Evalene's Number

by Bethany Atazadeh

  Too late.

  “Captain!” the cook bellowed. “How many times have I told you this filthy animal is not allowed in my kitchen?” She shrieked as the dog stepped out from under the table, almost as if it knew that it had been caught, and began to wag its tail at the cook so fast its body wiggled. “Its hair! It’s getting dog hair everywhere! Oh Lord almighty, we might as well toss all the food and start over!” she cried, fanning herself and swatting at the dog all at once.

  Juno backed away from the hands swatting at her face, but when Jeremiah came to take her by the collar, she hopped away from him as well, tongue hanging out, and dropped into a play bow with her paws along the ground and her rear in the air. Hopping up, she danced back and away from them all, wiggling with happiness.

  “Juno!” Jeremiah snapped in a stern voice. “Out.” The dog’s joyful dance stopped at the command, as if she couldn’t believe her ears. “Out of the tent, right now,” he told her again, and, head lowered, Juno slunk over to the tent exit and out onto the grass outside. Spinning around, she dropped to the ground with an audible huff right outside the door.

  Evalene wanted to laugh as Juno lowered her head to the ground, depressed and mournful, to stare at them all. But when the dog saw her smile, her tail started to slap against the ground. Quickly, Evalene turned away, covering her grin with her hand and a cough. One glance at Trona was enough to sober her. Could she be punished for laughing?

  But Jeremiah just smiled at Trona, completely unfazed by her hysterics. “Don’t worry. Juno knows where the line is. She’ll stay outside.”

  Trona crossed her arms, unamused. Raising her eyebrows at him, she surprised Evalene by moving back to her table, though she muttered loudly as she went. “Sure. That makes sense. How could anyone ever doubt it? There’s no way she could get in now.” Before she’d even reached her work table, she yelled, “Sanidine, close the tent doors! It’s unsanitary!”

  Evalene squinted at Jeremiah, who was laying out the bread as if nothing had happened. Picking up the can opener once more, she watched Sanidine pass her on her way to close the tent flaps. Though Sanidine was quick to obey, her blue eyes sparkled kindly as she smiled at Evalene, also calm and unconcerned. Trona was still muttering to herself, but since Sanidine and Jeremiah weren’t taking it too seriously, Evalene began to relax.

  The familiar routine of working in the kitchen, even one in a tent, helped Evalene find her comfort zone and soon she had her usual rhythm, working and sneaking small bites of food when no one was looking. She wished she had access to something besides tuna, but once it was blended with the soupy mixture it was surprisingly delicious.

  The cooking flowed smoothly into serving dinner, and before she knew it, they’d finished the third shift. In the down time, she’d eaten not just one, but two sandwiches. Leaning against her assigned table as the last few dinner stragglers came through, Evalene considered the best way to wolf down another half without anyone noticing.

  She was still assessing the options when Jeremiah appeared at her right shoulder. “Someone has been dying to meet you,” he said in a soft voice, and tilted his head towards the tent flap on the far side of the room. Those with full plates were exiting through it, and Juno’s nose was cheerfully inspecting the air as each one passed, although she stayed faithfully seated by the door outside the tent.

  The corners of Evalene’s mouth lifted as she met Juno’s eyes and immediately the dog’s fluffy white tail started tapping the ground. “Is this a stray?” she whispered back.

  Jeremiah shook his head. “No, she’s mine.” No one had pets in Eden, making this yet another glimpse of the island’s freedom.

  She turned to face Jeremiah and found he was much closer than she’d anticipated. Only a few inches separated them. Staring into his eyes, she hiccupped. Retreating to a safer distance, she flushed bright red and hiccupped again. How embarrassing!

  “Excuse me, sorry,” she managed to say before another hiccup. She drew in a deep breath and held it, shaking her head in frustration and covering her cheeks with her hands to hide the heat that was spreading.

  “No problem.” Jeremiah shrugged. “You know what you do for the hiccups?” Without asking, he stepped close to her and grasped her arms, lifting them up above her head. “Trust me, this works.”

