The Markings

by Catherine Downen

  “We do. Sorry if it’s an inconvenience. Some things change after seven years,” Mio says and glances at me. “Everyone, this is my little brother Leo.”

  “Brother?” Cooper asks.

  “Little?” Leo scoffs. “Just two years.”

  “Who’d you think I would have connections with here?” Mio asks.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” I say and shake Leo’s hand. “When we were traveling through the tunnel we came across these girls.” I place my hand on Molly’s shoulder and say, “Molly is hoping you know her mother, Eleanor Fisher?”

  “I can’t say I’ve heard that name in months,” Leo says.

  “Did you say, Eleanor Fisher?” a woman’s voice rings into the room as she enters. “Oh, sorry. I’m Leo’s wife. My name’s Kimberly.”

  “Yes, do you know why that name sounds familiar?” Leo asks her.

  “Well yeah, she was one of those three ladies that were executed a couple of months back for stealing from the food storage unit they worked at. Why?” Kimberly asks and turns to us.

  “Executed?” Molly asks in a broken voice. “Adaline, that can’t be right.”

  “Molly, I’m so sorry,” is all I can say. I tighten my arm around her shoulders. Kimberly gives me an apologetic glance, not knowing it was Molly’s mother we had been talking about.

  “What are we going to do?” Molly asks with her face buried in my side. I look up to Mio and see him roll his eyes because he knows what I’m about to say.

  “You can come with us and I’ll see if I can find somewhere for you, okay? You don’t have to worry, I’ll take care of you,” I say, feeling a sort of protection over her, much like the one I once felt for Titus.

  There’s an awkward silence that falls over the group. Leo pulls Mio over to a door in the other room and starts to talk in hushed voices. Then Kimberly says, “You guys are probably exhausted and well in need of a shower.”

  “A what?” Zavy asks confused.

  “Right, I’m sorry. All of this technology is new to you. You would like to clean up I’m sure.” We all nod our heads in agreement.

  “You can all follow me,” Kimberly says. Molly walks over to the other girls she was in the tunnel with to try to explain to them what we are doing. Zavy offers to help, but I tell her to let Molly do it. While Zavy may be able to get the message to them it will be received better if it comes from Molly.

  I bring up the rear of the group, but when we pass Mio and Leo I overhear Leo say, “We’ve got a problem, Mio.”

  “A problem?” I ask and stop. Leo and Mio look from each other to me and know that I’m not going to budge.

  “Someone came through the tunnel yesterday. I’m not sure how he found it or how he knew to come here. We tied him up immediately and threw him in here. We don’t know what to do with him,” Leo says. He turns the knob and pushes the door open. My first thought is that Paylon sent Chadian into the tunnel to ambush us here. I draw my sword, ready to finish off what’s left of King Renon’s search group.

  The light from the living room seeps into the dark cellar room. I follow Mio and Leo and take a step inside. My shadow grows with the light across the floor. Metal shelves line the walls filled with cardboard boxes of different items. I see him hunched over in the back of the room. He’s sitting on the floor with his head hanging. There’s a dirty cloth tied in his mouth and his feet and hands are bound together. He lifts his dirty face and shakes his matted hair, his green eyes meeting mine.

  “Alexander,” I say, the air leaving my lungs. My sword clashes to the ground and I push through Mio and Leo and run to him. I throw my arms around his neck. I can’t contain the tears that start to roll down my cheeks. “You’re alive. I thought you were dead. Paylon said you were dead,” I say into his shoulder. I pull away from him and pull the cloth from his mouth.

  “Hope you didn’t miss me too much,” he says in his broken voice and I can’t help but laugh, so relieved to hear his voice again. “Paylon found you guys?”

  “Yes, but Cooper cut him. We’re sure he’s dead by now,” I say wiping the tears off my cheeks and I notice my hands are shaking uncontrollably.

  “Did I seriously just lock up,” Leo starts.

  Mio laughs and says, “You sure did.”

  “Boy, why didn’t you tell me you were Alexander?” Leo asks, untying his feet and hands.

  “Well, you didn’t give me the choice, now did you?” Alexander says as he gets to his feet.

