Brighter Than the Stars

Annabelle - Rash Decisions Are My Specialty

I shoved myself in front of James and he squeaked in protest–a sound I was sure he would later deny ever making, but I filed away for blackmail at a later date. He kicked me in the back of the knee, and my leg nearly gave out. Regaining my balance, I shot him a glare and elbowed him in the stomach, before turning back around. I composed myself and looked expectantly at Leo–or, more accurately, the tray of muffins he held.

Leo raised his eyebrows and handed one to Nicole.

"No fair!" James and I protested at once. We both reached for them at once, quickly getting side-tracked as we attempted to shove each other's hands out of the way. Leo set the muffins down on the table, and, reluctantly, James and I both sat. Though, we weren't quiet about it–we continued to kick each other in the shins under the table, until a look from Leo finally stopped us. Quietly–no thanks to James–I picked off pieces of my muffin and ate them.

"The news just came in today," Leo began, as if James and I hadn't just been attempting to kill each other for the first–or, really, second–muffin. Next to him, Nicole intently braided together tiny scraps of leather (I didn't question it. I'd stopped questioning Nicole a long time ago). "It hasn't been going on for very long–they sent word as soon as they could–but it looks like there's an outbreak of a virus along the coast. It's unidentifiable, by them, but Madeline said in the meeting today that she thinks it's the same one M.C. threatened to release. She hasn't met the demands, so here we are."

"But we have a cure, right?" I asked. There was a reason I wanted no place on the Council–lots of boring talk, not a lot of action. Also, Leo knew way more about Itari than I did, and we'd both lived here our entire lives; I'd even grown up in the court, which meant I should technically know more. But I was pretty sure even Nicole knew more than me–and she still couldn't pronounce the Itarise word for water. It was one of James's favourite hobbies to try and get her to say it; a hobby he no longer engaged much in, after she'd whipped a dagger at his head, sinking it into the wood barely an inch away.

"According to the latest test, yes," Leo said. He picked up a muffin of his own but didn't take a bite. "In actuality...who knows?" Nicole tied her strand of braided leather around his wrist, still without saying a word. "We'll find out soon enough, I guess," Leo said. "I think they're sending troops, though...James?"

"Smee lar," James said, through a mouthful of muffin. Receiving blank states, he chewed and swallowed. "They are. Actually, I am. Or, me and Maddie. There's already fighting going on near the coast–near where the virus has broken out. It's a couple of our soldiers, too. At first, we thought the civilians were just a warning, to get soldiers over, but the guy's really not targeting anyone specific. It's just...anyone's fair game."

I made a face. He made it sound like we were all in some sort of giant hunt or game, with no rules and nothing stopping anyone from anything. It made it seem like we were being hunted down–like we didn't have any control. I'd always figured we had the upper hand, even when we didn't–von Vikas was imprisoned, St. Clair was dead...we weren't that bad off. Except, in all of it, we'd only managed the little things–von Vikas had been a puppet, St. Clair not even that. The only bright idea he'd ever had was trying to take the jewels before M.C. could (using us), but, even then, he'd folded and handed them over; M.C. had a habit of wearing them set into an elaborate pin, which I found gaudy and ridiculous.

"Actually, they've already sort of started moving inward. Or, trying to. We're holding them back pretty well so far." James took a last bite of his muffin–too-big, again, and he promptly choked on it. I patted him on the back.

Nicole turned to the side and slid down so her head rested against Leo's leg, nearly on the bench. Her blue sweater rolled to expose a collage of scars across her midriff–and what was probably more muscle than I had in my entire body. "Leo," I said, "are you aware your girlfriend could beat the crap out of all of us if she felt like it?"

"Very," he said, brushing the hair out of her eyes and resting his palm on top of her head, "and don't we all wish she would beat the crap out of James once in a while."

"Hey!" He started to protest more, but choked again on the muffin.

I patted him on the back again. "Shh. Thinking too much upsets you."

...

I stirred my soup clockwise, then counterclockwise, watching the noodles spin around in circles. I'd been doing that for the last five minutes–it'd been too hot to eat–while James put enormous spoonfuls into his mouth and promptly spewed them nearly everywhere, proving my point that it was too hot.

Leo and Nicole had abandoned us, heading out to get dinner by themselves, and no one else was free–the declaration of war had sent the castle into a spiral of panic. So, it was just James and I, who, left alone, were never a good combination. Usually, something got blown up or someone died–sometimes both. So far, the only casualty was James's taste buds, which were scalded off. He alone was to blame for that one.

I took a tentative bite, finding it hot but manageable, and swallowed. James, discovering he could finally eat, began to eat it so quickly I figured he would choke again in the next few minutes. Before he accidentally killed himself, he looked up and paused. "Hey, Belle?"

"Mhm?"

"I'm thinking of heading to the front."

"What?" This time, I nearly choked. "Like...to fight?"

"Well, that'd be the general idea, yeah. The thing is, we just got news–they found the base. Or, where they think the base is. If they could take that out, that's so many people–M.C., that witch he's got working with him...the whole operation would pretty much be over. Two years of this would be over. The thing is, though, they don't really know what to do next. So, I figured I'd go down, help them out."

"That's a death wish." I picked up my biscuit and stared at it like it would give me advice. "If we felt the bomb so close to here, how much worse do you think it is at the coast? Right in the middle of the fighting?"

"The bomb was closer to us than the coast," James said. "Purposefully. To make a point. Anyway, this could end it. That's better than just sitting around waiting for it to be over–we've got to do something. This is our chance. My chance. I should've asked Leo–he would know."

"Hey!" I glared at him. "I can give just as good advice as Leo."

"I'm not having boy problems, Annabelle, I'm fighting a war."

"You're a jerk." My scowl deepened. "Go, then. But I want to come."

"Come? What are you going to do?"

"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not entirely useless. I can take care of myself. Who knows, I could even be helpful. But I'm coming."

James swallowed the last bite of his soup. "How serious are you? And how reckless are you willing to be?"

"James. Have you met me?"

"Fair point." He stood up. "I'll leave word with one of my soldiers. Pack a bag and we can leave right now. We'll be there by dawn."

I hopped up. I'd done a lot of dumb things, but this threatened to take the cake. "Leo and Nicole are going to kill us."

He shrugged. "They'll figure it out. Hurry up. I'll meet you at the gates in ten."

Sometimes, I wondered why I did anything I did–especially when it came to things like this. It wasn't the brightest idea either of us had ever had, but, right now, it felt good to have the bare bones of a plan, even if it was really a smashed together mess we'd come up with in about two minutes. When they got back, I was sure Leo and Nicole would have words. But that could wait.

I darted off to grab my bag. They'd be fine. With any luck, we could practically end the thing before they even began to chew us out.

Word Count: 1,452