Faye wasn’t at all surprised to see Kat sitting on her bed when she arrived home. 

Faye closed her bedroom door shut behind her as she crept into her bedroom, bringing a hand through her hair.  Kat stared blankly at her with wide eyes.  Faye wondered how long her sister had waited there, how long she’d sat there with her legs crossed over one another.  Staring endlessly at a closed door.  She should have felt bad that Kat waited here for so long, should have felt bad that her little sister was probably driving herself insane.  However, it was rather difficult when the only reason Kat was like this was because she wanted to get Faye in trouble.

“You’re back,” Kat said tonelessly as Faye moved into the room.

Faye shrugged off her sweatshirt and threw it aimlessly onto the floor.  She plopped onto her bed beside Kat, staring at the door for a moment before sighing.  “You should have gone to bed.”

Kat twisted around to face Faye with wide eyes.  “Go to bed?” she whispered.  “You expected me to go to bed after what happened?”

Faye’s eyes scanned Kat slowly.  She looked absolutely crazed as though she’d been locked in a padded cell for weeks.  Her hair was all over the place, and whatever little mascara she’d had on fell in lines on her cheeks.  Her clothes were all wrinkled as though she’d rolled around in an aimless fit to stay calm when she couldn’t manage to think straight.  And her eyes.  They were wide, so wide.  Wider than Faye had ever seen them. 

Kat was frightening her to be honest.

“Nothing happened,” Faye whispered.

Kat’s eyes narrowed slightly, but they were still wider than usual.  “You’re bullshitting me,” she snapped.  Faye blinked.  She’d never really heard her sister swear before.  It was odd.  “You have been for weeks.  You think I don’t know that you’re not really going to Errika’s when you sneak out?  You may have Mom fooled, but you haven’t fooled me.  And your reaction to the last broadcast wasn’t just because of the dumb Campout.  It was bigger than that.  Like you were the reason for it.”

Faye didn’t answer at first.  What was she supposed to say?  She couldn’t keep lying to Kat; she obviously wasn’t taking any of Faye’s excuses anymore.  But if she told her . . . Kat’s life would be at stake.  “Look, I know that you think you’re entitled to having all the information,” Faye whispered.  “But I’m not telling you because I want to keep you safe.”

“I know.”  Kat sighed, wiping the back of her hand across her face.  “I knew the second after you slipped on Terra’s name.  I knew this was bigger than any stupid excuse to get you grounded.”

Faye stared at Kat for a long time.  “This is the most understanding I think you’ve ever been.  Ever.”

Kat struggled to laugh but failed.  “I just want to understand,” she mumbled, her voice shaking.  “I want to understand where you’re going, why you’re going there, and how Terra could be alive when you and Mom buried her.”  She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them.  They shined with tears.  “I just want to understand something big.  Something more than hand-me-downs and the latest fashion.  I want to do something important, too.”

Faye nodded.  She understood where Kat was coming from.  For the first time she understood something Kat was saying.  She understood.  “I used to feel that way about Terra,” Faye confessed.  “I used to idolize her, to look up to her and wish that I could be so much more like her than I was.  I wanted to be important, to be bright, to be loved by everyone the way she was.  I wanted to be exactly like Terra because she succeeded in life where I didn’t.  She wasn’t afraid of anything.  I wanted to understand things like Terra did, to look at people like I knew more than they did and there was nothing they could do about it.  But I couldn’t because I was me.”

Kat sighed shakily.  “I’ve always wanted Mom to look at me the way she looks at you. I wanted to have my own clothes, to not feel like I was only here because Terra died.  I can’t help but feel like if Terra came back here Mom would give me up in a heartbeat.  Terra will always come first to you guys.  And I’ll always come last.”

Faye shook her head, wrapping her arms around Kat and pulling her to her.  Kat collapsed in Faye’s arms, weeping freely.  “Kat, how could you ever think that?” Faye whispered.  “You are just as much my sister was Terra is.  And I would do everything in my power to keep you safe.  Don’t you get that’s why I keep you in the dark?”

Kat nodded, continuing to sob into Faye’s shirt.  “I’m sorry,” she cried.  “I’m sorry for everything.  I’m such a brat, and I’m a terrible person, and I know that I annoy you so much—”

Holding her out at arm’s length, Faye stared Kat down with fierce determination.  “You may annoy the hell out of me,” Faye whispered.  “And you may be a brat.  But you are not a terrible person.  And Mom and I do care about you.  I may not show it that well, but that’s because we’re too busy arguing all the time.  You know Mom loves you, don’t you?”

