Where Are You?

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Fourteen

Nine

The sudden adrenaline rush the ambush gave me was enough to push me to drive North for at least half an hour. Madeleine tried her best to stay quiet as she cried in the back, and my heart ached for her. She had killed those people - or, at least, we never saw anyone crawl out. But then again, we didn't stick around long enough to find out. I wanted to reassure her that she had saved us, that it was going to be alright in the end. However, that wouldn't bring back those people she had accidentally murdered, and I was forced to drive until Adam volunteered to take over. We swapped seats, and I sat with Madeleine in the backseat, wanting to reach out and comfort her without acting on the impulse.

Madeleine was slumped over against the door with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her shoulders would occasionally shake with sobs as she tried to calm herself down to no avail. After a few minutes, despite the yawning and sleepiness, I reached over and put my arm around her shoulders, gently pulling her closer to me. She made a squeak as she practically collapsed in my arms. I held her against my chest softly.

"I-I didn't m-m-mean-" she blubbered before falling back into her own choked sobs. I wiped her face with my shirt and held her as she wheezed.

"Where's your inhaler?" I asked quietly.

Wheezing and shaking, she slipped her hand into her pocket and brought it out. I helped steady her hand as she used it. When Adam glanced back at me through the mirror, I just shook my head. He looked away with a pained expression.

Madeleine tried to explain herself, but I didn't let her. I rubbed her back as she laid against me.

"It was an accident," I whispered in her ear. "We'll practice with your legacies soon. We'll get them under control."

She gave a silent nod before hesitantly closing her eyes. I felt my eyes drooping as they dared me to fall asleep holding her again. I kept remembering the look on her face when she realized I wasn't in control when... well, when the accident happened yesterday. I couldn't put her through that again, so I waited until I heard her soft breathing against my chest before I gently laid her back against the door. Then, I crawled up to the passenger seat and stretched my legs.

"I'll get us closer to Plum Island, but then we have to stop and rest. Or at least I will," Adam said quietly. "We're exhausted, and it's not going to be good for any of us if we're dragging ass going to fight."

I agreed. "But we can't rest for long."

We had already left our people inside for way too long. I dreaded to think about what was going on inside...

"We'll rest and then attack at sunrise," he said. I watched as he glanced up in the mirror back at Madeleine, and I felt a twinge of rage build up inside me. Was that... jealousy? Was I seriously jealous of a Mog? Nah...

But they did spend a lot of time together while you were unconscious.

Thank you, Brain, but shut up.

We agreed as I shifted so that I could easily fall asleep. My back was killing me, and I was ready for seven muscle relaxers and a bottle of Scotch. As I closed my eyes, I began to imagine a party. Yeah, a party... Once everything quieted down and we kicked some Mog ass, I was going to throw the biggest bash of the year with a lot of liquor.

I smiled sleepily. Oh that sounds fun.

And soon enough, as I was thinking what color decorations we should buy, I felt myself slip away. My sleep deprivation caught up with me, and I fell asleep.

....

John

I was beginning to think that Nine and Madeleine had somehow gotten killed in Chicago, but I didn't dare express this view to the others.

None of us had tried to use our legacies since the mishap when Ella was taken. Marina had lost her ice legacy, and Six had lost her telekinesis. I wished there was some way I could use my Ximic to try to use telepathy without whatever force taking our legacies knowing, but I never tested it. I didn't want to risk it just in case a situation came up where we would need it.

Sam had changed drastically since we had arrived in our holding cell. His attitude was meaner as he glared at every Mog servant who brought us changes of clothes every day and two meals a day. It had been a week, and they only allowed us to bathe twice by blind folding us again and dragging us out to an expansive dark room. There, they stripped us bare and sprayed us with rough hose pipes. Sam and I weren't as embarrassed, but considering the male Mogs kept pointing and mumbling in their language about Marina and Six, they were very uncomfortable as they hid themselves as well as they could behind their arms.

Last time, the person in charge of the water was pestering Marina constantly by spraying her in the face and chest, trying their best to get a reaction out of her that wasn't embarrassed silence. I stepped in front of her and took the humiliation as I glared at the Mog. He kept trying to go around me, but I would step in front of the water. They never tried that tactic on Six, who was more open with her body, but I could already see that Sam was ready to step up to the plate if they did.

Despite losing her major legacy and being publicly humiliated by a bunch of sexual perverts, things got worse for Marina. Just after our shower, her period came. They laughed at her and forced her to sit in her own blood for a day until they brought her a change of clothes. Even when they would drag us out to the toilet area, they wouldn't give her any kind of pads or tampons. Then, the process started over again the next day, and she would be even more humiliated.

We tried to make the best of a bad situation by assuring her that we understood, but that only furthered her embarrassment. She kept her head low as she sat in the corner of the room, trying her best to blend in with the rock walls around us.

It had been a week since the John Hancock Center was attacked. We all expected Nine and Madeleine to be here by now, ready to kick some ass, take some names, and bust us out. Once, when Marina and Sam had both fallen asleep, Six touched my knee as we sat together on the hard floor.

She whispered, "Do you think they're coming?"

I smiled tightly over at her as I nodded. "Of course. He won't let us down."

Would he?

We worried about Ella almost as much as we worried about what we were going to do.  She never came back, and when we asked one of the guards about her, they just grunted and left.

I even caught myself listening for the cries of Anna or Gregory Paisley again. I hadn't heard him since we had been trapped here, but I had heard the mother twice. I would catch myself staying up late wondering what they were doing to them, and none of the answers I came up with were any good. Were they stealing their legacies like they stole ours? Were they holding them prisoner? Had they joined the Mogadorian side of this war?

I had no idea what was going on, but I did know that we were trapped between a rock and a hard place.

I looked around at my three friends - my family that I never knew I needed. Six had her head resting in Sam's lap as they both slept restlessly. Marina, too, was sleeping, as the blood changed the color of her pants from white to red. I wished I could have been able to help her, but I didn't know of a way.

I rolled over onto my side and watched the door. No footsteps shown from the dim light underneath, nor could I hear anything. I wanted there to be a sign that would tell me it was safe to try to break out. I wished I could have thrown a fire ball and burnt down the door that trapped us inside. I briefly considered it before remembering the possible consequences of my actions.

Then I turned and looked at the tiny barred window that let the moonlight slip through. I yawned sleepily as I lost myself in daydreams.

Where are you, Nine? Where are you, Madeleine?



Alone - a Lorien Legacies fanfictionOù les histoires vivent. Découvrez maintenant