by Amy Richie
A quiet excitement was starting to take shape. One way or another—for better or worse—things were going to be different today than they had been for the past three days. The wait for something to happen was over.
“Search for any survivors,” one of the men on the ship called. “Look everywhere.”
“Survivors,” Angelina whispered. “What does he mean?”
“I don't know,” Constantina admitted warily.
“They'll find us here,” Doctor Gourini predicted darkly. “Maybe we should go and meet them.”
“Meet them?” Betna half-shrieked. “We can't go meet them!”
“We can't stay here.”
“Why not? Let's just hide, and they'll go away.”
I glanced down at my young son, worried that he was taking in the argument Betna was giving Doctor Gourini. She was only a nurse. What right did she have to give her opinion?
“Just,” Constantina held up one hand, “calm down for a minute.”
“We shouldn't try to hide,” Doctor Gourini scowled at Betna before turning to Constantina.
“What do you think they want?” she half whispered, her own insecurities slipping past her tight- lipped confidence.
“They're looking for survivors.” Doctor Gourini's eyes widened slightly.
“But what does that mean?”
Outside, the men's voices continued to call out to each other while we huddled closer to each other.
“I don't know,” Doctor Gourini admitted heavily, “but we should go find out.”
“They may take us with them.” Constantina pressed two fingers against her trembling lips.
“Take us?” Angelina took a step backwards, her face white. “We aren't leaving Ortec. When Avery and the others come for us, they won't be able to find us.”
“They might know where everyone else is,” Katrina spoke up suddenly. “Maybe they sent them back for us.”
As one, we all turned back to Constantina.
“Fine,” she lifted her chin to glare around the small circle of wide eyes staring back at her. “We'll go see what they want.”
“Good,” Doctor Gourini nodded once.
“And if they want us to go with them, we'll go,” she finished sternly.
Sasha glanced my way, but didn't say anything. No one said anything. The excitement I had felt at the sight of the ship swelled inside me with Constantina's words.
Go with them? I had never seen anything outside of Ortec―most of us hadn't. What was the rest of the world like? Was it covered in water, too?
Constantina's next words strangled my excitement.
“We'll send the boy.”
My head snapped up. Did she mean Dais? She couldn't mean to send Dais; he was just a child.
“They won't harm a child,” she continued, as if she could hear my frantic thoughts.
No one else seemed upset by her plan.
“Please,” I called out, desperate for her to not send Dais. “I'll go. Send me.”
Constantina's eyes narrowed as she glared at me. “What did you say to me?”
“I'll go.” I jabbed two fingers into my chest.
“I said we'll send the boy.”
I glanced frantically to Sasha for help, but she lowered her eyes, ashamed by my disobedience. Looking back at Constantina, I nodded quickly.
“You,” she pointed a long thin finger at my small son, “go out and meet the strangers. See what they want.”
He nodded quickly and left the tower, not daring to look up at me before he went.
I sucked in a deep breath and held it in my lungs until my chest burned. What would the strangers do to my son? Would they take him away? Would they even give him a chance to explain?
What if they didn't?
I peeked up at Constantina, but shame made me shift my eyes away before she caught me. I had never before spoken out against anything I was told to do. Why didn't I keep my thoughts to myself?
No one said anything while we waited for Dais, but I knew they were all thinking the same thoughts. Would he come back? What would the men say? And what had caused me to speak out against Constantina?
“He's coming back,” Betna said suddenly, making my heart gallop in my chest. “Dais is back.”
“What did they say?” Constantina pounced before I could do anything foolish. I had to stop myself from pulling him back to my side. “Did you talk to them?”
“Yes,” Dais nodded. “They're looking for survivors.”
“We already know that much,” she snapped.
“They want you all to come out and talk to them.”
“They said that?” she asked breathlessly.
“Yes. They said they aren't here to hurt anyone.”
Chapter 5
Constantina took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well,” she said softly, “I guess we'll go out there now.”
“But, who are they?” Betna asked quietly.
“We'll soon find out,” Doctor Gourini sighed.
Without another word, Constantina took the first few steps down the steep staircase, leaving the rest of us to fall in closely behind her.
“Stay close,” I hissed to Dais, pulling him behind me.
“They're not going to hurt us,” he whispered back, but he didn't put up a fight.
The sun was bright outside, not bothering to hide away even when fear crept in on us. Two men stood just outside the door of the tower, watching us through narrowed eyes.
“Survivors?” one of the men asked in a loud whisper. He brushed impatiently at the red hair that had fallen across his forehead.
“Survivors,” the smaller of the two men confirmed with a small nod.
“How is that possible, Anthony?” the red haired man asked.
“Don't know.” Anthony continued to watch us.
“I am Constantina, leader of Ortec,” Constantina took a small step away from the rest of us.
“And you're alive.”
“Of course we're alive. Do you know where our people are?”
“They're dead,” the man continued, unsympathetically.
