Chapter 20

Everyone remains in a state of shock as we absorb all the knowledge we learned.

A few weeks ago, Casper made a prediction as he voiced his suspicions on who and what the Jotunn were. He wasn't far off from the truth on the Jotunn's identity. They are most definitely dead people, only they aren't strictly Chinese. They're any person once alive now dead. Does that mean my father could still be out there, just as a killer monster, now? I don't know if the feeling lingering in my stomach is hope or fear.

Everyone stands in a silent stupor as we all look at each other, our brains processing what just happened. The shuttle creaks as it moves along the uneven tracks beneath its wheels, causing our bodies to sway back and forth in the car, bodies moving in unison, synchronized as if the sway was rehearsed beforehand. The smell of our own sweat floods the air and fills our noses, which makes me slightly nauseous.

This woman standing before our group, Calyx, just took out countless Warriors and came out of the fight without a scratch. Furthermore, her knowledge on the Warriors was, and is, insane. How did she know so much without being a Jotunn? Who is this woman and what exactly is she? Is she human? Or is she a Jotunn in complete disguise? Regardless of her neck being scar free, I didn't feel like we could exactly trust her. Because she doesn't strike me as a human, not with the knowledge she possesses over the beings that not one single person knows about. I find her intriguing yet alarming.

"Well," Calyx says, breaking our two hundred forty-two second silence, "I assume you all have names?"

No one speaks.

She clears her throat. "Oh, for the love. Names, you have them, yes?"

We all nod in unison, again as if we practiced this very reaction. Our bodies continue to sway in rhythm with the shuttle, back and forth, back and forth. Every single one of us wear the same expression across our faces. Eyes wide, brows raised, and lips pressing together to form a tight line as we continue to process every little detail of what we just learned. It's a lot to take in, apparently, because still no one talks to Calyx or responds to her question.

"Do I get to know them any time soon or am I just going to have to move down the line to find out?" Calyx frowns in disapproval.

Processing still, after another seventy-two seconds, no one answers her, yet again.

"Oh my God, okay. Shorty." She points her finger to Diego. "Tell me your name, for the love of God."

The blonde headed boy looks at her and rubs his cheek absent-mindedly. "Diego... Diego Sanchez."

"Good. See? There you go." She smiles slyly. "Age?"

"F-fourteen." His gaze averts from her as he looks back off into the distance.

"You must be the baby of the group. How about family, kid? You got anyone left?"

"Mother, Father, and my two brothers." He confirms.

"There we go. See? It wasn't that hard. Okay, who's next?" She looks around and points her finger at Avery.

"Avery Redgrove. Age seventeen. I have no one left." Avery says, her voice monotone and lacking emotion.

I find her statement to be cold and brutal considering that Casper stands right beside her. Then again, the two step-siblings like to pretend the other doesn't exist, so denying each other makes sense.

Calyx's finger then points to Demetria.

"Demetria Lopez, age eighteen, just my Mother and my Father."

"No siblings?" Calyx asks.

"No siblings." Demetria nods.

Next she points to Willow.

"Willow Kindred, nineteen, and my Aunt and Uncle."

"Parents dead?" Calyx asks with a lack of sympathy.

"That's a personal question." I frown at her. "Besides, why does our family matter to you?"

"Look, sunshine. I'm asking about family strictly to know whether or not they have the potential of being a Jotunn Warrior. Simple as that." Calyx scowls. "So, Willow. Parents, dead?"

Willow sighs. "More like they abandoned me, so no. I don't know where they are. They might as well be dead, for all I care."

"Well, damn." Avery chirps. "Never thought I'd see this side of Willow."

"You're not helping." Casper grumbles beneath his breath.

"Continuing on." Calyx grunts. Her eyes fall on Casper, eyeing him from head to toe. "Why, hello."

"Uh, hi?" He says, shifting his weight onto his other foot.

"Name? Age? Family?"

"Casper Bunk, age nineteen, and I have no family left."

"How about relationship status?" She smirks.

"To be determined." He says with a straight face, clearly unamused by her flirting.

"Fair enough." The purple haired woman sighs before moving onto me. "Wow. You almost look dead, you're so pale."

"Wow, gee, thanks." I say flatly as I narrow my eyes. Who died and gave her the right to play judge over our group?

"You know the drill. Name, age, family."

"My name is Bay Zachary."

"Just Bay?" She cuts me off. "Or is that short for something?"

"Why does everyone feel the need to ask that stupid question? Yes! My name is Bay."

"Sorry, just seems like an out of character name for someone like you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, you look like a Mary or Hannah, Jessica, maybe, something boring like that. Something bland."

"Gee, thanks again for that."

"Anyways, where were we? Oh, your age!" She flashes her white teeth in a snooty, stuck-up smile.

"Eighteen."

"And family, porcelain doll?"

This lady grates on my nerves the more she continues opening her mouth. "That's a sore subject." I reply.

"Family." She repeats herself.

"My mother and twin siblings."

"Did daddy walk out?" She pouts, mimicking the look on my face.

"No, Daddy died." I state in a mocking tone.

Calyx still lacks sympathy as she continues her interrogation. "So how old are the twins?"

"Seven."

"Oh, let me guess! The classic 2117 dysfunctional family story. Daddy died and Mommy became a no good drunkard?"

I scowl at her, giving a firm nod as I bite down hard on my lower lip to keep from smarting off or saying something that I might regret later on down the road.

Calyx steps back from our group and leans against the metal wall of the train car. "So, I can definitely tell you're all a long way from home. Question is, why? Just where are you kids going?"

