The Gift

Chapter 26

Wisty

"UMM, HI, EVERYBODY," I manage to say after a few seconds in which I feel totally flash-frozen. What did I just get myself into?

The brilliant spotlights and-even more blinding-the glare of hundreds, make that thousands, of pairs of eyes… looking right at me.

This is definitely a little more than I was expecting or prepared for. It's definitely a little frightening… but it's also exhilarating. I feel a strange connection to all these people. We're in this together, right? It's us against the big bad N.O. They've got the guns, but we've got the numbers.

"How 'bout those Bionics, huh?" I ask lamely, but they reward me with a massive cheer anyway. Cool. I guess they're in a generous mood.

"So I'm going to sing a couple of songs," I say, trying to slow my speech down and not blurt or stutter. "But first I just want to remind you all of one important thing. You know how we're kind of outnumbered outside of Freeland?"

Massive boo.

"And you know how they've taken away so many of us? Just kids, even little babies. They have control of the cities. They have the country. They have the planes. They have the tanks."

Right then, almost as if on cue, the chasm shakes and shudders from another overhead bomb blast.

More massive boos.

"But what they don't have is our spirit. That… they cannot have!"

Massive cheers.

"And not only that but-as a kid I met in one of their horrible prisons reminded me-they're afraid of us. That's why they're hunting us. That's why they stage their plots and propaganda against us. That's why they bomb -"

There's another ground-shaking blast from the surface.

"- the world like there's no tomorrow. It's because, for them, there is no tomorrow. No next generation. No future," I continue. "And we're not going to give it to them either! Not now, not ever!"

Massive cheers that last for minutes. This is maybe the best thing that's ever happened to me.

"There's just one other thing," I say when my voice can be heard again. Then I produce my drumstick, the one my mom gave me the night Whit and I were kidnapped. "They don't have our… magic!"

And, with that, I grab a guitar and even more lights come up, revealing that I'm standing in front of a newly conjured amp stack that nearly reaches to the ceiling. Now I'll be even louder than the Bionics.

I strike the first chord of my first song, and I've never felt so amazing, so blessed, in my entire life.

At least until Byron comes onstage with a bass guitar and joins in.