The Roman Project: The Wronged

Chapter 14

The transfer stopped outside a large neighborhood - and an expensive one. All the houses had a view over the turquoise ocean. Most of them were black and silver as well, which made them sparkle in the morning sun. Saule offered to pay for the ride. She had agreed to come with them, mostly because the Swarm was bound to show up again at the cafe.

Jeen stepped out of the transfer onto the sidewalk, her eye's squinting against the sunlight.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Roman asked as looked at the houses around them.

Jeen gazed at the house in front of them; it was a sparkling silver and one story home with curving walls and shimmering windows covering most of the house. Londen stood on the sidewalk with a strange expression as he stared at the house in front of them.

"Just stay here." He mumbled as he stepped forward, but he stumbled and fell forward onto the sidewalk.

Saule caught him first, her face confused as she looked at him. He slipped to the ground.

Jeen and Roman ran over to him as he sat hunched over on the pavement.

"You okay?" Roman asked as he crouched down.

Londen nodded, not looking up from the ground. His face was unusually pale and his breathing was heavy.

Jeen frowned and shared a look with Roman.

It was the exact same thing that had happened to Londen while they were in the tunnels.

"Londen, what aren't you telling us?" Jeen asked as she held onto his arm tightly, pulling him to his feet.

His eyes were heavy lidded, as if he was exhausted as he struggled to stand up straight.

"It's just my leg." He said, taking another deep breath.

"No, this happened before you got shot. In the tunnel." Jeen said.

"It's nothing to worry about." He said, looking over at her with a face that had pain in it, but was masked by a smile.

"Yeah, cause randomly collapsing is totally normal." Roman said with raised an eyebrow.

"Just help me to the door. I'll take it from there." Londen said as Roman took Jeen's spot and began to help him down the sidewalk.

Jeen and Saule remained where they were, watching as the other two neared the house.

Jeen couldn't help feel uncomfortable in the silence between she and Saule. But of course she couldn't blame her for not wanting to talk after what only just happened. She was still a shocked that Saule had been willing to pay for their ride, just because they had no money of their own. If Jeen had been in her shoes, she would've screamed at everyone to leave and never come back, much less help them. Jeen couldn't help feeling overwhelmed with guilt over everything that had gone wrong since the day she and Roman were taken.

She knew none of these things that had happened were because of her. But she was terrified of letting everyone down, because she knew people were relying on her, that it was a constant problem for her to blame herself for everyone's problems.

She looked up to see Roman walking back over to them, and Londen at the door by himself.

"What's up?" Jeen asked, wondering why Londen was by himself.

Roman shrugged.

"He said he needed to talk to the man alone."

Jeen made a 'huh' sound and the three of them watched as the door was opened by a middle-aged man.