Naomi Grim (3 page)

I wanted to go back and bang on the
door, but I knew it would be useless. Father was right, Dunningham would be
there any second looking for me. Maybe he would spare my family. I hoped so. I
wouldn't be able to take it if they were executed because of me.

I had to get out of Farrington. I slid
my hood over my head and began to run. I ran past the rows and rows of
Farrington houses that reminded me of my own. I ran through the bushes along
the city limits of Farrington. I was stomping through the stream when sirens
blared through the air, and I was positive they were for me. Dunningham had
made it to my house and discovered I wasn't there. Now every Watcher in Nowhere
would be after me. I had to get out of bounds and hide before they caught up
with me.

I was thankful my family had given me a
head start. I hoped with all my might that they would be spared. They shouldn't
be held responsible for my crimes, but I knew very well that Dunningham had
executed entire families because of the actions of one.

I ran along the wall that separated us
from Litropolis, looking desperately for the hole. I was sure I had passed it.
It didn't usually take long to find it, but things probably seemed to take
longer when you were running for your life.

Finally, I saw it. The loose stones in
the wall were difficult for me to push alone. I wished someone was there to
help me, then I reminded myself that I was one my own. I had to learn to be
independent.

I pushed enough stones away for me to
squeeze through. My arms shook from exhaustion. I slid my duffle bag through
the hole first, and then myself. Once I crawled through, I stood and put the
bag back on my shoulder. The strap hurt and felt like it was cutting through my
skin. I wondered what Mother had put inside the bag, but I didn't have time to
stop and check. I was winded, but I had to keep running. People stared at me
strangely. Some of them probably recognized me from my two recent visits. Not
many people who didn't belong in Litropolis went there. Sirens blared, even
there. The Grims there whispered to each other as I ran through. Shacks and
tents became a blur as I darted around tin cans and piles of garbage.

I only noticed the pipe sticking out of
the ground as I tripped over it. An old woman helped me up. Her eyes were gray,
much like her hair. She didn't seem to have many teeth in her mouth.
"Child, what have you done?"

I didn't have time to answer her. I kept
running. I wanted to stop so badly, but I couldn't. At the end of Litropolis was
another stone wall, twice as tall as the other, for it was designed to keep
Foragers out.

I turned. A man sitting outside of his
tent watched me.

"How do I get out of here?"

"You don't."

"I have to. They're after me."

The man laughed. He was missing a few
teeth. "If they're after you, you're already caught. I don't know why
you're running. Whatcha do?"

I ignored him and sprinted along the
wall. Maybe I'd get lucky and find another hole. I jogged, running my fingers
over the concrete, hoping for any indentation or movement that would mean there
was an opening. I wished I could use my Grimbilities, but I wasn't on
assignment, so they were disengaged. I had to find some way to get over that
wall.

Then I spotted a Watcher. Reynold, to be
exact, sticking his head in and out of tents. He was no doubt asking people had
they seen me. Reynold was actually throwing people's things every which way as
he looked for me. I felt even guiltier. The people who had seen me running
through were bound to snitch. They had no allegiance to me. I was a snooty Grim
from Farrington who looked down on them.

"Anyone who hides you is no doubt
going to be killed," said a young woman as she hung wet clothes on a
clothesline.

"I know, I wouldn't ask anyone to
do that," I said. "I only ask that you don't tell them you've seen
me."

"Get inside," the woman said,
motioning toward a small shack with her head.

"What?"

"I said get inside," the woman
ordered. She took my duffle bag.

I obeyed and ducked into her shack. She
followed me in. "Get in the corner and tuck yourself into a tiny ball."
I did. She then covered me with sheets and pillows that she probably slept on.
"Don't move. I'll hide your bag somewhere."

I couldn't hear any more movement so I
assumed the woman had gone back to hanging her laundry. I willed myself not to
move by reminding myself I could die if I did. I would probably be caught
anyway, once Reynold or another Watcher threw the covers aside.

After a few minutes, I felt a weight on
top of me. The woman was sitting on me. It hurt and I wanted to tell her to get
off, but her sitting on me was probably a good idea.

I heard several gruff voices asking,
"Have you seen this girl?" The voices and footsteps got louder as
they neared the shack.

"Hey," said a man. He was in
the shack now. "Seen her?"

The woman shifted a little, squashing my
ribcage. "No. Why?"

The man said nothing. She was only a
Litropolite, so why would he answer her question? I heard things being moved
and tossed around. I prayed he didn't ask her to move.

"Fine. Keep an eye out for
her." Then he was gone, but we still didn't move from our positions. After
a few more minutes, the sirens stopped. Did that mean they had given up
searching for me?

The woman moved from on top of me. I was
sore and it pained me to move, especially in my abdomen. Slowly I removed the
sheet from over my head. The woman was releasing the sheets that hung on either
side of the shack's opening. They fell gently, covering the doorway. I sat up
and rubbed my arms.

