River: A Novel (42 page)

 “This is
it.” He began working on the vent’s screws with a pocket tool. 

 “We have to
go in there?” I tried not to sound scared and then gulped quietly.

 “We’ll only
have to crawl through for about fifty feet.”

 “Ironic,” I
whispered dryly and tried to swallow again, but my throat was so parched that I
choked. He must’ve heard me because he turned from his task to touch my face
lightly. 

 “Soon we’ll
be out and this will be a forgotten nightmare.” His eyes were soft as he waited
for me to unfreeze.

 “I’ll be
fine,” I said, trying to smile nonchalantly. Asher didn’t seem convinced as he
placed his fingertips on one of my bruised spots for a few seconds before
getting back to work. My shoulders slumped. I didn’t know why I’d assumed we
could just stroll out the front door of an evil lair.

 It didn’t
take him long to remove the vent. Our escape route ready, Asher moved a
heavy-looking box to the base and climbed in. I felt a little better that it
was big enough inside for him to turn around to pull me up, and I was only a
little distracted when his arms were around me. In my delirious state, I began
to fantasize about the huts again. Our own place. We crouched down and really
began to crawl through the air duct, so I distracted myself further by
discerning the fact that I wasn’t even questioning that we would be together in
the future. Maybe forever.

 Reaching the
end, I found my voice again and asked Asher about the specifics of the plan while
he worked on the screws for the outer vent. I was beginning to feel claustrophobic
in the tightening space. Hearing his voice helped. Plus, I wanted to know what
to expect when we returned to River.

 “Some of
our people have been rounding up citizens to leave since the performance ended.
Right now, Gwen is trancing the Domain’s population to board the tram. By the
time we return to River we’ll only have just over an hour to get everyone to
safety before the Speakers and their faction could possibly wake up. When Gwen
leaves them in the middle of town to join us at the huts, most of them should stay
subdued indefinitely, but we can’t count on that. It’s not an exact science,
and as you know, she’s never tranced so many people at once.

 “If one of them
wakes, he’ll be able to alert them all.” Asher paused before finishing unscrewing
the grate and continued thoughtfully, “It is incredible, though—how everything
worked out. Once Danny turns the Lulling perimeter back on, they’ll be locked
in. We really will be free.”

 “Danny and
Petra are staying here?” I asked anxiously. 

 “Yeah, to
make sure the Lulling works,” he grunted and pulled the heavy steel toward him,
nudging me a little with his foot. “Sorry.”

 “Um, it’s
okay
.
Let’s
go
.” Laughing a bit hysterically, in the back corner of my mind, I
knew I was becoming slap-happy.

 “Wait,
Elodie,” he cautioned, placing the grate next to him and peering at me from
under his arm. “When we’re out, follow me exactly. There are motion lights.”

 I nodded, fighting
the urge to barrel through to the outdoors, the ice-cold air a welcome relief,
dissolving the heft of brick and Dark Rooms. “No problem.”

 He chuckled
at my eagerness. “And there’s a bit of a jump.”

 Of course
there was.

 After a ten
foot drop, I concentrated on mimicking his footfalls through the huge gravel
yard around the building, impatient to be free of the Domain. Finally, we
reached a row of leafless hedges. Without warning, Asher picked me up and
turned us in a circle, surprising me so that I had to grip his shoulders. Figuring
we were safe, I laughed silently with him and then almost fell over when he set
me down.

 “Let’s get
you some food,” he said quietly, looking worried as I swayed.

 A little
farther into the bushes that were more like small trees, I tugged on his coat. “Um,
Asher.”

 “Yes?” He
was radiant in the moonlight.

 I had to
clear my throat to remember what I was going to say; his eyes absorbed the light
while he waited for my request. “I need a moment alone,” I tried to tell him
without saying it. Having ignored my bladder for hours, I thought I should take
the opportunity, pride be damned. Luckily, he seemed to get it.

 “Oh, of
course,” he smiled, not making me feel embarrassed at all. “I’ll go set up the
food.”

