“Whoa.” He follows me onto the elevator. “That’s not what this is at all.”
“Really? What is this, then? Because you’re still keeping things from me.”
He reaches past me and hits Floor 30, then grabs me by the shoulders and presses his lips against mine. I push him off and the elevator doors slide open, offering me an escape.
“See,” I say, leaving him behind on the elevator, “this is what I’m talking about.”
“What?” Evan asks. “I’m not allowed to kiss you anymore? Do you think I’m going to woo you into blindly following my plan to bring down the dome? No offense, but I don’t think anyone can charm you into submission.”
“What is it you want from me? Be honest for once, and tell me.”
“I want you.” Evan grabs my hand. “The rest I can do alone. I think I made it very clear in your room the other night that I really do want you. There were no people around to put on a show for, just me and you. Do you still think I have an ulterior motive?”
I don’t answer, unable to stop the doubt from gnawing away at the edges of my thoughts.
“I trust you.” Evan puts a finger to my chin and lifts my face up to his. “Now, you can start to trust me and join me this afternoon, or you can go back to the lab. Your choice.”
“Can I hear the plan first?”
“Okay, but hear me out all the way. I am going to the Engineering cafeteria, next. The cafeterias trade specialty dishes, and today is Sophie’s turn to trade one with Engineering. We will drop off the food, and get out. That simple.”
“But why are you really going?” I sift through his half-truth.
“To get an ID card,” Evan says.
I purse my lips and swallow. “Okay, let’s do it.”
Sophie is waiting for us behind the counter. “Put these on.” She shoves an apron at each of us. She leaves us with two trolleys, loaded with boxes. I have no idea what’s in them, but they’re light.
I follow Evan onto the elevator. “Do I need to be ready to run?”
“Trust me, Greyes.” He winks.
We get off the elevator at Floor 90, and I see the layout is the same as ours, 60 floors below. I laugh at myself for thinking way up here might be different. Every floor must be designed with the same efficiencies.
We wheel the trolleys to the cafeteria line and wait for the Head Cook. The cafeteria is pretty empty, aside from a small table of people. Sitting at the head of the table is Matthews, the Order member from last night. He makes eye contact with me for a second, then does a double take and looks back. I can tell he’s trying to place me.
“Ah!” The Head Cook for Floor 90 comes out from the back. “You’ve brought me Sophie’s delicious lefsa! I can never get this recipe correct. Tell her, thank you so much. I will send some of my staff down with my delicious mozza balls later.”
“Sounds good.” Evan shakes the Head Cook’s hand.
We turn to go and I keep my head down, hoping to get out of here unscathed.
“Hey,” Matthews calls over from his table. “You two. Come here.”
Evan stops in front of me and points his thumb to his chest. “Are you talking to me?”
I hold my breath, and slowly turn toward Matthews. I have a bad feeling about this.
“Haven’t I seen you two before?” he asks.
“You met us last night,” Evan says.
Matthews gets up from his table, blocking our path to the elevators. He crosses his arms in front of his chest and narrows his eyes at us.
“No.” Matthews shakes his head. “I’m sure I’ve seen you somewhere else.” He points to Evan. “Hey, you’re the Out—”
Before Matthews can finish, Evan knocks him to the ground. I freeze as they tussle—Evan on top of Matthews. A few of the Engineers run over and pull Evan off, and Matthews back to his feet. When they do, I notice Matthews’ eye is starting to swell.
“You’re going to pay for this!” Matthews screams at Evan.
“It’s worth it,” Evan says. A hint of vengeance twitches at the sides of his mouth.
The elevator doors open, and other Order members come running out. They grab Evan and me, before commanding the Engineers go back to their lunch tables.
“Damn Outsider.” Matthews spits at Evan. “You thought you were so smart, getting yourself out of B2. Well, guess what, you’re going straight back there—you and your pretty little girlfriend.”
