the Rarity

Chapter 11

I still feel drawn to talk to Caleb after what Hadley had said, but a new priority takes its place... get out. Tristan, as he had told all of us he preferred over Mr. Andrews, had brought in the rest of the Rarities and Elementals needed from the compound. By this point, there were about 15 of us and the room continued to feel smaller and smaller as the number of people, confused and on-edge like me, grew.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" Tristan called standing on a chair on the far side of the room. "I'm sure most of you are confused and scared but for now, we have been here for too long. We need to move." Most everyone looks around at each other in confusion. "There is a safe base on the outside of the compound I will take you all there and then I can explain more but until then, I need you all to be on your guard. Be vigilantly aware of your surroundings. The people in this room. You can trust them." I look to Hadley and Matthew standing to my right who is watching Tristan. Then I feel a small presence and look to my left to see Caleb looking at me from a few feet away. We both quickly snap our heads back to Tristan. "Until we get to the headquarters, these will be the only people you trust. Understand?" he asks sternly. we all look around and eventually murmur in agreement. "Good. Now let's move. Be aware. Be discreet. Be alert. Be alive. You will all follow my every move or you will get caught."

***

We all walk in a formation, marching behind Tristan. Before we left the room we were gathered in, he had said that after the interrogations, everyone left would have been given a serum. Obedience. No free will. No choice. Only orders from the Legion.
Besides us, there were more groups of trainees marching, but not by choice. They looked almost like... robots. Looking forward in deadpan, no expressions, no thoughts, no option. it hurt me to see that this is what our lives have come to. Has it really come to two sides? Good or bad? Nothing can really be that simple. There's no way. 

The marching and opposition remind me of something I had learned about years ago in history class. About a group of people called Nazis, I think? World War II was over 150 years ago yet somehow the same problem keeps occurring. One side wanting control. The other wanting equality and peace. It's a tale as old as time itself. There's been well over a hundred different conflicts about this same problem just in different forms. When will it end?

We finally make it to a dark, shadowed covering outside by the lake I had grown very familiar with. As Tristan said, "the easy part is over." The 'easy part.' What does he think is easy about seeing our friends and classmates marching side-by-side with no control over their lives? How is it easy to march beside them knowing that one wrong move and we would be done for? Arrested and likely killed?

"Ok. Everyone look here." Tristan whisper-yelled to get our attention. "It only gets harder from here, but we aren't far now. Just past that clearing, a little ways past the trees is the base. Now we just have to get across that clearing undetected and we will be safe. But I'm not going to lie to you kids. This is risky. there are likely trainees for even Legion soldiers above us outside the compound watching so we will go in small groups sporadically, moving swiftly and silently across the opening. You will march the same as before in the formations I give you just slightly faster to get through the gap in time." I look out at the clearing before us. It couldn't have been more than 20 yards but I swear it feels like 2,000 yards. "I will now put you into formations. Stay with your groups until given my word." Tristan finishes, starting to put the 15-20 of us into smaller groups.

I must have zoned out from the nervousness because the next thing I know, Tristan was pulling me to the far side of the covering,
"Now is your time. You don't have to if you don't want to, but you will be at the back of the last group. You face conflict, show them what you got." He said with more confidence in me than I had in myself.

"Are you insane?! Do you want me to get shot right here and now?"

"No. We want you to prove a point to the Legion. Tell them that you aren't going down without a fight. That we won't allow ourselves to be pushed around because they think they are superior. Can you do this, Raven? Or do I need to choose someone else?" Those words hit me the hardest. I think back to the Nazis I learned about long ago. When will it end?
It could end with me. Why not me...right?

"I can do this."

All the other groups had left and moved across the clearing without issues or disruptions. Now it was our turn. My group contained Hadley, a girl I didn't yet know, Caleb, and myself. I look to Tristan across the clearing when I distantly see him nod and hold up a thumbs up. "That's our cue," I say to the group ahead of me and we slowly begin to move out from under the cover, gradually getting in the same pace and stride.

Then I heard it from behind me and above. "It looks like Target X is moving across the westward clearing outside of the compound. Unable to confirm if it is her." Me. They were talking about... me. There's no doubt about it. After that interview with General Martinez, I knew something felt off. Like the second I stood up from that chair in the chilling room, there was a target on my back. And now it was true. I am literally, a target.

"Hey. Down there." We all freeze as Tristan told us to do if we were stopped. 'Freeze ass of you are being controlled.' I take a deep breath in, hold, and release. This is what Tristan had said. This was my chance. Make myself known. Show no fear. I turn my head to look behind me. In about 10 seconds the man's face on the balcony above us contorts from shock and fear to anger and determination. He then moves to speak in his earpiece saying 'it's her' and awaiting orders. But I know what he is being told. I am no longer acting on logic, only on impulse and instinct.

"Go," I say to my group ahead of me.

"But... Raven-" Hadley starts but I cut her off.

"I've got this. Go!" And with that, they run off to the other side of the clearing. I turn around to fully face the soldier on the balcony. He wasn't a trainee, so he knew exactly what he was ordered to do. And so did I. I take in another breath, closing my eyes, then release opening them, and suddenly feel the power surging through me grow. It felt as if my veins were all being electrocuted but in the best way possible. As if that feared purple magic suddenly made me feel like 10,000 watts flowing through my veins.

I feel my fingertips start to tingle as if they are going numb. I look down to see purple and blue magic swirling and spiraling around my fingertips. I slowly raise my hands and look up to see the soldier hovering in mid-air above the balcony floor. He begins to frantically reach for his gun at his hip in panic. I use my magic to take the gun from the holster, tossing it to one side of the balcony and then sliding the soldier in the opposite direction.
I may have the power to do more, but I don't want hurt anyone. I refuse to be the monster they fear I am.

***

We finally all make it past the clearing and are almost to the base according to Tristan. Everyone is silent and on edge after we just got caught and they saw me use my magic, which I honestly don't know how I even controlled it. Owen's voice just kept playing in my head. "Just let go," and I did. I let the power flow through me and somehow I just knew how to control it.

My feet start to feel tired and I wonder how much farther we have to go. As if the Earth had read my mind, I look up through an opening of trees to see a large camp set up. It feels as though I've walked into a military base, yet for some reason, instead of feeling fear, I feel safe and secure. I was taken aback by the magnitude of the organization and the number of people standing with us. With me. We all walk inside the base, shocked and speechless. People swarm around us like bees around a hive with a mission in mind. We all stop and start to gather together as Tristan stops before us, allowing us to look at the buzzing hive of the Syndicate. We are all whispering in awe when I suddenly hear a familiar voice from behind me.

"Well, you all got here earlier than expected."