The Last Alignment: Cry of the Scorpions (16 page)

Yeah? That’s all u have to say? Well I guess
I’m sorry 2. We must not be that good of frnds if u didn’t even
have the decency 2 tell me that u were leaving me here.

-Amanda

“
I didn’t leave you,”
Awbrey pleaded, resting a hand on the back of her neck. Tears
flooded her eyes as she went to reply, but her phone vibrated again
before she could even press a button.

I knew I was charity. I always had a
feeling. U never even cared about me, did u? Fuck u and fuck
Hudson. Delete my number cause I’m deleting urs.

-Amanda

Are you kidding
me
, Awbrey thought.
How don
’
t I
care about you
? She stared at the screen
of her phone for what felt like an hour before Andrew came into the
room and plopped down on the bed.

“
Good morning, stupid,” he
signed smiling, but when he saw Awbrey’s face, Andrew sat up on his
knees. “What’s wrong, stupid?”

“
Nothing,” Awbrey said
hiding her cell phone. “Hey, would you mind going and asking Hudson
to come here?”

“
Yes, but before I do,
tell me what’s wrong,” he signed.

Awbrey sighed. She and Andrew shared
everything with each other and she knew that he wouldn’t leave her
alone until she spilled. “A friend of mine at school is really mad
at me because I’m not there, and then I didn’t think to tell her
that I wasn’t going to be coming back,” she condensed it.

“
Amanda?”

“
Yes.”

“
That’s not your fault,”
Andrew signed.

“
I know, but she doesn’t
know that,” said Awbrey. “It’s just…please go and get Hudson, Drew.
She’s mad at him too.”

Her brother wasn’t quick to move, but then
he nodded and slid off the foot of the bed. Awbrey buried her face
in her hands again when she heard a bang on the wall; Andrew was
getting her attention. “Do you want me to bring you food?”

“
No. I’ll come down in a
minute. Thank you, though,” she smiled.

Andrew left, and a couple of minutes later
Hudson walked in looking worried. “What’s up? Drew told me that you
were crying.”

“
Read the first four
messages,” Awbrey said tossing him her phone. After a moment,
Hudson sat down on the bed next to her when he finished reading,
clearly feeling as bad as she was.

“
Have you texted her
back,” he asked.

“
No,” Awbrey replied
irritably.
Aren
’
t you looking at my messages? Does
it look like I texted her back
, she
thought. “I don’t even know what to say to her. I mean, what
can
I say to her?”
Hudson sat thinking, but even he couldn’t come up with a response.
“I feel so bad,” Awbrey grumbled as she leaned over and rested her
head on his thigh. “Who knows what the fuck those assholes have
been saying and doing to her.”

“
Uh,
knock-knock.”

They both looked at the bedroom door to see
Natalye poking her head in. Awbrey felt Hudson move away from her a
little bit and frowned. “I just wanted to let you guys know that
Kate wants us to come downstairs,” said Natalye.

“
Is it important,” Awbrey
asked. That must have been the third time that she had spoken to
Natalye within the two weeks that they had been there and shared a
room.

“
I don’t know,” she
shrugged. “Seems like it.”

~*~*~

Awbrey got dressed and went downstairs to
the kitchen. Everyone was standing in one big semi-circle, so
Awbrey grabbed an apple out of a wooden bowl on the counter and
joined them.

“
Well, now that ‘Princess
I-Can-Sleep-As-Long-As-I-Wanna’ is here,” Kate said winking at
Awbrey, “we have some news for the five of you.”

“
And, that is,” Awbrey
asked before taking another bite of her apple. She really wasn’t in
the mood, and the fact that her mother and brother were leaving
this afternoon wasn’t helping. If something didn’t happen today,
then she would probably end up stabbing someone in the eye with a
fork.

“
In short, Andrew and I
may not be the only ones going back to Vairlden,” Hallie
announced.

“
Seriously
,” Awbrey and Hudson asked
at the same time.

