“Jason,” murmured Sinastar, echoing her thoughts aloud.
Her friend marched over to them and the grip on her arm prevented Satara from turning to face him fully. Her self-mocking explanation about why she was so close to the roof edge died instantly as he grabbed Sinastar's arm and pulled it away from hers, his gaze fixed on the other guy.
“Let go of her,” he growled and Sinastar hesitated for a split second before releasing her elbow.
His other hand twitched as if he were about to reach out and take hold of her left arm instead. But only he raised both disarmingly.
“Forgive me.” He waited for Jason to relax his hold and took half a step back. “I thought she was going to – fall.”
“Then you shouldn't have let her come up here in the first place.” She had seen Jason get angry before.
Whenever Nigel or Brian said something stupid to her. Whenever someone walked too close to her. Whenever something happened and she nearly got hurt. But his irritation was a doubled sided thorn that would also pierce him under the slightest pressure. A lack of confidence that weakened him as much as the person he confronted.
“I came up here by myself.” Sinastar's attention rested heavily on her head as she backed away, closer to the edge, and wrapped her arms around herself as if she were cold.
“Why?” The weight of Jason's attention nearly knocked her off the roof as he turned, switching the bag to his other hand and grabbing her kimono sleeve. “You shouldn't be walking around yet.”
“I'm okay –”
“You haven't eaten anything properly since yesterday,” he insisted, shaking the bag as though it were a substitute for her shoulder, strengthening the savoury tell tale scent of fish and chips. “You're supposed to be resting, not –”
“I needed to –” get some air. Even if my ribs were fine, I wouldn't have been able to breathe down there. I couldn't think. But even up here, where there's nothing but the sky, my head feels like a room of mirrors and I can't tell the difference between the reflections and what's actually in the room with me right now. The truth never revealed itself easily. It turned into a lump of clay and formed a single word instead. “– think.”
Jason's eyes flitted to her arms, pressed to her lower chest, then to Sinastar as the other guy began to speak.
“I told her the truth,” he said before speaking directly to her. “The Cunningham household wasn't your real home. I understand that's hard to accept, especially from a stranger like me. But I wouldn't have come here to lie to you.”
“Why did you bring me here?” She tried to ignore the sting of Jason's gaze as it jumped back to her. “She broke my ribs, didn't she? If you really care about what happens to me, cousin, why haven't you taken me to a hospital yet?”
“We didn't have time to wait for your body to heal through normal treatment. And a hospital wouldn't have let me treat you the way I did.”
I didn't let you treat me that way either. You did it while I was asleep. Her eyes narrowed. Against the washed out grey sky that highlighted him like a professional studio backdrop, everything about Sinastar seemed darker yet less suspicious. As if the wan light had picked out the slivers of authenticity in his existence and she could now put them together to form a complete picture of honesty, despite everything he had done.
“Then why aren't you letting me go back to the Langs?” A distressingly delayed thought dropped to the base of her stomach like a stone. “I've never gone anywhere without asking them first.”
“I told them your phone died during class,” said Jason, blinking as if he wasn't sure why he had opened his mouth. “I went back to the hall yesterday to get my phone but I couldn't get into your locker and there were police hanging around. No one saw me though.”
He glanced at Sinastar, his irritation laced with apprehension as he hastily added the last part. His attention returned to her as she turned to him.
“The police were there?” Of course they were. Saytarnia wasn't exactly being subtle about what she was doing. I'm sure even the idiots in class realised something was wrong by the end of it. Did they see Sinastar take me away? And Jason go with him?
“Yeah.” Jason's brows lifted in abrupt comprehension. “Oh. Oh no …”
“We have to go back,” she said. “They'll know what happened and if the police start looking for us –”
She didn't say anything else but Sinastar met her gaze steadily as he responded to the unspoken warning.
“We have to leave town.” He held up a hand as they both started to speak and they stopped reluctantly. “You need help, Satara. Treatment for your – after everything that happened and you won't get it at the Langs' house.”
“Where else can I get it?” Out of town? The idea tugged at her hands and feet yet simultaneously filled her veins with pebbles.
“I know someone who might be able to help us.” He faltered before drawing out the knife of his next question. “We can't risk Saytarnia coming to the Langs' to find you, can we?”
