Savage Run (23 page)

A vein in Johnny’s forehead bulges and his
eyes bore a hole into me. “Are you saying that you, a Laborer, are
smarter than all the Advisors in the program?”

“
Did anyone else use the
ledges?” I ask the others.

“
I did,” Timothy
says.

“
Me, too,” Danny says.
“They said we should look for them, Johnny.”

“
I was one of the first
ones there with Johnny. I couldn’t find it,” Abraham
says.

It goes completely silent and I’m sure we’re
all thinking the same thing: Johnny will never admit it, but he
wasn’t able to find the short-cut.

Johnny leans forward and is about to say
something to me.

“
The important thing…”
Nicholas asserts, “…is that we’re all here—alive.”

“
You’re always defending
Joseph—what, do you have a thing for him or something?” Johnny
looks at the other guys for validation.

“
Dude, that’s not even
funny,” Timothy says, chewing on some meat.

“
This is so not fair. You
guys are naïve if you think there isn’t something shady going on.”
Johnny stands up and throws his napkin on the table. “Here I am
risking my life so that my grandmother can have a better life, and
no one but me cares that Joseph is getting ahead by cheating.” He
walks off.

“
Well, that was
uncomfortable,” I say, but the others don’t laugh or acknowledge me
at all. “How is it cheating when we were encouraged to take the
short cuts?”

Nicholas shakes his head at me and I take it
as him telling me to drop it, which I gladly do. I eat my food
without saying another word, eager for the meal to be over. After I
finish, I excuse myself and head for the men’s room. Never mind. I
don’t want to sit in there locked up in one of the stalls all
evening, listening to all types of sounds. Returning to the great
hall, the guests are already on their way to the ballroom. When I
turn around, I see Nicholas walking a few feet behind me. I greet
him with a nod and continue to the other side of the ballroom where
it’s less crowded. Nicholas remains a few feet behind me the entire
time. Does him following me around have anything to do with the
fact that Johnny is here?

The string quartet starts to play a slow
waltz, and a young lady appears out of nowhere asking me to dance.
I balk for a moment, cursing myself quietly for not having just
sucked it up and locked myself up in the men’s room. “I don’t
really know how to dance.”

“
It’s okay. You can follow
my lead.” She smiles warmly and latches her arm around my elbow,
leading me to the center of the dance floor.

This is humiliating on so many levels.

Taking my hand and wrapping it around her
waist, she says, “My name is Eva Dahl, and you’re Joseph,
right?”

“
Yes.”

“
You’re all the rave around
here amongst the tween girls. You’re a little young for me, but my
younger sister made me promise that I’d dance with you.”

I suppress a smile. Trying to move with her,
I trip and manage to step on her foot.

“
A waltz has three beats to
it, like so.” She shows me and I’m able to pick up the rhythm
pretty quickly.

Once we’re moving again, she says, “It was
such a wonderful thing you did for Arthor. I thought he was going
to die for sure.”

“
Thanks.” I try to make my
voice sound a little deeper.

“
You look much younger up
close.”

“
How old are you?” I
ask.

“
Seventeen.” Picking up on
how I won’t be doing the talking, she starts to tell me at length
about herself. Her parents are making her study science at the
University of Trollheim, but she’d much rather be a singer. And,
oh, what she wouldn’t give to have a man take her away from her
wretched life so she can finally be free from her father’s
control.

“
I completely get that,” I
say.

Her big brown eyes pop open. “You do?” She
must assume that since I’m a boy, I have more freedom than her—and
if I was a boy maybe I would have had some freedom—but as it is,
our situations are extremely similar, the only difference being
she’s a free person as far as her status goes, and I’m a slave to
every Master.

“
Sure, just maybe in a
different way,” I say.

“
So tell me about that
Johnny guy. He’s pretty hot.”

“
Er…” I answer.

“
I mean, what’s he like? He
seems like one of the strongest, bravest guys out
there.”

I nod and am amazed at how quickly she can
change the subject. “He…uh…he’s pretty strong. Not really a nice
guy, though.”

“
Hm. So what’s it like to
be a Laborer? I mean, here in Normark we’re all considered equals.
There are no slaves and no Masters. We’re all Masters, I
suppose.”

“
It’s horrible,” I confess.
“I’d do anything to live the way I want to.”

“
Even risk dying…” she says
dreamily. “That’s so brave. Maybe if you survive, you could come
visit my sister and me in Normark?”

I hardly think I’ll ever be visiting her,
but since the odds of me surviving the Savage Run are slim to
nothing, I say, “I would enjoy that.”

“
Now…where did Johnny run
off to?” She scans the crowd. “Oh, I see him.” She hands me a pen
and a postcard with my picture on it.”

“
Where did you get this?” I
ask.

“
My dad has connections,
and my sister gets pretty much anything she wants…so…will you sign
it?”

I start to write my name. “H…” But I quickly
turn it into a J and sign my last name. “There.”

“
Thanks for dancing,
Joseph. And for the signature. My sister will love it!”

She leaves me standing alone on the dance
floor and heads toward Johnny.

“
Thank you for the dance,”
I say to myself. Zooming as fast as I can, I migrate toward a dim
hallway and look for a place where I can be alone. Eventually, I
find a dark room with built-in bookshelves, with a brown leather
sectional, and a huge wooden desk. Just as I’m about to shut the
door, Nicholas slips in behind me.

“
Having fun?” He laughs
heartily.

“
Wipe that clever smile off
your face.”

“
It was quite amusing to
watch.” He chuckles a few more times.

“
I didn’t think it was
funny.” Despite myself, when I think about it, I can’t help but
smile. “Okay, it was a little funny. But she just wanted to dance
with me to get a signature for her sister and to ask about
Johnny.”

