The Significant (77 page)

      
Still, Isa did not move.

      
“I told you to get out of the car,”
Colonel Amori snapped, grabbing the raw skin of her freed wrist and pulling her
out. “You’re dead to the fucking world. Go sleep or something.”

      
He shoved her toward the elevators and
Isa’s legs mechanically carried her.

      
Colonel Amori saw her to her level of
Anon Tower, but then left, going to his own room.

      
The house was quiet when she walked
inside. She stood in the living room for several long moments, trying to
process where she was and what she needed to do next.

      
Her mind remained blank.

      
Her legs started moving to her bedroom,
but she stopped. She went to look in on Rayal, finding the caretaker fast
asleep, very pale, and shaking with a sheen of sweat over his face. Isa closed
her eyes in pain and turned away, knowing that she was causing the pain to the
man who had watched over her for years, the man who had kept her relationship
with Remus a secret, and the man she considered a brother.

      
Isa had to leave his room. She went to
her bedroom and collapsed on her bed, shaking uncontrollably.

      
The next day, she dressed and went to
work as though nothing was wrong. When she walked into the building, she passed
the frantic operators, her sudden appearance causing them to pause and stare.
One of them quickly dialed Remus’ office.

      
“Elite Remus, Elite Isa is here.”

      
Isa barely made it to the control room
before she was swarmed by her Elites.

      
“Where have you been?!” Chronus gasped.
“Do you have any idea what’s been going on here?!”

      
“You had us worried!” Anders said
quickly. “Where were you?!”

      
“Saera’s generators exploded and
destroyed the city,” Maki relayed. “It killed almost everyone and the entire
area is in ruin.”

      
“I know!” Isa snapped. The Elites stopped
immediately, surprised at her tone. “I am fully aware of what happened in
Saera.”

      
“Then why didn’t you come here for
four
days?” Anders hissed. “Everyone is
frantic trying to figure out what happened.”

      
“Generators can go into catastrophic
failure,” Isa said darkly.

      
“That’s hardly the point,” Chronus
hissed. “You should have rushed here to help us handle this situation. Everyone
is furious that we’ve been so silent.”

      
“What do they expect us to do?” Isa
growled, pushing past them. “Go out there and help with the cleanup?”

      
Remus stepped in Isa’s path, his eyes
dark.

      
“Where the hell have you been?”

      
“It doesn’t matter,” Isa said coldly,
trying to push past him, but he grabbed her wrist to stop her. She tried not to
cringe at the flares of pain that shot through her arm at the contact.

      
“It
does
matter,” he growled. “You have
never
gone missing like that. And for you to ignore a crisis like this is
incomprehensible.”

      
“Maybe,” she started darkly, angrily
yanking her arm from Remus, “I did not ignore it and I wanted you to handle
things for a change. Are you all really so incapable of handling things without
me?” She glared at all of them. “Perhaps I made the wrong decision about which
Elites to appoint to this Syndicate.”

      
The fourteen other Elites in the room
were wide-eyed in shock at her words and the cold tone of her voice. They could
only watch as she turned away and went to her office. After several long
moments, staring in surprise at the empty hall, they turned to one another.

      
“What the hell just happened?” Hana
whispered.

      
“That…that’s not like her at all…” Anders
said.

      
“She’s been acting strange for a couple
months now,” Aolee said slowly. “But that is too drastic of a change.”

      
“She must be pretty upset about Saera,”
Maki murmured. His brow furrowed. “Maybe she knows something about it.”

      
They all immediately turned back to the
direction the Golden Elite had left.

      
That night, when Isa returned home, she
went to Rayal’s room and sat on the bed, passing her hand gently over the
caretaker’s forehead. Rayal stirred, his eyes fluttering open as he let out a
strained breath. He slowly turned over in bed and looked at the Elite.

      
“Isa…” he whispered, trying to sit up.

      
“Shh, shh,” she cooed. “Stay quiet.” She
sighed heavily. “I’m going to call the hospital and have you admitted,” she
murmured. “You are getting worse.”

      
“I am so sorry…” Rayal whispered.

      
“Why are you apologizing?”

      
“I don’t know why I’m not getting
better.”

      
“You do not have to apologize for that,”
she said. “I should apologize for not admitting you sooner.”

      
“Did they call about the blood tests?”
Rayal asked, cringing in pain.

      
“…no,” Isa said. “I’ll ask them when I
call.”

      
She forced a smile and stood, walking out
of the caretaker’s room and to the main room. She called the hospital and asked
them to immediately send someone over to retrieve and admit Rayal. As she was
finishing the call, the door alarm rang and Remus walked into the living room.

      
Isa felt her heart fall into her stomach.
She had been hoping that the Syndicate would leave her alone for several days.
She needed time to process what had happened, and she did not want Remus or the
other Elites pestering her with questions.

      
She hung up the phone and turned to
Remus, preparing herself.

      
“Is there something you want?”

      
“Yes,” Remus said, his eyes showing his
barely-contained anger. “I want to understand the hell is wrong with you.”

