Lies & Harmony Trilogy

Chapter Sixteen: Before the Peace

Everything is different now. No longer are the smiling faces and warm tones of welcome. Now everyone stares at us with such hostility that I wish we never set foot here in the first place. Without Kasie herself, it feels like she could have never lived here.

     The walls are dirty and grey but no longer feel intolerable. In fact, I don’t find myself caring about the cleanliness so much anymore.

     Nobody around me seems even the least bit familiar. Everybody that we knew is long gone. The only person left is Tabitha. Gordon, Kasie, and Mallory are captured. Rush has never been here in his few weeks out of Vainglory. The mission to save my father failed. Mallory’s family along with Thorpe must be back in the fifth sector. There is no one familiar.

     That is, excluding the man staring at us with a sort of loathing and smug expression.

     “Wynfor,” Tabitha greets. Her voice is curt and cold. This is not the Tabitha that Seven Young met. This is a goal-driven Tabitha. She seems to have no emotion except anger and disappointment these days. Even though those were the prominent emotions before Gordon was taken, there were other ones amongst those too. She’s different now.

     Wynfor nods at her with the same curtness. “Tabitha,” he says. Then he looks at me and his lips curl up in distaste. “Seven.” I jolt at the mention of my old name. ‘Seven’ hasn’t been on my mind very often.

     I correct him immediately. “My name is not Seven Young.” I don’t feel the slightest twinge of unease or self-consciousness when saying it. In fact, I feel proud. I am reclaiming an identity that someone has stolen from me. Seven is an empty shell that the hospital shoved Hope into. Hope has emerged from that shell, turning into Harmony. I finally realize that Seven was never who I was.

     He sneers at me. “From what I’ve heard, you demand to be called Seven. Why the change of heart, Miss Young?”

     I try not to flinch when he calls me Miss Young. Memories of Ana and the pills invade my mind. I blink once, pushing them away.

     “My name is Harmony Ryan,” I say, enunciating every syllable in case he is too dull to understand. I will not stay around to answer his questions.

     He gives a bitter laugh. I realize that some people are beginning to gather to watch us. I don’t know why they want to. This is just a simple conversation. I feel Tabitha stiffen beside me, and I see her twitch her fingers from my peripheral vision. Why she is getting agitated is beyond me.

     “Harmony Ryan,” he repeats in a derisive tone. I find my tolerance lowering. I just want a place to lie down right now: a place to forget. “Are you sure that’s who you really are?”

     “Wynfor.” Tabitha’s voice is cold and hard, almost like she’s trying to cut him with only her words. “That’s enough. We’re not dealing with your spitefulness.”

     “Really?” he spits out, turning his hateful glare to her. “What about you? Look what this has turned you into.” He takes several steps forward. “Yuen, you’re not yourself!”

     Tabitha sends Wynfor a hateful glare. “Who are you to say? You always thought I was some timid little girl who needed protection. That was a decade ago, Wynfor. Things aren’t the same anymore!” She takes one step closer so that they are nose to nose. “I’m not the girl I used to be. And I don’t belong to you anymore.”

     Wynfor takes a step back, acting like he’s been slapped. The incredulity on his face is palpable. Then he regains his posture and says, “Fine then! Don’t come running back to me ever again, Tabby,” he sneers, using the nickname that she hates.