Twell and the Rebellion (13 page)

The silence in the camp was
almost eerie, not even a snore to be heard as we crept from the
sleeping quarters and cautiously made our way to the hygiene block.
We stayed off the paths to keep hidden and my feet sunk into the
soft desert sand. For a moment, I felt a pang of homesickness for
Caran, where I’d spent many nights star gazing on the outskirts of
the city with Chaz. Then the pang turned to a searing pain and I
pushed it back down, away from my heart.

I was so unsure of the path my
choices might lead me down. I’d always relied on Chaz’s logic and
wisdom in the past. I wished I could speak to him one more time, to
hear his voice again. Then everything might feel like it would be
okay. But he was gone and things were not okay at all.

“
I wish you’d watch where
you’re treading!” Shanna snapped, bringing me back to reality as I
stepped on her heel for the second time.

We made it to the back of the
female quarters, slinking around the side into the dark yawning
mouth of the entrance. I momentarily coveted Sazika’s powers, sure
invisibility would be convenient as my heart beat faster in panic
mode and I tried to quiet my breathing. It was deathly quiet as I
strained my ears to hear a footstep, a breath. There was no sound
but the steady drip of a faulty mister. I began to have hope no one
had shown up and I could get back to bed, when a ghostly figure
emerged from the depths of the washroom.

“
Hello?” a vaguely
familiar voice whispered near the entrance. A small figure appeared
and pushing back her hood I saw Kaelin emerge, looking scared and
defiant at the same time.

“
Oh, good, you came!”
Shanna said in the warmest voice I’d ever heard her use and clearly
not reserved for me.

As Kaelin stepped into the
room more pale silhouettes appeared behind her and I peered closely
at their faces through the dim light. Two boys I didn’t recognize,
but I was surprised to see one of the three was Talon. His hair was
loose of its plait and fell in soft waves a
round his face, making his tawny eyes almost glow as they
regarded me thoughtfully. Two other girls I didn’t know stared
curiously at me. I recognized Surina from training. But Kaelin’s
gaze was so intense it was unnerving.

“
Does your match know
you’re here?” Kaelin whispered at me, though of course everyone
else heard it plain as day.

“
Well… no,” I replied a
little defensively. It hadn’t occurred to me to consider what Avin
might think. Would he think I was betraying him? Was I betraying
him? The thought nipped at me while Shanna frowned at
Kaelin.

“
Does Dallein?” I added,
although I already knew the answer.

“
Please don’t tell him,”
she gasped.

“
Um, sure,” I mumbled,
uncomfortable with her pleading eyes. It wasn’t my place to tell
him, but I felt bad for him that his partner was sneaking around
behind his back this way. It wasn’t the same as me though. I wasn’t
sneaking. Well I had sneaked here technically, but if I could have
told Avin, I would have. Wouldn’t I? Okay, maybe not. I barely knew
him after all. But the last thing I needed was him trying to stop
me. At any rate, I was pretty sure Shanna was about to poke at some
raw wounds tonight.

“
Thanks for coming.”
Shanna’s grin flashed white in the gloom when it seemed no one else
was going to appear. “I knew there had to be at least a few people
left on this planet with a mind of their own.”

“
So what are we doing
here?” Talon’s tone was wary as his eyes darted towards the
exit.

“
We’re here to work out
how we can change our future.” Shanna stared evenly
back.

“
How, when it’s already
been decided for us?” Kaelin sniffed. Her lower lip was trembling
again, her face wrung with such despair I wanted to comfort
her.

“
Geez, that’s the spirit.”
Shanna sneered. Kaelin looked over her shoulder. Because it
appeared she might do the bolt I patted her shoulder, smiling
despite my own misgivings. She managed a weak smile in return,
blinking back the tears that were threatening to spill.

“
We have to make a stand,
show them we won’t accept their stupid law.” Shanna’s dark, green
eyes glinted with such conviction I found myself leaning towards
her, wanting to hear more. “No one should have to partner unless
they choose it. It should be elective, not mandatory.”

