Fight for Solaria: The First Rebellion

Chapter Four

Wyatt’s Secret

Mai and Sam made it to the bus stop only a few minutes before the bus did. As soon as they were on board, the people on the bus started staring and pointing at them. Mai was sure it was the way they were dressed that attracted so much attention. Even the bus driver seemed to be staring at them. It made her feel very awkward. This is when she finally realized she was still in her pajamas. She had not had time to change out of them when they left her house the previous night. Her face was burning, and she wanted nothing more then to turn invisible or to sink into the floor of the bus where no one could see her.

Think of the bright side, she thought. At least I have my robes over my pajamas. She leaned over to Sam and whispered, “Can we sit in the back?” Sam gave her a curious look.

“Why?”

Mai looked over her shoulder as though she expected someone to jump out at her. “In case you haven’t noticed, everyone’s staring at us.”

“So?”

“So? It’s kind of, well, I don’t know. I just don’t like it.” Why did her new friend always have to be so stubborn?

“Why not? I like all the attention, it’s nothing bad.”

“It just makes me feel… uncomfortable.”

“Uncomfortable? I get people staring at me all the time. I like it. If you don’t, just ignore them.”

“But can we sit in the back anyway?”

“Fine.” As they made their way down the bus, Sam had her head high and her chest out as though she was a fashion model. But Mai walked with her head slumped down and looking at the floor. She would have rather walked all the way back to her house, running through the forest, than have to sit on the bus with everyone looking at her. She normally didn’t get any attention from other people, they always ignored her completely, and she had always longed to be popular. Now, she didn’t know how the popular could stand everyone staring at them all the time.

“Here we are, “Sam said as they reached the back of the bus. They sat down just as the bus gave a lurch and started moving.

“Hey, Sam?” said Mai casually, trying to finally get some answers out of her. She might be able to trick her into it. “How did Dakota do that back there, at Chung’s house?”

Sam looked shocked at this question. “What do you mean?” she asked, shifting uneasily in her seat.

“He sneezed and flew fifteen feet in the air!” For the first time, Sam looked nervous, or even scared, and Mai felt a bit proud of herself for finally wiping the calm look off of Sam’s face. But Sam quickly snapped out of it, and she looked calm once again.

“That’s really none of your business, now is it?” she said sternly, her eyes seemed to flash.

“Please tell me. If it’s a secret, I won’t tell anyone.” Mai was starting to wonder what Sam had to hide.

Sam shook her head. “No,” she said flatly.

“Why not?” Mai said, she was starting to get very frustrated.

“Well, I just don’t feel like telling you. And besides, I’ve answered enough of your questions for now,” Sam replied. “You just never seem to stop asking questions.” Mai was starting to get angry with Sam, with all of her rude comments. “How much farther till we reach your house?” Mai shook her head. Sam wasn't in charge anymore - she was. Sam didn’t know where her house was. She looked out the window for anything that looked familiar. Then she spotted the water tower that was only about five minutes from her house.

“We need to get off at the next stop. There’s a bus stop five blocks away from my house,” she said turning back to Sam.

“Good, hey we’re stopping now.” Sam was right. The bus was slowing down and a few people were collecting their things. When the bus came to a complete stop, they walked back up to the front of the bus and Sam gave two quarters to the bus driver.

As soon as they were off the bus Sam turned to Mai, her arms crossed. “Okay, now where?”

“This way,” said Mai, pointing to the right.

“Lead the way.” Mai started walking in the direction she had pointed to. This neighborhood was very different from the one Sam lived in. In Sam’s neighborhood, there were almost no trees. But here, it was almost impossible to get out of the shade. There were trees everywhere. Sam was walking behind Mai, she had her arms crossed and was looking around curiously.

“This place looks even worse in the day time,” she said. Mai chose to ignore this comment. She gritted her teeth.

“Almost there.” She was now walking a little faster and her hands were balled up into fists, her heart was beating slightly faster than normal. Just because she’s a princess, she thinks she can get away with everything. What’s wrong with my neighborhood? Finally, they came to Mai’s house. It was nowhere near as fancy or big as Sam’s. It was a one-story house with a very small front yard. There was no fountain or archway but May liked it all the same.

“This is it? This is your house?” Sam asked. “It’s so…”“So what?” said Mai angrily, she was tired of Sam’s remarks. They were never nice, and she seemed very snobbish. But she was the only friend Mai had ever had, and she was going to help save Earth from Romokka. To Mai, that was a good friend, even if they were a bit mean at times. Sam opened her mouth to say something but Mai spoke first.

