Cured (18 page)

Chapter 22

The booming
voice of the aircraft awoke me. I sat up, blinking groggily, and
looked around at the others who were doing the same. 


“
Primes,” the
voice began, “We have now reached your next task. When your name is
called please use the exit immediately. Before leaving the aircraft
you will be issued a clean set of clothes and a new pack that may
come in handy for the following challenges. You will be released at
ten minute intervals starting from the bottom of the leader
board.”

The four of
us looked at each other. I realized that it was not only Felix and
me whose eyes were fear-filled now. After the death of Farrah, the
two real Primes looked scared too. Felix rested his hand over mine.
Theo winked at me, full of bravado, although there was no confident
sparkle in his eye anymore. Ellina looked at the ground, wringing
her hands together and chewing her lower lip.

“Cecelia!”

As her name echoed around the room, Cecilia
sprung off Axil’s knee where she had been toying with his hair and
batting her eyelashes at him sickeningly. She wiggled her fingers
at us and smirked as she left the room.

Felix stood and stretched. “I am going to
fill up on ham before the challenge. I nearly died of starvation on
those last two.”

“You only stopped eating a few hours ago.” I
said

“
Too long
ago, I am a growing boy, ya know,” he grinned before turning
towards the buffet. Then he stopped in his tracks and turned back
to us.

“You hungry Ell?”

Ellina looked up from the floor, finally
releasing her lip from her teeth, and blushed again. “Yeah.”

Felix held out his hand and pulled her up
from the beanbag she sat on. I noticed that he didn’t release her
hand as they walked to the food.

Theo turned to me. “So I will leave the craft
and wait for you to come out twenty minutes later, yeah?”

I nodded, “But Felix will be coming with us
too.”

Theo glanced over to Felix, “I think Felix
might have his own plans.”

I looked over
at Felix, who now had his arm around Ellina’s shoulders. He must
have made a joke because she was giggling and blushing. Man, that
boy moved fast.

“He will be coming with us.” I repeated, my
jaw clenched.

Theo held his
hands up, “H
ey, I am not trying to cause
trouble between the lovebirds.”

I punched his
arm. Hard. He barely winced. Stupid Prime skin. “We are NOT
lovebirds. He is my best friend. That’s all.”

“
Riiiiight,
” Theo
winked.

“Hey, I am serious. We are only friends. He
is like my brother.”

Theo looked
surprised. He inspected my expression for a minute and then smiled,
“Really? Like a brother?” This time his tone was not sarcastic. The
question was genuine.

I nodded. “Yup. Like the little brother I
never had.” I was not sure why I was saying these things. I had
never thought of Felix as a brother, and I had certainly noticed
how good-looking he had grown up to be, in a way that a sister
should not think about a brother. But at that moment, with Theo’s
deep, chocolaty eyes staring into mine, I couldn’t care less about
Felix.

“Well then, I guess I was wrong.” He smiled
and placed his hand over mine. I couldn’t help but wonder whether
the gesture was a possessive one. “And me being wrong doesn’t
happen that often so don’t get used to it.” He shot me a cheesy
wink and I groaned.

“That ego is going to be the death of
you.”

He shrugged. “You’d better hope not,
sweetheart. After all, we are working together now, and if my ego
kills me, who is going to watch out for Princess Avery?”

“
Axil.” The
voice boomed, as Felix sank back down onto the sofa next to me
after raiding the buffet. Ellina didn’t sit, instead opting to walk
in tight circles, around and around the couch we were sitting on,
fiddling with her fingers and looking everywhere but at any of
us.

“You alright Ell?” I asked

“I’m next.” She circled faster.

“Stop it girl, you’re making me dizzy.” Theo
said.

“Sorry.” She fell onto the beanbag again and
squeezed her temples. “I hate this.”

“Hey Ell…” Felix started, for the first time
in his life sounding unsure of himself, “Why don’t you, uh, well
why don’t you join Ave and me?”

I shoved him.

Ellina frowned, “What do you mean, join
you?”

“Fe, I am not sure that is such a good
idea.”

