“That’s probably a good idea. I could tell you stuff that would make your toes curl.”
I held my hand up to my mouth. “Please don’t.”
A small smile rested on his lips as he looked up at the sky. “Hey, Emmie, I just want you to know I’m sorry about what happened to Eric. I’ve been trying to get a hold of Austin, but he hasn’t responded.”
“You have a communicator with him?”
Joshua nodded as he turned to look at me. “Please don’t tell anyone.”
“Why did you tell me?” I asked. A drizzle started, so I pulled up the hood of my jacket, tucking my hair in the back.
“You strike me as the type who keeps her word. If I asked you not to tell anyone and you said you wouldn’t, I’d believe you.”
“But I haven’t said I wouldn’t.” I couldn’t help but smile. “But I won’t, I promise.”
“Thanks, Emmie. I’ll let you know once I hear from Austin. Maybe he can help rescue Eric.”
“I hope so. I don’t know what I would do if I lost him.”
“You’re lucky,” Joshua said.
I looked at him. “How so?”
“To have someone you love that much and returns it. True love is hard to find.” He stepped to the side to avoid a small puddle and then came back close to me. "Especially when River Springs wouldn't let you marry below your clearance level. Equal partners, right?" He grunted. "Bunch of crap if you ask me. Your status shouldn't define who you are."
No, it shouldn't. I touched my neck where my necklace should’ve been. “No matter what happens, it was worth it. I wouldn’t take back the love I have for Eric, ever. I would take the short time we’ve had together over a lifetime of fake love.”
“I hope I find that one day,” Joshua said, glancing over at me.
Nudging him in the arm with my elbow, I stuffed my hands into my pockets and smiled. “Now you will have the opportunity to search for yourself.”
“I’m not sure if anyone will ever trust me with the last name of Randall.”
“Change it.”
He looked at me. “What?”
Some kids ran by, laughing as they splashed through some puddles. It would be nice to start hearing constant laughter throughout New Haven. That was one sound I didn’t realize I would miss so much.
“Change your last name,” I said.
Thunder boomed above making Joshua jump a little. He shoved his hands into his slack’s pockets as he spoke. “I can do that?”
“You live in New Haven now. If you want to change your last name, all you have to do is petition it to our committee for approval.”
“Who’s on the committee?”
“Me, Dante, Santiago, and President Brown.” I smiled at him. “And I’m the only one on the committee who knows the Randall’s as we do. They don’t have the same hatred as the people from River Springs do.”
“What would I change it to?”
“I’ll tell you what,” I said as I wiped some more rain from my face. “You pass the lie detector test, you’re welcome to the last name Woodard.”
“Really?” Joshua asked.
I shrugged. I surprised myself with how quickly I trusted Joshua. But I liked to think I could read people well. “Joshua Woodard. Has a pretty good ring to it.”
“Your family won’t care?” He shook his head back and forth, flinging water out of his hair.
“You are my family.”
“Thanks, Emmie. Austin was right about what a good person you are.”
I put up my hands. “Oh, trust me, I was worried at first. You’re a Randall after all.”
“Even after I killed Pierce?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
“Yes,” I said. “But after our talk, I can tell you’re nothing like your father.”
He laughed. “So, I kill someone to save your life, and you still don’t trust me, but I talk to you about making out and then you do.”
It was my turn to laugh. “I never said I fully trusted you. I just said you’re nothing like your father. But if you pass the test, I will fully trust you. You have my word.”
Joshua stuck out his hand and I shook it. I hoped I hadn’t made a deal with the devil.
Vivica was waiting for us when we got back to New Haven. She was leaning against a tree, her hand on her hip, wearing her brown military uniform.
When she saw me, she reluctantly backed away from the tree and approached me, eyeing my face. “You look terrible.”
“Thanks, Vivica,” I said. “I missed you, too.”
She ignored my sarcasm. “It’s about time you got back. A lot has happened.”
