Keeper of the Lost Cities: Rebuild [COMPLETED]

Chapter Nine - WYLIE

Wylie liked to think he had long since left fear behind.

There had been a time when he would run; when things were too much to bear, and he didn't know what else to do.

When his mom had faded.

When his dad had been taken.

When he'd seen Sophie for the first time.

Sophie, the reason behind his father's exile. It was ironic, really, how she had been the one to teach him to never surrender to his fear. And Linh, someone he never would have met had it not been for Sophie, had taught him not to be afraid.

But lately he wasn't sure if he had stayed that way.

He glittered onto large stone steps, steps he'd walked a thousand times, and started the long trudge upward to Solreef. He was meeting with Tiergan and Prentice to discuss an alternate residence for his dad.

After learning their old house had been occupied, and after moving from the Stone House to Solreef, they'd decided Prentice should live with his sister for a while. But then Lesedi's accident had happened, and Everfalls wasn't safe anymore. Wylie finally convinced Prentice to consider staying at Solreef again—not permanently. Just until Wylie found them a new home.

His search had barely begun upon graduating from the Silver Tower before the Purities started to march and Wylie had been called as an Emissary to regulate the humans' transition from the Forbidden Cities to the Neutral Territories. Now he was witness to the humans' pain as they left their homes.

It was all the more reason to choose his own home carefully. If he did not watch, it could be taken from him and his father, like so many had been taken before. Like the humans' had been.

The ones who came to the Lost Cities were the brave ones. The ones willing to risk their old lives for a better future. It was admirable. Inspiring.

Well, it should have been.

But all Wylie could see in their stoic expressions was wasted courage. The Lost Cities weren't as safe as they used to be. The Purities weren't backing down, and what if... what if they made a move? What if they became a new Neverseen? What if they ruined this chance to rebuild, ruined the humans' lives?

Like the Neverseen had ruined Wylie's.

Except this time it was partially his fault.

For years he had blamed Sophie for Prentice's mind break. And then when he'd found out his mom was murdered, he had been so angry. Angry at everything. Angry that he hadn't found out sooner, that he hadn't seen the signs.

He hated Gisela. Hated her so much. Some days it was even difficult to look Keefe in the eyes—eyes that were so much like his mother's.

Yet this time it wasn't anyone's fault but his own. He had voted to wait on the Human Reinstatement Program. Everything Dex had said made sense. The intelligent species weren't ready for the change. It was all happening too quickly—so quickly people felt like they were losing control.

And when people lost control, they made rash decisions. They set fires on an innocent city. They kidnapped people and tortured them.

They marched in their capital city, protesting the leaders' effort.

Wylie hadn't tried hard enough to stop the Black Swan or the Council from making a mistake. And now he had to live with that. He had to do all he could to patch up the holes. As of right now, that meant helping with the very thing he'd advised everyone not to do.