In a flash, Falyn raced
over to Archie, grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him close. “Tell
me who my sister is and why you decided to keep this information to yourself!”
To her annoyance, Archie just laughed. She shook him, forcing his head back
against the bark of the tree. She ignored the look of pain on his face as she
continued. “This isn’t a game. You need to tell me. Now!”
Falyn heard a soft voice call out to her. She knew who it
was. Tears streaming down her face, she let go of Archie and crumbled into
Zeke’s arms. He pulled her close, not caring that she was staining his shirt
with her tears.
Although he was holding her in an embrace, it still felt
as if he wasn’t fully there. His body was rigid against hers and his chest rose
and fell at the same pace. There was no change in the beating of his heart,
nothing that showed her that he cared for her.
Yet here he was,
holding her in a tight embrace, hoping to comfort her. At least, that’s what
she thought. As always, Zeke’s actions were harder to depict. What was he was
hiding from them?
Someone cleared their throat. Falyn pulled her face away
from Zeke’s chest. When she saw Sam standing not too far from them, she pushed
away quickly and stood, as if that could undo whatever had just happened.
“Feeling better?” He asked, as if seeing her in Zeke’s
arms was something completely normal.
“Um…a little, yeah.”
“Good, ‘cause we need to get going. Akia’s up. She says
we have to go. We’re already late.” He said it in such a plain voice, a voice
void of all emotion.
Falyn watched him stalk away, wondering what had gotten
into him. He had Akia now; they were reunited. Why’d he still care about her?
“We should get going,” Zeke muttered as he stood. “You
know Akia won’t be happy if we lag behind.”
He reached down and pulled Falyn up before heading over
to join Sam. The boys were helping Akia stand. She still seemed a bit shaky,
despite the rest she had gotten. Falyn knew enough about magic to know that
spells draw from energy deep within oneself. It must’ve taken almost all of
Akia’s energy to use that spell.
Falyn moved to join them, but Archie called out, “Thought
you wanted to know who your sister was?”
“Tell me.” Falyn snapped, her arms crossed.
A smile crept across Archie’s lips. “Well here she comes
now.” Falyn turned to see Mina walking towards them, a smile on her face as she
bounced over.
Falyn looked from Archie to Mina and back again, trying
to figure out the truth. This wouldn’t be the first time Archie had lied to her.
She wasn’t ready to believe him right away.
Frustrated, Falyn stalked over to Mina, grabbed her arm
and pulled her off toward the rest of the group. “What the--?”
“You told me that you’d give me answers,” Falyn growled
when they reached Akia and the others. Akia turned to look at her, her face
complacent. “But you didn’t give me the whole story. How long have you known
that Mina’s my sister?”
“What?!” Mina said, pulling away from Falyn’s grasp. Falyn
let her go, not even bothering to explain. She’d get the full story later. Akia
was her main concern at the moment.
“How long have you known that Mina is my sister?” Falyn
repeated, glaring at Akia. She wasn’t about to take anything but the truth. Akia
had been hiding things from her long enough.
“Since you two were born,” Akia said dismissively. “I
thought you two would’ve figured it out by now. It can’t be a coincidence that
you two look so alike.”
“Right,” Mina snapped. “Because when we first met, we
just assumed we were sisters separated at birth.” Falyn had never loved Mina
more than in that moment.
Akia glared at the both of them before continuing. “You
guys are sisters. Your parents split you up because they thought Falyn wouldn’t
be able to develop her magic with her sister around. So they split you two up.”
“Wow, what nice parents.”
Falyn could hear the bitterness in Mina’s voice as she
spoke. She hated their parents already. But Falyn was ready to give them a
chance. Sure she’d never met them, but they had to have had a good reason to
leave. Archie had said that her parents had business to finish in Lightport. In
her mind, that was a good enough reason.
“No more hiding the truth,” Falyn demanded. “I want to
know everything that is going on.” Akia looked at her, her face unchanged. She
wasn’t about to give Falyn any satisfaction. Falyn pursed her lips and
continued.
“Take us to Lightport. I want to be
free of this. And I want to see my family; I want to be reunited with my
parents.”
-----------------------------------
For the LMS contest. Word count: 834
)
In other words, it's fine. So you don't need to have this confused jumble of punctuation at the end here. You can change it, if you want, to: 
I am also trying to figure out what mind game Archie could possibly be trying to play, but am failing to. There has to be a reason for him giving out all this information so freely, and it probably has to do with something that will free him or help himself out some way.
Points: 279
Reviews: 240
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