River: A Novel (37 page)

 “What? No
words, Elodie?” His maniacal face was arrogant. “Oh yes. I know your father
broke the rules, and he will pay.”

 I
straightened up in shock. He knew I could speak? Why hadn’t he started his
little exposition with that? My mouth gaped open. 

 No
, I mouthed.

 “What was
that?” Mace patronized me, cupping his ear. 

 “No,” I
whispered, clearing my throat. “Marcus didn’t do this. Don’t—”

 “OH!” he
cried out incredulously. “Daddy
didn’t
save his precious baby girl’s
voice? He
didn’t
break the rules? Oh. Okay. Well, I’ll just go ahead
with your mother’s execution—”

 “NO!” I
screamed as loudly as I was able, though I didn’t have much volume. I grabbed
his shirt, pleading. “No! Don’t kill her!
Why
would you do that?”

 Mace
grabbed me by the wrists, pushing them backward until I cried out. “Do you
forget where you are, Elodie? Did you think there would be no consequence?” I
pulled in a ragged, painful breath, narrowed my eyes at him, and spat blood in
his face.

 He let go
of my wrists, and I stumbled around the empty concrete room but couldn’t get
away. When he seized my shirt to pull me closer, I whimpered and thumped into
his chest. All I could do was turn my head away from him. Whispering in my ear,
“Well, well.  Brave girl,” he then kissed my cheek. Disgusted, I tried to lean
out of his iron grasp as my skin crawled. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you back for
that one… and you won’t see me coming. In fact, you won’t see anything at all,”
he growled and finally dropped me.

 My eyes
were shut tight, but a white flash streaked my vision when his fist hit the
side of my face.

There was
something in the distance. I could see it miles from where I stood; through the
steel chain link and bare trees, in the very bottom of the huge canyon
below—quivering lights in the dusky gloom. It was River, and I had to get
there. I had to find Danny and Petra. They had to be warned of what was going
to happen. I had to save them. Swinging around, I began to scramble up the
fence, slicing my palms.

 Sharp pain
lingering in my hand jolted me awake. Groaning from a sting in my ribcage, I
felt my senses came back slowly, after feeling nothing else for a moment except
the cold floor. Air was sluggishly making its way into my lungs. Blinking, another
realization came to me. Along with a piercing throb on the left side of my
face, I was blind. I was
blind.
After sitting up too quickly, I clasped
my hands around my knees, bracing myself to take stock of the situation. Moving
each part of my body in the darkness, it was obvious I couldn’t see, but my
eyes didn’t actually hurt while gingerly examining them. I wasn’t certain where
Mace had punched me, although I was pretty sure it was closer to the back of my
head, behind my aching temple. Frantically, I swiveled around to find any
source of light; a crack under the door, perhaps. The hall had been brightly
lit, so I was sure that a sliver of white would penetrate the doorframe, unless
my sight had been taken from me. 

 My heart
raced, and I heard gasping noises.
Calm down
, I told my heart, placing
my hand over it, willing it to slow. As I concentrated on listening to my shaking
breaths, I was thankful that at least I could hear. He could have taken that
away, too.
Oh God
.
What is this psycho going to do to me?
Beginning
to hyperventilate from the thought, I muffled my mouth into my jeans for a few
minutes before forcing myself to stand. I had to find a way out. This was not
how I was going down. 

 A disorienting
wave swept over me, so I threw my arms out, searching for something to hold on
to. Regaining my balance took a few minutes. I breathed through my nose, trying
desperately not to pass out, though unconsciousness wasn’t such an unwelcome
strategy. Finally, I stood a little straighter, held my breath, and listened; deciphering
the silence to be sure I was really alone. Hearing nothing, I tentatively
stepped forward and tripped over my own feet. I would’ve cursed out loud, but
my breathing disturbed the air enough. The absolute silence along with Mace’s
threat was making me unbelievably nervous. If something were to bump into me—I
was sure to shriek loudly enough to break my own eardrums. 

