“Where are Raj and Samel?”
“They’re over there,” Kai said, pointing across the cave, to where Samel played with some other boys, and Raj sat with Adriana. “They’re fine.”
Relieved, Neena departed her bedroll, raised herself to her haunches, and graciously accepted some breakfast from Darius. It was rare for her to sleep past the others. Too many churning thoughts must’ve pulled her into a deep sleep. She wiped some crust from the corners of her eyes. While chewing, she looked around the cave. The grim faces of the colonists showed that even a night’s rest hadn’t changed their outlook.
“Are we still planning on visiting Bryan today?” Darius asked.
Neena pondered that while she ate. None of her opinions had changed. “I still think it’s a good idea. Hopefully, some rest has given The Watchers some clarity.”
“Maybe the funeral eased some of their pain,” Darius agreed.
She hoped his words were true. Neena knew the calm that followed a procession, as people looked at their own lives and realized the brevity of their existence. There was no doubt that tensions had run high lately. But maybe they could take advantage of the temporary calm.
“Have you given any thought to what we will say?” Neena asked Darius.
“I think we should approach them as friends,” Darius said. “A few days ago, in that cave outside of Gideon’s cove, we worked together. And in the weeks before that, we got along. That gives me hope that we can get along again.”
It was a hope and a last resort.
“Regardless of our differences, we have much in common,” Kai agreed, gesturing around them. “We’re all dealing with the same problems.”
Neena thought on that a moment. “And obviously we share the biggest problem.” Recalling Darius’s words from the night before, she continued, “The monster is the biggest threat to all of us right now, not each other. Maybe we can do a better job of convincing Bryan we can work together—not only to survive, but to kill the beast.”
Darius and Kai agreed.
Of course, they weren’t the audience she needed to sway.
Her eyes wandered to the guards at the front entrance. Another question arose. “Do you think we should bring more people, or just go by ourselves?”
Darius blew a long breath. “Bryan’s issues are with us, not the rest of our cave. Bringing more people might escalate things. I think we need to reconcile our differences personally.”
Neena nodded.
“We’ll tell the guards, and maybe Amos, so they know where we are,” Darius said. “But other than that, we should keep the meeting to ourselves. We don’t want to worry anyone unnecessarily. Hopefully, when we come back, we’ll have good news to share.”
Neena looked around the room at the colonists, most of whom had become as close as family. Her eyes roamed to Samara, one of the young women with whom she’d had a few chats, and Salvador and Robert, two of the guards. In another corner, Amos talked among a circle of elderly folk. She felt a responsibility towards all of them, not unlike what she felt for Raj and Samel. They were scared, and they were losing hope, but she believed that she could turn things around.
Regardless of her positive thoughts, a pit formed in her stomach.
It felt as if she were going off on a week-long hunt, rather than a meeting in a cave.
With nothing else left to decide, Neena asked, “When will we go?”
“The morning always has a way of making things clearer, at least for me,” Darius said.
Neena nodded. It did for her, too.
“After we finish breakfast and clean up, we’ll head out,” he said.
Chapter 35: Raj
“How did you sleep last night?” Raj asked Adriana, a smile crossing his face.
“I kept thinking of our narrow escape,” Adriana admitted.
She smiled, grazing his fingertips.
“Me, too.” A familiar rush filled Raj’s stomach.
He looked around, past the people around them and toward the cave through which they’d snuck the night before. A layer of security existed in the daylight that disappeared in the dark.
With the scent of breakfast in the air and the sound of talking people, it was easy to forget about the dangers, or the risks. But he couldn’t get his mind off of the things that had occupied him before he slept.
“What are you thinking?” Adriana asked him. It seemed he could get nothing by her.
Raj smiled. “I was thinking about what Bryan said again.”
Adriana leaned forward. “About being a Watcher.” Her blue eyes brightened.
Glancing at the front entrance of the cave, where a few guards shielded their faces from the morning sun, he admitted, “Yeah.”
Adriana smiled. “It is a magnificent dream. I still think he had a point.”
“For most of my life, I’ve looked up at those men, wondering what it would take to be one of them,” Raj continued. “I’ve stared at these cliffs, imagining a life high above all the others, with a spear in my hand and the wind whistling in my ears. Being a Watcher seemed like the most important thing a person could be. And the caves seemed so magnificent.”
“And now we live in them,” Adriana said with wonder.
That thought gave him pause. Raj looked around at the people who sat amongst them, smelling of cave dirt and more than two week’s worth of sweat.
“It is strange that we ended up here,” Raj said, furrowing his brow. “Though towering over the colony is as grand as I thought it would be.”
Seeing something in his face, Adriana asked, “But?”
“Now, all I can think about is getting back to Red Rock.”
Raj laughed, and Adriana laughed, too.
“But of course we can’t, because of the monster.” Adriana’s smile faded.
Raj thought about that. Over the course of the last two weeks, the caves had lost some of their novelty. Looking around, he saw a tunnel filled with a hundred and fifty others laid nearly on top of one another. Living in a place like this made it almost impossible to be alone with Adriana.
He was frustrated.
