Drowning in Deception (32 page)

One by one, the people turned and began
to walk away, talking quietly amongst themselves.

Clover stood rooted in place at the
front of the stage, watching them leave. Her shoulders slumped forward. It had all
been for nothing. It was clear that the people were angry, but they were also
afraid. And, in this case, the fear out-weighed the anger.

A large hand took her upper arm and spun
her around. Her father, the man who she had looked up to for so many years,
stood looking down at her. His face was neither jovial nor angry. He was
looking at her with a neutral expression.

“I’m proud of you, Clover.”

Her eyes widened as she cocked her head.
“You are?”

He took her other arm now, so that he
was holding her right in front of him. “Of course I am. You stood up for what
you believe in. I think that’s an admirable quality.”

She continued to stare blankly at him.

“But you must understand that is exactly
what I’m doing too. I’m standing up for what I believe in. I believe in the
laws and the ways of this great city, and I will continue to do what I must to
uphold them.”

He waited for a response, but got none.

“Now I am afraid that things will never
be the same. If people continue to refuse milk, then I fear there may be
continued unrest here. But we’ll find a way to fix it. Don’t you worry.”

Now she was ready to speak. “Worry?
You’re killing innocent people simply for being what they are. How can I not
worry about that? Dad, it’s wrong.” Never mind the fact that he was killing his
own kind. Did he really hate them that much? Had it been so long that he didn’t
even remember where he came from?

“Clover.  The Wall was built because the
Carnae were slowly killing off the people of Eadin. It was necessary to
separate us from them. And now, what we do, when we kill them… It simply restricts
their population from growing to an unnatural, dangerous state.”

She turned her head and glanced out into
the rapidly dispersing crowd. She had accomplished nothing. She turned back to
her father, removed his hands from her arms, looked him in the eye and said, “You
used to be my hero.”

As she walked away, she heard him sigh. “I
will find a way to spare you, Clover, though your crimes are numerous. But that
Hardwin man, and the Landsdowns, and any other person who had a hand in this -
and rest assured that I will find out who they are - will be punished. It’s the
law.”

As Clover was weaving her way through
the departing clusters of people, she thought she heard her name being called.
She stopped and swept her eyes across the blur of faces.

There, in the distance, stuck in the
crowd of people who were moving in the opposite direction, was Sprigg. He was
jumping up and down, waving, and calling her name. She raised her hand to wave
as she started to smile at her little brother. It was a relief to know he
wasn’t angry with her after everything he had just witnessed.

But then her mother, who had been
walking away, turned around and took Sprigg’s arm. She pulled him away and the
two of them evaporated into the sea of bodies.

***

It had to be the worst day of Clover’s
life. She’d had to face a lot of lies recently, and learn how to come to terms
with them. That had been tough. But it had been even tougher to find the
courage to confront her father, especially with most of Eadin witnessing it.
But then to think, to believe she had won the people over, that they were going
to help her and her friends make things right, that they were willing to stand
against the Watch Tower men with their neighbors, only to have her hopes dashed
was devastating.

The whole group hung around the little
house like lost souls, flitting about as if they were ghosts, each living in
their own realm. They had been so sure everyone would feel as they did on every
single issue. Clover’s belly knotted with turmoil as she watched her friends.
Fear, sadness, anger, all churned around inside of her. This couldn’t be the
end of their cause. But maybe it was. What else could they do?

A small supper was eaten in relative
silence, no one quite sure what to say or do next.

It was dark that evening, and heavy grey
clouds loomed low in the sky, making it seem all the gloomier. Everyone sat
around, moping.

Zander went to pull the living room
curtains closed and paused, staring out the window for a moment before
completely blocking out the view of the outside.

When he turned around, his face had
paled beyond its normal creamy shade. “The house is being watched.”

“What?” Sera marched to the window and
discreetly peeked through a slit at the end of the fabric. “You’re right. It’s
one of the Watch Tower men.”

“Just one?” Joseph asked. “What’s he
doing?”

“Just standing across the street staring
at the house.”

The occupants of the little house became
so quiet that the humming of the fridge was the only sound they could hear.
They were all thinking the same thing. It was over. They had lost. And it
wouldn’t be long before they would be facing their punishment.

Clover began quietly pacing from one
room to the next. She missed Rye. She’d never been without seeing him for this
long before. She desperately wanted to go to him, but how could she tell him
that the uprising was over? There were no other people in Eadin willing to
help. How could she tell him they had failed and that things would go on as
they always had?

 And what was to happen to her and her
friends now? She didn’t doubt her father’s words that he would find out who
each one of them was. They’d already started watching the house. It wouldn’t
take long, she knew.

He’d said he would find a way to spare
her, but she didn’t want to be spared. She would rather die than go on knowing
all these people who she had come to care about would be put to death. Even if
she was dropped over the Wall, she wouldn’t be hunted and killed like her
friends. The thought of that was more than she could handle. Her father was
determined to uphold the laws, and they had broken many of them.

She suddenly stopped in the middle of
the living room and huffed out a breath. All eyes slowly lifted to her.

“They’ll be coming for us. And soon. There’s
no way they’ll let our crimes go unpunished.” Her eyes darted around the room
looking for acknowledgement.

Everyone stared wide-eyed except for
Smith, who simply nodded.

“Well, I’m not going down without a
fight!” She raised a fist in the air to emphasize her statement.

“What do you propose we do?” It was Luas
who asked.

