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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

After what felt like the millionth step, I cursed the blisters rising on my feet. If I thought riding was bad, walking was a hundred times worse. Kaden had gone too far this time with his insecurity and jealousy.

“Why would your brother do that?” I asked.

“Take our stuff?” Memphis laughed darkly. “Because if I quit, he gets all the glory.”

“Seriously?” I shook my head. What was so glorious about risking our lives and possibly murdering someone? “Why don’t we just try to talk to him and work this out?”

Anger flooded Memphis’ voice. “I don’t need him.”

I bit my lip. “Okay.” Sensing his jealousy, I decided to drop the subject. Correction, both of them were acting immature.

“So…” I asked after a few long moments, “where are the rest of the girls in your colony?”

Memphis chuckled. “Girls? You’re worried about girls, now?”

Thinking back to Van and Memphis’ conversation under the waterfall and the mention of the slim choices, yes, I was quite worried.

“Well, besides Marla and Patty, who are married, there’s no one else… that’s eligible… that I’ve seen,” which seems totally fishy. “That’s all.”

“Well,” he said with a chuckle, “there are more girls at the homestead. They hang out there to bake and stuff.”

“Ah ha!” I exclaimed, a little too loudly. “I knew it.”

Memphis smirked and tilted his head. “You already knew about the homestead.”

“Yes, but it’s not just another campsite. You’ve got a city. Am I right? With bathrooms and kitchens? Homes where there’s electricity.”

“Sort of, yeah.”

I let out a relieved breath. “Good, because campville sucks and the sand, don’t get me started on that. I mean talk about grating.” I snorted. “Get it? Grating?”

I giggled more, feeling punchy. The exhaustion was catching up to me.

“Yeah.” Memphis might have agreed, but his voice was suddenly void of feeling. The further we walked, the broodier he became.

“Wait.” I tugged at his arm, unable to take one more step when an idea hit. If I spared Memphis’ ego and he bailed, maybe Kaden would finally have pity on me. “You don’t have to do this.”

“What do you mean?”

“This…” I motioned toward Brighton. “You don’t have to take me any further.”

“What? No… we’re going to Brighton and we’re taking out that guy.”

“No.” I touched his arm. “This isn’t your problem. It’s mine. And your parents certainly don’t need to be worried about the both of you. Just… go home already. It’s okay, really.”

Memphis laughed and shook his head. “And leave you out here alone? No way. Besides, I doubt they’re worried about me” He sounded sad.

“What do you mean?”

“I never do stuff like this, so…”

I closed my eyes. “I have friends in Brighton that will help me. And like you said, they’ll arrest you for defecting… you’ll end up in Stygos.”

His eyes slotted. “You know about Stygos?”

I took his hand and squeezed. “I’d never be able to forgive myself if something happened to you,” or Kaden. “I have to do this alone. It’s what my Complement wanted.”

“That’s crazy.” He cocked his head. “I care about you, Abby, way more than my brother does—obviously—and I’m hoping you’ll see that before it’s too late. I admire your bravery, but I can’t let you go alone.”



Fire lit Memphis’ eyes, something I hadn’t seen before. He squeezed my hand and pulled me closer to him. He watched me longingly with a look that said, “kiss me.” Then everything he’d said under the waterfall slid into place. This wasn’t necessarily about my mission, or about his position in the colony. He was fighting for me and he needed to prove himself worthy, prove his manhood. And worst of it, he wasn’t going to give up.

I sighed and let go of his hand, fresh out of excuses. “Okay,” I said quickly. “Then let’s go.”

Maybe once we reached the wall, Kaden would hopefully appear and they could hash this out. I wasn’t a prize in their crazy contest. My mission was real and my future family was depending on me.

 

~~|~~

 

 

After crawling up rocky terrain (I never would have been able to ride a horse over), hiking through the forest, thirsty, tired and completely numb from head to toe, we arrived. The sun began to set over huge spires piercing the clouds and my heart revved to life. This was real. This was happening.

“Brighton,” I whispered.

Memphis grabbed onto my hand and squeezed. “You’d know better than me.”

Nostalgia should have swept over me, but all I wanted to do was throw-up.

“You ready?” Memphis asked as we approached the wall.

I nodded as the glint of silver caught my eye. The guns. Were they active? How’d Kaden get over the wall? All I wanted was his hand interlocked with mine, his reassurance we could do this. Yet he’d sabotaged our trip and remained hidden this entire time, angering me to no end. Had I picked the wrong brother after all?

A small whir sounded from the nearest gun as it rose from its perch like a bird cocking its head. I froze, stunned and amazed. A series of red lights flickered at our feet, scouring over the leaves as if they were alive, looking for flesh.

“Wait.” I splayed my hand over Memphis’ chest. The ground danced and moved with the rata-tat-tat of the spray. They were shooting at us. Shooting.

Memphis cussed and we ran, and caught our breath behind a tree.

“It’s okay,” I reassured. “They’re rubber bullets.”

“Like hell they are.” He pointed to the tree next to us. Whatever the bullets were made of, they’d penetrated deep into the wood and were no match for skin and bone.

Pain stabbed into my head and I swayed for a moment.

“Abby? What’s wrong?” Memphis’ hands secured my shoulders.

I reached up, expecting to find blood at my temples. The headache deepened.

“Oh, no. Not now. Not now!” I screamed at myself.

“Abby, are you okay?”

I fell to my knees anyway as Memphis’ hand vanished off my shoulders.


Date: 2015-02-03; view: 631


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