Welcome one and all. This is Part II of a trilogy—it is not a stand-alone piece, it is meant to be read after The Maddening. If you haven’t read the first part, I would recommend you go to my profile and start there. Thank you to all who have read Part I, and especially to all who have reviewed!

ReGeneration

Part Two: Of the Ruins

1

Conspiracies and reveries

“Ojinna,” the man said gravely, “I’m having second thoughts.”
The young woman sighed irritably. “About the plan?”

The man shook his head. “No, about sending you,” he told her.

She looked at him blankly for a moment. He was waiting for her to get angry, to explode at him with shrieks of outrage and declarations of defiance. To his surprise, her mouth slowly spread into a smile.

To the others, the man was her leader, but behind closed doors, they were partners. It was never spoken, simply understood. She took orders from no one. He was a smart man, quick-thinking, and had a gift for strategy that she would never posses. He was strong, commanding, reliable, and compassionate. It was why the others followed him—why she followed him. She would obey him in front of the others, always “Yes, Sir, I understand” and “No, Sir, I wasn’t questioning your orders” and “I’m sorry, Sir, it won’t happen again”; but only because the others didn’t trust her. It was an act. In truth, they were equals. He came up with the plans, she went out into the field and got things done. Sometimes she’d do things his way, and sometimes she wouldn’t. He’d lecture her and threaten her in front of the others, but at the end of the day, he shared his bed with her and the charades ended.

“You’re not sending me, Micah,” Ojinna reminded him, “I’m choosing to go. And I am going.”

Micah frowned. “It’s too dangerous,” he argued.

“Aw,” Ojinna cooed, “that’s sweet. But I can take care of myself. You don’t have to worry.”

Micah rolled his eyes. “I’m not worried about you,” he stated impatiently, “I’m worried about the key. If you screw this up, the entire plan will fail and we will never have another chance, do you understand that? Your life, my life, it means nothing. All that matters is that key, and we only have this one chance.”

Ojinna watched him patiently as he ranted. “I understand that,” she said. “You can trust me.”

Micah shook his head. “See, I’m not so sure that I can,” he replied.

Ojinna sighed. “Come on—”

“No, you listen to me,” Micah insisted. “You’re a smart girl and you’ve done great things, but the truth is that you’re reckless. If you’re going to do this, Jin, you need to obey my orders—no,” he emphasized as she opened her mouth to protest, “exceptions. You need to follow my plan exactly and do exactly as you’re told. You are not, under any circumstances, to make any decisions on your own. If you can’t agree to that, then I’ll call the whole thing off.”

She could tell that he was serious and knew she needed to proceed carefully. “But that’s impossible,” she said gently. “When I’m on the inside, I won’t be able to ask you what to do. What if something comes up? You’ll have to trust me to improvise.”

“No,” Micah stated. “When you’re on the inside, I will meet you regularly to check up on you and where we stand with the key. You are not to make any decisions without consulting me first. If something arises, you will wait until I check in with you before you do anything, and I mean anything.”

“Look, I understand what you’re saying,” Ojinna told him, “but, Micah, you need to trust me.”

“You need to show me that I can trust you, Jinna,” he replied.

She frowned and looked away. “Fine,” she murmured. “I’ll do it. I’ll obey your orders.”

Micah paused, then reached out and hooked a finger under her chin, raising it until she was looking at him again. “Swear to me that you will,” he pleaded. “Jinna, I am worried about you, and I don’t want you to get hurt. It’s for your own safety, as well as our cause.”

Ojinna nodded. “I know,” she said.

“This isn’t like the other jobs we’ve pulled,” Micah reminded her.

“I know that,” she told him. “I swear to you, I will obey your orders and only do what I am told.”

Micah sighed. “Good.”

Ojinna smiled to herself. Sometimes they were partners, but sometimes, unbeknownst even to him, she was in charge. She was going to do this job, he wasn’t going to stop her from going now.

