by Tracey Ward
“Really?” He turns to Grayson, his expression shifting from critical to appraising. “That’s a good use of your time.”
“Thank you, sir,” Grayson answers dully.
“Keep at it, but after she sees Kanden I want you gone. Get some shut eye. She has a meeting in the morning with Babs.”
“Who is Babs?” I ask.
“Kitchens. They want you. That’s where you’re headed. It’s where both of you are headed.”
Grayson’s nostrils flare aggressively, but he holds his tongue.
I, however, do not.
“I was hoping to take up here,” I tell him.
Captain Fuller snickers. “No.”
“Yes.”
We all turn to find Dr. Kanden marching down the hall behind Grayson. Her hair is a wild mess, her clothes speckled with dried blood, but her eyes are bright and clear. Her stride purposeful.
“June,” Captain Fuller begins tiredly.
She’s not having it. “No, I mean it. I want her. She’s good. She’s calm, she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty. And if it means I get Grayson too, I’m sold.”
“So she can roll bandages. I’m sure she can roll dough just as well.”
I shake my head emphatically. “I promise you, I cannot. I don’t even know how to turn on an oven.”
“You’ll learn.”
“But I’ve already spent a day learning this.”
“Are you arguing with me?”
“If she’s not, I am,” Dr. Kanden interjects. She stands beside Grayson, her hands on her hips. “I can use them. I’ll take them. And if you disagree, if you think you’d rather eat burned buns every morning, then that’s your choice. A choice you’ll have to live with for a solid year.”
“You’re fighting dirty, messing with a man’s breakfast.”
“There’s an easy solution.”
Fuller throws up his hands. “Fine. Take them. They’re yours. But as soon as the situation with her has calmed, this two for one deal ends. Grayson returns to me.”
“Deal.”
“When do you think that will be?” I ask anxiously.
Fuller stares at me for a second, thinking. When he speaks his voice is uncharacteristically tame. “I’m not sure. Today was the first time anyone has actually seen you. We’ll have to wait and find out what the fallout from that looks like. Did you have any trouble with anyone today?”
I should tell him. I should mention Holster, but I hold back because I’m not sure it’s smart to go accusing Fuller’s own men of being the problem he’s tasked them with containing.
“No,” I lie calmly. “No problems. Not everyone was welcoming, but no one was threatening.”
“That’s good news. Let’s hope that attitude keeps up and we’re doing all of this for nothing.”
“Yes, hopefully.”
He turns to Grayson. “Take her home after the doc looks at that eye.”
“Yes, sir. Alleys or out in the open?”
“What does it matter? They’ve already seen her. You can parade her down Main Street for all I care.”
“I’ll send them off with confetti,” Dr. Kanden promises.
Fuller ignores her, looking down at me. “I was going to come find you later when things calmed down. I have news for you.”
“About what?”
“Your boat. Your people.”
My blood races through my veins. “What about them?”
“I debated not telling you. I don’t know what your head is like. I’m not sure if you can handle it.”
“Captain, quit torturing the girl,” Dr. Kanden scolds. “What do you know about her ship?”
“She’s not the only survivor.”
I feel like I’ve been hit. Like the wind has been knocked out of me, sent away so far I can’t get it back. I can’t fill my lungs again.
“I’m not?” I whisper breathlessly.
Fuller shakes his head, his expression stern. “No. I had a wire yesterday from Camdon. It’s a village this side of Ambrios. They’re far enough west that the storms didn’t hit them hard like they hit us. They didn’t close their doors until last night, and just before they did they found three Eventide. One woman. Two men.”
“Gav.” I take an eager step closer to Fuller. “Is one of them a man named Gav?”
“I don’t know.”
“We have to ask them.”
“We can’t.”
I laugh incredulously. “What do you mean we can’t? They might have my brother? He could be alive!”
Fuller frowns sympathetically. “I would ask if I could, but I can’t. Last night I sent back a request for descriptions but this morning the lines were down.”
“They’re down? What does that mean?”
“It happens every night,” Dr. Kanden explains gently. “Every day. Eventually the cold, the heat, the animals, the tremors; something always knocks the lines out. I’m assuming this time it was the earthquake.”
Fuller shrugs. “As far as we know. The timing makes sense.”
“Well, when will they be fixed?” I demand. “When can we find out if it’s him?”
“Not until morning. The second Seventh hour, when the sun comes.”
“No. You mean—“ I turn desperately to Grayson, pleading with him to tell me I’m wrong. That they’re wrong.
He breaks my heart when he shakes his head reluctantly. “We won’t know for another six months.”
Chapter Twenty-One
ONE WEEK LATER
Gray
BAM! BAM! BAM!
“Grayson!”
I groan, pulling my blanket tightly around me.
“Grayson!”
“What?!” I shout into the mattress.
“I have to use the bathroom!” Liv shouts back. The sound vibrates through the wall, her voice bigger than her tiny frame should allow.
“What time is it?!”
She pauses. “It’s four-thirty!”
