The Changed

Chapter 30- Tess

"Get your hands off of me!" I screamed at the guards as they pushed us forward down to the valley. Caleb and I were both struggling like mad but the guards had a grip like iron. Every so often I tried to burn my way through the bonds but Frost had somehow made them fire proof. The silver lion was prowling around us, sometimes behind us, sometimes in front. "Just keep moving you little brat," the guard holding me growled.

"Don't speak to her like that!" Caleb shouting. His hands were alight with bright white light but he couldn't direct it at any of the guards to blind them because of the rope around his wrists. The guard holding him kicked him in the stomach, making him fall to his knees, gasping. "Caleb!" I shouted. The guard unslung his dart gun from his shoulder.

"The boss only said that you had to be unharmed," he said, grinning evilly at me. He shot Caleb in the back with a dart. Caleb locked eyes with me before they fluttered shut and he fell on his face.

"Caleb!" I screamed.

"Calm down, little princess," the guard said as he picked up Caleb's lifeless body and flung him over his shoulder like dead weight. He aimed his gun at me. "You'll only be sleeping." I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. Before I blacked out, the other guard tipped me over his shoulder leaving the last thing I saw was the ground.

***

I woke up suddenly in a bed inside a tent. Caleb was in a bed to the left of me but still sleeping soundly. "He looks angel like when he sleeps, doesn't he?" Frost said from the chair at the foot of my bed. I tried to jump up but my wrists were tied to the bed with the same fire proof rope. "I used to watch him when he slept when he was younger, before that stupid sister of mine took him away."

"For good reason," I shouted. "Just look what you did to me and Edward. Now get away from us!"

"He used to love me, you know," Frost said thoughtfully. "And I still love him."

"He never loved you" I cried. "He told me what happened. His father died and you were the only person he and his mother could go to and yet you abused them! His mother took him away because you would have done the same thing to him as you did to Edward!"

"Maybe," Frost murmured. "But I'd sacrifice my own family so the world could be safe from your kind."

"What are you talking about!" I yelled. "It was you who created the bomb and started hunting the Changed down. It was you who turned their own family against them. They created the Changed to keep themselves safe from you. They never wanted war. They just wanted to live peacefully but it was you who started all of this and blamed it on them!"  He stood up and walked over to my bedside.

"What were you two doing about on your own?" He whispered in my ear. "I don't think Captain Garland or the Commander would let either of you out of their sight."

"See? You're avoiding the subject. But if you really want to know, we snuck off," I said. "We got bored inside and left." Frost gave me a smile.

"You're a good liar, Miss Halister," Frost said. "But not that good." He reached over and, to my surprise, untied my wrists. "Before you get any ideas, you can't use your fire in this tent. You and your brother gave us some valuable information when he was in our care. The fabric of this tent stops you from using your powers. There are guards all around you so you can't get out." I tried to lash out at him but he caught my wrist. He shook his head. "Ah Miss Halister," he tutted. "Still got your fiery spirit. Caleb will wake up soon. Let me know when you want to talk." He released me and was gone from the tent. I got up and followed him but only found six guards at the door, facing me. I retreated, letting the door fall shut.

The top of the tent was a tipi shape only with square sized at the bottom. There was a Persian rug across the whole floor and two red velvet couches with golden lining, exactly the type in the Commanders office which was creepy. The beds were at the back. The only thing that ruined the effect was a tatty table to my right which had a jug of water. It was scarred with cuts and burns.

I tentatively sat down on one of the couches and stretched out my fingers till they tingled. Usually thhat made them burst into flame but this time, nothing happened. So Frost hadn't been lying. In frustration, I punched the sofa with both hands and yelled out. "Tess?" Came a voice. I whirled around to see Caleb, sitting up in his bed. "Where are we?"

"Your uncle got us," I said as he came and sat on the couch opposite me. "He just left us. There's no way out of this tent and I can't use my powers in here. There are guards completely surrounding us."

"What did he say?" Caleb asked. His face was a mask.

"Just some rubbish about how you loved him and he would sacrifice you so he could save the world," I replied. Caleb pursed his lips and looked down.

"The same old then," he muttered.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"When I used to live with him, he always used to go on about how he would give up his whole family if the government could have total control of the world. He would often yell at me to say the same. When he wasn't there, my mother told me how bad the government was. They sucked up all the money for weapons and the bomb and didn't care for the people of the world. I always believed her because if my uncle was the type of person who worked for the government, then the whole thing had to be bad," Caleb told me. I sighed and took his hands.

"You don't have to agree with him anymore," I said. "You can rebel him now. He has no hold on you."

"He'll always have a hold on me, Tess," Caleb whispered. "No matter what I do or where I am." I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him on his cheek.

"Caleb, we're in their base," I whispered to him so the guards couldn't hear. "This is our chance to take the shield down." Caleb looked into my eyes.

"You're right," he said. "But how?" We suddenly heard a yell from outside and a series of grunts. Caleb jumped up and put his arm protectively across me. A guard fell in our tent, unconscious and with a nose bleed. I let out a small scream. The grunting stopped. I glanced at Caleb. He slowly crept up to the door of the tent. He swept the flaps aside to reveal the rest of the guards all on the floor, some bleeding some not. "What the..." I trailed off when the air shimmered in front of us and Cain appeared. He raised his eyebrows at us.

"I don't think he's happy with us," Caleb said.