The Runaway

Chapter 37

Violet was trembling, unaware of the starry night or the fact that Aiden was watching her from his seat. The anger she felt was coursing through her body like an electric current, blinding her of reality. Suddenly, she saw only white and felt her body calm down. Her vision cleared and revealed Aiden's fingers grazing her temples. He was using his telepathic abilities.

"Better?" he asked. She slowly nodded. "That's good." He frowned. "I'm sorry about Colton. I didn't agree with what he said out there."

"He was just scared," she declared confidently.

There was a pause. "What do you mean?"

She rubbed her tired eyes and sighed. "I know him. He gets over-protective when he's scared."

Aiden rolled the windows down to allow fresh air to come in and then fingered his pockets for cigarettes out of habit. Empty handed, he said, "I think we're all scared. There's no telling what will happen, the number of casualties, and if we'll even succeed in the end."

Violet turned to face him. "So what if I die? Is that such a bad thing?" He didn't answer so she continued talking. "It would make the world a better place. I won't have to kill any more people."

"But then what about Colton? What about your sister?" he questioned as he looked at her seriously. "What about me?"

She opened her mouth to say something but the words wouldn't come out. All she could do was look into his eyes with guilt.

"Are you gonna leave me too?"

"Of course not." She said. "It was just a hypothetical question."

"Okay, well don't," he mumbled, his eyes never leaving hers.

In that moment it felt like nothing else mattered. It was just the two of them in the same time and place and somehow everything clicked perfectly.

It happened so fast that Violet didn't have time to process the situation. Before she knew it, their lips met and the suddenness of it made her flinch, but she didn't pull away. He tasted sweet. A feeling of warmth and tingles spread through her body and it felt like it would last forever until he pulled away harshly.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this," he said, "Not to Colton."

"What does Colton have to do with anything?" she asked. What just happened?

He opened the car door, getting ready to leave. She waited in silence for an answer. Finally, he said, "He loves you."

"What?"

"He loves you and I'm not going to ruin that."

She thought about it. With all the times they spent together, Colton was the least of her worries. Why did it matter? And then, she knew. "This is about Ace, isn't it?"

Without answering, he didn't look at her and got out of the car, slamming the door shut and leaving her alone in the darkness.

Ouch.

The next few days were exhausting. There were no more laughs or jokes from the night before. They all pushed their problems behind and kept their minds on the mission. Nobody spoke to each other and everyone began training themselves separately. Violet practiced aiming with her bow and arrow but she already got a hang of it within five minutes of trying. The rest went on runs and used dummies to practice shooting. They trained and trained until they mastered their skills and their bodies wore out. By the end of it, they were almost like new beings.

The following morning, Colton had them come together to initiate the phone call to Victor. They were going to explain the treaty via cellphone. As silly as it sounded, everyone was dead serious during the call.

"Victor?" Colton said on the phone. Everyone held their breath.

It was on speaker and a voice responded, "Why are you calling me?"

"We give up," he simply said.

There was a light chuckle on the other end. "What? What does that mean?"

Colton's voice sounded believably desperate. "Listen, supplies are running scarce and we have nowhere to go. Victor, we can't do this alone anymore. We'd like to join you."

"Oh?" A scoff. "Is that so?"

Aiden grabbed the phone. "This isn't a joke. We wouldn't be calling you unless we really needed to."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Victor asked.

"Meet us in the Oak Woods of Enterprise tomorrow. We want a treaty."

There was a pause. "I'll think about it." A click.

"Oh god, what if he doesn't come?" Em said aloud.

"He will," Colton reassured her. "But now we have to get ready. For the next 24 hours, Phoebe will gather her group and they will camouflage themselves here before Victor arrives. A protection spell will be cast on these grounds and emphasized on us individually but in order for this to work, she needs samples of each of our hair." He held up scissors and a plastic bag. "Go."

No questions were asked and they all passed around the scissors to cut their hair, although Riley decided to pluck hers by hand. They each handed the small strands to Colton, who placed them inside a plastic bag and sealed it shut. Colton eyed Violet before continuing. "While Phoebe is working on this, we need to get some more training in and then re-energize for tomorrow."  Then he smiled at all of them. "I appreciate all of your hard work and effort. Let's come back victorious alright?"

They smiled back but the fear of failure was evident among them. "What if we don't come back at all?" Colette whispered.

Colton's smile faded. "We will. Don't question it."

"How can you be so sure?" It was Violet who spoke, catching Colton off guard.

He took a deep breath and answered, "I'm just confident in us." He looked at all of their faces. "I think that no matter what happens, we'll be winners. I love you all, remember that." He put his hand out. "Group cheer?"

Colette giggled and Riley rolled her eyes. "You've got to be kidding me," said Riley before putting her hand in.

They all joined and did a loud group cheer.

"Let's get this show on the road," Aiden mumbled.