arbitrate (daynight) (43 page)

I grab a baby girl, who looks a lot like Evvie, and carefully walk between the babies towards the glass. My friends are begging, pleading to be let out. I hold my hand up against the glass and mouth, “I am so sorry.” A familiar face pushes through and holds her hand up against mine—Briella. Tristan is by her side. Tears are streaming down her face. She points to a little boy, and I ask Madison to bring him over. The bright green eyes tell me he is Blake’s. I wonder if they know? Surely they must suspect.

Tristan makes a heart with his forefingers and thumbs and points at the baby. I give the baby a kiss on the forehead and sign to Tristan, “I will keep him safe until we can get you out.” It seems like a lifetime ago that Tristan and I took American Sign Language together, but I still remember the basics.
 

I hear shots in the distance. A stampede of people exit the mega-portal ramp and rush out a nearby door. I recognize the city uniforms as being from Art City. Not good.

Blake told them about the mega-portal.

A very bad feeling overtakes me. I stand and watch the hordes follow men with guns. I hold up a finger to Tristan and Bri and walk towards the front edge of the platform.

They are invading.

Blake has been in Art City for weeks. He must be involved. Why didn’t he tell me? Warn me? Is this why Jax didn’t want me to come? I shiver when I think about the last time the Exilers stormed the city. It ended with their near annihilation.
 

What if they plan to try to disable the mega-portal?
 

What if they think we are the enemy and open fire?

What if I came here to die? What will happen to Evvie, Aiden and Zander?

I feel something tugging at my feet, and I look down to see a little cherub face with tears in her eyes.
Ethan’s daughter
. I’m so glad that Ethan and Blake aren’t here to see this. I don’t think they could take it because I barely can. So much for being strong. I push the negative feelings away. I worked too long and too hard to let them control me again.

I kneel down and try to offer the little girl comfort.

After what seems like an hour, the stampede ends. There are still a few people over by the mega-portal. I can’t tell what they are doing.

A door opens to the right of the platform and a familiar face steps through. He turns slightly, so I can see the bulge of a gun at his back, but he doesn’t pull it on me. If he knows about the invasion or sees the people in the distance, he doesn’t show it. His eyes are on me and me alone.

Brad Darcton.

He looks really tan, as if he spent a summer in the sun, but he’s still pencil-thin and wearing metal-rimmed glasses. What does he want? Why did he do this? I stand up to face him.

“Kira,” he greets me. “As per my promise, I have delivered you proof that your babies are all alive and well.”

“Why are their parents all locked up? Why were the babies left with no one to watch them? No bottles, no food, no diapers…”

He looks over at Madison and grimaces. “Well, I had wanted to have a private conversation with you. But apparently, you decided to bring a friend along. I don’t believe we have met? I am Brad Darcton, Senior Ten of The Second Chance Institute.”

At that declaration, Madison shrinks away from him. I tell her, “Keep the babies from falling off the platform while I talk to Brad.” She grabs a couple babies and scuttles back towards the glass cage.

I cross my arms over my chest and tap my foot. “You certainly have a strong flair for the dramatic. For what purpose do we owe this particular show of force?” I wave my arm in front of the babies and glass cage to pay you-are-a-psychopath homage to his masterpiece.

“Some interesting information has been brought to light…even more compelling than your theory that Joshua and Alexa staged the attack back in Los Angeles…”

“Okay?”

“When we found out that Jackson and Dr. Christo were Arbiters, I naturally got suspicious. After all, Dr. Christo had been in charge of our Garden City reproductive laboratories and served as Ethan’s personal physician. He was the one who removed your eggs and created the embryos that were implanted in both you and your friends. He had been very…enthusiastic…about working with someone of pure Light blood. Add that to your rather annoying tendency to pretend like you were following the rules while whispering otherwise, and I’m a little disappointed that my hired help were not able to eliminate you during their
many
attempts. They’d have been successful had you not had Arbiter help. And why would the Arbiters help if they didn’t have a stake in keeping you and the babies alive?”

