Deserted Highways

When the Whole World is Coming Down on Me

relative calm of the campus was replaced by the bustle of the city center, cars roaring past on the street, surburban houses fading into office skyrises and old, ornately crafted buildings. Jace felt off, like someone was watching them, stalking them through the city and he tried to scan the rooftops but he didn't see anything, or his eyes just weren't good enough.

His blood ran cold as he realized where Hera had taken them, he recognized the tall marble and glass building on his left and as they kept moving, he could see the faint rust colored stain on the sidewalk where Kaelie had lain bleeding. He stumbled and Ben steadied him, forcing him to keep moving and Jace wanted to scream.

It seemed like ages to move past that place on the sidewalk, and Jace was so focused on breathing, on trying to keep going, and he didn't hear the footsteps coming for him out of the darkness of the building's parking garage. He felt the bruising pain as Hera appeared in front of him, too fast, grabbing at his shoulder and ripping him out of the way, sending him stumbling into Ben.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," she snarled, and Jace knew that voice. He saw a lithe girl dressed in muted shades of gray swing at Hera and Hera cut her wrist, yanking her arm up and back and Jace heard the sick pop of the girl's shoulder dislocating.

Hera whipped around, barely glancing at Jace and grabbing Ben by the shirt collar. "You get him the fuck out of here, Ben," she said and Ben shook his head wildly.

"I can help you," he said, and the girl was standing now and Hera growled in anger, turning back around to face their attacker.

"Who sent you?" she snapped, but the girl in gray didn't speak, she just swung again, punching Hera in the ribs and then grabbing her by the hair to rip her to the floor. Hera landed on the concrete heavily, groaning at the impact and Jace saw Ben leap over him to pull the girl off of her. He yanked the girl away from Hera and as she came up, her hand was still fisted in Hera's chocolate hair, and Jace watched in shock as the hair come away, and the girl was left holding wig.

Deep red hair shown copper in the sun as it tumbled down Kaelie's shoulders as she stood and Jace gasped audibly. Her head snapped to his, and her eyes went soft and sad and she ripped her gaze away from him and spun to face Ben as he held the girl back, his arms looped over hers and his hands on her temple and chin. Ben looked frozen in shock and Kaelie ran her fingers through her hair. "Don't, Ben. I'll take care of her," she said in a low, controlled voice.

She took two steps, pulling a knife from her boot, and then she whipped her hand out, the knife cutting across the girl's throat like it was paper and the blood spilled on the pavement as Ben dropped her to the ground. "Kaelie," he breathed.

The next few moments passed so quickly that they felt like hours. Kaelie almost smiled and then her face dropped and her mouth opened wide. Jace heard the crack in her voice as she tried to scream and it wasn't fast enough. "Be-" she started and then there was a crack like thunder, glass edged and booming, and Ben's skull shattered into pieces, blood spraying across Kaelie's face as she ducked away.

Chapter 8

Not My Time

When Ben was three, he asked one of the handlers for a hug. They looked at him for a long while, and then they wrote something down on a clipboard and they walked away, closing Ben in a too tiny room with a too tiny blanket and no toys. He crawled on to his bed and he tried really hard not to cry but the tears came and he turned away from the camera in the corner.

When he was five, he was told to spar with Kaelie, a girl with red hair that she kept braided back during training. He thought her eyes were kind of funny because they didn't match and she leaned in close and said in a tiny voice that she'd go easy on him as long as he pretended she really hurt him and then she winked and Ben didn't feel so scared.

When he was seven, he told Michael that he didn't want to hurt anyone and Michael held Ben's hand in his little one and said that maybe one day they wouldn't have to. He gave Ben a hug, quick and fleeting, there were footsteps down the hall and Michael went into his own room as Theo came by and pushed Ben forcefully into his room.

When he was nine, Kaelie snuck into his room, closing the door silently and sitting next to him. She didn't say anything for a while, she just sat next to Ben and rubbed circles on his arm and then she started singing softly. When he asked her why, she told him that she could tell he wasn't sleeping and if he failed to perform during training, they'd hurt him. He fell asleep after a while.

When he was eleven, he laid awake in his bed, startled out of uneasy sleep by the sound of choked sobs. "Theo, please. Please don't," he heard Kaelie crying and he could hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh as Theo beat her, and then he heard a strangled gurgling noise and the sound of liquid hitting the floor. He stood by his door until Theo's footsteps had thudded out of sight and then he picked Kaelie up and dragged to the infirmary as fast as he could. She came back to his room a week later and her voice was different but she still sang to him.

When he was thirteen, he listened through the walls as Lilith sobbed softly in the room on his left and he heard the creaking of Kaelie's bed and the sick grunts of Theo as he punished her again. Kaelie gave a sharp agonized cry and then she was silent and Ben wanted to be sick.

When he was fifteen, he met the wild, scared eyes of Sarah as people ran past them in the halls and someone grabbed her and held her down and he looked away and Lilith was forced to the ground and then Michael and he turned to run and he met Kaelie's angry and betrayed eyes and he ran and he kept running and he didn't stop until he found an airport and he didn't even remember sneaking onto a plane stealing a ticket but he did and he landed in California.

When he was seventeen, he stood outside Jace's house in the warm California rain, watching him through the window as he cooked with his mom. He remembered Jace's skin on his, the taste of his mouth, the softness in his eye, the sharpness in his jaw when he pulled Ben out of that fight. Ben could taste the blood from the attack he'd just survived, the ache in his bones as he stood there staring. The rain tasted like salt, or maybe he was crying and he turned away, walking toward a bus stop and heading for the airport.

When he was twenty one, Paris was quiet and still and he met Britta in a sleepy pub. Her blonde hair hid bright emerald eyes and they talked most nights until one day she disappeared. When he saw her again, her eyes slid over and past him like she was seeing someone else that wasn't there and she didn't smile at him at all when she told him about Jordan, the one thing that kept her alive while she'd been gone, and she went back to working at the bar but her hands trembled when she wiped tables and when Ben walked by her house, the windows were covered in newspaper and she stopped answering the door.

When he was twenty three he found Kaelie again, he found Jace again, and he felt the crack of his heart in new ways as he watched Jace kiss her. And when he was twenty three he watched Kaelie go over the roof and he watched her bleed on the sidewalk.

And when he was twenty three, he thought he could hear Kaelie singing to him again, and old song she sang all the time in the lab and the blackness swirled up around him and he heard her crooning. "Someday you will die."

Chapter 9

But I'll Be Close Behind

Kaelie didn't move for the smallest of seconds. She could feel the drops of Ben's blood burning her face, taste the copper of his life on her tongue and she stared at the place he'd been and the place he fell, his blood mixed with the old stain of hers. She turned away, and Jace was staring at her, his eyes stormy and dark and pained.

"Go," she whispered. "We need to go." She reached forward, grabbing his hand and yanking him to her, plastering herself deeper into the shadows of the building.

"Ben," Jace started and Kaelie shook her head rapidly.

"No. We can't take him. We can't. We need to go, there's more of them, something is deeply wrong, we need to go," she said and her voice trembled.

"How are you-" Jace started again and Kaelie shook her head rapidly.

"Not now. I swear to God, Jace, I am so fucking sorry, and I'll tell you everything and I'll let you rail at me later, but I need to get you out of here, I need to get you safe," she said quickly. "Where's Michael? The others, are they at the safe house?"

Jace shook