by Jody Klaire
Suz flicked her eyes to the guy. He pulled open the door to the car. “They’ll know, won’t they?”
He shook his head. “Delivered a slave.”
She gripped Frei by the shoulders. Held on. “I love you.”
“Stay safe. Listen to him.” Frei pulled back. If she cried, they’d know. They would see the redness. Huber was risking so much.
Suz climbed into the back of the car. The guy threw a blanket over her. He turned. Frei hurled the razor. He caught it as deftly as she had.
“Keep her safe.”
He nodded and got in. She turned and slipped out of the garage. She didn’t want to watch Suz leave. She needed to cover their tracks. She snuck back along the same route, back up the stairs, past the monitor, into her room. She stared at Suz’s bed. Empty.
Frei looked out of the window, Jäger was wandering down from the principal’s place. He had some woman under his arm. One of the newer staff members. He would charm her. He did it often.
The woman under his arm didn’t have a clue that when he was bored of her, she’d see his other moods. She shuddered. She heard the crying sometimes, the pleading, the screams. He liked ones “full of fight.” She’d heard him bragging to the principal. They’d share a laugh over it.
Jäger wouldn’t get his hands on Suz, neither would Crespo. She smiled. It would be worth seeing the smarmy grin wiped off his face.
Chapter 15
I DIDN’T KNOW why the sight of Renee spooked me. I knew I’d jumped. Maybe I hadn’t felt her ’cause my dad’s emotions had put us inside our own bubble?
I hoped she hadn’t heard me being dumb.
My dad had hugged Renee. He’d said something to her, which I guessed was sweet by the smile she gave him, and walked off.
I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears. I shoved my hands in my pockets, feeling guilty . . . of what I wasn’t sure.
“You ready to go?” Renee had our bags and strolled down the stairs with a twinkle in her eyes.
“He’s sappy,” I mumbled, rubbing the tears away. I could feel the metal plate in my pocket and rubbed my thumb over it. “Inherited trait.”
Renee stood there, looking up at me. I couldn’t meet her eyes so I picked the paper my dad had given me off the table.
“You should be in charge of the list.” I shoved it at her to stop her staring. “He has connections in a lot of places.”
She cocked her head.
I rubbed at my eyes again. My heart pounded harder. I tapped the list, hoping she’d quit looking at me like that. “Should help if we need a friendly face.”
Renee handed me the bags and took the list. “There’s nothing wrong with being sweet. He’s your father.”
Maybe she hadn’t heard the whole bit about her? She’d have thought I was crazier than she already did. I said some dumb stuff around her, I knew that. She was probably used to it. She was kind about it but I still felt dumb.
I turned and headed out of the door into the cool morning air. Mrs. Squirrel was bouncing off toward the forest. The river was lazily rolling on by. I could smell dew, pine, and the lingering scent of my dad’s aftershave.
“I’m here if you want to talk,” Renee said, flipping the trunk so I could stash the bags. It wasn’t her own car but a different one. I hadn’t even seen it being delivered.
“Like you talk to me?” I tensed. That wasn’t what I meant. I rubbed my hand over the back of my neck. Why was I so on edge?
“Like I should talk to you.” Renee touched the small of my back, leaned up to pull the trunk shut, and kissed me on the cheek.
I turned to take in the cabin once more, memorizing the details, filling my heart and head with every bit of love and light I could. The tears stung my eyes. My cheeks itched with the trail of them. I felt overloaded.
“Offer is there.” Renee opened her door and I got into the passenger side. I caught my mother watching on from an upstairs window. She didn’t do goodbyes but then I was starting to understand why. The fidgety feeling wriggled up and I snapped my eyes to the front. My sisters would be up soon. It was better I just ripped off the Band-Aid and leave.
“Are we gettin’ on the road or not?” My voice sounded a mix of cross and desperate. I rubbed at my eyes again. What was the matter with me?
