CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Eve saw him enter as she was sitting with Anthony. Autumn breezed through the front door, calmly crossed the front room, then sat down.
"You'd better go," Eve said.
"I want to stay with you," Anthony said.
She shook her head. "Autumn hates humans. He will hate you."
Before he could protest, Eve pushed him against the far wall as they heard Autumn's footsteps approaching. Anthony's breath was quick and his heart was hammering. "Don't make a sound," she said.
"Eve," Autumn telepathed. "It's a lovely day outside. Wouldn't you like to enjoy it?"
She shook her head uneasily. "Autumn, you know that I am confined to my house. Because I ran away, they think I might try it again."
"It's foolishness," he said. "Foolishness! You took freedom so they won't give you freedom? The humans are savages, unrelenting and cruel at every turn. I can break you out of the house. I know how to disconnect the force fields, if you want. I know how to let you run away again, if you want. After all, you are the only one who can set us all free."
But it was too late for Autumn, and only Eve knew that. She shook her head. "That is not how it is supposed to happen. I don't want to run away again. I belong here, now."
Anthony dropped his portable. He froze, not even breathing.
Autumn looked around the corner and there, became face-to-face with his enemy. "Eve, what is the meaning of this?"
"I can explain."
"Get out," Autumn growled. "Get out right now!"
Eve pleaded, "But he's on our side, Autumn! He can speak with us, like we do! Anthony, say something!"
Anthony's heart was hammering. He focused his mind and thought, "I am not here to harm you."
"Like Hell you are. Eve, he is a human. It doesn't matter if he has found some way to speak with us. He is out for our blood."
"But the love!" Eve cried. "He can hear our voices because there is love between us!"
Autumn pounded his fist against the wall. "I have no love for this creature. His people have raided our planet, our town, taken us prisoner, and tortured us. Soon their sicknesses will invade us and kill us, one by one. How can I have love for something that is taking away everyone that I love and everything that I have? I have no love for him. I hate him."
But Autumn had already been invaded by the sickness; just not from Anthony.
Eve felt helpless.
"Get out!" Autumn yelled.
"I have to be with Eve," he said.
"Why?"
"Because I want to make sure she's alright," he said meekly.
Autumn's eyes were blazing with anger. "I am more than capable of handling that myself. Now please, get out before I kill you!"
"Autumn, no!" Eve yelled. "I love him!"
Autumn spun around. "What did you say?"
More quietly, she said, "I love this man."
He grabbed her arm and brought her into the next room. "You don't love someone who is bent only on destruction. You love me, and our papa, and Lir, and Nela, and Benjamen. You don't love this monster who only wants to destroy you."
She turned to Anthony. "Get out of Communion." But he wouldn't budge.
"You are trying to destroy my sister but you won't succeed! None of you will, as long as I can help it!"
Autumn left the room. Anthony and Eve were both shaken. Anthony rushed to her. "What will happen?"
She looked to the door. "We will all know soon."
Rifled astronauts were everywhere. The dusty streets of Communion were in mayhem. Dozens of Novacadians were standing around as spectators, watching the impossible scene. Autumn had the strength of twenty men or more.
As one man approached, he pushed him, sailing him into the air forty feet away. No one could grasp him; he was plucking men off his body like juniper beetles.
From behind a bush, a man aimed to fire. Autumn held up his hand and the bullet went backwards, lodging into the leg of someone who was standing behind the young astronaut.
Some other Novacadians joined in; kicking and biting, with strength that could have only come from their mental powers. It was a full-out war.
Anthony and Eve watched the scene from the hut, not getting involved. Eve was shaking, obviously troubled by what was going on. Anthony hugged her to his body, feeling her warmth and heartbeat. Neither of them knew how it was going to turn out--how many lives would be taken.
More guns fired. Miraculously, none of them hit Autumn. Some of them fell to the ground, some of them hit other targets. Using his mind power, Autumn lifted a huge boulder and thrust it towards the armed men as though it were a baseball.
A man screamed out in pain, then silence. When Autumn's back was turned, someone aimed a rifle at him.
At the last second, he turned.
The bullet hit someone else.
Eve stood. Anthony looked to see who had gotten hit. Before he knew what was happening, Eve was running. "Eve, no!" Anthony yelled out loud.
But it was too late. He immediately saw why she had begun running. Her papa; lying in a pool of his own blood, was sprawled out on the ground. The wayward bullet had hit him.
Eve stroked his bloody cheeks with her feeble, shaking hands. "Papa, Papa," she telepathed. "No!" It was all over. Tears were streaming down her face. She didn't stop stroking his face until Autumn approached her.
"Now you see why I want all these savages killed."
She looked up, tears dripping fast from her chin, and suddenly there was fierce anger in her eyes. She stood up, raised her finger, and pointed at him. "You killed him!" she said. "It was because of you, Autumn, you!"
Autumn lowered his head. "Just think of it this way, Eve: he died in the name of freedom."
In a flash of wind and fire and lightning, Eve raised her hand to Autumn, and without even touching him she threw him 100 feet into the air to his death.
The townspeople were curious to see if he had survived, but the astronauts quickly regained control. They put Novacadians in shackles, led them temporarily back to their homes, and activated the force fields for a lockdown. As prisoner, they took Eve.
"She is not the messiah," they said. "She has succumbed to hatred," they said. "We were all wrong." Shaking their heads, they repeated, "All wrong."