Drowning in Deception (25 page)

“Not punished,” Luas corrected, his
voice taking on an icy tone. “Killed.”

A heavy silence clung to the air for a
time.

When Joseph finally spoke again, he gave
her a sad smile. “Darna and I, we listened to them. To Joanny and Lyle. We
haven’t had a drop of milk in years, but we learned from their mistakes and are
careful to keep it to ourselves. But what you did, what you wrote, was very
bold. I admire you, and I hope that something good comes of it.”

She glanced at Luas, wide-eyed, and he
nodded. It was in that moment that Clover realized there were others. Others
who weren’t under the influence of the drugs. But they were all too afraid of
their own people to speak up and do something about it.

Joseph continued. “To our knowledge, my
sister, Joanny, and her husband, Lyle, just disappeared. We always wondered
what happened to them, whether they were alive or dead. But Luas here has told
us what he learned from his teacher friend…” Joseph turned to Luas.

“Smith,” Luas told him.

“Yes, Smith. About how they tattoo
criminals with vulgar words and drop them on the other side of the Wall to be
used as some sort of strange sacrifice. And he’s told us about how those poor creatures
over there are treated and abused.”

Clover thought about explaining that
they weren’t creatures, that they were people too, but she decided against it.

Darna had remained silent the entire
time, gently dabbing her eyes with a tissue. “It’s just all so wrong. So sad.”

Joseph cleared his throat and looked at Clover
head on. “It’s time we do something. Your father has instructed me to print a retraction
to your story, but I’m not going to. I want to print the truth - in its
entirety. The people of Eadin need to know what’s going on - that they’re all
being drugged into compliance. They need to know that their own people are
being drastically punished for doing nothing wrong, and they need to know that
we are robbing the creatures who live in Quell of everything.”

She could hardly believe what she was
hearing.

“Here’s what I propose,” he continued,
excitement rising in his voice. “The paper usually only runs weekly, but your
father wants a special edition for the retraction on everyone’s doorstep by
morning. You get the information I need written up and I’ll get it printed and
out late tonight. Hopefully in a day or two when people’s headaches start
coming to an end and their heads are clearer, they will take in all the
information and come together.”

“I like it,” she said. “But it is a lot
to hope for. And you’ll be putting yourselves in danger.”

“Call for a meeting,” Darna spoke up. “At
the end of the article, give a time and place for everyone to come together, to
make a stand against the Watch Tower.”

“Great idea, Aunt Darna.” Luas, being
the quiet observer, always seemed to choose just the right moment to speak.

“How about the day after tomorrow?”
Clover suggested, thinking back to how long it took for her to be rid of the
zombie-like, content feeling.

“Okay. But there is something more I
need to ask of you.” Joseph’s sad smile returned. “You’re right. Doing this is
dangerous. Once this is sent out to the public, we can’t stay here in this
house. Your father won’t give me a second chance. Luas, Darna, and I will need
a place to hide.”

“No problem,” said Clover. “You can stay
at Zander and Sera’s place.” She didn’t care if Zander and Sera liked it or
not. These people were going to help with their cause by risking their own
lives. That should be reason enough.

The remainder of the day and evening was
very busy, explaining everything to Zander, Sera, Smith, and Gart. Sera
grumbled a bit over having more house guests, but eventually came around.

Clover and Smith got to work on the
second newspaper article. They decided it was too soon to reveal the truth
about the milk - that it was drugged, not poisoned. But they needed people to
get angry enough to come out to the scheduled gathering at the Watch Tower. The
main focus of the article had to be an attack against the wrongdoings of the
Watch Tower, even if that meant a small untruth to get the people to come out.

They settled on the title: The Watch
Tower Employs Liars. It began by stating that the Watch Tower had been fully
aware of the poison in the milk for many years, but did nothing to inform the
citizens. It then went on to detail that there were people, not monsters, who
lived on the other side of the Wall in the city of Quell. They were enslaved,
robbed, and even murdered by the men at the top of the Watch Tower, who thought
of themselves as gods. It was time to take a stand against the Watch Tower men.
They needed to be told that their behavior was unacceptable, that the citizens
of Eadin would not be lied to anymore. They finished by calling the gathering
at the Watch Tower, where they would make their stand. They implored that all the
people of Eadin attend to have their say in the matter.

It was bold. Clover worried that it was
too much information too soon, before people’s heads had cleared. If it didn’t
work, they would all be in serious trouble, possibly even put to death at the
hands of the very people they wanted to liberate.

***

Clover arrived early to see Rye that
evening. The sun was still glowing bright and casting an orange glow on the
snow-covered hills to the west of Eadin. She was elated. They were in love. He
had transitioned right in front of her and hadn’t so much as scratched her.

Having come earlier than normal, she sat
in their little spot hidden in the bushes waiting for him. She desperately
wanted to see him again. It felt like months since she’d seen him last. And for
the first time in for what seemed like forever, she felt content. And this time
she knew it was real contentment, not a forced fog of happiness caused by obliviousness.
She wanted to tell him all about the newspaper article and the plan to have
everyone gather at the Watch Tower to take a stand against the men of the top
floor. And she was in love. Her world was starting to make a little bit of sense
again.

Finally, she heard approaching footsteps,
followed by the rustling of the bushes being pulled apart.

“Clove?”

Her heart started thumping at the sound
of his voice.

“Can I come in?” he asked cautiously.

