Page 14 of Rising

No, not determining my worth, determining whether my soul was good enough to bring back to a second chance at civilization. Right before the sun started to set for the day, she announced her presence. Told me there was a camp not too far off from here. If I wanted to, I could come back and join them, but she needed to make some arrangements first and she’d be back. She took off before I could even give her my answer.

Little did I know it was a test, the first of many. One based on trustworthiness. To see if I would follow her back to The Compound, or worse, try to catch her off guard and take advantage of her. The After was no place for women to travel alone, but I knew from the moment I saw her I could trust her. So I waited for her to return.

In the morning I awoke to her and Jax standing over me, my bags packed and a containerfor my little friends,she had said, winking at me. Doing her best to welcome what mattered to me, what I had left, despite how odd it must have appeared at first glance.

She wasn’t General yet. Just a soldier out enjoying the sun that many had been afraid would never return only months ago, searching for new recruits, for new soldiers to protect the home she had started to establish.

But she was smart. Even then, I could see the intelligence that ran deep in her through and through. She let me forge my own path at The Compound. Not once did she try to persuade or pressure me to fulfill a certain role. It was my own offer that got me to where I was now. Amaia hadn’t been surprised when I brought it to her. Had long ago thought of it herself, but she wantedmeto be the one to speak it into existence. Told me that how I lived here at The Compound would be my own destiny to fulfill. Back when hope filled her eyes. Not the way they were now, not as burdened and now lost.

I was a foster kid who fought tooth and nail for my sister’s future after our parents passed, one that didn’t exist anymore. Never did I think I’d have the opportunity to build my own. Not in The Before. If I wasn’t already sure of it, I was now. Her sincerity not only in her words, but through her actions from the months prior sealed the fate to my future. From that moment on, my gifts and talents were at her disposal and hers only. I answered Amaia and no one else, not even Prescott. It was understood and never challenged.

I preferred things this way, a life in the shadows. Playing good soldier but always being something just a bit more. No one knew of my specialty aside from the people in this room and Prescott, and it would stay this way until Amaia said otherwise, though I know she’d never expose me without my say. As far as we knew, there weren’t any others with the same ability. At least not in this territory, though I suspected somewhere out there in this big world of ours, there had to be another, maybe even a lot. There was good reason to keep my talents hush-hush.

Reina’s loud voice snapped me back into focus on what was happening around me. Shame on me for letting my awareness slip with Amaia around.

The red undertone had seeped from her sepia skin, curls now coming loose with every shaking stroke she took through her hair, absentmindedly forgetting the scrunchie that reined each spiraling curl in.

I could see it in her face. She was drained and had nothing left to offer, not at this moment, at least. I wouldn’t question her decision to make Seth lieutenant, not now and not ever. I trusted her with every fiber in my body and I owed her my life and the life I now lived for my sister, who couldn’t.

Whatever her wishes were, I would follow them. Enforce them. Protect her in any way that I could, for my now fallen brother and for her.

The others argued with her for hours, patience growing thin and the desire to see their pain from a place of understanding drained away under her own immense grief. This was enough.

I cleared my throat, a bit scratchy from the time that had passed without use. “General, if I may.”

“You may not, actually.” Tomoe took a step towards me, one of the few women here that would step to me in challenge, even amongst the soldiers. We stared each other down, both unrelenting and unwilling to look away first. Neither willing to submit.

Only in this room would it be allowed. Out there beyond these doors, I outranked her. But I knew what she meant to Amaia, so I allowed what she allowed. And behind closed doors, we were a family. Ranking went out the window and all were encouraged to speak freely. She preferred it that way. A true leader who valued all voices and felt every opinion mattered, was worth speaking on.

“Oh, Jesus, Joseph and Mary, could you twopleasestop whatever weird eye challenge thing you’re doing and focus on the facts? Seth literally lost his mind in front ofeverylast one of your soldiers less than a week ago. That’s not just showing insubordination, but could also be perceived as a show of power and strength that you yourself could not present,” Reina said exasperatedly.

“Or a show of power and strength that onlystrengthensmy claim for the position,” Seth chimed in, now leaned back in Amaia’s chair.Please Lord, don’t let him put his feet on the desk, just this once.

“Tosome,it could be perceived as weak leadership under afemaleGeneral, one that’s incapable of controllingmenbeneathher position. It’s a catch-22 and you know it.”

“And to others it showed support, undying loyalty, if you will.” His boots thudded under the hollow wooden desk.

Fuck.Within a blink of an eye, Reina unleashed a stream of water towards Seth’s face, nearly knocking him out of his seat. Seth’s face went from red fueled by anger to red of sadness as tears poured from his face. Before that emotion had a chance to fully take hold, his mouth formed into an O, a guttural scream unleashed from his mouth and his brows shot up in true horror. Reina’s face intensified and Amaia stared off into the distance, bored, allowing her friends to have a few moments of sibling debauchery.

“Feet off the desk, Seth.”

Reina’s powers pulled from Seth as she turned back to face her friend, who had spoken her first words in hours. Seth gasped for breath, veins popping in his face and neck from either embarrassment or anger. Likely both. It had to suck knowing even as a Lieutenant, his sister could kick his ass without even lifting a finger.

“I chose your brother, Reina, because it’s exactly what Jax would have wanted had he been given the opportunity to appoint a replacement himself.”

I tried not to wince at Amaia’s words, though it was hard to pretend as if they didn’t sting a bit. While Amaia had become my newfound sister, Jax had become the brother I never had but always wanted.

“But more than anything, I chose Seth because it ismydecision.Ibelieve he deserves this opportunity to exhibit signs of leadership while helpingmytroops maintain the level of intensity and fearlessness that’s going to be needed to keep this place safe. It’ll give us time to figure out what the hell is going on. I’mhopingthat having Seth as my second will mitigate any immediate threat to The Compound. At this point, I feel like it’s only a plus that he is unpredictable to most, because the very threat of catching Seth on the wrong day may be theonlything standing between us and a full-on coup.” The defensiveness left her voice as her face softened, remembering that here she was not the General, but a sister to those who were hurting.

“And to be honest with you all, having Seth as my second may fill in any gaps that my leadership may be missing. Maybe we need a little good cop, bad cop around here to keep people in check. Maybe good cop, good cop is what lets us miss things the first time around.”

On that note, the girls relented. Not wanting to say anything at all, as no one could be sure it wasn’t true, as much as it would suck to admit. And we didn’t lie to one another in this room. That wasn’t how things worked.

Reina and Tomoe, now visibly exhausted as well, spent a few minutes cuddling up next to Amaia. Nestled in like cats apologizing for scratching their already wounded owner. Once they left, Seth gave her a pat on the back. As sincere as the guy could get for a friend in need, I guess, better than how he treated his own sister, that’s for sure.

Once it was the two of us left, one look in her eyes told me she wasn’t yet ready for me to go. Mind racing, I made my way over to the couch, ready to comfort my sister in her time of need.

Amaia

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