by Ruth Silver
“Great, I'll meet you in the lobby.” Chloe backed up from the door and Joshua closed it as he turned to face me. I was still seated on the bed, my legs curled beneath the blankets. The thought of leaving the warm mattress unsettled me.
“It's time to get up.” He smiled, reaching for me as I groaned in protest.
“I don't want to pretend to like these people. I just want to sleep,” I mumbled, falling back onto the bed and pulling Joshua atop me as his arms had been around my body.
He laughed and I could feel his hands buried under my back. “Is this how you plan on spending the rest of the evening?” I felt his kisses fall across my cheeks and forehead, doing his best to wake me.
I shifted restlessly, laughing as I tried to pull away, but he kept his hands tight around me, not letting me escape. “Joshua!” I squealed, feeling his breath tickling my skin.
He relaxed against me, and I finally let my eyes stay open, feeling more awake than I had when Chloe first showed up. “Come on.” He kissed my cheek. “Time to get up.”
I lifted my back from the mattress to let his hands free, which did me no favors as he then moved his hands to mine, pulling me from the bed. I groaned in protest but followed him out of bed. “I'm up,” I answered, though I wasn't entirely awake. “So, it's almost dinner time?” I asked, trying to make sense of day and night. I knew when we arrived it couldn't have been more than eleven in the morning. I hadn't accounted for the time change or the nap we'd taken. The sun had long since set and the stars lit up the night sky. Glancing out the window, I saw the city lights as they stretched on in Torv. It was amazing. I grabbed my room key. “I need to get my shoes.”
“Wait and I'll go with you.” He slipped on his shoes and grabbed his key, locking up the room behind him. I opened my door and turned on the light, finding my shoes on the floor. I hadn't even remembered slipping them off I'd been so tired, but I knew I must have done so. I slid them on and together we headed down to the elevator. Joshua pushed the down button and we waited a moment before the elevator doors opened.
Together, we descended to the lobby. Stepping out, I glanced around, catching sight of Chloe and Elsa waiting for us. I wondered how this meeting in Torv would go. The last high council I'd met out east in Haven and it hadn't ended well for anyone.
“Thanks for getting ready fast.” Chloe gestured for us all to follow her outside. We walked to the end of the road and two blocks north. My eyes scanned the streets, taking in everything surrounding us. Torv was huge! There was no other way to describe the city. It was bustling with people and made Haven look inferior. I pushed down such thoughts as I felt Joshua's hand in mine. I glanced at him, giving him a faint smile.
Together, we followed Chloe inside the old brick building. It was tall, approximately six stories, but nothing like the place where we stayed. It looked much older than the rest of the town. Ivy climbed the outside walls, and I wondered why they hadn't worked to remove it. We were led into the main foyer and walked across the hardwood floor to another room. Chloe knocked before continuing into the room. “Douglas.” She nodded once. “I've brought the three from Shadow—Olivia, Joshua, and Elsa—to help us with the pregnancies.” She introduced each of us to him.
Douglas was a tall, heavyset, balding man. He sat at the head of the table, wrapped in exotic red robes and presumably clothing underneath. He acted in charge as he tapped his fingers against the table. “Come in, come in.” He gestured for us to come closer. I didn't particularly want to be here. I tried not to seem affected though, watching as he sized us up and down. “We appreciate your help in the matter. As such—” I felt his eyes lock solely on me. “If what they say is true about you, Olivia, I feel it necessary to keep an armed guard with you at all times. Your head will not be my responsibility.” I didn't quite know what that meant. Did he think people in Torv would harm me? I knew Margo had been shot but it had been outside of Spade. They hadn't so much as been given acceptance into the town before they'd been fired upon.
“Mr. Douglas—” I smiled weakly, unsure how to address him. “I'm not concerned for my safety unless your men can't control themselves.” I felt plenty capable of looking after myself, and considering the Mindonsiphan, I had little doubt anyone would be capable of hurting me.