Kat nodded, tears continuing to stream down her cheeks.  “But I will never compare to Terra,” she whispered.  “I’ll never be good enough.”

Faye rolled her eyes, pulling Kat to her again.  “Jeez, Kat,” Faye mused, bringing a hand through her sister’s hair.  “No one can compare to Terra.  Not even me.”

With another shaky sigh Kat pulled away from Faye, wiping the tears from her eyes.  She seemed so young, so vulnerable.  And Faye’s heart yearned to comfort her, to hug her again.  It didn’t happen often—Faye wanting to hug Kat—but it was happening now.  For once Faye felt like she and Kat were on the same page.

“So Terra is alive,” Kat said, her eyes searching Faye’s face as though for the answer that she already had.  “She didn’t kill herself.”        

Faye sighed.  “You already know the answer, and it would be a lot safer for me not to tell you.”  Faye smiled sadly.  “Kat, just promise me something.”

Kat nodded silently.

“If one day I don’t come back home and the Government gives you some shit story about an accident, don’t believe them.  I won’t have fallen; I won’t have jumped off a cliff.  If anyone killed me it was them.  If I die it’s because the Government did it, not anyone else.”

The | Gate

“Do we really have to do this?”

Courtnie’s eyes latched onto Fortis’s for a single moment before returning to the task at hand.  She slipped on her gloves, a smirk on her face.  It was almost time, her inner voice sang.  Almost time to bring this to an end.  She was excited to say the least.  Even Fortis couldn’t bring her down now.  “Of course,” she said lightly.  “Come on, Fortis.  It’ll all be over soon.  Isn’t that a good thing?”

Fortis frowned, his lips tugging downward.  He, unlike her, made no move to dress up for the occasion.  In fact, he hadn’t even done his hair.  It was like he’d just woken up from bed and had thrown on a random pair of clothes he’d found on his bedroom floor.  A pair of jeans and a white shirt with a suited jacket and a pair of classy shoes.  He dressed exactly like his mindset: torn and confused.

“I just don’t think we should move in like this—”

“No, you don’t think I should kill that little twit,” Courtnie corrected.  “Fortis, we’ve been over this.  Stop looking at her like a daughter and see her for what she is: a traitor to everything the Government stands for.  We need to put her down.”

“You say it like she’s an animal,” Fortis grumbled.  “She’s a human being, Courtnie.  And she is my daughter.  Your daughter—”

“I’d kill Kat Caldwell in two seconds flat if she betrayed the Government.  Daughter or not.  See, Fortis, that’s the difference between us.  Our priorities are different.  I don’t have a relationship with Kat, nor do I really care about her.  She’s not my priority.  My priority is Cesve as a whole.”

“If you don’t care about the people,” Fortis murmured, “then how do you care about Cesve at all?”

“I care about the people as a whole!” Courtnie snapped venomously.  “I do not care about each and every individual human being.  I do not care about any of the Caldwells, nor do I care about any other family really.  But I care about keeping their world safe.  I care about keeping order for them.  And your daughter, Fortis, has threatened that order.  So now I’m going to take out the threat.  Do you understand that?”

Fortis sighed, dragging a hand down his face.  He hadn’t been getting much sleep, Courtnie observed.  In all truth she hadn’t been getting much sleep either.  She’d been staying up late at night searching for Terra, waiting for the right moment to tear her entire operation apart from the seams.  And now that moment had come.  And she wasn’t about to let Fortis ruin that for her.

“I don’t understand,” Fortis drawled, “how someone so heartless could claim to care so much.”

Courtnie stared at Fortis for a long time.  He sounded resigned, as if he really didn’t give a single damn how she reacted to his words.  And she supposed he didn’t.  Maybe he’d become so torn up and defeated inside that he didn’t care about anything.  But of course he did care about something.  Poor, poor Terra.  Terra this, Terra that.  Oh, please spare Terra’s life.  Well, she wasn’t going to.  They’d tried it Fortis’s way.

It was Courtnie’s turn now.

“Maybe your heart is clouding your judgment,” Courtnie seethed.  “Maybe you should try not caring so much.  It would hurt less that way.”

“It would, but life would then be pointless.”  Fortis smiled sadly.  “You live a pointless life, Courtnie.  You care about no one but yourself and help no one but yourself.  If you continuously treat everyone the way you do, no one will miss you when you’re gone.”

