“If your appeal goes through, do you think I’ll be safe until it arrives?”

  Lowering his head, Quade avoids my gaze. “I don’t know. He’s out for blood.”

  It’s the truth. I feel it to the core. Fear has been a constant companion these last few weeks and I’m starting to wonder what it feels like to not be afraid.

  “So what will we do?”

  “I’m not sure yet, Ilyse, but we’ll figure it out.”

  My hand is shaking when I take the bit of chalk from my kit and start to mark up the skirt of the dress. I have to keep busy or I’ll start to cry.

  Sliding onto his knees, Quade watches me work. “How can I help?”

  “Do you know how to sew?”

  “I know how to mend my clothes when I’m traveling and can’t use a machine. That should be kind of the same thing, right?”

  “If you can stitch a hem or replace a button, you can definitely help.”

  With a silent agreement, we stop talking about the hopelessness of my situation and work for the next few hours on making a pair of trousers. We make a few mistakes along the way, but when we’re done I stand in the center of my bedroom awkwardly stretching my legs in my new garments.

  With a smirk, Quade says, “You look cute.”

  “I don’t know about that. I feel odd.” I rub my hands over the narrow legs. I almost feel naked with the outline of my body so visible, which is not comfortable at all.

  The top of my dress is now a shirt. I’d wanted to keep the pants wide-legged, so it would look more like a skirt, but Quade had overruled me. In the Deadlands, I have to be able to move fast and not trip over a flowing hem or get caught because of the extra fabric. Plus, it’s easier to wear them under my dresses in case we have to flee on short notice.

  “It’s getting late. I better go.”

  On impulse, I reach out and grab his arm. “I know what Jane said, but I want you to stay. Please. I’m scared.”

  Staring down at me, he nods. “All right. I feel better being close to you. I know Jane said you’ll be protected, but it doesn’t feel safe. Give me a blanket and a pillow, and I’ll sleep on the floor.”

  With a sigh of relief, I fling my arms around him. The warmth of his skin and his gentle embrace are comforting. “Thank you, Quade.”

  Together we concoct a makeshift bed for him beside mine. After making sure the coast is clear, we duck into one of the bathrooms. I prepare for bed as he takes care of his business, and then we sneak back to my room. To my relief, most of the doors are shut and the gas lamps are turned down in the hall.

  Exhausted from the events of the day, I climb into the bed for the first time as one of the Unclaimed. It feels strange to be sleeping in a new house. The sounds are foreign. I miss the creaks of the tree in the backyard and Carrie’s soft breathing. Instead, I listen to the pipes rumbling in the walls, the moans of a house settling, the noise of people moving around on the lower floors, and Quade’s light snoring.

  I envy his ability to fall asleep so quickly. I toss and turn, fret with my covers, and try to find a comfortable spot on the unfamiliar mattress. I finally doze off close to midnight and dream about my mother looking for me and Angelina in the Deadlands.

  I awaken when my bedroom door creaks open some hours later. At first, I’m confused by the absolute darkness of the room, missing the moonlight streaming through the window of my old bedroom. Then I see the dim light pouring into my room around a figure in the doorway.

  “Jane?” I call out with uncertainty.

  Quade wakes up with a grunt. “Who’s here?”

  The door slams shut and footsteps recede down the hallway.

  “Stay here!” Quade says to me, then rushes to the door.

  A second later, the warning bells on the guard towers begin to toll.

  “The Unblessed! The Unblessed are at the walls!” someone shouts deep in the house.

  Then the screams begin.

  CHAPTER 10

  Hidden Agendas

  The terrified, shrill cries of the women inside the house pin me to where I stand. My first thought is that the Unblessed are in the house and my heart speeds up as adrenaline courses through my body.

  Quade hesitates in his pursuit of the intruder long enough to say, “Stay here! I’ll be back!”

  He vanishes from sight. The thudding of his boot heels against the wood floor joins the mix of frightened voices and slamming doors inside the house. Gunfire and shouts from outside only add to the growing cacophony.

