The Descendants Series Vol. 2

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

“She hasn’t said anything the entire way back,” I heard Orion said to Kade and Roth.  We’d been back at Division Four for only a few minutes.  Seeing as I was acting different, they went to Orion for answers.  They were a good hundred feet from where I was, sitting on the roof of one of the trucks we were taking back to the City, but I could still hear them like they were right next to me.  “I don’t know if it’s because something happened after she told us to leave or if it’s because of what she had to do.”

“What did they send her to do?” Roth asked.  “We were never told…”

“She had to get rid of some guy,” he said.  “It was like they knew each other or something.  They were talking about people that they both seemed to know.”

“What was his name?” Kade asked.

“Keenan, I think,” Orion said.  I felt his eyes shift to me.  “I saw another guy come after her when she was walking away.  He shot her in the head.  She healed faster than even you, Roth.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Orion walk away.  Kade and Roth said something almost silent to each other, and then Roth made his way toward where I was.  He stood on the ground below me. 

“So that was your assignment.  Keenan,” he said quietly.   

“What’s done is done,” I said, staring out into the trees.

He reached up to grab hold of the side of the truck and pulled himself up to sit next to me. 

“I know it probably wasn’t a very easy assignment,” he said.

“They were there,” I said, looking over at him. 

“Who?” he asked.

“Rowan and the others,” I said.  “I could hear them.  They were hiding behind Keenan’s house.  From me.”

He stayed silent as we both looked out into the trees. 

“They didn’t tell Rowan what was going to happen to me.  At least I don’t think they did.  It sounded like they told Xander and Nash, though.  They knew I wasn’t the same as I was before.  They didn’t want to get Rowan’s hopes up that I was the same.  And I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” he said.  “You’re just a better version of who you were before.”

“I’m different,” I said, looking back at him.  “You know I am.  Rowan doesn’t, though.  She thinks I’m the same old me.”

We sat there again for a few minutes.  The Guards were getting all of our supplies packed for our journey back to the City.  I could hear them shutting the doors to the trucks as they finished putting everything inside. 

But then a small movement far off in the shelter of the trees caught my attention.  Roth apparently saw it, too.

“Did you…?”

“Yeah,” I said.  “Be discreet, though.  We don’t want them to know we can see them.”

My eyes zoomed in on the area where I saw the movement.  There, hidden behind the trees, were Rowan, Nash, Xander, Dane, Adem, Luke, and Eli.  Luke was the only one with binoculars.  He wasn’t watching me and Roth, though.  He was looking at the Guards and Kade, who was yelling at them, telling them what to do.

“They’re here,” Roth said. 

“They must have followed us back,” I said. 

We both heard when Luke started to say something to the others.