by Amber Hart
“There has to be another way,” he insists.
“There isn’t,” I reply. My voice is quiet but firm.
The fight leaves Jospin’s eyes. He sighs, lips pressed into a thin, disappointed line.
“If you change your mind, come to the habitat. Anytime, Raven; I will leave with you anytime.”
“Soon,” I promise.
I open my mouth to tell him how much I love him and that we should meet again in a couple of days. But Clovis runs up.
“Time to go,” Clovis says. “A poacher is in the trees, not too far off. He’s not from our pack, but still.”
I hold on to Jospin’s hand as if I’m not sure that I can let it go. A small part of me questions if what I’m doing is right. It wonders and breaks open and allows doubt to creep in. But then the bigger part of me absolutely knows that I can’t leave Dad’s plan unfinished.
“Raven,” Jospin whispers. “My father is a strong man.”
This I already know.
“He will kill you if you stay too long. Your time is limited.”
I know that too. I’m just hoping I can do what I need to do before it comes to that.
“He will eventually tire of you, which is why you need to get whatever information it is that you’re after fast. And then you need to run.”
“I need the details about your father’s illegal business, Jospin. Do you know where”—I pause, hating that I have to ask him to betray his father, wondering if I’m doing the right thing. “Can you tell me where he keeps that information?”
Jospin doesn’t seem angry. Instead, he appears regretful. “I wish I knew, Raven. I would tell you if I did.”
I nod, resigned to the fact that it won’t be easy, and that Jospin doesn’t have answers either.
“Whenever you get evidence, come to the habitat. Find me,” Jospin whispers, so very quietly.
Clovis clears his throat. Leans one ear to the wind.
“I will,” I promise.
“Raven, I just—” Jospin falters, dropping my hand to rake a palm down his face. I read the emotions in his eyes: worry, fear, frustration. “I don’t know if I can watch you go back there.” His voice is soft but strained. “I don’t know if I have it in me. This is extremely difficult for me, knowing what the men are like there. Knowing that you are returning anyway. Do you understand what it would do to me if anything happened to you?”
“I just need a little more time,” I say.
Jospin nods, though I see the way his hands clench into fists. “Hurry. Please hurry.”
Chapter 18
Jospin
François and Loriant greet me as I enter the habitat.
“Kirk!” François says cheerfully, walking down the hall toward me. “Where have you been?”
Of course, I cannot tell them about Raven. Instead, I smile and say, “Scanning the forest for apes, of course.”
The lie flows easily because it’s something I’ve said and done before, just not for the reasons they think.
“Winnie got a care package from back home,” Loriant says. His steps sway slightly. “Bottles of wine and snacks. Cookies, even!”
As François and Loriant stop in front of me in the entryway, I can smell the alcohol on them.
“Come celebrate with us!” The invitation is from both of them, though François is the one who actually voices it.
“What are we celebrating?” I ask, somewhat hesitantly. I’m not usually one to mingle with the volunteers.
“Life,” Loriant says, raising his lanky arms into the air in a cheer. His smile is wider than usual.
I can’t help but laugh. He has clearly had a bit too much to drink.
“Where’s Chloe?” I ask. Though their invitation is tempting—to have a glass of wine and relax and pretend for a night that everything is okay—I need to tell Chloe about seeing Raven today.
“In the common room with us!” Loriant says, his voice carrying down the empty hall. “So are you coming or not?”
Well, in that case. “Sure.”
The common room is decorated with tan couches and several chairs. A table sits against the back wall. Goods are spread across it—wine and plastic cups, crackers, candy, gum, several cans of soda, bottles of liquid the same color as deeply steeped tea, and a pile of cookies. Music pours out of a small radio. Several people—I take a moment to count, ten to be exact—lounge about.
François claps me on the back. “Glad you’re here. Been wanting to hang out again since the last time I saw you. You don’t have to be such a stranger.” He stops to pour some wine. “You know where to find me, right? My room is next to Loriant’s—third on the left. You pass it all the time. Don’t be afraid to knock. Come get me next time you plan to hunt.”
“Sounds good,” I say. And I find that I’m not lying. I just don’t have the time for friendships here.
“Hi, Kirk!” Winnie says, flashing a genuine smile. “Come join us!”
At the mention of my fake name, Chloe glances up.
Out of courtesy, I take the plastic wine cup that Winnie extends to me, sipping it slowly as I say hello to people, making eye contact, working my way around the room. Loriant launches into an embarrassing story about himself, making people laugh. For a moment I wonder what it would be like to just enjoy this, here, now. Because Chloe’s the farthest from me, she’s the last person I greet.
“Chloe,” I say, offering a tight smile. She is the reason I’m really here, and the sooner I leave, the better. I’m anxious to tell her about Raven.
“Kirk,” she replies, but before she can say anything else, François comes over.
“See, you should do this more often,” he says, throwing an arm around my shoulder. I try not to stiffen from the gesture. It reminds me too much of something Clovis or Mattius would have done. I push the thought of them away. I don’t like the ache it causes.
“I know you’re new and that can be overwhelming, but you’re doing really well here,” he adds.