  “You should go catch up with the others. Go clean up before dinner.” Mio says, placing a hand on Alexander’s shoulder. We both turn to leave, but the adrenaline from seeing Alexander alive has faded and the heavy awkward air between us has settled again, but I don’t mind. As long as he is alive and with us, I couldn’t ask for anything more.

  Part 3: The Journey

  Chapter 21

  Once Alexander and I catch up with the group Kimberly splits us up. She leads the girls further into the house and Cinder takes the boys down a short hall to our right. I’m reluctant to part with Alexander so soon, but I know I don’t have to be worried about his safety here. I’m lead down a long hallway in the back of the house with the other girls. I manage to catch up with Kimberly at the front of the group and we file into a room on the right side of the hallway. Once we have all been ushered into the large tiled room that has twenty or so stalls Kimberly starts to go over what all of these new appliances are and how we use them. Then, we are each assigned one of the stalls and told that dinner will be ready when we are finished. Kimberly collects all of our backpacks and says she will store them for us. Reluctantly, I let her take my sword. I know I won’t need it here, but I’ve grown attached to that weapon.

  I walk into the stall I was assigned and see all the new technology that Kimberly had briefly explained. Something called a ‘toilet’ is sitting on one side, we would call it a waste bucket back in Garth, with a ‘sink’ across from it. It does slightly resemble the spigot I had at home. Above the sink is a mirror. I step in front of it and am shocked to see who is staring back at me.

  The last time I saw my reflection was when I was just nine years old. Even that mirror doesn’t compare to the tall shine slate of reflective glass hanging in front of me. The only mirror we had in our house was a small round mirror that was built into the desk in my mother’s room. It had brown spots around its edges and a yellow reflective tint. In the mirror in front of me, I see a crystal clear reflection staring back. My skin is blotchy with red patches from being exposed to the excessive amount of sun. My skin isn’t used to that from being in prison for so long. My long brown hair is matted and strands of it have fallen out of my braid, but my green eyes are magnificent.

  I take off my poor excuse for a shirt and pants, remove the sewer water soaked white shoes and socks, and step into what Kimberly said was the shower. I push the button she directed me to do, and warm water starts to stream out of the ceiling of the shower. It’s amazingly refreshing after everything I’ve been through. It’s a warm summer rain shower right here in their house. I use the different buttons to dispense a liquid form of soap for my hair and massage it through all the tangles, gently untwisting the braid. When I use the soap designated to remove the dirt from my body I notice how pale and fair-skinned I really am under all the dirt. I watch as the last of the dirt circles down the drain, as if washing off the last seven years.

  I press the same button I had used to turn on the water and the warm rain halts. There is a thick grey towel hanging on a metal bar and I use it to dry off. I step out of the shower and open a compartment in the stall. I expect to find a new clean ragged shirt and pair of pants but am surprised to find an odd pair of clothing. More similar to the clothes we had found in the bunker.

  It appears to be a shirt and a long pair of pants, but both are made out of a stretchy fabric like the ones Leo and Kimberly were wearing. The pants are a jet black and the top is a light shade of pink. I put them on and am surprised at how well they fit. At th
e bottom of the compartment is a pair of long black socks with a pair of short black leather boots. I slip on the socks, lace up the boots, and pace around the stall, breaking them in.

  I step back in front of the mirror and feel like an entirely different person is looking back at me. I pull on the mirror to open it as Kimberly had instructed. I scrub my teeth and brush out my long, wet, and tangled hair. The first time I have done either in a very long time.

  Then, at the last minute, I see a small light reflect off the metal pair of scissors at the bottom of the cabinet. I pick them up and close the mirror, looking at my reflection once again. The only parts of me that look the same are my magnificent green eyes and my long dark hair.

  Something about my hair holds too much from the past, probably because of how my mother used to braid it, and unbraid it, and then re-braid it to pass the time in the cell. I raise the scissors to my hair and snip away, watching chunk after chunk of my hair fall to the ground until my hair is cut into a sharp ‘V’ form, short by my shoulders and growing to a single point. I put the scissors down and step back to admire my work and I couldn’t be happier with the change.

