Raging Sea (Undertow, #2)(72)

We gather in the park. The children, Riley’s family, my own, Bex, and Arcade. Fathom hovers in the shadows. Everyone is looking at me. I suspect they are holding their breath until I give them permission to breathe.

“You need to say something to them,” Riley whispers to me. “They’re all afraid.”

“They should be afraid,” I whisper back.

“They don’t need to know that,” he says. “Give them some hope. Who knows what could happen? You survived the first attack, didn’t you? You didn’t think you’d survive this place, but you did. Miracles happen. I just had one happen to me.”

He gives me that smile again, and I take it.

“You’re that boy who pushes people to do things they’re not comfortable with, right?”

He nods earnestly. “Talk to them.”

I turn and look out on their faces. They stare back at me, waiting for some kind of guidance, but I have no idea what to say. I bet my dad would nail a speech like the one they need. Even Bex would be good at it. But it’s me.

Breathe, Lyric.

“Today is the day,” I stammer. “We’ve been training for it and now it’s here, and we’re going to save the world. I’m not going to lie and I’m not going to candy-coat it like Spangler and Doyle did. Some of us may die today. We are children going off to face monsters. There are only thirty-three of us. There are thousands of them. We are saddled with human feelings like mercy and fear and kindness. They make us weak. Our enemies aren’t burdened with things like that. They only know revenge and bloodlust.

“So why send us? The answer is simple. We are special. We can do things that a normal person cannot, and we’re fighting something the world cannot deal with on its own. So it’s up to us. That’s a lot to put on our shoulders. But like I said, we’re special. We can breathe underwater. We have weapons that can break the ocean apart. And we’ve been trained to fight. But that’s not why we’re going to win. We’re going to beat those things because we have each other. Look around you. Look into the faces of your friends. We aren’t just a group of people thrown together to fight for a good cause. We’re family. In fact, we are related by blood now. We are our own Alpha clan.”

“The Sons and Daughters of Lyric,” my mother shouts. The kids clap and cheer but I’m too embarrassed.

“We’re going to stick together today and that’s how we’ll beat them, because our enemy may know how to do terrible things but it doesn’t feel like we do. It doesn’t know what it’s like to be part of a family. It doesn’t know that we will fight and die to protect one another.

“Stay close to one another and stay close to me. Keep your eyes out for those around you. Make sure that if they fall, you pick them up. And stay close to me,” I say as Chloe steps forward to take my hand. “I will keep my eye on each and every one of you. You are my family now, and in my family if you want to pick a fight with one of us, you have to fight us all.”

“We’re going to win because they have to fight us all,” Riley shouts.

When everyone is packed and ready, we head outside to the airstrip, where a plane is waiting for us. My father hobbles along, a reminder that he is still not one hundred percent, but standing tall, nonetheless.

Waiting for us are Terrance, Rochelle, and Samuel Lir. Gone is his wheelchair. Samuel has two walking canes now. He smiles at me, and I smile back, even though Bachman isn’t going to let him leave. The Lirs are too valuable to White Tower. I worry he will never escape this place. I promise myself that when this is done, I will come back and rescue everyone.

“He’s feeding himself,” Terrance says to me.

“It’s an amazing thing,” I say sincerely. “They’ll take him apart if they get the chance.”

He nods grimly. “Come back for us.”

Chloe joins me at the airstrip. She’s in a jumpsuit with her glove polished and a pack on her back.

“Where’s Mr. Fluffer?” I ask when I notice the bunny is not in her hands.

She smiles.

“I don’t need him anymore. I have you.”

“It’s cold in New York right now,” a guard shouts as he hands out hats and gloves. He gives everyone a jacket with the White Tower logo. It has an American flag patch on the shoulder and the words PROPERTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA stenciled on the back. “Put everything on, and keep it on.”

Bex stands next to me, holding my hand. Riley is nearby, waiting in his jumpsuit. His mother and father look bewildered. He holds his mother’s thin hand like it’s the only thing keeping her standing.

Calvin wheels Bachman into the crowd of children. Word spreads about her injuries, a fairy tale about how she was hurt fighting the Rusalka. They gape at her disfiguring scars. They can’t help themselves.

“All right, let’s do this,” Darren says. He stands by the steps to the plane and helps the children climb them, one by one. Riley’s father gives the guard a shove when the guard tries to help his wife. Darren’s eyes alight with fear from his strength. I smile. I like Riley’s dad a lot. I do the same to the toady when it’s time to get Dad on board, though I doubt my skinny arms give him much pause.

The inside of the plane is not what I was expecting. Whenever I’ve seen movies set on planes, there are flight attendants and overhead space and little trays for drinks. This plane is stripped down like it’s designed for flying packages more than people. My mother sits with my dad, and I take a seat behind them with Bex. Riley sits across the row from us and gives me a fist bump. It’s so corny, but I grin.