The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) (75 page)

Evelyn had later discovered Heather and Danny too. She had great hopes for all of them, but they lacked the leadership characteristics that Evelyn had desired to see. There had to be someone to lead them when she was gone. That person had not come along yet. 

Aaron might have been the closest thing to a leader that she would ever get, but he was so independent, and he rarely asked for help. Heather was too hot-headed for anyone to actually look up to her. And Danny was powerful, but he was too much of a follower. 

Evelyn purposefully kept them all in the dark about who Jeremiah really was. She had started by showing them that the way he ran things was unfair to people. Giving up most of the food to him just to have protection wasn’t right. She didn’t tell them that Jeremiah actually was the one that
made
the attacks happen. They had been too young and wouldn’t have been able to keep their mouths shut. As they got older, she had told herself that she would sprinkle in more details, but she rarely did. 

By now, they knew that Jeremiah had been responsible for the greyskins, but she never delved deeper than that. This was in part because she felt the details were so personal. Everything she had to tell them brought her mind back to her personal encounters with Jeremiah and she didn’t want them to hate him simply because of her grief. She wanted them to be against him because
they
saw him as a tyrant. But if a leader ever did emerge, that person would have to know everything.

Evelyn smiled as a cool breeze blew by her, whipping her shirt in the wind. She didn’t want to think about the Resistance. She didn’t want to think about gaining a new leader. She simply wanted to enjoy the weather and eat her apple. 

Motion in the distance caught her attention, and she lowered her eyebrows when she saw that it was a girl coming out of Connor’s shack. Evelyn shook her head, not wanting to know what may have happened. She didn’t expect the girl to come across the street either. Evelyn noticed that she had a slight limp as she crossed the dirt. The girl walked all the way to Evelyn’s shack and stood about five feet away. Evelyn was curious because she didn’t remember seeing this girl before. What made her even more curious was that the girl wasn’t wearing the standard wristband that all of the colonists of Salem were supposed to wear. But Evelyn wasn’t going to be rude. She looked up to the girl and smiled. 

“Beautiful day isn’t it?” She said.

“Sure is,” the girl said. 

Evelyn didn’t figure the girl to be any more than twenty, maybe even a teenager. She was pretty. A little too skinny, which wasn’t uncommon for colonists and villagers in the area, but pretty. She could see why Connor might have taken an interest in the girl. Except that the girl just stood in front of her awkwardly.

“Are you alright, sweetheart?” Evelyn asked. 

Before the girl could answer, they turned their heads at the sound of a Screven SUV driving by. Evelyn hated how close they drove to her shack. She mouthed a few curses at them as they passed. 

“Screven guards,” Evelyn mumbled, shaking her head. “Are you lost, sweetheart?”

“Of course not,” the girl answered. “Why?”

The girl was lying. “You look lost.”

“Just hungry. Wondered what’s good today.”

Evelyn raised an eyebrow at her and squints her eyes.
Poor thing doesn’t know I’m not a vegetable stand.
gry. WoShe stood, and the girl took a step back. 

“You’re not part of the colony are you?” Evelyn asked. 

“What makes you say that?” she asked. 

Evelyn held up her arm to show the girl the standard black wristband they were all forced to wear. “You’d be wearing one of these if you were one of us.” The girl took another step back. Evelyn set the apple down and waved her in with her hands. “Come on. I think I can rustle up some porridge for you.”

The girl wasn’t too reluctant to follow her inside. Evelyn walked over to the kitchen area of her shack and pulled out what she needed. “My name is Evelyn.”

“Mora,” the girl said. 

Evelyn didn’t know anyone named Mora, but for some reason it sounded very familiar. As Evelyn put together the porridge, the girl talked about what had happened to her the day before. She told Evelyn about how she was from a village called Springhill and how it had been the target of many greyskin attacks. She had left to find Screven and Jeremiah in hopes that she could get protection. But she had run out of gas. She had been attacked and injured, but Connor had saved her. 

Evelyn had been to Springhill six years before. It had been a terrible night for her. Evelyn placed the bowl of porridge in front of her, genuinely interested in what she had to say, though she didn’t really feel like trying to convince someone else that Jeremiah wasn’t all he seemed. Evelyn grabbed some healing ointment from her cabinet to give to Mora.

