Solstice

by Jane Redd

  “A secure way to do research?”

  “Yes, but also a destructive way.” He gently tugged his hand away. “I have to go.”

  “Wait.” I wasn’t ready for him to leave. I wasn’t prepared to feel so empty. “How will you get across the district levels to the ocean without getting tracked?”

  He hesitated, then pulled something out of his pocket. It was a square of thin metal.

  I stared at it, barely comprehending. He pulled up his sleeve to reveal a deep gash with crisscrossed stitches holding it together. Blood stained his shoulder.

  “You cut it out?”

  His eyes were grave. “Now I’m untraceable.”

  Eighteen

  I stared at Rueben, waiting for him to tell me he was joking, but the wound on his shoulder made it plain. He’d cut out his implant. I turned over the metal piece in my hand, trying to imagine how painful it would be to do the same.

  Rueben took the device. “I’ll leave it somewhere outside to throw them off my trail.” He squeezed my shoulder. “You’ll be fine, Jez. Keep doing what you’re told, and they’ll release you. Soon you’ll be on your way to the University.”

  He stepped back, his eyes on me, his gaze full of goodbyes.

  It was like all the warmth was being sucked from my body at once, but my mind felt clear for the first time since I got down here. I couldn’t stay behind, not without him. With a grunt, I pushed myself up, and before the dizziness could claim me, I pulled the intravenous tube out of my hand. Blood bubbled up, and I pressed the blanket against it to stop the bleeding.

  My vision clouded over, but I forced myself to remain upright. “Take me with you. Cut out my implant.” The Carrier key was in there, too. If that came out, I’d have a lot of explaining to do.

  His voice sounded anguished. “You can’t ask me that. You can’t mean it.”

  “Rueben.” I knew I was begging, but I didn’t care. Finally my eyes were dry enough to look up at him convincingly. “Please.”

  “No, Jez,” he whispered. “If something happened to you—”

  “I’ll be fine.” I couldn’t imagine him walking out the door and never seeing him again. Sorry Naomi. I’ll still find a way. I pulled up my sleeve. “We have to hurry.”

  “No.” His tone was firm now. “If we’re captured together, our punishment will be worse.”

  “Worse than being in this place?” I nearly shouted, although I knew he was right.

  He kept his gaze stern; he wasn’t changing his mind. I reached out and grabbed the implant from his hand, catching him off guard.

  I brought the metal square to my shoulder over the pale scar where I’d had been implanted when I was just a few days old. I took a deep breath and pressed down. Before I could pierce the skin, Rueben was at my side, trying to pry the metal piece from my hands.

  “Damn it!” he shouted.

  “Let go!” I shot back. I jerked away and brought the metal against my shoulder again, this time in the wrong spot.

  “Jez, let me do it.” His expression was grim, his tone resigned. “Look away and bite on the blanket.”

  “There are two implants in there, Rueben. Only take out the Harmony.” I felt his eyes burning through me. “I’ll explain later,” I whispered. I pulled up the blanket and clenched it in my teeth. I stared at a spot on the far wall, but ended up squeezing my eyes shut.

  Rueben gripped my left shoulder with one hand.

  I gasped as the fiery pain shot through my shoulder. I clenched my teeth harder, crushing and twisting the fibers of the blanket.

  “Okay,” Rueben said. “I got it out. I didn’t see another implant.”

  I didn’t have time to wonder about the Carrier key. I scrambled off the bed and retched on the floor.

  Rueben’s hand was on my back. “We need to wrap your shoulder. There’s no time to stitch it here.”

  I nodded just as my stomach heaved again.

  “Jez, maybe you should stay here.”

  “No,” I gasped. I wiped my mouth and took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine.”

  With Rueben’s help, I stood, hoping that he didn’t notice how badly I was shaking. “Let’s go,” I said with false confidence.

  “You haven’t told me everything,” he said, his gaze fierce.

  “There’s no time now. We have to go.”

  He frowned but took my hand.