“I will get you that key,” Ojinna vowed. “We’re going to find her and we’ll torture her until she tells us everything, every last one of her secrets.”

Micah chuckled conspiratorially with his cohort. “Evil, heartless monster,” he spat. “I can’t wait to take her down.”

“We will,” Ojinna promised. “We will. And after we’ve killed her, we’ll go after him.”

“Yes,” Micah agreed, pulling her close to him. “We’ll take him down, too.”

Lori—a much younger Lori, smaller, called Lilly by her older brother, protector, and idol—crept down the dark hallway, knowing every inch of the floor and walls without having to see them. She was worried, something was happening, something that no one wanted her to know about—which, of course, meant she had to know. It was not very late yet, despite the darkness outside. The days were getting shorter and the sun was setting earlier. She had been sent to bed early, and she was far from being tired. She reached the stairs leading down to the first floor and lowered herself down the first few steps. The living room, which the stairs opened up into, was dark, but the room beyond it, the kitchen, was lit brightly. From where she crouched on the stairs, she could just barely peek a glance into the kitchen—she dared not advance further for fear of being caught, not because she would be in trouble, but because they would stop talking about whatever it was they were talking about if they knew she was there; they did not want her to hear it.

Lex was seated at the kitchen table, and both their parents sat on either side of him, Mims on the left, Pop on the right. Lori couldn’t quite see the expressions on her parents’ faces, but she could see Lex’s face, and it was unusually somber. Her concern grew.

Pop cleared his voice then, looking down at Lex. “So?” he prompted hesitantly. “What did they say?”

Lex sighed heavily, lowering his head. “They want me,” he stated.

They. Lori knew who they were. They were the soldiers that had come into town recently. Uniformed men. They were stern and quiet, mostly, and when they weren’t quiet, they were mean. Lex had told her to stay away from them; they were dangerous—especially to her, he had said. Lori didn’t know why they had come to Quensa, or what Lex meant when he said they “wanted him”. But whatever it meant, it had to be bad. Nothing good came from those men.

Mims gasped. “But what about your leg?” she argued, her voice high and strained. Pop reached across the table to place his hand over one of hers.

Lex had a bum leg because it still hadn’t healed completely. The healer had said that it might never be as strong as it had been before the fight. Lex had been bedridden for nearly a month after it happened, and then, for a couple months after that, he had hobbled around on crutches.

“Keep your voice down,” Pop murmured to Mims gently. “You’ll wake Lori.”

Mims shook her head, her mouth dipping into a fretful frown. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. She looked back toward Lex. “I’m sorry.” Her voice sounded frail and fragile, coated with emotion so great, she could barely contain it within herself. “But what about your leg, Lexi?” She had reverted to calling him by a nickname she hadn’t called him in years because Lex had asked her to stop. He had said that it was a name for a boy, and he wasn’t a boy anymore. He was a man. “I mean, it was only a few months ago when you could barely walk.”

“I know,” Lex mumbled. He shrugged, refusing to look up at either of his parents. “They don’t care. They want me anyway.”

“You told them, right?” Mims pressed. “You told them about your bad leg? You told them about getting hurt in that fight? Lexi, you almost died—”

Mims should not have said that. Lex couldn’t have died. He was Lex. He was strong. He could do anything. Sure, he had looked pretty bad when it happened. Lori knew that better than anyone—Lori had been the one to find him. She had been wandering around outside the learning hall, wondering if Lex had already gone home without her, when she had come around the corner and saw them. Brandt had been scrambling drunkenly to his feet and had run away the second he heard her coming. He’d disappeared fast, but she had known it was him. Lex had been lying on the ground—and yet, she hadn’t been sure it was Lex, because it hadn’t really looked like Lex. She had run to him, gotten to her knees, and bent over him. It had been Lex, alright, but his face had been all purple and swollen and bleeding and his eyes had been closed. And yes, there had been a moment then when Lori had thought he was dead. But he was alright. He pulled through. He got strong again.

