In the following twenty-four hours felt as though each hour was suddenly equal to four. My thoughts hummed and buzzed. All I could think about was seeing him.
Anytime I told myself there was a chance he might not be there, I pushed it away. The man in the parade had been a Scholar. I was certain of it. He just had to be there.
“All right, ladies,” Keeper Marie said, hugging a clipboard to her chest. “It’s a normal workday. When it’s time for your appointment, I’ll escort you to where they set things up. I’m so delighted you all signed up. It makes me so proud. All the other Keepers congratulated me since I’m the only one that had her entire group interested in meeting with the Scholars.”
Keeper Marie cared far too much about what the other Keepers thought of her. She was competitive, but maybe all the Keepers were that way. They acted as though the better they did at taking care of their groups, the more important they were on the farms.
I wolfed down breakfast, but it didn’t make a difference. I still needed to wait for the other to finish, and they weren’t as eager to get the day going as I was.
It wasn’t that I was excited to get to work… I wanted time to pass quicker. The sooner the day got started, the sooner it would be time for my appointment.
I worked the morning away, but Keeper Marie didn’t come for me. She was frequently chatting with other Keepers as they compared their papers. Farmers were ushered away, and it seemed as though everyone was getting their turn except for me.
“Ivy,” Keeper Marie squawked from twenty feet away. “You’re up.”
Ivy set her bucket down and glanced at me. “It’ll be nice to get out of the heat, and maybe it’ll help me get closer to our Mother.”
“Good luck with that,” I said, raising my brows.
Ivy rolled her eyes and walked away from me. Farmer Watson gave me a small smile as she walked by.
“Why are you going?” I asked.
She shrugged.
“To get out of the heat?”
Farmer Watson gave me another shrug as her smile grew. I turned to watch as Keeper Marie led Ivy down the path.
“Do you feel as though the Capital let you down? Like they threw you away, so they didn’t have to feel as though they had failed at something,” I asked boldly.
Farmer Watson looked down at her dirty hands, staring at them for a long moment. She licked her lips as she looked into my eyes and nodded.
“Yeah, I would too if I were in your shoes,” I said. “Do you have a family?”
“Hey! You two!” Watcher Milton shouted. “Get back to work.”
Farmer Watson instantly turned away from me as if she hadn’t been talking to me at all. The truth was, she hadn’t been. Farmer Watson didn’t speak to anyone.
I walked several feet behind her, keeping my head down. My ears were tuned into the surrounding sounds. Was Watcher Milton coming to collect me? Would he present me to Commander Godfrey?
He wouldn’t. Watcher Milton wouldn’t make a commotion with the Scholars in town. He wouldn’t want to disturb Commander Godfrey. He had to at least know that much.
“Farmer Church!” Keeper Marie bellowed. “Let’s go.”
I walked quickly, shifting my eyes slightly to see if Watcher Milton was following me. His back was turned as he observed several other farmers.
Watcher Milton had lost interest. He also seemed to weave slightly when he walked.
I bit my grin back. It wouldn’t be long before Commander Godfrey would make an example of him to the other Watchers. I wish I didn’t take pleasure in the idea of a Watcher getting whipped, but after all the times I’d been in that room, the thought gave me a touch of satisfaction.
“Pick up your feet,” Keeper Marie said as she trudged forward loudly. “They’re falling behind schedule and want to make sure everyone who wants a chance to meet with them gets it.”
“Yes, Mum,” I said. I was already nearly at the pace of a slow jog.
“You be good in there and don’t cause any trouble, you hear?”
“Of course, Mum,” I said.
She flashed a narrow-eyed gaze at me. “You will be punished.”
“I am excited to meet with the Scholars,” I said, wiping the sweat off the back of my neck. “Why is it so far?”
“It just is,” Keeper Marie said. “I think they wanted to set up away from the farms and closer to the city.”
We weren’t close to the Capital by any stretch of the imagination, but we were putting distance between the water farm and us. We turned down a path I’d never been on. I could see the white tent they’d erected in the distance.
“Wow,” I said. “It didn’t take them long to build that.”
“Hush now,” Keeper Marie scolded.
I pressed my lips together. She looked at me over her shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. “It is quite impressive, though.”
I gave her a thin smile before putting my head down. Keeper Marie wasn’t so awful when she was alone, and the eyes of the other Keepers weren’t judging her.
“Will you be able to find your way back?” Keeper Marie asked.
“Yes, Mum. Just one turn of the main path,” I said. I was the furthest away from my cabin I’d ever been.
“Do not, under any circumstances, get lost,” Keeper Marie said.
My head bobbed, and she pivoted on the heel of her boot. She marched off, making her way back to the farms.
One more step, and then that would be the furthest. It was strange, but I kind of wanted to keep going. I’d never get this far away from the farms again unless, of course, Watcher Jones came through for Hawk and me.
A cool blast of air smacked me in the face as I stepped into the tent, almost knocking me back. It was a solid ten degrees cooler with the fans blowing everywhere. The comfort level wasn’t for our benefit, it was to keep the Scholars cool.
