“She wanted to, but by then, most of the books had been taken. We couldn’t find anything to tear. Until I remembered…”
“What is it?”
The memory was becoming stronger, clawing its way from deep down inside of me, fighting to see the light. “A Tale of Two Cities. It was the book my father had used to teach me how to read. The only other books we had in the house he’d locked away, but I kept this book hidden under my mattress. I didn’t want to sacrifice it, but I saw how much it meant to Emma. So, I offered it to her. I begged her to use its pages.”
I hesitated. This memory felt important now.
“We ripped it apart into the smallest pieces we could manage. We took pots and pans and banged on them, parading around the house, waking Louisa up with her own personal parade. She plopped a pot on her head and marched alongside us. We stood her in the center of the room and sang happy birthday, showering her with the torn pieces of paper.”
“I bet Louisa loved it,” Robert said quietly, wiping something from his eye.
“This isn’t a coincidence,” I whispered.
“Tess?”
“This isn’t a coincidence.”
“I found something! They didn’t tear the title page.”
Robert and I turned our attention to James, who stood a good fifty feet away holding a full page from the book in his hand. He began to walk toward us. I swear his face got paler and paler with each step.
“What does it say?” I asked, my heart pounding. It was another message—a message meant for me.
“Someone wrote on it,” James said.
“Well, what the hell does it say?” Henry asked, growing impatient.
“It says to go back. Just those two words. Go. Back.”
I shook my head. I took a deep breath and exhaled. Again. Then again.
“Are you okay?” Robert asked me.
“What does it say?” I repeated, my voice coming out breathy.
“He told you. It says to go back, Tess,” Robert replied, clearly concerned I was about to pass out.
I shook my head even more violently. “No. That’s not what I meant. What’s the title of the book?”
How was it possible that my heart was beating so fast?
“A Tale of Two Cities,” James called out to me.
Robert whipped his head toward me. “Tess? Who have you told that story to?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He looked toward James, who was now talking with McNair.
“No one. Just my family knew it. And James. I told it to James once.”
“Tess…”
“Stop.”
“Whoever sent you this message knew the story. You have to wonder if James sent these warnings.”
“You’re wrong. He would never hurt me,” I said. He wouldn’t ever.
“Maybe he would if it meant keeping you safe,” Robert argued.
“No. Not ever.”
“Then he told someone that story. And whoever he told doesn’t want you anywhere near George.”
“It doesn’t matter who sent the message.”
With those seven words, my heart slowed down.
“Of course it matters,” Robert insisted.
“No. It doesn’t. No matter who sent them or what they said, I’m still going. Nothing in the world could stop me from meeting George. Not a damn thing. I’ve already lost one sister, and I’ll be damned if I can lose another.”
No one was going to tell me what to do.
Robert opened his mouth to protest, but I turned away from him and spoke to the group. “I’m done prolonging this. I’m done waiting. I’m done being scared. I’m going to go save my sister. I won’t blame any of you for not going forward with me. I’m already so thankful for how far you took me, and I’ll never be able to repay any of you. But I won’t go back. I won’t stop. And the last thing I’m going to do is waste more time on any of this,” I said in disgust, motioning to the paper on the ground.
“I’m done being scared.”
And with that, I moved closer to the unknown.
Chapter 33
“I am going to have to ask that you put the guns down before you come any closer.”
George stood in front of the ruins of the compound like a king over his castle. It didn’t matter that his kingdom lay in rubble, it just mattered that he had one. Like James, George had been refused a job working directly with the council. He had been sentenced to work as a compound guard. No doubt, whatever he wanted from our meeting would be his way back in.
“I don’t think that’s likely to happen,” McNair drawled. If he or Eric were nervous by the sight of the three chosen ones staring us down, they didn’t show it.
“This is a purely amicable meeting. I don’t see why we need weapons,” George said, a friendly smile gracing his face. “I see that Tessie has a bit of a scrape there. What happened, James? Couldn’t get her here in one piece?”
James reached for my hand and pulled me behind him. I was glad we both knew George’s attempt at pleasantries was all an act. “I suggest you get to it,” he growled at George.
“Is that any way to treat an old friend? I don’t see why you’re so angry with me. I’ve come to offer you all a trade, and I certainly can’t be blamed for whatever you let happen to our girl,” he replied, lazily pointing to the bloodstains on my shirt. “So, shall we disperse with the weaponry?”
“You see, I would agree, but since you, yourself, are a weapon, I’m gonna keep this gun right here in my hand,” McNair replied, matching the saccharine smile on George’s face.
“Where’s Louisa?” Henry growled. He wasn’t going to waste any time on formalities.
George’s eyes darkened as he took in Henry. “I’m surprised you would bring him along, Tessie. I have to be honest: he doesn’t inspire the friendliest feelings from me. He did murder children, or have you forgotten all the incubating chosen ones he killed?”
“Didn’t you get demoted because you had to force girls to do what the rest of us can get with our sparking personalities?” Henry said.
