Darlings (20 page)

Her stomach flipped and she swallowed hard,
though Gwen knew it was coming. She didn’t control her ability at
the Amelios’. She killed someone. She knew she was dangerous,
borrower or taker it didn’t matter. “Because those takers who can’t
control their energy…take until they kill. Even
accidently?” 

Lily nodded. 

“But can a taker give the energy they take
back, kind of like a borrower?” Gwen asked eagerly. 

“We’re talking about some pretty
extraordinary control of energy here –”

“Can it be done?” Gwen said flatly. 

Lily shrugged, “Look, I’m no expert on
borrowing, but…I guess in theory, yes. A very, very, let me say
this again…very controlled taker…might and I mean probably not but
might be able to give and take energy. But how one would practice…I
don’t know. If we weren’t in here, we’d have more resources.
There’s an entire group of fairies who study takers extensively
back home.” 

Hope. For the first time Gwen felt there
might be hope. Even if just a flicker. Her mind wandered to Pete as
they worked in awkward silence. 

“Pete loves you Gwen. He always has,” Lily
said bluntly. He must have been on her mind as well. “I
was…convenient as much as it rips me apart inside to admit...Tiger
was an accident.”  

Gwen didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t sure
what she felt about Pete anymore and she couldn’t understand why he
never came for his daughter. Then again, she thought, she was the
murderer, in no position to judge. Pain struck her ribs and she
winced. She had almost forgotten about her wound. 

Lily noticed her expression and grabbed
Gwen’s arm, lifting it up to reveal her oozing injury. 

“That’s bad. Really bad.” Lily looked around,
eyeing the guards and other prisoners carefully, and  when she
saw the coast was clear, she quickly lifted her white shirt and
tugged the hip of her skirt down to reveal a tiny bag. She took out
a pinch of powder and spit on it. Opening Gwen’s hand, she
instructed, “Here. Rub this on it. There are perks to working the
stone powder. Don’t let anyone see you; I’d be killed if they knew
I had it. Comes in handy for Tiger and…whippings.” 

Gwen rubbed the turquoise mush with her
finger. She peeled the stuck-on cocktail dress down and discreetly
applied the paste, which provided instant relief. “Thanks,” she
said. 

Lily nodded. “Andrew will feel better
too.” 

“Yes. I’m worried, he was taking the pain…and
gave it back.” Gwen fiddled with the stone. 

A look of concern swept over Lily’s face. “If
you think this is hell, you don’t want to know what he’s going
through. Manticans are kept barely living, for the sole purpose of
keeping their sworn one alive. They’re basically worked to
death.” 

Gwen wanted to cry. “Could I get through to
him?” 

Lily shook her head. “No. They keep you
apart. You’re weaker apart.”

“But I got through the collar’s barriers
before. If I reach hard enough, could it be possible?” Gwen
questioned urgently. 

Lily pondered the idea. “Never heard of it
working. I don’t know though. Now is not the time to try it though.
It’s almost supper.”  

Like clockwork, the sound of the horn
prompted everyone lined up, but this time in front of another set
of doors. Lily and Tiger lead Gwen to their spots in line. No one
spoke as the guards ushered them through the doors, down a dim
hallway and back outside through another set of doors. It was like
cattle shoot, surrounded by barbed wire and chain link fence. They
marched rhythmically through the wired hall. 

“Damn,” Lily whispered, looking ahead. “Don’t
go to him. Whatever you do Gwen, stay in line.” 

Gwen looked ahead and saw them. Manticans,
all in their animal form. They were tied together with harnesses
attached to their massive bodies, forced to pull massive carts
heavy with thousands of pounds of stones down from the mountains.
He also had on a collar. Gwen instinctively put her hand to her
mark.
Andrew?
She reached. Closing her eyes, she found the
barrier in her mind and pushed with all her might.
Andrew,
please
. Silence. She couldn’t make it through the barrier.
Searching desperately through the group, she found him. He was
pulling a particularly large cart. He strained as his massive
muscles bulged and his claws dug into the dirt. It was as if her
heart were being ripped from her body. 

She desperately wanted her other half. The
part of her she never knew she’d miss. He was embedded in her soul,
and now more than ever she realized how much she needed him. Their
eyes met. She slowed, and a mousy brown haired girl ran into her
from behind. Lily grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. “Don’t
stop!” she whispered. Gwen reluctantly followed, Lily’s hand in
hers the rest of the way. 

