Here Skies Surround Us Read online

  I take a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm. “Nothing happened,” I say, crossing my arms. “We were just talking. I had a bad day today.”

  “It always has to be about you, doesn’t it, Nat,” Evan says, throwing his hands up in the air. “You’re bored, you’re lonely, and you’re sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. You need to be consoled, you’re upset, I mean when’s it gonna end?”

  “What do you mean?” I shake my head. This is the first time I’ve seen Evan get angry for something that didn’t involve me putting myself in unnecessary danger. “I didn’t do anything wrong here.”

  “You never do,” he says, almost yelling now. “You’re always innocent, aren’t you? You’ve never done anything wrong. Trouble just seems to find you.”

  “I don’t think this is my fault,” I say. I grip my hands together to stop them from shaking. I can feel my lips begin to quiver. This time it’s not from tears. It’s from anger.

  “It never is.” He pauses, watching my face. “And now you’re going to cry again.”

  Something inside me snaps. As I watch him speak, I realize he is just like his mother, held down by some underlying anger. It resonates through his body, revealing itself through balled fists and a clenched jaw. Then there are his eyes; they’re dark and narrowed, almost hateful, as they stare me down.

  “You know what?” I burst out. “You brought me here. You wanted me to come. I didn’t ask for this. Yes! I want to leave. I’ve been kidnapped, tied up, locked in an institution, and forced to work in slave-like conditions. And that was just the welcome. Who the hell do you think you are, coming in here and making me feel worthless?”

  I take a step forward and he stumbles back, dumbfounded. He looks around the room in shock, as if he’s just grasped what he’s said to me.

  “You know what else?” I continue to stomp toward him. “Your mother is a terrible person. I watched her whip three men in public today, and she liked it. Then she calls me into her office and tells me you’re not leaving. You lied to me, Evan. And you wonder why I don’t want to stay. I’m only here because I love you.” With my last words, tears slip down my cheeks. But I don’t sob. I’m in control for once.

  “Nat,” Evan says, regret in his voice, “I didn’t mean—”

  “Evan!” Nico says, running into the room. She stops, seeing my face covered in tears, to Evan’s look of shame and back to me again. “Sorry but this is urgent. The north quarter is being raided!”

  “What!” Evan and I say at the same time.

  “Where’s Quinn?” I ask.

  “What’s going on?” Evan asks, as we run from Remy’s bedroom and out into the main area.

  “It’s the New Order,” Nico explains. “We can’t get involved.”

  “Are you kidding me?” I ask, surprised. “You have to protect these people.”

  “You don’t understand,” Nico says, rolling her eyes at me. She turns to Evan. “I told you not to let her come here.”

  “Evan doesn’t tell me what to do and neither do you.” I scowl at Nico.

  Remy bursts through the door. “They’re coming for the hostel!” he yells. “Everyone out the back!”

  “Where’s Quinn?” Evan yells.

  “I don’t know,” Remy says. “He was just here sleeping a moment ago.” Remy gestures to a sleeping bag in the corner. “He’s gone.”

  Evan grabs my hand and jerks me toward the rear of the building. We duck under the debris from the old bridge and run out into the trees. The children are ahead of us, led by Shell and Jess. Nico is next to Evan.

  “Everyone to the clearing,” Remy calls out from behind. “Just like we practiced.”

  Within minutes, the trees break apart and we enter a hidden clearing. All the children are huddled together, shaken and frightened. Evan turns to Remy and shoves him in the chest.

  “You lost Quinn!” he shouts.

  “I don’t know where he went,” Remy says.

  “Maybe if you kept your hands off other people’s girlfriends this wouldn’t have happened,” Evan says, pushing him again.

  “He never touched me,” I say, grabbing Evan by the arm to pull him off Remy. Evan pushes me away, and I trip on a branch, falling flat on my back.

  “Nat!” Nico runs over to me. She has real concern in her eyes. “Are you okay?”

  I gasp for air and Nico helps me roll over on my side. “Just breathe,” she says kindly. This is the first nice thing she’s said to me since I got here.

