Living The Way (The Way Trilogy Book 1)

by Ellie Aiden

  About half-way through the lesson a knock sounds from the door. The Mutter seems annoyed that her super awesome lesson, insert eye-roll here, was interrupted, but setting down her banana she goes to open the door, revealing Elder Thompson on the other side. The two exchange a few whispers, too low for me to make out, and then she turns back to address Tara and I.

  “Children, my apologies, unfortunately an urgent matter has come up, and I must attend to it. No worries, we will continue our lesson tomorrow.”

  The thing I’m the most upset about is the last part. Will this ever end?

  Mutter Vera turns to leave with a final nod, Elder Thompson following close behind. You know what? In all my years, I don’t ever remember a single lesson being interrupted by, urgent business. The Church takes our education very seriously, and nothing has been important enough to take one of our instructors away from it. From the look on Tara’s face, she seems to be thinking the same thing, and as she begins to open her mouth, I know if I don’t leave right now I will die here listening to her blabbing. I have never jumped to my feet, or ran so fast in my whole life. Just call me Speedy Gonzales. I love that cartoon. It was one of the only cartoons on DVD the Church would let us watch. Every Saturday night we would gather around to watch that adorable little mouse…

  “Anna, wait!”

  Clearly I just lost my new nickname. Damn it, I don’t have time for this, but I also hate being rude, so I stop midstride and turn to Tara, who nearly bowls over me in her haste.

  “Oh, sorry. Sorry! Listen, I just wanted you to know that, well, I can help you.”

  I’m sorry, say what? My confusion must be written across my face, because she grabs my hand and pulls me further into the classroom.

  “I don’t know everything, but I do know something bad is going on, and I know it has something to do with our Placement coming up. I…I overheard you and Ash in your office.”

  First of all, bitch. How do you know about my office? That damn broom closet is supposed to be a secret, and second of all, shit. If she overheard us, who else did?

  Grabbing her elbow and squeezing a little harder than is necessary, I lean in until our noses are practically touching. Through gritted teeth I give her, her one and only warning. “I don’t know what you think you heard, but forget it. There is absolutely nothing for you to help with. Do you understand?”

  I don’t wait for her to respond. Turning, I give her my back flipping a pigtail over my shoulder for good measure.

  “Ok-ay. So-r-rry. I didn’t mean to make you mad. I, I just wanted to help.”

  Is she crying? Shit. I cannot stand bully’s, and I just made this poor girl cry, when what we’re doing has everything to do with her. She’s the only other girl going through her Placement this month, but what if she’s sold too? Signs are pointing toward not, but still, anything can happen.

  Taking a deep breath and gathering my thoughts, I turn back to face her. Huge tears are pouring down her face, and I’m not sure if I actually scared her that badly, or if there’s more to this.

  “Tara, no, I’m sorry. That was really mean of me, and under normal circumstance, I would never treat you, or anyone else that way. Things are just really scary right now, and I panicked.”

  Tara nods once, wiping away a few stray tears and seeming to collect herself. “I understand. It’s okay, really.”

  Now that the apologies are out of the way, and trying to lighten the mood I ask, “So, was I really that scary?” We both let out a laugh, that one move seeming to calm us both.

  “You were definitely scary. I just don’t have anyone else here, and it’s not like the Church really fosters friendships. I know whatever is going on is serious, but I guess I also thought maybe I wouldn’t be so alone. It’s, It’s really lonely here.”

  I’m not crying, you’re crying.

  Tears are freely falling down each of her ebony cheeks and her next words are said through a sniffle, “It’s dumb. Don’t worry about it. I promise not to tell anyone.”

  Shaking my head, I pull her in close wrapping my arms around her. “No. Your part of the team now, and honestly we could really use the help.”

  Her tears are coming heavier now as they soak through my dress, and her shoulders heave with a sob. “Thank you.”

  ***

  After Tara is all cried out the two of us make our way through the halls, hoping we will run into Mutter Vera or Elder Thompson. No such luck. The two of them are long gone. I was really hoping to follow them and possibly get some dirt.

