“Just wondering if young Miss Mora would be interested in helping me with something.”
Connor looks back at me with a concerned look etched across his face. I smile at him and nod. “I’d be happy to help you,” I say as I pass through the doorway. “I’ll be back soon,” I tell Connor.
Connor doesn’t say anything to this but only looks confused. He closes the door behind me, but when I look back, he’s still watching from the window.
Evelyn and I walk at a steady pace toward the booth in front of her shack.
“He fancies you,” Evelyn says. S saEvel
I’m not expecting her to say this and my head jerks toward her sharply. “What makes you say that?” I ask.
“Out of all the women that fall head over heels for him, not a one of them have seen the inside of his shack,” she says. “He’s never taken an interest to the girls around here for some reason. I can see it in the way he treats you and how he looks at you.”
I honestly haven’t noticed any kind of romantic passes from him. He has gone out of his way to help me, for sure, but I haven’t interpreted it as anything but courtesy from a stranger.
“I don’t think so,” I say. “I mean, he’s handsome and all, but I’m not here to pursue romance.”
Evelyn smiles. “Those who pursue romance rarely find it. Those who try to run from it often find themselves blindsided by it.”
“So, what do you need help with?” I ask, changing the subject.
We walk up to her booth where there are several baskets of vegetables and she picks one up and hands it to me. She then takes one for herself.
“We’ve got a delivery,” she says. “How’s your leg?”
“Much better, thanks to you.”
“Good.” She starts walking down the dirt road and I follow her. A quick glance back shows me that Connor is still watching. This time he shrugs with an eyebrow cocked. I give him a little grin to let him know I’m all right.
“Are you still planning to meet with Jeremiah in Screven?” Evelyn asks.
“I hope to. Springhill is counting on me.”
Evelyn nods thoughtfully. The road through the colony is longer than I thought it would be. As we wind throughout, I see much more of Salem than I had previously. Gardens are spread out here and there are people work to pick the ripest vegetables. In the distance, in every direction, there are homes stacked on top of each other. Most of the places don’t look all that sturdy, but I’m sure they must be relatively safe. I can see the outer wall that blocks the colonists from the outside world. The wall that keeps out the greyskins.
Further down the road is a house. It’s not the biggest house I’ve ever seen, but it’s much larger than all the shacks that seem to be everywhere in the colony.
“Is that where we’re going?” I ask, pointing.
“After our first stop,” she answers.
As we walk, she asks me about the trip to find Aaron. I tell her just about everything except for the use of my new abilities. I also leave out Aaron’s use of electricity too. I simply tell her that the cavalry showed up with guns and blasted away.
She is silent as I recount the events that took place. I even tell her about my experience in the Vault. Word had travelled quickly, and she had already learned of Bret’s death.
“It’s a real shame,” she says.
I agree.
We come to a small shack that isn’t far from the large house at the end of the road. Evelyn reaches out a hand and knocks on the door. After a moment, a redheaded female, not much older than me, opens it.
“Evelyn,” she says, sounding surprised. Her eyes dart back and forth between us.
Evelyn bends down and sets the basket of vegetables on the ground, takes my basket from me, and hands it to the redhead.
“Heather, I want you to meet Mora. Mora, this is Heather.”
Heather doesn’t seem to know what to do at first, so I just extend a hand for her to shake.
“Nice to meet you,” I say.
“This is her?” Heather asks Evelyn, ignoring my hand. I drop it awkwardly.
“Yes,” Evelyn says. “This is the girl that visited me the other day.”
Heather looks like she’s had too much caffeine.
She sighs. “Soon then,” she says.
“I think so,” Evelyn answers. “Be sure to let Danny know.”
Heather agrees, gives one more look at me, then bends over and grabs the two baskets of vegetables and walks back into her shack, closing the door with her foot.
I can’t conceal the look of confusion on my face.
“What was that about?” I ask.
“I’ll tell you soon enough,” she says. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”
I follow her down the dirt road until we reach the house at the end, only we don’t go to the front door as I expected we would. Instead, Evelyn leads me around the front and to the side of the house where there are trees and shrubs all around.
“What are we doing?” I ask her, but she ignores my question.
She walks close to the side of the house. Below one of the large windows, she points to a small door at the house’s base. A crawlspace it seems.
“Follow me,” she says.
I’m starting to believe what Connor said about Evelyn really being strange. Why does she want me to follow her through a crawlspace?
“I don’t think that would be good for my leg,” I say, trying to come up with a good excuse not to follow.
“Are you sure?” Evelyn asks me. “I think you’ll find what I have to show you is really interesting.”
I can’t imagine what might be down there that I would find interesting, but I don’t know what to do. Is she crazy? Is she taking me down there to kill me for some unknown reason? Did Heather act so distant because she knew Evelyn was capable of doing something insane?
Evelyn shrugs at me and gets on her belly and begins to crawl through the opening. I look from side to side. There’s no one around. Is this a good or bad thing? I don’t really know. I can’t really imagine why she would want to hurt me.
