by Valerie Puri
“I’ve had enough of this place,” Sash tossed up his hands in exasperation. “I’m going up to finally get some fresh air and fresh victims.”
“Perfect,” a voice behind him said.
Sash spun around.
“Isaac!”
How long had he been standing there? Sash hunched over, feeling ashamed for planning to defy Isaac’s request: stay here, protect Goggles.
After he’d been given a chance to be an equal part of the order, he was throwing it away.
Wait… Isaac said, “perfect.” Does he want me to return to the surface?
“There’s been a development that I need you to take care of,” Isaac said.
“What is it?”
“I’ve located your curly-haired girl. She’ll be easy to find now that she’s an elder.”
Sash narrowed his eyes, not understanding what he meant.
“Belle Joiner was just elected as the other interim elder,” Isaac said. “I tried to track down who rang the bell for the assembly yesterday. I suspect it was her. She snuck out of the school before I could catch her. Belle probably called the assembly today, too, so she could be elected. She needs to be eliminated.”
A greedy sneer spread across Sash’s face. “I’m on it.”
Thirty-Two
Jennie
Jennie sat against the wall with her knees tucked to her chest. Covering her ears didn’t help suppress the sounds of fighting outside. People shouted, weapons cracked, heavy objects slammed on the ground. But the worst were the horrible sounds coming from the lemerons.
Each time one growled, screeched, or snarled, she thought of her mother. A cold shiver sliced through her from head to toe. Hearing them brought back the vivid memory of her mother being attacked by one in the woods. She remembered clinging to Travis after they fled the forest.
“Did you see?” Jennie asked her little brother, only eight at the time.
“I saw a lemeron,” he sobbed.
Jennie’s heart raced. He shouldn’t see such horrors at his age.
“But did you see what happened?”
He shook his head and whimpered. “Where’s mother?”
Jennie closed her eyes and saw the lemeron biting into her mother’s creamy flesh. She shuddered, wondering if there was anything left of her.
“She’s gone,” Jennie cried, squeezing Travis tighter.
She trembled from the memory. Clasping her hands tighter against her ears, she wanted to drown out the lemerons. The sounds of fighting died down. Maybe it was working. She stayed like that for a long time. It felt like hours to her.
Things grew quiet. She lowered her hands and listened. Was it over?
Tentatively, she stood, taking a slow step toward the door. It burst open; she leapt back with a start.
Ethan limped in, supporting his father by the arm. Her heart skipped a beat. They were alive. She rushed forward, wrapping Brenden’s other arm around her shoulder. Together they sat him down in a chair by the fire. Blood streamed down his face from a gash on his forehead.
Jennie grabbed a cloth from her bag and pressed it against the wound.
“Keep the pressure on it to stop the bleeding,” she instructed his father.
He silently obeyed
“Where’s your mo-” Jennie was about to ask when she appeared.
Marlene walked through the open door, her eyes distant and unfocused. All the color had drained from her face. She didn’t say a word or even seem to see them in the room. She just went to the ladder and climbed to the sleeping loft above.
Jennie glanced at Ethan, raising her eyebrows.
“Something happened out there. She wasn’t herself for a moment.”
Jennie frowned. “What does that mean?”
“We were fighting off the lemerons when she came down to help,” Ethan began.
“Down?”
“Ah… yes. The lemerons clambered over a pile of their dead. They reached one of our platforms.”
“But they can’t climb,” Jennie interrupted, panic in her voice.
“They can now. But I don’t think they know how to climb trees,” he gave Jennie a worried look. “Or walls.”
She swallowed, understanding the connotation.
“Then what happened?”
“My father and I went to the ground.”
Jennie gasped. “What? Why?”
“They were about to climb onto a platform. I shot one to save Tulsi, but they kept climbing. We gave them something else to focus on. We couldn’t let them get up to Arborville. We fought them off as best we could.” Ethan paused, looking at his father pressing the rag against his wound. “There were so many.”
“They could have killed you,” Jennie said in a small voice.
Ethan bit his lower lip. “That’s when my mother joined our fight. She decimated them. I’ve never seen anyone fight with such speed or strength,” he glanced up at the sleeping loft, lowering his voice. “Or with such frenzy. It’s like she lost herself. She attacked anything that moved. When all the lemerons were dead, she charged at my father.”
“Why would she do that? Did she do that to him?”
“No, but it’s like she couldn’t see him. We screamed at her to stop, but she kept charging. Finally, she snapped out of it. I don’t think she even realized what she was doing. I don’t know her all that well, but even I could see she wasn’t herself. She was… something else.”
Jennie was stunned.
“Marlene can be cold, but she’s not a killer,” she added silently to herself, is she?
Ethan winced as he sat down.
“You’re hurt,” Jennie scanned him with her eyes, trying to assess his wounds.
Fresh bruises bloomed on his cheek, and his clothes where splattered with brown blood. His pant leg was stained red and torn just above his ankle. She knelt down in front of him, rolling up his pant leg.
His skin was cut, but it was shallow.
“Just a scratch,” Jennie said. “Let me clean it up for you, anyway.”
