And the for the first time in his life, he started to wonder what it would be like to stay in Telmont and carry on his family’s legacy—guarding and serving Haven’s Path, keeping the light of freedom and independent thought alive on a plot of land truly owned by people and not corporations who mistook themselves for people.
As Anders stepped into his uncle’s office, a thud sounded behind him, in the hall. Then fast, light footsteps.
Anders bolted out the door, following the sound.
The door creaked ahead, and Anders walked toward it slowly, his heart thudding. “Uncle Jay?”
His uncle couldn’t possibly be back yet.
Light was streaming into his mother’s childhood bedroom, across the unmade bed where Anders had slept the night before.
He pushed open the door, and a high-pitched grunt sounded from behind it.
The door bounced back, and Anders saw a small shape. A child?
He stepped into the room and shut the door.
Eli was huddled against the wall, staring up at him with wide green eyes.
Anders found himself grinning. “Eli?”
Eli tilted his head to the side. “Anders? How are you here?”
“This is… my uncle’s house. What are you doing here?” And why hadn’t Jay told him Selene and her family had fled here after leaving him locked in a root cellar? Things were starting to make more sense, but not by much. Was this what his uncle had needed to talk to him about… harboring Selene and her family? Anders’ dad would not approve of this.
“Please…” Eli said, folding his hands together, “Don’t tell my Nan. I was supposed to stay in the cabin, but she fell asleep and… I just…” His eyes got even wider. “I’ve never seen so many books.”
Anders let out a laugh and extended a hand, his mind trying to work out the details as he helped Eli to his feet. “Sorry for hittin’ ya with the door.”
“Sorry we locked you in the root cellar.” Eli chewed his lip and averted his eyes.
“You didn’t. You gave me an awesome book, and I read it all. You can have it back, too. Got it here in my backpack. And hey,” Anders leaned down and gave Eli a friendly smile. “Thanks for that bitstorage card, too.”
Eli’s eyes widened again. “Don’t tell Nan about that, either. She thinks Selene had it.”
“I won’t tell her… but where is Selene?”
Eli’s lower lip trembled, and he glanced out the window, at the view of the wraparound porch and solar array. “You said if you had that card you could help her…”
“What’s wrong?” Anders squatted down so he’d be at eye level with Eli, his heart beating harder again, this time with dread.
“Selene never came home after…”
“After what?”
Eli’s eyes took on a shine, and he bit his lip and looked at the floor again. Anders got the sudden urge to hug the poor kid, but he stopped himself. He didn’t want to freak him out or upset him worse than he already was.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Anders said softly. “You can tell me. Maybe I can help.”
Eli took a deep breath. “These people came and stole all our food. They stole everything… even all the stuff we had… from our parents. And they had guns.”
“Guns…?” Anders furrowed his brow, feeling as left out as he’d felt when Ivy and his uncle were discussing Thrive. Was that why the root cellar had been so empty? Who the hell would show up with guns to rob a poor family like that? “Eli… What happened? Who stole from you? What were their names?”
Eli shook his head. “Selene went after them,” he said, his voice shaky. “And she never came home. And then… and then… I’m not supposed to talk about it. Nan said not to tell anyone anything.”
Anders’ pulse buzzed in his ears as his mind replayed the day’s events. His dad hadn’t come for him… his uncle acting evasive about the bitstorage card… thieves at Selene’s house. Why did none of this add up?
“What happened then?” Anders asked.
Eli’s eyes filled with tears. “We saw Selene on the road by our house this morning. And there were cops.”
“Cops?” The room seemed to distort and waver around Anders, and he sank back on his heels to regain his balance.
“Nan says they took her.” Eli whispered. “And…”
“Took her.” Anders swallowed, his mouth dry. “And what?”
Eli rubbed his eyes. “I can’t tell you.”
Anders’ skin felt overheated, even with his nano shirt. He laid a hand on Eli’s shoulder and squeezed. “It’s okay. My dad’s the sheriff, remember? So I can still talk to him. I can help Selene.” Anders took a deep breath. “But you have to tell me.”
