The Unfavorable

by Samantha Ridenour

  “Good,” I continue. “We have just over seven miles to trek before we reach the Arbiter’s estate. Stay vigilant. I know most of the patrols and can guide us around them, but the gentleman on the stairs proves that more guards and patrols have been placed since I left. We all need to be on alert to make sure we don’t get caught. If we work together, we can do this. Are you ready, men?”

  The group cheers a little louder than I was anticipating, causing me to wince. I look at the Loyal on the stairs to see him still out cold - I just hope no one on the enemy side heard them.

  With a sigh, I nod, and we all make our way out the front door situated to the left of the window. I’m at the front of the group with Ryder at the rear. In a line, I lead us out of the house, across the street, and between a couple houses.

  Without any interruptions, walking casually down the street, we would make it to the Cloudore property in about an hour and forty-five minutes. Give or take. Unfortunately, we have to constantly stop along the way to avoid the Loyals.

  There are almost twice as many patrols than I remember there being. Ryder is a great help - the only help - spotting potential threats, keeping the men on track, and finding alternative routes. Although it is extremely dangerous, and we see many Loyals on our passage to the Arbiter’s house, it isn’t at all exciting.

  Weaving between dark houses of people I used to see and talk to everyday while groups of Loyals pass by us is nerve wracking, to say the least, but we don’t have to harm anyone else on the way to our destination. It’s actually worse. Not having anything to take this anxious energy out on causes it to continue growing into a tight ball centered in my chest.

  Only the moonlight to illuminate our path, we reach Cizius Cloudore’s property. All ten of us are hidden between two moderately sized homes across the street. The Arbiter’s is still three stories where every other home in this neighborhood is two. He’s surrounded by his advisers in case he needs them in a moment’s notice.

  Such as when the only Favorable in centuries to score proficient in every category on the Bleeding Rite has decided to live among the Unfavorable.

  Riding the anger and fear from his decision to take Alora away, I take a step out into the street, but Ryder stops me. His left hand on my right shoulder, my gaze falls on him and I glare daggers at him.

  What could be so important at this second to stop me from killing Cloudore?

  He nods off to the right and down the road. I look to see a patrol of three Loyals making their way toward us. Ryder probably just saved our mission, my life, and Al’s life.

  The men walking towards us aren’t talking to each other. They are more focused than any of the groups we’ve seen before. None of them are searching between houses for people, but they are walking at a steady pace - on a mission to complete their patrol loop and get back to their main position.

  I slink back into the shadows, not letting any of my frustration go. It’s all leading up to one moment. The reason we’re here.

  All of us, the Unfavorable, sit quietly for several minutes. Not one of them utters a single noise. I don’t even hear anyone exhale. We all watch the Loyals continue passed us and six other houses before taking the first left on the street back toward Central Hall.

  The instant the patrol is out of sight is when I hear ten men sigh heavily in unison. It is a sight to behold with all of us scared out of our wits but not wanting to admit it.

  This time I look right, then left before dashing across the street. The group follows in a line behind me with Ryder still at the rear keeping a lookout.

  Even though there are a handful of teens that like to rebel a little, no one in Geha keeps their doors locked. There’s no need. They believe the Unfavorable locked outside of the city - and we were until tonight - and Loyals doing their job keeping watch for any rebellious teenagers.

  I don’t want to go through the front door, though. I lead the group around back to a large backyard with a deck that’s about the size of my parent’s dining room.

  We enter through the sliding porch doors. The dining room is immaculate, as if it’s merely decoration rather than used for eating meals. To the left is an obscenely large kitchen where the Arbiter bribes Loyals to clean and prepare meals for him and his family.

  I’ve only heard rumors as Loyals would never say a word, but the Arbiter’s daughter is a pretty reliable source of information.

  There’s a wall along the opposite side of the two rooms from where we stand. The right corner has an opening, and we take it. The doorway leads to a living room that is clearly made for company and showing off.

  There are three full couches, two loveseats, a singular cushioned chair, four decorative upright wardrobes, several plants dotted along the walls, two windows - one beside the front door and the other in the wall to my right - with large, dark curtains decorating them.

  Also, I see large doors under the stairs to a cupboard, and a metal fireplace built against the wall against the dining room.

  The front door is along the far wall directly in front of me, and a staircase is against the wall to my left with another open doorway leading to another large room. This room is probably the size of my parent’s entire house.

  As a group, we make our way slowly into the room. None of them have seen anything close to the quality furnishings that’s inside this place. I’ve been inside on more than one occasion, so I was aware, but this is completely new for them.

  They brush their fingers against the fabric of a couch, or the wallpaper aligning the walls, or the wood of the wardrobes. I make a straight line toward the stairs. Whispered oh’s and ah’s escape my comrade’s lips. I flinch, but let it go. It’s so quiet that barely I can hear them. I’m confident the Cloudore’s can’t hear them.

  I’m about to begin ascending to the second floor to fulfill my mission when a sound I’ve never heard before within this household reaches my ears. A very soft creak from the upper floor of footsteps against old flooring.

  No… We’ve come too far to get caught now…

  “Scatter!” I breathe.