“How can you stand here and say these things to your own sister?” Courtnie hissed.  “You claim that I’m heartless, that I’m pointless, that I do nothing but destroy, that I’m cruel, that I’m everything except good, and yet you’re the one who is verbally abusing me every second you get.  How is that any better than me?”

Fortis’s smile remained as he said.  “You’re only taking it as verbal abuse because you refuse to see the truth in it.”  He twisted around, facing away from Courtnie now as he readied himself to leave the room.  “I will go with you to retrieve the girl, but after that I’m done with you and this place.  I’ll be leaving Cesve as quickly as possible.”

Courtnie felt her stomach drop.  “Where will you go, Fortis?  You have no idea what’s outside.  There are no boats, no planes here.  You haven’t a single way of leaving unless you plan on swimming.”

“I’d rather drown in the ocean than stay here with you.”

With that, Fortis stormed out of the room, the door slamming shut behind him.

The | Gate

Terra smiled from the doorway of Kole’s bedroom as Alex sat on the edge of it, whispering something to his brother that Terra couldn’t hear.  She could have easily tuned in on their conversation, but she didn’t want to.  No, this moment was not one to be intruded on.  Terra could remember it like it was yesterday: talking to Faye like this, hugging her before she went to bed.  Being with her all the time. 

A lot of girls despised their sisters.  They found them so irritating, so unbearable.  But Terra never felt that way about Faye.  Faye was one of the most important things in Terra’s life.  She always had been and always would be.  Faye was more important to Terra than life itself.  She longed to be with Faye now, with her mother.  She missed them so much.  So much, in fact, that Terra sometimes wished she’d never acted upon hers and Daneigh’s similarities.  If she hadn’t pushed it . . . none of this would have happened.

None of it.

Terra blinked, mentally shaking the thoughts away as Alex stood up from Kole’s bed and moved toward her.  She shifted to the side as though to allow him passage and he immediately squeezed by her whilst gesturing for her to follow him.  Terra didn’t hesitate to follow him down the hall and into his bedroom.  What reason was there to?  Besides, they’d decided that she would be sleeping in his room until they could find other arrangements. 

“You really love your brother, don’t you?” Terra murmured as she closed Alex’s bedroom door shut.  Her eyes flicked around as she took in her surroundings.  His room was immaculate, completely free of any clutter whatsoever.  A queen-size bed lay in the far corner of the room right in front of his window with a navy-blue comforter over the top.  There was a desk at the opposite side of the room which was completely organized.  Terra admired him for keeping his desk so organized.  She’d never be able to do that.

Right next to the desk was a bookcase filled with books that Terra barely recognized.  They were nothing worth reading, Terra knew that already.  Most books in Cesve were terrible, completely missing one huge aspect: the other gender.  Terra didn’t blame anyone in Cesve for not noticing this, however.  How could they?  It wasn’t their fault Courtnie and Fortis left them blinded.

“Yes, I do,” Alex admitted, leaning against his bureau which rested beside his bed.  He crossed his arms over his chest.  “And you really love your sister, don’t you?”

Terra’s eyes raked Alex before answering.  He was rather attractive with his fit build and piercing blue eyes.  Shaggy dark brown hair fell over his head, making it look like he just rolled out of bed.  He did look a lot like Errika.  It was a wonder she didn’t figure it out before reading the flash drive’s information.  “Yeah, I do,” she replied finally.  “A lot.”

Alex tossed Terra a small smile.  “Family is the most important thing in this world,” he murmured.  “And to think that they’re not actually family.”

“They may not be blood related,” Terra murmured, “but they’re still family.  That will never change.”

Alex sighed.  “I’m just so worried about him, you know?  He doesn’t understand the depth of what he’s doing.”

Terra nodded, perching on Alex’s bed.  It was rather comfortable, she thought.  She was almost sad she’d be sleeping on the floor.  “You have a right to be worried,” she told him.  “I’m worried about Faye, too.  I may not show it, but I am.  She reminds me so much of me. . . .”  Terra sighed.  “I didn’t understand the depth of what I was doing, either.  And I got my sister killed for it.”

Alex shook his head.  “You didn’t force Daneigh to jump off that cliff, Terra.  She made that choice on her own.”

