Lilia woke up, and pain overwhelmed her.
She screamed, but her screams turned into a gurgle. Her throat there was something terribly wrong with her throat. She can't talk. Not even a whisper escaped her lips.
'Okay, calm down, the pain isn't fading away, so it's safe to assume that I'm back in my original body. Everything else I could deal with later.' Then Lilia opened her eyes, and they widened. 'Then again…'
Silver feathers were everywhere, but many had torn through everything like tissue paper. 'Silva?' They were nowhere in sight. Her eyes moved up to see wings just above her head.
Lilia furrowed her brow. Silva can't be behind me, so how…
Then the floor gave way. Lilia hissed as her arms were yanged. One of her chains broke free from the wall, hitting the wall hard. She tried to get her barrings when something hot landed on my foot. Looking down, Lilia saw the charred remains of the collar, and she watched it fall down and smash up in the spikey debris below.
'Okay, so try not to fall. Good to know. Maybe the wings?' But She looked up. 'Great, just great, there gone. Who would have guessed?' On the bright side, she also could see the sky. Big enough for a body or two could squeeze through. Now all she got to do was to get to it.
Lilia couldn't help but think that the sky was just there to mock her.
She tried to find a foothold, but it crumbled underneath her foot. Then, she fell afoot for added incentive as the remaining chain started to unbuckle from the wall. She gritted her teeth as pain shot through her shoulder.
'Yay, more pain.'
"Need help?"Which was followed by a very close yip.
Startled, Lilia followed the sound to find that gray fox sitting comfortably on a shelf nearby. Lilia opened her mouth, but air came out before responding telepathically. "Thanks, but I don't think you'll be that much help."
The fox crackled with laughter. "Not me, silly girl. Them."
Suddenly a rope dropped, and July came scrambling down. She called up. "Don't slack off, cousin! Not every day we get a damsel in distress to save."
"Yeah! Yeah!" Kay's voice echoed.
She looked Lilia over, and when her gaze turned into concern, it landed on her throat before resting on Lilia's face. July' plastered a smile while she held out her hand. "Hi, cutie. Shaw we?"
Lilia rolled her eyes, a little flushed, as she reached for July's hand, just as the chain gave way.
***
Headmistress Office.
Maria Weathery looked out the window as Mr. Chesterfield barged in like he owned the place. "Mr. Chesterfield, what are you doing?"
"I apologized, ma'am, but this couldn't wait." Mr. Chesterfield seemed excited. "Not only a found prove that Miss. Andres was responsible, but she was also a Shadowhawk spy."
Maria eyed the man slowly, expressionless. "Really."
Mr. Chersterfield preened. "My contact found out that Miss. Andres had associations with Deakin Pharmaceuticals. And look, I found these in her room."
He began to display one thing after another. From the Shadowhawk's badge to her involvement in Stella and Rachel's kidnapping. "I see."
"So, as you can see, the evidence is undeniable. Plus, I have witnessed accounts at the Canavan that she was talking to the suspected kidnappers." Mr. Chesterfield seemed proud of himself, but he frowned when Maria didn't answer right away. "Ma'am?"
"Do you think I would believe all this?" Maria stated.
Mr. Chesterfield farrowed his brow. "Of course! It's the truth."
"And I call bull. If Miss Andre's a Shadowhawk, as you say. She wouldn't leave such an obvious trial." Maria let the evidence slip through her hand like they met nothing. "She would have been a dead Shadowhawk if that was the case."
Mr. Cheterfeild straightened up. "Headmistress, are you saying I'm lying? What I said is the truth. Miss Andres is a Shadowhawk."
Maria sighed, leaning back and placing one hand underneath her desk. "You government lackeys are so good at twisting the truth that it might as well be a game to you people." Although Maria could understand her, a lawyer said she always felt that people like Mr. Chesterfield deserve their own category. She gave the man a long look. "But you didn't account for one thing."
"Ma'am, What are you applying?"
"I already knew that she was a Shadowhawk," Maria replied.
Mr. Chesterfield looked stunned. "Ho…how."
Maria smiled. "Simple enough. She told me."
He sputtered, "But that doesn't mean anything."
Maria laughed."Mr. Chesterfield, it means I trust her hell a lot more than I do you."
He looked like he was about to deny it again, but his face shifted into a calm mask. "How long did you know?"
Maria raised her brow, intrigued. So not playing any more games, hmm. "Oh, how did I know that you've betrayed me?" She tapped her finger on her desk. "Maybe it was when you orchestrated that Castie girl to come to my compound. Perhaps to discredit me when she suddenly turns up dead, perhaps?" She paused, waiting for him to respond when he didn't. "If that didn't work, you will take care of me yourself, correct? Just get my protection out of the way?" She tsched. "All this to get my compound."
"Why did you let them leave? If you knew." He sneered.
