The Traitor

Chapter Thirty: The Perks And Downfalls To Being a RAY

"Let's go," I urged as I began making my way down the hall, toward the staircase at the end. Connor followed as I took the stairs down two at a time, anxious as I thought about what we were about to do. We were planning on posing a revolt against two trained superhumans, who likely couldn't be caught off guard. What could go wrong? I almost laughed at how ridiculously low our chances were at succeeding, but what choice did we have?

It was then that I wondered if the force field wasn't all the RAYs could do. Jasper and Savannah had hidden that from me, so why not other stuff? I was suddenly eager to find out if I could do anything else. I realized there was only one way to find out.

I stopped running and Connor stopped immediately behind me.

"What is it?" he asked.

"We'll never make it," I told him. And it was true- we could never make it by ourselves, even with an extra person.

"What?" he asked, baffled that I would say that.

"Unless..." I mused, and he nodded, urging me to continue. "Okay, this might sound crazy, but I think there's still some things Jasper and Savannah haven't told me yet." I glanced over at him to see his reaction, which was a confused expression. "I mean, think about it: I didn't even know RAYs had superpowers until Jasper created that force field, so if he didn't tell me about that, then-"

"I'll bet there's more they didn't tell you about!" Connor finished enthusiastically.

"Exactly," I agreed.

"So, what? We find an empty room and test it?" Connor suggested. I shrugged and nodded and we continued walking again.

"But first we need to find Brandon," I told him. Connor stopped again and stared me in the eyes with a look of true horror and disbelief.

"Brandon? Like, your brother?" he asked, wide-eyed.

I paused for a moment then nodded reluctantly. I hoped he wouldn't ask what had happened, because, at that point, I was in no mood to explain everything.

"But wasn't he the prisoner you helped rescue from the Daine Prison? How'd he get here?"

I looked down. "Jasper told me he would take him home, but..." I stopped talking and swallowed hard, trying to fight back the tears. Don't cry, I willed myself. He's going to be okay. I took a deep breath and look back up at Connor, my eyes clearing. "...Instead he brought him here so that when I got caught, I wouldn't try to escape. He beat him and..." And...here come the tears, I thought as a drop trickled down my cheek.

Connor reached over and pulled me into a tight hug as more tears ran down my face and onto his shoulder. "It's okay," he comforted me. "You've fought a long, hard battle by yourself, but I'm going to help you get him back. You don't need to be afraid."

I held on tightly, not ever wanting to let go because I knew that as soon as I did, we'd be back to facing reality; and the reality we were living wasn't one I was eager to come back to. But I knew I had to; for Brandon and for the rest of the Daines.

I took a deep breath and stepped back, wiping away the last of my tears with the back of my hand. Then I slowly nodded. "Okay," was all I said.

Connor gave me an encouraging smile and gestured for the both of us to keep walking. We continued toward where the prisoners were held, knowing Brandon would be there. Fortunately, I already knew exactly where it was; the unfortunate part was how I knew. I shuddered just thinking about. But that felt so long ago, almost like a century, and in a way, it felt like enough had happened since then to fill up a century. I just couldn't believe all that had changed.

Connor and I arrived at the prison cell door, but instead of wasting time trying to pick the lock, I figured we had nothing to lose, and I just blew it open using my force field.

"Nice," Connor complimented.

I shrugged. "I guess there are some perks to being a RAY," I said.

"Duh," Connor replied and I laughed. "Way cool," he said.

We continued inside and peered into each cell, looking for any sign of my brother. I felt like this was a serious case of déjà vu, but unlike the imaginary double reality, this actually had happened before.

Since I had blown out the lights as well in my attempt to get inside, (I hadn't quite mastered my powers yet), it was almost too dark to see inside each cell, but I figured we'd still be able to notice him.

Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks. It had just occurred to me that maybe Brandon was worse looking than the last time I had seen him. After Jasper had instructed the guards to take him back out, I wasn't sure what they had done to him, and I didn't know if I could stand to see him worse than he already was. I froze.

Connor stopped and stared at me. "What? What's wrong?" he asked, panic beginning to rise in his voice.

"I don't think I can do it. I can't stand seeing him like that again," I replied, forgetting that he had no idea what I was talking about.

"Like what?" Connor pried. "See him like what?"

I unfroze myself and looked over at him. "When the Daines captured him, they saw him as a threat, so they beat him up. He could barely even walk after that. And then again when the Wens took him, but that time he didn't look as bad. I'm scared to see what they might've done to him this time after they took him away. It was my fault; I made Jasper mad and he said if I didn't cooperate, Brandon would pay for it. So if he's hurt, I won't be able to forgive myself."

Connor gave me a sympathetic look. "Teya, look at me. It's not your fault. Jasper was the one who captured and hurt him— You had no idea what he was capable of. I understand you're scared to see him, but if we don't take our chances and rescue Brandon now, he may never get out."

I took a deep breath. "You're right," I said. "Let's find my brother."