Elected (The Elected Series Book 1) (22 page)

There are more ripples through the crowd as people take in my words.

“Armor glass will keep them out. Stop any invasions if they are forthcoming. I’m advocating one full-scale push to build a long wall of armor glass for our border, and then we’ll stop production again. I’m not allowing creation of any other technology. Everything else is still off limits.”

I let the ripples of talk from the audience come forward to me in waves. I let everyone ruminate on what I’ve just said, knowing I can’t hold back their conversation anymore. Questions fly at the talkers from all around the pavilion. To the credit of our people, the inquiries reach me in an orderly fashion, one at a time. I answer them as fast as possible.

Yes, Zet, we’ll harness all forms of technology needed to create armor glass.

No, Grobe, we won’t use these other forms of technology for anything else except this project. Not even to produce more medicine. No.

Yes, Delia, the chemists and metal workers will focus on this project for the next few months.

No, Albine, everyone else will help as needed, but there is still a requirement for our planters to work the fields. We cannot let our stores of food deplete.

Finally the questions dwindle to one. I see a boy in the back of the room gesture toward a talker who shimmies over to him to hear his words. After listening for a moment, the talker walks back to the side and sends the question up to me. I look into the crowd to see the boy whose question I will soon be answering.

A slight movement identifies him. A cockroach walks lightly around the crown of the child’s head. It’s the boy who held hands with Griffin under the lemon trees.

The closest talker to me brings forth the question. “Will this keep us safe?”

I look down at the stage floor while I think about my answer. I want to give my people hope, but I also want to speak the truth. Will it keep us safe? How can I guarantee something I don’t know for sure? What can I say now that’s honest, but heartfelt?

When I have the words I need, I look out toward the boy.

“With all my heart and soul, I certainly hope so.”

The audience is quieted by my response. But there’s still something I need to share with my people. I glance over at Griffin who walks forward. I start the introduction.

“We have one last piece of news before we break for the day and get down to business with the new projects. Recently, it came to my attention that someone close to me and Madame Elected was also close to the Technology Faction. We’d like to completely open lines of communication with this group.”

I nod to Griffin. He steps closer to me and looks out into the crowd. I see his throat constrict as he swallows. I lock eyes with him, thinking about Griffin’s bravery throughout the last few months. The loss of his father, which he accepts even though he doesn’t agree with the Technology Accord that sent his father to death. How he walks two lines. The one where he protects me and Vienne with his entire being. And the one where he meets secretly with the group that wants to defy our rule. He talks of a bridge I must find. But he is the bridge. He is the one who has the power to gather acceptance of the rules I set forth.

With his next words, Griffin’s two personas will come crashing down.

“It is high time I tell you who I am. I’ve been keeping it a secret for too long. Many of you were brave enough to step forward and reveal yourselves. Now I must be equally strong. I’m not just a guard to the Electeds. I’m also the Technology Faction’s Leader.”

Shouts erupt from the audience as a few people pump their hands in the air in deference to Griffin. The rest of the audience either looks side-to-side to see which of their yet undisclosed Technology Faction neighbors just revealed themselves. Or they yell out their surprise and reluctance to receive this new information about Griffin. To have the Technology Faction Leader, and one whose father tried to assassinate the Elected, so close to the ruling family is unsettling to them.

There is confusion as people try to determine what this new information will mean. If the Technology Faction is infiltrating the Elected Office. If I’ve already bowed to their requests and am a puppet. If that’s why I now advocate manufacturing armor glass. Or if the Technology Faction has just officially given up and vows to follow all of my dictates. If they are now the puppet.

I realize the people who raised their hands to cheer for Griffin are not the entirety of the Technology Faction. As I stare into the agitated crowd, I hear a mixture of shouts denouncing Griffin as the Faction leader, saying he’s given in, shown weakness. I didn’t picture what Griffin’s announcement would do to him, only what I would gain. Now I wonder if we’ve been wrong to bring his affiliation forward. I am spellbound, listening to the rumblings of my people as best I can.

