Element Restraint

Chapter 28: Erik

I run the scene through my head a dozen times. Amora's demeanor as soon as we stepped off the jet changed. I should have known! But when did she even get the chance to warn of our arrival?

The thought of Aella falling to the ground in pain and tears, while Amora just stared at us as if she was helpless. It angers me.

Some girl you have chosen, Gale!

All three of us sit in silence in the cold, dark, wet prison. I squint my eyes and see Aella still passed out in the slush on the ground. I pray she has just passed out.

In between us, Acantha trembles from the cold. I can hear her teeth chattering. It echoes off the walls mixed with the sound of our heavy breathing.

She buries her face in her knees without a word. I hear muffled sniffles come from her. Is she crying? Or is it from the cold?

When I think of everything that has happened to her, I lean towards the option of crying.

"I am sorry about Raven." A white fog comes out of my mouth when I speak.

Acantha sits up and looks in my direction. A shadow lays over her face. I am unable to see her eyes and if they are full of tears.

"I did not think you noticed." She replies. Her voice comes out quiet and shaky. From the cold?

"I did, but I could not stop because"

"I know." She cuts me off.

"Is she still breathing?" I ask, gesturing to Aella. Acantha gets up and disappears farther into the shadow to where my sister lays. I hear her chains clank around as she checks her pulse.

"She is okay," Acantha tells me. She then moves back to where I can see her again. Her amber/green eyes swim with no sadness, but anger.

"I guess you are expecting me to say you were right." She says bitterly.

"Yes," I say simply.

She grips the shared cell bars, squeezing them so that her knuckles turn white. Scratching the rust on the bars, she looks at the ground at the slush.

"One thing you must learn, Acantha, is that we are the only ones that can help us," I say.

"You know," She stops scratching the bars glowering at me. "They all do not hate us."

"In time they learn to."

"What about Galen?" Acantha snaps.

"What about your brother?" I tilt my head to the side.

"What do you mean?" She taps her nail on the bar.

"Can you trust your brother?" I ask her. I get to my feet and take two steps to the shared cell bars. The chains around my wrist echo through the room.

"Is he loyal to you?" two more steps. "Has he ever lied to you?"

I look at her face clearly now. It slips for just a moment. A small second before the shield slides over and the anger, and sadness are gone. It is replaced with a smug look now.

"I think you are more experienced when it comes to the betrayal of a sibling, Erik." She replies.

Her brother is alive, which hurt her relationship with her. I want to know why, but she will not say.

"I guess we are alike then," I say to her.

"No!" She says quickly. "You saved my life, and I paid that back to you. But I am I think the whole rebellion will not look past the years of support you gave this war."