“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” Bolton rubbed Faith’s back.
“We are fine.” We were physically, although that did not mean I was ready to put my guard down. “What about you?”
“Yes. They put me to work.” He spread out his arms. “As you can see.”
“On weapons. What happened to the orchard?” I adjusted Faith on my hip.
“They thought I’d be more useful here.”
I nodded, realizing that it was where he probably thought he’d have a better chance of protecting us. “I understand.”
“I’m going to get us out of here,” He whispered. “You can count on me.”
“I just wish I had a better understanding of where here is.” I leaned into him. “We still don’t know.”
“So you knew whether Mason could find you?” Bolton raised an eyebrow.
“And so I know what they want with us. Have you found anything?” I kept my voice as low as possible, completely aware that we were still being watched.
“Nothing yet. But I will.” He tickled Faith and she burst into giggles. He had the ability to make her laugh when no one else could.
“I can’t imagine things are as happy here as everyone pretends.” So far everyone we had talked to on our tour spoke of the Glen with reverence. Everyone wore smiles and seemed to enjoy their work or activities.
“I guess anything is good compared to the alternative.”
“True. Or they have really good drugs in the water.”
“Yeah… It took me a while to wake up from what they dosed us with.”
“Same. I am so relieved they didn’t give too much to the girls.” I brushed some hair from Faith’s face. “At least I don’t think so.”
“I gave them quite a mouthful about that.”
He grinned. “I bet.”
“Kayla, it’s time,” Clayton called from directly behind me.
“I’ll find you soon,” Bolton promised as Clayton led us away.
I took a glance back at him over my shoulder on our way out.
“Are you finally ready to start trusting me?” Clayton handed me a cup of water as I walked out of the fields. I no longer worried about what he put in my drinks and food. As far as I knew, the use of the drugs had been a one-time thing. That didn’t mean I’d forgiven him for it.
“What makes you think I will ever trust you?” The sun was on its way down and a cool breeze made it feel more like winter than fall.
“You’ve been here close to a year, Kayla.” He watched me intently. “That’s a long time.”
“We are only here because you will not let us leave.” We’d searched for a way out, but there was none. The only opening was back through the water, but that wasn’t a real exit plan.
“Oh, is that so?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. You gave us no choice.”
“And where would you have gone?” He rested his chin on his hand.
“I don’t know. You know that.” And I hated that he was wasting my time when he already knew the answers to his questions.
“Exactly. So don’t act like you are a prisoner.”
But I could do the same thing if he wanted to play things that way. Faith was safe with Quinn. I had a few minutes to spare. “If we wanted to leave would you let us?”
“Let your children venture out into danger?” He frowned. “You know I couldn’t allow that.”
“Exactly. We can’t leave.”
“You have nowhere to go. It’s time you learn to be happy here. What we are doing here is important. Don’t you want things to change?”
“I still don’t understand the need to separate children from their families by age ten. It makes no sense.”
“It makes lots of sense. Traditionally many groups have sent their children away for schooling.”
“But this isn’t for schooling.” I didn’t know why Clayton wasted his time trying to convince me of his ways. He was never going to change my mind.
“One day Faith will have to move over to the girls’ dormitory.”
I shook my head. “We will leave before then.”
“Yes. To go out to the unknown. Yet you know she is safe here. Your hesitation is selfish.”
“Selfish?” I slammed the water down on the wooden fence separating the fields from the pathway. “How dare you call me selfish? Everything I do is for Faith.”
“Yet in your heart, you understand her best chance for survival is here. This has nothing to do with you being a good mother or not. This is bigger than you.”
“This is bigger than Faith, isn’t that what you want to say? That the greater good is more important.”
“No.” He shook his head. “That’s not what I’m going to say. This way she gets an education. She gets a chance to interact with peers. To develop a healthy independence so she will be ready to start a family if she is able.”
“She needs me.”
“Right now, yes. She is still very young. I am not trying to take her away from you.”
“You are. You limit all interaction between parents and children once they move over.”
“It’s to make the separation easier on everyone. You know that.”
“I don’t know that at all. It’s what you say.”
“I know full well how hard it is to have a child taken from you, but it is nowhere near as hard if you know the child is safe and cared for. We are the only place of our kind. The only chance our species has for survival.”
“That’s not true.” I thought about Mason’s mission. About the reason he’d missed so much of Faith’s early years already. “There is a cure on the other side of the wall.”
“Then why hasn’t it been brought in here?” His eyes were kind, but I didn’t care. He only wanted me to hear what he wanted me to hear. “After so much time?”
“Because Central hasn’t allowed it. They put up the wall…”
“And what makes you think they will ever allow it? Or whether the rumors are true? We need to focus on the truth. What we can actually do.”
“How is it that so many children end up here? There were only a few in the beginning, but there are more every few months.”
“I have scouts scouring the country. I only wish we could have found you that way instead of you having to suffer so much ahead of time.”