  My body wanted to climb back on the bed and curl up until the pain passed. But I ignored my body. I took another deep breath and followed Rueben to the door.

  He ran his hand over the console and it slid open.

  “How did you do that?” I whispered, my stomach still roiling at the pain in my shoulder.

  “I created a new employee,” he said. “One that will be discovered soon. We probably have less than an hour before they’re alerted.”

  We stepped out into the deserted corridor.

  Rueben and I ran, well, sort of ran, as fast as I could go. The pain in my shoulder seemed to have woken me up completely, infusing me with renewed energy. Thirty minutes ago I wouldn’t have thought any of this possible.

  I was breathless almost from the beginning, but I refused to slow down. Soon, Rueben had his arm around me, half supporting, half pulling me. We were ascending, which meant we were nearing the surface.

  My heart raced, not only from the running, but from the anticipation of being outside again. It had been weeks. Weeks since I’d breathed open air or saw the clouds. I never thought I’d miss the rain.

  I thought my heart would explode when Rueben opened the final door. I could barely hear his whispered commands because my ears were pounding so loud. He peered outside, then pulled me through, tossing our metal implants into the corridor before the door shut. We stepped onto the platform where I’d first arrived.

  The tram tunnel seemed to extend a mile in either direction. “We’ll have to walk the rails and hopefully get to the surface before another tram comes,” Rueben said.

  I swallowed against my dry throat. “Okay.” The darkness made me hesitate, but soon our eyes adjusted well enough. Rueben jumped down onto the tracks below, then held out his hand. I nearly fell into his arms. He steadied me, then grasped my hand and led me to the tunnel wall.

  We walked as fast as we could in the darkness, Rueben in front. I kept one hand on his waist and one on the wall.

  After several minutes, the darkness faded.

  “I think we’re getting close.” Rueben’s voice came from in front of me, but echoed off the tunnel from all angles.

  The wall started to vibrate, and I felt a rush of air against my legs. I grabbed his arm. “I think a tram is coming!”

  We ran like mad. I hoped the tram would stop at the platform and buy us more time, but the walls vibrated harder, and the swirl of wind increased.

  The track curved, and neither of us slowed. The light got brighter in front of us, but the noise grew louder behind us. It was nearly deafening.

  “Rueben!” I screamed. There was nothing he could do, but I wanted him to know that I was there, with him, in our last seconds of life.

  Suddenly he stopped and pulled me to the left.

  “What are you doing?” I shouted as he tugged me across the tracks to the other side. Rueben pushed me against the wall, and held me there, pressing his body against mine. I clung to him, trying to forget that there was not enough room inside the tunnel for the tram to pass us without touching us.

  “Don’t move,” Rueben said, his voice gruff in my ear.

  I wanted to scream, to clap my hands over my ears and curl up in a ball, but I stayed against the wall—Rueben between me and the horror that was about to end our lives.

  Nineteen

  My body shook as the tram sped past. We clung to each other, my hands around Rueben’s neck, his hands circling my waist, holding me against him.

  The wind and the sound faded.

  We weren’t dead.

  I let out a breath, and then I started crying. Rueben just
held me, not saying anything. He was shaking, too.

  When I could finally talk again, I said, “How did you know to cross the track?”

  “I figured the tram would tilt as it went around the curve,” he said in a thick voice. “I just hoped that it would lean enough to give us room.”

  I sagged against him.

  “We have to hurry,” he said. “There may be another one. You go first.”

  It didn’t take anything else to get me going again. My ears were ringing, my heart hammering, and my body ready to collapse. But I refused to take any more chances.

  We continued toward the lighter, the growing grayness a welcome sight. When we turned another bend, the opening came into view and I increased my pace, Rueben easily keeping up. The final steps out of the tunnel were like coming out of the pool of water: I was gasping, but I was alive.

  The fresh air hit me like a gentle caress. It was still night and the heavy gray clouds had never looked so beautiful.

  “We need to find a place to hide,” Rueben said quietly.

