When I Awakened

The Cure

"Elijah and I are in charge of waking up the children. You can be in charge of getting all the army men into a cell until further notice," I command, peeking my head through the door.

I walk out of the room only to run into army men.

"President, you're not starting out so great!" I yell, getting dragged away.

The president runs over and scolds them until they release me from their grasp. Elijah follows after me with a bag full of mints. I look for my brother.

"Austin!" I scream.

He appears from around the corner.

"Hi. I need you to be in charge of refilling the mints," I inform him, smiling.

I look behind me to see a lot of commotion. The president has his hands full, and Elijah is escaping the grasp of a military man. Once he escapes, he punches the man in the face.

He smiles and holds up his keys.

"Need a ride?"

I look over at Elijah and back at Austin.

"I call shotgun!" I call, running toward the doors.

"You're going the wrong way," my brother points down the stairs.

Elijah and I run for the car, and I reach the front of the car first.

"HA! I get front," I brag.

Elijah laughs, rolls his eyes, and slips into the back seat. I hop into the front and buckle my seat belt.

.......

"So how hard was it for you two?" my brother teases me.

I punch Austin in the arm and suddenly remember the fight he had with my mom.

"Hey, Austin, remember when you came to our house and you were demanding to see me?" I mock.

He clenches his jaw, not responding.

"How do you know about that?" he finally questions.

"I was hiding behind the couch with Elijah," I answer.

I look back at Elijah, who was blushing. Obviously nervous about what was happening, I laugh at Elijah and look back at my brother.

"And the answer to your question, Austin," I pause, "extremely."

"Oh, yeah?" Austin looks at me.

I nod and look out the window. There are barely any trees; it's like a desert. This is an urban area, yet it seems very rural. The road is the only thing with a color other than pale yellow.

"Austin, do you think we can pull this off?" I ask.

"It will be a miracle and a dream come true," he smirks.

"Ha, ha, very funny," I sass, slapping his arm.

He chuckles and shifts himself so that he is leaning on one arm and driving with the other.

"Do you know anything about a missing lion?" I ask him.

"Yes. The army released one to find you guys. I tried to convince them not to, but they didn't listen to me."

At that moment, the music on the radio stops, and the news comes on.

"News just came in that two children are awake, and are somewhere in the city. The mother of the child Skylar Blare is locked behind bars for awakening her."

I look up at Austin, who doesn't look the slightest bit worried.

"Why aren't you worried? Our mom is in prison, and you're just sitting there," I whine.

"Skylar, they're only doing this to lure you to the jail, so you get locked in. We're not going," he assures me.

Elijah grabs my hand and rubs his thumb in circles.

"Aww, there are lovebirds in the car," my brother teases.

I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks, and I can see Elijah's face go red, too.

I look at my brother and maintain an angry face.

"Skylar, you can't drive. There is nothing you can do about it," Austin explains.

I fold my arms and pretend to pout. This always made Austin do what I wanted. Then again, my mom was always there when I did this.

"That's not going to work this time, Skylar," Austin insists, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Worth a shot," I respond.

Elijah sits in the seat behind me, being silent.