My face falls. I don’t like where this is headed. Does he know about Ethan? Does he know about the babies? I try to keep myself steady, making sure I’m not locking my knees. Otherwise, I’ll pass out for sure. “I’m not really following,” I bluff. “Just take a look at the babies…they are clearly mine, Ethan’s, and Blake’s.”

“Yes…yes…I’m not disputing that. Not at all. I’m glad you confirmed it…glad you asked me to check in on the babies. I’d planned to anyway, but you moved up my timetable. I arranged to have a team of doctors
other than Dr. Christo
do full examinations on all the babies. Given Ethan’s history and the fact that you are an Original Light, I wanted to make sure they were all of sound health.”

I feel ill.
Is there something wrong with them?
They seem okay. They’re surely active. “And are they? Are they okay?”

“They are. But here’s the problem. They don’t fit the…how should I say this…the typical Daynighter profile. Their blood has very unusual markers that we haven’t seen before. And given all the…intervention…we have seen recently by the Arbiters and their little abomination child friend, you can see why I might be concerned.”

My knees start to wobble, and I can feel sweat dripping from my hair line, all the way down my back. I blurt out a rather articulate, “Huh?” Neither Jax nor Ethan ever mentioned Arbiter blood as having different markers. I guess that makes sense. But only half the babies should have those.

“I was hoping you could explain to me
what
exactly your children are. If you cannot, I will have to assume that they are a danger to the Daynighter population. And I think that I’ve shown that I deal with threats in a swift and decisive manner.”

“You would kill dozens of babies over a
theory
?” I spit the words out at him. He will
not
hurt these children. He’ll have to kill me first. My body grows warm, blood boiling with fury.
 

Brad rubs his temple, as if he’s fighting a nasty headache. “Oh, Kira. I’ll kill your little abominations for less than a theory. I don’t know if it is you, Blake, Ethan, or all the above who passed down the peculiar traits. But I refuse to give rise to a generation who may wish the SCI harm.”

A gunshot whirs through the air.

Brad Darcton collapses to the ground, face first.

The mighty has fallen.

I look up to see who is responsible and relax. It’s Bailey. An Exiler, enemy to the SCI.

The enemy of my enemy is a friend, right?

Or not. The look on Bailey’s face is anything but friendly. Her eyes are narrowed, teeth are clenched.

And her gun is now pointed at me.

Bailey manages to flip
her hair back while still keeping her gun trained on me. The gun has me less nervous than the blinking light next to her. It looks like a bomb. And who knows what else she has in her bag of tricks. She says, “I have dreamt of this moment. Blake thought he could hide you from me…keep you safe. What a fool he is.”
 

I need to distract her. Remind her why she is really here. “What’s going on, Bailey? Did I really see all the Exilers come through the portal from Art City?”

“Yes, we’re here, and we are taking over the city and the axis of power of the SCI. And I guess it is all thanks to you. You’re the one that gave the information about the mega-portal to Blake. It’s just too bad that we left him behind, so he won’t be able to see his dream come to fruition.”

One of the babies has crawled over and is fussing at my feet. I pick him up and hold him against my chest. “You left him behind? Why? Did you do something to him?”
Is he okay?
My chest tightens at the possibility that Bailey might have hurt him. I can tell that Madison heard her words and is equally concerned.

She cackles. “I didn’t do anything to Blake that he won’t sleep off. I hope that he enjoys being
completely
alone when he wakes up. That’s what he deserves. If he can’t be faithful to me, he’ll get no one. I’m all about revenge, and today, I’m going for the big score. The SCI. Blake. You. Blake’s current slut, who is cowering in fear back there. And it looks like I hit the bonus round because I can obliterate all of your and Blake’s offspring as well. I may start with that one of Blake’s in your arms.”

Talk about taking “mean girl” to a whole new level… She was always a piece of work back at Carmel Valley High but never did anything this extreme. “We used to be friends, Bailey. We cheered together. I don’t get this.”

“You took
what was mine
.”

I’m having a hard time concentrating. There are over a dozen babies fussing, from whimpering to wailing, and the smell of dirty diapers is getting extreme. “Who? Blake? I didn’t even know him back at school, much less know that you guys had ever been an item. And we are long over.”

