Disclaimer: I do not own the Gone series by Michael Grant and I have a stuffy nose. Can this day get any worse?
Author's Note: Awww! This is a little baby chapter. So cute. Only about 2,000 words but it's jam-packed with stuff! I'm also working on an update to "GoneShots" so you may see an update on that later this weekend. You might see another chapter of this too. Hooray hooray!
"Let's see how you react now, Sam!" Caine shouted, raising the now twisting girl in the air. Astrid's ascent stopped after she was seven or eight feet in the air. Sam shuddered. Unlike the last time Caine had picked up his girlfriend at the Thanksgiving battle, Astrid still wasn't in any real danger. If Caine dropped her, she'd just fall a yard or so and land on her own feet without injury. Again, the lights in Sam's hands flashed brightly against his will. He trained them nervously on Caine's head, not knowing what else to really do with them.
The others noticed it too. Dekka held her hands to the side just in case she had to stop Astrid from rising farther. Breeze had stumbled to her feet and was shaking sand out of her pigtails. Quinn just looked kind of sick while Edilio aimed his gun at Caine's chest.
"Freeze, Caine!" He shouted. Caine looked at the boy and stared at his gun. For a moment he almost looked disappointed. Then the boy blinked and his expression changed into one of mock amusement. He laughed again.
"Brother, I can't believe you're about to give away your glory to the gunslinger." Edilio frowned, not quite understanding. Caine snarled at the Honduran and pushed Astrid towards him. He instantly put his gun away and caught the genius, both shouting with surprise. In the pandemonium Sam had fired random shots at Caine. Caine ducked, the thrill of past battles causing him to, and scowled. He straightened up and glared at Sam. "Do it again!" he snapped.
"No!" Sam said, lights growing brighter. Blood pounded in his ears. He had to control himself and not lose focus. How can I force him to come quietly? Killing him is only what he wants. Sam was still very against the killing of his younger brother yet now he was starting to realize how easy everything would be if he did. "Stop! Everyone, just stop!"
Everyone did in fact stop. Caine seemed a bit shocked and turned to face his older brother. Little Pete even twitched a bit and his eyes lost a bit of their blankness. Sam glanced at Dekka who nodded slightly.
"This is for Breeze," she muttered under her breath. Suddenly Caine lost all gravity and bobbed up into the air along with a few pounds of sand. He twisted furiously and glared at Sam. He shouted something but it was lost in the twisting sand.
Sam smiled sweetly up at him. "Wanna come down now, little bro?" Caine twisted more, still glaring at the five. He turned to Dekka. "Let him down—but don't hurt him."
Dekka stared at Sam as if he was crazy but nodded. Slowly Caine fell in stops and starts from gravity being acted on him and taken away. When he was hovering a few feet above the sand, Dekka let him down with a satisfying thud. Caine let out a single high-pitched yelp before falling over again. He held a thin hand up to a throbbing cheek where Brianna had just smacked him three times in a second. The girl became visible again, smirking at the telekinetic. Sam shot her a stern look with which she replied with a innocent shrug.
Caine's yip caused Quinn to jump. It had sounded vaguely coyote-like. He shuddered and pushed away more horrible visions from almost a year ago and returned to the current situation. He exchanged glances with Edilio who nodded. Together, the two jumped at Caine. Quinn took his right arm and held it tight while Edilio grabbed his left and pressed his gun into Caine's side. They made sure to have both hands firmly out of the boy's use. Caine wriggled only slightly before sagging forward. The two 'bookends' so to speak exchanged another worried glance. Edilio shook Caine's side which caused the boy to grumble and try to jerk away.
"What's wrong with him?" Sam asked, stepping closer to his brother.
