Chapter 3 - Torrin
Gage narrows his eyes at me, still holding Luna's hand in his. "What do you mean we won’t need guns?"
My throat tightens enough that I have to swallow twice before I can answer. I've been trying not to think too hard about this since I recognized the uniforms on the road because saying it out loud makes it impossible to pretend I might be wrong.
"Those soldiers running the roadblocks and holding people at that warehouse are British Army. They're from the training unit stationed at the base." I glance at Luna, then force myself to keep going. "I'm almost certain they're under my father's command."
Gage's expression changes to surprise, and the sick feeling in my stomach gets worse.
"I recognized the uniforms when Mars and I hid from one of their patrols on the way into town.
I kept telling myself there could be another explanation, but there really isn't one.
I think my father is behind this. I think he's trying to take over your town. "
"Not your town," Luna says quietly. "Ours. You're one of us, Tor."
My eyes find hers, and I manage a small smile even though it doesn't do much to settle me. "Yeah. Ours."
Mars crosses his arms and studies me with that unnerving focus of his. "You think he'll listen to you? Last I knew, you and your father weren't exactly exchanging Father's Day cards. The man didn't even come to your games, so what's the plan? Walk in and ask him nicely to stop kidnapping people?"
"No." I look at Luna again before I can stop myself because hers is the reaction I'm dreading most. "I don't think I'm going to need him to agree."
Her brows pull together, and I clear my throat before the nerves can shut me up completely. "Something happened to me after the moon cracked. I don't know what to call it yet, but when I tell people to do something a certain way, they do it."
Nobody laughs, which somehow makes admitting the rest of it harder. "I don't mean they're persuaded. I mean they physically do what I tell them to do even if they don't want to."
Gage's hand closes around my shoulder. "I believe you. I've got something too. I climbed out of the ravine on stairs I pulled straight out of the dirt. I thought about what I needed, pushed at the ground somehow, and it moved."
Mars gives a sharp nod. "Same here, except it’s not a new skill or a talent. It's magic. I learned some things about what happened when the moon cracked, but now isn't the time for that conversation. We need to make a plan or get out of here before..."
Penny barks, and the front door opens before Mars can finish. Every one of us turns toward the sound as a man's voice carries in from the entryway.
"Davey? Oi, Davey, we're rolling out, mate. Get your..."
Two soldiers step far enough into the house to see us, and their attention goes straight to the weapons before landing on Luna. Training takes over immediately as both men grab their rifles and start bringing them up.
I don't think before stepping forward and forcing the same strange pressure into my voice that I used at the stadium. "Lower your guns. Stand still. You can answer my questions, but otherwise you cannot move."
Their rifles lower immediately, and then both men become completely still. Their arms remain exactly where they were when the command takes hold, their heads don't turn, and neither one even blinks.
Luna sucks in a breath behind me, and I glance back at her. Her hand covers her mouth, and her eyes are wide, but she isn't looking at me like she's frightened of me. She looks shocked, maybe even amazed, and I can work with that a hell of a lot better than fear.
I turn back to the soldiers. "Why are you taking people?"
"To control the town," the taller one answers. His voice works, and his mouth moves enough to form the words, but the rest of him stays locked in place.
"Who ordered you to do it?"
"Colonel Ashford."
I knew that was going to be the answer, but hearing my father's name still twists something hard in my stomach. He isn't sitting back while frightened soldiers make terrible decisions during a disaster. He's giving the orders himself.
Luna's palm presses against the middle of my back, and I take a slow breath before continuing. "Do you agree with what he's doing?"
"No," the shorter soldier says.
"Do you want to take this town and hold people against their will?"
"No."
Something different slips into his voice that time. The answer is still controlled, but the word comes out rough enough to tell me there's more happening inside his head than his frozen body can show.
"Then why are you following the orders? Did he threaten you?"
"No."
"Did someone threaten your families?"
"No."
"Then why do you have to obey him?"
The taller soldier answers this time. "Because when he tells us what to do, we do it. Even when we don't want to."
I look at Gage, and the concern in his face matches what I'm thinking. Mars lets his arms fall to his sides and steps closer.
"You think he can do what you can do," Mars asks.
"Maybe." I face the soldiers again because the idea makes too much fucking sense. "Before the moon cracked, if Colonel Ashford ordered you to round up civilians at gunpoint and imprison them, would you have obeyed?"
"No," the taller man says immediately.
"What about the rest of the unit?"
"No."
I rub my palm over the back of my neck. "That's what I thought."
Mars swears quietly, and I keep looking at the two soldiers. "These men signed up to serve. I'm not pretending every soldier is a saint, but I don't believe an entire unit woke up after the moon cracked and decided kidnapping civilians sounded like a great career move."
