Rite of Redemption (Acceptance Book 3)

by Sarah Negovetich

  “What? What are you doing here?” I rush toward her, wrapping them both into a hug that warms me from the inside out. “When did you get here?”

  Constance looks up at Thomas. “Maybe an hour ago. I had to wait for a transporter, and then it was a little bit of chaos trying to find this guy. Then Thomas insisted I find something warmer to wear. It’s colder here.”

  I stare up at her, my cheeks turning sore from smiling so hard. Constance smiles at me over a thick scarf. Even with a heavy winter coat, the bump where her sweet baby grows pokes out at us. Daniel joins us and gives them both a hug.

  “Does this mean you’re going to live in the capital?”

  “For now.” Constance rubs at her belly. “I want to be here when the baby is born. Given my medical history, it’s probably a good idea to be close to the best care available.”

  “But we aren’t staying.” Thomas sets his hand over hers, and the two of them share a look that could make a grown man cry. There’s just so much love. “After the baby’s born, and we’re sure everything is okay, we’re going back to Allmore.”

  “Really?” Daniel’s voice is more intrigued than surprised.

  “We already spoke to Liam, and he’s planning to go back as well. It’s the only place that’s ever felt like home, and that’s where I want to raise this little miracle.”

  I nod at Thomas. Allmore is perfect. My mind flashes back to the cozy house next door to theirs. The one we barely got a chance to move into, that’s sitting empty, waiting for someone to turn it into a home.

  “Everybody look out. The breeders are here.” Elizabeth’s voice yells out down the platform, and everyone there turns to stare at her. She joins the group and gives Constance and Thomas a hug.

  Eric is right behind her and the hugs continue.

  “Sorry we’re late.” Cheryl gives me a quick hug and waves at everyone else. “Someone wouldn’t stop eating breakfast.”

  “Oh my word, Rebecca.” Ethan grabs my hand, his eyes wide with excitement. “Have you ever had bacon? Seriously, it’s amazing. And there was sausage and pancakes and eggs and I’ve never seen so much food at one meal. This place is amazing.”

  Ethan is so sincere in his love of breakfast meat I can’t help but laugh. I guess there are parts of the Territories that are worth saving.

  A sharp whistle blows from down the track, and food disappears from my mind. The train is here.

  The group of us backs up from the tracks and stands in silence as the Airtrain eases into the station, blowing warm air up around us.

  I grab Daniel’s hand, my nerves rushing back into my chest as the doors slide open. My heart bumps against the inside of my rib cage while we wait for the first prisoners to come out. Daniel squeezes my hand, and I smile back at him, but there’s no motion from the Airtrain.

  “What’s taking them so long? Do you think the guards shackled them to the seats?”

  “I’ll go check it out.” Daniel smiles down at me then nods over at Thomas. Thomas kisses Constance’s forehead and follows Daniel to the open door.

  I’m torn between rushing in after them and running to the bathroom to empty my stomach. Nothing about this situation feels right and the longer they are gone, the closer I get to losing it completely.

  Thomas stumbles out and only makes it a few steps before he doubles over and vomits all over the platform. Constance rushes over to him, but I run right past. I need to get to Daniel. I need to see what’s inside.

  Daniel catches me at the door, but I flail my arms and legs to get past him. “Rebecca, stop, you don’t want to go in there. Please.”

  But I don’t listen to him. I can’t. I need to know. I break free and rush past the entrance vestibule to the seats. The silence hits me first. The PIT prisoners are all still in their seats. They could be sleeping. Except they’re not.

  Their bodies hang at odd angles, some of them hanging off their chairs and draping to the floor. Most have their eyes closed, but a few stare into nothingness. I take a few tentative steps forward, holding my breath in the presence of so much death. I mean to keep going, to bear witness to each and every person here who was promised freedom. But I can’t. Even after all the death I’ve seen in the past two years, this is too much.

