Spiraling Storm (Book 1 of the Storm Chasers Series)

Chapter 7

Papers lied on the table, with outrageous titles of anarchists and revolutionaries. Crow read through them carefully, writing down notes on a separate sheet of paper. He tried his best to see if he could connect the headlines about the murderer Arynn Enyti, who killed his own girlfriend. They never said who she was, probably to protect the family from publicity.

Arynn had torn her limb by limb, leaving her legs uncremated. The burnt parts of the body had been burned most likely to keep the victim anonymous. The issue, which is the first odd note, was that she had a birthmark visible on her left knee. Which is confusing, saying how Arynn confessed that he knew she had a birthmark there.

Most odd of all, Arynn pleaded innocent. He was traumatized, begging that it wasn't him. Nobody believed him, and he escaped from jail after being there for a few months. The guards swore that he should be dead in the walls, as if he was just a rat. Only the government knows the in's and out's, maybe highly trained rebels. It then goes into talking about the Eyes, who are a fabled high-level crime organization.

"He swore innocence. How could he have done it, then? All of these tales claim-" Crow was cut off.

"What are you looking at, Crow?" Raven asked, annoyance lining his tone.

"Reports of Arynn, the murderer."

"You should really stop looking into it," Raven warned.

"Why? I asked you years ago about it. Besides, this person could be anywhere. What if he's actually innocent?"

"That was years ago, like you said. It happened even later, so it's not something you should be worrying about."

"I'm going to worry. What if those Coyotes have a point? What if the leader of our country-of Lightfall-is corrupted?"

"Of course! He's been in power for how long now? He's expected to keep living on for years. There's been so many cover-up's recently that it's out of the question to expect that he's anything but corrupted."

"So we should overthrow him. Or them. Whatever, I don't care about their gender! I care about getting rid of them."

"You're stupid to think I'd let you put yourself in danger like that."

"I've done it before. Now, the name of this deity. It's Elektra, right?" Crow said, standing up so they were eye to eye. He still had to look up, however.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I just thought I should know his name. That would make things a lot more interesting when I remove him from power."

"You're really considering this, aren't you?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Crow looked Raven dead in the eyes. "I can't sleep with the thought of an innocent man being punished for a crime he didn't commit."

"I've never seen you like this. Are you ok?"

"Would you be willing to die for Lightfall? For your family?" 'For me?' Crow added in his thoughts.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean-"

"What else do we have to live for?" Crow finished.

The two boys stood there, unable to break the silence. It was as if they were on the brink of something life changing. How could they ever know what to do next? Crow decided to break it, picking up the papers and going to his room. He turned on his desk lamp and scattered the pages on his desk. The room had no windows, only a long mirror that reflected Crow's image.

He crawled to his bed, lying down. The pain in his arm was sharp again, but he refused to get up. Crow forced himself to stay in bed, trying to make himself strong through the pain. He closed his eyes, remembering something.