  I tell Tara to meet me at my room after dinner tonight, and the two of us part ways. I hope I haven’t made a mistake with her. Granted, she talks a lot, which could either be a benefit, or a hazard, but she seems like a sweet girl. And I just can’t deal with anyone feeling completely alone. I remember what that was like, before Ash arrived at the Compound, and that was only a few months. Tara has been here for years. Well, nothing can be done about it now, I just have to pray she doesn’t screw us over.

  On that front, I need to fill Ash and Chase in. Don’t want to risk my bestie having a conniption, and setting Tara off like I did. I can’t deal with two cry fests in one day.

  Chase will mostly likely be in the lab, or the infirmary this time of day, so I can’t exactly go talk to him, but this is free time for Ash. Finding her will be like finding a needle in a haystack.

  Starting my search, I check her room first and then the library. Not finding her at either place, I decide to head outside. It’s not uncommon to find her walking in the back pasture. She has a secret obsession with cows. Honestly, I don’t get it. Cows are terrifying.

  What? Don’t judge me.

  Just as I’m about to head back to the main building giving up my search, I spot her, but she’s not alone.

  “I hope you both know I’m gonna have to bleach my eyes now.”

  Ash and Chase are six feet deep in a make-out session just inside a copse of trees in the northeast corner of the compound, and honestly, if I found her, anyone could. This doesn’t seem like a good idea at all. The wild and crazy kids are clearly embarrassed, sitting up and trying to right their rumpled clothes. It’s glaringly obvious Chase has now officially been to second base. Gross.

  “You two want a baby? Because that’s how you get a baby.” I explain.

  Ash rolls her eyes at me, as if I’m being overly dramatic. “Didn’t you just come from sex ed? Because that’s not how you make a baby Anna.”

  “Yeah well, it’s a gateway drug.” What? It is. Okay fine. Maybe I’m a little jealous that my best friend got to have a steamy make-out session in the woods, while the boy I can’t stop thinking about probably doesn’t even remember my name. I’d let him get to second base.

  “Does this interruption have a point Anna?” Why is she mad at me, I’m the one that may lose my eyesight?

  Chase stands, reaching down to help Ash do the same, and then they’re both glaring at me.

  “Yes, this interruption does have a point, ass.”

  I fill the two of them in on sex ed class, as well as the Tara situation, and neither of them seem too happy about it. See, I knew I needed to tell her in advance. Chase doesn’t seem to be quite as concerned, while Ash is pretty much livid.

  “How the hell do we know we can trust this girl, Anna?”

  “We don’t, but you’re acting like this is my fault, Ash. What was I supposed to do?” I throw my hands in the air frustrated. What was I supposed to do?

  “I don’t know, ugh. This is so frustrating.” Ash plops back down in the dead grass and I decide to follow.

  I know this is frustrating. I know we’re all scared, but this is not the time to take it out on each other. We need each other more than ever. We just have an extra member of the team. I wonder if this is a good time to bring up that I’ve been thinking our team needs a name. Probably not.

  “Holy shit, wait.” Ash has clearly had an epiphany, but now she’s just sitting there, staring off into nothing.

&
nbsp; Finally, she stands again, good Lord, could we pick an option and stick with it, my thighs are starting to burn. Living proof I need to work out more.

  “Anna, we don’t even know this girl. What if? Oh God, what if she’s a spy?”

  Son of a Bitch! Why had that thought not even occurred to me? Could she be a spy? No way, but could she?

  Chase seems truly agitated for the first time as he begins to pace, mumbling under his breath. Ash has said at least eighteen cuss words in the last thirty seconds, and those last two, I’m not even sure what they mean. And me, well I’m having a silent mental breakdown, but I have to get it together and calm everyone down. Freaking out will resolve nothing.

  “Okay, everyone just calm, the hell, down.” They both freeze, good, I’ve got their attention, moving on. “We can’t take back what happened but, we can be careful moving forward. I’ve got a plan, so listen up.”

