Uprising (26 page)

I pulled the letter out of my pocket. “I guess you’re right.” Once the rest of my inner circle had joined us, including Dr. Nickel and Mac, I read it aloud. When I looked up they all stared back at me.

“I think that settles it,” Dr. Nickel said. “We’ll postpone our recon mission and team up with you—”

“Not a good idea,” Mac interrupted. “Small groups have been working. You won’t know what to expect there. It could be a trap. Large groups are harder to manage.” He tipped his head at me. “It’s up to you, Elyse, but my advice is to take no more than three.”

The letter had decided two of them for me already. “All right. I definitely need Kara and Alex,” I said, thinking aloud.

William stared at me intently, willing me to see his point of view after what happened last night. I was carrying his child.

“Sorry,” he spoke up. “I’m not letting you go without me again. You can be mad if you want, but I’m coming.”

“All right,” I agreed. “We leave tonight.”

Dr. Nickel left with our friends on their recon mission not long after that. If anyone had information on what Christoph was planning it would be the Hunters. I didn’t disagree with their plan, but it still had me worried for them. It was hard to see things as a leader when my friends were the ones risking their lives for this war. Hunters weren’t merciful.

“You okay?” William asked.

“Huh?” I was still lost in thought, my mind on our friends. He nodded to the gun in my hand as I flicked the safety on and off for the tenth time. “Oh. Yeah,” I answered, handing him the weapon. “Give this one to Alex.”

In front of me, atop our planning table, was an array of weapons glinting under the lantern light. Knives, guns, and a mound of freshly carved darts I’d been making to keep myself busy until nightfall. We’d get the best coverage at night, but the waiting was torture.

“Let’s go then,” Kara answered my thought. “It should be dark enough.” She stood and tucked a bigger knife into her boot.

“I still need to see where we’re going,” Alex said, leaning on the back two legs of his chair.

Kara pretended not to hear him at first and busied herself with her already tied bootlaces.

“You might not find anything,” she said without looking up. For some reason she was resisting this part. “I guess you can try . . .”

Alex let the chair fall back on all four legs and jumped to his feet. When he placed his palms gently against either side of her forehead, I could tell his closeness made her tense. Something had changed since the last time he’d looked into her mind. Their eyes connected for a moment before Kara closed her lids and let him in. Maybe they felt more for each other than either was letting on. The two of them stood still and quiet as William and I waited.

“Get out,” Kara said suddenly, shoving Alex in the chest. He stumbled backward. “Those thoughts are private.”

He stared at her, guilty and defensive. “Like you’re not in my head all the time. You know how I feel.”

Her lips tightened, and she shook her head at a loss for words.

“I have a right to know if you feel the same,” he continued. “No you don’t,” she yelled back at him. “Not if I don’t want you to.”

William and I stayed quiet, but I couldn’t keep from watching them. From the look in their eyes, they were either going to make out or kill each other.

Kara pressed her fingers to her forehead, like the conversation was giving her a headache. “Let’s just focus on the mission, okay?”

“Look, I’m sorry,” Alex said, trying to recover. He reached out his hand, but she caught it before he could touch her, twisting his arm until he was on his knees.

“You’re a real jerk, you know that, Alex?”

He didn’t struggle or try to disappear. Instead he looked up at her, grimacing a bit as she put pressure on his shoulder. “So are you. Maybe that’s why you like me.”

She let go and turned back to me and William. “Can we leave?” she asked with an edge to her voice.

William dared a glance at Alex. “Any chance you found out where we’re supposed to be going during all that?”

“Yes,” he answered, still on his knees.

When Alex transported us, it was to a place somewhere outside, and the glow of the moon was the only thing that helped me make out our surroundings. The silver light glinted in William’s eyes as we made our way up a dirt path surrounded by pine trees and boulders. Kara and Alex were close behind, both of them silent, or perhaps taking part in a silent conversation. I walked faster than normal, the muscles in my legs burning as the path led us uphill. I was anxious to feel right about my choices. Some part of me believed that after we foiled Christoph’s plans I’d feel better about the fire, maybe I’d be able to let it go.

