SAFE (7 page)

While
we talked, the things James and Sidnee had told me today didn’t match the
memories. President Falcon and my family had dinner together numerous times. He
gave me a handmade jewelry box for my thirteenth birthday. He spent time
carving my initials carefully into the top and it was one of my favorite gifts
that year. It’s still sitting on my nightstand at home, holding jewelry and
tiny, little glass baubles I collected. The man who seemed to care so much
about my family and have high respect for my father couldn’t be a tyrant,
mistreating everyone. He was a compassionate ruler with the tenacity and the power
to keep us all safe. He wouldn’t have agreed with the treatment Sidnee’s family
and friends endured or want to display James and me as spectacles.

“Your
sister? I know you said that earlier, but what sister are you talking about?
You’re an only child.”

I
threw the thoughts from my head, and focused on the present. I explained to
James what my dad told me and grabbed the picture from my pack. He agreed my
sister looked eerily similar to me and said if my dad felt it was important to
find Madeline then we would.

To
my relief, it didn’t take heaps of convincing James to help me find my sister
who was ALSO living on the other Land. I was surprised he didn’t protest the
idea of going anywhere near the place. Instead, he was supportive and didn’t
ask many questions.

The
only part of the story I left out were the vials. I was afraid Lowers might be
listening in on every word of our conversation. So I kept my explanation half-truth.
Plus, I didn’t want anyone to worry in case they had friends living on the
other Land too. Besides, the vials were important, the last thing I needed was for
someone trying to steal them. I was unsure if the Lowers could be trusted. So
far, they’ve been hospitable, giving James and I more than we expected, but it
didn’t change the fact that just twenty-four hours ago we did not know them.

“Look,
I’m ready to leave anytime. We should head towards the perimeter soon. It’ll
take at least a full day to get there, and we don’t even know where
there
is,” I said.

James’
head straightened towards me. “What happened to the car?”

I
shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know, but I didn’t see it out there. I’m pretty
sure the Lowers did something with it. Besides, it doesn’t matter anyway. It
was completely out of power.”

James
clearly wasn’t happy about the car being gone. “Not having a car won’t make it
any easier for us to travel in this storm, but I’m positive there won’t be
anyone looking for us until it passes. So let’s wait it out, conserve our energy,
and then head there with full strength when it ends. That way we’ll both be ready
for what’s ahead.”

I
admit that I was a little curious wondering if James was simply waiting out the
storm on my behalf—physical activity not being one of my strongest suits. However,
his knowledge of how the Academy operated was much better than mine. If he
thought we should wait until the storm passed, then I needed to trust him. And
until recently, I wouldn’t have hesitated taking him for his word, and I wasn’t
going to start now.

Abruptly,
Sidnee marched back into the room and walked over towards James. Then she
turned and stood next to him, “He’s right, you’ll need your strength. You are
welcome to stay as long as you need. That’s the least I can do in return for
what your father did for my family.” Her voice sincere. “Nice to meet you, James,”
she said, looking up at him and then down at the floor. “Let me get you a
bigger towel.” His pants were still sopping wet, trickling down into puddles
around his feet.

“Sorry
about that.” James took off his boots. “Do you have any clothes I could borrow?”
That request was hard for James to ask, borrowing clothes from a Lower.
Borrowing anything from a Lower.

Sidnee
walked off. I was happy I hadn’t mentioned anything about the vials, because
Sidnee and who-knows-else had indeed been listening.

Hours passed and the rain hadn’t stopped. Sidnee led
us into another house where lunch was served.

James
and I didn’t talk much about the perimeter, unsure what to discuss. We couldn’t
climb over, it was impossible, and James knew this too. The only thing James
could think of was the idea of making a ladder or rope out of tree vines and then
tossing it over. But then we’d be stuck with the likelihood of it catching fire
and alerting everyone to our whereabouts. Plus, we weren’t even sure how high
the perimeter was or what to expect once we made it across. Was there a huge
ditch with explosives? There would have to be something placed prior, detouring
any unwanted individuals attempting to come inside illegally.

The
one thing we did know was no one would ever suspect us of attempting an insane
task such as this one. If anything, they probably thought we’d try slipping by the
guards (somehow) at the Academy and then escape into the port that way.

Water.
What would we do about that?

How
would we cross the ocean? It’s gigantic, with various mammals underneath
waiting to devour whatever comes in their path.

This
was going to be much harder than either of us expected.

After
lunch, James immediately took a walk, checking for any guards hiding nearby. It
was still raining, but he was adamant about double checking the Lowers’ perimeter
and I told him I’d meet him back at Sidnee’s. The real reason I didn’t insist
on joining him was I wanted a chance to inspect my body without any questions.
I hadn’t forgotten about earlier. I wondered how long it would be, if in fact I
were one of those individuals born without the genetic code, before my vines
disappeared.

