The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) (22 page)

“Your situation, your gift, everything is all there,” he says. “Evelyn has pegged you as the one to lead us against Jeremiah.”

I can’t help but laugh at this. “What? Is she prophetic too?”

“No, nothing like that,” he says. “But you’ve got an amazing gift. No one knows who you are. Your gifts are more powerful than the rest of us. You have a past to fuel your anger.” 

I can feel my face turn serious. 

“You mean my parents? How do you know about that? Evelyn? She touches my arm for half a second and suddenly she knows everything about me?”

“Well, not exactly,” Aaron says. “That was part of it, but the rest was just me piecing it all together.”

And what exactly did you piece together?” I ask, feeling hot. 

Aaron sighs and looks away for a moment, almost as if to wonder if he is doing the right thing. He turns his head back to me and begins to speak. 

“Despite what you believe, your parents’ death wasn’t your fault.”

My eyebrows fall at his mention of my parents. I somehow feel it’s all right for me to bring them up, but not for someone else to talk about them. Aaron isn’t supposed to know about them. I didn’t choose to spill my guts like he just did. 

“Then whose fault was it?” I ask, glaring at him through squinted eyes. 

Aaron clears his throat. “Jeremiah is directly responsible for killing your parents and the people of Springhill.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When I tried to get more information out of Aaron, he only told me that he had already said too much. Evelyn didn’t want me to know the specifics yet. 

“Don’t you think I have a right to know?” I had asked. But he only told me that he didn’t know all o kff toof the details, and that he didn’t want to tell me something that wasn’t completely true, especially when it came to my parents’ death. All he knows is that Jeremiah was directly responsible somehow. When I asked why they hadn’t said something sooner, Aaron just said that he had only recently learned it and Evelyn didn’t want it to be my only motivating factor in joining the Starborns. 

I see his point, I guess. But that doesn’t quench my desire to know why Jeremiah is responsible. I can’t believe he would just blurt it out and then say that he can’t give me a reason until Evelyn thinks it is the right time. Maybe I will be able to coax it out of her when Aaron isn’t around.  

We are all together again, walking back to Salem. Aaron and I had initially run away from the colony out of panic, but Evelyn has assured us that we shouldn’t fear. We have insulted and maybe embarrassed Screven, but we haven’t attacked them. 

Quietly, Aaron sneaks us to the secret entrance under the outer wall of Salem and within a moment, we are blending in with the rest of the colony. At least, we are for a few minutes until people start to recognize me. Some point at us and whisper to the person next to them. Others just stare. Heather and Danny eventually break away from us to go to their own residences while Aaron and I follow Evelyn to her shack. 

Once inside, Evelyn and Aaron make themselves at home in the tiny living room, but I remain standing next to the window. I can’t help but stare out at Connor’s place, wondering what he must be thinking. 

I know he feels betrayed. I know he thinks I’ve easily fallen under Evelyn’s strange influence. And though that may be true to an extent, there is so much more to it than that. These are the only other people in the world like me. I can’t just ignore them because my friend disagrees with them about Jeremiah. Leaving them behind would be turning my back on discovering why I have this gift and what I can truly do with it. If we can band together to protect the colonies, why wouldn’t we?

Then there is the idea that it’s Jeremiah’s fault that my parents are dead. It’s a thought that refuses to escape my mind. I’m not sure I believe it, though. Despite what anyone tells me, the fact that I climbed out of the safety of the tree house to try and
help
my father cannot be ignored. It’s an action I will regret for the rest of my life. It will always be my fault.

Aaron and Evelyn are talking about something as they sit in the living area, but I don’t hear any of it. My thoughts drown out all noise and comprehension of my surroundings. 

I close my eyes, trying once again to focus on Connor. My invasion of his privacy would probably be unwelcome, but I want to know if he is in his shack. My mind’s eye shows a view of Connor sitting at his table, eating vegetables. Alone. His solitude isn’t that of a simple afternoon meal by himself, but of someone who has no one to turn to. In a way, he doesn’t. I want him to know that I’m still his friend, that I care about him. But so many things have changed so quickly. He has to know that. Maybe he just needs me to explain it to him. I did just leave his place the other day, only to slap him in the face with my one-eighty on Jeremiah and Screven.

