The Glade and Its Glitch: Book 4 Escape

Chapter 10

Glitch paced his bedroom. He didn't spend much time there, he was usually busy planning in the meeting room or watching Commander train their troops. But today he needed a break. Unfortunately, he wasn't getting one.

Soar opened the door and barged in. "I need to talk to you."

The younger boy groaned and flopped onto his bed. "Do you have to?"

"Yes. It's important."

"What do you want?"

"I want to talk to you about Quake." Soar shut the door and crossed his arms.

"Why?"

"Oh my gosh, Glitch she's dead! That's a big deal!"

"People are going to die Soar." Glitch sat up. "That happens during war."

"But Quake? She's an elemental master, just like me. Am I going to die next? She was part of the Glade, and so was I. Am I going to be killed too?"

"You're not going to die, Soar." Glitch rolled his eyes.

'You're such a child.' Soar thought to himself. "You can't be sure of that."

"It was a fluke Soar. An accident. Devin and Cassandra didn't kill Quake on purpose."

"Do you feel bad at all? Are you upset? One of your friends was killed!"

Glitch hesitated. Was he sorry? Sad? Did he miss Quake? "No."

Soar narrowed his eyebrows. "You only need enemies to start a war. But you need friends to win one."

"You're almost as bad as Protector and Huntress are. Spitting knowledge and wisdom. You're not my dad!"

"Yeah, 'cause your dad is back in the Glade going insane."

Glitch stood up. He glared at Soar and fumed. "Don't bring him into this."

"I didn't. You did."

"I just said you aren't my dad. I didn't say anything about the man who is my dad."

Soar didn't know how to respond. He knew making Glitch angrier wasn't a good idea. But he was in too deep now. "Well, the man who is your dad obviously isn't doing a good job. His son is starting a war and getting teenagers killed!"

Glitch swung his fist at Soar's face.

Soar ducked and shoved Glitch into the wall.

"Let me go!" Glitch struggled. He pushed away from Soar and the two boys glared at each other.

"Sir?"

Soar and Glitch whirled around. A guard stood in the doorway. When the boys looked at him he snapped to attention and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Commander has requested your presence. Uh, Glitch."

Soar shot Glitch an evil stare before leaving the room.

Glitch straightened and tried to look professional. "Oh course." Internally Glitch groaned. Of course, Commander wanted to talk to him. She never left him alone. But Glitch gave in and followed the guard.

The guard led him to the training room. Commander was watching her soldiers train. The guard walked over to her and she nodded, telling him to go get in line with the other soldiers.

"Commander. I was told you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, come sit." Commander led Glitch to a small table with two chairs where they could still easily watch the soldiers.

"What is it-"

"Look at them." Commander breathed.

Glitch looked at the soldiers skeptically. "They're just training."

"They're not just training." She hissed, "They're getting stronger."

"Yes, that's how training works."

"Soon we'll be able to take on the Glade."

"Not until Devin and Cassandra figure out how to destroy elemental powers."

"Yes, how's that going?"

"I don't know. I haven't gotten an update since they sent Soar to tell us Quake died."

"You should contact them."

"Don't tell me what I should do. I'm in charge, I'm the leader."

"Of course, that's why you attacked one of your spies."

Glitch slammed his fist on the table and looked back at Commander, "Soar was asking for it." He didn't question how Commander knew he'd tried to punch Soar. That thought didn't even occur to him.

"Even if he was, you still shouldn't have fought back. You're almost asking for me to knock some sense into you. Does that mean I should attack you?"

Snarling, Glitch looked away from her and back at the soldiers. They punched the air and swung swords and fired guns. If they continued their training they might soon be able to take the Glade. But Glitch knew the Glade would always be much stronger. He'd seen even the weakest people in the Glade train, and he knew that with a little luck, they'd be able to beat his soldiers. They needed to figure out how to destroy elemental powers soon. Or Glitch's team would lose.

~~~

Devin and Cassandra headed to their bedroom after finishing with Lloyd. Devin held a tablet with a view of the security cameras feed in Huntress and Lloyd's cave. Cassandra took off her dress and lab coat and slipped on a red silk robe.

"How are they?"

"Huntress is cleaning his back. It looks like they're going to go to sleep."

"Hmm," Cassandra wrapped her arms around Devin's waist. "We should too."

"Hmph," Devin sighed and set the tablet down. "We didn't get much information out of him."

"But the information we did get could be very beneficial."

"We need to keep working on destroying their powers. The gas worked with Quake, albeit a little too well. If we alter it slightly we should be able to-"

"Devin..." Cassandra smiled and moved around to face Devin. "It's late. Come to bed."

"I have to keep working, Cass. This is our life's work! And we've finally been given the opportunity to test it and prove ourselves."

"Let's do it in the morning. Please, Devin?"

He sighed and gave in. Slipping into his pajamas, Devin got into bed with Cassandra. He kissed his wife goodnight, before rolling over to face away from her. His mind continued to theorize and plan.

What if he gave Lloyd gas and liquid vengestone? What if he gassed Huntress and injected Lloyd? Then they couldn't help each other recover. What if he tortured Huntress and then injected her? Then she might be too weak to recover. He was already putting vengestone dust in their food, what if he made them drink the liquid vengestone?

"Devin, are you still thinking about vengestone?"

Devin rolled back over and kissed his wife on the forehead. "No," he lied, "Goodnight, baby."