“No, I’m fine. But my father’s head might need some stitches. Would you mind?” Ethan asked, adding. “You did such a great job on my arm.”
She nodded.
“The sink’s over there,” he pointed to the kitchen area at the back of the little round house.
It had shelves with food, linens, and plates arranged neatly on them. She took a clean towel from the shelf and ran a little water on it.
She returned to Brenden, pulling a chair up beside him. “Let me clean and bandage your cut.”
Ethan’s father removed the blood-soaked cloth from his head. She dabbed at the gash with the wet towel. When she pulled it back, more blood flowed from his wound.
“You need stitches.” She reached into her bag and pulled out her needle and thread. “I hoped I wouldn’t need to use this, but I packed it anyway. Better to be prepared than caught without it, right?”
“Smart girl,” Brenden said.
Jennie threaded the needle, her hand hovering over Brenden’s head. Glancing down, she caught his eye. “Try not to move. This is going to hurt.”
“I’m ready,” he gripped the armrests with dirty hands.
Jennie pushed the needle through his skin. Brenden tensed, gritting his teeth through the pain. It took eight stitches to close the cut and stop the bleeding.
She wiped her hands clean on the wet towel before grabbing her roll of bandages from her bag. She wrapped a few layers around his head.
“This will help keep it clean.”
“Thank you, Jennie. I’m glad Ethan found you.”
A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. It was hard to smile after such horrors just happened. Ethan and Brenden almost died. They were willing to sacrifice themselves for their people.
All she did was cower inside while they fought bravely. What was she willing to sacrifice? Not Ethan. Next time she will fight by his side and not relive the trauma of her mother’s death. Today was the second time she shut down
from fear. Today was the last time she ever would.
Wincing, Ethan stood, took a towel from the shelf, and walked to the door. “I need to wash up at the bathhouse.”
Jennie looked down at the blood clinging beneath her fingernails. “Can I come? I could use some freshening up.”
“Grab a towel and follow me.”
Thirty-Three
Ethan
It was a long walk to the bathhouse. Limping along, it took more time than usual. His leg hurt. His muscles were on fire. He was battered and bruised. The fighting had been so chaotic, he couldn’t remember how he got most of his wounds.
Jennie slipped her hand in his. Just her gentle touch helped.
They walked in silence through the heights of Arborville. The people he saw were still in a state of shock. Never in any living memory had the lemerons attacked in such numbers.
Can we survive another attack like this? Pain shot through Ethan’s leg as he stepped onto an unsteady bridge. Can I survive another attack?
Chester, Chaz, and a few other sentries were piling the dead lemerons on the forest floor in a small clearing near the center of Arborville. A couple hunters stood at the ready with torches. They would burn the bodies. It relieved Ethan that they didn’t have any of their own dead to burn.
There were so many of the monsters. Even lying still, they looked menacing. Snarls were frozen on their faces. He half expected them to crawl from the heap and wage another attack. He shuddered.
They should burn them quickly and be done with it. The last thing they needed was to have those horrors lying around beneath their town.
Ethan crossed the bridge that lead into the cliff at the far end of Arborville. It was a vertical formation of rock that jutted perpendicular from the earth. Half a tree height off the ground, the opening to a cavern sunk into the rock face. This was the only way in or out. It was the only solid ground that was safe for them.
His people removed the trees closest to the cliff, so the only way in was to cross the long suspension bridge. They used the cleared land to create a small field for cultivating food. They also kept sheep nearby for wool.
“It’s up here,” he said.
“In the cave? I thought the bathhouse would be in another treehouse or something.”
“Trust me, this is much better than scrubbing with cold water.”
They crossed the bridge and entered the dark mouth of the cave. The cave was always the same temperature throughout the year. It was cool in the summer and warm in the winter. And the natural springs within were always hot.
Mounted torches on the walls burned. He saw something gnarled and grey move ahead. He recoiled and gripped his dagger. Stepping near, he relaxed, letting out an exasperated sigh. It was only the flames casting shadows across a stalagmite. His mind was playing tricks on him.
“What a day,” he grumbled, rubbing his hand down his face. Everything weighed so heavily on him.
Ethan pulled Jennie to him and brushed her hair over her shoulder. What would he do if he never saw her again? How could he leave her alone in this world?
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
She leaned into him. “For what?”
“Everything. For bringing you here. It’s dangerous in the forest.” He wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. She still smelled sweet, like apples. “I’m afraid it will only get worse. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
Her body tensed, she pushed away from him.
“If you lost me? What about me losing you? You almost died today.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.” He gripped his hair. “I just had to do something. If the lemerons made it up, they would have killed everyone… including you.”
She lowered her gaze. “I guess there’s never an easy option.” Looking up, she met his eye. “What happens now?”
Ethan took Jennie’s hands in his. “Let’s start by washing this miserable day off. Then we’ll figure it out.”
Her smile faltered as the action tugged on her cut lip. Leaning in, he kissed her gently on her mouth.
He pointed down a torch-lit path in the cavern. “If you go that way. You’ll get to the ladies’ bath. Take your time.”
