The Rebellious Host | ✓

Laina

I automatically flip into an impersonation of Autumn, her slightly arrogant tones easily fitting into my voice. "Yes. Of course. What do you need, April?"

There's a beep, more crackling, and then her voice. "I need you to meet me where I last saw you. In an hour. It's urgent."

I press the button. "I'll be there." There's no reply.

Jared and Ian exchange a look. "You're going to meet a Soul that could sell us out?" Jamie asks.

I nod. "Yes. And it's going to be a setup." At their looks I roll my eyes and say, "For her."

Ian crosses his arms over his chest. "I'm guessing that you have a plan."

"Yep. It's easy. Me and two others go out now. The two people hide, and when she comes I'll talk to her for a minute, then they come up behind her and knock her out." I shrug. "Can't be that difficult. You guys have done it before."

"So who'll go with you?" Jeb asks.

"Me." Jamie says immediately.

"No." Melanie, Jared, Wanda, and I say at the same time. Ian, Kyle, and everyone else just shrug.

"Why not?" He asks.

"Because. April Dawn is not the kindest Soul. You're pretty tough, Jamie, but she might hurt you." He glares at me.

"I was going to say because I should go." Jared shrugs.

I shake my head. "No. She knows who you are somehow. If she gets away, you're screwed." I tell him. "I don't want to bring Mel, or Wanderer, she might recognize them..."

"Bring us." Kyle says. "Ian and I, that is. She won't know us."

I consider this for a moment. "No." Jared says. "She's my sister. I should go."

Melanie puts a hand on his shoulder. "Let Ian and Kyle do this. Laina's right- if they catch you, then they know what you look like." She looks at Wanda, who returns the look.

Jamie sighs. "I really don't like this."

I elbow him. "We're little, according to them. I'm just a decoy here anyway. No danger for me."

He looks down at me for a minute, then back up at Ian and Kyle. "We should get ready." I say to Ian and Kyle. "An hour will come faster than you'd think."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I stand by the cliff where I last saw April Dawn. I'm wearing a pair of sunglasses, so that she doesn't know that I'm no longer a Soul. Ian and Kyle disappeared. It's almost sundown now, the time that April Dawn wanted to meet me.

"I didn't think you'd make it." I whip around to see April Dawn behind me, hands clasped loosely in front of her.

I drop into the role easily. "Don't I always?"

"Of course." She nods. "But we'd been separated and well, I was a little worried."

"Afraid that I'd died?" I smirk. "My host is stronger than that."

"Obviously." She's quiet for a minute. "You seem different, Autumn Skies."

"Well, I cannot imagine why." I tell her.

"First of all, you are cleaner than one would expect." She tells me. I glance down at my clothes. Jamie had told me that I was too clean to do this, and had thrown dirt at me until he thought that I could pass for someone who had been wandering the desert for days. "Second of all, there's something...off."

"You must be dehydrated." I tell her. I pull out the Peace medication or whatever-it-is that Seekers usually use. Kyle and Ian don't seem to be taking the hint. "Here, allow me to help." I open it and before she can protest, spray it in her face.

April Dawn collapses to the ground, her blonde hair fanning out around her. "Kyle! Ian!" I call. "She's out!"

They come out. "Sorry." Ian tells me, picking up the Soul. "We couldn't figure out how to work the thing." They had the Peace stuff too.

"It's fine. I handled it." I say. "Do you two know the way back?"

Kyle rolls his eyes. "We could find our way back in our sleep."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

While they get they remove April Dawn from her Host, Jamie shows me to where I can get cleaned off. He grabbed me some of Wanda's clothes, which are just a little too big for me, and then showed me to where it is.

I clean off quickly, then dry off and throw on my clothes. Jamie stands guard outside, his back turned to the door. I remember all the times that we were younger and we'd fall asleep in one of our rooms, or on the couch, and Mel or their parents or my mom would take us upstairs and lay us down in one of our beds. Then we'd wake up the next day and run around again.

I pull on a jacket and a pair of boots that were Jamie's-according to him, anyway- and walk out of the room. The jacket isn't too big on me, and the boots are only a half-size bigger. The pants are olive green cargo pants, and the shirt is a blackish-brown color that matches the jacket and boots.

I braid my hair, and Jamie grins at me. "You could leave it down, you know. It'll dry faster."

I roll my eyes. "Nice try, Stryder. Not happening."

"You want to get something to eat?" He asks.

"Let me guess- you're starving."

He laughs. "How'd you guess?"

I grin. "Because, you're always hungry. No matter what. You could eat a whole cow and still be hungry!"

We both laugh, walking towards their dining room or whatever they call it. We walk in and Jamie grabs two pieces of bread, handing me one. It's actually really good, and it's not too tough or anything. We walk back out and towards what I'm now calling their infirmary, for lack of a better word.

"So." Jamie says when we're halfway there. "You think this girl's still in there?" He asks.

"I know that she is. We both made a suicide attempt together once."

His eyes are closed off, not at all how I remember them being. But Jamie's grown up quite a bit since I last  saw him, too- he's no longer that skinny twelve-year-old, all bones and skin. He's not as pale as he was, either. Not as awkward and unsure of himself.

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he's always been this way, and I'm the one that's changed. When I thought of him before, I thought of my best friend, the one person that I could tell everything. Now, though, seeing him again, I feel like there's a huge wall built up between us.

When we get to the infirmary, he gestures for me to go in first. Doc, Uncle Jeb, Melanie, Jared, Ian, Kyle, and Sunny are all waiting in there when I walk in. They turn to see who's coming in, but lose interest and look back at April Dawn.

I move to stand next to her. Jared looks ready to tell me not to, but Ian says something to him and he closes his mouth. "How long since you removed her?" I ask.

"An hour or two." Doc says.

I nod. After a few minutes, she makes a noise. Her eyes open, and for a few minutes she stares blankly at the ceiling. Then her eyes focus on me, and she smiles. "Autumn Skies." She says.

"April Dawn." I nod. "But actually, my name's Laina."

She smiles and sits up, holding out her hand for me to shake. "Alexis O'Shea." Several people suck in their breath, and Alexis looks around as if just now realizing that there are other people in the room. Her eyes lock in Ian and Kyle, who look like they've just seen a ghost. She smiles at them. "Hello, Kyle. Hi Ian."