The Darkest Minds: Red

Twenty-One

"How can Clancy teach you how to be a Red? There are no other Reds here." Liam questioned.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. Honestly, I don't think I need it. I mean, I have my powers under control, right?" I looked up at the two boys when I asked the question.

"Yeah, It's just... these kids have never seen a Red before. So maybe he wants them to be accustomed to Reds?" Chubs suggested.

"Chubs, don't you think this is strange? She's the only Red here, and he wants to teach her how to use her abilities. Ruby I get, but Lily? How can an Orange teach her how to be a Red?"

"Yeah. Besides, I don't think I can trust him. He told me the other day that he learned from what he saw. But there are no Reds here, so how exactly can he do that?"  I added.

Chubs put a hand to his head and groaned in frustration. "I don't know, guys. This is all... too overwhelming. You overload yourself sometimes, Lily. I need some time to breathe."

"I'm sorry for being so worried about my fate," I called after him as he went down to the lake. He made no effort to respond. I huffed, then turned to Liam.

"You believe me, right?"

He wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Of course I do, darlin'."

         ********

Two weeks passed like a page tearing from an old book.

Ruby spent most of her time in Clancy's office, him teaching her how to be an Orange. He still had his daily meeting, and I could see her wait on the other side of the room.

The only time I've ever seen Ruby was during some of our meals, but most of the time Clancy had food brought to the office. Chubs, more often than not, was a ghost- always working, looking for ways to catch Clancy's attention by stitching up the kid who split her lip or suggesting a more efficient way to harvest the garden.

Liam and I were still on watch with the security team. We were scheduled for the second and third watch, respectively. Though, I never got the chance to see him as often as I would like. He was usually too tired to stumble back to the cabin after his shift, and spent most of the days sleeping in the tents set up at the entrance. The next day, he returned to the cabin.

When it was my shift, I could see how exhausting the task was. Twelve hours of just running around the camp is definitely not something I'm used to doing. When I finished my shift, I stumbled into one of the tents, then collapsed to the floor.

Zu, for her part, delighted in showing us what she has learned in school, and the tricks the other Yellows had taught her outside of it. 

A few days later, she stopped wearing her gloves. It only really hit us one night, where she was brushing out Ruby's hair. I stood up to turn on the lights, but Zu snapped her fingers, and the overhead light blinked out.

I looked at her with a grin on my face. She smiled at my reaction, and before I knew it, she wrapped her arms around me. I widened my eyes in surprise, but then I returned the gesture.