Eli pulled away, pressing himself against the wall. “I can’t.”
Anders leaned forward a little, and Eli reluctantly met his eyes. “If the cops did take Selene in, I want to help get her out of there. But I can’t help her unless you tell me…”
Eli took two quick little breaths, then wrapped a hand around his right wrist. “I heard Nan tell… your uncle.” He took another hiccupping breath.
“What?” Anders asked. “You can trust me. I can help.”
“The Coalition wants to take me and Selene away,” Eli’s voice came out in a whisper, and he let go of his arm, showing Anders his wrist. “Because… We’re Protected. I don’t have a tag … but she does. They’ll know.”
Protected. The word cut through Anders like a knife.
The sheriff had Selene. Anders knew it. And his uncle knew it, too.
Trade-offs. Sacrifice. His uncle’s words came back to him. He had been trying to keep him busy today, leaving him in that root cellar, then taking him to that Pathpoint. Manipulating him so he could try to force him to accept what was happening: his dad was going to turn in another Protected girl to the Coalition.
Another girl sent to a Protected camp because of Anders. Just like Lex.
Fuck no. His dad wasn’t gonna play this game and win. Anders would not stand by again and watch this happen.
He forced himself to keep his expression smooth, for Eli’s sake. “Thank you for telling me,” he said, his voice rough. “But you don’t have to worry. No one is going to take your sister away. Or you.”
“Really?”
“I promise.” Anders said. I promise.
Eli rushed him, wrapping his thin arms around Anders’ neck in a tight hug. He returned the hug, rubbing Eli’s back gently as he sniffled.
Anders took a deep breath, willing his blood pressure to fall, but he was too angry now.
“Hey, my uncle’s got about five shelves of books just like the one you gave me. All fiction. You wanna read ‘em while you wait for me to get back?”
Eli sniffed, wiping at his eyes. “But I’m not supposed to be in here.”
“Well, this is my uncle’s house, and I say you can be in here. Come on.”
He stood and led Eli toward the living room, where all the fiction was.
“You hungry or thirsty?” he asked.
Too late. Eli was on the ground, enthralled, and already removing books from the shelves, hungrily reading the back covers. Anders got it. He was afraid. Alone. He’d lost himself in these shelves lots of times after his mom died.
“I’ll be back soon.” Anders said lightly, tightening his hand over the strap on his backpack “Just don’t touch any open books, okay? Especially ones with notes in them.”
Eli nodded, and Anders turned to leave, but hesitated, something tugging at his gut. The thieves Selene went after—they were a missing piece—confusing. Wrong.
“Eli… The people who stole from you… do you remember anything else about them?”
Eli didn’t even look up from the book as he chewed his lip, clearly thinking. “I remember… the name of the girl who told them to take the things in our trunks …. They called her Ivy.”
Anders went still. “What did she look like?”
&nbs
p; Eli furrowed his brow. “Black hair. Asian.” He wiped at his eye again and looked down at his book.
“Okay, Eli. I’ll be back.” Anders barely heard his own voice.
Adrenaline rushed through him as he strode through the house toward the front door.
They called her Ivy.
He’d bet his life on the fact that there was only one Ivy in town that fit Eli’s description and would have had the knowledge and motivation to steal from other off-gridders.
Fucking hell.
Anders would deal with that thief Ivy and his uncle later. Right now, he needed to get Selene away from his father. How many hours had she been in custody?
He’d find a way to get Selene out of there. His dad wasn’t going to turn another Protected girl over to the Coalition. If his dad had taken Selene in this morning… she could already be on her way to Coalition police headquarters in Seattle.
This was Lex all over again.
Anders stepped onto the front porch and carefully closed the door behind him, energy buzzing through his body, heart pounding in his ears.
“What the hell?” The voice was raspy, hoarse.
Anders jerked away from the door and found Lydia on the porch next to one of the windows. She pulled her gun from its holster and aimed it at him, her hands shaking.
