Hunted (22 page)

It was too late to do anything about it, so I turned away from her glare and back toward Amy and her two friends.
 

“I’m so sorry, Hannah,” Amy said.

“It’s not your fault.” I couldn’t stop the shaking in my voice.

“And now we’ll never see her again,” Chloe muttered.

So this had happened before. “No.” I shook my head. “I’m not going anywhere.” If Amy could handle the awfulness of this place, surely I could stay by her side.

“We’ll see,” Chloe said.

I turned off the camera in my glasses and sat there for a minute. “I have to go do my workout.”

“And there she goes,” Chloe said.

“No, really. I haven’t worked out yet today and this is the time I go.”

“Me, too,” Amy said. “Maybe we could go together?”

“Sure.” I glared at Chloe, daring her to say something, but she just stared back.

Amy and I dropped off our trays, then went to our floor. “I’ll come get you after I change,” I said.

“Okay. See you.”

I put the pilfered piece of power bar in the box springs then changed into my workout clothes. I was nearly done when Lori burst into the room.
 

“You can’t sit with that girl,” she yelled. “If you do it’s like
I’m
sitting there too. I might as well just come sit with you and get it over with.”

“What did Hansen say to you?” I finished tying my shoes.

“Who?”

“That Enforcer.”

She looked at me funny, like it was odd I would call an Enforcer by name and I realized it was odd. “He said it was a bad idea for you to sit there and that I should learn to control my roommate.”

I bristled at the idea. She would
never
control me. “You can sit with me at Amy’s table if you want.”

Her mouth fell open. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Are you going to let that Enforcer control you?”

“Well, no. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to openly defy him, do you?”

“So now you care what I think?”

Her eyes narrowed—an unattractive look for her. “It was a rhetorical question.”

“I have to go to the gym now.” I took a step toward the door, but Lori grabbed my arm.

“Hold on, Hannah.”

I stopped and looked at her and she let go.

“We have a problem here. For some reason known only to you, you seem to have this need to help poor little Amy Campbell. Well, she doesn’t need your help. She’s doing fine on her own.”

“Really? That’s not what it looks like to me. To me it looks like everyone treats her like a pariah because of something her sister did.”

“And why should you care?” A look of exasperation came over her. “You just got here
yesterday
. Why can’t you just follow the rules?”

I tilted my head to one side. “So there’s a rule that I can’t sit with my—” I felt my face blanch. I’d almost said
my sister
. “My friend,” I said instead.

“Oh. So now she’s your friend? Someone you just barely met?” She shook her head. “That makes a lot of sense.”

“Are you done?”

Lori sighed. “I’m getting really tired of you, Hannah.”

Like I cared.

“Go on.” She waved her hand, like I was dismissed. “We can talk about this later.”

I walked past her, then rolled my eyes as I left the room. When I knocked on Amy’s door, Chloe answered and let me inside. Their room looked just like the one Lori and I shared, although Amy’s side was just as messy as her room at home.

“I’m almost ready,” she said as she put on her shoes.

A moment later we headed toward the elevator.

“Earlier you said I reminded you of someone,” I said, wondering how she’d respond. “Who do I remind you of?”

Amy looked at me and frowned, then smiled in a forced way. “Just someone I used to know.” She paused, seeming to consider her next words. “Someone who used to be important to me, but now I hate her with all my heart.”

The blood drained from my face and it felt like my heart had broken in two.
She hates my guts. She hadn’t just said it to Austin because he provoked her. She actually
means
it.

She must have seen my reaction because she quickly said, “Don’t worry. I still like
you.
I know you’re not
her
.”

Oh little sister, I wanted to say. If you only knew the truth.

The elevator arrived and we got on. Stunned by her comment, I just stood there as she waved her card in front of the reader and the car moved downward.

“Hannah, are you okay?” she asked.

Feeling more dejected and hopeless than I’d felt in a long time, I just nodded. Here I was putting my future at risk by coming here to get my sister out and she hated me
with all her heart
. That was a pretty strong statement. But could I blame her? She probably thought I was off in some paradise, avoiding the Enforcers, and having a great time while she was stuck here in this hell called Camp Willowmoss—her freedom gone, treated like dirt, and she hadn’t even done anything wrong.