They arrived at the supper hall, though Glen
thought its oppressive décor made it totally unsuitable for eating.
It was a large cement room with one small window, lit up with
gloomy, fluorescent lighting. At one end long cement tables lined
the walls. Hundreds of tin looking cups were at one side, and
twenty huge soup kettles were spaced evenly apart, each manned with
an immortal wearing a collar identical to Gwen’s. They stood in
line for a long time until it was their turn to eat. They held out
their dishes and were given a ladle of watery, sour-smelling
soup. 

There were no tables so they sat on the
ground. People actually spoke while they ate.  Gwen even
thought she heard a woman say it tasted better than yesterday. She
poked at the floating, unpalatable chunks with her finger. Watching
Lily, she realized they drank the stuff, no spoons. Tiger seemed
somewhat excited. 

“It really does get…better. It’s never
delicious but it’s all she’s ever known,” Lily said motioning to
Tiger, who waved at her little blond friend. The tan little girl
looked at her mother with pleading dark green eyes. “Go ahead,”
Lily allowed. Tiger ran over to sit by her playmate. 

 “Lily, I saw him. He was there,” Gwen
said. 

“I figured. You can’t go to him Gwen. I don’t
have much of the…stuff left for you if you get whipped.” Lily
tipped her head up and drained the soup. 

“You’re a Mantican, right?” Gwen
inquired. 

“Yes…why do you ask?” she set the tin cup
down beside her with a clink and scooted her back against the
cement wall resting her head against its coolness. 

“Why aren’t you sworn?” 

“Not all of us get sworn. All the men do, but
only some of the women. Those who don’t, have the children. We end
up kind of like military wives; we and physically age, wrinkles and
all. We don’t shift either, into animal forms.” 

It made sense to Gwen, though Lily seemed so
tough. She wondered if this came from years of imprisonment or if
she had always been that way. She figured someone so tough would
have made a great protector. “You know a lot about middle earth,”
Gwen stated, secretly hoping to gain more information on how Pete
and her…met. 

“I lived there for a short
while...” 

“Oh.” Gwen said, not pressing the issue. She
wanted to stay on Lily’s good side – after all, she was the only
one interested in helping her. 

Lily scooted closer to Gwen. She lowered her
voice to a barely audible whisper. “Alright, I have a plan. I need
you to try something…it’s shaky at best, but…we can’t wait any
longer. Something’s going on. They only drain when they’re
preparing for battle…and I don’t think this is just a
draining…” 

It finally dawned on Gwen. “They know” she
whispered. Lily looked confused.  “The rebellion. They know
about the rebellion. Oh God. Pete. My brothers. I have to get out
of here Lily! I have to warn them! They’re walking into a death
trap!” Gwen looked frantically at the large door.

Lily looked worried. “Woah, Gwen calm down,
and don’t even bother looking at that door.” She was stern, but
restrained herself from whacking Gwen upside the head. “Listen.
Tell me slower.” 

“Pete is leading the immortals and Manticans
in an ambush. They are planning to take them by surprise in two
days, I was supposed to help. We were supposed to replenish the
stone with our blood.” Gwen ran her hands through her tangled
auburn waves.  

Lily processed the information, squeezing her
calloused hands together as she thought. “They’re not going to
drain. No they are going to do something worse.” Suddenly Lily got
up and searched through the supper hall. Gwen attempted to
nonchalantly follow, keeping an eye on the four wrenched guards on
each wall. 

“Kierra, have you seen Kierra?” she asked
around until she spotted her. A girl with bright blond hair and
scars across her once beautiful face sat alone. Her eyes were
closed and she was listening to music only she could hear. Lily got
down to her level. “Hi Kierra, honey I have to talk to you.” The
girl seemed to not hear anything Lily was saying. She started
humming and rocking her head back and forth, eyes still
closed. 

Lily tucked the blond girl’s hair behind her
ear and spoke again. “Kierra I think we should talk. Can you talk
to me? I need to know what you were saying the other day, about the
immortals being remote controls. Remember that story, Kierra? The
mad girl stopped humming and her eyes popped open. They looked to
be covered by some sort of white film. 

