Chapter Text
Sleep lingers in my veins, hovering over me, present even through the hand roughly shaking my shoulder. I groan softly, turning closer into my best friend, one arm sleeping, my limbs basically intertangled with the cats’.
“Danny, wake up.”
Mom’s voice jars through the sleep fog, and I peel my eyes open with painful effort. “Hmm? Wha’s wrong?” I slur out, blinking at her face which is dark in the shadows; the only light is spilling through our open bedroom window.
“You have to get up. We have to go. Now.”
The air is tense, magic buzzing under my skin, the fresh air sharpening my senses to abrupt wakefulness. Ah’shair groans beside me, a grumpy noise like someone just threatened to steal his favorite toy – guess that’d be me.
I try to wriggle my limbs away, and finally shove his shoulder with my other hand. “Ah’shair, wake up!” I look up at Mom again, still squirming free, senses bright with alertness. “Where’s Dad? What’s going on?”
“They’ve found us. We need to run.”
We’ve practiced this a thousand times. Running. Where to go, to hide, what to do. Trails we scouted out to throw them off.
We’re living on an enemy world, a place where we can trust no one. And we’re hiding here. From the Raiders. Because it’s the only choice we have.
Yeah, I know this. We’ve practiced. I’ve done it a thousand times. It’s just terrifying for it to be real. My brothers and I used to make a game out of it. But that’s not real.
Ah’shair sits up, blinking at us owlishly, eyes glinting dim gold in the night.
“We gotta go,” I tell him. “Like we practiced.”
He lurches out of bed ten times faster than me, landing upright, muttering a string of words that lose me.
I rip my clothes from the closet, shoving them in my bag in a messy bundle and swinging it onto my shoulders as I sprint after Mom, leaving my room. We’re never going to come back here. I’m never gonna get to see this house again. My room. My home.
I swallow that and wave at him to follow. “Ah’shair, come on!”
“No,” Mom interjects, hand on my shoulder, stepping between us. “Go back home. Go to your parents, forget you ever knew us. You’re safer here.”
“What?” I whisper in panicked protest, looking up at her, wide-eyed.
“But–” Ah’shair starts protesting.
“Go!”
He doesn’t move, but she does, nudging me down the hall, and I make a sprint for the stairs. My father and brothers are already there, Levy swiping something from the kitchen into a bag and swinging it onto his back. Beny looks at me wide-eyed, his fear radiant. I come closer to him, patting his shoulder, though I wish Ah’shair was here instead. I hate how I wish that. Beny’s my brother.
But Ah’shair is my best friend. My soul-twin. We can’t just leave each other.
“To the back,” Dad nods, tilting his head for the door.
Mom rips another cupboard open, yanking at a piece of plywood. For a moment, I think she’s lost her mind until I remember she hid her weapons there. Way back before I was born. We’ve been here for over a decade. Longer than me.
It doesn’t come, and she hisses, hand glowing light green as she slams her palm onto the wood. It explodes into a thousand scorched splinters.
Dad heads for the door. My brothers sprint after, as inseparable as they are. I reshoulder my bag and follow, skidding to a stop outside. The bright orange lights of a spaceship are already glinting through the trees.
“You run to the trees, through the path to the mountain,” Dad orders in a whisper. “You know the path. Go.”
Levy nods and bolts, ushering Beny in front him, catching him when he stumbles. I take a few steps after, watching as Mom exits the house, shoving the door shut behind her, Dad staring at the ship, and I run.
We don’t have long.
I fumble with the bag straps, trying to get them buckled over my chest so I won’t have to keep yanking it up, but the thing keeps sliding. My foot catches on a log – stupid cats for leaving it here – and I topple forwards with a muted yelp, palms hitting the dirt. They sting.
Levy’s hands yank me upright. “Don’t stop,” he hisses. “Come on.” He helps me over the inclined ledge, pushing me forward while looking back.
I drag myself up the rest of the way and run. Curse the darkness, too. Cats can see in the dark. I’m not a cat.
I wish Ah’shair was here. I can barely sleep through the night without him beside me. He’s a cat. It’s just what we do. He should be here.
My brothers don’t ever leave each other. Why do I have to?
Beny gasps ahead of me, and I have to skid to a stop at the sound, and then again at the clatter. He gasps, trying to grab the bag he just dropped, and I groan under my breath.
“Leave it. We have to go.” Levy pushes my brother back up the incline, and we sprint for the woods. My hand slaps a trunk where I lean onto it, panting. The night is dark above us. Warm wind breezes through my hair, rustling the tree leaves and throwing my hair messily into my face.
I hear voices.
My older brother inhales sharply, motioning Beny and I forward again. I can hear our parents following, though they’re too far behind for my liking. We’re there, right on the edge of the tree line, when I see a golden light shining down on us. Searchlights.
Mom freezes, turning back – I can see her turning in the light’s dimness – and then Levy drops with a sharp cry.
“Levy!” Beny is at his side in a second, gripping his shoulder, and I run after, gasping when I see him. Levy groans, shaking his shoulder, though his right arm is spasming painfully.
“Run!” he hisses.
