The Last Alignment: Cry of the Scorpions (11 page)

“
I agree with Patrick,”
Charles said resting his forearms on his knees and then his head on
his forearms. “Maybe we should continue this later...or tomorrow.”
Without waiting for everyone to agree, Androse stood up and was the
first to leave the living room. Hudson wanted to go after him, but
decided that it would be better if he weren’t the one. He looked at
Androse’s grandfather and bit his lip wondering if speaking up was
the right thing to do.

“
Um, Charles,” Hudson said
hesitantly.

“
Yeah, son,” he
answered.

He didn’t want to pry or overstep any
boundaries, but given the present state of things, Hudson felt like
they were all deeply linked and in this together, so all
formalities were unneeded and invalid. “I, uh…I think that you
should go and talk to Androse. He’s hurting right now, and-”

Hudson soon regretted what came out of his
mouth because Charles raised his head and had a look on his face
that screamed “How dare you?”

“
He’s right,” Awbrey
stepped in while wiping her eyes with her hands. She was always
there to back Hudson up when he needed her and gratefully, his
nerves settled a bit. Charles was now glaring at both of them and
Hudson was sure that they were about to be told off when his
expression changed. Without a word, Charles stood up and exited the
living room but went the opposite direction of where Androse
went.

“
Forget him. Come with me
to the basement,” Awbrey whispered.

“
Alright,” Hudson said
shaking his head. They interlocked hands, left the living room, and
went to the kitchen.

“
I can’t believe this,”
Awbrey said opening the basement door. She allowed Hudson to walk
ahead of her and he continued down the stairs as she closed the
door behind them. He sat on his favorite couch and then stretched
out on his back, laying his arm over his forehead and eyes feeling
overwhelmed.

“
Wielder,” Hudson said out
loud. “Whether I want to be or not.”

“
There is so much that
they didn’t tell us,” Awbrey exclaimed sitting on the opposite
sofa; she hadn’t heard him. “All of that was just a bunch of
watered down-”

“
Awbrey, what are we going
to do?” Hudson moved his arm above his head so that he could look
at her. “What are we going to do,” he repeated.

“
Everything that we can,”
she answered, apparently startled that he would ask such an obvious
question. “We are going to find the Allumina and stop Mordikin. We
owe it to-”

“
Did you not hear them,”
Hudson asked, getting upset. “It’s just like what Zander said. It’s
evidently not an easy job that we are expected to do. Excuse me,
it’s not an easy job that we are expected to make a good
attempt
at doing,” he
said sitting up.

“
Well, what makes you
think that we can’t do it?”

“
Because no
one upstairs was able to! And if you don’t mind
me saying, I think that they are a whole hell of a lot better and
smarter than we are.” For a moment, Hudson and Awbrey sat staring
at each other, intuiting.

“
You’re scared.” Awbrey
wasn’t asking, but she wasn’t declaring it either.

“
Yes, I’m scared! And
you’re not?!” Hudson couldn’t believe how calm she was. “Didn’t you
hear what Sylvia said?! Or, do you want to be forced to watch me
have my freakin’ head cut off?!”

“
Of course not,” Awbrey
yelled. “Hudson, I-”

“
Awbrey, you aren’t
getting it,” he said lowering his voice. “This is dangerous
stuff.”

“
Which is why we are going
to be trained,” she sighed. “And once we become Wielders, we’ll
have even more power.” Hudson stared at her, realizing that this
was one of those times where Awbrey just wasn’t going to get it. He
supposed that he admired her confidence and valor, but it took
everything in him not to call her a fool. “Hudson, I’m just as
shocked as you are about all of this. I feel the same way that you
do-”

“
No, you don’t, because if
you did, then you would be flippin’ your shit with me,” he said
impatiently. “You’d probably be worse.”

“
I don’t handle things
like you do and you know that,” Awbrey said crossing her arms and
legs. Hudson narrowed his eyes at her. They both fell silent, each
knowing what the other was feeling and not wishing to take the
argument further at the risk of it turning personal. Hudson hated
fighting with Awbrey and vice versa, but sometimes it was
necessary. He stared back at her defiantly, and to his surprise she
broke first, seeming to finally get where he was coming
from.
There you go
, he thought. “Hudson, what is it that you need me to
say?”

His face fell.

She didn’t get it. At all.

Hudson sighed and laid back down, choosing
his next words wisely so that Awbrey could completely understand
his stance. “I need you…to tell me…that you recognize the severity
of how much our lives were just changed.”

Chapter
9

Androse

He looked out of the bedroom window down at
the trees in Oren’s backyard, all of which were beautiful in the
sunlight and slightly swaying in the breeze. After all of this
time, Androse had finally found out how his father died. And now,
he kind of wished that he hadn’t.

Before today, Androse
would sit and guess hoping that the answer to one of his heart’s
closest inquiries would pop out at him and magically give him
closure. Maybe it was a car crash that did him in or a heart
attack, and more tears came as he thought about the anguish that
Nicolas had to endure before he was finally killed. Why did Damian
have to go that far? Why couldn’t he have just ended it and gotten
it out of the way?
Because he wanted to
see him in pain
, thought Androse,
answering his own questions.
He wanted my
father to suffer
, but then again, Nicolas
hadn’t been the only object of Damian’s rage. What he did to Sylvia
and Pamela was absolutely horrible, and if forcing her to watch her
best friend suffer and die wasn’t enough, Damian used the same
exact weapon that he used to kill his father on Sylvia in an
attempt to kill her which didn’t sit well with Androse as he looked
out at the moderately clear sky through tearful eyes.
There must be something more
there
, he thought, and he knew that he was
right.