“Thanks.” I want him to drop his arm. I want him to go away so I can resume talking to Chloe.
“Someone help me with this cork!” Winnie says, nearly dropping the bottle of wine she’s trying to open.
I suspect they have all had a bit too much to drink tonight.
“Got it!” François yells, removing his arm from my shoulder to help her.
I have a chance and I take it.
“Chloe,” I whisper urgently. “Come with me. It’s about Raven.”
Before anyone can notice, we slip out of the common room.
I am not sure how to explain to Chloe why Raven isn’t here with me. I wish Raven truly understood the danger in being so close to my father. Maybe she does. But either way, she wouldn’t have come today. I saw it in her eyes. The defiance. The sheer will to convince me that what she’s doing is warranted. I believe her father meant well, bringing Raven into his plan to destroy the Cameroonian poaching empire—men who are in the middle of a war for power—but his cause is foolish at best.
Raven thinks she’s doing the right thing. I think she’s wrong.
Because Raven doesn’t understand that, even if by some small chance she was able to bring Father’s empire to ruins, there would always be more.
More poachers.
More killers.
More people wanting to rule the jungle.
My only hope is that Raven will somehow tire of her mission. Or get just enough information, whatever she’s searching for, to finally leave.
“I found her,” I say when we get far enough away from the party.
Chloe’s face brightens with an easy smile that my next words will surely erase.
“She wouldn’t come back with me.”
Sure enough, Chloe’s expression changes. “She wouldn’t come with you?” she asks. “How is that possible? You told me she’s with dangerous people. She’s with your people, right? Am I right?”
“Yes.”
Only they’re not my people. Not anymore.
>
“I don’t understand why Raven would be staying there, with poachers.”
I think of the moment before I handed Raven over to my father. Pieces of her sun-bleached hair billowed in the breeze, and her face was streaked with blood. She was gorgeous. Standing there with a backbone of steel. Not knowing what was going on, but understanding enough to not make any sudden movements.
And then Father walked out of the trees.
And my future rewrote itself.
“Chloe, Raven had been meeting with one of my pack members. It was part of a mission her father started and wanted Raven to finish.”
It’s still so hard for me to understand what turned Clovis. So close, like a brother.
“I found out about that pack member—that he had turned traitor. He was my best friend. I had strict orders: Find the spy. Kill the spy. And I would have. Difficult as it might’ve been,” I continue. “But I wasn’t betting on Raven showing up. I wasn’t expecting the girl I’m”—the hardest part—“in love with to ask me to please stop, to spare his life because he was a friend of hers and her father’s.”
Chloe is frozen.
“And before I could make up my mind, I heard him.” I swallow. “My father—our pack leader and alpha, the strongest and most powerful poacher in this jungle—was heading for us. Raven was exposed, and there was nothing I could do except hand Raven to the traitor, the one who was once my friend, and ask him to take care of her. It was understood: That moment would mean either his death or mine. If it were his death, I would still be alive—but Raven would never have been an acceptable mate for me, and my father would have killed her too. But if I acted like I was the spy in our pack, then there was a chance, however small, that Raven would be spared. My friend was not in line to be alpha. There was a possibility that he could be with someone like Raven. I thought that if they stayed together, maybe he could help her escape. I guess I knew then that he was my only chance. I would have shot him for his treachery, but I needed to keep Raven safe. So I took the fall. I said it was me. I tried to save her.”
Chloe still says nothing, her eyes wide.
“I didn’t realize that Raven would stay at the compound. That—” Pause. Unbelievable. “That Raven would actually choose to stay there because she thinks she’s doing something necessary, finishing her father’s work. She’s making a mistake. I wish that she would listen to me. But she won’t. And she makes her own decisions. I respect that. Even if I do not agree with it.”
Chloe takes a second. Runs nervous fingers down her pant leg. “You tried to save her?” she asks. “You care for her that deeply? That you would have died for her?”
I shrug. “Yes. Still would. Chloe, I know this might be difficult for you to believe, or to understand, for that matter, because I am who I am and because maybe you were right that first day when you said Raven shouldn’t know me. But I live for her. I would do anything for her.”
“Anything?” Chloe asks, skeptical, but I see the hope in her stare. She understands that I have an advantage when it comes to helping Raven. I know this jungle better. I know the poachers better.
“Anything.”
Chloe nods. Then she takes a key out of her pocket. Closes her hand around the tip. Runs a thumb across the notched edge. A thin leather rope hangs from it.
“Here,” she says, extending the key to me. “I already knew that Raven’s father was meeting a boy from your pack. Her father and I started this habitat together. We both would’ve done anything to save these apes.”
I keep my expression calm as I take the key, wondering what it’s for, how it might help Raven.
“If you want to know what Raven’s father discovered about the poachers and why your friend deceived you, start here.” She presses a finger to the key in my open palm. “It unlocks her father’s study. All his notes, his life’s work, are stored there. I think the way to convince Raven to return is to help her finish the mission.”
Chapter 19
Raven
Nerves take control of my body the moment we approach the doors of the compound. But as we pass through the gate, it is not Mr. Tondjii standing there, waiting for me. Instead, I see Mattius, with a look on his face that says he knows something I don’t.
