The familiar routine of working in the kitchen, even one in a tent, helped Evalene find her comfort zone and soon she had her usual rhythm, working and sneaking small bites of food when no one was looking. She wished she had access to something besides tuna, but once it was blended with the soupy mixture it was surprisingly delicious.
The cooking flowed smoothly into serving dinner, and before she knew it, they’d finished the third shift. In the down time, she’d eaten not just one, but two sandwiches. Leaning against her assigned table as the last few dinner stragglers came through, Evalene considered the best way to wolf down another half without anyone noticing.
She was still assessing the options when Jeremiah appeared at her right shoulder. “Someone has been dying to meet you,” he said in a soft voice, and tilted his head towards the tent flap on the far side of the room. Those with full plates were exiting through it, and Juno’s nose was cheerfully inspecting the air as each one passed, although she stayed faithfully seated by the door outside the tent.
The corners of Evalene’s mouth lifted as she met Juno’s eyes and immediately the dog’s fluffy white tail started tapping the ground. “Is this a stray?” she whispered back.
Jeremiah shook his head. “No, she’s mine.” No one had pets in Eden, making this yet another glimpse of the island’s freedom.
She turned to face Jeremiah and found he was much closer than she’d anticipated. Only a few inches separated them. Staring into his eyes, she hiccupped. Retreating to a safer distance, she flushed bright red and hiccupped again. How embarrassing!
“Excuse me, sorry,” she managed to say before another hiccup. She drew in a deep breath and held it, shaking her head in frustration and covering her cheeks with her hands to hide the heat that was spreading.
“No problem.” Jeremiah shrugged. “You know what you do for the hiccups?” Without asking, he stepped close to her and grasped her arms, lifting them up above her head. “Trust me, this works.”
He directed her arms towards the ceiling, “Stretch them out as high as you can.” He let go, throwing his arms up as well to demonstrate. “Like this, see?”
Evalene giggled at the sight they made, both standing with their arms in the air. A hiccup snuck into the middle of it, making her laugh harder. Jeremiah grinned back at her, but took her hands which had come down to hold her stomach, and pulled them up high again. “Laugh all you want, but it works.” He held both palms out, motioning for her to hold the pose this time.
She kept her hands up this time, trying to stretch like he was. “Good,” he said. “Now take deep breaths. Just like that. You feel it stretching your lungs?” She nodded, inhaling deeply. “There you go. They’ll be gone in no time.”
And sure enough, as soon as she stopped giggling and focused on taking deep breaths, the hiccups were gone. She lowered her arms.
“I’d better get going,” Evalene said, tucking her hair behind her ear and glancing at the tent door, where Juno still waited. “I haven’t seen Olive all day. I’m sure she’s wondering where I am.”
Jeremiah rested against the table next to him. “Don’t worry. She’s the one who told me where to find you.”
“You were looking for me?” Evalene eyes darted back to Jeremiah’s face.
He ducked his head, scratching the back of his neck. “I feel a certain responsibility for you,” he told her, and when he met her gaze, his was unreadable. “All the others signed up for the work order of their own free will, but you didn’t really get a choice...” He shrugged. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
For some reason Evalene couldn’t fathom, finding out she was a charity case to him stung. She blinked rapidly. Lifting her chin, she put on the emotionless mask she’d grown used to wearing back home. “I’m great.”
She strode to the opposite side of the tent, away from Juno, ignoring the dog. “Thanks for checking on me,” she spoke over her shoulder as she reached the exit. Sanidine or Trona must have closed the tent flaps on this side to signal the end of dinner. As Evalene pulled the flaps up to duck through the door, she told the dirt floor near Jeremiah’s feet, “I’ll make sure to check in with Luc for my next shift. Goodnight.”
She dropped the flap without waiting for his response. Stepping forward into the dark night, Evalene labored down the path between the tent rows in the darkness, waiting for her eyes to adjust. How was she going to find her tent?