"Because we wouldn't have this little moment, would we." Besides, who knew how much he would weasel out of it if his plan didn't go his way. "To hand it over to Deakin Pharmaceuticals? I have heard about Compounds being whapped out for no apparent reason and people disappearing in the Cities." She nodded her head at Mr. Chesterfield. "And when the Nomads came along, saying something about Zombies in the Wasteland. Then, everything began to make sense." Maria glared. "I like to deal with such scum personally."
Maria saw him reaching out for his gun and shooting. Maria didn't move or flinch away, and she watched as it slowed and decayed right in front of her. Before he could shoot again, she already had a bullet between his eyes.
"What would you have done if I wasn't here?" Faceless asked, materializing beside Maria.
Maria placed her gun back in. "I don't know. I think I'll manage." Then she paused; her tone turned serious. "How are they? My kids."
He hesitated. "They're alive, but…."
Maria sighed in relief. "Alive right now is good enough. One thing at a time, yes."
Camp 2
Lilia was out into the open sky again, Soon, she returned to Terran, Heather, and the others, but they quickly had to leave. The continuous explosion erupted under the ground, collapsing buildings and fire spreading. Finally, the group had no choice but to head back to Camp 2.
There was one obstacle in their way, the barrier, but that solved itself as the sky became bright before dissolving, and they experienced no resistance coming out.
When they arrived at Camp 2, Druid's group was there already. Druid and Bryson were holding back Statson, who was screaming. "I need to get to Colten."
When Shadow and his group showed, half of whom were being carried by his Phantasms. Statson went to the comatose boy, and he whelped. That was when Lilia passed out.
A couple of days later, the city was still on fire, and everyone waiting for help to arrive. They had too many people injured to move. Lilia was situated outside underneath a tent with all the others injured. Well, except for Rachel. Lilia only saw Rachel pacing before she was charted off that older woman into the main building. There she was supposed to be isolated for everyone's safety. But Lilia saw the Vine Markings, and there were whispering. So they were shocked she was still alive.
Lilia was dying to sneak in and see her, but…she glanced at the bed beside her. Stella was curled up asleep. There was nothing really wrong with Stella, but she was malnourished and needed a lot of sleep.
Lilia, on the other hand, had her leg up. Terran had to reset and bind her leg and bandages over half her body. There worse was her throat. It was severely burnt. Terran told her that it would take a long time to heal and probably would still leave a scar.
She couldn't speak, but at least Lilia still had her telepathy. Lilia looked over at Sella, although there were some people her telepathy wouldn't even work on.
Lilia was very conflicted about it. Lilia wanted to get back into music again with all that had happened. Although, slowly. She decided that she wanted to stop running. But with her throat like this, what was she going to do? Lilia didn't know if she was ready to face the piano again.
"Terran, can we talk?" Tessa's voice resonated.
"What about?" Terran asked.
At that time, Heather came in. "Ha, little bro…."
Lilia instantly grabbed her and held her still. *Shh*
"I wanted to ask… um… why don't you come with me." Tessa's voice was hesitant. "It's not just because I like you. II mean, with my family's recommendation, your dreams of being a doctor would…."
"I can't." His tone was bittersweet.
Heather began to squirm. Lilia held on tighter.
"Um, if it's about being a Lumeye. But, don't worry, I really don't care about that, and my father's name goes a long way."
" No, it's not about that." Terran denied. "At least only partly."
"If this is about Lilia?" Tessa's voice became weak.
"I've told you I only think of Lilia as a sister," Terran stated. "Besides, she has no interest in someone like me."
Lilia rolled her eyes. Geeze, Terran, if you talk like that. No wonder she's so confused.
"What! What's wrong with you. Terran, you're great." Tessa sounded outraged.
"No, I mean her type is more… curvier." He stammered.
"Curvier, what does that…." Then she exclaimed. "Oh, you mean she likes girls. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Um…"
"Okay, never mind, then tell me why."
Terran was silent before answering. "A long time, okay. Our foster father was into some illegal crap. Stealing cars mostly."
"I don't care about…."
"Just listen. Please."
"Okay."
"So…um… my sister. Even at a young age, was very gifted in mechanics, so he used her in many of his heists." He paused. "Me, on the other hand, was used as a punching bag to keep Heather in line."
"Terran."
"Let me finish. One time, a job went bad, and one of that guy's favourites was arrested. He blamed Heather. It wasn't even her fault, but instead of coming after me. He went after Heather. And it was bad, a lot worse than he ever did to me. He was going to…" he swallowed. "Anyway, I killed him with a knife. Blood was all over Heather, and she was screaming."
Heather stilled as she melted into my embrace. Lilia felt tears dripping down onto her arms.
"Anyways, because my foster father was a man of influence, I was charged with murder."Terran's voice was trembling. "I'm not allowed to set foot in any of the Cities again."
When Lilia was in that out-of-body state. When she was with Heather and saw how wreaked Heather was. She knew it was bad but not that bad. 'No wonder I couldn't relate.'
Then Lilia's something was nagging at her. Not about the twins, but something else. Something important. Honestly, she only recalls nips and pieces when trying to help the others. But, quite frankly, she never wanted to experience anything like that again.
'So what I'm I forgetting?'