Sunset Rising (10 page)

This time he didn’t wait for me to give
him my hand. He picked it up and waved it in front of the scanner.

It beeped
, and lit up green.

It took a few moments for the realization to penetrate my numbed brain that a green light came on
.

The leader held out his hand toward Jack.
“Mr. Kenner.”

All the color had drained out of Jack’s face. His jaw was tig
htly clenched, but he gave the leader his hand. The scanner beeped, and the green light went on. The small group in the room was elated. Everyone clapped and seemed to surge toward us to offer their congratulations.

“You haven’t kissed the bride yet
,” said Jack’s mother.

Jack looked down at me, his eyes wide.
He would have to remove my veil to kiss me. I wanted the floor to open up and suck me back down into the Pit. But somewhere in the distance, voices were raised in alarm. Something was happening.

Before I could make sense of anything, Leisel burst into the room
—bruised and with torn clothes. Tears streamed down her face.

“Daddy,
help
me!” she screamed through tears. She clutched at her father’s arm then crumpled to the floor. “You have to arrest them!”

Sh
e pointed directly at us.

I stare
d dumbfounded at Leisel’s crumpled figure on the floor. Her hands covered her face, and she appeared to be inconsolable. Her face was bruised, and I wondered what had happened. Did the assassin find out about the switch? Did he find her?

“Leisel!
” Jack said. “What are you doing?” He looked stunned.

President Holt
shot Jack a deadly look. The threat was obvious. Jack said nothing more.

Everyone in the room was looking from
Leisel to me. Guards grabbed Jack and me, twisted our arms behind our backs, and cuffed us. Jack’s mother walked up to me and ripped off my veil, taking the wig with it. I was exposed.

The anger on her face transformed into an expression of shocked disgust when she saw my urchin eyes.
“Who the hell is this?”

I
was too frightened to speak. Would Leisel stand up for me? Would the president?

Leisel wailed
, and lowered her hands to point at us again. “Daddy! They hurt me! Jack decided that he doesn’t love me anymore, and that he wants
her
. So he hit me and put me in a closet.” She was sobbing so hard she couldn’t go on. She buried her face in her hands once more. I was finally realizing that Leisel had said
they
hurt me. I certainly didn’t give her the bruise, so why was she including me in the blame?

“Someone get a doctor!” The p
resident yelled into the crowd. “My Leisel is hurt. Get a doctor!” He looked from one person to another with wild eyes. Finally, someone ran out of the room.

“Jack!
What is going on?” his mother asked, her tone accusatory.

“It’s not what it looks like
, Mom.
She
planned this whole thing!” He gestured toward Leisel.

“
He’s
lying
!” Leisel said. “He’s been hiding that…that…
urchin
in his room for days—ever since his bachelor party. Remember, Daddy, I went to the party? Jack and I made plans that night to be together even though I knew it was wrong. I shouldn’t have planned to meet him when we weren’t even married. But when I went to his apartment that night, he sent me away. I thought he was up to something, and then… this morning…” Leisel broke down sobbing again.

“Take a deep breath
, my baby, and tell me what he did.”

“He hit me
! He told me he didn’t love me and never has. He said he loved that urchin girl. So he hit me and… I don’t remember much after that. I woke up in the closet and couldn’t get out. He’d put a chair up against the door, but I just kept jiggling the door until it finally opened and then I came straight here.” Leisel choked, sobbed, and gasped throughout her little speech.

“
Leisel, you lying little b
—” Jack began, but his mother slapped him across his face, cutting off the rest of his words.

His mouth gaped open and his eyes grew wide
. He stared at his mother as an angry red welt began to appear along his cheek.

“How could you
, Jack? How could you do this to
us
? To
her
!”

“Mom
, I swear to you! I’m the one being betrayed.” Anyone could hear the passionate sincerity in Jack’s words. They came from somewhere deep inside him. “It wasn’t my idea. She gave me no choice.”

