Rebel

Chapter 4

Chapter four

THE SUN WARMED Maddy's face from the window right next to her bedside. She rolled over in the light sheets, knowing that if she woke up, another hard day of challenge would be there waiting for her. Groaning, she pulled the covers over her head, still half asleep, Covers? A bed? She was suddenly fully awake, sitting up straight, eyes wide open. Where was she? Then, all the memories from the day before flooded her conscience, filling her with the fuzzy and warm feeling that Leo had left her with, and the shock and sadness as they had found Sheila, Heather, and Oliver. Maddy could just make out the small box from her mother, sitting on her dresser.

She practically flew out of the bed, dashing out the crooked door and veering in the hallway, her bare feet thumping on the patterned carpet below. It look her a little while to find someone who could help her navigate the maze of hallways, and she finally bumped into Eren, who was accompanied by a girl with short platinum blonde hair, cut in a bob.

"Whoa! Maddy, are you okay?" Eren asked, steadying Maddy.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Where are Sheila and Leo and the others..?" Maddy asked. The girl with the blonde hair coughed into her elbow. Huge hoop earrings hung from her ears. In golden cursive, the words "♥Feminist♥"were etched through the center of the earings. Maddy smiled.

"They're talking with Alesha and Piper in the dining room. Do you want us to show you there?" The girl said, grinning back at her and shoving her hands in her pockets.

"Yes! thank you...uh.."

The girl's smile widened. "Charlie. Call me Charlie."

"thanks, Charlie."

Eren nodded, turned around, and briskly started to walk the way she came. Charlie and Maddy followed. A series of glowing lanterns lit the way, and Maddy wondered why there was a window in her room, but no windows in the hallway. You couldn't tell if it was night or day in the hallways.

They burst into the familiar living room, and Maddy saw the rest of the people sitting around a table she hadn't noticed before in deep conversation. Sheila and the two other strangers sat at the head of the table, and they all looked up in surprise as Charlie, Eren, and Maddy opened the doors, entering a room of tension and fear.

The girl, the blind one with blonde hair, suddenly stood up. "My name is Heather. This is Oliver," she nodded towards the boy beside her with dark skin and curly black hair, "and this is Sheila." She tightened her grip on the Sheila's shoulder, and Sheila mustered a bitterly pained smile, running a hand through her straight black hair that she kept in a high ponytail. "We were part of the Prospect Street, but there are only three of us left because we were attacked by the Higher soldiers. We have nowhere to go and no one left but each other that we love. We would very much like it if you would be willing to take us in as part of Park Street." She turned to Sheila, as if for approval, even though she could not see her nod.

"If Bella or the others were still with us, they would want us somewhere safe. Right now, this is the best we got." Sheila spoke firmly, but Maddy knew the familiar pain behind her voice, because she had once spoke with it too.

Maddy took her seat around the table, sitting between Leo and Eren. "what do you think they're talking about?" she whispered to Eren,

"I have no idea. I mean, other then what Heather just said, I haven't heard the whole rest of the conversation. But it sounds like they want to join Park Street." Maddy felt happy for Heather, Oliver and Sheila. After all, she remembered how grateful and relieved she had been when she had been offered a place amongst the ranks of Park Street. She noticed Oliver stand up as well, staring right into Alesha's unreadable face.