"Thanks so much . . ."

"Odessa."

 "Odessa. You didn't have to do
that."

"I know. What the hell did you
do?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"You don't know? They don't sound
alarms and do full searches for one Grim unless that Grim has done something
horrendous. What did you do?"

I looked around the shack at the mess
the Watcher had made. I would help her clean up. "I was on assignment. We
were supposed to be collecting lives from a school massacre and I stopped it.
It didn't happen."

Odessa whistled. "Wow. Forget
Gattica. Dunningham's going to kill you."

I didn't want to die, and I definitely
didn't need to hear her saying that. "Not if he can't find me."

Odessa scoffed. "That demon has
eyes and ears everywhere. He'll find you."

"He doesn't have eyes and ears over
the wall."

"No, he doesn't. But how are you
going to get over it?"

I rubbed a scrape on the side of my hand
that I had just noticed. I must have gotten it when Father pushed me out of the
door. "There has to be a way. If the Foragers can get in, there has to be
a way to get out."

Odessa got up and began to put things
back where they belonged. I moved to help her, but she raised her finger at me.
"Don't. You don't know where anything goes."

I sat against her pillows and watched
her clean. Odessa was beautiful. Her olive skin was covered with black smudges,
but still she was beautiful. Her dark, curly hair fell past her waist and her
black eyes were large and almond-shaped. "Stop staring. It's rude," she
said without even looking up.

I looked away and sighed, wondering how
I was ever going to get out of this mess. Odessa had been in the process of
straightening up some pots and dishes when she stopped and watched me over her shoulder.
But I was the one being rude?

"They come every other day. They're
scheduled to come tomorrow. Maybe if you ask nicely, they'll take you over the
wall with them."

"Who?"

Odessa paused, looking at the ground. I
imagined she was wondering if she should tell me. "Foragers."

"What? Foragers come here? For
what?"

"That I cannot tell you. All I can
say is they'll be coming over the wall tomorrow morning. Going back with them
will be the only way for you to get out of here."

My stomach growled. I hadn't eaten
anything since breakfast. "Do you think they'll help me?"

"I don't know. It depends on who
comes. Some of them are nicer than others."

"But why do you guys let them come
here?"

"Listen . . ."

"Naomi."

"Listen, Naomi. That doesn't
concern you. All you need to be worried about is getting over that wall. That's
it."

Once Odessa was done reorganizing her
home, she made two pallets for us to sleep on. She blew out the oil lamp, and
we lay in silence.

Even with the pillows, I was
uncomfortable. I yearned to be in my own soft bed. I needed to kiss my parents
good night and rest my head where it belonged. I imagined what they were doing
just then. They had to be safe. I'd die if anything happened to them on account
of me.

The whole city of Litropolis seemed to
turn in at the same time. I heard no more voices, no more people moving around,
just the wind.

"Naomi?" Odessa's voice
sounded far away, but she was right next to me.

"Yes?"

"Why did you stop it?"

I didn't answer her right away. "I
don't know. It just felt right."

When Odessa shook me awake the next
morning, it was still dark out. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"I have some oatmeal cooking
outside. Help yourself. The Foragers are scheduled to be here in an hour. I
have some errands to run. The bowls and spoons are over there." She pointed
to the side of the shack. Then she left me alone.

I crawled over to the pile of dishes and
scrounged around until I found a wooden bowl and spoon. I couldn't imagine
having to live this way all the time. I had only been away overnight and I
missed the comforts of my own home—comforts I would never have again because I
couldn't go back.

Outside of Odessa's shack, I spotted
several other Grims making breakfast outside. The oatmeal sat in a pot over
some rocks. I assumed there had once been a fire there. Crouching, I scooped
oatmeal into my bowl until it was full and then I crawled back inside. I wasn't
a huge fan of oatmeal, but I was starving. I began to devour it without even
waiting for it to cool.

As I ate, my eyes fell on my duffle bag.
Odessa must have brought it back in this morning from wherever she had hidden
it. I put my bowl down and unzipped it. Mother had packed it full with several
pairs of jeans, hoodies, and underwear, a black, hardcover book—my copy of the
Grim Covenant, a bag of coins, and a photo of our family. I stared at it for a
moment before clutching it to my chest.

By the time I finished my breakfast,
Odessa had come back, carrying something in a basket. "Did you eat
enough?" she asked.

I nodded, even though I could eat plenty
more. There was only enough food left for her, and I knew she had so little.

Odessa went out to fix herself a bowl
and then came back in. We sat in silence as Odessa ate. When she was done, she
grabbed the basket she had brought in. It was full of peas. She began to snap
them in half and peel them. "This will be supper," she announced. I
wasn't sure why. I had no plans to be there that evening. "We don't do
lunch here. That's a luxury we can't afford."

