A/N: Okay this is the beginning of chapter two. It is shorter than chapter one and is in Layla's POV (point of view). I hope you like it!
Nicola had already left for the entrance and Yue
was hyperventilating. Being around these two made me look remotely normal; if I
didn’t love being around them so much I would get a restraining order. I hated
it when people made me look normal; it was just another success to the
government. I was Lathia Whiltheart, professional rebel to anyone who wore a
uniform and hat…or at least that’s what Scearceanna called me. Technically, she
and her sister, Zulia, were thirteen. Technically. I patted Yue on the back, we
were in the middle of the food parlor and she was gaining attention of the
zillions of pedestrians’ that were present. “She’s
a vegetarian.” I explained to a family of four that had stopped to stare at us.
“Can’t stand the site of meat.” I was lying through my teeth. Though she didn’t
look it, Yue was the biggest carnivore I’d ever met. “What
are we going to do?” Yue asked quietly. “We’re going to do what
they said.” She looked at me and I saw the redness and dampness in her eyes.
She had been crying silently right next to me, and I hadn’t even known. “Kuzon
and Cassie were lucky, what if Nila is attacked and not so lucky? What happens
then?” Nila was Yue’s older sister and the only birth family she
had left. Nila was our runner; she would take our progress reports on our
search to the King and bring back news of our homeland. She was gone for weeks,
maybe months at a time; and without her none of us would have met Yue. If Nila
died, Yue would be kicked out. In Healio and Marash’s eyes Yue was worthless
and served no purpose to us. They were horribly mistaken. Who was the one who
makes all of our clothes? Who was the one who talked me out of out of killing
Connie? Who was the one who explains Scearceanna’s lechers after I endure the
hours of it? Who was the one who listens to me no matter what? Who was the one
who is there to be a shoulder to cry on? And most important; who was the one
who keeps us all from killing each other? If we lose Yue, we lose everything. “That’s not going to happen.” I
assured her. “What if she is already dead?” Her
voice cracked on the last word. I pulled Yue into a hug; I felt the
jump of her shoulders as she cried more silent sobs, her tears dampening the
collar of my shirt. Yue was the little sister I never got to have and if the
time did come I would take Yue’s unjust punishment. And if that didn’t work,
I’d find a way to get exiled right along with her. “Shh, it’s okay. You’re okay.” I
whispered to her. She pulled away and rubbed her eyes.
“Let’s go.” She sniffled. “Get this over with quickly.” We both stood and
looked around, the crowd had thinned and only a few thousand remained in the
food parlor. “Where
are we supposed to wait again?” I asked as I picked up my shopping bags and
purse. “You never listen, do
you?” Yue smiled. “Earthbound.” We
had a clear view of the entrance from the door way of Earthbound. Nicola was waiting outside, out of my vision line. I
shifted my weight nervously from right to left and back again; chewing my
bottom lip and having a starring contest with the glass windows of the store we
were standing in front of. I jumped when Yue put a hand on my shoulder; I
turned to her and she pointed at the entrance. Nicola walked through the glass
door followed by Kuzon. Cassie was falling behind; she was watching something
on the roof and had stopped in her tracks. Kuzon grabbed her wrist and pulled
her toward the entrance; it wasn’t until they were over the threshold that
Cassie took her attention away from the roof. When they reached us Kuzon wrapped his free hand around
my shoulders in a hug. When he let go I sidestepped to Cassie and wrapped my
arms around her. She was standing straight and her arms were stiff at her
sides. I guessed Luna didn’t show very much affection at her home. Cassie was
about a half an inch shorter than me and a lot more boney. Like a half-starved
little scarecrow with smooth hair. I pulled away and Yue hugged her; she got
the same treatment I did. I turned to Kuzon. “How
did you get here so fast?” The phone call was only six minutes and twenty-seven
seconds ago. “The
Ferrari.” He held up the spare key I had given him. Painted black, of course. “So what happened?”
I asked. “Hunters.”
He said it the same time Cassie said: “Leather.”
I turned to her. Yue had stepped back and at some point Kuzon had released her
and she was rubbing her wrist. “They were
wearing leather?” “Just
one. And they walked with more pressure on the right leg.” Cassie confirmed. I nodded;
I would have to tell Anna and/or Yugi. “Layla.”
Nicola held my forearm tightly. I followed her gaze and found the Twins leaning
against the wall of anther store. Forever
21. Nauru and
Shita looked the same as they always had. Pale blonde hair, dark honey-shaded
skin, the cat eyes, the collars around their necks. Shita was dressed in dark
gold skinny jeans, a dark undershirt and dark eye make-up. A dark gold band was
tied around her neck, covering up the branding mark she had. She was wearing
flip-flops and her arms were crossed over her chest. Nauru
was wearing a white short-sleeve shirt, faded blue jeans and black steel-toed
boots. A black band with steel stars was tight around his neck. Unlike Shita, he
was looking right at me. His light milky-brown eyes framed the black slits that
were his pupils; they both had the eyes of a cat. *Find Luna’s daughter, she wants you killed.*
Nauru’s voice was like a whispering breeze in my mind. And then the shock set
in. Nauru and Shita’s father was a Paleface. My telepathic abilities didn’t
work on Palefaces. My father never found a way to do it either. So how was it
possible that he spoke to me like that? We were natural born enemies. Nothing
would change that. Ever. *Her name is Connita. Destroy her; end her before she
kills your last hope.* His eyes went past me before he turned and left, Shita
close behind. I looked down. “Connita.”
I whispered to myself, the name rang in my head. I looked at Kuzon and Nicola, both of them watching the
Twins’ shrinking bodies in the masses of people. I turned toward Yue and…where
was Cassie? After looking in the directions the mall went, I turned and saw her
in the store, Yue had called it Earthbound.
