𝟼
"This is a horrible idea."
"You wanted some way to tell the others, so here it is." Nine crosses his arms and gazes across the rolling field of buckwheat. "Take it or leave it, I don't really give a fuck."
We're in the absolute middle of nowhere, there isn't a camera around for miles. It's perfect. Somehow, Nine's plan is perfect. But the risk is never really gone. They can still find us this way, and they'll know instantly.
"You know we won't just be warning the others," I say. "We'll be telling the Mogs, too."
"They're gonna figure it out before the others anyway," he argues. "They always do, you know that."
He's right. That's how they killed One and Two. That's how they always find us before we can find each other. That's why they're winning. Doing this won't change a thing, except it might give the other Garde and their Cêpan a fighting chance.
Still, I hesitate. "You sure you can get us out of there fast enough?"
"Why don't you trust me?"
I roll my eyes. "Just fucking give it to me," I mutter, holding out my hand.
Nine hands me the flamethrower silently, gesturing to the open field of peaceful, whispering buckwheat.
«You ready?» I call. Quiver circles high above, waiting.
«Let's do it.»
- – § – -
Burning a crop circle was not easy. Burning two made me wonder why the hell I ever considered Nine's stupid plan in the first place.
Sure, lighting a random field of buckwheat on fire is the perfect way to get attention without broadcasting a traceable signal through the internet, but it's also arson, which is illegal on this planet. And it inevitably draws the attention of everyone within a very large radius, including the local fire department. Assuming the plan works, though, we should be out of here before the sirens arrive.
That is, however, assuming I can control the spread of the fire with my telekinesis; an assumption that soon proves to be false.
«If you let it spread any further, it'll be ruined,» Quiver warns.
I grit my teeth, trying to bend the buckwheat further from the hungry flames and allow the fire to burn whatever remained inside the circle before dying out. «I'm doing the best I can.»
Nine's voice crackles through my walkie-talkie. "Might wanna wrap this up soon," he says, watching the smoke rise into the air from the safety of the truck parked on the road somewhere far off.
Might wanna shut the fuck up, I think bitterly, too busy containing a potential wildfire to actually reply to him.
«One more,» Quiver says. «Right above it, a little smaller.»
I follow her instructions, flattening the buckwheat with my telekinesis until she's satisfied with the shape. Using the flamethrower, I light the last circle on fire and contain it inside the circle until it burns out, pushing the sparks and smoke high into the air away from the dry field.
«Now the ring.»
But I already know that and begin forming the shape of the ring before the Chimæra tells me to. She gives me directions as I quickly shape the enormous ring, ensuring from her bird's eye view that the crop circle remains a proper circle.
«Good,» she says approvingly. «Light it up.»
And I do just that, firing a quick burst from the flamethrower. This would be so much easier if I had a pyrokinesis Legacy, I think bitterly, sweating from the unbearable heat of the flames in such close proximity.
"You havin' a party over there?" Nine demands impatiently. "We gotta go."
The wind picks up in large gusts, pushing the fire out of its ring and causing Quiver to shout at me to control it, but my telekinesis can only do so much to control so much fire. I end up ripping buckwheat from the ground and hurling it away, creating a cushion between the burning and untouched plants. If only this fucking wind would go away.
I try to block the gusts with my telekinesis and push the flames in the right direction, but telekinesis isn't supposed to work that way, and so I'm not surprised to find it doesn't do much to help.
"Six!"
I press down the button on the walkie-talkie with my telekinesis while bending the buckwheat out of the flames' reach. "A few more minutes!" I shout, hoping my voice carries clearly through the device. I release the button and return my full attention to the fire, trying to push it along its path faster. It must work because the fire actually seems to follow the path I'm directing it down, the wind dying down enough that I can lift the telekinetic shield I attempted to form.
«I can see the firetrucks,» Quiver warns.
The end of the ring comes into view—the burned patch on the ground where the fire began. Come on, work with me.
«Get back to the truck,» I tell her. «I'll be done in a few more seconds, we have to get out of here fast.»
«Be safe,» she says after a while, and a moment later her shadow passes over me, heading in Nine's direction.
Be safe, I repeat bitterly in my mind. I hate those words.
True to my word, it only takes a few more seconds for the fire to complete its circle. I wait for a moment, watching the flames that no longer have anywhere to go. Once it's burned out, I stomp on the blackened earth, hoping the flames are truly out and the fire didn't travel underground.
"Yo, Six, we gotta move."
"Then get your ass over here."
Nine materializes in front of me. I feel his hand on my arm then my stomach flips and we're standing beside the truck on the road, the smoke from my fire rising distantly into the air.
"The hell took you so long?" He demands, walking around the front of the truck to the driver's side.
