The Moon Dwellers (26 page)

“
We need to get rid
of these tunics,” I say
.

Cole smirks
.
“Yeah, I was thinking going naked was a good idea.
They
’d never expect it.”
He starts
to raise his tunic
over his head, revealing his strong
dark legs and a pair of tight, black
briefs
.

“That’s mo
re than I wanted to see,” I say
,
looking away.
Really I am thinking that he looks
pretty good under the g
audy prisoner’s tunic.
I’m not
attracted to him or anything, bu
t I do
n’t mind looking at him.

When I look
back he’
s lowered his tunic and is winking at me.
I smile the first real smile I have in a long time.
It feels natural, easy, like life i
s good, full of good friends
, good fun, good times.
It feels
really…
really good.
I cover it with a hand and wipe it away.
Things a
re still too messed up for smiles.

“Where are we going to get
different clothes?” Tawni asks
.
“I mean, I’ve got
money, but I’m not sure it’s
a good idea to walk into a shop wearing these.”

“Yeah, plus we’ll be public enemy number
one
after the br
eakout.
Our faces will
be
plastered all over town,” I say
.

“Do you think so?”
Tawni
says
, suddenly looking excited.
“I would die to see my parents’ faces when they see me on the news!”

“
I knew I should’ve
had them
retake my mug shot,” Cole says
.
“I think I blinked during the first one.”

“No amount of retakes wo
uld be able to help you,” I say
dryly.

Cole stares
at me, hi
s eyes widening and his mouth
open
ing
wide to form an O.
“My gosh, Adele.
Was that…was that a joke?
Well played.”

I pl
ay
-
punch
him in the arm and
am surprised when he winces.
At first I think he is kidding, but then I notice
the slight tear in his tunic.
“Are you hurt?” I ask
.

“I think we all are
,” he says
.
“But nothing serious for me.
Are you guys al
l
right?”

Tawni glances
at me
.
“Just a few cuts for me
.
I think Adele is hurt the worst.”

I raise
a hand to my face, once more feelin
g the stickiness.
“Nah,” I say
, “it’s merely a flesh wound.
Probably looks a lot worse than it is.”

“That
’s not what I meant,” Tawni says
.

Damn
, I was
hoping not to talk about my other injury jus
t yet.
Evidently Tawni saw
more than I thought.
“It
’s not that bad, really,” I say
.
“I’ll deal with it once we find a better place to hide.”

Cole looks
at me suspiciously
, and then at Tawni.
I squeeze
my fist
s
tight, hoping they will
both just let it go.
Thankfully
,
they do
.

“Okay,
where should we go?” Tawni asks
.

“First
,
we need clothes,” I say
, bringing our strange conversation full circle.

“
I can help with that,” Cole says
.
“We’ll just go shopping somewhere less visible.”

Tawni frowns
, clearly not und
erstanding his meaning, but I ge
t the message.
“You
want to steal them?” I confirm
.

“Not steal, j
ust borrow,” Cole says.
When Tawni gi
ve
s him a look, he adds
, “We can even leave some money for them if you want.”

I’m not
that comfortable with the idea of stealing from innocent peop
le, especially because things a
re so tough in our subchapter at the m
oment, but it’s not like we have
much of a choice.
Tawni
, however, i
sn’t such an easy s
ell.

“I’m not stealing from
anyone!” she says
firmly.

“Shh
h, keep your voice down,” I say
, glancing at the house for any signs of activity.

“Don’t worry, Tawns, I’ll do
the stealing,” Cole volunteers.
“Consider the clothes
a gift from me
and don’t worry about where I get them
from.”

“No,” Tawni says
, lowering her eyes and putting her hands on her
hips.
I’m not sure why she has
such a big problem with it considering our situa
tion.
I guess she i
s just a person of principle, unwilling to
budge on certain things.
It i
s probably caused by her parent
s—her way of proving
she i
sn’
t like them, i
sn’t
willi
ng to cross some line in her head
.
I am
more of a realist.

“We don’t h
ave much of a choice,” I offer
.