Satara blinked and saw Mrs Lang crumpled in the lower hallway, bleeding from her stomach, and Mr Lang pinned to the living room wall by her sister's katana.
“We can't just run off into the wild with you, mate.” Jason shook his head with an airless laugh. “We've only known you for a day.”
“If I leave town, will the Langs stay safe?” Satara avoided her friend's incredulous stare.
“She'll have no reason to go to their house if you're not there,” said Sinastar.
“How will she know I'm not there?”
“The same way she knew you'd be at the hall yesterday.” He rubbed the side of his neck. “Just as I did. But she's better at tracking you than I am.”
“Tracking?” Did she put bugs in my clothes? In my phone? She frowned. That doesn't seem like her style but then what do I know? “How did you find me?”
“I can explain that but first, does this mean you'll come back with me?” The first sparks of a flame glittered beyond the flat veil of his stare yet somehow they were blinding.
She wanted to douse them at once but held back the words and released others carefully in their place. “I'll leave town with you. But I can't promise I'll stay.”
“Wait, Tara –” Jason yanked on her sleeve carelessly, audibly shocked.
“How can I convince you to stay?” It was the first time Sinastar had interrupted anyone in front of her and, although he didn't look like it bothered him, he held up a hand in an apologetic half prayer gesture when Jason glanced at him. “I can't prote – I can't tell you everything if there's a chance you might leave.”
“You can't expect me to promise to stay with you forever,” she said. The sparks in his eyes iced over and shattered. “You might remember me but I don't remember anything about you. Possibly because none of what you're saying is true.”
No matter which school she attended, which foster home she found herself in, most of the boys she met hated her within seconds and she knew exactly why. Her lack of reaction to compliments. Her overreaction to insults. Her disregard for everyone's pride. They had been expecting candy floss and she had been nothing but dyed wool. They had been looking for a stand to prop up their hyper inflated egos but she had been a knife that could cut down their years of hard work in seconds if they pushed her hard enough.
How long will you want to 'tell me the truth'? Once you've spent enough time with me, you'll realise you made a mistake coming here. You won't want me to stay as much as I want to go.
“Can you promise not to leave without telling me first?” He raised both hands again in his pacifying yet somehow assertive way. “If you really wish to leave, I'll escort you back to the Langs myself. I won't leave you in the middle of nowhere.”
“I think I can do that.”
“Okay. Then I will tell you what I can accordingly. Not all at once.”
“That seems fair.”
The exchange should have felt like handcuffs around her wrists, not like a long leather jacket being placed considerately over shoulders. Sinastar looked away first and gestured at the bag in Jason's limp hand.
“We should eat,” he murmured, walking back towards the doorway. He opened the door and paused, looking back as if he didn't want to leave them alone to talk.
No. Satara avoided staring directly at Jason's face as she followed the older guy and shivered as the air temperature suddenly pierced her skin. It's like he doesn't want to leave me on the roof, even if Jayce's here.
<><><><><>
“How much did he tell you?” She unfolded the brown paper that encased her fish and chips and touched the food with the back of a finger. She pulled it back quickly with an almost soundless hiss.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Attack was the best form of defence or so she had heard. Not that that had ever worked with Saytarnia.
“What?” The anxiety on Jason's face changed colour. He paused in the middle of shaking a tiny packet of salt over his chips.
“What did he tell you? About Saytarnia?” She wiped hot grease off her finger. “About me.”
Before he could answer, Sinastar returned from a swift patrol of the area. He had escorted her to and from a bathroom in the closest park before advising them to eat without him. He didn't seem to notice the thick atmosphere in the room as he picked up the last parcel of food, though he did choose to sit next to a wall that was further away and at an angle to them.
“I know about what happened to your … other family. In the other town,” said Jason. He continued shaking salt over his chips but his gaze had lost its hungry gleam. “I know you – you saw stuff.”
Saw stuff. Satara didn't trust herself to laugh and played with her food to cool it down instead.
“He told me about – about Saytarnia.” He glanced in Sinastar's direction. “That she's your sister. I'm not sure I buy all this stuff about your first family but –”
“But what?”