"You try to control fire with only telekinesis," I retort, tossing the flamethrower into the backseat with the remainder of our gear. Quiver—perched on the side mirror—cocks her head at me and flares her wings slightly in a calm down manner.
I roll my eyes and hold my hand out. She turns into a tiny sparrow and hops into my palm with a flap of her wings. Holding her close, I open the passenger door and climb inside, settling into the seat with a tired sigh.
"Let's get out of here," I mutter, dragging the seatbelt down across my waist and buckling it in. Nine's driving is borderline scary.
He puts the truck into gear and pulls out onto the deserted road. "Now you're in a hurry?"
I scoff and check the time, deciding it'd be best not to start another argument before we make it to Chicago. Quiver shifts into a small red fox and curls up on my lap for the final, five-hour leg of our journey.
"Do you think it'll work?" I ask, glancing at Nine in the driver's seat.
A muscle in his jaw ticks. "If the others are anything like us, they've been waiting years for a sign." He meets my gaze. "It'll work. Now take a nap, you look like shit."
"Thanks." I sink deeper into the seat and rest my head on the taut seatbelt, closing my eyes just as the windows roll down, carrying a chilly breeze inside. I frown and raise a questioning brow at him, goosebumps already rising on my skin.
"What?" He says. "You smell like shit, too."
"I just lit a field on fire, what do you want?"
"Not to smell smoke for the next five hours," he answers sarcastically.
I try to roll my window up with the controls on my door, but he uses the controls on his own to fight my advances.
"Nine, I'm freezing," I insist.
"Well, my nose is burning."
"You're such a wimp."
"I have PTSD after almost being roasted!" He cries. "I came this close to being considered rotisserie."
I narrow my eyes at him. "Wake me up in two hours." I cross my arms, resigning myself to a frigid nap. Quiver opens one eye to shoot me a warning look. "Please," I add stiffly.
«You're such a mother,» I complain.
She closes her eye once more, satisfied. «Thank you.»
𝟹
"Tom."
I open my eyes groggily and sit up on the couch. "Hm?"
Ben's sitting in the surveillance room, his frame silhouetted by the glowing computer screens. "Have you seen this?" He asks, not bothering to elaborate as if I should already know.
I prop myself up on my elbows, squinting while I adjust to the light. "What?"
"Come here."
Internalizing an irritated sigh, I roll off the couch, the muscles in my back and shoulders protesting. "We moving again?" I mutter, trying not to let the pain show in my voice as I drag myself painfully down the hall toward him. There's nothing I hate more than the morning after training; especially now that Ben's been expecting more Legacy's to develop the last few months.
I can tell before I reach him that he's anxious, and suddenly I'm flooded with this overwhelming sense of dread. I'm already thinking about which clothes to pack and which to leave to be burned in the backyard with the other unnecessaries we've accumulated the past few weeks.
Ben glances over his shoulder at me, tense in his chair when I enter the small, dark room.
"This came up a few hours ago," he says, reaching forward to hit a key on one of the computer's keyboards. The screen changes abruptly and I feel my heart skip.
"Where is this?"
"Southern Illinois," he answers.
I have to take a moment to recall my geography lessons before remembering that's in the States, quite a ways south of us. That's so close.
"They're together."
"The Charm." I can hardly tear my gaze away from the monitor. "It couldn't have been humans?"
He shakes his head. "It's them." He pushes his chair back and stands, turning to leave.
"Get some rest," he says. "We're doubling up training. Don't worry about packing yet. They'll be too busy going after the Garde they have pinned to keep tracking us."
I nod numbly, still staring at the picture. The crop circles aren't hard to recognize. I had to memorize all nine of the Loric symbols years ago. The third is branded on my ankle, and the sixth and ninth stare right back at me from the computer screen, burned side-by-side into a buckwheat field only a few hours ago by them.
Nine and Six.
- – § – -
AN: Sorry for the wait guys! I'm trying my best to keep writing through the end of the school year and for some reason this story in particular is really hard to keep writing, but I'm doing the best I can. I really hope this chapter was worth the wait!
Not much really happened so I decided to throw in the end portion with Three's POV. We'll be seeing lots more of him in future chapters! Assuming I can manage to keep releasing chapters lol
Quick rant guys lol I just gotta let y'all know that it's June and last week it was like 32ºC and today it was motherfucking snowing like.. snow. In motherfucking JUNE YOU GUYS it was snowing ALL FREAKING DAY and we turned the heat off in my house because it was thirty freaking degrees last week so when I got home it was like eighteen degrees inside and I am cold
ANyways, let me know if there's anything I can improve on! If there's anything you guys want to see in future chapters! It's been a while since I've written Nine, Six and Quiver so don't be afraid to let me know if they seem out of character or anything! I appreciate all the feedback I can get! :)