  I rush to my bedroom door to see Quade disappearing down the stairs in pursuit of whoever opened my door. Several girls dash from one room to the other, probably seeking comfort from each other. A few hurry along the hallway toward the stairs in a flurry of cotton nightgowns and unfettered hair. I hesitate, then follow out of curiosity. When Jane arrives at the top of the staircase, everyone clusters around her, some demanding answers in high, frightened voices.

  The questions overlap. “What’s happening? Are they in the walls? Did the wall come down? Did a gate fail?”

  “Everyone, return to your rooms. Lock the doors and stay there until the all-clear klaxon. The windows and doors are secure downstairs. Actura and Marji are on watch on the ground floor and they’re armed,” Jane says. “There’s nothing to fear, we just need to be cautious.”

  “What if they get in?” Zellie stands in the doorway of her room looking sick with fear. “They’ll come for us!”

  “The Unblessed are not getting inside the walls. You know the drill. The wardens are dealing with the situation,” Jane replies.

  Whenever the Unblessed cluster at one section of the wall, the wardens have to thin their numbers before they compromise the perimeter.

  Trembling and pale, Zellie is unsteady on her feet. “But we’re so close to the outer wall here! My home is near the center of the settlement. I was safer there!”

  “I’ve lived near the wall all my life. It’s going to be okay. They won’t get in.” My attempt to reassure the frightened girl is rebuked with a look of disbelief before she ducks back into her room and slams the door shut.

  Jane gently pushes the other women along the hallway. “Go to your rooms now. It’s going to be all right. This has happened before.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better if we were all together?” Bewilderment radiates from the woman who speaks up. She appears a decade older than me and has very long curly black hair and dark brown skin. “We usually wait it out downstairs, Jane.”

  “There’s a policy change. We’re now restricted to our rooms because... of the gunshot. The earlier one. They don’t trust us around the weapons, so we’re confined to our rooms.”

  Protests fill the space around me, but the Unclaimed obey. A few choose to enter one bedroom to stay together and Jane doesn’t object when they do. She reaches me and takes hold of my upper arm. Guiding me toward my room, she ignores the annoyed looks directed at her as the doors start to click shut.

  I expect Jane to leave once I step inside my doorway, but she follows and turns on the gas lamp on the wall. Closing the door, she regards me with a look that surprises me. She’s furious.

  “Change into a dark dress and your cloak. Pack a small bag with essentials only,” she orders.

  “What? Why?”

  She shoves me toward the wardrobe. “I said to hurry! Now do it!”

  I’m taken aback by her vehemence and confused by her instruction. “What is this about?”

  “You’re leaving. Now. The arrangements are made.”

  “What?”

  “When I realized your father hand completely abandoned you earlier today, I immediately reached out to the necromancer escort to make plans to get you out of here. You have to go now, during the diversion.”

  “I don’t understand. Earlier Actura said-”

  “She’s not a part of this.”

  “But she’s the resistance.” I’m completely confused by both Jane’s manner and what she’s telling me. “Isn’t she in charge?”

  “Of the Atonement Settlement resistance. Not of me. Like I told you: I was one of her contacts when I was in The Republic, but I have a different agenda and connections than she does. I’ve arranged to get you out of here tonight.”

  “But Quade isn’t back.”

  “Quade isn’t going.”

  “But you said you would help us leave.”

  “Quade wasn’t supposed to be here! He was supposed to leave! You’re going alone.”

  “No! I won’t!”

  Stepping close to me, Jane’s face shifts into shadow as her body blocks the gas lamp. Intimidated by her sudden change in attitude, I shrink back against the wardrobe.

  “Ilyse, let me explain the situation to you so you will understand. Quade is from the Chantry in the Enclave. He’s a very dangerous man and only wants you for your talents. I’m trying to save you from this horrible place so you can be free to live your own life in The Republic. Don’t make the mistake of exchanging one oppressive regime for another. If you go to The Republic, you won’t be enslaved to their religion and rules like you would be in the Chantry.”