  He directed her arms towards the ceiling, “Stretch them out as high as you can.” He let go, throwing his arms up as well to demonstrate. “Like this, see?”

  Evalene giggled at the sight they made, both standing with their arms in the air. A hiccup snuck into the middle of it, making her laugh harder. Jeremiah grinned back at her, but took her hands which had come down to hold her stomach, and pulled them up high again. “Laugh all you want, but it works.” He held both palms out, motioning for her to hold the pose this time.

  She kept her hands up this time, trying to stretch like he was. “Good,” he said. “Now take deep breaths. Just like that. You feel it stretching your lungs?” She nodded, inhaling deeply. “There you go. They’ll be gone in no time.”

  And sure enough, as soon as she stopped giggling and focused on taking deep breaths, the hiccups were gone. She lowered her arms.

  “I’d better get going,” Evalene said, tucking her hair behind her ear and glancing at the tent door, where Juno still waited. “I haven’t seen Olive all day. I’m sure she’s wondering where I am.”

  Jeremiah rested against the table next to him. “Don’t worry. She’s the one who told me where to find you.”

  “You were looking for me?” Evalene eyes darted back to Jeremiah’s face.

  He ducked his head, scratching the back of his neck. “I feel a certain responsibility for you,” he told her, and when he met her gaze, his was unreadable. “All the others signed up for the work order of their own free will, but you didn’t really get a choice...” He shrugged. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  For some reason Evalene couldn’t fathom, finding out she was a charity case to him stung. She blinked rapidly. Lifting her chin, she put on the emotionless mask she’d grown used to wearing back home. “I’m great.”

  She strode to the opposite side of the tent, away from Juno, ignoring the dog. “Thanks for checking on me,” she spoke over her shoulder as she reached the exit. Sanidine or Trona must have closed the tent flaps on this side to signal the end of dinner. As Evalene pulled the flaps up to duck through the door, she told the dirt floor near Jeremiah’s feet, “I’ll make sure to check in with Luc for my next shift. Goodnight.”

  She dropped the flap without waiting for his response. Stepping forward into the dark night, Evalene labored down the path between the tent rows in the darkness, waiting for her eyes to adjust. How was she going to find her tent?

  In the moonlight, the white, slanted roofs of thousands of tents stretched out into the distance all around her. She walked down one row, then the next, trying to get her bearings, staring at the cheerful lights of the town as she caught one or two blink out and others turn on. She hadn’t paid attention to where her tent was in relation to town, so it didn’t help now.

  Crossing her arms, she shivered. Without the sun, the temperature had plummeted, and the difference was noticeable after standing near stoves all night. She rubbed her arms for warmth.

  She was lost.

  25

  Day One: Scheming

  THE MOONLIGHT SHONE BRIGHTLY on the paths, but without a lantern or flashlight, Evalene squinted at the ground, moving at a snail’s pace to avoid tripping over tent pegs or debris. The idea of being alone when Talc lurked somewhere nearby made her shiver harder.

  A cold, wet nose touch her wrist. She yelped as she jumped and pulled her hands away. A white blur danced around her in the dark. “Juno?” she whispered, and the dog whined back happily, coming up to lean into her leg in greeting, begging to be pet.

  “Juno was worried about you.” Jeremiah’s deep voice came from behind her, and she recognized it right away. Evalene turned around, relaxing. Sh
e made out his shape in the darkness as he bent down and beckoned the dog. Juno moved to her master, tail wagging and hitting Evalene’s shins. “She made me come look for you to make sure you got to your tent safely.”

  Evalene bit her lip, wanting to trust him. “Is that so?” she said finally. “I guess if she’s that worried...” she trailed off and admitted the truth. “Okay, yes please help me. I have no idea where I’m going...”

  Juno scampered back to Evalene, wet nose catching her hand again, bumping it persistently until she gave in and pet the dog.

  Instead of rubbing it in, Jeremiah just straightened. “You were pretty close. Come on Juno, let’s show her the way.” The dog bounded after him, and Evalene followed.