Unperturbed, George nodded toward the burned-down compound. Two of the four walls remained standing, but most of it had been lost to a sea of debris. “Is it safe to assume that you also like to play with matches?”
“Yeah. We burned it. Right after we discovered how you and your abnorms murdered every natural who lived here,” spat Eric.
“Let’s add that to the growing list of things that are not my fault,” George replied, sounding more and more bored.
“Are we going to sit here all day or are we going to get to it? I can find a measuring stick if you need me to. Might be a bit tricky considering all the rubble, but seems like no one here is in a rush,” Lockwood said from the other side of me.
“Lockwood is right. Why did you call us here?” Robert said.
“Where the hell is my sister? This conversation ends unless I see her,” I demanded.
Upon hearing my voice, George’s smile got bigger. He took a step toward me, and James’s grip on my hand got tighter. “I’m sorry, but this isn’t a negotiation. I am going to tell you what I want, and you will either agree to it or you won’t.”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid. You wouldn’t have wasted your time setting this up if there wasn’t something you wanted from me,” I said, stepping out of James’s shadow.
George’s smile faded and he gritted his teeth. “Bring the girl up here,” he snapped at one of the men standing next to him.
I was going to see her. In a matter of moments, I would get Louisa back. He would ask for something in return, that I was sure of, but I would give anything to have her safe. I vowed that from the moment she was in my arms, her life would be better. I wasn’t sure if we would be allowed back in the community or even if I wanted to go back, but I was going to find her a home we could share together.
I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. My wound was throbbing, but I didn’t want to betray how much it hurt when Louisa saw me.
I wanted her to find strength in my eyes.
I could see the top of her head first as she walked behind the man George had commanded to retrieve her. My heart beat faster. A horrifying thought struck me—George was going to win. He had to know I would have done anything to get her back. I only hoped he wasn’t asking for something I couldn’t give.
The man leading Louisa froze, hiding her from me. I began to walk toward her, but James yanked me back. I looked up and his eyes were dark, devilish, infuriated. He saw something I hadn’t seen yet.
“You sick son of a bitch,” McNair yelled, raising his gun. Before I could yell at him to stop, he fired. The bullet hit the chosen one in front of my sister directly in the head. He crumpled to the floor.
And there she was.
Louisa. Paler than I thought even she could look.
Her hair stringy and dirty from travel.
Her cheeks sunken in.
She was fourteen years old now.
Her belly.
She was pregnant.
My legs gave out from underneath me and I fell to my knees.
“Tess,” she whimpered, holding a hand out to me. “I’m so sorry. He lied to me. He lied.”
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak.
Not again.
Not again.
Not again.
McNair pointed his gun at the other chosen one and shot. His aim was perfect. The second one fell to the floor before he had time to scream. Louisa covered her ears and began to cry.
I still couldn’t move. I still couldn’t speak.
“Deal is off,” McNair growled, turning his gun toward George. But it was over before McNair could pull the trigger. In a flash of destructive lightning, George ran straight toward McNair, snapping his neck. McNair fell to the floor.
His bullets were fast, but George was faster.
“No!” I screamed, the word ripping from me like thunder. “McNair!” He had protected me, cared for me; how could he now be gone?
Eric spun around, following George’s quick movements with his gun, but before he could aim, George had my sister in his arms. “Now, things have gotten a bit out of control,” he purred. Despite losing two men, he seemed delighted. I briefly wondered who the dead chosen ones were.
I pressed my fist against my open mouth, trying to stop from throwing up. James reached down and pulled me to my feet. “Let her go, or I swear, I’ll kill you,” he promised, glaring at George.
“Who exactly is it that you swear to, James? The council? God? Tess?” George sneered. “Any of you who even think about taking a step toward me or trying to shoot me with their little gun will be responsible for this girl’s death.” He gave Louisa a quick kiss on the top of her head.
She was already dead. Didn’t he know that?
I spotted Eric lifting his gun. “No! Please, don’t,” I begged.
“What’s the deal?” Robert asked, his voice booming through the eerie silence that was covering us all.
“It’s simple, really. I want James back. The council had big plans for him before Tessie messed him all up. I figure I can bring him back and get rewarded accordingly.”
“You’re a bigger imbecile than I thought. The council gave me a crap job, and I betrayed them. They wouldn’t reward you for bringing me back,” James said.
“That’s where you’re wrong. The council doesn’t know about either of our gifts, but when they do, they’ll be begging for us.”
My stomach dropped. I wrapped an arm around James’s waist and held onto him as tightly as I could. “Your gift? What’s your gift?” I asked George. I hoped that the longer I kept him talking, the more time we would have to think of a way out of this.
“I can read people’s secrets.” He grinned. “I can look in their eyes, and their biggest secret, the one they don’t want anyone to know, I can hear it. That’s how I knew about James’s gift. Kendall was always so worried about him. I figured it never came, since he was demoted to guard like me. During the lawn party, I read one of the council members’ secrets. You think they keep secrets from the naturals? You wouldn’t believe the stuff they keep from us, James. And then I waited.”
“Waited for what?” Henry asked, clenching and unclenching his fists.
