I sat in the nearest empty seat and set my plate of unappetizing food on the table in front of me. It still niggled that Jack hadn’t seen my point of view—that the bourge never included themselves in their own policies. I understood he walked a fine line during his time as heir. He was trying to keep the president happy while staying true to his own convictions. It just rubbed me the wrong way that not one single person in the Dome ever stood up for the Pit.
Picking up my fork, I pushed the food around on my plate. What if I had worked for the president and been given the sterilization program to manage? I’d like to think I would have thrown it right back in Holt’s face and told him he should lead by example—that he should be the first in line for that chemical injection. That it was high time a few bourge were rounded up and Culled, too. Yeah. That would go over real well with President Holt. I’d be shot in the head.
Yet, isn’t that what I expected someone else to do on the Pit’s behalf?
I suddenly realized how naïve I’d been. It was easy to be righteous in the courtroom of my mind, but the real world didn’t work that way. It’s not that Jack hadn’t done enough for the Pit; it was that I expected too much. He didn’t exactly know it, but I owed him an apology.
Where was he? Every time the door opened, my heart leapt only to plunge in disappointment. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a few women gesturing toward me. Jack was right. A seventeen-year-old redhead was hard to miss out here.
“Why so glum?” Opal said, taking the chair next to me. She set her plate in front of her and I noticed her meal was half-eaten. “I’d think you’d be looking forward to a night away from your bourge.”
I pasted a smile on my face. “I am. I’m just tired, that’s all.” The door opened and my eyes shot toward it. No Jack.
“It’s the oxygen-rich air out here. It takes some getting used to.” As she took a bite, her eyes strayed to someone across the room. She dipped her head in what looked like a nod. Casually, I looked around the room, but no one appeared to be looking in our direction. “Did Hazel put you in C?” she asked.
“Yeah. How did you know?”
“It’s the only dorm with beds available.”
“Oh. How about you? Which building are you in?”
“I’m in A. Although they all look the same.” She took another bite. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
I picked up my fork and stabbed a piece of grilled meat. The door opened and my eyes snapped to look at it. Two women came in and joined the queue. A cold sweat broke out on my forehead. At this time of evening, Jack would be expected at the mess with everyone else. Wouldn’t he need me there? Unless he wasn’t there. Unless they had him in custody.
“Sunny?” Opal said.
“Yes?” I said, maybe a little too quickly. I realized she had been talking to me and I hadn’t heard a word.
Opal eyed me suspiciously. “You seem upset about something.” She glanced across the room again.
This time, I followed the direction of her gaze to see who she was communicating with. Something was going on. Had Jack been taken into custody and they all knew?
As I searched the faces of women across the room, Opal shifted uncomfortably. I turned in my seat to look directly at her. “What’s going on?”
She tried to look surprised. “Nothing. Why?”
I didn’t believe her. “Has something happened?”
Her attention snapped to me. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you.” If something had happened, I deserved to know. She had no right to shut me out of whatever was going on.
She relaxed slightly and shifted in her seat again. “Since you’re spending the night in C, there’s something you need to know.” She looked over at her accomplice again. This time I caught a woman with a distinctive blond streak in her otherwise dark hair giving a curt bow of her head. “A couple of men from the range come every night for food.”
For a moment, all I could do was stare at her. It wasn’t what I was expecting to hear. I wanted to ask what she knew about Jack, but what if she didn’t know anything? All I would accomplish was letting her know something was going on with me.
“Don’t look so shocked. We help each other and there’s nothing wrong with that,” she said, defensively.
“Of course there isn’t!” I put my hand on her arm. “You have nothing to worry about. I’m glad you’re helping the men in the range.” Then I thought about what she said. “Wait a minute—how are they able to leave the range to come here?”
“Not everyone is tagged.” She regarded me, her eyes still narrowed in suspicion. “I told them you could be trusted. They can trust you, right?”
I removed my hand from her arm and sat up straighter. Her question hurt. “Of course they can trust me. What kind of question is that?”
“It’s just that…you’re with Jack Kenner.”
My brows drew together in a scornful look. “If I could free those men myself, I would,” I said. “Just because someone owns me doesn’t make me untrustworthy. It’s not like I had any say in the matter. It’s not as if any of us do.” I didn’t speak for me—I spoke for Summer, Crystal and any other girl who had been claimed by the bourge and scorned by her own people.
Opal looked directly into my eyes. “It wouldn’t be the first time a slave fell in love with her master. I’ve known a few in my time.”
My eyes never wavered from her direct stare. Although I wanted to assure her that I was not in love with Jack Kenner, I wasn’t sure I could pull that off convincingly. My stomach was so knotted worrying about him, I was afraid I would choke on the words. “You can trust me,” I said instead.
She made a curt nod of agreement and finished her dinner. The door opened and I looked, but it was only a group of ladies exiting.