He didn’t care how evil someone was. Androse
felt like there was a motivation and a purpose behind why Damian
chose to do what he did the way that he did it. If he had merely
wanted to kill them then he would’ve finished Nicolas off quickly
and then killed Sylvia and Pamela while they were binded and
couldn’t move; that would have been three out of five Wielders dead
and out of the way. But instead, he took his sweet time and then
let the two women go welcoming a fight that ended in his demise.
There was something off about the story, but Androse didn’t want to
go back downstairs to try to get answers out of anyone because he
didn’t want to face his family.

Androse put his hand around his neck and
massaged it as tears welled up once again because he now understood
how it must’ve been for his mother and grandfather. How do you tell
a child, “Sweetie, daddy was chopped up into pieces and that’s why
he isn’t here?” At the same time, how do you deny a son the right
to know how his father passed away? All of those years that they
kept him in the dark angered Androse more than anything else, but
now that he knew what happened, he felt for them more than he cared
to admit and knew that he owed his mother and grandfather an
apology for all of the fights that they had about the issue over
the last few years.

Androse wiped his face on his shirt and
after, he noticed a series of clouds that were moving in. He loved
clouds, and for as long as he could remember he had always enjoyed
going outside on nice days and lying out in the grass and staring
up at them. It was nice, but sometimes it wasn’t all that enjoyable
of an experience. There were times where the clouds would scare him
or make him feel worried or anxious and he never understood why. It
was the most peculiar thing, but he never thought anything of it.
As the clouds got closer he noticed that they were in an odd
formation. There were three of them that appeared to be chasing
after two, and he couldn’t help feeling like he identified more
with one of the three that were lagging. Eventually, the five puffs
became one and then joined an even bigger cloud that was hovering
just above the house, and then Androse jumped; a noise had brought
him back to where he was. Someone had knocked on the door, but he
ignored it not wanting any company at the moment. He knew very well
that this wasn’t his house and that he probably had no right to
dictate who could enter what room, and whoever was on the other
side tried the doorknob, but that was also useless; Androse was
careful to lock it.

“
Androse? Are you in
there?”
Natalye
,
he thought. “Androse…can you just…please open the door.”

He stared at it for a second wondering
whether he should let her in or not. He definitely wanted his
space, but at the same time he didn’t want to be unfriendly to a
girl who had shown herself to be kind. Wiping his face, he walked
over and unlocked the door but didn’t open it. Instead, he went
back to the window and sat down.

“
Hey,” Natalye said
sliding in and closing the door behind her.

“
Hey.”
I really don
’
t want to be bothered
, Androse
thought, but if that were true, then why did he get up and unlock
the door?

“
I didn’t come here to say
that I’m sorry,” she said sitting down on the bed. “I would think
that’s the last thing that you want to hear.”

“
You’re right,” Androse
said making eye contact with her. Natalye’s eyes were swollen and
her nose and cheeks were pink from crying. He didn’t doubt that he
looked similar.

“
I can’t even begin to
imagine what you’re feeling, but I just wanted to let you know that
I care and that you can always talk to me about anything whenever
you need someone.”

“
Natalye, we don’t know
each other,” he said closing his eyes in annoyance. She was acting
the same way that Hudson did when they first encountered. “We just
met. How can you possibly care about me when you only knew that I
even existed barely three hours ago?”

“
Because within those
three hours I discovered that you and I are connected in so many
different ways that I have no choice but to care about you,”
Natalye said before sniffling. “The five of us don’t have a choice
but to care about each other whether we are all well acquainted or
not. We’ll get to know each other eventually.”

Androse locked eyes with her, and after a
moment he was certain that Natalye had just won his heart. She
wasn’t being sociable or trying to be overly nice; she was being
sincere and honest about their situation and Androse felt bad for
getting irritated with her. “I apologize,” he said wiping his
eyes.

“
There’s no need for
apologies. I think all five of us feel a bit fucked in the head at
the moment,” she smiled. “We were just given a pretty tall order.
It’s a lot to take in all at once.”

Androse smiled back feeling a little better.
Aside from his sadness about his father, he really didn’t know how
he felt about the whole business of being a Wielder. He couldn’t
wrap his head around it for some reason, but he wasn’t afraid of
it. As far as Androse was concerned, he was honored to inherit the
title that his father once held and even felt a sense of obligation
to finish what Nicolas had brutally died trying. The thought
reminded him of what else was said at the meeting, so he decided to
address what Emma said about Natalye, Awbrey, and Hudson having
“the worst of it.”

“
What’s the deal with your
mother? Why isn’t she here,” he asked hoping to focus his mind on
something else. Natalye tensed up as if she were shaken by his
question. Androse was about to apologize to her again and tell her
to forget that he asked, but then she sighed.

“
I suppose I can’t expect
you to talk to me if I don’t talk to you, huh?” Natalye stared into
her lap, clearly on the verge of fresh tears.

“
Please don’t cry
anymore,” said Androse. “There are too many people in this house
shedding tears. We’re all going to be dehydrated soon,” he said
before laughing. Natalye just smiled and twiddled her
thumbs.

“
Um…my mom…she,
uh-”

“
You don’t have to tell
me,” Androse said regretting his question.

“
No, I need to tell you. I
think it’s important that we open up to each other.” She put on her
best smile and continued. “My mother is-”

Natalye was interrupted.

Awbrey and Hudson had both walked into the
room, Hudson closing the door behind them.

“
Sorry if we are
disturbing anything,” Awbrey said sitting down on an air mattress.
Androse couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her, but then
Hudson sat next to her and the two locked arms making his smile
slowly fade from his lips.

“
The four of us need to
talk which I think goes without saying,” said Awbrey.