“You don’t have to make fun of my house. I know it’s not as big or nice as yours, but I like it.” Sam closed her mouth. She was probably trying to think of some argument to this but Mai had already started walking up to the front door. Sam ran to catch up to her. Mai didn’t bother knocking, she lived here. As soon as she stepped into the house, she was greeted by the smell of roasting chicken.

“Mai!”

Mai turned around to see a boy with shaggy brown hair, and blue eyes like Mai. He had a relieved expression on his face. It was Wyatt, Mai’s older brother. “There you are!” he said as he stopped in front of her. “Mom’s having a fit. She said if you weren’t home in the next hour she would call the police. You were supposed to be home like twenty minutes ago. And you know how mom gets. And…” He stopped abruptly when he saw Sam, who had been watching him with her arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.

“Who, is he?” she asked Mai.

“This is my older brother Wyatt. Wyatt, this is Sam.” Mai was frightened by the look on her brother’s face. He looked like he was restraining himself from punching Sam right in the nose.

Wyatt stared at Sam for a long time, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. “Sam?” repeated Wyatt nervously. Mai nodded, but Wyatt scowled. “Well, I think you should go let Mom know you’re back. And you,” he said, turning to Sam. “Better behave yourself.”

“What did you say to me?” said Sam through gritted teeth.

“I said, behave yourself.”

Sam pushed Mai aside so she was face-to-face with Wyatt. “Don’t talk to me that way!” she said coldly, jabbing a finger at his chest.

“I’ll talk to you however I want,” said Wyatt as he crossed his arms.

“I don’t like your tone. That’s no way to talk to royalty,” Sam said angrily, her venomous expression showed nothing but extreme dislike. Mai was looking from one of them to the other.

She grabbed Sam’s arm and pulled her away from her brother. “Sam, lay off it. He’s always like that. He does it to me all the time. He’s just trying to make you mad.” She looked over her shoulder and gave Wyatt a dirty look.

“What’s all that shouting?” Mai and Wyatt’s stepmother had just walked into the room. “I thought I said—Mai!” She ran forward and threw her arms around Mai, squeezing her so hard that she was having trouble breathing. “Where were you? You were supposed to be back half an hour ago.” She held Mai out at arms length away from her.

“I was with Sam,” Mai said as she tried to get her breath back, she was dazed by her mother’s sudden appearance.

“With who?”

“Sam, she’s my new friend,” Mai said, pointing over to Sam.

Mai’s mom let go of her and turned to face Sam. “Why did you bring her back here? I said I would punish you when you got back home. You’re grounded for two weeks. That means no more play dates.” Sam walked forward so she was now between Mai and her mom.

“Listen here. Mai can do what ever she wants at the moment. She’s going to help me. I need her. And she has training tomorrow. She can’t do that if she’s grounded, now can she?”

Mai’s mom looked as though she had been hit on the head with a hammer. “Excuse me miss, but I don’t think that’s anyway to talk.”

“I’ll talk however I like,” Sam said calmly. Mai’s mom started turning red, though Mai did not know if it was from anger or embarrassment. This was such an awkward moment, Mai had never seen anyone talk to her mom that way before.

“Well, I think it’s time you leave,” she said finally, she was looking very flushed and not quite normal.

“No, I don’t think I will,” Sam said simply with a shrug.

“Well I never—“

Sam interrupted her. “Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

Mai’s mom shook her head in disbelief.

“What?” Sam held up her hand and a ball of lightning appeared there, filling the whole room with an eerie light. Wyatt looked bewildered, and their mom looked like she was about to faint. “We wouldn’t want an accident, now would we?” She smirked triumphantly as Mai’s mom gave a small nod. “Well,” said Sam casually, extinguishing the lightning in her hand. “Now that that’s settled, why don’t you show me around Mai?”

“Okay,” said Mai breathlessly. She led Sam away from her brother and step mom. As soon as they were out of earshot she said, “Why’d you do that! I thought you said you weren’t supposed to use your powers in front of people. And was that really necessary?”

“Of course it was necessary,” said Sam. “She wasn’t going to let you go to your lesson tomorrow.” Mai was starting to get really angry with Sam. First she insults her house, then she picks a fight with her brother, then she scares her mom.

“You wouldn’t really have hurt them, would you?” Mai asked, she couldn’t bring herself to think of what Sam could have done to the two of them, but she knew that Sam would never hurt anyone, she could be trusted, even if she didn’t seem to like showing it.

“Well, it depends on how mad they made me,” Sam replied.

