Children of Andromeda

“Will you stop that?” I whipped around. Sally rolled her eyes and continued to the sing off-key song. Her dark brown hair was tied into a nice braid. Which I had done for her. She is slightly ungrateful and extremely annoying. She wore a simple yellow dress, wearing white sneakers.

“Stars in the sky- “she sang. Alex barely looked up at us, from where he sat under the tree. 

“Can you two ever not argue?” he asked. His blonde hair was almost like golden sunlight. His blue eyes shimmered as the sea. Unlike Sally, both Alex and I were dressed to not bring attention to ourselves in these woods. We were wearing black shirts and black pants.

“It’s not my fault,” Sally said. “I should be able to sing whenever I want to.”

“When you’re able to sing on key, we’ll talk,” I said. 

“Alex!” Sally complained.

Now that I think about it. We did sound like bickering siblings. And we’re close to being that. The stillness of the forest was beautiful, but it was also weirdly unsettling. Sally was about to open her mouth when a branch snapped. 

Alex’s eyes widened as he put a finger to his lips. Someone is here. Sally started shaking. We’re not going back there. Never again will we be prisoners. I stood with my fists raised ready to fight our way out. Alex got up from the ground and started climbing up the tree. 

I know what he’s doing. Sally grabbed a stick from the ground and tried to look tough. This isn’t going to be the end. They still need eight more of us, not including our little trio. With all sixteen of us, the power of destruction could fall into the wrong hands. That’s why we weren’t supposed to be near any others.

But we are kind of important out of all of the kids. Sally is Almach, Alex is Mirach, and I’m Alpheratz. We’re the strongest out of all sixteen. If they want to fight. They picked the wrong teenagers.

“Come out, we know you’re there!” I shouted. The bushes shook, as a boy came scrambling out. He had light brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a bright blue shirt and pants. Wait…this is Oliver. He’s one of the kids. I remember him. He always seemed scared of everything.

“Oliver?” Sally ran and hugged him. I forgot that the two were close friends. I’m so glad that he wasn’t one of those Corps of Bolt. 

“Sally,” he smiled. 

I don’t get why Alex was still up in the tree. He knows Oliver. Oliver isn’t the enemy. This should be a happy reunion. I’m glad that Oliver is here. We’re going to wreck the Corps of Bolt’s plans. 

“Oliver,” I joined in on the hugging.

“It’s so good to see you,” he said. “Where’s Alex? I thought he escaped with you. He didn’t get caught, did he?”

“Long story,” I said. 

There’s a reason why Alex hasn’t come down. And I wasn’t about to just say out loud that he is up in the tree ready to descend upon any and everybody. Gotta think smarter not harder. 

His shirt was giving me an eye sore. Poor planning on trying to keep hidden in the woods. However, Sally was wearing the yellow dress. Alex hasn’t come down yet. Which means that he can see something up in the tree.

How did Oliver find us? We did a pretty good job covering our tracks to stay hidden. Why was he wearing bright colors that would draw attention to us? Unless that was the plan. I shoved Oliver away from Sally and me. 

“What’s wrong with you, Harper?” Sally glared at me. “Why did you do that?”

“Stay back, Sally,” I said, raising my fists.

“Woah, calm down, Harper,” Oliver took a step backwards. 

“Traitor!” I spat.

“Traitor?” he looked confused. “I would never betray you. Why would you even suggest that?”

“You’re one good actor,” I said. “But I think you’re forgetting about one thing.”

“And what’s that?” he asked.

“You are supposed to blend in the forest,” I said. “You’re practically a walking neon cone.”

“You’re too smart for your own good, Harper,” Oliver said. 

“Oliver,” Sally said. “What is going on? You wouldn’t betray us, would you? I thought you were my friend.”

“They’re over here!” Oliver shouted.

“Run!” I said. But we barely got a few feet away before we got tackled down to the ground. We were dragged to our feet. But two large burly men held my arms behind my back, the same with Sally. 

“How could you?” Sally shouted at Oliver.

“I won’t be the one who is going to die,” Oliver said. “They offered me freedom. And I took it. You know that you would have taken in within a second. Without a second thought.”

“I can’t believe you,” I scoffed.

“What doesn’t make sense, Harper?” Oliver asked.

“The fact that you thought that these guys will let you leave alive,” I said. “You’re a prisoner as much as we are.”

“So, what did happen to Alex?” Oliver asked. “He didn’t ditch you, did he?”

“No, I didn’t,” Alex jumped down from the tree.

“Alex, welcome to the reunion,” Oliver smiled.

“Not a bad plan, for a twelve-year-old,” Alex said. “But if you think this is a win. It’s not.”

“Have you come to save the day?” Oliver asked. “Typical of you.”

“You know me so well,” Alex rolled his eyes. With swift hands he blasted the light forward at Oliver. One thing as we get older, we get stronger in our powers. Oliver being only twelve isn’t as strong as we are at seventeen. 

Oliver fell backwards, groaning in pain. Alex turned to face us. His hand ready to blast again. But I knew that it was no use. These guys wore the uniform that resisted our powers. Unless Alex was going to fight these guys, nothing is going to work.

“You have to go, Alex,” I said. “You can’t let them catch you. They cannot get all sixteen of-"

The burly man who had been holding me back, wrapped a hand around my mouth. I saw Alex’s eyes glisten as he thought for a few seconds. I really hope he wasn’t going to argue with me on this. He has to go.

“I will be back,” he vowed. “To free you!”

Oliver slowly started getting up, and Alex sprinted into the dark forest.

“Idiots!” Oliver glared at our captors. “Why would you let him get away?”

“We had to hold these ones,” Sally’s captor said.

“It’s fine,” Oliver came towards me.

He wasn’t that tall. He got close to being my shoulder’s height. But then again, this is all before puberty. He’s going to be very tall in a few years. Oliver smiled up at me. Not a cute kid’s smile. More like I want to hurt you, kind of smile.

“He’s going to come back,” Oliver said. “We both know that he wouldn’t leave you. And we’ll be waiting for him.”

We were carried into the black van. Sally looked at me, terrified. I wanted to reassure her. That everything was going to be alright. But I don’t even know if it will be. Everything went dark.