  Gentle hands brush down my shoulder, and Daniel is pulling me backward, away from the devastation. So many lives discarded as if somehow they were less than.

  We exit the train to find everyone staring blindly back at us as if this is all a horrible mistake and the real train will pull up momentarily. Constance cries quietly from a bench and Thomas wraps her up in his big, strong arms.

  They probably knew people sitting on the train. Even though I was in the PIT for a year, I didn’t know anyone other than the people who left with me. But Constance and Thomas were there for years. Surely they knew others. People like all of us who were there because of some perceived threat to the Cardinal’s sick version of perfection. Friends who she may have laughed or cried with.

  I stare at the train door and will myself not to cry. Even with everything we accomplished here, I couldn’t save the people who needed my protection the most.

  “Rebecca?” Daniel stands in front of me, blocking my view of the train.

  “So many people.” I dash at the tears brimming over. “How could they do that?”

  “Some people have hatred in their hearts, and no machine could ever filter it out.” He grabs both my hands in his. “But the good is bigger. We have to keep focusing on being the good.”

  Danforth walks over to us, but Daniel just shakes his head. “There aren’t any guards on board.”

  Danforth nods, his eyes misting over. “The driver had no idea. The passenger cars are completely separate. It must have been the poison.”

  Of course, he would have known that we were each injected with poison capsules the day we arrived in the PIT. The guards there should have removed them all. They told us that’s why it was taking so long to get everyone out. They had to check each person before letting them on the train. They lied.

  “There’s nothing more for you to do here. I’ll get a team over to take care of…this.” Danforth waves his hand at the train, unable to voice the reality of hundreds of people dead inside. “The guards back in the PIT can join the Cardinal as the first to test our new justice system.”

  We walk over to the others, a fog hanging over us.

  “I don’t understand.” Cheryl reaches out to grab my hand. “How did this happen?”

  “Not everyone is ready to believe that the Machine was nothing more than an elaborate lie. Getting rid of the Cardinal won’t change everything overnight. There’s a lot more work to do.”

  She nods and offers me a weak smile. “I’m ready to go home.”

  The eight of us head toward the platform exit, leaving Danforth and Clarence behind with the death and sadness.

  Thirty-Eight

  The MidWest train station is exactly like I remember it the day we left for the capital, sure I would be back soon after my Acceptance. But I never came back, and nothing here is really the same either.

  There’s fresh paint on the doors, and someone finally fixed the broken handrail, but the real difference is the people. We walk out of the station, and I let the others lead while I watch faces.

  People still move about. Men ducking into the deli for a quick lunch. Women hauling home the groceries for tonight’s dinner with a toddler lagging behind. All normal activities that were a part of my everyday world before my Rejection. But the faces are different. The people passing one another are smiling. And not the plastered smile my mother practices in the mirror for when she’s meeting new ladies at the club. Real smiles that stretch faces and crinkle at the eyes. And smiles are leading to greetings and conversations.

  Cheryl looks back at me and winks. She can see it, too. Knowing that we’ve made real, positive changes here helps to erase the bitter taste left in my mouth from the deaths we left behind.

  The positive
change continues all the way back to my parents’ house. Several women stand outside on their perfectly manicured lawns, talking and laughing like it’s perfectly normal.

  “We’re going back to my house,” Cheryl says. “Mom wasn’t exactly pleased that I sent her home with Barton and waited to come back with you. I need to let her know I’m still alive.” She tugs on Ethan’s arm. “Plus, I think meeting this guy will help to ease the blow of finding out Barton and I are never getting married.”

  I give her a hug that last longer than the normal quick squeeze. “Thank you for being there. For believing in me.”

  “Oh, sweetheart.” She pulls back until we’re eye to eye, our foreheads smashed together. “You never needed anyone else to believe in you, but I was happy to do it.”

  I take a step back and nod.

  “Well, good luck in there. We’ll meet up with you later.”