Mora thanked her and they began to talk about the Screven guards and how Jeremiah asked a lot of the colonies. Mora proposed that Salem could just tell Jeremiah that they didn’t want to be a colony anymore. Evelyn almost laughed at this, but kept her composure. This girl didn’t know anything.

Then the conversation moved to population growth.

“What happens if you grow by accident?” Mora asked. 

“You mean by birth?”

Mora nodded. 

“It’s happened before,” Evelyn said. She thought about a time just two years before. Salem had gone over the population limit. Newborns were taken away, probably killed. “It’s not pretty. Jeremiah doesn’t allow colonies to grow because then they would need more of the resources that he wants allotted to Screven. It isn’t fair, but it’s life. They keep those awful creatures away.” Evelyn hated talking like this. She neglected to tell Mora that not only do the guards keep them away, they also bring them here. It would be too overwhelming to tell Mora the complete truth. 

“That’s all I want for Springhill,” Mora said. 

Evelyn decided to play devil’s advocate. “Well, if Springhill has anything to offer Jeremiah, then no doubt he will protect you. I wish all the best to you in that.” But if Jeremiah was attacking Springhill, that meant he wanted it. He used every situation to his advantage. If Mora were ever granted a meeting with the leader of Screven, he would probably even tell her that he wouldn’t protect them until she could come up with something he wanted from them. But there was no use in discouraging the girl. This wasn’t Evelyn’s fight. 

“Thanks,” Mora said. She seemed happy to hear that Evelyn was on her side. 

Evelyn reached out to touch the girl’s arm, pretending to be warm, but she only wanted to see what she was all about. The second her hand touched Mora’s arm, a burst of thoughts shot into her mind. 

So much death. So much loss. Evelyn saw the greyskins chasing her up the building. Mora pulled the cranes down with her mind. She was able to move things >

“Are you okay?” Mora asked.

Quickly, Evelyn let go of Mora’s arm, realizing that she was close to giving herself away. She folded her hands together on the table. She then looked at Mora in the eyes for a very long moment. Evelyn remembered thinking before that this girl was the kind of person to lead people against Jeremiah. She had a compassion for human life, a drive for what was right. And now this girl was a new Starborn. She possessed all the qualities Evelyn had been waiting for. 

It
was
the same girl, wasn’t it? Evelyn had only touched her for maybe a couple of seconds, but the thoughts had whizzed by so quickly. Evelyn was almost sure it was. She needed to touch her again to be sure. No. She didn’t. She was sure. This was the same girl. And her gift was truly powerful. Still, she wanted to touch her for little longer, just to see exactly how her parents died. To remember all that she had seen before and what had happened since that time. But there was little doubt. This was the one. 

Evelyn shook her head, trying to erase the thoughts going through her head. “It’s nothing, sweetheart. Old joints acting up.” It was a pitiful lie, but she knew Mora wouldn’t question it. The two of them stood. “You might want to head back to Connor’s place. I wouldn’t want you to be seen by Screven guards and get caught. It will do none of us any good.”

Evelyn led her to the front door. Mora politely thanked her for the food and salve for the wound. Evelyn smiled and waved, but she barely heard anything Mora said. All she could think about was how powerful of an ally she would be. Better than that, how powerful of a leader she could be when Evelyn was gone. Evelyn planned to kill Jeremiah before she died, but if her plans failed, Mora would be a powerful replacement to carry on with the Resistance. There would be more for the next leader to accomplish. There were still wild greyskins in the world. There were still people that needed help. The Starborns were meant to help these people. Mora had the compassion within her to do that. To carry on. 

She watched as Mora crossed the street. She became worried, however, when a Screven SUV stopped next to Mora and guards got out to question her. The scuffle brought in everyone. Krindle, Heinrich, Connor. 

Evelyn couldn’t hear anything as she watched them through the window. There was nothing she could do, but in the end it seemed like Heinrich and Connor had been able to persuade Krindle to let her go. No doubt, they were ordered to get her out of Salem. Evelyn wasn’t sure what would happen, but she knew where the girl was from. With Jeffrey’s help, she could get back to Springhill if she needed to. 