Astrid frowned. "I'm not sure. I'm no doctor!" she snapped. Sam blinked and Astrid sighed loudly. "I'm sorry for snapping," she apologized. She should have been relieved to see Caine captured and Petey safe but something kept nagging on in the back of her mind. Astrid stepped towards Sam's younger twin. Slowly she reached out towards him, cupped a hand under his slender chin, and tilted his head up. It felt like an electric current had run through the girl. She wanted to jerk her hand away but she couldn't. It seemed like it was glued there. Inside her mind it flashed a brilliant white. She hadn't seen a mind this bright since she felt Sam's almost a year ago at the Thanksgiving Day Battle. She had believed her powers to be dormant until that moment. Astrid stared into Caine's face and in the too sunken in cheeks and bruised skin. This was the first time she was seeing him up close in forever and she felt as if he had become a different person. Gone was the smooth air, replaced by a desperation that had just run out. Then the streaking light left her mind and her thoughts became hers again. Astrid gasped and yanked her hand away. Caine sighed and his head nodded weakly forward again, too exhausted to hold itself up.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Sam asked, eyes wide. Astrid had looked as if she had just seen a ghost. That wasn't very far from the truth.
The genius's mind spun frantically for an explanation. "He's starving to death. He's so exhausted he can barely stay awake," she murmured softly. Pity welled up suddenly inside her for the boy who had tried to kill her numerous times. Was Diana able to see something similar to the flash in her boyfriend's mind? Was she able to tell Caine something was up? Did she even care anymore? Astrid glanced up at Sam. "What did he want, Sam? Why was he here? Did he try to kill you again? Why wasn't he using his powers? Why didn't you use your powers? Are you hurt? And why—"
Sam laughed weakly and interrupted the girl. "Stop asking so many questions, Astrid. It's so weird. Usually I'm the one belting them out. Ask them one at a time, please. And—" he looked over at the very sluggish Caine. "—pick one for now. We have to get him back to town as soon as possible." Sam shifted uncomfortably. "Lock him up so he can't get out."
Astrid frowned and tried to think through her muddled mess of questions. The rest could be asked in due time except she would have liked to know what caused all of this as soon as possible. "What did he want?"
Sam laughed again, this time it was a grim chuckle. "You had to pick the hardest one, didn't you?"
Astrid narrowed her eyes. "Fine, don't answer that yet. You will though," she threatened. Sam looked very uncomfortable now. He glanced around at the others, hoping they would come to his rescue. Edilio looked as if he was going to say something when Astrid barreled on in her speech. "At least tell me this: did Caine try to kill you?"
Sam shook his head. "No, kinda the opposite really."
Before someone could ask what he meant, Caine jerked suddenly. His out of the blue action shocked both Quinn and Edilio, who together tried desperately to get the telekinetic back under control. They were unable to do it as Caine's hands fell free. A dark grin briefly lit up his thin face before the two guards were sent sprawling backwards. Another invisible push shoved them farther back until they were at least twenty feet away. Brianna and Dekka were the next ones to be moved forcefully. They were pushed back farther and the lighter Brianna actually disappeared over the edge of the hill. Dekka tumbled down the side as well and was lost from sight. Sam spun around to face Caine, light flaring of his palms. Astrid glared at him hotly.
"That was a set up!" she hissed at him. "You were faking it! Weren't you, Caine? I bet you're not as sick as you act!" The bright flash filled her mind again. How could I have been so stupid? She berated herself. Sam's light was perfect at the peak of his powers.
Caine grinned again and then it was gone. Astrid felt herself thrown backwards at the same place Edilio and Quinn were struggling to their feet. She collided into Edilio for the second time and knocked the two boys over. Quinn was groaning loudly as the three tried to untangle themselves. "Thanks a lot, Astrid!" he would be muttering quite often.
Sam raised his hands at Caine. "Astrid's right—you were faking it the entire time. Was the other thing you said fake too?" Sam narrowed his eyes. Caine stared at him blankly. "Answer me, Caine!" Sam shouted at him. Their eyes met and locked for a few seconds. Sam could hear the angry sounds of Brianna as she was making her way rather clumsily back up the hill.
