Banished Pt. 05

"She says that he raped her," she said, and I gasped.

"And no one was there to confirm anything? What about Raul."

"He says he was asleep, and he didn't hear a thing... I think the fact that that happened right next to him freaked him out a bit, too."

"And everyone else?"

She shook her head.

"Just about everyone was asleep and tired. Apparently, she offered to relieve Jordan, and since she had the knife, he thought it'd be fine, but he told her to wake Francesca and she never did."

I took a deep breath, as I considered the scenario.

"So, no witnesses... do we have any kind of evidence?" I asked, and she studied me.

"Are you doubting what I'm saying?" she asked, and I quickly shook my head.

"Not one bit, but we need to make a strong case against her in case her ideologies have already spread to the others."

Jeannie shuddered as she spoke to me.

"I'm just... terrified of even the idea of her being out here with us... with that weapon. She's a psychopath... people like that should be locked away."

I chuckled internally, as I kept a straight face, and nodded in agreement with her.

"So, evidence?"

"Well... the murder weapon is the knife. It was covered in blood... but she claims that man took it from her and used it... I don't know what else..."

She teared up again, and I gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Don't worry. We'll get to the bottom of this... I want you to keep an eye on the rest of the girls, though. Try to pay attention to how the others react to her; if anyone is sympathetic to her story, or her ill-will towards the Kobalt. That kind of thing," I explained, and she nodded.

As we headed back to the grove, I caught sight of Eradne, and I signaled her over.

"The Kobalt man; what can you tell me?"

"He would never harm a goddess," she answered, and I nodded.

"I know. Most of the Kobalt here wouldn't... but between Casey being stabbed, and the Kobalt attack. I need to establish personal details about his reputation."

She nodded.

"He is called, 'Helmut'. He is a preserver; one who sees to the grove, to the saplings..."

"Hmm. Okay; did you sleep at all last night, by the way?" I asked.

"Before the attack... but at the cave, I decided it best to stay alert."

"Do you need to get some rest?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Eventually... but if matters must be attended, I am able for the time."

I nodded.

"Have you seen Gisela?"

"She sleeps yet."

"Hmm. Okay, well until she's up... could you talk to the Kobalt? Find out Helmut's side of the story, and see if there's anyone who saw what happened. Also, the girl... Emily."

"The accuser?"

I nodded.

"See if anyone saw her. When she left her room, when she was outside... things like that," I said, and Eradne nodded.

"It will be done," she said, but as she bowed slightly, she shot me a curious look.

"What will you do with her?" she asked, and I frowned.

"I'll take that up with my advisors," I said, smiling at her, and she nodded, smiling in response.

As Eradne headed off, I turned my attention back to the grove tree.

Where should I start?

Emily was my first choice... but maybe I should recruit some more help before tackling her head on.

I headed instead for Cameron, who was standing worriedly, closer to Candace's body.

"Hey," I said, and she shot me a bit of a forced smile, before that worried look from before returned.

"Hey," she said, biting her lip. "I know Candace wasn't the best person, but I don't think I wanted to see anyone end up like this," she said, and I nodded.

"Can we go up to your room?" I asked, and she nodded.

We headed for the tree, and as we got to her room, she hugged me tight.

"Can we do the 'hold me tight' thing for a bit?" she asked, and I nodded.

We headed for her bed, and as I lay down, she positioned herself in front of me, and I pulled her close as we lay together.

"That Kobalt... he didn't do that, did he..." she said.

"No," I replied, and she shivered a little.

"Who was it?"

"As far as I can tell; Emily."

"Christ... so, Vanessa whored out her girls; Caleb and his group actually committed rape... and now we have a murderer. Your status as a psychopath is starting to look really bland by comparison."

"From what I can tell... everyone who was sent here are the broken, discarded, undesirables who didn't fit into a normal society. Some of us need to be protected, but the others, I'm guessing, are the ones we needed to be protected from."

She shuddered again.

"Doesn't it scare you?" she asked, and I chuckled.

"Psychopath, remember? I don't feel that kind of worry."

She wiggled around, and turned onto her back, and I rested my head on my hand as I looked down at her.

"What do we do? We've taken in so many into the group, and we have no idea who else might be like Emily," she said, and I shrugged.

