Light the Way

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August 9

Avia yanked me (literally yanked me) from my sleep this morning to a bright room. She was sitting on the edge of my bed, face wide with interest.

"So what happened last night?" she asked.

I groaned. "Avia, let me sleep. I'm tired."

"It's midday. Get up."

I pulled the blankets up over my head. She pulled them back down. "You promised you'd tell me what you were doing last night, remember?"

I didn't.

Sighing, I said, "Later. I'll tell you later."

"No. Now. Or I'm gonna tell mum you left the house last night." She stood and made for the door.

I bolted upright. "Avia, don't!" She stopped mid-step. "Don't. I'll tell you okay? Just – just give me a sec."

Slowly she turned around, watching as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I drew my legs out from under the sheets and sat on the edge of the bed, my feet pressed up against the cool wooden floor. She stood there with her arms crossed, waiting.

"I went to a meet-up," I said. "Of sorts."

"Who'd you meet?"

"Not anyone really. I mean, I didn't speak to anyone – except the door man or whatever but I suppose that doesn't really count. Well, it does count, it's just that it doesn't–"

"Kiran – you're rambling. Just tell me why you were there."

"It was about the Black Wave," I said, the words tumbling from my mouth. "I got an invite the other day when walking home from Mia's place. They're a group of people who want to stop it, and who believe they know how."

"Is this a joke?" she asked, eyebrows raised in an incredulous expression. "The Black Wave? Kiran, that's a scary bedtime story – not a real thing."

"Then how do you explain Lower Sector?"

"Power outage. Obviously." She rolled her eyes.

"They don't get any light, Avia. Not even from the sun."

"And how would you know that?"

"How do I know that!? For Christ's sake, it's on the bloody news!"

Her forehead scrunched up in a frown. "Okay, okay, no need to get angry about it."

I released a breath. "You're the one who wanted to know what I was doing last night."

"Yeah, but–" She paused, a thought seeming to dawn on her. "It's safe, right? This meeting thing? Can you trust whoever is organising it?"

"Sure, I mean, it's practically a public event. There were kids there younger than me and really old people and for the most part they just seemed like average people."

She bit her lip, eyes still far from being untroubled. "What do they want you to do?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. They gave us the option to sign up – to join them – and–"

"Did you?"

"Yeah, of course. I want to help, Avia. Despite what you may think, the Black Wave is very, very real."

She looked away.

"Anyway, I signed up. They told us they'd contact us soon and that was it. I came straight home. Happy now?"

Avia blew out a breath. "I guess. Just promise me you won't do anything dangerous. Promise that if they ask you to risk your safety, you'll say no."

"I don't know if I can."

"Just promise! Or I'm telling mum right now. I'll tell her everything."

"Avia, I can't–"

She moved again for the door. "I'm going," she warned.

I looked around in desperation, my gaze flicking between her and my feet. Just as she was about to disappear from my sight, I jumped up and grabbed her wrist. She stopped and stared at me.

"Okay," I said. "I'll try. I'll try to stay safe."

She watched me for a moment longer. "That's not good enough, Kiran." Then she yanked her wrist free and disappeared into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.