The hair on the back of my neck rises. What was Evan thinking? We’re in a completely different section of the dome, away from all of our friends. Will they even know what happened to us, or will we end up like the others—missing?
“It’s a citation,” Roe says, stepping off the elevator, “not a trip to detainment.”
“Ma’am,” the Order members say, standing up straight and saluting.
“Ma’am,” Matthews interrupts, “he assaulted an Order member.”
Roe peers closely at Matthews’ face and tilts her head. “Looks like he did a good job of it.”
“Ma’am—” Matthews begins with a whine.
“Listen, Matthews,” Roe says sternly. “I’m aware of your position, but this isn’t a playground for you to air your dirty laundry. I understand you two have a history. You were one of the officers assigned to Evan’s original detainment here, correct?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Matthews says, smirking at Evan.
“Then I’d say you’re square,” Roe says curtly.
“Square!” Matthews moans. “He attacked me in public. I have witnesses.”
“Let it go, Matthews,” Roe says. “He’s getting a citation. I don’t want another peep out of you two over this. Got it?” She points her finger back and forth between Matthews and Evan.
“Got it.” Evan shrugs off the hands of the Order member. Mine lets go of me.
“Got it,” Matthews grumbles.
“Good,” Roe says. “Matthews, back to work.” She turns toward us. “You two, come with me, and I don’t want to see either of you back up on Floor 90 again.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I agree.
On the elevator, I turn to Evan. “What were you thinking?”
“It was payback,” he says without making eye contact.
“I’m not impressed.” Roe looks down her nose at him. “I don’t have time to babysit and monitor your every move in this dome, do you understand?”
“Are you impressed now?” Evan blocks the camera and flashes us an ID card.
I gasp. “Did that say Engineering?”
“I took advantage of the situation,” he explains. “When the Engineers ran over to help their Order member, I reached over and pulled this off one of them.”
“I am impressed.” She nods, offering nothing more than a half-smile. “Now report to Mrs. Watson.”
“Then back to the lab?” he asks.
“No. You have some toilets to scrub to pay off that citation.” The smile grows across her face.
“What!” Evan exclaims. “Can’t you make it go away?”
“I’m too busy for that.” She laughs. “Plus, we have to make it look like you were punished. I’ve got a last-minute expedition to plan. We go out in the morning.”
My stomach twists. I didn’t know we’d be going out again so soon. Will I find out my mother’s secret tomorrow?
CHAPTER 25
The next morning the lab is chaotic with packing. Excitement is thick in the air for another day outside the dome, and everyone keeps bumping into one another as they scramble to make sure nothing is missed.
I don’t run around with the rest of them. Roe pulled Evan and I into her office as soon as we arrive, and advised us that we will be assigned to monitor the perimeter, like the first time, giving us the opportunity to look for my mother’s files. I’m excited to be alone with Evan, but I can’t seem to make my nerves relax. Today is the day I can carry out my mother’s wishes.
Evan seems to have his ne
rves under control; he’s upbeat, despite his night of manual labor. He bustles about from person to person, helping each get ready. How long has he been preparing for this opportunity?
As the trucks get ready to roll out, Evan slides in the back, next to me. Having his body close to mine helps me relax.
“I was thinking,” He waves his hands around. “We need a shovel and a box. We don’t know what we’re going to find.”
“Won’t we look suspicious walking off with a box and shovel?”
Evan nods. “I thought of that, too. There’s a lot of time to think when you’re scrubbing toilets. I’ve got a good idea for a cover. Trust me.”
“Only if you promise not to tackle anyone out there.” I nudge his shoulder.
“Not even you.” He glances sideways at me, grabbing my hand.
I lean against the back of the truck. If that was my only concern, I’d be fine. Nervousness trickles through my limbs, making my knee bounce. When we find my mother’s proof, what happens when we get back? How much time will I have to convince Evan not to destroy the dome?
