by Alta Hensley
Juniper looked over at him. "I may be able to help with that."
He stopped them from walking and stared at her in disbelief. "How?"
"My poppa was trying to help me find information on them. He had a friend who was trying to hack into the facility's computer. They corresponded by letters, and I think I remember her address. I saw it enough times on the envelope."
"Can you trust her?" He looked skeptical.
"I think so…"
* * * * *
The room was silent without Juniper there, and Costello almost couldn't stand it. Every so often he turned to say something to her, but she wasn't there. She was out talking to the man who'd become her husband. The man who wasn't him, because he couldn't afford her, even though he had started saving. A tear trickled down his cheek. He scrubbed it off, focusing on the form he was filling out. The sooner he got it to corporate, the quicker he'd know if they were going to turn him down. It was just hard. Until she'd gone, he thought his night would include teaching her more about their own bodies and how they worked together, which was one of the most enjoyable things he'd ever done, especially as she'd seemed to enjoy it as well.
Costello did his best not to think about that. If he thought about her, he was just going to get more annoyed with fate—if fate even existed—because it had taken her away from him. How could it have done that? After everything Juniper had been through, he thought she deserved some happiness, which was something he really thought she felt when she was with him.
He kept telling himself that this was a good thing. He wanted Juniper to get adopted. She would be safe and out of this awful place. But his heart fought his reason. He wanted her with him. He wanted to never let her go. He clenched his fist, struggling to not punch something. He hadn't even been allowed to say goodbye.
Sighing, he stood, going into the room that had been hers, knowing that it wouldn't be long before someone else would make it theirs, and he didn't think he could cope with that. He turned to go back into his own room, knowing that he couldn't stay at the facility any longer. Not if Juniper wasn't there. Unfortunately, he'd signed a contract that meant he was going to have to spend at least another three months there, unless he did something that made them fire him.
Shaking his head, he focused on the form. He could deal with being there for another three months. Costello stared at the paper, which was already covered in his writing, before getting a blank piece out of the drawer and writing a letter to Emery. Now that Juniper was gone, he needed to focus on a new task, and Emery was still the woman who could help him. He needed to find his sister. He needed to get her out of her prison. Being with Juniper had made him realize just how awful the mental reassignment program was. It was done against the girls' wills. They had no idea. He had lost Juniper, but wasn't going to lose his sister forever as well.
Then he paused. He didn't want to give up on Juniper, either. Maybe she still wanted to see him. Maybe even be with him. He needed to know for sure, and the only way of possibly finding her was by finding her parents. Hopefully Juniper would be reuniting with them. He still had hope… maybe. He needed Emery now more than ever.
Falling in love with someone in the facility had always been a very bad idea, but he couldn't have stopped it from happening, even though he'd wanted to in the beginning. When she revealed that she had feelings for him as well, he knew turning back was impossible. Yet it would have been so much simpler if he had.
If he had, he wouldn't be sitting there, trying desperately to work out ways of finding her. What if she didn't want to be found? What if she fell in love with her husband, whoever he was, and didn't want Costello any longer? That was always a possibility, because her husband would be the one who'd saved her from the facility, which was something Costello hadn't managed even—though he'd been trying desperately to. He just hadn't been able to do enough from his position within the facility. Without knowing it at the time, when he'd agreed to be a poppa, he had signed his own prison sentence. He, and the other poppas, were just as much prisoners to this place as the progenies. He hadn't been beyond the facility walls in over a year. Of course, at the time he'd applied, it hadn't crossed his mind that he'd do something stupid like fall in love with one of the progenies… but he had.
Now all he could do was think about his Juniper. He needed her—he needed her now. He would find her parents and hope that she, too, had the same plan. Hopefully they would be reunited soon.
Chapter Thirteen
Juniper knocked on the back door, since the porch leading up to the front door had been destroyed and just sat in a pile of rubble. The house looked like it was empty, but she hoped it wasn't. Actually, deserted would be a more appropriate term. The windows were broken and boarded up, graffiti marked the outside, the roof barely existed, garbage littered the yard, all signs of life around were now dead. No flowers, no grass—even the trees were dead.
Ever since leaving the facility, Juniper found the condition of the city to be appalling. The facility may have been sterile—and pink—but at least it was clean. The city, on the other hand, was engulfed in disgusting filth. Everywhere they turned there were people begging for food. Makeshift homes out of scraps of wood or garbage were scattered along the edges of the street. Dogs roamed freely, looking as starved as the humans around them. Smoke, pollution, and toxic air blended with the cries of people dying. Juniper had never seen anything so horrific, and suddenly missed the safety and security of the facility.
She knocked again, waiting impatiently for someone to answer it, her foot tapping on the floor, with her brother standing beside her.
"What are we doing here?" His voice was a whisper, which made her smile. "Do you really think someone lives here?"
"I'm pretty sure she does." It was tempting to scream out her name, but she thought better than to do that. If Emery did indeed live here, it was quite clear she didn't want anyone to think so. "Come on, Emery," she said, as she knocked harder this time.