When we got closer to the house, Alex disappeared. “The place is empty,” he said after appearing in front of me. He shrugged. “You’re sure she’s here?”

“Yeah, she’s probably just hiding,” I said. “Do you hear her, Kara?”

She shook her head. “We need to get closer.”

The four of us walked up the winding path toward the porch light that blinked like the North Star in the distance.

“I don’t hear anything,” Kara said, and my heart sank into my stomach. I didn’t want to believe that Christoph had her.

“I still want to check. Maybe there’s something there. A clue.”

As we got closer the place looked more like a shack than a house. It was nothing more than an old one-room cottage made of gray, weathered wood and broken windows. From where I stood, it looked abandoned.

I soaked a dart and loaded it just in case Christoph’s men were close, but I’d already lost hope. I knew they were gone,
she
was gone. William sped up and went through the front door before the rest of us. I didn’t think anything of it. All I could think about was Christoph and the girl, about how I’d failed.

“Wait! Stop.” I heard William yell from inside the house, but something was wrong with his voice. The words were a struggle. I ran, my heart picking up with each quick step that propelled me forward.

I reached the door before Kara, and though Alex was already there, he just stood, staring at the girl with two open slits down her wrists. For a moment I was relieved. I could heal her cuts, that didn’t matter. William had found the girl. Her familiar face stayed locked in his trance, immobile with false love for him, but my smile faded when I caught sight of William who had fallen to his knees.

“What is it?” I asked, scrambling to the floor where he sat. His hands clutched a large knife that protruded from his chest. As soon as I saw it, I started to shake.

“I love you,” he said, like it was over. His eyes closed, and he lost his hold on her.

I knew we were here to save the girl, but when his body fell to the floor, I immediately shot a dart into her neck, and she fell too.

“Help me,” I screamed to Kara and Alex, who were still frozen in shock.

They turned him over, and I readjusted my bracelet, stabbing two fresh wounds into my right wrist.

Kara’s hands were covering her mouth, and all Alex could do was stare as I waited for the blood to come.

“I didn’t hear her,” Kara said over and over under her hands.

“Take it out,” I said to Alex.

He pulled the knife from William’s chest, and blood began to flow faster from the wound. It spread onto the wood floor, soaking into my pants, but I refused to think about it. I couldn’t. If I did, I’d come undone.

“He’ll be okay,” Kara repeated to herself, but she was rocking nervously.

I tried to ignore the doubts in my head, the voice that told me he was already dead. Instead I forced myself to breathe, to move, to heal him.

I lifted his shirt, and my throat tightened at the sight of the open wound over his heart.
Please keep beating
, I thought as my blood dripped into the opening. I’d rip out my own heart and give it to him if I could, but all I could do was grip my forearm and force more blood out.
Take it all, just live
.

I got a lot of it into his body before the skin healed, but he still didn’t wake up.

“It’s not working,” Kara yelled at me.

“It
is
working,” I yelled back, too determined to cry. I pressed my wrist to his lips. “Wake up, William.”

As if acting on my command he coughed and sat up taking in deep breaths. Blood dripped from his chin, and all of us went silent. I felt the tension lift from the room, as if we’d all started to breathe again. My heart beat with relief, and a laugh escaped my lips. I was too overcome for words. Only then did runaway tears drip down my cheeks.

We all watched as William wiped the red from his lips and face. He looked down at his blood-stained shirt. “What happened?” he asked, confused.

I took his face in my hands and kissed him like I hadn’t seen him in months, but something wasn’t right. His lips didn’t kiss me back. They stayed still and tense.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, as his eyebrows lowered.

Kara touched my shoulder. “Elyse . . .”

“Who are you?” William asked, his stare vacant and unfamiliar.

22.

I LOOKED UP AT KARA and back at him. “William,” I said, forcing him to see me, to know me. “It’s me. Elyse.”

Kara shook her head and sank to the floor next to the door. Alex followed her.

I felt the panic rise up in me again. “Hey,” I said, taking William’s hand, hoping it was just a daze. “You’re all right.” I kissed his knuckles, waiting, but he stared past me at the girl on the floor. She looked dead with my dart sticking up from her neck.