For a long moment, Raj went quiet, while his mind wandered. After a long period of silence, he said, “Maybe being a Watcher isn’t the best dream.”
“What do you mean?” Adriana asked.
Raj spoke his half-formed thoughts. “In a way, we already are Watchers. We spend most of our time in the caves or on the cliffs, keeping each other safe, or looking out for animals. We make sure the children do not wander. We look out for each other, the way The Watchers used to look out for our people in the colony.”
“And now we even get our own water,” Adriana said.
Raj agreed. “With The Watchers no longer speaking to us, it’s almost like we no longer need them.”
“That is an interesting thought,” Adriana told him.
She reached for his hand again, taking hold of it. Her touch gave him the courage to speak a thought that he hadn’t yet shared.
“What if we could be more important than any Watcher, any leader, or anyone in this cave?” Raj asked rhetorically.
Adriana tilted her head, listening, as Raj solidified his emerging thoughts.
“What if we could share something that would make us more important than anyone Red Rock has ever known?”
Something registered in Adriana’s face. “Are you talking about the object?”
Raj nodded, swallowing. “Before I went to sleep last night, I was thinking of some of these same things, about being a Watcher. And that led me to wonder whether we might have something more important than we realize. If the object is from the First Generation, it could be almost anything.”
A sparkle crossed Adriana’s eyes as he talked about it.
“Both of us have speculated on what it might be,” Raj said. “But whatever it is, it is certainly more special than anything in this cave. It might even be the most special thing in Red Rock.”
Adriana agreed.
“
What if we were to tell people we discovered it?” Raj asked, trying hard to quell his excitement. “We might be the heroes of our cave. We might be more important than any of these people. More important than anyone in the First Generation, or The Watchers.”
“It is certainly a tempting thought,” Adriana said. “But to do that, we would have to admit we were sneaking around the caves.”
“True,” Raj conceded. “But I think the wondrous object would make them forget about any punishment we might receive.”
“Maybe so.” Adriana sat back, thinking on it. A new objection hit her. “But we don’t even know what the object is. For all we know, it is some sort of ancient chamber pot.”
Raj smiled at her joke. Obviously the device, with its handle and intricate metal pieces, wasn’t a chamber pot. But it was funny to think about.
“We don’t what it is,” Raj admitted. “But I know someone that might.”
He looked around the room, his eyes stopping on Darius.
“If anyone knows tools and weapons, it is Darius,” Raj said. “He’s repaired spears that people never thought they’d throw again, or tools they never thought they’d use. He knows things that others don’t. If anyone can figure out what this object is, it is him.”
Adriana opened her mouth, closing it just as quickly. Her doubt gave way to excitement. “So you are thinking we should tell Darius first?”
“Maybe.” Raj thought about that.
“You’ve seen how close he and Neena are. He’d probably tell her, too.”
Raj deflated.
“What’s wrong?”
Raj went quiet a moment. The thought of being heroes was enticing. But for some reason, the thought of telling Neena gave him pause. He was still angry with her. Every time he looked at her, he thought of the childish way she treated him, and the embarrassing things she said in front of Kai and Darius.
“I know it has felt like Neena is keeping secrets lately,” Adriana said. “But I’m pretty sure you could trust her with a secret like this. She’s your sister, after all.”
“Maybe,” Raj said, staring off into the cave.
“You don’t think that’s true?” Adriana asked.
“Even if I could trust her, she doesn’t trust me,” Raj said.
Adriana was confused. “What do you mean?”
More embarrassment struck Raj. That embarrassment led to anger. He was tired of holding things back—from Adriana, from everyone. The words came out before he could stop them. “She treats me like a child,” Raj said through clenched teeth. “Every time I ask her to let me do anything, she puts me off, or doesn’t listen. She thinks I’m helpless, like one of the children who need to be herded by the river. She doesn’t understand all the things I’ve done, probably because she hasn’t been around to see them.”
Adriana bit her lip, watching him.
“I’d rather tell any of these people before her,” Raj said, waving an angry hand around the room.
Adriana fell silent a moment. She looked from Raj’s face to the tunnel behind them, where the secret object was hidden. Slowly, she reached over and put a hand on his knee. “Maybe this is your way to show her how valuable you are. Once she sees what you have, she’ll have no choice but to take you seriously. You can be a hero.”
Raj paused, thinking on it. “You think?”
Adriana nodded. “I do.”
Raj nodded. Some of his anger faded as he looked at Adriana’s soft smile, and her brilliant eyes. Maybe she was right. When he showed Neena the object, she’d be forced to respect him. He’d be the important person he was meant to be.
He and Adriana would both be heroes.
With his decision made, he stood.
“Are you coming?” he asked.
Adriana glanced over at her relatives, who sipped their flasks.
A new thought struck Raj. “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
Adriana started to stand, before thinking better of it. “Maybe I’ll stay here. After you tell Neena, come back and get me.”
Raj felt a tingle in his stomach. Looking at her face, he couldn’t stop imagining another kiss.
“That sounds good.”
“But if you want to tell her now, you better hurry,” Adriana said. “It looks like she, Kai, and Darius are going somewhere.”
