Ok, sorry it's been awhile. I was kind of stalling. Go me.
Callypso: Nothing new.
Kat: And in other news, check out Kallypso's poll on her profile and predict the two characters you think are going to die
Jo: REVIEW!
'If this is a devils village' Lana thought to herself as she took a long drag from her cigarette. 'Then the devil sure seems keen on hiring a hell of a lot of idiots.'
The sound of incessant cat calls met her ears as a group of black jackets drew near to her. She lowered a hand to the hilt of one of her knives.
"Hey red head. What are you doing out today?" The black jacket at the lead sneered. His name was Hatchet as she remembered. It was a stupid name.
"Pretending I'm not in Hell, what are you doing?" Lana glanced at him.
"What did I tell you boys" Hatchet smirked. "This cat has claws." His friends sniggered.
"If I'm a cat, what does that make you?" Lana asked. "An ugly rat I guess."
"You really want to get smart sweetheart?" Hatchet fingered his gun.
Lana sighed and snuffed out her cigarette on the crate she sat on. Then she stood. "You know the thing about cats, Hatchet." She swept aside her jacket with a flick of her wrist, and seized a knife. In a split second the blade was level with Hatchet's throat. "They eat rats."
"Why you-" Hatchet moved to pull out his gun, only to grab air. He stared dumbly as Lana held up his gun and tossed it behind her.
"Nope. Don't bring guns to a knife fight boys."
Hatchet growled "You're not worth my time."
Lana watched the group go. "What a shame" she sighed, sheathing her knife.
"Fighting again sweetheart? Capricorn won't be pleased."
Lana's jaw tightened at the voice. "What the hell do you want Cockerel?"
Cockerel smirked. His face was illuminated by fire as he lit a cigarette. "Maybe I just came to say hello."
"Yeah, and I'm a fairy." Lana growled. "Just tell me what the fuck you want."
"Watch that mouth, princess" Cockerel warned. "Well our tracker finally managed to break through to find the writer. But we're going for a different approach this time around."
"Fascinating. What does that have to do with me?" Lana asked.
"You remember Basta, don't you princess?"
Lana nodded. Of course she remembered Basta.
"Kill him."
"You're kidding" Lana blinked.
"He's a thorn in our side. The sooner he dies the better." Cockerel said.
Lana smirked "What, you can't kill him yourself?"
Cockerel frowned "I'm at a disadvantage with him, unfortunately. Don't get smart sweetheart." Cockerel took a drag from his cigarette. "Besides if you say no, you know what happens to your family."
Lana's jaw tightened and she nodded "So where are they?"
Cockerel snickered "I knew you'd see reason."
Kat sighed and let her head fall back against the trunk of a tree. She felt so restless. Every snap in the woods made her jump. Just nerves. But didn't she have a good reason for getting jumpy?
A branch snapped and she whirled around, gun at the ready.
"Geez, Kit Kat, lower the gun!" William held up his hands. "You're a little paranoid, you know that?"
"I'm aware." Kat growled. She lowered the gun. "Don't sneak up on me like that alright?"
"I'll give you more notice next time" William promised.
Kat sat down on a long and rubbed a hand over her face "William… have you ever killed someone?"
William thought for a minute. "I don't think so. I've injured quite a few black jackets, but I don't think I killed anyone. Why do you ask?"
"No reason." Kat shrugged.
"Not likely." William sat down beside her. "What's bugging you Kat?"
"It's just…" Kat paused. "It's just that I could have avoided this whole mess. I had the gun on Cockerel. I had a clear shot. I could've killed him as soon as I saw him. I'm a good shot. I rarely miss." She looked down. "But I couldn't. I hesitated. That's what almost got me killed. And if I hadn't gotten shot then we wouldn't have to work with Basta. Callypso wouldn't have made a deal with him."
"That's what's bugging you?" William asked. "You think this is your fault."
"Yeah." Kat nodded.
William sighed "Look, Kat…"
I found myself somehow sitting by Hannah at our camp. She still looked pretty wary of everyone but she had calmed down considerably. She smiled when I joined her.
"Hi Callypso!"
"Hi." I said lamely.
"Thanks for letting me stay here with everyone" Hannah said. "I'm getting along well with Meggie. And I like Jo too. I'm glad that so many people want to oppose Capricorn."
"But it's not enough" I murmured.
"Maybe, but it still makes me happy." Hannah said.
"You're cheerful." I noticed.
"Should I not be?" Hannah blinked her wide eyes at me.
"I don't know, I recall being held prisoner for a long period of time not being a pick me up for me." I shrugged. "I would be feeling pissed right now."
"I'm just glad I'm free." Hannah said. "I'm angry, sure. But being out in the open… it's great. I'm just generally a happy person, no matter what."
"Yeah" I nodded."Hey kid."
"Yes?" Hannah asked.
"I was wondering... Could you try that gift of yours on me?"
"I get how you feel about killing, Kat" William said. "You killed Flatnose and you got scared that you would kill again. I get that. The reason you couldn't pull the trigger on Cockerel is because you're so caught up in the past. You're afraid."
"I'm not afraid!" Kat snapped. "…Ok, maybe a little, but not really!"
