The Beneath (5 page)

She paused for a moment, biting her lower lip.

“We never live with our fathers, just our mothers, but mine is dead and has been for a while.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s all right,” she said, shrugging but holding her knees tighter. “Where is your mother? Is she dead too?”

For once I didn’t mind the question. The kids at school tormented me with this every day, but Aria didn’t already know the answer.

“My parents and my little brothers have moved away,” I managed before my voice caught. I took a deep breath. “I stayed here because of school.”

“Oh, I see,” she said, without the curious raising of the eyebrows that people generally gave me when I told them. Before she could ask more I jumped in with a question of my own.

“What exactly is the Crop then, Aria? You must have some idea. And how did they get there?”

“I’ve never seen them,” she said quietly. “Only the Farmer has anything to do with them. I can’t believe that we got away from them earlier. The Farmer always says that no one ever gets away.”

Her voice tailed off into a whisper.

“The Farmer? Who’s that? You mentioned him before.”

“The Farmer is our leader. He makes sure that everyone keeps to the rules. He says it’s for our protection.”

“Protection from what?” I asked.

She hesitated again.

“From the Aboves.”

“I don’t understand,” I said, puzzled. “If we don’t know that you’re there, there’s not much need for that.”

“The Farmer says that we need the Crop as a defence in case you find us.”

“Oh.” I didn’t really know how to respond to that – to think that I was one of the enemy was peculiar. “So what’s this Farmer like?”

Aria looked at her feet.

“He’s frightening. And dangerous. He needs to be stopped.”

There was real passion in her voice.

“How did he get to be the leader – is he Assigned too?”

She paused for a second before replying.

“Actually, he’s the only person who’s not Assigned, because the Farmer has to have an Affinity with the Crop. The Affinity is passed on from Farmer to son, and each
new Farmer takes on the responsibility to protect us.”

“Are you saying that he has some sort of special power over them?” I asked, trying to keep a sarcastic tone from creeping into my voice.

“He is the only one who can do it. Something about his bloodline means that they won’t attack him.”

“But it’s not possible. That sort of thing only happens in films.”

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me, but it’s the truth. Things are different in the Community.”

For a moment I could smell the Crop again, hear that strange slithering noise, and I shuddered. Whatever they were I was very glad that they couldn’t get to me. I glanced at Aria and she was still hunched up on the duvet, biting her lip so hard I thought it might bleed. Talking about the Crop had obviously been another bad move on my part.

“So, um, tell me about the boys down there. Is there anyone special for you back in the Community?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, do you have a boyfriend – a partner? Or someone you’d like to be a partner.”

“No, not yet. Our matches get made by the Farmer and the other Elders, so there’s not really any choice in the matter.”

Everything she was saying sounded worse and worse. “That’s horrible! So you can’t just choose someone you like?”

Aria shook her head. “No, it’s all settled for us. Do you, then? Can you pick anyone as your partner?”

“Well, theoretically, I suppose, but you have to choose each other. I can’t just go and pick someone. I have to hope that they like me too.”

“That sounds much more difficult!”

“Well,” I said, laughing, “it can be tricky, or so I’ve heard.”

“And have you picked one yet?” she asked.

A picture of Will instantly flashed across my mind. Would he count? “There is someone I like, but I don’t know yet if he likes me.” I couldn’t believe I was telling her that – I’d not said anything to anyone about him. In fact, I don’t think I’d ever had much of a conversation with anyone about boys. Before my world fell apart – when I still had some friends – it wasn’t really something we had talked about.

Aria gave me a shy smile.

The more Lily tells me about Above, the more surprised I am. The tales we are told about them being violent, aggressive and promiscuous seem very wrong. She is going pink talking about boys, just as I would if I mentioned Dane. Being Assigned to Dane would make the whole thing much more bearable, but it will never happen. He’s far too young, and not important enough.

Up here we might have a chance, but I’ll never persuade him to leave. He knows what it’s like Above,
and prefers to be safe underground. But it will never be safe for any of us in the Community while the Farmer is in charge.

