Reap (The Harvest Saga Book 1) (25 page)

Gray ushered Crew, the Greater
prince of Olympus, into the dilapidated shack that we’d been calling home. We took turns explaining the events of late. Gray told Crew what Gretchen said about his food being tainted and that he’d since spoken with her. She had taken the containers and emptied them, replacing them with simple table salt. The effects might linger for a short time, but would not intensify and would ultimately fade away, along with his abnormal feelings of rage.

I was certain that a part of him would remain angry for a long time. Crew knew who his father was. He knew how he ran the country, how corrupt and dirty he was. He just hadn’t expected his own father to drug him, or for him to take what he had from me.

“I have to find out.”

“Find out what?” I asked him.

“I have to find out what they did to you, Abby. What they are going to do with the others. What my father is truly capable of.”

Gray cleared his throat. He was leaning against a small wooden dresser. “I think I have someone who can help us, at least with respect to the Lesser girls.”

“Who?” Crew and I said in unison. I smiled slightly, making eye contact with him, before turning my attention back to Gray.

“Gretchen.”

Crew looked taken aback. “Gretchen?”

“Yeah. She’s been checking on them at night. The guards love her. She already has an in. I can talk to her about everything.”

Crew nodded his head. “Do it. See what she can learn. Have her befriend Laney. She will help. Tell her Abby said for her to help. Is that okay, Abs?”

“Yes. Laney can tell Gretchen what is going on and Gretchen can report to you, Crew.”

Crew sat on the bed next to me, elbows on his knees, rubbing his temples. “This is so messed up.”

Gray and I agreed. It was.

“I’m going to have a friend hack into your medical records. I’ll find out what’s going on Abby.  I promise. I’m so sorry to have dragged you into all this. And, I….” His voice broke. “I am so sorry for how I’ve acted. I hurt you. I swear I would never hurt you on purpose. I love you.”

I hugged him tight. “I know. It’s okay.”

“No. It’s not okay. But, I promise you, I will make it okay, even if it means taking down my own father. I will make this right.”

I clung tight to him and nodded into his neck.

He exhaled and said, “God, I’m going to miss you. Wait for me?”

I nodded again, a tear slipping down my face. “Of course. You’re my forever.”

He chuckled and wiped the tear away. “And you are mine.”

∞

Gray and I each carried
a small pack with one change of clothes, food and a couple of bottles of water that we managed to sneak away. Crew had arranged everything with Gray via messengers over the past few days. He didn’t trust the security of the communicators. We made our way, as instructed, toward the main train depot in the Lesser section of the Greater City of Olympus.

It was very early in the morning and a heavy fog cloaked our movements. Had he known this dense cover would descend? With the technology found here, anything was possible. The freight train sat empty on the tracks. We climbed into the ninth car from the rear and found the bag that had been promised, behind several stacks of empty wooden crates. Gray pulled from the bag two blankets, more water and food and a heavy white envelope. Scrawled in beautiful penned letters was ‘Abby Blue.”

Gray cleared his throat and stepped away giving me some space. I opened the large square and found a familiar circle. My ring stared back at me. Etched with the symbol of eternity. Infinity, Crew had called it. A letter was tucked in behind it. It read:

My Dearest Abby Blue,

I want to apologize to you with every fiber of my being, with all that I am. I lied to you about a great many things. I pretended to be someone I wasn’t. But you saw through my facade and found the real me. I forced you to become my intended, claimed you, tried to possess you. I was wrong. You’re like a thunderstorm, a wildflower. You cannot be possessed. You can’t be tamed, for if you were, you would wilt and wither. You would die. The light I see within you would dim and then fade away and I couldn’t live with myself if I were the one who had extinguished everything that is you.

You have every reason to doubt me, but do not doubt me when I say sincerely that I love you, Abby Blue. I’ve loved you since I first saw you. And for me, you will always be my forever.

