by Susan Kim
One thing that escaped the rampage was a large cabinet in the corner. The Insurgents knew nothing about the tens of thousands of seeds, safely locked up behind its metal doors. And for that, Esther was still grateful. It had taken Silas nearly an entire day to break into it.
Esther had only learned about the seeds much later, from Bao and Uli. They were the two adults who had asked to stay. Esther alone had promised to take care of them in their final days, for others were too afraid to help. In return, they talked.
As the disease took hold and they began to sicken, Bao and Uli shared all that they knew. In failing voices, they described how to plant and compost; how to tame the sun’s rays; when to reap; and how to prepare and preserve what they harvested. And they also talked about the past: not only the world they had once known and the marvels it held, but their own lives, as well. Intrigued, Joseph dared to join them; his face wrapped tightly with a scarf against infection, he stood at a distance, scribbling down as much as he could. The tales they told, he thought, were as magical as anything found in Oz.
Esther, Aras, Skar, Silas, Michal, and Joseph were able to repair the ruined garden. Following the adults’ instructions, they replaced broken panes of glass, fixed the leaks in the draining system, and tried to replant everything that had been eaten or destroyed. At first, Gideon had mocked their efforts. Yet now, weeks later, Esther and her friends were ready to reap the rewards of their hard work.
“What am I holding?” Aras now asked as he brushed his hand over the lush greens, grazing hers.
“Beets. Radishes. Squash.” Esther guided him from one container to another, then paused. “Our future.” She interlaced her fingers with his.
The two were still not partnered, although they had grown closer than ever. Aras had asked her, shyly, the first night they were together; and Esther had spoken the truth.
“I still need time,” she had said.
It wasn’t the memory of Caleb that held her back; it was the knowledge of what was growing inside of her. Esther wanted to be certain that her unborn child had all of the energy she had left after taking care of Kai and the others. Yet more and more, she realized she was being foolish. Being with Aras only made her feel stronger, not weaker. The happiness and peace she felt in his presence was like a living thing, flourishing deep within her.
She almost said something to him now, almost accepted his offer, then stopped, for a faint cheer had risen from the open stairwell.
She knew it was Gideon, who often spoke to his people. His speeches were cold and crudely worded, invariably about his hatred of the privileged few and his belief in the common person. Esther agreed with him in principle—she had seen what had happened under Inna. Yet she wondered how Gideon meant to carry out his beliefs.
After the rebellion, Gideon had approached Esther and proposed that the Insurgents move in with them, and initially Esther had been all in favor; she knew that, properly maintained, the District could support hundreds in comfort. But it was growing clearer every day that there were huge differences between the two groups.
Letting go of Aras’s hand, Esther went to the stairwell and headed to the mall level. Gazing down from behind the brass railing, she saw that a crowd had gathered to hear Gideon speak.
His tone today was even more aggressive than it had been before. And standing in the front row was Eli. Since Esther’s new intimacy with Aras, Eli had become distant to her, even cold.
On the fourth floor, Esther felt torn between two worlds. Waiting for her above was Aras and the sunlit garden. And below her was something she didn’t understand, something she found disturbing.
She knew what she had to do. Esther walked across the tiled floor and started down the stairs.
She wanted to let them know, without a doubt, who was in charge.
About the Authors
SUSAN KIM & LAURENCE KLAVAN cowrote the graphic novels City of Spies and Brain Camp.
Susan is also a five-time Emmy nominee for her work in children’s television and a Writers Guild Award winner for best documentary. She wrote the stage adaptation of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, teaches writing at Goddard College, and is a blogger for the Huffington Post. When Susan was little, her family spent a lot of time on the road. Susan enjoyed it, but it made her anxious. In Wanderers, Susan explores her worst fears about being far from home and having to rely on people you don’t even know, much less trust.
Laurence has also written the novels The Cutting Room, The Shooting Script, and the Edgar Award-winning Mrs. White and a short-story collection. He received two Drama Desk nominations for the book and lyrics to Bed and Sofa, a musical produced by New York’s Vineyard Theatre. Laurence likes being in new places but finds the actual traveling to be challenging and even frightening. Will the plane crash? Does the car have enough gas? Esther and her friends are on their way to being grown up—age nineteen. The idea in Wanderers was to portray their journey and make it just as dangerous, thrilling, and fun as being there.
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Credits
Cover art © 2014 by Colin Anderson
Cover type © 2014 by Alex Beltechi
Cover design by Tom Forget
Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Wanderers
Copyright © 2014 by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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ISBN 978-0-06-211854-7
EPUB Edition JANUARY 2014 ISBN 9780062118561
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