It was no wonder she felt as she did. But my mission wasn’t to make her like me again, it was to rescue her from this place. First I had to get her to trust me, then when Jack and Dani came to get me out, she’d go with me and we’d both be free. I wasn’t sure where she’d go afterward—I was sure the Enforcers would be after her too, once she escaped—but at least she wouldn’t be
here
.

When we arrived at the gym we checked in, got our towels, and went to the warm-up area. A couple of other kids were there, but they looked at Amy and left.

“At least we get this space to ourselves.” She smiled as she bent to touch her toes.

“I didn’t know you were such an optimist.” In reality I didn’t know my sister very well at all. She’d always just been a thorn in my side, not a friend. I had to admit, I kind of liked having her for a friend. She was kind of cool.

“My mom always says if life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

I didn’t remember Mom ever saying that, but maybe the mom in this world had a greater need to have that kind of attitude.

We finished warming up, then headed to the treadmills. There weren’t two next to each other, so when we got on, there was one between us with a boy on it. Ten minutes into our run, Austin stopped next to Amy.
 

“Well, well, well. Who do we have here? If it isn’t little miss Amy Campbell. Baby sister to Morgan. I should feel so privileged that you would want to be in my gym.”

I looked over at them. Amy stared straight ahead, clearly trying to not let him get to her. He faced my direction, and as I watched him watching Amy, revulsion crept up my spine.

“Your big sister
loved
coming here to see me,” Austin said. “She was my special friend. Did you know that? Have I told you that before?”

No, I wasn’t, I wanted to yell.

“But she left and now I don’t have a special friend.” He paused as he stared at her, which gave me the creeps. “You look like you could use a friend, Amy. Maybe you could take her place.”

The thought of Amy being alone with Austin made my skin crawl.
 

“What do you think, Amy?” he said.

I couldn’t take it any more. “Can you come help me?” I called out to him.

He looked at me and frowned, like he didn’t appreciate being interrupted. “What do you want? Can’t you see I’m busy?”

Amy looked at me, gratitude on her face.

“I’m not sure what my heart rate is supposed to be,” I said.

He sighed and came over. “What’s your name?”

“Hannah.”

He pulled a device out of his pocket and pressed some buttons, then told me what my target heart rate was.

“Okay, thanks.”

“Hey, Austin,” a girl called to him, and he walked away.

Amy and I finished our workouts without further trouble from Austin, then went back to our floor. As we walked toward our rooms, I thought about Austin. I had to warn Amy about him. She was only thirteen. The likelihood that she would know what to do if he came on to her again was slim. “Amy,” I said, stopping in the hall.

“Yeah?”

“That guy in the gym that was bugging you?”

She frowned. “Austin?”

I nodded. “I have a bad feeling about him. Make sure you’re never alone with him.”

She looked at me with wide eyes. “Okay.”

I smiled, hoping my words would save her from danger. We parted, and after I took a quick shower, I worked on homework, then headed to the classroom floor for my nutritional counseling class. I had to admit that so far my stay hadn’t been as bad as the last time. It seemed like the kids who were there for breaking a rule were the ones who got the worst treatment. Or maybe it was the drugs in the power bars that were making me feel more mellow about this whole thing.

The next morning Lori stayed by my side as I went to breakfast, evidently trying to prevent me from sitting with Amy. I turned in my food journal, got my food, and started walking toward the tables.

“Wait up, Hannah,” Lori said, making it clear she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She caught up to me a second later. “You’re going to sit with us, right?”

“I didn’t know you enjoyed my company so much.”

She laughed. “Of course I do.”

I knew that was a complete lie, but I pretended to believe her. “Okay.”

“Really? That’s great.”

I set my tray on the table and sat down. Taylor, Madison, Emily, and Brittany were already there.

“Hi, Hannah,” Emily said.

“What’s up with you and that Amy girl?” Taylor asked, voicing what I was sure they were all thinking.

“What do you mean?” I decided to make them work for any information.

