Blondie narrowed her purple-ish eyes, while Idiot just smiled.
"New Banish?" he asked, almost happily. I could hear a slight sort of accent in his voice, sort of British.
I folded my arms.
"Yes," I muttered.
"I'm Felix," he said. "Nice to meet you."
I shook his outstretched hand.
"Who's she?" I gestured toward Blondie.
"Oh," Felix replied. "That's my twin, Lumen."
"You both got Banished?" I gasped.
He shrugged.
"Nah. Lumen got Banished, but it's not like I could just let her leave like that, ya know? Got to be the good brother!" Felix and Lumen shared a look, and Felix's smile fell for just a moment, but then reappeared. "I convinced the Luminaries to let me go with her. After all, our parents sucked. As did our older brother. Living in the Wander is almost better than the Rift."
"Wow," I muttered. "I...don't think I would ever give up my life for the Wander. It's just...there's nothing to live for here."
I could definitely see Annalee and Sander doing what Felix had done for me, but I couldn't imagine myself doing it. There was too much to leave behind back in the Rift.
Felix was looking at me expectantly, and I realized he'd asked me a question.
"Umm, sorry, what?" I asked hesitantly.
Felix laughed, then repeated, "What's your name?"
"Oh. I'm Lauren."
He flashed a perfect grin.
"Hello, Lauren. Welcome to the Wander."
And I found myself smiling too.
YOU ARE READING
Banish
Fantasy"I can't do this," I stressed, grabbing my older brother's arm. "Yes, you can," Sander whispered back. "I know you can." "Miss Velanite!" the Luminary called again. He searched the crowd with menacing blue eyes. Cetare shoved me forward, toward the...
