The Sound of a Siren's Call

40.) Flirts to Fights

The boy opened his mouth and closed it again. The crowd had settled, but any time he tried to talk, he stirred them up again.

The centaurs barely had a handle on the situation. They'd blow horns and stillness would settle back down like a blanket. Then the kid would try to talk, and it'd all blow up again.

Castor looked even more nervous now.

He seemed to realize how easily that could've been him. Juniper leaned against his arm, and it seemed to help him settle down a little bit, but still trembled with nervous energy.

I wished I had a way to comfort him, but Juniper was doing all any of us could.

He was watching attentively. He didn't try to intervene. Maybe he was aware of how precarious his own position was.

The crowd seemed like it would never stop. Eventually, Ryan stood up, and a stillness fell over the crowd.

I looked to Juniper. "Shut up or we'll never be able to vote."

I nodded. That sounded like Ryan. The boy shifted uncomfortably and started speaking.

"We didn't mean to hurt you." Juniper translated. She knit her eyebrows.

The assembly was moving again.

The centaur blew his horn and they settled back down.

"We didn't mean to hurt you. We were told you were dangerous."

Castor put his head in his hands.

"The government said we were doing citizens, law-abiding citizens, a service."

Ryan stood up. She signed as she talked, meeting my eye.

"Aren't we citizens? Huh?"

The boy squirmed under the interrogation. "Well, you're not law-abiding if you're here. That's the whole point. We're right whether you want to admit it or not. The government will come for us, and then you'll pay. All of you will pay!"

He kept rambling on like that until a centaur dragged him away from the hill that had been serving as an impromptu stage.

"He's dead," Castor signed in the chaos that followed the speech.

I nodded. "He didn't help himself."

"Why couldn't he have just—Why did he have to do that?"

Juniper wrapped her arms around him and kissed the side of his head.

Ryan watched him amused. "It's a shame he wasn't as eloquent as you."

He glared at her, but didn't move.

"Ryan," I warned.

"You're right. I shouldn't waste my energy on him."

"You're a jerk."

Ryan shrugged. "I've been called worse."

She looked amused, her lips quirking upwards. She looked at me as though she was daring me to do something about her behavior.

I pulled away from her. "I can't do this."

"Do what?"

"This. Us." I didn't even feel tempted to tack on I'm sorry.

"What? Why not? Just because I'm mad at the humans for hurting me? For hurting us?"

"You're allowed to be mad. You're allowed to want revenge. But Castor wasn't a part of that. I'm allowed to see that and I'm allowed to not want to be with you."

"But," she looked hurt, "you like me. I like you. That's what makes a relationship."

I shook my head. "No. We have too much friction. It was never going to work."

"So... you're breaking up with me?"

"Were we ever together?"

"Yeah, we were together."

Her face was dangerously close to mine. I could feel her breath. I could smell the egg on it.

She was only getting closer. I wanted to push her away. I was breaking up with her. But then her lips were on mine and I didn't say no. I didn't push her away.

"See, you like that. You didn't tell me not to do that."

"You didn't ask."

"You don't ask before you kiss."

"Not if you don't care what the answer is."

"I care if you want to kiss me. I want you to want to kiss me."

"But would you stop if I said no?"

She leaned toward me again. "Ryan, don't."

"Well, that's not very romantic."

Her lips were on mine again, but I was ready. I wasn't going to let myself melt under it again. My hands were on her chest and then I was pushing. Her lips pulled away from mine in shock.

"I said don't. We're done."

"You're serious?"

"You thought I was joking?"

"No, but I didn't think you really meant it. You really want rid of me?"

I nodded. Tears were starting to form. They formed little pools in front of her eyes. One slipped down, leaving a little trail over her flawless brown skin.

She sniffed, as though expecting me to wipe the tear away. I didn't move.

"So, you don't care about me at all?"

"Only in the sense that I don't want anything terrible to happen to you in a very broad sense."

She sniffed again. He put her hand on my cheek, then pulled it away.

"Just one last kiss?" Her signs were clumsy and small, but I knew it was just for show.

"No, Ryan."

She started to move toward me, but Castor was between us in a moment.

I didn't know what he said, he still spoke when he wasn't talking to me.

Ryan had evidently started yelling because eyes were attracted to us, like we were one big attention magnet.

The crowd had evidently stopped protesting the soldiers long enough to try to mind my business.

A centaur, one of the ones who'd taken the vote the day before, stepped forward. She dragged Castor away, and another one pulled Ryan away.

Everyone's eyes were on me.

"Tell them what happened, Arriana."

I looked at her. "You mean that Castor was the only one who respected what I wanted?"

She looked at me venomously. I saw Juniper out of the corner of my eye. She leaned forward, her arm sinking into the muddiness of the edge of the lake. She was talking.

Castor was smiling too.

Ryan looked irate.

The centaur dropped her, and the one holding Castor did the same. The centaur barked something, and Ryan glared at me before she disappeared into the crowd.

"Thank you," I signed to Castor.

"You're welcome." He was smiling.

I barely registered it as Juniper translated the procedure for how to vote. I felt so heavy and so light at the same time. I both didn't have Ryan anymore and was free of her.