Rebel

Chapter 7 - Laughter (Brock's POV)

I was ripped from sleep when the van slammed to a stop. I jerked upright, ready to fight an invisible foe. My head slammed into the roof, and I fell back down, groping for something to hold onto. Briella was thrown into me, unable to stop herself. I glanced out the window. It was dawn and there was a beautiful sunset. The exact colour of Briella's hair. I remembered stroking her beautiful hair last night, trying to get her to sleep. Why did I do that? I can't be with her. She's from the weak Earth clan and probably hates me! She didn't seem the weak type at first though. I smiled at the thought of her shouting insults at Calvin, though he could have punched her face in at any moment. And then she beat me in a fight. I didn't expect that, being a girl and a year younger than me. She beat Calvin too. Though he's always been more about guns and smarts than hand to hand combat.

Home sweet home - a fancy wooden house on the edge of the In Between. Grassy tussocks stretched out all ways for miles, the road an iron scar in the landscape. "Show our guest to her room." Blaye sneered. I nodded, speechless and reached for Briella's arms. She twisted away with uncanny flexibility, but there was nowhere to go. My dad watched impatiently as I looped my arms under hers, dragging her out of the van as she thrashed. Once I was inside, I wasted no time getting her away from my dad, Calvin and Blaye. They went to sit in the lounge and I heard the pop of beer bottles being opened. I would be expected to join them soon, once I had dealt with Briella. I sighed. Another evening of pretending to drink then secretly tipping it into the plant pot. I was underage and anway, beer tasted disgusting.

As I dragged her up the rickety wooden stairs, she squirmed against the duct tape, to no avail. She tried to hook her feet around the handrail. I jerked her free from the rail, and a muffled scream emitted from her throat. I bit my tongue to stop myself apologising. I was surprised when she stayed dry-eyed, though. This girl was tougher than I expected.

I brought her into one of the upstairs rooms and placed her on the floor. The room was bare, wooden floorboards and four white walls with a single, tiny window far above her head. She immediately started trying to tear at the duct tape.

"I- I can take the tape off if you promise not to scream or try to escape." She stopped and regarded me with accusing eyes.

"There's nobody to hear you anyway, apart from the men downstairs. And if they came up here-" I shuddered. "You don't want that."

She paused, then nodded. Sweat made the duct tape peel off easily as I unwrapped her legs and arms. She stood up and shook them, trying to regain feeling. Then she reached up and ripped the duct tape off her mouth. The mischievous expression on her face was enough to let me know I had made a mistake.

"HELP I'VE BEEN KIDN-" I grabbed the duct tape and slapped it on her mouth and listened. No footsteps. Phew.

"Shut up!" I tried to sound stern. "What if the men downstairs heard that? You must be good, otherwise you will be punished very very severely!" She hid her face in her hands and her shoulders shook. A hand of guilt squeezed at my insides. Was that too harsh?

"I- I'm sorry." I stammered. What was something reassuring?

"I'll protect you." I tried.

Something seemed off, so I looked at her closer. Then she flipped her face back and I saw that her eyes were full of light and the duct tape curved into a smile. She was laughing at me! I tried to storm out, but she managed to grab my ankle, tripping me up. I face-planted, then started laughing too. It was the weirdest circumstances, we should have been wracked with guilt and pity and anger but here we were rolling around on the floor, both of us laughing so hard, me shoving a fist in my mouth to muffle myself, her giggles barely audible through the tape. Finally I sat up, gasping for breath. What had we even been laughing about? 

It didn't matter anymore. I hadn't laughed like that in what felt like years. And it felt good.

"Seriously, don't scream this time. None of our neighbours will care, they're fire clans through and through."

I slowly peeled back the tape in case she was going to scream again, but she just licked her lips.

"Are you thirsty?" I asked. Her expression changed to one of hope.

"Yes. I- I would like that very much. " She was doing a good job of not sounding desperate. I handed her the jug of water I had prepared. She gulped down the water so fast, yet was very careful not to spill any. Once she had downed the entire jug, her face lost its starved look almost immediately, and was replaced by a bold one.

"Can I have some food too?"

As I walked down to the kitchen, Calvin's voice carried across from the lounge.

"We'll write a letter, and send some little fire clan boy to deliver it." My curiosity overcame me, and I paused, a full plate of fruit and a jam sandwich in my hand.

"The Earth clan is so soft-hearted I bet they won't even harm a hair on the messenger's head."

"What will you demand?" Blaye asked.

"We will ask for him to give up his kingdom in return for his daughter."

"Do you think he will take it?" Geoff said gruffly.

"Of course." Calvin waved the question off and continued with his plan.

"But we are going to punish that king for all these years fighting with us, all my warriors he killed. As soon as he has signed the treaty giving all his land to us, we'll kill her." I bit my lip to stop from gasping. My mind was spinning so much that I barely heard Calvin's next words.

"And Geoff, your son, Brock. He needs to embrace the monster inside him and become a true fire warrior. That's why we're going to make him kill her."