  I push myself upright, slowly catching my breath. Nico runs over to Evan and pushes him in the chest. “Get it together,” she says firmly.

  “Nat.” He turns toward me, looking lost.

  Suddenly the clearing illuminates with spotlights from the perimeters. “Everyone get down. You are all under arrest, as commanded by the New Order.” The children cry as they join me on the ground. I place my hands on the back of my head and wonder if this is finally how Caroline plans to make me disappear.

  The New Order marches us in line, and we trample through the forest with hands cuffed behind our backs until we reach the hostel. There, other members are waiting in a mess of rummaged clothing, toys, and personal effects carelessly strewn about the floor.

  “I demand to know what is going on here,” Evan addresses a member.

  “Yes, sir,” the man replies. He nods to another member who begins removing our cuffs. “There was a report, sir. Some stolen items were spotted here.”

  “Impossible,” Remy says. “The children know stolen items aren’t allowed here. They respect that.”

  “I’m sorry to inform you that they did not follow your orders,” the member says to Remy. He indicates a number of tubs lined up by the front door. “We have located a total of twenty items.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Remy says, stepping forward. Nico grabs his arm as a warning. I look past the two of them and realize something is missing.

  “Where are the children?” I ask.

  “They’ve been detained,” he says.

  “No!” Remy yells. Nico holds him back this time and shoots Evan a quick look.

  “I advise you to take your friends elsewhere, sir,” the member says to Evan. “I don’t want to end my night having to detain a senior officer.”

  Evan goes over to Remy and helps Nico pull him from the hostel. He’s sobbing. I follow behind with Shell and Jess.

  “What will they do to the children?” I ask. Shell looks as distraught as Remy. I turn to Jess. She has a determined look on her face.

  “They will be taken to Court,” she says.

  “What’s the sentence for theft?” I ask. Even Caroline couldn’t get pleasure from lashing children in public, but then I remember the scars on Evan’s back. Could she?

  “It’s not their first offense,” Shell says, sobbing. Jess puts her arm around her friend.

  “What does that mean?” I ask.

  “Third strike,” Jess says coldly. “Death.”

  “Death,” I whisper, my voice caught in my throat. “Death? Who would kill children over a few stolen things?”

  No one answers me. I look around and see that the north quarter is in shambles. Houses are on fire. People are stumbling, injured in the streets. It looks as though they put up a fight before the members reached the hostel. The destruction reminds me of the explosions back at my dome, only this time I can see everything up close. And at that moment, I see a familiar pair of boots sticking out of an alley.

  “Ray!” I call out, running over to him. He clutches a bottle in his blood-covered hands. He’s trying to speak but blood keeps bubbling around his mouth. I prop his head up to help him.

  “Brown Eyes,” he says to me. “I knew you’d save us. I stopped them, I sure did. Have to protect my people.” He coughs, sputtering up blood.

  “Shhh, Ray,” I say. “Just relax. Help will be here soon.”

  “Nobody’s coming, Brown Eyes, dontcha
know?” he sputters. “They don’t care none about us. We’re the outliers. The ones that don’t fit in their perfect system.” He bursts into a fit of coughing and cries out in pain. “Can you do one last thing for me?” I nod. “Please help me with one last drink. If I’m going to go I want it to be on my terms.”

  “Sure,” I mumble, lifting his hands to his mouth. I see the culprit of his injuries. A broken blade juts out from his chest, and it oozes new blood as Ray spatters out the moonshine, trying to swallow.

  “Thanks for that,” he rasps. “That’s all I wanted. One last escape. Don’t let them find my still. It’s just past the clearing. Keep it for the people; they need some release from this mad house they call freedom. You ain’t really free, Brown Eyes. None of us are.”

  His last words escape with a whisper as his head nods off to the side and the bottle falls from his hands, clinking on the dirt. I can feel someone pulling me from behind but I can’t let go of Ray. If I do he’ll fall over, and I’m not ready to see that yet. The pulling continues and I swing backward, connecting my fist with the person behind me.