  They proceeded to backtrack, finally reaching a little white tent that looked just like all the others around it. She hadn’t been close at all. Annoyed with herself, Evalene simply said, “Thanks.”

  “Sure,” he said. His form backed away in the dark, and Juno’s white shape followed. “In the morning you’ll notice each row is marked, and each tent has a number. That should help. But don’t worry. It’s easy to get lost here in the beginning.”

  “Thanks,” Evalene said again, wondering why he spent so much time helping her if she was just a charity case. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’ve been on my own for a long time.” She winced at the sharp words.

  But he didn’t seem put off. “And now you’re not alone anymore,” he said, and she could hear the smile that made it hard to dislike him. “By the way, Olive told me about Talc.”

  Anxiety spiked. Evalene opened her mouth, about to beg him not to talk to Talc or do anything, the way she had with Olive. But he spoke first. “Don’t worry about him anymore. I have my men keeping him extremely busy between now and when we leave. He won’t have time to bother you.” He said it like it was nothing. But Evalene’s entire body flooded with relief at the knowledge that someone was protecting her.

  “Thank you,” she whispered softly.

  “No problem. Good night,” he said, and whistled for Juno who took off after him like a shot. His shadow rounded a corner and was gone.

  Turning to her tent, Evalene smiled at his kindness. Fumbling around in the darkness of the tent, she found her bed and sank onto it. The only breathing in the tent was her own. She was alone.

  Though she felt a candle on the small table between the beds, her fingers couldn’t find matches anywhere. She gave up and lay down to sleep. Besides taking her boots off, she didn’t have anything else to do anyway. With the tent flaps closed, not even much moonlight could get in.

  Despite having napped earlier, Evalene found herself drifting off to sleep with the sound of frogs croaking and crickets humming in her ears. But she kept picturing Jeremiah stepping onto Eden’s shores, and getting shot by Regulators. The idea shook her.

  Rolling over to escape it, Evalene tried to ignore the direction her mind was going, but there was no stopping the flood of thoughts now. All the ways the Number One might stop the rebels, specifically Jeremiah, hammered her mind. The Number One had more men. He controlled the citizens. More importantly, he controlled the Regulators, who outnumbered even the many rebels in this camp who had stayed to fight. Ten thousand, Jeremiah had said earlier? The past few years since the rebellion, so many had been Numbered 11 as Regulators, their forces were easily twice that many, if not more.

  Evalene vividly remembered the news during the Bloom Rebellion. Especially the day they’d found out about her mother’s death. The camera had panned across a long line of bodies hanging from the executioner’s ropes.

  And now it was going to happen again. The sight of those men and women hanging lifeless, forever burned into Evalene’s memory, played across her vision again, but this time when the camera zoomed in on one of the victims, it was Jeremiah’s face.

  Evalene blinked furiously, trying to erase the image. She stared aimlessly at the shadows by the tent wall rather than close her eyes and risk seeing the vision again.

  The sound of footsteps crunching in the dirt and gravel signaled Olive at the entrance of their tent what felt like ages later, though it was probably only an hour, two at the most.

  “Evie! You’re here!” the shadow of the blonde girl chirped from the doorway. Evalene rolled back towards the inside of the tent and lifted herself up to rest on her elbows as Olive entered, grateful at the interruption from her thoughts.

  “What’re you doing in the dark?” the girl asked. The sound of a match sizzled as a tiny flame appeared. Olive held the match to the candle and the room lit up.

  “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Olive said as soon as the light showed Evalene in bed under the blankets. Olive’s apologetic face was illuminated by the dim light and her hair glowed golden-orange.

  “Don’t worry, I wasn’t sleeping” Evalene told her, sitting up on her elbow to prove it was fine. “What did you do today?”

  Olive hopped up onto her bed across from Evalene and sighed, biting her lip and starting to smile. “I was helping Luc go over details. Get organized.” She brushed her wavy blonde hair off her shoulders, then leaned forward towards Evalene, not noticing this made the golden locks fall back in front again. She whispered confidentially, “I think he likes me.”

  “Oh?” Evalene propped her head on her hand, smiling. “Did he say something?”

