The Stolen

Chapter 30

Jade's head is between her hands, which is extremely uncomfortable considering that I'm handcuffed to her.

"Could you please stop that?" I say bitterly. "My hand's between your elbow and your knee."

She raises her head to reveal reddened, puffy eyes which she is looking at me with. "Sorry," she mutters, and wipes her nose with her hand.

Precisely, with the one centimeters away from mine. "Ew, Jade, we're not that close."

She laughs a bit and looks the other way, then back at me. "Thanks, you know."

I'm confused. "For what?" For getting you locked in a glass room, for allowing those big buff guys who you consider your friends to apparently give you a death sentence? You name it, I've done it.

"For that laugh. I haven't laughed much since I'm here."

"You didn't laugh back in Opportunity, either," I recall.

She shrugs, and every trace of a smile is gone. "I guess I've never been the fun type. Probably that's why you never wanted to hang out with me, and you left at the first chance you had-"

"No, it's not like that," I say, even if it is.

"-and with Emma, no less. Niece of the Golden Leaders," she says in a mocking tone. She wipes her nose, this time with her other hand. We don't talk for a couple minutes, and I don't know about her, but I'm thinking about how what she's said is true, and while she's stuck with me for seven years, I dumped her when someone that I thought to be funnier showed up.

Choosing Emma over Jade was a big mistake. Jade just stood up for me, sacrificing the safe spot in Brooke's Army she probably had as a brain. Just minutes before, Emma had talked to me, making no attempt to help me.

Why did I approach Emma in the first place? It seems like such a bad decision now, looking back. Can it be that the position she had, being related to the Golden Leaders, only dragged me more towards her?

Or was it that she knew who I was, the daughter of the people who started everything, who built Stolen HQ? If she was on Brooke's side, she probably knew about Stolen HQ, and they lied to us when they said the Earth exploded.

Too much confusing information for me to process.

"Do you think she only approached me to get more power? I mean-"

"I overheard Brooke talking about it one day, I know you were meant to be the leader of these people."

My eyes widen and I scratch my neck. "Oh."

"Maybe she was a big, fat, gold digger."

I stifle a chuckle. "Like the song?"

"What?" she says, not understanding.

"You know, the song, Gold Digger! It was popular back when we were kids!" Jade looks lost, and honestly I am too. How do I even know this?

"You remember things, songs from the Earth?" a very puzzled Jade asks.

I shrug. "My sister-" I open my eyes widely. "M-My sister listened to it when I was little... I had a sister!" I shoot up, only to send a lightning bolt of pain up my arm, that focuses mostly on my shoulder. I spit all the swear words I know.

Jade looks at me, eyebrows raised, probably from both my memory and all the swear words. Frankly, I didn't think I knew that many. "A sister? And she didn't come with us? I'm an only child, but I thought siblings came together on the ship."

The memories start forming in my head. My sister was older than me, about thirteen... It's all coming to me now. She had brown hair and brown eyes, because she looked like our mom and I looked like our dad. Even if she was thirteen and I was nine I was still only three inches below her because she was really short and I was tall for my age.

Her name started with a t...

"Well?" Jade says. "What are you thinking about?"

I sit down, because the handcuffs were making me squat and it was uncomfortable. I don't answer, trying to focus on the past, on my memories, but the ones I just remembered are all I have. Jade's interruption cost me remembering my sister's name.

I don't tell her that. "I think I know why she didn't come. Emma told me she slept alone because she was the niece of the Golden Leaders. But I think it was because there was supposed to be more people on the ship, and they decided to stay. Those were the inhabitants of Stolen HQ, and that is my sister. She was old enough to decide, so she stayed."

Jade nods, but I can tell from her face that she doesn't understand everything that I just said, because she wasn't here when Ella explained everything and when everything that twisted my life happened.

But Ella's speech could have been a lie, and the other events an act. I don't know who to trust.

I don't know if there's a trustworthy person left in the world.

Which leads me back to the man of the hour: Nico.

"Jade."

"What?"

"I need someone from Brooke's Army to come here. Now."

She opens her eyes and smiles sadly. "I have no influence on anyone anymore. How do you expect me to do that?"

I grin mischievously and say, "Get up."

"Why?"

"Just get up, I need to be as close to that wall as I can."

She frowns. "You're not gonna-"

"Yeah, I am."

She gets up anyway, and I do too. Believe it or not, I'm the tallest one of the two, so I extend my arms as far as they'll go away from the bench, turn around and look at the wall over my shoulder.

"Can I at least cover-"

Jade's words are cut off by the sound of shattered glass and an immediate cry of pain. I wonder who is yelling like that, but then I realize it's me, then feel my ankle with the palm of my hand. There's a little piece of glass which has made a small wound and caused blood to appear, but it's nothing. At least compared to the throbbing pain that my ankle is suffering.

Apparently kicking a hard glass wall with your least dominant foot (yes, that's a thing) is not a good idea if you want to keep your ankles healthy.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit!" I scream.

Jade just stares at me, providing no help. "Well, I'm sure Brooke's Army will come running now. With all the noise you've made-"

"Shut up!" I shout. "Shut up and help me!"

She approaches me and reaches for my ankle, as far as her handcuffs will let her go. When she touches it, I wince in pain. "Okay," she says. "I know first aid, but I can't do anything like this. Just-Just hang in there while someone gets here." She looks around frantically, then yells, "Can someone come? My friend is hurt!"

My heart flutters when she says 'my friend'. It's unbelievable that she still considers me her friend.

I hear footsteps and I get my hopes up, but then they drop when I turn around and see who's approaching.

"Thought you'd be happier to see me," Nico says.

With a sigh, I say, "Not you again."