by Amy Richie
Even though she wasn't looking back at me, I nodded my understanding.
“You can wait in the throne room for him.” After a short walk, she pushed open a thick door and ushered me inside. “I'll go and tell him you're here.” Then she left me alone.
As soon as the door banged shut after her, I sucked in a deep breath and held in my stretched out cheeks, only letting it out again when my lungs started to burn. The room was larger than the one we had in Ortec, but not by much. I had expected it to be huge, since everything else was, but I wasn't disappointed.
A large picture hung on one wall, so big that it took up almost the entire wall. Glancing around quickly to be sure I was completely alone, I moved closer to the picture so I could examine the faces peering out at me. I had heard of pictures being painted of entire families before the Great Wave, but it was odd to see it in real life. They looked so real, as if the people had been trapped inside the canvas.
Scowling, I leaned closer to see the dog lying by the man's feet. Were the dogs part of the family too? They must be at least family enough to be painted into the pictures. Odd.
“Rani,” a voice called loudly from behind me.
I whirled around too quickly and almost fell as I tried to correct the movement. “I'm sorry,” I muttered, my face heating up at being caught so close to his picture.
“Sorry for what?” His head tilted to one side.
“I ...”
“Come over and sit down,” he held his arm out to a small table in a corner, “I wanted to talk to you for a moment.”
Chapter 5
I knew my eyes were opened too wide as I stared at Ike over the huge cup of tea he had poured for me. I had never tasted tea before, although I had heard of it. According to Constantina, it was the most delicious thing she had tasted.
I had to admit though, only to myself of course, that it wasn't very good. It wouldn't be right for me not to drink what he gave me—he was the leader of the Nation after all.
So I took another sip as I waited for him to say something. Why had he called me here? Why would he want to talk to me alone? My heart sped up in anticipation.
“So,” he smiled widely at me. Before I could decide if I should smile back or not, he continued speaking. “Did you all find your room all right?”
I nodded quickly. “Owen showed us the way,” I explained softly.
“Good man,” he nodded too.
Not sure what else I was expected to say, I took another gulp of tea, burning my throat in the process.
“And how do you like the room?” His voice boomed out over me.
My eyes widened again at the question. “It's ... not my place,” I began nervously. “It's not my place to give an opinion about the room.”
“Your place?” I watched as his eyebrows grew close together.
“It's fine though,” I hurried forward. “The room is very comfortable.” I felt my face heat up the longer he looked at me. Had I been wrong to speak out? I thought that's what he wanted.
Completely confused and embarrassed by my words, I shifted my eyes down to my tea cup again. I hoped, more than anything, that he would let me go back to the room soon.
Ike made a small noise deep in his throat, halfway between a sigh and a growl. “I think that you guys made the right choice,” he said after just a few moments.
Despite myself, I glanced back up at Ike. “In leaving the big house?”
“Yes,” he nodded. “I'm sure it was a sacrifice to leave the comfort.”
“We are grateful to be going to a new home,” I forced out.
“A permanent home,” he said with a slight frown.
Had Constantina been right, I suddenly wondered. Maybe we didn't have much of a choice in going to the new island. It was obvious now that Ike never meant for us to stay in the big house. What would have happened if we said we didn't want to leave?
“Yes,” I whispered with a small nod.
“So.” He clapped one hand down on the table. “You must be wondering why I asked to see you.”
I forced myself not to respond. I couldn't trust my voice not to shake and betray my true nerves.
“Rani,” he leaned forward across the table.
“Yes?”
“I understand that you and Cyrus ...” he let his words fade away. I didn't finish the thought, so he continued somewhat awkwardly. “He cared very much for you. He spoke to me before he left.”
I pressed my lips together, waiting.
“He wanted to be sure that you would be taken care of if ...”
If what? My lips fell slightly apart, going suddenly dry.
“If something happened to him,” he finished, “and he wasn't able to come back.”
“Why wouldn't he,” my tongue slid across my lips, “why wouldn't he be able to come back?”
“Rani ...”
I sucked in a sharp breath. No.
“Cyrus is dead.”
“He's not,” I blurted out without thinking.
“They found ...”
“They found his body?” I gasped.
“No,” Ike said slowly, tracing the rim of his cup with one finger.
“So he might not be dead.” A small flame of hope had unstuck my tongue.
Ike hesitated slightly. “About six months ago most of my men returned to the Nation. At that time they didn't know what had happened to Cyrus and his crew.”
And? I silently prompted.
“Then a month ago—maybe a bit longer—Cyrus's ship was found.”
My already racing heart seemed to stutter silently.
“Some of the crew were on board.”
I watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed thickly.
“I'll spare you the details,” he said stiffly, “but Cyrus and Quinn were not found at all.”
I nodded, my movements just as stiff as his words.
“It is assumed that,” his tongue darted across his bottom lip. “Rani, it's fairly clear that their bodies were thrown overboard.”
My lips began to shake, even as I told myself not to lose control.
