Chapter 11

Chapter 11

               A small village was nestled into the body of the mountain, away from the miners, away from prying eyes, but still deep enough that a billowing heat took over the entire cavern. The people that lived within the black rocks all dressed in small shirts and shorts within the cavern, keeping cool any way they could, which included stealing ice from the mountain by means of a pulley system that could be seen going through the cavern.

               Baye and her dark curls was walking around in shoes that showed off her toes and long, olive toned legs as she dragged Ellie from one place to the next, speaking excitedly about what was inside of the cavern while Ellie felt horribly self conscious dressed in similar clothing to her friend, she was only hearing every other word. All she knew was the embarrassment and yet excitement at discovering this town of people that had somehow remained hidden from everyone, especially the government.

               “This is where you live?” Ellie was asking.

               “Well, only sort of,” Baye answered, stopping in the middle of the village. “As you can tell, it’s uncomfortable to live here too long, and most of us are on the outside pretending to have normal lives.” She danced over to the cavern wall and scraped at it with her fingernail. The ashen darkness of the craggy wall chipped away under her nail and she held it out to Ellie. “This keeps us from the silver found in the mountains. We have been using it in the city for years, trying to stop people from having the gift.”

               “If I touch it…” Ellie said, looking to the wall and Baye.

               “It won’t affect you,” Baye explained. “It has no affect on those who show signs of the gift once it manifests.”

               “If I even have the gift,” Ellie said.

               Baye offered nothing but a shrug. “You were asking, I am telling you.”

               “The last two years, since we became friends, Rhapsody has been questioning what you were doing about everything you were fighting…” Ellie trailed off, touching the wall.

               Baye chuckled and leaned against the wall. “I knew Rhapsody didn’t like me much. I know none of them did, but that’s okay, I was only interested in becoming your friend.”

               “Because you thought I had a gift and you were spying on me.” Ellie did not say it accusingly, but Baye’s face looked sad.

               Baye had confessed when they first entered the cavern that her people from the village had sent her to town to spy on those who had shown gifts, and figure out why. It had not taken Baye long to figure it out, though Ellie, Rhapsody, Sloane, and the rest of the town had all been in the dark about it. The painting that had been hanging in Ellie’s living room was lined with silver, and constantly exposure to it had lead to the Delano children manifesting powers. Meanwhile, Sloane and Jacen, who had constantly been at the Delano household growing up, had also been exposed to the silver, which was why they had all manifested the power at around the same time.

               “Why would all of the miners not have gifts?” Ellie had asked.

               This was what lead to the tour of the village, so Baye could bring Ellie to this very wall and show her the scraped off rock. “The silver is within this rock. They inhale so much of it, which was what we had been doing to the people in the city all of these years, that it negates the effect of the silver.”

               “Why wouldn’t it do that for us, though, if your people had been exposing it to us?” Ellie asked.

               Once again Baye shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t have all the answers. I will not even pretend to be scientific, as you know. We thought we knew it all, but then you four all ended up with the gift.”

               “If I have the gift, what is it I can do?” Ellie asked.

               Baye again shrugged and Ellie was growing annoyed with the gesture. She turned her back on Baye and began walking back towards the mountain edge. Small homes were carved into the mountain walls, just enough for people to sleep and sit in, nothing large, but cozy all the same. Ellie went back to the one that she and Baye had come out of and sat down on the pillows that acted as a sitting area.

               Baye followed her into the cavern home and sat down beside her friend. “You’re acting childish,” Baye told her.

               “You are shrugging every time I ask you a question,” Ellie said.

               “I don’t know the answers, Ellie,” Baye said. “I only know what I was told to do, which was help my father and the family that comes here, spread the ash into the air and the water system. We were keeping those who had gifts from evolving, to keep them away from Bastian and his people.”

               Ellie wrapped her arms around her legs and looked at Baye. “You know, all of these years you have been protesting the government, drawing attention to yourself, but I do not think I ever truly understood why you were protesting the government.”

               Baye sat cross legged, stretching her arms up over her head and leaning back before she settled comfortably. “You don’t think conscription is unfair?”

               “I haven’t seen anything that makes me think conscription is inherently a horrible thing,” Ellie said. “I know I was only out at the compound for a day, but it didn’t seem so bad. Plus, we aren’t at war right now, it’s almost safe.”

               “Does your brother think it’s safe?” Baye asked.

               “My brother will not explain what happened to him, no matter how many times I ask,” Ellie sighed. “And yet he never discouraged Rhapsody. He told her it would not be so bad, but she still chose to run.”