  I throw my hair clippings in the bin by the toilet and hang up my used towel. Then, I step out of the stall and notice everyone else has already made their way back to the dining room. I walk out of the tiled room and back down the hallway toward the sounds of laughter and soft music.

  I step into the dining room and look around at the magnificent and detailed pieces in the room. The table is a grand long rectangular slab of dark polished wood and stands in the center of the room. Dark wooden chairs line all sides of the table, and there’s a royal purple carpet that runs under them. It makes my stomach turn because I know that is the color of our nation. They aren’t supposed to be supporting the King, but they do live in Sard. I assume they’ve had to put up an appearance here in the city in hopes that no one would suspect they were the ones helping the gifted escape. Still, it reminds me of the floors of the castle and I hate that I have to be in the same room as it. The walls compliment the rest of the space and are a warm yellow with large chandeliers hanging over the table.

  When I step into the room, all conversation stops. I look around the room and see that everyone else is wearing similar clothing to mine except they vary in color. I look to Alexander and he motions to my hair and I realize how much of a shock it must look like.

  “Just thought I needed a change,” I mumble under my breath and everyone falls back into their conversations. I make my way over to an empty chair next to Alexander and can feel his and Cooper’s stares burning into the side of my head.

  “You hate it don’t you?” I ask and turn to them. They both shake their heads no and smile.

  Alexander says, “I like it.”

  Cooper adds, “Yeah, it gives you an edgy, fierce look.” I laugh and turn my attention back to a group of what looks like servants coming through two double doors at the back of the room. They remind me of the lower help from the castle that would work around the prison and I wonder whose house we’ve come up into. How highly ranked is Mio’s brother to live in such a magnificent home with people serving him? Each server is carrying large platters of food and I simply can’t believe my eyes. They lay the plates of food out in front of each of us. I’ve never seen this much food in one place, and I don’t even recognize half of it.

  Everyone seems to be as hesitant as I am as if we’re waiting for the catch. Then, the help returns with silver metal tools, I assume we use to eat with, and clear glasses full of a dark bubbly drink. Mio, Cinder, Leo, and Kimberly enter the room and fill up the empty chairs at the table.

  “Good we’re just in time,” Leo says as he lifts the silver tool with pointed ends and uses its side to cut some sort of meat with an odd red sauce on it. He uses the tool to pick up a piece of the meat and place it in his mouth. He looks to each of us and is confused when he sees we aren’t eating. “It’s not poisoned, I promise,” Leo says with a mouth full of food.

  I tentatively pick up the same silver tool that Leo did and try the foreign piece of meat. My eyes widen at the explosion of flavor when it hits my tongue. The food seems to simply melt in my mouth.

  “What is this?” I can’t help asking.

  Leo looks at me confused and says, “Well, it’s just meatloaf. Have you never had any?”

  I shake my head no and ask, “What are these?” and I wave the silver tool in my hand.

  “You don’t have silverware in Garth?” Kimberly asks, looking to Mio and Cinder for an explanation.

  “It’s much too expensive for most people to afford,” Mio says.

  “That’s absurd,” Kimberly says shocked.

  “Life in Garth is not what it use to be,” Cinder offers as some sort of explanation.

  Kimberly shakes her head in disbelief and turns back to me to answer my question. “That’s a fork and the other one,” I look down to the other round silver tool, “is a spoon. You use the fork for most solid foods like the meatloaf or the pasta salad and you use the spoon for most liquid foods like the vegetable soup.” I look down at my plate and match the names of the food Kimberly said to their forms. I take bite after bite of the rich food until nothing remains on my plate or in my bowl.

  “I feel like I’m going to be sick,” Zavy says as she finishes off her food. We all laugh and slouch back in our chairs knowing we are all feeling the same as her. I feel as though I have just eaten a month’s supply of food from the castle all at once. First, I just feel full, but then a pang of guilt washes over me as I remember all the people left behind in the castle. None of them will ever get to know the feeling of a full stomach. I wonder if King Renon thinks some of them helped me escape. Could he be punishing innocent people because of my actions? I dismiss the thought quickly because Paylon knows I’m a gifted, and that’s enough explanation as to how I escaped. King Renon may be evil, but killing innocent people for no reason wouldn’t sit well in Garth.

