There Once Were Stars (9 page)

I jerk my head up. A meadow? Mom mentioned that somewhere in her pages, but what was it about? In some ways I wish I still had her notebook.

The woman extends her hand to me. “I’m Cardinal. Gloria Cardinal. This is Karl Waldorf.”

I shake her hand. “I’m—”

“We know.” Cardinal cuts me off before grabbing her food tray and standing. “See you back in the lab.”

Waldorf scrambles to gather his things. “We’ll be working together this afternoon, Greyes.” He offers a reassuring smile and then disappears out the door.

“How’s your food?” Evan asks. “You haven’t stopped playing with your egg.” A smile plays at the edge of his lips, making the sides of his eyes wrinkle. He leans back in his chair, relaxing his broad shoulders, as he taps a finger on the table. A scar runs across the back of his hand, slightly lighter than his bronzed skin.

“What happened there?” I point.

His finger stops tapping and his round eyes narrow as he holds his hand out, examining his hand as if noticing the mark for the first time. His lower lip sticks out for a second, before his gaze returns to mine. “Just being a kid, doing stupid things kids do.”

“Is that why you call me kid? Because you think I do stupid things?”

He purses his lips together in a frown, drawing the skin tight along his chiseled cheeks. He opens his mouth, about to say something, and then shakes his head. “I can’t help it if you’re younger than me.”

“Only by two years!”

“Don’t worry about it, Greyes,” Evan says.

“Greyes?” I say raising an eyebrow. “You sound like the others now.”

“That’s the idea, isn’t it?” He looks around the room, scanning the other scientists. The frown returns to his face and his hands ball into fists on the table. Though his eyes reveal nothing, I know he’s dropped his façade and for that moment shown me a glimmer of his true self. He turns back to me, his face softening but his voice trails off, without emotion. “Put us all together in this tower, and mold us into one functioning unit for the dome. Keep the Order in order and all that. I’ve heard it before.”

“You have?”

He stares into my eyes as he leans forward. The entire room disappears around me as I focus on what he’s about to say. “Don’t you like being called
Greyes
? I thought it suited you better than
kid
?” A flash in his eyes shows he’s returned to his old self, but he completely ignores my question.

I can’t help but smile. “I like
Nat
the best. What do I call you, then?”

“I like it when you call me
Evan
,” he whispers. “It rolls off your lips just right.”

A tiny gasp escapes my mouth, but I quickly close my lips, suddenly aware he’s staring at them. Under my thin shirt my heart races and my stomach flip-flops in unison. My cheeks get hot, and I cover them with my hands, as a tingle runs under my skin.

He leans back in his seat and bites his lower lip, still watching me, waiting for something. Does he want me to answer? What would I say—I wonder what his lips would feel like against mine? My face heats up even more—I can’t believe I thought that. I grab my tray and stand up, holding it between us in defense.

“Let’s go to the lab,”

“Oh, Greyes,” Evan says, getting up. “You are too easy.”

We ride the elevator in silence. There’s an electric hum between us, or maybe I just feel that way. I need to know more about him. From the corner of my eye, I stare at his face. The corner of his jaw clenches and releases. For a brief moment, I picture myself grasping the side of his face while my lips press against his, my fingers sliding through his hair and twining into his locks. Sweat breaks across my skin, spreading down my neck. I shake the thought from my head and clear my throat.

“Where did you come from?”

“The outside. You know that. You saw me.”

Another tiny gasp escapes my lips. So he saw me, too. He knows what no one else does, that I was in the clearing.

I know our ride will end quickly. The elevators at the Axis are nothing if not efficient. “Please, I want to know. Where is your home?”

“I came from a place very much like this one,” Evan shrugs.

“Another dome?”

“You could say that.” His jaw clenches again, but this time it doesn’t let go.

His answers are vague, but the elevator doors open, interrupting my questions. Evan walks out, leaving me alone. Another dome … I knew there were others. I don’t understand why he would have left his.

When I walk into the lab, Waldorf waves me over. “Did Roe tell you I would show you the ropes before we leave tomorrow?” he asks kindly.

