Renegades Stories

Chapter 17: Liliana

Lily woke up to her head pounding. The last thing she remembered was being hit in the back of the head.

    "Wha-?" she murmured, trying to get her thoughts together.

    She opened her eyes, and then immediately closed them. The surrounding lights were blinding.

    "Shh," someone soothed. "You got hit very hard. We need to make sure there is no lasting damage."

    "Huh?" was all Lily could manage.

    "Someone has already healed you, but we just need to double check."

    She was very confused. She must be in Renegade Headquarters. Or a hospital. The doctor performed a series of tests on her, then she was wheeled away on a stretcher.

    It took a few minutes, but Lily finally pulled herself together. She tried to move her arms and legs, but found that she was bound. She sneered. Did they really think that strapping her to the bed would stop her from tearing them apart?

    At the end of the hallway, Andrew Cox and Narcissa Cronin were waiting for the healers.

    "We'll watch her," Andrew promised.

    Lily snarled. "I don't need to be watched."

    "Um, you kind of do. You're our prisoner," retorted Narcissa.

    Lily turned her head away, refusing to look at her. Instead, she focused on her sister. Was Rosie okay? Would she come looking for her? Knowing her sisters' temper, it was likely she would be here in an hour or so. She smiled at that thought.

    She listened as Andrew and Narcissa spoke in low voices. She heard snippets of their conversation. Wildflower. Inferno. Caroline. Craggmoor.

    If they thought she was going to that awful place, they were wrong. She would get out. She turned her head back in their direction, ready to say something sarcastic. But then she froze.

    Speaking with the two Renegades was a man. A very familiar man. Of course, he was seven years older. His black hair was streaked with gray. His beard was gone. But the same bored look was on his face. The same expression he had used when he turned Lily and her sister away. He was the reason she was still alone. The reason why she was strapped to this bed.

    She closed her eyes, and concentrated, first trapping Andrew and Narcissa to the floor so they wouldn't be able to do anything. Then, she created more vines. She yanked the man to the ground, grabbing each of his limbs and pulling them in different directions.

    "Aftershock!" Andrew cried in horror.

    He tried to move his legs to help his fellow Renegade, but Lily grew vines farther up his legs. For good measure she did the same with Narcissa. She returned her attention to 'Aftershock.' The man was screaming in pain, trying to free himself.

    "Oh no you don't," Lily muttered, tightening her vines.

    Andrew and Narcissa were screaming for help. Lily began to send her vines up their bodies, determined to shut them up.

    "Lily!" a girl's voice screamed.

    Lily gasped at the sound of her sister's voice. Rosie ran up to her and quickly undid the straps.

    "Come on, we have to get out of here," she said urgently.

    Lily stood up. Keeping her concentration on the restrained Renegades, she followed her sister to the back of the room. Rosie threw a small chair at the window and it shattered.

    "Get us out of here," she said.

    Lily nodded, and summoned more vines to take them down. She ushered Rosie to the edge and wrapped some around her waist, then began lowering her to the bottom. Once she was safely on the ground, she did the same to herself.

    "Come on!" Rosie said. "They know I'm here!"

    "Just one quick thing," said Lily.

    She closed her eyes and clenched her fists, sending her vines into the ground beneath the Renegades Headquarters. She made them as big as she could, made them go as deep as she could. The foundation creaked.

    "Now!" she shouted.

    Lily and Rosie ran away as fast as they could through the alleyways of Gatlon City. She heard loud crashes and screams as the headquarters collapsed from the bottom. She was doing what she'd always dreamed of. What many before her had dreamed of.

    She was destroying Renegade Headquarters.