Weather Control

Chapter 17

"In a few days, I won't be here, so you deserve to know why." I settled myself on the bed. "You know about what the princess, Rose, did to get banished. Right? You know she wasn't killed?" He shook his head and I winced. "The king lied about that. He was going to kill her and then he changed his mind. The princess though, that was, well..." I stopped. I did not want to tell him, did not want to see his face. "That was me."

"No." He sounded like he had no hope. I wondered what I had done to get his trust in the first place. I supposed I really didn't have morals. 

I choked out, "I'm sorry I lied, but after that, the king, my... father, decided to kill me. I ran away with my brother and we lived with the Chase family for a while, but I was a burden on them. They loved me, but it didn't make up for the fact I was hurting them with my temper. I left them and my brother for quite some time. I wanted them to hate me so that when I died, they wouldn't have to care.

"It didn't work at all. Instead, they tried their hardest to get me back and it was horrible. When I was banished, the king told me my brother was in danger from the Frostickers and I insulted him for it. He said he would try his hardest to keep him safe, and I didn't believe him.

"When I was on earth, I trained my skills in stealing because I assumed my brother would be caught and I had to save him. I may not have morals, Sunshine, but stealing from people is not the reason.  Now that I'm back, the king can keep my secret of not being allowed to be here, but if someone else finds out, he will be forced to give me the death sentence. In a week, the princess will be announced dead, and my brother will be heir. I have to rescue him. After that, no one will see me again."

He stared at me for a few seconds. "I assume I can't tell this to anyone."

I nodded. "Please don't."

"Fine, but don't expect anything else from me Thorne." He paused. "I'm going to my bed."

I silently cursed myself as he walked off.  What did he think of me now?

I picked at lose threads of yarn on my knitted hat while I waited for the hour to be up. Across the room, Sunshine took a nap.

I woke up to the woman coming into the room to get us. It was almost like we were prisoners, and we might've been. I wasn't surprised I had fallen asleep –I had gotten none last night – but I wanted very much to go back to my bed and sleep another hour or so. Even if the bed wasn't comfortable.

Back in the room, the woman started to teach the lesson again. The neither of the boys involved in the fight were in the room. Sunshine still sat in front of me, but he said nothing as I brushed past him to get to my seat. The unease in the room was still there, but it was dulled. 

I did my best not to sleep while the woman talked.

"As I said before we were... interrupted, there is a color for each type of Weather. If we need to create weather, the weather will wear that color in the clouds to signal what type of weather is going to occur."

Someone snickered and I couldn't blame them. This was probably the most obvious thing in the world. I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. I couldn't believe this had to be taught. 

I grabbed a coin from my shirt pocket and rolled it over my knuckles while the woman just talked on and on.

I dropped my coin back into my pocket when I realized I had known almost nothing about laws when I came to earth. Jace had the same face many of the Weathers had now. I had the grace to feel a little guilty. I needed to try to be nice for once. 

I shook my head. There was no reason to be nice. I was losing my nerve. As soon as I got back to earth, I would go to a fight and get back to my old self.

The woman released us from the room and we went to lunch. 

"Hey, Thorne," Sunshine said. It wasn't the nicest tone I had ever heard, but he was scared rather than angry.

I made a gesture for him to go on. I was curious now.

"If you want me to keep quiet, you have to agree to take me home when you leave.  Otherwise, I'll tell."

I dismissed him. "You're lying. You wouldn't tell them."

He became angry. "I could go and tell them. You wouldn't stop me."

I gave him a long look. "I'll take you home, but only because you asked. I don't care about your empty threats."

He was fuming when I continued to eat. Apparently, he didn't like it when people called his bluff. 

The commander came in after we were done with lunch.

"Let's go," he said. We followed him out the door.