"Jotunn Headquarters in Fresno." Willow replies.

I wince. I would rather the odd woman not know our plans, but too late now. I shoot a glare Willow's direction but she doesn't see the look I give her, rather she stares right as Calyx.

"Oh what a great coincidence, so am I." Calyx grins.

"Of course you are." I mutter under my breath.

"Yeah, except unlike you guys, I took the easy way about it and stole a Jotunn suit off a dead Warrior along the way and snuck onto a departing train, instead of—well you know—getting taken as captives. Interesting tactic, though, but clearly it isn't working out too well for you guys."

"We are wanted fugitives, you know?" Avery frowns. "It isn't that hard for us to get found."

"Oh I know." Calyx shrugs. "You're all these dumb broads have been talking about. That and your faces are plastered almost everywhere. I already know who you guys are."

"Wait, you do? Then why ask us all those pointless questions?" Willow scowls at her.

"It's called a friendly gesture. Duh. Just trying to be polite, over here." She laughs. "But seriously, no need to worry about everyone knowing your face and name. The citizens are all on your side, including me."

"Oh, really?" Demetria chimes in.

"Oh, yes. Why else would I risk my own ass to save yours?" Calyx says as she sits down on a chair, crossing her legs and adjusting her flannel. She positions her body to where it faces the cockpit, where three more Jotunn lay in wait.

"How good is everyone with a weapon?" She asks after a grand total of three minutes of us staring at her in complete and total silence. She stands up and moves towards me as she jabs me with her index finger. "Specifically you."

"Me?" I reply. "I guess I'm alright."

"You, with me." She nods.

"Why her?" Casper frowns. "Why not Avery or I who are much more familiar with a weapon? No offense, Bay."

"None taken." I reply with a shrug. Taking Casper or Avery along with her did make more sense than taking me in their place. This woman didn't make a lick of sense to me.

"Because Bay is different, it seems. And I need different." She shrugs as she fishes a gun out of her back pocket and thrusts it towards me. "Different is a good thing, especially in today's world."

I fumble with the weapon for a brief second before my fingers wrap around it. I make sure safety is on before shoving it into the waistband of my pants. This gun isn't your typical human gun, unlike the others we had been in possession of. This weapon is a Jotunn weapon, made from Jotunn technology. A slick white gun rests in my petite hands. It's about the size of an average pistol. The back of the gun is encased in glass, allowing the operator—and the victim, I suppose—to see the bolts charging up within the glass. The gun shoots deadly bolts that act as if they're a real bullet shooting these bolts that are in bullet form, so to speak. I've never once used a contraption quite like this one, yet I'm all too familiar with how it works. Maybe Calyx is right, maybe I am different. But that's not new news to me. I always knew I was different, that I didn't fit the mold, so it isn't a surprise that other people might've noticed it, too. It's like that old saying of encouragement used to go; "Why fit in when you were born to stand out?"

"Follow me, Bay." Calyx says. "The rest of you, stay here and make sure we don't need backup. Got it?"

"Got it." Willow sighs.

As Calyx leads me out of the car, I hesitate. "Why can't we just go in through the door that leads to the cockpit?" I ask as I look over my shoulder back to the car we just departed from with all of my people left waiting in it.

"Because it's blocked from their side so the fugitives cannot enter. That, and the door is deadlocked."

I sigh but nod. "This seems like a terrible idea."

"You don't even know the plan yet. Besides, terrible ideas are the best ideas." She shrugs with a Cheshire cat grin as she walks to the end of the car and squats next to a dead Warrior who lays slouched against a wall, his butt planted firmly on the ground.

"Give me your cuffs." She says and wiggles her fingers as she holds her palm out to me.

I crouch besides her and face my back towards her so she has access to my cuffs. She ungloves the dead Jotunn and presses his thumb to the keypad on my handcuffs. The cuffs unlatch and fall to the ground with a soft clank. I rub my wrists and turn around to face her.

"How did you know that was the Jotunn who cuffed me?" I ask, brows piqued in curiosity.

"Simple." Calyx says, her smile growing. "I paid attention." She taps her head and chuckles, standing to her feet once more.

She drags the Warrior behind her until we reach the door at the end of the next car. There she shoves the Warrior's thumb onto another keypad, granting us access to the caboose.

"Warrior—Derik. Access granted." The keypad speaks and the doors unlatch themselves and slide open.

Calyx continues to drag the body along with her until we are at the end of the caboose. She uses his thumb once more for us to gain access to the door leading out of the caboose. The door to the caboose fly open and the wind tugs at us almost immediately. My feet begin to slide as the wind whips ferociously at them, daring to sweep me out. I grab an overhead railing in attempt to keep my feet planted on solid ground, keeping myself from being swept out of the caboose. Calyx, however, starts fearlessly towards the exit.

"What the hell are you doing?" I scream above the roaring wind. Black hair continuously hits me in the face as I struggle to keep a solid grip on the overhead railing.

She turns to face me, a crazed grin painted across her lips. There's that Cheshire cat grin, once again. "What? Afraid of a little wind, Bay?" She giggles.

I nod with wide eyes. "Uh, let me think. Oh, yeah! Yes I am! There is every possibility of this wind sucking us out of that exit and you stand there smiling as if it's funny!"

She chuckles, a mischievous gleam in her gray eyes. "Live a little, Bay Zachary. Follow my lead!"

"What?" I scream, holding tightly to the bars above my head.

She gives a laugh, and with that, the wind sweeps her off her feet and out of the exit until she's out of sight.