The question made her laugh. It wasn't
as if she was sitting in a building with a door. She was in the bushes, in
their bushes, and it seemed a funny thing to ask. “Yes, of course.”

He entered and slowly circled around before
standing in front of her. “You’re early,” he mumbled.

Looking up into his face, she could see
that something was off. His eyes were wide, with the brows sinking low at the
outer edges. He stood there looking down at her, biting his lower lip. She
wondered why he wasn’t happy. Shouldn’t he be full of joy at their discovery,
as she was?

“I couldn’t wait to see you. Sit,” she
said, patting the ground in front of her. “I’m getting a sore neck looking up
at you.”

He tentatively crouched in front of her
as jolts of excitement shot through all of her nerve endings. All she wanted
was to reach out to him, to feel him close to her. Her body was starving
without his touch.

“Clove,” he breathed. “I'm so sorry
about last night. Honestly, I’m surprised you even came back. I wouldn't blame
you if you never wanted to see me again.”

She started to respond, but he
continued. Apparently he needed to get some things off his chest. “I must have
scared you to death. I never intended for you to see me like that. I... I...”

She smiled at him, wanting to make him
feel comfortable. Of course she wanted to see him again. In fact, the thought
of never seeing him again made her tremble. What a crazy thing to say,
especially after their conversation the night before. “It's okay. I’m not mad. Please
sit down.”

Finally he sat, but making sure to keep
a good distance between them. It was strange to her that he was the one who
seemed the most uncomfortable about what had happened. She was the one who
could have potentially been killed. She felt a glow inside at the thought that
he had run from her instead of harming her. That was huge. It meant he cared.
It meant he loved her.

“I want to understand,” she said. “You
told me that the transition is brought on by extremely strong emotions, like
when you're so mad you could scream or so scared you want to become invisible.”

He nodded, his eyes remaining focussed
on the ground.

“But I don't get it. What did I do to
make you...so mad?”

He sighed. His head remained facing
downward, but his eyes lifted and met hers, searching for her to know the
answer that he was struggling to say out loud.

When he finally spoke, his words were
quiet, barely audible. “Clove, anger and fear aren't the only emotions that
exist.”

She waited, her breath held tightly
beneath her tongue.

“The emotion that made me transition
last night wasn’t anger or fear. It was one that can be much stronger than both
of those.” He waited, still searching her eyes for a flicker of understanding.
But she didn't know what he was trying to say.

She shook her head.

The deeply tanned skin of his cheeks
reddened slightly and a shy smile played at the corner of his mouth. Now he
lifted his head, his eyes gazing hard into hers. A shiver exploded within as
she remembered how intensely he had looked at her before his transition had
happened.

“Love, Clove,” he breathed. “It was love.
A very intense love for you that made it happen.”

He had said it out loud. He loved her!
She felt her cheeks flush as her heart fluttered. “I love you too, Rye. But I
have to admit that I never considered that love could cause your transition.”

His eyes were dark, his mouth in a
straight, tight line. She wondered why he looked so upset. Shouldn’t he be
happy? They’d just confessed their love to one another, and he loved her so
much that he ran instead of killing her. This was good news, wasn’t it?

He ignored the sullen look on her face
and continued. “There’s much more to how I feel about you than just love. When
we're apart I miss you and I can't wait to see you again. And when we're
together, something happens inside of me. I love your smile and your laugh, the
smell of your hair and the softness of your cheeks. I want to be close to you,
wrapped around you so that every part of me is against every part of you. I
want you in every way that a man wants a woman. And I want you to be beside me
for the rest of my life. I want to argue with you and laugh with you. I want to
run with you and lie beside you every night while we sleep.”

She started to say something, but he
motioned for her to let him finish.

“My love for you is more intense than
any emotion I’ve ever experienced before. And last night, thinking about having
to break up…the very thought of losing you made me crazy. And then we were
kissing, and… It was all too much. I lost control.”

His eyes pleaded for her understanding.
Of course she understood. She felt the same way for him. The night before had
been very intense. She had wanted him wrapped around her as he had described.
She had wanted him as she had never desired anyone before. She blushed just
thinking about it and reached for his hand. She needed to touch him, but he quickly
pulled back.

He had just confessed so much, so why
wouldn’t he let her touch him? She reached for his hand again, wanting to feel
his warmth on her skin, but he pulled away again.

Her cheeks flushed with mild anger. “Why
won't you let me touch you?”

“I don't want it to happen again,” he
said. “At least not tonight. We need to talk.”

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight
before he could pull away this time.

He sighed and offered a small smile.

“It's okay. You didn't hurt me. You ran
from me before you could. It was amazing, really. You told me that when you're
in that state, you will kill the first warm-blooded creature that you come
across.”

He placed his free hand over both their
hands. “You're right,” he said. “I didn't hurt you, and I never will.” There
was such conviction in his voice.

A fluttering started in her belly and
quickly spread throughout her body. The way she felt toward him was so
wonderful, and nothing like what it had been like with her and Zander. They
were to be married, but never once had she felt like she couldn't stand to not
touch him. Never once had she feared that she might never see him again. The
love she shared with Rye was so strong that he hadn't made her his prey.

But she still couldn’t understand why he
didn’t seem happy about it. She would have liked to stand up and dance happy
circles in the bushes, but he remained so serious.

“Your love for me, the way you feel
about me...that's why you didn't hurt me. You must have had an immense amount
of self-control to be able to hold back. You recognized that it was me, and not
just a meal. That's good, right?”