Chapter 7

I confess, I'll miss the Earth. The blue sky, the grass in my old backyard, breathing open air without an environmental suit, those kinds of things. This is an undertaking someone must captain, and I am honored to be that someone. Mars awaits, my fellow citizens of the world. Goodbye, and wish me luck.

-American astronaut Phil McCull, Commander of the Mars Colonization Initiative, July 27th, 2083 CE

PYRA USUALLY WAITED until Teth fell asleep at night to prop herself up against one of the shack's walls and generate a small ball of electricity between her palms. She wanted to hone her abilities, but she was still a long way off. Teth had demonstrated what true mastery looked like one morning, throwing a lightning bolt at an extremely unlucky trashcan lid.

Pyra recalled the motion being swift, Teth's fist swinging forward as a stream of electricity appeared on his shoulder and raced down his arm, shooting from his knuckles and nearly vaporizing the trashcan lid, creating a spectacular shower of sparks and small flames.

So far, the most Pyra had done was generate a steady electric current across both her shoulders and down her arms. Teth, sporting a smile, had called it "progress" and patted her on the head, much to Pyra's quiet fury.

Today, Teth was working and Pyra was stuck in school, crammed in an overcrowded, windowless classroom while the teacher stood before the digital chalkboard, drawing graphs and equations with her finger along its surface. Pyra followed the lesson with ease, though her mind was elsewhere.

Pyra had at least five more years of basic schooling to work through, much to her disappointment. The schoolwork she was assigned bored her and posed little challenge, while attempting to instill a pro-Sovereignty disposition into Pyra and her fellow students. One of Teth's favorite pastimes was pointing out the numerous inaccuracies in her history e-textbook, offhandedly telling her the truth about what happened.

"The Sovereignty didn't stop the main Coalition fleet from bombing Earth at the Battle of the First Sun," Teth had once said. "They lost the battle. They took Earth by sending suicide bombers after supply chains until the Altered forces were starving."

Pyra wanted to go home and practice her powers. Maybe if she could become as good at using them as Teth, he would let her pick up an odd job or two. He had always refused to let her work, stressing the importance of her education even while he worked as many as three jobs at a time, none of which paid well.

"Here's the deal," he always said. "I'm taking care of you now, so you can take care of me when I'm old."

Pyra kept meaning to press the issue, but the second she met her older brother's eyes, the argument fled from her mind. Teth always looked worried at the prospect of her taking jobs he normally would. Personally, Pyra had never seen the problem. Show up somewhere, move rocks for a few hours, and go home. Besides, it wasn't as if she had much to do after she finished her homework every night anyway.

Maybe once she turned sixteen she could startª

"Attention, students," a new, gruff voice said from the front of the room, yanking Pyra from her thoughts. A man in a white lab coat smiled thinly at the students. Two Hunter Guards stood on either side of him, large pistols hanging from their hips. Pyra's blood ran cold at the sight of the crimson soldiers.

They know what I am.

"We are conducting a free health screening, courtesy of the local government," the man in the lab coat continued. "I will be in the next room, and each of you will be called in one at a time. First up is Aaron Adams. Aaron?"

A boy stood up and followed the man out of the room, and Pyra's teacher continued the lesson as if nothing had happened. Pyra tried to control her breathing and slow her rapid heartbeat with little success as student after student was called out of the classroom, returning a few minutes later.

Maybe everything was as the man in the lab coat said it was; a simple health screening. Still, something was off. If it was just a screening, why would the man need two Hunter Guards for backup? Pyra agonized over the situation, eyes darting around the room for an escape that wasn't there.

"Pyra Hopkins?" Although Teth assured Pyra their real last name was Winstead, he had bribed an acquaintance of his to create fake identities for them under the name of Hopkins. It had seemed overly paranoid to Pyra at the time, but now she appreciated the caution.

A Hunter Guard hung in the doorway, looking directly at her. Pyra stood and walked towards him, but she couldn't feel her legs moving. The Hunter Guard escorted Pyra across the hall and into the next room over, where the man in the lab coat sat in a chair, smiling his thin smile.

"Hello, Pyra," he said, retrieving a small flashlight from his breast pocket. "How are you feeling today?"

"Hello," she said. "Fine."

"Good," said the man. "I'm going to run a few tests and you'll be good to go. Okay?"

"Okay."

The man shined the flashlight in both of Pyra's eyes, peered into her ears with a small device, and tapped on her joints with a small hammer. Afterward, he said, "Almost done. One more thing."

He produced a bracelet from the bag on the floor next to him and clasped it on Pyra's arm before she could react. A small screen on the bracelet displayed a stream of data which the man in the lab coat watched intently.

I'm done. Pyra thought. They're going to find out and they're going to take me.

She remembered the times Teth had steered her away from a Hunter Guard patrol on their weekend strolls, his eyes downcast. She thought back to the numerous extra shifts he'd had to pick up simply to feed her. All for nothing.

Suddenly, the data blinked out and the screen flashed bright blue.

"There," the man said, unclasping the bracelet. "All done."

Pyra nodded, quiet relief spreading through her body. Maybe it had been a screening after all.

"Johnson," the man said, and one of the Hunter Guards at the doorway stepped inside. "Would you please accompany young Pyra back to her classroom?"

There was something odd about how he said the word, and Pyra met his gaze, realizing what was happening just as the Hunter Guard placed a hand firmly on her shoulder.

"No!" Pyra shouted.

The Hunter Guard grabbed both of Pyra's wrists and yanked them backward, trying to get them in position for a pair of handcuffs. The man in the lab coat leaned back in his chair, taking notes on a small datapad.

Pyra could hear the other Hunter Guard stepping into the room, and the sound of his heavy, inevitable footfalls triggered something within her. Where Pyra should have felt fear, she touched upon cold, deadly fury.

A deafening crack filled the room and the Hunter Guard restraining her jerked backward. Pyra dove to the side, scrambling for the doorway. The other Hunter Guard slid easily into her path, pistol drawn and pointed directly at her chest. Pyra ducked, shoving her hands before her. Another loud crack shot from her hands and the Guard sank backward, the pistol now a melted hunk of metal in his hands.

Pyra paused for the briefest of moments, a stream of electricity fading back from her arms. She took a shaky breath and glanced back at the man in the lab coat, who was shouting into his datapad, calling for immediate backup.

Pyra bolted from the room, dashing out a side door and into an adjacent alleyway, taking turns and detours on her way back to the shack, not daring to look behind her. Amidst her panic, fear, and increasing exhaustion, a thought made itself clear.

I've ruined everything, haven't I?

Then, another thought: I'm sorry, Teth.

Shouting filled the air behind her, sprinkled with the intermittent and unmistakable sound of guns cocking, chambering lethal rounds.

Pyra ran faster.