Efferent

Chapter 51

James announced the beginning of the competition, and rampant cheers broke out through the crowds of scattered Afferent. He raised his hands to silence the trainees. "I am extremely impressed with your improvements and abilities as well. So, tomorrow, we will have our first test. You will not know what you will be tested on, but be warned, it is a challenge akin to a small sparring match."

"A sparring match?" An Afferent asked.

"Yes. You will display your powers to me." James said. "There will not really be fighting, but I do want you to flaunt your Afference. Show me the strength of your power." On that note, he walked back to the house, not looking backwards at us for one second longer than he had to.

The Afferent milled around, whispering to each other as they all excitedly carried on the news. Clark seemed a bit confused, for one, and I was not really sure what I felt about the situation. "Well." I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well." Blaise mocked, copying me. I looked to him. "Do you think Clark is ready?" He asked quietly. Clark was busy conversing with a fellow Afferent, and I sighed.

"I do not know. He has only had about half an hour of practice so far. I fear that it is not enough." I voiced, staring at Clark who had a small smile on his face. "I want him to succeed. He is so much better than this, and yet he is reduced to... that." I vaguely motioned towards him.

Clark seemed content, talking with another boy, and he even laughed. It decorated his features nicely, and he looked pleasant, calm, and stable, for once. Clark then appeared to crack a joke as they laughed together.

Blaise nodded at my earlier statement. "I second that. But sometimes things do not work out to be the way you want them to be."

"No, they do not." I agreed. Silence ensued as we stared at each other, and at Clark. The other boy was demonstrating something to him, and he seemed fascinated. I was not sure if I was correct or not, but he seemed to act as the normal Clark again. The old one, the regular one.

The one that I had trusted, the one I met, the one that saved me, even from myself at times.

I gulped slightly, then finally tore my eyes away from the scene. "Perhaps, if it is not too much to ask, would you train him a bit more? He is already at a disadvantage, but if he has maybe even another half hour of your full, devoted time, we could even the scales slightly."

"I can do that. Maybe after dinner." Blaise said.

"Great." I looked towards Clark again. "I just want him to be happy. He was honestly the first person whom I trusted after everything, and without him, I could very well be dead right now." The more I thought about it, the more true it seemed. "I would have been a goner in the first day without Clark."

Blaise followed my gaze towards him. "Hey. It's all right. He will be fine." His voice turned soothing, slow and smooth. Kind of like melted chocolate. I smiled at him, and he smiled back. There was a comfortable silence between us again.

"But do you think it is too early for any of them? James seems a bit too excited for the competition." Blaise suddenly said. His eyes widened at his relevation, and he turned towards me for my opinion.

I put my hand to my chin, musing. "You are right. James gave me the impression that he was eager for the competitions to start." I nodded. He did have a point, but maybe that was just because James wanted the Afferent to be trained as quickly as possible? I would probably be the same way.

"What do you think his motives are? Yes, one of them is to train the Afferent and get them to help us fight, to help us rebel." Blaise paused. "But does it not seem strange? For someone to have such a good heart?"

"It is possible." I shrugged, pondering his question in my head. James was always helpful, always kind, but not overly so. Most days I could not stand his temper, or irrational outbursts. "James could just be a good person." I settled on, simply.

"Or does he have ulterior motives? Such as using the Afferent to kill the civilians? Instead of just defeating them? Or for his own purpose? Like use them as slaves, as people who have to answer his every beck and call?" Blaise countered, his eyes flashing as he named all the possibilities.

My blood grew cold. "Is... is that possible?" I did not want to think of James in that light, since he has been nothing but kind and accomadating to us. It just seemed alien to me, a concept that I could not quite grasp, but Blaise could.

"It is possible." Blaise noted, repeating my earlier words. "I think we should be careful and keep an eye out. Danger lurks at every corner these days, it seems." He sighed and shook his head. "Even if James means nothing but well, we should still border on the safe side."

"I... but if we do not trust, we will not get anywhere. If I had not trusted Clark, I would be dead, I would not have met you, and the government would have officially used me." I emphasized, looking Blaise dead in the eye. "Trust is valuable, and should not be given out easily, yes, but that does not mean everyone is an enemy."

Blaise muttered something indecipherable. "I guess so." He finally settled on. "But, as it is always repeated in life. Trust no one." He gave me a wan smile and walked off into the woods, a sad expression decorating his features.

I glared at his receding back, his words angering me more than they should have. He was not about to ditch me in this conversation, and I ran after him. "Amelia would have trusted him!" I yelled, then my eyes widened at my blurt.

Blaise turned around so quickly I would have deemed it impossible if i had not just seen it with my own eyes. "Do. Not. Bring. Her. Up." He growled, his eyes dark and almost cruel, his fists clenched as he glared at me. I backed up slowly from the intensity of it.

"I... I-" I stammered quietly.

"Amelia would not have wanted this." Blaise said, staring into my

"She would have, Blaise. You are just not wanting to believe it, when it is right in front of your eyes!" I threw my hands out to my sides in frustration, "Amelia would have trusted James, she would have welcomed him into our group, and she would have loved him."

His eyes slitted. "Do not use that word." His voice was low, but steady. It sounded lethal to me, and he towered above me. For the first time in ages, I felt scared of him again.

"What word?" I dared to ask, and Blaise all but nearly strangled me, his eyes burning with fury.

"Love."