  Olive grinned like a school girl. “Well... no, he hasn’t said it straight out yet, but I’m pretty sure. I wish he followed me around like the captain shadows you.” She kicked off her flats and they flew haphazardly, one in the direction of the door and the other under Evalene’s bed.

  Sitting up, Evalene ignored the shoes. “You’re talking about... Jeremiah? And... me?” Pointing a finger to herself, she laughed a little in confusion.

  Olive was taking off the many layers of Evalene’s dress, which she loved to borrow, giving Evalene an excuse to keep wearing her dresses. In the middle of stepping out of the skirt, one foot in and one foot out Olive paused. “Yeah, you! He was looking all over for you earlier.”

  Evalene rolled her eyes as Olive dropped the skirt on the ground. Taking two steps to Evalene’s cot, Olive hopped up onto it, forcing Evalene to move her legs or be sat on. “I’m not joking!”

  “I’ve only known him a few days,” Evalene reminded her, eyebrows raised.

  Olive shrugged, pulling her bare feet under the blankets to get comfortable and sitting cross-legged. “A few days is all it takes.”

  Evalene squinted at Olive as the girl wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “What takes? What are you talking about?”

  “I can tell you like him,” Olive said, ignoring Evalene’s questions. “You stare at him when he’s not looking.” The girl was a born romantic. But it didn’t matter, even if Evalene did think Jeremiah was kind, or thoughtful, or handsome. He’d made it clear how he felt about her.

  “Olive, no.” Evalene lightly kicked her through the blankets to get her attention. “Stop.”

  “You really expect me to believe you don’t like him?”

  “It’s not important.” Evalene rolled her eyes. “He’s leading a revolution. And he’s not interested. He made that extremely clear. He feels responsible for me.” Evalene spread her fingers out across the faded pattern of her quilt, pressing it down until it was flat and smooth.

  “What? When did he say that?” Olive asked.

  A sigh slipped out. “Tonight in the kitchen.”

  “Oh.”

  They sat in silence.

  Olive spoke up. “That’s a shame because I just spoke to him on my way back. We made plans to take you job hunting in Hofyn in the morning.” Olive hopped down from Evalene’s bed and moved to her own, climbing in under the blankets.

  “What?” Evalene blurted, sitting up now. “What do you mean you ‘made plans?’”

  Olive flopped her head onto the pillow dramatically. “I’m sorry.” She fiddled with a tiny string that had unraveled from her blanket and mumbled, �
��I just wanted to be a matchmaker. I thought you liked him, and he liked you...”

  “Mmm-hmm.” Evalene sighed, rubbing her eyes as she lay back down, rolling onto her back to stare at the slanted ceiling, mulling it over. “I guess it would be nice to see what jobs are available in the city...”

  “Perfect!” Olive snuffed the candle out and the tent returned to blackness. In the dark, Evalene heard rustling as Olive got comfortable. “I’ll wake you in the morning. Goodnight!”

  “Goodnight, Olive. Sweet dreams.”

  Evalene pulled her own blankets up to her chin to cocoon herself in their warmth, exhausted. She squeezed her eyes shut against the images of Jeremiah and the revolutionaries against the rebels, tossing and turning, unable to escape them until finally, sleep came.

  26

  Day Two: Hofyn

  EVALENE AND OLIVE SWUNG through the cook tent in the morning, picking up breakfast to go. The pastry melted in Evalene’s mouth, soft and sweet. If not for the daunting job search, this day would have been perfect.

  “We should get you some new clothes and shoes too,” Olive said as they passed one of the training squares, already in full swing. This square was working on assembling their firearms, which were unusually sleek and lightweight, with some kind of technology attached that pinpointed their targets for them with amazing accuracy.

  “I don’t have enough money to buy anything,” Evalene said. What was she going to do about that? She didn’t even have enough money to buy food for a week, much less clothes. She’d spent most of what Kevra had left her on boarding the ship.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll get a job in no time,” Olive reassured her. She clapped her hands excitedly. “You could come work on the farm with me!”