“Like what?” I asked, walking toward Headquarters. Tina, Santiago, and Gideon were behind me. Joshua had stayed by my side the entire trip. Everyone was still hesitant, not sure if they could trust him.
“For starters, Lou is even worse than when you left,” Vivica said. “I think it’s only a matter of days until he’s gone.” Her voice lacked any emotion. I still hadn’t been able to figure her out. I didn’t know if she didn’t care about anyone but herself, or if it was just a block she put up to not let anyone in. “Also, Vice President Mendes showed up.”
“My dad’s here?” Santiago asked.
Vivica didn’t even turn around to look at Santiago. “Yeah.”
Santiago left us, finding Javier on the way to join up with their father.
I looked at Vivica. “Anything else?”
“The citizens from Juniper City are here.” Vivica waved her hand like it was no big deal.
I stopped. “Are you serious? How many of them are there?”
Vivica didn’t stop walking. “Only twelve.”
I shook my head and ran to catch up with her, who took long strides. “That’s it? What happened to them?”
“Ask them,” Vivica said. “Besides, both our cities only showed up with ten.”
“Why did you even bother coming out here if this is how you’re going to act?” I asked. She annoyed me like no other.
“I was ordered to, so I did. Go to the infirmary. They’re waiting for you.” Vivica walked away.
“She seems nice,” Joshua said beside me.
I let out a little laugh. “She’s a little rough around the edges.”
Tina, Gideon, Joshua, and I hurried over to the infirmary, stopping when we saw President Brown, Dante, Santiago, Javier, and a man I took to be Vice President Mendes standing in the hallway talking.
Dante saw me, his eyes going wide. He ran up to me, quickly assessing my wounds. “What happened, Emmie? Are you okay?”
“I’m horrible.” I had barely recovered from my broken thumb I received back in River Springs from the underwater challenge in Recruitment. Now I had a broken nose to deal with. I wasn’t in the mood for any of this. “What’s going on? Vivica said the other city showed up.”
Dante nodded. “A few hours ago.” He paused for a moment. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about …” He pointed to my face.
I sighed. “I got beat up by my nemesis.”
President Brown joined us. “We need to talk, now. Something big has come up. We’ll go to Maya’s room to talk.”
“Who’s Maya?” I asked.
“The fourth member of our club.” The corner of Dante's mouth turned up. “I’m not sure if it’s going to work out, though. She’s actually calm and rational.”
That brought a smile to my face. “That’s exactly what we need right now.” I turned to Gideon, who stood a little bit behind us. “Will you find Dr. Stacey and take him to Marie? The sooner they can get to work, the better.”
“Sure thing, Emmie,” Gideon said. With a small nod, he left.
Tina and Joshua were standing nearby. I looked at Tina. “Could you show Joshua where I live? He can stay with us for now.”
“Are you sure that will be okay with your father?” Joshua asked.
“Yes, he’ll understand. Just explain it to him. I’ll be there as soon as I can, and we can talk more.” I eye
d his bag that he had strapped to his back and he nodded in understanding.
“Emmie,” Santiago said to me as Tina and Joshua walked away, “this is my father, Oscar Mendes.”
Vice President Mendes smiled big, shaking my hand firmly. “Nice to meet you, Emmie.” He was tall and bulky like Santiago. He had brown eyes and his brown hair was cut close to his head.
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” I said.
“I wish it was under better circumstances,” Vice President Mendes said as he stroked his goatee. His smile faded. “I’m sorry about Eric. From what I hear, he’s an amazing young man.”
I nodded, holding back the tears. “He is.”
“Let’s go in here,” President Brown said, pointing to an infirmary room. He, Javier, and Vice President Mendes walked into the room. Both Santiago and Dante stayed outside.
“Em,” Dante said, walking up close to me. My heart did a little flip. Vice President Oliver used to call me Em. “I’m so sorry about Eric.” He swore under his breath. “I should’ve been there.”