  “Ouch,” Evan says.

  I’m surprised to see him, but angry at the same time. I’m angry at this place; angry at the New Order, and the chaos they brought with them. My lip quivers again but I hold it in. I don’t trust my feelings not to explode right now.

  Evan looks past me at Ray, then back at me, and nods. He grabs my hand, which is lying on Ray’s still chest, and puts a hand under Ray’s head, motioning for me to lower it down. I lay Ray to the ground, closing his eyes, and then I take the bottle and put it back in his hands.

  Evan pulls me from the alley, then releases my hand, and stares at me in silence. His forehead is wrinkled and he rubs the back of his neck. I look down at my hands covered in blood, shaking. I try to wipe them on the hem of my shirt, but they’re too sticky. I look back at Evan and see he has tears in his eyes.

  “It’s no wonder you want to leave me,” he says. “Look at this place. I should have never brought you here. I wanted to protect you. I wanted to be with you. I never meant to make you feel unwanted.”

  “You don’t,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady. “I wanted to be here with you.

  “Wanted?” he says.

  “I don’t know any more, Evan,” I say. “This is all so confusing. Your mother made it clear you will not be leaving, and I can’t stay here any longer.” I feel tears sliding down my cheeks.

  “I would never make you stay if you didn’t want to,” he says. “Will you come help me?” He runs his fingers down my cheeks, wiping away my tears. “I need to find Quinn.”

  “Of course.”

  I follow Evan through the carnage into the south quarter. It’s night and day, separated only by the buildings of the east quarter, which are darkened even more in the night. I pass by a familiar building: the dorms for the laundry facility. A few women scurry inside when they see us walk past.

  “That man back there in the hostel called you ‘sir,’” I say. “Are you ranked above him?”

  “Sort of,” Evan says. “We’re in different divisions. Scouting is the highest ranked.”

  “Why do you do it?”

  “What, scouting?” he replies. I nod. “It’s nice to be out of the city. Most of the time we’re traveling. I like that the best, being out in the wilderness, away from all the madness.”

  “That’s not what I mean,” I say. “Why do you do her dirty work for her?”

  “It’s not what you think,” he says. “We just take note of everything. The roads in and out. The surrounding geography. The setup of their city: patrols, guards, stuff like that.”

  “Exactly.”

  Evan is silent the rest of our walk. How can he not see what he is doing is wrong? I know I should back off because he’s worried about Quinn, but how can he not tell that what just happened in the north quarter is no better than what they do to other domes.

  We spend hours searching through each quarter, knocking on doors and combing through all of Quinn’s favorite places. But we don’t find him. We search late into the night, surviving only on adrenaline and Evan’s love for Quinn. It’s not until the stars begin to disappear, that we retreat to his house.

  When we arrive, he ushers me inside. It’s dark. He runs to a side room and looks in.

  “Quinn?” I ask.

  “Not here,” he says, looking worried. “He does this sometimes, runs off to one of his hiding places.” Evan looks at me with his sad eyes. He opens his mouth, about to say something, and then changes his mind. “Go ahead and have a shower,” he says. “I’ll get you something to change into.”

  I climb into the lukewarm water of the shower and it feels amazing. The dirt from my run earlier today washes off me, intermingling with Ray’s blood, all disappearing down the drain in a dark swirl of madness. How easily the mess of the day is washed away; gone, like Ray. I didn’t care for him at all, but still it wasn’t fair how he went. He was just a helpless old man fighting to protect his home. Why did all of this have to happen?

  I get out of the shower and wrap myself in a towel. In the mirror I notice bags under my eyes. When was the last time I slept though the night? I’m hardly recognizable as the same girl who completed school earlier this year. So much has changed, but how is it better?

  I walk out and see Evan in his room. I knock softly on his opened door and he turns and smiles at me, holding up a t-shirt. “This used to be mine,” he laughs. “Mom saves all my stuff for Quinn.” I take the shirt and get dressed; it still smells like Evan.

