The Fade

51

Sorry about the long wait... Here is it, the much anticipated finale!!!

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We walk down the street in pairs, sticking close to one another and constantly scanning our surroundings for danger.

"Where in the city do you think they're gathering everyone?" Ori asks as we turn a corner and the White House is finally out of sight for the last time. "It would be a long walk to have everyone walk to the Alliance's headquarters. And that's even if there's anything left of it after the fire."

"They could just be keeping everyone in the National Airport as they fly in," Jamison says.

"That's an awfully small place to keep everyone, though. No way they'd be able to fit—" I stop midsentence, and Jamison gives me a weird look. "The National Mall."

"Outside? In this weather?"

I shrug. "Think about it. They can fit at least two million people in there. It's the biggest public space in the D.C. area."

"You might just be right." He sighs. "Guess we'd better turn around."

"God. We spent all that time at the White House, I forgot how much walking fricking sucks," Ori says. "Makes me miss that stupid van."

Maeve doesn't say anything, just bites her lip, and Beck and Kerris look just as lost and out-of-place as usual.

We walk back toward the White House, bypassing it this time for the Washington Memorial and the Mall.

Sure enough, the closer we get, the more and more obvious it is where everyone has gathered. It's a wonder we didn't hear them from the White House.

We slip into the crowd, me grabbing Jamison's hand and Ori latching on to my backpack so we can stick together.

The people press close, through no fault of their own, making me claustrophobic and panicky. Even more so when I hear their own panicked conversations, just about feel the waves of fear rolling off of them.

"Where are we going?" I ask loudly.

Jamison doesn't answer, just squeezes my hand more tightly and continues to push forward through the crowd.

After what feels like forever, we near what seems to be a break in the crowd. And then I see why.

We've reached the front of the National Mall. The Capitol Reflecting Pool stretches before us, dark and still.

"I hope you have a plan," I say as Jamison tugs on my hand yet again, pulling me into the open.

"Something like that." He raises up on his tiptoes to look back at the crowd. "Any chance you still have the one piece of jewelry I've ever given you?"

"Yeah, why?" My fingers go to the chain around my neck, tracing down to the vial dangling at my sternum.

"Well... It's kind of a big part of my plan."

"Jamison—"

"I know. I remember what we talked about. Just... do you trust me?"

Once again I'm struck by the beauty of his eyes, the way the gold interacts with the green, the contradicting intensity and softness of his gaze.

"I trust you." And with that, I pull the chain from my neck and let it trickle like water into the palm of his hand.

Neither of us moves for another moment, letting the noise of the crowd fall away.

Just us.

The way it should've been.

"Come on, then." He leads me along the edge of the pool, rounding first one corner and then another, until we're faced with the enormity of the capitol building. "We have to go up there."