 Hesitantly,
I stretched my arms in front of me as if I were in a haunted house. Waiting to
touch something ghoulish but fake temporarily suspended the frighteningly real
scenario. After a slow shuffle across an expansive space, I finally found a
wall and patted it tentatively. I rested against it for a moment, and the
sturdiness of the structure made me slightly calmer. Being out in the open had
been terrifying, like being stuck in the middle of the ocean without a boat.

 Willing my
heavy feet to move, I cradled the wall with both hands, waiting for a change in
the smooth stone. It must have been the same concrete room I had been thrown
into; it was cold enough, but I couldn’t tell for sure. I thought of leaving my
scarf as a breadcrumb, in case I needed to know where I’d started from, though
dismissed the idea quickly. If
he
came for me, I had to have options. And
the notion of strangling Mace with my scarf was too tempting, unlikely, but still
a pleasing idea.

 One hand in
front, I followed the wall with the other trailing behind. It seemed to go on
forever. Finally, a corner changed my direction, and I felt along the next
wall, seeking a crack or some kind of seam to a door. Another corner, and then
another. When I counted four corners with smooth surfaces in between, I swore
breathlessly. How was it possible? Had they brought me in from the ceiling? Or
built the walls around me? Decidedly, I was exhausted and possibly concussed,
so I slid down to the floor in a frustrated heap with one of the blasted corners
at my back. 

 I thought
for a moment about crawling along the floor to search for a trap-door, but the
idea of going back out into the vast black space scared me almost as much as
Mace did. I guessed I was afraid of the dark. My head against my knees, my
hands behind my head, I gave up.

 The minutes
ticked by. Nothing changed, except my acceptance that I was going to die here. Past
hunger, past fatigue, my brain and body were on overload to the point that I
began to feel numb. Thoughts rolled into each other before they were complete.
Along with visions of what Mace and his subordinates were plotting. Thinking of
the brainwashed Mutes, I wondered if the Speakers would attempt to do that to
me. 

 Repeating
the first few days in River kept my mind occupied for a time; going backward to
the moment that I’d woken up here, until finally, Mace’s speech about stopping
the rebellion. I hoped against hope that somehow he had been bluffing. Even if
just a few people escaped, this would have been worth it. I wished I would’ve
asked Danny how this had all started. Who had begun this torture of a town? Sure,
some of the people had accepted it, but I was also certain that most would have
taken the option to flee if given a chance. All they needed was a chance. I was
coding Asher’s name onto my knee over and over, thinking of what I would say to
him if I ever saw him again, when I noticed it. Under the blanket of silence
there was an odd pressure, a change in the atmosphere. The air was not just
mine.

 There was
someone in the room with me.

 Holding my
breath, I didn’t even blink. There had been a small, yet distinct, sound. It
could have been a shoe stepping toward me. If the silence in the room had not
been total, if there had been the slightest whisper of a breeze, I would not
have heard it. My muscles tightened as I rolled to the balls of my feet. If
Mace came near me, all I could do was run into the blackness. Possibly get my
scarf around his neck. It may not be much of a fight, but I had to try. 

When I heard
a shallow breath, my shoulders sprang up to my ears. 

 A voice, barely
audible, entered the vacuum.

 “Elodie?”

 I let out
the air I’d been holding in a gush, sinking back on my heels to the floor. 

 “Asher,” I
choked. My voice didn’t sound normal at all.

 Shuffling
steps quickly closed in. I felt around and grabbed his ankle, reaching my hand
up at the same time he reached down. Fumbling for a second, he held my hand
tightly in his as I let out an exhausted sob. When he pulled me upright, the
pain in my side made me gasp. 

 His arms
swallowed me up at the same time he murmured, “Are you hurt?” I could feel his
strong hand holding the back of my head into his neck.

 “Not too
much,” I mumbled, trying not to cry. I was just so shocked that it was him
instead of Mace. “How?” It was all I could ask. When I pressed my forehead
against his shoulder, he smelled of winter.

