The Piece System

Chapter Twenty-Six: ALEX

Never had there been a more awkward silence than in Caleb's car on the way to London. Alex looked out of the window, watching the trees swim past in a blur on the motorway.

If Jake forgets to feed Cricket, I'll punch his bruises. She thought, turning to Caleb in the driver's seat. She glanced in the rear-view at Charlie and Lisa. The pair were looking anywhere but each other and with good reason. They were strangers. The only thing they had in common was they wanted freedom and they were both currently in the same car. One thing she had noticed about Charlie, though, was how he looked at Bishops and Queens. Saying he wasn't fond of them was an understatement. Alex ignored it though, writing it off as because he was a Renegade.

However, that didn't stop her thinking it was kind of weird, the Renegade Three. Charlie, Jake and Faye could not be more different. Faye was aggressive, granted, but she didn't exuberate 'rebel'. She just seemed like a normal mother. Alex's heart twinged. Was there a word for a mother who'd lost her child? She didn't know. But that aside, she seemed fairly normal. Jake, however, emitted an aura of cross me and I'll make your death slow and painful mixed with a bit of one of those brooding strangers she saw in films.

And Charlie? She thought with a raise of her eyebrows. Don't even get me started on him.

She looked at him in the mirror. He looked like some kind of grungy skater boy, except he'd been forced to remove all his weapons because of security at Parliament, so he didn't quite have the ability to kill her like he had when they'd met. Saying that, though Jake didn't need weapons, so maybe Charlie didn't either. To her, it seemed Charlie was more adept with weaponry while Jake was better at hand-to-hand. She waved her thoughts away. She didn't care about how they worked, just that they did. She didn't need to know the ins and outs of his life.

The car slowed to a stop. Caleb groaned.

"Traffic." he said.

"Perfect timing." Lisa grumbled.

"Hey," Alex waved her phone, "At least it gives us time for Jake's friend to send us Nia's statement."

When they'd reached London a few hours later, it took almost as long just to get through the winding, cramped roads. People were rammed in on all sides, hurrying to wherever they needed to be. Charlie whistled, eyes fixated on the window.

"What?" Caleb asked.

"Never been to London before." he said.

"Really?"

Charlie watched the bus go past. "Some people don't have the money to travel, rich boy."

No one spoke after that.

When they walked up to the Parliament building, the scape finally hit her. Alex looked up at the building looming over her, Big Ben in the corner of her eye. After seeing Rockfoot, it irritated her that this wasn't even a house, this was a workplace. She couldn't imagine how much it would burn Charlie. When she'd asked him about why he lived in Rockfoot when he was a Rook, he'd wasted no time telling her about his parents' death at the hands of loan sharks. It was like he wanted to shake her. If he did, it worked.

The King had told Caleb that they would meet in the Parliament building, like she did for all Queens. No one got invited to Buckingham Palace, that was ridiculous.

But as they were escorted through the grand, wide, empty hallways, Alex nodded to herself. This was going to work. They would talk it out, The King would see the truth and Jake would be pardoned. Then he could do whatever he wanted with the Rebellion; it didn't matter to her what happened next. But whatever did happen, she wouldn't fight for it. She'd talk to The King, but she wouldn't fight. She would never be that involved.