Raj looked where she pointed to find his sister and the two others headed off toward the front of the cave. Quickly, he stood, while Adriana stayed on the ground.
“I’ll talk with you afterward,” Adriana said, with a smile.
With a quick smile back, Raj hurried after them.
Chapter 36: Raj
Raj huffed as he ran toward the mouth of the cave, swerving around bedrolls, bags, and talking people. Neena, Kai, and Darius were already halfway to the entrance. If he didn’t move quickly, he’d lose them. Now that he’d made his decision to tell them, he wanted to divulge his secret now.
A group of young children laughed and clapped hands, blocking his path. Raj skirted around them, barreling into a colonist he didn’t see.
Massaging his sore shoulder, the man said, “Watch where you’re going!”
Raj opened his mouth to retort, but thought better of it. Soon, the man would respect him. They all would. He made his way through the cave, finally catching up with Neena, Kai, and Darius.
“Neena!” he cried, loudly enough to make all three of them turn around.
A few other people turned around, too. Raj hesitated as he found an unexpected audience. He swallowed, preparing words he never thought he’d say. Neena, Kai, and Darius glanced over their shoulders. It looked as if they had somewhere to be. Whatever new, secret mission they were on could wait. His secret was more important.
“What’s going on, Raj?” Neena asked.
Feeling the need for privacy, he hissed, “We should speak alone.”
“We’re heading somewhere,” Neena said. “Can it wait?”
“No.” Raj looked to Kai and Darius, imploring them. “It can’t wait.”
“Are you hurt?” she asked.
“No, nothing like that,” Raj answered.
“Is Samel okay?”
“Yes.” Raj swallowed under the weight of his secret. “I’ve found something that might help you.”
He waved his hand, beckoning them in the other direction, waiting for Neena and the others to accompany him to a spot deserving of such important news. He took a few steps. Hearing nothing behind him, he stopped and turned. All three of them stood in the same spot as before.
“We’ll be back in a while, Raj. You can tell us then, okay?” Neena said.
Darius looked at the cave entrance, his mind a dozen klicks away. Kai seemed likewise preoccupied.
“But—” The rest of Raj’s protest was stuck in his throat.
Before he could manage more words, they walked off in the opposite direction, intent on whatever mission had brought them out before.
**
“How did it go?” Adriana asked.
Raj kicked at the dirt beneath his boots. He stared at the ground. He did anything but look at her. His face stung with embarrassment. No one had listened to him—not even Kai or Darius.
His mission had failed.
“Did you tell them?”
“I—” Raj kept his head down in humiliation. He couldn’t answer.
He couldn’t fathom telling Adriana what happened. Instead, he wanted to bury his head in a hole and never come out.
“Raj?” Adriana asked, stepping toward him.
His face reddened. He didn’t think he could get many more words out. Before emotions took over, he satisfied her question with a croak. “Telling someone our secret was a mistake. I didn’t say anything to them. I’m sorry I brought it up.”
Clenching his hands, Raj hurried away toward an area of the cave where he could hide his face in shame.
Chapter 37: Neena
The sun poked over the top of the eastern formation, baking Neena, Kai, and Darius with
its early morning heat. Still, Neena shivered as they walked along the fifteen-foot wide ledge toward the mouth of the Left Cave. They moved side by side without speaking, consumed by their thoughts and fears. Neena glanced over her shoulder, watching Robert and Salvador stand rigid at the mouth of the cave they’d left behind. The idea of speaking with Bryan and his Watchers seemed easier when they were sitting around in the Right Cave, surrounded by the people with whom they’d shared camp.
Now, if things went sour, Neena had only Darius and Kai on which to rely.
At Darius’s suggestion, they’d left their spears behind. Those long, pointed weapons might heighten the tension in a bad situation. Still, she wished she had something more than a knife as they first approached the Center Cave, where several guards lingered. Seeing them coming, Ed and two other men stepped out onto the ledge, making no effort to hide their unfriendliness.
Darius raised a hand in greeting.
None reciprocated.
Neena’s eyes flicked toward the steep, nauseating drop-off. Only a handful of steps separated them from a long, fatal fall. Neena had never been particularly afraid of heights, but she reconsidered that comfort now. She concentrated on putting one boot in front of the other, keeping a close eye on the first set of men toward whom they walked.
Passing them, Darius announced, “We’re going to speak with the people in the Left Cave.”
Ed and his men watched them with uninviting stares. No one responded. It had only been a day since Neena had set foot in the Center Cave to speak with Gideon, but it felt like much longer. The smell of smoke from the cooking fires and the charred scent of rat were innately familiar, but the people preparing those breakfasts felt like strangers, whose attitudes and demeanors she could no longer predict. Most were only silhouetted shadows further down the dark, craggy tunnel. All at once, Neena realized how Kai must’ve felt, approaching Red Rock. Ed and his men stood shoulder-to-shoulder, barring the entrance, as if Neena and her companions might try to get in.
“Is Bryan in his cave?” Neena asked, pointing toward the distant, Left Cave entrance.
“I wouldn’t bother checking,” Ed said, spitting on the ground. “He doesn’t want to speak with you.”
Sandstorm Box Set Page 48