Jennie nodded and disappeared deeper into the cave.
Ethan went down another path. As he neared the hot baths, the steam created a curtain, shrouding the cavern in a silky vapor.
He stripped off his clothes, dropping them in a heap on the floor. Dipping his toe into the pool, he felt for the bottom. He stepped in, careful not to slip. The hot water kissed his skin. Fully committing to the bath, he plunged in, dipping his head beneath the water.
Emerging, he ran his fingers through his hair. He waded further into the depths, the surface of the pool lapping against his chin. Relaxation seeped through him as he let the heat of the water numb his pain.
He needed this. He needed to remove himself from anything and everything. His life had been turned on its head only yesterday, and today he faced death and lived. It felt good to fight alongside his father again.
He let out a sigh. Talking about his mother was too painful for his father. Ethan imagined what it would be like being separated from the woman he loved. Being apart from Jennie during the battle today was difficult enough. He worried for her safety.
How could Ethan be so blind to his father’s pain? He’d been so distracted by his own, he neglected the emotions of the man who raised him.
And his mother. What had happened to her today? She’d gone mad like a rabid animal. Anger clouded her eyes. She was fighting more like one of the monsters than a human. If she hadn’t snapped out of it, he dreaded what might have happened.
Ethan splashed water on his face. He pushed all thoughts from his mind. All he wanted to do was soak in peace. These thoughts did nothing but torment him.
Closing his eyes, he visualized birds fluttering through the trees. Water trickled in a stream, a deer dipped its head down to take a drink. Wind rustled the leaves.
He let his mind drift away. But it always went back to the crazed look in his mother’s eyes. What if it happened again? If it did, Ethan would have a tough choice to make: either do nothing and let Marlene kill his father, or step in and save his father by killing his mother.
He hoped he would never have to make that choice.
Thirty-Four
Jennie
Ethan was right. The steamy water in the cavern spring was much better than washing in a cold tub. Torches gave just enough light to see by. The warm flickering of the flames along the cave wall was comforting. She couldn’t see the bottom of the pool but walked into it.
It sloped gently downward, allowing her to wade in with ease. She ducked down until her shoulders were underwater. She never had a bath so soothing or immersive in her life. In her home, all she had was a small tub and a cup to bathe with. This was heavenly.
Jennie felt along the edge of the pool until she found a ledge to sit on. The stony surface was smooth as a horse’s summer coat.
She scrubbed at her fingernails with a washrag she found near the front of the cavern. The caked-on patches of dirt and blood came off easily in the steaming water. She scrubbed her arms, washing away the trauma of the past two weeks.
It was strange how normal her life seemed before Mrs. Townsend taught her class forbidden information. Before then, she was just a normal teenage girl getting ready to finish school and embark on her path to adulthood. When she turned eighteen in only a few months, she would be eligible for an elder advisor position.
Now she knew better. She wanted nothing to do with the corrupt elders in the Commune. Victor brought this doom upon them all, and Marlene was stubborn and self-serving. Even with Victor removed, the person who replaced him would probably be just as bad, if the Order had their way.
“I hope Belle was able to do something about that,” she muttered as she scrubbed her shoulder.
“Who’s Belle?” A voice called out through the mist.
Jennie started dropping her rag in the pool. Sloshing, she grabbed for it beneath the water. Her aching fingers snatched it before it sank into the dark bottom of the spring.
With her rag recovered, she squinted through the mist to see a slender figure approaching. The woman splashed as she dipped into the deeper part of the pool.
She came into view, her long black hair trailed behind her on the surface of the water.
“Tulsi?” Jennie didn’t expect anyone else to be here, but she was glad it was at least someone she had met. It was uncomfortable to bathe naked with someone else, but even more awkward with a stranger.
Despite the water concealing her body, Jennie covered her chest with her arms. She clutched her rag near her neck, pretending she was just washing there.
Tulsi dunked down, submerging her head. When she came back up - closer than before - she let out a big sigh.
“I’m glad to see you’re safe.” She settled in on a ledge near Jennie. “So tell me, who’s Belle?”
Jennie squeezed her rag. She wasn’t used to having conversations with people while naked. “She’s my best friend back home.”
“I’m sure you miss her.”
“I do… and my family. I worry for them. I don’t know if it’s more dangerous inside the wall with the corruption or outside with the lemerons.”
Tulsi breathed out heavily through her nose. “I’ll take corruption over lemerons any day. When you’re nearly killed by one, it really puts things into perspective.”
“You’re right. One nearly got me on our way to Arborville. If Ethan hadn’t… well, he saved me.”
“One did get to me today. It grabbed my ankle and was pulling me off the platform…”
Jennie squeezed her rag even tighter, water trickled down her arms. “It didn’t bite you, did it?”
“No. Someone shot it through the eye with an arrow before it could. Whoever that was, they saved my life.”
Jennie relaxed her grip on the rag, lowering her arms. The light was too dim to see anything beneath the water, anyway. “It was Ethan, he told me, he shot a lemeron to save you.”