A/N I know, I know, this is supposed to be an OC chapter. But it's not. Again. BUT THE NEXT ONE WILL! Scout's honor, even though I never was a Scout or anything…or maybe this is all just a clever ruse. (Probably) Anyway. Okay. Let's do this. *nod*
Cassie's POV
"Cassie! Cassie. Cassie? Cassie!" There's someone. Being annoying. Three guesses who.
"What do you want, Nick?" I grumble, rolling over. We're staying in Black one more day, so I'm trying to get as much sleep as I possibly can. Trying to stage a coup is sort of tiring.
"I have an idea." I sit up groggily, waiting for him to continue, which he does, breathlessly. "Okay, so, you know how I said I didn't want to kill Kira?" I nod slowly. "Well. I know how we can take down the Division, find your mother, and keep Kira alive."
"You aren't making any sense." Personally, not much of what Nick's said the past few days has made sense. Something changed about him. I'd noticed it when I first came back, but…lately, it's just become that more apparent. He doesn't seem like he used to; he isn't as eager to do something as he used to be. That's my job now.
And I can't say that I don't know what caused the change.
Even though I don't tell him this, (and I never plan on telling him, even after the deed is done) Kira is going to die, whether he wants her to or not.
"I know, I know. I don't want to tell you too much, in case we're being Watched, but when the time comes, everything I do will make perfect sense." This is six years ago all over again. Quite literally going into things in the dark. Even with my Watching almost perfected, I can't See what he's planning; just a vague series of seemingly unrelated events.
That still lead to us dead.
All of us; Selby and Mira and Lee and Xiao and Zhao and Emily and Pinky and me. And Nick. I can't tell who the other bodies belong to, just that there are other bodies. Quite a few other bodies.
I mentally shake myself. Nick got us out of a sure death once before. Surely, surely he can do it again. And even though he may well be insane, and even though I'd be a damn fool to do it, I completely and utterly trust Nick, with every fiber of my being.
Not that I'll admit that.
"Listen. It's all going to be fine. Everyone's been thinking hard about what to do with syringe, it's only a matter of time until someone comes up with a good plan." Nick smiles at me, a dazzling, self-satisfied smile.
"You really, really, truly are the stupidest person I have ever met in my life," I tell him as seriously as I can.
"I am quite aware, as you've been saying that for the past week on an hourly basis." He ruffles my hair, which I take grudgingly. It's better than calling me kid.
"He won't tell me," I groan to Mira, who always seems to be hovering around me these days.
"He won't tell any of us." She seems as irked as I am, which makes me like her just a little bit more. There's a brief pause in the conversation, then, "How do you know Selby?"
I don't, I don't, I don't.
It'd taken me until just recently to realize who exactly Selby was, and I'd been avoiding being alone with him. As well as any questions that may arise. Unfortunately, it didn't appear that I've done a very good job.
"I don't know what you mean," I say shortly, bustling around the room. Nick, Lee, and Selby had slipped out of Black to do a quick sweep of the area, try to see if we'd be good to sneak away as soon as Xiao arrives. Alysia, the new girl that Zhao brought in, was somewhere, being annoying, probably.I haven't Seen any complications with getting out, but, recently, things have been changing faster than I can keep track of. The only thing that stays solid is the death. Which is entirely too worrisome.
"He told me he knew you." I freeze mid-fold. Nick has completely ruined the room, throwing his clothes everywhere. And Black, though not as trashy as I'd originally thought, doesn't exactly have room service, so it was thrown onto my back to clean up and prepare to leave.
"He's lying." My fingers flit nervously across the torn cotton of Nick's shirt. Selby was just a blip in the road; nothing that I needed to worry about. Sure, he was going to die with the rest of us, but that's as far as the concern needs to go.
"But he-"
"Are you the fucking police?" I snap, turning back to face her. She cocks a near-invisible eyebrow.
"Sorry," she says simply, though she doesn't break her eye contact. And I'm sure as hell not about to let her think she intimidates me into breaking it myself.
"You guys!" Lee barges into the room, a big grin on his face. I haven't gotten to know Lee, (or any of the new kids, for that matter) but I have come to find that he is very egocentric. In fact, he reminds me quite a bit of Nick. Well…pre-Kira-leaving Nick.
"Don't know how to knock?" Obviously, Lee doesn't hear me, or is choosing to ignore me, and goes on with whatever he felt is more important than what Mira and I were talking about.
"We saw her."
"Her? What her?" Mira asks her brother, standing to match him.
"Yeah, what 'her'?" He couldn't mean…surely I would have Seen something, or the absence of something, if she was being Shaded. Surely.
"Kira," Lee whispers the word with much too much reverence for my liking. Before I can ask more, or even find out what and how he knows about Kira, Nick comes crashing into the room behind Lee, with Selby in his tracks and Alysia just behind him.
"We need to leave, now," Nick says. His face is flustered.
"No way." I fold my arms across my chest. If we leave, we'll just get captured! I mentally face palm myself; how hadn't I Seen this happening?
"I think we should go," Alysia announces, staring at Nick with a little string of drool hanging out of her mouth. I don't like her. At all. In the brief ten minutes I'd spent with her when Zhao brought her back last night, I'd already caught on to her holier-than-thou attitude. Not appealing. At all.
"I think you need to shut your pretty little mouth," I growl. "If we leave, we won't make it anywhere alive. Doesn't anyone understand-"
"Nick, baby. Won't you come out and play with me?" One of Kira's near-black eyes stares through a crack in the door, swivelling around to try to lock on to one of us.
"Get back, Kira." Nick is behind me, avoiding at Kira's eye. We're utterly trapped, all of us, in this tiny room.
