20 Years Later by Emma Newman

Author:Emma Newman
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Dystopia Press
Published: 2011-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

No opportunity for the three to talk in private presented itself for the rest of the day, and so that night, Zane and Erin were pulled into the dream room. At first there was an awkward silence until Erin stuffed her hands in her pockets and leant against the windowsill, stating, “Well, something weird is going on. With the Red Lady I mean.” That piqued Zane’s interest in particular. Erin continued, “The Red Lady never, ever offers to do anything for someone outside of the gang unless it’s a deal.”

Titus raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

Erin nodded. “She didn’t make you promise anything in return for helping you find Lyssa, did she?” When he shook his head, she spread her hands. “There you go then. Weird.”

Zane frowned. “Not weird, kind.”

This time Erin’s eyebrows were raised. “The Red Lady, kind? Hah!”

“Why not?” Zane retorted, angered by Erin’s sarcastic tone. “Maybe she just wants to help.”

Erin chose not to reply, simply rolling her eyes. Zane looked to Titus for support but the boy merely shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know, or care, what her motivation is. I just want to get Lyssa back. And Zane, next time, try to be more careful about what you say … telling her about what happened to Lyssa meant you had to talk about Jay … I don’t think Jay would like that.”

Zane stuffed his hands in his pockets, hunched his shoulders, and began to gently kick at one of the legs of the captain’s chair in frustration. “I thought it was important that she knew what happened. If people were more open, things would be much easier.”

“Told your mum about the Giant yet then?” Erin asked, making Zane blush and scowl. “Thought so,” she muttered.

The three fell back into silence, Zane hating the tension between them. He understood that Titus was tense about Lyssa, but he couldn’t understand why Erin was so negative until he recalled a question he’d been wanting to ask her all day.

“Why did the Red Lady want to see you alone? Is that why you’re grumpy?”

“I’m not grumpy!” Erin snapped, but when she saw Zane’s concern, she deflated and perched on the edge of the captain’s chair with a long sigh. “Sorry Zane. I shouldn’t give you a hard time because you’re soft.” Zane didn’t know whether to be insulted or accept the apology, so he just let it go. She continued, “I’m not sure if I’m allowed to talk about what the Red Lady said.”

Titus frowned. “Why?”

Erin shifted nervously. “Because neither of you is in her gang.”

“Neither are you,” Zane pointed out and she nodded.

“True … but she wants me to be … and soon.”

The boys looked at each other. Zane couldn’t quite understand why, but the idea of that made him uncomfortable and Titus seemed to feel the same way.

“I’m not sure though,” she continued. “I really like it there, and she’s really tough and I like that. And Father thinks that I should be in it–there’s no doubt for him that I should–but …”

Her voice trailed off and Titus picked up the thread.

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