“
She’d be smart to stay
away from him.”

“
For sure.” I walk over to
the sectional and sit down. “This whole evening feels
so…awkward.”

Remaining by the door, he says, “You can
stay in here the rest of the night if you want. I’ll tell everyone
you needed to get some rest.”

“
Thanks.” There’s a pause
in our conversation where we look into each other’s eyes. Realizing
that I have stopped breathing, I look away.

“
I’m sad she beat me to it
though.” He moves closer to me.

My eyes have a mind of their own and find
their way back to his. “Beat you to what?”

“
I promised I’d take you
dancing if you made it past the first phase.”

“
Oh…that. Well…I won’t hold
you to it. I know what you meant.”

He takes a step closer to me and reaches out
his hand. “I meant what I said. Besides, now that we’re partners in
crime, I can’t go back on my word, can I?”

I smile a little, but my breaths have become
quick and shallow. “What, here?”

His right eyebrow rises.

“
But there’s no music.” I
don’t know why I’m trying to make it difficult for him because if
I’m honest with myself, I know I’ll enjoy dancing with
him.

“
Come here.”

After a moment’s hesitation, I reach my hand
out. When his warm skin meets mine, it’s as if electricity surges
through me. He pulls me to a standing position and draws me in so
close that his chest touches mine. He starts to hum and his voice
vibrates through my core.

“
Doesn’t it make you feel
weird dancing with me since I’m in a tuxedo?” What a ridiculous
question.

His eyes lock with mine. “Not really.”

His palm presses against the small of my
back so heat collects there, and when he rests his newly-shaven
cheek against mine; I can feel my pulse in my ear. For how long we
stand and sway like that, I don’t know.

“
Can I ask you something?”
I finally say.

“
Anything.”

“
What is your opinion of
a…gay person?”

“
What do you mean?” He
thinks for a moment and then chuckles. “I guess someone would think
we were gay if they walked in on us.”

“
Well—that—and I’m
interested to know what you think about it.”

“
Why?”

“
My father hates any gay
person, but I think they’re just like everyone else.”

“
I wouldn’t condemn
them.”

“
But it’s against the law,”
I say.

“
Unfortunately, yes.” He
lifts his hand from the small of my back, reaching farther across,
pulling me closer.

It’s become difficult for me to think
straight. “So do you think it’s wrong?”

He ponders for a moment. “My father would
say it defies natural laws, that it isn’t conducive to the
propagation of life, that it devalues traditional marriage, and
that it turns moral wrongs into civil rights.”

“
Do you agree?”

“
It isn’t conducive to the
traditional family.”

“
But do you think
it’s
wrong
?” I
press, a little irritated that he’s avoiding answering my
question.

“
I don’t believe in right
or wrong anymore. I only believe in what works for society and the
individual alike.”

“
And when those two
clash?”

He looks me in the eyes and for a moment, I
think I can see his soul. “Then we must be brave enough to stand
for what we believe. As long as we don’t hurt anyone, we should
have rights to our opinions and to live the way we see fit.”

“
Well,
you
have that right,” I say,
thinking about my own Laborer status, which gives me the right to
basically nothing. Especially not living the way I see fit. “It’s
all so easy for you. Do you ever try to imagine what life might be
like without your freedom?”

“
I must admit I haven’t.
Not until…”

I interrupt him. “So how can you say that we
must be brave enough? Do you think that just by being brave and
standing for what we believe, things will suddenly become fair? If
a Laborer stands for what he or she believes, they’re punished for
it.”

“
Listen, you don’t have to
be so upset with me. I agree with you. And I want to change
it.”

I just stare at him blankly for a while with
nothing to say.

He cocks his head to the side, his eyes
narrowing. “What?”

When I realize I’ve been gawking at him for
the last minute, my cheeks become hot. I look away.

Leaning his cheek against mine, he says.
“You don’t have to fight against me.”

The knot in my gut melts away.

Suddenly, the door flings open and I hear
loud laughter. Then Johnny enters, pulling Eva inside with him.
Nicholas and I step away from each other immediately, but it’s too
late; I know they saw us.

“
Oh, sorry,” Eva says, but
when she recognizes me, she says, “Oh, my!”

Johnny’s face lights up and a devious grin
sprouts from his lips. “Wait a minute, I knew I’d figure it out.”
He wags his finger at me. “Your father’s that crazy,
holier-than-thou pastor at the hospital, and you’re that girl who
rides around delivering medicine! Heidi!”

Chapter 18

Nicholas dashes across the room and pulls
Eva and Johnny inside, slamming the door shut behind them.

“
Wait. What? Joseph’s
a…girl?” Eva’s eyes widen.

“
No I’m not!”

“
I know who you are. You
delivered medicine to my grandmother like a hundred times, and I
bet if I told President Volkov, he’d have no problem believing it,”
Johnny asserts.

I wonder how Johnny saw me because I don’t
ever remember meeting him.

“
Listen to me very
carefully,” Nicholas says. “Heidi had extreme circumstances and if
I didn’t register her, she’d be dead by now.”

I can’t believe he’s telling Johnny about
this.

“
You knew about it and
registered her anyway!” Johnny says.

“
I did it because she
deserved a chance to live. Like you do,” Nicholas
replies.

Johnny sneers. “I can’t wait to tell Pres.
about this.”

“
Why would you do something
so cruel?” Eva props her hands on her hips.

Johnny hesitates for a second. “Obviously
because it’s illegal!”

“
Just let her go, Johnny,”
Eva says. “It would be so amazing if a girl could complete the
Savage Run!” She turns and smiles at me, and it feels good to have
someone defend me.

“
Pres. needs to know about
this,” Johnny says and reaches for the doorknob, but Nicholas
presses the palm of his hand against the door, keeping it
shut.