“She sure did.” I glance around the lab. Steel tables are arranged in rows, and pairs of scientists work on both sides. Some sit at monitors, probably looking up old reports. Others are cleaning tools. Where Waldorf stands, he has some files open, ready to show me what we’re supposed to do.

“Great.” Waldorf smiles. “Our department handles retrievals. We go into areas where people once lived and retrieve items that are of use.”

“There are still cities out there?”

Waldorf squints from behind his glasses. “Sort of. Most places were annihilated in the war. We have to map out sites, where there once were cities, and then we dig until we find something. Sometimes you can see the outlines of old foundations, but most things of use are hidden in the earth.”

I look at the open file on the table, where photos of objects lie inside. Some items are familiar, like pots and pans, pieces of jewelry, and old coins; others are photos of things I’ve never seen before, odd shapes and items I can’t see would be of any use; sculptures of faces, paintings of people dressed in weird clothes, and jewelry like my locket.

“These are all kept in the Hall of Records. Of course, we learn from each item, building off old technology to benefit the residents of our dome.”

My hand pauses over the photo of a locket like the one in my bag, back in my room.

“I remember that one.” Waldorf smiles fondly. “Your mother found it. She wanted it cleaned up before your birthday. I brought it back with an early shipment.”

“That was the last expedition, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.” Waldorf looks away. “I knew your parents well.”

“Aren’t you afraid to go back out again? Afraid of the radiation and whatever it was that killed everyone?”

Waldorf’s eyes grow wide, revealing the red veins that cover his whites. He grabs my arm, squeezing it tight as he leans toward me. His breath makes my nose scrunch up as he spits out his words. “It was radiation that killed the team. Nothing more.” I raise my eyebrows and nod in agreement as he continues. “We used every precaution we could back then. There is nothing to be afraid of. Do you understand?”

I nod, and he finally lets go of me, his eyes softening. I rub my arm, trying to soothe the sting he left behind.

“How did you get away?” I lean back in case he reaches for me again.

“I brought back a shipment, right here to this floor.”

“My parents worked in this exact lab?”

“Right at this table with me.”

I run my hands across the smooth stainless steel surface, feeling its cool metal against my warm hands. My parents were here. This is where they spent their time when they were away from me.

“Like I said, don’t worry about the radiation. We’ll be wearing suits tomorrow as a precaution, and we’ll take a Geiger counter with us. They’ve never allowed us to use one before, but since the arrival of the Outsider, it can’t be denied there’s a possibility that the radiation may not be as dangerous as it once was. Maybe one day soon we’ll all be able to leave the dome and colonize on the outside.”

“Leave the dome?” Those words still sound impossible. Could that really be in our future?

“That’s always been the purpose, hasn’t it?” Waldorf’s brow shoots up. “Isn’t that why we all become scientists?”

I never chose to be a scientist. I never asked to be here.
So why am I here?
If I don’t hold the secrets to my mother’s notebook, then how much longer will they keep me in this charade? I have one more question for Waldorf before we began my lessons.

“Where exactly are we going tomorrow?”

Waldorf looks uncomfortable. “We’re going to the meadow—the place where the last Expedition team fell.”

I grab the side of the table, as the room begins to spin around me. We’re going to the place where my parents—I can’t bear to finish my thought. How can they take me there? How am I supposed to trust these people? Maybe that’s the point, I’m not.

I let go of the table and fall to the ground. Waldorf’s voice cries out from above me, and the last thing I see is Evan’s face above me before everything goes black.

I wake up on the floor in the lab with white lab coats huddled around me. I start to sit up, but a sharp stabbing pain shoots in the back of my head. I reach for the spot and a small bump meets my touch.

“Everyone back,” Evan calls out, kneeling next to me where he’s cradling my head in his hands. I stare up at his facial expression, serious and commanding. “Give the kid some breathing room.”

“I am not a kid,” I say through gritted teeth.

“And, she’s back.” Evan flashes me his mischievous smile.

He places a hand on my back, helping me to a sitting position. I brace myself against his body, holding his arm until I regain my balance. What just happened?