Terra stared straight ahead.  But of course it was her fault.  It always had been.  That was one thing she could say she agreed with Courtnie on.  Whenever Courtnie threw Daneigh in Terra’s face, it was like Terra was there all over again watching in horror as her sister threw herself off the cliff’s edge.  If she hadn’t gone running, if she’d just gone with the Government instead of trying to get to Daneigh first. . . .

“I may not have forced her,” Terra whispered, “but I made it so she had no other choice.”

Alex sat down beside her.  He had a thoughtful expression on his face, as though he was trying to pick the correct words to say.  “She did have a choice, though.  Because if there weren’t another choice, you’d be dead, too.”

“Daneigh and I may have looked identical, but we were very different people.”  Terra brought a hand through her hair.  “She feared the prison wards more than she feared the beast on the other side.  The thought of being locked up for the rest of her life terrified her more than you can possibly imagine.  We all have fears.  Mine is that I’ll truly lose Faye, that I’ll never be able to see her again.  Losing my family scares me so much.  Faye, well, she used to be frightened by the beast on the other side.  She has different fears now, but she still has fears all the same.  Daneigh was terrified of being locked up like a common animal.  And that’s why I tried to warn her before they could get her.  I knew I was risking it by running to her, but. . . .”

Alex knelt in front of her grabbing ahold of her shoulders.  “You did not make Daneigh kill herself, Terra.”

Terra looked away.  She hated being comforted, hated being told that everything was okay.  She always moved on in her own way, always figured things out for herself.  She didn’t even like Faye comforting her.  Something about it made Terra feel weak, like she was still a child who couldn’t defend herself against her problems.  “I—”

“Faye has learned to face her fears, hasn’t she?” Alex demanded, his expression determined.  “She’s moved past them.  She met the ‘creature’ on the other side, even came on this side to hang out with them.  Kole told me how she was terrified of falling but came over anyway, forcing herself to get over the fear and move on with her life.  Faye decided not to let her fear control her.  And do you let your fear control you?  Obviously not.  If you did, you wouldn’t tolerate Faye coming over to this side.  You would want to keep her in a little bubble of safety.  Daneigh let her fear take over her and that is what controlled her.  Not you, not the Government.  In the end Daneigh chose not to get over her fear.  And that was her choice, not yours.”

Terra couldn’t help but smile at Alex as he gripped her shoulders tightly.  “What are you afraid of?” she murmured, suddenly curious. 

Alex let his hands fall away from her shoulders as he deliberated.  It was like he hadn’t truly thought of his fears before.  “I’m afraid of many things,” he confessed.  “I’m afraid of Kole getting hurt, I’m afraid of not understanding a situation.  I’m afraid of the Government figuring out what we’re doing and killing us all.  And I guess I’m a little afraid of you.”

Terra cocked an eyebrow.  “Me?  Flattering, really.”

Alex laughed shortly.  “Not afraid like the other things.  An excited sort of scared I supposed.  You’re just . . . different.”

“Different?”

Alex nodded.  “I can’t put my finger on it, really.  But as strange as it was to meet Faye for the first time, it was even stranger to meet you.  Not just because Faye had just hypothesized that the Government murdered you, but because you radiated power.  You still do.  It’s like no one can truly hurt you no matter how hard they try.”

Terra snickered, shaking her head.  “I may radiate power, but that’s only because I project confidence.  And why?  Because I’m pretty damn cocky.  I probably wouldn’t have made it as far as I did if I weren’t so cocky.  And maybe I would have made it further if I weren’t so cocky.  We’ll never know, will we?”

Alex gave her a lopsided smile.  “I suppose not.”

The | Gate

“And the hero saved the two little boys from their cages and they were finally set free,” Zander murmured as he read the last line of the kid’s story.  “The end.”

Zachary murmured sleepily as Zander snapped the book shut and stood up.  Though Zachary was surely old enough to go to sleep without bedtime stories, it soothed them both for Zander to read before Zachary went to bed.  He wasn’t quite sure why, but it made him feel more at ease to be by his brother’s bedside.  It was so mundane, so normal.  Maybe that was why.  With everything else going on, this felt like the only normal thing Zander truly had left.

“Zander,” Zachary murmured sleepily.  “I miss Dad.”

Zander brought a hand through Zachary’s hair and sighed.  “I miss Dad, too.  But we’ll be okay.  We’ve got each other.”

Zachary nodded, his eyes slipping shut as he rolled over and fell into a light slumber.  Zander stared at him for a short moment before moving toward the door and flicking off the light, closing the door shut behind him as he exited.  He sighed deeply, bringing a hand through his hair as he trudged down the stairs.  He missed his father so much.  Life was so much easier when he was here.  He was able to hang out with his friends without being worried that the sitter was mistreating his brother in any way.  He was able to live life the way he wanted to.  But now?  Now he was practically a father himself.