“You should be aware ... might be cruel to tell you ... no hope ... dead ... move on ...”
Ike's words only halfway broke through the fog that had filled my head. I couldn't follow what he said, and only when he said my name again did I listen properly.
“Rani, all in all,” he said kindly, “a new start is exactly what you need now.”
“New start,” I mumbled. What was he talking about?
“The island,” he clarified. “It was the last thing Cyrus and I talked about. He wanted a promise that I would be sure you got to the island and had a permanent place to call home.”
Mouth still open slightly, I looked up at him.
“He was so worried about you,” he repeated softly. From a small table sitting almost behind him, Ike took a single sheet of paper and handed it to me.
“What is this?” I choked out, failing to keep my emotion in check.
“Cyrus filed this with the Council before he left. It officially names his island as New Ortec and ...”
I stared down at the black and white letters, unseeing.
“It also names who will own the island in the event of his death.”
I held my breath.
“The island city of New Ortec now belongs to his son—to Dais.”
Chapter 6
I ran all the way back to our room, and by the time I reached the door, I needed to stop to catch my breath again. It was all too much to take in; after everything that had happened to us—to me—this was finally just too much.
I covered my mouth so no one inside the room could hear the sounds of my heart breaking. Cyrus was gone, he was never coming back. Holding on to the hope of him coming back to give me a happy ending wasn't going to help anyone now—especially not me and Dais.
I took a deep, shaking gulp of air in through my mouth and tried to let it out slowly, willing my lips to stop trembling. I needed to get ah
old of myself before I went back in there with the others, and if I stood out here too long, someone would surely see me out here having a breakdown.
Denying any more tears, I pressed my mouth into a thin line and wiped away the few drops of emotion that had fallen down my cheeks. It had been a long time since my tears had escaped; it had been a while since anything meant so much to me.
Except Dais. He meant something to me. And he was a part of Cyrus too.
With the thought of my small son giving me the strength I needed, I was able to control my shaking enough to rejoin the others. Almost everyone was sleeping when I cracked open the door and crept to my bed on the floor between Sasha and Dais.
I glanced down at the blond-haired boy who had caused such a stir just by being born. His chest moved steadily up and down with the rhythm of his sleep. What dreams swirled around behind those eyelids? How would it affect him when he learned that his father had died? And what would the future hold for him now that he owned an entire island city?
I jumped slightly at the thought. Hopefully, Ike wouldn't tell anyone else that Dais owned New Ortec.
“What did he want?” Sasha whispered from her own spot.
I turned my head slowly in her direction, giving myself time to decide what to say. “He said that Cyrus is dead,” I said softly once I was fully facing her.
Her eyes widened in the semi darkness of the room. Heavy curtains covered the large windows and kept out most of the light, but let in enough to see Sasha's shock. “How do they know?”
“There wasn't a body, but they found his ship. He was thrown overboard. Quinn too.”
She covered her mouth with one hand. “And we're still going to his island city?”
Now was the time to tell Sasha that Dais now owned the island city, but for a reason I couldn't even know myself, I kept the information secret. Instead, I found myself nodding so that my hair brushed roughly against the thick blanket. “Ike said that Cyrus told him before he left that we were to still go there. He ...” I hesitated slightly. “He named the city New Ortec.”
“And you?”
“I'm going too,” I said quickly. Did she expect me to stay behind?
“I know,” she clicked her tongue lightly. “I meant, how are you taking it?”
By it, I knew she meant Cyrus being for sure dead now, but I didn't think I could talk about it yet without more unwanted tears. “I think it's ... kind of them to let us have New Ortec. We'll make a home there that we can call our own.”
Sasha's lips thinned slightly but she nodded too. “We better sleep,” she said after a few moments silence. “Who can know what the next few days will bring?”
Grateful for her understanding my need for solitude, I rolled away from her and drew in a short breath. A single teardrop slipped across the bridge of my nose and onto the blanket.
***
“Wow,” I breathed, craning my neck to look up at the huge ship tied up right in front of us.
“And they said most of the supplies had already been taken to the island?” Constantina asked, frowning slightly.
“Yeah,” Doctor Gourini nodded. “Ike said they already built us some shelters.”
“Primitive shelters,” Angelina whispered from the other side of me.
I glanced over at her, but didn't say anything. It was true that Ike said the shelters wouldn't be anything fancy, suitable though. Those had been his words. Suitable. I wasn't sure what that meant, but after his talk with me, I was sure Ike would make sure we were safe at least.
“I'm sure we'll be comfortable enough,” Sasha commented, echoing my thoughts.
“We should have just stayed in the big house,” Angelina snorted irritably. “It would have been more comfortable there.”
“You don't know that,” Sasha softly argued.
Angelina shrugged dramatically. She might have continued to argue, but Ike was coming our way with a huge smile lighting up his lined face.
“Ladies,” he exclaimed, reaching his hand out to take ahold of mine. My face heated up at the unexpected contact. “This is quite an exciting day, isn't it?”
