Pearl's Number: The Number Series

by Bethany Atazadeh

  Two men carried an enormous tray of food out and set it over the fire pit, where the dry wood blazed so hot the flames turned blue.

  Skye claimed the chair next to Jeremiah, looking like a sovereign ruler on her throne, despite the fact it was made out of the same material as the other chairs.

  “Crater prepared a delicacy for you tonight,” Skye told them. “He and his twin Canyon will make each of you your own plate and you can guess what it is!” The food was bright pink, blue, and green, and Evalene didn’t recognize any of it. Skye grinned as if they would think unusual food from strangers was an adventure. Maybe to her it was.

  Evalene’s mind raced to find an excuse to politely decline, but her stomach betrayed her, growling loudly at the smells wafting toward them on the air. They hadn’t eaten in two full days. She was starving.

  The two men who’d brought out the large food tray scooped two plates each, bringing it over to their four guests, bowing low.

  When the men stood straight again, Evalene saw the twins were identical. The tan men smiled at her at the same time, making her feel like she was seeing double. They seemed as excited to have guests as the rest of the Lakelanders. Evalene accepted her plate, staring at the colorful meal. She might not recognize it, but it smelled incredible. Despite her better judgment, Evalene found herself picking up her fork to take a bite. Whatever it was melted in her mouth. A sigh of happiness escaped her.

  Skye noticed and smiled broadly, “You like it?” she asked. Mouth full, Evalene just nodded. “They like it.” Skye called to the rest of the Lakelanders. Everyone cheered. Those nearby reached out to tap their shoulders or arms, saying how happy they were to have new friends. Those three-arrowed tattoos abounded. Evalene wanted to ask about them, but she didn’t want to offend their hosts.

  “Careful,” Fern said as they gulped their food whole, “You’re going to make yourself sick.” Evalene ignored her, too hungry to listen. But Olive ran off into the bushes a minute later, and soon Evalene felt her stomach rebel too. When the first meal didn’t stick, the Lakelanders offered her a second plate. She didn’t turn it down.

  Eating more slowly this time, Evalene let her stomach adjust. During the distraction of Olive running to vomit a second time, Evalene caught Sol slipping one of the sharp meat knives into his boot. No one else seemed to notice. Evalene appreciated knowing he was still on guard.

  As they ate, the sun dipped below the horizon and disappeared. Dusk fell and stars began to light up the sky above them. The Lakelanders raised the bonfire in the middle to a roaring flame that lit up the entire circle easily. They stretched simple roofs out from the buses, unrolling carpets underneath, creating little individual shelters outside each tub. They even lit small lamps in each one, casting a warm glow around the circle.

  Evalene sat there in front of the toasty fire with a full belly, feeling the medicine taking effect. It made her feel almost drunk. She had never been so welcomed in her whole life. Everything in her wanted to soak up the longed-for camaraderie. The others certainly were, smiling at everyone as they held their plates up to their chins and devoured their food so fast the fork barely touched the plate. Evalene shook her head. Just because she’d grown up surrounded by more enemies than friends, didn’t mean everyone was an enemy. She discarded the nagging feeling.

  Skye was describing a creature to Olive that the Lakelanders had come across just the day before. “It was roughly the size of a car, with four eyes—two in the front and two in the back of its head,” she was saying.

  Olive’s eyes were round in awe. “I’ve never heard of an animal like that,” she said breathlessly.

  Skye nodded calmly as if this was to be expected. “It had large ears and sharp tusks like the ancient elephants,” she continued, drawing her hands out from her face to shape ears and tusks as she spoke. Her hands waved dramatically, getting more and more expressive as she told her story. “And a tail like a scorpion that hovered over and struck out a lethal blow to anyone who approached.”

  As the beast grew more strange-sounding by the second, Olive began to squint in confusion, not knowing what to say.

  “That sounds unreal,” Evalene murmured.

  “Are you saying you don’t believe me?” Skye asked her in a soft voice, and her eyes narrowed in on Evalene’s face.

