The Half-Class by Kayvion Lewis

Chapter Twenty-One

Isped into the manor house. My cloak rippled behind me as I sprinted through the kitchen, down the hallway, and into the foyer. Voices echoed down the hall—dozens of them—smothering the heavy pounding of my boots.

Sunlight coated me as I flew into the foyer. In the light of the morning, the tall windows and the cracked ceiling leaked daylight everywhere. All was bright.

My ears hadn’t deceived me. Dozens of people danced across the floor, laughed against walls, and shared smiles like the air itself was feeding their mirth. A few children and mothers mingled about. Not the sort of visitors I was accustomed to seeing at the manor. Were they refugees from whatever haven the officers attacked? Why were they so content? In fact, why was everyone so joyful? The air was so light. I didn’t understand.

Pushing back my cloak, I stormed across the room, maneuvering around everyone in my path. The stairs, save the bottom few steps, were mostly free. I marched up to them, knowing who I would find at the top. Or so I thought.

Lingering just past the top of the steps, Thomas and Maxine recounted some merry tale while the rest of Jace’s closest listened intently. I pushed through them.

“Evie, where have you been?” Thomas asked.

I ignored him and pressed on. My heart quickened when I saw Jace, Luke, and Kat gathered in an old sitting nook.

Thank the stars. Kat was alright.

Before I could blink or breathe a sigh of relief, Luke was in front of me. His arms wrapped around me, but. I could only focus on Kat. Luke brought her here? She was just a messenger—she’d never been involved. Her gaze stayed on Luke as mine traveled over her. She appeared just as I remembered, almost. The tiniest smear of blood stained the bottom of her dress.

“Where have you been?” I shook out of Luke’s embrace. “Do you know how long I was waiting for you?”

Kat opened her mouth, but Luke beat her to it.

“She’s been with us,” he said.

“I wasn’t going to send her back while you were with the prince.” Jace’s hands rested confidently on her hips. “We’ll do nothing to jeopardize that relationship now.”

“Is everyone alright?” I turned to Luke. “What happened? I saw the square—”

“You did?” Kat lit up. “How many people were there?”

“Were there many?” Luke asked.

My head flipped between the two of them. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. They sounded...excited. People were dead, and they were celebrating.

“I have to talk to Gilow.” I pushed past the group.

“First room on the left,” Jace said. “He’s been waiting for you.” Her footsteps, as well as Luke and Kat’s giddy whispers, trailed right behind me.

I stormed into the instructed room. Everyone was acting upside down. Gilow, if no one else, had to be upright.

The chamber was smaller than I expected the rooms in this grand manor to be. A tattered rug, half-burned away, rested over the stone floor. The only other piece of decor was a strange-looking, barred structure pressed against the wall. It took me a moment to recognize it as a crib. Across the small room, peering out of a long, tall window—one of two climbing up the back wall of the room—stood Gilow. His back was to me, but his signature black coat and powerful stance were enough to distinguish him.

“What happened?” I stopped halfway to him.

Gilow glanced back at me and the entourage that had followed. “Shut the door, Evelyn. We’ll talk alone.”

Fine. I didn’t need to be around whatever insanity had enveloped Jace and the others. I turned back to Kat and Luke. They hesitated for a moment, but Kat soon took Luke’s arm and pulled him away without another word. Jace glared past me to Gilow. I’m sure she didn’t like being left out of his conversations. Perhaps she’d hoped that her glare would be enough to change his mind, but he didn’t budge. Jace shot me a forced smile, then grabbed the scratchy door handle and delicately shut the door.

I should have been nervous or honored, being alone with our fearless leader. But in the whirlwind of other emotions, I didn’t have room for any of that.

“Is everyone alright at the havens?” I asked.

“They’re fine, for the most part. We had a few injuries, some more serious than others, but no one died.”

“None of our people, you mean.”

A cloud must have parted from the sun because a new stream of soft light flooded the room. Gilow kept his gaze out the cracked window. His shadow stretched out over the floor.

I took a deep breath. “How many did you kill?”

“Five.”

