Redeemer (14 page)

“We need him.” I don't understand why he thinks I owe him an explanation of any kind.

Guard Rok comes close to frowning, but after a moment he lets it go.

Keegan glances between our group and finally his eyes land on mine. “OK, let me have it. What's going on?”

Keegan's question is legitimate, but I squirm as everyone looks to me. How did I get here? I was supposed to be in training right now. Happy with Keegan in Middle City 1, while my parents watched proudly from Middle 3.

Instead I'm here. Dad has disowned me, Mom is dead. And I'm an outcast.

Keegan wants to know why. Too bad I don't have a better idea myself.

Licking my lips, I start at the beginning. “I got into the prison outside of Greater City. It didn't go so well.”

One glance at Guard Rok and his men reminds me I have to start earlier. They don't know about the flyer I saw in Middle City 3, or the rumors about the Greaters having secret cities supplying them with food and clothes. It takes another half an hour to tell them about the prison riot and the escape and recapture by Frost Moon's guards. I tell them about Frost Moon's maniac confession, and how we're basically slaves of some mother country.

This gets Guard Rok's attention, but he doesn't stop me.

I tell him about finding Jamie in Lesser 4. Tears drip from my chin when I tell him she has a baby boy. I can't look up as I say it, embarrassed by what all these men must think of me.

But Keegan steps forward and wipes the tears off my face. I look up and he gives me a sad smile. And just like that, I go on. The allowances, the electro-grass, the escape. Finding Fischer by chance, and finally coming here to get him. To ask for help. Information. Anything.

Keegan takes it all in with a sigh. “You've been through a lot. I'm not sure how I can help, though.”

I know how he can help, if he has any answers. “Have you heard anything about the missing Lessers?” It's dumb to ask. The Greaters likely aren't telling anyone about their secret flying machines that take Lessers away.

But Keegan nods. “There have been a lot of rumors, especially these last two weeks. With what you've said about some mother country, it makes more sense, but no one has a good grasp of where they're being taken.”

I glance at Fischer and the others, who all watch me with much more interest now that they know my history. I swallow hard as I prepare to voice my suspicions. I've been running in Frost Moon's shadow for a while now. I've learned a few things about how his mind works. “Well, I have a theory about the Lessers. What if Frost Moon is building an army to fight the mother country?”

No one speaks, and I hold my breath. Finally, I barge on. “He knows they're coming. They're unhappy with us on so many levels.” I turn to Isabel. “I've been to your outlying cities. The ones you designed? I've seen how they live and have to work for the Greaters as slaves. They're sending their wares to this controlling government they don't even know exists, and from whispers I heard in Greater City, the slaves are no longer happy about it. Frost Moon's only chance of saving himself is to fight.”

When no one offers an opinion, I turn to Fischer. He sucks in a deep breath and shakes his head. “Why didn't you tell me this sooner?”

I shrug. “You haven't exactly been talkative. And how do you break the ice on that conversation?”

Now they know. I'm no longer the sole keeper of Frost Moon's secret, and while the weight is shared, it's no less heavy.

“What do we do about this?” Keegan looks to Fisher and then Guard Rok.

Guard Rok stands at the windows, but his eyes bore into me, and he shakes his head. “I can't believe I was not aware of this. Are you sure your facts are straight?”

“Unless it was all a lie on the Great Supreme's part, but I doubt that. He was raving like a mad man.”

Guard Rok rubs a hand over his face and turns back to the windows. “So he's taking the Lessers and forcing them to fight. What of the guard? Why not send the military?”

No one has an answer to his questions and silence engulfs the room. Suddenly, the darkness feels too heavy a burden to carry. I turn to Keegan.

“Guess you'll be staying with us?” I say quietly.

He nods solemnly, any happiness at seeing me gone.

“Why did you come after us?” I ask. “You should have stayed. At least then you'd be assured something to eat.”

He offers a small smile and shrugs. “How could I stay away?”

