The Outcast Ones (12 page)

“Now you’ve done it, she thinks we’re clowns—not rockstars,” Pep comments, also grinning. I notice he’s got dimples in his cheeks, unlike Jep.

“Women like men who make them laugh, isn’t that right, little Cleo?”

“I don’t know,” I answer, uncertain, because I don’t want to snub anyone, and I know nothing about love, anyway.

“Oh man, now you’ve embarrassed her. Look how red her cheeks are!” Pep is razzing his brother, but me along with him. Surprised, I lay my cold fingertips on my glowing hot cheeks. It’s true. This has never happened to me before.

“It only makes her prettier,” answers Jep, and winks at me cheekily. Strangely, he seems to mean it. Or maybe he’s just being kind, because I’m certainly no prettier now than I was a couple of days ago.

“Please, stop it,” I beg them, and try to stay serious although they’re being so silly. I look to the door to see if Finn is out there as usual. But there’s no one there.

When Pep sees my glance, he grins even wider. “He won’t dare to come back here in a hurry. Florence sent him hunting in the forest...”

“...and no one would dare disobey our little sister. She has a really sharp tongue.”

I throw the question into the room that has been circling in my head for days now. “Why is it that Finn can’t stand me?” I understand that he doesn’t want to welcome me with open arms, as the others have done, especially because I don’t want to be here and he knows it. But that’s not all. Finn hates me.

“Our boy Finn is offended that you’re faster than him,” explains Jep.

Pep agrees. “He can’t handle not being the best at something.”

Confused, I wrinkle my brow. “Faster?”

“When you ran off, none of us could catch you. You ran like the devil, and barefoot, too. We lost sight of you and gave up, only Finn kept searching.”

“You can thank him that you’re sitting here now and not slaving for the Legion in the safety zone,” adds Jep, then he grins and corrects himself. “Okay, so you’re slaving for us, but believe me, it’s better here. At least we have proper food. I’ve heard there’s going to be cranberry pie today.

To think that I could have been back at home for days already, and Finn was the only one who stopped me, makes me grow angry at him. How could I ever have sympathy for him? He’s just mean.

“Whether you believe it or not, Finn can be a fun guy sometimes. Most of the time he’s an annoying smart-aleck, he thinks he has to be the best at everything.”

“And anything he can’t do, he thinks it’s unimportant. Do you know what he calls our music? A racket! Hard to believe, right?” The two of them are talking themselves into a rage and can hardly stop their anger at Finn.

“He’s incredibly miffed that
you
, a girl, and one from the safety zone on top of that, almost got away from him.”

“He’s probably training at night again, so no one can see him, to make sure he’s better than you.” Pep giggles.

“Zoe caught him once with his shirt off, admiring his muscles in the mirror. After that, everyone laughed at him,” Jep remembers, laughing.

Wait...“Zoe?” I’m confused. I haven’t heard that name before. Maybe she’s one of the many people I have yet to meet in this confusing place.

Pep’s eyes widen in horror and Jep slaps his hand over his mouth, saying no more than “Oops.”

“Who’s that?”

They stare at each other, perplexed, obviously struggling with themselves. I can tell they want to say more. It’s burning on their tongues.

“Zoe isn’t here any more. She’s somewhere else.” Pep hedges.

Jep elbows him hard in the side. “Shut up, or Finn will have our heads.”

“I won’t tell him you told me. Where is Zoe now?”

Jep shakes his head apologetically. “Sorry, Cleo. It’s not like we don’t want to tell you, and we’re not scared of Finn, but it’s his business. Maybe he’ll tell you himself someday.”

I doubt it. Jep knows just as I do that it’s highly unlikely Finn will ever tell me anything of his own free will. It’s a miracle if he even talks to me without shouting.

Together, the twins stand and leave, but after Jep is gone, Pep bends down to me and murmurs in my ear. “Zoe is where you come from.”

I stiffen. That must be it. Zoe is D523. The girl who should be here instead of me. The girl no one’s allowed to talk about. The girl who means so much to Finn. But what is their relationship? Were they maybe ‘together’, like Paul is with Florence?

When Grace comes to get me for dinner that night, she claps her hands over her mouth in shock. Iris and Emily giggle quietly.

“Oh no! Cleo, why didn’t you say something?” She sounds worried, but I don’t know what she’s talking about. My cluelessness must be visible to her. “Isn’t your skin burning? You’ve got a sunburn!”