He turned to me and pulled his hand back, running his fingers through his hair like he was nervous. “What . . . What’s going on here?” He moved away and stood, wiping his bloody hands on his pants. “Did you
kill
her?”

“No,” I said defensively, standing with him. “William, don’t worry. You’re okay.”

“He’s not,” Kara whispered, but I couldn’t look at her. I didn’t want it to be true.

“Great,” Alex said with indifference. “He can’t remember her?”

“He can’t remember anything,” Kara answered. “William,” I said desperately. I walked toward him, but he backed away, like he was afraid of me. “You don’t remember me?”

He looked me up and down, and I could see him thinking, but when his gaze met mine he only shook his head. “No.”

I nodded, trying to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach. “It’s okay. When she wakes up,” I said, looking at the young girl on the floor. “We’ll fix it. Okay? Okay.”

I walked over to the girl and gently removed the dart from her neck then pressed our wrists together, healing us both. Her eyes were still closed, and her hand fell limp as I laid it on the ground. I could feel William watching me. Did he remember we had abilities? He didn’t say anything. Instead he sat against the wall taking in his surroundings.

The tension in the room made me anxious. It felt wrong. Awkward. I didn’t like it.

“Can we be alone for a minute?” I asked Kara and Alex. “Sure,” Kara answered. The way she looked at William, I wished I knew what she was thinking.

“Don’t have to ask me twice,” Alex said. He grabbed Kara by the arm, and the two of them disappeared.

“Are you okay?” I asked, sitting next to him. I could feel him tense up. He didn’t feel comfortable so close.

He shrugged. “I guess.” His fingers played with the hole in his shirt. He looked down at it, and his hair fell into his face. I wanted to reach out and push it away. I wanted him to look at me. I wanted him to remember. “Why don’t I remember what happened to me?”

“The girl,” I answered, pulling my knees in. “She can make people forget.”

He nodded. “That still doesn’t explain the blood.”

“She stabbed you, I guess.” I bit my thumb nail and looked down at my belly. “I didn’t see it happen.”

“And then you healed me? Like you healed her?”

“Yes.”

We sat for a while. The room was quiet, but there was unsettled air around us. It wasn’t a comfortable silence. I looked at him, and he glanced at me, then away again.

“I guess when she wakes up . . .”

“Yeah,” I said.

I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but I had nothing to say so I picked the grooves between the wood planks of the floor. The porch light and the moon illuminated the room with a grayish yellow glow, and as I looked around for the first time, I could see evidence of The Council’s attack. The two windows next to the front door were shattered and pieces of glass were scattered inside. A few chairs at the kitchen table to my right were on their sides, and the couch that sat against the left wall was disheveled. I wanted to sweep up the glass and put it all back together, to undo what they’d done to this poor girl, but I couldn’t bring myself to move away from William. Being next to him, no matter how uncomfortable he seemed, was the only place I wanted to be.

The girl gasped when she woke and scrambled to her feet as she caught sight of us.

“It’s okay,” I said, trying to calm her before she dug up another weapon.

William and I stayed still as we stared into her wide, fearful eyes. “Who are you?” she asked, her chest rising and falling quickly with panic.

“We’re friends,” William said, slowly getting to his feet. His words surprised me, but I nodded in agreement and stood with him.

Her eyes moved back and forth between us, and I raised my hands to show her I wasn’t going to hurt her. It seemed to have no effect. Descendants could hurt with their minds. Some of us needed no weapons.

“Are you okay?” I asked. It was the only thing I could think to say that might convince her we were not there to hurt her. My eyes moved to her wrist and she followed my gaze.

She looked confused.

“I healed you,” I said. “You can trust us.”

Her shoulders relaxed, but in the moonlight, I could see the glisten of tears on her cheeks.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Hannah.” She was in her fifties from what I could tell, with spiral curls that stopped at her chin.

“I’m Elyse,” I said. “This is William.”

She shuffled her feet, still unsure. “They took my family.”

“Who?” I knew the answer, but I needed details.