Emerge (21 page)

I didn’t bother bringing up the fact that two other trucks had also left that night, and that we still had no idea what had happened to them. “Something is going on inside your city, West. If you’re truly in line to govern, you probably ought to find out who had access to samples of Bad Sam.”

~~~~~

It was near midnight when West and I returned to the Presidential Suite. He led me down a short hallway, opened one of the doors, and gestured for me to enter. “This is our guest room. You’ll find everything you need in here.”

The room was lavishly appointed, with way more than I needed or was used to. After taking it in, I turned back to West. His eyes were bloodshot and a V had formed between his eyes, telling me he was analyzing something. “What are you thinking?”

He shook his head and peered beyond me, refusing to make eye contact. “I don’t know. I just can’t help but think how well everything was going just last week. My friends were doing well in their new positions. Ryder and Key had been matched…” West’s voice dropped off with the last word, and he squeezed the bridge of his nose. Maybe he hadn’t meant to reveal something.

“Matched?”

West did look at me then. His face drooped even further. “They’ve been in love forever. But Ryder had been assigned to serve on the leadership staff—to serve me—which meant his future wife had to be approved.”

“But they’re so young to be getting… matched.”

“The people of New Caelum decided a long time ago that they would see to it that the human race would thrive and grow. Because Bad Sam wiped out so much of the population, many believe we’ll be stronger by reproducing more quickly. So they match us as soon as we have a career path, which typically happens around seventeen or eighteen.”

I squeezed the pressure point on my wrist. I could feel my own pulse racing beneath my fingers. New Caelum was attempting to control every aspect of their people’s lives, down to whom they procreated with. “Matched,” I repeated as if I was testing the concept.
 

West was staring at me like he was trying to figure something out. I narrowed my gaze as I asked the question that hung between us like a dark curtain.
 

“Have you been matched?”
 

As soon as the words left my mouth, I backed up a step and threw my hand up. “No. Please don’t answer that. Forget I even asked.”
 

What good could possibly have come from me knowing that information? I was not a resident of New Caelum, and never would be. And West always would be.

And I didn’t think I could possibly handle knowing that West was promised to someone else.

“Cricket.” He followed me further into the room, closing the door behind him. Everything was eerily quiet. “I need you to understand something.”

I raised my hand as he got nearer. “Don’t.”
 

His chest met my palm, but he continued forward until very little space was between us. He wrapped his fingers around mine and squeezed. “Don’t what?” With his other hand, he traced the line of my hair down my cheek, grazing the skin all the way to my neck.

My heart beat wildly, and everything I had been thinking about my mission while inside New Caelum vanished. “I don’t need to understand the rules and assignments… or the matchings… that go on inside your world.”

He leaned his forehead against mine while sliding his hand to the back of my neck and massaging the tired muscles there. As much as I knew I should pull away, I didn’t. “You’re wrong,” he whispered. “But we don’t need to discuss it now.”
 

He tilted his head, and when his lips found mine, it was as if the entire world fell away. I knew with every part of my being that I should put a stop to what was happening between us, but I couldn’t. He was what had been missing from my life.

After a brief but passionate kiss, he released me and backed away a step. “Try to get some sleep.”

He turned and left me standing there wondering what had just happened—what kept happening. I touched my lips, where the tingling lingered, as I willed the fog in my head to dissipate.
 

I gave West a few seconds’ head start before I cracked the door from my guest room to see where he went. I barely caught a glimpse of his back as he exited the suite. I tried to follow him, but when I opened the door to leave, the guards turned and informed me that it was not safe for me to be outside of my assigned quarters, and that West would return shortly.

I glanced around at the immaculate and orderly living quarters of the most powerful leader left in the country—the only leader who’d had enough foresight to construct an enclosed city to contain and protect the richest and most elite people in the world. New Caelum had been pitched as a sort of Noah’s Ark—but instead of protecting its inhabitants from a flood, it protected them from a deadly virus that swept the nation.

