A Reunion of Lips

XVI

Mitch had no idea how Hannah was possibly sleeping right now. Cleo was bouncing so much next to him, he was surprised her excitement hadn't woken Hannah already. Darien seemed to be pretty quiet next to Hannah though, so maybe it was just his own excitement to get home that was keeping him on the edge of his seat like Cleo.

The train was only half an hour from pulling into the Capital's station. They were only half an hour from home. Well, half an hour and however long it took to find Scott.

The trip had been as uneventful and boring as Mitch could have possibly hoped. Darien had done his best to keep an eye out for any rebels, but hadn't seen anyone that he could identify as a rebel looking for them, which was both relieving and anxiety-inducing as they waited for the other shoe to drop.

It seemed like maybe they would make it to the Capital without incident though, as Mitch looked out the window at the growing speck on the horizon that was their destination through the bright colors of the sunset.

"Mitch, we're so close!" Cleo whispered, poking at his arm.

"I noticed." He was grinning ear to ear as he absent-mindedly twisted his wire ring.

Cleo glanced down at his hands. "Ready to be home?"

"I would say you have no idea, but I'm fairly sure that I have no idea compared to you."

Cleo shrugged. "I know Alluvia isn't safe for me right now. This is a good alternative"

"I have friends—connections—that can help you hide here in the Capital, if you want." Mitch offered. They could figure something out. Scott would help.

Cleo tilted her head to the side and thought about it. "I don't want to agree to anything without getting there first. How should I know if staying in the Capital is safer than anywhere else if I've never even been there?"

Mitch didn't know how to reassure her that his "friends" could keep her safer than she could alone without telling her who his friends are. She'd find out sooner or later, but not till the last second. He couldn't risk what they might do if they found out before he was ready to lose his advantage over the loyalists. Which was also ridiculous, because he was a loyalist too—just not one of them, and they knew better than to blindly trust him. To them, he was just some shady Capital kid who made big promises that they probably didn't expect him to be able to fulfill.

"It's up to you. Hey, are you gonna finish those chips?" Mitch pointed at the forgotten bag on her chair's tray, ready to veer the conversation away from his connections.

"You can have 'em if you want, but I couldn't decide if they were stale or not, so..."

Mitch shrugged and stuck one of the chips in his mouth. Cleo laughed at the grimace on his face as his chewing slowed.

"Yeah, those are stale. Definitely stale."

She grabbed the bag and went to stand. "I'll go throw them away, just for you, lazybones."

"Thank youuuu," Mitch grinned. For having a friendship founded primarily on survival and secrecy, they got along pretty well.

He watched the Capital slowly growing in the distance out the window while she walked down the car to the garbage.

The persistent smile on his face faded when Cleo popped back up at his side, suddenly pale enough he could make out individual freckles across her nose.

"What's wro—"

"There was a guy staring at me," she hissed. "I don't know if he was just weird or if he's one of them."