Eden's Root by Rachel Fisher

smirked, his voice angry. “Just because you’re not going to school with me doesn’t mean I can’t tell when you skip. Heck, I see you take off into the woods behind the house in the morning all the time.” Fi closed her eyes. She thought she’d been more careful.
    Sean continued, “Those must be some pretty amazing hikes to take up whole days and nights for weeks on end.” He stopped, waiting for her to speak. Her heart ached and she felt incredibly torn. If there were one person in the entire universe she’d want to tell, it would be Sean. But she couldn’t.
    “Sean, I’m sorry that I have been distant, I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” Her explanation sounded flat, even to her.
    “And you can’t tell me?” he choked. “Me, Fi? I mean, I’ve known you since I was born. Our family is yours and yours is mine. Is there really something that you can’t tell me? That you can’t tell us ?” His whisper was fierce and his hands trembled as they balled into fists. God, Fi thought, this is agony. She could hear the hurt in his voice. I desperately want to tell you, she thought. I want to tell you and to bring all of you along with me, but I can’t. I can’t!
    “Sean, I’m just trying to you know, deal since, well, since Papa died.” She felt her stomach turn. Ugh, she hated all the lying. It was killing her more than the training.
    “I know you’re lying Fi.” He drew each word out slowly. She could see the puff of his breath catch a little moonlight. “You’ve never been able to lie to me and you never will. Now it’s just a matter of whether you decide to tell me the truth.” He stopped and she could see him run his hand through his dark hair…a gesture so familiar to her. He was so upset, she thought, her heart twisting.
    “I’m not stupid, Fi. I listen to the news. I know something is happening, something big. And I know that Uncle Mike told you something about it. I know because it wasn’t his death that changed you.” She sucked in her breath and he stopped for a split second. The accusation had hit its mark.
    He continued. “Something happened to you right before… before he passed,” he explained. “You haven’t been the same since.” He turned to face her, his gaze piercing even in the dim light. “I know you’re going out and doing something. I know you’re thinking or planning. I don’t know exactly what you’re doing, and I don’t know what is coming, but if there is some way to give my family, my little sisters,” he hissed. “A chance against what is coming, I think Uncle Mike would want you to tell me.” He turned away again. “Besides, don’t you think that I could help you with the plan? Or am I that useless, that expendable?”
    At this, his shoulders dropped. She could feel the anger dissolving out of him with his words, the heaviness taking over. Anger never really did fit Sean. It just wasn’t his nature to be confrontational. That was why she wasn’t sure he’d be a help to her in the end. He wasn’t a fighter. The thought brought memories racing back of their school days, when she had defended him from bullies. Then again, she reflected, he had been able to stand up to others to protect her , just not himself.
    Fi felt torn by his words, by the betrayal she could tell that he felt. Aching, she decided on a secret she could share, one that would distract him from his quest for the bigger, darker secret. She looked him in the eye.
    “Sean, I have been keeping something from you.” He met her eyes, his face surprised. “I just haven’t been able to say it out loud yet.” She paused and then took a deep breath, “Maggie is Sick.”
    His eyes widened. “Oh no, Fi. No, no…” he murmured, almost to himself, his head shaking back and forth with the words. “No way, not both of them, that’s not possible! And after Luke…” he stopped. “I’m so sorry, Fi,” he said, and threw his arms around her.
    Oh God, this was worse, she thought. Now he