Here we are with chapter twenty-six!
Dang, never thought I'd say THAT.
A few people have brought it to my attention that newborns CAN open their eyes, back in chapter twenty-four. That was my bad; I didn't think it was possible.
Sorry.
Anyway, here we go! This is a good 'un, so pay lots of careful attention and REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!
Please.
"Are you sure that bringing Celeste along was a good idea?" I asked Wanda nervously.
Wanda sighed. "Heidi is staying in the car with her. She won't be in any danger. I figure that it's better to bring her ourselves and make sure that she stays out of trouble than have her stow away again and be in danger."
"All right, then," I said doubtfully. We both cast a look to the back of the jeep where Celeste was curled up on a blanket, asleep. Kyle and Jamie were positioned on either side of her like sentries.
Shrugging, I turned around again and focused on driving. Wanda and I, the souls, were in the front seat in case we ran into any other souls…although it was unlikely, way out here. Melanie, Jamie, Jeb, and Heidi were in the middle. Kyle, Jamie, Jodi, and Celeste were in the back.
Wanda was keeping her face perfectly smooth, but I saw the pain in her eyes. I hadn't been able to talk to her, to explain what she had seen, but even if I had gotten the chance, it didn't appear that she wanted to listen.
Is she jealous? I wondered. Because it seems like it…but that makes no sense, because she's in love with YOU. Why would she be jealous of Sunny?
My guess is as good as yours. Ian was slightly crusty toward me, but I tried to ignore it.
"All right," I said quietly to Wanda. "If they pull weapons, you have to get behind us right away. They aren't aiming for us."
"You're a soul, too, Ben," Wanda pointed out quietly. "They might shoot at you."
"I don't care," I said firmly. "Better you than me." And it was true.
I felt so at risk. Wanda and Celeste were in danger. This was going against every bit of my nature, exposing them like this. At least Petals, Wes, and Sunny were back at home, safe in the caves.
Ian was nervous, too. You protect her at ALL COSTS, you hear me? If there's even the slightest hint…
I know. I know. And if I can't do it…
Then I'm switching with you, because I know that I can.
I gulped, not liking the sound of that. All right, I agreed quietly at last.
And Celeste has to stay IN THE CAR AT ALL TIMES.
I know that, I snapped. I love her, too, you know. That may be your daughter, but it's my niece, and I would never put her in danger.
I know, he sighed. I'm sorry, Ben, I'm just nervous.
You've got every reason to be. But we promised each other not to pull out weapons, remember?
We're humans, Ben. We don't play by the rules like you souls.
I gulped again. At least tell me that we're going to be undercover. In a cave or something, just in case another soul comes by.
Nope. Open desert sand. We're nowhere near our caves, so if the souls find us, we can easily get back in the Jeep, lose them, and circle around. Our cover won't be blown.
Shh, I think we're almost here.
"We're here," Wanda said nervously at last, echoing my statement.
Everything shifted. Jamie and Kyle stiffened, and Kyle shifted closer to Jodi.. Jeb picked up his gun and held it more closely. Jared and Melanie sat upright. Wanda clenched her fists. Heidi clambered over the seat and slid into the back of the Jeep, closer to Celeste, who was sitting upright and rubbing at her eyes with her fists.
"Are we all ready?" Jared asked quietly.
"Yes, yes," various whispers came.
"I think they're coming."
I slid the Jeep to a stop. Celeste tried to get higher, but Heidi whispered, "Lie down, Celeste." Frowning, Celeste did so.
Jared, Melanie, Wanda, Jeb, and I got out and slammed the doors shut behind us. We circled around and opened the back doors of the Jeep. Jamie and Kyle crawled out. Jodi began to follow, but Kyle froze her with a look. Scowling slightly, she moved back a bit to sit next to Celeste and Heidi.
"Good luck," Heidi whispered just before we slammed those doors shut, too.
Jodi isn't coming? I thought as we trekked across the sand, getting a good distance away from the Jeep, but close enough that we could all dart back, pile in, and take off again at a moment's notice.
I've got no doubt that she WANTED to go, but I've got no doubt that Kyle wouldn't let her. He just got her back, and he's not going to endanger her again any time soon.
So why aren't we insisting that Wanda stay behind, too? I asked him, because every cell in our body was screaming at us to do just that.
She has to be present for this. These are peace negotiations, remember? This entire fight has started because of her. While it isn't her fault, we have to have her out here so that they can see that she isn't dangerous.
I guess you're right. But if there's any danger, any at all—
Back to the Jeep, he agreed, both of us unnaturally solemn.
Wanda must have seen our internal debate, because her jaw set. "I'm not going anywhere, Ian," she muttered, her voice low.
We sighed.
"I'll be fine," she murmured.
But we weren't quite so sure.
We all turned at what seemed to be the exact same moment, converging into a group and putting Wanda right in the middle of it. Melanie and Jared were on either side of her. Jamie was behind her. Ian and I placed ourselves directly in the front.
We saw them advancing before we heard them, muttering to themselves in low voices. A group of humans, about the same size as ours. It was clear that they were humans as they drew closer; souls would never have had such expressions on their faces. They were twisted in rage and bitterness, staring at each of us with hatred.
Except one little face in the back. A girl, not any older than fourteen. She had auburn hair that swung down to the last vertebrae in her spine, and her eyes were a shimmering hazel. She seemed more afraid than anything, waiting anxiously to see what the outcome of this confrontation would be. She seemed most concerned for a man and woman toward the front. The woman had her hazel eyes and the man her auburn hair; their features were so similar that they were clearly her parents.
I didn't have time to wonder about her before the angry humans were advancing again.
