Chapter 16

Se-le-ni

I stared at the door closing. It wasn’t fair, not now. I slumped down on the sofa, and I felt Ka-ma-la’s gaze on me, but I couldn’t meet it. Who knew when Me-la-ni would come back, or even if. You never knew what mission the Seed would take you on.

I heard the others chatting, and Hamid’s shrill voice as he must have told what could only be a story, but I paid them no heed. Me-la-ni was gone, and I didn’t know if she would come back.

Joshua came back to sit on the sofa. I glanced at him, and he smiled. He’d been like a father to me back then, when the war last raged. He must have understood, of course, even then, what I felt for Me-la-ni, but he’d never mentioned it. Now, he got up and gestured for me to come with him. I followed him without a word, no longer caring what happened.

We couldn’t leave the building, not as long as the protection was in place, so he took me to the corner, out of earshot of the others. Just like Me-la-ni had done.

“I’m sorry”, he said.

He put a hand on me.

“I’m sorry”, he whispered.

I don’t know what made me do it, but I leaned into him, and he held me. I don’t know how long I stayed there, but after a while, I could hear Hamid saying,

“It has found him.”

I let go of Joshua and looked back at the others.

“It has found him”, he declared again.

Joshua nodded, and we walked back.

“Now what?”, Joshua asked as he sat down.

“Now, the fun begins.”

Hamid turned to Ka-ma-la.

“We’ll need to travel.”

She nodded.

“But we’ll need to take it in steps. Moving too fast will let him see us.”

“Are we leaving now?”, Joshua asked.

“You bet we are.”

Hamid got up and walked over to Ka-ma-la. We gathered around her and waited until Hamid had finished discussing with her.

“Are you ready?”, he gleamed.

I took hold of Joshua’s sleeve, glanced at the door one last time, and then the world shifted.