Awakened

XXVIII

"Wake up, that's enough sleep," I yelled rather loudly, causing everyone to moan and groan in protest. Sorry guys but if I can't get more sleep, you shouldn't either.

Edward, punctual as usual, got up quickly as he didn't need to be told twice. He walked by me, probably heading to the nearby pond for a drink but not before I grabbed his arm, stopping him in his path.

"So it was too dangerous to show up in my life but you had no problem being there for Esat?" I shot at him, unable to bite my tongue any longer. My tone was low enough that the conversation stayed between us.

"The situations were different, Saron. You know if I could, I would have-"

"Really? The way I see it, both of us were in danger yet I was the only one who was forced to grow up alone and unwanted, with no parent by my side," I hissed back at him, making sure to emphasize the "alone" and "unwanted" so he got the picture.

"What are you two talking about?" Jeremy asked, rubbing the last lick of sleep from his eyes as he peered at us.

"Nothing. Edward was just saying how we should get moving soon," I said cooly, releasing my grip on his arm.

"We can talk about this lat-" he said quietly.

"No Edward, this conversation is over," I snarled back at him. He hung his head in resignation before climbing out of the hole.

I looked over at Esat, giggling with my friends and wondered what made her different. As much as I wanted to act like it didn't matter to me, it was eating me alive. She grew up with a Mother and Father, who both loved her dearly. I lost my Mother. My Father never came to see me. In fact, unless Bay had brought me to him that day, would he have ever come to see me? Likely not.

Was he here because he really cared or because he felt guilty?

Esat caught me looking at her, smiling back. I felt nothing but warmth for my new half sister. She was the only one innocent in all this. It wasn't her fault she was loved and I wasn't.

"You okay?" Tom asked, startling me. I had been so lost in my thoughts I didn't even see him walk up.

"Yeah, you?"

He squinted his eyes, letting me know he didn't buy it. Tom was always able to see through me better than the others which made it incredible difficult to lie to him. I plastered a fake smile before walking over to the rest of them.

"Let's go. I don't know about you guys but tonight I'm trying to sleep in my bed," I called out.

The image of us sleeping in our cozy beds at the Academy motivated them to stop dilly dallying and they all climbed out of the hole, one by one. Edward was waiting outside, prepared to go. I avoided his gaze as I walked right past him. Thankfully, I saw Star catching up to me so there goes his opening to try to explain to me how misunderstood I am. By explaining I mean give me some bs excuse and not take responsibility for being a shitty father.

"I really hope we don't get attacked today," Star whined, looping her arms through mine.

"Me too," I said, smiling down at her despite my lack of faith that we'd even go an hour without everything going to shit.

"So, your sister..."

"What about her?"

"She's nice."

"Spit it out, Star," I said, sensing from her brief choice of words on Esat, she was holding back a lot more.

"That's just it. She's super nice and sweet. She's almost too good to be true. I don't know if I buy it."