Eleven
I wake slowly. The room is still dark, and I groan. What god awful hour of the night have I woken at this time?
Something shifts in my arms.
I look down, and my eyes widen in surprise. Sasha sleeps soundly. Her raven hair fanned out over the pillow. She breathes deeply, and I can see her rise slightly. Only to sink back into the mattress as she lets her breath go.
I sigh. Remembering the events of the previous night.
Why is she so interested in me?
It's a mystery, really. But this mystery I don't mind leaving unsolved. She likes me. I like her. That's all there is to it.
I lay my head back down on the pillow, and suddenly, she rolls. Pressing up against my chest. We're face to face, and slowly, her eyes open.
This close to her, I can see that her eyes aren't just chocolate spheres, but chocolate, and espresso. Flecks of darker brown circle the iris, and seem to swirl and mix as I watch them.
Sasha smiles. "Sleep well?"
I nod. "You?"
"Better than I have in months."
"That's gr-" My words are cut short as she kisses me. It's soft, and short, and she leans against me when she pulls away.
"Sorry."
I laugh. "It's okay."
"We're relocating today," she says quietly. "We're taking two vehicles. Victor and I are driving." She looks up at me. "Come in mine?" Her voice is small, and completely unexpected. I nod.
"Of course."
She smiles, and lays her head back down against my chest. Closing her eyes again. I close mine as well, and sink again into my newfound peaceful oblivion.
~*~
Sasha turns the keys in the ignition, and the engine slowly wakes. Its gentle humming nothing but background noise. Jacie and Stefan are coming with us.
Raelyn, Tallan, and Adelaide have gone with Victor, and sit now concealed behind his tinted windows.
I sit in the very back. Jacie and Stefan share the middle bench. The shotgun seat holds just that. "For protection," Victor had said when he'd tossed it to Sasha, and she'd almost dropped it.
She glances at it nervously as she begins to edge the car forwards. Gravel crunches, and she stops. Closing her eyes, and gripping the wheel hard. The shotgun sits resolute beside her.
"You're fine, Sasha," I encourage her. "Just keep going."
She smiles thankfully at me in the rearview mirror, and I fold my hands beneath my chin. Leaning forward and resting my forearms along the top of the middle bench. Stefan scoots closer to the front. Eyes warily on the gun. No doubt ready to snatch it up and open fire at the first sign of trouble. I don't think Sasha would mind. He's the child of a general. A Recruit. She isn't.
My thoughts take a military turn, then. We aren't prepared for -or even have the means for- an airstrike. But that's if our attackers play by the rules, and honor the Parity Law of Elemental Combat. We've entered Fall. The Air season. And we don't have any air weapons. A gun is all well and good for general attack and defense, but -in this season- only when fired from somewhere high off the ground. Trees? Yeah right. More like helicopters. That's what they used to come for me. That was Summer following the law. But why follow the law to catch and
kill one boy when you've murdered so many already? Forget using the proper element in the proper season. Murder is murder.
I can tell by the tightness of Stefan's jaw that he doesn't plan on playing by the rules if we're attacked, and it's sort of comforting. If we're being hunted like fugitives, might as well go the whole nine yards and become fugitives.
I shake my head. My mind is going too far. We’re not being attacked, and we’re not going to be. We’re going to make it to the Winter House safely. It’s not something I can guarantee, but I can will it until it’s true. And that’s exactly what I plan on doing.
~*~
I stare out the window. Dusk has fallen, and mist has yet again enveloped the land. Sealing us up like a letter. One that no one wants to open. Except for Summer. They want to tear the letter open, and burn the contents. Burn the hope.
"What is that..."
Sasha's hesitant voice reaches me from the driver's seat. I lock my eyes on the windshield. From out of the haze, I see what she has. Two pinpoints of light. Slowly getting bigger.
I know she knows what it is, but it's the gunshots that make her do something about it. She honks her horn three times, and throws the car in reverse as shots pepper the armored glass.
Tires screech as both caravans reverse. I whip around, and catch a glimpse of Victor's mask of a face in the rear lights. He drives one-handed. Cradling his gun in the other.
I whip back around as I hear a loud pop, and our vehicle lurches to one side.
"They're taking out the tires!" Jacie yells as another shot finally begins to crack the glass.
"Get down!" Stefan yells at Sasha, then grabs her and hauls her into his seat as her flustered eyes meet his. With expert movements, he grabs the gun from the passenger seat, and checks the clip. Cocking it, he maneuvers himself into the driver's seat. Aiming the gun at where the crack has formed. The one-sided gunfight becomes fair as Stefan slams the butt of the shotgun into the crack -shattering the windshield- and opens fire on our attackers. I watch his face in the rearview mirror. It's composed. Even calm, if for the worry crease knitting his brows together.
"Shit!" he swears. Ducking down behind the dash. "Alek!"
I don't think. I rummage through the ammo box that barricades me into the back seat, and grab the nearest clip I can find. Tossing it up to him. He catches it, and throws the empty one to the side. Slamming the new one in, and sitting back up, he opens fire once again.
The left door opens then, and Jacie and Sasha scream. Jacie raises a small handgun.
"Are you insane?!" Tallan yells. Climbing as smoothly into the car as he can with a crossbow strapped to his back. Stefan catches sight of it as he ducks again to reload.
"Are you?!" he yells over the roar of multiple firearms as I throw him another clip. "You're really concerned about the Law right now?" Bows of any sort are considered Air weapons in Parity.
Tallan gives him a haggard grin. "Not exactly. Here."
Stefan takes the crossbow, and without a second glance at Tallan, aims and shoots it out the hole.
The world lights up as the arrow finds its target, and explodes in a fireball reaching the treetops. I catch a glimpse of a single armored vehicle before the flames consume it completely. The shooting dies, and Stefan sags in the driver's seat. "Damn," he says in wonder, and Tallan laughs grimly while the rest of us smile in relief.
We're alive.