In the moonlight, the white, slanted roofs of thousands of tents stretched out into the distance all around her. She walked down one row, then the next, trying to get her bearings, staring at the cheerful lights of the town as she caught one or two blink out and others turn on. She hadn’t paid attention to where her tent was in relation to town, so it didn’t help now.
Crossing her arms, she shivered. Without the sun, the temperature had plummeted, and the difference was noticeable after standing near stoves all night. She rubbed her arms for warmth.
She was lost.
25
Day One: Scheming
T HE MOONLIGHT SHONE BRIGHTLY on the paths, but without a lantern or flashlight, Evalene squinted at the ground, moving at a snail’s pace to avoid tripping over tent pegs or debris. The idea of being alone when Talc lurked somewhere nearby made her shiver harder.
A cold, wet nose touch her wrist. She yelped as she jumped and pulled her hands away. A white blur danced around her in the dark. “Juno?” she whispered, and the dog whined back happily, coming up to lean into her leg in greeting, begging to be pet.
“Juno was worried about you.” Jeremiah’s deep voice came from behind her, and she recognized it right away. Evalene turned around, relaxing. She made out his shape in the darkness as he bent down and beckoned the dog. Juno moved to her master, tail wagging and hitting Evalene’s shins. “She made me come look for you to make sure you got to your tent safely.”
Evalene bit her lip, wanting to trust him. “Is that so?” she said finally. “I guess if she’s that worried…” she trailed off and admitted the truth. “Okay, yes please help me. I have no idea where I’m going…”
Juno scampered back to Evalene, wet nose catching her hand again, bumping it persistently until she gave in and pet the dog.
Instead of rubbing it in, Jeremiah just straightened. “You were pretty close. Come on Juno, let’s show her the way.” The dog bounded after him, and Evalene followed.
They proceeded to backtrack, finally reaching a little white tent that looked just like all the others around it. She hadn’t been close at all. Annoyed with herself, Evalene simply said, “Thanks.”
“Sure,” he said. His form backed away in the dark, and Juno’s white shape followed. “In the morning you’ll notice each row is marked, and each tent has a number. That should help. But don’t worry. It’s easy to get lost here in the beginning.”
“Thanks,” Evalene said again, wondering why he spent so much time helping her if she was just a charity case. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’ve been on my own for a long time.” She winced at the sharp words.
But he didn’t seem put off. “And now you’re not alone anymore,” he said, and she could hear the smile that made it hard to dislike him. “By the way, Olive told me about Talc.”
Anxiety spiked. Evalene opened her mouth, about to beg him not to talk to Talc or do anything, the way she had with Olive. But he spoke first. “Don’t worry about him anymore. I have my men keeping him extremely busy between now and when we leave. He won’t have time to bother you.” He said it like it was nothing. But Evalene’s entire body flooded with relief at the knowledge that someone was protecting her.
“Thank you,” she whispered softly.
“No problem. Good night,” he said, and whistled for Juno who took off after him like a shot. His shadow rounded a corner and was gone.
Turning to her tent, Evalene smiled at his kindness. Fumbling around in the darkness of the tent, she found her bed and sank onto it. The only breathing in the tent was her own. She was a
lone.
Though she felt a candle on the small table between the beds, her fingers couldn’t find matches anywhere. She gave up and lay down to sleep. Besides taking her boots off, she didn’t have anything else to do anyway. With the tent flaps closed, not even much moonlight could get in.
Despite having napped earlier, Evalene found herself drifting off to sleep with the sound of frogs croaking and crickets humming in her ears. But she kept picturing Jeremiah stepping onto Eden’s shores, and getting shot by Regulators. The idea shook her.
Rolling over to escape it, Evalene tried to ignore the direction her mind was going, but there was no stopping the flood of thoughts now. All the ways the Number One might stop the rebels, specifically Jeremiah, hammered her mind. The Number One had more men. He controlled the citizens. More importantly, he controlled the Regulators, who outnumbered even the many rebels in this camp who had stayed to fight. Ten thousand, Jeremiah had said earlier? The past few years since the rebellion, so many had been Numbered 11 as Regulators, their forces were easily twice that many, if not more.
