Reversal (Camren/Norminah)

Chapter 47: Retribution

XLVII.

What I saw had my jaw hitting the floor. The girl had her hands cupped together in a bowl shape and hovering just above her palms was a small flame.

"I was going to tell you..." Dinah's voice was shaky, and uncharacteristically so. "But then you started going off on how Shawn and I shouldn't even be here... and I got scared. I didn't know how to tell you in the first place. To be honest I still don't."

My eyes were locked down on the fire. It was no larger than a single hand, flickering and waving back and forth with the subtle shifts of movement in the air. The light emitted was reflected against her palms, as well as a small radius around her wrists and forearms.

Dinah let the flame hover for a few seconds more before separating her hands and willing it peter out. She then lowered her arms back to her sides, looking up at me with a pair of ever so nervous brown eyes.

"I get that you're afraid for our safety." The girl's voice was soft. "Normani told me everything that went down when you guys tried to invade that night, and explained it all from top to bottom. I get that this is dangerous. I understand that you need to fight to survive out here, and it's only gong to get harder and harder for all of us. I feel like we're all in a movie right now. In a fantasy world, that has no place in the one we used to know."

"I'm sorry..." I brought my shirt up yet again to wipe at my eyes. "Please don't hate me."

"Hate you?" Dinah frowned. "Camila, do you really think I could ever hate you? You're the single person in this world I admire more than anyone else, I could never hate you."

"So you forgive me for all that crap I said and didn't mean?"

"Only if you do the same." Dinah nodded. "And promise me that from here on out it's not going to be about fear of losing each other. It's going to be about the rush of fighting side by side, and the joy that we feel when we win. And we will win."

I rushed forward without as much as a lick of permission and jumped into her arms crushing myself tight against her body. Tears welled up once more when I felt the blonde wrap her arms around me, fingers threading through my hair in the most comforting way. "Nothing is guaranteed." Dinah murmured. "Thats the thing about this entire endeavour; you didn't know whether or not you would survive when you got struck by lightning, but you did it anyway. I don't know what's going to happen out there, but if we're fighting for what's right, then it doesn't matter."

I pulled away, eyes shining.

"And we're going to work together to do whatever we can to keep Lauren here with us." Dinah added, looking down at me grimly. "Everyone knows about her plan to leave, and I don't like it one bit."

"I know." I moved to sit on the edge of her bed a few feet away. "We talked about it really briefly yesterday, and it didn't end well. We've kinda put the fight on pause, but it's going to start again right when we're alone."

"Hey, can I get in on this?" Shawn made an appearance in the doorway, peeking his head in.

"Shawn." I got up briskly, rushing over and jumping against him. The boy automatically lifted me up so I could lock my arms around his neck. It was evident that he had gotten stronger in every way, the muscles in his arms rippling under his black t-shirt. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." His smile was soft. "I overheard you, you don't have to apologize to me. Did you see what Dinah could do?"

"I did." I nodded, pouting as he moved over to the bed and set me down. "Did you know about it?"