Ignite Me - Ignite Me Part 23
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Ignite Me Part 23

My smiles fall away. "He's not my boyfriend."

"Are you sure about that? Because I'm pretty sure Romeo wouldn't have let us come live with him if he weren't a little bit madly in love with you."

I look into my hands. "Maybe one day Warner and I will learn to be friends."

"Seriously?" Kenji looks shocked. "I thought you were super into him?"

I shrug. "I'm . . . attracted to him."

"But?"

"But Warner still has a long way to go, you know?"

"Well, yeah," Kenji says. Exhales. Leans back. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

We both say nothing for a while.

"This shit is still super freaking weird, though," Kenji says all of a sudden.

"What do you mean?" I glance up. "Which part?"

"Warner," Kenji says. "Warner is so freaking weird to me right now." Kenji looks at me. Really looks at me. "You knowa"in all my time on base, I never saw him have, like, a single casual conversation with a soldier before. Never. He was ice cold, J. Ice. Cold," he says again. "He never smiled. Never laughed. Never showed any emotion. And he never, ever talked unless he was issuing orders. He was like a machine," Kenji says. "And this?" He points at the elevator. "This guy who just left here? The guy who showed up at the house yesterday? I don't know who the hell that is. I can't even wrap my mind around it right now. Shit is unreal."

"I didn't know that," I say to him, surprised. "I had no idea he was like that."

"He wasn't like that with you?" Kenji asks. "When you first got here?"

"No," I say. "He was always pretty . . . animated with me. Not, like, nice animated," I clarify, "but, I mean . . . I don't know. He talked a lot." I'm silent as the memories resurface. "He was always talking, actually. That's kind of all he ever did. And he smiled at me all the time." I pause. "I thought he was doing it on purpose. To make fun of me. Or try to scare me."

Kenji leans back on his hands. "Yeah, no."

"Huh," I say, my eyes focused on a point in the distance.

Kenji sighs. "Is he . . . like . . . nice to you, at least?"

I look down. Stare at my feet. "Yeah," I whisper. "He's really nice to me."

"But you guys are not an item or anything?"

I make a face.

"Okay," Kenji says quickly, holding up both hands. "All righta"I was just curious. This is a judgment-free zone, J."

I snort. "Yeah it isn't."

Kenji relaxes a little. "You know, Adam really thinks you and Warner are, like, a thing now."

I roll my eyes. "Adam is stupid."

"Tsk, tsk, princess. We need to talk about your languagea""

"Adam needs to tell Warner they're brothers."

Kenji looks up, alarmed. "Lower your voice," he whispers. "You can't just go around saying that. You know how Kent feels about it."

"I think it's unfair. Warner has a right to know."

"Why?" Kenji says. "You think he and Kent are going to become besties all of a sudden?"

I look at him then, my eyes steady, serious. "James is his brother, too, Kenji."

Kenji's body goes stiff, his face blank. His eyes widen, just a little.

I tilt my head. Raise an eyebrow.

"I didn't even . . . wow," he says. He presses a fist to his forehead. "I didn't even think about that."

"It's not fair to either of them," I say. "And I really think Warner would love to know he has brothers in this world. At least James and Adam have each other," I say. "But Warner has always been alone."

Kenji is shaking his head. Disbelief etched across his features. "This just keeps getting more and more twisted," he says. "It's like you think it couldn't possibly get more convoluted, and then, bam."

"He deserves to know, Kenji," I say again. "You know Warner at least deserves to know. It's his right. It's his blood, too."

Kenji looks up. Sighs. "Damn."

"If Adam doesn't tell him," I say, "I will."

"You wouldn't."

I stare at him. Hard.

"That's messed up, J." Kenji looks surprised. "You can't do that."

"Why do you keep calling me J?" I ask him. "When did that even happen? You've already given me, like, fifty different nicknames."

He shrugs. "You should be flattered."

"Oh really?" I say. "Nicknames are flattering, huh?"

He nods.

"Then how about I call you Kenny?"

Kenji crosses his arms. Stares me down. "That's not even a little bit funny."

I grin. "It is, a little bit."

"How about I call your new boyfriend King Stick-Up-His-Ass?"

"He's not my boyfriend, Kenny."

Kenji shoots me a warning look. Points at my face. "I am not amused, princess."

"Hey, don't you need to shower?" I ask him.

"So now you're telling me I smell."

I roll my eyes.

He clambers to his feet. Sniffs his shirt. "Damn, I do kind of smell, don't I?"