  I watch them walk down the street, arm in arm, past the gabbing wives and playing children as if all of this is perfectly normal. Maybe it will be.

  Daniel walks with me up the concrete sidewalk that leads straight to the front door. I reach out for the doorknob, but pause. It’s been two years since I lived here. Should I knock?

  Daniel decides the debate for me, knocking at the same time he turns the handle and cracks the door open. “Hello?”

  I step past him into the main hallway and take in the house that was my home for so many years. “Mom? Dad? Anyone here?”

  The tinkling of broken glass hitting the floor sounds from the kitchen. “Rebecca?”

  “Dad?” My heart stutters, and then I’m running down the hall, around the corner, and right into the arms of the man I never thought I’d see again.

  “Oh, Rebecca, my sweet girl.” His thin arms pull me in tight as if they’ll never let me go again, and that’s perfectly fine with me.

  I try to find my voice, but the tears make it impossible. Instead, I bury my head into his neck and sob, sad tears for the time we lost and happy ones for this second chance.

  “I saw you on the news feed, in the Cardinal’s office. But then there wasn’t any more video and no one was talking about you and if you were safe and I was so worried.” He pulls back and takes me in like he’s seeing the sun for the first time. “And here you are, and you’re okay.”

  I nod and wipe at the hot tears still flowing freely down my face. “I’m okay.”

  “Look at you.” He gestures his arms about to take in everything. “Look at what you’ve done. It’s amazing. They’re already talking about holding elections so we can choose our own leaders. And next month we’ll be able to sign up if we’d like to train for a different job.” He squeezes my arms, his eyes lit up like the fireworks on the Cardinal’s birthday. “I could do anything.”

  I laugh through the tears, sucked up into his excitement. “What are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea.” He laughs with me, and the deep chuckle fills a spot in my heart that I just now realized was empty. “I’ve been a processor for so long, and I knew I always would be. I never stopped to think about doing anything else. But just knowing I can is the best part.”

  I hug my father again and soak up the minute, marking a new memory in my head. Everything we’ve gone through has been worth it for this right here. The man who had given up and was just going through the motions is gone, and now my dad gets to find who he really is.

  “You must be Daniel.”

  I pull out of the hug and give Daniel an apologetic smile. Caught up in the moment, I forgot that he was right behind me.

  “Hello, sir. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Daniel holds out his hand, but my father ignores that, pulling Daniel into a hug almost as tight as the one he gave me.

  “I saw you last year, at the ceremony. The way you stood with my little girl so she wouldn’t be alone against the Cardinal.” He grips Daniel’s shoulders and gives them a little shake. “There’s no way for me to tell you how thankful I am.”

  “I would do anything for Rebecca.”

  My dad pulls back and laughs again. “Well, that’s a good thing since I understand you married her.”

  “Who married who?” My mother’s voice carries from the front hall. “And you left the door open again. You have to stop doing that. There’ll be criminals running all over the place before we know it.”

  The clack of her heels on the tile echoes through the house until she comes to where the three of us are standing. Shock registers across my mother’s face, which hasn’t changed a bit. Of course, it’s hard to tell with the layers of makeup she’s wearing. Her head swivels between Daniel and me, then her expression turns to rage.

  “How dare you come into this home? Out. Get out now.” She grabs my arm and drags me a few steps back toward the door.

  “Mavis, stop it. She’s our daughter.” Dad grabs her arm and she lets go of her death grip on me.

  I run to Daniel, who quickly pushes me behind him before she has another chance to grab me.

  “We don’t have a daughter, or don’t you remember what happened when the Machine outed her and took her away to where all the criminals belong?”

  “Mrs. Collins—” Daniel’s words are cut short by a furious glance from my mother.

  “Don’t you dare.” Her lips curl back in a snarl. “Look at what the two of you have done. You’ve destroyed everything.” She points to my father with a red lacquered finger, but her eyes never leave us. “This one thinks he wants a job that’s more fulfilling. Does fulfilling sound like something that will buy new living room furniture? And do you know what I learned today at the market? Do you?”