We drive past the first site we’d visited, but this time turning to the right. Here, we skirt around the base of the hill instead of driving up it, and park near the other side of the forest.
“Okay, team,” Roe says, climbing out of the truck. “I want to focus on collection from the forest floor. Bio wants us to gather some mossier forms of vegetation. Evan and Nat, can you survey the area? Report back by lunch.”
“We need a box and a shovel,” Evan states.
Waldorf, standing across the truck from us, wrinkles his brows together. My breath catches in my throat, waiting for someone to uncover our plan.
“Tassie asked us to gather some flowers from the meadow, seeing as she missed it last time,” Evan explains. Waldorf shrugs and goes back to unloading, his expedition scarf hanging loose in front of him.
“Of course,” Roe says. “But only one box. This isn’t a trip to feed everyone’s fancies.”
Evan grabs a shovel and hands the box to me. We start our trek up the hill. It’s rockier on this side, but thankfully, it’s not steep.
“What is the land like between here and your dome?” I ask Evan. This is something I’ve been curious about. More so since I realized he’s going to be making the trek back after we destroy the virus in my dome.
“Pretty much like this.” Evan gestures around us. “Maybe a little hillier in some parts, a few more trees in others.”
“I don’t like the desert around the dome,” I say. “Maybe it’s because that’s all I’ve stared at my entire life. I wish I could see more of this stuff.”
Evan holds his hand out to me. “Come with me. You’d love it. The farms we’ve established around our dome have helped with terraforming the earth. It’s full of fields of different crops. Some, we left in the dome of course, to protect them, just in case.”
Was leaving a possibility? I’d just come to terms with moving outside the dome. But completely leaving everything I know. It was a lot to think about.
“I’d like to see us develop the outside,” I say.
“You will,” Evan says. “It takes time. I understand why people are afraid of change. I mean, our dome isn’t perfect. There are a lot of things we still do that don’t make sense to me. But that’s society. It takes time to implement change.”
“Look.” I reach the top of the hill. “We’re here.”
In front of us is the large meadow, nestled in its half circle of hills. The forest flanks it, to our right. I look down to see if I can find some marker that matches my mother’s map, but all I can see is a meadow.
“This will be harder than I thought,” Evan says. “But we only have until lunch before Roe has to send people after us, so let’s get looking.”
I walk down the hill into the meadow. Evan is far ahead of me. “I don’t understand,” he shouts back. “It should be in this general area. There’s nothing here—what are we supposed to do, start digging?”
Everything around us is tall and wild. What did my mother see? What stood out to her? I try to think about what she saw on the day she died; the day she chose her hiding place. That fateful day nine years ago. Then I realize something that answers my question.
“Evan!” I call out. “Evan, come here!”
He runs over to me. “What’s up,” he asks, out of breath.
“I think I figured it out. It was my birthday. The day my parents died. Well, my birthday was over a month ago.”
“I don’t get it.” Evan looks confused.
“The flowers.” I spread my arms. “They weren’t in bloom—my mother would have been able to see more of the ground. Those are terrain maps, right? They would have marked everything on the ground that stood out, rocks, logs, and whatever.”
“We need to canvass the area,” he says. “Here, hold my hand.”
He takes my hand in his and we begin walking around the meadow, making rows as we travel. We cover a good section where we think the “X” might land, but after an hour we take a break.
“I brought you this from the cafeteria.” He hands me an apple as we sit in the grass. “I know how much you love your fruit.”
“Thanks.” I take the bright red fruit and roll it in my hands. “Did you grow up with lots of fruit?”
“Nothing as perfect-looking as yours. We started to grow things organically, without any outside influences. They come out a little spottier and less hardy, but once the dome came down, we had to rely more on nature.”
“I didn’t get to eat much fruit while I was growing up. We were rationed in the apartment districts. One fruit, per week, per person. Sometimes Jak would sneak me some of his. Where he lived, extra rations came three times a week.”
