Alnwick Chronicles

Ten

Skyla

Aerith drops the fork she has been holding onto her plate with a loud clang. "You too?!" she bursts out as she jumps up from her seat. "Who else I know has been working for Cold Hollow, huh?"

Nathaniel just looks down and starts absentmindedly picking at his calluses.

"And if Cold Hollow is SO popular around here, why is it that I'm finding out about it just now?!" She's yelling now. "Mom, dad, now you." She paces back and forth in the room in half angry shock, and half fear. She doesn't show the latter, but I've known her long enough to know when she's afraid.

"Nathaniel," I say, my voice gruff. "Explain. Please."

He looks up to meet my eyes. "Cold Hollow isn't what you think it is."

"So they're not terrorists, huh? They just bomb places. That's perfectly fine." Aerith says sarcastically, her hands folded in front of her chest.

"Calm down," says Adalyn, who has been silent all this while. "You'll give yourself a headache." He gestures towards her bandaged head.

Nathaniel sighs and continues, "Cold Hollow is a rebellious organisation. They work to end the rule of the Queen."

"What?!" The sound escapes me before I can help it. Mom, dad and Nathaniel work against the Queen?!

"You don't know a lot of things, believe me. Queen Muriel is an autocrat. We live in a totalitarian country. You think she rules fairly and justly but she doesn't. And no, the ministers are not there to 'help her' or whatever. They're just there for show. To convince the people she thinks long and hard and takes all the ministers' advice in all matters. But she just does what she wants. She keeps a strong control over everything. You only know what she wants you to know. You have no clue about things she doesn't want you to know. Everyone thinks she's the best ruler Alnwick has ever had, etc etc, but she built that image through illusions. She lies to the people and makes them pay and serve her. Her reputation is her first priority. She's willing to go to extreme lengths to keep her reputation intact. If you come to know about some of the things she has done, you'll want to leave the country and never return, trust me."

There's pin-drop silence for a full minute.

"What has she done?" I ask gingerly.

Nathaniel turns to me. "Remember that newspaper mill in Metropola that burnt down around eight or so months ago? That was arson. Muriel got it burnt down because they were going to publish something she didn't like. No one knows that, though. Everyone was told it was an accident, that a printer short-circuited. And conveniently, none of the witnesses are alive to contradict that story. And that's just one of the things she's done."

There's another minute of stunned silence.

"How do you know?" asks Adalyn. "How can you be sure it isn't just some rumour started by an attention seeker?"

"Because," answers Nathaniel, "we were the ones who supplied those publishers with the information they were going to make public."

"'We' as in Cold Hollow?" I say.

He shakes his head. "The Aberrants."

"Who now?" Aerith sounds only mildly annoyed now. But still scared.

"Gradually, as Cold Hollow's manpower and influence grew, they started abusing their power. They would use violent methods of rebellion and it would harm innocent civilians. So then, a lot of Cold Hollow's spies, including me, decided to leave and form our own independent, peaceful organisation: The Aberrants."

"Just tell me this," I begin, "if the magnitude of these rebellions was this big, how didn't we know about them?"

"They were all direct messages to the Queen, not meant for the general public. It would've created mass panic, and even Cold Hollow understood that. As for Muriel, she knows it and has deployed many of her forces to work on it."

It's a lot to take in. I get up, deposit my plate in the sink and head outside to clear my head.

The sun has risen fully now, and is shining down on the street of 10-odd houses Nathaniel lives in. Each of these houses is bigger than the twins' or mine. I had always wondered how Nathaniel was able to afford his, given he was only a transporter. Now I know.

As I start walking down the road, I wonder what we're going to do now. We're still nowhere close to finding mom and dad, but have been met with quite a few shocks. Oh also, we now have an armed and dangerous terrorist organisation out to get us.

"Hey!" I hear from behind me and stop. I turn to see Adalyn jogging to catch up with me. When he finally does, we walk down the street together.

Adalyn

"So," Skyla begins. "What's on your mind?"

I give a dry laugh. "What isn't?"

"Are you... are you thinking about mom and dad?" she asks tentatively.

I nod. "I'm having trouble believing they'd get involved with something like this. But so much that has happened in the last two days makes no sense otherwise."

She doesn't reply. We continue walking straight ahead.

There's a new chill in the weather that wasn't there before. Winters must be coming earlier this year.

Everything that has happened to us ever since our parents went missing is like a blur in my memory, yet I remember every detail of every day clearly. Maybe I'm just having a hard time processing it all.

"Adalyn?" Skyla says in an almost whisper. I'm slightly surprised to hear my actual name from her mouth for once, not just a lame nickname. But I just say, "Yeah?"

"Are we... are we safe?" The fear in her voice makes me stop momentarily. I avoid her gaze when I admit in an equally low voice, "I don't know."

"Then what do we-" she stops abruptly. "Maybe we should join these people. 'The Aberrants'," she says after a thoughtful pause, sounding more confident.

"What?! No! We hardly know anything about them," I protest.

"Yes, but think about it." She makes a sudden 180 degree turn and starts heading back towards Nathaniel's place at a faster pace. "They might provide us with protection. Or even better, train us. Teach us combat."

She's walking too fast to notice my incredulous expression.

When we reach the house and enter, she wastes no time in telling Aerith her idea. Aerith cocks her head to one side, pondering.

"How are you even considering this?!" I say. "Haven't we had enough life-threatening adventures already?"

"Uh, actually, if you do decide to join us, you'll be much safer than you are now." Nathaniel, who has appeared suddenly, pipes in. I glare at him.

"Yeah, I think they have a point," Aerith tells me. "I say we join em."