Under Ground (21 page)

Chapter 25

The officer
opens the door
on my side of the
car
and helps me out. I take deep breaths—three, four, five,
ten of them—but nothing helps me relax. I’m shivering. I try to
find my bearing as I set my foot on the ground. I get out of the
vehicle, and two officers lead me to the house. One of them rings
the chimes. Someone comes to the door—Emily. She calls for my
mother. Footsteps rush down the stairs and I start shaking
harder.

And then, here she is, my cold
mother, except that she's not cold at all. There is relief in her
eyes where superiority usually lies, and she comes running to me.
She pulls me into her arms and holds me in a strong embrace. I’m
confused. I don’t understand.

“Are you okay? We were so
worried,” she says.

I don’t get it at first, but then
I remember the words on TV. Mother thought I’d been kidnapped.
Is it possible William didn’t even tell my parents what really
happened? Is it possible that he lied and hid the truth from
everyone? But why would he do that?

“I’m fine. I’m okay,” I
reply.

Guilt pierces through me for lying
and creating so much trouble. But when Chi appears in my mind, I
know I'd do it all over again if given the chance. I won’t be able
to stay here. I have to find him, somehow. I can’t let him rot
wherever they took him.

Mother leads me to the living room
and has me sit down on the leather couch. The officers follow us
in. They’ll be here for a while. They still need to interrogate me.
I don’t want my mother to be here. There are things I have to say
and I don’t want her to hear them. But she sits next to me. Too
bad, because I need to let it out, no matter the consequences. I
will be thrown out of this house, but I will not lie. I won’t
pretend Chi is something he’s not. I won't even try to save myself,
not at the cost of his reputation.

An officer sits across from me, on
a different couch, and he starts with the questions right away.
“Did Chi Richards tell you why he chose you? Why he kidnapped
you?”

I clear my throat and take a
breath. For a while, I say nothing. I don’t want to talk, not to
these people. They wouldn’t understand. But the officer repeats his
questions. When I finally answer, my voice trembles at first. But
when I remember the way these people have treated Chi, what he had
to go through his whole entire life because of them, anger finds
its way through my veins, pumping hard, flaring. I speak and
whatever I have to say, it won’t be pleasant; it won’t be what they
want to hear.

“Chi did not kidnap
me.”

“Yes, of course he did,” my mother
interrupts.

“William Fox reported you missing,
saying you were kidnapped by Chi Richards right under his nose,"
the officer insists. "There was nothing he could do about
it.”

“No, Chi did not kidnap
me.”

“But, of course—” my mother
protests again.

This ticks me off. I raise my
voice now, seriously mad. “No! I’m telling you! Chi did not kidnap
me! I told him about my pre-nuptial night with William and he came
for me. I followed him willingly. He did not kidnap me.”

“But how is that possible?” my
mother asks. The sense of betrayal underneath her tone stabs me
deeply, but I don't let it take me down.

The officer cuts her off. “So, let
me get this straight. You walked out on your promised fiancé, with
an Unwanted, on your pre-nuptial night? Is that what you’re telling
us?”

The self-righteousness and disgust
ooze out of him like something putrid, as if I were some excrement
he has just walked on, soiling his shoe in the process. I’m boiling
on the inside now, but I can’t take my anger out on him or I’ll get
arrested for sure. Assault on an officer is punishable by death. I
have to pretend to be the dumb girl I’m sure he thinks I am. I need
to keep calm and make it through this until I find a way to get Chi
out of this mess. But my tone is short and harsh when I answer. I
can't quite help myself. “Yes, yes I did!”

“And how did you meet Chi
Richards?” he asks.

“That is none of your concern,” I
reply, a bit harder than I meant to.

I’m surprised at how bold I’m
being. The words come out before I can think. But the way these
people have been treating Chi is driving me over the edge. Instead
of reprimanding me, the officer sends me a cursory glance of
arrogance.

“You do realize that boy killed
his promised fiancée, don’t you?”

“No, he did not, and she was not
his promised fiancée,” I snap at him.

He sneers. “Awh, is that what he
told you?”

Faked pity rises through his
voice. The officer thinks I'm an idiot who got swept off her feet
by some lying scoundrel.

“You don’t know him,” I simply
reply.

“Oh, and I suppose you do?” he
retorts, snickering at me again.

His snide remark finds resonance
inside me this time, and it hurts. After all, it is true I don’t
know Chi as much as I wish I did. But I believe him. He exposed too
many lies used by the authorities to cover things up. I know how
they’ve been swaying people into believing in their perfect vision
of the world. I'd rather be on Chi's side than theirs, no matter
what. But the officer doesn't stop. He means to break me
down.

“Did you know your boyfriend is
part of a rebellious group trying to overthrow our
government?”

Chills course through my body.
They know about the Underground. Fear grabs me by the throat like a
tight vise around my windpipe. They leave me no other choice. Now,
I do have to act dumb, or I could get arrested for complicity in
rebellion. I can’t show that I know anything. I have to pretend Chi
didn’t share any information with me. I’m sure the officers have
been trained to see through lies, but my whole life has been a big
wide stage, filled with pretence. This isn’t hard for me. I hold
his gaze, bolder than I truly feel.

“He is not,” I exclaim, faking
indignation. I let myself fit this role I'm playing: I am a girl
who didn’t know the horrible truth about her boyfriend and is only
just now discovering it all.

“Yes, he is. He is the son of
criminals and he is a felon himself.”

“He is not!” I protest and start
crying.