Mora looked up as the guards pulled her to her feet. She caught Evelyn staring through the window, but eventually, Mora turned away. 

Evelyn walked away from the window and moved to the kitchen. She pulled her special radio out of one of the drawers and pressed down on the button. “Jeffrey are you there?”

It took a few moments, but eventually, his voice sounded over the radio. “
I am, what’s up
?”

“You should come here tonight,” Evelyn said. “We need to talk.”

The radio was silent for almost an entire minute and then came the response. “
No problem. I will be there after dark
.” Evelyn put away the radio and sat down at the kitchen table. There was so much to think about.

That night, Danny and werHeather sat in Evelyn’s shack. She would have asked Heinrich to come in on the meeting too, but he had taken Mora and Connor out to look for Aaron. Evelyn hoped they would bring her back, but it was unlikely. They would either take her to Screven or send her on her way home. Either way, it wouldn’t be too hard to find her again. She would be back at Springhill eventually.

They all sat in silence until Heather spoke up first. 

“What are we meeting about, exactly?”

Evelyn shook her head. “I want Jeffrey to be here for this.”

“Why doesn’t Jeffrey just move to Salem?” Heather asked. “We always have to wait for him.”

“With a gift like his, why would he need to live here?” Evelyn said.

“Because he can’t get within a mile of his target,” Danny snickered. Heather smiled at this too. 

Evelyn didn’t think it was funny. The three Starborns she had taken under her wing were getting restless. Evelyn had been looking for that extra person to add to their team, that leader that could carry on, but the others hadn’t been too happy to hear her say that. Of course, each of them thought the team was perfect as it was. Heather had been flat-out offended that Evelyn thought she was too hot-headed to be a good leader. Danny didn’t like the sound of it, but he didn’t complain too much. Aaron had just been quiet. Evelyn imagined he might have been hurt by her words, but she was looking out for them. She knew they would all perform greatly with a solid team, and they didn’t have that right now.

At the time, they didn’t know that they were meant to start a Resistance that would carry all across the colonies. They had no idea that teams were being built in so many locations. When the revolt began in Salem, it would begin everywhere - even in Screven, though the Screven team was far smaller than the others. It was so difficult to start something so close to the enemy. Jeffrey was pulling his weight though, that was for sure. 

After a few minutes, they heard a knock at Evelyn’s door. Heather went to the front and opened it, allowing Jeffrey to come in.

“Why don’t you just teleport to one of the chairs next time instead of making me get up?” Heather said. 

Jeffrey had gotten used to her sarcasm. “Well, I wouldn’t want to accidentally choose the wrong seat and sit on you.”

She rolled her eyes. 

“Sorry I’m late,” Jeffrey said. “Teleported about half a mile south of here.”

“Told you,” Heather said.

“It’s alright,” Evelyn said. 

Jeffrey took a seat at the table and they all sat, waiting for Evelyn to tell them what was on her mind. She took in a deep breath, realizing that she hadn’t really thought about how she would say it. 

“I found her,” Evelyn said. 

“Her who?” Danny said. 

“Mora. She’s a Starborn.” She turned her head to Jeffrey. “Do you remember the girl in Springhill? The one you had asked about?”

Jeffrey thought for a moment then shook his head. “That was such a long time ago. I really don’t remember.”

“Well, it’s her,” Evelyn said. “She’s the one that will complete our team. She has the spirit of a leader in her. She’s passionate. She cares about the world, but mostly her family. And she only discovered her gift recently.”

“Great,” Heather said. “A rookie. So, you’ve chosen a newborn Starborn to be our little team leader?”

Evelyn shook her head. “I just want us to have a strong team. And I think we will have it with her as an addition.”

“What can she do?” Jeffrey asked. 

“Move things with her mind,” Evelyn answered. 

The room was quiet as the others pondered. Evelyn knew that more help in the coming revolt would be welcome, even for Heather, but she also knew that Mora wouldn’t join the fight without some provocation. 

“She doesn’t know of Jeremiah’s evil,” Evelyn said. “We have to convince her of that. So, there is a lot of work ahead of us.”

“When will we meet her?” Heather asked.