The door finally cracked, and a woman barely peeked her head through. "Yes?" Emery was much prettier than Juniper had expected. "Do I know you?"
"No, but you know of me. Costello wrote to you, asking you to find your way into the facility's computer system, partly because he wanted to find out more about a progeny named Juniper Ambrose. I am her."
"What are you doing out here? Is Costello with you?" She opened the door a little wider, looking for herself.
"I was adopted to be married by a man claiming to be my brother." Juniper glanced at Jaxton. "He used to be a poppa as well. We were hoping you could still help us find our parents."
"Does anyone know you're here? Did Costello send you?" she asked suspiciously.
Juniper shook her head. "No."
"Are you sure you weren't followed?"
Jaxton stepped closer and said, "I made sure of it. Please, we need your help."
Emery nodded. "Come in then, and we'll get to work. We don't have much here, but it's home." She opened the door completely, allowing them to enter a ramshackle kitchen.
"We?" Juniper followed Emery. "There's more than one of you?"
"Eight of us live in this house currently. It's a temporary safe house." Emery glanced over her shoulder, smiling. "We've been working on trying to break into the facility's computer, as you know, but our plan is to join the others soon."
"The others?" Juniper shook her head, confused. "I'm not sure I understand what's going on. Costello didn't know much about all this, did he?" Or maybe he did and just didn't tell Juniper. They had never really discussed Emery, or how he had come to know her.
"Costello didn't tell you?"
Juniper simply shook her head.
"Costello helped form a group to shut down the facilities."
"But he's a poppa. He chose to be a poppa." Juniper shook her head again. "That doesn't make any sense."
"He signed up to be a poppa in order to find some inside information to help locate his sister. He's also been feeding us helpful Intel
in order to try to expose these facilities for what they are. What the people of our country don't realize is that the facilities are more than just places housing soon-to-be brides. The facilities are corrupt. They're kidnapping, destroying the minds of women, and, in some cases, even killing them. There are certain safe places, like in West Trent." Emery sighed. "Well, safer, anyway. Nowhere, sadly, is truly safe from them, but things aren't as bad there as they are here in Westborough."
"Juniper was taken from West Trent," her brother said, walking up and placing a comforting hand on Juniper's shoulder. "They took her when she was eighteen and did the mental reassignment program on her."
"But it didn't work," Juniper added. "Although I guess it did a little bit, since I don't remember anything of the kidnapping. But I didn't revert mentally in age."
Emery nodded. "The same happened to me and the other women who live here." She offered a small smile. "It's a small group, but one that exists. Welcome."
"I don't understand. Welcome?"
"To the Nongov. We're a small group of people, albeit growing every day, that truly know what is going on behind those walls. Our goal is to someday expose the facilities. But until we get the necessary information, we need to remain hidden." Emery motioned them to follow her as she turned to a small, dirty staircase leading down to the basement. "We have some information, but not enough. Definitely not enough to risk coming out of hiding to expose it."
* * * * *
Costello stared up at the ceiling, trying to will himself asleep. His letter to Emery had gone out with the evening post, and corporate had his application for a vacation day outside of the facility. All he could think about, though, was Juniper, even though he didn't want to be thinking about her. He'd tried push-ups and sit-ups. He'd tried reading until he felt sleepy. He'd even gone as far as trying to sleep in her bed, but nothing worked. Maybe his mind didn't want to sleep, because it knew he would be dreaming of her, and things were already bad enough. Doing something stupid like going to sleep… he shook his head. It wasn't going to help at all, but he knew he had to, otherwise he'd be useless if he was given permission to leave the facility.
Sighing, he rolled onto his side. The wall wasn't any better to look at, but at least it was better than staring at the ceiling, because he'd been staring at that for a couple of hours already. Well, he thought it was a couple of hours, although it could have been much longer. It was a night that felt like it was lasting forever, a night he wished would finally end, one way or another, but he felt as though it never would.
Eventually, though, he must have fallen asleep, as he was woken by a knock on the door and someone pushing a slip of paper under it. That piece of paper would tell him whether or not he was going to see Emery.
Costello got out of bed, his eyes feeling heavy, and went over to get it, certain that it was going to say that he didn't have permission. When he turned it over, though, he found that they'd done the unexpected and given him permission to leave the facility in order to go into Westborough town. Smiling for the first time since Juniper had been taken away by Hanna, he went to take a shower. Maybe he was wrong to feel the way he did, but he believed he was one step closer to finding the woman he loved. And once he found Juniper, he would focus his attention on finding his sister.
Once he felt more awake, he dressed, picked up the slip of paper that gave him permission to leave, and went to the door he'd only been through once, when he'd entered to start his training at the facility. He hadn't thought he'd leave again until he quit, but he was one of the lucky few who got to go out into Westborough. As he showed it to the doorman, he was waved through. Being able to see Westborough would be nice, as he hadn't actually been there before, but seeing Emery, and hopefully working on finding Juniper would be even better.
