Drowning in Deception (27 page)

“I’m sorry, Sprigg.” Her words were soft
for her little brother.

She wrestled with the idea of scooping
him up and carrying him away from this house of lies. But she wasn’t sure how
much he’d heard, or how much he would understand. And he might not be a Carnae
like his big sister.

She opened the door, gave her mother one
final glare, walked out, and slammed it shut behind her.

Clover spent the next day in a surreal
state. She’d given up her room in Zander’s house to Luas and his aunt and
uncle, and had spent the night on the loveseat in the living room. The morning
was busy and crowded at the house, with bodies moving here and there going
about their morning rituals.

She needed to be alone, so after
throwing some warm clothes on, she escaped to her favorite writing place in the
woods, where she spent a long time sitting and staring at the Wall. She
remembered back to the last time she’d been there to write. How it had been a
beautiful, bright day, how her world had seemed so perfect then. It hadn’t been
that long ago. Everything had changed since then. Her world was no longer
beautiful and content. It was now ugly and full of chaos. Even she was a
different person now.

In contrast to that day not so long ago,
it was now freezing cold out and the clouds were a bitter shade of grey. Tree
branches hung sadly with the weight of snow, and no birds flitted carelessly
about. The silence was harsh.

But Clover didn’t care. This was her
place and what she needed was to cry. Tears of pain, of grief, confusion,
anger… They all needed to be released from her and sent out into the crazy,
mixed up world. Her whole life had been one big lie. She had been drowning in
the milk of deception. And so she did cry, long and hard. It was a release her
body was in dire need of.

When she finally started to make her way
back to Zander and Sera’s house, the sky was dimming for the coming night. She
took note that the city was quieter than usual, even for a cold winter day. She
hoped that meant most people were at home in bed with milk withdrawal
headaches.

As she walked past the Watch Tower, her
mother came out to greet her with Sprigg trotting closely at her heels.

“Clover.” She rushed to her daughter with
the usual sweet smile plastered on her mouth, as if everything was normal.

For a brief moment, a dull, achy feeling
clutched at Clover’s gut. A part of her longed to be at home, drinking warm
milk with her mother on this cold, winter night, like they had done so many
nights before.

But no, that would never happen again.
Too much had changed. There’d been too many lies. There was too much resentment
to ever go back to the way things once were. Clover shoved the memory away,
reminding herself that what she really wanted was to slap her mother right in
her sing-song face.

“Not now, Mom.” She barely looked at her
as she kept walking, leaving Aspen standing helplessly watching after her.

“Clove. Wait.” It was Sprigg who called
her.

She turned back to her little brother.

“Can I come live with you?”

Her head tilted as she became
overwhelmed with pity for him. How much did he know? What lies had their mother
told him in an attempt to cover up their confrontation of the night before?

Clover reached her hand out, ready to
tell him that she wished he could come. But that it wasn’t possible right then;
things were just too dangerous for a ten-year-old. But it was Aspen who grabbed
him by the arm. “Oh, don’t be silly, Sprigg,” she laughed. “You don’t want to
go and live with Clover and Zander.”

There was something in Sprigg’s eyes as
they stared at her, pleading. She realized in that moment that he knew and
understood more than she would have guessed. But her mother quickly turned him
around. “It’s cold. Let’s get home for some warm milk.”

Clover watched her mother and little
brother rush away down the street. She vowed to herself that once this was all
over, once things had settled down, she would find a way to help Sprigg and to
make certain that he never became the corrupt monster that their father planned
for him to be.

***

She’d spent almost the whole day alone
in the woods, with nothing but anger to keep her company. Clover was in a foul
mood, and it seemed to be getting fouler by the minute. She could feel the
adrenaline surging through her body. She needed to do something.

It was pitch black by the time she
arrived back at the house. The living room was crowded with people and it was
obvious that a meeting was starting. But Clover was not in the mood to sit and
chat. Talk was getting them nowhere, and impatience was starting to eat away inside
of her. It was time for action, time for results.

She headed straight for Gart. “Gart. Do
you know when the next helichopper trip is scheduled for?”

“Yeah. There’s one tonight.” He glanced
at his watch. “In about an hour and a half.”

Clover got everyone’s attention, hushing
the entire room by standing on the coffee table. “Are we content?” She spoke loud
and clear.

The result was a booming response of, “No.”

“And are we angry at having been lied to
all these years?”

“Yes!”

“And are we angry about knowing how the
people on the other side of the Wall have been treated?”

“Yes!”

“The choppers are flying tonight. More
innocents will be murdered at the hands of our own people. This is not
acceptable. It’s time to stand up and do something about it.”

Cheers resounded all around her.

The loud support of the entire room had
her adrenaline pumping. She didn’t want to wait any more. No more planning. It
was time for doing. “That time is now. We have guns. What are we waiting for? I
say we go to Quell right now. Let them know they’re not alone in their fight. Who
is with me?” She wondered briefly if it was a mistake to get them to come with
her. After all, she knew she would be safe from the Carnae and they wouldn’t.
But no, she decided, she would be doing this whether or not she had found out
she was a Carnae herself.

Half the room cheered and then all was
quiet.

“Wait a sec, Clove.” It was Zander who
spoke. “Gart’s only brought us six guns so far. We can’t go over there and
expect to come back alive. It would be a suicide mission.”

Now Gart stepped forward. “I’m not going
to come. For the time being I think I’m doing the most good by staying
anonymously as an insider at the Watch Tower.”

Clover nodded. He was right. He
shouldn’t blow his cover just yet.

“I’m with you. I’ll go.” Smith got up
and stood beside Clover. She smiled gratefully at him.

Clover looked to Joseph and Darna. Joseph
took his wife’s hand and shrugged, saying, “Sorry. I think Zander is right. It’s
too dangerous with so few of us.”