Perplexed, I look at my bare arms. Okay, they’re a bit tight and slightly red, but what’s so bad about that?”

“We’ll have to get cream on you before the skin starts to peel,” she says, alarmed, then leaves me alone with the two girls.

“What is a sunburn?” I ask them, uncomprehending. “Is it a sickness?”

Emily shakes her head and smiles at me as if I am younger than her. “No, it’s what happens to people with pale skin when they spend too much time in the sun.”

“It’s really not that bad. I had it in my first days too.” Iris tries to cheer me up, and strokes my shoulder, which in fact does burn a little at her touch.

“You look like a lobster,” says Emily seriously, and blows strands of red hair out of her face. Neither Iris or I know what a lobster is, so we just shrug.

Grace returns, armed with a small jar, and presses it into Iris’s hand. “Here, you have to do a good job of rubbing this on your big sister, promise?”

Iris nods proudly, because she gets to take care of someone now. She grins at me. “Don’t worry, Cleo. I’ll put so much cream on you that your skin won’t dare peel.”

After dinner I take my shirt off so that Iris can put the cream on more easily. I’m not so ashamed in front of her, because she’s still a child, and her skin is almost as pale as mine.

Her careful fingers run across the thin skin of my shoulders. The more time goes by, the more the sunburn hurts after all. In my mind I note another advantage of the safety zone, but as soon as I think it, I can see it’s a disadvantage too. There might be no sunburn, but that’s only because there is no sun. I wouldn’t be too happy to do without it now. Why would the Legion commanders keep us from it? Hopefully no one has ever died of sunburn. There are so many things I’ve found out about the Legion that I just don’t understand. Still, I refuse to believe that they’re essentially the bad guys, as Finn and the others here think. They must have their reasons.

When Iris is done, I turn around to put my top back on, and freeze. Finn is standing in the doorway, looking over at Iris and me. When I meet his eyes, his face goes red in a flash, and he turns around quick as he can. I, too, feel the heat shooting through my cheeks. It must be from the sunburn, I tell myself.

I don’t like it that Finn saw me like that. My ribs still stick out, and my skin isn’t pale any more, but red like Grace’s and Emily’s hair. If he finds me even more disgusting now, he’ll surely make fun of me. Quickly I pull my top on.

“At least you can’t see the cream on that pale skin,” he says suddenly from behind the pink curtain. I search for meanness in his words, but find none. He goes on. “If I used it, I’d look like I fell in a bucket of white paint.” He peers around the curtain into the room. There’s actually something like a grin on his face. It’s crooked, more on the right than the left, but the angry lines between his eyebrows are gone. His white teeth flash from between his lips.

Iris seems to have forgiven him, because she starts to giggle. “Or like caramel with cream.”

To my astonishment, he returns her smile, then turns back to me. Although he’s looking in my direction, it’s clear that he’s not looking at me directly, but rather at a point beside my head. “How’s your hand?”

“Getting better,” I say vaguely, and wonder why he’s suddenly being so friendly to us.

His eyes meet mine briefly. “Get well soon.”

That must be one of the clichés that people used to use. I think I remember it from educational training. Is that supposed to be something like an apology?

As usual, he settles down in the hall in front of our room.

A long time after we’ve gone to bed, I still can’t fall asleep although I’m so tired. It’s quiet in the caves at night, and if I hold my own breath and ignore Iris, I can hear Finn. His breathing is irregular and he changes his position from time to time. It must be very uncomfortable on the floor. I wonder how much longer he’ll spend the nights there? What will happen if we’re here a long time, or even forever? Will he always sleep there in front of our door?

- -

A
n icy gust of wind blows in my face and makes me shiver. Sleepily, I open my eyes and look around the little cave room. Iris isn’t here. Has she gone to the toilet? Normally she wakes me up, because she doesn’t like going by herself.

Confused, I stand up and wrap my arms around my trembling body. My skin shines white in the dark room. It’s so bright that it blinds me, it’s even shedding light like the moon does. Barefoot I tiptoe into the quiet hall. Finn isn’t here. Where is he? Maybe Iris asked him to take her, but I can’t really imagine that.

I follow the hallway and see that all the other rooms are abandoned. Not only the inhabitants are gone, but even the furniture and curtains. As if no one had ever lived here. It’s as quiet as a tomb. Not a whisper, not a giggle, not a snore. Nothing.