  Her voice ratchets up into a higher octave, and her cheeks darken. “We might have supply issues in the next few months. While everyone is running around finding fulfilling jobs, we might have shortages.”

  My anger makes me brave. “I hardly think a month of fewer fancy luncheons is going to hurt anyone.”

  “That’s the problem.” Her wild eyes dance between the three of us. “None of you stopped to think. You didn’t care what it would mean to the rest of us if you destroyed everything.”

  She turns on my father, her finger less than an inch from his nose. “I won’t have it. She can’t stay here.”

  “I let the Cardinal take her before.” My father lifts up to his full height and stares right back at my mother. “I won’t kick her out now.”

  “Either she goes or I go.”

  “Then I suggest you take a walk and think about where you want to live next.”

  My mother’s mouth flops open like a dead fish. I’ve never seen my father stand up to her before, and this is likely the first time it’s ever happened. She turns to glare at me and Daniel, turns on the spot, and marches back out the door.

  I let out a long breath and lean my head into Daniel’s back. It’s not as if I was ever close to my mother, but I didn’t expect this.

  “I’m sorry about that.” My father closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. “She’s been a bit of a nightmare since the other night. Half the people she talks to congratulate her on what you did and the other half pretend like you never existed. For a woman who’s never had an original thought in her life, she’s at a loss as to what to do next.”

  I nod, but the joyous atmosphere of just a few minutes ago vanished out the door with her.

  “We should go.” I step out from behind Daniel and reach out to my father for another hug.

  “You don’t have to go.”

  “I know, but we should.”

  He holds me tight, and neither of us says anything. We just soak in the minute of being able to have this hug that was never supposed to happen.

  “You’ll come back to visit, right?”

  I nod and swallow back the tears threatening to reemerge. “I don’t know when, but I promise.”

  He grabs hold of Daniel’s shoulder. “Keep taking care of each other.” He brushes my cheek with his other hand. “You’ve both done so much for everyo
ne else. You deserve to find some happiness of your own.”

  I grab him up into another hug, not sure how I’m supposed to say goodbye, but knowing I have to. I’m not the girl who used to live here. “I love you.”

  He whispers back in my ear. “I always have, and I always will.”

  I step back and grab Daniel’s hand. He squeezes, passing along the extra bit of strength I need, and together we walk out the door.

  Thirty-Nine

  I squint into the bright sunshine that sparkles in the crisp winter air. Now that we’re out of the house, I don’t know where to go next. I pull Daniel down next to me on the porch swing.

  “When I was a little girl, I used to sit out here and dream about my future. Of course, I would fall in love, and I’d sit right here with the man of my dreams, and we’d make plans for a wedding and babies. Now I’m not sure what to dream for.”

  “I’m pretty confident that you can do anything you want to do.”

  “I appreciate your confidence, but that’s not what I mean. When I was a little girl, dreaming of a home of my own was the only thing I had to pick. It wasn’t a dream because I wanted it more than anything. It was the dream to just have a future. But the world is so much bigger than that now.”

  “And you’re not sure what you want.”

  I grab Daniel’s hand and tug him closer to me. “Except you. I am completely, one hundred percent certain that you are exactly what I want.”

  “Good.” He wraps an arm around my shoulder, and I huddle in closer to his warmth. “Because you’ve married me twice now, and you’re stuck with me.”

  “So now what?”

  “I’d say first decision is where you want to live. Do you want to be here close to your parents?”

  I pull my knees up to my chest and stretch my arms around them. “I know it sounds horrible, but no, I don’t. This stopped being my home a long time ago. I’ll still come to visit my dad, but I don’t want to live here.”

  “That’s fair.” Daniel circles his finger around my knee. “We have Danforth’s offer. We could move to the capital and work with the new government there. They are going to need all the help they can get.”