The Innocent (Clan of the Woodlands Book 2)

by V. K. Ludwig

  Chapter 13

  Autumn

  They had restored the brick to its old vibrant red, and the weather vane sparkled in gold. Feudal and four stories high, the building reminded me of an old university. Except for the barred windows.

  A cold sensation landed on my shoulders — what an odd location for an interview. I shrugged off my doubts. Today I would set the record straight. Let them know that the Clan had changed, and they can shove their superiority up their tight asses.

  Inside, soot climbed the walls in some spots, telling me where wood stoves had once heated the large rooms. The air had something wet to it as if mildew had made itself at home in the grout. We turned into a long, wide hallway, the lower third of the walls covered in old wood paneling. Perhaps still original.

  I touched the cold, rough bricks and turned to Tyler. “What kind of building was this again?”

  “Oh, um, it’s quite interesting, really.” He opened his arm in a wide motion like a tour guide. “In the early twentieth century, this spectacular building was home to —”

  “There she is! Autumn. They were right. You are stunning to behold.” A tall man with neatly trimmed eyebrows grabbed my hand and placed his other on top in a warm greeting. He flashed me a pearl-white smile, framed by make-up clogged pores. “People around here call me Plato, and I will be interviewing you today. I have to say I am absolutely thrilled to meet someone like you.”

  He tried way too hard to be friendly. To win me over. But I would have none of it. I pulled my hand back and gave him my signature ice-queen stare — I ate guys like him for breakfast.

  I gave him the kind of nod that offers little more than acknowledgment. “Got the questions for me? I need to look them over before we get started.”

  His eyes flashed.

  His fake smile crumbled into disdain.

  “Yes, of course,” he said, his voice suddenly twenty degrees colder. “Tyler, please transfer the questions onto her holo-band. And tell Maggie she can get started on her outfit and make-up.”

  At that, Plato turned his powdered visage away from me and tugged on his standard-issue linen tunic.

  Tyler transferred the file onto my holo-band and showed me behind a make-shift curtain where a curvy woman waited.

  “Hello, gorgeous.” She held up a plum-colored dress with one hand, letting her other hand run over it in a ta-dah! movement. “This will make your copper hair pop like nothing else. People will love it. Red hair is all the rage right now, and women at the fertility clinics talk about nothing else.”

  I hid my devilish grin underneath a lowered head. Red hair and breeding schedules. What else was there to talk about for them?

  “Yeah.” I opened the file on my holo-band. “I feel totally blessed with my hair. Great camouflage in fall, too! In any case, I am Autumn. And Plato already told me you are Maggie.”

  She hung the dress on an old nail in the brick with a furious clink, her barrel-chest puffing. “Peggy. It’s Peggy…” The rest of the sentence lost itself in mutters.

  “I’m sorry, I could have sworn he —”

  She held up her hand. “Maggie or Peggy… he cares little. No harm done, beautiful.”

  She waved her hand at Tyler. “Some privacy for the lady, please.”

  “I am supposed to stay with her and help her prepare,” he said. “Besides, it’s not a big deal for me to see her naked.”

  “No, it isn’t. Not to you and not to any other guy in this district.” She patted on the stool in front of the mirror, gesturing me to hop on. “But it is to her. How about some cultural tactfulness.”

  Tyler disappeared behind the curtain, where Plato flicked and pointed his fingers, ordering worker ants around.

  She pulled out a pallet of make-up from a bag on the floor. “Just a little powder and a hint of gloss on your lips. You don’t need any more than that.”

  I jerked my thumb into the direction of the curtain. “That’s probably all you got left, anyway. The rest is on Plato’s face.”

  She chuckled, and her womanly curves joined in. “Probably.”

  The gloss tickled my lips, tasting sweet on my tongue.

  “Ah, ah, ah.” She wiggled her finger. “No licking. It will dry in less than twenty seconds. Then you can lick as much as you want.”