Evalene vividly remembered the news during the Bloom Rebellion. Especially the day they’d found out about her mother’s death. The camera had panned across a long line of bodies hanging from the executioner’s ropes.
And now it was going to happen again. The sight of those men and women hanging lifeless, forever burned into Evalene’s memory, played across her vision again, but this time when the camera zoomed in on one of the victims, it was Jeremiah’s face.
Evalene blinked furiously, trying to erase the image. She stared aimlessly at the shadows by the tent wall rather than close her eyes and risk seeing the vision again.
The sound of footsteps crunching in the dirt and gravel signaled Olive at the entrance of their tent what felt like ages later, though it was probably only an hour, two at the most.
“Evie! You’re here!” the shadow of the blonde girl chirped from the doorway. Evalene rolled back towards the inside of the tent and lifted herself up to rest on her elbows as Olive entered, grateful at the interruption from her thoughts.
“What’re you doing in the dark?” the girl asked. The sound of a match sizzled as a tiny flame appeared. Olive held the match to the candle and the room lit up.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Olive said as soon as the light showed Evalene in bed under the blankets. Olive’s apologetic face was illuminated by the dim light and her hair glowed golden-orange.
“Don’t worry, I wasn’t sleeping” Evalene told her, sitting up on her elbow to prove it was fine. “What did you do today?”
Olive hopped up onto her bed across from Evalene and sighed, biting her lip and starting to smile. “I was helping Luc go over details. Get organized.” She brushed her wavy blonde hair off her shoulders, then leaned forward towards Evalene, not noticing this made the golden locks fall back in front again. She whispered confidentially, “I think he likes me.”
“Oh?” Evalene propped her head on her hand, smiling. “Did he say something?”
Olive grinned like a school girl. “Well... no, he hasn’t said it straight out yet, but I’m pretty sure. I wish he followed me around like the captain shadows you.” She kicked off her flats and they flew haphazardly, one in the direction of the door and the other under Evalene’s bed.
Sitting up, Evalene ignored the shoes. “You’re talking about… Jeremiah? And… me?” Pointing a finger to herself, she laughed a little in confusion.
Olive was taking off the many layers of Evalene’s dress, which she loved to borrow, giving Evalene an excuse to keep wearing her dresses. In the middle of stepping out of the skirt, one foot in and one foot out Olive paused. “Yeah, you! He was looking all over for you earlier.”
Evalene rolled her eyes as Olive dropped the skirt on the ground. Taking two steps to Evalene’s cot, Olive hopped up onto it, forcing Evalene to move her legs or be sat on. “I’m not joking!”
“I’ve only known him a few days,” Evalene reminded her, eyebrows raised.
Olive shrugged, pulling her bare feet under the blankets to get comfortable and sitting cross-legged. “A few days is all it takes.”
Evalene squinted at Olive as the girl wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “What takes? What are you talking about?”
“I can tell you like him,” Olive said, ignoring Evalene’s questions. “You stare at him when he’s not looking.” The girl was a born romantic. But it didn’t matter, even if Evalene did think Jeremiah was kind, or thoughtful, or handsome. He’d made it clear how he felt about her.
“Olive, no.” Evalene lightly kicked her through the blankets to get her attention. “Stop.”
“You really expect me to believe you don’t like him?”
“It’s not important.” Evalene rolled her eyes. “He’s leading a revolution. And he’s not interested. He made that extremely clear. He feels responsible for me.” Evalene spread her fingers out across the faded pattern of her quilt, pressing it down until it was flat and smooth.
“What? When did he say that?” Olive asked.
A sigh slipped out. “Tonight in the kitchen.”
“Oh.”
They sat in silence.
Olive spoke up. “That’s a shame because I just spoke to him on my way back. We made plans to take you job hunting in Hofyn in the morning.” Olive hopped down from Evalene’s bed and moved to her own, climbing in under the blankets.