“I’ll come,” offered Luas.

“No, you won’t,” his Aunt Darna said,
giving him a warning look.

“Okay, then. I guess it’s just me and
Smith.”

She scanned the room and found Sera
smirking at her. “I’ll come,” she said, stepping toward Clover and offering her
hand to help Clover down from the coffee table. “I’ll get the guns.”

“Sera,” Zander stopped her by grabbing
her arm. “You can’t be serious. You want to go over there and be in the middle
of a bunch of pissed off monsters?” He turned to Clover. “Are you insane?”

“I’m going, Zander. Whether you like it
or not,” Clover said. She couldn’t believe that he was still trying to protect
her.

“Love ya, Zander,” said Sera with one
eyebrow cocked. “But you can’t stop me.”

“Fine,” he grumbled. “I’ll come too.”

***

Rye didn’t come out from hiding on the
other side of the boundary line when Clover stepped over it. She wasn’t
surprised, since the forms of three people marched across the boundary line
behind her. “It’s okay,” she called. “They’re with me.”

He emerged from behind the trees, his
eyes flitting to look upon each of their faces. “You must be Smith,” he said. “Turk
has told me all about you. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He reached out so they
could shake hands.

“And Clover has told me about you,”
Smith responded with a smile.

“Rye, I’d like you to meet my friends,
Zander and Sera.”

Sera’s eyes slowly skimmed Rye from head
to toe and back up again. She gave an approving half smile and said, “Nice to
meet you.”

Zander and Rye stood assessing one another,
both with their own special disapproving look.

“Zander.”

“Rye.”

“Come on. Let’s get going,” Clover
urged, wanting to get rid of the testosterone-filled tension.

They all followed her lead, walking into
the dark woods.

“What’s going on, Clove? Why are they
with you?” Rye asked as they trudged through the snow.

“The choppers will be coming in less
than an hour. It’s time to confront them. It’s time to let them know that we
won’t stand for this anymore.”

“Now? But we haven’t really planned
anything.” Rye sounded worried.

“We brought guns,” Sera announced.

Rye turned to look at Sera who was walking
behind him and gave her an odd grin.

“Clove. All you have is the four of you,
a bunch of us, and a handful of guns - and no plan. I hate to say this, but I
think you’re being a bit impetuous.”

She stopped cold in her tracks and
glared at him. “That’s the best you can do? Insult me when I’m trying to help?”

“No. I’m not insulting you and I appreciate
the help, but…” He eyed the others over Clover’s shoulder, and then lowered his
voice. “Do they know?”

She grabbed him by the arm and pulled
him aside. The other three stopped and stood awkwardly waiting.

When they were out of ear shot she halted
and looked up at his worried eyes. He took the sides of her arms in his hands.

“No. They don’t know. I went to see my
mother last night. Apparently I get the Carnae gene from my father.”

“What? Your dad?”

“The very same person who gave you that
scar for being what you are, and he is one too. How’s that for a slap in the
face?”

His eyes were wide, and black as a
raven’s in the dark shadows of the trees. They searched hers and she was
certain all he could see was anger.

Suddenly he let go of her, dropping his
arms to his sides as his eyes narrowed. “Here I thought you’d be happy. I’ve
been so happy all day. Knowing that this means we can actually be together,
forever. Live together, and maybe have a family. I couldn’t wait to see you
again. But you…you’re ashamed. I can see it in your eyes. You’re no different
than your dad. You’re ashamed of what you are.”

She chewed her cheek and dropped her
eyes to the ground. What could she say? He wasn’t wrong.

“Clove…”

“C’mon. Let’s go. It’s time to confront
the gods.”

She turned from Rye and joined up with
the others to resume their march to the door in the Wall.

Rye jogged to catch up. “Fine,” he shot
at Clover. “This is a bad idea. We’re not prepared. But I can see you have your
mind made up.” He turned to Sera. “Give me some of the guns. I’ll run ahead and
get the others.”

Sera looked to Clover, who nodded, so
she handed over five of the six hand guns.

“Meet me at the bushes,” he said to
Clover and ran off ahead of them.

When he was gone, Sera quickened her
pace to walk alongside Clover. “He’s intense. And very cute.”

Zander grumbled something from behind
them.

***

They’d waited by the bushes for some
time before a large body of people began to emerge toward them. It looked like
one giant, dark shadow seeping over the lumpy terrain of snow. When they
neared, Clover could see that the group was being led by Rye and Turk. It was
when they had just about reached them that the sound of the helichoppers echoed
into the brisk night air.

That’s when Zander spoke up. “We’re not
going with them,” he said nervously.

“I’m going,” said Smith. “You can stay
here if you wish.”

“Sera and Clover, I forbid you to go,” Zander
tried, though his voice cracked, making his attempted sternness shatter like a
fragile seed.

Clover shot him a look while Sera simply
smirked and said, “Stay here and hide in the bushes, then. I’m going. This is
why I signed up for this. I want to see some action.” She checked her gun
according to Gart’s instructions and then returned it to her waistband. It was
obvious by how she handled it that she felt perfectly comfortable with a gun.
And more than that, she liked the feeling of power it gave her.

The large group of Carnae, approximately
fifty to sixty in number, turned and began jogging in the direction of the
landing platform in the industrial area. Only Rye and Turk continued toward the
bushes. Clover, Smith, and Sera sprinted to meet up with them, and together
they all veered to follow the group of Carnae.

As they ran along, Turk and Smith
exchanged a few words. Rye, striding alongside Clover and Sera said, “He’s
right you know…your scared friend, Zander. We have no way of knowing what could
happen here tonight. It could get out of control. People could die. The two of
you should stay hidden.”