I look back instead. Something lights blue-white and fires again. Mom spreads her hands, drawing the electric shot in, sucking it into her chest and letting it illuminate her, electron by electron. Her hands alight pale green, like a flame in the darkness.
Levy pushes himself to his feet, teeth gritted, and we sprint into the woods. It’s hard to run without seeing. I have to rebalance my bag again, fingers gripping the strap. “Are you okay?” I ask, rounding a tree to return to my brothers’ sides. I don’t know what that was. I don’t – my hands are shaking and my fingers are just numb.
Dad and Mom are coming, right? Where are they?
We were supposed to go hide in the mountains. Maybe find a ship and escape Polaris entirely. Which is great, but I can’t fly.
Levy exhales through his teeth. He keeps looking back. Is he scared? My brother is never scared. He doesn’t get afraid. He’s like steel. Something that never bends or breaks or heats. “That was an electric shot. They’re trying to stun us. But we run on electricity.”
“Then why did it hurt you?” Beny asks, confused.
I’d laugh if I weren’t so terrified.
“Because I didn’t block it.” He looks up. When I follow his gaze, it’s to see the treetops being lightened. The search lights are following us into the trees from above. “Get back,” he hisses, jumping back against a tree.
I follow suit, pressing the thick wool of my shirt against a tree trunk, trying to disappear.
Something explodes.
Beny shrieks, and I gasp as the air in front of us lights brilliant reddish orange, the trees and plants engulfed with leaping, crawling flames.
“Fire magic,” Levy breathes, drawing his sword with a quiet clang.
It’s too close, and I tackle Beny to the dirt, dragging him away from the flame’s edge. My heart is thumping hard enough it aches. My chest hurts with panic. There’s already smoke in the air, and my lungs hurt from panting, mostly from the running. Behind us, I hear fighting.
Ah’shair is still back there. They’ll hurt him. I can’t let that happen.
With nowhere else to go, I look back. My mother is twirling between a trio who bear down on her with swords, or more. She has something metal in her hands, alight with electricity. Dad is – somewhere. It looks like a shootout is happening. I wish I had my bow. I’m a pretty good shot with an arrow. Mom says I’m amazing for being ten years old, Polarian standard.
Dad is closer. I can see it, and I see it, too, when another one of those electric shots hits him.
And he drops, knees buckling as he topples onto the grass from the rooftop.
“Dad!” Levy yells.
Heads are turning towards us.
Mom looks back, jaw clenching, body radiant, and dives at her opponent with a yell.
It’s not just Mom and Dad fighting. The entire village is in chaos. All the cats have joined in. All of our friends for years have joined in to help us out.
And there’s just chaos. Waves of rainbow magic flashing back and forth, swords clanging and crashing, and screaming.
We can’t get out.
The entire village is ringed in with fire. They’ve trapped us.
A sudden wave of purple magic comes at us, and I gasp, rolling aside as a telekinetic blast levels several of the trees. I hear Beny’s yelp somewhere, echoing in the night.
“They got kids, alright,” I hear someone saying.
I swing my bag off, digging into it and yanking my knife out, flipping the blade around in my hand. I have to help.
A branch snaps near me. I roll to my feet, blade jerking upright, but it’s just Ah’shair, eyes glinting in the light of the golden flames. “You came back?” I breathe, eyes wide.
“Of course, I did. I wasn’t gonna leave you.” His clawed fingers wrap around my shoulder. “Come on. We need to run.”
“Where? They’ve boxed us in.”
Levy is fighting someone now. Their blades are clashing, metal clanging on metal.
Mom falls.
That tears me from any thoughts of running, seeing her hitting the dirt on her knees. Her hands flash, and two more drop with lightning crackling into their chests, stopping their hearts.
She’s thrown backwards.
“I– I can duplicate us,” Ah’shair offers.
“Do you know how?” He can cast illusions of duplicate birds and bugs as a prank on us, sure, but that’s not… people? In battle?
Where’s Beny? I don’t see him.
“I– I don’t know.” We run back towards the forest.
Blue-white light from teleportation magic flashes in my face, a Raider materializing in front of us. His hand closes on my arm. I swing my other hand up, knife slashing at his middle. He grabs my wrist, ripping the blade from my fingers.
Ah’shair throws himself at him, claws, fangs, and all, snarling viciously.
The man’s black-gloved hand closes around his neck, flinging him through the trees like he weighs nothing.
“Ah’shair!” I scream my friend’s name, voice raw. I try to wrench free, but the grip is tight and bruising. He jerks me against him, blade pressing to my neck.
“Mibeth!” the man yells, and everyone stills.
Mom looks up, body shimmering with lightning, frozen at the sound of her name.
“Surrender now, or I’ll slit your cub’s throat. How’s that for an exchange?”
The blade is against me now. Pressing on skin. I gasp, trying to breathe, tears flooding my eyes for the first time. I don’t want to die. “Levy!” I yell, desperate. When I turn my head, I see my brother’s face, shadowed by fire, the flames licking across one branch to another. His hands are raised in panic, sword on the ground. He’s just standing there.