               “And you went with her,” Baye pointed out. “Because you would rather be with your sister than separated. You also knew that the gift wore her down, right? Her healing people hurt her. How long before it destroys her?”

               Ellie was silent, wiggling her toes in the awful gray shoes from the compound. She had a hard time wearing open toed shoes and had opted to keep on the gray shoes that they had given her to wear. She was concentrating on anything else she could that did not make her think about her sister, the compound, and everything that had been happening.

               Her mind went to Rhapsody after her sister had healed a child with a broken leg. The child had run into the miner’s site and no one had known. A cart had come barreling at him and run over his leg, almost severing it, and breaking it in several places. Normally it would have to be amputated, but they had brought him to Rhapsody. Rhapsody could not deny anyone who asked her to heal, her gift did not allow her to. If someone near her was sick or hurt she was healing it without conscious thought.

               The child literally hopped up, no longer in pain, his leg as good as it was, if not better, before the cart struck him. He walked away with his father and the miners while Rhapsody had gone to bed, exhausted. For hours Rhapsody had laid in bed screaming, the fevered pain racing through her body, taking its toll on her.

               “Being there might help her,” Ellie said. “She has no choice with her ability.”

               “Or it might kill her faster,” Baye argued back.

               Why did Rhapsody pay such a heavy cost while Sloane and Jacen never seemed to feel the affects of their gift. Sloane was the same old Sloane no matter what he did, and Jacen never seemed ill or in pain, but was that a result of Rhapsody? Had she been healing them all of that time? What was happening to them while they were at the compound?

               “I want to go home,” Ellie said. “I need to see my parents.”

               “Ellie-“

               “No, Baye, I have to,” Ellie insisted. “They need to know I’m okay.”

               “Ellie, I don’t know how to tell you this-“

               “BREACH!!” a voice screamed from outside of the cozy cavern hut. Ellie and Baye’s heads shot up and they climbed from the cove and out. A gunshot could be heard echoing through the cave, and then another, and then another. Everyone was running, heading towards exits that Ellie could not even dream of. Baye grabbed Ellie’s hand and started dragging her away. Ellie ran with her, but was looking back, the gunshots breaking away the wall that had been the entrance to the cavern, a thinner rock that was kept in place just to keep the lights from inside the cavern being visible.

               Ellie yanked Baye to a stop. Baye started to yell at her to keep moving until she saw who had walked in through the cavern. Sloane and David stepped forward, both holding guns in their hands. Someone aimed their own weapon at Sloane and Ellie panicked.

               “No, don’t shoot!” she screamed, running towards Sloane and David, despite the fact that Baye tried to hold her back. She was not sure if she was telling that to Sloane and David, or the men who had taken aim for them, but no one let out a shot. It was a miracle to be sure, but she still threw herself at her brother and friend and wrapped her arms around them, trying to protect them, though she was not sure her life was worth much more. What if they shot through her to kill the men? It was a thought that only occurred to her after she was clinging to both men.

               “How did you find me?” Ellie asked of the men.

               “Easy,” David laughed. “I told Sloane to aim for you.”

               Ellie pulled away from the men and exclaimed, “You tried to shoot me?”

               Sloane laughed and showed her the same powdered pellets that he had used to strike at the targets for the doctors’ testing. “Turns out, if you are out of range, I can not strike you, but I can see what direction you went in.”

               “Clever,” Baye said, coming up to the men and crossing her arms. “However, now we have to figure out what to do with the two of you. We can’t have you going back to the compound and telling people where we are.”

               “As I see it,” David said, “we are probably in a better position to leave than you are to keep us captive.”

               “There are still several guns trained on you,” Baye said. “I do not think they intend on keeping you captive.”

               “Wait, wait, wait,” Ellie said, once again pushing in front of the men, even if her short body could not even reach their shoulders. “Why does anyone need to be killed? Can’t we talk this over?”

               “We could…” Baye trailed off.

               “We could, but we are not going to,” David snapped. “Eleanore is coming back with us.”

               “Back to killing them,” Baye said with that shrug she had adopted since Ellie had come into this cavern.

               “No,” Ellie insisted.

               Baye clenched her jaw, looking as if she was fighting through her natural inclination. “Fine,” she spat out. “Why don’t you men come with us and we can have a conversation?”

               “Because we need to get her back,” David said.

               “Yes, getting her back would be the smartest thing,” Sloane agreed, toying at a silver ring that encircled his middle finger. Ellie eyed the ring and then the men, but neither offered a further explanation.

