Ella is sleeping now.
She seems so close to death Im having a hard time looking at her.
Her skin is so white it's blue.
Lips so blue they're purple.
I can't look at Aaron either. He is pale, looks sick and has also been very thoughtful.
He's become impossible to talk to, Kenji tried, I didn't as I know he wouldn't really answer me either.
Instead, I took my hand over his.
The room smells like chemicals. I don't like being here, as I'm feeling a little uncomfortable with so many people in the room, but I don't want to leave Aaron or Ella.
Sonya and Sara have helped Ella to make her body settle, which is good, and it is working well I would say.
It's very quiet, then I see kenji sigh hard as he drags a hand down his face.
Nouria finally breaks the silence.
Gently, she clears her throat. A couple of people lift their heads. Aaron still glaring at the floor.
"Kenji," she says softly, "can I talk to you for a minute? Outside?"
"Um"—He scratches his head—"maybe we should talk in here," he says. "As a group?"
"Outside, Kishimoto." Nouria is on her feet, the softness gone from her voice, her face. "Now, please."
After a while of Nouria and Kenji talking, Nazeera goes out, then they talk, and others join them.
And then suddenly I hear Castle say: "back inside. All of you. Now."
Nazeera claps her hands together, hard as they walk back in, "All right," she says, "no more
interruptions. We need to talk about strategy before we do anything else."
Sam frowns. "Strategy for what? Right now, we need to discuss Emmaline. We need to understand the events of the morning before we can even think about discussing the next steps forward."
"We are going to talk about Emmaline, and the events of the morning,"
Nazeera says. "But in order to discuss the Emmaline situation, we'll need to talk about the Ella situation, which will necessitate a conversation about a larger, overarching strategy—one that will dovetail neatly with a plan to get the supreme kids back."
Castle stares at her, looking just as confused as Sam. "You want to discuss the supreme kids right now? Isn't it better if we star—"
"Idiots," Haider mutters under his breath.
"How are you so unable to see how these things connect? The Reestablishment is looking for us. More specifically, they're looking for Ella. We were supposed to be in hiding, remember? But Emmaline's egregious display this morning just blew the cover on our location. We all saw the news— you all read the emergency reports. The Reestablishment did serious damage control to subdue the citizens. That means they know what happened here."
"Emmaline just led them directly to Ella," she says. She says this last sentence really slowly, like shes afraid.
"they're much closer to finding us now than they were a few hours ago." Haider says realising.
"You really think they know where we are?" I ask as everyone turns their head towards me.
"I knew this would happen," Sam says, shaking her head.
Castle stiffens. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"We took an enormous risk letting your team stay here. We risked our livelihood and the safety of our own men and women to allow you to take shelter among us. You're here for three days and already you've managed to disclose our location to the world."
"what happened today was no one's fault though, you can't blame us for that." I say looking at Sam.
"Elena's right, We haven't disclosed anything—"
Nouria lifts a hand. "Stop," she says, "We're losing our focus again. Nazeera was right when she said we were all in this together. In fact, we came together for the express purpose of defeating The Reestablishment. It's what we've always been working toward. We were never meant to live forever in self-made cages and communities."
"I understand that," Sam says, "But if they really know which sector to search, we could be discovered in a matter of days. The Reestablishment will be increasing their military presence within the hour, if they haven't done so already."
"They have done that already," Stephan says, looking at Nazeera. "Of course they have."
"So what do you propose?" Winston asks.
Nazeera doesn't hesitate.
"We wait. We wait for Ella to wake up," she says. "We need to know as much as we can about what happened to her, and we need to prioritize her security above all else. There's a reason why Anderson wants her so desperately, and we need to find out what that reason is before we take any next steps."
"But what about a plan for getting the other kids back?" Winston asks. "If we wait for Ella to wake up before making a move to save them, we could be too late."
Nazeera shakes her head. "The plan for the other kids has to be tied up in the plan to save Ella," she says. "I'm certain that Anderson is using the kidnapping of the supreme kids as bait. A bullshit lure designed to draw us out into the open. Plus, he designed that scheme before he had any idea we'd accidentally out ourselves, which only further supports my theory that this was a bullshit lure. He was only hoping we'd step outside of our protections just long enough to give away our approximate location."
"Which we've now done," Brendan says, quietly horrified.
Kenji drops his head in his hands. "Shit."
"Our mission," Nazeera says, "has to be about protecting Ella at all costs. If we lose her, we lose everything. That's it. That's the whole plan right now. Keeping Ella alive and safe is the priority. Saving the kids is secondary. Besides, the kids will be fine. Most of us have been through worse in basic training simulations."
Haider laughs.
Stephan makes an amused sound of agreement.
"But what about James?" I say. "What about Adam? They're not like you
guys. They've never been prepared for these things—"
"Yes, for gods sake—James is only ten years old!" Kenji says.
Nazeera looks at us then, and for a moment, she falters. "We'll do our best," she says.
Kenji seems to react.
"So we're just supposed to risk letting them die?" Winston asks. "We're just supposed to gamble on a ten-year-old's life? Let him remain imprisoned and tortured at the hands of a sociopath and hope for the best? Are you serious?"
"Sometimes sacrifices are necessary," Stephan says.
"why would you say something like that—" I say panicking.
"No way, no way," Kenji says. "We need another plan. A better plan. A plan that saves everyone, and quickly."
Nazeera looks at him with a sympathetic look.
Kenji suddenly spins around, he looks angry as he turns to my brother.
"What about you?" He says to him. "What do you think about this? You're okay with letting your own brothers die?"
as I realise what he said, I'm empty of words.
Brothers?
But I realise that this is not the time to bring it up anyway.
The silence is suddenly suffocating.
"Kenji—" I try to say.
Aaron doesn't answer him for a long time, but Eventually, he sighs.
It's not a calm, relaxing sound. It's a harsh, angry sound.
He doesn't even lift his head when he says, "I'm okay with a lot of things, Kishimoto."
"That's bullshit," Kenji says, his fists clenching. "That's bullshit, and you know it. You're better than this."
Aaron says nothing. He doesn't move a muscle, doesn't stop staring at the same spot on the floor.
"So that's it? After everything—that's it? You're just going to let James die?"
"What do you think J would say right now, huh? How do you think she'd feel about you letting someone murder a child?"
Aaron stands up.
"Kenji, can you stop it-" I try to say, I understand his frustration, but this is not helping.
Suddenly, Aaron is standing in front of kenji. studying his eyes,
Kenji looks away, he looks sorry.
"Look at me," Aaron says.
"Um, no thanks."
"Look at me," he says again, quietly this time.
Kenji hesitates before slowly looking at him.
"What happened to you, man?" He whispers. "Where'd you go?"