“What?” Evalene blurted, sitting up now. “What do you mean you ‘made plans?’”
Olive flopped her head onto the pillow dramatically. “I’m sorry.” She fiddled with a tiny string that had unraveled from her blanket and mumbled, “I just wanted to be a matchmaker. I thought you liked him, and he liked you…”
“Mmm-hmm.” Evalene sighed, rubbing her eyes as she lay back down, rolling onto her back to stare at the slanted ceiling, mulling it over. “I guess it would be nice to see what jobs are available in the city…”
“Perfect!” Olive snuffed the candle out and the tent returned to blackness. In the dark, Evalene heard rustling as Olive got comfortable. “I’ll wake you in the morning. Goodnight!”
“Goodnight, Olive. Sweet dreams.”
Evalene pulled her own blankets up to her chin to cocoon herself in their warmth, exhausted. She squeezed her eyes shut against the images of Jeremiah and the revolutionaries against the rebels, tossing and turning, unable to escape them until finally, sleep came.
26
Day Two: Hofyn
E VALENE AND OLIVE SWUNG through the cook tent in the morning, picking up breakfast to go. The pastry melted in Evalene’s mouth, soft and sweet. If not for the daunting job search, this day would have been perfect.
“We should get you some new clothes and shoes too,” Olive said as they passed one of the training squares, already in full swing. This square was working on assembling their firearms, which were unusually sleek and lightweight, with some kind of technology attached that pinpointed their targets for them with amazing accuracy.
“I don’t have enough money to buy anything,” Evalene said. What was she going to do about that? She didn’t even have enough money to buy food for a week, much less clothes. She’d spent most of what Kevra had left her on boarding the ship.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get a job in no time,” Olive reassured her. She clapped her hands excitedly. “You could come work on the farm with me!”
“Maybe,” Evalene agreed, just to get Olive to breathe again. “I’ve never worked on a farm…”
“Oh it’s easy!” Olive grinned. “The machines do most of the work for us. We have chickens, pigs, and cows, but mostly crops. We plant in the spring, work the fields all summer, and harvest in the fall. Our best crop is potatoes.”
The farm sounded much more advanced than those on Eden. “I like potatoes,” Evalene offered, trying to be open to the idea. After all, this was her one and only friend in the world. Might be nice to stay on the island for a while before taking another ship t
o the FreeLands. One thing was for sure: either way, she needed a job.
“Me too,” Olive smiled contentedly. Evalene found she admired that about the girl. Living in the moment instead of in constant fear of the future. But the quiet only lasted a few moments.
They met up with Jeremiah at the edge of camp. “Shall we?” he said, and they set off towards the city. A soft, orange mulch covered the path and paved the way. The carrot colored dust of the mulch settled onto Evalene’s black boots as they walked.
From the camp, the smaller homes and buildings on the outskirts looked like bubbles with their glass dome ceilings. The bright sun shone through openings between skyscrapers where pieces of the buildings would branch away from each other, only to weave back in and meld together at the top, like a work of art.
“We need to take her shopping first,” Olive said, walking in the middle of the path between Evalene and Jeremiah. Evalene tried to catch her eye to shake her head no, but Olive was distracted. “Have any refugees from the last trip decided to stay with us?”
“Yes, ten people so far,” Jeremiah told her, leaning past Olive to wink at Evalene as they walked, “eleven if I can convince one more.”
“Did the captain tell you about the broadcasts?” Olive chimed in, swinging around to face Evalene as they walked, not waiting for an answer. “We’re going to use live TV, take it over, and convince the entire country to stand up and fight with us. Everything the Number One says on the news is full of lies, so we’re going to tell the truth!”
“Ahh…” Evalene said, then risked asking, “What truth?”
“So many truths!” Olive spoke again before Jeremiah had a chance. “For one thing, there’s still dozens of other surviving countries. I’m pretty sure Eden doesn’t want anyone to know that.”
Evalene's Number: The Number Series Page 19