Reunited: A Legend Novel | ✓ (#Wattys2014)

Chapter 10

June’s perspective

Day sinks to the ground and I’m paralysed with fear. Day? I whisper his name.

“June, my June,” Day mutters, tucking my hair back.

“Day? I’m right here Day,” I reply as he closes his eyes.

“No! Don’t sleep, you can’t die, Day!”

I wake up screaming. “It’s okay, June, it’s just a dream,” Tess rouses me. After I calm down, I turn a little to see Day on the hospital bed next to mine, Eden holding his hand.

“Are you sure you want to do this Day? We can pause for a little—“

“No… no just do it and get it over and done with,” Croaks Day, with a hoarse voice.

“Day got the worst of it,” Comments Tess, not accusingly. Day grunts as doctors get pieces of—God knows what—from his back.

“It’s all my fault.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, June,” Tess attempts at smiling, but I see the shadows engulfing that smile.

“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

“I’m afraid so. It appears—something is messing with Day’s mind. They suspect it happened when Day was being operated on 10 years ago. It was true Day’s surgeon left immediately after Day’s operation, Surgeon Franwell. He must have put a device there, it could be operated with computers or machines, and it messes up Day’s memories. He knows it’s not real inside, but his mind tells him otherwise. It will worsen and Day will be dangerous soon, they say it might even be able to control his body, so he can move around and do things he doesn’t want to. He’ll be their robot, yet too precious to kill. I just don’t know who wants Day’s memories to be messed up like that.”

The news hits me in the chest like a bullet. Smart, so incredibly genius to do that. The Elector can’t kill Day, he was once the most famous criminal and the citizens loved him for his rebelliousness, like Robin Hood—if I remember that story correctly. And even if they have no choice but to do it, the Elector knows how I feel about Day, and I honestly doubt he can bear to have me let go of Day.

“The army that has the common symbol of a crescent moon and the line in it,” I say, recalling the people who attacked me that day when Nikolai came to save me.

“I think so too,” Says someone behind Tess. Nikolai. “I call them ‘the people with the moon.’”

“Does it make a difference what they are called?” Remarks Amethyst, who stands beside her brother.

“Seriously, be quiet. You’re being impossible to stand, Amethyst.”

“Same to you, brother,” Spits Amethyst.

“Do leave your complaining for another day. I have been hearing you two arguing every day. How can siblings ever fight so much? You two are like people who have a blood feud of some sort,” Says Doctor Susan, who carries a clipboard and takes notes beside Day. Perhaps it is because they are alike, perhaps not in character, but in the way they speak to one another.

“The Elector wants me to tell you he wanted to visit, but he is busy now, the media and press, and settling the country. He has to calm the people down, because apparently there were 7 people in our army helping the bomb attack to take place. This deems the Republic unsafe, and who knows? There may just be even more. And he wonders if he should postpone the appointment,” Nikolai speaks, throwing himself onto a visitor’s chair.

“Well, shouldn’t he consult his Princeps instead of June?” Amethyst says.

“Be quiet, Amethyst,” Nikolai pinches the bridge of his nose as Amethyst sniffs.

“I don’t think there’s a need to. A new captain might provide assurance, although we require replacement of the ranks, and if the Elector wants to, he can hold that ceremony together with the appointment of Captain Nikolai.”

“The problem is, the citizens might worry I am also from the people with the moon. But you know what, Captain Nikolai does sound nice—“

“I think it sounds like someone whose number should be on a dumpster. And must we really say ‘the people with the moon’? It sounds like an advantage to them,” Amethyst comments.

I think about it before replying, with references to what I told Thomas before, that Day chose to walk in the light.

“They may have the moon, but we have the light of the sun. We choose to walk in the light.”