“Can you do us a favor?” Opal asked. I returned my attention to her. “It’s important you don’t tell Gaia about any of this. She might tell the general.”
I understood her concerns because I shared them. Though considering Gaia believed her husband to be alive, I doubted she would report them if she knew the men on the range were getting food. “I don’t usually spend a lot of time with her anyway.”
“Really?” she asked in surprise. “You’re the only two out here so I figured you’d spend a lot of time together.”
“The only two what?”
“You know…mistresses.”
When I thought about it, I realized I hadn’t seen anyone other than Gaia. “Why is that?”
Opal shrugged. “General Powell has a strict no fraternizing policy, although, like every other high-ranking bourge, he puts himself above his own laws.” She made a face that said, you know what I mean. “Of course, that doesn’t stop the soldiers from raping us. Parties of them show up here on occasion, threatening to kill us if we talk.” She looked at me, eyebrows raised. “Yeah, like we’re going to talk. Who the hell would listen?”
I wanted to tell her Jack Kenner would listen. I wanted to say the Alliance was formed and we just needed to get to them. But they barely trusted me enough not to snitch on them for helping the men in the range. It was doubtful they would trust me enough to lead them in a revolt.
“No one, I guess,” I replied.
She stood and picked up her empty plate. “Well, I’m off to find a free shower stall.”
“Thanks for the company.”
She was about to leave, but then turned back toward me. “By the way, what did you say your mom’s name was?”
I perked up, excited. Had she found my mom? “Lily O’Donnell.”
Opal nodded. “If I come across her, I’ll let her know you’re here.”
My heart sank. “Thanks.”
&nbs
p; I cleared my plate from the table and went back to C Block for my toiletries. After wandering around the compound, I finally found the shower stalls. The sun was just about gone for the day and still no sign of Jack. Something must have happened. He wouldn’t just leave me here.
By the time I finished showering, it was dark. My sunburn was still tender, so I gently patted myself dry. Then I dressed, stuck my glasses on my head, and went back to C Block. It was a lot more crowded and noisy as the residents all gathered for bed. As I walked past a group of women talking, I recognized the dark-haired woman with the blonde streak.
I had chosen a bunk with empty beds on either side of it. I liked the feeling of privacy, even though it was false.
“Excuse me.” I turned to find the woman with the blonde streak. “Hi, I’m Goldie. You’re Sunny, right?”
“That’s me,” I said, shaking her offered hand.
She had a warm smile. “Opal said that she talked to you about…what happens here at night.”
“She did. I’m glad you’re helping the men in the range.”
“Good, because they’ll be here any moment.”
Just as Goldie said it, there was a muffled thumping sound. She turned and raced back toward it. Some of the ladies were moving bunks out of the way.
Curious, I walked closer to the action to see what was happening. Goldie removed a few floor panels, exposing a gaping hole. Two men emerged. The taller of the two enveloped Goldie in his arms and kissed her.
“Missed you,” he said.
She slapped him on the chest playfully. “It’s only been since last night.”
“What’s on the menu tonight?” the second man asked.
“Roast beef,” a woman said, producing two bulging bags.
The man peeked inside, took out a container, and started eating the contents with his hands. “I’m starving.”
The tall man hugging Goldie looked at me. “And who is this?”
“That’s Sunny O’Donnell. Opal says we can trust her,” Goldie said.
“She’s awful young. What’s she doing out here?” he asked.
“She came out with Jack Kenner,” Goldie said, and then immediately placed a hand over the man’s mouth. “And I know what you’re going to say, but Opal is sure we can trust her. And she’s brought news from the Pit—haven’t you, Sunny?”
Everyone turned to look at me. I was suddenly on the spot.
The man stepped away from Goldie and held his hand out toward me. “I’m Terran.” He pointed to the other man. “And this is Flint.” Flint barely acknowledged me—he was too busy eating. “What news do you have?”
Even though my mouth was dry, I swallowed. Opal must have repeated what I told her. I took a moment to organize my thoughts, carefully choosing my words to make sure I didn’t give my relationship with Jack away. But as I was about to launch into my story, the door to C Block opened.
It was my mother.
Chapter Twelve
A surge of pure adrenaline went through me, turning my knees to water. My mother was alive! Forcing my weakened limbs to move, I rushed into her outstretched arms and she enfolded me in a tight hug.
“Let me look at you,” she said, pushing me away. I didn’t move far—just enough to let her see my face. She smiled. “You look different. More grown up.”
