Authors: Elisa Nader
No one was on the path to the heap. I wheeled the buckets of compost through the corridor of trees. A light shone on the tall lump of trash, a shovel bobbing from behind it every few seconds.
Gabriel.
I abandoned the compost and rushed over to him, glancing around for a sign of Grizz.
“Hey,” I whispered.
Gabriel jumped, trash flying into the air from his shovel. “Jesus Christ, Mia!” he said, spearing the shovel into the soft ground. He was back in uniform. His damp shirt stuck to his wide shoulders. “Why the hell are you sneaking up on me?”
“I wasn’t.”
He placed both his hands around the handle of the shovel and leaned on it, back bowing forward with exhaustion. “I’m back on pile duty.”
“Obviously. But why are you here in the first place?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why did you come back? Aren’t you supposed to be living your life somewhere? Somewhere other than here?”
“Did you think I was going to let you do this on your own?”
“Yes.”
“Well then, Ricci, you must think little of me.”
“I—” I started.
Did I think that little of him? Didn’t something inside me know he would show up? He may have been furious with his parents for bringing him to Edenton, but he wouldn’t let them die at the hands of the Reverend. I shifted uncomfortably.
“So,” he said, glancing around. “You still have those microphones?” His gaze darted to my chest.
I dropped my arms and crossed them again. “Yes,” I whispered. “I’ve already planted one in the infirmary and one in the kitchen.”
“The kitchen? Why there?”
“Agatha keeps the poison in a pantry in the kitchen. The poison we—” I cleared my throat, “she used for the Bright Night cookies.”
“Ah.”
He leaned a little closer, palms, one over the other, planted on the shovel’s handle. He smelled of soap and clean sweat. The incorrigible glint in his eye didn’t seem to break the surface of his expression. I could see that below his boyish charisma worry and anger threatened to surge forward.
“What we need to do is get one of those microphones into the Reverend’s or Thaddeus’s office.” He cocked a grin. “I can get in trouble again and have Thaddeus give me a good talking to. I could plant one in there then.”
“And how exactly would you get in trouble this time?”
A deeper, broader smile rose from somewhere elemental in him, causing my eyes to widen. A flush of heat rose to my cheeks.
“You said you weren’t interested,” I said.
“We’d be doing it for the network.” He leaned in a fraction closer. “For the greater good.”
“You’re an ass.”
“Well, I’ve heard that before.”
“I’m sure you have.” I glanced around again, worried Grizz was somewhere close and could hear us talking. I spoke quietly and quickly. “I think we can plant more microphones without sacrificing ourselves for the greater good.”
His smile dropped like an anvil. “I’d be a sacrifice? Damn, Ricci, your words can be razor sharp.”
“You wouldn’t be a sacrifice—” I caught myself when he grinned again. I inhaled audibly. “Meet me later, two hours after curfew, in the infirmary. There’s something I need to show you.”
“The rest of the microphones?” he asked, looking pointedly at my chest.
“Really?”
“You’re too much fun to tease, you know that? Of course I’ll meet you later.”
Of course.
At those words my pulse jumped.
I stepped away. “Just be careful and don’t get caught.”
Gabriel thrust the shovel into the pile of trash. “No promises, Ricci. No promises.”
Through the sheets of rain, I picked my way around the puddles toward the infirmary. The winding path through Edenton seemed to disappear ahead of me, the lights lining either side reflecting off the water and creating an almost opaque white curtain of water. Rain slanted as sharp wind blew cool spattering drops on my face, and I pulled my hood tighter.
“Mia? What are you doing out here this late?”
I saw a figure come toward me. It was Agatha, poncho pulled tight around her body. Her face was taut with tension. Cheekbones protruded out from her narrow face, streaming with water. She squinted at me through the rain.
I’d thought of excuses before I’d snuck out of the cottage while the other girls slept. “I was just going to ask Doc Gladstone for some aspirin. Headache.” I pointed to my forehead. “What about you?”
She shifted from one foot to the other. “A few things to take care of in the kitchen.” At my questioning look she said, “Your new kitchen manager didn’t finish her duties this evening.” She didn’t elaborate further. “Hurry along or you’ll catch your death out here.”