Your Infinite,

Crew

Warm tears cooled against the skin on my cheek as I fingered the parchment and the ring that I once detested. I was jerked out of my reverie quickly as the train jerked forward, its great wheels squealing and groaning against their tracks. Gray and I settled behind the crates. Crew had mentioned that the freight trains took longer to travel. They weren’t as high tech as the Olympian passenger trains. For once, I was glad. I was content to enjoy the journey.

“What are you thinking?” Gray asked.

“I’m just enjoying the present. I’ve always been so focused on the past, or worried about the future, that I’ve never just been still and enjoyed what’s right now.”

He laughed heartily. “What?” I asked.

“The present doesn’t exist.”

“What do you mean?” I cocked my head to the side. His orange eyes glittered happily.

“Think about it. The present is a myth. It’s just what we try to call the split second that our past collides with our future.”

“Hmmm. I never thought about it that way.”

“The moment you were trying so hard to enjoy a second ago is already gone.” I looked at him. “What? It’s true.”

I laughed. “I guess I never figured you for a philosopher.”

Gray threw his arm around my shoulders. “Me either, Abs. Me either.” I snuggled into him and the stubble on his chin grazed my forehead lightly as we rocked to and fro over the land, toward Orchard village. Toward home.

∞

It was night when we
arrived in Orchard. On the depot’s platform, a few fiery torches were lit, but provided little resistance against the blackness that surrounded it. Gray pulled me to standing and we moved stealthily toward the heavy steel door, which he opened just enough for us to squeeze through.

Looking back and forth and declaring it clear and safe, he grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door. We ran quickly toward the shadows lurking in the tree line just beyond the small wooden building. I was focused on trying to be fast and trying not to fall. A hand grabbed me around the stomach and another clasped down on my mouth before more than a squeak of the scream I tried to let loose was uttered. “Shh. It’s me, Abs.”

My heart thundered in my chest. I could feel my entire body shaking. “Ky?”

“Yes.”

Gray pulled me away from Kyan. “Get off her, now,” he warned, with a cold concern that I’d never heard from him before. Kyan released me and stepped back. Looking from Gray to me and back.

“I got a comm that you would be on the train. I was coming to help you. I didn’t realize you weren’t coming alone.”

The two sized each other up. Rolling my eyes, I stepped forward and hugged Kyan with everything I had. “I missed you.”

“Missed you, too, Abby Blue.” His muffled words sounded into my hair.

“Ky, this is Gray. Gray, Kyan’s my best friend.” The two stayed rooted to the ground until I gave both a stern “be nice” look. Reluctantly, they shook hands quickly and then fixed their eyes back on me.

“Abs, I came to warn you, too. A lot’s changed since you’ve been gone. The Greater guards never left. More have come and things have gotten very difficult here in Orchard.” He swallowed thickly.

“Why?”

“They’re here to prevent rebellion. Everyone went sort of crazy after they rounded all of you up and took you away. They’re here to make sure we don’t step out of line. Punishments have been hard and frequent. There’s a curfew now. The Greaters have everyone working, even the elderly and children. It’s....well, it’s rough, Abs. I just wanted you to know so that you would keep your mouth shut.” He pinned me with a pleading, yet stern gaze and I nodded.

“I’ll try.”

“You’ll do. Norris had nothing on their punishments, Abs. It’s bad. Really bad.”

My heart sank. What had happened to Orchard? I was supposed to escape Olympus to return to my home, to my normal. But, it seemed as if the Greaters had even taken that away from me.

“What do we do?” I asked.

“We’ll figure it out, but until we do, please keep your head down and do as you’re told. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“You’re house is being used by guard members right now, so you two can stay with me.”

“Kyan, your parents don’t have room for us.”

He laughed heartily. “I don’t live with my parents anymore.”

“Oh, right. How is Paige?” I felt my entire body stiffen as her name spit from my mouth.

