“Thank you, Danny.”
We hear Danny repeat the same message to Jonah then walk back down the hall. Oliver pulls me to his chest and holds me tight. I close my eyes and count his final heartbeats.
A few minutes later, the door unlocks and Kino steps in, letting it close behind her.
“It’s time.”
Oliver and I stumble to our feet. Victory dances in Kino’s eyes. She’s been planning this moment for a long time, and now she’s enjoying every minute. The injustice hurts, but I am not as angry as I thought I would be. Another feeling overwhelms me.
“I pity you,” I tell her. “All the sadness of your life—every horrible thing that happened to you—it’s turned you into a pathetic creature who can only feel happiness when someone else is hurting. What a horrible way to live.”
She steps toward me, her eyes blazing. “The only one you should pity is yourself, little girl. When Oliver is dead, I’ll drag you back to this cell and lock you up for good. Just see if I don’t.”
Oliver steps in front of me. “You can’t. Middlebrooks—”
“Middlebrooks?” Kino laughs. “She and Amaron will be dead inside a month! A revolution is coming, haven’t you heard? No more soft-hearted, mealy-mouthed leaders, too afraid to strike hard and insist on compliance. Oh, I’ll let Xoey return to the Sand and grieve for you, Oliver, but in a few weeks, everything will change, and she’ll be right back here again. Then she’ll experience everything you have, only I’ll make sure her suffering never ends.”
Oliver lunges toward her. I hold him back.
“Oliver, no. I—”
“It’s time, Oliver!” The guard named Danny interrupts me, but he doesn’t unlock the door to lead us to the execution chamber. Instead he passes us by and shouts the same thing to Jonah.
“Guard!” Kino rattles the door. “Guard! Open this door!”
Danny doesn’t respond. Kino turns around, her brow creased in confusion. Oliver steps back, something like understanding passing over his face.
“Something will knock you off your feet,” he mumbles.
“Oliver?”
His eyes widen.
“Xoey, get down!”
He pulls me against his chest and turns just as the wall behind us explodes. I see Kino’s eyes fill with fear. Then she’s flying, thrown across the room.
“Oliver!”
He’s hovering over me when a second explosion knocks us off our feet. We roll toward the only remaining wall while the others crumble on top of us, burying us alive in a cloud of concrete and debris. I try to move but can’t. My ears ring with echoes of the explosion and something presses against my chest, stealing my breath. I blink, searching for something beyond the darkness to give me hope.
“The moon,” I whisper.
It is the last thing I see.
Authors Note
I wish the human trafficking portrayed in Weeping Justice was nothing but a fictional future. Instead, it is the nightmarish reality of the world we live in today. The International Labour Organization estimates that 40.3 million people are victims of human trafficking. Women and girls make up 75 percent of that total. To find out more, learn how to protect yourself and those you love, or to help, visit reputable charities such as polarisproject.org or agapewebsite.org.
Acknowledgments
Due to all kinds of turmoil in my life over the past several years, involving more than one severe illness in my family, writing Weeping Justice has been more difficult than I thought possible. I thank you for your patience—it would have been impossible to complete it without your support. God has blessed me greatly, and I am extremely grateful to Him.
First, I want to thank my readers. Your enthusiasm for these characters, your posts, your reviews and fan art, along with all the other ways you support these stories is such a thrill and honor. Thank you so much. Next, to my husband, Bryan, who wins the bread, pays the bills, mows the lawn, and smiles patiently while I dream up plots, thereby forgetting to cook, shop, dust, or do laundry. I love you. I also want to thank my kids, Drew and Tara, who are pretty amazing people, inspiring me to write a horrible future in hopes that they will never have to live in it. I love you both.
Thank you to my alpha and beta readers: my sisters, Michelle Britton and Christy Ford (the best sisters in existence—I’ll fight you on it!); my daughter, Tara; my niece, Taylor Britton; my friend, Tamara Forsyth; and Mindle Hastings, enthusiastic expert in all things fiction and tech-geekery.
Thanks to my Sister-from-Another-Mister, Dawndi Phillips, who spontaneously delivers Dutch Bros. coffee to my door, just to keep me going, and to Rich Phillips for pestering me to write, so much that Dawndi tells him to knock it off (I need the pestering, so keep it up, Rich!). I also want to thank my wonderful friend, Audrey Morrison, for all the coffee and running (okay, walking) dates, which inspire me to keep writing. You’re the best. Thanks also to my agent, Cyle Young, and everyone at Hartline Literary, and also to Clean Readers publisher Stephanie Griffin, and editors, Dana Provo, Kimberly Wheaton, and Kathy Bosman.
Finally, thank you to Anthony and Joseph Russo for making MCU fans wait an entire year for Avengers: Endgame after Infinity War. It made me feel SO MUCH better about the cliffhanger ending of this book.
About the Author
Jennifer Froelich is the author of clean novels for adults and young adults. A graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, Jennifer lives in scenic Idaho with her husband and two children.
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