The Wrong Side

Chapter 20

Ember Irving. Also known as Kadiya's adoptive mother as well as Luna and Matthew's birth mother. When she arrives, everyone knows that she's here. I don't see her, but I can feel the tensity in the air as she comes. My teachers are anxious during the lessons and Luna is biting her nails from excitement. As soon as classes are over, Luna pulls me across the school and to the main office where I see her.

She's about my height with skin as pale as a moon's glow. Her hair is thin and falls to the middle of her back in platinum-blonde waves. The eyes are a piercing green that neither Matthew nor Luna inherited. She's probably in her early forties, but she looks thirty at the oldest. I could be wrong though.

When she sees Luna her face settles into a relaxed smile as she embraces her daughter. I stand awkwardly at the doorway as they reunite. Ember looks up at me and her face grows stern.

"Who is this?" she whispers to Luna, but loud enough for me to hear.

"That's Caden," Luna replies. "He's a new friend. Kadiya found him a few weeks ago. He had broken out of an Endurance van and took out the five soldiers on his own."

If Ember's impressed, she doesn't show it. I wave and attempt a smile. Her eyes fall to my right arm and feeling self-conscious again, I try to hide it.

"What happened to your arm?" she asks me.

"I lost it."

"How?"

I shrug. "I don't really remember. It was a while ago, I think."

"You think?"

I feel myself going red and I nod. Luna smiles and tries to break the tension by asking her mom questions about where she was. Ember doesn't take the bait.

"Are you infatuated with my daughter?" she demands and my jaw drops a little bit.

"Mom! No, Caden's one of our friends! There's nothing like that going on!"

Ember inclines her head a degree or two and turns away from me.

"We didnt have any luck tracking down those two spies. They've been missing for almost four months now and I'm really worried. They were in this abandoned area a few hours from the Endurance's city before we lost track of them."

"Oh," Luna frowns a little bit. "Matthew and Kadiya are excited to see you!"

"As am I. Where are they?" Ember asks and Luna pulls on her mom's sleeve.

They pass by me and not knowing what to do, I follow them. I stop trying to figure out where we're going after a while but eventually, I see Matthew and Kadiya talking with a young woman with blue highlights in her hair. Luna call out their names and when the two see their mother, their expressions light up.

Kadiya give Ember a hug first and Matthew gets pulled in by his mother. There's something about this that makes me uneasy and a little... I don't know but there's a little pang in my chest and I realize it's longing; longing for a mother. I don't think I've ever had one -- not in my weird memories or in my inaccessible ones. I watch solemnly as the siblings starts bombarding their mom with questions about her travels.

"Caden," says Kadiya and she pulls me up with them. I didn't even notice that they were starting to walk away. "We're going to get some food for Mom. Come with us."

I nod and smile at her. They all look so happy now that their mom is back and it's almost refreshing to see them like that.

Ember turns to me. "So, Caden. My children have told me about you. It's your turn to tell me about yourself."