Twell and the Rebellion (22 page)

The room was thick with
smoke and ashes. They moved and swirled in the air as though
dancing as I picked my way across the room. Dodging around the
twisted remains of chairs and tables, I rounded the corner of a
blackened bench top and came to the meal preparation area. There
was no one there; the only sound my own rapid breath inside my
suit. I turned awkwardly in the constricting suit as I scanned the
room for things my eyes were afraid to see.

Concluding the room was
free of casualties I turned to make my
way back, but a sudden movement to my right caught my eye,
a ragged rasping rising from the same spot. I leapt around, my
heart banging against my ribcage, ready to scream for help. Pressed
against the far corner of the room, was an Abwarzian girl. Her
small body, almost the size of a Comian child, was curled into the
fetal position, trying to avoid detection. It was no wonder I’d
almost missed her, huddled there in the darkness of the room. She
was dying. Her small frame had been on fire. Half of her grey suit
had melted to her skin; her agonizing gasps for breath only just
audible because her face shield was cracked and her air supply
slowly leaking out. She was also pointing a laser gun at
me.

I stood frozen, staring into her
dark eyes that were wide and full of terror, just like the
Abwarzian girl I’d captured in the cavern. Again, she was nothing
like the pictures we’d looked at in class. Those images had always
depicted Abwarzian children as barbaric as the adults and just as
filled with blood lust. But she seemed anything but vicious. Her
straggly, dark hair clung to her pale, narrow face as her breathing
grew more and more ragged. Her small, white hand shook violently,
but still she kept the weapon trained on me. I stayed rooted to the
spot in shock, unable to connect this pitiful girl to the idea of
the Abwarzians in my head. She was suffering and despite my fear I
couldn’t bear to see her lying there, slowly suffocating to
death.

Against my better
judgement, I took a step towards her, my palms held out to show her
I meant no harm. It was a mistake, because of course she wasn’t
just a girl, but a warrior. Unlike me, she’d been trained from the
moment she could walk, to fight to the death. I saw her finger pull
the trigger at the exact same time I threw my powers against her
and a tall figure flew at me from the side, knocking me hard to the
ground. My powers broke off as the flames of her weapon rushed over
my head and the figure rolled off me, bellowing in pain. Scrambling
to my feet, I threw my powers out again. My mind wrapped around the
weapon and easily wrenched it from the girl’s hands, bringing it
into my own. Her expression was so shocked she obviously hadn’t
been expecting my powers. Realizing her defeat she seemed resigned
to her fate. Her body sagged onto the floor, jerking uncontrollably
as her lungs wheezed for air that wouldn’t come. Her dark eyes
filled with hopelessness as she stared at me, and my heart clenched
with remorse.

Holding her gaze, I threw
the gun behind me and then crossed the room without hesitation
until I was kneeling at her side. She stared up at me as her life
squeezed out of her and I took her hand in mine. She twitched once,
her eyes widening in surprise before they suddenly filled with
tears. I had no words to comfort her and even if I did, she
wouldn’t have understood my language. All I could do was squeeze
her hand and for a moment, I felt the faintest pressure as she
pressed weakly back, still holding my gaze. I couldn’t explain the
understanding that passed between us, but I knew she felt it too. I
also thought it might even have been the most comfort she’d ever
shared with another human. Finally, her body went limp as her lungs
rasped out their last breath. The life in her eyes dimmed until
extinguished, and her suffering was over.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw
Avin propped against the meal counter clutching his shoulder and
gazing back at me, his expression horrified. I moved to him as
though in a trance, crouching down to examine his shoulder with
shaking hands. The flames had burned a path from his left shoulder
to halfway down his arm, melding his skin to his clothing. Blood
seeped fast from the wound. His eyes were glazed with not just
pain, but anger.

“
I’m so sorry,” I
whispered, unable to meet his eyes.

“
You could have been
killed,” Avin hissed. With his good arm, he grabbed my mask and
yanked it so that my eyes flew to his. His eyes were so full of
naked fear for me my stomach lurched.

“
She was younger than us!”
I cried out. “She was more afraid than I was!”

