deep terrain and would take a bit
longer to comb.”

“Do you think it’s there?” I ask.

Sampson shrugs. “I have no idea. It could be
anywhere.”

“So if Reuzkimpart thinks it’s hidden up by
the mountains, shouldn’t we guard it?” Jace asks.

“Guard what?” I turn to him. “How can we
guard something when we don’t even know where it is?”

“Hozfin’s got to know,” Jace looks at
Sampson. “Did you tell him this theory? Is he planning on
protecting it?”

Reid steps forward, arms crossed. “Hozfin’s
keeping tightlipped on its location. He keeps saying it’ll be
protected.”

“But we have no idea what that means,”
Clarence shakes his head.

“And we’re sure Thias shouldn’t be
contacted?” I look between the three of them. “The mountains
separate their territories. If Reuzkimpart is planning on striking
it, wouldn’t they want to know?”