Gage nods, and I let out a short bitter laugh. "My father, though? He'd love this. He used to get pissed and rant about how much better everything would run if people simply did what he told them. Give that man the ability to force obedience, and this is exactly the kind of thing he'd do with it."
Luna chews on her bottom lip while she studies the soldiers, then looks back at me. "Can you override him?"
I stare at her. "What?"
"His orders. If his magic is making them obey him and yours makes people obey you, can you tell them not to?"
I hadn't thought of that but I’m not sure if that’s how it works.
"I don't know," I admit.
"Try."
I face the soldiers again, but first I need them able to move without losing control of the situation. "You may move and speak normally now, but you will not touch your weapons, leave this room, or hurt anyone here unless I tell you otherwise."
Both men move at once. One blinks several times while the other drags in a deep breath, but neither reaches for his rifle.
That answers one question. I can change a command after I've given it.
I focus on the taller soldier first. "You will forget every order Colonel Ashford has given you since the moon cracked. Those orders have no control over you anymore."
For a second, nothing happens, and then his eyes widen as his entire face changes. "Fuck."
The shorter soldier turns toward him, and I point at him next. "The same applies to you. Every order Colonel Ashford has given you since the moon cracked is gone. You don't have to obey any of them."
His shoulders drop as he exhales. "Jesus Christ."
The taller man rubs both hands over his face. "Mate, thank you. It felt like being trapped in my own head. I knew I didn't want to do any of it, but when the Colonel gave an order, there wasn't a choice. I knew it was wrong while I was doing it and still couldn't stop."
The shorter soldier nods. "Same. We could think whatever we wanted. Didn't matter."
I stare at them while the full meaning of that hits me. My father hasn't just taken Prairie Gap hostage. He's taken his own soldiers hostage too.
Gage steps beside me and folds his arms across his chest. "Where are the Canadian Forces from the base? Didn't they try to stop any of this?"
The shorter soldier shakes his head. "All the senior officers on base had a meeting the day after the moon cracked.
After that, the Canadians started leaving.
Trucks rolled out day and night. Nobody told us where they were going.
They kept leaving until it was pretty much just our unit left on base. "
"All of them?" Luna asks.
"As far as I know."
That makes no fucking sense. An entire Canadian base doesn't abandon the surrounding area in the middle of a national disaster without a reason, and the look Gage gives me says he isn't buying it either.
Mars steps closer to the soldiers. "If Torrin does the same thing to the rest of your unit and gets rid of Ashford's orders, will they release the people at the warehouse?"
The taller soldier thinks about it. "Most would. Immediately."
"Most?" Gage asks.
"There are a few who might keep backing the Colonel even without whatever he's doing to us. Some of the men are enjoying this a little too much."
"Of course they are," Gage mutters.
Luna moves closer to me, and I can already see the plan forming behind her eyes. "Then that's what we do. We go to the warehouse, and you free the soldiers from his orders. Once they're thinking for themselves again, they can let everyone go."
She says it so simply that I wish I could believe it will be that easy.
Her face is brighter now because she can see a way to get Reid, Jules and Gigi back without turning the warehouse into a shooting range, and I want to give her that more than anything, but I also know exactly who is waiting inside.
Luna catches whatever crosses my face. "Tor?"
I don't answer right away. They don’t understand because none of them grew up with my father.
They know he's an asshole because I've told them enough stories over the years, but they don’t know everything.
There are things I never told them because I didn't want to talk about them then and sure as hell don't want to now.
I can hear Mom’s raised voice in the hallway. She sounds angry, which almost never happens because showing anger only makes him worse. His voice stays low and controlled but there’s a bite in it that makes me afraid for her.
Then I hear the crash and run out of my room. I reach the landing in time to see her at the bottom of the stairs while Dad walks down after her, calmly, without rushing.
He doesn't call her name or ask if she's okay. He reaches the bottom, crouches beside her and puts two fingers against her throat before looking up at me.
There is no panic or concern on his face, only what looks like satisfaction.
I force the memory away and look at the taller soldier. "Is Colonel Ashford at the warehouse?"
"Yeah, probably. He set himself up in an office near the front of the building and he doesn't leave much."
That tracks, he’ll like being the king of the castle.
Luna's hand slides into mine, and I close my fingers around hers while I think about what going to that warehouse really means.
I won't be talking about my father from a safe distance anymore or remembering him from years ago.
I'll have to stand in front of the man who killed my mother and spent years insisting it was an accident even though we both knew the truth.
My stomach turns, but Luna squeezes my hand again. I look down at our joined fingers before lifting my eyes toward the soldiers. If my power works on him, I can make him stop. If it doesn't, I'll find another way because I'm not letting him hurt Luna, this town, or anyone else again.