Since he seemed to be speaking directly to me, I nodded enthusiastically.
“Good,” he bellowed. “The journey will only take a few days,” he told us, perhaps forgetting that he had already told us the very same thing several times in the two days we had been in the city. “Not even two days,” he quickly corrected himself. “By morning, you'll be home.”
Home. From Sasha's raised eyebrows, I wasn't the only one to grasp onto the word. Ike finally let me go and moved on down the line.
“You're sure you don't want to take some of my men?” Ike asked, stopping in front of Constantina.
“We're sure,” she told him with a tight smile. “We'll be fine to get things started.”
“Only three men though ...” he let his words trail away as her lips tightened even further. They had had this repeated argument just a few hours ago. If it was truly our home, Constantina felt that we should be the ones to build it. Sending soldiers to do it didn't seem right to her. “Very well,” he inclined his head slightly. “Of course, I'll be sending people to look in on you frequently. The barter men will bring you new supplies free of charge until you can get things running smoothly. It won't take long,” he added, grinning wide again.
“We're ready,” a deep voice called from behind Ike.
He jumped at the sound. “All right,” he gestured toward us with a wide wave. “Safe travels, ladies.”
As I passed with the others, Ike grabbed my hand again and gave it a brief squeeze. “If you need anything,” he whispered, “anything at all ...”
“I'm sure we'll be fine,” I whispered back, then hurried to catch up to the others.
Chapter 7
A shudder ran all the way down my spine as I finally stepped out onto dry land. Ike hadn't been wrong when he said the journey would only take a day, but I hadn't counted on the storm that would hit in the middle of the night and toss our ship around until it felt like my head would explode. It was with a great sense of relief that we could be off the ship and have dirt under our feet again.
“Everyone okay?” Doctor Gourini called out wearily.
No one replied in words, but several nods greeted his query. I was still in one piece, so I was okay; I nodded.
“They built some houses and a council building,” Owen happily told us, his wide smile still in place despite our lack of excitement. “This way,” he waved us forward. “I came to help out for a few days,” he continued as he walked, “and I have to say, the island is perfect.”
I fell into the back of the line, so far back that Owen's words faded until I could barely hear him at all. “Perfect?” Sasha's nose crinkled.
The spot we had landed turned from sand to trees almost immediately, only a few feet and we were surrounded by tall trees and grass that was growing uncontrolled. There was a path of sorts where the men had obviously been walking to build the houses. At least the weeds were trampled down enough for me to see where to place my feet.
Once again proving his knowledge, Owen led us to a large clearing that ended up not being that far away from the shore. That would be beneficial for when the barter men came with more supplies. And judging from the half-finished buildings and bushes still growing wildly, we would need supplies.
There was a circle of houses, all of them with wood pieces piled haphazardly outside, and only a few of them with a completed roof. In the middle of the circle was a larger building, which had a roof on it at least. In fact, the center building had obviously been the one they spent the most time on. Clearly, it was meant to be the council building of New Ortec.
“Is this it?” Angelina burst out.
“For now,” Owen beamed at her. “We'll build it up.”
“We're expected to stay here?” she continued, letting her face snarl up in disgust. “We can't sleep here.”
Owen's face fell slightly. “Of course we can.”
> “What about the girls?” her voice rose with fury. “Are they supposed to sleep in these ...” she pointed half heatedly to one of the unfinished houses.
Owen's mouth fell open, but it was Doctor Gourini who spoke next. “Let's get into the council building,” he advised. Rain was starting to drizzle down on us.
Pulling Dais close behind me, we entered the council building behind everyone else. The building was different than I expected. Care had been taken to make it comfortable and functional. A large desk was shoved against the wall in one corner. Another corner was filled with a long table with several chairs placed behind it. It looked a lot like the room in our own council building on Ortec, the one where I had gone to hear the fate of my small son on the day he was born. I hurried to look away from this and found an area behind us that housed a long couch and several fluffy looking chairs. A small bookcase had even been placed against the wall by one of the chairs with at least half a dozen books were placed on the shelves.
“Look what I found over here,” Adam called from the desk in the corner. Adam rarely spoke at all, and the excitement in his voice was even more unusual. I hurried over with everyone else to see what had gotten him so excited.
“What is that?” Doctor Gourini asked, squinting down at the large paper that Adam was pointing to.
“It's a map,” he replied with a grin. “A map of the island.”
All I could make out from my vantage point were a bunch of squares and squiggly lines, but I would take his word for it.
“This is where we are,” he put his finger down on the biggest square. “It's already marked 'Council Building'.”
“What do the other ones say?” Constantina asked.
“Nothing yet.” Adam searched in a basket that was also on the desk and pulled out a bottle of ink and a large feather pen. “We'll need to label them once we figure out who goes where.”
“That can be your job,” Constantina told him. “If no one objects, I'd like to make Adam our new Land Man.” She glanced around the group for any objections. A faint patch of pink appeared in Adam's cheeks at the lack of opposition.