“Yes, I told them,” Lex growled. “Mims—Mom,” it seemed he had reverted back to old nicknames, as well, “they didn’t care. They want me anyway!”

“Alright, now,” Pop said reasonably, “let’s all calm down. I’m sure Lex did all he could. They must be desperate for men, and to be honest, I’m not surprised they want a man like Lex. Unfortunately, all of the things we taught him to be have turned him into the kind of man any army would be proud to have: courageous, honorable.”

“Honor?!” Lex exploded. “You think those men look for honor?! Madden doesn’t want his soldiers honorable, he wants them bloodthirsty! Those men want to turn me into a killing machine!”

“Son, I understand—”

“No you don’t!” Lex argued heatedly. “You don’t understand! I can’t do it! It goes against everything I believe in, and I can’t do it!”

“You don’t have a choice,” Pop said sadly.

Lex’s jaw tightened and he stared down at the table, slumping further down in his chair. “Yes I do,” he mumbled.

Pop shook his head. “No, son,” he said sternly, “you don’t. Madden’s recruiters have decided they want you, they aren’t giving you a choice. There’s nothing you can do.”

“Yes there is!” Lex yelled. “I do have a choice. I don’t have to go, and I’m not going to!”

“Enough!” Pop commanded. His voice was loud and angry, it was the voice he used when Lori or Lex was in trouble and it made Lori cringe as she sat on the stairs spying.

Mims choked out a soft cry then and laid her head on the table. It looked like she was crying. It was such a horrible sight that Lori could barely watch. Mims didn’t cry. Mims never cried.

“Now you be careful of what you say,” Pop said, his voice was softer, but the scary tone was still there. “Because those words you just said will be your death sentence. If you fight them, they will kill you, do you understand that? You’re not a child anymore. You need to understand that there are consequences for your actions.”

Lex shook his head. “This from the man who speaks of honor,” he spat bitterly.

“Watch it!” Pop warned. “A man does what he has to do, and he doesn’t lose his honor by doing so. There is no shame in saving your own life.”

“And what about killing innocent men?” Lex asked. “Are you going to sit there and tell me there’s no shame in that?”

To Lori’s surprise, Pop didn’t yell back. He just sighed in defeat. It was just horrible sight after horrible sight. Pop turned to face his son. “Lex, you know that your mother and I didn’t wish this for you,” he said solemnly. “You’re better than this. I know it and you know it. But I don’t want to see your life wasted for this. If you try anything, they’ll kill you.”

“I could leave,” Lex replied. “Run away.”

“They’d find you,” Pop argued.

“Maybe not,” Lex said.

Pop shook his head. “Even if you did manage to get away, what then? Living a life of exile?”

“It would be better than a life of slaughter,” Lex muttered.

“Lex, don’t make any rash decisions,” Pop warned.

“I’m not, Pop,” Lex replied. “But it is my decision. You said it yourself: I’m not a child anymore. I’m not asking for your permission.”

There was a silence filled with tension.

“I know you don’t need our permission,” Pop said slowly. “But I just want you to think about it, to think about the consequences, before you do anything.”

Lex frowned, looking away from his father. “I will.” Then he pushed his chair back, stood up, and walked out of the room. Pop and Mims stayed in the kitchen. Mims’s body was still heaving with her silent sobs. Pop reached across the table and put a hand on her head, stroking her hair. He wasn’t looking at her, though. His gaze was on the table and he seemed to be comforting her almost absently.

Lori stayed where she was, sitting a few steps down from the top of the stairs. When Lex reached the bottom landing and looked up, he sighed.

“Come on,” he whispered, shaking his head. “Get upstairs before Mom and Pop see you.” He ascended the stairs and when he stood next to her, he reached down and grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet, then gave her a playful shove. She stumbled, falling forward onto her hands. She scowled and shot her fist out, punching Lex in the leg (his good one) before crawling up the remaining stairs on all fours.

Lex followed her down the hall to her room. At the door they both stopped and she turned and looked up at him. “Lex?” she asked. “Are you gonna leave?”