  He walks over to me, reaches up a hand, and tucks my hair behind my ear. “I’m sorry about earlier. I thought something happened to you,” he whispers. “I couldn’t find you, and all I could think about was Jeb and his gang looking to get retaliation.”

  “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

  “Nico was worried as well,” Evan continues. “We went to Remy and the others to get help to look for you. Then I heard your voice, and I was relieved. But you said you were going to leave me. My worry turned into anger.” Evan runs his fingers from my ear, across my cheek to my lips. “Then I saw you and Remy on the bed, and it was instant rage.”

  “Nothing happened,” I say again. “I just had nowhere else to go and I was exhausted. I got there in the afternoon and fell asleep. Alone. When I woke up Remy came in to check on me because I’d had a nightmare. That’s all.”

  “I wish I was around so you could come to me with these things,” he says, running his thumb along my lower lip. “I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you.”

  He takes my chin in his hand, lifts it, and gives me a soft kiss. I wrap my arms around his neck. I’m too full of adrenaline from the day to be satisfied. I pull him tightly toward me, eagerly kissing him back.

  But thoughts of Ray lying in the alley flood my mind.

  “I can’t,” I say, pushing him back. “Not in the wake of something so terrible. Are you’re sure Quinn wasn’t rounded up with those other kids?”

  “Positive,” Evan says, as we crawl into bed. “Maybe he’s with Mom. We can check again when the Axis opens. For now, let’s grab a couple hours of sleep.”

  Evan rolls over and pulls me into the nook of his arm, where I lie on his chest as he runs his hands through my hair. “I know you don’t agree with what I do here,” he says quietly. “I can see the disappointment in your face and it eats me up inside.”

  “What do you think your mother does with the information you bring back?”

  “Mostly just keeps a file of it,” he says. “She has us do a sweep every month of each dome within our vicinity.”

  “Have you been back to mine?”

  “No. It’s too far.”

  “Your mother says you can’t leave with me,” I say quietly.

  “Is that what got you upset today?”

  “Yes. She says that you will be staying with Nico.”

  Ev
an starts laughing, and I sit up next to him. “I don’t think that’s very funny.”

  “Nat, you need to know that, one, my mom doesn’t get to tell me what to do anymore; and two, Nico is dating someone.”

  “I know you said that, but your mother insists that it’s just temporary.”

  “I told you, you don’t need to worry. Nico is dating Jess.”

  “Jess?” I repeat. “You mean Jess, your friend?”

  “Yes,” he says, smiling. “I told you not to worry. Even if it’s just temporary, Nico has no interest in dating me, or any other man in existence.”

  I lay my head back on my pillow and start to laugh. How foolish I’ve been. No wonder Jess made that crack at me when we first met; she wanted to see if I knew. “I am so embarrassed,” I say, burying my head into Evan’s chest.

  “At least I can surprise you sometimes,” he says, kissing the top of my head.

  I stretch out in the morning, still in Evan’s bed, and roll over to find him staring at me.

  “What?” I laugh.

  He kisses my nose. “I was just thinking how nice it will be when we go back,” he says. “We can take our time, maybe spend a couple nights by the river … ” He nuzzles against my neck.

  “That will be nice,” I say.

  “I’ll bring Quinn back with us,” he says. “I need to spend more time with him and stop letting Remy be the big brother.”

  Quinn. That’s right. I hope he’s okay, just hiding somewhere and not hurt, or worse—taken.

  Then I remember the figure, off in the distance watching our dome. If Caroline forces the children of other domes to come and work for her, wouldn’t it make sense that they’d target one of her kids? And Quinn is so innocent he’d easily trust the wrong person.

  “Evan.” My voice comes out strained. “I need to tell you about something I saw.”

  He leans back from my neck. “What is it?”

  “I saw someone on the outside.”

  Evan grunts. “Okay?”

  “No, you don’t understand.” I strain my voice. “I’m trying to tell you, there was someone watching your colony. They were far off in the distance. You don’t think with all that commotion yesterday, that another dome might have taken Quinn? Like a spy or something?”