“A sign from James that he’d gotten his gift. As soon as I heard he’d run off, I knew. So I inquired. I sent for you all. And here you are,” he said with a wink.
“Why wouldn’t you just go to the council and tell them you got your gift?” I asked.
“Because I don’t want them to know. Not until I’m ready. I want them to welcome me for my job well done. My gift is much more useful to me if everyone else doesn’t know about it,” he explained to me like I was a child. “Now, would you like me to tell you all your secrets? Could be fun.”
“What about Tess? What do you want from her?” James asked.
“Just a small little thing. I have a branding iron right over there,” said George, nodding to an iron pole sticking out of a small, smoldering fire.
“You want to brand her?” Henry asked, enraged.
“I want to give her the third slash mark. She deserves it. She’s been a very naughty girl,” he replied.
“Shit deal,” Eric complained. “The girl’s—”
“Damaged? I never said she wouldn’t be,” George replied with a shrug.
“Well, I didn’t make any deal, and you’re all alone and there are six of us and one of you,” Eric threatened.
George let out a low whistle, and suddenly we were surrounded. Guns pointed directly at us not by chosen ones but by naturals. It didn’t make any sense. Why were they there? How could they stand alongside a monster?
“What the hell?” Henry asked, his eyes scanning the group of people that were supposed to be on our side.
George walked over to us, dragging my sister along. “You people are so easy to manipulate,” he said, looking directly at me. “Now, do we have a deal?”
I opened my mouth to object, but James cut me off. “We have a deal,” he confirmed.
George pushed Louisa into me, causing me to lose my grip on James.
No. It couldn’t come to this. It wasn’t a choice I was ready to make. James looked down at me, and I saw that he wasn’t asking my permission. When he walked away from me, he wouldn’t just be leaving, relocating in some space where we continued to think and ache for each other. We wouldn’t exist at all.
There was no way the council would let him go once they knew his gift.
“Very good. Right choice, pal,” George said.
James took one long look at me. He didn’t reach for me or kiss me.
All I could do was beg silently with my eyes.
Don’t forget me.
Don’t forget us.
Don’t forget you.
And then his back was to me. My sister began to cry into my shoulder.
“Here, I got her,” said Lockwood. He gently took Louisa in his arms.
I bolted. I couldn’t let it end like this. I grabbed James’s arm, forcing him to turn around and look at me. In a matter of seconds, he swept me into his arms, crushing me to him. “I’m so scared, Tess,” he whispered in my ear.
“Don’t be. You’ll still be you. They won’t be able to change you,” I promised.
“I’m not me without you.”
I took his face in my hands. “Yes, yes you are. You’re good. You would have been good had you never met me. But it doesn’t matter, because you won’t forget us. You won’t. I know it. There’s nothing stronger than us. You won’t forget.”
James placed a shaky hand under my chin and lifted it. “I love you.”
Before I could say it back, James walked away.
George crept up behind me as I watched James disappear. He carried the branding stick in his hand. “On your knees,” he commanded.
A low sob escaped my mouth. I shoved the rest of the cries deep inside of me.
“Why the third mark?” I managed to ask.
&n
bsp; “You’ll need it for what’s next. Don’t worry; you’re a smart girl. You’ll figure it out. Now if you don’t mind,” he added, motioning for me to kneel down.
I did as I was told. For now. He grabbed my hair and shoved my head down. I didn’t even feel the heat of my third slash mark.
I was back to feeling nothing at all.
When he was done, George leaned in close to me. His breath tickled the side of my neck. “Want to know why I didn’t ask for you? It’s not because you aren’t important. We both know you are. It’s because I want you to come to me. I need you to be angry when you do. And you will, Tess.”
I would.
“You will.” He grinned. “And then you’ll help me. Yes, you heard me right. You’ll help me bring down the council.”
Chapter 34
I rocked back and forth, my hands covering my head and my eyes closed tight. I needed a moment. I needed a moment. I needed a moment.
After James, George, and his men left us, Lockwood had asked the others to give me some space. He had taken it upon himself to watch over and tend to Louisa. I had to pull myself together before I was ready to speak with her. She couldn’t see me like this. I couldn’t go to her the empty girl she grew up with. And that’s all I felt in that moment—emptiness.
I reached my fingers up and touched my new slash mark. It scared me that I felt nothing as my fingers dug into the burn.
I couldn’t go back to feeling nothing at all.
Ten seconds. Ten seconds, and I would have to get to work.
One. Two. Three. Four.
“Damn it, Tess,” a voice behind me said. “Why didn’t you stay in the community? You were safe there. I thought I could scare you into staying with the message on the body. But you had to be so stubborn. I guess you learned that from me. And when that didn’t work, I thought I could slow you down with the wound. But you had to be you. You just couldn’t stay safe. I thought the last message would have made you realize it was me. Louisa’s birthday. The one I forgot. The confetti. The first book we ever read.”
That voice. A man’s voice. It didn’t belong to Henry, Lockwood, or Eric, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know it.
Naturals (Lost Souls) Page 24
