Page 107 of Fallen Thorns
“She’s messing with us.” Marianne.
“She’s going to hurt him, isn’t she?” Francesca said, biting her fist.
Coldness swept through the room. No one confirmed nor denied her statement. Truthfully, no one knew what to say.
We split into groups.Every remaining Thorn was willing to help. Marianne had chosen her crowd wisely and allocated each group a certain area of the city so that collectively, everyone covered as much ground as possible. The streets were oddly quiet for that time of year, and if anything, it made the search more difficult because people didn’t hunt in packs through streets in broad daylight. Our Manipulation helped us to fall relatively unnoticed, but every now and again there would be an odd passerby who would throw us a funny look or smile at us, possibly assuming we were participating in some sort of treasure hunt or a school trip.
Not knowing Lucienne didn’t help either. Marianne and some older Thorns had an understanding of how Isiah had worked his way around the area, but as far as any of us were concerned, Lucy wasn’t from here. Hadn’t been here long, so she could realistically have been anywhere… If she was even still in the city at all.
“She wouldn’t have left.There’s no point.” Mars paced through the woods around the river, their usual vigour fallen to that of a solemn puppy. “If she wants us to come to her, she should be right in front of us. She obviously knows exactly where we are, otherwise how could she have found…” their voice trailed off as they seemingly choked up with emotion.
“Ben,” I finished.Shut up, Arlo. You are above this.
Mars looked up at me, something lost from their face.
“You’ve gone so cold.”
I squinted my eyes a little before rubbing my hands together. “It is very cold,” I confirmed.
Not a good enough answer, apparently. “No, Arlo. You know that’s not what I mean.”
“I’m afraid I don’t.” We continued to walk while Mars searched for signs.
“You. You’re not yourself. You’ve been acting funny lately and I can’t really put my finger on it…” they sighed. “Well, Icouldn’tuntil now… you just don’t seem to care about things the way you used to. The Arlo I met cared so deeply about everyone and everything; he always wanted the best for people and tried to stay positive, yet now…” They stopped and glanced upwards, asking the sky whether they should speak their mind, it seemed.
They did.
“Do you even care about Ben?”
He’s like the older brother I never had.
Pathetic.
I acted surprised, placing both hands firmly in my trench pockets. “How dare you say that! Of course I care about him! I’m out here helping, aren’t I?”
Only that wins me a greater look of disappointment. “You see, that’s exactly what I mean. Arlo wouldn’t say that, he doesn’t word things like that, he always talks so… sweetly. Even when he doesn’t mean to nor realise it. The Arlo Isavedwouldn’t have questioned why we had to leave in such a rush. He wouldn’t have questioned why we couldn’t have waited for the later train. He wouldn’t have complained why we had to go straight to Marianne once we arrived…”
“I didn’t.”
Another sigh. “Your eyes did.” Mars stopped and turned to face me. I didn’t know how to react. Shocked? Surprised? Oblivious? I wasn’t used to acting human.
Reaching out their bare hand, they cupped their frozen fingers around my cheek, thumb pressing gently under my eye. I leaned into the touch, eyes falling hazy. Bare branches nodded around us as the distant hum of the river flowed from behind the trees. I closed my eyes as their thumb stroked across my skin.
I slowly exhaled through my nose.
Mars took a step closer to me, so that we were almost touching entirely. “The real Arlo,” they hissed, thumb pressing in harder to ruin the peace, “would never have letanyonedo that.”
The next thing I knew, I was shoved to the ground; my hands landed on the icy brown sludge beneath me. Arlo’s blond head was mere inches away from a hidden, jagged rock. Mars looked just as surprised at their strength as I did, though I suspected they were more alarmed at the fact that they had nearly seriously injured someone they claimed was their closest friend. We both stared at each other, wide-eyed, while Mars panted out clouds of cold air.
After a moment, my energy seeped back and a grin crawled across my face; encouraging Mars’ eyes to widen even further, and they stumbled back in sheer fear. Of course, their Arlo would have never reacted like that.
“I had dreams,” they started, slowly retreating towards the path while failing to hide their fear. “Recently, I’ve had horrible dreams which always end the same. You being taken over: your mind and body. You let it inside. The creature…” their voice shook as I held their stare. “You were Manipulating us all, fooling us. That Arlo…” they gestured up and down to my body, “was all but an act.” Their eyes glazed over in a sheen of sadness.
I said nothing, expression still holding.
“When you asked me to help you find the creature… I went behind Marianne’s back foryou.I kept quiet as I thought it was for the best.” They clapped their hands to the side of their thighs in surrender, holding their head back slightly to prevent falling tears. “You were seeing it, weren’t you? The creature. Themonster.You kept meeting it and you didn’t tell me. Youpromised.We had a deal, Arlo….” They looked towards the bank where the trees were bare and parted enough to see right through to the other side.
“Tell me I’m right.” They faced away from me. “Tell me I understand and that you Manipulated me. Manipulated all of us. Tell me I’m correct and that I know Arlo too well. Please. Give me this. I can’t… I tried so hard. Was that still not enough? Am I doomed to forever loseeveryonebecause of my ownblindness?”