  Caught in an uncomfortable position, Evalene wracked her brain for everything she’d learned in the political offices, trying to find the most diplomatic answer. Slowly, choosing her words carefully, she said, “I’m sure everyone would have a hard time believing it, until they saw it.”

  Something flickered in Skye’s eyes before her serious expression melted into an enormous smile and she laughed heartily. “I confess, the games are so much more fun when the other party doesn’t know they’re playing!”

  Now all four of them frowned in confusion, glancing at each other as they tried to figure out what was going on.

  Skye leaned forward and held out a hand as if to pat Evalene’s knee if she hadn’t been too far away. “You were right to call my bluff,” she told Evalene with a laugh. “No such animal has ever existed to my knowledge.” She pointed to Evalene as she told everyone else in the circle, “We have a winner!” And back to just Evalene and her little group again, Skye held her hand up to her mouth, as if to let them in on a secret, “We love our games in my crew. Keeps our minds sharp.” Skye tapped the side of her head and grinned again. “BioGrades only go so far, you know.”

  Evalene thought of Peach and Fern’s strange wordplay earlier and nodded to herself. It made sense. But it left her feeling slightly off balance, not knowing what was true and what wasn’t…

  Skye was asking them how they’d ended up stranded in the desert. As soon as Olive said the word “Riders” the woman nodded in understanding.

  “Ah yes, it’s a miracle you escaped with your lives,” she said. Leaning back into her chair, she added, “Where are you heading, may I ask?”

  Evalene was still trying to decide if she could trust them when Olive answered. “Seguro Falls.”

  “What a coincidence,” Skye said, throwing her hands up in surprise, “That’s where we’re heading as well.” She smiled graciously. “You are more than welcome to join us. After all, we could never in good conscience leave you behind.” Evalene expected her to ask for reimbursement in some form, maybe in working for them, but Skye only turned away to speak to the woman on her right, dropping the conversation.

  One of the twins came to take their plates. Fern popped up between Olive and Evalene, “Are you ready to dig your beds?” she chirped, holding a small shovel.

  “Dig?” Olive squeaked and Evalene huffed a laugh in disbelief.

  “Wait,” Evalene guessed, “Is this another game?”

  Fern burst out laughing, slapping Evalene’s shoulder and bumping Peach when her friend came up next to her. “This girl’s a natural,” she said loudly, making a few others nearby look, including Skye. Their smiles seemed almost predatory. This medicine had made Evalene delirious. She was starting to see things. Maybe it was all that talk of the imaginary animal earlier. She wasn’t used to such friendly people and her instincts were looking for something that wasn’t there.

  Fern and Peach led them away from the fire toward one of the buses where the night air was colder. “We sleep inside the circle,” Peach said. She pointed to the ground where a thick carpet had been laid down across the dirt, wide enough to fit half a dozen people. “We like to be outside whenever possible. It’s nice to always see what’s coming, you know?”

  Evalene nodded, glancing at Olive, who nodded too. But when they weren’t looking, Olive spread her hands wide and shrugged, as if to say, they’re strange, but at least they’re nice. Fern and Peach handed them each a blanket, saying, “You get your own covers, but you’ll share the mat. Sound good?”

  When they nodded sleepily, Fern held out the small shovel she’d been carrying and added, “If you need to go do your business, make sure you go a good wa
y outside the circle, dig a hole, and then fill it back in when you’re done, understand? Nobody wants to trip over that.” This time she wasn’t joking. Evalene accepted the shovel, nodding for everyone.

  They lay down the same way they had the night before, but this time the blankets added an extra layer of warmth on top of their body heat. Drowsily Evalene stared up at the stars thinking she’d never been so tired in her entire life. Now that the aches and pains were gone, there was nothing to keep her conscious. She didn’t pay attention to what the others were doing. The moment her head touched the ground and her eyes closed, she was gone.

  20

  Jeremiah

  JEREMIAH SLEPT UNTIL SOMEONE shook him awake. He blinked to find the Lakelander buses completely loaded up. The chairs were all put away and the remnants of the fire snuffed out, as their new friends ate breakfast to go.

