Call Spirits in Your Past **Book Two**

Chapter 48 (Saturday)

Teremki opened his eyes.

And wished he hadn't.

Dragonfly lay unconscious on the sheets, wings limp behind him. But at least he was lying there, having shed the strange cocoon sometime during the night.

Teremki shut his eyes and rolled over, listening to the sounds of the room--Dragonfly's faint breathing, a strange ticking against the ceiling. Was it raining? He opened his eyes again, coming face to face with the beige speckled wall.

Ana? he asked. Only an echo. Dryda?

She didn't reply either, like maybe the defenses around the town hadn't completely fallen.

The strange ticking stopped. Technically, Teremki could have gotten up and walked outside. It wasn't like he'd broken any bones. But...Teremki rolled back over, staring at Dragonfly's dark eyelids. He didn't want to leave. What would he do, anyway? Ana had been distant the whole day, physically and telepathically. And he'd rather pretend like he was here, injured, so he didn't have to deal with anyone else in the town.

Like Asha. Her funeral wasn't happening today. It possibly wasn't happening ever. She'd tried to tear down the barriers, after all. Wouldn't Alura just be...relieved she wasn't a problem anymore? Sad and relieved at the same time?

A quiet knock came at the door, and Teremki glanced up. "What?"

Mrs. Aterak eased open the door. ""Hey Teremki. Any...word?"

His thoughts slowly caught up. "Oh. No," he shifted on the bed carefully, slowly sitting up, back propped against the pillows. "I think some of the barriers are still up."

Sorano walked over to the bed. "How is he?"

Teremki shrugged. "He hasn't woken up yet."

Sorano smiled briefly. "This is rough, isn't it?" she sighed. "I'm sorry you all had to do so much of this on your own."

Teremki shrugged. "I haven't really done..." he trailed off, staring uncomfortably at the wall.

"We were supposed to be winning this war," she muttered. "A few years ago, we were--or, we thought we were winning. Yet it seems we find enemies in the places we least expect them."

Teremki just nodded.

"I know what that feels like."

Teremki glanced up hesitantly. She was staring into the distance, past Dragonfly. "What what feels like?" he asked.

"Not knowing if someone you love will make it."

Teremki blushed. "I mean, I don't know if--I don't think love is really..."

"I feel the same way about Rebecca."

Teremki's eyebrows knit together--oh. Weapons-teacher Rebecca. Mrs. Sarai. "Wait, you two were--" he didn't know how to finish the question.

Sorano smiled, gaze sliding to the ceiling. "We took the Missus part. We hadn't decided if or when--or who--would change their last name. I can't decide if I wish we had. Maybe we should have compromised and used both. Sarai-Aterak."

The room fell silent, except Dragonfly's raspy breaths. "I had a drawing," he blurted. She raised her eyebrows. "I don't think--I'm not sure...I think some others might've made it out alive," he stared at his lap. "From the school."

Silence.

"Teremki..."

"Ana said you called us your kids," he whispered, finally glancing up.

Sorano blinked red eyes. "She did? I mean, I did?"

"Yeah," Teremki nodded. "When you took down Ghost, she said," which was actually the last thing she'd told him, but he didn't add that.

Mrs. Aterak blushed faintly, fingers sliding over the bed frame. "Well, it was only us in the desert for a long time and I felt responsible for you--"

"I don't mind," he interrupted. "I don't think Ana did either," he paused, biting his lip. Kwayo and Dryda probably felt the same. Verspri too, even though Teremki hadn't been there for that telepathy flashback. "A whole bunch of us don't have parents who care."

Sorano sat carefully at the base of the mattress. "Did your parents care?"

Teremki shrugged. "I ran away." He ran away from a single mom with four other kids, not counting his oldest brother. All of whom had learned early on to fend for themselves.

"I'm sorry," she replied.

"I sometimes wish I could draw the past to see if she even noticed."

Sorano's shoulders slumped. "Maybe they were right," she whispered. "All their nonsense about the world being an unfair place. Fighting for equality," she shook her head.

Got it.

Teremki nearly jumped. Dryda? He exclaimed. I thought you couldn't hear me.

It took a while. But I found your cord and pushed through it. She sent exhaustion. Kwayo's helping, but his face is turning red.

Teremki sent urgency.

Right. You're talking to someone?

With Mrs. Aterak. Why?

You were sending a lot of muddled feelings. What were you talking about?

Teremki sent a rapid summary.

I kind of understand-- she paused.

Dryda? Teremki asked, nervous that he'd lost her. He tried...pushing toward her, unsure if it did anything.

Coach Blanco said they were fighting for equality, right? Dryda sent. And lots of people at this school...they aren't bad people, Teremki. They're just kids, like us. And yet...Ripple's got her alters and the Dissociative Disorder. And there's a boy who can't talk at all. Another girl has terrible nightmares.

Teremki's eyebrows furrowed. Sorano noticed, about to open her mouth and ask him. He held up a finger and she paused.

They choose those kids on purpose, Dryda sent, sorrowful. They choose them and tell them they are broken so they want to fight for it. But Teremki--

That's so...sad, he added quietly. But Dryda was gone.

"Does that mean you agree with Coach Blanco?" Teremki asked Sorano.

She shook her head. "He's a terrible person with responsibility issues. Yet, lately, I keep asking if he did have a point. However flawed he was in fighting for it."

Teremki stared at the door. "Maybe we shouldn't even be fighting at all," he whispered. "Dryda got through for a little bit, and she said the school they're hiding at finds kids like us, and tells them they're broken so they want to fight for it," he shifted uncomfortably. "If I ran away and they found me, and told me to blame my mom and..." he trailed off. Blame himself for his older brother dying in a faraway city. "I don't know what I'd believe."

"That's...those children," Sorano shut her eyes.

"So is that all we're battling against?" Teremki asked. "Kids who grew up, were taught to be furious, who taught the next kids to seek justice from the vicious world too?"

Sorano slowly shook her head. "I don't know."