"That's fine," I said, even
though it wasn't. That bowl of oatmeal was going to wear off pretty fast. "You
live here alone?" I asked. Singleness was uncommon in Nowhere. Grims were
to be paired off with someone. Usually, there were more females than males, and
the unpaired women lived in one big home together. Parents often scrambled to
get their girls paired off so they wouldn't become what Grims called
"leftovers".

She sniffed. "Yes. My husband's in
Gattica."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I was tempted
to ask why, but I figured she wouldn't want to talk about it. "When was
the last time you were dispatched?"

Odessa laughed. "Dispatched? Let's
see, for me it's been maybe five months."

That was a long time. Grims in
Farrington were dispatched at least every other week.
            "Yep," Odessa continued. "I have about
forty-nine years left, give or take. I don't think I'll be earning many more."

Odessa couldn't have been older than
twenty-five. If she didn't earn anymore years, she would die when she was
seventy-five, very early for a Grim. She looked at me from the corner of her
eye. "How about you?"

I felt ashamed. "Four hundred and
something. Odessa, why did you help me?"

"I don't know. I saw a scared girl
running for her life. Call me a big softy." I knew the feeling.

A sharp whistle pierced the air. Odessa
looked at me wide-eyed. "They're coming over."

We crawled out of the shack. About
twenty feet down along the wall, I spotted five Forager men scaling down the
wall. They were dirty and unkempt like all Foragers, but they were fit and
muscular.

One of them, a tall one with brown curly
hair and light brown eyes ran and scooped Odessa up in his arms. He spun her
around and then placed her back on the ground. The other men had gone off.
After a few moments, Odessa remembered I was standing there. "Oh, Nigel,
this is Naomi."

Nigel frowned at me. "What are you
doing here?"

"They're looking for her. Nigel,
she'll die if she stays here. Will you take her back over with you?"

Nigel looked from me to Odessa then back
to me again. I could tell it was hard for him to tell her no. He shrugged.
"I don't care, but I have to see what the other guys say first."
Odessa nodded and Nigel went off, probably to where the other men were.

Odessa and I went back inside her shack,
where she continued to snap peas. "Don't judge me," she said as I
joined her by the bowl.

"I'm not."

"I love Navy, I do, but he's in
Gattica. He's never coming back."

"I understand," I muttered.

"Besides, Nigel is the one I'm
in
love with. There's a difference, you know."

"A difference?"

"Yes, you grow fond of your betrothed,
but that doesn't mean they're your soul mate. Nigel is hands down my soul mate,
but he's a Forager, so we can never be."

I thought about Keira and Bram. "Do
they ever get caught here? The Foragers?"

Odessa shook her head. "Do you see
any Watchers here? They don't care what we do as long as we stay on our side of
the wall, which is fine. It works out better for us."

I wanted to ask again what they were
doing here, but I knew Odessa would never tell me. A couple of hours passed.
Odessa and I had snapped the peas, washed the morning dishes, and entertained
three gossiping women. I worried the women might tell that Odessa was hiding
me, but she assured me that Grims in Litropolis didn't snitch. I was beginning
to wonder if the Foragers had gone back without taking me.

Then Nigel stuck his head inside the
shack and my fear subsided. "The guys said okay."

I breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed
my duffle bag. Odessa and I crawled out of the shack. I turned to her.
"Thank you for everything." I was truly grateful. She had saved my
life. No one else had helped me. It was also because of her that I was getting
over the wall.

Odessa nodded. "No problem. Take
care of yourself and good luck." She and Nigel shared another kiss and
then we made our way to where the rope hung.

Three men were already scaling it. They
made it look easy. I hadn't thought about the fact that I would have to
actually climb. I didn't think I could do it.

Nigel must have read my mind. He took my
duffle bag from me and put it over his shoulder. "It's okay. Hand over
hand. Foot over foot. Just like you're walking, except you're walking
upward." It sounded easy when he put it like that.

"Listen, kid," said the
Forager waiting behind Nigel. "We'll get you over this wall, but then
you're on your own."

"Moore, come on, man," Nigel
said. "All right. Go ahead and take the rope. Put your feet on the wall
and I'll hoist you up."

I did as I was told and discovered that
I didn't have much upper body strength. Thankfully, Nigel was beneath me to
help boost me along. I moved hand over hand and foot over foot as instructed.
Surprisingly, I moved up the wall. When I got to the middle of the wall, I made
the mistake of looking down.

"Keep going," Nigel urged me,
so I did.

I had gotten to the top of the wall when
I made the horrible realization that going down was going to be much worse than
climbing up. I sat on top of the wall. "I can't. I can't go down." I
looked down at Nigel, who was still on the rope, waiting for me to continue.