Opening my eyes, I see the shack out the window, knowing that inside is a lonely, betrayed man that saved my life once, maybe twice. 

I owe Connor an explanation. 

“I’m going out,” I say to the others. 

“You think that’s a good idea?” Aaron asks. 

I shrug, not really giving an answer. As I leave Evelyn’s shack, I imagine the two of them moving to the window to see wherow a?e I’m headed, but I don’t particularly care. I have nothing to hide from them. All I really care about is making things right with Connor.

At his front door, I hesitate to knock. I don’t really know how receptive he will be of my apology.

I bring up my fist and knock on the door. 

Nothing. 

I knock again, this time a bit harder. Still nothing. I know he is in there. He can’t know that it’s me at the door. I knock again, this time a bit harder. Still nothing.

“Connor, it’s me. Open the door, please.”

There are a few seconds when I think he’s just going to ignore me, but now I hear footsteps. The door opens slowly and a tired-looking Connor stands there uninviting. 

“Can I come in for a sec?” I ask after a long pause. 

“Krindle is looking for you.”

“I figured as much.”

He walks away from the door, leaving it open for me to come in. He sits on the couch, but doesn’t look up at me when I walk in and close the door. 

“He was surprised that you lied on the stage yesterday,” he says. “So am I.” He slumps on the couch and sets a leg on the table in front of him. 

“I’m sorry I haven’t had the chance to talk to you about any of this,” I say, standing awkwardly in front of him. “I hadn’t decided what to say until I was already on stage.”

“Why not the truth?”

“Because I don’t trust Jeremiah.”

Connor lets out a huff at this. “You’ve been around my brother and Evelyn too long. You let them get to you.”

“I don’t deny that they have pushed me in a particular direction, but I’m not going against Jeremiah just because of them. I’ve met the man. I didn’t see compassion in his eyes. You’ve said it yourself, he’s all business.”

Connor looks away toward the kitchen. “Your mission has changed a lot since we first met. Before, all you cared about was getting your people help. Now, you’re bent on fighting the ones that actually can.” 

For some reason, Connor is messing with his wristband a lot, and when he sees me watching him, he sets his arm beside him quickly. 

“A lot
has
happened since we first met,” I say. My feet start moving back and forth. I’m pacing, unable to stop. “When you met me, I was a normal person who had just discovered some crazy ability that I had never known was inside me. Since then I’ve learned that there are more people like me. I’ve learned that I can help Springhill without taking away their freedom.”

“That’s a roundabout way of saying that you’ve declared war on Jeremiah,” Connor says. 

“I’ve declared no such thing. If what Evelyn and Aaron say is true, then he’s only protecting Springhill so he can use me to find more Starborns.”

“And what reason would Jeremiah have for doing that?” Connor asks, sitting up straight. “Cheaper guards? More effective guards?”

“That’s what I thought at first, but it’s starting to feel like it’s more than that.”

Connor shakes his head.

“I’ve made my decision,” I say, “and I don’t want Jeremiah to have unchecked control over Springhill.” I can feel myself getting heated. I shouldn’t have to explain myself to Connor. “I came here to tell you that I’m sorry you were blindsided by my words at the assembly, not to be lectured about my decisions.”

“I don’t know what was more blindsiding,” Connor says, “your lies at the assembly, or seeing you sucking faces with Aaron.”

I feel the blood eelever kdrain from my face and the pit in my stomach grow. I don’t know why it affects me so much to know that Connor saw me kissing Aaron in the woods. 

“I don’t…I don’t know what that was about,” I say. “I don’t have feelings for him, it was just something that happened.”

“Forget it,” Connor says, shaking his head. “Who you kiss is your business. I was just surprised is all.”

I step forward toward the couch, but stop when I see his uninviting look. “Connor, there is a better way to protect Springhill. I will protect it. The people will keep their freedom. I’ll make sure of it, even if it kills me.”

“If it kills you?” he asks, looking up at me. “You’re ready for that kind of fight? You’re ready to sacrifice your life?”