The communal room is empty too. My footsteps echo back at me from the walls. Uncertain, I look back and see that I’ve left bloody footprints. Quickly I check the soles of my feet, but there’s nothing there. No blood, no wounds. Maybe they’re not my footprints? What’s going on here?

Slowly I am becoming terrified. My steps speed up as I exit the caves. Relief floods through me. The Legion is here! A Legion commander in white, with several guards in bright blue. Finally! They found me, and they came to rescue me.

Happy, I run towards them and call out, “Here I am!” They turn to me and I recognise the prisoner in their circle. It’s Finn. His face is covered in scrapes, dirt, and blood. His clothes are torn. The bloody footprints are his. Did he resist them? Why did they hurt him like that?

Dismayed, I look at the Legion commander. It’s Gustav, A175. Confused, I look at the faces of the guards. There’s Grace, Jep and Pep, Paul and Florence. Even Emily and Iris are wearing little blue suits.

Finn hangs between Jep and Pep. He’s so weak that he can hardly stand.

“No more Big Mouth.” Jep grins.

“Not the best any more,” agrees Pep. What’s up with them? Can’t they see the state he’s in?

Florence approaches me. “Dear one, now it’s time for you to prove you belong to us.” She hands me a knife, and its blade sparkles in the light of my shining skin.

My fingers grip the handle, and everyone drags me close to Finn.

“He doesn’t belong here. Eliminate him!” commands Gustav. Although his voice is just as kind as ever, I flinch at his words. He can’t be serious.

Finn’s gaze pleads with me, his lips form silent words. “Help me!”

What am I to do?

“She’s a traitor,” Emily’s squeaky voice accuses as she points at me.

“Don’t you want to be my sister any more?” Iris’s lips tremble and tears form in her eyes.

“You have to decide. Do you belong with him, or with us?” Now Paul is pressuring me too, even though he’s always defended Finn.

“Make your decision!” Florence hisses, scaring me. Now I understand why Jep and Pep said she has a sharp tongue. Dammit, what should I do? Finn has never been kind to me, essentially he’s taken every chance to hurt me, but I don’t want to injure him. He’s suffering enough already.

A terrible scream pierces the night. My gaze falls on Finn. A huge wound gapes in his belly. His eyes widen with horror. “Why?” he whispers accusingly.

I want to shout out. “I didn’t do anything!” But then I look at my hands and fall silent. They’re drenched with blood. The red is a livid contrast on my white skin. What have I done? I didn’t want to!

I gasp and scramble upright, waking Iris beside me. No! Finn! I have to help him right now. Maybe I can do something. Quickly I kick the blanket off my legs and lunge into the hall, but I trip over something and fall full length to the floor. My knees hit hard and my teeth clack together, biting my tongue. The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth. When I turn around, I see Finn sitting in front of our room. He rubs his eyes sleepily and stares at me, his face screwed up. He’s well. He has no wounds. I have done nothing to him.

I’m so happy about this that I drop to his side to convince myself from close up. Before he can resist, my hands are on his cheeks and I look in his eyes, search his face for cuts and bruises.

‘You’re alive,” I whisper, not quite believing it, but I’m so relieved. My gaze hangs on his lively blue eyes. They remind me of pictures of little streams in the sunshine. His eyes reflect the light, clear and pure like water.

Then suddenly he squeezes them shut and shoves me away roughly. “What do you think you’re doing?” he shouts.

“I’m just so happy that nothing happened to you,” I reply, shrinking back. I feel dumb. Why doesn’t he know what just happened?

“Just don’t touch me, then everything will be wonderful,” he growls, and wipes at his cheeks as if I poisoned him.

“I saw pictures in my head while I slept. It was like a film,” I explain clumsily.

He hesitates for a moment, his head tilted, his eyes narrowed. Then he shakes his head and frowns. “You were only dreaming.”

“Dreaming? What’s that?”

Iris emerges from the doorframe to defend me. “No one dreams in the safety zone.”

Finn’s eyes start to sparkle with humour while he stares me down. “Don’t tell me you’ve never dreamed before?”

His voice is full of malicious joy, which riles me up no end. He loves to show me up and laugh about me. So? I never dreamed before. But he’s never seen the pictures in the Atrium or taken a steam shower, which by the way he is in terrible need of.