Felix frowned
at me, and I averted my e
yes from his
questioning stare. I could tell he was thinking of the benefits of
having a Prime on our team, but he didn’t know I’d already agreed
to work with Theo.

“
Or Ell and
you could split off from Avery and me,” Theo said it as though it
was a light suggestion, but the atmosphere suddenly grew
tense.

Felix stood from the sofa to tower over Theo,
who was still sitting.

“
You’ve gotta
be kidding. Do you really think I would leave Avery alone with you
ever again?! You left her fighting a lion! You knew she had no
powers and you left her in the middle of a forest! You can’t
protect her, man. I don’t trust you with her. Maybe I don’t have
your super strengt
h or whatever, but at
least I’ve always got her back.”

I froze,
staring
at him with wide eyes. He was
breathing hard from the rant, his face flushed. Then, after seeing
my expression of horror, I watched him replay everything he had
said in his mind. I watched the realisation dawn on his face. He
had spilled our secret. He spun to face Ellina, his mouth
agape.

Theo was silent; he wasn’t going to bother
rebutting Felix’s argument. His eyes were also on Ellina, waiting
for her reaction. Her eyes flickered between the three of us, her
frown growing deeper. She was still processing.

“
Hold on….”
s
he murmured. I could see her mind
pouring through what Felix had said, filtering the information
through her advanced logic. Felix reached for her hand and clasped
it tight. He cleared his throat, ready to offer Ellina an
explanation but Theo slapped a hand over his mouth.

“
Wha-“ Felix
turned to Theo angrily, swiping at the hand that muffled his
voice.

“
Not in
here,
” Theo whispered. “We don’t know how
safe it is.”

Ellina looked
baffled. She clearly still hadn’t reached a solution. Felix tapped
Theo’s forehead mockingly. “Not just a pretty face,” he teased. No
one laughed. Ellina looked to me for an explanation and I gave her
a meaningful look,

“Later Ellina. I promise we will tell you
later.”

“Ellina!” The voice boomed and we all jumped
a little.

Felix
squeezed her hand tight, “We want you with us Ellina. Please don’t
try to do this alone. Wait for us outside.”

“
I need to
know what you are keeping from me,” she whispered.

Theo shook
his head.
“We can’t tell you in here. But
I doubt it will change your mind about accompanying us. You’ve got
to trust us here Ellina.”

She looked to
me, and I nodded. “We really do want you with us,
Ellina.”

Her lips
twitched into a tiny smile as she stood and released Felix’s hand.
“Good luck you guys. I guess I’ll see ya round.” She spoke too
loudly, almost shouting her goodbye. Then she winked and gestured
towards her ear, to suggest that someone might be listening in.
Then she turned and left the room.

The air was tense now. The boys kept glaring
at each other, though we sat in silence. It seemed like hours
before Theo’s name was called. He gave me a quick hug and whispered
in my ear.

“
I'll be
waiting,” he promised.
I nodded and he
walked away.

Felix and I sat together on the couch. He
combed his fingers through my hair, but looked in the other
direction, clearly contemplating something. His name boomed over
the speakers and he turned to me, grabbing my hand.

“
I will see
you soon Ave.” He looked me in the eye.
“I love you.”

My heart stopped for a second. Did he just
say…? Don’t be silly Avery, I scolded myself, he meant it in a
sibling way. I smiled at him and dropped his hand.

“
Yup. You
too. See ya soon, Fe.”

I stood up
and paced around the vast room. It seemed even bigger with no one
else in it. I wandered over to the food table, wondering if I
should grab a handful of food to take on the journey. I decided a
few bread rolls couldn’t hurt, and they would be light. Then I
spied the bread knives. They might be handy as weapons. I paced the
length of the table, and plucked a red lolly from the massive bowl
of sweets. Deciding a sugar boost might help my energy levels; I
unwrapped the sweet and started to suck on it. Ew. It was a cough
lozenge. I spat the lolly back into its wrapper and tucked it into
my pocket. I hated cough lozenges. I returned to the task of
gathering food. By the time my hands were full with a bunch of
rolls and two bread knives, my name was called.

