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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

On the open veranda of the tree house, I gripped the backpack Lana had given me with one hand. Inside were a couple changes of pants, socks, and shirts like she’d promised. There were also other toiletries and a canteen of water. I’d snagged Kaden’s shirt he’d made into a sling and tucked it inside, so I could return it to him later. After a simple meal of rice, dried fish, and an apple, Lana instructed I get ready. She took my pajamas with a promise to wash and return them. I didn’t believe her.

“You’re going to like it with us—” Memphis started.

Trapped, I had to blame someone for why I’d so willingly chosen to stay with my captors. “You tricked me.”

“What?” Memphis stumbled back a step.

“You said you’d help me go home after your mom treated my arm,” I said through my teeth.

Memphis frowned. “Did I not just overhear correctly that you chose to stay?”

“Yes… well…” I pursed my lips. Before he’d given the illusion I could leave at any time, direct opposite of what Kaden had said, mind you.

“That’s what I thought,” he said quickly. “Clearly, something Kaden said has penetrated years of Brighton brainwashing and once he returns—”

“If Kaden returns, you mean.”

His piercing eyes met mine. “Kaden can handle himself in the wild and he’ll be back. You, on the other hand,” his glare bounced to my wrist, “cannot. So, you should be thankful Ma let you in. My dad wanted to send you packing.”

My heart pounded a few hard beats. Forming a fist, I wanted nothing more than to punch something. I should want to go home and not trust Memphis or his family. Kaden’s kidnapping should have been the clincher. But I couldn’t deny the EA’s lies or the shove I’d received from the invisible woman. Oh, the dreaded torture.

“No, I’ll stay.” I sighed, looking up through the trees toward heaven. Three times I’d been offered a chance to leave and three times, I chose to stay. Peace in that decision would have been nice.

The homemade elevator, a plank of wood secured with ropes on the corners and tethered with pulleys, creaked to a stop at the side of the veranda. This was their apparent way to get me down safely since climbing the rope ladder with a defunct wrist wouldn’t have been feasible.

“Your ride, milady.” Memphis swept his hand forth, inviting me to step forward.

I felt more like I was walking the plank.

The rickety thing swayed under my feet, and I gripped the railing as my knuckles blanched. Below us, men scurried about, loading up a wagon.

“I’m right here, Sugar. You’ll be just fine.” Memphis placed his hand securely on the small of my back, returning to his jovial self once again. For once I didn’t care he was so close. Heights and I weren’t friends. Hanging on for dear life, I pinched my eyes shut while trusting the contraption as someone lowered us slowly to the ground.

“Men!” Peter called. “I’d like to introduce a new member of our colony.”

My eyes snapped opened, and I stared out at a group of guys my age, who could have easily made up a football team back home. Tall, lean, with a variety of hair colors—each of them had light colored eyes. They appraised me with curiosity, zipping their gaze up and down my frame. Memphis moved closer to me with his hand on my waist.



“This is Abby,” Peter finished. “So, treat her with respect.”

Memphis squeezed me, and I stepped off the contraption, making it painfully obvious we weren’t a couple.

Many of their faces brightened at my gesture. A chorus of greetings bumbled from the group as the one closest reached out his hand. I took it, shaking firmly.

“Hi Abby. I’m Van.” The funny way he said his words made me smile as big green eyes under a large brimmed cowboy hat met mine.

“Hi Van.”

He lingered before bringing my hand to his lips. “It’s so nice to meet such a lovely lady.”

Memphis coughed behind me rudely. I gave him a glare over my shoulder, before returning Van’s smile.

“Thank you, Van. It’s nice to meet such a gentleman.”

Memphis groaned his displeasure. I ignored him and greeted the next guy. The rest followed in suit, Garrett, Tustin, Haden, Dixon and so on, proffered their hand and kissed mine in return. Like twenty guys. Did no one care about germs here? I also found it strange they acted as if they’d never seen a girl before. Come to think of it, where were they anyway?

After the last guy introduced himself, they all stood around, kicking the dirt and giving me compliments. I could tell they were curious, but no one asked where I’d come from or why.

“Abby is from Brighton. She’s asked for asylum. We’ve granted her temporary stay until she passes probation.” A low hum followed Peter’s statement, then his stern glare landed on each of the guys, impressing upon them something unsaid, before ending with me. I shifted, wishing for a reprieve from the tension. “It’s time to get back to work. We leave in five.”

The group scattered. Memphis didn’t leave my side, though. But all I could think about was the implied probation. Seriously?

Memphis put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry about the probation thing.”

“Oh,” I faked a smile, “Why would I worry?”

He escorted me to the wagon and I touched the wooden paneling, marveling that it was a replica of ones used in the olden days. I wondered how they’d planned to move it. Push, maybe?