I sigh, wishing that I could explain more to Lily, but until I know if I should continue with my mission I have to be careful what I say.

I reach for Lily’s hand. “Whoever he is, I’m sure he likes you too.”

It’s her turn to smile, and her eyes glaze slightly. She must be thinking of him. As she does, her hand goes to the little necklace she is wearing. I’ve seen her do it several times so far.

“What’s that?” I ask. “It’s pretty.”

I quickly let go of the necklace. Every time I was nervous or worried, my hand automatically strayed to the silver chain with the tiny yet perfect line of charms. I’d had it for years, a present from Nan when I was young, and it was supposed to ward off bad luck. It hadn’t been doing me much good lately.

“Oh, it’s nothing, just a bunch of little silver things.”

“What are they supposed to be?”

I felt along the chain, although I knew each one perfectly. “There’s a heart, a slipper, a whistle and a horseshoe.”

“What funny things to be wearing round your neck!”

“I know,” I laughed. “Nan is a bit superstitious. Anyway, do you want to hear my plan about how you can stay up
here?” I had been mulling over my idea for the last hour or two, and the more I spoke to Aria, the more I knew that I had to keep her safe – from the Farmer, from her arranged marriage and from a community that wouldn’t teach girls to read.

Aria gave me a grateful smile. “Yes, please.”

“Underneath this flat is an empty one, and I have the keys. You can live there as long as you’re quiet. No one will ever know.”

Aria looked puzzled.

“Is that OK?” I continued, leaning towards her.

“I’m not sure that I understand.”

“You can go and live downstairs! There’s plenty of room, and the floors are so thick that Nan will never be able to hear you – as long as you keep the TV down.”

“You mean I’ll have a whole dwelling, just for me? Not sharing with you or Nan or anyone?”

“Yup, your own place.”

Lily is offering me somewhere to live, somewhere I’ll be safe from everything. I should be grateful – and I am – but I’m also confused. Why is she doing this for me? She doesn’t know me and doesn’t have any idea about why I really came up to the place with the trains.

I think of Dane and of all the time we hid together, making our plans to snatch Lily and take her back down with us. I wonder what he is doing. He’ll know by now that everything has gone wrong, that the mission has failed,
but not how. Does he think that I fell to the Crop or that I chose to abandon him and start a new life Above? Will he try to find me?

I also know that by now everyone else will know I’m missing, and that means I can never go back. The Farmer will never allow it.

I have nowhere else to go.

The next morning was Saturday so there was no school, but we still got up early. It was a bright and sunny day, not overcast like the day before, and Aria gasped as I took her outside to get to the downstairs flat.

“Ow – that really hurts,” she said loudly, clasping her hands to her eyes. We weren’t even in the sunshine but rather on the shadowy side of the street.

“It’s only a few steps. Here, I’ll lead you. Keep your eyes tightly closed.”

I manoeuvred her through the gate in the old iron railing and down the steep, narrow steps into the tiny courtyard. The place felt permanently damp, with green moss growing on the walls, and crumpled copies of
Metro
blown into the corners. I unlocked the door and ushered Aria inside.

The flat was owned by Nan’s friend Marjorie, but she had broken her hip and was living in a care home while she recovered. Nan was supposed to be looking after the place but as she couldn’t easily get down the stairs she had asked me to do it. I often used it to revise as it
was nice and cool. The rooms I’d not been using were a bit dusty, but we opened the windows, which looked out on nothing but the mossy brick walls and a tiny patch of sky above, changed the sheets on the bed and soon it looked quite homely.

Settling down at the kitchen table we spent another hour looking at the alphabet, but it was clear that we were going to need some proper books to help us, as well as a good supply of paper and pencils.

“What we need is the library,” I said, looking in vain through Marjorie’s Mills & Boon books for something suitable for Aria to practise on. “Come on, we can be there in fifteen minutes.”

“What’s a library?” asked Aria, carefully putting all the papers into a tidy pile.

