Cured (33 page)

Upon hearing
no reply I fumbled with the wall above my bed and flipped the light
switch. The blankets on Ellina’s bed were in a heap, but she wasn’t
there. I panicked. They had taken her away. They were probably
torturing her. I sprung out of bed and smacked the button to
release the door. I couldn’t wait for the rock to roll away, so I
ducked under it as soon as there was a big enough space. Then I
stumbled down the hallway, still groggy from sleep, until I reached
the boys’ room. I smacked my fist onto their door repeatedly,
hollering their names as loud as my still sleepy voice would
allow.

To my relief, I heard movement behind the
wall, and slowly the door began to rumble open. Felix stood, messy
haired and shirtless, yawning loudly.

“
What the
hell?” h
e asked me angrily.

“S…sorry.” I muttered, embarrassed.

Felix stepped towards me and touched his
finger under my chin, forcing me to drag my eyes from an apparently
very interesting spot they had found on the floor. I finally let my
eyes meet his.

“
What’s
the matter
Ave?”

I shrugged, “Nothing.”

“
Hey,”
h
e said, stepping towards me again and
dropping his finger from my chin to hold my hand instead, “What’s
wrong?”

“I thought you were mad at me?”

He sighed,
“I’
m not mad, but your words hurt. I know
you didn’t really mean them though. You were emotional. Typical
girl behaviour.”

He nudged my
arm to suggest he was joking, but I didn’t respond. He must have
thought that I was mad about the comment because he started to
ramble. “Not that you are a typical girl! You’re not. You’re
atypical in fact. Not unusual though! I am not saying you are weird
or anything.. I mean… I just...”

“
Shut up Fe.
How do you know I didn’t mean what I said, anyway?” I asked
cheekily, “I mean, you
are
pretty annoying.”

Felix
scoffed, “Please!” he
scoffed, “I know
you think my jokes are hilarious.”

I shook my head at him and we both laughed.
It felt good to be friends again. I squeezed his hand a little to
let him know everything was okay between us.

“So what was with the mad banging on the
door?” he asked.

Crap. I had
forgotten. How could I be such a horrible friend? Ellina might be
being tortured and I was making nice with Felix!

“
Ellina is
gone,
” I said.

Felix looked around his empty room.

“I guess Theo is too. Didn’t even realize
because a crazy person was yelling too loudly.”

I ignored his
dig.
“You reckon they took
them?”

“
Nah,” Felix
said, “We would have heard. Plus there is no sign of any fight. I
reckon they got bored of watching us sleep and left. What’s the
time?”

I shrugged,
“No idea. Let’s go find the others though.”

Felix threw a
shirt over his head as we made our way along the corridor, making
the same turns as the previous night and yelling our friends’
names. By the time we reached the dining hall, there had still been
no reply.

“Do we go in?” Felix asked, his hand hovering
over the door release. I nodded, unsure of what else we could
do.

Chapter 30

Behind the
door, the dining hall was packed full, and food lined the tables.
But no one was eating. Instead, the chairs were filled with people
eagerly watching two figures in the center, who were gesturing
dramatically.

“So then Avery was like, ‘THEO, THEO!’
because she thought she had drowned me!” Theo was putting on a
ridiculous girly voice pretending to be me.

I held my
finger to my lips to hush Felix. I wanted to hear Theo’s rendition
of the story. Theo’s audience noticed Felix and I, and I repeated
the gesture to them. They all played along, and focused their
attention on Theo, who continued with his recount. I picked up a
whipped cream spray can that stood on the end of a table next to a
bunch of other condiments, and slowly crept towards
Theo.

“
But she
couldn’t stay mad at me for long! I charmed her into forgiving me
in a few minutes,” he continued with his story
obliviously.

“
Who said I
ever forgave you?” I whispered in his ear and he spun around in
shock, his mouth agape. I took the chance and aimed the spray can,
emptying its contents into Theo’s open mouth and all over his face.
The whole room erupted into laughter. I collapsed to the ground,
rolling around and laughing hysterically as Theo wiped the cream
from his eyes.