               “Let’s just talk for awhile?” Ellie suggested. “Please? Maybe we can see this from both sides.”

               “There is no both sides.” Everyone turned to the ruined entrance and the figure that was coming through the puff of ash. David and Baye did not seem surprised at Rafe’s figure standing there, but Ellie and Sloane could not be more gobsmacked at his presence. “Am I wrong, David?”

               “You are not,” David said, narrowing his eyes at Rafe. “How long have you been following us?”

               “Do you think I would not know that you were using illusion?” Rafe asked. “Or that I did not see right through it?”

               David rolled his eyes and said, “You knew about this place,” in an accusatory tone.

               “I won’t deny that I knew about it,” Rafe said. “I am the creator of this place.”

“You are a traitor,” David hissed and held his gun up to Rafe’s head.

               Rafe seemed unaffected, he did not even blink. He stood there, waiting for David to make a decision, all the while Ellie prayed for no bloodshed. The two stood, staring at one another, before Rafe stepped back and said, “I am a traitor to the country, that is correct.”

               “I should kill you now,” David said, not lowering his arm.

               “Your arm has to be tired by now,” Rafe said. “Come with us, David. Come listen to what we have to say and see if we can convince you why you were lied to.”

               “I knew it,” Sloane snapped. “I knew there was a reason you were so dead set against everything.”

               “Come,” Rafe said, walking away, not stopping to listen to Sloane’s tantrum. He lead the four away and towards a cavern hole that was slightly larger than the one Baye had claimed as her own. Sloane and David looked exasperated by the low ceilings and pillow seating, and David absolutely refused to sit. He still looked as if he would shoot Rafe at any moment, including if his back was turned. Ellie was doing her best to stay in the way, but ultimately she chose to sit, though closest to David.

               “The government is using those with gifts to manipulate people,” Rafe said. “They are using people as science experiments to give them power boosts. It works with some, it fails with others, all of them have turned out to be monsters so far.”

               Rafe stared at David, daring him to contradict him. Everyone else turned to David as well. “Are you accusing me of being a monster?” David asked.

               “I’m accusing you of helping Bastian with the experiments,” Rafe said. “If he experimented on you or not I do not know, though I would assume yes with that scar.”

               “You were keeping me away,” Ellie whispered. Rafe glanced at her and she looked him in the eye. “You said I had no gift not because I didn’t, but because you were trying to keep me out of the compound and the experiments. That’s why Baye was there to retrieve me. She had been waiting for me to return.”

               “Yes,” Rafe said.

               “I knew it,” David sneered. “I knew you were sending her away.”

               “What can I do?” Ellie asked.

               “I’m still not entirely sure,” Rafe said. “You were able to cheat the experiment Dr. Torrow gave you and knew what the answers were on the second one when I was not stopping your powers. You were able to stop those men and your friends from shooting when they all had their fingers on the ready. You were able to bypass Loqi’s hallucination for a time, which was the only reason he knew you were there. My guess would be mind manipulation.”

               “But I’ve never tried to manipulate someone,” Ellie whispered.

               “That’s what makes what you can do so frightening,” Rafe said. “You have convinced people to do or not do something for years without realizing you were doing it, including Baye. And that’s why I can’t let Bastian have you.”

               “So she’s better off in your treasonous hands?” David snapped. “What will you use her for?”

               “I do not plan on using her at all,” Rafe said. “I am just trying to keep her safe.”

               Sloane’s face was a question that he was not asking. Their eyes glanced over him, but he seemed to be unwilling to say what he was thinking. He ended up shaking it off and declining to say anything at all, but everyone in the room seemed to understand with the exception of Ellie.

               “David, Sloane, come back with me, let me show you the things Bastian is doing, so that you understand what kind of man he is,” Rafe said. “If you do not agree with me, then you may feel free to betray me. I’m giving you this option, because your other options are stay here or die.”

               “Why can’t I go?” Ellie asked in her whine.

               “Because that would be admitting you have a gift,” Rafe said, “and I do not want Bastian getting his hands on you. I can only imagine what he would do with something like what you can do.”

               David walked out of the cove. If there had been a door to slam he would have. Rafe stood and waved everyone to stay down, but no one did. They all moved to the entrance and watched Rafe follow David down the narrow passageway. David was making good time but Rafe was swift and caught up easily, putting his hand on David’s shoulder and pulling him back. David swung but Rafe was still faster than David could even hope to be on a good day. Rafe dodged and let David’s fist hit the wall of the cavern. The cavern wall did not budge, only left David’s knuckles bloody.