 “Thanks,” I
wandered to the side, finding a bush for myself out of sight. I hadn’t had
anything to drink in ages, but after this I would really be empty. Without
venturing too far, I could still hear him rustling. “Can you whistle or
something?” I called in a hush, surprisingly not self-conscious. But still, I
didn’t want him to
hear
.

 “Whistle?” he
asked as if he didn’t understand. Maybe he didn’t know how.

 “Just hum
something,” I clarified, imagining his shrug before he hummed tunelessly.

 With one of
my mundane issues taken care of, the hunger and thirst moved to the forefront
of my mind; gnawing at me and making me loopy. I walked back to him as he
continued to hum, lounging with a small feast in the center of a circle of bushes.
Their braided, spindled branches formed a canopy.   

 “Wow,” I whispered
and fell to my weak knees on the frozen ground, “my rescue picnic.”

 “It was
terribly last minute,” he said with a grin. “Eat, Elodie. We have a few
minutes.”

 Smiling
back, I grabbed the closest thing to me. Cheese slices and smashed buttery
crackers, which made me thirsty enough to drain an entire bottle of water. Barely
taking a breath, I tore open some kind of chocolate covered granola bar, dipping
it into a half-empty jar of peanut butter before inhaling it ravenously. Asher
ate too, but mostly just watched me, probably preparing to administer the
Heimlich maneuver since I wasn’t really chewing the food. When on my third
granola bar and second bottle of water, I finally felt better; though a dull stomach
ache had replaced hunger pains.

 “Thank
you,” I breathed after a long drink of water cleared the sticky peanut butter
away.

 “Not quite
yet.” He grinned in a dashing way while raising an eyebrow. “I have a surprise
for you.”

 What could
he possibly surprise me with? Did he have a vehicle of some kind hidden in the
bushes? My response was a blank and questioning look.

 Behind him,
the gorgeous creature, he had a thermos.
A thermos
. I leaped into his
arms and hugged the steel cylinder to my chest. “
Coffee
,” I sighed,
spraining my wrist trying to open it.

 Asher
twisted the lid off for me as the warm fragrance wafted around us. “You brought
me coffee,” I whispered. “How?”

 “This
jacket has a lot of pockets.” He poured the dark liquid into the lid. Already
shivering slightly, I now trembled in anticipation. “It’s instant… didn’t want
to wake anyone up.” He was actually apologizing to me, the ridiculous, beautiful
man. Holding the cup with both hands, I sipped the strong brew—he must’ve used
the whole tin—and shook my head in disbelief. The bitter warmth spread through
my veins, making me feel like myself again. When I refilled the cup, he added a
shot of anti-Lull, drinking the rest of the vial straight. He didn’t even make
a face at the aftertaste the coffee usually masked. “We don’t really need it
for the Lulling, but it will give us a jolt.” He paused before murmuring, “And
you never know.”

 I nodded,
eager to enhance the coffee-buzz I desperately craved. “Don’t you want some?” I
offered.

 “When
you’re done,” he said, rubbing my back a little. “Actually, we should probably go.
It’s been about fifteen minutes since we got out.” He frowned, apologizing
again.

 “Of
course,” I replied, starting to stand and failing miserably. How I was going to
run almost two miles, I had no idea.

 “I’m so
sorry, Elodie.” He took my non-coffee hand, steadying me. “This will be over
soon.”

 “I’m fine,
really. I’m ready to move,” I said to his doubtful expression. “The anti-Lull
will kick in… in just a sec.” My voice muffled as I drained my cup.

 I stuck the
half-empty thermos into a free pocket of my jacket, securing it as it bulged
conspicuously. “Let’s go,” I said, boldly grabbing Asher’s hand as he smiled
warmly, adjusting my scarf that was miraculously still around my neck. I moaned
a bit when I had to grip his arm with my other hand. I’d stood up too quickly. 

 “Okay, but
we don’t have to run if you’re not up to it.”

 “Deal,” I agreed,
grimacing toward my rogue feet as if I had no control over them.