“I’m going to Quell again. Tonight. I’ll
be there when the helichoppers arrive. The men from the Watch Tower will be in
a foul mood. What we did today - they’re going to take it out on the Carnae. So
this time I’m not going to hide. I’m going to stand with the people of Quell
and let them know they’re not alone in their fight for freedom.”

“The guns are gone. They took them,”
Smith reminded her.

“Except for the one I have,” Sera said.
She had one last peek through the curtain. “The guy in the suit is gone.” She
took a place standing beside Clover. “I’m with you.”

“What good is it?” asked Zander. “There
aren’t enough of us to make a difference. And besides, if the mons…people of
Quell don’t kill us, then the Watch Tower men will.”

Smith’s words did not waiver. “The Watch
Tower men plan on killing us anyway.”

“I’ll come.” Luas walked over to join
the girls.

“I’m with Luas,” said Mella.

“Me too,” said Darna, much to Joseph’s
surprise. She looked at her husband sadly. “We have to do something. I don’t
want to live in hiding for the rest of my life.”

Joseph nodded and took his wife’s hand. “Okay,
then. Where you go, I go.”

Gardenia stood with them too.

“And you know I’m coming.” Smith got up
and stood behind Clover, patting her shoulder.

Eight people now stood in the middle of
the living room. Zander was the only one still seated. Sixteen eyes stared at
him as he looked at the floor.

“Zander,” Sera prompted.

His head stayed bowed, but he lifted his
eyes to them. “Sorry, guys. I actually agree with the people today. I didn’t
sign on to risk my life. All I wanted was for the drugging to stop. I never
wanted to fight. And there’s not enough of us. I just… I just… sorry…”

Sera scoffed. “You’re not a man.”

He dropped his eyes to the ground,
unable to look at any of them.

“Let’s go,” prompted Clover. “Out the
back door, and circle around, just in case that man is still out there.”

They quickly put on jackets and boots
before leaving the house, with Zander sitting there all alone, still staring at
the floor.

They left through the back door, taking
to side streets, and creeping quietly toward the boundary line near Clover’s
writing spot. They didn’t want to draw attention to themselves in case any of
the Watch Tower men were looking for them.

Before long they had made their way over
the boundary line and into the deep woods on Eadin’s side of the Wall. Sera was
leading the way, which she seemed to really be enjoying.

Suddenly she stopped. They had all been
walking single file, so close together that her abrupt stop caused them to bump
into each other. There were mumbles and complaints of “ouch,” and “hey,” and “sorry,”
until Sera turned and hissed, “Shhh..,” at them.

“Why did we stop?” whispered Clover.

“They’ve posted a guard at the door.”

Of course they had. Why hadn’t Clover
thought of that? Her father knew where the door was. That’s how he’d found
Eadin years ago. And now that she had admitted to being on the other side of
the Wall, he was making sure that no one ever ventured there again. Or in
Smith’s case, ever returned again.

Clover peeked over Sera’s shoulder. She
could make out the dark form of a man in a long coat standing tall in the
shadows near the bushes that hid the door. The slight glint of a large gun
shone in the tiny bit of moonlight that the clouds allowed to peek through.

“Now what do we do?” whispered Mella.

“Your gun,” said Smith. “Sera, get out
your gun.”

“Okay.” She fumbled in her jacket pocket
for the hand gun. “Got it. What’s the plan?”

They froze when the man suddenly spoke
out into the night. “I certainly hope you’re not going to shoot me with that
thing. And you guys are really bad at being sneaky.”

“Gart!” cried Clover as she pushed past
Sera and ran to him. She flung her arms around him. “I’m so glad it’s you.” She
released her hold on him and looked up. “How did you end up here anyway?”

He shrugged. “Bromer…er…your dad
commanded that the door be guarded. Niles, his second in command assigned me to
come. From what I gathered only the two of them know of the door’s existence.
But Bromer needs, or wants, all of his top men with him tonight when they make
their flight. So Niles sent me.”

“Lucky for us.”

“Anyway,” continued Gart, “Niles showed
me on a map. And honestly, I might have had a hard time finding it if it was
summer. All the footprints in the snow led me right to the door.”

In no time at all the small group were
making their way through the door. It was barely closed behind them when a body
jumped from behind a tree and slammed into Clover. “Oh, Clove. I’m so glad it’s
you. I heard men’s voices coming through the door and…”

His lips were on hers, hard and wet,
with more than a hint of longing. She could feel her body buzz as she kissed
him back. She loved the feel of her arms around him, the sweet, earthy scent he
emitted, and the tickle of his hair on her cheeks.

She knew in that instant that there was
no decision for her to make. Regardless of what was to happen that night, she
knew this was where she belonged. Right here, in Rye’s arms. She was a Carnae
and Quell was to be her home.

The others shuffled awkwardly around as
they waited for the mini reunion to end.

Finally they broke apart and, making
sure to keep touching her, Rye turned to them. “What’s going on? Why are you
all here?”

Sera, embracing her new leadership role,
filled him in on what had happened at the Watch Tower that day. “So you see,
we’ve already signed our death sentences anyway, so we figured we’d give it one
last try on this side of the Wall.”

“I don’t know,” he said. “It didn’t go
so well last time. I appreciate all of your help. I…we really do. And Clove,
you were so upset about people dying last time. I don’t think…”

“This time will be different, Rye,”
Clover said.

He looked at her, silently asking how.

“We’re going on that platform tonight.
We won’t be hiding in a building or in the crowd. This is our last stand on
behalf of the people of both Eadin and Quell.”