His Only Hope

Our Weirdo Family

Viktor turned to face you, his eyes still wide. He seemed to cringe when they landed on your face, dancing over your still very visible scar and many cuts and bruises.

"I need you to not tell anyone about what you just heard," he said desperately, striding over and placing his hands on your shoulders. "It's not what you think, okay? It wasn't Harlan's fault."

"What-"

"There's something bigger to deal with, anyway. The Sparrows want us to hand over you and Harlan."

Your mouth dropped open in shock, your mind whirring. You were too confused to process any of this at all.

"Why?" was all you managed to whisper, blinking hard.

"Harlan because he killed their siblings," Viktor said, slowly removing his hands from your shoulders when he realized they were hurting you. "You because you're powerful. And they know that you could beat them, especially after what happened with Christopher."

"The stupid metal cube?" you scoffed before shaking your head. "This is ridiculous. Why would you hand me over, anyway?"

"Because otherwise," Viktor said slowly, not meeting your eyes, "they're going to track us down one by one and kill us. Maybe not Sloane, but the other four will. And after today... I think they're capable of it."

You swallowed hard.

"And... they believed that you would just... give me up? Just like that?"

"They said they wouldn't kill you," he added quickly. "Either subdue you, or, if you were cooperative, let you join their team."

You pressed your hand to your forehead, groaning.

"I don't want to be a Sparrow! I'm not going to help them!"

"Me and Luther told them that," Viktor promised. "You're not going anywhere."

"But if I don't..."

"Tapes, I need my tapes," Harlan was muttering, and then he began anxiously walking down the hall. Viktor chased after him, shouting, and you watched awkwardly, unsure what to do.

If you chose to go with the Sparrows, you would be unable to help your siblings fix the timeline or defend themselves again the Sparrows if they decided to attack. But if you didn't... there was a large chance that your family would be killed. Even if you tried to run, or promised to always stick together so that you were never vulnerable, the paradox would kill you before the Sparrows did. They would only distract you from the bigger problems at hand. And perhaps if you went to them, talked it out, they would realize that everyone was in danger and they needed to team up with your family. Sloane would likely agree with you, and the girl who controlled the crows seemed reasonable. Christopher - well, he was a metal cube, so who knew? Ben was a definite no, but Oliver... he confused you. One moment, he was good, and the next he was evil. It was a fifty-fifty shot, but you had to try or you would hate yourself forever.

That's the only good decision here, you realized, closing your eyes. They promised not to hurt me. This is right.

You thought about going to your room to get more rest, but you felt jittery, like you were about to explode. You couldn't tell anyone what you were doing - they would try to stop you.

Except maybe Allison.

But that didn't matter. You needed to leave as soon as possible to convince the Sparrows.

You thundered down the stairs, heart racing. You were just about to burst through the door when you felt someone grab the back of your shirt, yanking you back. You gasped, surprised, and tried to wrench free of their grip, but they were strong. Alarmed, you spun around to see who it was.