  I looked around. It was a couple of hours from dawn, but some city lights were on. A light was on above the tunnel, marking its entrance, but it looked like we were behind some sort of a factory. I couldn’t see any doors or windows, just cement bricks.

  “Come on.” Rueben grabbed my hand again, and as we walked along the back of the building. “How are you feeling?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, truthfully. If I thought about it too much, I might collapse.

  Rueben squeezed my hand, which was better than any medicine I could have received.

  We rounded the corner of the building and stepped into a narrow alley that separated it from the next building. Several paces into the alley, we both stopped and stared at a metal door in the second building’s side.

  “How do we get inside?” I asked.

  Rueben lifted his hand and ran it over the console. Nothing happened. “Let’s keep moving.”

  We reached the end of the alley where it opened onto a street. We were definitely in the factory district, a place similar to where my caretakers had spent most of their lives. I shuddered, realizing that it would be filled with busy workers in a few hours. How would we ever hide from so many people?

  Rueben seemed to have the same hesitation. He stepped again into the alley and started walking back along it. Then he stopped, looking up. “Do you think you could break a window?”

  I came to a stop next to him, following his gaze upward. “It’s too high.”

  “Not if you get on my shoulders,” he said.

  Before I could protest, he pulled off his shirt. Deep bruises covered his chest and stomach, in various stages of discoloring and swelling.

  I couldn’t help but stare. “What did they do to you?”

  He reluctantly met my eyes. “I’m fine.” He lifted my arm and tied the shirt around my hand. “You’ll have to punch it hard. Make sure you cover your eyes with your other hand in case any glass flies.”

  “Won’t someone see the broken window?”

  “Hopefully not until we’re gone.” He looked behind us.

  “Okay,” I said, trying to look away from his bruising. “But what will we do after?”

  Rueben took my hand in his. “We’ll hide in the factory until it closes again, then we’ll leave like we’re employees. We’ll have to find a way to cross the south river without getting caught.”

  “Neither of us can swim,” I said.

  “No one in the city is taught to swim—for a reason.” Rueben tightened his grasp. “We’ll find someone to take us across. Then we’ll sneak onto a trading boat.”

  The thought of getting on a boat made me uneasy, but I knew it was the only way. I hoped the Lake Towns would welcome runaways.

  Rueben’s eyes bored into mine with his next words. “If we get separated, or if anything happens to me, I want you to pretend that I forced you to do this.”

  “Rueben, I—”

  “Please. We don’t have much time.” He pulled me into a rough embrace. His cheek pressed against mine, and I inhaled his warm scent. Then he released me just as quickly. He knelt down and helped me climb on his shoulders. I braced my hands on the wall as he stood, and when I felt balanced enough I made a fist with my right hand. The window was just large enough for us to crawl through.

  Teeth gritted, I punched at the glass. My fist bounced off, and I stifled a cry.

  “Try your elbow,” Rueben called up. His voice sounded strained.

  I unwrapped the shirt from my hand and wound it around my elbow. Then Rueben turned so that I was turned sideways, too. “One, two . . .” I said to myself and thrust my elbow against the window.

  The window broke, but the impact nearly threw me off balance. Rueben compensated so I didn’t fall.

  “Now clear the glass and climb inside,” Rueben huffed at me from below.

  I broke the rest of the glass, working as fast as possible, knowing he was getting worn down. Then I placed my hands on the sill and hoisted myself in with a shove from Rueben.

  The room I entered had a sharp chemical smell to it. It was a wide open space with several large tables piled with objects I couldn’t quite make out in the dim morning light. I leaned out the window.

  “Look for a rope or anything I could climb up with,” Rueben ordered.

  I turned and stepped warily into the room. My heart was hammering, but I had to get Rueben inside quickly. I reached out and touched one of the piles on the table. It was soft and pliable—fabric. I picked up the top layer. The fabric had been cut into various shapes. I tied ends together, creating a rope of sorts, hoping it would hold Rueben’s weight.

