Catalyst (36 page)

             
"Why?" Calvin
asked.

             
"Why what?"

             
"Why can't you hear them anymore?"

             
Daniel, Max and I exchanged looks. We hadn't talked about w
hat Lily did and no one knew how
much to say about what had happened. Would people be afraid of her?

             
"Uh…" Daniel muttered.

             
"Daniel can't hear them because he's no longer one of them,"
M
ax interjected with certainty. I gawked at him and so did Daniel. "Look at his eyes. He's one of us now."

             
A few leaned forward and gasped
at
the silver eyes that stared back, no longer black pockets of evil
. Daniel shifted uncomfortably and then said, "Ok. Back to the plan. Like I said, I can't hear th
e
m
,
but I can still detect when they are near
. I feel them, so I will try to give you as much warning as possible. We need to gather weapons and station people at entry points and hiding spo
ts. And we need to hide the wome
n and children."

             
"Hey," I yelled, tired of being put out of the loop for my own good. Ann
and Kathy
barked something at him too and he looked at us exasperated. Max intervened.

             
"Keepers stay, humans go. Lillian, come on. Don't fight me on this. We’ll spend our focus worrying about you instead of taking out Lighters."

             
"Fine," I said brightly. I had no intentions of sitting back while the others fought. There had to be something I could do
even if it was hand ammo to the guys or throw knifes…ok, that was stupid. There had to be something I could…something Daniel had said to me once was playing back in my head. Yes…that
,
I could do. Though Cain would never forgive me and it would be
a
fight to get Daniel to help me.

             
I kept my thoughts to myself and tried to keep listening. Merrick and Miguel eventually joined us and stood by Daniel. They helped in the planning too and before we knew it, we were set for war.

             
We got started on
getting all the ammo and stakes together. They asked a few of us to make
'bombs'
or 'grenades'
. Which were chemicals and a professional strength tile cleaner that burned your skin if you touched it that we poured into balloons. So ghetto, yet effective. They wouldn't stop the Lighters but it would stun them long enough to hopefully get a shot in. All the Keepers and guys planned to wear long sleeves and hats and hope that whoever was aiming, aimed correctly.

             
After a while, everybody took their positions and I, and the rest of the lowly females, took to the back room with Sherry and Ellie, who looked just awful. I thought Ryan would have a hard time leaving her there like that, but he was amped for revenge. He kissed her pale forehead gently and then his face turned murderous as he stalked out to the commons room.

             
Daniel, who had practically dragged me to the back room to make sure I went, was antsy too. He kept shifting and
switching feet. I asked him what was wrong.

             
"I just don't want this to end badly for your people."

             
"We're ready, like you said. And you're here. Between you and the Keepers, they should be able to handle it, right? Unless there's something you're not telling us."

             
"I just don't know how many are coming. It is unpleasant and
foreign to feel so blind and unknowing."

             
He looked so unsure and unsteady. I grabbed his hand to offer some comfort and immediately regretted it. He looked at me hopeful and intrigued.

             
I pulled my hand back as I told him, "Daniel, don't read anything into it. It's just something humans do to comfort each other."

             
"Comfort," he murmured. "Then why did it feel so good?"

             
"Yikes," I replied and pulled my hair back with my hands. "Daniel, you've got to stop saying things like that. I told you."

             
"We can
be
friends, yes?"

             
"Yes. Only friends."

             
"And friends can still hug
each other
, right?"

             
That reminded me so dearly of
so
mething Cain had said to get me
to kiss me once.
Drunken party friends can still kiss, right?
I b
it my lip at the ache for him. And then looked at
Daniel. If I was honest, I did feel something for him. Especially now, when he was open and honest and waiting for me to reach out. I just did not understand this pull…this connection with him that I'd felt ever since I did whatever it was that made him want to be different.

             
I pulled my arms around his middle, since he was too tall for a neck hug. I tried to stay neutral. This was just a friend, going off to battle, and I wanted to hug him to comfort him and send him off. But when he pressed his hands to my back and buried his face in my hair, I knew that my neutrality was one sided. He inhaled deeply, bending me back a little to press me further against me.

             
"How can this be wrong when it feels so right for you to be against me?" he whispered.

             
"Daniel, you're conf
used.
" I tried to lean back
,
but he held me tight. "I know it…feels good, but everything that feels good doesn't mean that it's ok to do it."

             
"If I die and hell is awaiting me, is it too much to ask that it smells like Jasmine?"

