by Jen Guberman
“Being out here,” I held my arms out, my eyes wild. “Being out here is worse. You’re safer in the exile towns.”
“Safer isn’t always better,” Astraea cooed softly. She had long, wavy maroon hair and bright eyes. Her gaze seemed to analyze me as she spoke.
“We answered your question, so answer one of ours. What are your plans, now that you’re free?” Trent asked.
Zane looked at me, as if for approval, but without waiting for it, he began.
“We’re looking for something,” he started.
“Zane,” I hissed, elbowing his side aggressively.
He cupped his hands over my ear, his voice low.
“I searched their bags—they don’t have weapons. I didn’t see anything on them, either. They don’t even have much food. If they really are who they say they are, isn’t this essentially what we wanted to do anyways? Guide exiles to Fortitude?”
“Did he just say Fortitude?” asked a tall woman named Persephone. Before she spoke, her posture straightened with an air of superiority, her ginger bob tickling the pale skin of her jaw. Her wide nose was held upwards, but upon the mention of Fortitude, her snooty appearance transformed into one of curiosity.
There was collective conversation from the group of exiles.
“Zane!” I shouted.
“What?” he cried, holding his hands up as if in surrender.
I groaned in disgust.
“I’ve heard of it!” Bexa spoke up. She had a frizzy brunette bun and colorful tattoos across her arms and chest.
I had to remind myself not to stare at Bexa’s numerous piercings covering her ears, her petite pointed nose, and her thin lips.
Those piercings look painful.
“It’s a town of escaped exiles. I’ve heard about it, but I didn’t think it was real. Have you seen it before?” she asked.
“No,” I replied.
“Do you know where it is?” she asked.
“Not exactly…”
There were shared grumbles from the exiles.
“I mean we have a general idea. We hadn’t heard of it until after we escaped, and at that point, we figured it would be worth a shot.”
I decided not to mention the Skeleton Key right now, especially with two other thieves joining us. I also figured it wasn’t the best time to mention that we planned on eventually going back to break a bunch of other criminals out of the exile towns.
“So, what’s the plan?” asked Eve.
“What do you mean?” I asked in return.
“Well, you obviously aren’t going in search of Fortitude without a plan. You said you have a general idea of where it is, and I’m assuming you have plans for getting rations?” she replied.
“Umm…” I struggled, looking at Zane for help.
“We don’t exactly have much of a plan. We’re heading west until we clear the cities, then we will head south a bit until we near the ocean, which is where Fortitude is supposed to be.”
“So, you don’t have a plan, is what you’re trying to say?” Persephone said with an amused smirk.
“We do,” I groaned.
“Where do you plan on getting rations?” she pried.
“None of your business,” I hissed, thinking about the Skeleton Key.
“E,” Zane breathed, looking at me in disbelief. “Sorry, I don’t know what’s gotten into her. I was thinking we would stop in cities and towns along the way, snag what we can.”
“Excuse me?” I growled. “You ‘don’t know what’s gotten into me?’”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“She’s upset that you’re sharing all of this with strangers,” Astraea observed almost inaudibly.
“Honestly, I think our chances are better if you all join us. Safety in numbers, and all that. More people to help with supplies, too, if you want to come with us to Fortitude,” he invited, avoiding my glare.
“May I speak with my group for a moment? Privately?” Cindee asked politely.
“Of course,” Zane responded, ushering me back into the kitchen with him as Cindee closed the bedroom door behind her.
“What are you doing?” I snarled at Zane.
“They’re right! We don’t have a plan, Eos! I mean, what are we supposed to do about food and water?”
“We have the Key!” I exclaimed in a hushed voice. “We can get in any town or city we want, and we can get all the supplies we need!”
“We can’t carry enough to last us more than a few days. Face it.”
“And you think inviting more people, who also need food is going to fix that problem?”
“Some of their group members look stronger than us and can probably carry more. Plus, with a bigger group, we can have people carry extra supplies and we can switch off in shifts, if we get desperate,” Zane argued, as if he had calculated all of this carefully. “Or what if someone has a supply that we need, and we have something they need? A bigger group means more supplies available.”