“You couldn’t have stopped it,” Santiago said. “It happened so fast. There were too many of them.”
I looked away, tears forming in my eyes.
Dante pulled me into a hug. “We’ll get this figured out, Em. We will.”
I nodded slowly, pulling back. I looked up at him. “Have you grown? You seem taller.”
Dante laughed. “Really? You want to talk about my growth spurt right now?”
“It’s better than the alternative,” I said quietly.
Santiago squeezed my arm and we walked into the infirmary room.
Maya was sitting up in her bed, her hands clasped together in her lap. She looked at me when I entered, her soft smile somehow comforting. Sorrow sat in her eyes and it made me wonder what she had been through.
All her features were soft and delicate, from her smooth, clear skin to her warm, brown eyes. Her black hair was cropped short, spiking out around her head, so she still had a spunky side.
“Emmie, this is Maya Chang,” President Brown said, gesturing to Maya.
Maya had her back straight, her demeanor proper and elegant. She held out her hand, her two bracelets holding charms clinking together. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
I took her soft hand in mine, shaking gently. “You too.” I eyed her left leg, which was wrapped up tightly. “Are you okay?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Maya said with a quiet laugh.
I put my hand up to my broken nose and winced. Marie would need to fix me up soon. “It’s nothing that can’t be healed.”
Maya glanced down at her leg. “I wish I could say the same.”
Dante moved a chair close to Maya’s bed and motioned for me to have a seat. I touched him gently on the arm, smiling at him. Everyone else was already sitting down.
A young boy sat in a chair at the foot of Maya’s bed. He looked a little younger than her, but I could tell by his round face and brown eyes that they were related. When he smiled at me, I could see the relation even more.
“I’m Bruce, Maya’s brother,” he said.
“It’s nice to meet you.” I looked at Maya. “What happened to your leg?”
“A sword,” Maya said. “It gave me a nice, long gash. We wrapped it the best we could for the journey here, but it’s been a few weeks and all the walking on it wasn’t great.”
Bruce grimaced. “You’re lucky you didn’t have to see it before. It was red, swollen, and oozing puss.”
“I don’t think she needed all the details, Bruce,” Maya said, fingering one of the charms on her bracelet. “Anyway, Marie cleaned it the best she could, but she said I’d have a permanent scar and probably a little bit of a limp.”
“So, this happened back in Juniper?” I asked.
Santiago let out a whistle. “They have a full-on war happening there.”
My eyes widened. “Is it really that bad?”
“It unfortunately gets worse,” President Brown said.
“How could it get worse than a war?” I asked. Something wet trickled out my nose.
“Emmie, you’re bleeding.” Dante stood and left the room, coming back shortly with a towel and Marie. Dante handed me the towel and I put it under my nose.
Marie let out a little gasp when she saw me. “Oh, Emmie, you look terrible.”
I smiled under the towel. “Why does everyone keep telling me that?
“Because you look terrible,” Santiago said, clasping his hands behind his head. I rolled my eyes and then winced at the movement.
Marie put her hand under my chin, turning my head left to right. Seeing her so close reminded me how long and curly here eyelashes were. “Hold that towel there for now. When your meeting’s done, come straight to me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I saluted her with my free hand.
Once Marie left the room, Vice President Mendes shut the door and sat back down.
“So, what’s going on?” I asked.
I felt completely out of the loop, giving me another reason why I shouldn’t go on trips. I missed everything that happened in New Haven, got the crap beat out of me, and had my boyfriend taken hostage.
President Brown looked at Maya, then Bruce, then Vice President Mendes.
I groaned in frustration. “Please, just tell me. I’ve already had a terrible week, so I can pretty much take anything right now. Throw it on me.”
Vice President Mendes smiled. “Why don’t we start with something easy? President Brown suggested that we have a vote now that I’m here to see who the president should be, but he seems to have been running things smoothly, so I nominated myself for vice president of New Haven to make things easier. Santiago, Dante, and Maya have already agreed, so it’s all up to you now.”
