Rebels

Ch. 32

Just a few days later, Lyla was back to nagging Luca as if he wasn't stabbed only a week ago. Luca's movements were still slower than usual, and his breathing wasn't back to normal, but he was walking again, so Jack took that as a good sign, even if his walking was at a snail's pace.

Luca sat down in the chair across from the television very slowly, all the while keeping an arm to his stomach. When he finally sat down, he sighed heavily. "Okay." He said, having to clear his throat. "Lyla, can you bring my bag over here?"

Lyla nodded and walked over to the dining table, grabbing the bag and plopping it down on Luca's lap. He then dug around in the bag until he found what he was looking for, pulling out two round, thin disks about the size of his hand. "These are from a good friend of mine." He explained.

Lyla crossed her arms. "What are they?"

Luca smiled grimly. "Bombs."

Jack's eyes widened. He had dropped the bag in front of Luca, had dug around in it, pushing things aside, and the whole time the bag could've killed him. "Why do you have bombs in there?"

Luca only shrugged. "That doesn't matter. Back to the point, what we do is we plant these in the palace. One at the main entrance, and one at the hub for the monitors, which coincidentally lies inside the palace."

Lyla scoffed at her brother. "Then what will we do? We cannot just walk into the King's room, which will most likely be guarded and have soldiers occupying the room."

Luca frowned. "That is true. However, every man has a monitor on them, even the guards."

Jack thought about this for a moment. If what Luca had been saying was true, and every guard truly did have a monitor on them, then Jack figured that could be used as an advantage. Luca could hack into the monitors, and in Jack's mind, Luca could do more than just spy on them. "You want to blow up their monitors? Can you do that?" Jack asked, stunned.

Luca nodded grimly. "I believe I can."

Lyla frowned. "Luca, people can get seriously hurt."

Luca held his hands up in defense. "I know that. However, if I can hack into only the guards' monitors and none of the citizens, then my hands could somewhat be clean."

"What are you going to do with the king?" Arin asked, and Jack had forgotten that Arin had even been there at all.

Luca turned his head to Arin, his eyes turning cold. Before Luca could say anything to him, Lyla spoke for her brother. "We will cross that bridge when we get there." She stepped towards Arin who had been sitting on the bed, and Jack just now noticed the dark and almost frightening circles under Arin's eyes.

Lyla took a deep breath, turning Arin's head so she could see the KP engraved into his head. "Whatever is going to happen, we won't let them hurt you again."

Arin's jaw tightened as he nodded, and Lyla backed away.

Luca cleared his throat, not daring to look at Arin. "Right. Well, I think that this has been enough planning for today." Luca set the two explosives back into his bag.

Jack knew that Luca had had more to say to this whole plan of his, but he didn't want to say anything, for he knew Luca had been in pain, judging by the look on Luca's face between his sentences.

Arin stood so abruptly that the whole bed he had been sitting on practically shook, and Lyla instinctively took a step backwards. Jack, too, became alert, cautiously glancing at Arin. "Arin?"

Arin shook his head, closing his eyes shut. When he opened his eyes again, Jack had noticed that they were bloodshot, and it was then that Jack truly noticed the dark circles that had been beneath his eyes, making his face look ghostlike. Arin shook his head again, as if a bug was in both of his ears. "I have to go." He said, moving his eyes slowly over to Jack.

Jack stepped towards him, confused. "What do you mean?"

A look of concern and then sadness spread through Arin's eyes. "I'm only a nuisance to you guys. Besides, I'm not sure you can trust me right now. The voice is saying things..." His voice trailed away as his eyes met the ground.

Lyla uncrossed her arms, and for a moment her eyes showed her fear. "Voice?"

Arin whipped his head towards Lyla and then towards Luca, recognizing his mistake.

There was an awkward pause as Arin didn't have anything to say. Jack spoke for him once something came to his mind. "He meant to say Joyce."

Lyla crossed her arms once again, and Jack could tell she wasn't buying it. "Joyce?"

Nevertheless, Jack stayed persistent, nodding through the lie. "Yes. Arin was telling me," Jack spoke slowly, not sure of where he was going with this. "that he met a guard at the palace named Joyce, and that Joyce was kind to Arin." Jack moved his eyes to Arin, not sure if he would play along.

Arin glanced at Jack before nodding, swallowing down the lump in his throat. "Yes. She tried to talk to me, but she got caught."

Lyla had one eyebrow raised, and she looked back and forth between them two, before shrugging it away, deciding it wasn't worth questioning. "Okay. Well don't succumb to Joyce's kindness. She's a jerk if she's a palace guard." She walked away, heading into her bedroom, before she stopped, turning specifically toward Jack. "Did you happen to take any of the money from downstairs in the crate?"

Jack's mouth turned into a thin line. "I might have taken... Just a little."

Lyla smirked. "You didn't take anything else, did you?"

Jack frowned. "I'm a little hurt that you, of all people, would think such a thing of me."

As she closed the door to the bedroom, Jack was finally able to breathe. "Of course, I did take a few pictures, maybe a gun, and just a few minor things from the previous house we were at."

Luca scoffed at him, but could not muster up anything to say.

"That was the best lie you could come up with?" Arin frowned. "Joyce?"

Jack only shrugged.

Arin shook his head. "I'm serious, though. Jack, you have to let me leave. They think I'm their pet. What if they know where we are? If their voices are in my head, then what if they can read my thoughts? I need to get out of here. I need to-"

"Arin, calm down." Jack said as a warning. "You aren't going anywhere. Do not take offense to this, but you're not in the most stable condition, and I'm sure the king can't read your thoughts."

Luca cleared his throat. "Why don't you want Lyla to know about this?"

Jack could not think of a clear answer to his question. "I just... I think it might be better if she doesn't know for now, because she may not agree with Arin's staying."

Luca stood, despite the pain, but his mind seemed elsewhere. "And you think that I would agree?"

Jack could see this situation escalating quickly, and his stomach began to twist. "We can't let Arin leave. Whether you like it or not, he's one of us. Besides, if Arin goes, the people out there would be at risk."

Luca shoved Jack hard to the side, causing him to bump painfully into the corner of the dining table. He then stepped dangerously close to Arin, Luca's eyes blazing. "If you think you are safe here, you're not. I'm going to tell you right now that you weren't worth the risk. The sooner you get that in your head, the better it will be for all of us."

Arin looked somewhat defeated, yet something undetectable passed through his eyes. Jack observed how Arin clenched his fists, and this made Jack's stomach flip, and he began to feel sick. "Arin, don't."

Luca smirked, "Why not?"

"Are you crazy?" Jack began to raise his voice. "You're barely capable of standing, let alone to breathe! Luca, you need to listen to me. You need to wake up, so you don't get yourself killed."

Luca's eyes still blazed with anger, but he stepped away from Arin. Jack somewhat breathed a breath of relief, but he still didn't feel good. He supposed this could be because he possibly was still sick, and his shoulders felt heavy just of the realization of still being sick.

Arin walked past the both of them at a steady pace. He headed down the steps of the basement and slammed the door closed.