  Explaining everything to them went fairly quickly, it’s not like it was an elaborate plan. The simpler the better, less room for error. Chase was to go about his day as normal, meet with Andy after dinner, and meet Ash and I behind the barn at midnight. That was always the plan, no sense in changing it. While Chase is meeting Andy, Ash and I would be in my room with Tara. What we needed to do was avoid giving her any more information than she already had, at least until we are one-hundred percent sure she’s on Team Glitter Unicorn. Yeah, Ash hated it too, and Chase just rolled his eyes. I’ll work on it.

  We’ll get Tara to tell us exactly what she overheard, under the guise that we need to know what details we need to fill in, and what she already knows. Then, we’ll give her as little information as possible, maybe even some false information and see what she does with it.

  When our team meeting was finished, I tried to get everyone to do hands-in, but no one was into it, so Chase left first, and then Ash and I waited about five minutes before heading back too. The last think we needed was someone seeing us coming out of the woods, with a boy.

  CHAPTER 11 — EMOTIONAL BASKET CASE

  The meeting with Tara went better than expected. We asked her to tell us everything she overheard, which wasn’t much. The only thing she really knew was that Elder Thompson lied about me being attacked in town, and that we were suspicious of him. That I could work with.

  So, I told her everything about the supply run to Bonham. About the Hotel actually being a brothel, about being attacked and drug upstairs, and about a stranger saving me. We didn’t mention Luke’s name, or that we’re pretty sure he’s a member of Diablo. If Tara’s a spy and the Elders don’t know that, then we need to keep it that way. I also mentioned that we didn’t understand why he would lie to Vater Henry, which is true. And that we don’t like the idea of arranged marriages, also true.

  She seemed to agree with everything we were saying, commenting here and there, but nothing she said or did gave us any hint on her spy status. Through silent communication Ash and I agreed not to give her anything else, and about an hour later, Ash stood, let out a ridiculous fake yawn, and announced she was heading to bed, hoping Tara would get the hint, which she did.

  Now Ash and I are making our way to the other side of the Compound to meet Chase, and I’m practically shaking with nervous energy. What if this post office business doesn’t work like Chase said? What if whoever runs it is in bed with the Elders, and Mutter Vera, or worse, what if Michelle Hoya already got to Luke?

  We make it to the barn looking around to ensure no one can see us, and then make our way down the side to the far back. Chase isn’t here yet, but that’s not surprising. I was so nervous we left twenty minutes early.

  Ash and I both take a seat in the dirt and try to relax, but it doesn’t seem to be working for me, and Ash notices, placing her hand on my knee to stop it from shaking. “You like him don’t you? Like, like-like him.”

  I’d like to say I played coy, acting like I had no clue who she was talking about, but this was my best friend, and even if I lied to her she would see right through it. “I don’t know why. I don’t even know him. Maybe it’s the whole, I met him right after a traumatic situation thing. I don’t know, but yeah. I do.”

  “Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he’s hot as hell, huh?”

  “Ummm, I’m so telling Chase you think Luke is hot.” We both get a good laugh out of that, and then we are silent again.

  As time passes we’re both acting visibly nervous. I wish I knew what time it was. Neither one of us has a watch, so there’s no way to tell for sure, but it seems late. Our meeting time was midnight, but it seems a lot later than that. Of course, it could just be the nerves.

  “Something’s wrong.” Ash whispers the terrible thought I’ve been thinking myself, but I need to calm her down even though I’m anything but.

  “I’m sure everything’s fine. Maybe Andy was late getting back and they’re still meeting. Let’s give it another few minutes, then we’ll head back. Meet up with Chase tomorrow.”

  She nods her understanding, and I pull her to me, cuddling against the cold night air.

  “I love him Anna.”

  “I know.”

  I’m not sure how much time passes, but its clear Chase isn’t coming. My friend is having an emotional break down in my arms, and I’m really trying to keep it together for her sake. We can’t both lose our shit at the same time. That’s just not how things work.

  “Ash, I think we should go in. Its freezing and I don’t think he’s coming. It’s possible we got our wires crossed, but whatever it is I’m sure its fine. We’ll find him in the morning.” Standing, I reach down to give her a hand. “Come on, let’s stay in my room.”

