Daughters of the Mayflower Universe: One

by Celie Wells

  Hess and Nina were on their way back up top at the end of the week. My brother was conflicted should he return to his work, or should he stay and wallow in the pit with the rest of us. My father took a leave of absence to deal with my sister's abduction, and my mother's near nervous break-down.

  There were three large transport vehicles parked in the driveway when I arrived.

  “I should have called before coming all this way, do you think she's busy?” I asked the driver.

  “Mrs. Eaton is expecting you. I alerted her to your arrival. I believe you are going to want to see her other guests sooner rather than later.” The driver brought the car to a stop near the entrance just as the front door opened. I was late for my own surprise visit.

  Helpful hands guided from the transport to the house and out of my day suit. Looking around the room, I saw several new faces. Then I saw Dredge standing near a table of coffee and muffins. He pushed his way through the crowd towards me.

  “Beryl, we have much to discuss and little time.” Dredge explained. Priscilla was seated in the green room she kept for entertaining.

  One of William's nurses stood by her side with a somber look on her face.

  “Is everything okay in the back of the house?” I asked.

  “Yes, Dear, all is well with the Eaton household. Have you decided on my proposal?”

  “Yes, my answer is yes to all of it,” I blurted out.

  “Excellent news. Greta's family, the Prowe family, lives far out of the area. She has new information about your sister.”

  My heart sank. I quietly prepared myself for the possibility that my sister might already be dead.

  “Please, whatever the news is, just tell me,” I begged.

  Pricilla nodded at Greta. “It's fine. Beryl is going to take my place here at Eaton Manor.”

  Greta smiled at me.” Karine is alive. She is promised to my family's eldest male heir. He chose to send her home last night after declaring her his future first wife. She is also my sister now”

  “He sent her home. How?” I asked in disbelief.

  “By foot, across the open space between the city and the dry seabed. They have declared her dead assuming no woman could survive the journey alone.” Greta explained.

  “No, she is strong but not against the open sun and alone.”

  “The gear they could find for her and the provisions will sustain her for two days if she is careful, but there is no way to make it into the city it in two days. Help must be sent.” Greta was calm, and her words were measured, but I began to feel like I couldn't breathe.

  “Beryl, calm down, we need your help. She needs to be found on a general scan—then, a rescue can begin. I can't pull this information out of the air by magic.” Dredge was right. We couldn't risk the authorities finding out the Reds helped in any way.

  “We have already bombed close to where the settlement is located. The Red people have been alerted to our next target. We gave them time to leave, and in return they gave us back Karine, but the bombing will continue. The government wants this confrontation. We have to find her before she's harmed.”

  The driver was ready to leave. The staff had my day gear prepared for me to put back on. One stranger handed me a small computer screen, and another gave me a scanner. The third had a key card for the fifth floor of my father's propulsion lab.

  “Take these items to the fifth floor, tell anyone who asks you are on an errand for your father. A woman from security will meet you. If all goes well, your sister will text you from her hacked finance bracelet, and you will have help from the tech lab to locate her position.”

  “I don't think I can do this Dredge, what if our lie is discovered?” I confessed, my hands shaking with fear.

  “You are the only one who can do this and make the circumstances look like a random hand from fate. From any of the rest of us, this coincidence will look very suspicious.” Dredge explained.

  “Right, right. Okay, let's go. Wait, have you told Jason?”

  “No, I haven't. Jason needs to stay focused on the bombing, or this won't look real. I'm sending these men to meet your father next. He and your brother need to find Karine. Her rescue needs to be a perfect media win, or she will return home to a far more dangerous situation than the one she left.”

  Priscilla stood and helped the staff secure my day suit. “We will talk more when you return home. We have some papers to sign, and your room is ready for you.”

  “My room?” I asked.

  “It's a suite, across the house from mine. As the new lady of the manor, we can't have you living across town now, can we.” Priscilla smiled and patted me on the hand.

  “Of course, I've been so distracted.”

  “It's to be expected with everything that is going on. All will be well by this time tomorrow, you'll see. I told you not to worry.” Priscilla did it all, found her, secured her release, and orchestrated her recovery. I only needed to play my part as instructed. I thought to call my mother and tell her everything was going to be okay, but I stopped myself. I took a deep breath and refreshed the list of instructions in my mind. I can do this.

  PURPLE AND GOLD

  The sky above me was shades of purple and dark blue. The moonlight cast the dust and the tops of the crag rock cliffs in eerie silver light. Noah walked close behind me. I got the impression he was trying to judge if I could climb the cliff face on my own. This walk back was never going to be an escorted trip home. At some point, he would need to turn back.

  “We are halfway up the face now,” Noah explained. “I need to take my detour south. I'm not going back to the settlement.”

  “Why,” I questioned. “Where will you go?”

  “There's a small group going to see some old shipwrecks. The whole area is expected to be lost to the event. I need to take a break from settlement life. Get a change of perspective,” he explained.

  “I can understand that.” I shifted my pack to my other shoulder and scratched at my neck. “A lot has happened recently.”