“– but you guys do look related. A little bit.” He made a tiny space between his thumb and forefinger and pulled a mildly begrudging face at her.
“I see.” She almost followed his gaze. She knew there were a lot of things she was supposed to say to Jason. To her best friend who had been nothing but loyal to her, who she had shut out of her life like a stranger. The weight of the words rested on the crown of her head like a ruthless hand, pushing her down into a bow she wasn't familiar with. “So how did we get here? I remember fighting Saytarnia and then –”
She pressed a palm to the plaster on her neck and shook her head.
“She didn't hang around much longer after that.” Somehow Jason interpreted the unexplained gesture precisely. “She broke the window and Sinastar came right after she left.”
“What did everyone else do?” The thought of Carl had been shoved into a cage at the back of her mind. One she would light a fire beneath later for his potential part in everything.
“Everyone else was – weird.” Jason shook his head and squeezed a thick chip until it broke in half. “Like they were in a zone or something. When that co – when your sister left, they went back to normal but they looked kinda confused?”
“What happened after Sinastar came?” Does that mean Carl was in this zone too? Is that why he didn't do anything?
Though he could probably hear their conversation, Sinastar didn't react whenever they mentioned him. He started eating, using his free hand to scroll on his phone as he had that morning.
“We got the heck out of there before Carl could stop us.” Jason drowned the remaining half of his chips in the ketchup so kindly provided by the shop assistant. His eyes darted towards Sinastar and away again, fixed on his food. “Tara, back in the hall –”
“Hm?” She started eating and her excuse to avoid talking almost burned her mouth.
“I just – I'm sorry.” He poked holes into his breaded fish and she tried not to let it distract her. She forced the protest in her throat back down and made a confused noise. “That Saytarnia – that I couldn't stop her.”
She swallowed and smiled tightly. The impact of her sister's blows reverberated in her head as much as they had in the hall. “Well, that'd make two of us.”
“I did try but something stopped me.” He apparently found it easier to look at Sinastar.
“She is kind of scary –”
“No, not like that,” he groaned, placing the oil and salt-free heel of his palm against his brow. “Did he tell you about that chi thing?”
“What?” Satara shook the phantom laughter of the boys from her ears to hear him better. “What chi thing?”
He straightened up and turned to Sinastar, who was about to pop a chip and some fish into his mouth. “Hey, didn't you tell her about the chi stuff?”
“No. It didn't seem like a good idea.” Sinastar lowered his hand and dipped his head towards her. “You already had enough to take in at the time.”
“You can tell me.” She diced her fish with a finger and carefully avoided its random hot spots. Don't tell Jayce things and keep secrets from me. I already don't want to trust you.
“If I had to simplify it, I can use the chi you recently learned about but –” He paused as if she hadn't earned a complete explanation yet. “– in a different way.”
“What do you mean different?” Impatience painted her tone light red.
He opened his mouth, presumably to offer yet another vague definition, but then placed his phone on the floor. Beside her, Jason's breathing hitched a second before Sinastar slid his thumb across the pads of his middle and index fingers.
And a light blue flame appeared out of nowhere.
It crackled softly, hovering inches above his fingertips, and the world around her groaned like someone waking up after hardly any sleep. Her understanding of life slewed sideways with an devastating lack of control akin to a derailed train and she resisted the evidence of her senses as though her mind was a door being forced open by a robot.
“God, I thought I imagined it yesterday,” said Jason. The hand against his forehead slid down to cover the lower half of his face and he grinned at her. But the shine of his teeth only accentuated the faint hysteria in his eyes rather than concealing it. “That's how we got here.”
She shook her head and the air in her chest swelled as if her ribs had been broken all over again. “How –?”
“He made a circle with this stuff in the car park and we stood it in, and then –” He flung his hand upwards like someone miming a firework. “– suddenly we ended up here and I wanted to puke.”
“How are you doing that?” She exhaled sharply and felt only a little better.
Sinastar moved his fingers and the flame vanished.
“Stay with me and I'll teach you.” He smiled for the first time in a while as though her interest had given him permission to express something positive.
