I knew Lillian would question me for this, but I didn't want her to come to the burial. She eventually agreed only if I didn't go either. That was a sacrifice I was willing to make. See, it had been decided that Eli would be buried near my sister, rather than his own terrible family. And I didn't want to take Lillian to her mother's grave. Not now.
We had a few days off school after the service so Grantham could decide what to do next. Not because he could no longer afford to keep the school open, but because the person he had built the school to fight against was now dead. Lil and I hoped for the best. If the school closed, we would have nowhere else to go, and Grey and Tempest couldn't promise us a home.
I walked into our room. "Hey, Lillian?" I called. "I got you something."
As expected, Lillian jumped out of bed. "Ooh, what is it, what is it?"
I handed her a small bowl. Not much, huh? But it was everything, because I had found it shattered back at the ruins of my own house and glued it back together with gold. Just as Lillian and I had been working to do with our lives all along.
"Sky, it's beautiful!" Lillian squeaked. "Is this what you were doing during the funeral planning?"
"No, I was cleaning our room," I deadpanned, gesturing at the mess. "Of course that's what I was doing!"
"It's amazing." Lillian set the bowl on her dresser. "I have something for you, too! But it's not as nice..."
Lillian ripped out the newest page of her sketchbook and handed it to me. It was, indeed, a strawberry cupcake... with a little cartoon of me crawling out of it. I looked annoyed and was covered in frosting. And yet, that was all I wanted to be. I wanted to live a life where my biggest annoyances, my biggest problems, came from little things like whether or not I had food on me.
What if the problem was me? What if I could've been happy all along if I had just willed myself to be happy? My life was improving, bit by bit, and the only thing keeping me from being happy was me. I wanted to live a life where I could move forward. I could love those around me, and I could still joke with them, still be sarcastic. I wanted to live a life where I chose whether or not I was happy.
No matter what happened next, I wanted to live a life where I could say my sister's name.
"Sky! Lillian! Great news!" Tempest, as usual, did not knock. "The school is staying open, and my dad agreed to pay your tuition! You have a home!"
"Yes!" Lillian cheered. "But wait... is it just a regular school now?"
"Nope!" Tempest grinned. "There's still evil in the world to fight, isn't there? They're starting a program to send students abroad to fight evil everywhere. And we're in the first group!"
"Grey, too?" Lillian asked hopefully.
"Of course Grey too, or I'd be plotting to light Lord Biased on fire," Tempest answered. I think she was serious, too.
Sure enough, a few days later we were preparing to go. We had no idea where we were going, though, or when we would get back. And I couldn't wait any longer. It was time.
YOU ARE READING
What Is Your Name?
Jugendliteratur"The one thing Sky has never told me, though it's the one thing I've always wanted to know, is my mother's name." Sky and Lillian, ages 17 and 13, are all the other's got. They are held by the bond of Lillian's mother, Sky's older sister, the first...