But the world’s most powerful leader—President Layne—did not appear to be the same woman I remembered from when I was a child. The woman I had known was a figure to be reckoned with, in control of everything around her. She didn’t accept “no” when she needed a “yes.” Those who worked for her never crossed her if they wanted to keep their jobs. But she was also kind enough that in the rare instances when someone did defy her, they almost always regretted it afterward and sought forgiveness.

The woman who had eaten dinner with us tonight was not the same woman who had put herself in charge of saving humankind. And by the look on West’s face during dinner, he, too, knew she wasn’t herself. Which meant the change was recent. Had something happened to change her while West was on the outside?

And then there was Justin Rhodes, vice president to President Layne. He was clearly the real power in New Caelum. What was his story? And what was going on between him and West? On several occasions already, West had looked like he could have gone a couple of rounds with Justin—although so far he’d succeeded in showing restraint.

I returned to the guest room. The queen-sized bed was piled high with six pillows and a down comforter. Under different circumstances, I would have loved to have crawled into that luxurious bed and not have come out for days, but right now, sleep was the last thing on my mind.
 

I checked out the closets and dresser, and found them packed to the gills with clothing, mostly in the same shade of rich blue that I’d worn to dinner. In the back of one closet—there were three altogether—was a dress, in sapphire blue, that glittered with sequins and jewels. It was the loveliest dress I’d ever seen. And everything was in exactly my size.

Wait. Everything was in my size?
 

A sudden sensation of nausea had me grabbing at my stomach. I swallowed hard against a watering mouth. How could they have been ready with so many clothes that would fit me? I looked down at the shoes. They, too, fit me perfectly—and I had unusually small feet. It was as if they had
expected
me. And the color, everything in this same royal blue… what did that mean?

I left the guest room behind and decided to explore the rest of the suite. Out in the hallway, all the doors were closed. I assumed that one of these was President Layne’s bedroom—and West had said that she had already turned in for the night, so I tried to be as quiet as I could as I turned the knob of the door closest to mine.
 

Behind the door was what had to be West’s room. His walls and bed were covered in dark paint and fabric, and his open closet was filled with nothing but charcoal and black clothing.

Colors definitely meant something here inside New Caelum. The dark gray and black clothing seemed to be the color of choice for the top-level executives, including West.

I hadn’t seen anyone else wearing sapphire blue yet.

I didn’t want to poke around in West’s room, so I continued down to the very end of the hallway and again opened the door cautiously and quietly. It was a good thing I did, too—this was the door to President Layne’s bedroom, and she was inside, sleeping with her back to the door.

I softly closed the door and moved on to the only other door in the hall—which led me to Willow’s room. And this room was a dream. A four-poster bed was covered in all-white fabric, with curtains draped along its corners. Large white tree branches were painted on pale gray walls. For a splash of color, hot pink pillows sat in the middle of the bed, and larger hot pink pillows had been arranged in one corner to form some kind of reading nook. Willow’s name was painted in a large scrolling font above her headboard.

Unlike the guest room, which had only necessary clothes and toiletries (though still far more than I could ever imagine needing), this room looked lived in. Willow had an extensive collection of books, a computer, and a jewelry box of necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. It was a room filled with both memories and… well,
things
. The kinds of things those of us on the outside hadn’t bothered with for the past six years. When I opened her closet, I was only mildly surprised to find all charcoal and black clothes, just like in West’s closet.

Unlike me and West, Willow had a window, and I crossed the room to take in her view. The suite was higher up than I had thought, and as I looked out at the mountains surrounding New Caelum, I was able to pick out the faint outline of
my
forest of trees in the darkness.
 

I reached up and ran my fingers along the cold glass. I couldn’t help but wonder what my life would have been like if I had never left New Caelum—had never gotten to know the freedom of exploring that forest. Would I, too, have a closet full of dark clothes instead of royal blue? Would I still live here with the Laynes, or would I have been demoted to a lower class—as an orphan? After all, my parents apparently demanded even less respect than the lowest of the classes inside New Caelum, seeing as how they were sentenced to live out their lives in exile in another country—and probably died there.