“
But they’ll never listen
and even if they did, they would silence us after they heard we
opposed them,” Talon replied.

“
Then we need to say it in
a public way that can’t be hidden,” Shanna argued. “We need to make
sure other people see there are some of us who won’t let the G.B.
dictate our lives.”

“
How can we?” one of the
other girls spoke up, her low voice brimming with
excitement.

Shanna turned to her, her face
alight as she fed off her enthusiasm. “That’s what we need to work
out together,” she answered triumphantly.

The girl’s face fell and she
took a step back from the circle. “I don’t know… I don’t want to
start trouble...”

“
So you would rather
accept your situation and be miserable for the rest of your life?”
Shanna’s tone was fierce, her expression so intimidating the girl
faltered under her gaze.

“
I don’t know! I’m not
happy, but what will they do to us, or our partners even? I mean
sure, I’m not in love with my partner, I barely know him. But I
don’t want to see him get hurt because I’ve chosen to rebel. And
what about my family? What if it puts them at risk?”

I hadn’t thought of that. With
Shay being the closest thing I had to family and her also being in
a Government job, well it could have serious repercussions on her.
I’d already put her in jeopardy breaking into the Universal
Department of Communications last year. What if they accused her of
encouraging me to rebel? I would never want her in trouble on
account of my actions.

“
Would you rather live a
life in fear?” Shanna pressed, her eyes flashing. “Will you submit
to them just to keep everything easy and comfortable?”

“
Shanna,” I protested at
the harshness in her tone.

“
That’s not fair!” the
girl cried. “I’m here aren’t I? I do want to do something more. I
just think we need to be careful and think of the
consequences!”

“
She’s right.” I leapt to
the girl’s defence, glaring hard at Shanna. “Do you want to be
smart and effective, or just brave and stupid?”

“
Maybe most of the above.”
Shanna’s tone softened. “I think we need to be very careful. We
don’t want anyone to know what we’re planning. We don’t know who
might report us, or who can’t be trusted.”

“But obviously we’ll need
to take
some
risks,” Surina’s level voice joined in, serious
with thought. “After all, we’re going to oppose a government who
haven’t been questioned by any generation.”

“
It’s the consequences I’m
afraid of.” Kaelin’s eyes were wide with worry. “Surely you must be
too?”

“
If anyone doesn’t think
they have what it takes to be a part of this, then leave now.”
Shanna fixed her steady gaze on each of us in turn, resulting in
some uncomfortable squirming, but everyone held their ground. When
her eyes met mine, I hesitated. It was all happening too fast. We’d
barely discussed anything, but despite the fear on the others
faces, I saw something a little stronger than that as well.
Determination. It was almost as though, by merging our bravery, I
found my own growing stronger. After all, I was already in trouble,
marked out as a rebel. I may as well get in trouble for something
worthwhile.

“
So, any ideas, Twell?”
Shanna turned on me abruptly. The others stared at me with
expectation gleaming in their shadowed eyes.

“
What? Me?” Since when was
I the leader of the rebellion?

“
Yeah, you of all people
must have some idea what you’d like to see happen, especially after
what went down today with you and Jaz or whatever his name is,”
Shanna replied almost accusingly. “Surely you’re not going to take
that lying down?”

I thought about picking
Shanna up with my powers and throwing her to the other end of the
room, but I could tell from her smug expression she was ready for
it. In an instant, I saw she’d deliberately turned me into an
ambassador for her cause, heaping the pressure straight onto me. I
didn’t understand why, when Shanna clearly had enough nerve and
passion to lead the rebellion herself. Why was she so set on me
being involved?