Lex shook his head quickly. “No,” he lied.

Lori frowned. “Are you gonna be a Mad-soldier?” she said.

“No.” His answer held much more volition than his first.

“Why was Pop yelling at you?” Lori asked.

Lex grimaced. “Because, Lilly,” he explained, “Pop raised me to have honor and integrity, and now he wants me to throw it away.”

“. . . Oh,” she murmured. It wasn’t the answer she had expected. It wasn’t even an answer that she completely understood, but she was grateful for it. She always liked asking Lex questions because he never gave her the watered-down answers that most adults gave, he always told her the truth. Even when she didn’t understand his answers, it made her feel special that he would tell them to her. It was like she was the wisest twelve-year-old to ever walk the earth. Sometimes he would even tell her that she was. She paused, eyeing him. “You’re going to leave us, aren’t you?”

Lex rolled his eyes. “Go to sleep, Lil,” he said flatly.

“You wouldn’t leave me without saying good-bye, right?” she pressed.

“Just drop it,” he sighed. “I’m not going anywhere . . . yet.”

“Exactly,” Lori insisted. “You’re not going to leave before you say good-bye, so unless you say good-bye right now, you can’t leave yet.”

“Would you just go to sleep already?” Lex complained.

“Fine,” Lori submitted. Lex flashed her a smile. He put his hand on top of her head, then mussed her hair. She yanked her head away, making a sour face and sticking out her tongue, and shut the door in his face.

She crawled back into bed and tried to close her eyes, but something kept her awake. There was a sad feeling that hung over her.

Later she heard Mims and Pop finally come upstairs to go to bed. They talked for a while. Lori could hear their voices, but not what they said, and after a few minutes, Mims started sobbing softly again. Everything seemed so unreal, so out of place. These things never happened here, these people never acted like this. It was like she didn’t know any of them. Mims crying, Pop and Lex yelling at each other, Lex talking about leaving, Lex maybe becoming a soldier . . .

The entire world had been turned up-side-down.

Finally Mims and Pop fell asleep. The house was quiet. But Lori still couldn’t sleep. Her legs felt restless. She was growing bored from just laying there, staring at the blackness of her ceiling. She should talk to Lex again, Lex would explain everything, Lex would make it all make sense. She climbed out of bed and left her room, crossing the hall noiselessly to Lex’s room. It didn’t occur to her to knock, because Lex would be asleep and she was afraid if she made too much noise, Mims and Pop would wake up. So she grabbed the handle, turned the knob and opened Lex’s door.

Lex’s room was dark, as she had expected it to be, but he wasn’t asleep. There was a bag sitting on his bed and he was packing things into it. He stopped what he was doing when his door opened and looked up, swearing softly under his breath when he saw Lori standing in the doorway.

“Get inside and close the door,” he hissed.

She did as she was told, watching her brother nervously as she did so.

“Why don’t you ever go to bed when you’re told?” Lex reprimanded.

Lori frowned, angry. “You’re leaving,” she accused, “aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Lex said vehemently. “I am leaving. Tonight. And I swear, if you tell Mims and Pop . . .”

Lori crossed her arms over her chest. “I won’t tell,” she shot back. She glared at him. “You were gonna leave me without saying good-bye.”

Lex sighed heavily and looked away. “I know,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.” He shook his head and looked to her, pleading. “I wanted to, I just wasn’t sure it was a good idea. I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t tell Mom and Pop. They would’ve tried to stop me.”

Lori pouted, staring at him angrily. Then she sighed, walked over to his bed, and climbed onto it. “So you’re not telling anyone?” she asked, sitting on his bed beside his pack and looking up at him. He shook his head, stuffing more things into his bag. “Not even Lena?” she added.

Lex glanced at his sister and shrugged. “I don’t know,” he mumbled.

“You should,” Lori insisted. “You should tell her.”

