Chapter 16
“Something’s up between the two of them again,” Xander said as Kade and I walked down the stairs. He and Loryn were the one ones sitting at the table. Lysander must have been out because he was nowhere in the room. “And it must be something good because they’re both smiling and not fighting like they have been.”
“Shut up,” I said, smacking the back of his head lightly as I passed him.
“I’m right, though,” he said. “I know I am.”
“If I tell you you’re right, will you shut up them?” Kade asked.
“Sure,” he said, smiling. “If you tell me.”
“Okay, then. You’re right,” I said.
“I told you I’m always am,” he said.
Just then the front door opened, and Lysander walked in. He was carrying a cloth bag, the one that my grandma had given him before we left out of Chicago. He walked over to the table and then turned it over, pouring out vegetables of all kinds.
“Does anyone want me to make soup?” he asked. “We’ve still got the other, but I think I should make a new pot. It’ll be better.”
“Sure,” I said. “I’m feeling hungry now.”
“You haven’t eaten anything since yesterday morning,” Kade said, sitting down beside me. “You should have been starving hours ago.”
“I was, so I came down and got some bread,” I said.
“I didn’t hear you get up,” he said.
“That’s because you were still asleep against the wall beside my door,” I said.
“Oh,” he said. “That could explain it.”
“Yep,” I said, smiling at him. He smiled back.
While the water in the pot started boiling onto of the wood burning stove, we all helped Lysander cut up all of the vegetables to put in it. Once we were done and they were all in the boiling water, he put in a few spices that I didn’t recognize and then sat back down at the table.
“So,” he said. “We really didn’t get to talk a lot when you first got here yesterday. What have you been doing? How are your sister and grandma?”
“They’re okay. I can’t say that for the rest of the people of Chicago, though,” I said.
“So it did happen?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “We actually left that night after we went to see you. But the next morning is when it happened. I had gone back to my house and the Directrix Guards were there, with a bomb set up next to it.”
“Kade told me about that,” he said. “Said you ran into a few other Guards on your way to their house also.”
“I got her little sister and grandma,” Xander said. “Kade was supposed to come back with Rayney, but they didn’t make it.”
“It took us a few days to get to the house, but we got there eventually,” I said.
“What made you leave, though?” he asked.
“The Directrix has my sister,” I said.
“Lyric?” Lysander asked. “How did they get her?”
“No, not her,” I said. “My other sister, Rowan.”
He sat back. “So you found out about her?”
“Yeah,” I said. “How did you know about her?”
“Well, I remember when you’re mother had the two of you. She and your father were so proud. I also remember when she was kidnapped. I helped with the search party, but we weren’t able to find her so everyone just gave up. Your parents never wanted to.”
“We know where she is now,” I said.
“How do you know if she’s even alive?” he asked.
“She is,” I said.
“And where is she?”
“The Directrix has her,” Kade said. “That’s where we’re going.”
“You’re going to the city,” Lysander said, eyebrows raised. “What if you get caught?”
“We can handle ourselves,” Xander said. “If we got past them this many times, we’ll be able to do it again.”
“How do you plan on gettin in?”
“We’ve got our sources,” I said. “We’ll be able to get in and out in no time.”
“Well, let’s just hope it goes smoothly for the three of you,” Lysander said. “I know no one would want anything to happen. Especially you, Rayney. You don’t need to do anything happening to you.”
“I know, and nothing is going to happen to me,” I said.
He sighed. “So when are you three planning on heading back out?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “We need to leave as soon as possible.”
“I was thinking,” Kade said. “If we head out later tonight, we can walk through the night and then rest up tomorrow morning. We’re not that far from the city, so we’ll be able to get there maybe tomorrow night. That way, we can get in during the night without anyone really seeing us.”
“Do you know where they’re holding your sister?” Loryn asked. “And why?”
“We don’t know either,” I said. “We know they’re holding her in the main building.”
“Central Headquarters?” she asked.