"Go," I say. "Go and hurry back. I have a feeling this is going to be a long night."

THIRTY-SIX.

We're all sitting on benches around the training room. Warner is sitting next to me and I'm doing everything I can to make sure our shoulders don't accidentally touch.

"All right, so, first things first, right?" Winston says, looking around. "We have to get Sonya and Sara back. The question is how." A pause. "We have no idea how to get to the supreme."

Everyone looks at Warner.

Warner looks at his watch.

"Well?" Kenji says.

"Well, what?" Warner says, bored.

"Well, aren't you going to help us?" Ian snaps. "This is your territory."

Warner looks at me for the first time all evening. "You're absolutely sure you trust these people?" he asks me. "All of them?"

"Yes," I say quietly. "I really do."

"Very well." Warner takes a deep breath before addressing the group. "My father," he says calmly, "is on a ship. In the middle of the ocean."

"He's on a ship?" Kenji asks, startled. "The capital is a ship?"

"Not exactly." Warner hesitates. "But the point is, we have to lure him here. Going to him will not work. We have to create a problem big enough for him to be forced to come to us." He looks at me then. "Juliette says she already has a plan."

I nod. Take a deep breath. Study the faces before me. "I think we should take over Sector 45."

Stunned silence.

"I think, together," I tell them, "we'll be able to convince the soldiers to fight on our side. At the end of the day, no one is benefiting from The Reestablishment except for the people in charge. The soldiers are tired and hungry and probably only took this job because there were no other options." I pause. "We can rally the civilians and the soldiers. Everyone in the sector. Get them to join us. And they know me," I say. "The soldiers. They've already seen mea"they know what I can do. But all of us together?" I shake my head. "That would be amazing. We could show them that we're different. Stronger. We can give them hopea"a reason to fight back.

"And then," I say, "once we have their support, news will spread, and Anderson will be forced to come back here. He'll have to try and take us downa"he'll have no other choice. And once he's back, we take him out. We fight him and his army and we win. And then we take over the country."

"My goodness."

Castle is the first to speak.

"Ms. Ferrars," he says, "you've given this a great deal of thought."

I nod.

Kenji is looking at me like he's not sure if he should laugh or applaud.

"What do you think?" I ask, looking around.

"What if it doesn't work?" Lily says. "What if the soldiers are too scared to change their allegiance? What if they kill you instead?"

"That's a definite possibility," I say. "But I think if we're strong enougha"if the nine of us stand united, with all of our strengths combineda"I think they'll believe we can do something pretty amazing."

"Yeah but how will they know what our strengths are?" Brendan asks. "What if they don't believe us?"

"We can show them."

"And if they shoot us?" Ian counters.

"I can do it alone, if you're worried about that. I don't mind. Kenji was teaching me how to project my energy before the war, and I think if I can learn to master that, I could do some pretty scary things. Things that might impress them enough to join us."

"You can project?" Winston asks, eyes wide. "You mean you can, like, mass-kill everyone with your life-sucking thing?"

"Um, no," I say. "I mean, well, yes, I suppose I could do that, too, but I'm not talking about that. I mean I can project my strength. Not the . . . life-sucking thinga""

"Wait, what strength?" Brendan asks, confused. "I thought it's your skin that's lethal?"

I'm about to respond when I remember that Brendan and Winston and Ian were all taken hostage before I'd begun to seriously train. I don't know that they knew much about my progress at all.

So I start from the top.

"My . . . power," I say, "has to do with more than just my skin." I glance at Kenji. Gesture to him. "We'd been working together for a while, trying to figure out what it was, exactly, I was capable of, and Kenji realized that my true energy is coming from deep within me, not the surface. It's in my bones, my blood, and my skin," I try to explain. "My real power is an insane kind of superstrength.

"My skin is just one element of that," I tell them. "It's like the most heightened form of my energy, and the craziest form of protection; it's like my body has put up a shield. Metaphorical barbed wire. It keeps intruders away." I almost laugh, wondering when it became so easy for me to talk about this stuff. To be comfortable with it. "But I'm also strong enough to break through just about anything," I tell them, "and without even injuring myself. Concrete. Brick. Glassa""

"The earth," Kenji adds.

"Yes," I say, smiling at him. "Even the earth."

"She created an earthquake," Alia says eagerly, and I'm actually surprised to hear her voice. "During the first battle," she tells Brendan and Winston and Ian. "When we were trying to save you guys. She punched the ground and it split open. That's how we were able to get away."

The guys are gawking at me.