Emergence (Eden's Root Trilogy Book 3)

by Rachel Fisher

  “…he never came back,” Carter finished.

  Fi nodded, keeping her eyes down as if she were too overcome to meet his gaze. She leaned down and kissed Luke’s head.

  Carter took a deep breath and exhaled noisily. “My goodness, Marie and Sara. You’ve been through a lot. After all that you’ve done to survive, your only protector went missing and you walked all alone for weeks to find us.” He clucked and shook his head before reaching for Luke. “May I?”

  Fi recoiled instinctively, and Carter’s eyes widened in surprise.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” Sara said, stepping in again while Fi reeled.

  Shit! She was failing. Asher’s voice echoed in her mind, “…They knew the stakes, Fi.” The stakes. Luke wiggled in her arms and the room seemed to melt.

  “She’s been terrified for his safety for some time. Sometimes I’m surprised that she lets me hold him.”

  Sara’s voice snapped the room back and Fi chastised herself. She had to get it together. She bumped Sara’s foot, grateful.

  Carter stood. “That’s quite all right. I understand your reticence to trust.”

  Fi steeled herself to do the single most revolting thing she’d ever had to do. She handed her child to the man she’d dreamed of killing every night for months. “No, Father. We came here for your protection. He’s as much yours as I am.”

  As she said the words she found her center. The more heinous the lie, she found, the more enjoyment she felt. She seized this, like an anchor in a storm. Screw him! she thought angrily, clinging to her rage. Just let your lies be your fists.

  Carter’s face broke into a smile as he took Luke into his arms. Just then, an African-American woman bustled into the room, followed by the Ghost.

  “Ah,” Carter said. “Nona and Silas. Right on time.”

  Fi’s eyes were fixed on her son in the crook of her enemy’s arm. Her throat felt like it was closed, like the time she’d had tonsillitis so bad she could only swallow soup, and even that hurt. Somehow, she hadn’t pictured this in all her images of going undercover. She wanted to run forward and rip him from Carter’s grasp. It was killing her. The only thing that helped was envisioning shooting him over and over, like a video on loop.

  “I hear we have some new arrivals,” the woman named Nona said.

  The kindness of her tone dragged Fi from her obsessive watch over Luke. It was the first genuinely warm feeling she’d had since they’d set foot on Truther soil.

  “Indeed we do. Providential arrivals, it seems,” he said. “Nona, meet Sara and her sister Marie, the mother of our little one here…Luke. They’ve been wandering alone in search of us for weeks.”

  Fi saw the change come over Nona’s face and she realized that she had met one of the truly faithful. This part of the plan had been right, she thought, relieved. The allegory was perfect: three innocent Children of God, lost and seeking purchase in a world gone topsy-turvy. She held out a shaky hand in greeting. “Nice to meet you, Nona.”

  Nona didn’t hesitate for a second. She pulled Fi into a giant, comforting swirl of a hug with one arm and gathered Sara in with the other. “Oh you two girls! You angels! Praise God that you found us.”

  “Now, wait a minute.”

  Fi stiffened at Silas’ protest. Even his voice was icy, she thought, like the scratch of freezing rain.

  “We don’t even know these girls,” he said.

  Nona released them. “Silas, you don’t have to be so overly protective. They’re just young girls…one a mother, for goodness’ sakes.”

  “I don’t give a darn who they are, the fact is they’re not Truthers and I wanna know what we plan to do with them.”

  For the first time Fi saw the fire tattoo on Silas’ neck and she winced. How ironic. She’d thought of him as the ice-man, and she couldn’t have been more wrong. It seemed clear that Silas was the heat in the powder keg. At least she and Sara seemed to have this woman, Nona, on their side.

  “I guess you’re right, Silas,” Nona sighed.

  Crap. Maybe she wasn’t on their side. Fi looked to Carter, who seemed to be lost in thought as he rocked Luke.

  He met her eyes, which had widened in very real fear. “No need to panic, Marie. We just have a certain way of doing things here to protect our settlement.”

  He handed Luke back to her and it was all she could do not run from the room. She cradled him tightly, thankful for his soft, warm weight in her arms. “I don’t understand, Father.” God, it was hard not to gag on that word. “You know that my sister and I are Christians, like you.”