“What?” I asked.
“That’s what they call it. Central Headquarters,” Loryn said. “That’s where the main leaders are and everyone else is. It’s kind of like the old capital, where they make all of the decisions.”
“Like the decision to bomb everyone again?” Xander asked.
“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “I can see why they have her there.”
“How do you know about all of this?” I asked.
“My dad was one of the developers for the building. He used to bring home blueprints of it and showed them to me. I kind of remember where everything is. And if they have your sister, they’d have her about four floors under the actual building. ”
“So that’s where the holding cells are?” Xander asked.
“Yeah, there are about eight down there. But I wonder why they’ve got her down there. That where they keep the people who are most threatening to the Directrix. I don’t see how she could be threatening.”
“I don’t either,” Xander said. “She’s just seventeen year old girl.”
“There are a few other places they could have her on different floors, though,” she said. “They might have her in one of those.”
We sat there in silence for a moment. Xander was right. Why did the Directrix have Rowan locked up? I mean, it’s not like she could do anything to hurt the Directrix.
But then I remembered what my great-grandma had written in the journal. She said that we were stronger together. Maybe she was meaning with the dream thing. When we were together in the dreams, we were able to communicate with each other. I really needed to try and get to Rowan again, to talk with her about everything and see if she knew anything about where or why they had her.
Something beeped then, making us all looked toward Xander’s vest hanging on the back of his chair. He reached for the messenger and looked down at the screen.
“Peyton’s probably freaking out again since we haven’t contacted them in forever as she says,” he said. He sighed. “She worries too much.”
“Of course she worries,” I said, and held out my hand for the messenger. “Let me have it.”
He handed it to me and I saw the message on the screen. I could practically hear Peyton yelling through it, and she didn’t even have to write in all capital letters.
WHY HAVEN’T YOU SENT ANY MESSAGES IN FOREVER? – Peyton.
“How did you guys get those? And how did you get them working without the Directrix crossing the signal?” Loryn asked.
While Xander and Kade explained everything, I wrote Peyton back.
Xander’s right. You do worry too much. – Rayney.
I do not! I’m not the only one worrying about the three of you. You’re grandma is, too.
Is everything okay there?
Yeah. The question is, is everything okay with you guys?
Yep, we’re all okay. We’re in this little town about fifteen miles from the city. We’re probably going to head out later tonight when it starts getting dark. We should be there by tomorrow night.
That soon?
I know. We want to get there at night so they won’t be able to see us.
What if they catch you?
We’ll be okay. Tell my grandma we’re with Lysander right now.
Who’s that?
She’ll tell you.
Oh, okay. She says hi and she loves you. Lyric says the same.
Tell them the same for me and we’ll be back soon.
The connection was broken then, so I didn’t get to see if she wrote back. It seemed weird that it did. It hadn’t done it before.
“Why did it do that?” I asked.
“What?” Kade asked, looking over at the messenger.
“The connection was broken.”
“It’s probably because you’re close to the city,” Loryn said. “They’ve got a signal that disrupts the frequencies of anything outsiders might have. It’s stronger the closer you get to it.”
“Then we’ll still be able to use the earpieces,” Kade said. “They’re connected by the frequency and to each other.”
“Then if you’re leaving tonight, I’d suggest you fill up on some food now,” Lysander said, walking over to the pot on the stove. “It’s done, so let’s eat.”
I was up in my room later, trying to get everything together. We were going to leave in about an hour, so we were trying to get everything that we needed. Kade and Xander had gone to the market to see if they had anything useful.
There was a knock on my door and Loryn walked in.
“I want to go with you guys,” she said.
“What? Why?” I asked, turning to look at her.
“Because I could be a big help. I know the way around Central Headquarters. I know a way to get in undetected, too,” she said.
“I have a question,” I said.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“If your dad helped with the building of the Directrix’s city, how was he killed?” I asked.