They stopped about fifty yards away from us, a big, invisible line separating the two groups. I unconsciously shifted my weight so that Wanda was shielded from view as much as possible.
The humans saw her anyway, though.
They immediately glared ferociously, all of them staring at her with such burning, hate-filled expressions that she had to turn away.
"Alex," Jared said at last, his voice nearly echoing in the dead silence. "It's so good to see you again." You could barely hear the hint of flat sarcasm in his voice.
"Pity I can't say the same, Jared," a tall, blond man snapped back. "I see you've brought the rest of your little renegade gang."
"How dare you?" a tall, dark-haired woman shrieked suddenly. "How dare you show your faces around here again? How dare you come back, staring mockingly at us, openly, with that—that thing!" She pointed at Wanda, her voice raising another few decibels.
A flash of hot anger surged through my body as my muscles tensed up. I glared at her with as much ferocity as I could manage—although, being a soul, that wasn't much.
"And they brought another one," an angry voice in the crowd hissed.
I winced.
Well, we knew that our cover wasn't going to last long.
That's true, but I couldn't help but wish that it would last a little longer.
"You don't understand," Jamie insisted, his voice carrying. "They're not its. They're humans, too!"
"How can you stand there and say that?" one of them howled. "They stole our world. They stole our bodies. They stole ourSELVES!"
"They're not all bad!" Jared insisted. "Most of them aren't. This isn't their fault!"
"Right," a man snorted sarcastically. "Sure that they're not all bad." His face was abruptly contorted with fury.
"Please," Wanda whispered, and everyone instantly fell silent. "Please, don't…don't hurt them. I don't mean you any harm, honestly."
"LIKE HECK!" one of the men exploded, and abruptly, a gun was being pointed directly at Wanda.
"No!" a voice cried before I had to time to respond.
We turned almost simultaneously to see Celeste dashing and stumbling across the sand. She skidded to a halt in between the two groups. Everyone stared at her in astonishment.
"What are you doing?" she cried. "Stop!"
No one responded. The humans' expressions were cold and hard.
"Celeste, get back over here," Jamie said, and his voice was just as empty and expressionless.
"No!" she yelled. "Don't hurt her!"
"Who is this?" a woman asked, disgusted, gesturing to Celeste.
Everyone else was silent.
Celeste turned to me with a tortured expression. She dashed forward and leapt into my arms, burying her face into my shoulder.
"Don't let them hurt Mommy, Uncle Ben!" she cried. "Don't let them!"
The humans' eyes grew wide with comprehension. Alex's lip curled. The women glared. The auburn-haired man looked confused and hesitant. The little girl in the back had eyes that were wide-open and terrified, staring at her parents.
"The demon reproduced?" Alex growled. He eyed Celeste. "Devil's spawn, huh?" he muttered, but we all heard him.
Ferocious, horrible, roiling anger swept through Ian and I. Ian fell forward and I fell back, because the violence in our body was more compatible to the human, the one who was used to it.
A snarl ripped through his teeth before we could stop it, and his arms tightened around Celeste's little body instinctively.
More humans growled back, and more weapons were drawn and aimed, not just at Wanda and me but at everyone.
"They're getting angry," Jamie hissed. "Get back in the Jeep…"
Our small party edged backward toward the car, and the doors in the back were open, explaining how Celeste had gotten out. Jodi and Heidi were frantically trying to see if she was with us.
"If you would just listen—," Jared tried to tell the humans.
"We're done listening!" Alex snarled, pointing his gun right at us. "Don't come back until you've gotten rid of the things." He glared at Celeste. "All of them," he added nastily, looking furiously at her.
"They aren't things!" Melanie growled.
"It's a relative term, I admit," Alex sneered at her. "We just call them things when we're talking about something that isn't human."
"Kyle, is that you?" Jodi hissed from inside the Jeep. "Is Celeste with you?"
Ian and I were too blinded with rage to listen.
"She's ten times the human you'll ever be!" Ian exploded through our mouth.
We knew that he had made a mistake before he did a thing. His face contorted in fury, and he raised the gun, his lips opening wordlessly…
BANG! BANG!
It went off, and everyone screamed and ducked.
"What's going on?" Jodi screamed. She and Heidi had clambered out of the Jeep.
"GET IN!" Jared bellowed, and everyone tried to get into the Jeep. Gunfire rang out all around us.
Jeb fired back, but he wasn't aiming to hit anyone; he was just trying to scare them. He jumped into the Jeep. Melanie grabbed Jamie, and Jared grabbed Melanie. The three tumbled in after him.
"Celeste! Is she out there?" Jodi cried, rushing forward across the sand. Before she got two steps, Kyle scooped her up, hugging her to his chest like a football, and tumbled into the back of the Jeep with her. Heidi followed, stumbling after them.
I grabbed Celeste in one hand, grabbed Wanda around the waist with the other, and tumbled into the Jeep with both of them.
"Get down!" I cried, throwing myself behind the wheel. Wanda hugged Celeste tightly to her body and slid down to the floor of the Jeep, protecting themselves underneath the dashboard. I hunched as low down to the wheel as I could, stomping down on the gas pedal. Jeb and Jamie ducked, in the middle of the seat. Jared pulled Melanie close to him, huddling on the floor of the Jeep. Heidi ducked down low, and I saw Kyle push Jodi to the ground.
I wheeled around in a U-turn, speeding off across the sand. I still hunched down low, paranoid, but the gunfire stopped after a moment. I looked in the rearview mirrors, but the humans didn't seem to be pursuing us.
We drove for a long, long time, everyone huddled up on the floor of the Jeep. It had to be nearly a half hour before Jared, Kyle and I let everyone back up again.
We were all silent for a long, long time.
"Well, that went better than I'd expected," Jared said finally.