The Radiants Chronicons : Vol. I & II Of The Radiants Duology Series

Radiant (Vol I) - Chapter nine

Chapter 9

I caught Levi's crimson red jacket passing by and swiftly headed off to where he was, after Oge left me for work. "Hi there."

Firm amber orange eyes held mine. "Everything okay?"

"Oge told me you'd take me to where I'd sleep tonight."

Tilting his head slightly, he responded. "There aren't much rooms left, but I could pair you up with Laurena."

"Laurena?"

"She's among our base's council members. You're just in luck. She just returned from a mission a few moments ago. I'll introduce you to her now."

I obediently followed him through the elevator and many passageways, until he led me to a steel door and knocked gently on it. No reply came from the other side, but the door opened a couple of seconds later.

A completely gorgeous young lady walked out the room, staring at me with her steely orange eyes. She pushed her silky dark blonde hair from her face and twisted her full lips slightly. She had a bit of a strange accent that I couldn't decipher. "What is it, Caden and who's she?"

Levi didn't seem surprised by her words and instead spoke calmly. "Your new room mate. Tamar Adu."

Her forehead crinkled and her words became harsh. "No. I don't want a room mate. Get her away from me."

I couldn't help frowning. I didn't want to be paired up with someone so rude, and Levi seemed to notice too. This time, he spoke sharply, unlike before. "Laurena's isn't always this rude and disobedient to her superior. She just came back from a 3 day mission and the situation took quite a toll on her. She'd be very accommodative to her new roomie, right?"

Sighing softly, Laurena replied. She clearly understood what he meant. She had no choice. She had to obey the leader. "You're on the top bunk. I like having my room spotless and I want nothing but silence in there too." Then she entered inside, slamming the door.

I looked at Levi "Can I get another room, please? I'm sure there are much nicer room mates."

"There are, but I want you with Laurena."

Exasperated, I said. "Why? She hates me."

Levi shrugged. "Laurena isn't a fan of everyone either. Except with Red. Besides, she needs a friend."

"And you think I can be that?"

Shrugging again, he answered. "You have a calming effect. She needs that."

I had no idea what he meant by that but I was sure I didn't have that quality. "I highly doubt if she'd be friendly with me."

Lifting his lip slightly, his eyes twinkled. "Give it a try for a week. If after a week, and you still hate sharing a room with her, then I'd take you somewhere else. How about that?"

Sighing in defeat, I nodded. "Fine. Just one week."

"See. You do have a calming effect."

Chuckling softly for a while, my smile morphed to a tight frown when a thought crossed my mind. "What about my family? Can I ever see them again?"

I already suspected what his answer would be and the down casted look on his face confirmed my fears. "I wish I had a simple answer to that, but for their safety, it would be much better if you stayed away. We can't risk you implicating them and dragging them off to prison for aiding and abetting a runaway. Right now, they aren't linked to your disappearance. Don't give them reasons to be."

"What if they think I'm dead? News must have gone round that I didn't make it to the refinement facility. I need to let them know I'm safe."

Levi tilted me slightly towards his direction and put his hands on my shoulders, facing me squarely. Matching orange eyes linked with mine. "Trust me. They think you're in the refinement facility. As you should be. The government isn't crazy enough to let the world know about an uprising radiant group. It looks bad on them. You know how much they care about self image."

"So what do I do?"

His eyes looked angrier the moment he said it. It was almost like the thought of it annoyed him "Hope. Hope that things will some day get back to normal. Because this is the price for our freedom."

.....

Falling asleep was much more harder than I thought. It was hard to accept that this was my new life. Being kept in an underground building with other radiants and far from any form of humanity, was never how I expected my life would turn out to be.

I already missed my family. Mom was always the best. Stern and gentle at the same time. Dad was the relaxed one. He was always my hero. I also missed hearing the voices of Toni and Tobi. They were always there for me and I wished I could see them one more time.

What if I found a phone and just called them? Would there be any risk? They deserve to know that I was fine. I couldn't imagine the pain they were going through or the amount of guilt they would be feeling. Everything right now frustrated the hell out of me.

Even if I couldn't see my family for the meantime, there was something I was sure I wanted to do. I wanted to fight. The thought of sitting back and letting the Government officials take my people irked me. The thought of a family losing their child, like my parents did, made me want to fight back. I was done being weak. I was done letting my weaknesses define me. Even if I seemed crazy to want to be a fighter, I wasn't going to just do nothing. This is my new home. These are now my people. They saved me. Now it was my turn to return the favor.

.....
This is a huge step for Tamar, considering the fact that Chapter 1 Tamar was a young lady who preferred living in the shadows and now, that side of her is slowly fading away.
What's the bravest thing you'd ever done? I'd love to know.
Xoxo
Jasmine