Chapter 6

Chapter 6

               Rhapsody and Ellie had cried in privacy before coming out during the evening to join the bonfire. There were many soldiers, all dressed in the casual gray outfits that most seemed dressed in for day-to-day activities. Ellie had never realized how many young men, and a few women, joined the army willingly. Most were from other small areas that were similar to Grange, looking to make money to send home to their families.

               Sloane was drunk by the time the girls joined the two men on benches that had been pulled around the fire that was at the center of what looked like had once been an oil barrel. Ellie hoped that all of the oil had been drained and cleaned from it before it had been set on fire.

               Sloane threw a rock at the barrel, the rock going into the fire and disappearing. Even drunk his aim did not waiver, at least while he was gifted and not being dampened by Rafe. “This is miserable,” he said.

               Rhapsody patted his arm and sat next to him on the bench. “I know it.”

               “We always knew we would all be separated,” Ellie said, but she had hoped that she would have been kept there.

               “We will miss you, Ellie,” Jacen said. “I hope you do well at Chastain.”

               “Thank you, Jacen,” she said. Her eyes darted around the yard, looking for something in particular that she did not see. She did not feel defeated yet. She felt determined.

               “Sloane,” Ellie said, trying to cheer him up, “you know you will be able to show off even more here. The soldiers will be impressed, and lucky to have you on their side.”

               “Nice try,” Sloane said, but he smiled a little.

               “I did all of this to try to keep us from separating,” Rhapsody said miserably, “and now here we are, doing just that.”

               “Shush now,” Ellie said. “There’s nothing we can do to change it. Just visit more often than David does, will you?”

               “I promise,” Rhapsody said.

               “And I mean all of you, even Sloane,” Ellie said.

               Jacen nodded and Sloane threw another rock into the bonfire. She did not want her last night with these friends to be spent feeling this miserable. That was how she felt, at least, until she spotted what, or who, she had been looking for. Her eyes fell on Rafe and she stood, excusing herself and going to follow him as he moved towards his barracks.

               Before he entered Ellie called out to him, not wanting to chase him into his sleeping quarters. He turned and saw her and let out a sigh as if he knew it was coming. “Eleanore, you should be spending time with your friends.”

               “What was the test for?” Ellie asked him. “What were you testing me for?”

               “Powers of the mind,” Rafe said. “Unfortunately, it seems your manipulative powers are just a matter of people bowing down to your every whim because of their feelings for you and not some gift.”

               “You’re lying,” Ellie accused.

               Rafe raised an eyebrow at her and asked, “What makes you think that? When I met you a whole day ago you were convinced you were nothing like your sister and friends, and today you are convinced you are. Are you sure you have not convinced yourself of something because you want to stay with your friends?”

               “Of course I want to stay with them,” Ellie told him. “I love my sister more than anyone else in the world, and I want to be with David again. But it’s not just that. That second test…”

               “Eleanore, listen to me,” Rafe said, reaching out and grabbing her by the arms. It was gentle, but forceful, making her head turn to look him in the eyes. “You need to go home. You need to leave this place.”

               What Ellie saw in his eyes made her relax and she simply nodded at him. The argument was over, she was going home. The doctors had stamped her paperwork as ungifted and signed release papers for her to go home. Rafe would not train her. She was simply not wanted here.

               “Fine,” Ellie snapped and pulled away from him. “Take care of my friends.”

               “I hope to,” Rafe acknowledged. “I want to take care of all of you.”

               Ellie was not listening to him. She stomped back to the other three and threw herself back on the bench next to Rhapsody. She plastered a smile on her face and said, “Let’s be happy tonight. Let’s re-do New Year’s Eve and dance.”

               “There’s no music,” Jacen pointed out.

               “I bet we can make some,” Ellie said. She turned to Jacen and said, “Try to make a beat with the fire against the barrel drum. Like a pounding sound if you pulse the fire.”

               Jacen glanced at the fire, not sure he believed he could until the beat became continuous. The fire beat against the barrel and mimicked the sound they heard from the drum at the temple. People looked up at the noise and soon everyone was standing, moving to the pulsing beat. Rhapsody begged him to dance with her, but he insisted if he did he would break concentration for the beat.