      
“With
me
?”
Isa snapped. “There’s something wrong with me?”

      
“Clearly,” Remus growled. “You are not
acting like yourself at all. You’ve been distant, absent-minded, even
angry,
it seems. You say you don’t
sleep, you’re losing weight at an alarming rate, and then, in an enormous
planetary crisis, you
disappear
for
four days.”

      
Isa stared at him before shrugging.

      
“Okay, and?”

      
“That’s all you’re going to say?” Remus
snarled.

      
“There’s nothing else to be said.”

      
“Where have you been for the last four
days?”

      
“I needed time to myself, so I left the
city,” Isa said. “The question
I
have
for you, is why you did not come here to find me and see that Rayal is nearly
dying?”

      
“I
did
come here and I
did
notice,”
Remus corrected. “I called the hospital yesterday and asked them to take him
in. He’s still here?”

      
Isa could not stop the way her eyes
widened. It showed her that Colonel Amori had found a way to block the request,
forcing Rayal to suffer without the medical care he so clearly needed.

      
Isa let out a shaky breath and turned
away, closing her eyes and trying to remain calm.

      
“Isa?” Remus asked, his tone changing.
“What is it? Is Rayal still here?”

      
“Yes, he’s here. I just called the
hospital again.” She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, turning around
and staring at Remus with a cold expression. “You should go home, Remus.”

      
Remus blinked at her in disbelief.

      
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me
what’s wrong.”

      
“Nothing is wrong.”

      
“The hell nothing is wrong,” Remus
hissed. “I
know
you, Isa. And you are
not the type of leader to run off during something this catastrophic.” He
stalked forward, fixing her with a serious stare. “You know something about
what happened to Saera that you are not telling me.”

      
“What is that supposed to mean?”

      
“You would not be acting like this if it
was a catastrophic failure of the generators. You are acting like this was
planned
, like there was some plot to
destroy Saera.”

      
Isa scoffed, trying to hide how much the
words hurt.

      
“I don’t need to stand here and listen to
your conspiracy theories,” she growled, walking away from him and to her bedroom.
Remus quickly followed.

      
“Why won’t you just
talk
to me and tell me what is wrong?” he snapped.

      
“
Nothing
is
wrong
, Remus!” Isa barked,
rounding on him.

      
“I’m not a fucking moron, Isa!” Remus
retaliated. “I know that something is wrong!”

      
“You don’t know anything!” Isa growled,
shoving Remus away. “You’re not the leader of this planet! You have no right to
come in here and accuse me of conspiring to destroy one of the most important
areas of this planet!”

      
“For the past four days, you haven’t been
the leader of this planet!” Remus retorted. “You ran away from your
responsibilities and left your people in fear! How dare you call yourself the
Golden Elite after a stunt like that?!”

      
“Shut the fuck up!” Isa bellowed, shoving
Remus away once more. “You know nothing about it! You don’t know everything
about me, Remus!”

      
“Clearly, since the Isa I knew would
never abandon her people!”

      
“I did not abandon them!” Isa screeched.
“I have done everything in my power to serve this planet and its people! I put
myself
after
them! How dare you say
that?!”

      
She tried to shove him once more, but he
grabbed her wrists. She tried to free herself, but his grip was firm and the
pain that radiated from her wrists caused her to weaken.

      
“Do you feel how weak you are right now?”
Remus hissed. “How can I believe what you’re saying when
years
of knowing you and being by your side tells me that your
behavior the past few months has been terrifying? You’re clearly
lying
to me!”

      
“Stop accusing me!” Isa bellowed, still
trying to free herself from Remus’ vice grip. “Let go of me!”

      
“Not until you tell me what is wrong!”

      
“I can’t!” Isa bellowed.

      
“Can’t or won’t?!”

      
“I can’t tell you because, for the last
fucking time,
nothing is wrong
!”

      
“I don’t believe you!” Remus snapped,
forcing her to take a step backward. She managed to get one arm free and lashed
out, slapping him across the face.

      
“Get your hands off me”

      
“No. I told you, not until you tell me
what is wrong,” Remus growled. “I am your Silver Elite. I am supposed to help
and protect you, but I can’t fucking do that if you’re keeping secrets from me
and falling apart in front of my eyes.”

      
“I am not falling apart!” Isa snapped. “I
am doing what I need to!”

      
“And what is that?!”

      
Isa finally got her other hand out of
Remus’ grip and she tried to slap him again. She knew the situation was
spiraling out of control. She wanted to tell Remus what had happened with the
Colonel, but the guilt she felt was too intense. She had been the one that had
chosen to destroy Saera rather than the Syndicate or Anon. Even though it had
been a calculated choice, and she tried to minimize the damage, she felt
responsible for what happened to Saera. She felt responsible for not finding a
way to deal with the Colonel before things got this out of hand. She felt the
weight of the deaths of her people on her chest.

      
Isa felt like she had failed as a leader,
choosing the lives of her Syndicate over the lives of those in Saera. The
Colonel’s words about letting her personal interest guide her decision to murder
one-hundred thousand citizens of Tiao sliced into her like knives.