Tears were welling up in his eyes as he looked at his parents.
I was stunned to see this side of Jack Kenner. He no longer resembled the powerful man who would one day become president. Now he looked like a boy appealing to his parents for help.

“I thought you loved me, bu
t you were just using me,” Leisel said through her sobs. Then she turned to her father and grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket. “Daddy, he told me he planned on making changes in the Dome once he becomes president. He said he wanted to change everything! He even wants to break the treaty with the urchins and stop the Cull. I told him it would never work!”

I tried
to make sense of what she was saying. She’d told me she wanted those changes, too. She’d told me she wanted to make the Dome a better place to live. I understood then that she’d manipulated me into doing what she wanted. I’d played her game unknowingly.

“Treason!”
the president said, his lips tight. “You’re telling me he spoke
treason
to you?”

“Yes
, Daddy. I don’t think he ever loved me. I think he just wanted to be president.”

Holt
slowly got up and walked toward Jack, his eyes never leaving Jack’s face. I was afraid that this might be it for us, or at least for Jack. The president looked mad enough to kill. I wished I could move my terrified limbs. I wished I were brave enough to turn to the cameras and tell my dad I loved him. Tell Reyes I was sorry. Tell Summer to take care of them both for me. But all I could do was watch the president come closer.

“The fabric of our nation was f
ounded on democracy and freedom for all, and you would seek to destroy that and replace it with
communism
?” His face was red and his eyes looked wild. “
Who do you think destroyed our nation and sent us into this Dome? Who do you think sent the bombs? Communists!
” His entire body was shaking with anger. Spittle flew out of his mouth and ran down his chin. His face was completely red. He looked insane. Then he glanced at one of the cameras out of the corner of his eye, and his disposition changed slightly. He smoothed back his hair and straightened his well-decorated military tunic.

“Apparently
, I have been so busy worrying about unseen enemies
outside
the Dome that I didn’t notice the enemies we have
inside
. You, Jack Kenner, will be put on trial for treason. If you are found guilty, you will be executed according to our laws. And if you are found guilty, I fully intend to hunt down all of your supporters.” The president gave Jack’s parents a threatening look.

Three armed Domers rushed into the room, adding even more chaos to the already dramatic scene.
The media people had to scramble to get out of their way.

“Mr. President, we need to get you out of here
, sir. There’s a riot starting in the Pit,” said one of the Domers.

At
this news, the president dragged his eyes away from Jack and looked at me for the first time. His look was still murderous, but there was something else, too. Something in the way he was clenching his jaw and drawing his lips into a sneer made me think he hated me the most.

“Get Leisel to safety,” the president
said to the guards. Then he turned his attention to the camera and looked directly into it. “Mobilize the guards and lock down the Pit. If the urchins persist in their little demonstration, shut off their ventilation system until they comply.” The president turned back to us. “This is not the first time I’ve regretted the fact that we don’t have a prison inside the Dome. Remand them to Jack’s apartment and call the council for an emergency meeting.” With that he strode out of the room with his security entourage surrounding him.

The Domer behind me tightened my cuffs a
nd shoved me back out into the main reception area. The guests were going crazy. Everyone had seen what just went on in the registry room on the giant television behind the altar, and now we were being marched out in front of them for real. The guard behind me kept shoving me forward, but with every other step he trampled on the train of the dress, impeding my progress. At one point, I heard the dress rip and my first inclination was to worry that I might be punished for damaging it. But then I remembered I was doomed anyway. There was no doubt in my mind that I would be killed for what I had done. And somehow I found solace in the thought that I would never have to worry about ruining a uniform ever again.

Jack
fought the guards every inch of the way. He was obviously angry, and I didn’t blame him. The woman he thought loved him had just betrayed him, and if Leisel was able to convince everyone of his treason, then he was every bit as doomed as I was.

We were thrown
into an elevator together with a few guards, our hands still cuffed behind our backs. I couldn’t help but wonder why they were treating us so nicely. If we’d been in the Pit, we would have been beaten to death by now. But neither of us had been hit even once.