She walked over and sat down on the bed on the right side of the room. “I guess the Directrix decided that they didn’t need him anymore after he finished building. They killed him because he knew all of the codes for entry and practically everything else.”
“What about your mom?”
“She was killed in the second round of bombings,” she said. “I’ve been on my own since I was twelve.”
“So you’re nineteen?” I asked. “You don’t look like it.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said, laughing. “I think I stopped growing when I was fourteen. Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Why not since I asked you?”
“How did you get your scar?” she asked.
“They bombed the school that Kade and I went to. When they were pulling me out, a piece of metal cut me all the way down to the bone,” I said.
“Ouch,” she said. “That must have hurt.”
“Yeah, but I’ve had worse in the last few years. Actually, the last week,” I said.
“What happened in the last week, other than the thing with you and Kade?”
I lifted up my tank top, showing her the dark pink line where landed on my knife. “Kade and I were fighting. I landed on one of my knives.”
“Knives?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. She reacted exactly the way Peyton did when I told her.
“Yeah, knives,” I said, and pulled out the one at my waist. “I’m a pretty good fighter. I’ve had lots of practice.”
“I’d like to see that one day,” she said. “See how good you are.”
“If we actually get to where we need to go, you’ll see plenty,” I said, smiling.
She laughed. “Yeah, maybe,” she said.
Loryn was going with us. I knew that I really didn’t know her well or really trust her yet, but she said she could get us in without running into anyone that we didn’t want to be running into.
“I thought you said that you came here to wait on someone,” I said. “What if they come and you’re not here?”
“It doesn’t matter now. I know they’ve probably already come and just gone off without me. Plus, we weren’t doing anything as exciting as what we’re going to do now.”
“It’s not that exciting. We’re just going to go right into the heart of the Directrix, break my sister out and hope not to get caught,” I said.
“That sounds exciting to me,” she said.
“Yeah, maybe it does,” I said. “But still, it’s going to be hard enough trying not to get caught.”
I had all of my gear together then, and I was ready to put everything back on since we were going to leave in less than an hour once Xander and Kade had gotten back.
I put on my boots first, making sure my knives were in place on them and on my waist. I put on my jacket next, and zipped it halfway up, tucking my necklace inside it. Next were the guns. Peyton raised an eyebrow when she saw me strap them to my thighs.
“Have you seen the guns that Xander and Kade have? These are nothing compared to what they’ve got,” I said.
“Yeah, I saw them. You’ve got some heavy fire power, don’t you? How do you get it all?” she asked.
“Don’t look at me,” I said. “They’re the ones who had all of this stuff. I’m just the one who they gave it to.”
I put on my vest, making sure everything was in its place, and then put my earpiece in, turning it on. Kade and Xander both had theirs on, so I decided to test it out.
“Testing,” I said.
“What?” I heard Kade say.
“Just wanting to test this thing out and make sure it still works,” I said, laughing.
“Yeah, it works,” Xander said. “It works for scarring some of the people in this little town and thinking we’re crazy talking to ourselves.”
Kade laughed. “We’re just walking up to the house. Meet us downstairs and we’ll be about ready.”
“Be there in a second,” I said, and then switched it off.
“Where are they?” Loryn asked.
“They’re just getting back. We’re going to go downstairs for a second and then we’ll probably leave,” I said. I looked out the window, where the sun was just beginning to set.
We headed down the stairs and right when we got there, Kade and Xander were walking through the door. Lysander was sitting at the table with pencil and paper in front of him, writing something. And then I looked at Xander and realized he had something on top of his head.
“What do you have on your head?” I asked.
He pulled them off and pulled what looked like sunglasses on his face. “They’re X-ray glasses,” he said, and then scanned down my body.
“No, they’re not,” Kade said, taking them off of Xander’s face. “They’re night vision glasses. One of the guys had them. I traded him for four of them.”
“What did you trade him?” I asked.
“Peyton’s medicine,” he said. “They’re going to be useful since we’re heading out tonight. We got an extra one just in case.”