“
I spoke to your father
earlier this morning,” Hallie said to Awbrey. The revelation
quickly subdued her excitement about going home; her grandmother
didn’t appear all that pleased either.

“
Why,” Awbrey asked. “What
does he want?”

“
He is a Wielder, Brey. He
deserves to at least know what’s going on. And…he wants to help.
O’Ryann actually wants to help,” her mother repeated as if it would
take her saying it a thousand more times before she could truly
believe it. “And so does Tyler,” she added, nodding at
Hudson.

“
It is true,” Kate chimed
in. “I spoke to Tyler on the phone about an hour ago. He wants all
of us to come stay at his house where there is not only more room,
but if we relocate we can give you guys more security. Three
Wielders and four Roots protecting you all is definitely better
than one Wielder and four Roots. That reason alone is why we’ve
decided to really think about taking up the offer. Plus, honey, you
would get to stay in your own room,” Kate said to Hudson as if that
were a selling point. “The only thing that makes us hesitant is the
fact that-”

“
What in the world is a
‘Root,’” Zander interrupted before taking a bite of a sausage
link.

“
A Root is an ex-Wielder,
dear,” said Kate. “Like I was saying, the only thing that makes us
hesitant is the fact that both Tyler and O’Ryann have
been-”

“
Deadbeats,” Awbrey
interjected, setting her half-eaten apple down on the counter.
“Uninvolved, uncaring, unsupportive, unfeeling,
unloving-”

“
Alright
, Awbrey,” Hallie stopped
her.

“
Wait, I didn’t get a
chance to say assholes. That’s important,” said Awbrey. “Okay. I’m
done now, Mom. Promise.”

“
Well, then,” Sylvia spoke
up, “it’s…well…it’s basically like what Awbrey just said,” she
agreed. “I myself haven’t spoken to either O’Ryann or Tyler for
almost seven years now, and I haven’t actually seen them in nine.
They haven’t bothered to return any of my calls, emails, or
messages. Granted, I was never the best of friends with either of
them, but I thought that after everything that we’ve been through
we would’ve ended up being closer than what we are.”

“
They have isolated
themselves from everyone except each other,” Oren said angrily. It
was very rare that Awbrey saw her grandmother visibly upset and she
hated her father all over again. “It’s been six years since I’ve
spoken to my son. I’m happy that they have seemingly come to their
senses, but it does not take away what they’ve done or how they’ve
acted. There is no excuse for how they have treated their families
or the others that are in their Alignment.”

“
Their ‘Alignment,’”
Awbrey inquired. “What’s that?”

“
That’s what all of you
are together,” said Emma. “The five of you make up an Alignment,
O’Ryann, Sylvia, Tyler, Pamela, and Nicolas are an Alignment,
Charles, Kate, Oren, Talia, and I are an Alignment, and so
forth.”

“
Now,” Oren continued,
“even though we adults have come to a decision about relocating, we
still wanted you all to have a say in the matter. But, we chiefly
wanted to make sure that Awbrey and Hudson were heard if they had
any objections, and please, don’t be afraid to speak up if you do,”
she stressed.
You don
’
t want to go
, Awbrey thought looking at her grandmother. Her gut reaction
was to side with Oren, but then Awbrey thought about Amanda and
that last text that she received from her. Amanda was the type of
girl that meant what she said and Awbrey knew that it was no use
calling her. If they went back to Vairlden they obviously wouldn’t
be allowed to go to school, but she and Hudson could sneak off to
Vancent one morning and make amends and get back to Hudson’s before
anyone even noticed that they had left to begin with.

“
I’m fine with
relocating,” Zander said raising his hand. “It would be nice to
actually set foot outside of this place. Not that there is anything
wrong with it,” he added quickly. “It’s nice here.”

“
I understand, Zander,”
said Oren.

“
I’m for relocating as
well,” stated Androse.

“
Me too,” said Natalye,
“and I agree with Mrs. Kate about-”

“
Please
,” Kate said closing her eyes as if Natalye had just showed
her something gross, “call me Kate. Just Kate.”