I watched as she rushed past me and veered off down the path toward the kitchen.
A curl of malicious joy unfurled in my chest. Good. Bridgette wasn’t so perfect after all. I had planned on sneaking the key from her wrist while she slept, but it had been so dark in our cottage when I snuck out, I didn’t want to risk waking her and listening to a righteous lecture on the Eighth Commandment. I couldn’t miss meeting Gabriel, after all. I’d find a way to get the key. I only needed to be patient.
I didn’t want to run into anyone else, so I stepped off the path and trudged through the mud, darting between buildings to the infirmary. The rain kept most of the patrolling security guards at the places most needed: the entrances and out in the jungle. But when I realized what I’d done, I almost launched into one of Gabriel’s string of vivid curses. I had to pass one of the guard buildings to get to the infirmary, or double back. I was losing time. I crouched down. The one window was open, so I started to slowly pass under it when I heard noises from inside. Not just noises, but giggles and—moaning?
I stopped below the sill. Gradually, I lifted my head until I could see inside. The light was low; only a desk lamp had been turned on and the illumination reflected against the stark-white wall above the desk. Deep shadows clung to the corners of the room. Once I could make out what was happening inside, I had to stifle a gasp. Freddie was stripped to the waist. The muscles of his back rolled and tensed, and he held someone in his arms. He half-turned toward the window and I quickly ducked down. I listened for a moment and heard a giggle. With extreme care, I peeked up over the windowsill again–and saw a very giddy, very naked, very carefree Bridgette.
It took me a few moments to process the scene. This was Bridgette. Holier-than-thou, sanctimonious, preachy, smug Bridgette. Now she was lustful and needy, pulling at Freddie’s waistband. And he seemed pleased to be the target of her greediness. How long had this been going on? I’d never noticed anything between them. They certainly weren’t courting. Since her first Prayer Circle, she hadn’t been matched with a boy by the Reverend, and never really seemed to care. I knew Edenton was filled with secrets, but I never realized some would shock me so much more than others.
Her uniform dress was strewn across the desk and her bra was dangling off the arm of the desk chair. Her hair, normally so neat and pulled into a ponytail, flew freely about her head, wildly, as if the wind from outside were lifting it into the air. Her face was flushed, relaxed. And she looked so happy–not viciously happy, or self-righteously happy, but simply happy. The malicious joy I’d felt earlier was replaced by an inexplicable envy. I wanted that kind of happy. Lustful and exciting, the kind of happy that would make my cheeks glow pink and my body awaken. I remembered the last time I’d felt that, and with whom.
Then, I saw it. Lying on the windowsill next to her silver dog-tag necklace with the Romans 13:13 scripture quote, was the yellow bracelet with the pantry key.
I inspected a small rip in the screen. While their attention was on each other, I stuck my finger into the small slit and ripped it, tiny wire by tiny wire, until it was wide enough to slip the key through. By the time I had the bracelet halfway out of the opening, Freddie’s pants were off, and he was naked.
I froze and stared. I’d never seen a boy naked. I immediately thought of Gabriel, the tattoo on his stomach, and what was below that tattoo. I squeezed my eyes shut and heard words exchanged, sweet, low, whispered words I couldn’t understand over the rain. Blindly, I pulled the bracelet out the rest of the way, ducked below the window, and sighed with relief. Then I dashed away, feet slipping on the muddy turf.
By the time I made it to the infirmary, a strange mix of emotions churned inside me. I didn’t understand the yearning I felt, why my thoughts pinged right to Gabriel. He’d made it clear he wasn’t interested in me. Fine. Maybe I wasn’t interested either. Maybe it was just my first experience with anything sexual, and that was making me obsess a little more on the subject than I should.
But he came back to Edenton. Did he come back for me?
Did you think I was going to let you do this on your own?
A few soft lights burned in the infirmary. The door wasn’t locked, so I slipped inside and shook off my raincoat, the patters of water hitting the floor in little tinkling sounds.
“Doc Gladstone?” I called in a loud whisper.
“He’s not here.” Gabriel’s eyes gleamed in the shadows. “No one is.”
I threw my raincoat on an exam table. “Maybe he’s with a patient in one of the cottages.”