"And besides, Callypso's deal with Basta wasn't your fault. It was Callypso's decision." William shrugged. "And Flatnose is alive again anyway, so it's like it never happened."
"But I'm afraid I'll lose control again" Kat said. "I don't… I don't want to lose myself. I want to kill all of them. But I don't want to lose myself."
"Are you sure?" Hannah studied me.
"Yeah, why not?" I shrugged.
"It's just that." Hannah looked at the ground. "You might not like what you see."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well," Hannah said slowly. "Sometimes… what you have now is just kind of meant to be. Your life is meant to be the way it is right now. If you look at an alternative path, it might be worse. Or it might be better and you'll obsess over it when you can never have it. You have to be mentally prepared."
"I… I will be" I said. "Show me. I've always wondered what my life would be like, if Capricorn and his men were never read out of Inkheart. If they never existed in this world. I want to know."
Hannah looked at me for a long time before she nodded "Alright" and placed a hand on my forehead.
"Why am I doing this?" Lana murmured as she walked. "I'm tired of being used as a puppet like this. But what can I do?"
They would kill her family if she didn't do what they said. She was like their silent guardian. She never even got to see them. Not once. But she had to keep them alive.
All of them. Her brother, her parents, her little sister. They all had to be protected. That was the only reason she didn't stop right now, and kill herself for being used by Capricorn like she was. The only thing.
She envied Basta for leaving. Cutting his losses and getting out. He was lucky even if he thought otherwise. It didn't matter where you were in the ranks. If you were under Capricorn, you were still a puppet.
"I don't really want to kill him." Lana stared up at the sky. "I don't even think I can. And if I die, so does my family. Bastards." She lit a cigarette. "It's going to be a nice night. A nice night to live or die."
First all I saw was black. Then images began popping up. They were all foggy. Like old pictures in a dusty old album you found in an attic. I saw my mother, a man and a younger version of myself. I looked about five.
"You would have had a father and a mother" I heard Hannah's voice echoing over the images. "Because your father wouldn't have been killed. You wouldn't have had to move around to avoid Capricorn in his men. You would have been able to make friends. Lots of friends. Actually you were quite popular."
I saw the faces of a lot of girls. Girls I didn't know. But they looked friendly enough. They looked nice.
"But you would have never moved to the town where Kat lived." Hannah continued. "You never would have met Kat, or Jo. You wouldn't even know they existed."
My gut twisted. I could imagine life not knowing Kat. My personal body guard and best friend.
The images were all happy thought. All nice. Nothing remotely bad was happening to me. I was happy, my mom was happy and my dad was there. I had only seen my dad's face in the pictures. It was nice to see him in real time. Moving. Alive.
The images suddenly paused just about the time I became fourteen. Like they were hesitating.
"Then what?" I found myself asking. "Keep going, come on!"
"Callypso" Hannah's voice sounded sad.
"Show me!" I yelled. "I want to know what happens!"
More images rushed through my head. An image of me in the car with the girls that would have been my friends. The car was speeding down the road, way too fast. In front of us were train tracks. There was a train coming.
"Slow down." The girl that was me said.
"I'm driving, don't worry," the girl at the wheel said.
She started to slow down, just in front of the tracks. She would have been fine. If the car hadn't slammed into us from behind. We spun out of control, right onto the train tracks just as the train hitaid.
And everything just went black.
"I'm sorry" Hannah said. "I'm sorry Callypso."
"The past doesn't matter Kat" William sighed. "You can't change it now. Callypso made a deal with Basta. You can't think about what would have happened if you had pulled the trigger. And you can't think about what you might have been if you hadn't shot Flatnose. You are who you are now. Right now, you are the only thing you can be. There's no changing it." William grinned. "Just be happy with what you've got."
"What I've got?" Kat smiled bitterly. "On the run, fighting for my life?"
"You have friends" William pointed out. "And hey, you're alive."
I stared at my shaking hands "So if this hadn't happened." I murmured. "If I hadn't been kidnapped by Basta. If they had never existed. I wouldn't exist either?"
"You would have died at the age of fourteen" Hannah murmured. "I'm sorry."
"So in a way…" I muttered. "You're saying that the man who ruined my life… turned it into a hell hole. Also saved it?"
"Yeah" Hannah nodded. "What man are you talking about?"
I looked behind me and saw Basta leaning against a tree, cleaning a knife on his shirt. So if he hadn't existed I would be dead. I wouldn't have a life.
"God…" I muttered. "Why?"
"I told you." Hannah murmured. "It's not good to dwell on the past. It's better to just be happy with what you have."
"Yeah…" I stood. "Thank you… Hannah."
"Huh?" Hannah stared.
"You've really cleared my head" I smiled. "Thanks."
I started towards Basta "Hey can I talk to you?"
Basta started to answer when he paused. His eyes narrowed and he looked towards the edge of the clearing.
"Who's there?" I tensed automatically. "Cockerel."
"No" Basta shook his head and drew a knife.
"What's going on?" I jumped as Kat came up beside me, followed by William.
"I don't know." I shook my head.
Then I heard the footsteps and saw the shadow coming out of the trees.
Cliff hanger!
Callypso: But are you really surprised?
Kat: REVIEW!