Chapter 12
Twelve
Jada
Zellie’s now-white hair whips side to side as she scans the room, so much longer than it was before she left Lunara. I raise my arm, waving her over. Relief floods her face as her focus turns to joy, and she jogs quickly across the room to greet me.
“I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find you!”
“I would’ve waited here all day if I had to!”
She glances in Torin’s direction and gives him a nod before lowering her voice, “What happened to Faye?”
Rolling my eyes, I loop my arm through hers. “The usual. This is Torin! Torin, Zellie.” As the two are introduced and make light small talk, my bones settle, feeling a sense of belonging and comfort with my best friend next to me. It’s as if no time has passed at all.
After some time, Torin throws a thumb towards the door. “I’m going to head out and get back to Lunara so you two can catch up. I’ll see you there?”
I nod, and Zellie and I watch him leave. “Damn, he’s fine,” she murmurs under her breath.
“Tell me about it,” I smirk, looking in her direction. “I want to know everything.”
She blows out a harsh breath. “How much time do you have?”
“The day, ideally. I have to get back to Lunara at some point to sleep.”
She grabs onto my bicep. “Stay with me. You don’t have to leave.”
I hesitate. “They didn’t explicitly state we could stay, Zellie. You could come back with me? Your room is still free?” The suggestion gives me hope—just like old times.
“I can’t leave, Jay… There’s too much for me to do here.”
My hope deflates, the sinking feeling in my chest growing heavier by the second. I push it away, instead focusing on the positives. “Well, we have the day at least. Start at the beginning.”
We’ve moved back to Zellie’s apartment—which is a far cry from the small chambers we are used to back on Lunara—settled on her sofa.
I’m obsessed with the array of colors and textures decorating the space.
I can’t help but imagine what my own home could look like outside of the barren and bleak walls of the unit on Lunara.
I do my best to add creativity and life there, but nothing compares to this.
Zellie’s convinced The Kosmos are evil. I’m half-convinced Zellie has lost her mind. She’s painted a picture of corruption, use of force, and death. By the stars, she’s partaking in a rebellion! It’s… troublesome, to say the least. What did she encounter in the Games? How can I fix this?
“Say something,” she pleads, wringing her hands in her lap.
“So you’re telling me that the Games they picked you for were a ruse for The Kosmos to further their power and reign, and you’ve been spending all this time, in this beautiful city, plotting ways to bring down the intergalactic order?
” Instead of finding ways to contact me or come back to me, I add internally, ignoring the jolt of hurt that accompanies the thought.
“You do realize that they didn’t pick me right?
That I didn’t ask to be taken away from you and made a spectacle of?
That I didn’t want to be forced to train and risk my life and fight against people I care about and watch my friends get hurt or worse?
That it’s actually quite possible that this Order you think so highly of has put on a spectacular front, and that there is growing concern and dissent not only amongst those of us who had to compete, but from the citizens that are stuck here under their rule? ”
With each line, Zellie’s anger becomes more palpable, rolling off of her in waves.
I’ve never felt more stuck—more at odds with my conflicting emotions.
This day has been a rollercoaster. How am I supposed to believe that The Kosmos, who care and protect us, who have opened their city to us—after acknowledging their wrongdoings in not allowing us to earlier, no less—are evil beings who are trying to establish an immortal, unstoppable reign?
But… How am I not supposed to believe my best friend?
The Kosmos bears the weight of unthinkable duty. I’m sure the choices they are forced to make are not easy ones—choices that others may disagree with or not understand. I pick my words carefully. “The Order has been established for a reason,” I respond in a harsh whisper.
“Why are you whispering? There’s no one here.
” She sprawls back against the cushion. “Perhaps they existed before for a reason. But now, they’ve manipulated the worlds.
They use extortion to remain in power, dangling magic above us like they’re better than—and they’re not. They’re trying to act like gods, Jada!”
“There are no gods, Zellie,” I hiss.
“There could be now,” she smirks. She couldn’t possibly mean herself, could she? We haven’t even touched on what she has become. “I will bring their injustices to light, one way or another. Let them be afraid of something for once.”
No. Nope. Absolutely not. “What has gotten into you? What you are talking about is treason.”
She scoffs, “You would say that. Pluto is clearly trying to win you over to his side.”
Frustration gets the better of me, and I respond with a raised voice. “Stars, above. There are no sides, Zellie!”
Her eyes blaze in a golden burst before returning to the swirling mixture of pewter and rich yellow hue.
Undiluted silence rings through the heavy air.
Zellie’s spine straightens, and she rolls her shoulders back, her tone cooler than moments ago.
“Were you listening to anything I said? People died on their watch. They killed a boy, Jada. A boy from our planet.”
Something sour sharpens within me as I behold my friend, my stomach churning. From what she told me, it sounds like what happened to Lenny was an unfortunate circumstance of the Games they were in—a horrific accident. “Perhaps things have gotten blown out of proportion. Pluto said—”
“‘Blown out of proportion?’ As long as precious Pluto said it, it must be true, right? What about what I say?”
“No, Zellie! Of course, my heart breaks for what you went through. But… the Games must have been incredibly difficult, and it’s clear they have had a lasting impact on you.”
Our quiet standoff reaches its peak, and a fragile tension waits on our every word, ready to snap. Zellie’s eyes narrow as the space between us grows. Oh no. Clearly, that was the wrong thing to say. “Are you saying you don’t believe me?”
“I’m saying… Maybe we should take a step back and look at this.
” I’ve never experienced such untamed, uninhibited anger from someone, let alone Zellie.
I don’t know how to navigate this without upsetting her further.
I hate that I’ve upset her, that I’ve made her question my loyalty to her and our friendship.
Why can’t this be easy? I’ve wanted nothing more than to reunite with her; I’ve imagined this a thousand times.
And instead, we’re fighting; our barbed words wounding the other with precise cuts.
The uneasiness around her is foreign, leaving me feeling uncomfortably sick to my stomach, with an itchiness to move out of her space.
Perhaps it would be better to try again tomorrow.
We’re not getting anywhere, and the situation is only escalating.
Stars, how awful a friend am I? Ready to run the second she becomes upset with me.
Not just upset though… this new anger is a living, breathing thing.
I don’t like it—no, I hate it. Where is the Zellie I grew up with?
The Zellie I laughed with, cried with, and have missed for months? This new version is… terrifying.
She sucks in a breath as her nostrils flare. “Are you afraid of me?”
How did this conversation spiral so out of control, this quickly?
“Should I be?”