“Here’s my room,” Mai said, stopping in front of her door. She didn’t think that her new friend would ever hurt her or her family, no matter how mad they made her. She pushed it open and walked in, closely followed by Sam. Her room was about half the size of Sam’s, and it was very messy.

Sam walked over to Mai’s bed and sat on it. “Well, it’s not as good as my bed, but it will do,” she said warily.

“Well, actually…I’m sleeping on the bed. Look, I have a sleeping bag for you,” said Mai as she grabbed her sleeping bag out of her closet.

“What, I sleep on the floor? That’s bad manners, Mai. You should always let the guest sleep on the bed, especially if they’re a princess.” Mai had had about enough of this. Not to mention that Sam had not let her sleep on her bed when Mai had stayed at her house. She felt like screaming at Sam, but she held her tongue.

“Fine.” She tossed the sleeping bag on the floor. “I’m going to go into the kitchen for a minute. Please make yourself at home,” said Mai, trying to hide the sarcasm in her voice.

“I think I will,” said Sam. Mai turned on her heel and walked off, closing the door behind her. She didn’t know what to think of Sam anymore, she had known her for less than twenty-four hours, that wasn’t enough time to tell if someone would make a good friend or not. Her stomach growled and she was only now aware of how hungry she was. She had skipped lunch, and it was getting late she had only had a piece of toast to eat in the last day. She had skipped dinner the previous night. Once she reached the kitchen, she saw Wyatt dabbing a damp cloth across their mom’s forehead. Their mom was slumped in a chair and looked as though she would collapse at any second. When Wyatt heard Mai come in he looked up, and gave her a dirty look. “Why’d you have to bring her here?” he asked Mai.

“Well, she’s my friend and-“

“Mai, she’s not the kind you should be making friends with,” said Wyatt sternly. Their mom was apparently unable to speak. She looked paler then Mai had ever seen her and she had her eyes closed. It looked like she was having a nightmare.

“I think I can decide for myself who I should be making friends with,” said Mai, she didn’t know who to turn to anymore.

“Mai, she’s from the Fire Tribe. There are some pretty bad rumors about people from that tribe.” Mai, who had been looking at her mom, looked up at him as though he had just said a very bad swearword.

“How- how do you know about…“ But she was unable to finish her sentence. How could this be? How could Wyatt know about the Fire Tribe? What was he hiding? It seemed that in one night, the whole world changed without her being aware of it, and now she was left out in the cold, not knowing anything that anyone else did. Was she slowly going insane?

“Look,” said Wyatt, “I guess I should have told you this sooner, but dad wanted me to wait until you were old enough.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Mai in a shaky voice. She wanted to know what her brother was hiding, what did their father have to do with any of this? Wyatt had never really mentioned their father before, and Mai was starting to wonder just what Wyatt was hiding from her.

“Well, it’s a long story. First off, you don’t know where Dad went when he left, right?”

Mai nodded. “He just said he’d be gone for a while. But it’s been over two years, but what does that have to do with—”

“That’s right. Did your friend tell you how the ten tribes came to live on earth?”

Mai nodded again, annoyed at being interrupted.

“Well, that’s where Dad went. He went to fight in the war between Solaria and Romokka. But by the time he got there, Solaria had already lost. He stayed out there, in hiding, waiting for the right time to strike back. And he’s still there right now. Do you know how Mom died? Did Dad ever tell you?”

Mai was confused. “Yes. She died in a car crash,” she said, still not having the faintest idea of what Wyatt was talking about. “Well, remember when she left? She said that she was going on a business trip and wouldn’t be back for a while. But Dad told us that she died in a car crash on the way home. Well, she didn’t die in a car crash or anything close to that. When she said that she was going on a business trip, she was actually going to help fight the war. She died, fighting in the war.” Things were starting to make a little more sense now. But Mai was still very confused. Their parents had fought in a war on another planet, they were warriors!

“But why did people from Earth go to fight another planet’s war? And how did they even know about it?”

Wyatt suddenly looked shocked. “I’d have thought you would have figured that out by now.” Mai shook her head. “Well, didn’t you ever wonder where Dad got those robes he gave you before he left?” Wyatt pointed to the robes Mai was wearing, “and why he gave them to you? Or even why he gave me those swords?” He was referring to two swords that their dad had given him right after he gave Mai the robes. The swords were flat, but the blade was thick and good for blocking. They were very lightweight and the ends were curved slightly. “Our parents were both from Solaria,” continued Wyatt. “They’re from the Water Tribe. Our whole family was evacuated here. You were probably too young to remember the ride to Earth. I think you were three or something, but I wasn’t too young, that’s why Dad told me all this. The war started two years before you were born. Anyway, Mom changed her mind, she went back without Dad, then after Mom died, Dad married our stepmother, and then he left for Solaria too. Just so you know, Matty’s not our real brother. He was hers.” He pointed to their step mom, who had, by the looks of it fainted a long time ago.

