Page 4
I held up my hands. “I’m Genevieve—the King’s daughter. I was at the School myself. ”
The woman considered me. “The one with red hair? From the School in northern Nevada?”
I nodded, remembering the city I’d seen on maps. I’d spent so many years referring to the School by its coordinates, as if it were the only thing that existed in that place. Now it was hard to think of it as an actual town where people had lived before the plague, somewhere someone called home. “You know her?”
Without saying anything she unlocked the door and went through it, leaving enough space for me to pass. Only one light was on in the long hall. Two female soldiers were stationed along the corridor. One glanced up from a tattered book with a dinosaur on the cover—something called Jurassic Park. “I might know who you’re talking about,” the soldier with the scar said. “She was in the Jeep I came in on. We had about ten girls in the back. ”
The queasy, light feeling in my stomach returned as I glanced into the rooms where the girls slept. They were all around my age, some a bit older, their swollen bellies visible beneath the blankets. They couldn’t have been more than six months pregnant—the girls who were further along must’ve been deemed too fragile to move.
Now, with them so close, I tried to keep the fantasies contained. How many times had I walked through the City, imagining Arden beside me, or stared at the empty seat across from me during afternoon tea, wondering what it would be like if Pip was there? I still set aside a portion of my chocolate cake out of habit, knowing it was Ruby’s favorite. I understood what it must’ve been like to come here after the plague, to be one of the citizens who’d lost every friend, every member of their family. My friends’ ghosts followed me always, appearing and disappearing when I least expected them.
“She’s back there,” the soldier said, gesturing to a cot at the other end of the room, just below the window. I stood frozen, looking at the girls’ faces, their eyelids fluttering in sleep. Violet, a dark-haired girl who’d lived in the room beside us, was turned on her side, her pillow tucked between her knees. I recognized Lydia, who’d studied art with me. She’d made so many versions of the same ink drawing—a woman in bed, a towel pressed to her nose, trying to stop the blood.
It was like walking through a dreamscape, the faces familiar but the circumstances changed. I couldn’t comprehend it, even knowing what I knew—even now. I approached Pip.
Her hair had grown out, the waves loose as they fell down her back. She was curled away from me, facing the wall beneath the window, one hand resting on her stomach. “Pip—wake up,” I said, sitting on the cot. I touched her elbow, startling her.
“What’s wrong?” She turned her head, and her face was suddenly visible in the dim light. The high cheekbones, the thick, dark brows that always made her look so serious. It was Maxine, the girl who’d speculated that the King was coming for our graduation, after overhearing a conversation between Teachers. “Eve?” she asked, sitting up. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought you were Pip,” I said, sliding back on the dusty cot. “I didn’t realize. ”
Maxine just stared at me. Her skin had a strange yellowish tint to it. There were sores on her wrists where restraints had been. “They left,” she said. “Pip, Ruby, and Arden. No one has seen them in more than three weeks. ”
I stood, searching the room once more, studying the faces of the girls, as if looking twice could change what was already apparent. Why hadn’t I heard news of it? Had my father known and kept it from me?
My eyes fell for a moment on Maxine, on the cotton taped to the inside of her elbow, covered with dried blood. I couldn’t bring myself to ask about what had happened in the building, about the journey she’d taken here. I couldn’t pretend we were close now, this girl I’d talked to only in passing at School, to hear whatever gossip was unfolding inside the compound walls.
I turned to go but she stopped me, her hand clamping down on my arm. “You knew,” she said. She tilted her head to the side, looking at me as if for the first time. “That’s why you left. You helped them escape, didn’t you?”
“I’m sorry” was all I managed.
The soldier stepped inside the room, trying to gauge what was happening. Maxine released me, her eyes drifting to the rifle clutched in the woman’s hands. I turned to go, stepping around the cots, covering my face with my hair so as not to be recognized by the girls who sat up, startled by Maxine’s voice. I didn’t breathe until I was outside.
“How was your friend?” the soldier asked.
My hands were shaking. The hallway smelled like a mixture of dust and chemical cleaner. “Thank you for your help,” I said, not answering the question. She opened her mouth to say something more, but I started down the stairs, not stopping until I heard the door lock behind me.
They were gone. It was what I’d wanted, but now that they were beyond the School walls I had no way to reach them. Their best chance was Califia, that much I knew, but it would’ve taken them more than three weeks to get there. I didn’t know how Pip or Ruby would be able to travel, if Arden was pregnant, when they’d left or how. For a moment I wanted to return to Maxine, to ask her everything, but her words came back to me. I had chosen to help them, even if it meant leaving others behind. Who was I to go to her now, to expect her to help me? Who was I to even ask?
At the bottom of the stairs I spotted Beatrice. She was clutching a girl with short, straw-colored hair that was messy in the back, as if she’d just woken up. The girl’s face was pink, her eyes swollen. Beatrice rocked on her heels, pulling the girl closer, and for a moment, my loneliness lifted. “I found her,” she said, catching my eye. “This is my Sarah. ”
Three
“THESE ARE THE OLD ENCYCLOPEDIAS YOU ASKED FOR,” MOSS said, placing the stack of hardcovers in my arms, “and one novel I thought you’d enjoy. ” There were three volumes total, each two inches thick. “The ones that were missing from your collection. W and J. I hope you’ll find them useful, for looking up werewolves and the like. ” He tapped his finger on the top of the first cover, signaling for me to open it.
I lifted it gently, taking in the small packet of white powder nestled inside. A few of the pages had been cut out, creating a shallow recess. “Would you mind giving us a few moments alone?” I asked, looking to the corner of the parlor. Alina, the maid who’d replaced Beatrice, was arranging delicate cups on a tray, clearing the morning tea. She was short, with curly brown hair and small, wide-set eyes. She nodded before starting toward the door.
I knew this was one of our final meetings, that things were coming to fruition, the power slowly, secretly shifting to the rebels. It was difficult to be hopeful, though; a heaviness had settled in after seeing Maxine. I worried about my friends, wondering where they were—if they could survive. Ruby and Pip were nearly five months along, maybe more. Why hadn’t Arden sent word through the Trail?
When the door was shut tightly behind Alina, I unstacked the books, peering into each one. Inside the J encyclopedia was a folded map and a crank radio similar to the ones used on the Trail. “Funny,” I said, opening the thick novel set on top, its title unfamiliar. A knife sat inside, the metal glinting in the light. “War and Peace. I get it. ”