Chapter Twenty-four
Catherine
"Wake up pretty boy!" Lucas says mischievously to Peter. "The monitor here shows you're okay enough to enter this world again."
Peter opens his eyes slowly and gets up, leaning on his elbows to support him.
"What time is it?" He asks, blinking fast, trying to get adjusted to the light.
"It is," Lucas announces, checking his watch dramatically, "10:30 in the morning. A day since we lost you. Too much blood loss. But you're okay now."
"What's been going on all this while?"
"Nothing much. Ester and Albert are fine, they joined us late on the same day of the attack. You got hurt. Catherine fixed you." His face fell. "Kabir passed away."
Silence. "I'm sorry." Peter says to no one in particular.
Lucas continues, his blonde fringe getting in between his eyes. I walk over to them, the syringe in my hand.
" It's not your fault." I say, pushing him back down. "Lie still." I put the syringe into the side of his neck. He doesn't flinch. "It's for immunity. No repercussions. You should be able to stand up in about twenty minutes. Rest your legs till then."
"When did you get so robotic?" He asks me.
"Um... When my friend's head got chopped off and my significant other was in a coma."
"But now you're back?"
"But now I'm back." I sigh.
"I heard you fixed me. Do you know where I got hurt?" His voice had a hint of sarcasm in it.
"On your side." I say, giving no explanation.
"On my side next to my navel?"
"Shut up."
"Yes or no?"
"Yeah, yeah there."
"So you saw me shirtless- like half nakid?"
I rolled my eyes, blush creeping up my cheeks like a tsunami enveloping the beachside. "What do you want?"
"Just one last answer."
"Ask."
His eyes light up, shining, he is smiling wickedly and I hang my head on the right side, raising my eyebrows and waiting. And then he asks, "Did you like what you saw?"
This boy will be the death of me.
I turn away quickly before he sees my cheeks turning crimson.
I take the syringe out and turn around to clean it with a cotton swab. "Andrew asked us to meet at the conference room- you know, the one we were at on the first day- to discuss our 'next step'."
I turn towards Peter and lean on the shelf I was at. "Do you want to join us?" He looks down at Lucas, who nods, and then turns to me. "Sure."
-
"We don't think they're going to attack for some time now. Maybe a week, maybe three. No one knows." Andrew says, putting his hands on the table, looking at us.
"Oh, Peter! I see you've taken the troubles to join us today. How are you feeling?"
"Much better, thank you."
"Great. Let's continue. So," he lifts us his arms from the position they were in and walks around the room. "What did we do wrong? Go."
Richard sighs. "We split up."
"That wasn't wrong. So many more people would have passed away otherwise if they hadn't been told to hide." Andrew says. "Next."
"What Richard said is true, but only partly." Harry says looking at Richard, then at Peter. "It was good that we split up- but we shouldn't have gone into one's. That's extremely risky." He keeps his eyes on him. Peter looks down.
Once again, Andrew comes to his defense, "it was a decision made on the spur of the moment thinking it would help Kabir escape." Saying his name out loud only made it worse.
Everyone stopped whatever they were doing for a moment and an unspoken moment of silence took over. Then, we went back. "Next. Anyone else?"
"We've never seen them before and didn't know how they play. Also it was a surprise. They had more than one advantage." Oliver says.
"Correct. Thank you Oliver. Anything else?" He looks around. "No? Okay."
"They didn't have a back up team this time." Peter says suddenly, lifting his head.
Andrew looks surprised for a second and then goes back to his usual stern expression. "That's true." He says, almost a whisper. Then Aunt Marge suddenly gets up, her eyes darting around everywhere, her hands shaking.
"What's wrong?" Andrew asks.
"They're going to come for us." Aunt Marge replies hurriedly, scribbling something on a sheet of paper. I look at Peter. Everyone sticks together. As if he can hear me, he nods.
We work in sync, telling people where to go, finding safe houses inside the diamond, gathering weapons. We follow his lead, dividing into groups, (this time I made sure I was with Peter) and start informing workers and scientists and the guards outside.
Suddenly, Peter pulls me aside and whispers in my ear, "I have to go outside and help the guards so that they don't come in." I frown and push him away, holding onto his wrists. "You're not going outside, it's even riskier."
"We all are. Except Lucas. I'm keeping him with you. I trust him now, enough to know that you'll be safe."
"I'm coming out too."
"No."
"Yes."
"No." He says, shaking his head. "I won't let you."
"Well, I'm sorry but I don't have to do whatever you tell me to. I'm coming."
"Cat, we don't have time to argue about this."
"Why can't I come? Because I don't have superpowers?" He blinks. Then, without responding, pushes me into Lucas' arms and runs out of the diamond