A chill fell over me. “Five?”

“They attacked us.” His words were beyond calm. “Had the children and women been there instead of us, they would have killed them.”

“But you got them out. Before the soldiers arrived?”

“We did.”

“So why did you stay?!” I took a bold step towards him. “If everyone was out, why did you need to be there at all? I didn’t tell you about the incoming soldiers so you could kill them!”

“Would that have changed anything?”

“What?”

“If you knew we were going to kill them, would you still have warned us?”

“I—”

I froze. Would I? If Gilow was right, and those officers had indeed come with plans to harm or kill anyone they found at the haven, then my warning had saved their lives. But I didn’t think that their deaths were even a possibility.

But if I had known.

If the only options were to say nothing and let all the families at the haven die or send those soldiers marching into their deaths…

I winced. I would have saved the haven. Every time.

“That doesn’t make this fine, Gilow,” I said. “They didn’t have to die.”

“And they didn’t have to search for us.” Gilow finally turned from his window. He paced across the room, but his eyes didn’t meet mine. “And they didn’t have to attack us when we told them to be gone. And Ryland didn’t have to conquer Morra. And God didn’t have to make us in so many colors. The king didn’t have to come to Bexbury, and his son didn’t have to come into your aunt’s brothel.”

Gilow stopped at the charred crib’s side. He laid a gentle hand over its edge. “Nothing had to happen, Evelyn, but this is what has. We must carry on with what we have, and we must do so with our own best interest in mind.”

“I don’t understand how killing soldiers is in anyone’s best interest.”

“It’s against the king’s.” He squeezed the edge of the crib and gazed down into it. “That makes it in ours.”

I bit my lip. How easy it would have been to collapse into the floor right there. Why was everything so confusing? I wanted things to get better, and I loved the idea of being a thorn in the king’s side, but this was too much. It felt like we went from night raids to murder in the blink of an eye, and I was the only one questioning it.

“Go to the window, Evelyn,” Gilow told me.

I frowned, but he wasn’t looking at me. His gaze was fixed in the crib. “On the right.”

I sighed and crept up to the glass. Morning sun bathed my skin. Outside laid a long-overgrown yard, dotted with bushes and filled with grass that would have passed my knees were I in it. At first, it appeared perfectly still. Not even the breeze rustled the field. But then, a flicker of movement caught my eye. A few flickers. Children. Playing amongst the grass. It seemed like at least a half dozen of them had found their way to the forgotten yard. They laughed and ran with no worries in the world.

Nearer to the manor, I saw their parents. A younger woman who was very much with child strolled along the yard, watching them. And not too far away, a set of couples, each comprised of a dark-class and a light-class, leisurely went about. In one of the men’s arms, a baby bounced. I didn’t want to take my eyes off them. Off the couples, the children, the families. Was this what it had been back when I was too young to remember? How many times had I walked the streets or gone out to play with my parents without concern for laws or class? Had I ever?

Would these families get to?

“If I had a child,” Gilow said, “I would do anything for them—any fit parent would. I’d fight. I’d lie. I’d even kill to ensure that they had a fair chance at life.”

I watched two of the smaller children outside race each other from one side of the field to the other. Their heads barely popped above the grass.

Gilow met me at my side. “But I have no children. Not anymore.” He tapped a crack in the glass. “I only have this. I have us. I have you.”

For the first time since I entered the room, we were face to face, eye to eye.

“We’re like a family, Evelyn. We are all we have, and we are the only ones who will fight for us and for them. You do what you must for your family, whatever it takes. Don’t you?”

I swallowed. “Yes.”

“Then trust me.” He laid a hand on my shoulder. “Trust your family. We’re only doing what’s demanded for change, and that might mean people get hurt. People were always going to get hurt. But it will be well worth it in the end.”

I wasn’t a fool. I’d known this was dangerous going in. It had always been. So why was I making such a big deal about this? Who was I to protest the death of soldiers who were going to kill innocent people? It was our family against the king, and I already knew which side I was on.

“I trust you,” I murmured.