Someone knocked on the door.

Zander’s eyes narrowed as he wiped his hands on his jeans before sauntering toward the front door.  Who could possibly be here at this hour?  It surely wasn’t Terence, Seth, Kole, Alex, or one of the girls.  They’d all agreed to call before they stopped by.  So would could it—

His question died before it even began as suddenly the door burst from its hinges and flew inward, mere inches from where Zander stood.  Zander let out a cry of shock, falling backwards on his butt as he watched with wide eyes as the ones at fault stepped inside.

Fortis Caine sighed as he stepped into the house, a few guards behind him.  There was a woman by his side—Courtnie Featherstrom he was guessing.  She was probably the one who ruled the Government on the girl’s side.  At least, that’s what he gathered from what Faye, Errika, and Terra said.  And what else he gathered?  She was a cruel, cruel human being.

“Zander Khadel,” Courtnie drawled, taking a step forward.  She seemed to be an especially good mood, Zander couldn’t help but notice.  “We’re here to retrieve Terra Caldwell.  Would you care to fetch her for me?”

The | Gate

“Tell me where she is.”

Zander cried out in horror as the guards slapped Zachary again causing the little boy to scream in pain.  He wanted to grab Zachary, to pull him out of the Government’s hands, but he couldn’t.  He himself was strapped to a chair, blood falling in a line where Courtnie had sliced it with her knife.  He was bruised, he was bloody, but he didn’t care about that right now.  All that mattered to him was Zachary’s well-being.

“Let him go!” Zander croaked.  “Please.  He’s just a little boy—”

“Then tell me where she is,” Courtnie hissed.  When Zander didn’t answer, she rolled her eyes.  “Honestly, boy, it’s like you don’t have a brain.”  She gestured to the guards and the man on Zachary’s left side grinned maliciously.  Zander watched, mortified as the guard pulled out a pocket knife.  He tried to scream out, but when he started to, Courtnie slapped him upside the head and his scream died in his throat.

The knife swiped across Zachary’s cheek and he screeched in pain.  Tears dripped from the little boy’s eyes.  “Zander,” he wept.  “Zander, help me!”

“Your little brother is begging you, dear Zander Khadel.  What are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know where she is,” Zander rasped.  “But I know who hid her.”

From the corner of his eye he could see Fortis glaring at the far wall.  He hadn’t participated in any of the torturing this evening.  He’d stayed back as Courtnie practically threw Zander up the stairs, stood back as the guards hauled Zachary out of bed and held him out as though to mock Zander as Courtnie tied him to the chair he’d just been sitting in just moments ago.  Fortis didn’t seem to want to participate at all.  It was like he was against this.  But, if he was, why wasn’t he doing anything to stop it?

“Oh, goody!”  Courtnie clapped her hands cheerfully.  “More people to torture, this is just lovely.  What are their names?”

Zander stared at Courtnie in disgust.  How could she live with herself?  Getting excited to torture people?  What was wrong with her?

When Zander didn’t answer fast enough, Courtnie gestured to the guards again.  This time, they began twisting Zachary’s arm, so much in fact that Zachary began to scream and cry in pain.  “Stop!” Zander hissed.  “I’ll tell you, just let him go!”

Courtnie nodded and gestured to the guards again.  All at once they let the little boy drop to the floor where he stayed there weeping in a small ball.  “There, they let him go.  But if you don’t tell me, I’ll just have them pick him up again.”  She smiled evilly.  “Who has been hiding Terra Caldwell?”

For a short moment Zander was silent.  He didn’t want to do it—he truly didn’t.  But if he didn’t tell Courtnie who was behind this, they were going to kill Zachary.  Killing him was one thing, but killing Zachary was a completely different story.  He would not stand to see his brother hurt.  Zachary’s safety was his responsibility.  “It was Faye Caldwell,” he whispered resignedly.  “Faye Caldwell and Kole Frost.  They hid her.  They started this entire thing.”

Courtnie laughed a loud, obnoxious laugh.  “Thank you so much, Zander.  You’ve been most helpful.”

Zander chomped down on his cheek as Courtnie untied him from the chair.  I’m sorry, Kole, his mind whispered.  It was nothing personal.  I had to save my brother.