Stricken

Chapter 3

“Can we get a shirt for me now?” I ask Lijah. He and the girl exchange looks, almost like I was crazy.

“We have to go talk to Silus about what happened.” Vita says very matter-of-factly. “We also have to fetch Cal.”

“Cal?”

Lijah slaps his palm over his face, sighing, slowly dragging it away. He looks as if he’s about to say something, but he just opens his arms. 

“Bring it in, man.” he murmurs, giving me a quick hug and slapping me on the back like guys do. As soon as he lets me go, I look around quickly.

“Who is Cal? Is he on our team too?” I inquire quickly. My displease is clear. Another person to disappoint? That’s just the cherry on top of my day. I jump a little as I feel my phone vibrate quickly in my back pocket. I had forgotten about that thing. I take it out, questioning for a second how it’s not broken from the water. I brush the idea off and examine the illuminated screen. I drop my jaw at how perfect the timing is.

One new voice message from: Cal

“What’s my password?” I ask Lijah.

“I changed it to ‘Lijah’ yesterday,” he laughs, golden eyes shining.

I quickly type Lijah into the phone and open the message, bringing the phone closer to my ear.

“Hey, where are you? You weren’t in the Quarters so I assumed you went out… Voice me back.” I hear in a cheery female voice. My gaze sweeps across the room as I strain myself to remember that voice. Something in my heart shouts the answer at me, but I can’t understand the language. 

Vita raises one bronze eyebrow. “She is the fourth on our team.” The girl wiggles around in her leather jacket. She runs her hand up Lijah’s arm and puts her palm around his pale cheek. They look deep into each other’s eyes for just a moment, then she pulls away two seconds later, like they shared a quick mental message. 

“Oh, sweet.” I say coolly. I shudder a little bit and rub my hands on my arms. “Can I have a sweatshirt or something?”

‘Uh, I guess you can go up to our Quarters and fetch one,” Lijah begins. He then looks me up and down. “Er, maybe I’ll go with you.” 

It takes a moment for me to decide over being proud and saying I would go by myself. “Okay,” I reply simply. 

The two stare at me for a moment, before Vita hugs me and murmurs in my ear, “Everything will be alright.” Her hands are cold my bare back, reminding me of just how vulnerable I could be right now.

Have you ever had that feeling where you are almost positive a group of people is talking about you, staring, pointing? Yeah. The worst part is, in my case, it is over sixty people. The tips of my ears turn cherry red and I feel my face flush. There is a boy leaned up against the edge of a brick building, chewing gum and eyeing me distrustfully. I get that ringing feeling in my head again, like I really should remember his jagged face. There is a group of girls blushing and pointing at my shirtless back. A smile plays across my lips until Lijah grabs my arm and leans in to my ear.

“We should get you out of here,” he hisses, a hint of urgency in his voice. I let him pull me out of the center of attention, as he yells at everyone to mind their own business, assuring them that I would talk to them later.

“What?” I say incredulously. “I don’t know any of them. You expect me to make conversation-” 

Lijah shushes me. I roll my eyes and follow him.