Ruth Silver - Moirai

Knowing night would quickly fall, I edged my way through town, doing my best to remain unseen. The glamour had disappeared and I was too exhausted to raise it back up. I needed sleep and I only had one place I could go—Jaxon was right—home.

I reached my mother's house and felt my hands tremble as I knocked on the door. There was a long moment, a heavy pause, before she opened it. “Olive!” she gasped, throwing her arms around my body. “You're alive!” I felt her tense at the sound outside as gunfire erupted. “Quick, get inside,” she ushered, shutting and locking the door behind me. “I've been so worried about you. You're okay though…?” Her thumb stroked the dirt from my cheek, only managing to smudge it further.

“I will be.” I nodded. “Things are different Mom, outside the walls.” I didn’t know how to explain it to her without giving too much information. Some secrets I wasn’t sure were ready to be told.

She closed and secured the blinds. “Have a seat,” she insisted, gesturing to the sofa. I waited until she returned to the living room before I sat down. “What are you doing back here, Olivia? You know you shouldn't be here.”

“I know.” I saw the look of concern, the worry in her eyes, the wrinkles on her forehead as her lip quivered. She pulled me into her arms, embracing me. “Even so, I'm glad you're back.”

I didn’t tell her it wasn’t for good, though she must have known considering our current situation. “I need help: allies.” I stared at her, hoping she knew someone in Genesis who would be willing to stand alongside and fight with the rebel alliance.

She frowned. “I may know of a few, but Olive,” she paused, “don't get yourself into any trouble.” I tried not to laugh at her request. “Come with me.” My mother led me into her bedroom. I hesitated by the doorframe, the room so familiar, too familiar. Everything in Genesis looked the same, every home, every room—the furniture, the bedding. It made my stomach turn as I remembered being arrested in my own home. “Olive.” My mother quickly pulled me from my thoughts. “Help me move the mattress.”

“What are we looking for?” I asked as I helped her push the mattress off and away from the bed. I spotted a loose floorboard: it looked slightly discolored. She left the room for only a minute, returning with a butter knife. She tipped the end into the board, lifting it up and out. “Here.” She handed me a dagger and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Where'd you get this?” I couldn’t imagine my mother ever using a dagger, let alone knowing how to use one.

“It was your father's,” she replied solemnly.

“You know he's still alive, right?” I caught the curious spark in her eye. “I saw him, in a city a few hours from here, Torv.”

My mother didn’t answer. I didn’t blame her. I didn't believe it myself, and I had seen him with my own eyes. I wasn't happy about it either, I was just glad she didn’t take out her anger on me. “I wish I could teach you how to use this,” she whispered, glancing at my palm as I held the dagger in my hands.

“Don't worry, I've had all the training I need,” I assured her.

Hang in there! Joshua's words made my heart soar. Rebel soldiers are almost in town.

Where are you? I asked. Bullets pelted the buildings. I ducked, afraid one might pierce the window of my mother's home. My mother dropped onto the ground beside me.

If we came any sooner, the attack wouldn't have been a surprise. Flat land sucks and Cabal soldiers have quite the lookout tower . I wanted to smile, to scream out that reinforcements are coming and Genesis will be taken down for good, but my mother was speaking and two voices at once was too much to distinguish.

My eyes widened in horror as I heard an insistent knock at the door. Soldiers. It had to be them: no one else would be outside as sirens and bombs dropped from the sky. “You need to hide, Olive. If they find you—” My mother's breath caught in her throat, distraught. “I can't lose you again.” I moved to stand and the ground quaked from another bomb exploding outside. This one wasn't dropped by drone, it wasn't part of our plan.

Regaining my balance, I rested a hand on her shoulder. “You won't.” I moved to her cheek and dropped a faint kiss before taking the dagger with me to the door. I kept it in my right hand, behind my back as I opened the door with my left hand. “Can I help you?” I asked with the fakest smile I could muster. I was surprised any soldiers remained, considering their leaders were dead. Had a new one tried to rise to power?

“Yes, step aside, ma'am.” I moved aside only long enough to allow two soldiers inside our home, then shut the door to keep our neighbors from witnessing what I was about to do. My right arm came up and swiped the man across the neck with the dagger. He dropped like a bag of potatoes, falling in a heap all over the floor.

“Olive!” My mother shrieked and I didn’t know if she was trying to scold me for my actions or let me know another soldier had now positioned his gun at me. I wasn’t afraid, even though I knew I should have been.

I didn’t have time to think, only react. My hands moved for the barrel of the gun, letting the dagger hit the floor. Maybe it was a bad idea: I was best on defense and the dagger was my only tool of offense I'd managed to learn. It didn’t matter. The soldier staggered backwards as I shoved the gun with full force backwards into the man and he shuddered back, surprised. No one ever put up a fight. He probably wasn’t even trained in actual combat. “Now's your chance: you can run, go to the Gravelands, and never come back.” I smiled, taunting him. I knew I was just pissing him off and likely would get my ass kicked for it.

“Fat chance in hell.” He beckoned, one hand coming at me to jab me across the face. I jumped back, avoiding the hit with a maneuver that startled him, reaching for the lamp.

“Touché!” I ripped the cord of the lamp from the wall as I smacked the soldier over the head with it, watching him buckle down onto the ground. He was out cold.

“Olivia!” My mother's voice echoed with a gasp of horror and shock at what I'd just done.

“Don't look at me like that.” I felt her cold stare, frightened as she saw what I had to do to protect us. Except I'm not sure she saw it the same way I did. “If we don't kill him, he's just going to bring reinforcements.” I bent down and handed her the dagger.

“No.” My mother shook her head. “It's not right.”

“What they're doing to us, that's right?” I asked, shocked. “If you want to tie him up, put him in your bedroom. Just make sure he can't get loose.”

“Where are you going?” I heard her rummage around the drawers, searching for rope or anything that would restrain the soldier.

“Finding my backup.” I called over my shoulder.

It wasn't hard to find the rebel alliance. A roar of vehicles sounded in the distance as gunfire erupted towards the edge of town. I stepped outside my childhood home, the air smelling of smoke and the haze lingering over the ground. I took the dagger with me, making my way along the road. Two men came upon a soldier, tackled him to the ground, grabbed his gun, and shot him. I wasn't in it for killing people; it was different when you were being attacked—or even provoked. You stepped foot in my house, and yes, I'd slit your throat. Out here on the street, it felt different, grittier.

“Hold up right there.” I heard an unfamiliar voice, one of the men who had just killed the soldier. “It's late for a kid to be out at this hour.”

“I'm no kid. Name's Olivia Parker,” I answered as I lifted my hand to show my dagger. “Part of the rebel alliance,” I announced. “And you are?”