He nodded curtly. “Although you may put such little value on your own life, or the responsibility of carrying a child, I cannot do the same while you are in our home of Torv. Once you leave the city walls, you are free to go wherever and do whatever. While in Torv, I ask that you please have the guard, Kelvin, with you at all times, and accept this as an offer of peace.”
I didn't quite know how peace and armed guard fit into the same sentence, but I nodded all the same. There was no point in arguing. I reached over, holding Joshua's hand. I still didn't quite understand how they knew about me but bringing it up now seemed like a terrible idea. If they suspected we didn't trust them, things could get a whole lot worse. “Let it be known that Joshua and I are together.” I didn't care what they thought. “Understand that having a guard to protect me is your responsibility, but separating us is not an option.”
Douglas laughed. “We have no intention of dictating your life for you, child.” His voice was condescending, but I ignored him. “We merely wish to make sure your destiny isn't chosen for you while you're here.”
Joshua squeezed my hand and spoke up. “Can you tell us how you've come to help women in Torv conceive?” So far we hadn't been given any real details and we had been more than just a little curious.
Elsa nodded, stepping forward. “Perhaps the procedure you've used is in part the reason for the high number of deaths. If we know what we're getting ourselves involved with, maybe we can offer more assistance.”
Douglas eyed Chloe. “How far have you come?”
Chloe sighed. “Elsa and I have developed an experimental hormone. We hope to administer it during labor to save the mother's life.”
“That is good news.” He clapped his hands together. His gruff voice echoed through the room. “I can assure you the procedure we performed on the mothers was safe and no more challenging than that of two hundred years ago when some families couldn't conceive: IVF, or in vitro fertilization,” he explained. “In most cases the implanted egg will take. It's not until the final trimester when the woman is in labor that they die. We can't fathom why.”
I spoke up, remembering the discussion in the lab just a short time ago. “The government demands of its people marriage at eighteen. There's always one man and one woman, the perfect number of pregnancies, always healthy and always ready for the government's wishes.” A hint of annoyance rose in my voice. “Is it not the government that determines a child's sex? Whether a baby is a boy or a girl? Could it not be the government tampering with our genes? The government determining who is right for one another to live by and have a child with if they deem necessary?” I laughed darkly. “Our government, a sick and twisted system, tells us what is right and what is just.” I shook my head in defiance. “I say they are wrong. I say they do this on purpose. They keep us infertile. They want us weak. They wish us to denounce ourselves and fail at will.”
Joshua coughed softly and nudged me as Elsa spoke out. “Olivia is right. The government always has the perfect number of boys and girls. Yes, the chances of a boy should be fifty-fifty but the odds that every year each is exact is unheard of. We all know they choose the sex of the child. It fits their system. Why couldn't they choose other traits: hair color, eye color, or perhaps something much more important, like reproductive ability? This isn't by accident,” she affirmed. “Maybe once the Red Plague was an accident, a misfortune, but our current system is no longer that today.”
The room erupted in loud chatter. Then Douglas raised his hand to quiet everyone. Clearly he was the man in charge of the council. “We accept your theory.” He nodded, understanding where we came from. “It still doesn't change the fact that we're all here. If certain genes are gone, or turned off, how do we
fix it?”
“They're not all gone.” I stepped forward. “We all know my mother conceived me naturally. We don't know how that was possible. Perhaps her mother or grandmother hadn't been inoculated or it had been faulty. Perhaps she has a new gene that is dominant and allows me to give birth to a child. I'm not a scientist,” I reminded the high council. “I'm a girl, thrown into this mess by mere chance.”
Douglas laughed, glancing at his council members. “Chance?” He shook his head and then stopped laughing, staring hard at me. “Nothing, child, was by chance.” I wondered why the sudden dark look appeared in his eyes. I couldn't quite read his expression and felt my stomach somersault. I wanted to look at Joshua but I couldn't. Did I say something wrong?
He didn't answer me. He didn't have time. Douglas stared at me. “Child, you have no idea what the rebel alliance in Torv has done for you. Your father—” Speaking about him made the room spin. “He secured your future long before you were born. Chance hardly plays into your life. Your marriage ceremony, your job placement—all decisions made by the high council and interjected into the government's systems.”