“Paige? I guess she’s okay. She’s married to Councilmen Stephens. The wedding took place the day after they took you away.”

“But Crew said...”

“What did he say?” Kyan asked, brows raised.

“He said you two had been married and that you were now on the Council, as was promised.”

He shrugged, “I declined their offer. They did make me supply coordinator, though. It’s how I knew you were coming.”

“You have Lulu’s job?” Tears flooded my eyes.

“Yeah. Sorry, Abs.”

I shook my head. “Don’t be. I’m happy for you.”

“Well, with the job came my own place, so I have plenty of room for you both. It looks like you might want to clean up and rest. Tomorrow is sure to be interesting.”

Kyan led us through the night, down the well-worn familiar path toward town before veering off onto an obviously new one. His cabin appeared in the distance. It looked like my old home—small, wooden, with a little porch attached to the front. Candles flickered happily in each of the windows and a sliver of smoke poured from the chimney. I covered my nose with my sleeve, trying to warm it as we drew near.

We had to make a plan, figure out how to rescue the girls that had been stolen away. I need to see if Lulu left any clue as to who my parents were and how I could find them. We needed to rid the village of the Greaters that now occupied and ruled over it with heavy hands our freedom, our future was worth fighting for and had now become my cause, my obsession.

The first thing I did
after arranging for Abby and Gray to leave Olympus, was contact Senn. He was brilliant—a master of all things technological. He seemed to think it would be a challenge to hack into the city’s mainframe and obtain Abby’s medical records, but smiled, and accepted the task, along with my money. He tried to refuse it, but I had insisted. What he was doing wasn’t easy or without dangerous.

I arrived back home at the palace and realized that it wasn’t even my home anymore. My home was with Abby, as was my heart. It hurt now that she was gone. But, I had to get her out of here. I felt like burning the entire city down when I saw her bruises—bruises that my father had mandated that she receive. I passed by his office on the way to my quarters. He was in heavy conversation with someone.

A deep voice boomed. “You shouldn’t have sent her to the Lesser section. What if she talks? Spreads rumors? It wouldn’t take long for the Lessers to spread it around to the Greater guards and for them to spread it to their families. Rumors can take off like wildfire.”

“She won’t talk.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I have her friends here. I control the council in Orchard, too. I can eradicate everyone she loves. I can make her life Hell on Earth if I choose. She is intelligent. She knows what she faces should she wag her tongue.”

“Perhaps you should cut it out.”

“Her tongue?”

“Yes.”

Father seemed to mull it over. “Perhaps. But for now, she will stay in the Lesser section. Greater or not, she doesn’t belong in our great city.”

“Agreed.”

I heard chair legs scoot across the wooden floor and hurried to my room, disgusted that I had come from such a vile human being. I only wished I could see his face when he learns that Abby is gone. I hoped Kyan and the villagers would conceal her. She believed they would, but I wasn’t sure. Of course, she’d grown up there. She knew the political dynamics better than I ever would, and with the Preston’s gone, Dad had no crony to call up for information. If I knew my father, he would find another soon.

I hoped Senn hurried. I needed her records.

I’d secured everything with Gretchen. Laney was on board. Everything was falling into place. And, if everything went as planned, Abby would leave with Gray for Orchard Village tomorrow. I’d offered to send her to another village. She refused saying, “Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t.”  I just wished I could go with her, return the girls who’d been taken, make things right. It’s funny how loving her had opened my eyes to so many things. I’d been raised thinking that the Lessers were only alive to serve the Greaters, that we had been merciful in allowing them to do so. I came to Orchard on a train, prepared to harvest the women that our city needed to right itself from our self-inflicted calamity. I left with an entirely different perspective and feeling more alive with her by my side than I’d ever felt in my life.

She completed me. She challenged me to be better, to see things anew. She loved me when I’m not sure anyone in my life had ever truly and unconditionally done so. And, I would not let her down. She truly was my forever and I would damn sure protect our future.