I think back to my conversation with Waldorf. My locket. It was meant for my ninth birthday as a gift from my parents.
How long did Grandmother keep it from me?

I look over at Roe, recalling the other part of my conversation with Waldorf. “When were you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what?” She looks confused.

“That we’re going to the same place my parents were killed.”

“I wasn’t sure you could handle it.” She shrugs. “Obviously I was correct.”

“Correct!” I reach toward her, trying to grab her by the front of her lab coat, but Evan holds me back. “How would you like it if it was sprung on you in casual conversation? You’ve had plenty of time to tell me.”

“When, Greyes?” She rolls her eyes. “When I took you from your home? Did you want me to tell you then? Or would it have been better to tell you yesterday, when you were moping in your bed? Tell me, when was the best time?”

“I didn’t ask to be here!”

“So you keep saying. Guess what? None of us asked for you, either. Honestly, I don’t know why you were put on this team. Do we need you? No. Do I have a choice? Definitely not. So, make the best of this situation, and be glad that I wasn’t asked to come and deliver you to B2 with your grandfather.”

Roe gets up and everyone stands frozen, watching us.

“My grandfather is there? You knew all along! I asked you about him—you lied to me.”

“Keeping it from you isn’t lying to you.” Roe waves her hand dismissively. She lets out a big sigh and turns to her office. “Be mad at me if you want. I wasn’t the one who took him. I don’t even know why he was taken.”

“You’re as bad as the rest of the Order.”

Everyone in the room gasps, and Evan’s body stiffens against mine.

Roe turns slowly toward me, her eyes narrowed and lips pursed. “I’m here to do my job. I advise you shut up and do the same.”

Evan looks up at Roe and then down at me before standing and pulling me up. “I’ll take her for a walk so everyone can cool off.” He practically pushes me out of the lab to the elevators.

“I don’t need your help.”

“You need something,” Evan says.

“Why do you have to follow me around? Can’t you leave me alone?”

“I made someone a promise,” he says through gritted teeth. “I keep my word.”

“A promise?” I start to laugh. “To who? The Order? What does everyone think they’re going to catch me doing? Sneaking into the forest? Well—that’s been taken from me. What’s left?”

“I promised I would keep an eye on you,” Evan pushes me into the open elevator. Inside he presses the button for the top floor: Floor 100. “I also promised to protect you,” he adds.

“Who made you promise that? The only one who cares about me is Jak, and he would definitely not ask you for help. Let me guess, Roe needs something from me, and wants you to try to get it?”

“You don’t make things easy,” Evan warns. “You need to learn to go with the flow for a bit. And no, it has nothing to do with Roe, or the Order.”

“Who was it, then? You don’t know anyone else here.” Then I pause, remembering him outside the dome—remembering whose handprint had been left out there across from mine. “My Uncle Alec?” I stutter.

Evan doesn’t say anything. He makes eye contact with me and points up toward the cameras in the ceiling. I’m right, it was Alec. I have so many questions for Evan; I don’t know where to start or how to ask. The elevator door dings at Floor 100.

I exit onto the roof of the Axis. A large fan is connected to the peak of the dome, its most central point, where it recirculates the air around the dome, filtering it into oxygen for the people below. In truth, I’m breathing recycled air from the last four generations. The fan is powered by the generator on B1. Different vents run from it, going over and down the sides of the Axis, delivering carbon dioxide to the agricultural division, and fresh air to all.

Large targets are set up against a cement wall on the far side of the roof, looking oddly out of place. Their surfaces are pierced with a ton of holes. Across from them is a table with different handguns.

“This is the only place I know that’s loud enough so they can’t hear us,” Evan explains. “This is where the Order has target practice.”

“What’s going on?” I plant both feet shoulder width apart and cross my arms against my chest. “How do you know my uncle? He was supposed to have died with my parents. How is he still alive?”

“Your uncle got into a fight with your parents that night and took off,” Evan explains. “I don’t know if you remember, but he says your father and he were always at odds over the dome and the Order. Your uncle wanted your father to take all of you and run away. Your father wasn’t comfortable with that idea.”

“I don’t remember any of that,” I say, trying to poke holes in Evan’s story.