Chapter 20 - Part I.

- # -

(Caelum)

In the end, the military coup petered out into nothing.

After all the huffing and puffing of chests was over, and egos had been bruised and battered, Pharos fell under an official State-of-Emergency.

I don’t know what transpired between the Prides, the Primogens, the Sanctum, and the Enforcers, but in the end the latter retracted their declaration of Martial Law.

Perhaps cooler heads had prevailed, but I doubt it was as simple as that.

That said, there was a sizeable military force in deployment throughout Pharos.

From the confines of the underground training grounds, Maya, Rina, Kaleb, Nicola, and I, waited for something to break or someone to snap, all of us watching the news broadcasts showing scores of armored vehicles and power-armored troops out on the streets of Pharos’ habitats, and squadrons of donut shaped drones in the air. The Enforcers had stationed an armored division outside each of the five Academies of Pharos, a clear sign of their distrust of the Familiars harbored within, but they had made no moves to step inside. It was almost as though the Academies had become sovereign states like the embassies of old, and we Familiars were political refugees seeking asylum.

However, the tense calm lasted throughout the morning, and with the announcement of a State-of-Emergency rather than Martial Law, we were finally dismissed with orders to get some rest.

It was still early morning when I returned to the boys dorms. The overhead sky-field was portraying the first rays of sunlight breaking out over an imaginary horizon.

I trudged my way to the building, swiped my palm-slate over the security scanner beside the entrance, and made my way to my room. Once inside, I fell on the bed while dressed in my uniform, thinking I’d close my eyes for a moment only to be awakened by a loud banging on my door and the sound of the Dorm Manager barking at me to get up. Then I heard his heavy footfalls as he thundered down the hallway and banged on the next set of doors, yelling like a prison guard waking up the inmates.

State-of-Emergency or not, I wasn’t allowed to play truant.

After taking a shower and changing into a clean uniform, I dragged my weary body out of my room to meet the end of a traumatic school week.

My stomach rumbled and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything in twelve hours.

It rumbled again as I approached the automatic doors of the dorm’s front entrance.

I sighed and decided to pick up something from one of the many vending machines on my way to the high school building.

Then I stepped through the doors to greet the day…again.

- # -

School Week Five. Friday. Early Morning.

As I stepped out of the dorm building’s entrance, the sight of a girl with long silver hair standing below by the foot of the steps caught my breath.

At my sudden stop on the landing, someone complained behind me, and then forcefully brushed by, but my attention was almost entire upon Simone.

Perhaps sensing my gaze, she turned her head and looked up at me.

The faint smile on her lips made my heart skip a beat, and I had some trouble swallowing as my throat grew tight.

Simone picked up her school carry-bag at her feet, then waited for me as I descended the steps, ignoring the curious and envious glares from the male students exiting the building.

Stopping before her, I ran my gaze over her face. As pretty as she was – no, as beautiful as she was – there was no hiding her exhaustion. I doubted she'd had much sleep. The light in her eyes wasn’t as vibrant as I remembered it.

I realized we were both searching each other’s faces, judging our state-of-being.

She broke the silence first.

“Did you get some rest?”

I hesitated, considered lying, then shook my head. “No.”

Simone’s gaze wandered away and she was quiet for a long moment.

I had an uncomfortable feeling sweep over me, a kind of premonition that something dramatic was about to take place. I thought myself paranoid but the feeling wouldn’t leave me, and eventually I cleared my throat and asked, “How are you?”

Her attention returned to me, and for a heartbeat she looked anxious, before smiling faintly again – a smile so much like one I knew well.

“I’m fine….”

I opened my mouth wanting to say something, anything, to stave off the uncomfortable feeling building up within me, but all I could think of were dead end sentences.

Simone spared me. “Walk me to class?”

I agreed with a nod, and fell into step beside her.