“So this is your colony, huh?” I leaned against the side of the wagon, acting casual.

“What do you mean?”

I peered up at his tall frame. “Your mom made it seem like there were a lot more people.” Not to mention, where are all the girls anyway?

He grinned in understanding. “Oh, there are others scattered at the different outposts and at the family camp. It’s just the scouts here.”

“Oh.” I wanted to ask more about the scouts, and I would have if Peter’s glare didn’t keep finding me, silently telling us to stay quiet. I sensed his underlying frustration. Maybe Kaden did tell him? Would it be awkward if I let him know his job was safe?

“Heads up!” a guy from above yelled.

Instinctively, I first checked my wrist to see if I was in danger, only to be reminded all over again that Kaden had destroyed my watch. Then I tucked my good hand over my head and ducked down, waiting for a foul ball to hit. Foliage dropped around me as a nearby bridge swung down and clattered into a neighboring tree.

“What are they doing?” I straightened, realizing how silly I must have looked.

“Since the choppers flew over, we’re going to abandon this spot. It’s too bad ‘cause these are the best tree houses we have. No use leaving the bridges or letting our food stores go to waste.”

Choppers rarely flew in Brighton, so rare, I wasn’t sure if we’d used them anymore. Gross polluters, they called them.

I frowned. “But they didn’t stop.”

“Doesn’t mean they won’t send in ground troops. We can’t take the chance.”

Ground troops made it sound like war.

I studied the guys working amongst the trees. They must have had a system to alert everyone because the room in our tree only held the three of us. There’d need to be a decent number of hidey-holes to keep everyone’s heat signatures from detection.

Memphis punched me in the arm. “And we make like good Sasquatch, too.”

I faked a smile. Lana had packed a better fitting furry poncho in my backpack. Apparently everyone had one. I felt compelled to warn the colony. After what happened with Kaden’s Sasquatch, I doubted they were still on the endangered species list at the EA. I could only imagine the chaos at home over one abducting me. That would create instant fear and lump the hairy beast into the zombie category. What were my parents being told?

One by one, the guys dumped the rolled up bridges into the back of a wagon, then covered everything up with a green tarp painted to look like grass. Often, they’d stop and nod, or just smile at me. Others boldly winked.

Within minutes, the place was packed up. Without the bridges, other than a corner or two of the abandoned tree houses thirty feet in the air, the foliage hid everything from sight. It was as if no one had ever lived there.

Peter whistled, startling me, and everyone circled around him. He divvied up the guys into groups and spoke orders in a code I didn’t understand when Lana rode in on a horse. A herd of horses followed in behind her.

The men moved to meet up with the differing horses and rode off in different directions. In the middle of what felt like a stampede, Memphis brought over a palomino.

“This is Cactus,” he said, while petting his neck. “Pretty, huh?”

I eyed the horse apprehensively. “Interesting name.”

Memphis couldn’t possibly be expecting me to ride this beast, not one with such a prickly name. I’d only ridden once, but that was when I was younger, and my companion was a pony.

Memphis laughed. “Don’t look so scared. You’re not going to ride him. He’ll be pulling the wagon.”

“Oh,” I sighed in relief as Memphis gave Van, the cutie with the cowboy hat, the horse’s reins.

“This way, milady.” Memphis gestured to the bucket seat.

He tugged on my elbow and helped me up onto the step, then walked around and slid in next to me. Van hitched up the horse to the wagon, but kept glancing up at me under the bill of his hat.

“You need some help?” Memphis asked impatiently.

Van’s eyes swung to Memphis, his grin turning sour. “Just bein’ thorough.” He handed the reins to Memphis. “Don’t want any harm to happen to our Ms. Abby.”

“Yeah, sure,” Memphis said.

My chin dipped as I tried to remain composed. The guys were gentlemanly, that was for sure. I could get used to this. This was so unlike Brighton.

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Abby.” Van tipped his cowboy hat, flashing a set of white teeth, then sauntered off to his own horse. His smile tickled my belly.

Peter and Lana rode up next to the wagon.

“You got it?” Peter asked Memphis.

“Yeah.”

“See you at camp, then.”

The horses took off with their riders and we were alone. Alone in the forest amongst the aged redwoods where everyone’s presence was merely a memory. Ghosts.

“Just a heads up,” Memphis said, gaining my attention, “Under the branches, we don’t need cover, but once in the clearing, we’ll need to blend into the scenery. Okay?”

“Sure.” I wondered exactly what that meant.

“Let’s go, Cactus.” Memphis snapped the reins and the horse began to move.

Cactus turned toward a path where the trees were spread wider apart. Horses were rare in Brighton. The EA had said they’d be best living in the wild. The irony, I’d never equated that to animal abuse, considering what they’d said about the wild country, hit me yet again. Everyone was so duped.


Date: 2015-02-03; view: 468


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