Damage Me

Chapter 32

We're back in the training rooms, when Eva pulls me aside.

"Never seen you up there before in person," she says, raising an eyebrow.

"Not a big deal, I do it all the time," she smiles.

Her face transforms when she smiles, it's beautiful.

"Still,"

I offer a small smile.

"Oh," I say, a thought occurring to me. "Did you find out who did that display with the fire? I thought I knew everyone's gifts here."

Eva smirks.
"You're looking at her."

I widen my eyes.

"That was you?"

"You're surprised?" Shes enjoying my confusion.

"Well—yeah. I didn't even know you had a gift. How could I not feel it?"

She shrugs. "No idea."

"Is that it? Fire? Or does it include heat, too?"

"That and other things."

"Like?"

She exhales a deep breath.

"Water. Manipulating it. That can turn into ice, once you've had enough training. It took a while to figure that out."

I'm staring at her in amazement. "You're joking."

She shakes her head, smiling wider.

I'm about to say something else when Aaron calls me over.

"We have to go, we have a lot to get done."

I nod, once.

"See you later," Eva says.

I grin.

I walk over to Aaron, and we step into the elevator. Going up.

• • • • • •

Aaron and I have been working out the details for tomorrow for nearly 4 hours. We spent an hour of that time reconvening with Delalieu.

We're already on our way back down to the training quarters so we can update the group.

"He'll be dead tomorrow."
Aaron says this suddenly.

I blink a few times.

"Yeah," I say quietly. "Just in time, then."

"I guess," he responds, voice almost a whisper.

The elevator signals we're on the floor.
The doors are barely open when we hear Kent's irritated voice.

We step out.

"You're not missing anything," he's saying. "It's a stupid name. His name is Paris."

We spare each other a glance.

"How did you know that?" We ask, dumbly. Shocked.

Everyone spins to face us.

He's one of them.

Kent blinks at us, then at the group.

"How did you know that?" Aaron demands.

We walk right through the group and Aaron grabs Kent's shirt, pinning him against the wall.

"Who do you answer to, soldier?" Aaron and I shout. "Who is your commander?" He shouts again.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Kent yells.

He tries breaking away from Aaron, but I shove him back as hard as I can against the concrete, and Aaron grabs him will both fists.

"How long have you been working for him?"
He shouts again. "How long have you been infiltrating our base—"

"Warner—" Juliette says, "please, he's not a spy—"

"There's no way he could know something like that," Aaron says.

"Not unless he is a member of the supreme guard, where even then it would be questionable," I say. "A foot soldier would never have that kind of information—"

"I'm not a Supreme Soldier," Kent tries to say, "I swear—"

"Liar," We bark, Aaron shoving him harder against the wall.

"Why were you sent here? What is your mission? Has he sent you to kill us?"

"Warner," Juliette calls again, running up until she's in our line of vision. "Please—he's not working for the Supreme, I promise—"

"How can you know?" Aaron glances at her. "I'm telling you, it's impossible for him to know this—"

"He's your brother," Juliette's chokes out. "Please. He's your brother. You have the same father."

My whole body goes rigid.

"What?" I breathe.

"It's true," she says. "And I know you both can tell I'm not lying." She shakes her head. "He's your brother. Your father was leading a double life." Triple life, I correct in my head, automatically. "He abandoned Adam and James a long time ago. After Adams mom died."

Aaron drops Kent to the floor.

"No," we say, breathlessly.

"Tell them." Juliette says to Kent, desperate. "Tell them the truth."

He doesn't say anything.

"Dammit, Adam, tell them!"

"You knew all this time?" Aaron turns to Juliette. "You knew this and yet you said nothing?"

I look around the room for Eva.

Did she know?

But when I lock eyes with her, I realize right away she had no idea.

Her jaw is dropped, eyes wide. She blinks, I look at the floor.

"I wanted to—I really, really wanted to, but I didn't think it was my place—"

"No," I say, shaking my head. "No, this doesn't make any sense."

"How—how is that even possible?" Aaron says, looking up, around the room.

My eyes land on Kent at the same time as my brother.

He's our brother. And James, that's sweet little boy—he's my brother, too? I have 4 brothers.
My god.

"Tell me the truth," Aaron says angrily, walking up to him. I don't move. But I watch as the scene unfolds, not wanting to believe it.

"Tell me! I have the right to know!" He shouts.

Everything is dead silent.

"It's true," Kent says.

Two words.

A sharp intake of breath. I run my hands through my hair, down my face. No.

"How?" I ask, breathing hard.

And then slowly, little by little, the truth is pulled out.

One two three.

The tower is crumbling.

• • • • • •

Super short chapter, I know! I just thought this would be a good place to end it