“
Yet she was still willing
to kill you,” Avin growled through teeth clenched in pain. “How
could you be so stupid to go off by yourself?”

“
I needed to know if Shay
was here.” My voice trembled, threatening to break as I remembered
my purpose.

“
Is she your guardian?”
Avin’s tone was gentler, although his eyes still reproached
me.

“Yes, she’s the only
family I have.” I whispered because I didn’t trust my voice not to
break.

Avin sighed. His hand let go of
my mask and came to rest on my shoulder. “If she’s here we will
find her. Together,” he added, his voice warning again.

“
You won’t be moving
anywhere,” I managed to muster up some of my own spirit. “It’s my
fault you were hurt. Stay here while I get help.”

Before Avin could protest, I was
up and running, albeit awkwardly and shouting for help. Others came
in response to my cries and I quickly established none of them were
healers. If only Jonaz were here… With a sinking feeling, I knew we
needed to get Avin back to the pod immediately and treat him until
we could get back to Como.

The officer of our ship
appeared and informed me everyone was dead, with thirty-three
Abwarzian bodies among the count. There was nothing more we could
do here and it wasn’t safe to stay any longer. I would have to
leave without knowing if Shay was here somewhere among the
casualties, and wait for the DNA results one of the officers had
collected. I opened my mouth to tell him what had happened and then
stopped as I gauged his expression. He looked coldly at the body of
the girl and I knew there was no way he could understand or lend
any sympathy towards her. Not after what we’d all seen. I couldn’t
oppose that.

We moved back to the pods
in dismal silence, two officers supporting Avin as I followed
behind. On board they helped him out of his suit, then strapped him
down on an emergency bench at the back of the craft. He lay there
quietly, pale and grimacing against the pain. He’d already lost a
lot of blood and fresh guilt flooded me. As soon as we’d taken
flight, I went to him. Taking an injury kit from the compartment
overhead, I perched on the bench by his legs and peeled back his
shirt to reveal the smooth expanse of his chest. The burn ran deep
into his shoulder and I bit my lip as I dressed it carefully with a
gel that would staunch the bleeding until the skin could be
repaired. The whole time I felt his eyes trained on my face, but I
was too afraid to meet his eyes. It seemed like I was always
messing up and now someone I cared about had been hurt because of
my continual failure to think before I acted. Someone I
cared
about. The thought gave me a jolt.

“So,” I said nervously, “do you
have any siblings? And do you have real biological parents or a
guardian like me?”

“No siblings, but my real father
and his father survived the first war here,” Avin spoke slowly, his
eyes still burning my own skin.

“And…what do you want to be, you
know, after all this is over?” I refused to look at him, my hands
starting to sweat and tremble as I worked on the dressing.

“Hey,” Avin said. This time he
was able to grip my actual face, as I’d discarded the suit, but his
touch was much gentler. He turned my chin to face him until I
summoned the courage to meet his eyes. I inhaled sharply. The
intensity in his luminous grey eyes made my heart miss a beat and
heat rose to my cheeks. My thoughts jumbled in panic.

“I want to be with you, Twell,”
Avin said simply. “If anything had happened to you today I would
have been very, very upset.”

Beginning to tremble, I tried to
pull away from Avin’s hand, but his grip tightened.

“Stop fighting it,” he pleaded.
“I know you feel this too, so how can it be wrong?”

“Because it is,” I replied,
trying to sound firm, but failing dismally because my voice was
shaking. “I love Jonaz. He’s more to me than a genetic match.”

Avin flinched and he released my
face. “But, you care for me too.” His voice became harder. I looked
at him and knew lying was pointless.

“Yes,” I whispered. “But it
doesn’t change anything.”

“I won’t accept that.” Anger and
frustration crept into Avin’s tone. “I know you want freedom to
choose, but you don’t have to choose him.”

“What do you mean?” I
said, my voice rising in exasperation. This was pointless.
Pointless and painful.

“I mean choose me!” Avin cried.
His eyes blazed as he tried to sit up, struggling against the
straps holding him to the bench.