I put down my towel. “What about Maya and Bruce’s dad?”
Bruce shifted in his seat and looked down at the ground. Maya sighed beside me.
“They’re dead,” Maya said, her voice quiet.
“I’m so sorry.” I ran my fingers through my hair. The bad news kept piling up and I knew it was about to continue. I took in a deep breath. “The president of your city sounds like he’s probably worse than the one from mine.”
Bruce let out a little laugh. “He’s one of the sweetest men I’ve ever met.”
I looked at him, startled. “What?”
“Our dad was the president,” Maya said. “It was the vice president who went corrupt and turned on Juniper. He started the war.”
“But I thought it was all the vice presidents who were the good guys,” I said, scratching the back of my head. I pulled my hand away when I realized I was probably getting blood in my hair.
“The prophecy never specifically stated that,” President Brown said. “It just came to all the vice presidents at the time. Although, we had no idea that the vice president from Juniper was bad. He’s been working with us for years, acting like he was on our side and the president was against us.”
A thought came to my head. “But the vice president knows where New Haven is located.”
There was a collective sigh in the room, except for Dante who swore instead. I couldn’t believe it. They knew where we were. They’d already shown they were willing to go to war. And we had so few residents of New Haven. We had just brought back children. We had led them into a war zone.
I put my head in my hands. “Are they already on their way?” I really didn’t want to know the answer.
Maya’s voice was barely audible, but I heard her. “Yes.”
I didn’t know whether to cry, yell, punch something, or scream out every swear word I knew, repeatedly. I settled with slamming my hand down on the arm of my chair. “How long do we have until they’re here?”
“We’re not sure,” Vice President Mendes said. “A week at most. Probably sooner.”
I let out a few of the swear words bouncing around in my head. “That isn’t enough time.”
Santiago laughed. “You
’re corrupting her already, Dante.”
“It’s good for the soul,” Dante said with a shrug. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his legs. “What’s our strategy?”
“We need to get Mack and Terrance in here,” President Brown said. “Let’s take a small break and clear our heads. We’ll meet back here in twenty minutes.”
As everyone got up to leave, I placed my hand on Maya’s arm. “I’m glad you’re finally here. I was getting so worried.”
Maya smiled. “I was worried, too. There were a few times I thought I wouldn’t make it.” She sat back in her bed. “I’m just glad to be here now, resting.”
“Maya, is there anyone left to rescue from your city?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. They had wiped out everyone sympathetic to our cause. We were lucky to even getaway.”
“They burned down all of our homes.” Bruce frowned. “The whole place is so corrupt. There isn’t a single decent person left. Their thoughts and ideas on how things should be handled are so messed up.”
“I know the vice president will keep on attacking us until we’re completely wiped out,” Maya said.
“Unless we take them out first,” Bruce said.
Maya let out a strained laugh. “And how do you propose we do that? Right now, we need to focus on the soldiers who will be here any day.” She looked at her leg. “If I don’t get well soon, I have no idea if I’ll be able to fight.”
“You don’t need to fight,” Bruce said. “You need to recover. You have a serious injury.”
“I know,” Maya said, turning a bracelet around on her wrist. “Bruce, why don’t you go check on the rest of the Juniper members? Make sure everyone’s okay.”
Bruce pouted. “What about the meeting?”
“You don’t need to be here for that,” Maya said.
“You can’t always boss me around, you know,” Bruce said, folding his arms. Maya sighed.
I stood, my presence not needed. “I’ll leave you two alone to work this out.”
Leaving the room, I went toward Dee’s room. I passed Lou’s room on the way, so I peered in to check on him. James was asleep in a chair near the bed. I couldn’t imagine what he felt, watching his son in the condition he was in.
Reckoning (New Haven Book 2) Page 7