So I don’t see Vienne looking toward me imploringly. It’s only when her hand touches my upper arm, the tender spot of the brand, that I spin toward her.

“Aloy, we should go. It’s not safe here for us right now.”

I purse my lips at her in consternation, upset that just a few minutes ago the crowd was fully behind us and our new baby. Now I see my people entering into chaos once again. I don’t want to let it go unchecked. “Maybe just a few minutes more,” I implore, hoping I can bring order quickly.

“No, I must go. The baby. It isn’t safe. I can’t stand in the middle of another riot.”

I know she’s right to be prudent. I picture her knocked down by thrown objects, and this pushes me forward. At once, I gesture to the guards and they surround her in a tight circle, ushering her off the stage. I follow quickly, looking back at Griffin. I mouth the words, “I’m sorry,” to him.

He shrugs, not exactly giving me his usual mischievous grin, but not defeated. “I’m not,” he mouths back.

Vienne and I are led out of the pavilion. It’s not until we’re at the top, me looking down at the four thousand people below us, that my stomach turns in on itself. Already a few of the flowers in the trellis above the stage have started to fall. Instead of the pretty picture the flowers made before, now they look decayed, like something has rotted and begun to disintegrate.

Tomlin meets me and Vienne at the top of the pavilion. “Come,” he says, sounding an awful lot like my mother. “Let them talk it out. They need to make sense of this. Come to some kind of new political order where the Technology Faction means something different than it did fifty years ago.”

“Talk?” I scoff. “They’re not exactly talking. I thought...” I can’t finish my words.

“Let Griffin work out the next part.”

Griffin. I stare onto the stage where he’s standing alone. His hands are up, trying to bring a semblance of quiet so he can start answering questions. The talkers are no longer used. People yell out questions, but Griffin can’t fully hear a question to answer it. And even if he could, few would be able to hear his response.

Then a voice from the audience rises above the others and it stops me in my tracks.

“Guards, arrest Griffin!” the voice screeches.

I swivel around, looking for the person who’s just asked for something only I can order. How dare he. My eyes squint, looking for the person I will mow down with my words in a second.

I’m not entirely surprised to see Grobe standing on top of one of the rock benches. He gestures toward the stage, and the audience quiets to hear his accusation.

“Do you deny it, Griffin? Have you not played with electricity?” Grobe’s voice is loud and authoritative.

Griffin focuses on Grobe for a second, but then his eyes find their way back to me. The audience follows Griffin’s gaze, glancing back and forth from one of us to another. At first I think Griffin is asking for my help, but then when I see the slight movement of his head back and forth I realize he’s doing the exact opposite.

This can’t be happening.

“Elected,” Grobe says, looking toward the back of the Ellipse at me. “Moments ago, you said no other technology should be made except for armor glass. Yet, Griffin created technology and must pay for his crimes!”

I am speechless, wondering how Griffin was so lax as to show someone else his invention. And that’s when I think of it. It’ll be Griffin’s word against Grobe’s. I’ll just side with Griffin. No big deal.

I look at Griffin, trying to send my thoughts across the expanse to his brain. Please be complicit with this, I silently beg.

“It’s only you accusing Griffin,” I say toward Grobe. “I cannot enact the justice you seek without seeing evidence.”

Then I look at Griffin again, my eyes bright with the easy solution I’ve just concocted. But Griffin is looking down at the floor. He won’t meet my eyes, and it’s just seconds before I understand why.

“I’ve seen it too,” says a man standing near Grobe. The man looks toward Griffin in apology. “I also advocate technology creation, but Grobe is right. Until the Elected tells us we can create the machines, we are only allowed to talk about it. Griffin did more than that.”

Another woman near Grobe steps forward. “It’s true,” she says.