"Naomi, what are you going to do?
Sit there for the rest of your life?" I nodded. "See, that wouldn’t
be such a problem if Moore and I weren't stuck behind you, but we are."

"Listen," called Moore's rough
voice. "You can either climb down, or you can jump and hope that one of
the other guys catches you."

"Shut up!" Nigel yelled at
him, but Moore was right. They were helping me out, and I was slowing down the
process. "It's okay," Nigel said gently, and I could understand why
Odessa loved him. "Just swing your legs over and roll on your belly. Put
your feet against the wall, grab the rope. You can do this, Naomi. Hand under
hand and foot under foot this time."

I followed his instructions. My heart
skipped a few beats when my feet slid. Thankfully my right foot was stopped by
a crack in the wall. It became easier than I thought. I didn't look down and I
kept thinking "hand under hand and foot under foot." When I felt I
was close enough to the ground, I let myself drop.

The other three men waiting there nodded
at me politely. My duffle bag dropped by my feet. I'd forgotten about that. It
was sweet of Nigel to carry it for me.

I put my duffle bag around my shoulders.
"Thanks for your help," I said, particularly to Nigel. I turned to be
on my way.

"Where are you going?" one of
the men asked.

"I don't know." The plan was
to just walk and see what happened.

"Get over here," Nigel said,
waving me over. The men began to walk and I followed.

We walked for what seemed like an hour.
I wanted to stop and remove my hoodie. It wasn't cool outside the wall like it
was in Nowhere. The humidity caused my clothing to stick to my body, but I
couldn't stop. I didn't want to slow them down.

The men kept walking like it was
nothing. From time to time Nigel would look back and ask if I was okay and then
Moore would shoot me a dirty look. Nigel took the duffle bag from my shoulder.
I was tempted to grab it back, to prove that I didn't need his help, but the
relief felt so good, I decided against it.

"Everything's looking good,"
said one man whose name was Eris.

"Yep. I think we're ready,"
said another. I hadn't caught his name.

"Shhh," Moore hissed, pointing
his thumb in my direction.

"It doesn't matter," Nigel
said. "She's not going back there."

Moore glared at Nigel. "So she
says. For all we know, Dunningham could have gotten a whiff of this and she
could be a spy. He'd be smart to do that—send a little girl who people would
take pity on." I didn't appreciate him speaking of me that way.

"I'm not a spy or a little girl,
and Dunningham doesn't work that like. If he knew about whatever you were
talking about he wouldn't go through all the trouble of sending a spy. He'd
just have you killed."

"She has a point there," Eris
said. "Moore, you are the most paranoid man I know. Relax, man."

"I'll relax when this is all
over," Moore grumbled.

I stopped walking. "Please  . . . I
really need to stop just for a minute." I had been trying desperately to
endure, but I couldn't any more.

"Okay," said one of the men.

"See—" Moore began, but Nigel
held up his hand and he stopped.

I sat on my duffle bag. Eris knelt next
to me. "Sorry, we don't have any water to give you. We've been going
through a drought."

"Oh. Sorry to hear that."

The men sat on the ground around me.
Moore frowned. "Are you really? Do you even know what a drought is?"

"Moore, knock it off," Eris
said. "What I'd like to know is why you're running. It has to be pretty
bad for you to want to leave paradise to come live among the rats."

I looked at each of the men, wondering
what they would think of me. "I prevented deaths on my assignment. It was
a big one."

"Oh,
you
were the one who
cost us those lifestones. We needed those," Moore carped.

I looked at the ground and waited for
them to throw me back over the wall. I wouldn't blame them.

The other men were silent for a minute.
"That's respectable," said the man named Port.

"It is? I went against the Grim
Covenant."

"Yeah," said Nigel. "To
save human lives. Human blood runs through our veins."

       Yes, it did. Dunstan's
descendants were the product of his relationship with a human woman.

"We did need those lifestones,
though," Nigel added.

"Why'd you do it?" Moore
asked. "Why'd you give up the cushy life to save humans? Real Grims don't
care about them."

"I don't know." I really
didn't know. "I just felt like I had to do it. I didn't think those kids
deserved to die and if I could stop it from occurring, why not?"

The men nodded, and I wanted to change
the subject.

"Now tell me what you guys were
doing in Litropolis. Why do you go there every other day?"

The men looked at each other. "It's
nothing for you to worry your pretty little head about," Port replied. "Trust
us. It'll be better for you not to know."

We sat a few minutes longer and then we
were on our way again. I couldn't believe they made this trek every other day.
At long last, we came to a large cluster of cottages. I was amazed. The place
looked better than Litropolis. I had expected it to look much worse.

There were copper-brown rooftops for as
far as I could see. The cottages were beige with rounded doors and windows.
There weren't many people in sight. A few men were going about their chores,
carrying pails and lumber. I spotted two carrying an elderly man on a plank of
wood.