Tested

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

It had been six weeks since Dad and I were first drawn into the war in England, and for a change, we were perfectly safe. But I knew we would move on soon. It took a couple of days for Dad to grow restless in the detention centre. There were too many people, too many voices, too many chances to be remembered.

And then a radio broadcast came in, crystal clear for a change. It reassured people, told them not to panic, that help really had come. It gave details of locations that would soon receive assistance; the detention centre was amongst them.

Dad immediately made plans to leave, sitting with Bruce and Sonia as they tried to plot out a route that would keep us safe but move us on as quickly as possible.

Pria and I sat in the hallway, shoulder to shoulder.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” she said. “I thought we would stick together.”

“I know,” I said. “But you have Sonia. She’ll help you find your family when she knows it’s safe out there.”

“If it isn’t safe, then why are you going?”

I shrugged, leaning my head against the wall. “Lots of reasons, Pria. Trust me, I don’t want to leave, but back at the games… I’m pretty sure I was noticed. If the wrong person came looking for me, I would just lead them straight here. I can’t do that. I need you and Sonia and everyone else to survive this. It feels like everything will be okay if you all are.”

She slipped her hand in mine and we sat there for a while in silence.

“Do you think they’re alive?” she said a few minutes later in a quiet voice.

I knew she meant her family. She hadn’t been with them when the vampires snatched her. “I don’t know. There’s a good chance they’re hiding somewhere, or they were taken some place safe.”

“If I ended up in the games…”

“The vampires need humans to survive. They probably counted on the beasts killing leaders and fighters, leaving them to snatch everyone else. There’s a good chance they’re out there somewhere, and I hope you find them.”

“It’ll be weird to go back,” she admitted. “I’m not the same person. I’m a killer now.”

“You’re a survivor now,” I said firmly. “We’re survivors, not killers. It wasn’t for fun or pleasure. Don’t ever doubt yourself, Pria. If you hadn’t fought next to me, I’d be dead, Sonia, too. If people hadn’t fought back, the vampires would have kept winning.”

“They’re still out there though.”

“I know,” I said. “But not for long.”

“Not for long,” she echoed. “But what else is out there? What else should I be afraid of?”

“Sonia’s probably better to ask,” I said. “I mean, you saw the way those werewolves ripped into everyone at the games. The way the fae cut through the crowds. Look at me and Sonia. Everyone is capable of bad things. It comes down to individual choices, I think.”

“Do you think any vampires choose to be good?”

I frowned. “I hadn’t really thought about it that way before.” Maybe the woman in Ireland was really a vampire. But she had looked young and healthy, not decaying like a vampire. Apart from those fangs. Not that it mattered. Dad wouldn’t go to Ireland.

“We have to keep in touch,” Pria said. “No matter where you go, you have to remember me.”

“I will,” I said. “I want to. Dad’s not… It doesn’t matter. I’m never going to forget you, Pria.”