  “But Silas is right,” Carter replied. “You’re not yet Truthers. Hmmmm…” He stroked his beard.

  Fi’s eyes flicked between the three Truthers. It was clear that they were deliberating something, but what? She felt Sara’s hand slip into hers and she squeezed gratefully. Carter seemed lost in thought. Fi’s heart pounded harder with each passing second that they waited for his response. It was excruciating. “Father, what do we have to do to prove our loyalty?”

  Silas sidled in front of her, his weapon pointed at the ground. It didn’t escape her notice that he still had his finger on the trigger. He was either cautious or paranoid, but either way it was clear he didn’t trust them one tiny bit.

  He appraised her with a sneer. “To prove yourselves? You have to be baptized.”

  Baptized? Fi suppressed the urge to share a glance with Sara. Like dipped in the river? “That doesn’t seem like a problem, Father. We’ve both already been baptized, but it can be just like being born again…”

  “Yes,” Carter murmured. “What do you think, Nona?”

  “Well we can’t put them with…” her voice trailed off.

  “No, obviously we can’t have that.” Carter said.

  Sara squeezed Fi’s hand again. They both knew what that meant. They didn’t want to put them into the prison camp with the colonists. Fi was dying to see Kiara, but her mission was to gather intelligence. She couldn’t do that behind the prison walls. The girls waited while their fates were considered.

  “We can’t let unbaptized walk among us,” Silas argued. “The others won’t like it. Especially since many did their time…”

  Fi sucked in her breath. The prison camp was standard operating procedure? Good gravy. The Truthers were more cunning than she’d thought. Silas’ eyes slid her way and she coughed into her fist. Her skin crawled and goosebumps flared up her spine. No wonder they call him the Ghost, she thought. It’s not his eyes, it’s the way he gives you the creeps. She peeked up again and found his gaze still boring into her. Or the way he beats the hell out of you. Her legs weakened.

  Crap. Internal dialogue really wasn’t working out for her right now. You know, Papa, if you could just show up and crack this guy over the head, that would be awesome. The thought popped into her head out of nowhere, and she nearly laughed at the image of her skinny father in his tweed blazer, knocking Silas senseless with a physics textbook. Warmed, she forced herself to focus on the others.

  “I’ll take them in with my family for now and then we can set a date,” Nona said.

  “But...” Silas began.

  “Hush, Silas.” Carter interrupted. “Let me think about it.”

  Silas clamped his mouth shut, but the vein in his neck pulsed.

  “We have baptism for the Rooney twins coming up in a few days,” Nona offered. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind sharing their day with these girls. And I think the colonists can be convinced to let the girls stay in the settlement for just a few days…given the circumstances.”

  Fi’s heart leapt. They were going to get to stay in the settlement! It was perfect! But just as quickly her throat closed. She would be so close to Kiara, finally. But not close enough. Not close enough to hold her. Not close enough to keep her warm. Not close enough to protect her.

  She clutched Luke and pressed her cheek to his head. There’s no other way. She pasted what she hoped was a tentative smile on her face. “Yes, Father, we’d be h
appy to do whatever is needed. So…what do we have to do for the baptism?”

  “What do you have to do?” Silas repeated, his mouth twisting.

  Her heart sank. This man, this head of the Lobo-Angels, was not to be underestimated. It felt like he could see the lies in her mind. Her eyes skittered away and her heart stuttered, an arrhythmic drumbeat in her ears.

  He held up his hand, the white scar of the capital “T” gleaming in the meat of his enormous palm. “What you have to do to be one of us is bleed.”

  Undercover

  ------------ Fi -------------

  On the way to Nona’s family cabin, their new benefactor explained more about the baptism process to Fi and Sara. Her kindly prattle about confessing sins and committing to the Truth fell away into the background as Fi’s mind stayed preoccupied with her “sister” Sara’s sacrifice. When Carter agreed with Silas that a part of the baptism was the sacrifice of pain and blood, Sara had jumped in, insisting that they could not do that to Fi.