  Peach grinned down at them. The sun behind her illuminated the red fuzz on her scalp. “Wake up, sleep bums. We’ve got at least three days driving to get you back on track.” Jeremiah still couldn’t believe how slow the Lakelander’s vehicles traveled—or how far he’d led his group off-course.

  The buses began pulling out of the circle one at a time. As their little group stood up, blinking awake, someone slipped the mat out from under them, packing it away. Another took their blankets, storing them in the bus next to them. Its engine turned over and it rolled into the caravan line as well.

  “Better get moving,” Peach told them, jogging a couple steps to catch the nearest bus, hopping up on the ladder, beginning to climb to the roof, calling over her shoulder. “Unless you’re in the mood to walk?”

  Jeremiah glanced at Evie and the others. They all pitched forward after the bus, hurrying to board before the whole train of vehicles rolled off without them.

  The sides of the ladder rose above the top, making it easy to step onto the roof, which was flat and sunken in, scooped out in a hollow shape like a shallow bowl. Jeremiah was startled to find it filled with people who’d been invisible from the ground.

  A few low chairs designed as part of the roof were nailed down in the center. They were full, and other crew members lounged along the walls, sitting on pillows and leaning against the sides which sloped gently.

  A glare came off the bus’ metal nose. Enough heat to fry an egg sizzled against Jeremiah’s arm even from a foot away. But as he moved to sit along the side with the others, he noticed the heat faded. The canopy overhead seemed to soak up the rays and disperse the heat instead of intensifying.

  He sank onto a soft pillow next to Evie. The metal sides of the bus made a firm, but comfortable back rest. He leaned back with a sigh of relief, already worn out. But still a vast improvement from how he’d felt the day before.

  They munched on the offered breakfast rolls and a strange tasting cheese as the buses crawled forward in a long line. Jeremiah noticed Olive shyly avoiding Sol’s gaze and company, putting Evie between them, and the poor man blinking in confusion. He clearly didn’t remember what he’d said in the desert, but Olive certainly did, and it looked like she’d decided to avoid it—and him—altogether.

  From this height, Jeremiah could see the end of the desert not too far in the distance. Small trees and shrubs started popping up as they went, growing larger, until less than a half-hour later, they reached a road.

  The trees grew thicker and closer together, forcing the buses onto the pavement, which was worn and cracked as if it hadn’t been repaired in decades. Weeds grew up in the fissures as if to emphasize how little the road was used. It wound back and forth, twisting out of sight, making it difficult to tell if a single other soul was on it.

  While the Lakelanders kept up quiet conversations amongst themselves, Jeremiah found the slow rolling speed of the bus and the comfortable backrest too much to resist. He nodded off, blinking awake what felt like only moments later when the bus came to a stop, only to find the sun high overhead.

  “Lunch stop,” Peach called over to their quiet little group, and they hopped off the rooftop without ceremony. Jeremiah’s stomach growled as he followed everyone down the ladder.

  In the lunch line, Jeremiah waved Sol and the girls to go ahead of him. As he grabbed a metal plate and scooped a spoonful of strange meat, Peach stepped in front of him in line, holding him back. She bumped his elbow, hard, almost knocking the food off his plate. “Got a thing for her, dontcha?” she said, matter-of-factly, chewing on a vegetable Jeremiah didn’t recognize.

  He glanced over his shoulder to the chairs where Evie stood at the end of the lunch line, chatting with their new friends. He looked back at Peach, and she raised her eyebrows expressively. “Yeah, that one,” she said.

  He moved forward in line, but Peach followed.

  “Oh yeah. It’s like, the hair on your head obvious,” she said, as if he’d answered her. “Does she know?”

  Jeremiah stepped around her to finish filling his plate. He didn’t want to offend their new hosts, so he searched for an answer that would pacify her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “That’s a no,” Peach said, following closely, ignoring the food entirely. “Want me to feel it out for you?” She leaned forward on the balls of her toes like she might run straight to Evie if he said yes.

  “No! No,” Jeremiah tried to say it more casually. He did not need to make this more complicated than it already was. And he was going to talk to her. There just hadn’t been a good time.