A twinge in her stomach distracted her. She didn't say anything and started to eat. Jason half laughed awkwardly before following her example and Sinastar seemed to take the hint, picking up his phone again and finally eating the food in his hand.
<><><><><>
“I have to go somewhere,” he announced not long after they all finished eating.
Satara folded up the soiled brown paper and stuffed it into a carrier bag he held out to her. He passed her some wipes as he turned to Jason and waited until the last paper ball was in the bag before twisting its handles into a knot. They murmured their thanks and he smiled again. The expression aired out his features like the first warm breeze after the cold bite of winter.
“I shouldn't be gone too long.” He paused before he walked out and looked at them as if he knew he was making a mistake.
As if he wanted to cajole or threaten them into staying where they were. As if he wanted to warn Jason not to leave her by herself no matter what. Instead he noticed her stare and nodded before vanishing again. She tilted her head but was disappointed. I couldn't hear her steps either. Is it a family thing? A tribe thing?
“Hey.” Jason shuffled backward until he could lean against the same wall. “You're not really gonna go with him, right?”
“Is that what it sounded like?” She stretched her legs out in front of her.
The fish and chips sat in her stomach like an internal hot water bottle and soothed the ache that had plagued her since she woke up from the strange dreams.
“Wait, you're actually going with him? For real?” He turned to her and grimaced before wrapping his arms around his middle.
“If I stay with the Langs, I don't know what'll happen.” She plucked at the front of her clothes. The dried blood on the inner side of her kimono had started to irritate her skin. “It's better if I don't go back there.”
“Only if you believe him.” Jason's raised voice lowered. “You don't really believe him, do you?”
“I'd rather risk being tricked than deal with the alternative.” She kept her eyes open and her immediate surroundings acted a barrier between her and the visions of what could happen to the Langs if she behaved selfishly.
“But you can't just leave like that. You've almost finished school.” Jason thumped his own thigh as if it had cramped up on him. “And you can't just go off with a stranger when you don't even know where he's taking you or what he'll do.”
“It won't be the first time.” Satara smiled at him. “If what he's saying is true, it might even be the third.”
The protest in his eyes rippled. A national flag caught in a sudden hurricane.
“Tara, that's – this is crazy.” He shook his head and spoke in a softer, slower tone as if he wanted to be sensitive. “You know that, right? If you go with him, he might take you far away where no one can help you and – and hurt you.”
“I know. But it's better than the Langs dying because they fostered the wrong kid.”
“No, it's not! Why does anyone have to die, or get hurt, or leave?”
“Jayce, you saw her, didn't you?” She touched the side of her neck. The damaged skin beneath pulsed like a promise. “You saw what she can do. And it might be even worse than I thought. I can't let anyone else get caught up in anything like that again. Do you understand?”
“Tara …”
“No matter where I go, my past follows me.” She closed her eyes and the inside of her eyelids became a TV screen showing the graphic movie of her life. “For as long as I can remember, the dark has been staring at me. Watching where I go and what I do. Maybe it's time I start looking back at it.”
An unnatural silence met her words. She opened her eyes and Jason gazed at her above the fist pressed to his mouth, his brow furrowed as if the conversation had robbed him of half his lifespan.
“Then – Then I'm going with you.”
“Don't be stupid. Your family's here.”
“Your family's here too –”
“Mine are dead and I'm just a special guest at the Langs, that's all.” She twisted to face the opposition wreaking havoc on his features. “They lived without me before I came. They can do it again. It's different for you.”
“You can't say that,” he exclaimed. “They chose you for a reason, Tara. They care about you. You can't just –”
“And that's exactly why you can't come. If you think the Langs will have an issue with me going, what do you think will happen to your real family if you disappear?”
“It doesn't matter. You think I can let you disappear? Just like that?” He laughed as if he'd rather scream. “If you go, we might never see each other again. You might never come back and I'll never know what happened to you. I'm not gonna live the rest of my life knowing I watched you walk away with some random dude with powers.”
“I'm only risking it because he's a dude with powers.”
“What're you talking about?” he murmured, abruptly quiet again, and she braced herself against backlash of her next words.
“Someone dangerous is after me. Which means I have to stay with people who're dangerous as well.” Clouds of confusion lingered on his face. “People who can take care of themselves.”