“You bring the cops here?” she asked, bloodshot and puffy eyes darting toward the gate. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you live.”
Anders raised his hands in the air, and Selene’s grandmother advanced on him, lifting the gun higher.
“How did you find us?” she growled.
“I could ask you the same thing.” Anders’ muscles felt tight as springs. He’d known Lydia traded with Uncle Jay, but Jay didn’t let just anyone come to his homestead…. So how had she gotten here? Anders wanted to go, now, and get Selene back. Yet here he was, on the business end of this old lady’s gun for the second time in one day.
“What are you doing here?” Lydia repeated.
“You mean, why am I not still locked in a dark cellar?”
Uncle Jay’s car appeared at the side of the house and rolled to stop. He was staring at them through the windshield, his eyes wide.
Anders felt his lips twitch at the absurdity of it all.
Jay was out of the car in a flash. “Lydia—”
“What the hell is going on here?” she demanded, her eyes flicking from Anders to Jay and back. “Do you know him?”
“Yeah… Do you?” Anders smirked at his uncle, but his heart started thudding harder, anger twisting in his gut. His uncle had lied to him… or at least failed to tell him the truth about Selene, knowing full well how he’d react.
Uncle Jay waved a hand. “Lydia, please lower the gun. He’s my nephew. Put the gun away.”
Lydia’s eyes got as big as Jay’s had been a moment ago, and she sucked in a ragged breath. But she didn’t lower the gun. “Why didn’t you say something,” she asked, her voice cold, “when I told you he came to our house, and I locked him in a root cellar?”
“We can hash this out inside the house. No weapons.”
“No, I don’t think so.” Lydia’s blue eyes burned a hole through Anders. “Eli and I aren’t safe here anymore.”
“Eli’s just fine, ma’am,” Anders said softly. “He’s inside reading. I said he could stay if he wanted. But Selene’s not alright, is she?”
“Because of you—”
“No. Not because of me.” Anders looked at Uncle Jay. “She’s not safe, because she’s a Protected.”
Jay’s expression didn’t even change. No hint of surprise, shock, nothing. He’d known the whole time… which meant he’d been manipulating Anders today—leaving him locked in the cellar, taking him to the waypoint, all to keep him from reacting to the situation.
Anders let out a laugh and leaned against the front door, crossing his arms over his chest. “You gonna run again?” he asked Lydia. “You just gonna leave Selene with my dad?”
“Maybe I’ll take you from him the way he took Selene from me.” Lydia said darkly. She took a step toward him.
Uncle Jay let out a nervous sound from his position at the bottom of the stairs. “Anders isn’t working with his dad. He’s on our side here. I didn’t want him involved in this—that’s why I didn’t tell you.”
“That why you didn’t tell me dad had Selene?” Anders’ voice came out thick. “Or that Lydia and Eli were here? Why are they here, Uncle Jay?” Anders rubbed a hand down his face, trying to ignore the gun aimed at him, ignore the hate in Lydia’s eyes. He was starting to get worried—he hadn’t pegged her for a killer, but something was different about her now.
“We needed supplies.” Lydia snapped. “We’ll be going now.”
“You tell my uncle why you need those supplies?”
A confused look rippled across the old woman’s face as Uncle Jay cleared his throat.
“Anders knows about Haven, Lydia. He can help me get you and Eli out of here safely.”
“The sheriff’s son knows about Haven,” Lydia echoed tonelessly. “The sheriff in on this, too.”
“No!” Jay said. “No. Anders isn’t even supposed to be coming around here. I don’t talk to the sheriff.”
Liar. So many layers of lies happening here. “How does Lydia know about Haven?” Anders asked. Should he mention Ivy? Did Uncle Jay realize exactly how much of a clusterfuck all this was?
His uncle blinked a few times and licked his lips, not looking at Anders. “Lydia was a member of Watchtower—she helped smuggle out medication, supplies to off-grid families.”