“Yes, ma’am.” Renee was being good natured about my wobble. She pulled down the long road away from the cabin. I looked at the fields swaying in the sun. Fields tall with gold between huge trees on either side, entwining overhead. Trees ablaze with the radiance of autumn, the black top covered in their jewels.
“I ain’t mad at you.”
Renee reached over and squeezed my knee. “I know.”
“It’s harder to leave than I figured.”
Renee kept her hand steady. A comforting warm presence. “I know.”
The pole that Sam had driven Renee into came into view. It had been replaced now but the hurt hadn’t gone nowhere. “You could have been hurt if I’d been guilty.”
Renee pulled out onto the main road into town. “You weren’t. I trusted you.”
“Knowin’ all you went through with Yannick, knowing how you suffered, I don’t know how you found the faith.” My eyes sprung a leak again. How could I be angry at her shielding herself? She’d held onto me when her own fears, doubts, and scars must have been tearing at her to run. “Means a lot.”
Renee slowed the car as we reached the police station. Oppidum was empty, apart from a few farmers this early. “You’d have done the same for me.”
I would have. That was guaranteed. “I don’t regret taking that pain from you.” I sighed. “Probably means I won’t ever be able to heal somebody again.”
“Ursula will be fine,” she said as if she could read my thoughts. “You won’t need to.”
I hoped so. My burdens had been dimmed to teach me a lesson but I couldn’t regret helping anyone, I just couldn’t.
Yes, I’d interfered; yes, I knew that it couldn’t happen unless someone asked me; but, I wasn’t sure how I could ever watch someone suffer and not want to help.
Which meant I wasn’t going to get my burdens back in full and that if Renee, if Frei, if anybody got hit around me, I wouldn’t be able to do anything but watch on and pray.
Chapter 16
FREI ROLLED ONTO her side and spat the blood out from her mouth. Her head ached. Her body was on fire. She was too sober for this. Way too sober.
“Miss Locks?”
She forced herself to open her stinging eyes. The swelling made it difficult so she offered her best attempt at a smile. Jessie needed her calm. It wouldn’t have been too bad if her split lip hadn’t cracked and wept more blood down her chin. It needed stitches.
Great.
Another scar for the road.
Jessie sat hunched above her.
Frei’s back protested. Stone floor maybe? It had to be hard and cold. Was she back in the cell? How? Another guard?
Her eyes flickered. Her sister appeared above her. Her sister? It couldn’t be but she dipped a sponge in some water. The coolness of it on her brow and the prickle around her body made her wince. Whatever the gas was, it was still working.
She blinked until the mirage of her sister faded and Jessie reappeared.
“Are you warm enough?” Jessie sat over her, coughing.
The smell of damp hung in the air.
“Do you have your inhaler?” Frei tried to fumble in her pocket but Jessie took her hand and held the inhaler up.
“Rationing.”
Frei pulled herself up. Her body screamed at her. She ran a shaky hand over her ribcage and groaned. At least three ribs cracked. She couldn’t remember when that had happened. Was it the door? She didn’t remember her lip being this gashed. “Did they hurt you?”
Jessie shook her head. Her terror glimmered through her wide eyes. Brave, foolhardy and just a kid. Frei sighed. Now who did that sound like?
Frei snuck down the hall and her stomach rumbled. Not because M
egan had enforced anything on them but just that she was so hungry. Her pants were getting too short for her. She’d have to ask Huber for new ones if this kept up. Most of the other kids her age were much taller than her. At her age, which she guessed was sixteen, the same as the year group, she was still as short as the kids several groups back. She was used to being small. Small meant it was easy to do her job.
“You sold her without my consent,” Huber snapped.
Frei pressed herself to the wall at Huber’s smoldering tone. He never touched her but he didn’t need to. His voice, his body language, his look was enough.
“I was doing what I thought was best.” Megan was pandering. What did he see in her? Apart from the short skirt and tops that showed enough to be indecent. Suz had a different term for it. She missed Suz. She’d heard rumors that she was stirring Jäger’s temper from hiding. That she’d send him postcards from places to wind him up. If she was doing that she was stupid but it sounded like Suz. She could never resist teasing.