“That’s terrible. People who live in better areas get better food more often? Even more reason to bring this place down.”
“It really wasn’t that bad,” I say. “I knew we were different, but didn’t think much about the divide. It wasn’t until I went to Jak’s ceremony that I saw how much more they get.”
“Jak was a good friend to you, wasn’t he?” Evan asks, fidgeting with his apple.
“He was. He always looked after me. But in the end, he was the one who had them bring me to the Axis.”
“Is that such a bad thing?”
It wasn’t my choice, that’s what makes it bad. After my parents died, I made it my mission to make sure things that happened to me were my choice. Jak took that away from me, when it came to my contribution assignment. I sit in silence, unable to answer Evan’s question.
“If he hadn’t, we may have never been able to do this.” He runs his fingers across mine and leans over, brushing his lips along my neck. I reach up and entwine my fingers in his hair, as his kisses reach my lips, and move over to the opposite side of my neck. A small moan escapes my lips, and I open my eyes. A dark object sits in the grass behind Evan. My heart jumps in excitement and I push him away.
“What happened?” Evan says with disappointment.
“Look! Behind you. I think we found it.”
Evan rolls over and looks behind him. “I can’t believe it!”
He stands up and grabs the shovel and we run over to an old rotted log, decomposing amongst the grass. I nudge it with my foot and its fragile exterior caves in where I make contact.
“Where should we start digging?” Evan asks.
“I don’t think we need to,” I say. “I keep thinking about what my mother saw that day. She didn’t plan to hide this stuff. It just happened. She probably didn’t have a shovel, right? She found the next best thing.”
“The log,” Evan says, agreeing. He begins to push the log out of the way. Parts of it crumble in his hands, while other pieces are easy to push back. As the log breaks apart, it reveals a metal box.
I drop to my knees and grab the box with both hands. It shakes in my grasp. Evan puts his hands over mine, and I look up at him
through blurry eyes as a tear escapes down my cheek.
He wipes it away. “It’s okay, Nat. You can do it.”
I slowly open the lid, which has rusted over, just as its surface deteriorated on the outside. As the lid lifts, my heart drops into the pit of my stomach.
“It’s ... empty,” my voice escapes in a whisper. “I can’t believe it. Where are the files? Where’s the proof?”
I look up at Evan, and he grabs the box from my hands, staring at it in disbelief. “It can’t be,” he says, shaking his head. “Maybe this is the wrong box?”
My head spins. All this build up for what? Nothing. If we can’t prove what my mother found, we can’t bring down the Director. Her death was for nothing.
Then I see it. I see the truth. It’s standing up on the hilltop watching us. His glasses and long scarf give him away. I jump out of the grass and lose all self-control.
“What did you do?” I scream at the top of my lungs. “What did you do to her?”
Waldorf stares at me from afar. I start running towards him but he disappears down the other side of the hill. Evan catches me before I reach the hilltop.
“Don’t stop me.” I push Evan away as he tries to reach for me. “It was him. Can’t you see? He took everything. He is the traitor.”
“Wait!”
“No!” I scream at Evan and break into a run, chasing after Waldorf. He’s much older than me, but I have to climb the hill to reach him, so I’m farther away than I’d hoped. I can see him far below, talking to Roe and packing up a vehicle. By the time I get to the bottom of the hill on the other side, Waldorf, Roe, and Mr. Richards are driving away.
Evan comes up behind me and I am about to yell at him again but instead I collapse in to his arms, sobbing. Defeat overtakes me. Mrs. Richards and Cardinal come running out of the forest, and I quickly let go of Evan and wipe my face.
“Where’s the other vehicle?” Mrs. Richards asks warily. “And my husband?”
“Waldorf,” Evan says.
“Oh dear,” Cardinal nods. “I guess we’ll find out now if he ever truly believed in the cause.”
CHAPTER 26
There Once Were Stars Page 18