“I’m not sure what happened. I was running and then I completely passed out. Here, my mom explains it better.” I take the journal out from my bag and hand it to him. He takes it without saying a word. I watch his facial expression change as he reads through it.
“It’s going to take us a while to master these gifts, isn’t it?” he asks, handing the journal back to me. “I’ve known about mine for a while. I can use it, but sometimes I feel like I’m not doing something right.”
We are quiet for a minute until I ask, “Alexander, if green eyes mean you have the gift then why are Paylon’s gold, and my mother’s blue?” It’s the first time I’ve really given it some thought.
“I heard that once you turn 18 you get the power to change your eye color because you need to hide your gift more as an adult,” he pauses for a minute and then sits up straighter. “Adaline,” Alexander’s voice draws out, and a questioning look falls over his face.
“Yeah?” I ask.
“Zavy should have been down here by now, right?” he asks and looks to me. Worry starts to rise inside. She was supposed to come down and get us early this morning. I don’t know what time it is, but I feel like I’ve slept late into the day.
“How long has it been?” I ask and Alexander doesn’t know.
“You slept for a long time,” Alexander admits. “We should go check on her.”
We don’t waste another second. We throw our backpacks on and grab our swords. I climb the ladder first and Alexander follows close behind. We race out of the bunker and into our clearing, the morning sun beating down, but I freeze when I see him. Alexander nearly knocks me over when he doesn’t stop. He doesn’t have to ask why I stopped running because he sees him too.
In front of us is Paylon. He holds a fighting Zavy. The quick unexpected attack from behind me sends a shriek out of me. I fall to my back and see Codian kneeling above me.
Next to me, Chadian has Alexander in a headlock, struggling to get a brown sack over his head. Before I know it Codian has one over my head and my world goes black.
My face is in the dirt when I wake up. I take in deep breaths and I’ve broken out into a sweat even though I’m shivering from the icy air. The cool air burns through my throat, but it seems impossible to calm my quickening heart.
My muscles all ache and I remember passing out in the middle of the woods, unable to move any part of my body. For a moment that’s where I think I am until I remember my conversation with Alexander when I awoke and found him next to me.
Slowly I pull myself to my knees, and I’m caked with dusty dirt. I try to understand my surroundings, but it’s all unfamiliar to me. When my eyes adjust to the darkness of the forest I am terrified when I see the metal bars of a cage enclosing me. Out of instinct my hand launches up and strokes the slick metal surface, freezing my fingers, but I don’t stop, even when they become numb.
I’m caught in a trance from when I lived back in the prison. I would spend my days running my hands over the smooth surface repeatedly wanting to break through them. I stand and pace the edge of the cage, running my fingers across each bar, and I count. 1. 2. 3. When I get completely around the cage I hit 38, and then I do it again. I don’t feel strong and brave like I did the other day when my mother and Titus passed. I don’t feel invincible with my gift that gave me such strength. I feel small and worthless. I cling to my numbers again, as if I were still in that prison.
“Freedom has been taken from me again,” I think.
I feel empty like my gift has been stolen from me. This thought makes me suddenly stop stroking the metal bars. Have I lost my gift? I feel so weak I’m not sure, even if I had it, I could accomplish anything. I see small rocky pebbles scattered around me, pressed into the dirt. I focus hard and picture them rolling around and I am able to move them, shaking them around on the ground with my mind. I relax a little knowing my worst nightmare is not in fact true.
I see a spark out of the corner of my eye and raise my head. Codian has started a fire not too far from my chambers, ten maybe fifteen feet away. I don’t see anyone else out here with us. Not even Alexander and that startles me for a minute, but before I try to worry about saving him I need to save myself.
Even though it doesn’t seem like anyone is around I still don’t risk raising my voice. “Codian,” I hiss.
He looks around frantic and sees it was only me that called his name. He ignores me and turns back to his fire. My hand moves to my hip and I notice my sword is gone. My bag is laying in the corner of the cage I crawl to it and reach into it to take out my mother’s journal. I pull out the photograph of me, my father, and Titus, and the gold coin from the guard in the castle, food rations, but find the