  “Do you have sand in your shirt already?” Noah asked. “No, there’s itchy lace on this undershirt.”

  “I can fix that.” Noah snapped open his knife and carefully cut the lace trim from the neck of my shirt. “Your skin will rub raw with this heat if you keep scratching at that.”

  Noah crumpled the extra lace in his hand and removed a folded piece of cloth from his thigh pocket. “I have something for you. My mother made me promise to give this to you. It was my aunt Carly's.”

  Noah placed a silver and turquoise necklace in the palm of my glove. “It's beautiful.”

  “She wore it all the time as far as I can remember. When her husband died, she came to live with us. I was just a kid, but I still remember helping her move out to her own tent.

  “A topsider baby girl was going to be brought to her. The baby was sick, and she was going to heal her, but the baby never arrived. She was alone again, but then twin boys from a neighboring clan were orphaned. She took them on. Her home was ready. My mother says the sick topsider baby gave her sister the push she needed to start her life over again.

  “When you gave your lineage, Violet logged the names in our book of clans. My mother read the information yesterday, and she remembered the name Lancer. You said Fuller and Tilly, but you never mentioned Lancer to anyone but Violet.

  “That baby girl would be about your age now. She was from a family that already had two children. The topsiders were going to let the baby die. My aunt couldn't let that stand. The family's name was Lancer.”

  “Your aunt Carly was the lady that was going to save me?” I could barely say the words. The situation was a source of shame for my family. We rarely spoke of the illegal plot to save my life.

  “Yeah, we think so. My mother wanted to thank you. You gave her sister a reason for hope when she couldn't find one on her own. She wants you to have this necklace. Carly was her favorite person. It means something that she parted with this.”

  “I ca
n't take this jewelry from you, Noah. Your mother should keep it.” I pushed the beautiful item back to Noah. “She heard me say I wanted to kill you.”

  “Nah, get in line. My mother says you coming here is proof of God and the plan he has for us all. She made me promise to give it to you.” Noah looked longingly back in the direction of the settlement. “I don't think there is a plan for me. Maybe if you had come to Carly, we could have grown up together, meant something good to each other.”

  “Noah, it's impossible to say what could have happened if ten random things went left instead of right. I don't think our lives are stuck on a track. If there isn't a plan you like, make a new one. But I ended up here anyway, didn't I. Maybe your mother is right.”

  “Take her gift. I don't' want to carry it around with me for the next few months. Besides, it's not even my color.” Noah laughed and looked up at the stars like he was reading a clock. We don't have much time left. Can I put the necklace around your neck?”

  “Please do, I don't want it to get lost out here.” I turned my back to Noah and pulled my hair out of the way.

  “I have a request. I'll trade you a stack of chocolate cookies for those honey-bacon bars in your pack, and a lock of your hair to remember you by.”

  The request for my hair was strange to me, but I saw a lock of braided hair attached to a picture in the Prowe tent.

  “I will gladly give you the bars. I can't imagine I'll need half the stuff Chip packed for me.” I pulled off my gloves and quickly braided the front section of my hair.

  “You never know what you might need, but I don't think your path stops out here alone.” Noah draped my braid over his knife and pulled the blade across the hair, cutting it easily. He tied the end with the lace he cut from my shirt and carefully wrapped the souvenir in the cloth that held the necklace.

  “Can you take Zeke back his family ring?” I asked my voice cracking a bit more than I liked.

  “No way, the Prowe family gave you that ring. You are one of their clan now. Nobody can take that back.” Noah stepped away from me like I had pointed something sharp at him. “Keep it, never know. You may change your mind. I promise to always make room for you in my household Karine. I think you were meant to be with my clan all along.”

  “Thank you for this,” I said while twirling the necklace chain in my fingers. “And for helping me get this far.”

  Noah slowly shook his head back and forth. “Remember, no thanking me.”

  The short rest showed me how tired I was becoming. I took a bite of a chocolate cookie and a drink from my canteen and felt my empty insides devour it all at once.

  “Set your timer, daybreak is one hour and fifteen minutes from now. You need to find shadows to hide from the sun. If you are not found by the seventh hour of daylight, hide, sleep, eat, and head back out once the air is cool. Might take four hours to cool down but wait anyway. Walk until it gets too dark and then start over. I have faith your people will be looking for you. The Prowe and the Eaton families have a special arrangement. They won't let you wander alone for too long.”

  Eaton, like my grandmother's friend, the name was familiar but never combined with the Reds. Noah gathered his gear and headed towards a narrow rock ledge that wound around the cliff face at a steep angle.

  “You will probably see me once you reach the top, but I will be too far away to see you. Don't waste your energy, keep moving, don't walk where you can't see, and watch your timers. Take this with you too.” Noah handed me a folded piece of paper.

  “It's the locations of the water source the settlement used. We don't need your water sources. We know where thousands of fresh and saltwater caves are hiding.” Noah stood still and looked at me. There was an uncomfortable silence I had to break.

  “I hope you find the ship you're looking for. I'll get this location to the right people.”

