Chapter 8:
The Mallrats sat huddled in the café in stunned silence. Ellie was tending to the scrapes and cuts that May, Amber, Salene and Trudy had received in the explosion. The children had thankfully escaped without harm. May held a cloth to her bleeding arm and slowly looked around the room.
Jay sat with his arms around Amber while she clutched Baby Bray to her chest. Trudy was juggling an ice pack she was holding on her wrist and Brady who was sitting on her lap. Ellie was standing over Salene cleaning a nasty cut on her forehead. May looked to her left and saw that Lex had moved to stand beside her. Slade and Ebony sat together to one side. Ebony had her head in her hands and Slade was shaking his head.
"I just don't understand it," he said, "I thought we were through with all of this. I thought the tribes were at peace."
"We'll never be at peace," Ebony said bitterly.
"We were very lucky that it wasn't a bigger explosion," Jay added, "It could have been much worse. The girls could've been killed, the children could've been hurt, the mall could've been destroyed. We were very lucky."
"I just don't understand who would have done something like this," Amber said, shaking her head, "We just had a meeting of the Inter-Tribe Council last week and everything was fine. Who could hate us so much that they would try and hurt our children?"
"I have an idea," May said quietly, "I thought I saw Mega, just before the explosion."
"That's impossible, May. He's dead," said Jay.
"But he looked at me, I saw his face. It had to be him."
"May, Josh died in my arms. I watched him take his last breath. Besides, if my brother were alive, I'd know it."
"Are you so sure about that," Lex said to Slade.
All eyes in the room were now focused on Lex.
"What do you mean, Lex," Jay asked.
"That's why I'm here," Lex announced to the stunned Mallrats, "Mega's alive."
All around the room people gasped, jaws dropped and heads shook in disbelief. Beside Lex, May struggled with her emotions; tears welled up in her eyes. She turned and looked at Lex, as their eyes met she felt the baby kick, and then the tears began to flow.