“What?” Angelina squeaked.
“What do you think, Big Al,” the man called Anthony asked the red haired man.
“How did you survive?” Big Al asked Constantina.
“The ... the safe room,” she stammered, her voice cracking. “But how do you know ...”
“Safe room?” Big Al cut her off. “You expect us to believe that?”
“What?” She glanced helplessly at Doctor Gourini.
“The cities are all empty—everyone dead―and you think we'll believe you were in a safe room?”
“Of course.”
“We don't believe you.”
“How do you know they're all dead?” she asked again, a little louder.
“They all are. And we want to know how.”
“And you think ... we know?”
Dead? How could they all be dead? All our people? I couldn't believe it. These men were wrong; they just didn't know what had happened. They didn't know.
No.
I almost shook my head, but caught myself in time.
“Kinda funny, huh?” The red haired man called as Big Al sneered across to his partner.
“Yeah,” Anthony grunted, but didn't elaborate.
“I hardly think there is anything funny about this,” Constantina gasped, outrage and fear taking turns displaying across her tight features.
“It's funny how you guys are safe and walking around like nothing happened while everyone else is dead.”
“Nothing happened?” Constantina's eyes went wide, but the shock of Big Al's nonchalance in the face of our crippling tragedy was too much for any more words.
“How are you alive? Are you in on it?”
“In on what?” Betna shrilled. “We've already told you, we were in the safe room!”
“And we already told you,” Big Al took a menacing step forward, “we don't believe you. Safe rooms went out of
use years ago.”
“Not ours,” Betna glared back.
“You best watch yourself,” Big Al lurched his body forward slightly, but didn't take another step forward.
“We haven't used the room in a long time,” Constantina hastily offered, pushing Betna back at the same time. “But the sickness came, and we had no choice.”
“Sickness,” he sneered, “ain't that convenient.”
Then Betna asked the question that made my blood pound faster through my veins. “Are you pirates? Have you come to steal?”
“Pirates?” a new voice asked, surprise raised his voice an octave.
“Captain,” Anthony turned to greet the newcomer, “we found survivors.”
“So I gathered,” he replied lightly. “But we're not pirates.”
He finally broke free of the bulk of Big Al to stand directly in front of us. The blood that had recently been speeding through my veins froze solid.
Green eyes—eyes that were more familiar to me than my own. Those same eyes belonged to the boy I was now clutching to me with increased panic.
How was he here though? How was it possible?
The truth slammed into me, stealing all the breath from my lungs. No matter what he was mumbling, he was a pirate. They had returned!
“No.” I shook my head back and forth quickly, as if the motion would somehow make the pirate with green eyes disappear.
The motion only made his eyes swing over to rest on me, further wreaking havoc on my broken lungs. Recognition made his eyes widen briefly. Suddenly, the world started to spin away, and I was falling … falling into blackness.
Chapter 6
My eyes opened slowly, fluttering quickly in the semi-darkness. Large objects began to take shape, but they only added to my confusion. I did not recognize anything.
I rolled onto my back, and the small movement was enough to send a knife-like pain along the base of my skull. I winced back, holding in the sounds of pain that tried to escape.
It took me a few long minutes to realize I was lying in a bed. The bed was softer than any I had seen on Ortec before, but it wasn't surprising that a lowly servant of Ortec hadn't known such luxury.
The only thing I didn't understand was who had put me on the bed now, and why they had done it.
Rubbing my eyes harshly with the inside of my fist, I turned my head again to look out at the unfamiliar room. A large desk seemed to take up most of the room. Only the rough wooden legs were visible to me, but another wall sprung up just beyond the legs.
Hung across the wall closest to me was an enormous map of sorts that was impossible to read in the poor lighting. I could just make out the dark masses of land. My eyes squinted almost closed as I tried to make out the words—sure that there were no real places that big on the earth.
“It's a map of the world, before the great wave came,” a deep voice explained.
I sucked in a quick breath, choking harshly on it as the air went down the wrong way. Little lights exploded behind my eyes, but I didn't pass out again.
A chair I hadn't noticed before pulled back from the desk, and the dark bulk of a man separated itself from the darkness.
“Are you okay?” he asked slowly.
I quickly nodded, sending more waves of pain across my skull.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I croaked out instead of trying to nod again.
“You fell.” A light burst to life, chasing back many of the shadows. “Do you remember?”
“Yes.” Green eyes flashed across my mind. Of course I remembered.
“Back on Ortec.” I watched as he struggled to swallow. “You passed out on Ortec.”
“Does that mean we are no longer on Ortec?” I asked, trying to force my voice louder than a whisper so I wouldn't have to repeat it.
“You’re not.” His head jerked slightly. “After confirming the ... ah ... existence of a safe room, we collected a few supplies and left.”
Fear thundered just behind my temples. Left Ortec? Why did he bring me with him? What about Dais?
“Wh–what ...”