  Dashing toward the cupboard, everyone besides Ryder is staring at me with wide, disbelieving eyes. They don’t understand what’s happening. I take one final moment to warn them before it’s too late, raising my voice just a hair.

  “Hide!”

  Although every one of these men played Hide and Seek as a child, most of them are terrible at finding adequate hiding spots. Ryder follows me inside the cupboard under the stairs, four men hide behind curtains where they are too visible, as their shoes peek out from the bottom.

  Two men go back to the dining room not thinking about the fact that whoever is on their way could very well be going to that way, and the other two jump into separate wardrobes but not as carefully as we need right now.

  Being on full alert, I’m able to swallow the frustrated growl I want to release.

  When the men finally settle, the creaking sounds stop just above Ryder and me at the top of the landing. I don’t hear footsteps, so whoever is there is now tiptoeing and taking light steps - being careful not to make too much noise, but it isn’t clear why. Either sneaking up on an intruder or trying not to wake the rest of the house. It’s not clear what the intention is yet.

  “Hello?” a female whisper calls into the living room.

  The voice comes from about midway down the stairs. From the way it bounces off the walls, I would venture a guess that she’s leaning over the banister to get a better look at what’s in the darkness of the living room.

  What shocks me the most, is what the voice stirs within me: heartache, tears, precious memories I thought I had buried and forgotten resurfacing.

  Skylark…

  She descends, one of the steps giving away her position. I slip out of the cupboard, Ryder pulling at my clothes to keep me hidden but failing. Leaving the door ajar, my friend slinks back into the shadows while I walk to the bottom of the steps.

  Sky is watching her feet and doesn’
t see me until she reaches the bottom and looks up to find me staring her in the face. She drops the plain white candle she brought with her, and it falls to the floor extinguishing on the way down.

  Her mouth widens, along with her eyes, completely in shock seeing me again after so long missing from Geha. I’m just as shocked - I didn’t expect her to be here.

  She has been paired with her mate by now, why is she still living with her parents?

  As she’s about to scream, I wrap my left arm around her waist. I spin her around so her back is against my chest, keeping my left arm around her belly, and my right hand is cupped around her mouth to keep her quiet. Her skin is as soft as I remember… Everything and everyone in the room with us dissipate. In my mind, all that’s left are the two of us.

  “Skylark,” I whisper in her ear. “Sky, it’s me. It’s Micah. I’m not here to hurt you. I would never, no matter how much time passes. I need your help, but I need you to stay quiet.”

  I wait for some kind of sign that she recognizes me. Almost immediately after I finish talking, her body relaxes in my arms. What’s strange, is water falls on my hand still covering her mouth. She’s crying. I release her, spinning her back around to see me.

  Did I harm her without realizing it?

  As soon as my hands are out of the way, her arms shoot around my neck and she’s hugging me, clinging to me. Her ragged breathing reaches my ear, tickling me slightly.

  “Micah,” she sighs, her voice only loud enough for me to hear her. “It’s really you. You’re alive…”

  Unable to help myself, I relax a bit having her back in my arms again. She continues to cry, and I find myself holding back tears as well. Faint whispering comes from the dining room and I can hear the adjusting of feet from underneath one of the curtains. The team is beginning to get restless, not understanding what’s happening. I’m not ready to end our moment, though.

  “Sky,” I breathe, not ready to let go of her. She remains against me as we speak. “What are you doing here? Why are you still living with your parents?”

  “I couldn’t move on,” she sniffles. Her arms tighten around me as she speaks. “It didn’t matter who I was matched with, he isn’t you and I wasn’t going to betray you like that. Nothing could ever get me to stop loving you, Micah.”

  “Skylark,” I sigh, stepping away from her.

  Her arms drop to her sides, and there’s a pout on her slightly puffy face. The pout from me pushing her away and the puffiness from the tears.

  “You put your life on hold for me?” I ask. “I never wanted that for you.”

  “I know that. I just couldn’t do it. Looking at the man I was matched with, I just kept seeing you in his features. It wasn’t fair to either of us to try to have a relationship.”

  I have to hold back from kissing her. Now isn’t the appropriate time while there’s nine other men watching and waiting for us to finish. Even so, Ryder shows up from within the cabinet, startling Sky. I have to cover her mouth again to keep her from screaming.

  “Micah, we don’t have time for this,” Ryder informs me. His right hand finds a spot on my left shoulder, turning my body and attention to him slightly. “I know how hard this is for you, especially if this is the Skylark you’ve told me about.”

  He glances at Sky when he mentions her name before turning back to me.

  “But we have a mission to complete here…” he finishes.

  My gaze returns to Sky and her eyes are still wide, staring between Ryder and me. She tries to step back seeing an Unfavorable in her living room, but she can’t with my arm around her. I can’t help but giggle.

  “He’s with me,” I chuckle. Ryder, with a frustrated sigh, takes a step back and waits impatiently for our conversation to end. He knows that no one besides the two of us will be able to bring this meeting to an end. “He won’t hurt you.”

  Trusting her, I lower my hand and she stays quiet. Her shock doesn’t disappear, though. She continues to stare at Ryder when she speaks.

