I rubbed my neck, trying to catch my breath again. The chauffeur continued to drive as if nothing had happened. I wondered if he had seen it. I could make out his shape, but not much else. It didn't matter anyway. If he had seen it, what could he have done?
Dunningham's phone rang , and he took the call, which lasted about thirty seconds. He hung up and then spoke to me as if nothing had ever happened. "After we leave the Mill, I have a meeting with the council. The car will drop you back home."
The council was something Dunningham had recently put together after the riots had taken place. It was a group of men Dunningham had himself chosen to be leaders. Most of the men were from the Upper Estates, but there were a few from Farrington. Nox, Naomi's adoptive father, was on the council , and my father had been added when Dunningham and I had gotten engaged. I wanted to see my father desperately, but women weren't allowed to be on the council or to attend the meetings.
"Tell my father I said hi." And that you practically choked me to death, I wanted to add.
"I will," he replied unconvincingly.
The driver pulled up to the gray-bricked building known as the Mill. The Mill was the most important place in our colony. Lifestones were stored there. A portion of the lifestones were used for electricity to power Farrington and the Upper Estates. Litropolis received no electricity, yet the Litropolites were still required to give a portion of their lifestones to the fund.
I opened my door before the chauffeur could and hopped out. I craned my neck to take in the beautiful steeples that towered over me.
Without a word, Dunningham headed toward the building. I followed him to the steel double doors, which opened as we approached. Two armed guards stood at each one. The Mill was heavily guarded at all times. Our lifestone collection, power source, and life-subtraction chamber had to be kept under close watch. Nowhere would be devastated if anything were to happen to the Mill.
We walked down the long dim corridor. Guards standing a few feet apart nodded respectfully as we passed them. We took the elevator to the third floor where the lifestones were held. At the door, Dunningham put his thumb on a tiny box and the door slid open.
Once we entered, the doors slid shut, sealing just the two of us in the room. My knees felt like rubber as I wondered whether or not he was still angry with me.
He stood in the center of the room, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. I had no idea what he was doing, but it was strange.
I looked around the room. It had been four years since I'd been in that particular room. Thousands of long cylinder-shaped glasses filled the room from top to bottom. They were organized by city and then by age.
I walked over to Farrington's section. Each container had a black label with the corresponding Grim's name written in white letters. Most of the vials were halfway full with small black lifestones that looked like pieces of coal. When a Grim was born, they were given a vessel , and it was added to the collection. I couldn't spot mine because there were so many. I guessed my vessel would have been moved from the Farrington wall to the wall of the Upper Estates. I crossed over to the wall where the people of Litropolis' s containers were kept. Theirs were almost empty. Most of them had five lifestones or less fewer . That was the reason the people grew old there. That didn't happen to us.
On to the Upper Estates. Some of them had been given taller vessels because they had too many lifestones and their original one had overflowed. Dunningham had one that sat in the center. It was wider and taller than all the other vials and filled to the brim.
He stood next to me , gazing at the vials of the Upper Estates. If he wanted, he could have emptied or filled any vessel in that room , and no one would be able to say anything about it. No one man should have that much power.
He turned to me abruptly. "Can I trust you?"
I placed my hand on my still-sore neck. "What?"
"Can I trust you?" he repeated.
I wanted to say no. I wanted to say that I hated him and felt no loyalty to him whatsoever, so no, he shouldn't trust me. "Of course," I lied.
"Follow me," he said, leading me to a closed-off room off to the side. He placed his thumb on an identical pad like the one on the other door. The door opened. We walked into a room filled with computer screens, monitors, and all sorts of buttons.
Two men in long black shirts whom I had never seen before sat there with their eyes glued to a screen. They stood—"Mr. Dunningham. Ms. Keira"—and then got right back to work. The way their movement matched each other perfectly was kind of creepy.
"What is this place?"
"This is where we watch," Dunningham informed me as he motioned for me to take a seat in front of one of the screens. He sat in a chair beside me.
I knew the scene on the monitor all too well. It was the main street in Farrington, the one where all the shops and restaurants were located. He pressed a button , and different parts of Farrington popped on the screen. The overwhelming feeling of being homesick hit me.
The screen showed the street where I'd lived. I had a clear shot of my house. I wished my mother or father would come outside so that I could see them. The scene turned to Brickman's where Naomi, Chase, and I used to hang out.
"You and your friends loved to come here. I used to watch you."
I shivered. I'd always known that there were eyes all over Nowhere, but the fact that he had specifically been watching me weirded me out. Had he also seen my late-night talks with Bram? Thankfully Fortunately , there was no sound, only visual.
"Let me show you something else." He went to a larger screen across the room. It was blank until he punched his code onto the keypad and green letters flashed on the screen. SYSTEM INITIATING.
"What's this?" I asked.
"This is how I give out assignments. When I'm away from here, I use this," he said, indicating the device on his wrist. He typed in my name , and a picture of me popped up. It said how old I was, how many assignments I had been on, how many lives I had collected, and how many years I'd had subtracted. Then he typed in my father's name. I held back tears as his face popped up on the screen. Father had been sent on three recent assignments. "Your father is a good man. I'd love to continue giving him work."