“What took you so long to get here?” he asked, stepping closer. Instead of the usual gray collared uniform shirt, he wore a black T-shirt and black cargo pants.
“I ran into Agatha,” I said. “And Bridgette.”
“What were they doing out in this weather?”
“Agatha was headed to the kitchen. And Bridgette was in the security guard shack with Freddie the security guard, having sex.”
Gabriel’s eyes widened. “Wow. No metaphor for you, huh? And how, may I ask, did you run into them having sex?” He drew out the last word with a particular kind of interest.
I tried to remain dispassionate, clinical, but Gabriel’s eyes on me felt almost like a touch. “I was passing by the security building on my way here and I heard something. So I looked in the window and there they were.”
Moving slowly, deliberately, Gabriel stepped forward. He was very close now. I drew in a breath, feeling a little dizzy.
“Did you watch them, Mia?” he asked in a low, rumbling voice.
I answered without looking him in the eye. “No.”
“I think you did.”
“It doesn’t matter if I did or not.” I held up my wrist, the key dangling from it. “She left the key to the special provisions pantry on the windowsill and I snagged it.”
“Impressive. And one hell of a sacrifice you made to get it.”
“Shut up. Come on, you need to see something.”
He didn’t make a smart comment back to me, which meant he was either taking me seriously, or had his mind on something else. I could only imagine what that something else was.
The back hall of the infirmary was enveloped in shadow. I’d only been back there a couple times, so I wasn’t familiar with the space. I felt around on the wall for a light switch, and found it, flipping it on. Everything went sterile white for a split second, and the hallway came into view.
I twisted the handle to the closet door, where Doc Gladstone and I had emerged earlier from the tunnel, and motioned for Gabriel to walk in first.
“What’s in there?” he asked.
“You’ll see.”
“Look, Mia, do you have to be so creepy about this? Edenton is weird enough as it is. Just tell me.”
“There are stairs that lead to a series of underground tunnels beneath Edenton.”
“And it just got weirder.” Gabriel shook his head. “Underground tunnels? For what?”
“For people to get around unseen. For the Reverend’s inner circle to travel around as they please. Doc Gladstone said they were constructed when the plumbing and stuff was put in.”
“Where do they lead?”
“All over Edenton. I think every security building has access to them, as well as some of the more important buildings and cottages. I bet we could get to Thaddeus’s cottage as well as the Reverend’s and plant the microphones.”
“How do you know how to get around?”
“Doc Gladstone showed me how to tell which tunnel is going in which direction.”
“And this idea doesn’t scare you shitless?”
I tugged at the pocket of my dress. “We have to get these microphones planted.”
Gabriel’s face lit in a glorious smile. “Yeah, we do, don’t we?”
Realization dawned. “You really like all this, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“The danger, the adrenaline. You enjoy it.”
He shrugged. “I do.”
“So that’s why you came back,” I said. “The outside world didn’t have the immediate adrenaline rush that freeing the Flock from certain death would have?”
“I have my own reason for coming back.”
“And what is it?”
Ignoring my question, Gabriel walked into the closet, found the light, and turned it on. “Shut out the light in the hallway,” he said.
He stopped when he saw the keypad by the door inside the closet. From behind, I reached around him and punched in the numbers I remembered seeing Doc Gladstone use earlier: 123456. The door made a clinking sound.
“You’re kidding,” he said. “That’s their passcode and the network can’t hack into their systems? I bet all their passwords are ‘password.’”
Slowly, he opened the door. The staircase led down two flights. Without any hesitancy, Gabriel bounded down the steps and I followed as quickly as I could.
He froze at the bottom of the steps. “Holy shit. This is unbelievable.”
The tunnel looked the same as I remembered it, walls of concrete, but now dingy, dripping stains crept down the sides, water seeping in from the rain above. It smelled of mold and dampness. The cage lights above burned at a low wattage, just enough to see from one circle of light to the next.
The stairway was in the middle of a long stretch of tunnel. To our right the tunnel curved away from us, to the left it snaked along a few feet then banked suddenly behind us.
“Which way?” he asked.
I fished out the map I’d drawn from my pocket. The edges of it were damp.
“Did you draw that?” Gabriel asked, looking at the image on the other side.