“I will protect Springhill from the greyskins, and even from Jeremiah if I have to.” I look deep into his eyes, unblinking. “If it kills me.”

Connor stares back at me, not in confrontation, but seemingly out of surprise. Before he gets a chance to speak, I’m out the door of his shack, storming back to Evelyn’s. But a large cloud of dust follows the low rumbling of Screven vehicles moving toward me from the direction of the main entrance to the colony. They are moving fast. I know it’s no good to try and run, so I stop in my tracks, waiting for the guards to overtake me. My anger outweighs my fear. These people have no right to rule over me, yet they treat me like an escaped prisoner. 

I have to squint and hold my breath when the vehicles come to a sudden stop on all sides of me, kicking up more dust than necessary. 

A glance at Evelyn’s shack reveals Aaron and Evelyn peeking through the window. I shake my head, hoping they won’t come out for me, but before Aaron can even register my motion, he’s charging toward the group of vehicles. 

Rob is the first to emerge from an SUV, and several other guards follow him. 

“We were wondering when you’d show your face again,” he says, standing in front of me. 

“How’d you know I was here?” 

Rob nods toward Connor who is standing in the doorway. “Told him to let us know when you came knocking. We knew you would eventually.”

My eyes meet with Connor’s, but then I see his eyes go to his wristband. I shake my head at him and turn back to Rob. 

“You really think you can just make me come with you? You’ve seen what I can do. Your vehicles and armed guards aren’t as scary as you think they are.”

“Well now, I’m confused,” Rob says, drawing out his words slowly. “If I remember correctly, you let everyone in the colony know that you don’t have any special powers at all, right? So, we shouldn’t be afraid of you.”

My eyes never leave Rob’s as his pistol snaps from its holster and is shoved against his neck, threatening to end his life with barely a flinch from me. The sight of a floating gun makes the other guards train their sights on me. Rob stiffens at his new predicament. 

“Mora, no!” Aaron yells as he stands next to me.

“This is it then?” Rob says. “This is how you want to play it?”

“You just need to know that if I’m going with you, it’s because I choose to go,” I say through clenched teeth. “You have no power over me.”

Rob says nothing more, but his eyes scream how much he wants to kill me. 

“Drop the guns,” I say to the other guards. 

When they don’t comply, another thought flings them away from their hands and to the ground. They all stand in front of me, defenseless, with stelespaupid looks across their faces.

“I’ll go see Krindle by myself,” I say to Rob, throwing his gun to the side. 

Rob bites down on his bottom lip, probably holding in what he really wants to say to me. 

I begin walking toward the front gate while the guards trail slowly behind me, picking up their guns along the way. I leave Aaron and Connor behind. I don’t care to hear from either of them right now. 

Within a few minutes, I’m up the four flights of stairs inside the colony wall, in front of Krindle’s office door. I don’t want to wait for the answer to a knock, so I barge right in. Krindle stands from his seat in surprise at my presence. His shocked look turns into an angered, contorted face while feelings of betrayal flood through him, I’m sure. 

Over his right shoulder, I see the moving image of Jeremiah. He’s in some kind of videoconference. 

“Mora,” Jeremiah says from under his shaded hat and sunglasses. “We’ve been expecting you to show up around here at some point.”

I say nothing as I look back and forth between Jeremiah and Krindle. 

“We have a lot to talk about,” Jeremiah says. 

“And you have a lot of explaining to do,” Krindle adds. 

“Now, now Krindle, I’m sure Mora has a good explanation as to why she tried to make fools of us.”

Krindle reluctantly motions for me to sit in a chair to face Jeremiah. 

“So, why did this happen?” he asks calmly. “Were you nervous?”

“No,” I say. 

“Did I make you angry in our meeting here in Screven?”

“No.”

“Did Krindle do something?”

“No.”

“Then please tell us why you decided to speak against us,” he says. “Why did you break our agreement?”

“Because I realized that I’m just being used by you,” I say. 

“Well, of course I’m using you,” he says with a smile. “You are a wonderful tool to be used by Screven. You will help us make this terrible world a better and safer place.”

“That’s not what I mean,” I tell him. “You demand too much from the people that you offer to protect.”