  “This was always my favorite part of this job,” Mio says, letting his fork clink down on his empty plate and everyone starts to laugh again. The depressed mood throughout our group has quickly vanished now that Alexander has returned and they will all get their fair shot at getting to live in Libertas.

  The servers that brought out our food circle back around to collect our empty plates and bowls. They leave our glasses behind so I continue sipping on the dark fizzing drink. It bubbles and tickles my nose each time I take a sip and I wonder how it is made. I’ve only had water for most of my life with the occasional milk if we could afford it. Just as I’m about to ask if we could go rest for the night the group of servers return carrying armloads of more food.

  “You can’t possibly expect us to still be hungry,” I exclaim, shocked that there’s even more food being placed in front of us.

  “You can’t leave here without at least trying this dessert. It’s our famous red velvet cake,” Kimberly says, diving right into the dessert as if she hadn’t just finished a plate full of food just seconds before.

  I lift my fork and scrape a small bit of the white paste off the top of the cake. I lick it off the fork and am overwhelmed by the sweet and smooth dessert. Against what my stomach tells me I eat the entire dessert until I’m scraping my plate clean. I look around and see that the others couldn’t resist the sweet temptation either.

  “I don’t imagine we’ll be eating anything this extravagant on the boat,” I say. Mio and Cinder both laugh and shake their heads no.

  Mio says, “It’s probably a good thing though. You think you’re having a hard time holding your food down now, just wait until you get out on the sea.”

  “It’s hard to keep anything down on the water,” Cinder adds. Mio and Leo start discussing plans for our departure tomorrow. I overhear them explain that we will rest, and to my surprise eat more food. Alexander clumsily drops the cloth napkin he was using and bends over to pick it up.

  When he bends over he whispers in my ear, “We ne
ed to talk. Tonight, after everyone goes to bed, I’ll come find you.” He sits back up and looks away quickly. What does he want to discuss? I don’t argue though because I have some questions I’d like to ask Alexander, and I’d rather not do it with a crowd of people.

  Once everyone finishes off the last of their food we are separated into groups and are taken into different rooms that we will be sleeping in. Zavy, myself, Essie, Molly, and two more girls from the tunnel walk into a room on our left, and the other girls we met in the tunnel are led into a room across the hall with Cassandra and Sarah. The younger girls seem skeptical to split from one another but Molly assures them they are safe with our older members. Our backpacks from the journey here are hanging on hooks along the wall. There are a total of 6 beds in our room, and they are set up with one stacked on top of the other.

  “Yes, bunk beds!” I hear Molly’s young voice squeal.

  “Bunk beds?” I ask in a questioning tone, and I can see the confusion on Zavy and Essie’s faces as well. How could we live on the same island as this city, and yet know a completely different lifestyle?

  I claim the top bed of the set that’s closest to the door, and then Kimberly comes around and gives us extra pillows and blankets since she has taken the dirty ones from our backpacks. I take my bag from the hook and double-check to make sure nothing else was taken. The clothes from the bunker that I had cleaned yesterday are still folded and tucked at the bottom of the bag. I find that my photograph, gold coin, and Codian’s necklace are still hidden away in the secret inside pocket of the bag. The rations from the bunker are still tied together in the front pouch with the cental-straw packed neatly on top. I exhale with relief, knowing nothing else in my bag has been taken. I know Cinder’s intentions were good, but these are the only belongings I have in this world.

  We all climb up into our bunks and Kimberly flips off the light. She cracks the door just enough so a single sliver of light stretches across the floor. My eyelids start to get heavy and I can feel myself falling into a deep sleep, my exhaustion taking over. I remind myself to stay awake because Alexander will come for me soon I assume. All of the other girls in the room have already fallen asleep and just as I’m about to as well I hear hushed voices approach my door. My eyes shoot open and I think it’s Alexander, but the harshness in the voice tells me it’s not. It’s Mio and Leo, and it sounds like they are making their way down our hall.