Tawni’s eyes brighten as she co
me
s
up with an idea.
She is really pretty when she ge
t
s
excited.
Her blue eyes sparkle
against the w
hiteness of her hair.
If she’
d
been born in the
Sun Realm, she probably cou
ld’
ve been a model in one of their fashion magazines.
Funny how our lives are so affected by where we are born.

“What?” I say
.

“We’ll get the
clothes from my parents’ house…
my house,” she says
.

“I’
m not so sure that’s—” I start
to say.

Tawni
plo
w
s
ahead.
“My dad’s a big guy, like
Cole, I think his clothes will
fit perfectly.
I can wear my own clothes
,
of course, and you can wear my mom’s clothes.
Don’t worry, she’s about your size, so it should w
ork.
C’mon, let’s go,” she says, before either of us
has
a chance to disagree.
“We should be able to make it there in less than an hour.
It’ll still be pitch
-
bla
ck when we arrive.”
She grabs my hand and starts pulling.
She seems
to like to d
o that, and normally it would bother
me.
But for some reason with Tawni
it doesn’t.
I almost kinda sorta like
it, I think.

Cole just grunts
and fo
llows
us.
Given how
long he’s
known Tawni, I guess
he kno
w
s how hopeless it i
s to argue with her when she set
s
her mind to something.

Stopping to catch our brea
ths was
a bad idea
.
At least for me.
My body i
s
completely frozen
up.
My thighs and calves burn
from the sprint through the Pen, the frantic climb up and then back down the fence, and our distance run ac
ross the subchapter.
My back i
s sore and
pleading
with me to take a break—
just rest for a minute, or even thirty seconds, please
!
—a
nd my bruised side, well, it
gave
up on pleading long ago and i
s practically sc
reaming at me to stop.
I want to look at it, but am
afraid to stop, because I might not
be able to start again if I do.
Plus, Cole and Tawni will
s
ee it then, too, and it might be too hard to convince them I am
okay.
Instead, I just ignore my body.
I am sure it will punish me
later.

We try
to stay off the main
roads, sticki
ng to the shadowy fringes of hous
es and properties.
As we walk
, we talk
, spe
aking in hushed tones.
We can
still hear the
dull
boom of e
xplosions in the distance, can
see intermittent flashes of light exposed against the dark backdrop of the giant cavern
, but
they a
re
neither loud enough nor bright enough to wake the sleeping moon dwellers.
Closer
to the city
,
I’m sure it would be
pandemonium.

Tawni says
, “I think it’s the sun dwellers.”

“What reason do
they h
ave for attacking us?” Cole says
.
“They’ve got a sweet deal with us
,
a
nd your boy Tristan”—he motions
to me—“was just here shaking hands with the leaders and mugging for the cameras.”

“I don’t think it’s
the sun dwellers either,” I say, although I’m not
sure why.

“Of course not,” Cole says
.
“Your lover boy and his people could do no wrong.”

My face flushes
, but
in anger,
not embarrassment
.
“I never said that!” I hiss, a bit too loudly.
Tawni gi
ve
s me a look and I lower
my voice.
“What is your problem anyway?
We know nothing about Tristan—I know nothing about him.
All I have to go on is a weird moment we had together and what Tawni heard about him from her p
arents.
For all I know it is a bunch of crap.
He might
be a total creep.
Regardless, it doesn’t matter.
I’m never going to see him again.”

Even in the shadows I can see that Cole i
s
shocked by my outburst.
Maybe he i
sn’t the only one with
a temper.
“Sorry,” he mumbles
.

I feel bad right away.
I really do
n’t know anyt
hing about Tristan and yet I am defending him.
I try
Cole’s
tactic of forgiving quickly.
“It’s okay,
” I sigh
.
“Look, I don’t like the sun dwellers any more than you do—that I can promise you—and they
did
abduct my parents, but seriously, I just don’
t think they’
d start bombing us all of a sudden.
Like you said, they’ve got the leaders in their back pocket.
Why would t
hey ruin such a good thing by beating us down even
more
?”

“Sorry,” Cole says
again, hanging his head.
Suddenly
I feel
even worse
about s
napping at him
,
even though I kno
w he deserved it.

Tawni says
, “You guys are probably right.
But if not the sun dwellers, then who?”