Gilow removed his hand from my shoulder. He returned his gaze to the morning outside, resuming his position as if I’d never left. “Then tell me more about the prince.”

“You were there, weren’t you?” I strode towards Luke and Kat, still chatting away in the shadowy alcove. Gilow had finally dismissed me, and Jace took my place the moment I left.

I examined Luke as thoroughly as I could, but I couldn’t find a drop of blood on him. Even the stain on Kat was barely noticeable. Perhaps he’d changed clothes.

“We all were,” he said.

And ‘all’ included Kat now? My hands shook at my sides. They might have been there, but who had done it? Who’d actually killed them, and how? Surely not Luke. His hands were tuned for painting, not holding a blade. And Kat? She wasn’t even a part of this a day ago. There was no way she could have.

I almost reached for Luke’s hands, trying to imagine the unimaginable. But all I saw were the faint bruises from where the officer had cuffed him the other day. I hadn’t realized how tightly he’d been bound.

I swallowed. “I’m glad you’re unharmed. Both of you.”

“Don’t worry, your fiancé’s been keeping a close eye on me.” Kat smiled and patted Luke’s arm. “And he’s promised to do so from here on out.”

“Why would he need to do that?”

“If she’s going to be around here from now on, she’ll need a friendly companion,” Luke said. “And you’re busy—”

“You’re coming back?”

“How could I not?” Kat asked, blinking at me like I was insane to ask otherwise. “I can’t leave after what I saw last night. These people need all the help they can get. I’m only wondering why you didn’t enlist me in the cause sooner.”

Never asked? I’d never told her not to join me, but honestly, I didn’t think Kat was cut out for this sort of thing. Perhaps I wasn’t the right person to enlist her.

My eyes flew from her to Luke and back. “Well, alright then…”

My head felt weightless. No, my entire body did. I’d set out consumed with worries and questions and, in one way or another, had them all answered. Kat was safe. The people from the haven were safe. This was supposed to be a victory. But to go from so terrified to so victorious so quickly was jarring.

“I’m going back to the barn,” I said softly.

“Already?” Kat frowned.

“I’m tired. It’s been a long night. But you should stay if you want.

“I’ll ride back with you. It could be dangerous to be out alone today,” Luke offered. Kat pouted and opened her mouth, perhaps to protest, but I beat her to it.

“I’ll be fine. Stay here with Kat, please.”

I knew they were safe, and that was enough. For now, I needed to get away from them—as well as Thomas, Maxine, and everyone else.

I folded my arms under my cloak and walked down the stairs. I genuinely expected someone to follow me, but no one did. I made it down unabated.

The merriness of the floor engulfed me as I passed through it. It was suffocating. Of course, everyone would be jolly. This was our family, all together, safe and sound. I rushed through the foyer and down the hall. After I passed through the kitchen and out into the morning light, I had to take a long, deep breath. Everything was fine. This sort of thing was bound to happen sooner or later. This just meant we were one step closer to normal.

Let them be happy.

Butter had taken to grazing behind a fallen log. Thank goodness she wasn’t a wild thing. She never drifted too far when left unattended. I trekked up to her and guided us back towards the forest trail, which wasn’t too far away. Just as I mounted her and prepared for a slow journey back to the stable, the trot of hooves trickled into earshot. I froze as the thought of green-clad officers racing through the trees shot into my mind.

The figures drew nearer, and my fears quelled in an instant. The hooves were rather light. Only a single horse turned into view. A stubby brown and black dotted steed harboring two small, identical riders rode up.

“Brison? Richal?” They reined to a stop. I trotted up to them. Riding in front, Brison’s looked like he was deciding whether he could bolt away from me or not.

“What are you doing here?” I asked them.

Brison wiped the shock off his face and tilted his chin up. “Our Mama told us to come here.”

“No, she didn’t.” I narrowed my eyes. “Richal?”

His shoulders dropped. “She didn’t.”

Brison glared at his brother for a moment. He should have known Richal wasn’t as keen to make up stories.

I sighed. “Please don’t tell me you snuck away.”

