They Are Monsters (Deathless Trilogy, #2)

Chapter Seventeen: Tick Tick Tick

By the time Daniel and I get back to the room, the sky is already grey-blue and pink with early morning light. More than double the amount of Prowlers are patrolling the yard, probably because of Ava and Eleanor, and instead of sleeping, we decide to stay up to monitor the yard from our window.

"Do you think they got out all right?" I ask.

He squints. "I can't see over into the Carrier yard, though," Daniel mumbles, tapping his finger against the glass pane.

I rest my hand over his. "I'm sure they're fine. Your mom is smart, and Ava is really tough." He walks back toward the dressers. "I'm sorry I asked."

He opens the top drawer of his dresser, where he keeps his socks, and pulls out a pair of slender objects, one blue and one green. He hides them behind his back, a surprise for me, and walks solemnly back to the window.

"What are those?"

He reveals his hands, and in each he holds a handcrafted, hand-painted slingshot, like the ones my dad used to make, except he never painted them. Paint was impractical and didn't help us camouflage. Still, the sight of a slingshot nearly brings me to tears, and for the first time in forever, they are tears of joy.

"Daniel," I beam, "I love them. Did you make these?"

"No, Celia did. The blue one is for you. I told her it was your favorite color."

This poor girl, I think. All she wants to do is be my friend, but I can't bring myself to let her in. She's too naive, and too close to Daniel. "Why did she do this?"

"When you get to know her better, you'll learn she's a painter. She puts her emotions into her work, and she creates these beautiful collages of colors and images. That painting on the wall is one of hers."

He points to the painting of the girl in the center of the glowing bubble, surrounded by fiery hands. Maybe she and I are more similar than I gave her credit for. "Why did she paint that?"

Daniel bites his lip in thought. "It's really not my business to say, you have to ask her. It's why I wanted her to stay with me. Look, I know she seems helpless and kind of flighty at first, but she's been through a lot. We all have our ways of coping with our pasts. Her appearance is her armor. Give her a chance."

"Alright."

"Today, while I set up the detectors."

"Okay."

"Isla..."

I laugh, "Okay, fine. I will, I promise."

"You should thank her for making these. She did it without me asking, just, as a gift. She made them after you announced you were the last Deathless soldier at the party. She said, 'Every soldier needs her weapon,' and handed them over."

I take my slingshot from his hand, and roll it over in my palms to inspect it. It feels so familiar, right down to the uneven whittling strokes. As I turn the slingshot over, I can see that one of the prongs has my name carved into it. It's sweet that Celia made this for me, and the thought sends a lump of guilt to my stomach. "I will definitely thank her, don't worry," I say after inspecting the pull of the sling.

"You know what we should do with these?" Daniel smiles, and pulls a bag of rocks from his drawer.

"We are not playing Soldiers."

"No, of course not. Open the window," he says, coming closer.

I do as he asks and unlatch the lock before pushing the window panes out and opening us to the sound of gears screeching below and birds chirping in the distance. Prowler machines stomp along the wall, their collector function apparently turned off, since they don't seem to notice the squads of mindless soldiers marching in the yard.