 “I worked
here briefly. There’s a way in through the vent system.” I could barely hear
him, and he was whispering into my ear. “Sorry it took me so long. There are
a
lot
of rooms. Only the halls with prisoners are guarded though, and they
change guards every four hours. This was the seventh room I checked. I got
lucky.”

 I chuckled.
Lucky
. He was describing me—not him. He would have been better off never
to have met me. My thoughts immediately flickered to the rebellion. “What’s
happening?” I could hear myself asking, but I was barely coherent. Trying to
snap out of it, I had a feeling we would be attempting some kind of getaway
soon. “How long has it been?”

 “Twenty-nine
hours since the performance.”

 I slumped,
but Asher caught me. No wonder I was so tired. “Can you see me?” I whispered frantically
after he’d set me lightly on the floor, leaving his arm around my shoulder. He
somehow held both my hands; they were icy against his warm skin. 

 “This is
one of the Dark Rooms. I’d prove to you that you still have your sight, but I
ran out of matches hours ago.”

 “Oh, thank
God,” I whispered. Asher didn’t say anything, so I went on to explain. “I
thought he’d blinded me.”

 There was a
light kiss on my forehead. “No,” he said and was quiet for a beat. “But this is
not a place you want to be.” Something ominous underscored his tone.

 “What do
they do to people here?” He didn’t answer, and I decided that I didn’t want to
know.

 We sat without
talking for a moment. His arm wrapped around me so completely that his forearm
was just below my chin, where I rested my head. “What happened after I left the
theater?” I murmured, breaking the silence. “Did you see Danny?” 

 “I didn’t. I
had to find a spot on back of the tram before it brought you here.” I could
feel his breath on the side of my face.

 “You were
on the tram?” I whispered incredulously. 

 “It was the
fastest way to get to you.”

 I freed my
hands and grabbed his elbow. It was the best means I could find in that second
to hold on to him.

 “But…
why
?”

 “Elodie,” Asher
said into my ear. “I couldn’t let him keep you here. You don’t understand.” I
waited for him to go on. He didn’t.

 “I understand
that everyone in River who wanted to escape lost their leader because of me.”

 I felt him
shake his head. “Gwen stayed to extract as many people as she could, as well as
the rest of our families. Trust me, she had help. Dan was still on target to
increase the Lulling frequency; any Speakers in town would have been affected. The
plan was a bit lost after Mace left the theater. He’s always been the main culprit
of anything nefarious the Speakers are involved with.” I could hear unmasked
hatred in his voice by the end.

 I stared where
I imagined his eyes were. “But… I was a lost cause, Asher. Don’t you see? No
one will miss me. You should have just let me go. Now you’ll be in danger—” My
futile rant was cut short by his finger on my lips. How he found them in the
dark, I will never know.

 “You think
no one will miss you?” he asked, and I felt his breath again, this time just
next to his finger, just next to my lips. “You are incredibly mistaken.”

 “Well… I
guess since you
are
here, now,” I murmured in a muffled way after a
moment. If I compromised and gave in to his delusions, we were still going to
try to help however we could. His finger traced down my chin before resting
lightly on my neck, distracting me momentarily. I drew in a ragged breath,
sudden panic resurfacing. “Mace said he knew about our plan—what do we do? We
have
to take Mace out.” My hoarse voice twisted around his name.

 “We
escape.” Though Asher’s entire body stiffened, his tone was calm, and he was
obviously ignoring my idea to stop Mace; even though I was sure he wanted the
same thing. “We go back and see if Mace really knew what was going on or if he
was bluffing.” There was a note frustration in his voice. His people were in
danger while he was stuck in here with me.

 “I’m so
sorry,” I whispered lower than a breath. And then I asked, worried for my own family,
“You really didn’t see Danny?”

 “No, and
there is nothing for you to be sorry for.” His finger was lightly brushing my
lips again, as if he sensed my impending protest. “I’m sure Dan’s all right. He’s
too valuable to the Speakers.”