Shymers (28 page)

At the break of dawn, the three of us begin our journey back to the hiding spot in the ground as agreed. The trip takes much longer this time as we stop frequently when Kiki is either thirsty or has to go to the bathroom.

Upon re-entering the heart of the forest, we are extra cautious in watching for soldiers on patrol. Kendall climbs up a few trees to get a better view of the surrounding area. While he is up the third tree of the day, I kick the dirt with my worn sandal while Kiki dances around at my side.

A small patch of blood on the ground catches my eye. If it hadn’t been partially covering a green leaf, I never would have seen the red against the dark earth. The blood could be from an animal. Curious, I push the leaf aside with my foot. Underneath it lays a small, silver device, covered with much more blood. I squat down to examine it. The metal object, a bit bigger than my thumbnail, is broken. It looks to be some kind of electronic gadget.

“What ‘dat?” Kiki asks, taking sudden interest in my activity.

“I don’t know,” I whisper.

I jump from a loud noise behind us. Turning, I see Kendall has just landed on the ground from his post in the tree. I hold a hand to my heart.

“What is that?” he asks, bending down beside me. I push the object with a stick so he can get a better view of it. He squints, studying it closer. “It’s a communicator. Someone has removed it from under their skin.”

Excitement hits me in waves. Could it have belonged to Harrison or Tayrn? “Why wouldn’t the Rebels have helped them do it?”

“There may not have been time. The Rebels always make sure to send a blade along so they can do it themselves if they have to.”

My stomach roils. I remember Chance taking Zeke’s out and how he had cried in pain. If this communicator really did belong to Harrison or Tayrn, had they cut it out themselves?

“Can anyone remove it?” I ask. Maybe it’s easy to do. After all, Chance had done it for Zeke.

Kendall shrugs. “Yes. But if a clean knife isn’t used, the cut can become infected. A person with that kind of infection can become gravely ill.”

If this communicato
r
di
d
belong to one of my friends, why is there only one? I use the stick to push more of the leaves aside.

“What are you doing?” Kendall grumbles.

“There must be more of them around somewhere.” My eyes become frantic as I search for proof that my friends aren’t alone—that they are traveling together.

“Olive, stop.” He reaches out for my arm, but stops short. Why does he seem afraid to touch me?

“There has to be another one!” I cry, still searching as more dread continues to consume my insides. I picture Tayrn running through the forest all alone. She has never been here in the Free Lands. Would she think of cutting the communicator out on her own?

“It may not even belong to one of your friends,” Kendall says gently.

“You don’t understand. They grew up in Society. They wouldn’t know how to survive out here! What if they have starved to death by now? What if soldiers found them?”

Kendall’s calm eyes lock on mine. “You can’t assume the worst, Olive. You have to trust that they found a way to get through this, just as you have.”

“Something tells me they weren’t lucky enough to find a long-lost brother just waiting to help them.” My vision stings with a fresh set of tears. I need to know my friends are okay—I need to find them.

Kendall waves his hand, inviting me to join him. “C’mon. We should get back before dark.”

Kiki stays wedged into my side for the rest of the way. I eventually give in and carry her on my back, even though my chest screams out in protest. Kendall and I have no more words for each other. When the giant tree over their hidden home comes back into view, I let Kiki down. She saunters ahead of us, still playing with my sock doll.

“When will we join up with the Rebels?” I ask Kendall.

He turns to glare at me. “You’r
e
no
t
coming with. I thought I made that clear.”

“Just because I’m your long-lost sister doesn’t give you the right to decide what’s best for me. What about the other girls you have rescued? Some of them looked even younger than me. Are you going to insist they don’t fight either?”

“It’s not about age or gender, and it’s not because you’re my sister. It’s because I made a promise to our mother. I told her I would keep you safe if anything happened to her. You can stay here in the Free Lands with Kiki until you find your friends.”

I stop walking. “What exactly is going to happen when the Rebels invade suspension, Kendall? Are there weapons involved? Are the Rebels planning t
o
kil
l
soldiers to get in?”

He sighs. “I’d rather you didn’t know.”

“Why is that?” I ask sharply. “I don’t think it’s fair for you to keep me in the dark on everything. I want to fight for the cause, too.”

“I don’t want you to know because I don’t want you to think any less of me,” he answers quietly.

“I barel
y
kno
w
you. Why do you care what I think?”

A small smile tugs on his lips. “You may not remember me, but you’re my baby sister. I helped our mother take care of you when you were little. I still remember everything about you. I gave you baths and fed you. I remember the way your skin wrinkled after being in the water and how wonderful you smelled when our mother put powder on you after changing your diapers. I even remember the first time you took a step, and the way your voice sounded so high and sweet when you said your first word.” He looks away, seemingly pained by the memories.

I blink back at him, surprised. “Really? What was it?”

His cool blue eyes grow warmer. “It wa
s
dol
l
. Our mother was sure you were trying to say my name.”

 
I can’t smile back. There is too much sadness in me for it to be genuine. I feel guilty for not knowing anything about this brother when he seems to kno
w
everythin
g
about me. “Why can’t I remember anything of you? Why did they leave you behind, Kendall? Why did they keep you a secret?”

“I hate to break up your little love story,” a female voice cuts in, “but you guys may want to hide before the group of soldiers heading this way hears you.”

