A Battle Within

Chapter 16: Away

Tom's POV

All I can think of is Chelsea. I'm afraid that it's affecting the way I make my cupcakes, because if they're not "perfect", I'm in trouble. Ever since Phobos won that cupcake competition, all she wants is for our cupcakes to be "perfect".

Anyway, today, I was making cupcakes, like usual, when Chelsea came in. She looked around carefully, like she was being followed, and then went up to Phobos. 

I'm not an eavesdropper, but I can't help it sometimes.

"We have to go," Chelsea hissed, "Today they're waiting for me to come get interrogated."

"And you're actually going to do it?"

"No. That's why we're leaving. We've got to get out of this place before they come looking for me."

"Where are we going to go?"

"I know a place. Past the Fifth Coterie's territory, in the mountains."

"Fifth Coterie.........what's that one again?"

"Business. As in factory, product business."

"Isn't that dangerous? Do you know what they have in those factories?"

"I don't, but we need to go there. It's our only way out."

"Do you know what's waiting for us ahead, in the mountains?"

Phobos paused to let that sink in.

Chelsea said it so quietly that I had to lean over to hear, "The Seventh Coterie. Honesty, Justice, Law. Lawyers, Judges, and Police. Right next to the Eighth, which is Union military."

"That," Phobos stated, "Is the last place a person like you would want to be. Are you absolutely crazy? Camping in the Seventh Coterie is like camping in a lion's maw." She crossed her arms, satisfied with her argument.

Chelsea bit her lip. "That's the thing. Nobody expects criminals to hide out in the Seventh because they'd logically get caught, right? So we hide in plain sight. Besides, it won't be long. All I need is long enough to get in touch with my old comrades."

Phobos hates it when people counter her. That's how I almost got fired on my first month. It drove her up the wall when I would make a dumb comment and then twist my words so that somehow I was right. After a few days, she finally remembered that she could fire me, so that became her favorite comeback. I didn't realize she meant it at first, but I caught on quickly.

Phobos growled. "Fine. But you can go on your own." 

"Actually," Ceres chimed in, "I think that's a great idea. Besides, we need to keep ourselves together. After all, we've finally found the last piece after all this time." She shot a look at Phobos. Not a mean look, but a meaningful look. Like, we need to talk look. Chelsea obviously didn't know what they were going to talk about, and neither did I. 

Deimos's POV

"What's going on?" I snapped, walking in on a conversation between Phobos, Ceres, and Chelsea. A conversation that clearly was not supposed to include me. "Are we having an unscheduled holiday all of a sudden here?"

Phobos had her arms crossed across her chest. "No," she said icily, "it's nothing at all." Obviously whatever the conversation had come to was not supposed to be for Chelsea's ears. I gave her a look and she walked away, brushing my shoulder as she walked past me.

Phobos made sure she was gone before saying, "Chelsea wants to leave. She wants to go to the Seventh Coterie in the mountains." Her tone was casual, but also resigned, like she knew that Ceres was going to agree and Chelsea was going to put up a fight. 

"Well," Ceres started, "we need to activate the Portal, so we need to go anyway." Of course, Ceres was going to mention the Portal. She, after all, was the first one of us to go looking for the others. We all know our shared mission. Chelsea, of course, is the only one who didn't get the heads-up. She's the defective one. The violent one. The dangerous one. The reckless one. The first one of us to get caught. That's why she discovered her powers late. It was a defense mechanism against herself. If she knew about them before, it's likely that she would have destroyed the world out of teenage angst.

Basically, our mission is to get to this "Portal". We don't know how or why, but what we do know is that we need all four of us to activate the Portal and that it will take us to a good place. Yes, that sounds totally crazy, under-explained, and weird considering that we're trusting our own memory on this, but to be honest, I quite like the idea of going on an intergalactic permanent vacation. 

I chimed in, "Haven't you people ever heard of closing the door? Anyone could've overheard." Phobos and Ceres uneasily looked around and then got closer together. "Besides that, I think that we should go."

"What?" they both yelped in unison, and then simultaneously covered each others' mouths.

I took a deep breath and prepared everyone for a long explanation. "We have to get to the portal, right? Well, we also need to explain to Chelsea what we know, and she needs to get out of the city, too. This is a perfect opportunity for us to go. We know that we don't know where the Portal is exactly, but we do know that we'll feel it if we're close. Logically, if we stay in this town forever, we'll never find it. So, and I'd never think I'd live to say this, but, I agree with Chelsea."

Both of them looked at me in shock for a moment, but then they recovered quickly. 

"Um, okay," they said. "Sure, great idea."

"When do we leave?" asked Ceres. 

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. I don't think I'll ever be sure about anything ever again.