Suns and Shadows

What We Can't See

I walk with Saiya out of the bedroom and hold her hand. She thinks it's to reassure her. In reality, it's to reassure me. I hate this feeling. The knowledge that a Sun knows about what she is, what she's done. It makes my heart pound in my head, drowning out every other noise.

Joshua has been chatting with my mother when he sees me. His gaze on Saiya isn't pity, it's regret and guilt. 

For what?

He stands up and puts on a smile, a hopeful smile. He goes on his knee so that he can look her in the eyes. I reluctantly leave them a few feet of space. But his smile helps my muscles loosen, it looks real.

"I'm Josh."He says and puts his arm out towards my sister. She shakes it hesitantly after glancing at Mother, hoping it's the right thing to do. 

"Can you help me?" She asks. Oh dear, she sounds so helpless, fragile, and delicate. Please, let this work. 

Joshua nods. "But do you think we could do this alone?" He glances at Mother and me. I stiffen. I'm reluctant to let him, but it's Mother's choice. I hate it, but it is her choice. I hate it even more when she nods and smiles, steering me outside into the night air.

I give one glance back at Saiya, sitting on the floor with Joshua, who is murmuring something to her. Then my mother pushes me outside. 

Each house in the poorer sections is the same. One story, two-roomed buildings with drab gray paint in the shape of a cube. We all have a few feet of dead grass in the front, that's where my mother sits me down.

"I don't know why you agreed to that." I snap at her. "He could be hurting her right now. We need to watch them, eavesdrop at least."

She sigh. "He's not." She says it in a way where she knows something that I don't. It makes me angry. What did they talk about when I was comforting Saiya? "He saved you and I'm eternally grateful for that. You should be too, but you're not. Why?"

"He's a Sun. Have you seen what we're living like because of them? His people did this to us. Once we get to Shadowlands, it won't be like that because his people aren't there to stop us." I say. 

"You can't judge people by what their powers are."

"No, I judge them by what they've done. Maybe he rescued me, but just to kidnap me again? Now he's roped me into some sort of spying job and I'm stuck with it." I don't say any of it out loud. I'll tell my mom about my ploy to get us to freedom when it's too late to stop it. So I just stay quiet.

"The moon is bright tonight." Mother says as the breeze whips her long hair into the sky, it fluttering behind her in long chestnut waves. "I think that's a good sign. You were born at night and the moon looked like this."

"You ask me why I trust my daughter with a stranger. I trust him because he may have been born into luxury, but he wants that to change. I could tell from the way he spoke about his life. You're blind to these things Ebony. You only see the worst parts of people instead of the whole. Look instead for what you can't see. Once you know what people are hiding for you, you'll know their true character." She adds. 

I open my mouth to respond, but the door opens. It's Joshua and Saiya. They both don't look hurt, in fact, Saiya is grinning. The innocent, child-like grin that other children have. "It worked!" She exclaims.

That's when I feel my eyes burn and when someone wipes away a tear. I realize that I'm crying. I've waited so long for this moment. Ever since I can remember I've waited for this moment. I let myself cry, washing away every bad memory. 

She's healed.

She's healed.

And Joshua did it. 

He's standing in the background away from the happy celebration as Saiya explains that she can control the Dark now and easily. It's also not permanent apparently. Joshua will have to do whatever he's done again, but it also means that as long as we have Joshua my sister is healed.

Sun boy has given me the thing I've wanted my entire life. 

So as my sister and mother cry, rejoice, and everything in-between, I stare at him. The man who didn't just save my life, but saved my sister's.