Lori had liked Lena from the start. Lena had been the second one to arrive at the scene when Lex was hurt. Lori had been scared and crying, trying to shake her brother awake. Lena had found the two of them, going pale at the sight of Lex, but she had stayed calm, which helped to calm Lori too. Lena had told Lori that Lex would be okay, but that he needed the healer and instructed Lori to run and fetch her while Lena stayed by Lex’s side. Later, while Lex was healing and could barely move, Lena had come by the house almost everyday to see how he was and to keep him company. Lori had heard Lex tell Lena once that he loved her. It was Lori’s secret wish that Lex and Lena would get married and Lena would be like Lori’s sister.

Lex grimaced and shook his head. “No,” he stated. “I can’t tell her.”

“Why not?!” Lori demanded, outraged.

Lex rolled his eyes. “Because, Lil,” he replied impatiently, “if I went over there right now in the middle of the night, woke her up, and told her that I was leaving, she’d want to come with me.”

Lori’s face lit up with a grin, thinking about Lex and Lena running off together in the night. “So take her with you,” Lori suggested.

“No!” Lex argued. He frowned bitterly. “She would just be doing it for me, and she’d be ruining her life, and I don’t want to put her in danger and . . . I can’t believe I’m having this conversation with my little sister! Just drop it!” He sighed. “You’re the only one I can tell, Lilly. Just you. It’s our secret, alright?”

There was a desk against the wall and behind it a wooden chair. Lex walked over and dragged the chair to the bed. He turned it backwards and straddled it, crossing his arms over the back, face to face with Lori. “You know why I’m leaving, don’t you?” he whispered.

Lori regarded him solemnly and nodded.

Lex smirked, knowing she didn’t really understand. “You know who Madden is, right?” he asked.

Lori nodded more enthusiastically this time. “Madden,” she declared, “ is a blood-sucking tyrant who isn’t satisfied with owning the world, so he’s trying to finish off what the Old Gen started.”

He grinned. It was a complete reciprocation of his own words. “That’s right,” he agreed. “And to do that, Madden is taking men—just regular guys who don’t want to do anyone any harm—and putting them in a uniform and telling them to kill people.” Lori’s eyes widened in fear. “Madden wants me to be a soldier for him. Madden wants me to go around killing innocent people.”

“But you can’t!” Lori cried.

“That’s right,” Lex said. “I can’t do that. I won’t do it. That’s why I have to leave. I have to run away, far, far away, where Madden won’t ever find me.”

“Because if he finds you,” Lori said, “he’ll make you be a Mad-man.”

Lex paused, nodding slowly. “. . . Or, he’ll call me a rebel and just kill me,” he told her.

Her eyes got bigger then, her lower lip jutting out. Lex looked at her, inhaling a deep breath, a troubled expression on his face.

“Lilly, I have to tell you something,” he said to her solemnly, “and I need you to listen carefully.” His little sister nodded. He paused. “You need to stay far away from Madden.”

“Oh, I will,” Lori breathed. “I don’t ever want to be face to face with that Mad-man!”

Lex smiled, but it looked pained. “Well that’s good,” he whispered. “But I don’t think you understand. You . . . you’re not like everyone else—”

Lori frowned, thoroughly hurt. “You said that I was just like everyone else,” she argued. “You said that I wasn’t different and to never let anyone tell me that I was!”

Lex closed his eyes and looked away. “I know,” he said. “What I mean is . . .” He raked his hand through his dark hair. “Deep down,” he tried to explain, “you are no different from anyone else. Hell, you are more human than most people will ever be,” he muttered. “But you have a gift—a gift, Lilly, it’s a very good thing—you know what I’m talking about when I say your gift, right?” Lori nodded. “It makes you special,” he went on, “but if Madden ever found out that you have it, he’ll want to hurt you.” Lori swallowed, getting scared. “So you need to stay away from Madden, stay away from anyone in a Madden uniform, do you understand? I know this is hard, I know you probably don’t understand all of this, but I’m worried about you.” His brow was furrowed in uncertainty, his voice thick with emotion. “I won’t be here to keep an eye on you anymore, and I just want to make sure that you’ll be safe here without me.”