“I just saw you sitting with her at dinner last night and I wondered why.”

“Why shouldn’t I? Is there something wrong with her?”

“Uh, yeah,” she said. She dragged out the word “yeah”, which silently added “isn’t it obvious?”

“She looks okay to me,” I said. “What’s the problem?”

“In case you hadn’t noticed,” Madison said. “She’s, like, toxic. Didn’t you see that Enforcer come over and hassle Lori because
you
were sitting with her?”

“Why should the Enforcers care who I sit with?” I shook my head. “I just don’t understand.” Of course I completely understood. To punish Amy for being a stand-in for me—as if that wasn’t punishment enough—the Enforcers, and because of that, everyone else, tried to isolate her and make her as miserable as possible.

“She’s, like, a pariah,” Madison said. “And if you’re with her, you’ll become one too.”

“Yeah,” Taylor said, a grim look on her face. “And then you might infect us.” She motioned to the assembled group at our table.

“It’s like a sickness, you see,” Brittany chimed in. “A sickness we don’t want to get.” She paused. “I feel sorry for her just as much as the next person, but I have to look out for myself first.”

The others nodded. Even Emily seemed to agree, which disappointed me. I looked at Lori who smiled in evident victory that everyone seemed to understand—everyone but me, of course.

“Well, maybe I’m not afraid of catching whatever it is she has.” They all looked shocked that I would think—let alone say—such a thing. “So I’m going to go ahead and sit at her table—but don’t worry, I’ll stay away from you guys.”

“That’s not going to work,” Lori said, her eyes blazing. “You still live in the same room as me, don’t forget.”

That was impossible to forget, unfortunately. I debated whether to defy her or go along with her demands, but finally decided that as much as I wanted to push her buttons and do what I wanted, I didn’t need another enemy. “Okay. Fine.”

Lori smiled in triumph. “Good.”

I ate the rest of my breakfast in silence, occasionally looking at Amy and her two friends. Chloe, the one who didn’t think I’d be back, shook her head at me one time and I felt like a jerk because it turned out she was right.
 

When I got to the supply closet/office on my floor to begin my morning shift, Kyle was waiting for me.

“We have a problem,” he said, obviously unhappy about something.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“What?” I was so wrapped up in my little drama with Amy and Lori that I couldn’t think of anything that could be wrong.

“I understand you’re not doing your job.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have a report that you skipped out on doing your job yesterday.”

My thoughts flew in ten directions at once, rendering me speechless.

“So you don’t deny it?”

His firm conviction that what he said was accurate pushed words out of my mouth. “No, wait. That wasn’t me.”

“Is there another Hannah Jacobs staying at Camp Willowmoss that I’m unaware of?”

“No. I mean, I did my cleaning yesterday. But Jessica—”

He cut me off. “Jessica is the one who reported your absence.”

This was unbelievable. “
She
was the one who didn’t work. She told me she had homework to do.”

He laughed. “Look, Hannah. Jessica’s been working for me for several weeks now and has been an exemplary worker.
You
, on the other hand, just started here. Do you really think I would believe you over Jessica?”

Stunned, I stood there with my mouth hanging open. Then something occurred to me. “What about the cameras?”

He looked bored now. “What cameras?”

“The cameras in the hallway. Can you watch those from yesterday? You’ll see that I was working the whole time.”

“I don’t have time for that. Besides, they may have been down for maintenance yesterday.”

“What about when I came in to get the cart. You were there. You
saw
me.”

“That doesn’t mean you actually did any work.”

“But did you see Jessica get her cart?”

“Of course.”

With no way to prove my case, I had no option but to beg. “You have to believe me. I worked hard all day, but I wasn’t able to finish one of the bathrooms because I ran out of time.”

A flicker of doubt flashed across his face, but it vanished as fast as it had appeared. “Look, Hannah. I won’t accept any lying from my workers. I have a zero tolerance policy and those who choose to ignore it do so at their peril.”

My chin wobbled as frustration filled my chest, and when I spoke, my voice shook. “I’m telling the truth. I don’t know what else to do to make you believe me.”