Frei slid into the kitchen and watched through the gap. Megan knew she’d broken his rules. She was wearing next to nothing, complete with a pouting look and batting her eyelashes to appeal to him. Frei shook her head. Pathetic.
“I don’t have you here to think.” Huber’s tone was dangerous. He snaked his hand into Megan’s hair, yanking her to him. “Stick to what you’re good at.”
Megan ran her hands over his shoulders. Frei fought the urge to throw up. She’d never be like that. He didn’t love her. He didn’t even like her. Why would that be okay? She was just another slave. Maybe not in name but she had less respect from him than they did.
“You put me in charge of them. Suz failing would cost you too much.” She ran her hands through his hair. “She was trouble.”
Huber gripped her wrists. Megan tensed. “She wasn’t yours to sell.”
Megan didn’t fight. Didn’t protest. She stared at the floor instead. Frei shook her head. Yeah, Megan was just like any other slave.
“It won’t happen again, Megan.” Huber leaned in. “Your wiles won’t get you far if I lose my temper.”
“Why, is there someone else who catches your eye?” Megan turned. It was in the direction of the slave quarters. Frei leaned closer to the wall. Did she mean her sister? Had Huber been looking at her like the others? She frowned. He didn’t seem like he did. She’d never caught him looking at her sister with anything other than that distance.
“If there was, you wouldn’t be here, would you?” He dragged her back upstairs.
Frei rolled her eyes. Yeah, some temper.
She looked around the kitchen, her stomach drawing her attention to more important matters. Suz was free now. Jäger had gotten a visit from his pompous brother for his failure. She smirked at the memory. It was nice seeing him shake. She walked over to the refrigerator and picked the lock. Megan had a whole section of the best cuts of meat and salad for her dinner it seemed.
Frei pulled a plate out and took the entire tub. Huber would keep her busy for a while. Shame she’d have no dinner. Frei smirked. Payback was a bitch.
Frei shook off the hazy memory. Why was she getting sucked into them? The gas should have worn off by now. She looked up at the window high overhead. Lights outside it changed color.
Her eyes flickered again.
It was too high for them in her state. Climbing bare walls with Jessie on her back was not going to happen any time soon.
“I’m sorry,” Jessie managed as tears dribbled down her cheeks.
“Don’t be. Huddle close. Keep warm.” She winced at the pain in her jaw. When had she hit her jaw?
Jessie was slight and easily tucked herself into Frei’s arms and she pulled her jacket around them. She leaned against the damp wall as Jessie snuggled in and smiled as Jessie’s breathing calmed.
Aeron, Renee, and Lilia would find them. She knew they would. She just needed to keep Jessie calm until then.
Her eyes flickered again.
That’s if she could stay conscious long enough.
Chapter 17
RIVERSIDE WAS A mini-city or so Renee had told me. She was sure that it was gonna be as big as Kansas City someday. It felt like a city now. It was so noisy. Like I’d stumbled into a huge bee hive and Renee hadn’t been kidding about the traffic. The market was even more chaotic, which is where we pulled up first. There were more types of food than I’d ever seen in one place. People spoke in different accents, calling out to each other. The smell of fish felt so potent it could reach out and knock me clean off my feet any moment.
People were looking at me but they seemed too busy to do anything more. I found a patch in the sun next to the river and waited as Renee set about getting information from the stall owners. Most were besotted in seconds. Renee kinda had that ability. She’d had training in it, I figured.
Besotted or not, the deep frown on her face said that the stall owners didn’t have any answers.
“Nothing,” she muttered, slumping down beside me.
“Well, you did get some free produce and a date.” I nodded in the direction of one of the stall owners. Balding, wiry, and about fifty years too old for her.
Renee sighed. “Actually the free produce was only after a . . . successful date.”