When t
he elevator doors opened, the guards shoved us out. The dress kept dragging me down. For something that looked as light as air, it was turning out to be a chain around my ankles.

At last
, we arrived at Jack’s apartment and the guards threw us inside roughly. One guard stepped in and unlocked our cuffs, and then left.

As soon as we were alone, Jack turned on me.
“Did you know about this?”

His fists were clenched at his sides
, and I could feel his anger rolling off him. As I stood under his accusing gaze, it occurred to me that this was the first time anyone had spoken to me since the whole fiasco began. All morning, people had been talking all around me, but no one had actually spoken to me. So far I had been an outsider—a participant in the event, but not actually a prominent player. I realized I liked the anonymity. It made my role less important. I didn’t want Jack to take away that small shred of comfort. I didn’t want him to talk to me. So I walked into his bedroom and returned to my safe little spot on the floor beside the bed.

He didn’t fol
low me, for which I was grateful. The dress still felt like a dead weight wrapped around my legs, so I gathered it up and tucked the train behind my back. It made a nice cushion against the hard wall. I leaned back on it, smoothing out the front of the skirt. I wondered if they would give me something else to wear when they executed me or if I would have to die in this dress. I wished I had my own clothes. If I was going to die, I wanted it to be as me and not as some wannabe bourge.

I hadn’t thought too much about Reyes until now.
I wondered if he had seen the wedding. Of course he had. The entire Dome saw it. I tried to imagine what it must have looked like on television. Could he tell the wedding was a sham? Or did he think that I betrayed him? I tried to remember how much Summer knew before we were separated. She would have told Reyes that I went with Leisel, but then I never returned to the Pit. It must have been a shock to see me on television standing where Leisel should’ve been beside Jack Kenner.

I heard Jack
get off the sofa and come into the bedroom. How long had we been in the apartment? An hour? More? I sank lower on the floor, hoping he wouldn’t see me. No luck. He walked around the bed and sat on the floor next to me.

“We have about thirty minutes of privacy,” he said.

“I don’t understand. What happens in thirty minutes?” I asked.

Jack held up a pocket-sized computer tablet.
“I was eight years old the first time I hacked into the mainframe. There are hidden cameras everywhere, even in this room. Usually they’re not turned on in private homes, but I’m guessing they’ve turned on mine now. Anyway, I learned a long time ago how to super-impose a different feed over what the camera was supposed to be recording. That’s how I got us to Leisel’s apartment this morning without being caught. Right now, if anyone is watching or listening, they’ll see us as we were thirty minutes ago, not as we are now. Privacy.”

“Why do we need
privacy?”

“Because I want to know if you’re in on this with L
eisel or not.”

His clear blue eyes that I
had once thought beautiful seemed cold and calculating. I had a sudden urge to lean forward and claw those eyes out. “The only reason I’m facing certain death is because I got caught between two crazy bourge bent on destroying each other. And you want to know if this is
my
fault?” My anger was so intense that I didn’t care who he was or whether he had any power left.

“I’m sorry.
” He roughly pulled a hand through his hair. “If you weren’t in on it with her, then you have every reason to be upset.” He studied me with his blue eyes, and I leaned farther back against the wall, hoping to somehow evade them. I didn’t trust him. “I want you to know that I’ve never lied to you. Your presence in all of this was… unexpected. I completely misread Leisel. I thought I had her under control.”

“What?
Had her under control
? That’s not exactly a declaration of love.”

“I never loved Leisel,” he said matter-of-factly.

“So she was right? You were just marrying her so you could become president?”

“Yeah, I was.
” Jack laughed. “But it sounds so seedy when you say it.”

“Were you the one that gave her the bruise?
Did you lock her in the closet after I left?” I’d been thinking it was Leisel who betrayed Jack, but now…

“No!” Jack shook his head.
“I didn’t touch her. I honestly don’t know who did that to her. I just want you to know Leisel is the one who betrayed you, not me. I think she planned the whole thing out the moment she met you. You’re both the same height.”