The Glade and Its Glitch: Book 2 Allies or Enemies

Chapter 13

Huntress rubbed her arms nervously. The Glade was gathering beneath the tree house, and she and Skylight were preparing to address the crowd.

Skylight paced the room, one hand fidgeting with his hearing aid. Supernova had given in to letting him turn the volume down. Now, he couldn't hear the sounds of the large group of people beneath him. He did promise to turn them back up when he and Huntress went out to give their speech.

Taking a peek out the window, Huntress surveyed the group. She caught sight of Sunbeam and Kiki, which comforted her. Listener should have been standing there too. Her death wasn't necessary, it shouldn't have happened. Huntress knew TJ blamed himself for part of it as well.

That boy had a tendency to blame himself for things that had nothing to do with him. He was still blaming himself for Huntress getting shot in the shoulder. Huntress smiled to herself, TJ was sweet when he was concerned. She remembered the day he beat Skye in training. He'd been so apologetic and felt so bad for knocking her over. Skye had just laughed and called him adorable. TJ hadn't stopped blushing for fifteen minutes.

As Huntress thought of Skye, she caught sight of the girl in the crowd. One hand rested on her satchel, the other brushed strands of hair back that had fallen out of her buns. She ran over and stopped by Dani and her husband, Rex. Rex's eyes were glazed over and unfocused, but he'd been that way for quite some time. At the moment Dani had Rex's arm slung over her shoulder to support him.

"Huntress?" TJ turned his hearing aids back on and walked over, "What are you doing?"

"Watching Rex and Dani. He doesn't seem to be doing any better. Dani's healing doesn't seem to be doing anything either."

"When did it start?" TJ looked on sadly. Normally Rex would be bubbly, he loved to play with the little kids, and he was like a father to a lot of children in the Glade. Kiki begged Listener and Sunbeam to let her go over to Dani and Rex's house. TJ was pretty sure he did the same when he was younger too.

"We should head out soon," Huntress looked over at TJ, "You ready?"

"No," he laughed, "But let's do it."

"Do you want to start or should I?"

TJ puffed out his chest, "I can do it." He faked a look of bravery and walked over to the balcony. "I am strong. I am brave. I can do this. I am strong. I am brave. I can do this, '' he repeated.

But as he got to the doorway, he looked back at Huntress, "I can't do this."

"TJ," Huntress laughed, but she gave in. The master of light's anxiety was high enough about giving a speech, Huntress decided TJ didn't have to be the one to go out first.

"People of the Glade," Huntress walked out of the doorway and onto the tree house balcony. "Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to meet us here. Skylight and I appreciate you coming to listen to us."

Skylight looked out into the crowd. He caught Supernova's eye and watched as she walked over to Sunbeam and Kiki. She waved shyly, which was unlike her. TJ chalked it up to nerves. Huntress had told the two of them what she wanted to talk about, and it made them both nervous.

Huntress kept talking with the air of a queen. Her chin was held high yet she spoke in a friendly manner.

"Most of you should know by now that Soar is living with the ninja. I would like you to know that Soar recently attacked Cole, the black ninja."

At this, a gasp echoes through the Glade. Many people shouted things like "What happened to him?" "Will he attack us?" "Are the ninja on our side now?". But Huntress stood and listened.

Skylight admired that about her. She liked to listen to what her people had to say. Even if they were angry with her decisions.

Once the crowd settled down, Huntress began to speak again. "I realize that many of you are confused, and some of you may also be angry. I would like to say I have all the answers but I don't. But I'm going to explain what's going on as best I can. Soar left the Glade because we sent him out. When we kicked him out the ninja found him and took him in. We do not know why they took him in yet."

"We kicked Soar out because he betrayed us," Skylight jumped in, Huntress sent him a proud look as he continued, "He led our soldiers into an ambush. It resulted in a few of our soldiers dead."

Huntress knew Skylight couldn't talk about his mother without getting upset, so she finished for him. "After he joined the ninja, Soar kept low, and he flew under the radar." Huntress laughed, "Bad time for a pun I know," but she got a few laughs out of the crowd.

Skye was one of the minorities who laughed. She appreciated Huntress' attempt to keep the crowd calm. It didn't work as well as she might have hoped, but the mood definitely lightened just a tad.

"But that wasn't the only thing I wanted to talk to you about." Huntress kept going, she looked over to where Dani and Rex were standing. She'd made sure to check with the couple before speaking to the Glade. "Many of you know who Glitch is. How he wants to destroy the Glade. However, I don't think many of you know the story behind Glitch. Because he used to be one of us."