We Promised

Chapter 7

The house has been quiet for some time. I assume they're sleeping but I don't. I can imagine what purgatory my mind has for me when I do. I'll dream of the boy who gave me a chance, I'll dream of a little crazy boy, named Liam. My chest tightens at the thought of his name, and I push him away. I close him out of my head, shoving the memories of him into a box, and tuck it into the very back of my mind.

Guilt climbs up my throat, and I fight walking up the steps and telling him to escape. I do not. My feet are glued to the wood beneath me. My thoughts are cut off by yelling, a series of guns cocking, and sirens blaring through the front door. Bang, bang, bang. The door swings open with a crash, Sentinels filing in with guns. "Upstairs," I say quietly, my shoulders drooping with exhaustion, with guilt. Tashi appears next to me and I jump. "We gotta get you out of here," he whispers in my ear. I sputter, struggling to form words. He's next to me, then in the kitchen, then in the parlor, then back next to me, without taking a step. "Yes, wrap your head around it. People with abilities, given by a pill, all that crap. Give me your hand." I shake my head again. I can't go with him. I'm going home. He taps his foot impatiently. "Fine. Your call." He disappears again, without any remnants of him to follow. Jaxon fights down the stairs, and he lunges for me. "Ilvera!" His shouts fall on deaf ears. I close my eyes so I don't have to watch them escort him outside. The past month has begun to eat at me. The bad memories and the good ones too. My heart falls as I follow the sound of sirens, the lights flashing from behind my eyelids. The door to the transport is my bright entrance, my heaven's gate and that's where I escape. I cannot face him now.

They've cordoned the whole street, and I glance at the faces poking out of the door to their home, trying to see what the commotion is about. I ignore them all. I settle into my seat, guilt trailing cold fingers down my spine. "Your majesty! Are you alright?" I don't speak. I only rest my head on the window and stare as the city begins to blur past me. I feel empty inside, rotten. I'm disgusted with myself. At least everyone else got away.

I haven't even walked past the gatehouse when they run for me, all three of them. I walk into his arms in silence, and he hugs me tight. "Are you alright?" I've looked forward to this hug for a month, yet I can't bring it in me to feel joy. I built my escape on the capture of someone else, who tried his best to welcome me into his world. It's something my parents would have done. I want to throw up in the moat below the drawbridge I'm standing on, but I hold firm. "I'm alright," I mumble against his shoulder.

I walk through the double doors of the castle, and break away from my brother, stopping them from their hassling pace. "What is it?" The words stick to my throat, and I debate asking the question. "Did you know whether I was in that military base or not before you bombed it?" Blayne's mouth opens, but Evelyn nods her head. "They caught you on a camera, robbing a compound a few moments before." Blayne steps away from Evelyn. "You bombed them?" I watch my brother's anger flare up, and he takes a few calming breaths. "I don't exactly have to run everything by you, brother. They're our enemies," Eve states, her voice like our mother's. Our mother thought everything she did was justified like she didn't need to explain any course of action she decided to take. "Not even if you could have killed your sister in the process?" I ask quietly, taking the words out of Blayne's mouth. "I didn't think about it. I was just trying to strike first and strike hard. Surely, you understand this, Vera." My teeth grind together, bone on bone, and I try to have patience. "You killed innocents, Evelyn. You killed a little boy."

"Ilvera, since when do you care about that species?" I stare at her as if she's lost her head. "Dare I remind you that your brother is that species?" Words scratch at my tongue, trying to escape my mouth. I let them. "As for the 'terrorist' we have in the dungeons? He saved me from dying in an explosion you caused." I leave them in the wing by themselves. I cannot stand to look at her any longer. She's inherited Father's trait of betrayal.