Chapter Fourteen
Juniper hadn't slept well, because she'd been dreaming of Costello, but at least she'd slept. Yawning, she wandered upstairs out of the basement where they had all slept in cots with a single wool blanket. She never thought she'd miss the fluffy pink comforter and soft sheets of her bed back in the facility—but she did.
The good news was that she wasn't at the facility any longer, and she could plan out her own days, which was something she'd never done before. But she didn't know where to start. Hopefully her brother would be able to help with that. Or Emery—she liked Emery, and trusted her. Emery knew what it was like to live a lie for so long. She knew what it was like to play the twisted game of pretend. Juniper was sure she would also understand the fear she felt, and the longing to have a poppa take care of her… even outside the facility.
Before going to bed last night, Emery had shared her stories with Juniper. Emery was an escapee, still hunted to this day. She had met Costello shortly after her escape and before he became a poppa. They had become fast friends when he helped sneak computers and supplies to her. Juniper had no idea Costello had done something so brave and daring. In truth, she'd always pictured Costello as more of a government conformist that this man she heard Emery speak of. He was a revolutionist, determined to find his sister. He wasn't just her poppa and just another employee of the government. He was part of a very small and calculated uprising.
Secrets, lies, pretending—this is what the world had become. Hearing the stories of Emery and then some of the other girls had made Juniper realize she truly wasn't alone. Others had lived the same hell. Others were still living it. Juniper realized how lucky she was that her brother had bought her, otherwise she'd still be trapped there, planning her own escape. But then she would still be with Costello. She couldn't decide which was the better option. It was good to be free. She'd thought she'd enjoy being free. Being free without Costello, though… it wasn't what she wanted. Sighing, she wandered into the kitchen to look in Emery's cupboard, not sure if food was even an option. She stopped in the hallway when she heard voices.
"I questioned him for hours. He told her he's her brother." Emery sounded unsure. "I don't think it's a lie, Costello, but that's a lot of money to pay to get her out of there. I wonder how he came up with it."
Was Costello in the kitchen? How? Juniper remained frozen as he spoke. "I would have paid it if I'd had the money. It sounds like they've been looking for her for a long time. I can understand doing whatever it takes to find your sister…" Costello sighed. "Hearing that makes me even more scared for my own. If the facilities really are kidnapping, then people are going to demand for them to be closed down. We just have to find the proof to begin the revolution."
"It's not that simple, though. Every single one of us is working on hacking through those walls, but so far we've gotten nowhere. That isn't normal. Not for us. I think they know we're looking. I think they know about us now. We have to be more careful than ever. We can't be so trusting."
"You're right. But we can trust Juniper, if that's your concern."
"And this other man? Her brother?"
"I don't know. Where is he now?"
"He went to pick up some food and supplies. He shouldn't be gone long. He wanted to be back before Juniper woke up. The other girls are in the basement working on trying to break in, but we've never seen such tight security measures before."
"This needs to come to an end. Especially if they know the Nongov exists."
"I promise you we are doing everything we can. The only way I can think of getting in there is using their own passwords. Can you help us with that?"
"The poppas weren't given any passwords, or I'd give you mine." He gave a heavy sigh. "But if a password is needed, I'll work on getting you one when I return."
"It would get us in long enough to get some crucial information. We could find Juniper's parents, for one."
* * * * *
"You can do that?" Juniper walked into the room, nibbling her bottom lip, and Costello had to stop himself from grabbing her to give her a hug because of the look in her eyes. She looked scared… uncertain. "If I have the passwords, you could use them?"
"I could."
Emery smiled. "Do you know one?"
Juniper nodded. "I saw Hanna enter hers when she was ordering things for the playroom. She let me be part of picking out the colors. I memorized it." She looked at Costello. "Hanna was kind to me."
"She was, but she is a part of all this, and we need to know if your brother was telling the truth about you. If you were stolen…" Emery said.
Juniper shuddered, and that was when Costello couldn't take the distance between them any longer and went over to her. When he wrapped his arms around her, she pressed closer to him.
She hugged him tighter than she had ever done before. "How did you find me?" she asked.
Costello shook his head. "I didn't. I was coming to see if Emery could still help me find your parents. I thought that was my only hope of seeing you again." He pulled away and kissed her lips gently. "I had no idea you were here."
"But you are! And now we can be together!" Her joy felt as if it would make her heart explode.
He shook his head again. "No." He kissed her several times with small pecks on her lips, her cheeks, and her forehead before speaking. "I only have a vacation day. I have to return."
"No! I don't care about the facility! Stay with me," she pleaded, clinging to his shirt.
"They'll look for me. I can't risk them finding you," he whispered in a calming breath. "But I only have three more months. When the time is up, I can leave and they won't be suspicious."
Juniper started to cry. "No! No! I don't want you to leave."
He pulled away, grabbing hold of her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Juniper Mae… you need to trust me."
He silenced her with a kiss when she tried to protest.