Bad Bloods (35 page)

“We ask that all citizens remain indoors
after the results are announced,” the announcer continued. “This is
to protect the welfare of all those involved and the well-being of
our city-state. Thank you.”

“Come on already,” Adam mumbled, bouncing
Tessa in his lap. She giggled, seeming to forget what was happening
right in front of her. I squeezed Melody to my chest. She petted
the cat in her lap. The purring was loud, and the girls’ giggles
were louder.

“May I introduce our new president—”

That single second of silence lasted a
lifetime. For a moment, it was as if Montana had defied death and
stopped time again, just to allow us to live for that much
longer.

“Joshua Logan II.”

Daniel’s head fell into his hands. “No. No.
No.”

His protests drifted off as Adam stopped
bouncing Tessa around. “This can’t be happening,” he said, looking
at Cal as if his uncle could stop it.

Ami started crying. The little ones mirrored
her. But I was frozen, just as I had been with Montana, and I
couldn’t breathe until Logan stepped forward. Henderson followed
him, snatching the microphone before Logan could. “I demand a
recount.”

The sobbing stopped. Daniel raised his head.
Adam kept looking at Cal.

His uncle nodded, his jaw popping. “They have
to do it now.”

A recount would happen. How long it would
take and what it would mean was beyond us.

“We might have a few hours,” Cal said, but
what he actually said was hidden in his words—something only Adam,
Catelyn, Daniel, Ami, and I could understand. Henderson was buying
us time to run.

“I’m staying,” I said before anyone could
move.

Daniel’s eyes never left the screen, the
announcer rambling on about what would happen in the next few
hours, and neither did Adam’s.

“I’m staying,” I repeated. “I’m staying ‘til
it ends.”

Catelyn grabbed my hand. “Me, too.”

Cal nodded. “You’re welcome to stay here.” It
didn’t matter that he’d be killed if they caught him protecting us.
He would stay with us too.

“Thank you,” I said.

Adam agreed to stay too. So did Ami. And
Daniel followed.

“I can’t get them out on my own,” he added,
remaining neutral, “but I do think it’s bedtime.”

Tessa started to whine. “We want to hear the
numbers.”

She didn’t even know what she was saying.

“I know,” Daniel said, patting her on the
head, “but you’ll be awake before they read it. It’ll take all
night.”

It wouldn’t and everyone knew it. This time,
Daniel was making the decision. The kids had seen the results once.
They didn’t need to see them again. No one protested as Ami took
the able ones back to bed. I didn’t even say a word. Instead, I lay
on the couch and waited.

“Serena.
Serena.” So many people had shaken me awake recently, I was
starting to recognize everyone’s method. This soft shake with a
firm grip was Daniel. His voice mimicked his touch—soft but
rushed—and his gaze held the same intensity it always did. “They’re
about to announce.”

I sat up, fighting the grogginess, and I
realized why when I rubbed my eyes. The TV read 3:47 AM. Catelyn
was sleeping on the other couch, and Adam was sitting in front of
her, sleeping too, his arms folded in front of himself. Daniel was
in front of me and wide-awake. No one else was.

“We should wake them up,” I said, but he
reached up and pulled me down to the floor. I crawled next to him
as he shook Adam’s foot, and when Adam came to, he shook Catelyn
awake.

It was just the four of us—two older kids
from each flock—and we all held one another in some way.

“Ladies and gentleman, we thank you for your
patience,” the same announcer appeared, but this time, his beady
eyes were wide and droopy. Henderson and Logan both looked
disheveled as well—as if they’d tried to sleep in the studio and
couldn’t. Their wives were worse.

“We’ve done a recount, and there will be no
more recounts for this election.”

Alec Henderson was sweating. Logan was
shaking. The whole world was waiting.

“Vendona, please welcome your next
president—” The pause again. It killed me. “Mr. Alec
Henderson.”

Daniel jumped to his feet, screamed, and fell
down—as if he’d used his last bit of energy to celebrate. Adam
started to cry. Catelyn held onto him, and I froze, unable to move
until kids started running into the living room, one after the
other, Calhoun following them all. When he hugged Adam, Catelyn
came to me, held us both, and jumped. She even kissed my cheek. And
before I knew it, Daniel was hugging me too. And then, Melody, and
Tessa, and Ami, and Justan, and Ron, and Ryne, and even Vi. I
couldn’t wait until I could hug Michele again.

We would live.

“We won,” Daniel said the words first, his
arms wrapped around me, and mine wrapped around his. It didn’t
matter that we couldn’t hear Henderson’s winning speech. His smile
was enough of a speech for us all.

“Vendona,” Alec’s voice reached us anyway.
“We thank you.”

We were free. It was over. And the future was
beginning.

Cal opened up the blinds, whopping because we
didn’t have to hide anymore, and Adam pushed it even further by
opening the door and rushing out into the cold. We shouldn’t have
gone outside, but we did.

We went out into the cold, into the streets
of Vendona, and cheered as loud as we could, allowing our voices to
be heard, allowing us to stand in the streetlamp’s light instead of
in the alleyway’s darkness, and we hugged and laughed and threw
snow into the air.