We both jerk our heads toward the source of the voice to find the sullen, purple-haired girl who had helped me climb over the wall. Her hair is styled differently today, making more of a spiked crown on top of her head. She wears longer shorts with holes in them, and a dark shirt with words printed on white in the front. I had seen Kai wear something similar once, only Kai’s shirt was some kind of drawing of a musical band. She stands with a hand to her hip, grinning crookedly. With the pleasant expression she is quite pretty, something I hadn’t noticed before.

“Arlandria!” Kendall says, rushing to her side. “What are you doing here?”

Next to Kendall, the girl looks extremely short, and even younger than she had in the darkness of the night.

“Where’s Zeke?” I ask. She tilts her head and her eyebrows draw down. I add, “The boy that was with me. The one who tried to climb the wall.”

“He changed his mind about crossing over,” she answers with a casual shrug.

I gasp. “Why? Where did he go?”

She glances over her shoulder. “Look, we don’t have time for this right now. We have to get out of here.”
 

Kiki snuggles into Arlandria’s side. How do Kiki and my brother know this girl? Why is she here?

“We have to g
o
no
w
,” Arlandria stresses, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Right,” I say, rushing forward and following them to where the opening of the tunnel is hidden in the large tree. Still shocked by her sudden appearance, I watch Kiki and Arlandria crawl into the hole, their bodies becoming a blur of motion.

Once they are gone from sight, I turn to Kendall. “How do you know her?”

“Never mind!” he growls. “Get in!”

I do as he says. A few of the Shymers are gathered in the center of the room, talking with this Arlandria girl. When I jump down from the hole, they all turn to stare at me.

The spectacled boy frowns. “What ar
e
yo
u
doing back here?”

“I decided now is not the time to leave,” I answer. “You guys need help and I still have friends somewhere in the Free Lands that need me.”

The boy rolls his eyes. “So you waited unti
l
afte
r
Kendall took you to the edge of the forest to decide this? Couldn’t you have decided this earlier?”

“I wasn’t aware of his plans,” I answer sharply.

“Just leave her alone,” Kendall says from the tunnel entrance.

The moment his feet are down on the earth, Arlandria strides toward him with her arms held out, like she wants to hug him. He shakes his head and steps back. What does my brother have against being touched? Is there something wrong with him? Does he have some kind of disease?

Arlandria gives him a crooked smile. “I don’t mind, you know.”

Kendall glares at her. “Yeah, well I do. What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”

“You could say that,” she answers. She sighs dramatically and waves a hand at me. “Your little friend’s absence caused a big stir in Society. They have every soldier out in the streets, searching for her. Word is they will be coming to the Free Lands next to make a thorough search. We have to make our move now, Kendall, before things really get out of control.”

“Wait—you’re saying they’re all looking fo
r
m
e
just because I didn’t check back in at the orphanage?” I ask, frowning. “Has no one ever escaped from an orphanage before?”

Arlandria turns to me, laughing. Her smile turns flat when she realizes I am serious. “You really don’t know, do you?”

“Arlandria,” Kendall warns sharply.

She shakes her head. “Wait. You mean no one has told you? This is all a joke, right? How could you not know your mother is the Rebel leader?”

1
9 – I Don’t Have Any Other Choice

The unusual girl with purple hair and the strange, handsome boy who says he is my brother both stand back to watch my dazed reaction. I am aware of my heart flipping around in my chest and my warm breath against my lips. Everything else seems as if it is at a standstill, and we are forever frozen in this moment.

My mother? The Rebel leader? My whole life she has shown nothing other than kindness and love. She wouldn’t get involved with anything that involved violence. If it were true, how could she keep such a big secret from me? Why didn’t I ever see her with any other Rebels? Our life in the forest was very lonely, with Taylor’s family being the exception. Were Taylor’s parents Rebels too?

While my mother was always gone to the “market,” she always came back with something, although at times it was barely much of anything. Maybe all of that had been a lie—maybe she had been going somewhere else all these times. After all, she was able to keep my brother a secret my whole life too.

Then I remember the story Harrison told me in the basement of the orphanage. “That’s impossible,” I say once I am able to find my voice. “The Rebel leader was a man. He was murdered many years ago.”

“That was your grandfather,” Kendall tells me.

My head spins all at once and the underground room turns hazy. “I think I need to sit down.” I fall to the dirt floor on my butt with a painful thud.

“You have got to be kidding,” Arlandria mumbles, watching me.

“Her parents never told her,” Kendall tells her. “They wanted to protect her.”

When I look up to him, he gives me an unmistakable look of warning. He told me not to tell anyone that he is my brother. Arlandria must not know either.

“Why did my parents think they had to protect me?” I ask him.

“The government knows your mother is the new leader, and they would use you to get to her.”

The knot in my stomach grows tighter. “If the soldiers knew who my mother was, why didn’t they just lock me up in suspension when they had me? Why did they take me to the orphanage instead?”

“Your parents had you re-registered you under a false name before they fled from Society,” Kendall explains. “Your mother told the soldiers you were a refugee she had taken in.”

False nam
e
? “You mean my name isn’t reall
y
Olive Mensin
g
?”

Kendall shakes his head slowly. I can’t hold back the tears that sting my eyes. How many lies have I been told? What of my life, if anything, is real? I don’t want to know my “real name.” There are already too many secrets and lies breaking my heart.

“They just realized who you really are,” Arlandria adds.