“We had to,” Brison insisted. “Mama won’t tell us what happened in the square, even though a buncha people already came to the stable and talked about it. Then she said we weren’t allowed to come here anymore and didn’t say anything else!” He gripped his reins. “She’s trying to keep us from the action, but we won’t have it! Right Richal?”

Richal nodded but added nothing else. Saddy was the one person in all this who seemed anything but joyful about last night’s events. Hell, she had even compared it to the incident. I could understand her newfound distaste for Gilow. This was a whole new level of retaliation, and a dangerous one. If she didn’t want to be involved anymore, I could respect that. And if she didn’t want her sons in it either, I could respect that too.

“Look, boys, I know you think you want to be here right now, but I promise you don’t. This is dangerous. You need to go home, right now.”

“We know it’s not a game!” Brison said. “Who cares if it’s dangerous? You’re here.”

“I’m leaving, and so are you. Come on, we’ll go back together.”

“No! We’re not going anywhere.”

I gave them my most serious glare. “If you stay, I’ll tell your mother when I get to the stables. How long do you think it will be before she gets here and rips you both a new one in front of Gilow and everyone else too?”

“Evie…” Richal whined. Brison pinched his lips and glared at the ground.

I slowly started ahead. “Come back now, and maybe she won’t even have noticed you left. And if she does, I’ll tell her I found you picking a bouquet for her at the edge of the forest.”

I didn’t need to look back. I only made it a few paces into the trail before Brison grunted and they turned their horse around, following me back toward the city.

We traveled in silence, their disappointment palpable. The twins were both so brave and eager to help the cause. I hated to take this away from them, but it was for the best. The further they were from this, the safer they’d be.

We’d long since left the manor, and the hidden trail leading up to it, behind. The forest trail lining the edge of the city carried us now. The opening to Saddy’s street wasn’t far ahead, and I was grateful that we had so far been alone on the trail. I found myself blinking in and out of attention, growing more and more entranced in my own thoughts.

One second my memory flashed back to the men in the square, and the crowd surrounding them, then to the children playing outside of the manor. Then, in a horrifying concoction, my imagination combined the two scenes. I saw the manor painted in blood and cluttered with the bodies of my compatriots—even the children. All dead, surrounded by a gawking crowd and a flurry of officers.

Then finally, I thought of Cass. In a world where the manor lay raided and dead outside the city, and those officers laid lifeless in the fountain, he was in a library, reading a book, none the wiser.

“Evie.” Richal’s voice yanked me back to reality.

My eyes immediately caught what had pulled his attention.

Oh no.

A soldier on a steed blacker than night darted onto the trail. Had he come from an alley at the city’s edge? Perhaps he’d been hiding in the trees. It didn’t matter because he was headed for us now. He jerked his hand up, palm out in an unmistakable gesture.

“Stop your horses,” I told the boys.

“But—”

“Just do it and be quiet.”

Brison stopped their horse, and I did the same just ahead of him. I smiled politely as the officer reined in right in front of us.

“Good morning, Sir,” I said.

“What are you three doing out?” the officer asked.

“My brothers and I were going for a morning ride. It’s such a nice day.” We didn’t need any questions about why three half-classes were together this morning. Being related made it seem less suspicious.

“You’re not supposed to be out,” he snarled. “No half-classes allowed in public until further notice by order of the king.”

“Excuse me?”

“Get down.”

I tried not to let terror ruffle me. I could have guessed that the king’s kickback for his soldiers’ deaths would be harsh, but I didn’t think it would be so efficient. Nor so all-encompassing. What did he mean by out? Out of the city limits? Out of homes?

I glanced at Brison and Richal and dismounted from Butter. Richal’s eyes were wide and stuck on the officer, and Brison’s chest trembled as he helped his brother down.

The officer jumped down from his horse. He was a large man, and he towered over me. I could only imagine how little he made Brison and Richal feel.

“Show me your papers.”

I reached down and pulled my identification from my boot. I panicked for a moment, remembering Luke’s slip up the other day. Had the twins made the same mistake?