The paved path from the dorm building to the high school facilities was long and cut through a garden area with trees and park benches. We shared the path with dozens of other students, and some of the guys had met up with girls waiting for them along the way. Walking beside Simone, we attracted our fair share of attention, but I was too distracted to be bothered by it. The uncertain, uneasy feeling within me just wouldn’t go away.

Clearing my throat again, I took a hasty breath, anxious to push my sense of trepidation aside. "Is it...is it still on the news?"

"The explosion?" She frowned then nodded weakly. "Yes. Everyone is speculating, but with no one taking responsibility for it, it's whipping the commentators into a frenzy."

"I guess this is bigger, much bigger than six years ago."

She nodded after a heartbeat. "And it happened so close to the memorial ceremony. I doubt they'll hold it. I don't think the Enforcers or Sanctum will want to take the risk."

"What about your sister? Have you heard anything from her?"

Simone grew quiet, and didn't reply for a long while. "She told me to be safe. That's all she said. I have a feeling that my family will want me home. I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to pull me out of Galatea."

"They would do that?"

She nodded shallowly. "Yes, they would."

I didn't doubt that her family was protective. I'd seen evidence of that in the past.

"Caelum...if the Memorial Ceremony goes ahead...will you attend it?"

I gave her the only answer I had. "I don't know. Maybe I will." I shook my head slowly. "No, I'll go. I have to go. After everything that's happened it wouldn't be right for me not to."

"I see...."

We walked in silence for a short while, approaching the end of the gardened area. Ahead of us, trees line the path out of the garden forming an arcade with their branches.

I watched the breeze stir the branches, and rustle the leaves, a few of which fell onto the path.

“Caelum, let’s break up.”

I came to a stop a few steps later, my heart pounding loudly, and realized Simone was no longer beside me.

Turning so quickly my vision swam, I looked back to see her standing on the side of the path, her visage a picture of composure.

“…what…?”

She folded her hands before her midriff. “Let’s break up.”

For a long moment, my mind was emptied of all thought, as though the sudden deafening drumming of my heart had driven them all away. I stood on the path, unable to utter a word, and once again Simone spared me.

“Caelum, what I did was wrong.”

I couldn’t speak. All I could do was watch her, barely conscious of the high schoolers walking by casting curious and dark looks at me.

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Simone wet her lips, and I saw her struggle to swallow.

“What did I was wrong. It was unfair on you. It was unfair on them. It was unfair on Prissila and on Caprice.”

I noticed she didn’t call Caprice by her last name.

Simone averted her gaze, and tension rippled along her checks before she looked at me again.

“This isn’t how I wanted to win.” She shook her head. “No, this isn’t a victory for me at all. I forced you into you dating me. I forced you into agreeing to be my boyfriend. It was the wrong thing to do.” She stepped closer to me, the distance between us now a couple of feet. “It’s not how I wanted to win, but I was desperate for the win. But I didn’t understand…I didn’t understand how much she loves you.”

I closed my mouth slowly, knowing what she meant.

Simone looked away. “I’ve spent the whole morning thinking about it. I still don’t know if it’s true love, or something different, something twisted and unnatural. Something akin to obsession, but perhaps that is what love is. Perhaps love is nothing more than an obsession.” Pressing her lips tightly together, she took a deep shuddering breath. “In all honesty, she scares me. Her love for you scares me. It frightens me thinking of what it could mean for you.”

Simone faced me.

“I wanted to protect you from her. At least, that’s what I told myself, but now I’m not so sure. I still want to protect you, that hasn’t changed, but I don’t want to force you into a relationship.”

She shook her head gently, and I watched her lips quiver.

“I want you to make the choice of your own will.”

Somehow, I managed to clear my throat enough to find my voice. “Simone, I made my choice—”

“No. You accepted my demands.” She looked resentful. “You accepted the offer to be my boyfriend.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“It wasn’t a fair offer. I forced it upon you. That’s what’s wrong.” Frustration swam across her face. “Caelum, I rushed it. I rushed everything. It wasn’t how it was supposed to be. It wasn’t about me choosing you. It was about you choosing me. And that's not the way it turned out.”

