Ever Burning

 

            “Amyti,” a voice as dark as the night whispers in my ear. I am wide awake but feigning slumber, as I do most nights. The midnight voice whispers again, the sound tickling my eardrums and making the hairs on the back of my neck shiver. “Get up, now. You have to hurry; they’re coming.”

 

            The voice is my friend; that much I can remember. But even your closet friends can make you feel on edge. I stir, though my motions are slow and cautious. The voice—my friend—hisses again. “Amyti, we are going to be taken. Get a move on before they find us again!”

 

            “Talon, quit worrying,” I say, brushing off the subject and shifting so I am in a sitting position. There we lay, underneath the stars. It would have been romantic had Talon been my boyfriend. Instead, he was my cousin and dating my best friend. Talon raises his eyebrows at me and runs his fingers through his thick, flaming orange hair. I reach up, ruffling the already tousled style. “I never can understand why your hair is that color. I mean, in Thánatos, the strangest color was blonde. I mean, I know you are from Życia, so it’s different… but still, your hair is bright freaking orange.”

 

            Talon grins. “This is ordinary in my country. The strange colors, as you put it, was purple or pink, or a strange combo of the two. I do not understand why you have black hair and the bluest eyes that they could belong to the sea. But do I question it? No. I do not.”

 

            I shake my head. “I am normal. I am nothing special. Thánatos is full of unique people. I am too ordinary to belong there.”

 

            “Amyti, you crazy, chica,” a new voice says, joining the conversation. I look up to see Caymren Volotensi, my best friend, i.e. Talon’s girlfriend, beaming down at me. “Thánatos doesn’t deserve your amazingness, chickita. You are too special to belong there. Thánatos is the capitol of the world. You know, after everything else was destroyed. That city restored our population. Just the most special people can live there, chica. You were just so special they didn’t know where else to put you.”

 

            “I wasn’t joking,” Talon says, urgent. “The Vladimorti are coming to investigate the camps. They know we are here. We have to move.”

 

            “What about Rividanchi?” I hiss. “We can’t leave her. She wants to get out just as much as the rest. We can’t leave her here. She’s our friend.”

 

            “Yeah, but she belongs here,” Talon snaps, yanking on my and Caymren’s arm. He stands up and tugs on us, trying to pull us further. “Rivi is allowed to be here; this is her war troop. We need to be with our war troop, but we escaped and are on the run. They won’t hurt her.”

 

            “Amigos, we have started a revolution,” Caymren announces. “Wherever we are to go, the rebels—AKA everyone—will help us. Every single person in this war knows our names now. We’re famous just by running away. Guards have been placed everywhere, in every camp to make sure no one escapes. Of course, not all troops have that. The Rietarian troop came with willing surrender. They’d never escape. The Donatiean troop is so aggressive they’ll always be where the war is. We can’t go to those camps—it’s obvious—because they would turn us in. But there is one troop, so sickened they can’t fight, but so full of rebellion that they’d hide us in a heartbeat. Because they are so sick, there aren’t guards there to make sure they don’t escape. They’re too sick to run anyway. It’s only three miles from here, and Rividanchi’s teacher has a cart set up to take us there. We can fake being sick or dead, hiding under a blanket, and then there are three rebellious teacher slash nurses there that have prepared a safe-house for us, underneath on of the dirt beds. It’s so secure. We’ll be safe.”

 

            “But Rivi,” I hiss. “I swore to her we wouldn’t leave her.”

 

            “Promises are meant to be broken eventually,” Talon snaps back. He yanks on my arm, but I tug back. “Amyti, you are being ridiculous. The freight truck leaves in five minutes, and if we don’t get a move on, we’ll miss it. Cay, please tell her she’s being ridiculous.”

 

            “Talon is right, Am,” Caymren insist. “Listen, we have to get going. She’ll understand, I can swear that she will, Ti. Let’s just go before we miss the truck, please?”

 

            I look around and spot my notebook. “If you aren’t going to take her, let me write a note. We at least owe her that. And I’m not stupid, Talon, because I know what you are going to say. It’s going to be a simple note that only she would understand.”

 

            Writing the note as fast as I could, I signed it with a false name and showed it to Caymren and Talon. “Are you satisfied? Is it okay and unnoticeable to anyone else?”

 

            “If I didn’t know what it meant, I’d think it was just a thank you letter,” Caymren said. “Now, let’s get going before we miss our ride out of this crap hole. Deal?”

 

            I look at Talon and sigh, defeated. “Deal.”