by S. J. West
When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring at a pair of silver tipped black boots. I lifted my gaze and found Ian standing directly in front of me with a hard stare.
“If you’re going to make it through today,” he said to me in a low voice, “you’re going to have to be tougher than that. No one can make you feel less than you are but you. I can promise there will be more than one woman jealous of you today. You can’t let them bother you so much. That’s exactly how you let them win.”
I thought about the truth of Ian’s words and nodded slightly, so he knew I got the message.
When I looked back at Meg, I knew what Ian said was true. If I let her or anyone else make me feel like a lesser person, I would never find the strength to do what had to be done that day. I needed to be strong, if not for myself, then for Jace, Zoe, and Blue. They needed me, and I needed them. I knew in that moment I would do whatever it took to make sure we were reunited and back on the road to the Southern Kingdom.
Ian held out a crooked arm for me to take. I looped an arm through his as he escorted me out the door.
“Good luck,” Meg said snidely as we walked past her.
I chose to ignore her and tightened my grip on Ian’s arm, strangely finding strength in his presence by my side.
As Ian escorted me down the cement sidewalk, I felt the stares of hundreds of eyes land on me all at once. Inconspicuous I was not. I think that was Freddy’s point. He wanted to make sure everyone saw me. If they were going to fight and pay for the honor of deflowering an of age virgin, then the public needed to see what they were getting. I focused my eyes far ahead of me, never wanting to meet the eyes of those passing by us. Every footstep forward made me feel like I wanted to take two footsteps back. Making it through the day seemed impossible. I wasn’t sure I would make it through the next few minutes much less twenty-four hours.
“So Freddy said your name is Skye,” Ian said in a conversational tone, as if we were merely taking a morning stroll through town, not making our way to my own personal hell.
“Yes,” I answered, feeling it would be rude not to, “my father named me.”
“Did he name you before or after the war?”
Ian’s question caught me off guard. I stopped my distant staring and turned my head to look at him. The expression on his face seemed to indicate he was genuinely interested in the answer.
“What difference does that make?” I asked, curious to know what made him think of such an arbitrary, off the wall question.
“You’d be surprised how many people named their kids things like sunshine and rainbow after the war. It’s like they wanted to remember the words, even if they couldn’t see those things anymore. I was just curious to know if that’s why your dad named you Skye.”
“I’m eighteen years old. You do the math.”
Ian grinned. “I knew there was a smart aleck lurking in that pretty shell somewhere. Don’t lose that part of yourself. It might just help you survive here with your sanity intact.”
“Why do you care if I remain sane or not?” I asked tersely. “You’re just as bad as Freddy, maybe even worse. You’re leading the lamb to slaughter, but you’re not even getting profits for the effort. At least with Freddy, I know his motivation is pure greed. What’s your excuse?”
Ian’s grin slipped from his face as he looked away from me, choosing to look at something straight ahead instead.
“Not everything is what it seems here in Alliance,” he said. “Not all of us are here because we want to be.”
“Then, why don’t you leave? What’s keeping you here?”
Ian’s lips tensed like he would refuse to answer my question, but then he said, “Because I’m as much a prisoner here as you are.”
Before I could gather any more information from him, Freddy suddenly appeared in front of us, cutting off our path.
“Thanks for bringing her. You remember what I told you to do?” Freddy said with a knowing look to Ian.
“Yeah, I know what to do,” Ian replied.
Ian dropped my arm and turned away from us, leaving me in the hands of Freddy.
Freddy grabbed me roughly by the upper arm and started walking briskly toward what looked like an old courthouse with a pillared veranda at the top of a set of stairs. As we walked up the stairs, I heard the resounding toll of a nearby church bell. When we reached the veranda, Freddy turned me around to face the gathering crowd in front of the building. There had to be at least three hundred people standing in the courtyard, mostly men. I took a deep breath and waited.
“Ladies and gentleman,” Freddy began, sounding like a master of ceremonies at a carnival or circus. I almost wanted to laugh at the terms he used, knowing full well any man, or woman for that matter, who bid on me were anything but. “I would like to introduce you to Skye, my newest acquisition.”
A sea of eyes centered on me. I met as many of them as I could, hoping to glimpse shame or pity among the people in front of me but finding only curiosity and lust.
“A beauty isn’t she?” Freddy said, urging the crowd on with a wave of hands and gaining a fair number of whistles and cat calls in return.
“How much you want for her, Freddy?” an anonymous male voice in the crowd asked.
“Well now, don’t you want to know a little bit more about why I think she’s so special?”
The murmur of the crowd made deciphering what they were saying impossible. Finally Freddy said, “Now, you men out there, and a few of you ladies too, I know, how would you like to be the first person to initiate our fair Skye in the art of sexual desire?”
The murmuring grew louder. The weight of the eyes on me seemed heavier than before. I felt like a piece of meat being sold to a butcher or an oddity at a sideshow attraction.
“She’s a virgin?” someone in the crowd asked incredulously.
“One of only a few left, I’d wager,” Freddy said in response.
