Tale of the Prophet Bearer: The Dark Queen's Reign

Chapter 32: Fighting, Fighting, and more Fighting

I clench my fist around the arm rest, counting by three's to help distract me from Cody stitching my leg. Pain thumps in my head and I try to keep my head still to balance the ice pack. My exhaustion still hugs my mind and calls me to sleep, but the pain is too severe to get peace.

"There," Cody secures the gauze. "That's the best I can do."

Hoping the pain medicine I took would kick in soon, I relax, praying the impending doom of Cameron's questions might wait a little longer. Maybe there is a way to wiggle out of interrogation... But there's no way to defend myself without becoming like Reil. And I will never stoop to her level.

I refuse to.

"Was Reil telling the truth?" Cameron says, his voice hollow of emotion.

I swallow the lump in my throat. Too bad there's not a trap door I could jump out of and fall to my death. It would be less painful than this.

Cody sigh, his voice edged with frustration. "Do you believe Reil? She is literally named liar! Don't let her turn your focus off of her and so you stop trying to defeat her."

"Abby could still be here if Christina didn't move!" Cameron yells and I wince from the unusual anger in his voice. "Reil swore on her throne she was telling the truth! Stop trying to protect Christina from what she did!"

"It's not her fault," Cody yells in return. "Because she didn't know!"

"Reil said about her being a prophetess. You yourself said you think Christina can predict the future, so why do you think she didn't know?!"

I cover my ears, but it doesn't block out their shouts. The guilt crushing my heart feels like it could push me down when I stand. My leg flaring up as if on fire does not help either.

I shut the door and sink down the wall. Cameron hates me—What if he looks at me like Reil? Too bad pain medicine only helps with physical pain and not emotional pain.

I grip the roots of my hair, gritting my teeth. A few hot tears slip down my cheek and I bury my face between my knees, a sob escaping my lips. Abby is dead because I moved and now we're all paying for it. Why did things go so wrong when I did one simple thing?

"What have I done?" I whisper.

I curl up against the cold floor panel and bawl my eyes out. I don't worry about the others hearing me since their shouts drown out my voice. Where Tucker is, I don't know. As harshly as he thought of me before, I doubt he cares where I went. But who can blame him? He thinks I don't care for him and thinking about how I treated him, maybe he's right.

I cough out a sob and curl my arms around my head. My voice is shaky, but I hum a tune to try and distract myself. Giving me something to do might help keep my thoughts at bay.

 Part of me almost wants to feel bad. I want to give up and wallow in self-pity. I want to listen to the ping-pong argument of the boys in the other room.

So that's what I do. I lay there, crying, letting the horrible feeling clutching my chest weight me down. My body weeps with exhaustion and pain and I find my eyelids drooping, but I force them open, feeling too horrible to rest my body.

I sit up and rub my eyes dry. Pull yourself together, Christina. If you're going to act like this, at least do it in some place comfy. You're better than crying on the cold ground

I take a shuddered breath and stand after a moment of struggling. I limp to the beds and collapse in the one with my name painted on top of it with a cute font.

Abby set this bed aside especially for you.

The thought only sent more tears flowing down my cheek. Abby did so many good things and your way of thanking her?—move so the Dark Queen can kill her. You did not want to have a cut on your shoulder after all...

What kind of monster am I?

~

The sewers in Washington are not as dark as the ones back home, but it's much more slippery. I sink to the ground on a blanket, pulling my knees to my chest. I don't know what slimy substance coats the ground but I doubt I want to know. My fingers twitch around the bandage hugging my leg and I squint through the darkness to see Cameron and Tucker already passed out on their blankets.

Cody sits down beside me with a sigh. Even though it's dark, I can see the bright bruises blossoming by his eye. He thought it would be a good idea to hide underground until we knew what to do. Reil's dragon is bound to show soon and although the McAlister is a great ship, I doubt it can overpower him.

He looks over at me and I look down at my tennis shoes. Too bad they don't light up when you stomp on them. It wouldn't be so hard to get around dark places and I could have something nice in my life.

"Are you okay?"

Light-up shoes would help me run away from everybody's questions. That would be pleasant.

"Christina?"

Light-up shoes could even help defeat Reil. The dumb queen would never know what hit her when the flashing colors round-house-kick her nose.

"You can't blame yourself for what happened. It was Reil's fault. You know that, right?"

Tears prick against my eyes and light-up shoes couldn't help. I clench my jaw and clear my throat. I rub my bruised side to ease the pain, giving myself something else to do so I can keep the flood gates closed. Instead of trying to answer with words, I shake my head.

"Please don't blame yourself..." He whispers, scooting closer to me. I turn my head so I can't see him. "Rei threw the dagger, not you—"

"I'm going to get some air," I announce and stand. "It might be less stinky a little ways away."

Cody stands the moment I do and puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me. "Christina," He starts.

I shrug his hand off and walk away from the boys. Even though my back is to him, I feel Cameron glaring at me. He really doesn't like me, does he?

I let my head hang and focus on taking one light-up-shoe-less step after another with the pain shooting up my leg when I put pressure on it. I lean against the wall once I'm out of ear shot of the boys.

"Alone time is what I need right now," I murmur, taking a few deep breaths to relax. "A little time. Alone."

I lay my head back against the wall, still feeling miserable. I guess it is not hard enough to lose Abby and have the evil dictator of an alien world come back. Now everybody hates me.

~

(A/N):

Yeah, sorry it took me ages to update :P Life has been really crazy lately with school and babysitting and I've had like barely any inspiration to write. But that's my excuse every time XD

Anyways, I hope you peeps enjoyed this kinda-short chapter. I hope it made you cry. I'll do my best to update again if I remember and if I can get some writing done. But until next time!

*Ponders on the amazingness of doughnuts*