  Though Fi knew it was part of Sara’s commitment to protecting her and Luke, and though her excuse that Fi couldn’t risk an infection while breastfeeding was valid, it was still killing her that Sara had offered herself up instead. She wished she could get some private time to talk with her. But first they had to make nice with Nona and her family.

  As it turned out, that wasn’t as hard as she’d thought it would be. The more she got to know her, the more she found herself liking this warm woman. She was so disarming that Fi had to keep reminding herself that she was the right-hand woman of the enemy.

  “Welcome to my home,” Nona said, stopping before a small cabin with screened windows, now shuttered with wooden planks. Inside there was only one L-shaped room, divided in two by a hanging sheet. There was a tiny metal folding table with chairs in one corner, and a wooden bookcase against the far wall. A worn Bible sat atop the table beside flickering candles. The floor was wood plank as well, with mud or something like it smashed into the crevices. The interior walls were similarly planked and plastered. Despite these efforts at insulation, Fi’s breath still came in steamy puffs.

  A man emerged from behind the curtain. “What do we have here?”

  He was nearly too tall for the cabin, and rail thin. Like Nona, he wore the tunic and loose pants of the Truthers. His smile glowed in the candlelight. “Are these the new additions?”

  “You’ve already heard, Tyson?” Nona said, chuckling at Fi’s expression of surprise. “Not much stays secret around here for long.”

  Good, Fi thought. That’s exactly why we’re here.

  Nona introduced them to Tyson and indicated that her grown son, Lonny, would be back from maintenance work in the settlement soon. She led them to a separate room the size of a small closet. There was a rumple of blankets and pillows on the floor. “This was once a counselor’s cabin and they’d had this little extra area for storage. I know it’s not much, but Lonny won’t mind bunking with us until we can get you more permanent lodging, I’m sure.”

  Looking around, Fi wasn’t so sure that Lonny would be thrilled to lose his only bit of privacy in the world, but she wasn’t going to argue. Hopefully Lonny was a believer too, and would agree with his mother. “It’s wonderful, Nona. We’re so grateful, I can’t tell you.”

  “Yes, thank you,” Sara added, faking a yawn. They’d been stuck with Carter’s deliberations and plans for several hours and the sun had set. Nona bought the suggestion that they were tired.

  “You two should get some rest. Father says that he’ll give you the tour of the settlement himself tomorrow.”

  She said this as if it were a great honor, and Fi suppressed the urge to gag. She had to remind herself that this was good news. A tour of the settlement was exactly what they wanted. Heck, she’d assumed they’d be under watch and would have to sneak around a lot, but it didn’t seem to be shaping up that way. They retired to their little closet and closed the door with relief, alone at last.

  “Whew!” Sara flopped onto Lonny’s rat’s nest of blankets on the floor.

  Fi settled carefully beside her, working Luke’s sling into a comfortable position. He fussed as she got ready to feed him. Her heart finally began to slow now that they could rest and think. Hopefully adrenaline doesn’t affect breast milk, she thought, because otherwise, Luke was in for a wild ride these next couple weeks.

  “‘Whew’ is right, Sara,” she whispered. “But what are we going to do about the baptism?”

  “What do you mean?” Sara’s whisper was nonchalant. She bunched a pillow beneath her head and closed her eyes as if she hadn’t a care in the world.

  Fi shook her head. If someone were planning on cutting into her hand, she’d be pretty flipped out. “I mean,” she hissed, “we can’t let these freaks cut your hand!”

  “We don’t have a choice.” Sara’s eyes remained closed. “Besides, it’s all just fuel for the fire.”

  Fi grunted. So that was it. Sara was willing to let them cut her because it gave her more motivation to…well, to cut them when the time came. But what about her hand being injured? That was hardly ideal for the whole protection detail. Fi took a deep breath and counted to ten. She had to let it go.

  They’d just have to rely on Carter’s assurances that the cutting was done by a Truther doctor. And they’d just have to hope Sara healed fast and well. And they’d just have to roll with things. That was what being undercover meant. It meant not being in control. God, she hated not being in control! But if Sara could let it go, then surely she could too.

  Luke drifted off to sleep eventually and Fi settled beside Sara. They lay fully clothed beneath the blanket, but it was cold in the small room. She nestled against her taller friend like she did with Asher. In Fi’s arms, Luke was like the pea in the human spoon.