I released a breath I didn’t know I had been holding when Richal raised both sets of papers up to the man. I shifted my weight as he scanned the documents. He scoffed, alternating between Brison and Richal’s. “You two are supposed to be thirteen?”

“Yes,” Richal answered.

“They’re just small-statured,” I said. My eyes met the soldier’s brown ones. Something about the shape of them was familiar.

Our eyes locked. Had I, in fact, seen this man before? Those familiar eyes narrowed as he seemed to be pondering the same.

“Where have I seen you?” he asked.

It hit me. Of course, where else would I have seen him? He was a patron at the barn.

The realization hit him at the same time. His thin lips slipped into a smile as his eyes drifted down me. “Now I remember.”

I stepped aside so he could see Brison and Richal at my side as if to remind him that we were not alone. “Can we please go now, Sir?” I asked as delicately as I could.

His eyes still didn’t leave me. My heart pounded against my ribs. “Come here for a second,” he said.

Brison and Richal looked as terrified as I was. The officer led me away from them, just a few paces away, perhaps not even out of earshot.

I stopped as far from him as I could, but he closed the distance quickly. “You know,” he began, only a breath away from me. “I’m supposed to take any half-classes I find out straight to the cells.”

I swallowed. “Those are the king’s orders?”

He nodded. “But I don’t want to do that. You’re not causing any trouble, and I’d hate to see a pretty girl like you in shackles.” He traced a finger up my arm.

No, this couldn’t be happening. Cass wasn’t here to save me this time.

“How about I do you a favor, and I let your little brothers leave?” He pushed back the shoulder of my cloak. My skin felt bare under his gaze. “Then maybe you can do me a favor, and you’ll leave too. How does that sound?”

My mouth quivered open, and my hands trembled as I realized what the man was implying. I couldn’t let the boys get arrested—that simply couldn’t happen.

A smart girl would say yes—it would be over in minutes, and there was no other option.

But I couldn’t.

I am so damn sick of this.

A burst of foolhardy boldness ripped through me. It felt like a hundred painful moments of my lifetime balled together inside me. A hundred moments like this one I shouldn’t have had to deal with.

“Go to hell,” I spat out through gritted teeth.

His smile diminished, and I jerked my shoulder back from him and spun around. I’d tell the boys to run—he couldn’t catch all of us.

As I opened my mouth to call out to them, the officer slapped me across the face, then in one swift motion, he grabbed my wrist, yanking it behind me and slamming my back into a tree.

He pressed his hand over my mouth. I reached for it, barely able to breathe as his heavy fingers covered my nose as well.

“Where exactly did you say you were riding from?” he asked. “’Cause we been looking all over for a hideout you halfies been at. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” I tried to kick him or hit him, but nothing worked. I had no distance to draw back my limbs. Each second without air weakened me.

The officer pressed his hand firmer into my face. I thought my skin might tear away from my jaw.

“Maybe I can ask your brothers.”

A loud crack echoed through the trees, and the officer screamed and crumpled to the ground. His hand fell away from my face. I sucked in air and doubled over.

“Sto—”

Another heavy crack sounded, cutting through the man’s plea.

Richal stood over the man. Blood coated his fingers, dripping down from the rock they wrapped around. I kicked back against the tree trunk as he dropped the rock. It clunked beside the officer’s bloody head—red drenching his hair and trickling down his face into a growing pool at the edge of the trail. The knee of his pants was ripped, revealing a deep gash.

I just stared at him, my breath shaking. Richal was perfectly still. A drop of blood slipped from his finger and spotted the dirt below. I scrambled to my feet.

Brison stammered halfway across the trail. He trembled as he looked upon the man and his brother standing at his head.

“We need to go,” I stammered. “Now.” I grabbed Richal’s shoulders and pulled him away. His face remained blank. “Help me get him up,” I said to Brison.

He managed to tear his eyes away from the man, and together we led Richal up to Butter. Once he was up, I mounted too and wrapped my arms around him. Brison jumped onto their horse as well. Without looking back, we sped away, leaving the officer behind.