“I don’t understand you—”

“There are other girls that care about you.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “There’s me, but there’s also Caprice, and I know that Prissila has strong feelings for you as well.” Simone tipped her head. “After all, she did kiss you, didn’t she.”

Again, I closed my mouth, unable to deny that I'd been kissed yet unwilling to admit it.

Simone sighed softly. “Caelum, I’ve already chosen you, but I don’t want to jump the queue anymore.” She lowered her hand and smiled a little. “This time, I want to fight fairly. I want all of us to fight fairly for you.”

Perhaps because she’d come to a decision and voiced it, her eyes shone with a stronger light.

I understood then that this wasn’t a decision she’d made lightly.

It was something she’d put her heart into, but that was also true of everything she did, and one of the reasons I was drawn to her.

Yet, despite knowing it was a decision that I had to respect, I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out to her.

She stepped back and I felt as though I’d been doused in cold water.

Trembling, I lowered my hand down to my side.

Simone shook her head faintly. “I want you to make the choice when you’re ready. To choose when your heart has truly decided on one of us. I don’t want you harboring doubts. I want you to be sure, from the very bottom of your heart, when you make the choice.”

She hefted the straps of her school bag higher on to her shoulder, and drew a sudden, shuddering breath.

The warm smile she gave me as her tears began to fall squeezed my heart and stole my breath.

“Because then—then it won’t hurt so much—if you don’t choose me—”

She ran round around me, clutching her school bag as she fled down the paved path.

I thought I felt her tears land on my cheek, but when I reached up I realized it was just my imagination.

I turned on my heels, and watched her receding figure as she ran away, my gaze following her until I lost sight of her in the distance as she plunged into the morning crowd of students making their way across the school grounds.

I don’t remember walking to the bench in the large garden.

I certainly don’t remember sitting down on it.

If anyone spoke to me, I have no recollection of them doing so at all.

Somewhere in the distance, the chime of the school bell may have rung warning students to hurry to homeroom.

But it was only when my palm-slate rang and vibrated in a trouser pocket that I realized I’d been sitting with my head in my hands.

It might have been the tenth ring or the twentieth when I gathered enough of my composure to lift my head, then reach into a pocket and pull out my slate.

I thumbed the screen and answered the call without even checking the caller identity.

“…hello…?”

“Desanto—big problem.”

I took a few seconds for me to recognize the girl’s voice. “Lidia?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Hey, you sound funny. What happened?”

I laughed but it came out bitter and anguished. “Nothing….”

She was quiet for a long while. “Desanto, I don’t know what’s happened to you but there’s something you need to know.”

“…yeah. What…?”

“There are some suspicious looking people in the west car park, and Steiner is with them.”

I straightened immediately as surprise turned into a chill that ran down my spine, and for now it pushed my heartache over Simone aside. “What did you say?”

“I said Caprice Steiner is with them. And she doesn’t look good. Man, she looks terrible. And she’s in a wheelchair. Did something happen to her?”

I almost answered her question, holding back at the last heartbeat then asking, “Where are you?”

“Running late for class. I was in the clubroom all night and I woke up late, so I was cutting across the grounds to get to homeroom. I looked over at the carpark and that’s when I saw them. Black cars. Black suits. They look like they mean business. You know, she’s a daughter of the Steiner Family so I wonder if they’ve finally come for her. I mean with the colony in a state-of-emergency after the explosion in Island One, maybe they decided she’s too precious to leave alone.”

“I get the feeling you know more than you’re letting on.”

“Maybe we should talk later then.”

I started walking, slowly at first then broke into a run. “I’m heading over now.”

“Hey, hey. I’m just telling you what’s happening. Are you saying you didn’t know? Maybe it’s not a good idea to interfere.”

“Sorry Lidia, but I have to hang up.”

“Hey, wait—”

I ended the call, then thumbed through my palm-slate’s speed dial list, and called up a number I actually knew by heart.

When the call connected but fell through into her voice mail, my run turned into an outright sprint.