We break up the powwow to get some sleep, but Fischer, Keegan, and Guard Rok stay near the window. Isabel lies next to me, and Les and his rats curl up across the room.

“What do you think about all of this?”

Isabel smiles, but it doesn't really reach her eyes. “Sugar, I was all right last year and last week, and I suppose I'll be OK next week and next year, too. Change is coming. Sometimes, change is good. Besides, Frost Moon is only doing what he's always meant to do, even if it wasn't in the way he planned.”

She rolls over, leaving me to lie awake and consider her words. Change is coming, and it's what Frost Moon always wanted. What he always wanted?

He wanted to fight the mother country.

The realization is startling, and for the first time I believe maybe our Great Supreme isn't all bad. He didn't like his country being under someone else's rule, and he wanted to do something about it.

The only question is, what are we going to do with this information?

 

 

 

 

19

 

Tense whispers wake me the next morning. The men huddle at the windows, looking down at whatever has them riled up.

I scramble from my place and hurry to join them. The sun is just peeking over the horizon, and Isabel is nowhere to be seen—but that's not unusual. She takes a few minutes for herself every morning.

At the window, I look down to see what the men are gaping at. Far below us, on the ground level, Isabel stands with three other figures.

“Who are they?” The words slip out before I can stop them.

Everyone looks to me, but no one answers. Finally, Keegan takes pity. “We don't know. Your friend Isabel had already gone out when we spotted them coming toward the building. Isabel intercepted them and they've been down there ever since.”

If some random stragglers can find us than anyone can find us. This isn't good. I watch them and a few things stand out to me. “They're Middles!”

Guard Rok nods fiercely. “It looks like they must have come out of the city, but with the drains being monitored, we're not sure how they got out.”

But they did get out. This is good; it means Keegan can most likely get back in. I check his face to see if he's realized this, but he seems unconcerned with being stuck outside the city. Movement below draws our gazes down. Isabel is bringing the newcomers inside.

“Ignorant Lesser!” Les hisses.

“Ignorant? You are the ignorant one. Isabel was born Greater.”

That shuts him up fast.

None of us waits for her to reach the eighteenth floor with the visitors. We end up meeting at floor ten in the stairwell.

“Who are you?” Guard Rok demands.

Three Middles glance at each other—two guys and a girl. One of the boys steps forward. “We heard about rebels in the area and we wanted to join the resistance.”

“There is no resistance,” Les says quickly. “Go home.”

The boy shakes his head and looks to Keegan. “We're in the same dorm. We're training for government. We heard about the message Lilith Winters gave you, so we followed you. We saw you being chased by the guards, so Mitty snuck out through a hole in the fences near her house. She saw you come here, then she came back to get us.”

It was exactly how Lilith feared it would be. News of her involvement was spreading fast. She would rat us out in a heartbeat—she'd warned me many times. My eyes meet Keegan's, but no emotion shows. Is he worried about Lilith? Does he care about her?

The boy on campus said she was his girl.

My stomach flip flops and I turn the emotion off.

“What kind of resistance do you think you'd be joining?” I ask. Everyone in my groups looks to me like I've lost my mind. Everyone except Fischer.

But we are a resistance. What else are we doing here?

The boy's hopeless face changes, and he steps toward me. “We're ready to fight the Greaters. There are a lot of us. In training they've started changing our lessons. They're talking about bribing the Lessers into taking classes—classes about war. We're supposed to promise them great things. More allowances, better cities and health care. Something called Tech Meds. But in the end we're not planning on delivering. I don't understand it. None of us do.”

His words ring in my head. Frost Moon is implementing the changes I suggested?

He didn't want to better their lives. He wanted to build an army.

And he was using me to do it.

The stairwell spins, and I press my eyes closed. I didn't give him the ammunition he needed to build an army. This boy has to be wrong.

Why not just use an enlistment like in the Early Days? Why trick the people into fighting?