“Oh, you’ll love the library! It’s a whole building full of books that you can borrow.”

“Will they have books that will help me learn to read then?”

“Loads. They have a big selection for little kids that have pictures and words so that you can see what is what.”

“And they’ll let us in?”

I couldn’t help laughing at the question. “Of course, even us! Let’s go.”

The sun was still shining, so I rummaged in the kitchen drawers until I found an old pair of sunglasses for Aria to wear. She wasn’t convinced they would help, and kept
taking them off and putting them on again.

“Really, if you thought it was bright earlier, standing in full sunshine is going to be a bit shocking,” I said, handing the glasses back to her. “Your eyes are going to take some time to adjust and you don’t want to hurt them.”

“But it feels so odd,” she complained, fiddling with them again.

“Believe me, you’ll want them when we get out there.”

I kept close to Aria as we left the flat, holding her arm. Moving out from the shadow of the building she gasped and pushed the glasses more firmly on to her nose.

“You were right,” she said in a small voice, shielding her face from the sun with her hair. “I’d never imagined anything like this. I can even feel it heating my skin.”

She held her hand out in the sun for a moment before tugging her sleeve down over her knuckles.

We walked along the side streets to get to the library, avoiding as many of the busy roads as possible, but eventually we had to cross over.

“It’s not much further,” I cajoled, reaching for Aria’s arm to reassure her when she stopped dead.

The guy behind us swore and stepped out in the road to get round us. Aria was staring down the road, her mouth hanging open.

“We have to go – now!” she hissed, before turning and running.

She was surprisingly swift, dodging people as she ran
along the street, long dark hair flying behind her. I finally caught up with her and dragged her into a shoe shop entrance. A woman who was leaving tutted at us for being in her way.

“Hang on, Aria,” I gasped. “What exactly are we running from?”

“It’s one of the Listeners,” she replied, backing up against the door. “He saw me, I’m sure. We need to get away!”

“Why? Who are they? You never did tell me yesterday.”

“They are the only ones allowed Above. They bring information and food, and make sure that no one knows about us. They listen. And they see
everything
.” Her voice rose, quivering slightly.

From where we were in the shop entrance I could peer through the window display and back down the street towards the crowds of people.

“Is he still coming?”

“I think so. It’s hard to be sure from here – I can’t really see.”

She craned her neck to try and see past the display of stilettos.

“Yes, there he is. We have to run, Lily. If he finds me I’m in real trouble. If only it were Dane then maybe I could talk to him, but this one will show me no mercy!”

“OK, don’t panic. If we’re calm we can get away.” I had seen a way out – a few steps away was a bus stop, and the bus was just a little bit further down the High Street.
“Wait there,” I told her as I nipped across the pavement to the ticket machine next to the stop. I rummaged in my jeans pocket for some change that I’d found earlier and shoved in the right amount for her ticket. The bus had stopped at some lights so we had another minute or two. I shot back to Aria.

She had shut her eyes tightly and I saw her clench her fists.

“I’m back. Are you OK?”

“All right,” she said. “I’m calm. Can we go now?”

“Just a few seconds. We’re getting on a bus, so do exactly as I say, all right?”

I saw fresh panic on her face as she realised what I meant.

“It won’t hurt you,” I added quickly. “Keep the glasses on; they help to disguise you.”

I was watching the road as I was talking, and I could see the bus approaching. A young woman was standing at the stop just a few short steps from our hiding place.

“He’s getting closer,” she said, her nose pressed against the window.

“Which one is he?”

“There, that one in the grey top.”

I glanced down the pavement but couldn’t be sure which man she was talking about.

“Look, we only have to go over there,” I said, grabbing her arm and pointing at the woman at the bus stop. “Where that woman in the stripy top is, OK? Just keep
calm. You look really different in sunglasses. Here, put this on too.”

I stripped off my favourite hoodie and shoved it on her waiting arms.

“Hair is the other thing. Quick, turn round.”