  I inhale sharply, realizing that she knows what I am. Jane waits for me to say something. I can sense her impatience, but I’m unsure how to respond. Is she the other necromancer? The one that’s been urging me to leave? I strengthen my mental barriers just in case she can hear me. Jane has been kind to me, but she’s also lied to me. I’m not sure how to process any of what is happening to me because this is yet another betrayal by someone I trusted.

  “I thought… I thought… you were working with Quade to save me” I manage to get the words out despite my frustration.

  “I was working with him long enough to figure out who he is and how to deal with him.” Jane’s eyes glint in the dim light as she turns her head toward the door. It appears she’s waiting for something or someone.

  Though I’m scared, I’m also starting to feel the familiar heat of rage kindling in my gut. “Who did Quade chase out of here?”

  “Someone providing a distraction,” Jane answers. “Now get ready.”

  “I’m not leaving without Quade.”

  “You can’t trust him, Ilyse. He’s from the Chantry.”

  “I know! I’ve known all along and I don’t care!” The mere thought of leaving the Atonement Settlement without Quade terrifies me. He understands the complexity of the civilizations beyond the wall. I trust him to guide me through a world I don’t know.

  “He’s trying to recruit you, Ilyse. Do you really think he cares for you?”

  “How do I know you care for me? You’ve known what I am for how long and never said a word? Why should I trust you over him?”

  “Because I’m your friend, Ilyse.”

  “So is he. He has helped me.”

  “So have I! You just didn’t always know it.” Jane opens the wardrobe and pulls out my bag. Tossing it at my feet, she says, “Pack.”

  “No.” Panic seizes my chest in a vice grip. I find it hard to breathe. “Who is Quade chasing? What are they going to do to him?”

  Jane pulls some of my clothes from the wardrobe and dumps them onto the bag. “You’re wasting time.”

  “I don’t want Quade hurt! He’s been kind to me since the moment I met him!”

  With a grunt of frustration, Jane bends over to pack my bag for me. “Of course he’s been kind to you. He’s trying to recruit you. But he can’t be trusted. No one from the Chantry can be trusted.”

  “I’m not leaving without him,” I repeat. “He’s put himself at risk for me.”

  Jane doesn’t answer. She continues to shove things into my bag. When she finds my new makeshift trousers, she tosses them to me. “Get dressed.”

  “No!”

  The door swings open and the mysterious stranger from the Bridal Auction stands framed in the doorway. Dressed in dark clothing topped by a hooded jacket, he surveys the room with concern.

  “You’re late, Jane.”

  “I’m having an issue,” she responds. “Ilyse, get dressed.”

  I’m not sure how to react to finding out Jane is in cahoots with the man from the Bridal Auction. I definitely don’t like being at the center of someone else’s plans without consent. “Who are you?”

  Rain glistens on his dark skin as he raises his hand to lower his hood. “Kalab. I’m your escort.”

  “How can that be? Men aren’t necromancers,” I say suspiciously.

  “I got my methods.”

  “You’re an Undertaker?”

  “I don’t use Enclave titles,” he sniffs.

  “So you’re working with a necromancer.”

  He shrugs.

  “You were at the Bridal Auction.”

  “I was. To see you. Jane said I might need to escort you out of here soon, so I went so I could identify you later. I needed to match a face with the name.”

  “How did you know who I was?”

  “There was a sign over your head, remember? You were easy to identify.”

  I do not like the sarcasm in his voice.

  “You took a token.”

  Pulling it from his pocket, he flips it into the air, catches it, and smacks it onto the back of his hand. Hiding it under his palm, he asks, “Heads or tails?”

  “What?” I have no idea what he’s talking about.

  “I say heads. You look like a girl who overthinks everything.” Lifting his hand, he reveals the token. The number I was assigned is stamped on the top. “I knew it. Heads. You’re holding us up by overthinking your situation. You need to embrace your instincts. And your instincts are telling you to survive.”