“Your face!” I squealed, pointing at him and
bursting into another fit of giggles.

“Avery?”

I stopped laughing and sat up, turning around
to see who had addressed me.

Suddenly a pile of warm sludge landed on my
head. I screamed in disgust as Felix stood in front of me, holding
an empty plate. I shook the scrambled eggs from my hair, no longer
laughing. Then I grabbed the closest food to me, which happened to
be a vat of porridge, and tossed the contents over Felix, who
covered his head with his arms. As I attacked Felix, someone
started pelting me with strawberries from the fruit platter. I spun
to find Ellina giggling and holding the fruit. I stopped the attack
on Felix and emptied the rest of the porridge onto Ellina’s head.
By this time, the entire hall had broken into a full-blown food
fight. Grilled tomatoes flew through the air like grenades, and
people were battling with bacon swords. Everyone was laughing and
yelling in a mixture of delight and disgust.

Just as I was
dribbling maple syrup down a young boy’s back, I heard a door start
to groan and open. Everyone stopped fighting immediately, and turn
ed towards the door. The angry man from yesterday stood, his arms
folded across his chest, his expression stern. I cringed. This was
not going to look good. The man cleared his throat and everyone
sprung into action immediately. They ducked down and scooped up
piles of food and broken plates, clearing the mess without any
instruction other than the mere “ahem” of the angry man. I was
dumbfounded. What power did he have over them?

The four of us were the only ones who
remained still, whilst the others madly scrubbed at the floor and
walls like worker bees. The man made eye contact with each of us
and beckoned for us to approach him. He led us into his office
again and the four of us exchanged nervous glances.

Once we entered his bare office, he turned to
us, “Sit.”

We slid to
the ground, and crossed our legs like disgraced schoolchildren.
Some egg ran down my cheek and fell to the floor. I avoided eye
contact with Angry Man. Theo was trying to use his sleeve to wipe
the baked beans that kept running down his forehead. Angry Man was
silent for a long time, his eyes scanning the four of us over and
over.

Finally he spoke, “Good morning. I trust you
slept.”

“Yes thank you, sir.” Ellina replied in a
smooth voice that sounded much like my mother’s. “Thank you so much
for providing us with such kind accommodation.”

The man scowled, “And do you make a habit of
thanking your providers with destruction.”

Theo scoffed, before slapping a hand over his
own mouth.

“Something amusing?” Angry Man asked
pointedly.

“
Sorry.
No,
” Theo murmured.

“Then why the laughter?”

“Sorry sir…” said Theo, “Its just… A little
food fight is barely destruction.”

“You came from the Fields, no?” Angry Man
asked Theo.

“Yes sir. Labour. My father was a
gardener.”

“Did I ask for your life story?”

“Ah… no sir.”

“
Considering
you came from the Fields, and one of the roughest Fields at that, I
find it extremely odd, and somewhat concerning that you find it
acceptable to treat resources so precious as nourishment in such a
careless and wasteful manner.”

Theo looked defeated. I had never seen him
lose an argument, but I realized that Angry Man was right.

“
We are
really sorry, sir,
” I said.

“
We were very
disrespectful. Let us clean it,” Theo added.

“No need.” Angry Man replied. “It has already
been cleared by my people. But please refrain from a repeat
occurrence.”

We all nodded solemnly, feeling guilty.

“
Now, on to
more pressing matters,” Angry Man continued. “A meeting was held
this morning, and we have decided to let you stay with us under
certain conditions.”

“
Oh, we can’t
stay,
” Theo said, but Ellina shushed
him.

“
Sorry,
please continue,” s
he said to Angry
Man.

“
As I was
sa
ying, you may stay with us so long as
you help us. As you know, we are still human, and therefore we are
not quite in line with the law. Therefore our first condition must
be that you do not communicate our existence or whereabouts to
anyone outside.”

We nodded.

“Secondly, you will be required to work. The
two humans will need to help with daily chores, like cleaning,
meals and laundry. The Primes will be helping with education
including combat, endurance and strategy training. And thirdly, you
will not leave the compound, ever, before first consulting me.”

