Helpless [Book 2]

23 || The Reasons To Hate

"What did you just call us?" Hazzy asked, throwing her shoes on. "Oo-chan-doo? Mee-an-doo? What?"

"There words of my people," Nnamdi explained. "You are the... uh... the Telk of Alfatu, yes?" Hazzy nodded. "Unchendu, mind leader. Meyendu, metal leader. They are very ancient words, my nnenne taught me long ago. She tells me whenever I see an Alfatu to call you by the names you were given when you were created, but around commoners call you by your names give when you were children." Hazzy and I both looked at him with dazed looks. He shrugged. "Her sense is not good, but I listen to her anyway."

Hazzy began tying her shoe again and I slip on my own pair of shoes, too. Soon, we were out of the room in the cool, breezy air. Our hotel wasn't particularly high, but it would still hurt if we fell. "Meyendu, take our hand and jump, you will protect us from our fall," Nnamdi instructed. I grasped his dark hand in mine and took Hazzy's pale one. I understood what he meant and turned my skin to metal, turning there's, too. Nnamdi counted to three and we jumped out the window, landing on the ground with a loud thud. A dog barked in the distance and a light switched on upstairs.

"Shit!" Nnamdi cursed. "Alfatu! Run!"

We hid behind a rusted down car and peeked at the window above us. The curtains opened and Adebowale peeked his head out, scanning the area. After a minute, he shut the curtain and turned the light off. Then, Hazzy and I followed Nnamdi down the empty street. Back in San Fransico, the busy streets were packed even in the dead of night. Here, in the busy city of Lagos, there was barely anyone walking around at all. I wondered why.

"They are all at the celebration, Zane Titanium," Nnamdi said, reading my mind.

"How did you know I was thinking that?" I asked, shock to my voice.

"The city is very empty tonight, but last time you were out at night, there were many people."

We walked for quite always until I heard music in the distance. It was coming from the beach of the lagoon. Lights surrounded the southern horizon. Once we arrived, I realized that this was no ordinary party. It was truly a celebration. Lights flickered around, music blasted from a band playing folk music, people danced and sung along the the lyrics. They all seemed happy, but I didn't know why. How could they be happy if half of their saviors were dead? I shivered, unless, they didn't know.

"Nnamdi," Hazzy asked above the noise, "what are they celebrating?"

"It is the Elemental festival!" Nnamdi exclaimed. "This is the last one we are aloud to celebrate before they will ban it. We must celebrate with joy and happy!"

I smiled. "It's good to see at least some people who love elements."

"There is always a reason to hate, Zane Titanium," Nnamdi said. He turned towards me, a serious look on his face. "The elements are different, and the humans are not happy with that." After a pause his eyes turned back to the party. "Let's go celebrate!" He said, this time a smile on his face.

He began jogging towards the crowd, dragging Hazzy and I behind him. The music was catchy and pounding, making our feet begin to move almost instantly. We danced for a long while, voices laughing, minds forgetting about the horrors of the world. After about an hour, I stopped to get a drink of water set up in a cooler. I took a swig and swallowed.

A minute passes when a girl walked up to me. "Hey there," she said with a smile.

"Hi," I said, looking at her. She had bright blonde hair and tons of freckles covering her skin. Across her eyes were thick green glasses plastered to her face. She reminded me so much of Ly.

"You're Zane Titanium, aren't you?" She smiled flirtatiously.

I shrugged. "I guess."

"You guess?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I guess." I took another sip of water before throwing it away in the recycle. "I don't really like being him much."

"But you're a hero!" The girl said. She smiled again. "You helped get my younger siblings out of SOSA. You're a hero to me." She smiled again which made me grin a little bit. She was definitely helping my mood.

"Yeah?"

"Definitely."

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Aliv—" Her voice stopped short. Blood splattered onto my face. Her right eye was perfectly gone, a dark red hole in its place. Her body slumped to the sand instantly.

As she fell, a figure was revealed behind her. Familiar glowing green eyes stared back at mine like daggers. It's glowing fingers raised, pointing directly at me, and fired.