“We’re all going to die. They will turn us
into remote controls with the yummy juice! We will kill for them.
We’re going to dieeeeee!” she said now smiling. “Die, die, die
little bunnies!” she sang, and she closed her peculiar eyes once
more, back in her own world. Lily kissed her forehead and pulled
Gwen to the side. 

“I think she heard something. Everyone thinks
she’s crazy and never really listens to much the poor thing says,
but think about it. They don’t want to drain you; they’re going to
use you somehow.” 

It was becoming clear to Gwen that was
exactly what they were going to do. “What’s the yummy juice?” Gwen
wondered aloud. 

“You know, Kierra used to be rather normal.
Always a meek girl, but not out of it like this. Everyone says she
got taken one day by the guards and beat pretty bad hence the scars
on her face, and she cracked under the pressure, but…” Lilly
furrowed her naturally perfect black eyebrows. 

“But?” Gwen asked. 

“But what if she didn’t. What is she was
their…experiment.” Lily looked around. Supper was almost
over. 

“Come on, let’s get Tiger. I’ll tell you what
I’m thinking when we get back to the barracks.” Lily stopped and
turned to Gwen. “Stay. In. Line. No matter what you see.” 

Gwen nodded and they found Tiger. The horn
sounded once more and Gwen realized she didn’t eat. She ran and
forced down her now cold soup. Forcing herself to gag it down
quickly, she ran to join Tiger and Lily, praying she wouldn’t throw
up. 

They doors opened and they marched outside
once more. Gwen looked up. Three sparkling orange moons hung low in
the navy sky. It was different than night in middle earth she
thought. More…beautiful. The stars flickered like sparklers on the
Fourth of July. The guards hollered and swung their clubs at those
holding up the line. Gwen looked eagerly at the open field. Empty.
She was somewhat thankful. Gwen wasn’t sure she could stand seeing
Andrew like that again, though she feared what was happening
inside. They reached the sleeping barracks. It was a massive steel
building with rows upon rows of bunk beds. Pieces of makeshift
trash made up their “home.” Tiger led Gwen to her and her mother’s
bed. It was what Gwen would say a twin bed with pieces of scrap
fabric sewn together. 

“Mama, can Gwen have the top bunk now…Lyla’s
gone?” Tiger’s tiny face dropped as she remembered the former
resident of the top bunk. Gwen didn’t even want to know why
Lyla…was gone. 

“Yes,” Lily said. 

“Oh, your majesty!” a group of girls in bunks
next to them mocked. “How wonderful it is for you to finally grace
us with your presence!” an abnormally slender deep, redhead with
puffy pink lips said. 

Another short, skinny faced girl added,
“But…where’s your mother? Oh that’s right, unfaithful little-”

“I’d watch what you say,” Lily said, and the
girls backed down. Lily stared at them with her intense brown eyes,
and they surprisingly left them alone. 

“They don’t mean it,” Lily said quietly. “You
were our hope. They’re just…”

“Disappointed. I would be too.” Gwen
said. 

“Well they shouldn’t give up yet. They’ll
change their tunes after…we’ll talk after lights out.” Lily said as
she turned and took off her white tank top. Gwen was uncomfortable.
After all, there were men around. Lily said over her slender tan
shoulder. “Oh. No use being modest. I almost forget being topless
in a room full of hundreds of people is socially impolite. No
private dressing rooms included in our stay. Here. Your one issued
nightgown to last the rest of your life.” Lily said, tossing a
tattered powder blue night gown at Gwen. Gwen had no desire to know
where it came from. Gwen turned her back to the rest of the room
and slipped out of her once beautiful cocktail dress and into the
nightgown that smelled faintly of urine.

Gwen sat on the bottom bunk with Tiger and
Lily, being extra careful not to touch Tiger, for fear of taking
her energy again…or worse. Lily pulled out a tattered little
children’s book from beneath the straw mattress. She could sense
Gwen’s curiosity. “An old woman, on the inside of course, gave this
to me. She had it on her when she was seized.”

“It’s a story of a princess, like you Gwen,
who has mean sisters and she has to be their slave until her prince
comes!” Tiger said excitedly. “Here I’ll show you my favorite page
she said opening the book to the last page of the princess kissing
the prince.” Gwen smiled faintly. She had to get Tiger out of
there. Lily read the story in her sweet sultry voice as she watched
her daughter drift off to sleep and the lights go out. Finally, in
the dark, Lily told Gwen her plan.