“
Okay,” said Natalye.
“Um,
Kate
…I think
that you had a good point before. Three Wielders and four Roots is
a lot better than one Wielder and four Roots. That way, all of the
security stuff won’t be on Sylvia which I’m sure must be a ton of
pressure. That reason alone is good enough to pack up and go I
would say.” Awbrey scanned Sylvia, and now that she saw her,
Zander’s mother did look absolutely exhausted. She didn’t have her
normal air of confidence and sass; it was replaced by weariness and
what was no doubt mental fatigue.

“
That just leaves you
two,” Charles said before setting down his mug of coffee. He hadn’t
spoken to Awbrey or Hudson since the day that they suggested that
he go and talk to Androse. “What’s it going to be? Are you going to
let your emotions get the best of you and be selfish, angry, and
bitter, or are you going to use your heads and do what’s best and
safest for everyone?”

The security aspect was
definitely a good enough reason by itself, but Awbrey didn’t want
to go along with the group. She also didn’t want to be confined to
a space where she would be forced to cooperate with her father and
doubted that she even knew how to interact with him anymore.
However, her thoughts returned to Amanda, and Awbrey decided that
being around O’Ryann was a small price to pay if it meant setting
things right with her friend. Besides, surely Hektor was coming to
get them soon? “It doesn’t matter what we think,” she said. “We got
outvoted. Vairlden it is. Right, Hudson?” Hudson looked as if he
were going to be sick. “
Right
, Hudson,” she
repeated.

“
Right,” he said clearly
in spite himself. Awbrey rolled her eyes and sighed and decided
that he would feel better about her decision once she told him her
plan.

“
That settles it. You five
have got some packing to do, so go on ahead and get to it,” Hallie
said waving her hands for them to leave the kitchen. “Except you,
Awbrey,” she said grabbing an empty plate for her. “Sit down and
eat something first, please.”

Chapter
13

Hudson

They were the first to
pull into the driveway of the house, but they ended up waiting for
Hallie and Oren to pull in and park their vehicles before Kate went
ahead and shut off the engine. “Just wanted to make sure that they
had enough room,” she said before yawning.
Of course they have enough room
,
Hudson thought. He didn’t understand his grandmother’s thinking
since their driveway was huge, but he supposed that she was just
trying to be polite. “So, are you going to tell me what’s wrong
now, or do I have to choke you first,” Kate asked taking the key
out of the ignition. “You were zero fun on that car ride. If I
would’ve known that you were going to be so dang dull and quiet, I
would’ve begged someone else to ride with us. Zander would’ve been
a good choice. You wouldn’t even get into it with me when I turned
on the radio, and you love laughing at my singing. I don’t
understand why since I’m inconceivably talented, but you
do.”

Hudson specifically asked his grandmother if
they could be the only two that rode in her car, so Emma, Awbrey,
Andrew, and Androse all rode with Hallie, and Natalye, Zander, and
Charles all rode with Oren. While Kate wasn’t keen on the idea at
first, Hudson assumed that she must have thought that he wanted to
talk and so she went along with his request. Instead of chatting,
though, Hudson spent most of the ride staring out of his window and
keeping his thoughts to himself.

“
Hudson, don’t you dare
ignore me.”

“
I just wanted some space,
Grandma,” he admitted, watching people pour out of the other two
vehicles in his side view mirror. “Peace and quiet...that’s all I
wanted. It’s been kind of hard to come by over the last two
weeks.”

Kate sighed. “Agreed,” she said after a
moment. “I’m sorry that we have to cramp you guys together like
this.”

“
Don’t be,” Hudson said
looking up at the sky. The sun was starting to set so it was a
light, golden color. “You guys have been cramped up to. At this
point, I think I just want Hektor to get here already. What’s the
hold up? Have you heard from him? What do you think is taking him
so long?”

“
No idea. We were
wondering that ourselves,” said Kate. “We were never given a date
as far as when he was coming. But anyway, I don’t think that I’ve
asked you how you felt about being-”