  “But you’re…” she mutters, unable to finish her sentence.

  “Unfavorable, like me,” I conclude for her.

  “What are you talking about?” she asks, confused, her eyes trained on me again. “You’re not Unfavorable.”

  “You’re Dad made sure I was.”

  “Is that where you’ve been all this time?”

  “Yes. You didn’t know?”

  “No, of course not. When you didn’t show up here the evening after you had your Rite, I knew something was wrong. I asked my father, but he wouldn’t give me a straight answer.”

  “I believe you, Sky. It’s okay, I’ve built a great life outside Geha. I never wanted to come back unless it was to see Al or you. I’m only here because your father threatened to kill the entire Unfavorable population if Alora didn’t come back to the city.”

  “What are you talking about? I heard him say something to my Mother about Alora receiving an impressive grade, but that’s it. She’s not in Geha?”

  “No, she’s as stubborn as I am,” I chuckle, rubbing the stubble at my jaw while I reminisce of the last day or so. “She snuck below the city and found me. I’ve finally gotten my baby sister back after being estranged for six years. With us being apart, too, can you imagine how it feels to finally have her back?”

  “Yes,” she whispers, looking down at her shuffling feet briefly.

  I lower my hand to my side, watching her carefully. I want to remember every feature of her body in this moment, so I have something to keep me sane back at my hut. Back home.

  “Then you know that I can’t just let her be forced back her by your father,” I say. “Not after she chose to stay outside the walls with me.”

  “My father isn’t perfect,” she admits, staring off into space. “But I don’t think he would ever harm anyone for someone who had an impressive score on the Rite.”

  “Well, she didn’t just get an impressive score,” I hint. “She’s proficient in everything.”

  “That’s not possible, Micah,” she states, disbelief on her features as she stares at me. “No one’s scored that well in centuries.”

  “I know, I told her that, too. She assured me that she did.”

  “That’s amazing, but I still don’t think my father would kill for that.”

  “He sent a Loyal to kill a man this afternoon. A friend of mine.”

  “Oh, wow…”

  “The Loyals said that there’s a bio weapon that’s been created to target anyone with Unfavorable genes. If Al isn’t back here by noon tomorrow, they are going to use that weapon. He will kill every single man, woman, and child outside the city.”

  “No, that’s not possible,” she insists. Her eyes are focused on mine, brows furrowed.

  “I know it’s hard for you to believe, Sky. No one wants to believe their parents would do something like that, but it’s true.”

  “No, that’s not what I mean,” she says, shaking her head. “He’s never had us research anything like that before.”

  “My turn to ask what you’re talking about.”

  “My Rite had me placed as a Healer. I’m second to your mother. If my father wanted something like that created, not only would I know about something like that, I would be involved in the creation of it.”

  There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s telling the truth. She’s never been able to hide the truth from her gaze, and there’s no sign of deception there. I allow a small growl of frustration to escape my lips. Turning away from her, I take a step towards Ryder. If that’s true, then we need to abandon the mission.

  “We have to get out of here,” I announce. A few of the men have left their hiding places to get a better view and better spot to listen to the conversation.

  “You’re joking, right?” Ryder asks, taking a step towards me. “You can’t possibly think she’s telling the truth?”

  “I do,” I say to him, looking at the ground. “You may not trust her, or any Favorable, but trust me. I would
know if she was lying.”

  “You’re not joking,” he mutters, scoffing and retreating toward the dining room. He pauses hearing my voice chasing after him.

  “We need to regroup back in Landow,” I say to him, although I’m not sure he’s listening to me. “If they don’t actually have this weapon, then they were taunting us. I may not like that man, but we can’t kill him without just cause. It’s an empty threat, he has no intention of actually hurting anyone.”

  My friend turns back to me, rage in his eyes.

  “He murdered our friend,” Ryder reminds me, livid. “He killed Hawk.”

  “You’re right,” I acknowledge. “I haven’t forgotten. He will pay, but not this way.”

  Ryder curls his fingers into tight fists and walks clear into the dining room. The tension in the way he walks suggests he wants to hit something, probably me or a wall, but he’s refraining. He’s a smart man - it’s really tragic that he was born Unfavorable.

  “Take me with you,” Skylark insists. She takes a few steps towards me and places a tiny hand on my back.

  “What?” I ask.

  It’s all I can manage. She has more opportunities than most in this city, she shouldn’t relinquish that.

  “Take me with you,” she repeats.

  I turn and face her. She keeps her hand raised, so it ends up on top of my chest. Seeing my brow furrowed with confusion, she continues.

  “My father has never been a very good man,” she admits, leaning against me. “I’ll never forgive him for taking you away from me. A life without you is no life at all. I want to be with you and the only way I can do that is by going with you. I’m not going to allow his overprotective nature to get in the way again. Plus, I can be of great help outside the walls. I bet they don’t have a Healer with as much training as I have helping them.”

  “They certainly don’t,” I chuckle, placing my hand atop hers.

  “If you think about it,” she adds. “You can always use me as leverage against him.”

  “I don’t know,” I tease. “That might give him the idea that I would give you back, and I don’t think I could do that.”