Caine was the first to break off the staring contest. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Brianna too. He started to chew on his thumbnail nervously. He raised his hand to send Brianna back down then shook his head and turned back to Sam. Sam watched, waiting for an answer.
"I…I wasn't lying, Sam." Caine started softly. "Everything I told you about is real."
"It must suck to be you then," Sam said dryly.
Caine looked shocked for a moment then laughed ruefully. "Yeah, it sucks."
Sam pursed his lips together and the lights dimmed faintly. "Because I'm a nice guy, I'll ask you one more time." This phrase elicited a humorless laugh from Caine. "What happened to Caine Soren?"
"I told you, Sam. He's dead. He just needs his body to catch up with him." Caine gave him another sad smile.
Sam winced. "All right. So we know what happened to your spirit and sanity. And we kinda are figuring out on what to do about your um, body. What happened to your heart? What about Diana?"
Caine crossed his arms and looked away. He sighed loudly and Sam half-wondered if he was going to go into another self-pitying rant. "It was her birthday a month ago. She…she said she was going to step out. Said she didn't want to see me again. I…I made her promise to stay. I said I would give her something better in return if only she would stay with me. So she stayed." He shrugged. "I thought I would repay her by getting her to this island. It seemed like the only way to stay alive. Turns out she had other plans. She tried to kill me, Sam."
"You're pretty worked up about that, aren't you? Gee…if you think that was bad, you should've seen some of the arguments Astrid and I've gotten into to."
Sam's suicidal brother gave him a look that was not very brotherly. "I thought Diana wanted to live. I was right…but I forgot one minor detail. She wanted to live without me."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "So go back to Coates or the island. Let her cool down a little. Sooner or later she'll forget why she hated you…at least she will eventually, and then you guys and be a happy, twisted couple again."
Caine gave Sam a regretful smile. "You aren't quite getting it, Sam. I don't mean she wants space. I mean she wants me dead. And now I'm giving Diana her overdue gift. I'm killing myself, with or without you. I was hoping you'd give me what I wanted but now…I suppose I'll just have do what I always do and fix the problem myself. Lesson to learn, older brother, you can't rely on anyone but yourself." The large dead trunk that Caine had moved gently to the side now rose high into the air. It floated slowly over Caine and rose ten, twenty, fifty feet in the air. Caine's hands stop climbing in the air and both the boy's hands and the tree seemed to hover in suspense. He glanced over at Sam and smiled a smile both apologetic and victorious.
"Cya, big bro," Caine said, a triumphant air in his quiet voice. With a grunt, Caine slammed his hands down. Above him, the tree shuddered then dropped out of the sky.
Ah, so that's why he kept the tree safe… From the moment the tree started to rise, Sam was already preparing himself for a quick reaction. He had been surprised to see his brother use the tree but then realized he must've planned to use the dead stump as a back up plan just in case. Sam silently applauded his brother for the plan while cursing him for being two steps ahead. With a questionable plan in his mind, Sam prepared himself and watched the tree rise higher and higher. When it started to fall Sam's hands shot out, palms blazing. I only have one shot… Sam told himself, forcing his mind to concentrate. He bit his lip and light erupted from his hands. The entire place was bathed in an eerie green light. His laser kept on firing until loud screaming shot through Sam's concentration. The boy faltered and fell to his knees. He desperately tried to block his ears with his shoulder but the sound seemed to be coming from the inside of his brain. Sam glanced up frantically and met the eyes of someone, he couldn't tell who, before blacking out.
I'd do another 'bum bum BUM' except for the fact that I already used my dramatic cliffhanger phrase just a few chapters ago. Thank you to all of my reviewers and favoriters!
JokerGrace - Um, about the Cainia reason, I completely forgot about Diana. Thanks for reminding me. I threw a little part in the end. I hope it was satisfactory! In the next chapter you will see why its called 'Invitation Accepted' :D. Thank you for the review!
sheepobsessed - Aww! Thanks for reviewing!