Under Ground (23 page)

She observes me for a while longer
before heading to the door.

“Please, come join me downstairs
for tea when you’re done," she says over her shoulder. "I wish to
spend one last afternoon with you. After all, who knows when I may
get to see you again.”

Her words are sweet, but her voice
is devoid of emotions. I don’t resent her for it. It’s the way
she’s been for years, hiding her heart and feelings in a vault
deeply secured inside her chest. I understand; her attitude no
longer wounds me like it used to. She walks out the door and closes
it behind her.

I open my closet and frustration
arises as soon as I inspect its contents. There is nothing inside
that I can use. All my clothes are uncomfortable and
inconvenient—nothing but puffy dresses, stifling corsets, and that
wedding gown I hope never to see again. I do have my school
uniforms though—dark pants and shirts. Those will do. I grab my
backpack and arrange my clothes inside. I can’t take a lot, just a
couple of changes. I also pack some underwear, a towel, and
shampoo.

I spot my box of poetry on the
floor. It hurts to leave it behind. I don’t think I’ll be able to
come back to retrieve it. I know it’s silly and useless, but I
decide to take just one notepad—the one containing the poem about
grandpa. I make space in the backpack and shove it in there, as
well as Chi's book, which I can't possibly leave behind.

I hide the backpack in the closet
and head downstairs. I must pretend today is a normal day. I go
have tea with my mother. The afternoon drags on, but I try to enjoy
it. I’ve never had any real quality time with Mother before, and I
don’t know if I’ll ever see her again after this. I'm anxious and
restless. It’s hard for me to sit still and hide my agitation. We
spend a long time chatting. I tell her everything about Chi while
leaving out the parts about his plans and information about the
Underground. She listens carefully and acknowledges that he sounds
like a decent boy. Letting me go is still hard on her and she's
quite reluctant, but this is no longer her choice to
make.

***

When it’s time
for dinner,
I try and remain still. Though my heart is
racing, I need to enjoy this moment. Grief swallows my heart; I’ll
never spend time with my family again. How strange that I spent so
much time wanting to get out of here, and yet the moment I’m about
to do so, I wish I could stay longer.

My mother invited my brother over
at the last minute. She used my recent kidnapping as an excuse for
him to be here. Only I know what she truly wanted: one last family
meal together.

Though she’s great at acting and
no emotion is apparent to those who don’t look beyond the surface,
the sadness still shows in her eyes. Her face is impassive and her
voice steady, but she keeps on sending me sideways glances. They
roll over my skin, and when I look up, the grief hiding deep beyond
her pupils is undeniable. It’s horrible, but I find relief in
knowing my departure is causing my mother sorrow—not because I want
her to feel pain, but because it means that she cares.

Dinner goes by quickly. I try to
take it all in, but the fog in my brain won't clear and I’m still
restless. When it’s over, my brother and his wife depart. I want to
hug them and tell them I love them, but that would seem peculiar. I
restrain myself and just watch them leave. I snap a mental picture
of this moment. My father says goodnight; it’s even harder to
pretend with him.

Everyone's gone now. I can only
leave later when everyone’s asleep, so I go to bed as well. Only my
mother and I will stay awake. I go through with the plans and let
Emily close the drapes in my bedroom while I put on my nightgown. I
lie in bed and wait. I grow increasingly impatient.

Finally, the clock indicates
midnight and I can rest assured that everyone is in their own
bedroom. Mother has arranged for me to meet Walter in front of the
house in half an hour.

I push the comforter away and put
on my school uniform. In the bathroom, I tie my hair up and tame it
in a messy ponytail. Then I reach into the closet in my bedroom and
grab my backpack. I open the door to my bedroom, take one last
glance behind me, and tiptoe downstairs, doing my best to remain as
silent as possible, but the boards squeak despite my best
efforts.

Mother is already in the kitchen.
She’s made a lunchbox for me, surprising me with her touching
gesture. “That’s for tomorrow, in case you get hungry.”

