Spies&Thieves

somber and serious

-HALE-

“Hale.”

Kat’s familiar form clung to me in fear as the small blonde stumbled out of the car and deliriously ran in the dark forest. I looked down at Kat, her wide, pure eyes drinking in the scene before her, though I doubted she realized she was digging her hands into my jacket sleeves.

“Kat, it is very possible I won’t have circulation in my arms soon.”

Her grasp loosened a little, but the response I got had nothing to do with what I had mentioned. “What happened to her?”

Macey, who had wrapped her arms around herself and held a haunted expression, said shakily, “She ran away from school at the end of June her junior year. I guess she had a good reason to; I mean, it’s not like I could have handled being chased by an ancient terrorist organization for over a year and constantly wanted dead by your boyfriend’s mother.” If Macey was cognizant of her rambling, she didn’t show it.

“Cammie ran away without telling anyone. Just saying she was going to hunt it down and end it. We looked so hard… for three months. And then she showed up, the first of October in a convent on the Alps,” Macey laughed. But it was a strange, high pitched, hysterical one. “I had never been so relieved. And then she showed up with hair up to her ears, dyed black, torture slashes all over her arms, skin clinging to her bones, and absolutely no memory of the three months she was gone. Can you believe that? Didn’t remember a thing after leaving the academy. To be completely honest, I don’t know how we lived through that first semester.”

Then Bex was at her side, rubbing Macey’s arms to keep them warm. Her dark skin was almost invisible in the blackness of the night.

Kat’s hands were trembling slightly. “What happened to her?”

Bex answered, resolved to remain calm. “She was tortured and held captive and Zach’s mother showed Cammie her father’s grave after six years of everyone knowing he had disappeared. None of us were ever that sure if he was alive or not. He’s dead.”

“But she was okay?” I found myself asking.

“After almost pitching herself off of a five story balcony in attempt of suicide, sure. We took down the Circle. They’re gone. Zach’s mother is dead. We just try to not talk about it sometimes.” Bex’s voice reached a low whisper when she breathed, “We never talk about it.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mason leaning against the car. Holding himself up, really. He watched Zach and Cammie with loss of words and desperation; he had heard the entire story. I turned back to wrap an arm around a shivering Kat.

Bex had begun to pace. Macey was locked in some world where only she existed. Then the bulkier, taller version of Zach got out of the car and walked over to the one person he was focused on. “Bex.”

She shook her head, “Not right now, Grant.”

“Bex, stop. Just come here.”

Bex pushed her fingers into her temples until she realized her breathing wasn’t going to go back to normal. And then she did something that a girl like her and Macey would never do; she looked into Grant’s eyes and allowed herself to break. “I’m so scared.”

He welcomed her into his arms and led her to the side of the road, where they embraced and whispered for a while.

“No more emotional bullshit, okay? Everyone gets their act together by tomorrow. We’re here to work.” Macey had lines running down her face, but her voice was clear and strong.

She waited to see us nod, then turned on her heel and clambered back into the idle car.

“Hale?” Kat nudged me. I looked down at her. Really looked at her, in all of her fragile, diminutive figure. Her cheekbones were prominent and rosy, frostbitten in the cold.

But then she said, “We have to do something. We are not going to be sidelined for this anymore. This is our mission too. We pick our team too. I think it’s time to start making decisions.”

I smiled slightly, knowing all too well that Kat was not, in fact, fragile or delicate or breakable. She had always been strong, shatterproof, and most importantly, the person I most looked up to.

“It’s your call, captain.”

Kat’s arms crossed over her chest as she said once again, “Hale.”

“Mmm?”

She reached out to my jacket lapel, tugged on it a little. My eyes searched her face, which had become stoic and utterly alluring. Without another thought, my hands cupped her jaw line, coaxed her into reaching the balls of her feet and meeting me in a kiss we were long needing.

My hands mussed her short hair, ran down the sides of her body. She responded, leaning farther into me, begging to be picked up off the ground to match my height. I almost did, if it weren’t for the sudden rustling of leaves to our left.

We sprang apart at the exact same time, our cheeks turning crimson.

“It’s just us.” Zach’s low voice reached us through the midnight glare, walking with his arm around the now calm blonde.

“Um, I’m sorry, I didn’t really get to introduce myself,” she said awkwardly. Lips pulling into a tight smile, I answered, “No problem. I’m Hale, this is Kat.”

She nodded, “Cammie. Should we go?”

“There’s a safe house we managed to find about a mile from here.”

“Grant and I will scope out the place and get back to you. Are you ready?” Bex re-entered the scene confidently.

Kat answered surely, “Let’s go.”