"Well... that's the cost of freedom. We could screen everyone and suspect each other indefinitely while enforcing restrictions on what everyone does, and with whom. Historically speaking, that rarely works, though."

She frowned.

"So, we just continue to let these things happen?"

I bit my lip, as I considered how to answer.

"It's not that we should do nothing... Emily should face consequences for what she's done; which, we'll decide on as a group. But I don't see the need to radically change everything just based on this one incident. In the long term, developing a healthy degree of trust and affording everyone a fair share of personal freedom, will benefit the group as a whole."

She frowned.

"So, you don't think I should be scared right now?" she asked, and I shook my head, chuckling a little.

"Of course not; it's a natural reaction, from what I observed. Jeannie even broke down when talking about it... but you definitely shouldn't let the fear you feel control the way you react. The situation needs to be handled, and for that we need to think rationally, instead of reacting emotionally."

She looked out the window beside us, before studying me again.

"Is that what I am to you? A 'rationally chosen' option?" she asked, and I snickered.

"You do make sense for me, as a partner... but honestly, I just enjoy lying with you. Being with you. The feeling of closeness... I've never had that in my life, and you enjoy it as well."

She nodded, then shot me a curious smile.

"If she'd killed me... what would you have done?" she asked.

"Murdered her, I think..." I answered, and she smiled.

"Is that the rational choice?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"If someone far enough removed from the situation wishes to try to restrain me in that moment, then good for them... but that's not my role in that moment. Not when someone has taken something important from me."

Cameron smiled, and she pulled me down for a kiss, and as I tasted her lips, I felt a curious warmth flutter through my body.

"I spent the last few days wondering if your whole 'feel nothing' feeling towards me would change, and kind of wishing that it would... but now, I think I'm kinda starting to like you just the way you are," she said, and I smiled as we kissed again.

We lay like that for a while holding each other, and exchanging soft, smacking kisses, until eventually I broke away, and Cameron studied me.

"We need to examine Emily," I said.

"Examine?"

"She claims she was raped, no?"

"Wait... you want to confirm it?" she asked, and I smirked.

"Nope. Honestly? I wanna fuck with her a little," I said, before adding, "It'll unsettle her at the very least."

Cameron frowned.

"I forgot who I was dealing with," she said, and I smiled.

"Getting her to come unhinged is probably the best way to deal with this. If we make a serious case out of it, it'll just give legitimacy to her bullshit claims. Besides, I don't want the group to become distrustful of the Kobalt."

As I got up, Cameron stretched lazily, before joining me.

"Wait. Can I threaten her?" she asked, as a wicked grin appeared on her face.

"I think I like that expression," I said, nodding appreciatively, and she smiled.

As we left the room, however, I pulled her along with me for a quick detour to Eradne's room, where Casey was, and as soon as we stepped into the room, a dozing Ryker quickly snapped to attention.

"Uh... do you understand?" I asked, and the boy nodded.

"A little," he answered.

"How is she?" I asked, and as he gestured to her, we joined him at her bedside.

"She is... alive. Reasonably," he answered.

I reached out with my right hand, then flipping it over, I let the back of my index finger touch her arm, gently, and as I traced the digit over the spot a little, Casey reached over with her other hand, and taking it into hers, she gave it a little squeeze.

I studied her for a moment, to see if she would stir, but she seemed to be fast asleep, so I signaled to Cameron, and we headed for the door, turning to say a quick goodbye to Ryker.

"You care for Casey, don't you," Cameron noted.

"I guess," I answered, as I nodded, and she smiled.

"Would you murder someone for hurting her? Like you would for me?"

I pondered the matter for a bit, then nodded again.

"Probably."

"Who else?" she asked.

"Francesca?"

"Obviously," she replied, rolling her eyes, and I snickered at the reaction.

"Why does Francesca drive you to jealousy in a way that no other woman can?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"I'm not sure, actually..." she answered, giving the matter some serious thought.

"Speaking of Francesca... I think we need a second girl in on this examination."

"Ugh. Does it have to be her?" she asked, and I smirked.

"No. Jeannie is my first choice, but if she can't do it then Francesca will have to do," I answered, and Cameron frowned.