I exited the
room into the foyer area. There sat a new backpack and fresh
clothes. I emptied my old pack, keeping only the lion mane, which I
shoved into the new backpack along with the rolls and knives. Then
I stripped off my dirty layers and shoved them into my new backpack
as a spare set. I replaced my old outfit with a very similar pair
of black tights, a black singlet and a black pullover. I retied my
hair into a high ponytail and threw a new pair of black Nikes onto
my feet. I lifted the backpack to find it was quite light, and
tossed it onto my back. The door of the aircraft began to slide
open when I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye. I spun
toward the door opposite the one I had come through. It had inched
open slightly. I walked over to it and pushed lightly. It swung
open.

Eva, the
little blonde girl from basic training, stood in what appeared to
be a storage cupboard. She had a finger over her lips in a shushing
gesture. Her sweet face looked so terrified that I immediately
rushed over to her and pulled her into my arms, stroking the back
of her soft hair. She tapped my shoulder and handed me a folded
note before shooing me towards the open door. I kissed her cheek
and stood. The door was now fully open. I had to go.



I recognized
my surroundings immediately. The air somehow felt lighter and
crisper than it had done in the forest. It smelt like fresh grass
and morning dew. The colours seemed brighter, all fluorescent green
and blinding sunlight. Even though I stood in the middle of an
endless field of grass without any landmarks in sight, I knew I was
home. The door of the aircraft slowly shuddered to a close behind
me, and the massive ship began to ascend into the sky. I stood,
admiring my surroundings. I didn’t know my exact location, but
there was no doubt in my mind that I was back on
Olympia.

Moments
later, Felix sauntered over to me with a grin on his face, his arm
lazily shrugged around Ellina’s shoulders, who was doing nothing to
remove herself from the embrace.

“Feels good to be home, doesn’t it Ave?”

I smiled. It really did. I would never take
the safe homeliness of Olympia for granted again.

Theo walked over a minute later, “Whatcha
holding there?”

I had forgotten about the note that Eva had
handed me. I unfolded the paper expecting something along the lines
of ‘good luck’ or maybe a picture, but upon reading the two words
that Eva had shakily scrawled in what appeared to be red crayon, my
stomach clenched, and nausea overwhelmed me. I dropped the note,
letting it flutter onto the grass. My knees buckled and I collapsed
to the ground silently.

“
Avery, what
the…?”
Theo started before snatching the
note as the wind attempted to whisk it away. I watched his
expression fall as he absorbed the words on the page.

“
Crap.” He
scrunched the paper in his hand and placed a supportive hand on my
shoulder.

“What?” Felix asked, the dread evident in his
tone.

“
They
know,
” Theo muttered, squeezing my
shoulder lightly. Felix cursed and dropped his arm from Ellina’s
shoulder.

Ellina
cleared her throat. “Okay, give it to me,” she said. “What am I
missing here? And don’t you try feeding me any more of your
pathetic excuses or conversation changers, Felix. I want the truth.
What on earth is going on?”

We all looked at Ellina in surprise. She had
been quiet since we boarded the ship, but now her tone was
forceful.

“So guys, how about this weather…” Felix
started. Ellina moved in a blur. She lifted her hand and slapped
Felix across the cheek. The slap looked as though it has cost her
no effort, but Felix’s head whipped around from the impact, a red
stain blossoming on his face immediately.

“
Ouch!” he
cried, cradling his injured check. Ellina smiled, glad she had
caused pain. But as she watched Felix cowering in pain, a look of
realization began to cross her expression. She lifted her palm,
staring at it, then looked at Felix’s face again.

“
That
shouldn’t have hurt you…” she said.

“No.” Felix started. “It shouldn’t have hurt
a Prime.”

This time,
Ellina’s legs gave way and she crumpled to the ground next to me. I
watched her expression change as she processed the information. Her
eyes widened as the pieces of the puzzle began to come together.
She caught my eye, “You too?”