               “You should have trained with me longer before becoming Bastian’s pet,” Rafe chastised.

               David pulled back and said, “Why do you think I will stand back while you betray this country? For what? For Aroni?”

               “This isn’t about Aroni versus this country,” Rafe said. “It’s just that Aronians are more likely to have open minds about these things. David, I know you have seen what Bastian is doing with these experiments, I should not have to prove anything more than that to you.”

               “I believe in what he’s doing,” David defied.

               “I want to know,” Sloane said. “I want to know what he’s doing, because I need to make up my own mind.”

               David looked to Ellie, hoping she would blindly take his side, and she considered it. She loved her brother, her heart ached for him, she had missed him every day he had been gone, but something did not feel right. The look into his ruined face made her reconsider what she knew and what she had hoped. Remembering Rhapsody’s pain made her question why she had wanted a gift.

               Ellie reached out for Sloane’s hand and ran her finger over his silver ring. He looked down at her, ashamed, and she asked, “How long do you have? I saw you worrying about it.”

               “Three days,” he said.

               “Then stay here for two,” Ellie said. “Baye, can you show us what you need to in two days? Can you convince us in two days that what you are doing is worth more than what Bastian is doing? David, will you give it two days? You can say it took that long to find me if you have to.”

               “I can’t stay here for two days,” Rafe said.

               “No one is asking you to,” David snapped.

               “Perhaps, away from the animosity of each other, David you can see things their way, or convince them of why you think what Bastian is doing is right,” Ellie pleaded. She was desperate, and if she did have the power of manipulation she knew that was not going to work now. Rafe was nearby and likely making it so none of them had any powers at that moment.

               “I’m sorry, Ellie,” David said, his back to her, “but I can’t trust myself to be around you.”

               Ellie was stricken. A sob came up her throat, but she swallowed it down. Crying would not make things better. He did not tell her he no longer loved her, just that he could not trust to be around her.

               “What if I am not a part of this?” Ellie asked. “What if I don’t stay during their conversation with you?”

               “David, you are running out of options,” Rafe said.

               “We aren’t killing anyone,” Sloane snapped. “Are we seriously doing this? Is this really about life or death?”

               “If Rafe lets David go, he forfeits his life, and all of the work we have been doing,” Baye said.

               Ellie turned to Rafe, regret completely washed over her face. “Turn it off,” she said. She did not have to explain to him what. She turned back to David and he put his hands over his ears. She put a hand on his shoulder, and though he could not hear her she said the words and hoped that her gift really was manipulation. “David, please, don’t make them kill you. Go back to the compound with an open mind, and not telling anyone what you discovered. Tell them you could not find me.” David’s hands fell away from his ears.

               “David, if you love me,” Ellie trailed off. She was not sure she truly wanted the answer to that question. She tried again. “David, if you love me you will not reveal this location. You will go back to Bastian and tell him you could not find me.

               “David, I love you.”

               “Ellie,” David said in a resigned voice. “If you truly loved me you would not be making me do this. You would trust me.”

               “I trust you,” Ellie told him breathlessly. “I just do not trust the people you work for.”

               “Do you trust through Rafe then?” David questioned accusingly. He still refused to look at his sister.

               “I trust no one right now,” Ellie replied. There was one exception to that of the people in the room, and she glanced back at him. Until today he had been as in the dark as she had been. She never would have guessed that the one truly ally she had was Sloane, but he looked at her with the same feeling. For now they were not just friends, they were allies, watching one another’s backs from far away.

               “You don’t care she just said she doesn’t trust you?” David asked of Rafe.

               “No,” Rafe said honestly. “Because she’s being smart and trying to understand what is going on. Sloane, you can come back with me and David, you don’t have to worry about the ring exploding and leaving you without your finger.”

               “Is that what it does?” Sloane asked, exasperated.

               “Stay the night,” Baye insisted. “Go back in the morning, it will look less suspicious.”

               “No,” David said. “We need to go now. I can’t even look at any of you. I will do what Ellie said, because I have no other choice,” he spat, “but I will not stay here any longer than I have to.” He turned to look at Ellie and gave her a look that insisted she not use whatever she had just used on him to force him to stay. She simply hung her head, sorry she had to use her gift on him. She was sickened with herself.

               Sloane reached out and took Ellie’s hand in his again and squeezed. “We’ll let you know anything we find,” he said. “But that goes the same for you. You have to keep an eye on yourself and what goes on.”

               Ellie simply nodded, unable to speak. This time she was willingly separating herself from her loved ones, and it terrified her.