When
I reached her house, I walked quickly to my room. The furry snowball sat in the
corner while I tore off my shirt and tossed my pants behind me. Inch by inch,
my fingers and eyes traced every vine, starting from my arms, over my stomach, around
my waist, and down to my feet. Each black line looked smaller, thinner, or maybe
not. Maybe it was just that I was so scared, it was causing my mind to play
rude tricks on me. I calmly exhaled, focused on the picture of Jace, and wiped
the sweat from my palms.

Vials.
My dad. He entrusted me with them. But I knew if those could have given me the
appearance of vines, he would’ve told me in the beginning during our brief exchange.
He said the words ‘vaccine’, specifically meaning precisely that. They weren’t
pills. They were vaccines and only that.

That’s
when the thought occurred to me. If Jace had been administered pills, then
maybe I could find where Sidnee hid them. Just in case I needed them. Hopefully,
I was wrong.

I
knew lunch was nearly finished, half the people left when James and I did, and
if Sidnee wasn’t back yet then she probably would be soon. I threw on my
clothes and looked into the kitchen. She wasn’t there.

“Sidnee?”
I asked quietly, carefully. Not wanting to alert anyone walking around outside.

There
was no response. No sign of Sidnee.

I
needed to be fast and opened every cabinet door, looked under every jar and
vase I could find except the ones stacked in the corner. There wasn’t enough time
to look through all those before she returned. I looked over at the other
doorway; the one leading to her room.

“Sidnee?”
I said again, making sure.

Nothing.

I
opened the curtain and walked into her room. A jumbled mess greeted me with
even more vases and blankets strewn about. I looked under all the blankets, under
her bed, before carefully putting the covers back in place and sitting on the
edge. I tried to remember anything she had said that could possibly give me a
clue to the pills’ location. Then I looked up, straight ahead, and spotted a
metallic box sitting on a small table in the corner.

Jackpot.

I
ran across the room and opened the box.
Ugh!
The only thing inside was a
beaded necklace similar to the ones out her entryway, hanging on the torches.

Feeling
defeated I sat back down on her bed. What was I going to do?

A
noise outside broke my train of thought and I jumped up.

Crap!
Sidnee. I rushed through my empty realm of excuses. I was not the best liar. I ran
to the doorway before slowing my pace, sauntering, and bracing myself for the inevitable
accusations. I looked down towards my feet and then squinted up. “Sid—”

“What
are you doing, Penny?” James asked.

“Oh,
it’s just you,” I said, relieved. “I was searching, seeing what else she might
have that could be of use.” I lied, but I couldn’t tell the truth either. We
were raised our entire lives believing anyone without vines was damaged.
Diseased.

He
gave me a weird look. He knew I was hiding something, but didn’t ask and
shrugged in response. “Look,” he said. “I might have found a way over the
perimeter.”

My
spirits perked up. “What—how? You’ve only been gone like fifteen minutes,” I
replied.

“I
know,” he said, shaking the wetness around. “But when I searched outside, I
spotted a few young kids walking in and out of one of the houses. They were
holding pieces of metal and titanium, lights, ammo… When I walked in, the house
was filled with every part of our car—dissembled. They took it apart, literally
piece by piece. One of the guys grabbed me off to the side and said he knew we
were trying to get over the perimeter and that he could help us. We’re meeting
him tonight after everyone goes to sleep. Hopefully, the rain hasn’t completely
stopped by then, giving us a chance.”

I
grabbed James’ arm and tugged him into my room; the dog growled at both of us.

“Are
you sure we can trust this guy? Do you even know his name?” I asked, quietly
looking over his shoulder towards the doorway.

“I
don’t know, but if he says he can help, then we should hear him out,” he
whispered.

My
eyes wandered back to the picture of Jace. “All right,” I replied.

James
pulled my chin toward him. “Hey. Are you okay?”

I
wanted to blurt everything out about the possibility of why I was really being
taken to the Academy. But I just wasn’t ready yet. “Ya, I’m okay. This has all
been a little much, you know?”

James
nodded. “I know, but we’re going to be okay. I will get you out of here, and we
will
find your sister. I promise.” Then he gave me a hug, something much
needed and overdue. “Sidnee’s here.” He put his finger in a hush position over
his lips, informing me to stop talking about our plans.

The rest of the day wasted away with the rain. It
wasn’t easy being stuck inside, staying closed-mouthed about my secret. James and
I made up games with pebbles, seeing who could toss one closer to the vase in
the middle of the room. In between rounds, he continued sweeping the perimeter
around the village and after, Sidnee made him a bed on the floor in the corner
next to the stacks of vases. She didn’t feel comfortable allowing James to sleep
in my room, muttering something about it being improper, and we didn’t argue
otherwise. We understood, already being accustomed to this sort of thing with
parents like mine.

We
all said goodnight, and James assured her we’d see her in the morning—the less people
who knew about our planned departure, the better. We then thanked her for
letting us stay.