“You don’t get it. Not that I expect such an
inferior
being to get it. But you are not worthy to touch anything that has been mine. You think just because we
cheered
together that we are on the same level? Not even close. You never were worthy to even be in my presence. I was always way prettier, richer, and better than you. You wouldn’t have even been in our circle at Carmel Valley High if you hadn’t glommed on to Tristan. It
amused
me that he was sleeping with Bri behind your back. And here on Thera? Nothing has changed. I’m still better. What have you done other than pop out some kids? I just took over an entire city and took out the SCI’s top gun. I was better back on Earth, and I’m better here.”

Wow. This girl has an ego larger than the mega-portal. She’s certifiable. And unfortunately, the crazy voices appear to be telling her it is okay to kill people today. If she wasn’t holding a gun and a bomb, I might choose to contest her assertions, but she is packing weapons. And I’d prefer she didn’t use them. I stay silent, giving her plenty of time to finish her rant.

“Tell her to come up here. Or I start shooting babies.” She glares at Madison with true loathing. Madison, who despite Bailey’s accusation of “cowering,” has been trying to corral the babies.

With Madison by my side, Bailey continues to spew accusations and threats. “You—,” she points at Madison. “—I heard your story, you know. What was it like to be raped over and over again?” The color drains from Madison’s face. She didn’t know, didn’t remember, didn’t want to…
 

“I wasn’t raped. You’re wrong. The guy tried to in Western City and…I…killed him.”

“Oh, you little two-bit whore. I wasn’t talking about here. I was talking about back on Earth. You know…before you came to Thera. What was it like to be kidnapped? Raped by your kidnapper for years? It’s too bad that the guy got a little careless, or else you might still be there.”

Madison struggles to understand what Bailey is telling her. There’s a flicker of recognition though. She knew the SCI had “adjusted” her memories, and now Bailey has filled the hole with something terrifying, yet potentially true. I whisper, “Ignore her. She’ll do or say anything to belittle people.”

“Kira, since you’re choosing to talk without permission…I feel like that needs some sort of consequence. Lucky for you, I’m feeling generous now that the SCI and Blake are out of the way. So I will let you make a choice. You can die. Or the babies can die.” She holds up a harness with a bomb strapped to it.
Does she expect me to put that thing on?

All I can do is stare at her. Is she for real? She would really kill all the babies? Kill me? Over petty jealousy?

 
“What’s it going to be? You or the babies? If you agree to strap this bomb to yourself, I’ll let you walk far enough away that your precious little kiddos may make it.”

If those are the only two choices, there is no contest. I kiss Blake’s baby and gently set him down. I give Madison a big hug. Then I walk towards Bailey. “Strap it on. I’ll happily sacrifice my life to save the lives of the others.”

Bailey straps the bomb to me. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. The timer is set for five minutes. I have five minutes left to live.
“Jax, I’m so sorry. Tell Ethan and Blake I’m sorry. Please take good care of Evvie, Aiden, and Zander. And know…I love you too.”

Perhaps, if I stay close to Bailey, she’ll suffer the same fate as me. She smirks at me. “I’m betting there are no second chances for you…but if there are, please remember every last minute of this—particularly this next part where you watch your children die. Think of this like a late baby shower gift. One with a really short fuse.”
 

She reaches into her bag. I see the light blinking before it registers that it is another bomb. She presses a button and I see the timer is set for thirty seconds.

Bailey throws it towards the babies. It falls short of the platform yet close enough to do a lot of damage.
 

All of the sudden, I see Blake come out of nowhere and throw himself on top of the bomb. Madison jumps on top of him. My vision is completely blurred by tears. This can’t be happening.
 

Bailey hesitates for a moment when she sees Blake on the bomb, but when Madison’s arms go around him…she pulls a third bomb from her bag.
 

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

“Later, you traitorous bastards.” I see :45 flashing on the display. She tosses it into the air and then strides away from the scene.

Tick, tock.

“Nooooooo.” We all shout.
 

Tick, tock.