I said nothing.
"Let's go to the chamber, shall we?" He got up and left the room without even waiting for my response.
I had no desire to go to the chamber. I had nothing but bad feelings about that place. It was where I'd had years subtracted. I still felt the pain of the shocks shooting through my body.
In the room I stared at the chair, standing as far away from it as possible. Naomi had been the last person in that seat , and I was reminded that she was no longer like the rest of us ; , she was mortal. Any Grim with fewer less than one hundred years could die by the same means as a human. Naomi had accumulated over four hundred years by doing her job as a Grim , and Dunningham had taken that away from her. I hated him even more tha n t I already did.
"I hate that this place has to exist," Dunningham said. "I hate taking hard-earned years away from my Grims, but it has to be done. I can't let offenses against the Covenant go unpunished, can I? If I did, there would be no order here."
My body tensed. I wanted to ask him if this was where he had brought his other two wives when they'd made him angry, but I knew better than that. I was alone with him in a locked room with a device he could use to steal all my years.
He fingered the chair with his long fingers. "You remember this chair, don't you ? . The pain you felt when I had to take away your years for kissing that boy."
I nodded. Of course. I would never forget that. Or the smell. Bram had gone before me. He'd told me that it wasn't that bad because he hadn't wanted me to be afraid. But it had been that bad. It had been much worse. When I was done I'd lied and told him that he was right, it hadn't been that bad, because I hadn't wanted to appear weak. We'd both known that the other was lying.
"I don't ever want to sit in that chair again," I stated.
"You won't have to if you play your cards right and respect your role."
Dunningham's phone chirped. He read the message on the screen. "The men are gathered in the meeting room. I'll see you later at the house."
The fact that the men were already gathered meant that there was no chance I would see my father. The meeting room was on the other side of the Mill. Dunningham instructed a guard to walk me back out to the carriage. The chauffeur emerged from the front seat to open my door on the back passenger side. The brief look of sympathy that he gave me told me that he had seen what had happened earlier.
The entire way home, I wondered why I was there. Why was I sacrificing myself and my future trying to get Dunningham to fulfill requests he would probably never agree to? Getting medical attention for those who needed it was one thing. That didn't cost Dunningham much , and his compliance was more of a political move. Asking him to be more fair fairer when it came to giving out assignments would be much more costly. Besides, there was nothing in it for him.
Nothing but me.
33
As soon as I got back to Dunningham's, I was instructed by a butler to meet Hesper in my bedroom. When I entered, a servant girl was cleaning my full-length mirror , and Hesper was walking around my bedroom checking things off on a list.
"Jewel, will you excuse us, please?" Hesper asked the girl.
Jewel grabbed her caddy of cleaning supplies and left the room promptly.
"Sit," Hesper ordered, pointing to the chair at my desk. She took another chair and pulled it over. I had the feeling that I was in trouble.
"W-what's wrong?"
Hesper frowned. "What's wrong? Do you want to die, girl?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked, although I knew. Dunningham must have called her and complained about my behavior.
"You young Grims just don't get it. You can't just go around saying and doing whatever you want. Things work a certain way in Nowhere , and that's just how it is."
I folded my hands in my lap and squeezed them, mostly to control my anger. "But I just made a simple comment and he choked me."
Hesper had no sympathy to offer. "You can't just say whatever you think. You were born a Grim , and you follow the Covenant , no matter what you think or how you feel. Furthermore, you're a woman. You do what you're told, when you're told."
I shook my head. "Hesper, I—"
"I told you about his other wives for a reason. I thought you understood. She grabbed my hands. Her hands felt colder than most people's. "Listen to me. I know this isn't easy, but you have it better than most. Think about the Grims in Litropolis. Think about the outcasts on the Outskirts."
"I know, but—"
"Look at me. You think this is the life I want? You think when I was a little girl that I dreamed of being a servant to him for the rest of my life?"
"Then why are you?"
"Because that was the hand I was dealt. This is what I've been given , so I do it to the best of my ability instead of complaining about it."
Hesper was right. A lot of people had it much worse than I did. I couldn't imagine being a servant to Dunningham my entire life, even though in a way I felt I already was. I looked at Hesper's hands, red, dry, and cracked. She'd already been working for hours by the time I got up in the morning and she would continue to work long after I went to sleep. She didn't do as much physical labor as the servant girls, but she was in charge of running Dunningham's household. She did the same thing every single day, went to sleep , and then got up to do it again. I didn't envy her at all.
"How did you end up with this job, Hesper?"
She let go of my hands and looked at the ceiling for a second. I hoped she wouldn’t tell me that it was none of my business.
"When I was a little girl, my family lived in Litropolis. My mother was dying, as were many of the people there, because Dunningham rarely sent them on assignments. You never know how fast a Grim can age until you see one who never gets jobs. Anyway, my father took part in one of the raids on the Mills. He wasn't trying to break the law. He only wanted to get more years for his wife. He and the others were captured. Dunningham put both my parents to death , even though my mother had taken no part in the crime."