Mattius unsettles me. He is calm but threatening.
Though Clovis and his brother share the same blood, they couldn’t be more different.
“Mr. Tondjii will see you in his quarters,” Mattius says. There is little expression in his tone, but his smile widens.
I’m uncomfortable and I wonder if he can see it. With the look he gives me, I really think that he can.
I take the stairs painfully slowly, trying to show Mattius that I’m not scared of him. But that, like most things around here, is a lie. Clovis and I pass Mrs. Tondjii in the third-floor hall, and she looks at me as if she’s sorry I have to go in there. It’s a strange thing to see in her eyes: sympathy.
Clovis takes my hand. I realize I could be walking into anything. Maybe I will be greeted with the barrel of a gun. We disobeyed. We outran Mr. Tondjii’s guards. There will be punishment. Or maybe I will be told to leave. I’m already so close to something I can feel it. I need more time to uncover details. I need sheets of paper documenting proof of their black-market dealings. I need names of contacts, buyers, corrupted officials, so I have something concrete to offer the Cameroonian office that functions as a point of contact for the American embassy.
But I’m terrified. I’m worried that something will go wrong, that I’ll never have the chance to see Mama’s smiling face again. And what about the best friends who sustained me all those years—will I never hear Audrey’s laugh or receive another of Caden’s big bear hugs? What if I don’t get to see Leahcim again? Feel his coarse fur or paint another picture with him? I slowly let myself consider the truth that I try to avoid thinking about: I could die here.
Clovis raps his knuckles on the door to Mr. Tondjii’s study.
“Come in” is the reply.
Clovis looks at me before pushing open the door. I take a quick breath, and then we step inside.
“I hope you two had fun on your little getaway,” Mr. Tondjii says.
He lounges in his brown suede chair, his face free of worry. A cigarette is halfway to his mouth, which is curling into a smirk.
Simon sits in a chair off to Mr. Tondjii’s side, also smoking, a sly grin on his face as if he is about to enjoy whatever happens.
Clovis keeps hold of my hand. “We needed a break. I don’t prefer an audience when I spend time with my girl,” he says nonchalantly, but his eyes skip over to his father.
I take notes from Clovis. His demeanor is relaxed. I mimic him—slouched shoulders, light expression, no pinch of tension in the shoulders.
“Hmm.” Mr. Tondjii takes a long pull from his cigarette.
I’m standing close enough that the exhaled smoke hits me in the face.
“Clovis,” Mr. Tondjii says, not bothering to look at Clovis. Too busy staring at me. “I can only hope your passion for our tribe is as great as your passion for Raven.”
“It is,” Clovis says.
He is passionate about me in the sense that he wants me to be safe, and he is passionate about the pack. About breaking them down, specifically. Mr. Tondjii doesn’t need to know.
“And Raven,” Mr. Tondjii says, eyes still on me. “Please stay while Clovis leaves.”
He’s separating us again. I think it’s to get us apart long enough to make one of us crack, but there’s nothing I can do about it.
“Of course,” I reply, smiling.
Clovis lets go of my hand and kisses my cheek. “Later, love,” he whispers in my ear.
“Did you and Clovis have fun?” Mr. Tondjii asks as soon as the door closes.
“Yes,” I say immediately. It’s true, and I know that much is clear in my tone.
I stare at Mr. Tondjii’s dark face. He looks so much like Jospin, it’s almost uncanny. Truthfully, I despise how much they look
alike, the man I love and the man I hate. It makes me miss Jospin that much more, especially after seeing him so recently. Still, I take a seat across from Mr. Tondjii, reminding myself just how different he and Jospin are.
“I know you’re probably not happy about us running off, but I do hope you understand what it’s like to need room to breathe.”
“I do understand, little Raven, which is why you are still alive,” he says.
Because it’s customary for him to kill those who disobey. To make a show out of it so that others know what not to do. But more important, to let everyone know who is boss, to instill fear in the hearts of those you own. And power is the reward.
“Would you like less security around you?” he asks. “Would you like to step foot outside your bedroom walls and not be watched constantly?”
I’m careful to not give too much away.
“Watching is useful,” I say. “From time to time.”
Which means sometimes it is not. Sometimes a person needs to whisper secrets, and how can that be done in a place alive with a hundred eyes?
“All right,” Mr. Tondjii says. “Here’s my offer. You tell me what you learned at the habitat, since our last conversation was interrupted, and I’ll give you one day a week alone with Clovis. Do we have a deal?”
I know by now that nothing is ever that simple, but I decide to go along with it.
“Bartering, Mr. Tondjii, is how you get your customers to pay top dollar, is it not?”
Mr. Tondjii smiles. “I might not like where you’re going with this.”
I smile back. “So here’s my offer. I will tell you how I met Clovis.”
“Why would I care about that? You are here to tell me about the habitat,” Mr. Tondjii retorts.
“I’m here as Clovis’s lover,” I say with a brave face.
“You are here,” Mr. Tondjii amends, “because you might be useful to me if you have information.”
“What if I didn’t have information? Would you have allowed me to stay simply because I’m with Clovis? Do you care about the happiness of your pack members?” I ask.