"Let's go find Jeannie," she said, with a look of determination and I snickered at the response.

We headed for her room and found here there along with Evie, Leanna, and Molly.

"Oh good; I wanted to talk to everyone," I said, as Jeannie invited me into the room, and she shot me a slightly questioning look.

"How has Emily been... since the, uh- you know," I began, and they all seemed a little fidgety.

"I think she's dealing with it by channeling all of her thoughts into revenge," Leanna answered, and Molly and Evie shot each other a brief, uncomfortable look.

So... maybe she's just gotten into Leanna's head a little, I thought.

If that was the case, then we could probably just outright hold her responsible and be done with the whole thing, but I figured it would still be best to make sure.

After all, from what I could tell, our abilities as otherworlders could be quite significant later on, and the more of them I had under my control, the better it would be.

Emily was a loss I already made peace with, but if it was possible at all, I wanted to keep the losses to a minimum.

I moved to Leanna, and held her gaze.

"You can rest assured, we're going to do everything we can for her," I answered, and as Evie and Molly exchanged another look, I began to wonder if maybe I should hang back a little, and give one of them a chance to come forward and say something.

"Jeannie... I want you and Cameron to go fetch Emily, okay? And you can bring her up to Cameron's room," I said.

Cameron shot me a questioning look, but she nodded, and as the two headed off, I headed for the door, but as soon as I stepped outside, I waited around, and sure enough, Molly poked her head out, a relieved expression on her face as she spotted me in the corridor.

"Uh, Nate... can we talk a little?" she asked, and I nodded. "Okie; my room is right here."

We stepped into her room, and she took a deep breath.

"So... I'm not saying that Emily might be lying, but... she's been talking all night about how much these Kobalts... is that the right plural form?"

"I think it's just 'Kobalt'," I replied, and she nodded.

"About how much of a threat they could be... I know Casey was attacked and you might be angry, but most of them have been good to us, and... I think they're really just scared of us, more than anything else. And that guy who Emily says raped her? He served us food yesterday, and Evie like, accidentally touched his hand, and he apologized to her like a bazillion times... you know?"

"I see," I replied, as if deeply troubled by the news. "Is there anything else about Emily that, uh- feels off?"

She bit her lip, a nervous expression on her face.

"There's one... but uh-"

"Anything that can help us understand her better will help right now," I reassured her, and she nodded.

"Uh... I don't wanna say too much, but uh, when we were being forced to 'entertain' Caleb's friend, Ronnie... it was me, Emily, and, uh... another girl. Emily was actually really into it, but this other girl wasn't, and Emily, uh... sort of made the girl give her some oral, and when she didn't want to, Emily told her to stop being a little bitch since she was, uh... a, uh-"

"A lesbian?" I asked, and Molly quickly nodded, blushing a little.

"-using a less polite word, yes. The, uh- girl... kind of felt like if that was rape too, you know?"

"It was," I said, sighing. "Thanks for letting me know."

She nodded, letting out a little relieved sigh.

"By the way... my friend. She- uh, she's a little concerned about her... preferences. Do you think she has anything to worry about?" Molly asked, and I shook my head.

"I think it might be too early for me to speak for the others, but I certainly don't see any problems there."

She nodded.

"Thanks for the info Molly, but just one thing. Leanna seemed kind of worried about Emily."

Molly rolled her eyes, and chuckled a little.

"Uh, yeah."

"Are they close?"

She quickly shook her head.

"Leanna's dysfunction is based on... something else," she said, a little vaguely, and as I raised an eyebrow at the statement, she cleared her throat, and glanced around, speaking in a lower tone.

"To put it bluntly... the girl's a racist," Molly answered, I rubbed my chin thoughtfully.

"Towards the Kobalt? That might be a bit unfair. I mean, they are an alien species with a very different cultural aesthetic... maybe she just needs some time to adjust," I suggested, shrugging, but she quickly shook her head.

"Its not just her feelings toward the Kobalt... before we met them, when we were at Vanessa's camp. She had a pretty rough time with Mark; the other dude with Caleb? And the next day when they came back with your friends, she kept grabbing my hand and shaking like a leaf every time Jordan passed by her..."