“Why would I want a virgin?” another man chimed in. “We can go to Meg’s and get someone who knows what they’re doing.”
Freddy seemed taken aback by the remark, like he hadn’t expected such an objection.
But like any good salesman, Freddy wasn’t ruffled for long and replied, “But wouldn’t you rather have someone you can teach to do the things you like most? Aren’t you tempted to find out what it would be like to bed someone who’s never been bedded by anyone before? And not just for one night either,” Freddy said off the cuff, like he was making things up as he went along. “For a whole month!”
That seemed to get the crowd interested again, though I could see Freddy was just trying to think of a way to make me sound like a more worthy prize.
“Plus, I’ll even throw in a romantic weekend trip to my lake house outside the perimeter.”
With the crowd fully invested in the details of the prize, the delight on Freddy’s face was back.
“So what’s the terms?” a woman in the front row asked.
My eyes met those of the woman who asked the question. She was in her mid-thirties and built like an Amazonian princess I’d seen in a comic book once. Her long dark hair hung straight past her waist, and she had muscles any man would envy.
“The top five bids gain an entry into the tournament, but there’s a catch this time.”
I heard a fair amount of grumbling and one man say, “There’s always a catch with you Freddy!”
Freddy grinned good-naturedly. “For this tournament, ladies and gentlemen, all combatants will need a partner for what I have planned, but be careful who you pick! The team who wins will fight each other in a no limit match!”
“No limit?” the woman in front asked. “So, no fine if we accidentally kill them during the fight?”
“No fine or Hole time,” Freddy confirmed.
Freddy turned to me with a broad smile on his face and winked. I think it was the first genuine smile I had ever seen on him, even if it was being fueled by greed.
“However, there’s one more thing yo
u should know about Skye’s story,” Freddy said. I looked at him, wondering what he was about to say. He didn’t know anything about me as far as I knew. “Skye didn’t come here alone. Oh, no. She came here with a boyfriend in tow.”
From behind me, I heard the front doors of the courthouse open. When I turned, I saw Jace walk out in a black tux, white shirt, and matching bow tie. He looked so handsome my heart missed a beat. On either side of him were two lines of five men dressed in Harvester uniforms with two-foot, black batons in their hands. The batons were similar in design to cattle prods with two electrodes sticking out at the end, designed to send a wave of painful electrical current through their target. Why did Jace need ten Harvesters to watch over him? What had he done during his night in the Hole, besides give Freddy a black eye, to warrant such a security detail?
Jace looked up at me and jerked to a stop like he hit an invisible brick wall. I saw a strange expression cross over his face, almost like he just figured out something important. One of the guards prodded Jace with his baton, coaxing him to continue walking forward.
I turned and took a step toward Jace intent on meeting him halfway, but Jace locked his gray eyes with mine and gave an almost imperceptible warning shake of his head. I stood my ground and waited for him to walk to my side. He kept his eyes on me as Freddy continued his pitch.
“Now, don’t they look like the happy couple?” Freddy said, mocking what he thought he knew about us.
I had to admit, we did look like we belonged on top of a wedding cake or on the cover of Brides magazine.
Jace made a move to take one of my hands with his, but a Harvester behind him moved up to stand beside me. Jace lowered his hand back down to his side, but kept his eyes locked on my face. I felt the same need as Jace to reach out and touch him, but the Harvester’s threat was clear. If Jace touched me, the Harvester would use the prod in his hands to hurt me. They were using my continued wellbeing against Jace, just like they were using Jace’s life against me. We were both two mice doing a balancing act in a trap, trying to keep the unyielding steel from clamping either of our necks.
“Being a sucker for a happy ending,” Freddy said to the crowd, “I’ve promised Jace a spot in the tournament, but only if he could convince one of you to be his partner. Jace, the floor is yours. Good luck.”
Jace dragged his eyes away from my face and looked out into the crowd before he took a step forward to address them.
“I’ve known Skye since we were seven years old,” he said. I tried to keep my face blank as Jace weaved his lie. “We were brought to the same breeding camp on the same day and picked to be each other’s mates.”
I looked at the back of Jace’s head, realizing he was using what little I had told him about Ash and me. Part of me hated him for doing it and part of me marveled at his ability to come up with such a plan.
“We lived together for six years, all the while knowing one day we would have to breed for the Harvesters who held us captive. It was only because our parents sacrificed their lives that we were able to escape the breeding camp where we were held captive. For the past five years, I’ve done whatever it took to make Skye smile at least once every day since then. I’ve tried my best to provide for her and keep her safe, even from me,” Jace’s voice cracked with emotion as he said the last word. He hung his head low for dramatic effect before looking back at the captivated crowd. “Now, I just wish I had told her how much I loved her.” He turned to half face me and half face the crowd. “Maybe if I had followed my heart, she wouldn’t be in the situation she is today. Maybe if I had been braver and let her know how I truly felt about her, she wouldn’t be forced into giving up her innocence to a total stranger.” Jace turned fully back to the crowd. “I need your help. Which one of you has the decency to help me save her? Which one of you will give me another chance to prove to her how much I love her?”