Angry Man stopped talking and raised his
eyebrows at us, awaiting our answer.

“
May we have
a moment to discuss your terms, Sir?” Ellina asked in her syrupy,
suck-up tone. Angry Man nodded and left the room, the door rolling
shut behind him.

“
Why does
this need discussion?” Theo turned to Ellina, “We can’t stay here.
We had a plan. We are finishing the challenges and then telling the
Fields about evading the Cure during the Winner’s Speech. Now we
can include all the others who are living in Tarturus and evading
the Cure too, which will only strengthen our argument. Then we are
starting a rebellion.”

“
A gross
oversimplification, Theo,” Ellina said, “Anyhow, I have a new
plan.”

Theo rolled his eyes, but Ellina was cunning,
and probably the most intelligent of all of us, so I nodded for her
to continue.

“Our first plan relied on a speech to spark
physical revolt. That was a long shot. The people in the Fields
live in fear of their superiors. Chances are, they will be too
scared to start attacking them after hearing our story.”

She was right; we already knew our plan was
full of holes.

“So,” she continued, excitement evident in
her eyes, “What if we started the rebellion physically, rather than
orally.”

“You mean a war?” Theo asked incredulously.
“How are the four of us meant to fight all of the Alphas and people
of Olympia?”

“
Because
there won’t be four of us,” Ellina said, “We live down here,
educating the people in combat, endurance and strategy just as
Angry Man asked us to. We will be training them, even though they
don’t know it, for war. By the time we are finished with them, we
will have raised a skilled army, ready for battle. Then we will
break out of the compound, they will be looking for us, because it
won’t look good having four of six new Primes disappear for a long
period of time. They will find us quickly if we just stand in the
Crater once we are good and ready, because it will be where we were
last seen. Then we will lure them to Tarturus. We can fight them,
and I think we can win.”

Everyone looked at Theo, who was frowning.
This new plan was much more likely to succeed than the last
one.

Theo finally
spoke, “It’s good,” he said, smiling at Ellina, “You’re smart, for
a girl from the Artistic Field.”

I hadn’t know that Ellina was from that
Field, I had automatically assumed she was from a well educated
Field, because she was so intelligent. By Felix’s expression, I
guessed he hadn’t known either. Ellina punched Theo’s arm hard,
causing him to wince and clutch his shoulder, flexing his bicep to
ease the pain.

“So?” I asked hesitantly, “Is this the new
plan?”

Everyone nodded in agreement, so I stood and
pressed the door release, ushering Angry Man back into his
office.

“
We will
stay,
” Theo said. “And we agree to your
conditions. Thank you for your kind hospitality.”

Angry Man nodded and held his hand out to
Theo, who stood to take it and shake. “You may call me Dom.”

“Is that short for something? Dominic?” Felix
asked, in attempt at lightening the mood.

“Dominus. It is an honourable Latin
title.”

“Oh so it isn’t your real name then. What is
your actual name?”

“That matter is not of your concern.”

Felix fell silent, his attempt at friendly
conversation failing miserably.

“Well, thanks again Dom, just let us know
where we should be and what we should be doing? We don’t want to be
any imposition.” Ellina’s sucking up earned her a tight smile and
an approving head nod in her direction. The rest of us were ignored
entirely.

“You two Primes, please come with me to the
training arena. You other two will be escorted by Jett once he
arrives.” He checked his watch and made a tutting sound. “He is
late again.”

“
I AM NOT!”
ca
me a shrill yelp from the other side of
the office door. “I AM ON TIME!”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Jett was panting
and out of breath. He must have sprinted the whole way here. Dom
gave me a disapproving glare before opening the door to a red faced
Jett, who sunk into a low stage bow as though the opening door were
a theatre curtain. I clapped wildly, playing along, and Felix
joined in. The others stood still, watching Dom anxiously, ready to
be reprimanded. Dom said nothing about our childish behaviour,
instead choosing to stroll from the room without a second glance at
us. Theo followed him hastily, but Ellina turned to us and
whispered harshly,