“There’s no way out, Mibeth,” the man shouts. “Call off your cubs.”
She slowly raises her hands, though still gripping her weapons.
I can’t think about anything. Nothing but the steel pressing my throat. I feel it on my skin. It hurts. Is it bleeding? I’m going to die here. I’m not going to ever get to be with Ah’shair or my brothers again. I’m never going to get to – to – anything.
Mom throws her weapons to the ground. “I surrender,” she snaps, voice a snarl, a rage I’ve never known in her.
“Any last words?” one of the others asks, pacing around her. “To beg for the king’s mercy, perhaps?”
“He is my brother. Not my king.” Her eyes never tear from mine.
“Look out!” someone shouts. The hands release me, and Ah’shair bodily tackles me aside. We roll through the brush, clinging to each other. The animal that crashes through him flickers from sight into yellow mist – an illusion. Ah’shair.
I try to say thank you, deep and heartfelt, but all that escapes instead is a muffled sob. My best friend’s arms stay tightly wound around my waist as we lie in the grass.
Green flashes, and the man who was holding me drops. Behind him, Beny lowers his hand, palm shimmering green, face streaked with tears.
Another Raider comes at us. Levy doesn’t waste a moment, sprinting forwards. Their blades crash awkwardly. The man twists their swords, shoving my brother back, and I can only watch, body trembling – do something, you idiot, you have magic – as Levy staggers back, off-balance, releasing his sword with one hand to catch himself on the ground.
The Raider… doesn’t. He twirls to gain momentum and bats my brother’s raised sword aside like waving an inconvenient bug away. The blade slices across his stomach. My brother cries out, falling, hand pressing to his stomach.
Beny screams.
Mom tackles the Raider with a yell of fury, flinging him to the dirt and slamming her weapon to his chest with a lightning bolt.
An arrow nearly hits my head. Ah’shair uses his grip on me to roll us both over, diving into the brush.
It’s sparking now. Everything is sparking. I feel the heat on my face. We need to get out.
Beny is at my older brother’s side, shaking him, crying. But no tears will stop this.
I can feel the blood on my neck. It’s still burning.
More arrows hit the trees. Ah’shair’s arms stay stubbornly around me.
Another comes up. Mom turns, but too slow. She blocks one. Another comes from behind.
I see it run her through, the blade stained with red.
“Mom!” Ah’shair tries to hold me back, but I wrench free, half running, half sliding to her side. “Mom!”
She’s hit the dirt on her knees now, hand pressing to her middle where blood spills through her pale fingers. She looks up at me. “I told you to run,” she rasps weakly.
“I’m sorry.” A sob wrenches free again, my body shuddering as I grip her shoulder, watching the red stain her green dress.
“It’s okay,” she whispers, eyes sliding closed. “I– I love you.” She falls. I try to catch her, but she falls limply like a deadweight. “Yisahcha,” she whispers, and her body goes still. Mom’s dead. She’s…
Someone screams. I don’t know if it’s me, or one of my brothers.
Ah’shair’s hand is on me, clinging to my arm in mutual fear and support. Only to be ripped away again.
“Stupid cats,” someone scoffs. “I can’t believe, of all the places she could have gone after betraying our king, she went to hide with these creatures.”
Mom’s dead. They killed her. Mom.
The pain that crashes into my chest is raw and never-ending, violent and rageful.
Magic flares in my palms. I don’t think. The scream burns in my throat, power in my hands, and I slam them on the ground with a gut-wrenched wail.
Everything explodes.
Thunder bursts in my ears, lightning burning in the air, and then there’s smoke, so much smoke. I see a flare of red, hear my Dad yelling.
The air is thick with smoke. Breathing is hard.
I’m frozen, immobile, until Ah’shair cries my name, struggling to free himself from another Raider. That makes me move, and I roll to my feet and fling a blast of magic in his face. The man dodges, the blast hitting a tree behind with a crackling zap, but it’s enough for my friend to stomp his foot and roll away. I sprint at him, drawing him away from them, from everything.
Rage and despair vie for the upper hand.
There is nothing, and no way out.
I see magic flashing, cats – my village falling and burning all around me. Beny… Beny is somewhere. I can’t see Dad.
I can’t see Dad.
Mom is – is –
Ah’shair looks at me, eyes wide with terror, whimpering softly. He’s ten years old. I don’t feel very ten.
Someone screams. Another voice. A child. Ones I recognize.
When I look up, it’s my friend’s sisters. Clair and Leira. The Raiders are fighting them. “Stop!” Ah’shair yells, his voice unheeded, unheard. Always unheard.
Everything is burning.
Hands wrap on his shoulders, flinging him to the ground, and a boot slams on his shoulder. I think something cracks, but pain flares through my own shoulder blade. A quiet, strangled whimper slips out.
His sword raises.
I close my eyes.
I have nothing left to fight for, anyway.
A sound splits the air above me with a low whine.
The Raider hisses and steps back.
I roll over, arms buckling beneath me when I try standing. I fall back into the grass, coughing at the smoke. Everyone’s… gone. They’re gone. It’s just… me. And I lie there, waiting for the flames to lick me up, too.