Letting out a sigh, I get on my hands and knees. My leg hurts a little as my pants brush up against it, but it’s not overly painful. Looking down into the crawlspace, I notice that it’s not a crawlspace at all. The foundation is actually much farther down than I thought, and Evelyn is standing in what looks like an unfinished basement about six feet below this opening. A quick scan around convinces me that there are no bodies of former victims, nor do I think I’m about to become the first. Besides, if she does try anything, I can use my new abilities to stop her can’t I? My spine tingles at the thought. Evelyn better make her point quickly or I’m out of here.
As I crawl through the opening, she reaches out her hands to steady me, but I wave her off and I fall onto my side. The thud of landing resonates through my body and I can’t help but wince at nearly getting the wind knocked out of me. But my cut is still okay and that’s all that really matters.
“You all right?” she asks.
I stand and nod, wiping the dirt off my clothes. The room is dark and smells musty. There are exposed wires and pipes throughout. What was I thinking? Following Evelyn down here has to be one of the worst ideas I’ve had. I’ve been warned that she’s a bit off. Now she’s leading me through this shady basement. If I’m dumb enough to follow her in here, then I guess I deserve what’s coming to me.
She leads me through the basement and to a Smendumb e door on the other side. She opens the door and motions for me to follow her in. I’m this far already so I suppose I ought to keep going.
When I pass through the door, she closes it behind us. I find myself in a tiny, dark room that’s bare and cold. Only a sliver of light shines through a small hole just above eye level. Evelyn points to the hole and whispers for me to take a look. I can’t help but give her a questioning stare as my feet take me to it. She obviously wants to show me something that she won’t just say outright.
&nb
sp; I’m just wondering what we’re doing here at all. Whose house is this?
While on my tiptoes, I’m able to put my eye up to the hole. I can see the hardwood floor of a room. There’s a lot of furniture. A table, chairs, feet. I angle my head to try and see who the feet belong to. Turning my head just slightly, I’m able to see Heinrich sitting across from someone else. All I see is the back of his head.
“I just don’t understand how you couldn’t find anything,” Heinrich says. “I was sure it was there.”
“Nothing,” the other voice answers. The man across from Heinrich turns his head to his glass that’s set on the table and brings it to his lips for a drink. Aaron.
“And you just all of a sudden got these powers? I know when you told me that you had something that would be a thorn in Jeremiah’s side, I had no idea it would be you,” says Heinrich. “You’ve got to give me something to go with, Aaron. I’m here trying to lead a colony against Jeremiah, and I find out that I’ve had an asset like you the entire time? I thought we were allies in this.”
“We are,” Aaron says. “But you’re not exactly my leader. Yes, you hold the highest position, but I answer to someone else in this little operation. Besides, I’m not the only one with a gift.”
“Yeah, I know,” Heinrich says. “The girl. Mora.”
“I’ve never met her before the rescue attempt. To see a complete stranger that is gifted is either a really good thing or a bad thing. I don’t know yet. I don’t know anything about her.”
“So, who do you answer to if not to me?”
“I’m not at liberty to tell you that yet,” Aaron says. “All I can say is that we’re on your team. Like I said, there are others with gifts. Not just this newcomer, Mora. Others with different kinds of gifts too. This is what you need to overthrow Jeremiah for good.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. There are others with supernatural abilities? I had wondered about this, but now it’s confirmed. And from the sound of it, they are right here in the Salem colony. But who are they? Why do we all have these unexplainable powers?
“Jeremiah has broken his own law,” Aaron continues. “The condition was that when we got strong enough, the Screven guards would leave so we could take care of ourselves.”
“You’re preaching to the choir,” Heinrich says.
“I know. It just makes me angry. But our day is coming. Salem will be free again.”
“You know Jeremiah will to want to meet with you personally,” Heinrich says. “You and the girl.”
Me?
“I know. I’m just waiting for Krindle to come to me with a stupid smile on his face, saying that Jeremiah would love to talk with me. He’s going to try and use us. It will be a power grab.”
“Don’t let it become one,” Heinrich tells him as he scoots forward. “And find out where the girl’s allegiance lies.”
“Her allegiance is to her village,” Aaron says. “That’s all.”
“Then we need to shift that allegiance to our side.”
Aaron sighs. I can see him shake his head. m shakeӀhead. “And that is exactly why I don’t answer to you.”
“What?”
“The others. The Starborns. They think you’re as power hungry as Jeremiah. They think that all you want is to replace him and take over the colonies for yourself.”
“That’s preposterous.”
“Is it? You already want me to make Mora an ally with us. I can’t make her do anything. All I can do is talk to her and try to help her.”
I turn my head toward Evelyn who just looks at me with eyebrows raised and then I turn my head back to the hole. How did she know this meeting would be taking place? Anger boils inside me to know that people are talking about how they want to use me.
“The day is coming soon,” Aaron says. “I’ll talk with my leader, and we will decide where to go from here.”
Aaron stands.
“I’m on you’re side, Aaron.”
“I know you are now. The question is, will you be when we’ve finally won this thing?”