“I wish I could trust you.”
“You can.” He put his hands on my shoulders. “Let yourself. Quinn does.”
I shook my head. “She doesn’t trust you, but she sees that Bailey is happy.”
“And Faith is happy too.”
“Faith is too young to know what happiness is.”
“Do you even know what happiness is?” He rested a hand on the fence. “Even when the opportunity is right in front of you?” He looked at something over my head. I turned to see Bolton heading down the path toward us. “I urge you to give the Glen a chance. Has anything bad befallen you in the past year?”
“No,” I admitted.
“Then let that guide you for the next year.” He smiled before walking away. “Hello, Bolton. Beautiful evening.” He walked off, leaving Bolton and me alone.
“You worked late tonight.” Bolton brushed some dirt off the sleeve of my dress.
“So did you. And you are taking the long way around to the men’s house?”
“I was hoping to find you here.”
“I’m nothing if not predictable.” This wasn’t the first time Bolton had surprised me this way. I never minded the visits.
“When Faith is with Quinn. Otherwise you’d long before gone home.”
“True. But Quinn always gets off earlier on these nights.”
“She does. Because Maverick does.” Bolton shrugged. “Think that’s a coincidence?”
“One day she’ll stop fighting herself.”
“The same could be said to you.”
“Bolton—”
“Don’t even start. That’s why I’m here,” he interrupted before I could finish my thoug
ht.
“Oh?”
He cleared his throat. Something he only did when he was nervous. That made me nervous. “I wanted you to know I’ve agreed to put myself into the mating pool.”
“Oh?” I tried to ignore the lump in my throat.
“Oh? Is that all you have to say?”
“If it’s what you want. Do it. I mean just know I might still leave. Just because you decide to stay doesn’t mean I have to,” I struggled to string words together in a coherent fashion. His statement had taken me by surprise. I’d always assumed he’d leave with us when we did. That was my fault. I never should have started to rely on him.
“You aren’t leaving, and neither am I. We both know that. If we were going to leave we would have done it months ago. Do you want me to wait another few months? I can do that if you want me to. You know that.”
“No. There’s no reason to do that. As I said, I’m free to make my own decisions about leaving or staying.”
“There’s no other reason you’d want me to put it off?” He looked deep into my eyes.
“No. You know I gave my heart to Mason a long time ago.”
“And I think it’s time I listen.” Bolton frowned. “But know I’ll always be here for you and Faith. No matter what happens.”
“I wish you the best.” And I did, even if the lump in my throat was growing bigger by the second.
“This isn’t goodbye, Kayla. We will always be friends. Didn’t you hear what I said?”
“I need to go. Faith is waiting.” I ran off back toward the unmatched women’s area. I refused to let Bolton see the tears I knew were building behind my eyes.
Faith
“Hi.” One of the young men—the one with jet black hair and the smirk, the one I’d noticed right away- walked over.
“Hi.” I glanced around for Bailey. She’d accepted a dance with one of the other men. Making polite conversation for a few minutes was one thing. Doing more than that was a whole one another.
“I’m Artum.” He held out his hand.
I looked at it for a moment. It was calloused. Much like mine. I accepted his outstretched hand. “Faith.”
“Hi, Faith. Interesting name. Not one I’ve heard much.”
“How many girls names have you heard?” I was only half teasing. Maybe he knew more girls than I did. I couldn’t even remember what life was like outside the Glen.
He laughed. “Good point. I suppose considering how few of us there are left it’s a good thing they’ve managed to be unique when it comes to names.”
“Did you want to come here tonight?” I sipped the sweet bubbly drink Bailey had shoved in my hand. It was purple, and I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know what was in it.
“Wow. I wasn’t expecting that question.”
“Well, did you?” I hated when people tiptoed around questions by trying to change the subject. But maybe that wasn’t what he was doing. I waited. Hoping he proved me wrong.
“Yes. I did. Didn’t you?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Not at all.” If he only knew how much I’d fought against attending.
He took a sip from his purple drink. By his facial expression he wasn’t enjoying it any more than I was. “You want to stay in the Glen forever?”
“No. Not a day more than I have to. Which is why I’m here.”
“I see.” He put his hand inside his jacket pocket.
“Know of any other ways out of here?” I glanced around again for Bailey. She was still out there twirling around. I often wondered why we were so different. My Aunt Quinn certainty wasn’t like that—at least not the parts of her I remembered. And neither was my mother. But maybe as children they had been. They never talked about their childhoods aside from talking about my grandparents.
“No. Sorry. But is pairing off and starting a family unit really such a bad option?” He seemed to have a real question in his eyes.
“For me? Yes. I haven’t ever lived on my own. I want the time to experience that.” Maybe that made me selfish—I understood how much was at stake and that each of us was expected to do what we could, but I didn’t want that. At least not yet.
He nodded. “I understand that.”
“You do?” I set my mostly untouched cup down on a long thin table.
“Why do you seem surprised?”