I wasn't surprised. It was common for Dunningham to execute entire families because of the actions of one.
Hesper smoothed out her dress and continued. "I was supposed to be put to death too, but Dunningham had mercy and he spared me. He can be a merciful man. He spared your friend's life , and she paid him back by running away."
"Naomi is a long story, and I wouldn't exactly call him merciful. Everything he does is for a reason. He only let Naomi go to get closer to me. If not for that, he would have executed her."
Hesper shrugged. "Well, he had nothing to gain from sparing my life. I was ten years old when I came here to work. This was the hand I was dealt , so I played it. I did my job better than all the other servants. I did more than what was asked of me. I showed Dunningham the utmost respect and in return, I was promoted."
I didn't see how this job was much better than being a servant. I would much rather scrub floors than have to deal with Dunningham personally.
"No offense, Hesper, but I don't want to be like you."
"You don't have a choice," she said angrily. "For some reason Dunningham keeps choosing these young girls who don't understand the way of things. We are Grims. We weren't born to be happy. We weren't born to live the life we want and have our greatest desires given to us. We were born to manage death and to obey the Covenant. This life is a life of service. Nothing more."
She was partly right. Being a Grim was supposed to be a selfless job. It didn't matter who we loved, who we wanted to marry, what we wanted to do with our lives. We were supposed to do what we were told. That was all.
I'd always known that, but I didn't know why that was just beginning to weigh on me. Maybe it was the fact I'd never imagined I'd be engaged to Dunningham. Maybe it was because I'd gotten a small dose of the real world on an assignment or maybe it was because of how my best friend had been treated by our own people.
I felt sorry for Hesper. She'd lived this life since she was ten and didn't know any better. She would never get married, have children, or a life of her own. She would forever be at Dunningham's beck and call , and she seemed to be okay with that. I didn't understand why it was so easy for her to accept.
"How can you serve the man who killed your parents?" I asked. "If I were you, I'd hate him with everything in me."
Hesper looked down. "My father broke the law. I understand why Dunningham did what he did. He spared my life when he didn't have to. I will always be grateful to him for that."
"Why did he save you?" I asked. There had to be some reason that was beneficial to him. Why would he choose to save one little girl? He'd put children to death with their families before and had no qualms about it.
"He felt sorry for me, I suppose. I don't know. I never asked him." She stood and ran her fingers through her silver curls. "I need to see if the girls have begun dinner preparations. You should get some studying done," she said before leaving me alone.
I was in no mood to study. I walked onto the balcony of my room and looked down into Dunningham's garden. Blue was there , sniffing around in the roses. I wondered what the men were discussing in their council meeting. I wished I were home. I knew Dad would tell Mom everything that was discussed , even though he wasn't supposed to.
That evening, I sat down to dine alone. Dunningham had not come back from his meeting. Even though I was the only one there, the girls set a complete table. It was incredibly lonely sitting there alone with no one to talk to. I wondered what Mom was doing. She was probably eating alone too, waiting for Dad to come home. Maybe in the morning I would whip up enough courage to ask Dunningham if I could visit them, even though he had previously shot me down.
Halfway through the meal, Dunningham stormed into the dining room with Doyle on his heels. They both looked frazzled. A g
irl hastily wheeled out a cart with two covered trays, but Dunningham held up his hand. "I'm not hungry, just bring me a Scotch on the rocks. Doyle?"
"I'll have the same," Doyle replied. The girl wheeled the cart away.
Dunningham dropped into his seat at the head of the table and buried his face in his hands.
Although the turkey was delectable and I was rather enjoying it, it didn't seem right to keep eating it. I put my fork down and looked at Doyle. He made eye contact with me and then looked away. For a moment he didn't seem as worried as Dunningham, but when Dunningham looked up, Doyle recovered. I had to hand it to him. He was a great actor.
"What's the matter?" I asked. Dunningham glared at me. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, but I pressed on. I really was curious about what had him so upset. "I mean, that was a really long meeting."
The girl wheeled in a tray. This one contained a glass bottle filled with a dark brown liquid and two glasses filled with ice. Her hands shook as she poured Scotch into both glasses. I could tell that she wanted to get away from Dunningham and his foul mood as quickly as possible.
Both men took a swig of their drinks. I didn't understand how they could drink that stuff. Bram had dared me to taste some once from his father's liquor cabinet. It was horrible.
Dunningham downed his glass and slammed it on the table. "We've lost track of the missing Grims."
"Oh." I looked at Doyle. He stared at his fingers clasping his glass. "Where do you think they are?"
"I have no idea. I was hoping you would know." I always hated the way Dunningham looked at me, but this time… let's just say if looks could kill.
"How should I know? I've been here with you the whole time."
"Yes, but there was a period of time when you disappeared. Where did you go?"
I picked my fork up again and pushed food around on my plate. "I told you. I was in the Outskirts."
Keira Grim: The Final Breath Chronicles Book Two Page 24