Hollow Veins

Chapter Twenty Five; Tightrope

Jaden was dreary the next day. He felt dizzy. His side burned and he ground his teeth together.The others bussed around getting ready to go. It was strange. It almost seemed like they were getting ready for school, besides the weapons. Putting their hair up, tying their shoes, repacking the backpacks. Jasper fitted furiously with a radio, cursing. Alice sat down next to Jaden, handing him a handful of pills, "Ari wants you to take these." She paused as he took them, "I know it's not much." Jaden shrugged and signed, "Best help I'll get."

He glanced around the shabby sunlit gas station. Ari and Prince were arguing in one corner of the room. Jasper had finally given up one the radio and had let Aaron mess with it. Ren was peering out the window across the room, her finger twisting a loose piece of hair. He quickly looked away as she turned. Alice had a slight smile on her face. Jaden glared at him with as much annoyance as he could while trying to keep a smile away. He didn't want any additional teasing. "Bug off." She yawned in response. They heard Ari raise her voice, "For heaven's sake, Prince? What was the purpose of that." He leaned against the wall and shrugged, "You're cute when you're mad." He started laughing. Ari looked like she might kill him there and then. Instead she shoved him away. Jaden and Alice exchanged a look. Ari stomped over towards them. "You take your medicine?" She fired at Jaden. He nodded, looking a little scared and a little amused. She sighed, "He's impossible." "Prince? What he do?" Alice asked. Ari grumbled, "I asked him if he was ready and he said no. For about ten minutes he refused to get ready. Then finally Prince says he actually is and... just wanted to annoy me." Jaden and Alice looked sideways at each other attempting not to laugh. Ari narrowed her eyes at them, then folded her arms.

Aaron fell onto his back, "I think I got it." Jasper picked it up, "Yep, I think you did it." He extracted a cord from his bag and plugged it in. It looked like earbuds except one cord ended in a little handheld communication device. Jasper flipped through stations, "I'm gonna need a minute." He picked up the radio and carried it outside. Ren looked at him, "Be careful." He gave her a thumbs up as he listened to the headset. Aaron glanced at his retreating back, and wondered if he should follow. Surely if Jasper was being truthful, there would be nothing wrong with them hearing what he was saying to the people at the station at the city. He looked around, then headed for the door. Suddenly Prince was there, leaning on the door frame. He picked at his nails. Aaron tried to side step him but Prince held out an arm. Still examining his nails he spoke, "Funny, I could have sworn Jasper said something about... needing some privacy, yes?" Aaron glared at him, "There's no harm in hearing what's going on." Prince looked up, lazily, "Of course not. So why bother listening at all?"

All eyes in the room were on them now. Aaron glared at him, "Why are you defending him?" Prince grinned, "I'm not defending him, necessarily. But we all agreed to obey him, did we not." The tension was only a little less then that of a tightrope. Alice stepped next to Aaron and whispered, "Just sit down." Aaron was still staring daggers at Prince. Ari walked over, then. Ren and Jaden looked slightly apprehensive. Then Aaron rolled his eyes and gave in. Prince slid down to a sitting position and crossed his legs. Ari looked at him and whispered, "You're gonna cause a civil war." "Hm." "Aaron's got an explosive temper. I don't think you want him on your bad side." He stretched lazily, "Well yiou aren't very even tempered either and I keep the provoking up." Ari shrugged, "Well I'm tolerant of you." Prince grinned and put his hands behind his head, "True." At that second, Jasper pushed through the door, "I got good news and exhaustingly bad news."