Young Justice: Solstice

Twenty-Five

"It's going to be okay, Kamala, it's gonna be okay," I lied, as only a hopeful child could. The pitiful fire did little to stave off the biting wind and snow, and Mum had already sacrificed her shawl to wrap around my shoulders as I held my baby sister close.

Dad was trying to make a signal that would make it through the blizzard, and Mum was searching through the remains of the cabin for anything that could keep us warm as if we hadn't looked a thousand times already.

Kamala cried, her mouth opening and closing in the motion of asking for her bottle. I stuck the rubber end in her mouth, but there wasn't anything left to drink. She had eaten it all already.

My stomach grumbled painfully. Was this what it felt like to die?

"Mum!" I screamed suddenly. She and Dad came running.

"What is it, Kira?" Mum asked, patting my cheeks to keep them warm.

I started crying, and the tears were the warmest thing I'd felt in the past two days.

"I can't feel my toes."

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"Where's he taking you?" Cassie demanded as I did my makeup.

"Actually, I'm taking him to the Baltimore Aquarium." I corrected.

"Why not the one in DC?" she asked, bottom lip in a pout.

"You know Baltimore's bigger and more fun. Plus, we have zeta tubes, so neither of us have to pay for gas, just the entry."

She stuck out her tongue. "Was it you or him that suggested the aquarium?" She asked.

"I did." I let down the ponytail, used to keep my hair out of my face whilst I applied my makeup, and began to braid it again. "He suggested we go to the Museum of Natural History, but I'm too scared of running into my parents there."

"Kiran," she sighed.

"Cassie," I mocked in a similar manner.

She shook her head, facing the three acceptance letters thumbtacked to the bulletin board above my desk.

"So what did you decide?"

I pretended not to know what she was getting at, tying off my braid and tossing it over my shoulder. "I just told you, we're going to the aquarium."

"Come on, Kir! The deadline to for Harvard is coming up, you gotta tell them if you're going or not and you gotta sign up for classes before all the good spots are taken."

"You know I don't want to go to Harvard." I reminded her with a sigh.

"Then why do you have it hanging above your writing desk as a constant reminder?" Cassie snapped back.

"I know you want to be like your parents, but Harvard is a great school, and Karen says she loves it at Cornell, if you want to go there you could hang out with her and Atom all the time."

"I don't want to be like my parents." I gritted my teeth and tugged my jacket tighter around my shoulders, looking at myself in the mirror.

"Huh?" Cassie sounded like she'd heard me, but didn't believe what I'd said.

I bit my lip. How could I say this?

"I don't quite want to go to Delhi. Not really, not anymore."

"Why not?" Cassie asked.

"I don't know, I just don't know, Cass." I snapped, shoulders rolling in an attempt to shrug it off. "I'm just not as excited about it as I used to be."