  “You don’t know me! Don’t tell me what I’m thinking!”

  With an irritated noise, Kalab directs his attention away from me. “Jane, get her moving. We need to hurry.”

  Suspicious, I lower my defenses. Staring at his face, I project one word. Why?

  With a grin that reveals all his teeth, Kalab answers, Because we can only keep the dead up against one portion of the wall for so long without becoming exhausted.

  You’re the one who’s been tormenting me! Whispering in my head!

  With an insulted look on his face, Kalab shakes his head and says aloud, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Stop distracting her, Kalab. Ilyse, get dressed. Ignore him and hurry.”

  More than anything I want to escape from the Atonement Settlement and be free from the crushing rules that are threatening my life. Though Jane has been on my side throughout my ordeal, she lied to me. I’ve come to understand that I really don’t know her and can’t be certain about her motives. I can’t imagine myself leaving with complete strangers and without Quade. Furthermore, the thought of leaving without seeing my sister and brother one last time is like a knife in my gut.

  “I’m not leaving without Quade,” I say, and sit on the edge of the bed.

  Jane and Kalab glance at each other.

  Kalab shrugs. “Your call.”

  Jane closes my bag and stands. “Ilyse, you need to escape now while you have the chance. This might be your last opportunity to save your life.”

  Brushing away tears of frustration and fear, I wag my head no at her. “Even if that’s true, I’m not leaving without Quade. I trust him, not you.”

  Sitting next to me on the bed, Jane folds her hands on her lap. I can feel her gaze on me though I refuse to look directly at her.

  “Ilyse, I’m doing this for you. I’m giving you the chance to escape. I couldn’t save your mother. We tried, but we ran out of time. Elder Alvus was so angry at her open defiance against him and the Lost Texts, he moved up the time of her execution.”

  I lift my head at this news. “You tried to save her?”

  “I did. She was my friend. I loved her, but it was too late by the time we found out that her execution date had been changed.”

  “Did you help Angelina?”

  Jane shakes her head. “No. I thought you and your sister were safe. You both passed the test. Angelina’s defiance during the test was probably going to be punished by the Elders, but her life wasn’t in danger. I was shocked when she climbed over the wall on her own.”

  “You knew all along what we are, didn’t you?”

  Jane nods. “Which is why I wanted you to enroll at the Academy in The Republic. I thought there was a chance I could convince your father to let you attend, but I didn’t realize Harris had become even more fervid in his devotion to the Lost Texts since your mother died and he refused outright.”

  I stare at her in disbelief. “You talked to him? After I asked you not to?”

  “I was trying to save you, Ilyse. When I managed to speak to him, he wouldn’t even consider it. He wanted a good life for you and thought nothing like this would ever happen to you. Your father believed you were the perfect daughter: pious, humble, plain, and good. That should have made you safe, unlike his wife. But then this happened.” Jane sighs as her fingers wrap around mine. “You have to leave now, Ilyse. You must see that.”

  Kalab ducks his head, his fingers pressed to his ear. He appears to be listening to something. “Jane, Quade is on his way back. We’ve got to go now.”

  My heart is thudding so hard in my chest it almost hurts. Panic has a good grip on me. I definitely want to escape the settlement, but not without saying a proper goodbye and with Quade at my side. Yet, I could be condemning myself by not departing with the escort. Kalab holds himself with confidence and doesn’t seem threatening in the least, but he’s a stranger. I don’t know him enough to trust him with my life.

  Pulling my hand free from Jane’s grip, I say, “I’m tired of other people making choices for me. I’ve made my decision. I’m not leaving.”

  Though fearful I’m making a mistake, I’m more afraid of departing with a total stranger. After what happened with Bale, Elder Alvus’ vengeance, and the overhead conversation at the Bridal Auction, I’m not about to blindly trust any man. I’m not feeling particularly trusting of the women in my life either for that matter.

  “I won’t force you,” Jane says finally.

 

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