Hope in Ruins Book III: The Fountain and the City of Salt

Chapter 29: Peter

ANDA

For a moment, all Anda could feel was her own heartbeat in her own body. There was no Loraine, no Rufus, no stone room with bronze statues carrying lights. Her powers, delicate and fragile as flower petals, blossomed before her.

Then another pulse and heartbeat. And another. She could feel Ben and Mica like she could feel herself. She could feel Mica and her fire, reaching and touching and holding everything. She could feel Ben and his water, flowing and rushing and filling everything. Anda took a deep breath. So did Mica and Ben.

Then she felt it.

A warm spot began to grow in her chest, in Mica, in Ben, bright and red and hot. It grew brighter and brighter and brighter and pulsed and sprouted until, in a sudden burst, everything that had been hidden away and dammed in the back of her mind broke free. All her memories and history and experiences suddenly filled her mind to the point of breaking.

West Six.

The garden.

The graveyard.

Ben, Mica, Esther, Eli.

And she remembered knowing and not knowing and remembering and not remembering. She remembered the days of void. She remembered everything. Almost.

Peter.

Back there in the emptiness of the Burn, one memory remained hidden. She felt it, like a locked door that refused to open. She feared it.

But Ben and Mica were there, warm and comforting and solid, real.

"It's all right, Anda."

She turned and saw Mica, clear and sharp against the flashing memories. Mica squeezed her hand. Anda turned and saw Ben and all the pain and sadness and hurt in his eyes. And love.

"Let's finish this," he said softly and took her other hand. Together, they opened the door she had been hiding from, and the memory engulfed them all in a brilliant flash, and everything changed—

She ran.

The vats and silver-gray machinery around her flashed past. Her heart pounded and pounded. This memory, the one she had been fighting and burying and struggling against for so long, suddenly appeared. It rose from the depths of her mind, growing clearer and sharper as it reached the surface of her consciousness. She saw and experienced it as if for the first time, but even as it happened afresh, she felt Ben and Mica within her memory watching her and experiencing it for themselves. Together they witnessed that haunted and terrible day.

She ran through the factory. She had seen it happen, and she knew what was coming, but she couldn't do it.

"Anda! Wait!"

But she kept running.

"Anda! Anda, it's me, it's Peter!"

Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop.

"No! Don't touch me—get off of me!" she screamed. She struggled and shoved the hand off her arm.

The man stepped back, one hand up as if surrendering. In his other hand, he held a gun aimed at the ground. "It's okay, it's okay, Anda, it's me. It's Peter," he said.

She shook her head. "Go... away."

"See? Not gonna hurt you." He lowered the gun to the floor and kicked it towards her. It spun halfway between them with a sheering, sliding sound and stopped. "I'm here to help you. I'm here to take you home."