Once, when I was only five years old, my mother was sent upstairs to the Dome to work for what she said would be a week. Back then, I could only watch her go and try to be as brave as she asked me to be. That week stretched into two. It was the first time my father’s interest in living began to wane; or maybe it was just the first time I noticed. In any case, I had to get myself ready for school and make my own way to the common room for meals. I would have eaten alone every night too, except my new best friend, Summer, always asked me to sit with her family. Mrs. Nazeem took me in as if I was her own and they became my new family. Soon I began to dread going home every night to a sick father and no one to hug me goodnight. When Mom’s absence stretched into three weeks, I began to lose hope that she was ever coming back. I didn’t know how to take care of my dad and felt guilty because I didn’t want to. And just as the lonely grip of abandonment threatened to consume me, my mother walked through the door. She came home. She put everything right.
I wanted to tell her I wasn’t grown up. I was still that five-year-old girl, barely scraping through life without her mom to guide her.
“So much has happened since you left.” I bit my bottom lip to stop it from quivering.
She looked different too. The sun had darkened her skin and she wasn’t as thin as I remembered. Her hair didn’t seem black anymore; there was a shimmer of golden red running through it. She couldn’t have looked more beautiful.
“Someone named Opal just told me there was a young red-haired girl here that looked just like me. I couldn’t believe it, but it’s true!” She hugged me tighter. “What are you doing out here?”
I wanted to tell her everything—about me and Jack and that he was missing and I didn’t know where he was—but we had an audience.
“Jack Kenner brought me out with him.”
She pulled away to look at me, a frown marring her beautiful face. “I’m sorry, honey. I never wanted that life for you. God knows I tried to protect you from it. Does he at least treat you well?”
I nodded, afraid to speak. For some reason the sight of my mother made me want to bawl my eyes out while she held me tight.
“She was about to tell us some news from the Pit,” Terran interrupted. Goldie hit him in the arm. “What?”
“There’s news from the Pit?” asked my mother.
“A lot has happened since you left,” I said.
“Come and tell me.” Taking my hand, she led me to a bunk. I sat down next to her and she pulled me against her side, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. Everyone gathered around us, looking at me expectantly.
Taking a deep breath, I reported the events from Crystal’s song and the resulting riot, to what I had overheard General Powell tell Jack. I didn’t tell my mother I was married or that Domers had taken Dad away. That would have to wait until we had privacy.
“You’re saying that President Holt is provoking the Pit into a war so he has a reason to kill everyone?” she asked.
“That’s what General Powell said. I heard it myself.”
Goldie had a horrified look on her face. “Our daughter is in the Pit with her son and husband.”
More voices were raised in alarm, everyone fearful for family members and friends still inside the Dome.
“Holt!” my mother exclaimed. The bitterness lacing her tone made me pull back to look at her. “If only I had killed that man when I had the chance.”
I wasn’t the only one who looked surprised. Her statement stunned everyone in the room.
“What did you just say?” I asked.
“I meant…er…well, we’ve all had our thoughts about killing the president, right?”
Flint vigorously nodded his head. “No one’s ever gotten close enough, though. That bastard is constantly surrounded by armed guards.”
“We have to get them out,” Goldie said. “What about the doors they brought us out through? Can’t we open them?”
“Goldie, first we’d have to get around the tagging system, and then those metal doors weigh a ton,” Terran said.
“The Dome is a fortress. No one is getting in,” my mother said. That was exactly what Jack had said. But how did she know?
“Terran and I have been thinking,” Flint announced. “If we can break into the armory, we could get enough explosives to blow a big friggin’ hole in the side of the Dome.”
“Correction,” Terran said. �
�Flint’s been thinking about that plan. I happen to know an explosion of that magnitude would most likely cause a cave-in. Dome engineers stopped using explosive charges in the coal mines years ago because the Pit’s on the verge of collapse.”
“It might still work,” Flint mumbled. He took the lid off another container of food, scooping the contents up with his fingers.
“Flint and I can keep an eye on the hangar. If they send anyone out, they’ll have to open the doors and we can try and sneak back in,” Terran said. “What do you think, Hazel?”
Hazel came forward, into the inner circle. How long had she been standing there? I might not have been so forthcoming if I had known she was listening. She had already made it clear that she hated “princesses,” especially one that caused her trouble.
“It’s a long shot. They haven’t sent anyone out in months, except this one and her bourge,” Hazel said, looking at me.
“That’s not true,” I said. “I just met a girl—Abby—who was sent out here when she lost her entire family in the battle after Crystal’s execution.”
“No,” Hazel said, shaking her head. “Other than you and Captain Kenner, we haven’t received a group out here since the last Cull.”
I tried to remember exactly what Abby had told me. Was she the one who said she had been out for a few days? Or had it been Opal? Abby seemed a little mixed up about things anyway.
“Even if we could open a door, there’s an army out here to greet them,” my mother said. “Our first step is to shut down the tagging system.”
That’s exactly what Jack wanted me to prepare everyone for and my mother was doing it for me. When had she become a rebel leader? I had never seen this side of her before.
Worlds Collide: Sunset Rising, Book Two Page 12