A
couple hours later, I woke up to James gently shaking me in bed. It was nearly
midnight and I had accidentally fallen asleep. He put his finger to his lips
again and I understood—no speaking. I gave him the same finger, but it meant
that I needed a minute. My heart was racing and sweat covered my chest. I
blinked my eyes repeatedly—trying to wake up from my jolting panic attack.
Fortunately, I slept in my clothes, including my jacket, and all I needed to do
was grab my backpack. James nodded at me. I nodded back and climbed out of the
bed towards the door.

James
was wearing his former clothes, shirtless. The only gun we had hung across his
back and his pants and shoes had finally dried, though it wouldn’t do him much
good. I couldn’t hear the thunderous rain anymore, but the moisture smell
lingered throughout the house and the storm hadn’t completely passed yet.

As
we approached the front doorway, James stopped and motioned with his flat palm,
forcing me to halt. He looked outside to the right and began walking close to
the side of Sidnee’s house. I followed him along the exterior as we moved
around to the back.

A
wet noise appeared from behind me. I turned around.

Her
bright fur was now dampened, and she nipped at my heels. The rutty dog had
followed us.
Great, you choose now to be my friend.
James saw the dog
and looked at me as if I had something to do with it. I raised my hands. What
could I do? We weren’t supposed to make any noise, and if I even tried shooing
the darn dog away, she’d probably end up growling at me again. Which might lead
to barking—alerting everyone nearby.

James
turned back around and hunched closer to the ground, taking large, hurried
steps across the small gap to the next house. We moved around that house and
across to the next. This pattern repeated until we came to the end of the
village. The last house. The only thing ahead of us now was trees. No sign of
life. James squinted and listened closely to our surroundings, and then we
spotted a small flame, tiny flickers pulsating in the distance.

At
once, we darted towards the light, straight into weeds. The weeds were as high
as my thighs and I was glad to be wearing pants. I covered my hands, wrapping
them across my chest and under my backpack, away from the thorny plants we trudged
through. I looked behind me, the dog was still there. I didn’t even know her
name. The trees became denser and the weeds too. It was impossible to walk on
dry land, puddles of sloshy mud every which way. I couldn’t see the ground, far
beneath the plants. More mud. A ruddy swamp.
Whoever decided this should be
our meeting spot is a lousy planner
. My feet now completely drenched, my
shoes nastier with each step, and now the destination light had stopped
blinking. James and I continued on a few more seconds, and then we stopped. He
could hear someone close, but neither of us could see anything. The trees were thicker,
blocking out the moon’s light.

“Hey,
you there?” James whispered loudly. “I can hear you. Where are you?”

The
heavy branches swayed in the wind, rustling over one another and the breeze
brushed across my face. We waited. No light, the swamp was still entirely pitch
black. My eyes adjusted, James stood next to me; a soft black outline of his
figure was all I could see. Then I felt his hand grasp my arm tight. “Look, we
don’t need your help if you’re going to be a prick about it,” he whispered louder.

A
few feet from us, a voice chuckled, “Fine. Fine. You’re no fun messing with
anyway.”

Then
I felt a presence behind me and the dog growled deeply. I threw my elbow
backward, hard, into whoever had approached me.

“Geez!
You’re a spitfire, aren’t you,” the voice laughed.

Then
I felt him move around me in front of us, now close enough to see his outline.

“I’m
Lucan. Nice to meet you,” he said.

“Are
you helping us or not?” James wasn’t amused and I felt the tension from his
hand leave my arm and wrap around my waist.

 “Here,
take these.” Lucan placed an object in my hand, cold, hard like metal, then James
let go of my waist and grabbed whatever was placed in his hands too. “Put them
over your eyes, they’ll help you see,” Lucan ordered.

I
felt around for a strap and pulled the device over my head. Small. Reminding me
of the goggles from work. I adjusted the fit on top my nose and then felt a
hand reach around my face.

“Hold
still,” Lucan said.

He
pressed a button on the rim’s edge and all of a sudden everything was clearer—the
hue, tint, was off, but still there was a little color. Mostly the shades
varied through colors of green, grey, and black. I saw Lucan put his hands on
top of James’ glasses and then James looked over at me.

“You’re
Penny, right?” asked Lucan.

I
nodded.

“Where
did you get these?” James asked, accusatory with his question. Obviously James
hadn’t achieved the clearance level for devices such as these and wasn’t happy
about it.

“Whoa.
Seriously, you have to loosen up, man. So? Can you both see?” Lucan gestured at
the goggles.

“Yes,
these are fantastic!” I looked Lucan up and down. He was taller than James was,
but not nearly as broad, and leaner with a chiseled jawline. A perfectly
symmetrical face stared back at me from underneath his goggles. His pants were
slightly too tight for my liking and so was his shirt, but he was definitely in
shape. Thin vines covered his face and hands; paint completely absent from his
skin.

“All
right. Here. Put these on.” Lucan handed me a pair of boots. “These should fit
you. I took them from DeeZee. Don’t worry, she won’t miss them,” he laughed.