The water in the dock area looked different from the main river swirling through. Industry had discolored it. Brown and mucky, the oily stench drifted up from it. It felt sad to see water that way but there was still a heartbeat in it.
The stink of fish made me sneeze and nearly knocked me backward. I reached into the jacket, looking for a handkerchief. Something was inside. I frowned and pulled it out. It was wrapped up in paper.
A lock?
“You’re not going in there so don’t even think about it.” Renee pulled me up and prodded me in the arm. “There’s an old joke about the Mississippi and there not having enough shots?” She looked at me as if expecting me to know. “That water looks about as clean.”
“I ain’t ever been to the Mississippi.” I shrugged and looked at the dock area and raised my eyebrows. I didn’t like to tell her there were a few folks lingering about who could have testified to that. Although maybe it wasn’t the kind of shot she was thinking of.
I was working on pretending I didn’t see the lingering folks. Well, not that I saw, more had a flicker in my mind’s eye and a swoosh of movement.
I didn’t think the former folks bought that I couldn’t spot them but they weren’t asking for my help. I guessed they figured I didn’t have much of a clue.
And . . . why’d I have a lock in my pocket?
“I know there’s something here,” I said, pulling out the lock from the paper.
Renee led me along a side alley. She looked exhausted. We’d been trawling the market for hours and no one had seen a thing.
“I believe you. Was there anything apart from a feeling?” She rubbed the bridge of her nose and pulled her hair out of her eyes.
Something moved in my peripheral vision again. I sighed. “Can you see anybody?”
Renee frowned. “The alley is empty.”
I motioned to the persistent presence off to my side. “Nothin’ that way?”
Renee looked in the direction and shook her head. “No . . . why?”
“Like you see Nan?”
She put her hands on her hips. “Aeron, I have seen enough strange transparent things in the last few hours to keep me terrified for a long time.” She sighed. “But no, there are no strange former people in the alley.”
“Then why can I see . . . ?” I turned to the movement. A flashed image pulsed through my mind. I shut my eyes. A little blonde girl with long hair waved at me. Like a flash, like when I saw things but somehow different. The girl screeched off, ducking between two stalls.
I sighed. “Great. I love running.”
I sprinted after her, opening and shutting my eyes to keep track of her. I could hear Renee following. My fear and confusion pulsed through me. I’d experien
ced some pretty “out there” things but this was yet another new one.
“Aeron, what is it?” Renee jogged alongside. It wasn’t hard to keep up with me running.
“It’s Ursula . . . as a kid.”
Renee gripped hold of my arm as I ducked around a corner. “She’s . . .”
“No.” I closed my eyes, spotting the girl. “If she was a spirit, you’d have seen her.”
“So what is it?” Renee pulled me upright as I clattered into a stack of fish.
“No idea.” I glanced at the river. “But right now, I ain’t arguing.”
The young Frei snuck up to a man talking at one of the stalls. I slowed and shut my eyes to watch her. She was real tiny. She didn’t even reach his waist.
“Aeron, what can you see?” Renee took my arm.
I pointed in the direction of the stall Frei was at. “Over there . . .”
“Is a dumpster.”
Huh? I really could see a stall. I could see the guy on it. I could see the guy browsing and I could see Frei stealing his wallet off him. “She was a real little thief. Mrs. Squirrel would be proud.”
Renee tutted. “Stealing is a felony. It’s nothing to smile about.”
I kept my eyes shut. Frei turned and sprinted off with her prize. Before Renee could launch into the value of morals and such, I dragged her with me. “She’s heading into that alley there.”
“There’s no alley, Aeron. It’s gated.”
I sighed, not daring to peek open an eye. Frei was fast and sneaky. I didn’t want to lose track of her. “Then I hope you ain’t too high and mighty to pick the lock.”
Renee muttered something under her breath about broad daylight and it being typical of Frei. “You’ll have to block people from seeing me.”
I dared a peek at the busy market. “How big do you think I am?”
Renee tugged me until I had to stick my hands out not to face plant into the gate. The lock in my hand clunked against the brick work.