Once Upon A Miracle

Chapter 14: Betrayal

"For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first."

~ Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games) 

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Blue snapped shut the diary, her eyes and nose streaming as she fisted her hands and bit into her sleeves to muffle her hysteric sobs that seemed to burst out of her in a torrent. She told herself to calm down, took some deep breaths, counted to ten, slapped herself even and, finally, the tears ceased. She slipped the diary into the pocket of her dress and urged her feet to walk out.

Taking one last sweep of the room, she imagined her father's broad shoulders crouched over that desk, his hands swiftly moving through the pages, penning down words he could not say, maybe in the light of a single oil lamp. And every once in a while -- in Blue's mind -- he would look up from the pages to the photo of them he kept in his desk and glance at it, as if to reassure himself that all was not bad in this world.

"Blue..." a raspy voice abruptly floated into Blue's ear, snapping her from her trance. She whirled around and screamed in shock for a figure was looming over her, standing hunched, ghastly light illuminating its face to something frightening and monstrous. 

"Oh, uh, sorry," Warren muttered, shutting off the flashlight, noticing her puffed, red eyes. "Not a good time to, er, scare people."

If he didn't sound so genuinely sorry, Blue might have slapped him. But she just ended up sighing.

"Whatever," she said, walking past him. "Let's go find Miracle and Sherry. I've got what I needed. I wonder if they found something too."

"Fine. Uh, you...okay?" Warren asked cautiously. "You sure you won't spontaneously combust into tears--?"

He abruptly stopped mid-sentence, his ears catching the sound of...footsteps. Too many to just belong to Miracle and Sherry.

Exchanging a brief, shocked look, Warren grabbed Blue's hand and towed her back to her father's room. They had only managed to close the door behind them when two figures emerged at the end of the hallway. Breathing hard, Warren signaled Blue to keep quiet and fixed his ears to the tiny keyhole at the door's lock. Squinting, his vision tunneled and focused at the new intruders. One of them carried a flashlight and its light was just enough for Warren to make out that one was a female and the other a male, both dressed in some sort of uniform.

Suddenly, the man directed the torch light towards the door that led to Markus's room and said something in a language Warren didn't understand. Beside him, Blue gasped softly.

"He's speaking Hindi," Blue whispered. "It's an Indian language. I know it because my Ma speaks Hindi too sometimes. She's taught me a little."

"Well, what are they saying?!" Warren whisper-yelled, his mind trying to string up a plan quickly because the man seemed to be heading right in their direction.

"He's asking a woman named Maya to go inspect the other halls while he checks out," Blue swallowed audibly, "this room. What do we do?"

On cue, the footsteps grew louder as it neared their room. Cursing, Warren lightly pushed Blue, directing her towards the desk.

"Go hide beneath it," he whispered urgently. "He won't be able to see me, remember? But you need to make yourself scarce. So, scat! Go!"

Scared and slightly befuddled with the developments, Blue did as told while Warren flattened himself beside the door, wielding his torch like a weapon.

As soon as the door cracked opened and a man's head popped inside, Warren didn't hesitate. He swung the torch and thwacked him right in his temples with the butt of it. A groan escaped from the man's lips as his eyes rolled back, showing his whites. But before he could thud into the floor and create noise that would alert his associates, Warren wrapped his arms around him. Grunting with the weight, Warren, instead, shoved the man, face-first, into the bed.

"Well, that wasn't nearly as hard as I had thought it would be," Warren muttered, staring at the unconscious man. 

Blue, sighing in relief, looked over at the man too. It was then she realised he was wearing a uniform of sorts. In his jacket, the words 'Indian Maritime Search and Rescue Convention' were sewed in bold lettering.

"What are they doing here?" Blue asked in shock.

"Oh," breathed Warren, as if realising something. "I think...I think when we bypassed the protective sphere of the ship, we completely cracked it, like Miracle said. Besides, it was already wearing off. After that, the ship must have become visible to everybody else. Huh, these guys must have had a shock when a massive Navy vessel just popped up in their radars out of nowhere in the middle of the sea. And it was closest to the Indian Coastline, so, no wonder, the Indian Maritime forces showed up."

"There must be more of them, including that lady Maya," Blue added, starting to panic. "What will we do? How are we going to explain to them on what were we doing here?"

Warren looked at her and said, grimly, "Well, good thing we won't have to. We're getting out of here. Now."

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"No!" Blue snapped, after making sure the hall was clear and free from prying ears. "I refuse to leave Miracle! And what about Sherry?"

Warren stared at her as if he wanted to thwack her with the torch too. "Listen, Blue, you think you're the only who cares about Miracle and Sherry? Believe it or not, I've known them longer! They're my friends too! So, trust me when I say this, they can handle themselves. But you can't. Remember what Miracle said? First sign of danger and we leave! So, that's what we're going to do--"

"I will not leave them behind!" Blue hissed, although a seed of doubt had planted in her mind. He was right, wasn't he? They were already running on thin ice. If these guys found them, they'd be in hell lot more trouble.

Warren groaned, tugging on his hair as if Blue were a particularly annoying fly he couldn't swat away. "Well, turns out, I don't really care about what you think or want. I'm not getting in any unnecessary danger. And neither will I let you. And I know you'll only stir up more trouble! You're like a magnet for it!"

Taking a deep breath, he continued, "Look, Miracle is still slightly weak, I know that. But with Sherry's powers combined, they'd manage to teleport. They can go back home safely. So, you either come with me or, God help me, I'll leave you behind!"

For a second, Blue just stared at Warren. She could see the determined look on his face, but there was something else too – a foreign flash of emotion in his eyes that she couldn't quite understand. But she did know that she couldn't say anything that would convince him otherwise. So, she crossed her arms over her chest and said, "So, leave. I'll go find Miracle and Sherry myself!"

But as she was about to storm past him, his hand darted out and grasped her wrist in a firm hold, forcing her to stop. She whirled around to face him, stunned.

"Let me go!" she warned.

"I'm sorry, Blue," he said, his face scrunched unpleasantly, as if this was the last thing he wanted to do. "I didn't want it to happen this way. You should've come with them when I asked you nicely. But now..."

Blue tried to back away, her old fear of him reawakening and the newly forged, fragile trust completely melting away.

"Warren, please," she pleaded, struggling to free herself from his iron-grip, unable to make head-or-tails of the abrupt change in him. "Let me go."

"I can't!" he cried, his voice trembling with desperation. "I can't. I'm sorry, Blue. But he has his hold over me--"

"Who?!" she cried back. "Let me help you, Warren! Miracle will help you! Stop this--"

"I'm sorry," he repeated. It seemed more like an attempt to convince himself than her.

"Warren--" Blue started in a last effort to reason with him but, suddenly, a terrible pain split across her forehead, dizzying and demanding. Through the haze of that agony, a part of her registered the concentrated look on Warren's face, a furrow between his brows. And, just like that, she knew there was no escape. He had her bound with his powers. 

Then, the world went dark.