“How?” Joshua spoke up. I didn't blame him for questioning what they said. It did, after all, involve him as well.
Douglas smiled. “You would be curious, wouldn't you?” He didn't seem entirely surprised. “Joshua, your family and Olivia's were close. Much too close long before you were born. If marriage had been a choice, I believe your parents, Rebecca and Gavin, would have wed. That's neither here nor there.” He brushed his hands together. “When Olivia was conceived, it happened to be the same lottery Rebecca had won that winter. Gavin knew who he could trust. There weren't many in Genesis willing to help.” He paused momentarily. “Rebecca didn't come to us. Let me tell you that. We came to her when she became a member of the high council of Haven. She'd known two other rebels in Genesis, but her allegiance and what she promised to do proved her beyond a doubt as one of us.”
“She helped forge my papers?” I guessed.
Douglas shook his head no. “There were doctors who were involved in the papers and ‘The Day of the Chosen’ aspect of it. Rebecca was important, because she made sure your match in the system was to Joshua.” I didn't quite understand the severity of what was being said and what had been done.
“Why did they need us to be matched together?” I asked, confused and glancing at Joshua.
“In time you would learn the truth,” Douglas reminded me. “You needed someone strong and loyal by your side. The Governor would not take lightly to the news and betrayal within his system.”
Slowly it began to make sense. I wondered if all the times we'd played together, if it had been to ensure we would become friends. I couldn't ask that. His hand had dropped from mine. I didn't blame him.
“Is there anything else?” I asked uncomfortably.
“We appreciate you coming here. Stay safe,” Douglas answered curtly.
Chloe opened the doors, and the three of us followed behind her, back outside and down the street with an armed guard in tow. It felt odd to be followed. I tried to pretend he wasn't behind us, but I couldn’t ignore the sound of his heavy boots.
“Where's dinner?” I ask half-heartedly. I didn't feel hungry but I knew we needed to eat. It was dark, late, and we hadn't eaten much since arriving in Torv.
“Floor twenty-two in our building,” Chloe explained as she led us once again into the foyer, and then the elevator. I didn't know what to say. Joshua hadn't said much. He'd been wrapped up in this for far longer than he'd realized. I wondered if he was angry with me, though I didn't feel it was my fault.
We all crammed into the elevator, and Joshua pushed the button for floor twenty-two. I reached for his hand, glad he didn’t pull away. Already so much was going on. I couldn't lose his support right now. The doors opened, and Joshua and I stepped out together, glancing around and wondering precisely where to go. Chloe stepped out behind us, and I moved to the side, letting her lead us into the cafeteria. Elsa stood behind us, and I glanced back to see our armed bodyguard still following us. I wondered what it would take to lose him.
This was definitely going to be awkward. If I didn't feel like we'd stand out from not being known around here, I was certain everyone would notice the six-foot man carrying a gun in to dinner.
Stepping out, I saw a rush of commotion through clear glass panels. Opposite us was a cafeteria with hundreds of people sitting down, eating, and talking candidly. “Come on,” Chloe insisted, leading us through the open archway. I felt Joshua fall just a few steps behind. Upon walking through the open door, the sound seemed to increase tenfold. It was rather overwhelming. “Grab a tray,” Chloe instructed as she maneuvered us through the crowd towards the line for food.
The three of us each grabbed a tray, and I glanced at him silently. This is pure chaos. I couldn't believe how many people were in the cafeteria. How were there so many people unaccounted for in Cabal? Had they all left, escaped at some point? We stood in line with Chloe, grabbing our food as we followed her to a table, where Jaxon already sat.
“Hey.” I smiled, grateful for one more face I recognized.
“I see you found the food,” Jaxon teased, noting the heaping pile of beef and mashed potatoes on my tray. I pulled up alongside Jaxon and Joshua, having a seat on the bench. Elsa sat beside Joshua as the table seemed to extend on forever. The cafeteria was huge! Chloe sat across from me and as I grabbed a roll, my eyes landed on the guard. He hadn't budged an inch. I could feel his shadow towering over me.
