Undefined - The Zephyr Book 1 ? (completed)(#Wattys2016)

Chapter 15 - Syianne

15 - Syianne
"Listen," Cello says impatiently as he continues to massage the side of his head. "I appreciate that you've looked after her, but now it's dangerous for you to be here."

"Syianne," Art turns to look at me questioningly. "What's this all about?"

I open my mouth to speak, but I don't know where to start, and Cello is faster to speak and more pumped up than me. "We've run away from the Zephyr and now we're fugitives," he says. I stare at him, not because his words are strange, but because he looks strange, for some reason, his ear is black, as if it's been dusted with coal.

"What?" Art seems to decide that he can't communicate with Cello; he looks at me as a source of sanity.

"It's like he says," I answer in a dry voice. "We were being... mistreated, so we decided to run away." Even before the words leave my mouth, I know they'll sound all wrong. While for every other living thing, running away is just another form survival, if you're human and you say you ran away from something, it could mean you're weak and a failure.

And even though I know this is something solely cultural, even though it's clear that sometimes running away is for the best, I feel uncomfortable, as if I betrayed myself.

"Get it?" Cello says, his impatience evident. "Now leave." We're not on the same wavelength; he doesn't feel ashamed and is determined to get rid of Art and Reed. I don't like his tone, or how he's treating Art -- as if Art is beneath him. I've had too much of crazy Cello in the past few hours, too much of staying locked up in this room. My nerves have been ground to dust, but I can do nothing more than glare at this insufferable boy that has become the most recent plague of my life.

Art, alert and always having me on his radar, notices my expression and smirks at Cello. "I don't think that I'll be the one who's leaving," he says. He lifts Cello's bag from the floor and shoves it into his arms. "She doesn't want you here." Art's voice is low and dangerous; I've never heard him speak this way. He's challenging Cello, like a rooster.

"Didn't you hear me?" Cello's voice, however, isn't dangerous, isn't threatening, it's desperate. "You have to leave now." And then I suddenly notice the pallor of his skin is a shade or two too pale, there are beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead, and his Jewel, while not glowing, has a strange luminous quality about it.

My expression changes from contempt to alarm. Something is wrong with Cello, he's not here to challenge Art, he's not here to fight, he's here because he needs my help.

But Art's got his back to me, and he's completely locked on Cello. This is a side of him I've never seen, so single-minded and fixated it even blots me out from his awareness. "Do you need me to help you find your way out?" he asks, his scorn overtaking his voice. He takes a step toward Cello.

And Cello takes a step backwards. "You seriously don't want to do that." His voice is straining. Reed's also on his feet, not saying much, but looking like he's itching for a fight. Cornering him like a pair of wolves, Art's anger is supported by Reed.

I should do something, I should scream to get their attention. But in the moment of truth I'm frozen in useless ice. There's no further need to prove my worth to anyone, this moment proves just how worthless I am.

Cello's Adam's apple is rising and falling, his lips are pressed into a straight line. "Don't touch me," he says weakly. "If you touch me, you'll die."

Reed snatches a handful of the front of Cello's t-shirt, though Cello doesn't make any attempt to move, or resist. His eyes are open wide, his pupils dilated, the blackness in them leaving no space for the blue. "Full of it, isn't he bro?" Reed is the bullying type of boy, I realise. He'd bully whenever he feels that he can get away with it.