Heroes Not Wanted

Chapter 23: Falling to Pieces

The explosion had been so loud, even Ivy and Silence had heard it from their cell in the School. They hadn't said anything, but instinctively, both girls had drawn closer to each other. In the uncomfortable silence, wrapped in chains, stripped even of their powers, the other was the only comfort they could get.

After the explosion, no words had passed between them. Silence tried to doze while Ivy kept her eyes glued to the door, waiting for the end to come. Her resignation made Silence's skin crawl; impossible to escape or not, Silence would never be resigned to her fate. She would never accept death, even if the breath was being crushed from her lungs. Not if it meant that she would never see Brick again.

Finally, Ivy broke the silence by scratching her forehead. Her chains clanked together. "So, we're basically dead," she said.

Silence looked over at her. "I have friends on the outside," she protested. "They won't let me die."

Ivy's eyebrows were raised. "You tell yourself that, but do you really believe it?" she asked. "You heard that explosion as well as I did. It's my guess that explosion was your friends going up in flames. And with them, whatever chances I had of getting out of here, and your chances too. So you'd better make peace with the idea of dying like I have."

Silence curled up closer to the wall, not wanting to look at Ivy's expression. It was as if her eyes were already dead. "I'll never make peace with dying," Silence whispered. It was sad, but true. The thought of death was terrifying to her.

Ivy shrugged, her chains rattling. "Then you're going to be sorely disappointed in about ten minutes," she said. "Because that's about how long we've got left. Hope you enjoy your ten minutes of blissful ignorance."

At the antagonizing words, Silence scowled at her cellmate. "I will, thanks. Better than ten minutes of grim pessimism."

After returning Silence's scowl with a sneer of her own, Ivy turned away and the girls lapsed into silence again. Oddly enough, despite their argument, they didn't scoot further from each other. Differing opinions or not, they were still going to end up experiencing the same fate, and that forced them together.

The time seemed to drag by incredibly slowly. Nothing like waiting for your death to make time go by slowly, Silence thought grimly. She sighed, reaching up to brush her bangs out of her eyes. Ivy stayed huddled up, her chin on her knees, staring at the door. "Ivy?" Silence said after a moment.

"What?" the other girl said with bad temper.

"Well ... I was just thinking, since we're both going to be stuck here together, and, well, we're probably going to die," Silence said tentatively, "can we die as friends? I'd rather not have the person I'm getting executed with hate me. You know?"

Ivy looked at her blankly for several seconds before shrugging again. "I guess that wouldn't be too bad. Granted, I'm not really very good at being 'friends' with anybody."

Silence laughed. "Me neither. I just make them be quiet when they annoy me."

Ivy considered Silence. "Your name does not describe your personality," she said at last.

That made Silence frown. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, I think you do," Ivy replied, smiling slightly. It was the most cheerful she'd looked in the entire time they'd been locked in the cell together, which was reassuring to Silence. At least Ivy wasn't totally emotionless.