  “Ow!” Something poked Fi right in her behind.

  Sara chuckled. “Sorry, Fi.”

  “What was that, Sar?”

  “The hilt of my right dagger.”

  “Oh.” Fi was silent for a second and then she started giggling.

  Sara snorted behind her. “It’s not like your .22 holster feels great rubbing against my leg.”

  The two giggled and snorted and wriggled until they were arranged such that their respective weapons no longer caused too much discomfort.

  “Yeah, we’re just lost little lambs, aren’t we, Fi?”

  “Of course we are, sis. Of course we are…”

  Fi settled and sighed, trying to release the tension in her shoulders. She focused on Luke’s soft breathing. He still made snorting noises at times, but he seemed to be doing ok. Not that she had any real way of knowing. Jonas had taken a look at him for her and declared him healthy, but she still nursed a lingering sense that her neglect may have cost him somehow.

  “Fi? You still awake?”

  “Yeah. What’s up?”

  “I know I never say it, but I’m really glad you’re my friend. It’s not like a lot of people, you know…get me. I kinda told Ash that, but I never told you.”

  “Aw, Sar, that’s really nice.” Fi reached back and patted her friend. A sad laugh bubbled up in her throat and then stuck. “You know, I never even noticed that I didn’t have any friends until Sean switched schools. And then, bam! It was like, ‘Oh, I’m alone.’ I talked to people, but I always felt separate, somehow, like I was living behind glass. Or they were.” Sara squeezed her thigh. “And then the Famine hit and I turned into this. And for the first time, I felt whole. And then I felt…”

  “Guilty.” Sara’s voice was quiet.

  “Yeah.”

  Sara pressed her forehead against Fi’s back. “Who would we be now if it hadn’t happened?”

  That was the question, Fi thought. And so many more. Would she have met Asher? Would Luke have been born? “Would we have been friends?” The words left her lips though Fi hadn’t meant to say them out loud.

  “Yeah.” Sara sighed. “That’s what I meant before. I didn’t really make friends ei
ther, even before the Famine. I know we were young, but I always kind of felt alone too. I mean, I’m lucky enough to have my sister, Lily, but like you said, she’s family. And I had Layla…”

  Fi squeezed her eyes tight at the sorrow in Sara’s voice. Layla had been family too. And her rape had cost Sara dearly. It was a dividing line in her life. There was BL (Before Layla) and AL (After Layla). She covered it well. To people who didn’t know her she was the fierce shadow in the corner, watching, listening. AL. But to those who did know her, those lucky enough to be present when Sara felt happy and safe, she was the loudest, burpiest, filthiest-mouthed, most outrageously spontaneous nut ever. BL.

  Whenever her friend disappeared into AL, sitting at the edge of the firelight and staring hungrily into the darkness, the photo would swim before Fi’s eyes. The one she’d found taped beneath Sara’s desk the day she’d accidentally dropped her coat. She could see it in Sara’s eyes, read it in the purse of her lips — the negative to that image. The two nine-year-old girls in bright bathing suits, their mouths open wide, their faces purple as Sara’s father drenched them with the hose. Two planets, orbiting each other: one dark, and one light. Sara. And Layla.

  “You know,” Sara murmured, breaking into Fi’s thoughts. “Maybe it’s not fair to say we’re friends.”

  Fi sniffed, sucking back the tears that had begun to prick at her eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “Because you’re more than a friend. You are like my sister, Fi. I know that we both love the fight, but it’s more than that. I love everything about you. The fact that you’re a science geek…”

  “Hey…” Fi struggled, hovering between tears and giggles.

  “I mean it as a compliment, Fi. I respect that you’re here, risking everything, not just to save your little sister…not just because of some promise you made to your father forever-long ago…which you DID make happen, by the way…but to protect Truefood and save everybody. That’s what I love about you. You want to save everybody. And the world needs people like that.”

  Sara’s voice wobbled and Fi’s mind made itself up. Hot tears wound down her freezing cheeks. “You’re right, Sar. You’re like my sister. And I love everything about you too. I love that you can code circles around the smartypants…” she paused, shifting back to laughter. “…Smartypantses?”