“Good, because Loryn’s coming with us,” I said.
“I thought you were waiting on someone here?” Xander asked.
“I don’t care anymore,” she said, shrugging. “I want to leave here.”
“Plus, she says she knows a way in where no one will see us,” I said. “Why not just let her come if she can get us in?”
“Okay then,” Xander said, shrugging.
“Here,” Kade said, handing me a set of glasses.
I put them on and looked around. “It doesn’t look any different,” I said.
He laughed. “Of course, it doesn’t,” he said. “There’s light in here. If you go somewhere where it doesn’t have a lot of light or it’s completely dark, the glasses change it so you can see. They make everything brighter and clearer.”
“And how do you know this?” I asked, taking them off.
“Because we tested them out before we agreed to trade with the guy,” he said.
“Oh,” I said. “That makes sense.”
“Well, are we about ready?” Kade asked. “We really need to be going.”
“You four need to be careful,” Lysander said, hugging Loryn and shaking Xander and Kade’s hands.
I walked toward him and gave him a hug. “You be careful, too,” I said. “I don’t know when I’ll see you next, so goodbye for now.”
“It probably won’t be long before I see you again,” he said. “You always seem to find me wherever I go.”
“That’s true,” I said. “We’ll probably have to come back through here when we make our way back. Maybe you’ll still be here again.”
“I probably will,” he said, and let go of me. “Take care.”
I walked toward Kade, Xander and Loryn, who were standing near the door. Loryn didn’t have anything but a backpack that she’d brought, and Xander and Kade had put on their vests and were just slinging their guns over their shoulders. Kade took my hand in his as we walked through the door.
Everything was quiet as we headed through the little town. There were candles and lanterns lit in the houses and I could just make out the shadows of some of the people inside. But in one window, I could see Lilah, the little girl from the day before. She watched as the four of us passed and waved at me. I smiled and waved back.
And then I remembered my dream, the one with her holding the blue flower. The one where I was shot.
“How close are we now?” I asked, looking over at Xander. They were right. These night vision glasses really did work. I was still able to see everything clearly with them on, even though it was dark outside. It was like it was daylight out, only not so bright.
“We’ve gone maybe about seven miles,” Xander said, looking at the tracker. “I think we should stop soon since we’re about three miles from the city. Then later today about mid-afternoon we start toward it again. That way we’ll be able to get there right as the sun goes down.”
“Are we going to stop when the sun comes up?” Loryn asked. “Because we don’t have much longer.”
We all took off our glasses and saw that it was starting to get light out already. I couldn’t believe that we’d already walked through the night. I didn’t even feel tired or like I hadn’t slept for almost twenty-four hours.
“Do we want to stop right now?” Kade asked. “It’ll give us time to get settled.”
“Yeah,” Xander said, putting the tracker back in the pocket of his vest. “That would be a good idea.”
“Good, because I’m kind of tired,” Loryn said, taking off her backpack and setting it on the ground. She sat down and lay back, using it as a pillow. “If you need me to be lookout, just wake me up.”
“I’ll be the lookout first,” I said. “I’m not really tired.”
“I’ll stay up, too,” Kade said.
“And I’ll go to sleep because I don’t want to watch what I know you two are probably going to do,” Xander said, taking off his vest. He sat down and leaned against a tree, closing his eyes.
I walked a little ways away from them, going into the trees. I took off my vest and the guns, putting them next to a tree, and then took off my jacket.
“Are you seriously going to do what I think you’re going to do? Again?” Kade asked from behind me.
“Nope,” I said, turning toward him. I took the knife at my waist and tossed it near my gear. “I was actually hoping you would help teach me a few moves. Like when you got out of my hold that one time.”
“Oh, really,” he said, laughing, and walked toward me. He took the gun from his shoulder and placed it where I’d put my things. He then took off his vest and jacket. “And why do you want me to teach you?”