“Fine. But how do you know we can trust them? Especially after what happened in Fallmont!”
“They aren’t officials, E.”
“But what if they report you?”
“That’s a stupid question. Do you really think a group of runaway exiles are going to report other runaway exiles? They don’t want to get caught. We don’t want to get caught. That means everyone protects each other to some degree by default, as a matter of self-preservation.”
“I still don’t trust them.”
“I’m not sure I do either. It’s called a leap of faith. Do you trust me?”
“They might steal the Key, Zane.”
“I didn’t ask if you trust them, I asked if you trust me.”
“Yes.”
He smiled at me softly, placing a hand behind my head and planting a quick kiss on my forehead.
The bedroom door opened, and the group flooded out into the main room of the small house.
The corner of Cindee’s lips turned upward in a half smile as she nodded.
“You’re in?” Zane asked.
“Yup. We’ve got at least one person from each exile town, too. We’ve got everyone we could need to get anything we could need. But first, we have a different plan.”
“What is it?” I asked, skeptically.
“We agreed that moving south first, then west, is the best option. South of us is Delaisse, Nortown, and Equivox. If we go south first, we can stock up on supplies, which we might not come across if we head straight toward the west,” Cindee offered.
Zane thought for a moment before speaking.
“That’s a good point. E?” he asked, turning to me.
“What?”
“I want to know what you think,” he said genuinely.
I narrowed my eyes and stared back at him for a moment.
“I—I think that’s a good idea,” I said, softening my gaze.
“It’s settled then. We head south,” Zane nodded to Cindee.
“We believe it would be best to visit Delaisse first for a supply run. It’s closest. Yulie and Brenur said the rations are easy to access once you’re in the town. We just have to find out how to break in, and we can stock up there. If we don’t think we have enough to make it to Fortitude with those supplies, we can visit Equivox next. It would probably be safer than trying to sneak into a city, even if that city is just tiny Nortown,” Cindee continued to plot.
“Makes sense,” I said. “Should we wait until morning to leave? It’s getting late, and this is as good a place as any to stay.”
“Yeah, that’d probably be best,” Cindee answered. “We found some cans of food in the cabinets in the kitchen, if you guys want something for dinner.”
“Thank you,” I said, staring unblinkingly at Cindee.
What’s her motive? She’s either planning something, or she’s trusting that we can get her somewhere we don’t even know exists. Either way, I’m not sure I like it.
The group began to find places to sleep, making t
hemselves comfortable throughout the house as Zane and I dug through the cabinets, picking out a couple cans of beans and vegetables.
“Here,” Astraea said, seeming to appear out of nowhere behind me, holding out a metal can opener.
“Thanks,” I said, narrowing my gaze at her as her eyes scanned over me.
“You’re afraid of us,” she perceived, looking into my eyes, her head cocked slightly to the side. “Why?”
“I’m not afraid. I just don’t know why you all want to join us.”
“We just want freedom. Same as you. We have a better chance of making it to Fortitude if we stick together and help each other. Why do you think we all ended up as such a large group?”
“Look… Astrid,” I started.
“Astraea,” she corrected under her breath.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. It’s a tough one for some people. Ah. Stray. Uh,” she sounded out. “You can call me Trae if that’s easier.”
“Okay. Anyways,” I sighed. “We don’t even know for sure if Fortitude exists. We’ve never seen it before.”
“So, you’re afraid of letting us all down, is that it?” she cooed. “What do 13 criminals really have to lose?”
Their lives.
Jen Guberman-Perry
Jen Guberman-Perry isn’t a New York Time’s bestselling author, and she has no critical acclaims, but her mom thinks her books are pretty good. She graduated from Gardner-Webb University with her Bachelor’s in Communications & New Media, and she was a member of three honor societies. Jen lives with her husband and her plant collection in Charlotte, North Carolina.