  Twenty seconds turned out to feel like twenty minutes, and we both let our eyes dart over the pretend-room.

  Peggy broke the awkward silence with a click of her tongue. She came closer to my ear and lowered her voice into a whisper. “I saw a hologram of your brother once. Chieftain Rowan. What a man he is. So tall and strong.”

  Her body turned into a giddy landscape, her humps and curves barely containing whatever fluttered inside her stomach.

  “Sometimes I can’t help but wonder…” she went on, but paused herself right then and there. The rest of the sentence climbed back down, leaving a visible knot sliding down her throat.

  “Wonder what?” I asked, rubbing my thumb across the back of her hand.

  “Well… what it would feel like if a man like him wrapped his arms around me and picked me up.”

  An odd feeling rubbed the insides of my chest. Was there something inside Peggy their drinking water couldn’t suppress? The gears on my brain worked so hard, they turned my thoughts into a fog.

  She pulled her hand out from underneath mine and dropped her head, shaking it from left to right as if scolding herself.

  “You know what, Peggy.” My eyes went looking for hers and she flinched back a little. “Some of our men would love to pick you up.”

  “Oh, stop it. Not someone like me.” Her cheeks went from blush to emergency red in less than a second, and she pointed at the muffin top above her waistband. “My donor didn’t exactly bless me with the best genetics.”

  “Genetics isn’t everything.” I said in an earnest tone. “Lots of our men love women with something to hold on to. The curvier, the better. Bet there’s a guy who would love to smack that ass of yours and bury his face between your boobs.”

  She said nothing, but let her face retreat into a shy giggle which she hid against her collarbone. But still, Peggy’s reaction wasn’t nearly as extreme as I expected, considering my blunt words.

  I concentrated on the file and read over the questions while she ran a brush across my face and combed my hair. The questions were easy enough, considering I expected a battle in front of cameras.

  Once the make-up made my skin itch and some white gel set the parting of my hair in cement, Peggy handed me the dress. Dresses didn’t fit in well with our lifestyle in the woods, but I liked how it hugged me in the right places.

  “There darling, all done.” She ran her hand over the dress one more time, straightening out the sturdy but smooth fabric.

  When I pushed the curtain to the side and stepped back into the large hallway, an old bed frame had been arranged behind two tall stools. One leg was missing, and another was bent. Rust-covered springs had jumped from it, and an old, stained mattress had slipped halfway off, holes showing where moths had chewed the fabric.

  Plato sat on one of the fancy white stools, spotlights beaming at him, and pointed at the other. “Are you ready?”

  I walked over and climbed onto the stool. “Can’t get any readier than this.”

  A bright light shone into my face and burned my eyes, letting green iridescent floaters run through my vision. Peggy walked over and puffed another layer of powder onto Plato’s shiny face, but I couldn’t even blame him. Less than a minute in the spotlight and the collar of my dress clung to the back of my damp neck.

  Concern slapped me in the face like a wet washcloth. What if I messed this all up? “This isn’t a live broadcast, right?”

  “No, no, don’t worry.” Plato pouted, widened and stretched his mouth in some sort of warm-up exercise and cracked his neck with a pull of his hand. “We can do retakes if needed, but I’d rather get it over with the first time around. This place makes me uncomfortable.”

 
; I sniffed the air around me. “It’s pretty stale in here, kind of like a hundred unwashed faces.”

  “Yeah.” He gave a condescending laugh. “Go figure.”

  Tyler gave a thumbs-up, and three projectors began humming, each one placed at a different angle.

  Plato began counting down, “And 3… 2… 1… Good evening from the Obsidian District to the Peridot District and everything in between.”

  He put on his most charming voice, sharp and candied, placing an arm around my shoulders. “I am Plato, the host of tonight’s interview with perhaps the most interesting person to ever visit the Districts. Please welcome Autumn from the Clan of the Woodlands, and sister to their current chieftain.”

  “Cut!” a woman yelled from somewhere behind the spotlights, and Plato’s face dropped into a frown.