A warm, rough hand grips my forearm. Peeling open my eyes, I see Isabel standing in front of me. “He says there are more of them. People are believing. They are ready to know the truth.”

“The truth?” Les barks. “The truth about what? They'd fall apart and wouldn't be able to handle it. No. We don't need a bunch of untrained soldiers who don't know what they're doing. We'll fight this war on our own.”

“Go back,” I say. Les puffs out his chest like a rooster, and I hold back my eye-roll. “Go back and tell everyone who is interested to meet us.”

“You can't bring them here!” Les explodes. His nostrils flare and his eyes practically shoot fire at me.

“Not here,” I say. “The tree grove near the back gates. There is an entrance to a manhole. Don't go inside it, but we will meet there. Tomorrow.” It's the first place we found entrance to the city, and it's as good a place as any to meet with others.

The Middles look at each other and smile. Anticipation glows in their faces.

“Don't get caught,” Fischer says softly.

“We won't!” the first boy says. “We know how to get around.”

“Good,” Fischer says. “I'll walk you down.”

They leave and Isabel returns upstairs with us. Les's anger seethes from every pore of his body, and tension pulsates in the air. Once we reach the eighteenth floor he lets it loose. “What kind of fools are you?”

I've been beaten, starved, and attacked, but the fire in his eyes scares me. I take a step forward. “I have seen what Frost Moon intends. I have seen the cities of slaves he keeps inside his secret walled communes. I have felt his wickedness as he strapped me down and probed my brain for information about the Christians.”

I stop and take a deep breath when another thought hits me. Guard Rok and his men—are they Christians? They are nothing like Isabel or Fischer. They haven't mentioned God or religion. Their conflict seems to be with the government itself, and not the fact the truth about humankind is being kept from the people.

“Frost Moon knows if the people know about Jesus Christ they will fight him. Their lives will be changed, and they won't allow the lifestyle he has forced them into. We must tell them, and now is the time.”

My words strike me. For the first time, I have figured out what our war is truly about. It is like when we walked in the tunnels for the first time, and it was dark until Isabel flipped the lights on. I can see now, and I understand where we are going.

Les doesn't challenge me. He growls and stomps back to the stairwell. Who knows if he goes up or down?

Keegan puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “You're doing the right thing. What can I do?”

I sigh and my shoulders slump. “You really think it's the right thing?”

“Of course it is,” he says. “Don't doubt that. Telling the people about God will open their eyes, just like it did yours. Like it did mine.” His last words are spoken softly, and I smile. I haven't spoken with him about his decision yet, and now I throw my arms around his neck.

“Keegan, I'm so glad for you. I got Lilith's message the day Frost Moon took me, so it really made my day.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “Well I'm glad I could make a difference.”

“You did,” I say. “I'm so happy about it.”

He pulls me tight again, and it's that sight Fischer returns to our floor and sees. His pause is almost imperceptible, but it's there. He's good at hiding his feelings—he's been doing it for years—and he steps forward. “I thought they needed to know what they were really fighting for. They were eager to learn about God, and they soaked it up without much question. They say there are about thirty of them.”

“Thirty!” I never imagined there would be so many.

Keegan shrugs. “I told you there were a lot of rumors going around. But, Hana, if a war is coming, we're going to need weapons, don't you think?”

War? Weapons?

I look to Fischer but he's already looking to Guard Rok.

Guard Rok steps forward. His eyes seem sad. He's got none of the fire Les has, but he also doesn't have any of the fire Fischer, Keegan, or I have. “We can get weapons, but it will take time.”

I shake my head and back away. “What is this supposed to mean? We're going to arm ourselves with guns and shoot up Greater City?” That hardly seems like the way to spread God's message.

Fischer moves like he's going to take my hand, but then he stops. He throws a quick glance at Keegan and then looks back to me. “Don't worry, Hana. We're going to think things through. We'll spread the message. God will do the rest.”