"What? Jordan's got to be like, less than one eighth black, or something."

"I know, right? I asked her what that was about, and she's like, oh, I don't wanna get ripped to shreds by some monster sized dick, or whatever, and I was like, lol, she's gotta be kidding, but no. She was super serious. When Mark chose her again that night, she actually said that she was relieved that 'at least it's not that black guy'."

I chuckled, but inwardly, I quickly realized that this could be another problem.

I mean sure, I expected that we would have to deal with feelings like that towards the Kobalt; and I honestly thought that Emily's extreme aversion toward them would be the worst of it.

But to react like that, Leanna's feelings had to be deeply ingrained on a subconscious level, and people who felt that way rarely ever changed.

I would have to figure out how to deal with it in the future... or maybe, get rid of her the first chance I got.

Either way, I vowed to pay closer attention to the matter to get a better gauge on it.

I thanked Molly for her time, then headed off to find Cameron and Jeannie, who I suspected should be on their way up to Cameron's room by now, but before heading up there, I decided to quickly check on Bianca.

The guard posted in front of her room had changed again.

"Hey. Do you understand this tongue?" I asked, and the man nodded, so I continued, "don't let any Gods in here except me. Okay?"

He nodded, and I stepped past him, and opened up her door, poking my head in.

"Hey," I said, and as she turned to see me, she smiled.

"Hey. I thought you were mad at me," she began, and I shook my head.

"Not mad... but I don't want you to pull that stunt again," I said, a hint of warning in my voice, and she quickly nodded.

"Is everything okay? I heard a commotion last night," the girl began, and I frowned.

"There was... an attack," I said, and she frowned.

"Was anyone hurt?"

"Just Casey... and Candace."

"Are they okay?"

"Casey is," I said, and her hand went to her mouth as she realized what I was saying.

"Candace? But how?" she began, and I sighed, taking a seat on the bed beside her.

"How well did you know her?" I asked, and she frowned.

"Not well... I didn't like her, but... I didn't want her to die either..."

She teared up a little, and after shooting me a look, I nodded, and she crawled over into my arms.

"How did she die? Was it these... people?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"We're investigating but... it seems, it may have been Emily," I answered, and she gasped.

"That girl always creeped me out," she admitted, frowning again.

"How so?"

"Well... after the first night, when Caleb's group spent the night with some of us, everyone was kinda freaked out afterwards... and Emily, well she acted like if she was too, but it didn't seem genuine... it kinda just seemed like she was faking it, because everyone else reacted that way."

I nodded, gulping.

So, the signs all pointed in that direction, huh... that she's a psychopath too.

Bianca quickly became comfortable in my arms, but time was pressing, so I quickly withdrew much to her discontent.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I can't stay long. We need to handle the Emily thing... I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

She nodded, quickly replacing her frown with a smile.

"I'm glad you did," she said, and she walked with me to the door as I headed out, but just as I left the room, Cameron came around the corner, and she shot me a teasing look.

"Checking on Bianca?" she teased, and I smiled.

"You know me. Ever the thoughtful," I said, and she put her hands on her hip.

"Of course," she said, punching me playfully, as I followed her back to her room.

As we entered the room, Emily had a scowling expression on her face, but she quickly replaced it with a grin as I stepped inside.

"Nate. These girls said you wanted to see me," she said, shooting a sharp glance at Jeannie.

"Yeah. I need to get your account of what happened," I replied, and she nodded.

"Well, that bastard slit Candace's throat-"

"No, no. Start from the top. I left you to guard the rest of the girls, right? What happened from there."

"Oh. Well, we stayed in the room, but it was quiet, so we just kind of talked."

"You stayed up till morning?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah. Everyone fell asleep eventually, but I figured since you entrusted me with guarding them, I should keep watch until you came back."

"Uh-huh; but then you left the room?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Well, yeah. I figured they weren't really in danger, and we needed to keep our supplies safe, so I went outside there, and good thing too... imagine what he would have done if he'd gotten his hands on one of our weapons."

"Right. So, you went outside and... Jordan was on watch?"

"Yes. He was really tired, and he said Francesca was up all night... he practically begged me to take over the watch for him, so I was like, well I have this knife, right? So sure, why not."