I remembered Brazin’s advice to
pick my battles one at a time. I was about to completely ignore it.
But as much as that worried me, the idea of letting things go on
unchanged bothered me more. If we didn’t act now, when would be a
good time to act? After the war? What if we were overcome by the
Abwarzians? What if we were all killed in battle. What if Como
became captives? That would be no life, and death would be
preferable than an existence under their control. If they even let
us exist at all. And what if none of us ever had the chance to
follow our hearts? It would be a tragedy. A waste. I had to try to
change that somehow. I wanted to protect my people’s lives, so how
could it not be as equally important to protect their rights?

“
If you believe a
rebellion changes one heart at a time, then where else would be a
better place to start than here at camp?” I answered carefully.
“Everyone’s waiting to see what Jonaz or I will do next, so we may
as well do something.”

Shanna’s expression as she
stared at me vaguely resembled pride, and I was aware of everyone
smiling and nodding.

“
Maybe we can demonstrate
again that we’ve chosen each other, no matter what they say…or do.”
I only hoped I could be brave enough to go through with it, because
fear of the unknown felt far worse than knowing the
consequences.

“
Great! I think…” Shanna
started, but I cut her off.

“
Tomorrow I’ll go and sit
with Jonaz, as if today never happened.”

“
Yes!” Shanna actually
punched the air with glee. “Show them you can’t be controlled, that
you will do as you please.”

“
I should warn Avin
though,” I mused aloud, then immediately regretted it. Everyone
looked reproachfully at me, except Talon who flashed me a glance of
sympathy.

“
I’m going to pretend you
didn’t say that and put it down to nerves.” Shanna scowled at
me.

“
I don’t want to be
cruel,” I argued. “It’s not the poor guy’s fault he’s been matched
to me.”

“
Oh, I’ll tell him, calm
down,” Shanna replied in a tone I didn’t trust for a
second.

“No
!” I suddenly found my temper.
“I have to warn him, or he’ll be humiliated. I can’t do that to
him, even if I don’t know him from a grain of sand.” Honestly. Did
she even realize she was almost as bad as our leaders, telling me
what I should do, how I should act? I would do this my way, not
being dictated to by my own peers, for planet’s sake! I had the
G.B. for that! I fully intended to give Avin the decency of warning
him. I knew I was going to be bad, but it didn’t mean I wanted to
be a bad person.

“
Shhh!” Shanna hissed as
my voice echoed through the washroom. “It’s settled then. Tomorrow
you will show you’ve chosen Jonaz, of your free will. The rest of
us will support you and the rest of you with partners here will sit
away from them tomorrow. It’s up to you to tell them or not what we
are doing, based on your own judgement.”

I couldn’t believe this was
happening so fast. I must have looked as freaked out as I felt,
because Kaelin moved to my side and touched my arm lightly.

“
It’s okay Twell, I’ll
tell Avin. I think you’re really brave for doing this.” Her face
shone with hope, while the others gazed at me with reverence, like
I was the answer, or the ambassador for their hearts. How could I
let them down? I felt paralysed with responsibility.

“
We need to get back now,
but I’ll let you know when and where to meet next as we won’t use
the same location twice,” Shanna decided, her tone back to its
bossiest. Everyone nodded and then their excited murmurs faded into
the night as one by one they slipped through the exit into the
dark. Only Shanna and I remained.

Spinning around until I
was toe to toe with her, I glared furiously into her challenging
eyes. “You…” My brain tingled with warning.

“
Please,” Shanna yawned.
“Save the drama for another night, unless you want to get caught
already.”

“
Did you plan this?” My
voice trembled with rage, my chest tightening as I fought for
control.

“
Whatever do you mean?”
Shanna’s face was the picture of innocence, but she couldn’t hide
the glint in her eye.

“
You used me!” I gasped,
the realization hitting me like a heavy blow to the
abdomen.

“
Twell, it’s okay,” she
began, but I held up a hand and waved her words away.

“
Why me?” I demanded, my
voice raw with distrust and confusion. “What are you playing
at?”

“
Because, we need you.”
Shanna’s expression turned serious. “And the others will follow
you.”