“Name?” a woman’s voice said from my right. I turned with a sharp gasp. She stared at me, blinking once. “Name.”
“Farmer Church.”
The woman's scrolled through her papers. “You’re all checked in.”
“Checked in for what exactly?” I asked, averting my eyes.
“You don’t have to do that in here,” she said. “Unless you are instructed to do so. Please look around and see if you find anything of interest.”
I shook my head. “They didn’t get us a lot of information. What can I do here?”
“There are several booths and Scholars, each teaching different sections of The Way of the Mother. If there is a particular section you find interesting, go there first, but you might find there are lots of teachings you like,” she said, pointing the tip of her pencil at a group gathered together. There were Farmers and Scholars standing side by side, holding hands. “They’re teaching better prayer techniques.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Better get moving,” she said, widening her eyes. “You only get about twenty minutes before they kick you out of here.”
I walked around, almost afraid to look up, but I didn’t have a choice. There wasn’t any specific booth that drew my attention. I was looking for one thing.
The man that looked like my brother.
I hugged myself as I walked around, searching through the countless faces. The massive crowd wasn’t something I had anticipated.
The Scholars were easy to spot. They all wore the same perfectly white pants and shirt. The only woman I’d seen was the one that had been behind the table when I’d entered.
All the other Scholars were male. They each had short haircuts and wore the same smile. Trained. Everyone, everywhere, regardless of whether you were on the farms or in the Capital, was trained to be something.
“Are you having trouble finding something that interests you?” a voice from behind asked.
“There is just so much,” I said before turning.
The second our eyes met, I felt dizzy. He looked so familiar.
I couldn’t stop myself. “Mason?”
19
“That’s not your name?” I asked with disappointment coating my words. My eyes burned as if I were staring at the sun.
“It is my name, but I don’t know how you could possibly know it,” he said, squinting as though he were trying to remember something. “Also, you should probably call me Scholar Church. As you know, we don’t use first names unless you speaking with family.”
I was.
The heat in my cheeks was unbearable. I wanted to crawl out of my skin. But even more than that, I wanted to tell him everything.
“What do you do here?” I asked quickly.
“I’m rather new and don’t teach anything specific yet. There is still so much for me to learn. If you’d like, I can find you someone far better suited to teaching all this than I am,” Mason said, his lips curling with kindness at the ends. In my mind, I could still picture him playing with his wooden characters on the floor… wearing that same expression. “Do you know me from somewhere?”
Had I really changed that much? If I told him where I knew him from, I’d get demoted, thrown in the pit, or maybe killed. Then I wouldn’t ever get to know more about him or my sister.
Did he ever get to see her? What was she like? There were so many questions I had for him, but they’d all have to wait.
“No,” I lied. “I heard someone say your name. I’m sorry for forgetting to call you Scholar. It’s just that I’m so excited to be here. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Of course, I can. Our Great Mother teaches forgiveness, doesn’t she?” Mason asked.
I bit my tongue. Did she? That wasn’t at all what I’d been learning on the farms.
“No one else should be using my first name either.” Mason leaned closer. “It’ll be our little secret. The Mother doesn’t mind one mistake. She definitely wouldn’t want it to happen repeatedly, though, would she?”
“No, she wouldn’t,” I replied.
Mason smiled. “Exactly.”
“Thank you,” I said, bowing my head out of habit. “Blessings and Kindness.”
“It seems you really are ready to get started on your Path to Complete Devotion,” Mason said.
“What exactly is the Path?”
Mason nudged me with his elbow. “I was hoping you’d ask. It’s a program we’ve developed, among others. This one, in particular, is for the farmers so they can better learn and understand everything about our beliefs. So, they can improve themselves. Learn from the mistakes they’ve made.”
“Okay,” I said, dragging out the word.
“The Bishops, The Right Hand, and The Father all agree that if everyone accepts what they've done, perhaps they will want to work harder,” Mason said. “They’ll see that everything they do is for Her.”
Mason’s eyes glowed brightly as he looked around. I glued my eyes to his face, trying to make sense of how he’d ended up joining The Way of The Mother.
“Look at everyone!” he said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Isn’t it amazing what we can accomplish when we sing Her praises together? When everything we do is for Her?”
Shit. Thanks to what I’d done, my brother was an absolute nut job.
“If you dedicate every day to working as hard as you can, for Her… Perhaps one day she will forgive you and lift the curse from our City and farms. Maybe the world outside of our fences will become safe once again.”
Mason stretched out his hands with his palms up as if he were putting everything inside the tent on display.
“It gets better. If the day comes and the Mother forgives you, a new path of enlightenment will open to you,” Mason said, practically buzzing with excitement.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“We will be opening several positions for farmers and servants. If you work very hard, you could become a Sister of The Way of The Mother,” Mason said gleefully.
I raised a brow. “What do Sisters do exactly?”
“It’s not something that would happen overnight. It would take years of study, practice, and prayer,” Mason said, crossing his arms. “But if The Father determines you reach a certain level, you could one day leave change your position.”