 We set off
at a brisk pace through the tall bushes, and it dawned on me that we had
entered a true hedge maze. The tall walls were leafless, but with dense, wiry
branches there was no way to see through to the end. The anti-Lull coursed through
my veins and jump-started my body. Even without my glasses, I could almost see
clearly. My eyes widened in amazement.

 As I waited
for my usual maze-panic to set in, I decided to try to divert it with
humiliation. “So, Asher, I have a question.”

 “Ask me
anything.”

 His new
openness made me giddy, and I still couldn’t comprehend that he had actually
rescued me. I pursed my lips, about to back out of the subject; it had been
something I was trying to forget. Desperate to keep calm, I went ahead, “When
you led me out of the mirror-maze that one night… how could you have thought I
was River Elodie and not a hopelessly lost imposter?” I felt a fiery blush heat
my cheeks. 

 “Well, you
were obviously trying to throw me off course. In pretending to lead you out, I
made a ploy to make you complacent and ripe for a mistake.”

 I balked. He
had truly given me too much credit. Snorting, I gave in to his delusion. “Yeah,
you had my number the
whole
time.” Apparently, he’d presumed that I
possessed the skills of a spy novel character, and I found no harm in letting
him continue his assumptions, when in truth it was the other way around.

 The hedges
became thicker and the turns more confusing, but I really didn’t feel any dread
the way I had when stuck in the Domain. It could’ve been because we were
outdoors. And though the frigid air was making me feel much better, I was
almost positive it was because of Asher. He was so solid and sure of where he
was going that I just wasn’t worried. I was fairly relaxed and confident for
the first time since Danny had told me about the rebellion. Rest was a long way
off, but the end of running scared was near. I could feel it.

 We began
moving too fast for much conversation. Asher was leading, and I held on to him
without reservation, yet I was becoming curious about the vague future growing
in my mind. The past, my past in New York, seemed more a lost dream and River
was feeling like my true reality. Instead of this frightening me, I accepted it.
I may never know how this came to be, but maybe this happened more often than
not. I was young, always wrapped up in my own little dramas; maybe people woke
up in different realities with the same friends and family all the time, only
slightly… off. Perhaps this was a phenomenon that others experienced but were
afraid to talk about, for obvious reasons. All of this whipped through my mind
as the anti-Lull made everything lightning-quick, my legs and my thoughts.

 My feelings,
too, seemed abruptly determined to find closure. When Asher and I found the end
of the maze, I breathed a sigh of relief, which he heard. After a moment of
smiling at each other triumphantly, the sight of him looking at me in that way
made me tug lightly on his sleeve.

 “Asher,” I
said softly as we walked. I knew he could hear in the still-black morning. It
was dead silent.

 “Yes?” He
was turned away from me, still holding my hand.

 “I was just
thinking,” I paused, suddenly shy.

 It was a
long moment of my internal blundering before he became curious, or perhaps worried
I’d had some kind of mental breakdown. We stopped. His free hand warmed my cold
cheek, and then pulled loose strands of hair out of the way. I wasn’t sure I
could look at him. 

 “Elodie,”
he whispered. “What is it?”

 A deep
breath later, I just blurted it out. “Do you want to stay with me?” I turned my
questioning eyes on his. “I mean really
stay
with me… after all this?”

 Asher moved
closer, and down to my level. I’d moved my eyes to the ground once more, this
time staring at his shoes for a change. With his hand, he curved his warm
fingers to frame my jaw, gently tilting it up before he spoke quietly. “I can’t
imagine being without you.” He squeezed my hand, and then let go, wrapping his
arms around me. “
This
is where I want to stay.” And he held me so forcefully
that there were no more questions.

 We started
out again, and I felt much better about the future. Though it was a bit of an
effort to speak, hurrying as we were, I couldn’t stop myself from talking.

 “So, I’m
not surprised Mace didn’t know your real name. I mean I know he’s too
daft
to care about his slaves, but kudos for making him think that you are somebody
else…” I trailed off because Asher had drifted to an almost stop while staring
ahead.