She was kneeling in front of a large wooden mask that was meant to hang on the
wall, but it was leaning on a rack in the center of the store. Cassie’s left
arm was resting on her left knee; her hair was keeping her face out of my view. I
stepped over the threshold, the door chimed as I entered. “I’ll be right with you!” A woman’s
voice called from a closed door behind the counter. I walked toward Cassie as
Kuzon, Yue, and Nicola filed in. “Luna donated everything
to this store.” Cassie said once I was in earshot. Cassie always spoke so
quietly. “Really?” She answered
me with a quick nod of her head. “There’s
a story behind everything in here.” “What’s
the story of the mask?” She looked up at me, seemingly
surprised I asked the question; the outer edge of her right eyebrow twitched
slightly. Something she did when she considered something, in this she was most
likely considering whether or not to tell me. After considering for a few
counts she stood and I realized that the mask came halfway up her torso. She
turned it slightly so the back of the mask faced me. A gold colored rope was
stapled at both ends to hold it to a wall. In the center of the back, the words
Cassandra E. V. Nightingale – 2nd grade were carved. “You
made this?” I reached out to touch the wood, it felt solid. I wasn’t imagining
things. “And most of
the stuff in this place.” She folded her arms across her chest and looked
around. There was a longing in her blue eyes on top of the seemingly constant
sadness. I turned to my three amigos standing
guard at the door, I lifted my left eyebrow and they acted. Yue closed the door
to the store and hung the Store Closed
sign on the knob. Kuzon locked the storekeeper in the closet she was in and
twisted an iron bar through the handle. Nicola walked to the counter and began
removing bags. As Nicola opened the bags Kuzon and Yue began collecting all the
merchandise from the shelves and displays and bringing them back to Nicola. I
loved how they did anything without having to get an explication. I reached
into one of the shopping bags and removed a sock hat I bought. It was white
with a red rose sewed into it. It was a Christmas present for Connie; yuck, I
hated spending my cash on her. I bit the top of it between my teeth and began
pulling Cassie’s hair up. She pulled away quickly but I had already seen them.
The rope burns along both sides of her jaw-line and the scars that trailed over
her left ear. There were four lines that had sliced through her ear but were
now healed over. She was watching me with fear and nothing else, not even a
plea to keep it a secret…what did Luna do
to her? I took one step in her direction and pulled the hat over her hair, her
silky smooth hair. “Who did it?” I referred the marks
on her ear. “I
did it.” She was almost inaudible. There was a different sound to her voice,
like a little girl with stage fright who is trying to remember her lines. It
was rehearsed, a lie she had been forced to tell a lot of people for a lot of
things. That was when I realized it. She didn’t want to lie to us constantly
but that was all she knew, what she was raised to do. “Hey.”
Kuzon walked up to us and put his arm around Cassie’s shoulders. She tried to
pull away but he kept her there. “How are you holding up?” He asked her. She was
looking anywhere but directly at him, she focused on the bottom corner of a
rack after looking around for a few seconds. I also noticed how her breathing
quickened when Kuzon touched her. I had been joking with her before about her
having a crush on him but did she actually? Or did he intimidate her, or remind
her of the incredibly evil but amazingly cute drone son of Luna? “Cassie?” I asked. She blinked
and looked at me, her eyes were reddening and starting to water; she lifted her
eyebrows in a silent what? “Do
you want to go home?” she looked back to the corner but nodded her head slightly.
I scooped up my bags and walked on her other side out the door and out of the
mall to join Yue and Nicola in the parking lot. Did I mention how much I love those
two? All of the bags with the stuff from the store were in the trunk, the fold
over roof for my car was closed and the windows were up. Pop and Tinker were
leaning on the driver’s side back seat window. Both of them had their arms
crossed, staring at nothing in particular. A light sprinkle of sky-water was
beginning to fall as we all climbed into the car. Nicola beside me in the front
seat; Kuzon behind her, Yue behind me and Cassie squeezed between them. She
didn’t seem to mind, her hands were on her lap and she was watching them, she
had perfect posture. As
I turned the keys in the ignition I thought about Cassie. Her perfect posture,
her silky black hair, the way she did her eyebrow when she was thinking, the
odd shade of eyes she had. They were like baby blue, but a shade or two
lighter. As
I pulled out of the parking lot of the mall I looked in the rearview mirror
above me and saw Cassie. Her eyes were closed and her head was resting on
Kuzon’s shoulder, her breathing was steady. How is it all this time I didn’t
realize she was that tired? I looked
back to the road, it was nearly deserted right now, a car here and there. The
sky water was coming down heavier now; I clicked on the windshield wipers and
pressed the gas pedal harder. The round needle thingy spiked to 98 MPH. A
little slow but I would speed up when I hit the dirt road to the Block. Thirty-six
minutes’ and seventeen seconds later I pulled into our garage and killed the
engine. We all sat in silence for five minuets’; Cassie was now awake, but she
hadn’t moved. I looked at her through the rearview mirror. She still looked
exhausted, her eyes were half closed and she blinked slowly. She looked- if
possible- even more weak and small than she had before we left the mall. She
probably didn’t have the strength to lift her head, let alone walk to the sleep
house. Where Zulia was probably sitting in the main room- fuming; though I
hated to think it, Zulia had been right. Cassie hadn’t been ready to leave the
territory yet. But she had needed to get out! To be around people who were
relatively descant. And if Zulia had a problem with it, she could just. Suck.
It. Up.
A/N: There you go! Tell me what you think, please! Peace!!