Heinrich says nothing as Aaron leaves the room. I set my feet flat and turn to Evelyn again. She motions me away from the wall and opens the door out to the basement.
After walking to the other side, she looks through the small opening where we crawled in to make sure no one is around. She then asks me to boost her up.
I’m sort of in a daze as I give her a shove and she turns around to help pull me up. Climbing out back into the yard hurts my leg a lot worse than going into the house. Once out, I look at Evelyn in the eyes. Both of us are on the ground and she stares back at me with as much intensity.
“What was that?” I ask.
“I wanted you to see how hard people are working to get out from under Jeremiah’s control before you step right in it.”
I sigh, knowing that she can’t just change my mind about this. Can she? But the fight against Jeremiah isn’t exactly the first thing on my mind.
“Aaron said there were others like me? That there’s a leader?”
Evelyn nods. “Yes. The Starborn.”
“Star what?”
“Listen, Mora, there’s something very important I need to tell you before you decide to meet with Jeremiah.”
I’m about to tell her to go ahead and say it, but a loud, shrieking alarm rings out across the entire colony. It’s deafening at first and we both cover our ears immediately. I can hear a voice over a loud speaker yelling for everyone to get into their homes.
“…this is not a drill. Code Grey. Code Grey. I repeat, this is not a drill. All colonists get into your homes. Code Grey.”
“What’s a Code Grey?” I shout.
“A herd coming straight for the colony,” Evelyn answers. “Code grey, grey-skins.” She grabs my arm and helps me stand up. “Let’s get to the shack!”
We take off in a sprint. I’m a little confused by the commotion at first. The walls around the colony are so tall and thick that it would take a very long time for greyskins to get through wouldn’t it? But I still have to do as I’m told.
Black Screven vehicles charge down the dirt road, kicking up dust in every direction, each one with a loudspeaker, screaming for everyone to stay in their homes until the threat is neutralized.
When we come near her shack, Evelyn tries to get me to come in with her, but I see Connor out of the corner of my eye, waving me in. I look back at Evelyn then at Connor. He smiles and points up at the crow’s nest.
“See me again before you leave,” Evelyn says.
I promise to do so, and take off for Connor’s shack.
“You all right?” he asks as we go through the doorway.
“Of course,” I tell him. I follow him into the back room where a post with rungs up the side are built into the wall, leading up to a trap door in the ceiling. He climbs up first and opens the door as a new wave of siren blasts hit us. I follow him up the ladder until we are finally at the top of the crow’s nest, way above the shack’s roof. From here we can overlook the entire colony and beyond.
“Wouldn’t the alarm call the greyskins to us?” I ask.
“Code Grey. It’s Krindle’s terminology that means the greyskins are already after us.”
I shudder at the thought.
He reaches to the floor to pick up a set of binoculars and hands them to me. He points. “To the south there, you see them?” He holds up his own pair of binoculars and lets out a whistle. “There’s gotta be three hundred of them.”
I focus on getting the right view until I finally see them in the distance. Hundreds of them are trudging toward the colony, food on their minds. Most of them look to be old greyskins, kind of slow, but there are newer ones too who are running ahead of the group.
“Where did they all come from?”
“Hard to tell,” he answers. “We could have attracted them by coming in from the rescue mission. Could be a random attack.”
“This is exactly the kind of thing that will wipe out my vill
age. You’re lucky you don’t have to deal with this on your own.”
“I agree,” Connor says.
The front gates of the colony open up as twenty or more Screven vehicles ride out to meet the greyskins before they reach the walls. The vehicles form a circular path around them, kicking up dust, stopping the greyskins in their tracks at the new commotion. Then, they open fire. The popping of guns makes me jump at first, but I can’t help but be in awe of what I see: the quickness, the unwavering protection.
The alarms stop and all we can hear is the distant popping of gunfire. A look through the binoculars shows a close up of the gore as the greyskins drop one-by-one. I’ve seen enough bloodletting for today, and I let the binoculars drop to the floor.
Connor looks at me as I watch the guards in the distance. Too often have I seen herds just like this one come for my village. Too often has it ripped me forever from the friends and family that I’ve loved.
As I watch the Screven guards display their mastery of protection, I have no choice but to go to Jeremiah. I don’t care about what the people of Salem want to do. I don’t care about an uprising. I don’t even care much about there being more people who have supernatural powers like me.
All I care about is my village, my grandma, and my little brother, Jake. Screven can make sure they aren’t torn from me like my parents were.
The task of destroying the herd only takes about five minutes. No one is even injured in the entire massacre except for the greyskins.
Connor and I watch together as the guards gather the bodies of the undead to a pile. With precious fuel and a match, the bodies are burned to ashes there in the open, dusty field.
I look at Connor, and then back at the rising flames and smoke in the distance. I don’t care how much food my village has to give up. Protection like this is invaluable.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It’s not even an hour before Krindle and Rob come knocking on the door of the shack after Connor has returned from the market with food for lunch. Connor opens the door as I shovel some corn and bell peppers into my mouth. Krindle and Rob both step into the shack without being asked.
The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) Page 8