“You can pee in an hour!”
“Grayson!”
“Pee in the sink!”
“That’s disgusting!” she shrieks.
“Better than peeing in your bed,” I mutter.
The room is silent. I start to drift off again, the sound of my own breathing lulling me to sleep.
BAM! BAM!
“We have reached maximum capacity!”
I push off the mattress hard, jumping up angrily. “Fine! Meet me in the hall! Now!”
I stumble through my room, bumping into everything. The end of my bed, the edge of the dresser, the entire door because I don’t remember closing it. I curse it as I snap it open and shuffle toward the main door.
When I open it she’s there, ready and waiting. Her hair is perfectly smooth. Her clothes don’t even look wrinkled. She looks like she’s been up and dressed for hours and here I stand with bedhead, sleep still in my eyes, and, inexplicably, one sock.
I hate the mornings, and as I look down at her bright, chipper face, I hate her too.
“You have the smallest bladder on the planet,” I growl at her.
She bounces from foot to foot anxiously, tugging on the towel draped around her neck. “No one is arguing that. Can we go now?”
“Why do you have your towel?”
“I’m taking a shower.”
“You said you needed to pee.”
“I said I needed to use the bathroom. I never said for what.” Her face pinches. “Can we please go now?”
“Go. I’m right behind you.”
I follow her as she hops eagerly down the hall. She waits by the door for me to go inside and sweep the bathroom. I check all five toilet stalls. Pull the curtain on both of the narrow showers. The place is empty.
“Clear!” I shout.
Liv immediately darts inside, disappearing into the first stall.
I collapse onto the bench opposite the showers, rubbing my eyes tiredly. “Why are we up this early?”
“Grayson, it’s odd enough that I have to shower
with you in the room. Can we not add speaking while I’m using the facilities to the list of awkward things we do together?”
“It was a rhetorical question.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“I asked it not caring what your answer was.”
“That’s not what rhetorical means.”
I drop my hands to my lap, slowly banging the back of my head against the wall. “Are you going to play teacher or are you going to pee?”
“See, now that was a rhetorical question.”
I bang my head harder.
To her credit, it doesn’t take Liv long to finish up. To pee, to shower, to change while I stand guard at the door with my back to the room. It’s not long before I’m thinking about my bed. About ditching my now wet sock, curling up with my pillow, and waiting for the inevitable pounding on the wall in half an hour that will signal another trip back here.
It’s been less than ten minutes since we left our apartments, and I was standing in the bathroom doorway looking into the hall for three of them. That’s hardly any time at all, so it makes no sense when we approach Liv’s door that we should find it vandalized, but that’s exactly what we do.
“Oh my God,” Liv whispers beside me.
Red paint is dripping down the door onto the gray stone floor under it. It’s been splashed with it, like someone came by with a bucket of the color and threw it, drenching it in crimson. There’s nothing else to it, no threatening words or imagines, but the color speaks for itself. It’s a perfect shade for blood. If it weren’t for the scent of paint hanging heavy in the air, I would wonder if that’s what it really was.
I look up and down the hall. It’s empty. It’s been empty since I was standing guard over the bathroom. Somehow during the time that we were in there someone came down here and did this without being seen or heard. They came inside the Forces dormitory and vandalized it, right under our noses.
My blood boils angrily.
I take Liv’s hand in mine, pulling her out of the hallway and into my apartment. I lock the door quickly behind me before nudging her toward a dining chair.
“Sit.”
“Grayson,” she replies nervously.
“It’s going to be fine.”
“I can’t see.”
“Right, yeah.” I snap on the lights. “Sorry.”
She sits down slowly, her hands wringing in her lap. “It’s okay.”
“I’m gonna get my uniform on, grab my radio. Sit tight, alright? You’re safe in here.”
“Do you think it was him?” she calls after me.
“Holster?”
“Yes.”
I consider it briefly. “I don’t know. It feels off for him.”
“He intentionally brushes against me in passing. He whispers my name with that creepy grin every time he sees me. He follows behind me for no reason. He lives here in this building. Who else could it be if not him?”
“He’s out to make you uncomfortable and if there was a nude drawing on your door, I’d say hell yes, Holster did it, but this is something different. This is a threat of violence.”
“’It’d be a shame if anything happened to that little brown body’,” she quotes irritably.
I step into the kitchen, unclipping my radio from my belt. “I know, okay? I remember and it’s a messed up thing to say, but I don’t want to assume it’s him and turn on blinders to everything else. There are other people who have given you the cold shoulder. Lots of people who look at you like you’re trouble. Maybe this is one of them lashing out.”
“But how did they get in here? How did they do it so fast?”
“That’s what I’m going to find out.” I turn my radio to Captain Fuller’s private channel. “Captain. It’s Grayson.”
I stare at the floor while I wait for a reply. It’s a long time coming and I worry I woke him up. Finally, his clipped tone breaks into the room. “Go.”
“We have a situation with Ms. Pamuk. There’s been a threat.”
“What kind of threat?”