  “Ugh, you’re no fun,” Peach complained, settling back on her heels and crossing her arms. “I should have asked her first.”

  Asked Evie first? Jeremiah had started walking away, but his curiosity got the better of him, and he stopped. “What do you mean?”

  Peach rolled her eyes. “I mean she’s making eyes at you, too. If I were her, I would’ve just went for it by now.” Her green eyes narrowed in on him like a lion watching its prey. “Maybe she wants to keep it exciting.”

  “I don’t think so,” Jeremiah shook his head firmly. Doubt niggled in his mind. But he shook it off. Peach was trying to create drama; if he’d learned anything about the Lakelanders it was that they were the ones who loved games.

  “Mmmhmm,” Peach rolled her eyes again, tapping her fingers on her crossed arms. “You never know how much time you’ll have together. Better not to wait.” She shrugged and turned as if to set him free, but as she left, she called over her shoulder, “Leave it to me. Matchmaking is my speciality.” She disappeared in the Lakelander lunch crowd before he had a chance to argue, leaving him to wonder what she had planned.

  Sitting in an empty chair across from Evie, he caught himself ‘making eyes’ as Peach called it, and forced himself to turn and chat with one of the Lakelanders next to him instead.

  But now that the idea was planted in his mind, he couldn’t shake it. He frowned, worrying over Peach’s ‘plan.’ He wanted to talk to Evie on his own terms, not be thrust into the spotlight in one of their strange games. And Peach was annoying, but right… this talk was long overdue.

  As the crew packed up lunch and the buses kicked into slow gear once more, Jeremiah gathered his courage. He stepped up behind Evie, gently touching her elbow to get her attention, and asked, “Do you want to walk for a bit?”

  In the background, he saw Peach wiggle her fingers at him, grinning, before boarding one of the buses. He ignored her.

  “Sure.” Evie smiled up at him. Her blue eyes shone in stark contrast against her skin which had turned a deep tan from the sun. It took him a moment to remember to blink and start walking.

  They set out next to the buses, which traveled at the pace of a fast walk. They could’ve easily kept up, but Jeremiah slowed, until they’d drifted behind enough to talk without being overheard.

  He found himself tongue-tied. This was his chance to let her know how he felt. It might even be his only chance. But his throat was dry and he found himself staring out at the trees on the sides instead of looking at her.

  Fru
strated, he berated himself. He’d formed a Council, spoken in front of huge crowds, and convinced thousands of terrified people to fight in a revolution where they faced death head on. Words were not usually a problem for him. But today, they stuck in his throat. He hadn’t told anyone he loved them since his mother died when he was 13.

  Evie surprised him by speaking up first, blurting into the silence, “I’ve been wanting to tell you since the plane… the man at the Council ball—the one you saw me with—he was nobody.”

  Jeremiah remembered her that night in her purple dress, hair down, lighting up the room as she talked to a blond man, laughing at something he’d said. “It’s okay,” he said. “You deserve to be happy. You don’t have to explain anything to me.”

  But Evie laughed. “Jeremiah,” she said as if to catch his attention, even though she had it, completely. “Imagine you’re a young, former high-Number with money, and you see an eighteen-year-old girl somehow put on a Council among older, wiser, more experienced leaders. What would you do to get what you want? To try to sway the Council’s decisions in your favor?”

  “What?” Jeremiah laughed in disbelief. “You’re saying they were chasing your votes?” He grew serious, digesting the idea as they walked, but shook his head after a moment. “No. You’re beautiful and smart. There’s no way that was just for votes.”

  Evie blushed at his compliment and Jeremiah found himself grinning like an idiot, enjoying her reaction immensely.

  “Well, either way, it doesn’t really matter in the end, since I wasn’t open to seeing anyone.”

  At all? Or because of him? Jeremiah’s heart beat faster. He cleared his throat and looked at the road where it curved ahead and the buses slowly wove along out of sight. They were officially alone.

  This would be the right time to say something if she was indeed hinting at feelings for him. Or the worst timing, if she wasn’t. He was still debating what she meant when she continued.