The Ark
Page 24
He looked back, his face a mix of tension and some new emotion I hadn’t seen there for a while. It took me so long to place it that when I finally understood it, I took a step back.
My father spoke first. “I don’t know why I could never forgive you.”
I made a strangled, laughing noise. “I can sympathize.”
“It was my family, and I let it fall apart. But you were hard, Charlotte. And the harder I gripped you, the harder you got. It was never easy, knowing what to do with you.” He paused, and a long, slow silence stretched between us. “My son is gone. I have no family left. Come back with me, Charlotte.”
I could only stand there helplessly, shaking my head without thinking. “Dad, no. I still have to go.”
“I’m sorry. I should have told you that sooner.”
“You did. In juvy. Before the OPT left.”
He grimaced at the memory. “Not that I failed you, though heaven knows I have my regrets where that’s concerned. I’m sorry I didn’t forgive you. That I blamed you for everything. Come home with me. I can make the Commander see reason.”
Home. More than any other, this was the word I’d needed to hear. I clung to it like a dying man clings to the remnants of a sinking ship. It was all I had.
It wasn’t enough.
“No, you can’t,” I said. “Don’t underestimate him. He’d do anything for his son.” I swallowed, about to say and so would I, but I wasn’t ready to share that part of my life with anyone yet, least of all my dad.
He raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never been able to stop you before, and I harbor no illusion that I can make you listen to me now. I have learned, at last, not to tighten my grip any further. At least promise me you’ll come back.”
I smiled in spite of the growing tightness in my throat. “I’m through making promises, Dad. Besides, it doesn’t work like that. I betrayed them.”
“How do you know they’re not going to kill you?”
I took a moment before deciding not to lie. “I don’t.”
He took in the weight of my words and looked, for the first time in my life, afraid. “Everything’s going to be different now, isn’t it.”
I thought about West, the Arks, and our fragile little family. I thought about the storms we’d survived and the storms that were yet to come. I thought about Ark Five, vanished into the vastness of space. I dropped the smile. “I hope so, Dad. I really do.”
I turned back toward the invisible door at the edge of the sector. I still didn’t know how to open it, but I was sure someone was stationed on the other side awaiting Jorin’s knock. Probably several someones.
“Wait! Charlotte!” my father said.
I stopped, hand frozen in a fist, poised to knock.
When I turned to look at my father, he caught me up in a hug so big I nearly lost my balance. “Charlotte—” he started, then stopped, and whatever else he’d planned to say died on his lips.
His arms grew tighter around me, pressing out my breath. I squeezed him back. A real home was more than driftwood in a raging sea, a final resort before drowning. It was a ship unto itself, fit to carry us through the storms and trials that lay between the shores.
“What did you say?” Dad asked.
I hadn’t realized I had spoken out loud. His arms loosened, and I took the opportunity to fill my lungs with air. The door to the space between the sectors opened, and a patient face peered out at us. Adam. Shooting me hadn’t affected his standing with Isaiah, it seemed. Not negatively, anyway. I knew there were more waiting behind him. I knew he was armed. This storm was hardly spent.
But I was ready. I had a ship, and I was not afraid.
I cleared my throat and met my father’s eyes. “I will find West and bring him back here, and we will be a family again.” I took a moment to weigh my final words. “I promise.”
I left my father’s arms and stepped forward into the darkness.
Acknowledgements
I’m grateful to God for his love and mercy. I’m also tremendously grateful for the following people, without whom this book would not exist in any form: Will Nolen, Morris Liddell, and Jenna Wolf.
For a writer, there is literally nothing in the world like finding out that someone else believes in your work. Thank you, Natasha Bardon. Thanks to Eleanor Ashfield and all the lovely people at HarperVoyager UK.
Thanks to the XO “Book” Club, for all the “books” we “read,” the Book Aunts (Alex, Courtney, Elizabeth, Holly, Jennifer, and Jordana), Lesha Grant, Benjamin Morris, Ava and Liam, and Hal Liddell and the rest of my family (HI MOM!).
And thanks to my dog Miley, who is a very good girl.
About the Author
Laura Liddell Nolen grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She has a degree in French and a license to practice law, but both are frozen in carbonite at present. She lives in Texas with her husband and two young children. The Ark was made possible in part by a SCBWI Work-In-Progress Award. Laura can be found on Twitter @LauraLLNolen. This is her first novel.
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London, SE1 9GF, UK
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
http://www.harpercollins.com