“You can sit down,” I offered, hoping he would oblige. He made me nervous.
“Have to do my job, ma'am,” he insisted.
I felt eyes surrounding us as whispers erupted even through the loud chaos of the cafeteria. “I'm sure you do, and you are, but you must be hungry.” I gestured. “Get yourself something to eat. I won't send you home.” I knew he just tried to do as he was told. “You can keep an eye on me while you eat,” I insisted.
The guard gave me a relieved smile and headed to the line, cutting in front of other people. I imagined having a gun on him kept people from complaining. “So does this place feed the entire town?” I still couldn't believe how large the cafeteria was in Torv. Where did all these people come from?
“Just the residents who live here,” Chloe answered. She didn't seem to think it was any big deal. All of Shadow had a population of maybe fifty people. I knew the other cities nearby were larger, but I never imagined Torv being so densely populated. “I suppose it takes some getting used to.” She gestured over to a young girl who couldn't have been any older than I was. “Zarrah, have a seat.” She made room at the table. “This is my daughter, Zarrah. Zarrah, this is Jaxon, Olivia, Joshua, and Elsa.”
Zarrah smiled faintly, giving us a weak nod. She had the same dark hair and eyes as her mother. “Glad you're back, Mom.” She kissed her cheek. “Dad wants to know if you're planning on leaving for Shadow again.”
Chloe glanced at me before returning her attention to Zarrah. “Tell him, he can ask me himself.”
Zarrah sighed, “He said he couldn't do that right now, since you've got company.” She gestured towards us.
“It's okay. If you need to go speak with your husband,” I said, “we can wait here or he can come over. We'll make room,” I offered, trying my best to be polite. I didn't quite feel it appropriate to ask any personal questions, certainly not with her daughter at the table.
Joshua nudged me under the table, his knee intentionally brushing mine.
What? I asked without moving my lips.
I don't want you to panic but I think I see your father. Joshua hadn't stopped staring towards the right, in the direction Zarrah had come from. I shifted, catching where Joshua's gaze was, and looked over, seeing an older gentleman with the blackest hair and the brownest eyes staring over at us. Even more than a decade later, he'd barely changed.
I shook my head no, in denial. It couldn't be him. He was dead. I was certai
n he was dead. My mother had buried him, at least I thought she had. I could still remember the funeral as though it were yesterday. Could he have another brother? I sat frozen as he slowly walked closer, and the room seemed to spin with his movements. As he approached I saw how tall he was, just as my father had been, slightly over six-foot. The resemblance was more than uncanny. I didn't want it to be my father; knowing he was alive meant the worst thing possible. He wasn't the man I believed in all those years. One hand held my fork, the other reached down, gripping Joshua's thigh as I tried not to tremble. I was not ready for this.
I'm not going anywhere. I was thankful that I could hear his thoughts, know he spoke the truth and that it was something only we shared together. I gave the faintest of nods and quickly averted my eyes, but it was too late. He now stood to the right of Zarrah and fast approached us.
My breath caught in my throat, and I dropped my fork. It would have clashed loudly had the room not been pure chaos. Each moment seemed to last a lifetime and all I could think was what I would say to a man I thought had died more than a decade ago.
His eyes never left mine and even as I tried to look away, I could feel his intense gaze. He stopped and paused as he reached Chloe, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. She turned around surprised and then relieved. “Oh good, you're here.” Chloe turned back towards us. “This is my husband, Gavin.” Staring up at him, I felt a chill course through my body as I stared into his eyes. They were darker than I remembered.
“I know,” I nodded. My eyes narrowed, and my hand grabbed the fork, stabbing the meat on my plate before shoving it into my mouth.
Zarrah frowned, glancing at her father, and then at me. “What does she mean, she knows?” Zarrah questioned, half forgetting I sat across from them.
Gavin sighed, resting his hands on his wife's shoulders as he stood behind her. “Olivia is my daughter.”