Silence covered the crowd like a death shroud. No one spoke. People hardly moved until one lone voice asked, “What’s in it for me if I help you?”
I knew the voice. It was Ian. I searched the crowd and found him standing near the front, a couple of rows behind the Amazonian princess, with his arms crossed in front of him looking up at Jace.
Freddy walked up to stand beside Jace, “You don’t have to put up anything for your bid,” he said to Ian. “You get a free chance to win the fair damsel for yourself.”
Ian squinted at Jace as if sizing him up. “You’re human right?”
Jace nodded.
Ian chuckled. “Do you know you’re committing suicide? You might be big, but you’re not nearly as strong as one of us, even the smallest of us. Let’s say I partnered up with you and we managed to win, what makes you think you could beat me in a one on one match?”
“I have to fight for her,” Jace said to Ian. “Every man deserves a chance to be with the woman he loves.”
The Amazonian princess in the front row had just taken a step forward when Ian barreled through the crowd and rushed up the stairs two at a time to stand beside Jace. Ian held his hand out to Jace and said, “I guess I’m a sucker for a good love story. I’ll give you your chance, but you need to know I’ll fight you for her in the end.”
Jace shook Ian’s hand firmly and whispered, “You’ll have to kill me before I let you have her.”
Ian glanced over at me and smiled at Jace. “Well, as long as we understand one another.”
“Well then,” Freddy said to the crowd, gathering their attention, “all of you who are interested in winning Skye’s favors for the next month, please make your bids by midnight tonight. And to whet your appetite, I’m hosting a party in Skye’s honor in my home this evening for everyone who makes their bids before five.”
Before I knew it, the Harvester standing beside me grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me down the courthouse steps, presumably intent on taking me back to Meg’s house. I had just enough time to turn and see Jace trying to reach out to me but being stabbed with the stun batons wielded by the other nine Harvesters, who quickly encircled him to force him back into the interior of the courthouse like an animal being led to slaughter.
I heard myself scream Jace’s name as I tried to run back to him. An arm as unyielding as iron encircled my waist from behind, just before I felt the end of my escort’s stun baton stab me in the gut. I doubled over in pain but tried to force my legs to move me closer to Jace before the doors of the courthouse closed. Jace yelled my name, just as something hard hit me on the back of the head, sending my world into total darkness.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I woke up staring at the popcorn-textured ceiling of my room at Meg’s. My head felt like a grenade had exploded inside of it and left pieces of shrapnel embedded in the soft tissue. My hands immediately fell to my stomach. The place where the Harvester’s stun baton hit me didn’t feel as sore as I had expected.
I slowly sat up on the bed and realized it was near dusk. The faint light filtering into the room through the windows was just enough to give definition to my surroundings.
I was still dressed in the wedding gown, but someone had let my hair down and taken off the tiara. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, letting my bare feet touch the velvety plush carpet on the floor. I stood up slowly and made my way to the door to flip the light switch on. Just as the lights came on, I heard low voices out in the hallway. Stepping back from the door, I waited to see if they were heading to my room or not.
A soft tap, tap, tap of a knock came from the other side of the door.
“Skye, are you awake?” Kirk asked.
I opened the door and found Kirk and Teegan standing nervously in the hallway. Teegan was holding a short red silky dress draped over one arm. Her eyes kept glancing nervously to the right of her, but she never moved her head to look directly at whatever or whoever was there.
“We came to help you get ready for Freddy’s party,” Kirk said, a strained smile on his boyish face.
I stepped back from the door to let them in.
They both eagerly walked forward in unison as though they were trying to get in at the same time, like people struggling to get into the last remaining life raft of a sinking ship. Kirk cleared his throat and made a grand sweeping gesture with his arm, indicating Teegan should precede him.
“Ladies first,” he said, following closely on Teegan’s heels as she entered the room.
Kirk closed the door softly behind him and leaned his back against the wood, quietly letting out a pent up breath.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered, not wanting to be overheard by whoever or whatever was in the hallway causing them both to act so skittish.
Kirk walked closer to me and whispered, “There are two Hole guards outside your door. They always make us nervous when they’re in the house.”
“Why are they here?” I whispered back, suddenly feeling nervousness creep into my system as though Kirk and Teegan had infected me with theirs.
Teegan put a comforting hand on my shoulder and squeezed, tilting her chin up a notch. Without words, I knew she was telling me I needed to be brave for whatever Kirk was about to say to me.
“Freddy sent them,” Kirk answered. “He didn’t want anyone trying to get to you before the tournament. They’ll be your shadows until this whole mess is over with.”
“Have people been trying to get in my room?” I asked.
Kirk waved his hand in the air like I should stow my worries somewhere else for now.
“Just a couple,” he said, as if it were an everyday occurrence. “The guards took care of them pretty quick though. I don’t think anyone else will try.”
“That’s not very comforting,” I admitted.
“Freddy’s already said he’d take the head of anyone who tries to harm you,” Kirk shivered at the prospect. “That should make any sane person keep away.”
“Nothing about this is sane,” I replied, fully realizing how out of control my life had suddenly become.