“I wouldn’t have to work on the farms?” I asked.
“You’d still be on the farms,” he said. “But you’d have a new job. You’d be there to spread everything you’ve learned to the other farmers and servants. Does this sound like something that would interest you?”
I couldn’t stop the chuckle before it escaped from between my lips. “You think that’s something I could do?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think. Ultimately, it’s what you think. If you like praying and studying our texts, it’s possible for you or any farmer,” Mason said, grabbing my hands. “You could achieve it if you work really hard.”
I wanted to ask if he if earned any kind of compensation if he convinced me to join the program.
“Don’t our pasts matter?” I asked.
Mason took a step back. “Perhaps they are taking those things into consideration. We haven’t been advised exactly on that as of yet. If you’d like, I could take a look at your records and see if this program is an option for you.”
“My records say which programs I can join?” I asked.
“Indeed,” Mason said. “There was a team that went through and reviewed every record, making a note of what they would be allowed to join. Of course, I can always make a recommendation, and you could potentially be reconsidered for this Path.”
“I’m not sure,” I said, biting my lip. If he was going to look at my records, he’d need to know my name.
“You can think about it. There is no rush as there will be more events before the program is rolled out,” Mason said. “I know, you should pray on it tonight. Or you can always check out some of the other available programs. You might like a copy of one of our scriptures to study in your room. Have you read any?”
“Not in quite some time,” I said, twisting my fingers together. “We don’t really have a lot of time to devote to study with all the working we have to do.”
Mason’s head bobbed. “Hmm, yes, that does make it challenging, but if you want it bad enough, you would make time, isn’t that so?”
“I guess,” I stammered.
“I must say,” Mason said, lowering his voice. “This is truly exciting. You’re the first person I’ve talked to, and you seem at least mildly interested in what I have to say. I hope I’m doing a good job.”
“You’re doing a great job,” I said, even though I wasn’t entirely sure what his job was.
Mason placed his hands on his hips. “So, would you like me to look at your records? It’ll help us better understand what your options are.”
“Okay,” I said, swallowing hard. My throat was impossibly dry. I looked around, desperate for something to drink. “Are we allowed water?”
“Sure,” Mason said, taking a step away. He turned and started walking backward. “I’ll be right back.”
He stumbled and hopped as he turned back and dashed over to a table. There were cups and a pitcher of water.
Would I be drinking water that had come from my bucket?
“Here you go,” Mason said.
My head bobbed as I took a small sip. I coughed when the wetness touched what felt like beach sand at the back of my throat.
“Many Blessings,” I said.
“So, what do you do on the farms?” he asked as I attempted to drink more water.
“I farm water,” I said, staring at the clear liquid.
He tilted his head. “Is that a difficult job? That’s probably a stupid question. I’m sure none of the jobs are easy.”
“Yes,” I said. “They’re all difficult in the heat.”
He cleared his throat. “So, should I take a look at your records then?”
“Sure,” I said, handing him the empty cup.
“I’ll just need your name and a few minutes to dig up your file from our on-site records
room,” Mason said, grinning from ear to ear.
It seemed he was just happy he’d managed to find someone interested in hearing more. He had no idea what was about to happen.
My palms were sweating. I slowly exhaled as I looked up into his eyes. “Farmer Church.”
20
“Times up!” someone shouted from the where I’d entered the tent.
Mason stared at me with wide eyes. “Coraline?”
“Let’s move along,” someone said, grabbing my shoulders. “We need to get a new group in before the end of the day.”
I tried to look at Mason over the man in white’s shoulders. He was slowly following behind us.
Mason looked as though he’d been hit on the head with a hammer. He was dazed… confused.
“Don’t stare, farmer,” the man said. “It’s rude to stare.”
“I’m not looking at you,” I said. “He was going to see if I was eligible for a program. I want to know if I can join.”
“You’ll be able to see us again real soon,” the man in white said. “You’re not the only farmer interested in participating in The Way’s programs.”
I wasn’t just pushed out of the door. The man practically carried me twenty feet away from the tent.
“Have patience,” the man said, patting my back. “No one gets there in a day.”
“I don’t even know if I can come back,” I said, looking over his shoulder.
“Head down,” he said, his eyebrows squeezing together. “Do I need to find an escort for you?”
Keeper Marie would be embarrassed if I was brought back by one of the Scholars. She wouldn’t hesitate to contact Commander Godfrey and have me punished.
“Okay,” I said, straightening my smock. I looked down and pasted a smile on my face. “I’m just so excited by all the offerings. We’ve never had an opportunity like this before.”
“It’s completely understandable. You are not the first person who has reacted this way,” he said. “I like to see this kind of passion. What is your name? I’ll make a note of it in your records.”
I wasn’t sure if I should tell him the truth. Would he recognize the last name? Would he be suspicious? If I lied, I might not ever find out more. I may not ever get to see my brother, who had eventually recognized me, again.
After The Fires | Book 2 | The Trials Ahead Page 10