Caught

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Who's side are you on?"

My voice bounced off the walls, creating echos in the room. Aidan, Tyson and his dad stood in silence as they watched the argument between the siblings in front of them.

"I'm on your side, obviously," Spencer said. "But mom would never hurt innocent people."

"What about us?" I asked. "What about all those kids at the Institute? What about Jessica and Alyssa? Are we not innocent people?"

Spencer ran his hand through his hair, frustration on his face. "You know what I mean. We're part of the Institute. We know what's going on under everyone's noses. They don't know. They've heard rumors about all this but no one knows that it's really, truly happening."

"We're part of the Institute?" I repeated. "No, I was never one of them, I was just one of their victims. You, on the other hand? You probably are gonna run back, being mommy's precious little boy."

I was leaning on my crutch, my left toe was the only part of that leg touching the floor. My hair was wild, since it hasn't really been properly brushed since a few days ago. Spencer stood there, hands in his pockets.

"Lauren, do you not believe me?" He asked. King Jacin was about to move towards us, probably trying to stop the argument. We both looked at his, shooting dirty glances. He slowly just backed away.

The fact that we had the nerve to do that to a person of authority says something about us, don't you think?

"Lauren, I've known her longer than you have, trust me, mom wouldn't have the nerve to send a bunch of guards to the ball," Spencer said. His ocean blue eyes didn't move off my face.

"You're covering for her!"

"I am not!" His tone was harsh. Mean. A tone I didn't know he was capable of doing.

He sounded a bit like mom when she was really angry.

I looked at him with fear in my eyes: this wasn't like him, it really wasn't. I bit my lip, trying to prevent tears from falling. His words hurt, they really did. Why couldn't he just-

"Lauren, I think your brother does have a point," King Jacin finally spoke. I wanted to leap at him, pin him against the ground. But that's what the Institute wants me to do, right? Pin him to the ground and slowly kill him?

I resisted.

"I know your mother," He continued. "I grew up with hurt. She'd - she got herself into some crazy things but she wouldn't hurt or scare people if it wasn't necessary."

Spencer shot me an I-told-you-so face, making me shrink inside. "But... she..." The words got stuck in my throat.

"If it makes you feel safer, I will make sure there is backup available tonight, Lauren," The king assured. "Now, I must go help with preparations, don't break anything." He looked at Tyson as he said that, a look of guilt on his face. Something tells me he had a history of breaking things in his father's study.

It was when he left that I moved to leap towards him. I dropped my crutch and set my hands ablaze, sparks of lightning coming from my fingertips. Spencer moved fast as well, grabbing a sword on display behind him. A sword. A freaking sword. First of all, so 18th century. Second, those blades are sharp.

Not that I know from experience, but you can learn a lot from movies.

The other two boys were fast to act. Tyson grabbed Spencer's left arm, pulling it back. He grabbed a hold of the sword handle, grabbing onto it tightly making sure Spencer doesn't swing.