“The others are here, too,” he assured me, seeming to understand the fear I hadn't vocalized.
I glanced stupidly around the room. My original assumptions were right; there wasn't much in the room besides the desk. There was definitely no one else in there with us.
“Not here,” he clarified without humor. “They're in the guest quarters below deck.”
“Below deck?” I mumbled. We were on the pirate's ship.
“It's not much, but they looked comfortable enough when I left.”
“And the boy?” I held my breath, keeping my eyes averted. I couldn't let him know how much Dais meant to me.
“There was a child with them,” he confirmed. “Seemed okay.”
I sucked in another quick breath, this time managing not to choke. “Why was I brought here?”
“It was ...” He cleared his throat lightly. “You fell, and we ... no, I ... I thought it would be best.”
“Did you come back for me?” I asked in a small voice that filled up the entire space around us. Something fell with a dull thud to the floor, but I didn't turn to see what it was.
“I don't know what you're talking about,” he rasped out.
I turned then and allowed my eyes to meet his for a brief second, then darted them back away. It was enough. He knew.
“The Nation sent us all to search for survivors,” he plowed ahead.
“They sent pirates?” I wondered aloud. Did the Nation control the pirates? Impossible!
“Bartermen,” he forcefully corrected.
“Bartermen?” Confusion dipped my eyebrows low on my forehead.
“Yeah,” he huffed. “All the bartermen of the Nation were sent out to look for survivors. This isn't my usual route, so it's not surprising that you and your people don't recognize us.”
“But I do,” I interrupted softly.
“You do what?”
“Recognize you.”
“You're mistaken,” he said quietly after several tense moments.
But I wasn't mistaken. I knew those eyes and that hair—and even his voice now that I heard it again.
He rounded the desk and sat heavily on the edge, putting himself barely a few feet away from me. “I knew it was a mistake to return to Ortec,” he said suddenly. “And I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not going to hurt anyone. We're taking you to the Nation, and Ike can figure out what to do with you.”
He ran his hand roughly through his hair―hair that was the exact shade of shocking blond that I pushed off my son's forehead while he slept. When he looked up, his eyes were intense, but he didn't come any closer.
“After ... after that night, I left the pirates,” he spoke in a rush, the words tumbling over one another in his haste to explain. “I'm not trying to say what I did was okay, but there are things you don't understand.” He clamped his lips tight and his green eyes disappeared briefly behind his closed lids. “I'm not a pirate,” his voice pleaded. “I went to the Nation and became a barterman. I haven't seen the pirates in ...”
“Eight years,” I supplied softly.
“Yeah.” His shoulders drooped, but he pulled them back in the next instant and slid off the desk. “I'll go get the doctor.”
Chapter 7
“Does it hurt here?”
I resisted my urge to pull away from Doctor Gourini's probing fingers along the base of my skull. To reveal how much it still hurt would be sentencing myself to a longer stay in the bed that I desperately wanted to leave.
“It doesn't hurt,” I lied through clenched teeth.
His narrowed eyes searched my face, seeing right through me, I was sure of it. “Maybe it would be better for you to rest a bit longer.”
“No!” I pulled back my wayward hand that had stretched out to stop the doctor from leaving me there. “I'm ...” My eyes slid over to take in the Captain, who was hov
ering just over Doctor Gourini's shoulder. “I'm fine.”
“Very well,” he stated slowly, “I'll send Sasha back to help you. Don't try to get up until she gets here.”
I nodded quickly, regretting the movement immediately.
“I hope you believe me,” the Captain's deep voice broke the silence left by the doctor's departure.
I glanced up at his face, but didn't respond. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about.
“I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just taking you to the Nation.”
I kept my lips pressed tightly together. Another set of green eyes swam lazily through my mind. How was I going to keep Dais away from this man?
*****
“It just doesn't make sense,” Sasha shook her head again. “You're sure it's him?”
“Of course I'm sure,” I squeaked.
“He doesn't seem like a pirate though,” she half-whispered.
I followed her line of sight across the long room to where the Captain was in deep conversation with Constantina and Doctor Gourini. “It's the same man,” I insisted, “I wouldn't forget something like that.”
“It was almost nine years ago,” she unnecessarily reminded me.
“I know.”
“Just because they have the same color eyes,” she shook her head, still unwilling to believe what I had told her in whispered tones the night before.
“He’s Dais’ father,” I repeated, just as sure as I had been the first time I saw him.
“It doesn't make sense,” she said again. “He came back to Ortec after all these years as a barterman to rescue you?” One of her thick brows arched high on her forehead.
“He didn't come to rescue me,” I denied with wide eyes.
“No?” The eyebrow remained raised.
“He was sent here to search for survivors. Not for me.”
“It's so strange,” she looked back at the Captain. “He seems so nice.”
Yeah, I agreed silently, he did seem nice. He had come down to the long room himself the night before to explain the disappearances on the other islands, patient with all the questions thrown at him.