  “Honey,” he said to me. “We have to retake this one. How about you put a smile on that face of yours?”

  “W-what?” I gazed around, but people were busy pushing buttons and rearranging the lights. “Why do I have to smile?”

  Peggy stepped up for another round of powder, and Tyler suddenly showed up holding a mirror in front of my face. “Try to smile and check your face in here. That way you know what the smile is supposed to feel like. Remember, we are trying to bring you closer to the Districts. If you sit there with a grumpy face, it won’t do you any good.”

  Try again! And this time blow them away.

  The holo-projectors started rolling once more, and I put on an award-winning smile: sweet and innocent from the outside but determined where it counted.

  We worked ourselves through the intro once more and worked a few basic questions out of the way. Then he placed his hand onto my wrist and lowered his head into a severe look. “Autumn, do you want to tell us how things were before your brother became chieftain? We all heard terrifying stories about men killing each other over females. Assaults, and then, of course, that word women had to dread for decades now.” He turned his face away from me and stared straight into the camera, lowering his voice by four notes. “Rape.”

  The muscles around my stomach clenched, that single word poking my memory like hot coals. No. I wouldn’t let this question fuck with my brain.

  “It was terrible,” I said. “Women had to live in constant fear, and things were out of control. But my brother has been our new chieftain for almost a year now, and I am happy to report that we didn’t have a single incident of rape or assault.”

  Plato nodded his head in a slow up and down and folded his hands on his lap. “But isn’t it true that, and please correct me if I am wrong… but isn’t it true that your clan has gone through many chieftains? And the decent ones among them never lasted longer than what? A year? Two years?”

  His dodgeball question hit me right in the face. The constant tu-tump, tu-tump, tu-tump of my heartbeat kicked it up and echoed in my ears. Fucking asshole. I can do this!

  I folded my hands and placed them calmly on my lap.

  “That is correct, Plato.” I searched for his eyes and returned him a slow, accurate nod. “However, there are two significant differences between my brother and those who failed. First, my brother was the first one to establish a law which made assault and rape punishable with exile.”

  “And the second?”

  I took a deep breath and gave him a sugary smile. “Other’s weren’t Rowan.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen, would you believe the fire in this woman!” He tapped his knuckle on his knee two times as if he needed to spur himself. “We are all happy things have improved for your clan. Right? Right?”

  He lifted his arm, palm up as if requesting claps of approval. None came of course, but it showed him as what he was: an entertainer. In two days, men, women, and children all over the Districts would watch us fight a hidden battle.

  “Would you say you are a brave woman?” he asked.

  I thought for a moment. “I came here, I think people should count that as bravery.”

  “That was very brave indeed.” He reached out for me once more, this time patting my shoulder. “And how was coming over here for you? Leaving your family and friends behind?”

  “Hm, it definitely leaves a part of me sad and kind of empty. I mean, I have never been away from them before.” I gave his knee a quick pat, and he flinched back at the unexpected gesture. “Luckily I met you, Plato, that makes up for some of it.”

  He spilled out a quick but insecure laugh. “Haha, yes, yes. That’s, uh… I feel flattered. Do you think the audience can see me blush?”

  He rubbed his fingers along his cheeks, first one then the other, and struggled his face back into business.

  “Do you like it here?”

  “Definitely.” I let my eyes widen and rolled them a little as if I couldn’t believe my luck. “Oh my yes, I have met great people so far. Unfortunately, I also met some people who were reluctant. But I hope they will come around in time, and approach me if they see me on the streets and have questions.”

  “That is just lovely. Isn’t that lovely?” He clapped his hands. “Now, I only have one more question for you. But it's kind of personal.”

  “I am an open book, Plato, just flip my pages.”

  He leaned over the rail of his stool and fell into a calm voice. “How is this love thing going for you? I was told it is an important part of the way you live, but I know for a fact that you have yet to marry. How come sweetheart?”