“So I can know how to do it just in case I find myself needing it in the near future,” I said, and he unzipped his jacket, throwing it on top of our pile.
“Well, we don’t want to start in that position,” he said, and started to circle me. “We want to actually fight, but end up there. Then I’ll show you how to get out of it.”
“Okay, then,” I said. “Go ahead and hit me.”
He didn’t just then. He circled a few more times, and then came at me. I knew he was going for my stomach, so I dodged him. Then I put out my foot to trip him. I was over him in an instant, pinning him down like I did the one time before.
“Well, that wasn’t so hard,” I said, laughing.
“I guess I wasn’t prepared for that,” he said.
“I tripped you!” I said, still laughing.
“Do you want to learn how get out of this or not?” he asked.
“Okay, go on,” I said.
“Now, what I’m going to do is bend my hand so that you can grab their wrist,” he said.
I watched as he did, bending his hand and covering my wrist with it. I looked back at him.
“Now, you’ve got to kind of scoot the bottom half of your body up so that your back is arched. That way you’ll get more power when you try and flip them over.”
I felt when his body moved beneath mine and when his back arched, brushing up against me.
“Once you’ve done that, you push the rest of your body up. You push up on their wrists, pushing them off of you, and that’s when you flip them over.”
He did exactly what he said to do. I watched as his face went above mine and he was pushing me off of him. And then I found myself below him.
“See,” he said, smiling down at me. “It’s not that hard.”
“Yeah, but you’ve had practice,” I said.
“What do you think this is?” he asked.
“Ugh, okay. You’re going to have to hang on,” I said. “I probably won’t be able to do this right the first time.”
“You’ll get it,” he said.
I twisted my hands under his to grab hold of his wrists. I pushed the lower half of my body up and then my upper. And as I did, I pushed up on him, flipping him over. I was on top of him again, smiling down at him.
“How was that?” I asked.
“And you said you wouldn’t be able to do it the first time,” he said, laughing.
“I guess you’re just a good teacher,” I said.
“You know, there’s another way to get out of this,” he said with a sly smile on his face.
“Oh, yeah? How?” I asked.
He leaned up so that his face was centimeters from mine. His lips were right there, his breath mingling with mine, just about to touch my lips. I leaned down to kiss him, but he laid back down on the ground. I lost my balance because he moved so fast, so I had to let go of him and catch myself. But when I did, he moved from under me, flipping me over again, and straddled me again.
“See, I told you there was another way,” he said, smiling.
“And who taught you that one?” I asked.
“No one,” he said. “I just made it up on the spot.”
“How did you know it was going to work?”
“I didn’t,” he said.
I smiled and then leaned up toward him, the same way he did to me.
“Oh, no. You’re not going to get me again,” he said.
“Who says I was trying to?” I asked, lying back down on the ground.
“Well, in that case…”
He leaned down toward me then. His lips went to the top of my scar, trailing kisses all the way down to the end. He continued down my neck, and then back up, stopping right below my ear. I turned my head so that I would be able to kiss him. And when his lips met mine, I felt him smile.
But it didn’t last for long. Right when he did, I heard a low thrumming sound. I looked over his shoulder but couldn’t see anything in the sky. And then a Directrix helicopter flew overhead.
We jumped up and ran toward our gear. We stood absolutely still against the tree, trying not to move a muscle. A couple other helicopters flew overhead a minute after. And when we couldn’t hear anymore coming, just the others heading in the direction they were going, I sighed.
“I wonder where they’ve been,” Kade said.
“Who knows? But I think we should go back and actually be lookouts,” I said. “We haven’t really been doing a very good job.”
I started to lean down to gather up my gear, but then Kade’s hand snaked through mine. He pulled me toward him and his other hand went behind my neck. He looked in my eyes for a second, and then kissed me. I closed my eyes, leaning into him, but then be pulled away.
“Sorry, I just had to do it,” he said, smiling.
“It’s fine with me,” I said, smiling back.