I set the plate down and turn to face him completely. “Are we okay?”
“Cardinal on a cracker, I want us to be.” Daniel squeezes me even tighter. “I wish I knew how I’m supposed to feel. With everything going on, I don’t know if I should be angry or sad, scared or just thankful that we’re still alive. It’s enough to make me wish I could just turn my emotions off for a while.”
“It’s okay to feel all those things.”
Daniel closes his eyes and leans back against the couch. “Except I don’t know how to feel all that and still be the person I promised to be. I’m not sure I know who that is anymore.”
I don’t have an answer for him. What could I possibly say? Sorry won’t stop the Cardinal, bring back his family, or guarantee my safety. And I’m not sure how to help him find the Daniel that ran away with my heart. I grab the blanket thrown over the arm of the couch and tuck it around us like a safety cocoon around a caterpillar. Maybe when we wake up, my brain will have transitioned into one that has better ideas for keeping all the people I love safe.
Before I can close my eyes, the Noteboard beeps again. Daniel reaches across me, grabs the tablet, and turns it on in a flash.
“You made it.” John David, sitting in his immaculate office, stares back at us from the screen in Daniel’s hand. “Did you see the president yet? Is he going to help us?”
“We saw him, and he agreed to send his army.” I clench and unclench my fists in my lap. “It was easier than I thought it would be.”
“That’s some good news I’ll gladly take.” John David takes a sip of water before looking back at us. “So when can I expect the army?”
“Three days.” Daniel cuts in and leans over to get a better view. “Listen, John David, we got some new information that suggests a military coup isn’t going to be enough to make the changes we’re looking for.”
John David dismisses his concerns with a flip of his hand. “Rebecca, did you read the packet I sent down with you?”
“Some of it.” There was barely any time, and most of what I did see was completely unfamiliar.
“Everything is in that packet. I don’t want you to worry about anything.” John David leans back in his chair. “Between myself and President Tiroso, I’m positive that we can take care of any issues.”
A dull throb breaks out at my temples and radiates down behind my eyes. Now’s the time to test Eric’s information. “What about President Tiroso? Is he going to try to take over the Territories?”
John David laughs, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Why would he? He’s helping us take out a common enemy, and you’ve promised him his own Machine. He’ll have everything he needs.”
“But if he took over land before, what’s to stop him this time? Can we risk letting him get to the capital if there’s a chance he’ll never leave?”
John David’s eyes dart around the room before refocusing on the screen. “You’re letting yourself get bogged down in unnecessary fear. Let’s just focus on getting you kids back home safely, and the other leaders and I can worry about the rest.”
I want to yell at the screen and tell him we know everything, but this isn’t the time or the place. He’s right that we need to focus on the situation at hand, and that’s getting out of here before any other members of the Cardinal’s council catch wind of us. “Let us know if anything changes.”
“Will do. You all stay safe.”
John David ends the connection, and we all stare motionless at the blank screen.
“Now what?” Ethan hangs over the back of the couch and lets out a slow yawn.
“Now we get out of here and hope like never before that every Freeman out there agrees to stand with us.” I have a feeling we’re going to need every ally we can find. The question is, which enemy are we fighting against?
Twenty-Four
Hannah stays away until the sun sets outside the huge floor to ceiling windows that take up one end of the room. She doesn’t need the other servants to help with a basket of water bottles and little bite-sized foods she calls empanadas.
“Make sure you’re packed and ready to go at eight o’clock sharp. The ambassadors will be with the President in the banquet hall, so we should be able to safely return you to where you belong.”
We each packed up our meager possessions hours ago.
I grab Hannah’s arm as she turns to leave while the others are distracted with the latest food delivery. “How long have you worked for the president?”
She stares into my eyes as if she means to ignore me before sighing and releasing the tension that held her shoulders up around her ears. “Ten years. Why?”
“Would you say that President Tiroso is a compassionate man?”
And just like that, the tension returns. “A leader cannot be both effective and compassionate, and President Tiroso is extremely effective. Time and again he has done what is in the best interest of Mexico, leading our nation to greatness.”
And I’m one hundred percent sure now that greatness for him includes taking over the Territories. “Thank you.”
Hannah nods as if she’s not sure why she’s being thanked. That, or perhaps, it’s been an eternity since anyone thanked her for anything. “Eight o’clock.” She disappears out the door, and I’m left with less hope than before she arrived.
Two more hours pass in a blur of short naps and the bites of food Daniel forces me to take. There is no knock at the door when Hannah pushes inside with a deadly silence. “Let’s go.”
I shoulder the one bag I brought with me, nod at the others, and follow Hannah out the door. There are at least ten other rooms on this hall. Are the Cardinal’s men right next door? If I shouted out that I’m here, would feet race to capture me? Maybe I should do it and just end this all now. Except it probably wouldn’t end anything. The Cardinal would still hunt down the Freemen villages and President Tiroso is still going to storm the capital in…two days.
Hannah leads us down the hall and back into the dusty stairwell with only a few lights casting a sickly yellow glow on the gray concrete. We march down several flights and emerge into a huge space that smells like an Airtrain station. Dust and grease cover the walls. Hannah stops, looking completely out of place in her pristine blue suit and high heels. “Sergeant Paredes will take you from here.”