I didn’t get to wonder about a life inside New Caelum for long, because a shrill-sounding alarm broke the silence and caused my heart to leap into my throat. I turned and stared at Willow’s closed door. Was the alarm because of me—because I wasn’t in my room?

I took a step toward the door, intending to hurry back to the guest room, but as I did, I noticed the corner of a box sticking out from under the bed, and my curiosity got the better of me. Bending down, I slid the box out from under the bed and lifted the lid, revealing a quilt. A keepsake, maybe? Or just an extra bedcover for when Willow got cold. I didn’t know why, but I found myself lifting the quilt and rubbing the soft fabric against my face. It reminded me of a blanket I’d had as a baby—one Mom had made for me.

Underneath the quilt were some old clothes. And unlike every other set of clothes in this place, they actually came in varying colors: white, pale blue, green, red, and the color of oatmeal. I was going to investigate these as well, but voices in the suite outside stopped me. I quickly patted the clothes down and stuffed the quilt inside the box, then pushed the box back under the bed, further this time, so the corner didn’t stick out.

I hurried to the door and opened it slowly. The alarm was even more obnoxious in the hallway. I now recognized the voices as Justin’s and West’s; they sounded like they were in the living room, where we’d had dinner earlier.
 

I slipped out of Willow’s room quietly. My door was just down the hall, but unlike Willow’s door, mine was within view of the living room, so I doubted I could slip in without being noticed.

Then again, what was I even afraid of? Snooping was wrong, I supposed, but it wasn’t like I’d left the suite, and no one had told me the other rooms were off-limits.

I closed Willow’s door softly behind me and walked down the hallway. Sure enough, Justin and West were in the living room, and now they were screaming at each other—though maybe they were just trying to be heard over the alarm.

“I don’t know why he’s here, Justin.” West held his hands out to the side, making himself appear bigger. “But my advice? Take him seriously. If you hurt him, Christina will never cooperate with you.”

My pulse sped up, and I took a few more steps into the room. “Who’s here?”

They hadn’t even heard my approach. Both of their heads rotated toward me.

The alarm stopped—mercifully—and a guard appeared. “We’ve shut off the alarm in the executive wing of the building, Mr. Rhodes. As soon as we’ve confirmed that no other outsiders have infiltrated the space around New Caelum, we’ll turn off the alarm everywhere.”

“Very good. And the young man has been properly restrained?”

“Yes, sir.”

West stared at me, his lips tugged downward. I cocked my head, studying his pleading eyes. He wanted to tell me something.

“Who’s here?” I asked.
 

I spoke directly to West, but it was Justin who answered. “Apparently you have a knight in shining armor.”

I kept my face completely emotionless. “Since I know for a fact that no such thing exists, why don’t you tell me what you’re talking about?”

“A boy who calls himself Dax made a ruckus outside our gates tonight.”

I couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped my lips. Dax was alive. And that meant he wasn’t sick like his brother. But why would he come here?
 

“Did you hurt him?”

Justin’s lips twitched upward. “Of course not. The boy started screaming about having some information regarding the virus, and said that killing him would result in dire consequences for the people of New Caelum. What does he mean by that, Christina? Is this boy threatening us?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“Well, he’s asking for you. Made a pretty strong argument for getting what he wants. Says that ‘the mechanism you ordered from Zara’ is in place.”

My breathing sped up. By “mechanism,” Dax meant bomb. I was partly relieved, but also terrified. I felt confident I could get myself out of this prison, but now I would have to save Dax as well.

“Justin,” West said finally, his eyes glued to mine. “You gave me a directive earlier this evening, and I aim to fulfill it. Cricket is my responsibility. Right now, I’d like to take her to Dax. That’s the only way we’ll find out what he wants to tell us.”