  The two of us make our way back to the far side of the barn hand in hand, and then turn back to toward the main building. The wind is blistering tonight, so by the time we make it to the front side of the barn, the two of us are huddled together, and I don’t notice at first that someone is walking toward us. It seems to register with us both at the same time, and we freeze.

  Shit, what excuse could we have for being out here this late? Come on Anna, think of something.

  The next thing I know, Ash takes off running toward the shadowy figure and that’s when it hits me, it’s Chase. A foot before reaching him she makes a flying leap, wrapping her legs around his waist, and burying her head in his neck. By the time I reach the two of them, Ash is balling, big tears pouring down her face, mumbling incoherent words, and Chase rubs circles on her back while whispering I love you’s.

  I have never felt so happy and yet so sad at the same time. Of course I’m glad Chase is okay, and I couldn’t be happier that the two of them love each other as they do, I just. I don’t know, I guess I just wish I had that.

  Now that they’ve both calmed down, the three of us are worried that someone might see us, so we make our way as quickly as possible back behind the barn, Chase carrying Ash the whole way. Even when we make it back to our meeting place, Ash remains in his arms.

  Okay, that’s her home now. She’s not moving. Got it.

  The two are kissing again, whispering back and forth, and I don’t want to be a bitch, but we need to get this rodeo started. “Guys, I hate to be the one, interrupting twice in one day, but um, could we maybe get to the point of this meeting, I’m freezing my ass off. And, how about we start with where you’ve been.”

  Chase takes a seat with Ash on his lap and I join, facing them both.

  “There was an attack on the supply run today. Andy was stabbed. He’s in the infirmary.” Well, he just jumped right in. What the hell?

  “That’s where I’ve been. He was unconscious when he got here, you’re Father called me in Anna, to help. Missed the major organs, but he’d lost a lot of blood. Took thirty-seven stitches to close him up.”

  Ash’s face matches my own. That’s horrible, but who attacked them exactly? “What do they know?”

  “I’m nobody, so they aren’t gonna tell me anything. But Andy woke up right before I was supposed to meet you, that’s why I
was so late.”

  Ash kisses him on the cheek, resting her forehead on his. “I’m so sorry this happened. Is Andy gonna be okay?”

  “Yeah, he’ll be okay. It’ll take a few weeks, or maybe even months, but he’ll heal. He thinks he saw Luke, Anna.”

  My intake of air seems loud to my ears, and all I care about is, that means he’s alive. “That’s good, means he’s alive. Don’t worry about anything else, Chase. It’s not important. Andy healing is what’s important.”

  He shakes his head. “No, its fine. He left the note with the postman, they said it wouldn’t be a problem, that they knew him well. He said he saw him standing in front of Hotel Bonham, or at least, pretty sure it was him. Platinum hair isn’t really all that common. Said it kind of seemed like he was watching Elder Thompson and the rest of their group. He even thinks he might have followed them as they were leaving town, but he couldn’t be sure. They were attacked about halfway home.”

  “You, don’t think, it,” I can’t even get the words out. What if Luke attacked them?

  “No Anna. I don’t think, and neither does Andy. He even said there were six attackers and none of them had platinum hair.” Chase shakes his head, seeming confident.

  Ash climbs off Chase’s lap, scooting over to me, and wrapping an arm around me for comfort. I’m trying to focus, but a million thoughts are going through my mind.

  Thankfully, Ash voices them for me. “I’m sorry Anna, forgive me, I know how you feel, but just because he didn’t see him, doesn’t meant he wasn’t part of it. You even said Andy thought Luke might have been following them when they left town.”

  I wince at her words and she squeezes me tighter. It’s a valid point though, and exactly what I was thinking.

  “I mean it’s possible, but there’s just no way to know for sure, and at this point, I don’t think it matters. So there’s no point in worrying about it, at least right now.” Chase reaches out, and pats my hand reassuringly, before going on. “No one else was really hurt. Elder Thompson had a few scratches, but that was it. The whole thing is kind of weird but, maybe with everything going on, I’m just paranoid.”