It was only then that I realized all the dark
storm clouds were gliding past us, leaving the yellow stars to
blink above us, the waning moon the only silver left in the sky.
The city was alive and warmer, and the dying wind moaned a melody
as it pushed the storm out. Ice was on the ground, but nearly
gone.

It was no longer snowing in the city of
Vendona.

My
mother’s name was Charlotte. My father’s name was Charles. Their
similar names were how they had met in school, so they gave my
sister and me similar names. Serena and Serah.

The first day I met Serah—actually met
her—she told me of her favorite story of our mother’s, one about
two twin stars who fell to earth at different times and had to find
one another again. It was then that Charlotte asked Serah to finish
it, to find an ending, and only now did Serah know how to write it.
She was seven years old and already writing full-length novels. In
her spare time, she was teaching me how to read. Her story about
the twin stars was the first one I wanted to get through on my own.
The first words I learned how to write—other than my name—was
Serah, Charlotte, Charles, and Daniel. Now, his name felt different
when I shouted it.

“Daniel!” I raced down the hill I never
considered running down again, the hill that led to the Northern
Flock’s house, and Daniel saw me before I reached the bottom.

I could hear the cameras clicking. I ignored
them as I reached out to him, and they disappeared when he grabbed
my hand. Seeing him helped the chaos melt away. Kissing him made it
better.

“You’re late,” he said, pulling grass out of
my hair.

Heat rushed to my cheeks. I was supposed to
be clean. I knew that. But despite living with my biological
parents now, it was difficult to stay off the streets. They still
felt like my home, and I found myself sneaking in and out of places
I wasn’t supposed to be—not without an escort anyway. Adelio
basically took me everywhere, and by the look on Daniel’s face, I
knew Adelio was skidding down the hill behind me.

“Miss Serena,” he exhaled as he stalked up to
us, rubbing the heat off his forehead. “Please. Wait. Your family
doesn’t know this area—”

They appeared after him, Serah first,
dragging Melody behind her. My parents had officially adopted her
today. It was why I was late. When the paperwork came in, I forgot
everything else.

I told Daniel all about it, and he hugged me
tighter than ever. After Henderson had won, dozens of bad bloods
came out of hiding. Some went into adoption like Tessa, some
returned to their original families like I had, others found
themselves making their own lives, like Michele, who was now one of
Henderson’s many political consultants. Her psychic abilities
remained a secret. With her help and Henderson’s economic support,
Daniel was opening up an adoption center for bad bloods alone. With
no family to return to, he was focusing on creating families for
others—and making it possible to remember the ones we lost.

He stared at the little snowflake stone by
our feet, the makeshift headstone he made for Blake, and the many
others around it. Each member had one, but only one person owned
the land. Daniel. At first, Vendona predicted he’d choose the burnt
land for the memorial, but he didn’t. Out of all the places in
Vendona he could’ve chosen, he chose the northern water tower. When
asked why, he looked at me and said, “That’s where we began to
win.”

The old water tower was something else now.
Walls went all around it, and every known name in all four flocks
was carved into it in white gold. At night, I heard the memorial
looked like a thousand stars—or snowflakes—falling to the ground,
an unforgettable sight for all. On top of that, Daniel insisted we
didn’t discriminate. All sixty-four officers killed during the two
ambushes were included.

It was said to be the only place in the
outskirts you could see from the Highlands. Adam insisted it was
true, and considering he was one of the construction workers on the
crew, I believed him. I also heard he was a rather fast worker.
Today, the memorial was opening to the general public, but we were
starting our day at the house.

“Did you bring it?” Daniel asked, and I dug
into my bag.

“Of course I did,” I said, pulling out two
teddy bears. One for Luke, one for Blake. Supposedly, the one I had
for Blake was Blake’s real teddy bear. Right after Henderson was
announced as president, Catelyn snuck back to the house, broke in,
and found it among the rubble, unharmed. I half-suspected she went
to the main square and bought one. An unspoken lie in exchange for
the one Daniel had given to comfort her. They both knew better, but
they accepted it just the same.

Sometimes, it was the only way.

When I handed the bear to Daniel, he placed
it by Blake’s snowflake stone. He would place Luke’s at the water
tower, and then, the two bears would be left forever.

“Ready?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder.
My mother and father were keeping my sisters—both Serah and
Melody—away. They knew we needed our space. Adelio stood next to my
father, just as much a part of our family, and when I looked back,
Daniel was watching them too.

Unlike me, he had lost his entire family. His
younger brother, Luke, was gone. The flocks were broken up. And
Robert had disappeared, never reappearing again. Daniel decided
against looking up his parents to see if he had any extended
family, and went on to live with Calhoun. He even had Calhoun’s
last name, and this time, Daniel Wilson wasn’t a fake ID. Vi became
a Wilson, too.

I was Serena Malone.

Daniel laid a hand on my shoulder, and
slowly, we made our way over to my family. Despite the past—with my
father being the announcer and Daniel’s involvement in the
flocks—they got along. It helped that my father explained his side
of the tale, how he quit the force that night, how he thought the
kids would be saved if he reported them, instead of waiting for
Vendona to discover them. He was a tailor now. They chatted the
entire walk to the water tower.

Alec Henderson was the first person I saw,
standing next to Cal. The two remained close friends, and Cal kept
Adam even closer. The three men looked like best friends, but
Jane’s companion was the one who made me happiest.