“Hey, I can take care of myself.” Pride swept away the clouds and burned her skin like the sun during a heatwave.
“Against Saytarnia? You think you can stop her if she tries to – to kill you?” She wished he could read the invisible words tucked behind those she said aloud. “Sinastar's got powers. You haven't.”
“Neither do you.” He scowled, half pouting.
“I know. But it doesn't matter if I can't fight her at her level.” She smiled mirthlessly. “Apparently she doesn't want me to die.”
But I still don't know what she wants. To save me? Then why hurt me? To hurt me? Then why wait? To hurt someone else? Sinastar? Then why leave right before he arrives? None of it makes sense. Not yet.
“Why're you believing everything he says?” He reached for her arm but stopped just in time. “It's weird.”
“Because his version of the truth is the only one I have right now.” She shrugged and her neck twinged. “If I hang around him, maybe I'll find out more. I won't if I stay where I am.”
“But I still can't -” He fell silent as soon as she lifted a hand and twisted to face the doorway, mouthing a single questioning word.
The air buzzed, the sensation fainter than usual. If she hadn't been so on edge, she might have missed it. But the ringing in her ears grew stronger by the minute and she got to her feet as fast as her healing ribs would allow.
“Something's there –” No, not there. Satara turned on the spot and shuddered as she caught sight of the vortex, soundless smoke and crackling fire, as it slowly manifested in the deepest corner of the room.
The one closest to them. She grabbed Jason's arm before two slits of flame appeared on the front of the apparition followed by an equally hellish smile. What the …. Her brain wheezed. The impossible being stole the air from the room and she clutched at her chest.
“Tara, what the heck –?” Jason's wavering voice along with his terrified eyes pulled her away from herself and she could feel her limbs again.
“Run!” she hissed, dragging him out of the room without looking back.
Within seconds she remembered which one of them was injured and gritted her teeth as Jason overtook her. His arm slipped from her grasp but he snatched at her hand, pausing at the top of the steps.
“We're too high up.” He didn't have to say the rest, his gaze shifting to the arm around her torso.
“The roof.” She tried not to gasp.
“But that'll –” His stare darted to the doorway of the room they had just left and his palm moistened against hers.
“Quickly!” She pulled him back down the corridor and knew she wasn't moving as fast as her heart rate wanted her to believe.
A clawed hand curled around the door frame seconds before they passed it and she yanked on Jason's arm before he could think of slowing down. The creature's head poked out and nearly touched them as it twisted to watch their escape. Jason cried out as he ducked away from it and the scent of heated blood struck her like a foot to the back of her knees. She barely managed to stay on her feet and staggered into Jason as he stopped by the ladder.
“You go first,” she said.
“No way!” They both turned to face the apparition as it moved down the corridor towards them, its newly formed arms and legs spinning uncontrollably.
She suddenly felt cold despite the unexpected exertion and the smell curled around her joints, locking them in place.
“Go,” she snapped, pushing his hand against one of the metal rungs sticking out of the wall. “You – you need to help me up.”
He looked at her then climbed the ladder faster than she thought possible, spinning on all fours and reaching down. “Hurry!”
What if I take my eyes off it and it jumps at me? The creature lurched forward, several steps away, and she turned to the rungs but couldn't tear her gaze free.
“Tara! I'm watching it. Just get up here!” yelled Jason. His voice echoed furiously around the dilapidated corridor.
Forcing herself to look away, she scrambled up and bit the inside of her lip harder every time she reached up to grab the next rung. By the time Jason grabbed her shoulder and pulled her up, the taste of blood had flooded her mouth and the underarms of her kimono had grown damp. She twisted to watch the monster as Jason shoved the door open. It raised a hand, extending a single claw, but he yanked her up before she could see what it did next. They stumbled onto the roof and she fell against the door, slamming it shut with all her weight. Did it just point at me? She leaned against it for a second, forehead pressed to the metal.
Which was heating up beneath her skin.
“Now what?” said Jason as she backed hastily away from the doorway.
He looked around at the mercilessly desolate roof and the equally unforgiving expanse of the sky as if he regretted following her.
As if he knew they were both about to die because she was too weak to protect either of them.