I shrugged. “I’m not used to people understanding.”
“Not even your friend?” He nodded toward Bailey. “I’ve seen you two around.”
“You have? They’ve never let us see you. They kept us completely separate from the boys growing up. It was one of those rules they refused to break, just as they refused to let us see our parents again until we paired off.”
“I didn’t say they let us do anything.” He winked.
“Oh. You are a rule breaker?” Maybe this guy wasn’t so bad after all. It wasn’t that I idolized rebels, but I had no time for someone who blindly followed others.
“Of course. Aren’t you?”
“I wish I were.” I eyed my cup. I didn’t want more of the drink, but holding the cup had given me something to do with my hands.
“You can be.”
“She’s my cousin.” I don’t know why I told him that. But I did. I was hit by the need to share everything with him I could.
“Cousin? Huh? That must have been something. Growing up together.”
“She’s like a sister—or how I would think that would be. Our mothers are sisters.”
“Rare family.”
“We are.” Lucky too. No one really believed our story, the lengths our mothers went to protect us. “What about you?”
“Oh. Well, I was created the traditional way if that’s what you mean.” He waggled an eyebrow. “But my mom and I were brought to Central.”
“Did you escape before or after the fall?”
“After.” His voice fell a little.
“I was born before but was never in it. My cousin was.” Bailey didn’t remember her time in Central consciously, but she was still plagued by nightmares where she was all alone in a dark room. We both were pretty sure those were some sort of repressed memories.
“The worst of humanity comes out in times of crisis.”
“The worst of humanity always comes out.” The good got squashed as soon as it tried to rear its head.
“Not always. There is always some good in the world.”
“You are far more optimistic than I am. You should talk to Bailey instead of me.” I watched as she spun around, a huge grin on her face. I couldn’t imagine ever being that happy and carefree.
“But I want to talk to you.” He turned so his back was to the dance floor.
“Why?” I clasped my elbow with my other hand. Why was it so hard to figure out what to do with my hands?
“Why do we ever want to do anything?” He was so calm. Unlike me, he wasn’t fidgeting.
“I don’t know.” I took a deep breath. I was being ridiculous. This was just a man. An attractive one who actually had a sense of humor, but that didn’t change anything. A few more hours and the ball would be over. Then I just had to survive without Bailey until I aged out of the Glen. I could do it.
“I mean some things can’t be explained. You just have this way about you. Like you are above it all. Like you can see things no one else can.” His eyes looked into mine—really into mine, like he was trying to see inside of me. I tried to look away, but I couldn’t.
“In other words, because I’m jaded.”
He laughed again. He had a nice laugh. It was deep and comforting. “You aren’t jaded. You are real.”
“And is there a difference between those two things?” Maybe I couldn’t pull my eyes away, but I could talk. I wasn’t becoming completely useless.
“A big difference.”
“Would you like to—"
I didn’t let him finish his thought. “No. I don’t dance.”
“What makes you think I was going to ask you to dance?” He inclined his head to
the side.
“What else would you have been asking?” I felt a strange emotion. Embarrassment. What did I care if I got that wrong?
“I was going to ask if you wanted to take a walk.”
I searched his face. Was he merely making an excuse? “In the dark?”
“Yes. Are you afraid of walking in the dark?” His lips twisted into a smile.
“Not generally.” I wasn’t afraid of the dark. But was I afraid of walking in the dark with him?
“We can bring a chaperone.” He nodded in the direction of the crowd.
“We will have to bring a chaperone.” There was no way they’d let us outside of the building alone.
“True enough. We probably will have to. Or we’ll be told to. Doesn’t mean we have to.”
“Are you suggesting we sneak out of here?” I took one step back.
“Are you ready to admit you have a rebel side?” He raised an eyebrow.
“No.” I shook my head.
“So, I should find a chaperone?”
“No. That won’t be necessary.” What had I just agreed to?
Maverick
Maybe I’d been good at following orders and keeping my mouth shut while at Central, but everything had changed now. It had changed the moment I met Quinn, and as the months became years, it was increasingly harder for me to even remember the man I was before.
Yet here I was. Keeping my mouth shut and following orders. The alternative was far worse. If I was thrown out of the Glen I’d never seen Quinn and Bailey again.
Bolton had struggled at first too. He was nearly thrown out our second night there, but Clayton had talked him down with a promise we’d see the girls soon and that they were safe. Other men had also taken his weapons. Bolton was right. The weapons they had put ours to shame. Neither of us knew whether we could trust his promises at all, but with no other alternatives, we clung to them.
As the months moved on, so too did Bolton. Kayla didn’t say much when he married just a few short months after putting his name in the mating pool. The marriage was pushed forward quickly when his eventual wife got pregnant. Unfortunately, she lost the baby, but they had hope that they would get a second chance. Either way, he was a lucky man, and although I wasn’t sure he would ever fully get over Kayla, he seemed happy.
The Corded Saga Page 44