               Rhapsody, Sloane, and Ellie stood and danced around the fire to the drum beat. None of them knew any moves but it did not stop them from mimicking much of what they had done two nights prior, or mimicking the soldiers who were dancing in ways of their culture, or just jerking wildly to the beat.

               The four of them exhausted themselves before Ellie and Rhapsody made their way back to the barracks and fell into bed next to one another. Rhapsody clung to her younger sister and whispered, “We could try escaping again.”

               “I think it would be less successful this time than it was the last time,” Ellie said. “If you really wanted to escape via Grange you should have applied for a job in Blue City. Could you imagine all of that traveling every week just so you could finally make an escape later? Could you imagine all of that traveling every week no matter what. I was exhausted.”

               “Do you think there is someone who has a gift that can turn back time?” Rhapsody asked drowsily.

               “No way,” Ellie said. “That would be far too complicated. You would have to change the entire universe, not just the time of the world itself, or even an area.”

               “You don’t think we change an entire universe by doing what we do?” Rhapsody asked.

               “What we do doesn’t affect the entire universe,” Ellie said, then corrected herself. “What you do.”

               “I’m sorry, Ellie. I know you had wanted a gift,” Rhapsody said.

               Ellie was still not convinced she was without ability, but she also was not sure what she could do and if it even mattered. She was going home as someone who was not gifted to pick up life where it had left off. Her travel tomorrow would mean she would only miss one day of classes, which she could afford. The school would forgive her for the lapse in attendance.

               “Look for David,” Ellie told her sister. “Please. See how he is. He hasn’t written me a letter in months and I want to know he’s okay.”

               “I’ll write you as soon as I find him,” Rhapsody told her sister. “I promise.”

               Sloane watched Rafe help Ellie into a carriage the next morning, two soldiers accompanying her home. Ellie had hugged them all goodbye and then refused to meet their eyes any longer. He was sorry to see her go, and glad to watch her leave at the same time. If he was going to be staying at the compound the last thing he wanted was for Ellie to be staying. He did not think she would make much of a soldier. He did not think Rhapsody would make much of one either, but he was sure Rhapsody would be moved.

               Ellie’s carriage pulled away and Rafe turned to the three of them. He said, coldly, “Rhapsody, it did not work. As a healer you are more needed in the hospital in the capital, and they could offer you better training. You will be moving to the hospital.”

               “When?” Rhapsody asked.

               “Right now.” Rafe gestured to the other carriage.

               “But,” Rhapsody clung to Jacen’s hand. She looked devastated, and even Jacen showed enough emotion to look sad that this was happening.

               “You two are more likely to see each other every weekend than you are to see Eleanore,” he told Rhapsody and Jacen. “Jacen and Sloane need training here, you need training at the hospital. You’ll be off weekends. You are welcome to come to the compound on the weekends if you would like. It’s not even an hour trip back and forth.”

               “You said-“

               “I said that I would try. Try is all I could do. As I said, the president felt your skills were needed elsewhere.”

               Rhapsody turned to Sloane, hoping he would stick up for her. He did not want her here any more than he wanted Ellie here. “There’s no need for you to be here,” Sloane said. “We adore you, Rhapsody, but if you are needed at the hospital you are needed at the hospital.” He saw the fear in her eyes and reached out and grabbed her hands and squeezed. “They won’t make you do more than you can do. If you are exhausted or sick, you stop.” He hoped he was telling her the truth. He trusted Rafe, to an extent, but he did not trust anyone else in this city.

               “Wait, before I go to the hospital, can I see my brother?” Rhapsody asked.

               “You are going to the president’s mansion first, where your brother has been for the last six months,” Rafe said. “You will see him before you head to the hospital. I know that the president would like to meet you.”

               Rhapsody did not know how to take that and kept her thoughts to herself. She allowed herself to be lead over to the carriage and gave one last hug to Jacen before they hauled her away from them and towards the president’s mansion.

               Sloane turned to Rafe and asked, “What other news are you about to drop on us?”

               “Nothing surprising,” Rafe explained. “I am simply going to have you two change into soldier uniforms and meet me outside. Now the real training begins.”