  His words sucked the wind from my sails. Darya. Rowan. Max. Plato.

  How come so many felt it necessary to point it out?

  My breath stalled in my lungs and I flipped an imaginary coin.

  Truth or Lie? Acceptance or ignorance?

  I could tell him there was someone. Or I could tell him I was damaged goods, and men freaked me out. Or maybe a mix of both?

  “Plato, I guess love isn’t as easy as we like to make it sound.” I hid a deep, heartfelt sigh behind a cough.

  “So… there is no special someone in your life?”

  “No.”

  “Hm, I see.” He grabbed my hand, gave it a squeeze and lifted it up. “Ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause for Autumn. The brave clanswoman who hopes you won’t be shy if you see her on the streets. Remember, she said she is an open book. Let’s hold her to it.”

  He held our hands even higher for another moment as if we celebrated some sort of victory. Once the spotlights turned off, he dropped my hand and jumped up from his stool.

  He stormed along the hallway. “How was I? Did the cameras get that moment where I pouted and gave her a very intense look?”

  “We got it from three different angles.” Tyler trotted behind him like a puppy. “People will love it. Oh what am I saying… they will freak out.”

  Their voices trailed off. People packed holo-projectors into boxes, and someone prodded me off the stool. Still better than ripping it out from underneath me.

  “You were great, gorgeous,” Peggy said and brushed out whatever stuff she had massaged into my hair earlier.

  “He is a massive jerk,” I said. “But at least he remembered my name, right?”

  “Well, uh, he didn’t Not really. You didn’t see that someone held a board up with your name on it?”

  Huh… flabbergasted and exhausted I gazed over the people who disappeared into the hallway, one after another.

  That hallway with no doors to old classrooms.

  That hallway with bright rectangular spots outlined against the brick.

  As if pictures had been removed.

  A chill licked over my sweaty back. Hey, wait a minute!

  “Peggy, do you know what kind of building this was?”

  “Why yes.” She packed her hairbrush into a tote. “It was an orphanage.”

  Chapter 14

  Autumn

  “But why would they send her?” I asked in an almost breathed whisper. I lowered my head a bit more and held my palm beside my mouth, further muffling my unkind words. “I can’t
decide if she is supposed to be our chaperone, or if we have to babysit her.”

  Ruth replied with more whispers, her neck stiff and ungiving. “We have to adapt and adjust. No talking about the experiment if she is nearby. Oh, and Max, please keep yourself in check.”

  Max lifted his head and pressed his lips together as if debating. Then he shook his head, leaving our circle of whispers. Councilwoman Svea stood by the window in Ruth’s living room, her gaze wandering across the tree crowns which touched the horizon.

  She ignored the awkwardness. Almost pretended there was none. But really, the way our faces had dropped when she showed up at the door said it all. The council members wanted her to come with us. Great…

  I walked over to her and leaned with my back against the window. “I think we are ready to leave now.”

  “I left my bag downstairs in the hall.” She turned and gave me a warm smile. “I figured there is no point in bringing it upstairs if it has to come back down with me anyway.”

  “Well, I am thrilled that you are coming with us. I will get to spend three days with a real councilwoman.”

  The way her eyes dipped told me she had detected my lie before I even finished, but was too polite to bring it up.

  “Two days and three hours to be precise,” she said and gazed at me as if it mattered. “It’ll be interesting for me to observe you.”

  Observe me? Her statement turned my skin into a carpet of goosebumps. Shaped like almonds and light-gray, as if all color had faded from them, her eyes seemed perfect for uncovering secrets.

  The question popped in my mind once more, which had turned my stomach hollow ever since I rested my head on Max’s beating chest. Could he control the changes inside him? Now, another one added to the pile: would Svea notice?

  Max gave a loud clap. “Alright ladies, let’s get this party on the road, or we will miss our train.”

  He threw the strap of his bag around his shoulder and grabbed the handle of mine before I even got a chance to reach for it.