Oh shit. Watchtower. Anders’ throat tightened as he looked at Lydia, who was now studying him with narrowed eyes. His entire estimation of her twisted itself into a new configuration with this information. She’d been part of the West Coast resistance?
“The meds she helped smuggle are the reason we all survived that epidemic in 2058. When it was her time to run, what was left of Watchtower helped her find Haven’s Path. She got this far with those kids… and decided to settle here.”
“Did you know they were Protected?” Anders’ voice was calm, but anger simmered just beneath it. He didn’t know what he’d do if his uncle gave the wrong answer. Because if he said yes… then he’d sold out Selene to the sheriff knowing full well what would happen.
“No. I didn’t,” Jay said, making eye contact like he could tell what Anders was thinking. “I swear. I didn’t until today.”
Jay was telling the truth, and it made the tightness in Anders’ chest lighten. “Well, we gonna stand here all day, or is someone going to help me free Selene?” Anders stood straighter and saw the look Lydia exchanged with Uncle Jay. “What?”
“It’s too late,” Lydia spat. She lowered the gun and holstered it. There was a shine in her blue eyes as she looked up at him, but she’d thrown her shoulders back as if she had a spine made of steel. “I don’t know if she’s even still alive. But I can’t do anything to help her now… not without endangering Eli. We have to run before they scan her ID and recover her data…”
“Oh, I get it, now.” Anders looked at both of them—EvasiveJay’s expression, Lydia’s look of hardened resolve. “Okay. You two have fun with your escape plan. But I’m not letting the Coalition take her away. You can thank me later.”
He started down the steps, and his uncle grabbed him by his backpack.
“Anders,” he hissed, looking up at him, searching his face. “You stay right here. Your promise.”
“Ask Lydia to explain why she needs those supplies,” he said quietly. “And don’t worry. I promise I won’t do anything I’ll regret.” He tore himself away and jogged for his bike near the gate.
Anders unlocked the chain on the gate and slipped his helmet on. As he climbed on his bike, he looked back at the porch. Lydia was livid, gesturing with her hands. She seemed to be telling Uncle Jay off, by the resigned look on his face.
Anders g
ot angry all over again and took off for downtown, his mind racing as fast as his bike.
Eli didn’t have an ID disc in his wrist… but Eli and Lydia said Selene did. She’d been wearing that cuff to hide it…
Lex hadn’t had a disc. She’d been undocumented. Maybe she’d be free right now if he hadn’t trusted his father. He wasn’t going to trust him this time.
Anders rode faster, his pulse roaring in his ears as he headed for the police station.
He finally let himself think about her—Lex—to really remember the girl whose life his father had demolished and let it stoke his anger even more. Did Lex still have long auburn hair, smirk at everything, and have an imaginative mind that ran faster than the speed of light?
She’d moved to town right after Anders had turned twelve. She’d been eight, going on nine—and Anders never should have been friends with her. He’d been the popular class clown who lived in what the other kids called a “mansion,” and she’d been a girl, was two grades below him, had no friends, and lived outside town in a trailer.
But somehow none of that had mattered.
At the end of that school year, there’d been a field day. Anders had gotten bored with the outdoor Coalition-themed activities and had snuck back into the building to find something worthy of his time. Dumping a giant canister of salt into the soft-serve ice cream machine in the empty, dark cafeteria had been his distraction of choice. He’d been looking forward to the look on everyone’s faces when they handed out dessert.
But there’d been a girl in there with him, hiding under a table, reading a book on her holotab. And when the lights flipped on, and a teacher walked in, they’d both been blamed for Anders’ prank. They’d been sent to detention for the rest of the day. Where Lex had promptly punched him in the face.
They were inseparable for a year after that… riding their bikes to meet up in the woods, acting out elaborate spy scenarios involving the Eastern European Alliance, and catching fireflies in the humid summer nights.
Lex freed hers as soon as she captured them, but Anders had enjoyed capturing his in a green-tinted glass jar—filling it until there were so many it blinked and glowed liked a galaxy of stars—just like the stairs in his house.
Defective (Fractured Era Book 1) Page 26