             
I almost lost it. He was so honest and carefree with his words. He wasn't censored or altered by years of the world and peers and TV molding his mind.
He said exactly what he thought with no mind to consequence or decorum. It was refreshing
,
but also dangerous. I had to get him to stop saying those things.

             
I pushed him back a little and looked at his face. "You can't say things like that to me, Daniel. Please."
             

             
"But it is the truth. You want me to lie?"

             
"No, I want you to grow a censor button," I muttered and he looked confused. "Humans don't just blurt out every little thing that they think and feel. You have to think about what you say and whether it's appropriate or not."

             
"Maybe that's what's wrong with your world," he said factual
ly
and not unkindly. "Maybe if everyone were a little bit more honest with each other, you would have been a more organized and
peaceful
planet."

             
"I can't argue with you, there. But you can't say things like that to me anymore either, ok?"

             
"So I'm allowed to feel them, just not say them?"

             
"Um…yes."
             
What else was I supposed to say?

             
"As you wish," he said and let me go. "
I'll go join the others to prepare."

             
"Be careful, ok?"

             
"A
s you wish," he said and smiled,
but then backpedaled. He came forward and g
r
asped my arms.
His eyes went black.
"You be careful. Stay back here and don't attempt to jump
into the fray. It would hurt me
very much if you were harmed."

             
"Wouldn’t dream of it," I answered
.

             
"Does that mean yes?"

             
I laughed.
"Yes."

             
"Alright then." H
is eyes turned back to silver as h
e turned and left. I knew right then who was going to help me with my plan when the time came. Good old Daniel.

             
I walked over to Sherry and Lily. They were sitting on the bed with Ellie. She looked pale and terrible. She was on her belly, a big gauze bandage over her back.
Sherry was rubbing Lily's hair with one hand and patting Ellie's hand with the other. She didn’t look good either.

             
"Sherry," I said and she jumped and gasped. "Sorry. Are you ok?"

             
"I'm just so on edge. I don't know what's wrong with me. One minute I'm fine, then the next I'm crying, then I'm wanting to break someone's fingers. I'm losing it," she squeaked.

             
"It's a lot to deal with," I soothed and sat next to Ellie's head. "We're all losing it a little, I think." I was gonna lose it if Cain didn't come home soon. "How
's
she doing?"

             
"She's bad. Miguel said the Lighter hit her spinal cord."

             
"Oh no…"

             
"We'll have to wait for her to wake up to see what the damage is."

             
"Poor, Ryan," I muttered and then turned red with embarrassment. "I mean, poor Ellie too, I just-"

             
"I know," she said. "I get it. Ryan was just starting to be normal again." She rubbed her temples. Then she groaned and fell forward a little bit. I jumped to catch her
,
but she was still upright.

             
"What's going on with you?"

             
"I have no idea. My head is killing me." Then she sat up and rolled her shoulders. "All better now. Weird."

             
"Yeah. Weird."

             
"
So what are they doing out there," she asked as if nothing had happened at all.

             
"They're getting ready for the Lighters."

             
Lily played with her doll between us. She was kneeling on the floor and then reached up to touch Ellie's hand, putting Ellie'
s hand on the doll like she was
playing with it. Then I remembere
d what Lily had done. I mouthed
"Heal her?" to Sherry and she sat up straighter.

             
"Lily," she said softly. "Do you think you might want to heal Ellie like you did Daniel?"

             
"I can't. I alweady twied."

             
"What do you mean?"

             
"She's got something wong with her, mommy."
             

             
"I know, bug, that's why I want you to heal her."

             
"No. She's got something wong with her. She's like a wall. That's what she said."

             
"Who said? You're not making sense, Lily," she said softly.

             
"I asked her if I could make her better, but she said she was
a
wall. I don’t know," she spouted and shrugged her shoulders.

             
Sherry and I just looked at each other. I didn't want to push a four year old to discuss something she clearly didn’t understand
,
but I was more confused than when we started. We both stayed quiet. As did pretty much everybody.

             
Polly and Piper were still in the corner like earlier, playing
cards. And they were bickering, which was nothing new. Pap and Mrs. Margaret were bickering too. They were sitting over a chess board and whisper-yelling to each other about what moves were legal and what not. Paul was nursing an icepack on his face while Katie fed Sky. When I looked back at Sherry, she winced at Paul.

             
"I did that," she said. "I better go make sure he's ok."

             
As she got up, we all heard the noise and stood as still a
s oak trees. There was a pounding
on something. The door? Then a rumble and a boom shook the building and echoed around us.

             
Lightning.

             
The Lighters were here and the war had already begun.