I screamed before I could stop myself. I rushed forward to try and reach him, but Kirex gripped my shoulders and tugged me back. I looked at him in exasperation and he frowned. Was he just going to let his brother die?
Crya got off her knees and cracked her back.
“Well, I’m sorry you had to see that,” She taunted.
The roots had quieted, but there was one speaking to me still. I stayed quiet to listen. Crya continued,
“I did actually like that boy. He was sweet. But orders are orders, I’m afraid!”
Kirex practically snarled at her.
"Who are you?”
She scoffed.
“My name's Andria. Shocker, I know. See, my higher ups gave me this assignment. They told me to kill the heir during the attack, so I did. No hard feelings.”
No hard feelings? Seriously? I didn’t even look at her as I listened to the roots. Then I spoke up,
“You created that ravine, didn’t you?”
She looked at me, concerned. She reached up to her eyes and took out the gold contacts, revealing icy blue eyes. A colour only Naturals are capable of being born with.
“I’m a Natural. A human. Surely you know that?”
I shook my head.
"No.”
I repeated what the roots had told me.
"You’re a genetically modified human. The only one alive, as the rest were all killed off in testing. You’re like... an artificial Unnatural. A fake one. Nothing like us, but the same too..."
She had no words, too concerned with the fact I knew all that.
“You little... You’re a freak. A mutant. I should just kill you right now, watch-“
She was cut off as I rugby tackled her into the ravine. She screeched and shrieked like a banshee.
At the same time, Salazar pulled himself up over the ledge and hooked his other arm around me, stopping me from teetering over the edge. He grinned down at me. I stared at him in shock. How could anyone survive that fall?
“That was amazing. Not even I would have the balls to do that!”
He pushed me gently away from the edge, and I shrieked at the sight of the other side of his head. He had a huge gash leaking dark, thick blood, and his entire left eye was just gone. He flinched at the sound of me and his right eye flicked around looking for help.
I stared, horrified, as Sandigo tried his best to heal what was there. Kirex just fell over and sat in the mud, watching. He was tired.
“I can’t bring back your eye. There’s nothing there to heal from...” Sandigo forced out. When the wound was closed, Laz laughed.
“I’ll survive without it, don’t worry!”
I was starting to think that his laid-back personality and jokes were just a way of helping the people around him cope. He was definitely not okay. The roots told me so.
His left eyelid was completely shut, and he had a visible scar running from his hairline to beside his mouth. But as expected, he was smiling. He tore off a piece of his shirt and tied it around his eye.
“Until I find myself a cool eyepatch,” he said. Kirex groaned.
I watched Salazar, concerned. He noticed and his smile faltered for a second, then recovered and he winked at me. (Blinked?)
He suggested we go back to town to form some kind of plan, and Kirex agreed. They and Sandigo started walking, but I spent a few more seconds staring into the strange fog in the ravine. The roots told me she was dead, but I couldn’t help the sadness that came over me. I sniffed, and Kirex pulled me away to hug me.
“Come on,” he said softly. “We can’t stay here.”
I nodded and followed the small group back to town.
“Everything was going fine... Why did they do this?”
"Because they’re humans, Maple. This is just how they are. Greedy and selfish.”
“But... Surely they have to have a reason?”
"Nope. They’re just like that.”
“Not all of them, though?”
Salazar was about to insult them further when Kirex sharply elbowed him.
"Stop with your pointless prejudices. Maple is right, not all of them are like that.” he stated, glaring at Laz.
I could see the cogs turning in his head as he thought it over, then relented and apologized to me.
We had been walking through charred remains of trees for hours, just trying to reach town again.
Salazar had a very different opinion on Naturals to everyone else in the family. When I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that he must have had a different experience to the rest of us.
"Salazar,” I started. “What happened when you were found out?”
He grimaced and stopped walking, then started up again, but slower.
"I was 6. I had accidentally grown moss on every single thing in my room, including the outside of it. Someone in my street seen it and reported me.”
He chewed the inside of his cheek.
"During the time I was found out in, the Laws on Unnaturals in Natural families were different. I was the last one ever to get caught in it.”
He was staring at the ground. Kirex spoke up,
"When I was found, the Law had just been abolished. I was lucky.”
Salazar looked up at him and huffed.
"The Law said that every Unnatural child born to humans was not to die immediately. Instead, a mark was left on their right cheek. Then the parents were killed for having them.”
I listened silently, shocked. Why did they never tell us this stuff in school?
“They gave me the mark and shot my parents dead in front of me. In the town square. No Natural there had any sympathy for me, a child. 6 year old me was smart enough to take off running, and I came across Diá just outside the gates. I clawed out the mark on my cheek a few weeks later, and Mother had to rush me to the nearest healer before I bled out.”
He exhaled loudly.
"I know the way I think of them isn’t entirely true. But sometimes I just can’t stop it. They were still my parents, y'know?”
He looked at me and I nodded sadly. Even though our parents were disgusted with us, they were still our parents. That's not something you can easily push aside.
“But there’s still some that support us,” I stated. He sighed.
"Yeah.”
I looked up as we finally reached town. I really wanted to just lie down now. But I knew now wasn’t the time. We found our way to the rest of the family, excluding parents.
“Oh my gods Salazar, what happened?”
He really was a sight. Blood-soaked and bruised.
"I uh... Fell.”
Kirex snorted.
"Into a ravine, you mean? I don’t think you lost an eye from tripping over a shoelace.”
He rolled his eye in response. Nevera didn’t look much better. Her hair looked like it had been burnt off from her shoulders down and was charred black at the ends. She had a smallish slice on her jaw.
"So,” I said. “What do we do now?”
"The gods really have abandoned us, huh?" Sandigo sighed.
"They even made sure our parents would stay out of it."
"I guess we have to stop it ourselves. Prove we're capable of ruling?" I suggested. Everyone reluctantly mumbled in agreement.
All of the helicopters were gone. I assumed they had all been dragged down to the ground or torn apart.
Nobody had anything to say. No ideas for a plan. Verdia looked from face to face and said,
"What about Mommy's meeting?”
Everyone looked at her and Keyser gasped.
" Yeah! Mommy and Daddy have a meeting with the important human man tonight!”
How did children know more than us?
An idea struck me. Something I was taught in school.
“Verdia,” I said. “Can you go up to Daddy quickly and ask him to write down the details of the party?”
She looked confused but repeated the request and ran off. Everyone looked at me and I continued,
“Are there any Natural army vans around here?”
Nevera nodded.
“One is on the road just outside the gates. It was going quite slowly so we might be able to catch up if we use Keyser's shadows.”
I nodded and looked to Keyser. Her bird, Kay, was on the ground beside her. She grinned at me and took my hand, and I almost threw up when we appeared at the gates.