“Her door has been splashed with red paint.”
“And?”
“That’s all.”
The Captain pauses. “That’s all?”
“Yes, sir.”
“When did it happen?”
“Just this morning. In the last ten minutes. I escorted her to the bathroom to shower and when we came back the paint was on the door.”
“Someone was inside the Forces dormitory in the last ten minutes?”
“I think so.”
“You think or you know?”
“I know.”
“Get her out,” he says immediately. “I’ll wake the building. Start a sweep. If someone broke inside this isn’t only a threat against her, it means the security of the entire crew is at risk.”
“Where do you want me to take her?”
“Administration building. I’m in your brother’s office.”
“We’re on our way.” I nod to Liv. “Let’s go. We’re getting out of here ASAP.”
She doesn’t say a word. She only follows, sticking close to my side. Her hair is still wet from her shower, but luckily she’s dressed. She’s ready to run.
We stick to the alleys the way we did the first time I took her here. The streets are still quiet this early, but I don’t want to take any chances. I also don’t want people seeing us rush, seeing her run. If this was done to intimidate her, and I’m almost certain it was, I don’t want anyone knowing it worked.
When we reach the Administration building Liv doesn’t look at it in wonder the way she did only a week ago. She doesn’t reach out to run her hands along the smooth stones. She keeps her head down and paces her shorter steps to match my long ones, working nearly double time to keep up as we make our way down the stairs to Easton’s office in the basement.
The door is cracked when we get there, but I rap my knuckles against it to be safe.
“Come in,” Captain Fuller answers gruffly.
I usher Liv inside a head of me, closing the door behind us.
It’s small and cramped compared to Fuller’s office. Every surface is covered in books or papers, maps. There’s a bigger room across the hall that’s full of the stuff. It’s an archive of everything that’s been done to the town since it was started six hundred years ago. That’s a lot of data. A lot of it is stored digitally, but last I heard the closest working computer that can read it is in the Admin offices in Porton.
“Hey, Gray. Liv,” Easton greets us with a grim nod.
She smiles mildly at him. “Hi, Easton.”
“What’s happened?” Captain Fuller demands by way hello.
I repeat what I’ve already told him. It’s a short story.
When I’m finished he nods pensively. “Any thoughts on who it might be? Has anyone given her any trouble lately?”
I glance at Liv. She looks back expectantly.
“One person, yeah,” I admit slowly. “They’ve made a point of following her sometimes. Never far, just enough to let her know they’re there. They make comments when they pass her. They make a point to touch her when they can.”
“Sounds like you’ve got your guy,” Easton comments.
Captain Fuller glares at him briefly. “It’s a possibility. Who is it, Grayson?”
“It’s Holster, sir.”
“Holster? In second shift?”
“Yes.”
“One of your brothers. One of your own.”
I fight the urge to take a calming breath. To show any emotion at all. “Yes.”
“That’s a serious accusation you’re making.”
“I’m not accusing him of anything. I’m only telling you the truth. These are things he’s been doing. He obviously doesn’t like her being around.”
“Has he made any threats against her?” the Captain demands. “Anything to make you link him to the red paint on the door?”
“One. He said it would be a shame if anything happened to her.” I wipe my hand over my
mouth, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. I can feel Liv watching me and I’m oddly embarrassed for her. For what I’m about to say. “If anything happened to her ‘little brown body’.”
“Son of a— Well, there it is, Captain,” Easton tells him hotly. “There’s your problem.”
Captain Fuller holds his hand up. “Take it easy.”
“Take it easy? What kind of thing is that to say to a woman?”
“It’s off color. I’m not arguing that. But this is one of my men. He’s been in Forces for six years without a single infraction. Vandalizing his home just doesn’t add up.” Captain Fuller runs his thumb along his lower lip, thinking. “What about you, Grayson? What do you think? Do you believe one of your own would do this?”
I shake my head. “No. It doesn’t feel right.”
Easton stands up from his seat. “Grayson, you don’t have to agree with him just because he’s your boss. Liv’s safety is at stake. If you think this Holster guy is a problem you need to tell him.”
“He can speak for himself,” Captain Fuller snarls.
“Yeah, using your words if he wants to keep his post, right? You already stripped him of his command. What else will you take from him if he makes you angry?”
“E!” I shout.
Captain Fuller stands as well. “I expect honesty from each and every member of my crew.”
Easton snorts. “I think you meant to say subservience.”
“You’re overstepping, son.”
“I’m not your son and neither is Grayson. He’s not your puppet either.”
I see red. Bright red, more brilliant than the paint on the door. Hotter than the sun burning the other side of the Earth.
Captain Fuller turns his back on Easton. He points his finger in my face, his own turning a concerning shade of pink. “My office. Now.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Liv
You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. It’s physical, real. It puts goosebumps on my arms, sends a chill down my spine. All three of them are angry. All for different reasons but the emotion is the same and it swirls around the room touching every one of them until finally Fuller breaks. He leaves the room, demanding Grayson follow behind.