When I look back at Waverly and Gabe, I see the two of them staring at me. They aren’t smiling, nor do they seem sad, just observant. They know as well as I that I’m going to take care of her.
Just until we find this Jenna character,
I think.
I’ll watch her for that long.
“You won’t have to do it alone,” Waverly says, almost as if she read my thoughts.
Gabe agrees.
I want to tell her that it isn’t really fair because I might not feel the responsibility to take care of her if I had never read about the vision in the first place. But I hold my tongue. If Waverly wanted me to know about the vision she would have told me. I’m just going to do the best I can. In fact, I’m going to make it a point to pretend like I never knew about Waverly’s vision. I won’t let it influence the way I act or treat Evie. The reason I’m here to take care of her is because Stephen is too lazy or distracted to do it himself.
The three of us talk for the next few minutes. We start weighing the pros and cons for leaving versus staying. I try to ask Waverly more about Ethan and what he might like to do, but she clams up pretty quick.
At some point, I feel a short tug on my sleeve, and when I look behind me, little Evie is standing with her blanket in her arms. “I’m hungry,” she says. Her voice sounds so sweet and innocent.
“Why don’t you come with me?” Waverly says, standing from the table. She probably wants to get away from any conversation that involves Ethan right now. “I can help you find something.”
Evie shakes her head and stands closer to me. “You take me,” she says. I look from Evie to Waverly who smiles at me briefly.
She shrugs. “She knows who she likes.”
“Why me?” I ask, but Evie just takes another step closer and wraps her arms around my waist. Gabe is all smiles too. “Okay,” I tell her. “Let’s find something to eat.”
Two days have come and gone since I slipped past Shadowface’s tight grip. It feels strange being in Elkhorn among people I’ve never met, and the ones that I do know feel like strangers. Remi and Gabe have been nice enough, though the two of them seem so preoccupied, and perhaps even so unsure of themselves that talking with them does little in deciding what we plan to do next. Then there’s Ethan. He’s a
total
stranger. I’ve tried to talk to him a couple of times over the past few days, but all I get in return are short answers or a cordial nod. He doesn’t seem like the same Ethan that I knew a month ago—the one I had kissed on the rooftop. I can’t help but think that he is angry because of the shooting, but he knows that it wasn’t my fault. He knows that there was nothing I could have done. So, why can’t he move past it?
The more I think about it, the more I believe it has less to do with me shooting him than it does with the month he has had since. He told me that some man had loaded him up in the back of his truck and took him to his cabin—that the man took care of him—then the man died a week ago.
I’m not sure I believe it. All of us have had our hardships, but maybe something happened to Ethan that pushed him over the edge—something he doesn’t want to share with me. But what could it have been?
It is the beginning of my third day here and I’m walking into the ‘operation center’ as I’ve learned people call it. It’s no different than any of the other rooms in any of the other buildings in Elkhorn. It’s a big office on the first floor where cubicle dividers have been pushed up against the walls to make room for all the men and women here. When I walk through the doors, not a single head looks up at me. It’s as if the office is being used in the way it was always meant to. There are at least fifty people moving quickly from person-to-person, each of them with his or her own purpose. In the center of the room there is a large desk where Jeremiah sits. On the walls are monitors and television screens apparently hooked up to security cameras that are placed around the perimeter of the hideout. There seems to be far more going on here than when Stephen was in charge. Though, it isn’t even the same place. Basically whatever Stephen had is gone and obsolete.
I walk through the crowd of people, some of them pouring over maps together, others looking through inventory sheets, a few are figuring numbers with pads and pencils. I almost feel overwhelmed by the business, so when I hear someone call my name, I jump. I look to my left and see Jeremiah motioning for me to come join him at his desk. Looking from side-to-side, I slowly make my way toward him.
When I walk up to the desk, there is a strong smell of cigar smoke. His eyes droop as they normally do, and I truly don’t feel like I should be here. Jeremiah motions to the chair across from his desk. “Please, Waverly, I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”
The metal chair is hard and cold, and it is placed so Jeremiah sits about a foot taller than me. “What’s up?” I ask.
“Just wanted to see how you were holding up,” he says with a smile.
I shrug my shoulders. “I feel out of place here.” My eyes travel around the room. “I don’t even understand what is happening. There is a sense of urgency that I don’t quite grasp.”
“You don’t grasp it because you aren’t helping us,” he says, still smiling. “But that is completely understandable. You are recuperating. Or, at least, I hope you are.”
It feels weird to think that I’m recuperating. I have been through much worse trauma than what I have experienced over the past month. “When I came here, I didn’t expect there to be anyone left. I figured Remi might have been looking for me here, but I thought it was a long shot.”
Jeremiah shakes his head. “Ever since Shadowface’s attack, we’ve been in revenge mode.”
“But where have all these people come from? When you were here the first time, there were only three of you.”
Jeremiah lets out a sharp chuckle as he looks around the room. “Pretty amazing, isn’t it? I’ve been gathering allies for the past three years. It has been my mission to turn people against Shadowface because of everything she represents—because she only wants power. It’s because of my planning and research that we learned Shadowface is in the town of Anchorage, and roughly how many men she has. It will be a great day when we take over.”
“And what will happen when you’ve accomplished that goal?” I ask.
“I will help people rebuild their world,” he says. “I can give people a chance to make their lives normal again.”
“Normal?”
“Well,” Jeremiah says, “as normal as it can be. I’m going to supply villages with weapons, and food, and the ability to sustain themselves.”
“But isn’t that what Shadowface is doing?” I say.
“Well, yes,” Jeremiah says. “But I know her. Olivia is seeking power by making people love her.”
“But no one knows who she is,” I say. “Except…”
Jeremiah’s eyes narrow. “Except what?”
“She plans to tell the world,” I say.
