Sympathy for the Devil {Liam Stewart | The Darkest Minds}

11. Mermaids

"Is the League was the one protecting us from the tracer shooting at us, then what makes them so bad?" Ruby asked once they were on the road once more. Mags saw Liam's shoulders tense, from where she was practically sitting on the centre console, and without thinking moved to place a hand on his thigh to remind him to calm down.

"Well, the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Chubbs said, still reading over the map. After a moment he snorted in derision, "yeah, like that ever works."

"The woman that I met risked a lot to get me out." Ruby was adamant, and Mags had to admire it a little, even if she didn't agree. "She seemed okay."

"Some shady lady kidnapped you and you think that's okay?" Liam cut in, his grip on the steering wheel white-knuckled and tense.

"You are hanging with the wrong people," Chubbs snickered, "like, did she lure you with candy from a panel van or something?"

"You weren't there." Ruby's gaze moved to the window, expression forlorn. "She said that the League wanted to help me... and I ran away." Ruby blanched, expression going dim as she thought back on her escape at the gas station. "What if I was wrong, what if they can-"

"You don't want help from the League." Liam's voice was harsh as he snapped at Ruby, tension rising in the air. Removing one of his hands from the steering wheel, he takes a deep breath and lays it on top of Mags', running his thumb along the side of her hand for support. Chubbs and Zu moved tactically to the back of Betty, so Zu wouldn't have to hear the story of Liam's brother. His voice was low as he recounted it, telling Ruby about how the League was weaponizing the children they saved after promising them the world.

Ruby fired back about how the woman that helped her was nice, that the League would need to be strong if it was fighting an army, and Mags felt every hair of her arm stand up, nails digging gently into Liam's jeans out of shock.

"You made the right choice, trust me." Liam hadn't sounded so defeated in a long time, and he moved to flip Mags' hand and lace their fingers together. Mags rested her forehead on the side of his headrest, eyes closed as she tried to cool herself down.

"Why should I trust you?" Ruby snapped, and Mags let out a groan of frustration.

"Because we haven't lied to you Ruby;" Mags enunciated, "we're trying to find a sanctuary for people like us, we're not promising you the world, we're promising you safety." After a beat, she huffed out a sigh. "Believe us or not, sooner or later, you're gonna realise the only people that we can take care of and trust is us."

Ruby was left to ruminate on that for the rest of the journey, before they eventually pulled into a motel that the group, bar Ruby, had stayed in before, which was rather out of the way.

"Thank you." Ruby spoke up as they were getting out of the car, and Liam looked back with confusion. "For letting me come with you." She explained, and Liam's face broke out into an awkward smile. There was still a little tension from earlier, but he had felt like he had gotten through to her, so to hear her thank him made his heart sing, just a little. Chubbs lead the way to the room, holding Zu's hand with Ruby on the other side, while Mags and Liam hung back.

"She's certainly something." Liam mused, and Mags half laughed, the two of them slowing to a stop only a few feet from Betty. "There's something about her..." He mused, and Mags smiled affectionately.

"She really does seem quite... incredible." Mags pulls down her glasses to make direct eye contact with Liam, who matches her, and they wait to see who the first to break will be, but after barely a moment Mags snorts and pushes her glasses back up. "Feisty too, but..." after a beat, her expression softened, "I do think you got through to her; she shouldn't be fucking around with the League." Liam's nod of agreement was accompanied by a heavy sigh, and the two of them turning to walk to the hotel room hand in hand.