A tear slid down Lori’s cheek. Lex was right, she didn’t understand. She understood that Lex was leaving her. She understood that she could do something that most other people couldn’t do, what some people referred to as her “gift”, and that it made certain people hate her; it made certain people want to hurt her. But she didn’t understand Madden. It was a word she had been hearing her entire life, but held very little meaning to her. Some people spoke the word with fear, some with hate. But it was just a word. She didn’t understand.

Lex reached out and took one of her hands in his. “Lilly, are you scared?” he asked her.

Lori nodded, her breaths uneven, her eyes welling with tears.

Lex paused, his face pained. “. . . Do you . . . do you want to come with me?” he whispered. “I would protect you. I would never let anything happen to you. I would never let Madden, or anyone else hurt you.”

Lori’s heart swelled with joy and she jumped up, throwing her arms around Lex’s neck, her chest pressed against the back of the chair that stood between them.

“Lori,” Lex sighed, shaking his head. He pried her arms away so that he could look her in the eye. She frowned nervously. He never called her “Lori” anymore and it made her certain there was more bad news coming her way.

“Lori, wait just a minute, okay?” her big brother told her. “Now, if you want, I will take you with me. But I need you to understand what that means. I have to leave tonight and go far away. It’s going to anger a lot of bad people, and they will try to find me, so I need to go to places that I’ve never been to . . . and I can never come back here. I will never see Mom and Pop again. I will never see my friends. I will never see Lena—” he choked on his words a little at this point. He shook his head, then continued. “If you were to come with me, you’ll never see them again either. You’ll never see Mims and Pop or your friends or this house. You’ll never see this town again.” I’ll never see Brandt again, either, she mentally added, feeling a pang of sadness, then immediately felt guilty for even thinking it after what Brandt had done to Lex.

“It’s your decision, Lilly,” Lex pressed. “If you’re ready to leave all of this behind—and I think no matter what, someday you will have to leave this all behind; being this close to New Ceotu will eventually put you in danger—but if you’re ready now, I will take you with me. If not . . . I still have to go.”

Lori began to cry, tears spilling down her cheeks. The thought of leaving Quensa was so daunting and frightening that she couldn’t really grasp it. How could she never see Mims and Pop? How could she never go to the learning hall and play with her friends? How could she never go hiking through the woods and go swimming in the river on hot summer days? How could she never climb the big apple tree by the gate? How could she never sleep in her bed again? Have dinner that her mother made at the kitchen table? Have Pop give her a big hug when she got scared or sad? How could she never see Brandt?

On the other hand, how could she never see Lex, who was, in her eyes, the center of the universe and all else revolved around him, again?

“Lilly?” Lex prompted.

She shook her head violently. “I’m scared to leave, Lex,” she cried. “I can’t go!”

Lex sighed, pulling her forward and hugging her again. “It’s okay,” he comforted her. “That’s what I thought.”

“Don’t go!” Lori begged.

“I have to,” Lex insisted. He pulled away from her, standing up. “I’m sorry, I wish things didn’t have to be this way, but I can’t stay.” He paused, glancing around the room as if he were looking for something. “There’s something I want you to have, though.” He walked over to the desk and opened a drawer. He pulled out a bulky object wrapped in cloth, then came back over to her and put the bundle in her hands.

Lori looked at Lex for a second, feeling the hard, foreign object through its cloth covering, then she unwrapped it carefully in her lap. When she pulled back the fabric, she saw the exotic weapon made of smooth, black metal that made her gasp in both fear and excitement. She had seen the weapon before. Lex had shown it to her the day he had found it, when he and Brandt—this was, of course, before the fight—had wandered off into some old ruins where they were told not to go. They hadn’t been friends then, they had never really gotten along as far as Lori could remember, but from what she had heard, they had pretty much dared each other to go into the ruins, and that’s how they had ended up coming back out together with one each of a matching pair of ancient guns, swearing to each other that they would never tell a soul of the powerful weapons now in their possession. By that night, both Lex and Brandt—at different times—had shown Lori what they had found.

