Elites of Eden: Yarrow Not Rowan

Chapter 23

I feel someone shake me awake and I sit up quickly. It's Lark. She presses her finger to my mouth. I am silent. I'm so memorized by her. She beckons me to follow her. I look around at the others all sleeping in this huge sewer the size of a school hallway. I follow Lark until we're at a part of the sewer alone.

"The drugs have worn off and things are more clear," She says. Before she can say anything else she leans forward and kisses me. When I pull away I'm breathless. "Oh, Rowan, I can't believe I let them confuse me. I'm so glad you're alive! Is it true you remember?"

"Yes," I tell her. Lark seems to be relieved...then dreadful again.

"Rowan...promise me even if I don't remember you you'll never leave me," She says weakly. I take her beautiful face into my hands.

"Lark, I promise you I will never leave you."

Breathlessly she says, "Rowan...I love you."

"I love you too," I say. Tears fill my eyes. Not from joy, although I'm so happy to remember her, but from sadness. Sadness because I do remember her, and I do love her. But the past month is enough to show me who I belong with. I lean forward and kiss her passionately, knowing I will never kiss her again.

~~~~~~~~

I wake up and hear rustling all around me. The others are getting their things ready for the day ahead. The day the real revolution starts. I feel a hand caress my hair as I wake.

"It's time to get up. You have a long day ahead of you," Lachlan says, still caressing me.

"Another long day you mean," I tell him. I sit up, I'm already awake. I look at him, and like the others, it feels like the first time in seven months. I let my eyes linger on him and he knows what I'm thinking, cause his eyes are lingering on me too.

"Do you really remember?" He asks. I nod. He takes a shaky breath, nods, then walks away before I can say another word.

"Let's move out," Flint says. We start to move as a group through the sewers. I find myself walking beside my dad.

"So, what happened in my surgery?" I ask. He immediately grins.

"Well, I want to start by saying Flame is a genius and did all she could in your surgery. The lens you had left was like poison. As long as you had some connection left to them they would block everything."

"So why can I remember now? Did you sever the connection?" I ask.

"Not only did I sever the connection, I took the lens out." I stop in my tracks. That's why my right eye was hurting more than my left.

"Are both of my eyes second child eyes?" I ask. He nods. I'm happy to hear it.

"You do have some visible scaring in your right eye, and I don't think it will go away," He says, but I could care less. I have my memory back and my eyes back. For the first time in a long time I'm getting good news. Flint stops and opens a hatch above us and we all climb up the latter. We climb to the surface and there's a huge group of people. Probably hundreds. Flint stands on top of a pile of planks, obviously made for speeches. They were expecting us.

"My people," Flint starts. "They destroyed our home. Our tree...but not our spirits."

They immediately start to cheer. Lachlan, Rook, Ash, Lark, Flame, Dad, and I stand beside the stage, watching silently.

"We are safe, and still fighting...they have accomplished nothing." More cheers. "We will continue to fight, all of us. Every man, woman, and child above twelve...please step forward."

The whole crowd seems to take a step forward, their chests puffed out proudly. I see children step forward too. Their faces proud and ready. It makes me sick. I look at Lachlan and he has a grim expression on his face too. I take his hand as if it will protect me from this horrible war.

Flint continues, "You will fight proudly for your freedom. All of our freedom. We will attack head on from now on. Matching their aggression is the only way to avenge what we have lost."

"This isn't about vengeance!" Someone yells.

"What good is freedom if we're dead?" Another yells.

"Let the girl speak!" A mans voice yells above the others. For a second I don't know what they mean...until I see that they're all looking at me. Rumors have spread about Aaron and the forest. Flint glares at me. He steps off the platform and I take his place.

"Is it true?" A woman pleads. I feel so nervous looking at all their hopeful eyes, but Yarrow stabilizes me, giving me the strength to stand with pride.

"Yes, it is true." My voice starts off shaky but then levels out. "There is a forest beyond Eden, waiting for all of us. And Aaron...he had good intentions, but he killed millions of people."

I hear gasps and cries of hope.

"How do you know? What's your proof?" Some shout.

"I have Aaron's written confession, and I saw the forest with my own eyes," I tell them.

"Why wouldn't the Ecopan tell us?" The people wonder. I take a deep breath. I'm about to change there worlds.

"Eden is just a test. This is all a test to see who is worthy to go back into the wild." I continue to answer question after question for what seems like forever. After probably thirty minutes they stand silent and hopeful. Flint nods at me and I see respect and approval in his eyes. He tries to take the stage again but they stop him.

A man calls out, "No. We want to know what she thinks. Let her talk...Rowan, give a speech!"

I'm taken aback by this request. I look at Lachlan and he's grinning. Everyone starts to cheer for me to give a speech. Lachlan, still looking at me, is one of them.

I take a nervous, shaky breath then start the speech by saying, "Brothers and sisters, you are the Children Of Eden."