Hannah turns on her pointy heels and rushes back to the stairwell as if the greasy walls are going to jump out and grab her.
Sergeant Paredes smiles at us, his friendly warmness a stark contrast to every other interaction we’ve had since we got here. “I bet you’re all ready to get home.”
He says it like we have one.
Paredes turns to leave and gestures for us to follow him. “I don’t know what kind of business you kids have been up to, but since you got here we’ve been busier than a hive of bees, prepping transporters and stocking supplies. The General doesn’t allow for questions. Mind filling a guy in?”
I debate lying, but what’s the point? He’ll know soon enough. The whole world will. “You’re invading the Territories.”
Paredes lets out a sharp whistle and moves his hand across his chest in a crisscross motion. He stops in front of our pieced together transporter and lifts up the door. “I hope you don’t mind, but I had some of my guys fix this up a bit. Couldn’t have you crashing before you got back across the border.”
Daniel jumps up and moves to the control panel, checking wire connections and inspecting the instruments inside. Ethan and Elizabeth follow him in.
“We’ll escort you back to the border to one of the less patrolled areas, but you’ll be on your own once you cross over. We can’t risk coming across, at least not until…”
“Two days from today.”
Paredes crosses himself again before holding out his hand to help me up. “I hope you kids know what you’re doing.”
I climb into the transporter and shove my bag down under the seat. “Me too.”
He shuts the door as Daniel and Ethan fi
re up the controls. Elizabeth sinks down onto the seat next to me, her bag shoved up against the window as a pillow. Through the window, another transporter powers on and moves toward a huge set of double doors at one end of the room.
In silent cooperation, Ethan and Daniel lift off, raise our stabilizing feet, and move us into position behind the other transporter. I watch on as we follow them out into the night sky and try not to focus on the disaster of the last twenty-four hours.
Outside, we lift up into the black void over the city. Thousands of lights from a city alive with activity cast a white glow up at us. With my nose pressed against the window, I watch the city fall away behind us. Transporters fill the sky and electric signs cover every building. President Tiroso wasn’t just boasting when he told us about their technology centers. Mexico is ahead of us by leaps and bounds.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he took over the Territories. Mexico doesn’t seem like an awful place to live. But they don’t have the Machine. Not yet. And the power to control lives changes everything. How long before this bustling city turns into the fear-driven world we come from? We have to stop this. Not just for us, but for the people who live here. For Sergeant Paredes and Hannah. Because no one should have to live in fear of who they might become.
The lights of the city fall behind us as we move north, away from President Tiroso and his promises of help. Stars fill the sky in the way that’s only possible when the bright lights are gone. The way they did back in the PIT when the only light was the moon. Those nights feel like a lifetime ago. How is it possible that it’s been less than a year since I stared up at those stars while the ocean waves sang their nighttime lullaby to the people the world forgot?
The transporters in front of us split and move to each side as we approach the border fence. Ethan punches a button and the instrument panel dims. The lights that have been guiding us shut off and take with them any lingering ease in the cabin of the transporter. Elizabeth sits up and pulls her bag down to stare out the window. The Mexican transporters slow down and fall back as our fixed-up rover crosses over the top of the metal border.
Daniel positions the controls and sets a course of a steady decline that will take us straight into the cover of trees beckoning us home. We hold a collective breath until our transporter is safely tucked under the thin branches, far from safe, but better than fully exposed.
Behind us, Sergeant Paredes and his crew turn around and head back to the capital. Probably to continue preparations for their pending invasion.
We stop about a mile inside the tree line and hover a bit over the ground. Daniel turns to face Elizabeth and me. “Where to now?”
“Bathroom break.” Ethan pushes down on a lever and lowers the transporter to the ground. “Sorry, stress sends my bladder into overdrive.”
Elizabeth cuffs him gently on the side of the head. “Hurry up, tinkle man, I’m ready to get out of here.”
Ethan jumps out, dashing out of the dim light of the transporter.
“So where should we go?”
“Blue River.” Elizabeth grips the back of the front seat in both hands. “I want to check on Eric.”
I shrug and nod. Blue River is as good as anywhere else.
“Uh, guys?” Ethan’s shaky voice calls out from the trees. “I think you need to come out here.”
My stomach flops around in my belly like a fish out of water, and chills race across my back. My body is frozen, torn between hiding under my seat and racing out to help Ethan.
“Seriously,” Ethan’s voice cracks. “The arrow pointed at my head suggests you come out now.”
Daniel grabs my wrist and squeezes a bit too tight. “You stay behind me. No matter what.”
“I don’t need—”
“For the love, Rebecca,” Elizabeth hisses in my ear. “Just listen to him.”
Elizabeth and Daniel scoot out first, forming a wall for me to hide behind. The second my feet touch the ground, Ethan emerges out of the trees along with three men, all pointing arrows at his head. A forth rides behind him on a horse that looks too much like Salty.
“We see you, Rebecca Collins.” The man on the horse dismounts, and the others lower their weapons. “We mean you no harm.”
