Rise and Fall [[BEING MOVED TO ANOTHER ACCOUNT]]

Chapter Twenty One

Twenty One

               They're talking at me. And all around me.  And even when their voices say my name, I only incline my head in polite recognition.

               They're forming a plan that I want no part in. They want to storm the Summer House. They want to burn it down. Kill or be killed. Burn or be burned. But we have been burned.

               And they could have Keyne.

Why kill the innocent?

Tallan sits in a similar stupor next to me. His head hung low. Eyes watching nothing. Or maybe they're watching the face in his head.

They have his mother.

I want to acknowledge him. Tell him I think it's a bad idea too. But I can't. Not with the trained eyes, and the voices droning on.

Cartwright's eyes are manic, and he clasps his hands in demonic glee. I can almost see the flames licking the corners of his mind. Can almost feel their heat. He will stop at nothing to assure that they burn.

"Can’t we save anyone?" Tallan's words are weak, but they slice through the din like a knife-tipped spear.

"What."

It's not a question.

Cartwright stares at Tallan in disbelief, and Tallan stares back. His soul separate from his eyes. It flutters beside him. It curls in on itself. Into a ball. It rocks.

"Can’t we save anyone? Not everyone in Summer deserves to die."

Cartwright looks flabbergasted. Could it be true? Do they not deserve to die? It's written all over his lined face, and the ink pools in his eyes.

I clear my throat.

"He's right. Members of our fam-"

A look from Tallan.

I change my approach.

"There could be people there that are exactly like us."

"Like us, how."

Cartwright isn't having any of this. His fists are clenched on the table.    

Tallan opens his mouth, then closes it. He doesn't know what to say. Thankfully, Mr. Christofer -Dannet- comes to his recue.

"Cart, they've got a point. We don't want to go kill innocent people. We'd be just like them if we did."

Cartwright's hands go limp, and Dannet recognizes a win.

"We need time to do this, Cart. We need time, and a plan. A

solid plan. We can't just walk into Summer and torch the place. The world doesn't work like that."

An awkward silence descends, and beneath the table, my own fists clench. Isn't that exactly what they did?

Victor clears his throat, and the floodlight of eyes hits him. They don't blind him as they did me, and as he takes the time to look at us all, I can sense his absolute comfort.

"We should increase our numbers. Get eyes on all sides. Get forces willing to go in there and end this once and for all. I know for a fact that my father will be more than happy to aid us, and if we come at them from all sides, and try to flush them into the wind tunnel, they’ll have nowhere to run. We'd have the home-field advantage, and with more people, we'd be able to close all the gaps. Make it impossible for them to slip by.”