The Power of The Merge (Book 1 of the Daearies series)

(Chapter 6) EMMIE

I couldn't sleep. I've been tossing and turning all night, a million more questions running through my mind. The merge didn't give me power. I was born with this power. Why am I the only one here with this type of power? What is the merge? Where did I come from? Do I have a family? Am I an orphan? Where is my family? Are they alive? Do they miss me? Everything they told us was a lie. My thoughts turned to the little girl. She mentioned her mummy. She had a mother. Was her mother still alive? Where did she come from? They took her memories. They took all our memories. She would never remember the mother she once loved. My eyes welled up, I tried to hold back the tears that blurred my vision but I was overcome with emotion. My heart broke for the little girl and boy, for all the second soldiers and their daearies and so I let the tears fall.

I heard a low moan and turned my neck to see Kit tossing and turning, his eyebrows are pinched together and his fists grab and twist at the blanket. Another bad dream. He often has them, we all do. Although nobody talks about what it is we dream of, especially not Kit. I have a reoccurring dream of a woman crying and blurred figures holding her back as I'm being taken away from her. I cannot see her face or recognize who she is and I have often wondered if she was my mother. I now wonder if that dream is perhaps one of thousands of memories that were taken from me. Kit said my name repeatedly, each time getting louder and louder.

"Emmie...Emmie...No...Emmie...No...No...No" He pleaded in his sleep, his voicing getting louder with each word.

I shot up, whipping my blanket off, rushing to his bedside to wake him before he wakes everyone else.

"Kit? Kit? You're dreaming. Wake up." I placed my palms on his shoulders and started shaking him.

His eyes flew open taking in his surroundings. It took him a few seconds to realise where he was and it was relief I saw in his eyes when he looked at me. He grabbed one of my hands and laid his head back on his pillow staring at the ceiling. He was breathing heavily. Whatever he was dreaming of had shaken him. I considered asking him what he was dreaming of but I knew he wouldn't tell me. He never does. Whenever I did ask he would just say that he couldn't remember. I think he forgets that our souls are literally merged and I know when he's lying or telling me the truth. I never call him out on the lie because I think he does it to spare me the mental picture of whatever bad thing he is dreaming of.

"You've been crying" he lightly squeezed my hand, turning his head to face me. I looked away not wanting him to look at my swollen eyes.

"We're going to find out more, I promise." His voice was quiet and soft.

"There's still so much we don't know. Everything they told us was a lie" I whispered.

"I know. We will do something, but right now we need to focus on passing the assessment" He replied and I nodded in agreement. I wasn't sure exactly what we were going to do or what we could do. Whatever we did had to be carefully planned. They were obviously going to great lengths to keep us from knowing the truth. Could we leave this place? Where would we go? How valuable were we to them? Do we tell the others? Would they believe us? If we were going to escape, do we bring them with us? We couldn't leave them behind. Without thinking I climbed into the bed next to Kit and held onto him, seeking the comfort only he could give me. I felt him freeze up and then he exhaled and draped the side of his blanket over me. He put his arm around me and I sank my face into his chest and within seconds the exhaustion took over and I drifted off to sleep.

Last night I was sad but today I'm just angry. For once I was thankful we were training all day, it gave me a way to direct all my anger. I entered the training hall to see it was filled with soldiers and daearies all trying to get last-minute training in for the assessment tomorrow. I saw Kit standing by the training mat in the center of the room giving out instructions on how the soldiers could improve their fighting skills. I looked around the room to pick out the best activity that would help me release all of the anger brewing inside me and focused my sights on a long table of weapons used for target practice. Cora was there perfecting her shot with a bow and arrow. I wondered why she even bothered to practice shooting when her shot was almost always perfect.