“I know this plan of hers,” he says, sighing and turning to look at one of the monitors on the wall. “And I know it will be soon. I have a few people who work closely with some of the settlement leaders. They are supposed to inform me when they learn of it, but that is unreliable at best.”
“Four days,” I say.
Jeremiah turns his head at me sharply. “Excuse me?”
“Olivia had me see into her future,” I say.
Jeremiah looks all around us for a moment, and then stands. “Walk with me. Let’s talk outside.”
I don’t know if he wants to talk outside because it’s more private or so we can talk with less distraction, but in either case I feel more relaxed away from the crowd of people. We walk outside the building where the air is cold, and the wind bites at my ears and nose, but I prefer it. I tuck my jacket around me tightly.
“Why haven’t you said anything about this before?” Jeremiah asks. He seems almost angry, but he keeps a civil tone.
“Everyone around here seems so busy,” I say. “The way you and your people have been acting, I thought you already knew.”
“We don’t know. Not yet. You say four days?”
“Sometime in the evening,” I say. “That’s when she plans to reveal her identity.” I shake my head at him. “I don’t really understand why this is so significant. Doesn’t that just make her an easier target?”
“It’s complicated,” Jeremiah says. “But it is important for us to take her out before she shows herself.”
“Yeah, but I want to know your motivation. I want to hear it from you.”
Jeremiah sighs, clearly not wanting to explain anything to me, but he composes himself quickly. “The moment she reveals herself to the settlements, she will put a face to the person that has provided for them. Right now, the leaders won’t put up much of a fuss about losing someone they have never seen.”
“Except they won’t enjoy the benefits she’s provided,” I say.
“Maybe,” he says, “but the moment she shows her identity, the moment she starts meeting with leaders and putting on her charm, she will be likable. People will want to follow her. Then, she will want to move forward.”
“What do you mean?”
“Domination,” he says. “She will start taking over the settlements that have refused her help. If they are not willing, she will take them by force. She wants to be a dictator, Waverly.”
“So, why Shadowface? Why did she keep her identity a secret?”
“In the beginning, it worked. Now, her network is getting too big. People are starting to ask too many questions. So, naturally, she will give them what they want. This has been her plan from the beginning.”
“She told you of this plan?” I ask.
He seems to hesitate for a moment, but finally he says, “Yes.” He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a cigar and a lighter. He bends his neck down, and covers the flame of the lighter with his palm. He sucks on the cigar until the end glows orange, and a white cloud of air blows out as he breathes heavily. “Once upon a time, I shared her ambition. I thought what she planned was genius. But when she told me about it, she never mentioned taking over settlements. In the beginning, it was about helping people survive. Once I found out it was more about her lust for power, I left her, never thinking she would be successful.” He hangs his head until his chin rests on his chest. “To my utter shame, I didn’t kill her when I had the chance. I started going after her when it was too late.”
“But it’s not too late,” I say. “You’ve got four days.”
Jeremiah looks up at me and smiles. “Waverly, you will never know the good you did today by telling me this.”
I can feel my face turn red as he looks at me. His stare seems to linger for a long moment…too long. I turn from him and look out into the parking lot.
“Can you tell me what you saw in Olivia’s future?” he asks.
In this moment, I’m not so sure I want to tell him. No doubt he expects to hear about his army moving in and destroying Olivia, giving him the chance to take over. Telling him about his death and my death will not help me change the future yet. It has to be in the moment when we are there. I don’t know how to do it, but I know it must be done.
I look up at Jeremiah and shrug. “I just saw the meeting,” I say. “She was giving a speech about unification and there were about thirty people there with her. That’s it.”
“So according to the vision, she reveals herself?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I say. I hate lying, but I just can’t bring myself to tell him the truth—that I really don’t know if the meeting takes place or not. “But you told me yourself, Jeremiah, that a glimpse of the future is like only looking at the corner of a painting. It’s hardly the whole picture.”
“I did say that, didn’t I?” He brings his cigar to his mouth and takes another long draw. “It bothers me that you saw her meeting with the leaders, however.”
“But when I saw that future, it was before I planned to tell you about it,” I say. “We might have already changed it. That’s why you can’t rely on me to make your plan. It’s not enough information to go on.”
“I know,” he says. “I suppose we will need to leave soon. Four days hardly gives me enough time, but I think we can be ready.”
“I’m not sure I will be going with you,” I say.
“Waverly, we can use all the help we can get,” he says. “We know very little about Anchorage. We need you.”
“I don’t know. I don’t really want to go back.”
Even though I’ve seen the future, and I’ve seen myself back in Anchorage, that doesn’t mean I can’t go ahead and change it now. If I decide not to go, then that is simply that. Perhaps Jeremiah would even have a higher chance of success if I didn’t go.
“Waverly, I understand,” he says, “but you know the place better than anyone.”
“I hardly know it at all,” I say. “It’s only been a couple of days and I’m already forgetting it.”
“It will come back to you,” he says.
“I’ll have to think about it,” I say.
“Ethan is going,” Jeremiah says.
“What? How do you know?”
“I assume he is, anyway. He has been very helpful to me ever since he got here. He seems very motivated to help us take down Shadowface.”
“I haven’t really talked to him,” I say. “I don’t think he wants to talk to
me.
Anyway, right now, telling me that doesn’t make me want to go any more than before.”
“I hope you will reconsider,” he says as he starts to walk back toward the office. He tosses whatever is left of the cigar on the ground.
My feet are planted to the sidewalk. “I’m sorry, Jeremiah, I’m just through with all of this.”
He places a hand on the door but pauses. “You may be finished with the world, but that doesn’t mean it stops spinning.” He looks at the ground as if he’s thinking about saying something else, but instead he just opens the door and walks back into the office, leaving me out in the cold.