Chapter 38 #2
Ender emerges from the smoke like a ghost. He clutches a gun in his palm, aimed at the boy.
“Let her go,” he says calmly.
“Ahh, there he is.”
“I said let her go,” Ender repeats. His voice is icy and lethal. “Releasing her right this second is the difference between a quick death and a long one.”
“She’s your sister-in-law, right?” he asks. “Twins? Don’t see how you can bear to leave your wife behind if she looks anything like this one.”
Miles runs his other hand down my cheek, and I resist the urge to bite his damn finger. He’s enjoying this scene a little too much.
“Don’t you dare touch her!” Ender growls. “I will feed you your fingers.”
My mouth twitches. He stole my favorite threat.
“Are they alike?” Miles asks curiously. “This one has a mouth on her. If her sister is anything like that, I’d say you have your hands full. Can we expect that you’ll be retiring soon?”
Ender is on the opposite side of the tracks. It surprises us both when he takes a step back and leaps across the distance, landing in a deep crouch.
Miles’s friends slip out from the rubble, guns trained on his chest. Little red dots flutter across his jacket.
Ender looks at them, and they collapse, writhing in pain. Their bodies twist like acid is eating away at them. I didn’t know Ender’s powers could be weaponized like that. Their screams are sincere. Whatever he is showing them, it must be brutal. I wince at the shattering sound of their pain.
“Shit,” Miles says. “Stop that now.”
“Once I kill them, I’ll kill you,” Ender promises. “Slowly. With my bare hands.”
I touch Miles’s thigh, and the scene freezes. I spin around to face him.
“Whoa,” he breaths. “Are we frozen in time?”
“Yes, dumbass.” I pull his mask down and frown. He can’t be older than sixteen. “You’re a kid.”
“No, I’m not,” he says defensively.
I rub my brows in frustration and wince when a sharp jolt shoots up my side.
“Kid, listen—”
“Miles,” he says. “My name is Miles. Are you single?”
“Are you seriously hitting on me, right now?” I ask with a huff. “When you’re five seconds away from dying?”
“I really want a girlfriend, war makes you lonely, you know?” Miles says with a crooked smile. “Plus, I don’t want to die a virgin.”
A startled laugh escapes me.
“Listen, kid,” I say slowly. “Can’t believe I’m saying this cause you’re weird as shit, but I don’t want you to die. And Ender does not make fake promises. You need to leave. I’ll tell him you are a Speedster who got spooked.”
“Look, we’re not supposed to be here,” he says nervously.
“Cole and I wanted to prove we could fight with the others by capturing the big dog. It was supposed to be a foolproof plan. Prue didn’t tell anyone about your gifts.
I eavesdropped on one of her meetings, and when I heard you were on our side, I figured you’d be willing to be bait.
We knew they did routine sweeps of this place.
So, we camped out here, waiting to grab him. ”
I hesitate.
“Are you all kids?” I ask. “You’re all fifteen?”
“Sage is thirteen.” He points at the short girl whose gun hangs loose. “I’m the oldest.”
I curse under my breath.
“You got a mouth on you, sweetheart,” Miles says.
“Shut up and let me think.”
I can explain the boy vanishing, but how do I get the kids out? I’ve been holding this scene for too long. Sweat beads my forehead, both from pushing my powers and the injury.
“I’m going to try something,” I say. “I don’t know if it’ll work.”
I can pull people into a time freeze before it happens, but I have never tried bringing people into an existing one. I’m not sure it will work. But I hope for their sakes it will.
I crouch down by the girl. Her face is covered. Her eyes are wide and glassy with tears. I put my hand on her shoulder and close my eyes. For a while, nothing happens, but then she gasps and looks around.
“What…?” she starts.
“Go to Miles, now,” I say.
She scrambles up and races towards him, sobbing into his chest. I do the same to the other kids.
“You need to hurry,” I say. “I can’t hold this any longer.”
“Let us take him,” Miles says. “We brought a sedative.”
“And how are you going to carry that beast on your tiny shoulders?”
“Rude,” Miles says. “I work out. And we were going to use a cart.”
“What about when the sedative wears off?” I rapid-fire. “How far is the closest settlement or safehouse? How about when he uses your fears against you and makes you kill one another? What about when he drags you to the Forge and tortures you until you give up my name?”
I grab his shoulders, staring into his brown eyes.
“Go. Now,” I say sharply. “And never do something foolish like this again.”
Miles hesitates before he leans down and presses a quick kiss to my cheek.
“Until next time, sweetheart.”
Miles ushers them out, and I fall to my knees, wincing in pain. My head throbs from the effort of using my powers.
“What the fuck?” Ender roars. “Where did they go?”
“Speedster,” I say. “Took the others when you did that illusion. You scared them off.”