For the first time ever, my
mother’s voice is shaking and a tear rolls down her cheek. This
makes my heart ache. But I don’t know how to respond. I’m not used
to showing my affection for her. She holds out her arms to me,
guiding my reaction. I fall into her embrace and hold her in
return. We stay like this for a few seconds before she pulls back.
She clears her throat as if she got caught doing something
embarrassing, and she walks back to the counter.

“Walter is waiting for you,” she
says. Her voice is steady again. She’s trying to keep it under
control.

“Yes. Thank you,
Mother.”

And then she says it, the one
sentence I’ve been waiting for my entire life. “I love you,
Thia.”

And as her words come out, they
tear my heart in two, like something one has been waiting for, but
that comes too late. The words make it to my brain and I register
them, somehow. It doesn’t feel real, but I still say it back
because I’ve been wanting to say it for so long.

"I love you too,
Mother."

The yearning inside my heart finds
relief, and she smiles at me. Then she turns to the counter and
starts putting things away. She doesn’t want me to see her crying,
so I walk out the door. I send her one last glance. Her back is
still turned to me, but her shoulders are shaking with grief. Maybe
someday I'll be able to forgive myself for this. But it is my
decision and I know it’s the right one. I close the door silently.
Walter is waiting for me. He asks me where we’re going and I give
him the directions. We walk to the train station. It closes at two
a.m., so we have very little time to make it to Taylor's
place.

Chapter 27

When we
reach
Taylor’s neighborhood,
we get
off the train and Walter walks me to the house. He's taking a big
risk. If anyone finds out he had anything to do with this, he could
get arrested. Despite that, he sat right by my side through the
entire ride and didn’t flinch or hesitate once. We knock on the
door and wait a few seconds. No one comes to open it, so I knock
again.

Finally, some shuffling and the
sounds of footsteps tell me that someone is coming. The door opens
on Kayla. I’m worried I might not be welcome here. After all, they
must think it’s my fault we got arrested and that Chi is being
detained. I still feel horrible about our fight and how it caused
us to be spotted. Even if someone told on us and gave our location
away, I can't shake this feeling that I am to blame for all this.
But Kayla smiles at me with warmth as she lets me in.

Walter remains on the steps. “I
need to go now, Miss Thia. Best of luck to you.”

“Thank you, Walter.
Good-bye.”

I have this urge to hug him, but I
just stand here instead and watch him leave. Kayla closes the door
behind me and yells for Taylor to please get his butt down here.
Running feet hit the stairs, and Taylor appears down the hall,
wearing nothing but jeans.

He stops in his tracks as his eyes
lock on mine. “Thia, I’m so glad you’re well! I wasn’t expecting
you to come here tonight. Did anyone follow you?”

“I don’t think so. We took the
train and I didn’t see anyone. I was careful.”

“Okay, good.”

My stifled emotions suddenly
surface. The truth needs to get out of me, so I babble quickly,
“Taylor, this is all my fault. I got upset when I saw the news. Chi
had never talked about Willow. I got mad and walked out. I wasn’t
thinking. I screamed at him in the street, and then the police were
there. But the officers told me they got a tip about our
location.”

I’m not sure I make any sense, but
Taylor is in front of me in seconds, grabbing my shoulders with his
hands. He presses his fingertip to my lips to shut me up. “Thia, I
know.”

I just keep on talking though, and
as I explain what happened, my thoughts and words come out in an
erratic flow.

Taylor shakes me. “Thia, I know,”
he insists on each syllable as he says it, and I finally
listen.

I blink at him, surprised.
How
can he know? What does he know?

“Thia, we have men in the police
force. When someone gives tips about the Underground and what we’re
doing, I know about it fairly quickly. It was Tina. She made the
mistake of calling them when Bryan Harris was on the job. He's an
officer working for me. He advised me of her betrayal almost
immediately. We believed she was on our side, but it appears she
wasn't."