"All I want is to see you again. Is that so bad?" There's a loud bang on the other side of the door, and little motes of dust float down from the ceiling. Mira's eyes are as wide as saucers, her hand gripping onto Selby's. "LET ME IN," Kira screams, and there's another thud, much more ominous than the last.
"What do we do?" Alysia whispers, her whole body shaking.
"Scream."
"Cassie?" I snap back to reality, only to find our lovely party staring at me. "What did you see?" Nick is watching me most closely of all. His eyes are wild, but not in fear.
"We're too late." The room freezes.
"What do you mean?" Nick asks urgently, taking a step towards me. "Cass, you need to tell me exactly what you-"
"Nick, baby. Won't you come out and play with me?" Six pairs of eyes focus on the door, then snap away instantly, desperately avoiding the glare from the single black marble staring out from a little crack in the well-worn door.
"Get back, Kira." Nick's voice wavers, just enough for me to notice.
"Lee, Mira," I whisper frantically. "Phase. See how many there are. Cover each other if you need to. Can you do that?" Lee nods immediately. Mira, however, hesitates.
"I can't. I-I'm not very goo-"
"If you want to die, go ahead and stay right here." Her eyes widen at my words, but she nods shortly, following her brother to the opposite wall. Both disappear almost immediately, despite Mira's unconfident words.
"All I want to do is see you again. Is that so bad?" Kira's voice is deathly persuasive. The first bang comes, and I'm showered in dirt.
"Alysia, you need to get ready to Scream. Nick? I think you know what you need to do."
"There's six of them, including Kira," Mira says, breathless. I close my eyes.
"We can take them." There's not a single doubt in my mind. Something is blocking my Sight all of a sudden, but I know that we can handle it. As long as Nick keeps his head in the game, there'll be a limited amount of complications. Which is just want we want. No complications, and an easy out.
Time slows down. I hear Kira through the door again. The second bang comes. And door starts to collapse.
"Three!" Nick shouts, gesturing Alysia forward, next to him. Selby leaps forward as well, holding…a sword. Well. That's strange. "TWO!" The door is almost gone, and we can see everyone through it. Kira's fighting her way through the rubble, coming closer every second. I blink, and she's in.
"One." But it doesn't come from Nick. It comes from Kira. I start to surge towards her, a burning igniting deep in my chest. I want to kill her. I want to absolutely rip her limb from fucking limb. I can't move.
"Wonderful to see you again," Kira says sweetly to the completely silent room. Nick is staring at her, open-mouthed and with a far-off look in his eyes. "Most of might have noticed you can't move," she gestures to the small group behind her. "Rather advanced Movers. Quite handy, I'd say." She laughs then, and that one laugh dregs up memories I'd hoped to forget. She'd had the same laugh, that same, smug grin the day she'd told me to leave, the day that changed my life.
"Let us go," I whisper, too worked up to do much more. Kira turns her attention to me for the first time, looking a bit surprised at what she sees.
"Cassie? My, you've gotten big." Her down-turned eyes are sparkling as she surveys me as if I'm some sort of prey. "What are you doing back?"
"What I should have done before I left. Kill you." Finally, I manage to break through the Move on me and make a break for Kira
Click.
I freeze, my breath coming in short puffs. "Don't move, Cassie." Nick's voice wobbles, the mouth of the gun pressing against my temple.
"Stop the Push," I snarl at Kira. She winks at me.
"No Push this time, Cass."
"Nick?"
"Just don't move, okay?" The gun presses hard against my skin and, even though I know I shouldn't, I feel myself start to tremble.
"This isn't how I'm supposed to die, Nick."
"You've seen wrong before," Kira interjects, her eyes flashing black. The gun's pressure becomes harder. Is it a Push? Nick's broken through them before, surely he's be able to now. Unless he didn't want to.
I move just enough to face Nick, the gun pressed perfectly in the middle of my forehead. I stare Nick straight in the eyes, defiant, challenging. "Pull it, Nick." His jaw tightens and the finger on the trigger tenses. "Do it, Nick. Give it to me." My voice is soft.
"Let her go!" Mira shrieks, fighting against the Move. Kira raises on finger and one of the Movers behind her makes a thrashing motion with his hand. Mira goes crashing against the wall.
"GOD! MIRA!" Lee somehow rips through his Move and rushes over to his sister, his hands flitting around her head, which is bleeding profusely.
"If you want them to live, you'll kill her," Kira says to Nick, taking a step closer to him. "And when you do, you can join me at the Division." She trails a hand across Nick's chest, her arms coming to envelope him. Nick holds my gaze even with Kira's lips moving sinuously against his neck.
"Pull the trigger," Kira and I say, damn close to simultaneously.
Will he do it? I'm not sure. Ten minutes ago, the most important thing was leaving before Kira arrived in days, not minutes. The most important thing was trying to figure out how to pick up the syringe full of whatever. The most important thing was finding my mother.
Not convincing Nick, my best friend, my Nick, to back away with the gun, using patented reverse-psychology. Definitely not working, however, with Kira's sweet voice overpowering my own, rubbed raw with the recent influx of emotion.
"What are you going to do, Nick?" Even with the gun held between my eyes, even with the Movers holding onto my companions, even with Kira's wandering hands on Nick, my Nick's, body, I don't drop my gaze, don't waver for one single moment. The gun's path moves from my forehead to my chest. It presses against my sternum, moving faintly with my heartbeat.
"Sorry," he mumbles.
Bang.
A/N FANTASTIC! A freakin' cliff hanger. And a fail cliff hanger at that. So. I know I keep threatening to threaten. And I guess it's working. I must have hit a record last time with reviews, even if it wasn't as much as I wanted. D: But I think I'm going to try giving everyone who reviews a teaser of the next chapter. BRIBERY! So review. Pls? I LOVE YOU!