“I didn’t even see that asshole move,” he says. “I’m going to track them down.”
Ender takes a step forward, and panic rushes through me. If he finds them, he’ll kill them. I saw the murderous look in his eyes when Miles had the gun pressed to my head. And then when he touched me. Ender looked like he was about to combust.
I let out a loud gasp, dramatically clutching my side.
“Are you hurt?” he asks.
“I think it’s fatal.” I lie. “I won’t make it, but you can probably catch the rebels. Go, leave me behind.”
He’s on me in two strides, scanning me from head to toe.
“You’ll lose them,” I whisper.
He brushes my hair back from my face.
“I’m not leaving you, Warrick.”
“But—”
“I’m not leaving you behind,” he repeats. “Come on, let’s get you fixed up.”
We take shelter in what used to be a service room. The rusted door hangs crookedly from the hinges, filmy spiderwebs stretching across like glue. It nearly falls apart when Ender seals it shut. He stares at it intently for several long seconds.
“What did you do?”
“Illusion,” he says. “Nobody will see the door from the other side.”
“Sit,” he orders.
He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I collapse in the nearest chair, stifling the groan that nearly slips my lips.
Ender crouches down beside me and begins to unstrap my vest, the fabric is shorn on the side, cut by the shrapnel.
He raises my black t-shirt, staring at the bleeding gash by my ribs.
There’s a cut of metal stuck in the wound, and the sight makes me queasy.
Ender finds an old medical kit and cracks it open, rustling around.
“Did you call for backup?”
“Comms link is broken,” he says. “We’ll have to find our own way out.”
“Painkillers,” Ender says, thrusting two blue little pills at me. “Take it.”
I hesitate before I swallow it, dry. Now that the adrenaline has faded, the pain is impossible to ignore. Ender pulls out a tweezer and I scramble back in fear.
“I don’t want that thing anywhere near me,” I say. “What if I die?”
Ender glances up at me.
“You don’t get to die, Warrick. I forbid it.”
I rack my brain, trying to find a way to buy myself more time. I can’t have that thing next to my shorn flesh. I’ll pass out.
“I used to collect dead bugs,” I blurt. “Mercy used to read, and I wanted to find a hobby of my own.”
Ender frowns. But thankfully, he doesn’t judge me.
“I always eat the cone before I eat the ice cream.”
“How…” Ender begins.
“A bowl and a spoon,” I explain. “I dump it out first.”
“Okay,” he says slowly. “Can I get to work? Silence would be ideal.”
“My favorite part of a man is their forearms,” I say, glancing down at his.
He discarded his coat and rolled up the sleeves of his black thermal shirt.
I can see the black hair lying flat on his tan skin and the veins racing upwards like train tracks.
“It makes me want to lick it, you know? Or bite.”
His brow furrows, and his mouth parts slightly before he swallows.
“Where are you going with this?” he asks hoarsely.
“I cried for two months because Mercy’s breasts came in first, and we were fighting one day, and she said she took all the big-breast genes, and I believed her,” I add. “I was so scared people would be able to tell us apart by our chest, or my lack thereof.”
Ender’s eyes drop down. But my chest seems to remind him of the wound I’m trying desperately to ignore.
“Shut up, Warrick, while I work,” he says. “I don’t have time for this. Brace yourself.”
“Vale, no.” I groan. “Please don’t use that on me. I can tell you some more fun facts. One time I—”
“These facts aren’t fun; they are just strange and quite disturbing,” he says. “And I need to get this thing out.”
His eyes soften the slightest bit, his mouth unraveling from its scowl.
“How do I make it better?” he asks.
“Maybe you could sing a—”
“No,” he barks. “What else?”
“Can I hold your hand?”
“Is my forearm in danger of being licked?” he asks dryly.
I crack a smile despite myself.
“No promises.”
He gives me his left hand. It isn’t the first time I’ve held it, but this time it feels different. His long fingers are firm and reassuring. It swallows up my palm, making me feel strangely safe.
“Can I sing?”
“Are you any good?”
“No.”
“Well, be gentle, the grenade destroyed my eardrums. I don’t want to permanently lose my hearing.”
A startled laugh escapes me.
“I didn’t know you had a sense of humor,” I say. “Figured Knox was the funny one and you were the boring, brooding one.”
Ender frowns. “You think I’m boring?”
My smile drops. Why does he sound genuinely offended?
“Uh, I don’t really know you enough to say,” I explain. “You should ask Knox. He’s your best friend.”
“I’m asking you.”
“Why does my opinion matter?” I ask. “It’s not like you care what I think.”
“I don’t,” he says gruffly.
He returns his attention to the wound. I wince as the metal shifts inside my flesh as he tries to pry it out. My grip on his hand tightens.
His thumb moves slowly, tracing my knuckles.