“Lex, are you giving this to me?” Lori asked in a small voice.

Lex nodded. “It’s yours now,” he told her.

“But what if you need it?” she argued. “You should take it with you in case the Mad-men come after you!”

“No,” Lex said. “You’ll need it much more than I will.”

This statement sent a chill down Lori’s spine. “But I don’t even know how to use it,” she said.

Lex sat down next to her and took the gun, popping the chamber out and emptying the bullets into the palm of his hand. Then he clicked the chamber back into place and put the weapon in Lori’s trembling hands. “You pull this back,” he explained, guiding her thumb to the safety and cocking it back. “Then you push this in.” He squeezed his own finger over hers, pressing the trigger in, the weapon emitting a dull clack. Lex took the gun back and replaced the bullets. “Go out into the woods by yourself and practice,” he advised her. “Just make sure you go far enough out, because it’s going to make a lot of noise.”

Lori shuddered. “But what would I use it for?” she asked, her voice small and frightened.

“Hopefully nothing, for now,” Lex told her, shaking his head. “Just keep it. You might need it for protection someday, in case anyone tries to hurt you.” He faced her, patting her head gently. “I just feel better knowing that you have it.”

Lori nodded, her cheeks wet and her mouth in a deep frown. Lex pulled her into one last hug. “You take care of yourself, Lilly,” he murmured. “I’ll miss you.”

The tears started flowing again. “Lex, if you go away and you never come back, how will I know that you’re alright?” she asked suddenly.

Lex pulled away and shouldered his pack. “I’ll be just fine,” he promised. “Don’t you worry about me.”

Lori shook her head. “But what about the Mad-men?” she argued. “What if they come after you? I’ll never know if you got away. I’ll never know if you’re okay.”

Lex forced a grin. “Sure you will,” he said.

“How?” she demanded.

“You’ll just know,” he told her with a wink. “You’ll know.”

Then he left.

Nathan looked up at the bright mid-morning sky with unease, then he cast a glance at Lorelei’s sleeping form and sighed.

“Maybe we should wake her up?” he suggested.

The boy shook his head absently. “Just let her sleep,” he said.

Nathan frowned, perturbed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he argued. “What if Wylde is still out there looking for her? We should get her as far away from here as we can.”

“He’s gone,” Garret stated.

“How do you know that?” Nathan pressed.

Garret sighed in exasperation. “He was badly injured, and he lost one of his men,” he explained. “There were three of them and three of us, but now they’re outnumbered. Wylde’s not stupid, he wouldn’t take that chance.”

Nathan paused, eyeing Garret, confused. “Three?” he questioned. “I only saw two.”

Garret raised his eyebrows. “That’s because there are only two of them now,” he answered.

Nathan looked away, feeling stupid. Of course, the boy had taken the third out with his cat-like reflexes and his red-bird magic, and still gotten away without a scratch on him. The girl had taken a bullet to the back, but had also filled General Wylde with lead. Nathan had had a bullet graze his lousy bum shoulder and hadn’t managed to spill a single drop of the enemies’ blood. He should have felt relieved that it hadn’t been a bigger bloodbath than it was, but instead, what he felt was incompetence and jealousy.

“So you think they’ve gone back to New Ceotu?” Nathan asked.

Garret nodded. “Yes, that’s what I think,” he agreed.

Nathan shook his head. “But that’s not that far from here,” he said. “We should still leave. Within a few days, Madden will know that Elle Roanaque is alive.”

Garret shrugged. “I think on some level, Madden must already know,” he stated. “And within a few days, we will be gone, but for now, if she wants to sleep, just let her sleep. By the Phoenix, she’s earned it.”

Nathan rolled his eyes at the expression, but kept all comments to himself. Instead, he turned his attention back Lorelei worriedly.

Lorelei slept on, her dreams filled with memories of her past.