  Minutes later, I threw the fabric rope out of the window and peered over the edge. Immediately a bright light shone in my face. “Rueben?” I whispered, gripping one end of the fabric.

  “Hello, Miss J.”

  I froze. Dr. Matthews stepped into view while someone else kept the light trained on me. The light reflected off his glasses, making it hard to see his eyes.

  I moved back, startled, still clutching the fabric. How did this happen? No one had been around. It had only been a few minutes since Rueben helped me into the window. I turned, looking desperately at the tables behind me in the workshop. There was no place to hide.

  Where was Rueben? My heart thundered in my ears and my legs felt heavy.

  “Miss J.,” Matthews’s voice sailed up to me. “Please stay where you are. We don’t want this to be more difficult than it needs to be.”

  I took another step back and released the fabric. It would do me no good now. They had Rueben. I heard footsteps and spun around, fear pulsing through me. They were getting louder, closer, but I couldn’t see anyone. The light from outside glared through the window, bouncing against the tables and thick walls.

  Suddenly a head emerged from a staircase I hadn’t noticed. I opened my mouth to scream when a familiar voice said, “Jezebel?”

  I stared, my mouth still open. “Sol?”

  He stepped onto the landing and came toward me, his face achingly familiar.

  That face I’d missed so much.

  What are you doing here? I tried to say, but no words came out.

  Sol continued walking toward me, his dark gray eyes dancing, his lips moving. Sol was talking to me, but I didn’t understand. His hand touched my arm, and my senses came back. Light, darkness, the scent of chemicals, and the touch of Sol’s strong and steady hand.

  “Jezebel,” he said in his beautiful voice as he leaned close. “Congratulations. You passed the test.”

  Twenty

  The sound of the tram is deafening, roaring in my ears. I am alone. “Rueben!” I shout. But I hear no response, only the tram growing closer, louder.

  “Jezebel.”

  I tried to open my eyes, but it was as if they were sealed shut. My body was relaxed, practically melded onto a bed. Shadows moved across my closed lids, and I heard my name spoken again. Rueben, I thought. What hap
pened to you? Did you get away? Did they take you back to the prison?

  A brush of air moved across my skin, and I tried again, finally opening my eyes to brightness and a familiar face.

  But it was the wrong face.

  Sol was watching me. I tried to lift my head, but it felt fuzzy. “Where am I?”

  “The hospice. A surgeon fixed your shoulder.”

  My shoulder. Had they discovered the Carrier key? Hot and cold flashed through me.

  Sol leaned back a little, and I could see the surrounding room. The walls were pale blue, the ceiling yellow. Some sort of a machine blinked green lights next to my bed. I lifted my right hand and saw a thin tube attached. My shoulder ached as I moved.

  And that’s when I knew. The pain in my shoulder was intense again. “I have a new implant, don’t I?”

  He nodded. “It’s for your protection.”

  “Of course.” I swallowed against the lump forming in my throat. What did I expect? To run away with Rueben and live in a Lake Town? Surrounded by sophisticated medical equipment and the familiarity of Sol’s eyes, I realized I wasn’t like Rueben after all—I was afraid. I was a product of the city—a world of order—it always would be. And I had a job to do.

  “Hey,” Sol said quietly. He was leaning over me again, his eyes gray like the rain I missed so much. “Are you all right?”

  I couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, for if I did, I’d sink back into the nothingness that had been my prison before Rueben rescued me.

  Sol smoothed my hairline, his touch gentle. Memories of our friendship and the feelings that I’d suppressed started to trickle back in, and I allowed myself to become absorbed in his steady gaze. The time separated from Sol hadn’t dulled my feelings for him after all. It was like we’d never been apart.

  Stop touching me, I wanted to say. His fingers against my skin were making my heart race.

  But I didn’t tell him to stop. I closed my eyes and let him continue. Let him think I was tired. Prison might have separated us for a short time, but it was as if no time had passed now. I thought about how much I missed him. How could I have even considered leaving for a Lake Town? Because, I told myself, I don’t want to feel this way around Sol.