“Who’s Tina?” I ask.

Kayla steps forward and takes over
the conversation while leading me into the living room. “Tina was
one of our members, a short girl with blonde hair. We never fully
trusted her, to be honest. She was here the other day. I don’t know
if you remember her.”

I search my mind for a short
blonde girl and remember the one who had spoken during the meeting,
asking for the location of the refugees before looking at me
strangely.

“I guess she was jealous," Kayla
adds. "She’s had a crush on Chi for quite a while, but he never
really cared about her. He blew her off and told her he had other
things going on because he had to find his parents. I guess she got
mad when he walked in here with you. Honestly, it kind of surprised
us too when he got involved in a relationship. That probably
bruised Tina’s ego.”

“She called the police,
jeopardized Oliver’s location, and got Chi arrested because she had
a crush on him?” I can't believe this.

“Pretty pathetic, huh!" Taylor
interrupts. "First rule: You can’t trust everybody. You have to put
your faith in a few only, and you have to be careful.”

“But what about the information
she has? She can go talk to the authorities now or any
time.”

“I’m afraid she can’t do that,
no,” he says.

“What do you mean?” I
ask.

“I mean that we have a place of
our own for traitors. We can’t afford for people to go babbling
about our plans. So we locked her up,” Taylor replies,
matter-of-factly.

“Do you mean that you kidnapped
her?” I gasp.

“I mean that she was a threat and
we took care of her. She’s lucky she’s still alive, and she knows
it. It’s more than she deserves, really. But if she tries anything,
we’ll have to get rid of her. Nothing can jeopardize our plans.
They're too important, and a lot of people’s lives are at stake
here.”

I'm horrified. I don’t know what I
was expecting. Of course, the Underground isn’t all good and they
have to take measures to secure their plans and ensure as few
casualties as possible. The whole Underground relies on secrecy, so
obviously, traitors need to be dealt with. I’m just shocked,
stunned by this harsh realization.

I change the subject before I get
to dwell on the matter for too long, "Did you just say you knew
some officers? Does anyone know where Chi is?"

“Yeah, Bryan saw him. They're
keeping him at the main police station in Eboracum City. He’s in
poor shape right now, and they’re going to move him to the closest
camp tomorrow. Bryan’s not even sure they’re going to put him in
the work force. He’s worried they might execute him.”

The blow hits me hard. The threat
of losing Chi is real and painful. Fear grasps my heart so hard
that I can’t breathe. I can’t have a panic attack! Not here. Not
around these people I hardly know. I take a deep breath, feel my
way to the couch, and sit down. Taylor places his hand on my
shoulder and crouches in front of me. My legs are shaking. Kayla
sits by my side and pats my hand.

“Thia, we’re not going to let Chi
rot in that place," Taylor says, "and we’re not going to let him
get killed either. He’s a valuable friend. Okay?”

His voice comes out soft,
reassuring. Though he means well, he can't quite hide the
uncertainty seeping through his tone.

“We know they’re taking him to one
of the camps tomorrow," he adds, "and Bryan knows the route they
always take when they transfer prisoners from downtown Eboracum
City to some of the closest camps. We’ve already planned everything
and we’ve got all the weapons ready. Tomorrow, we’ll go, just a few
of us. We’re going to intercept the police car and get Chi out of
there.”

He sounds like he means it this
time, and relief quickly alleviates the worry inside my
heart.

"What about Oliver? Is he okay?" I
ask.

Taylor stands back up, and grief
passes through his eyes quickly. He shakes his head and a profound
hollowness tears at me. Taylor clears his throat.

“Well, not to be rude, but I was
asleep when you showed up, so I’d like to hit the sack." He's only
changing the subject because this one is too painful for him.
"Kayla, can you take Thia to the guest room, babe? Thia, you’ll
stay here tonight. But tomorrow, after we get Chi, we'll go into
hiding. Everything’s ready for the attack. After what just
occurred, we can’t stick around here anymore.”