“Avin stop! Calm down,” I begged
him. Leaning over him, I placed my hands on his chest to push him
down, but he caught my face in both his hands, rising up until his
own face was inches from mine. I froze, my heart beating urgently
inside my chest. I felt his longing. I saw his frustration as his
silver eyes looked pleadingly into mine. I couldn’t seem to break
away. The worst part of it was that I knew it wasn’t just his
powers holding me there. He moved closer until his lips lightly and
hesitantly touched mine. For a moment I felt myself give in, felt
my guard come down as I leaned into him. A wave of emotion
overwhelmed me and my heart squeezed in painful anguish. Then I
regained my senses and pushed back from him with force.

“Why are you doing this?” I was
dangerously close to crying and blaming it on the trauma of the
day’s events.

“I don’t want to hurt you,
Twell,” Avin groaned. “I just want to convince you that being with
me is the right thing to do. Tell me you don’t feel for me what I
feel for you.”

“Curse you, Avin!” I answered
instead. “I wish I’d never been forced to meet you!”

Avin recoiled
like I’d slapped him, and it was too much.
Jumping up from the bed, I stumbled back to my seat, leaving him
there by himself. Shanna looked at me as I buckled in, and judging
by her uncharacteristic silence, my expression and tear tracks must
have convinced her to leave me alone. Talon rose without a word and
went to watch over Avin himself and I remained lost in guilt and
turmoil the entire trip back. Not only was I deathly afraid for
Shay’s life, I was also riddled with guilt for hurting Avin and
almost cheating on Jonaz. Yes, Avin had tried to kiss me, but I
could have pulled away sooner. I made a mess of everything I did. I
didn’t deserve to be in the Army of Powers, representing or
protecting my people when I was a failure at everything I pursued,
in love and war.

When we landed, I was the first
to descend the pod. All I could think of was getting away to be
alone for a moment, to hide from everything for a while. No sooner
had I stepped off the stairs than Jonaz was suddenly in front of
me, his expression wild with fear and relief. Disregarding the
rules, he swooped me into his arms with such force I gasped for air
as he crushed me against his chest.

“Are you okay?” Jonaz demanded
as he pulled back to scrutinize my face. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay, Jonaz, I’m
fine,” I assured him with momentary joy at
being reunited with him. Then the guilt hit me again and I
gasped in distress.

“What’s wrong?” Jonaz frowned as
I struggled to free myself from his arms. Two officers appeared,
supporting Avin on either side as they helped him down the steps of
the craft to the ground.

“Avin was hurt,” I said
cautiously. “Can you heal him?”

Jonaz let go of me so
abruptly I staggered back, nearly losing my footing. He looked at
Avin with such coldness, I blanched. Then he looked back at me and
I saw a range of emotions flicker over his face. None of them were
warm and fuzzy.

“Let someone else heal him,” he
hissed. “It doesn’t look life threatening.”

“Jonaz!” I stepped further back
from him in shock. “How could you say that?”

“Quite easily, actually.”
Jonaz’s tone was so unfeeling I flinched. Was the guilt I felt
readable on my face? Could he tell by looking at me that I’d almost
betrayed him? I felt sick, angry with myself, and now angry with
both of them. It was more drama than I could handle in one day.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be
fine,” Avin muttered. He avoided looking at me and I looked in
despair from one to the other then whirled away from the both of
them. I took off towards the hall where I knew Jonaz would not be
allowed to come after me.

“Twell, stop!” I heard Jonaz
calling, heard his feet pounding after me on the path, but I ran
faster, racing into the safety of the hall before skidding to a
startled halt. There was no safety here. The hall was in
pandemonium. People were crying, clamouring to find out who the
casualties were and if anyone had survived. The air was charged
with a sickening tension as people tried and failed to control
their emotions, hysteria threatening to overtake everyone. I stared
around me with my heart pumping hard in my chest. Life as I’d
always known it had been changing for a while now, shock after
brutal shock. But now I knew from the way my legs trembled and how
my palms felt slick with sweat that my life had changed forever.
The peace of Como was well and truly lost, replaced by the chaos of
war.