  “Thanks, now get moving up that rock.” Noah started across the ledge with long, deliberate strides. Once he made it around the first bend, he was gone from my sight completely.

  The ascent to the top of the wall was long and silent. I began to question if I would make it over the ridge before daybreak. The rock face was open to the sun. With little cover, I would likely cook in a matter of hours. I put the ugly thought out of my mind and focused on the rocks in front of me.

  What hit me next was the total silence. No footsteps behind me, I was utterly alone. This is what I had begged for, to be allowed to go home. Now I was climbing a seemingly endless wall for the privilege of walking an entire day in the open sun. I began to panic, and second, guess my choices.

  I remembered my father teaching me to ride my bike in the fresh evening air under the golden streetlights. Focus, he would say. Focus ahead and let your feet move the peddles at their speed. The thought of sitting in the shade with a snack, and my canteen helped me push towards the top.

  Focus and move, I told myself.

  Pulling myself over the wall was the hardest part so far. After scraping and smashing my hands, it was painful to pull my weight over the edge. Once I made it over, I rolled on my back and looked up at the sky. My leg muscles burned, and my gloved hands throbbed with each beat of my heart.

  The dawn was rising, purple ribbons of light still hung over the old seabed. In the opposite direction, gold skies melted into the dark blue horizon hanging over the city. Even the sky was different between the two worlds. I took off my gloves and found some salty jerky and a cookie from my pack. There was a note taped to the bundle of jerky.

  Stick to your path and live.

  I wasn't sure who had supplied me with the timely advice, but I screamed obscenities into the night air with all the strength I had left in my lungs. I didn't want to leave the simple life Zeke's family offered me. I didn't want to live without Jason either. They each lived under a different sky and under a different set of rules.

  Zeke was fighting to protect his clan while Jason was planning genocide. One direction was purple, and the other was gold. The sun seemed to hang in the heavens waiting for me to choose. I shook out my gloves and shoved the last bit of jerky in my mouth. I attached the canteen to my belt, secured my hood and gloves, and set my first walking timer of the day.

  I yelled towards the sun. “Gold! I choose gold.” The sun rose, and blinding light rushed across the sky.

  I walked into the unforgiving light, checked my compass, and headed towards the city. There were deep drops and jagged edges all along my route, just as Chip promised. My first alarm chimed as I was going to give up and look for shade. I found a tall rock formation that cast a heavy shadow on the ground and set myself down to rest. Half my water was gone, but I still had plenty of food.

  The power light on my commerce bracelet had been lit for over an hour. I was hoping someone saw my signal. Exhausted and covered in sweat, I set my timer, four hours, nestled my body against the rock, and fell asleep.

  When I woke, I could hear the far-off hum of a large engine. People were walking around. The rising heat made them look like blurry stick figures dancing on the sand. I gathered my gear and moved cautiously towards the group.

  It wasn't until I saw Jason with his animated arms flailing in the distance that I let myself walk away from the protective shadows and into the open sun. I waved my arms at the group.

  Soon after the blades of helicopters tossed rocks and sand in every direction, I knelt in the dirt and tried to protect myself from the wind. At some point, I think I passed out. Hess was the first person I saw. My father was right beside him. I looked around, but I didn't see Jason.

  “Hess, is that really you?” I asked

  “Yes, baby girl. We are here. Dad's here too.”

  “Jason. Where is he? I saw him walking towards me.”

  “No, Jason's not here. He's on his way back home. He will be at the house in a few hours. He's fine.” My father explained.

  “But I just saw him standing with the others.”

  “Sleep, Kar. We'll be home soon.” Hess pulle
d my gloves off and was inspecting the ring on my left hand.

  “Where's Dredge, I need to talk to him right away. They gave me their water. Don't let anyone bomb the settlement.”

  “What are you talking about, Kar?” Hess asked.

  “Water. He gave me the coordinates. There is so much water I was swimming in it.”

  “Who gave you water Kar?” My father asked.

  “Noah gave me their water site. They are moving west and don't need it anymore.”

  “I've heard about this type of religious brainwashing. Noah is a biblical figure. Noah and the floods? I think she may be delirious.” Hess explained.

  I pulled myself up to my father's ear. “Daddy, I know about the meteor heading our way and the Eaton's help and all the lies they have told us about the Reds. I know where there is water. I need to talk to Dredge.” My father nodded in agreement and began typing a message to Dredge on his communicator.

  “Your sister is marrying into the Eaton family and providing them an heir. Mrs. Eaton is friends with Dredge. They helped Beryl find you today.” My father explained.

  “You know that's not a coincidence, Daddy.” I could feel the exhaustion and relief silence my mind.

  I needed to sleep more than I had ever needed it before in my life. My father wore a grimaced look of worry on his face. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

  “I'm okay. I'm not hurt. I'm just so tired.”

  RE ENTRY

  “You too, daddy? Would I be worthless or different somehow if I had been?”

  “No, there is no misplaced morality here, Doodle. If you need counseling or medical attention for any injury you have suffered.” My father was out of his element. I was sure many of the words he used today had never passed his lips before.