I look back at Vienne and Tomlin, and see they’ve both turned white. If I denounce the evidence of three people, which I know they can showcase if asked, and instead advocate for Griffin, I’ll be tearing apart the very framework of laws our society needs to stay intact. And if I do come to Griffin’s aid now, it will seem like favoritism. Possibly even more. Like love.

Maybe they’ll even be able to guess I’m a woman. Then nothing will matter anymore. Not only will Griffin go to prison and be executed, but Vienne and I will too. Vienne’s baby will be stripped of its future title. And all because of my love for one man.

I look at Griffin once more. This time he’s staring straight at me. He mouths one sentence in my direction.

You know what you have to do.

No one else seems to notice his mouth move since the entire country is staring at me, waiting for my decision.

Griffin’s right. Unfortunately, I know all too well what this job makes me do. Over and over again, I have to pick my position over my own heart.

I look at Griffin one last time, ignoring the eyes of my four thousand townspeople. I try to tell him I’m sorry, and I think he does understand. He nods again and gives me a slight smile. It’s almost like a goodbye.

“Guards, arrest Griffin,” I say.

30

“Don’t worry,” Vienne says, reading my mind as she props me up on our way to the Old Executive Building. I feel sick all of a sudden, as if I might throw up right in the dirt at our feet. We’re following the path of the guards who, just an hour ago, took Griffin to the prison.

“Vienne, we can’t live without him,” I say into her ear.

I look away from her so she won’t see a tear as it’s starting to fester under my eyelashes. When I finally glance back, Vienne is staring at me. I can’t deny it.

“I didn’t want to love him,” I say. “I couldn’t help it.”

Vienne smiles, but the movement doesn’t reach her eyes. “I know. And that’s how you know it’s the real thing.”

I interject fast, “But I can’t live without you, either!”

Vienne cocks her head. “You think you couldn’t live without me or Griffin? You don’t give yourself enough credit. Every time you’ve run into adversity, you bounce back. You find a way to counter it. You may not realize it, but you could get by on your own if you had to.”

“Is this what you were trained for?” I’m starting to un
derstand Tomlin’s most important lesson for Vienne. “Were you trained to bolster up my confidence?”

Vienne looks away.

“That’s it, isn’t it? Because he thought I’d need that, right?” I continue, starting to understand the extent of Vienne’s psychology lessons. “You were trained to be the perfect counterbalance for me. And he thought I’d need some bolstering.”

“We all need that. All of us need affirmation of some kind. I was just given extra information on how to administer it. None of what I tell
you is untrue.”

“Psychology lessons. Just for you. No one else gets those.” It dawns on me slowly. “Because they thought I would be a special kind of crazy.”

“Well, it’s got to be rough having to pretend you’re something you’re not.”

“Yes. Were you taught to make sure I didn’t falter and somehow show my feminine side? Was that part of the...?” Before I can finish my sentence, we’re already at the mouth of the prison, and the doors are being held open for us.

I’m resolute we’ll find a way to protect Griffin from the harsh punishments outlined in the Technology Accord. Vienne and I can save him like we did Margareath. But this time it feels so different; I cannot bear to send Griffin away.

As we walk through the tight hallway, I feel bile rising in my throat again. Can I be getting a virus? I promise myself I’ll take my temperature on a chemical strip when I get home. But for now, I push through the dizziness, only thinking of getting to Griffin. There are more guards than usual standing along the corridor. I wonder if any of them are also secretly part of the Technology Faction. I never thought my own security system would be penetrated, but since the Faction is so widespread, the idea doesn’t sound so absurd anymore. The only question is: are they for Griffin or against him? Now that the Faction has splintered, it’s more confusing than ever to determine people’s motivations.

“Why the extra guards?” I ask Tomlin quietly enough not to attract the attention of the men closest to us.

“Griffin is a bit of a celebrity. There are many who’d like to break him out of here. And...” He pauses. “There are likewise many who now seem to want his head on a spike.”