I want the officer to believe I’m
crying out of frustration and fear for myself, but I’m actually
worried sick about Chi. I’m not sure I’ll ever get to see him
again. The officer watches me like I'm truly idiotic, my tears
fooling him into thinking what I want him to believe. But then, he
insists on telling me how Chi killed his girlfriend, how he bashed
her head in and left her to die on her parents’ kitchen floor. He
explains how Chi’s parents are criminals serving time in jail. My
mother gasps. All his lies fill me with rage. Chi has spent the
past two years looking for his parents. They are not felons. They
are ordinary people whose only crime was to refuse to kill their
second son or give him away. They wanted to give him a chance at
life, and because of that, they were arrested and put in a work
camp.

I’m getting riled up. His
perversion of the truth makes my blood boil, and the anger inside
me grows stronger. But I pretend to be upset at Chi instead. This
is the best way to protect his plans.

“You’d better be careful whom you
meddle with from now on, miss,” the officer says. “Your promised
fiancé believes you were kidnapped. It might be best to leave it at
that. I shall see you again soon.”

The officer is treating me like
some dumb girl; that’s exactly what I was hoping for. He must
believe Chi didn’t respect me enough to reveal his plans. But
before he gets a chance to leave, I want to know how they found us
at Oliver’s house. I'm sure my stupid tantrum is what brought
attention to us, but I need to make sure.

“Well, I shouldn’t give you that
information," the officer says, "but someone sent us a tip saying
they knew your exact location. I guess the Underground can’t trust
all their buddies.”

This news feels like a knife, and
I have to swallow the bile rising to my mouth. The officer sends me
a self-satisfied, sardonic smile as he stands up. Mother walks him
to the door, but I remain behind. I’m relieved my statement was
taken at face value. It’s easy to pretend you’re stupid and
careless when you’re a female in this world. Men never give us
enough credit.

My mother wishes the officer good
night and closes the door behind him with more force than
necessary. Her footsteps tell me she's returning to the living
room. My stomach flips. I fear her more than I fear the
authorities. I sit up straight and prepare myself to face the wrath
coming my way. My mother closes the glass-doors to the living room
after telling Emily we are not to be disturbed under any
circumstances. Mother comes to sit down next to me. She takes both
my hands in hers, and I jerk back, surprised by her gesture. I’m
not used to physical contact with her. I don’t understand what this
means.

“Thia,” she starts, her voice low,
concerned.

I don’t dare look at her. I know
what’s coming, so I bow my head in submission. A tear rolls down my
cheek. I’m still conflicted. I feel guilty for bringing this
trouble on my family, for being brought home by
officers.

“Thia, look at me,” she says, but
not unkindly.

I force my eyes to face hers. Her
features reveal no emotions. I can’t tell what she’s thinking. This
is quite typical of her, ever illusive and impossible to
read.

“Thia, what did you do,
dear?”

I swallow a sharp breath. My
mother just used an endearing term.
Is this a trick? Is she
trying to get me to confess?
I’m at a loss what to do, what to
say. But I decide to speak the truth. “Those are all lies. Chi is
not a murderer, Mother.”

“But why did you do it? William
was so frantic. He was so worried about you.”

“Mother, William knows,” I
say.

She blinks at me and questions
fill her eyes. She’s not as intimidating as I thought she would be.
She’s really calm, her attitude inviting.

“William knows this wasn’t a
kidnapping," I explain. "It happened right in front of him, and he
knows I don’t love him. I don’t know why he lied to you about
it.”

“You mean that he knew you weren’t
kidnapped and he lied to us, your parents, about it?” she asks,
surprised.

“Yes.”

She seems disturbed by this.
Somehow, William's lies upset her more than my running away with
Chi. I don’t know what’s going on with her, but it’s quite
unsettling.

“He saw me with Chi before,” I
confess.

“Before?”

She ponders this new information,
and her eyes glaze over, lost in the distance. “Yes, of course. I
should have known. I didn’t want to believe it, but I could tell
something was different about you. I just thought you were worried
about the wedding, though that didn’t quite explain it. When did
you meet him?”

“I met him at the ball, at
William’s school, and then I lied to you. I’m sorry, Mother. I
didn’t go to the library all those days; I went to meet
Chi.”

“Yes, of course. How could I be so
blind for so long?”

Her shoulders sag as if she has
failed me. I’ve never seen her like this before. She’s always so
strong and confident.
Why isn’t she yelling at me? Putting me
back in my place and kicking me out of the house?

“Do you know how I met your
father?” she asks.

“Well, yes, you were introduced to
him through pre-marital arrangements.”

“Yes, yes I was.” She sighs.
“That’s how it is for all of us, isn’t it? It’s safer that way,
Thia. I only wanted you to be safe.”

“Mother, I don’t
understand.”

“You see, before I met your
father, I was a lot like you. I was confused and there was this boy
in my life. His name was Tyreese Lefort. I think I was in love with
him. But of course, we could never be together. It wasn’t up to me
to choose whom I wanted to be with. And then, your grandparents
introduced me to your father. It was difficult at first. I kept
thinking about Tyreese every single day, but I didn’t have a
choice. It’s safer to just obey. It’s the best way to protect
ourselves. I was hoping that by introducing you to William when you
were younger, it would prevent this from happening. I thought maybe
you would focus on him and never look at other boys. Now, I realize
it was quite foolish of me.”

“Mother, nothing could have
prevented this from happening. Chi is the one I’m supposed to be
with. I can feel it; I just know it.”

She’s not listening though. She’s
caught in her thoughts, gone to a different place, a different
time.

“You know," she continues. "All
those years, not one day has gone by when I haven’t thought about
Tyreese. I’ve always wondered what it would have been like, had I
been able to date him, or had I had the courage to speak up. But I
didn’t, so I’ll never know. Your father isn’t a bad man. I can’t
complain about the life I’ve had with him. But I still would have
liked to find out what it’s like to be with a man one truly
loves.”