"Spin the bottle?" Aiden laughed at this. "Are you serious?"
Em held up an empty beer bottle from the ground and smirked. "You in or what?"
He sat up to leave but Riley pulled him back down. "This will be fun," she said. Riley took the bottle from Em and spun it on the ground. It pointed towards Colton. She gave him a devilish smile and asked, "Truth or dare?"
A look of terror flashed across his face before he answered, "Truth."
"As expected." She tapped her finger on her chin. "Okay, answer honestly." Her eyes shot at him fiercely. "Did you ever have a thing for Violet?"
Violet and Colton immediately froze in their spots. He turned beet red and looked away. "Um, I don't know what you mean by that."
Riley rolled her eyes and slid the bottle to him. "I knew you would say that."
He awkwardly took the bottle and spun it rapidly in silence, watching it closely as it twirled and landed on Violet. His eyes widened. "Uh, truth or dare?"
Violet stiffened and stared at the bottle nervously. "I guess...dare."
Em whistled loudly. "Atta girl."
"Make it a good one." Riley laughed.
They were all intently waiting for Aiden's dare but Colton's expression grew serious. He faced Violet and told her directly what he wanted her to do. "Go home."
Nobody spoke a word.
"What?" Violet questioned. Her eyes scanned his body language, hoping it was some kind of joke.
"Go home," he repeated, "Get away from all this."
Violet furrowed her brows, shocked by his wishes. Colette stood up abruptly. "Are you joking? She needs us, especially right now."
"I just want her to be safe," Colton argued. "This whole war thing is not a joke." He stood up as well, frustration seeping through his body. "We could all die here. Don't you get that? We don't have time for these stupid games."
Colette barked back at him. "If that's your concern, why don't we just all go home?"
"She's right. I thought we were all in this together," Violet asserted. "Look, I'm not human anymore remember? It doesn't matter where I go now."
"But I-" Colton started.
"You said it yourself. The old Colton is gone. Is it so hard to get it through your head that the old me is now gone too?" She was almost shouting now. "I'm not someone to protect anymore. You need all the help that you can get." She glared at him, anger bubbling inside her. "I've made it this far and I'm stuck like this. I'm not going home." Her eyes grew red and her heart beat quickened at an uncontrollable pace. "I-" She panted. "I don't need you to save me. I can save myself." She was about to continue until Aiden stopped her.
"Come with me," he said and grabbed her by the wrist. Soon they were gone, leaving Colton and the rest of the group speechless.
They all sat quietly, listening to the footsteps of Aiden and Violet fade away. Colton stared at the others in shame of his choice of words. He closed his eyes and started, "Listen, I didn't mean to upset anybody. I guess I'm just projecting my fear on the next few days." Tears formed in his eyes but he blinked them away. "I just can't stop thinking about any one of you dying. It's not just Violet; it's everyone." His body began to shake; it was like the weather turned ice cold. "I'm sorry if it seemed like I cared for you guys any less."
"Then why do you always act like you're protecting Violet?" Riley croaked, her voice breaking and eyes eager for an answer. "Why?"
It took him a moment to think about it before he finally came to a conclusion. "Because protecting her seemed like the only thing I had under control."
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.