“Ugh,” Vienne groans. I realize this is the first time she’s been inside these walls. She’s glancing around with wide eyes. “So the guards are for extra precaution?”

“Most of them,” says Tomlin.

We enter Griffin’s side of the cell. He’s hunched over on the cot, but when he hears the door open, he jumps up. When I see his face, I’m reminded what a toll the last few days have taken. Griffin’s usually spry features are clouded in gray. His lips are turned down. He tries to manage a smile when he sees us, but it’s faint like the sun trying to shine after a horrific acid rain storm.

“Is this the same room...?” Griffin’s voice trails off, but he looks at me imploringly.

Vienne darts over to him, grasping his elbow. “I’m sure this isn’t the same room your father was in,” she says.

I’d completely forgotten that Griffin’s imprisonment in these walls might bring up other feelings beside the worry over his own self. I can’t help but stare at the armor glass in the cell to make sure Vienne’s words are true. Could any of Maran’s blood still be left on the glass, spelling out that ancient word?

“It’s not the same room,” I reassure them. “It was farther down the corridor.” I can hardly remember for sure but decide to go with this white lie anyway. I’ve told so many lately, one more doesn’t seem to matter.

“You’ll be ok, Griffin,” Vienne says. “Aloy will figure out a way to fix this.”

“I don’t have too much time before people start demanding I drink the hemlock,” he says.

“Well, it’s your choice when to drink it,” says Vienne. Her hand is resting on her hip in defiance.

“Even though prisoners are allowed to choose when they drink the poison, it’s considered honorable not to wait too long,” I explain to Vienne.

“She’s right,” Griffin continues, the stiffness in his voice moving to a more urgent tone. “I don’t have that much time before a mob starts to riot. Watch for Grobe, Electeds. He’ll take over the Technology Faction now. And next he’ll go after the Elected role. His means of displacement will be more subtle, yet even more damaging than my father’s were.”

I suck in breath, trying to imagine an action that could hurt me more than an assassination attempt from Maran. I watch Griffin’s gaze as it lingers on Vienne and then moves to her pregnant stomach. My insides cringe as I fully realize the extent of Grobe’s intentions.

Vienne realizes it too and instinctively puts both hands around her stomach.

“We won’t let that happen,” I say, and Griffin nods.

“We can put security detail on Madame Elected twenty-four hours a day,” Tomlin says. I sigh, realizing this is wise but that it’ll derail our urgent need for privacy, as Vienne is an integral part of my escape plans for Griffin.

Vienne is about to assuage Griffin with some other explanation of how we’ll negotiate his release, but I know her words are futile. She and I won’t be able to use our designed method of extracting prisoners. She’ll be too heavily guarded to prepare the body in private, watch the prisoner wake up from his drink of sleeping potion instead of hemlock, and then ride out to the hills to deposit the accused in Mid Country as one of our spies. We’ll have to think of another way.

I’m about to interject, offer to do something drastic like publicly deny the Technology Accord or rewrite it for the purposes of our country, when another guard bursts into the room. “Excuse me, Electeds, but there’s been a theft.”

We all turn our heads to the man in the door. He’s out of breath from running to see us, one hand resting on his chest as he heaves big gulps of air. He’s one of our younger guards, but I can’t remember his name. For some reason, my brain feels cloudy, covered over with a filminess I can’t seem to shake. It gives me a slight headache, but I shake it off to process everything the guard’s saying.

“It’s all gone. Just disappeared overnight, but with the town hall preparations, no one realized it until now. People are worried, Elected. This much has never disappeared all at once before. We can’t figure out who could have removed it undetected.”

I put my hand up to stop him. “Slow down, please. It’s gone? What’s all gone?”

The guard comes to stand in front of me, taking off his hat to hold it in both of his shaking hands. “The final store that the chemists were guarding. The nirogene. It’s all gone.”