“That also means we’re from Solaria too! But I don’t think either of us has powers. I know for a fact that I don’t. Dad told me before he left,” Wyatt said with a disappointed look on his face. Mai couldn’t believe what she was hearing, she had powers, was from another planet, and would soon be fighting alongside Sam to save Earth from Romokka!

She was feeling a pit of guilt in her stomach. “Actually Wyatt, I do have powers.” Wyatt looked at her curiously. So May explained what had happened when she was four years old. She told him every detail, how she fell in the pool and how the water had lifted her out.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” said Wyatt excitedly. “Mom had powers, but Dad didn’t. He was always so jealous of her. I can’t believe you have powers. Wow!” Then he scratched his head thoughtfully.

“I still can’t believe you never told me any of this,” Mai said, her excitement was now being replaced by anger.

“Well like I said, Dad wanted me to wait for the right time,” Wyatt said. Then they heard footsteps coming from the hall. They immediately both fell silent. Sam walked into the room, smirking at the sight of Mai and Wyatt’s stepmother, who was still unconscious.

“So, what’s wrong with her,” she said casually as though she was talking about the weather.

“I almost forgot about her!” said Wyatt, running over to his step mom. “Have you guys had dinner yet?”

“No, not yet,” said Mai as she examined her mom carefully, her stomach gave another growl.

“Well there’s some chicken and rice in the fridge if you want it, but you’ll need to heat it up. Just put it in the microwave for about two minutes,” he said as he gesturing to over to the small white microwave that was sitting on the counter.

“We don’t need a Microwave?” said Sam in an offended voice. She walked over to it and looked at it curiously. “I heat can things myself,” she said, stepping away from the microwave and walking back over to Mai.

“I’ll just bring the whole pack up to my room so we can snack on it,” said Mai as she walked over to refrigerator and pulled out a plate that had a big pile of chicken and rice on it.

“Come on Sam.” They both walked out of the kitchen and back into Mai’s room. By now it was getting late and the sun was starting to set.

“Well, you still need to meet Matty,” Mai said as she put the plate on top of her dresser.

“Who?”

“Matty, my little…err…brother,” said Mai. But she remembered what Wyatt had said. Matty was not her real brother. That would be hard to get used to, very hard indeed.

“Oh….Well, where is he then?” said Sam, looking around as though she expected Matty to be sitting right behind her.

“This way,” said Mai. She walked out of her room and down the hall, with Sam right behind her. Then she stopped in front of Matty’s room, but the door was wide open so they walked in. Matty was sitting in his crib, still with Mai’s handmade hinges, chewing on his favorite action figure.

“This is Matty,” said Mai. Then she walked forward and picked up her little brother, who squealed in delight. She walked over to Sam so she could see him more clearly.

“He’s a baby,” Sam said, as though she had expected better. She started walking around, examining all of Matty’s toys. “Not a very clean house,” she said as she walked back over to Mai. Mai was getting very tired of Sam’s rude remarks, but she said nothing. She put Matty back in his crib, and then walked out of the room, and Sam followed. They went back into Mai’s room and Sam closed the door behind them. Mai grabbed the plate of chicken and handed it to Sam so she could heat it. Sam lit a flame in her hand, put it under the plate and held it there.

“So, what were you doing in the kitchen?” she asked as soon as she was done heating the food.

“Nothing, just talking with Wyatt,” answered Mai, thinking it best not to tell Sam what her brother had explained to her, even if she, Sam, would understand it more than anyone else. Mai took a bite of chicken.

“Oh, I see,” said Sam. They didn’t talk again until they were done eating. By now it was dark and around eight o’ clock.

“I think we should go to sleep now. I’m really tired,” said Mai, fighting back a yawn.

“I think that’s a good idea. You’ll want to be rested for your training tomorrow,” said Sam. So Mai laid out her sleeping bag and crawled into bed.

She didn’t need to change into her pajamas because she had already been wearing them under her robes. She took her robes off, folded them and laid them off to the side for tomorrow. Sam didn’t have any pajamas so had to sleep in her robes, but she didn’t seem to mind. When Mai asked if she wanted too borrow her extra pair of pajamas, she refused to take them. Mai knew she would have a hard time falling asleep. She was thinking about everything Wyatt had said. And she was much too excited for her lesson tomorrow.