My Sister, Skylar

Ten

Leigh's head reeled. Skylar? She had sent him? What was her intention? Did she hate Leigh, now that it had been four years and she still hadn't come to save her? Leigh unclipped her backpack, pulling out her photo. 

"Just to be clear... this is the Skylar you mean? Number... Number Nine?" She asked showing it to him. 

"Yeah, that looks like her."

"Why did she send you?" Asked Leigh, a little scared of what the answer might be.

"She wanted you to find her note in the woods. To understand. She sent me because I could escape, and she couldn't. Did you find the note?" He asked. Leigh nodded. 

"So... why did she send you now? Why not sooner?" Leigh questioned. 

"Good question. See, she knew you could come and save her and the kids trapped inside. There are about one hundred to two hundred kids in the Facility. For whatever reason, the guards have been given orders to kill them all. They could just blast us to death, but they didn't want to raise suspicion, because otherwise, the kids would try to escape. They've been picking us off, one by one. We all thought it was due to illness or their powers getting the better of them. Either way, Nine overheard a conversation about it by accident. She sent me because she knew I would be able to make it out." He said. 

Leigh felt her insides squeeze. Killing them? Powers getting the better of them? What could this all mean? Would Skylar die? Would Leigh? Her breathing hitched abnormally. 

"What is this Facility anyway? What do they do there?" She asked with morbid curiosity. Six shifted. 

"Well, in the early days, there was testing. You know, to understand the powers. But that was back in the eighties and nineties by now. It's nothing more than a containment facility now, kind of like a permanent summer camp. They always tell you that you will eventually return home, but we all know that we're being kept captive. They teach us how to surpress our powers, but never to use them. You are only taught how to use them when you're older, so you have less time to learn. If you learn at a young age, you will become incredible. If you are taught when you're older, your powers are weak. They only teach you to use them so you can become the next generation of guards. They are as much prisoner as we are." Six replied. 

"So... basically it's like a jail for people with powers? And you're guarded by people who are just like you? How do they know if you have powers in the first place? Why are they killing them?" Asked Madelaine. 

"See, that's the thing. We don't know. Most information is kept from us, so we get everything from eavesdropping on the guard's conversations. Yes, it's like a jail, guarded by the people with powers, who we call 'Mages' or more commonly 'Twisted' or 'Twisters.' We don't know why we're being killed yet, but Nine promised she'd find out if I went to find you, Leigh." He replied. 

Leigh gulped. She wasn't sure what she could do, but Oliver's plan seemed to crumble to nothing in her mind. Would it be enough? 

"How are they getting powers in the first place?" Oliver wondered aloud. "Is it hereditary?" 

Six shook his head. "No, that's why we're called The Twisted. There was a chemical leak or something like that. This caused mutations. Most people got sick, but some inherited powers  Everyone has a different kind of Twist, or Gift if you want to put it nicely. Like me and my cabin mates, we're the Fires. We have Elementals, Mimickers, Telekinetics, and so on. There is the odd person who has an unusual or unheard of power, or several. These are the ones their killing first. My guess is that they want to eliminate us because we have powers or something along those lines." Six said with such a casual tone, it turned Leigh's stomach. 

"What is Skylar?" She asked, holding her breath. She hoped Sky had gotten something safe, something that wouldn't eliminate her right away. He gave her a level look.

"She has an unusual gift, that we can call nothing else other than power. It's like a golden light. She draws it straight from the air and can shape it into things. She is the only one with this unknown power, which is why she couldn't leave. They would send every guard after her and kill everyone. If we're quick, we can save her. I say we have five days, at most." Six shifted. 

Leigh's heart hammered against her ribs. She felt the need to explode, to scatter into the wind and become nothing more than a whisper, than a memory.

"Why did you attack us?" She asked. He turned a little red. 

"Oh yeah, about that. I didn't mean to. I thought the woman was trying to kill you. And once my power is being used, it's hard to stop." 

"Why are wasting time? Let's get out of here. We need to get Skylar back, before it's too late!" Demanded Madelaine, looking at the faces of the rest of them, wating for an ok. Leigh nodded. 

"Let's do it. Six, will you lead us back?" She asked, standing up straight. Determination lit a fire inside her, burning away everything. She had failed her sister once. It was going to happen again. Six nodded. 

"Let's go."

***********

The kids followed Six for hours, finally getting a ride with an old man with a creepy grin. He wouldn't stop eyeing Six up. Six didn't seem to notice. The blanket of darkness surrounded them. Leigh cursed the winter. She hated it. Stupid cold. When she grew up, she would move to somewhere warm and sunny, like Tahiti or Hawaii, and take Skylar with her as far away from Jasper as possible. They reached a tiny hotel, that looked like it had been up since the medival times. Everyone was exahusted, and they collapsed into a heap on the two beds. Oliver and Madelaine in one, Ash and Leigh in the other. Six slept on the floor upon his insistence, but he didn't seem to mind. He was asleep in minutes. So were Oliver and Madelaine. Leigh kept her eyes trained on the little cracks in the roof. 

"Leigh?" Came Ash's whispered voice. 

"Yeah?" 

"Are you ok?" 

Ash's question stopped Leigh in her tracks. She hadn't expected that for some reason. No-one ever really asked Leigh if she was ok. Her mother used to occasionally, but her mother was long gone. Her father had never asked, he had just assured it. 

'You're ok, Leigh. Everything is fine.' 

"No." Came Leigh's tearful response. She turned to her side, where Ash was lying. Her blue eyes seemed to pierce the darkness like a cat. 

"Is it becaue of everything, or just because of today? Do you feel guilty because you left your dad?" Ash asked, putting a reasurring hand on her shoulder. 

Leigh's dad. Robert. Oh shoot, she hadn't even thought of him. Guilt weighted her stomach, reaching its talons up and crushing her poor little heart. 

"Everything. Just everything." She decided. "I feel like I've failed her, you know? I feel like I've failed everyone around me. My mom. My dad. Skylar. Madelaine, Oliver, you. Everyone and everything I seem to touch or love just seems to crumble to dust." Tears leaked out of the side of her eyes, making little wet spots on her pillowcase. 

"You haven't failed anyone, Leigh. Your dad loves you. Your mom loved you. I love you. Madelaine and Oliver love you. Skylar loves you, no matter what. You couldn't have done anything anyway. And besides, you're coming after her now, aren't you? Don't worry. We'll find her, and all the other kids, and we'll save them, even if I have to house all hundred of them." She smiled, holing Leigh tightly in a hug. 

Leigh buried her face in Ash's sweatshirt, which smelled like fire and smoke and a little bit like gingerbread cookies. "But it's been so long. I'll barley know Sky now. She'll be eleven..." Leigh choked. 

"But you're sisters, and you're coming for her, and you will have the rest of your life to get re-aquainteced. There's nothing to worry about Leigh. We'll get her back, if we have to walk through fire to do so." Ash said calmingly, stroking Leigh's hair and holding her tightly to her chest. 

Ash let Leigh cry herself to sleep gently, all the while singing a quiet lullaby that Leigh couldn't make out. She fell asleep with the guilt slightly lifted, like Ash had taken some of the heavy lead and carried it herself. Leigh fell asleep with a new feeling. It was a feeling, that she could only describe as glow. A feeling, she got everytime she was around Ash.