The Wastelands

Rachel wiped her sweaty palms on her pants before knocking on the door.

A young voice answered. "Who is it?" And Stella opened the door. Rachel watched as the young girl's eyes widened before burrowing into her. "Rachel! Haven't seen you in a while."

"Oaf," Rachel grunted in surprise. "Nice to see you too."

"Come on, you haven't seen my room," Stella grabbed her hands to drag Rachel inside.

"Ha, Wait!" She gasped out.

"This is my side of the room." Stella's side was neat and tidy, even the computers, and components were lined up neatly. "The other side is my sister's." It was a mess. "I usually have that cleaned by now, but I'm a little preoccupied with getting these computers ready for the caravan." She shrugged, before trying to tidy up a little.

"Lilia hadn't changed in this way, at least." Rachel smiled bittersweet.

Stella stopped and turned toward Rachel. "What do you mean? Because she is a Lumeye?"

Rachel pictured how Lilia faced off against Shadow. She looked so alien that Rachel couldn't associate the Lilia she knew in the past and the Lilia now. "Yes. No! Maybe" Her shaking hands ran through her hair. "She seems so different; I just want to understand."

"Different?" Stella seemed to think about that for a moment. "I suppose so. So, have I, for that matter. We went through a lot. So, have you."

"True." Rachel conceded though she was beginning to think that what she went through was nothing compared with the sisters.

"Plus, to me, Lilia is still basically the same." She flopped on her bed. "She is still my dim-witted older sister who can't take of herself. So what if she's a Lumeye."

Rachel smiled at that. "Well, everyone is dim-witted compared to you." Rachel leaned against Lilia's bed, then something sprang out of Lilia blankets and hissed at Rachel before crawling into Stella. "What the..?"

"Va!" Stella exclaimed, petting the sneering cat to calm her down. "Sorry about that she likes to borrow herself into Lilia's blankets, and she's such a grumpy girl when startled awake."

The cat rumbled in disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. "Okay, okay! You're a fierce feline, not a grumpy girl."

Va stared at Stella for a while before nodding her head in confirmation. Then the cat's glowing eye slowly moved to Rachel, and she settled down, slowly closing her eyes to take a nap.

Rachel sighed, relieved, looked like she was accepted, that was good. Rachel saw how dangerous this cat was. "So, do you understand her?"

"No, I just see how Lilia talks to them, and I sort of guess. They're pretty vocal if I get it wrong," Stella said. There was another pause in silence. "Maybe you should talk about this with Lilie?"

"Lilia and you too. I would like to know what happened." Rachel wanted to come earlier, but setting up a new security department was exhausting. "Where is Lilia I had hoped that she was here…"

"Yeah, you won't see her for a while, she was going on the Initiation Trials. The face Lilie made while being dragged away was priceless," Stella laughed.

"Sisters."Rachel shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt. "Maybe we can talk about what happened when we were apart."

Stella's fingers brushed against her weaker leg. "Maybe. It's just a little hard, you know."

"Yes, I do know." Rachel empathized. Her past wasn't something she was willing to talk about either. Like how she had to do a lot of terrible things just to survive in her family. Like Lilia being a Lumeye. But seeing how reluctant Stella was maybe now wasn't the time. "Only if you ready. We'll talk about it at a later date."

'In the end, I don't just want to understand but to heal and move forward. I think the only way to do so is to talk about our past experiences. No matter how painful or guilt-ridden they may be. Not only for the sisters' but for me as well.'

"Okay." Then Stella's eyes brightened. "Oh, Lilie's birthday! We should get her a present. There might be something at the caravan?"

"I have to work." Looking away so Rachel couldn't see the pout that she knew was coming her way, but no matter a look. "Fine, I will make time."

Stella cheered, waking up the cat, but she only changed position before settling down to sleep.

***

Camp 1

Oh, thank god." Lilia stumbled out of the truck, forcing herself not to heave. That was so much worse than she thought it would be. If she hadn't taken the motion sickness medicine then her guts would be everywhere.

Lilia sensed Sil's amus.e.m.e.nt. She glared at him, as he flew up beside her. "Try constantly hearing cl.i.c.k.i.n.g and moving parts from the engines and multiplied it by four and see how you do."

The bird sighed, *You know everyone will think you're crazy talking to yourself like that.*

Lilia pondered on that before a smile formed on her lips. *Too late, but thank you for the reminder.* Because of her very public break-down at her concert, everyone already thinks that she was out of her mind.

*Why don't you use your headphones?* Sil asked.

Lilia adjusted her headphones, she was grateful to Stella had them fixed just a couple of days prior. *They reduce specific sound frequency and telepathic wavelengths, not vibrations. Believe me, I asked, Stella said, don't ask for the impossible.*

"Ha, line up and get your rucksacks!" Captain Terrance's baritone voice cut through the air. "The trucks are leaving in fifteen. So move your butts!"

*You better go,* Sil advised.

*Yeah, Yeah,* Lilia waved her hand as she walked away.

***

Lilia finally located her Rucksack had her name on it in big, bold letters. "Geeze, Stella," Lilia mumbled while shaking her head. She attached her side bag to the back before jumping out of the bed of the truck.

"Ha, Lilia over here!" Heather's voice called out. Lilia looked around to see Terran and Heather setting up, on the edge of the camp area.

Relieved, Lilia managed to dodge through the crowd and successfully flopped down beside them. "Nice spot." The trees were overshadowing their campsite, with the setting sun just peeking through the branches. It was so pretty to see how coloring the changing leaves of fall were dancing with the wind.

"Ha, ha! I got to drive one of the cargo trucks, it was so cool." Heather bounced excitedly.

"Really," Lilia exclaimed. Despite how flighty Heather was, she was a pretty good driver, a bit fast, but good. "I might have had a better time."

"Probably not," Terran said. His attention didn't stray from the smelly goodness cooking on a fire.

"Probably not." Lilia agreed, searching through her rucksack. 'Geeze, Stella, did you have to pack everything?' "So what's the plan?"

"I think we are staying here until the morning, then we are heading to Camp 2," Terran stated as we brought a spoon to his lips. "More salt," he mumbled.

"Well, that's sound fun." Lilia huffed sarcastically. "Hiking? That's going to take a couple of days." Walking along at the same pace as the humans were going to be so damn tiresome.

"I know right, too bad the terrain is undrivable." Heather g.r.o.a.n.e.d out. It was probably the first thing she asked. Then she perked up. "But we are in the same group." The teachers separate the students into groups to better evaluate their performances. Or something to that effect Lilia kind of slept through the lecture.

"That's lucky," Lilia replied, somewhat distracted. Where is my pillow?

"And a couple of outsiders." Heather continued. "Including Terran's girlfriend."

Terran looked up and glared at Heather, holding a spoon. "Stop it, or no dinner."

Ignoring the twin squabble, Lilia frowned as her fingers touched something strange yet familiar. 'Did Stella prank me?' Lilia instantly denied it. 'No, not her style.'

"Okay, Okay." Heather was holding up her hands in surrender. "Captain Terrance is our supervisor, though. That kind of sucks."

"What? Why?" Lilia was startled with the news as she pulled the strange thing out to get a better look. What she found, staring back at her, brought tears to Lilia's eyes. "What's this?"

***

Solitary Confinement

Shadow had his eyes closed, meditating. He breathed in and out, trying to clear his mind of all thoughts, digging deep to find inner peace.

Then he felt air brushed against his ear.

He slowly opened his eyes to find one of his Phantoms materialized beside him. The Phantom whispered into Shadow's ear, "She has it."

"Good," Shadow replied, a smile forming on his lips, as the Phantom disappeared into the darkness.