Ethan rushes over to us and adds his body to the human wall protecting me from the three men I assume are vagrants.
I lift my chin and call out over Daniel’s shoulder. “What do you want?”
The man who seems to be the leader takes two steps forward with his empty hands held out to his side. In the dim light, it’s hard to get a clear picture of him. He could be thirty or sixty. “We’ve come to give you a warning. The Cardinal knows of your plans.”
I push between Daniel and Elizabeth. Daniel tries to hold me back, but I’m done with hiding. “If he was going to shoot me, I’d already be dead.”
In a show of faith, I take two steps away from the safety of my friends. “How do you know?”
“We see a lot of things. We witnessed Whitney Tidwell of Longview speaking to the Cardinal guards. She told them you asked her to join an army to fight the Cardinal. They allowed her to escape, but still burned down her village.”
My stomach drops. I really can’t trust anyone. “Why are you telling me this? I thought vagrants hate the Freemen.”
“Vagrants? Is this what you call us?” The man shakes his head slowly. “We don’t hate anyone.”
“But you attack our riders and steal from us.”
“Some do, yes. Just as some of your riders steal from us.”
I whip my head around to face Ethan. “I don’t. I wouldn’t.” He shrugs. “I’ve heard of others doing it, though.”
Our world is so much more broken than I thought. The Cardinal is so awful that I let him be the only source of evil in my mind. But the reality is that nowhere is perfect. John David is so bent on power, he’s not much better than the Cardinal. Maybe the Freemen aren’t a better option, but it’s too late now.
“I’m sorry.” I take the remaining steps over to the man in charge and reach out my hand. Up close, I can tell that he’s around the same age as my parents, but his eyes show he knows more than any of us combined.
“We both have hurts.” He takes my hand and for a moment we stand in the middle of the woods, connected by more than our joined hands. “My people don’t take sides, but my father taught me to recognize the good in others. I see your good, Rebecca Collins.”
He squeezes my hand and then turns back to the other men in his group. Without looking back, he climbs up on the horse I’m sure is Salty, and they head into the trees, disappearing into the night.
Daniel’s strong arms wrap around me from behind and cut out the cold air that presses in on us. “Do you ever feel like the more you learn, the less you know?”
“The only thing I know for sure is the truth is different for everyone.”
“And that I love you.” Daniel turns me around and kisses me hard. “That won’t ever change.”
I snuggle into his side as we walk back to the transporter. He really is trying. Ethan and Elizabeth are already inside. Daniel turns all the lights back on and takes us up to just over the tree tops. Elizabeth settles back down to sleep, and silence floats down around us like tiny particles of dust. I lean back against the seat and close my eyes, but I can only pretend to sleep. There are too many unknowns running through my head to relax enough for sleep.
When my grandmother used to stay up too late she always told my dad she would sleep when she died. I grasp her necklace in my fist and let the cool metal absorb the heat of my hand. Her words have never felt so prophetic.
Twenty-Five
The village is already asleep as we touch down by the barn outside of Blue River. A single light hangs outside the door, and I can imagine Henry inside, dozing at his work bench with a book propped open under his head.
The boys work on shutting everything down while Elizabeth and I get out with the bags.
“Home, sweet home.” Elizabeth tu
rns in a slow circle, though it’s impossible to see much of anything in the darkness.
“I guess.” I can’t even remember how long we’ve been at Blue River. So much has happened since we first showed up, but it’s probably been less than a week.
“Come on.” Ethan walks over with Daniel right behind him. “Let’s go crash for a few hours before everyone gets up and starts asking questions.”
We follow him into the village and head for the rider’s house. It’s just as we left it, minus Eric, who must still be at the infirmary.
The others grab beds and toss their bags to the floor, not even bothering to change out of their clothes before lying down. I sit on a bed, but I can’t lie down. I can’t sleep when there are so many unknowns, so much that has to happen in the next two days.
“Rebecca.” Daniel sits down next to me. “It’s late and you need to get some sleep.”
I stand up and stretch my back. “There’s no way that’s going to happen. I’m going to go find John David. We have a few truths to discuss.”
The bed squeaks with the loss of Daniel’s weight. “Lead on.”
Ethan and Elizabeth are so far gone, neither of them notices us leaving the room. I pull my sweater tighter around my chest, thankful for the extra layer. Even this far south, winter is making sure we know it’s coming.
The village is quiet, and only a single window is lit. In this stillness I can almost pretend the Cardinal isn’t hunting us down as we sleep and an army isn’t preparing to invade and possibly take over the country.
Daniel and I head straight for the house with the lit window. I’ve never been to John David’s home, but with the lights on in the middle of the night and a ramp up to the door instead of steps, I have to imagine this is it. I knock on the door, and after only a few minutes it opens to a woman I’ve never met before wearing a house coat.
“Rebecca?”
I nod in the dim light that spills out the door.
“John David is in his office. You might as well come in.”
We follow her inside and down the hall where she stops at a door standing slightly ajar. She knocks once before pushing inside.
Rite of Redemption (Acceptance Book 3) Page 16