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  “Uh-huh,” she nodded.

  “I have this idea that we can learn from each other. Do you understand?” asked Elliot.

  Genesee looked at Ray. “I’m afraid not,” she said.

  Elliot slumped his shoulders, and I realized he was afraid to tell her that we wanted refuge with them.

  “We want to live in your colony. To learn from you. We’re cut off from knowledge, and I—we—we want that to change,” I said.

  Genesee turned her attention to me. “You’re the future queen,” she said.

  “Yes. Maybe.”

  Her eyes flicked over me. “You certainly don’t look like a future queen.”

  “Genesee, that’s not—” started Ray.

  “It’s all right,” I said, holding up a hand. “She’s right. I’m not dressed like a future queen. I’m malnourished from my time in the fields; my hands are rough, and I’m not where I belong. I don’t even have guards. Why should she believe that I’m royalty?”

  “She should believe because we told her,” snapped Elliot. He pointed at Ray and then at himself. “Ray and I are friends. We trust each other. If you trust Ray, then, by extension, you trust me.”

  Genesee laughed. It was a harsh sound. “I don’t have to do anything, by extension or otherwise.”

  I rested a hand on her arm. She glanced down at my hand but did not pull away. “We understand that we’re asking a lot. Let me just start from the beginning, okay? And then, you can decide if you want to help us.”

  She didn’t respond, so I started.

  “I am the last remaining female in line to succeed the current queen. We have laws regarding what needs to happen for me to be eligible to succeed her. The main requirement is bearing a child. I did not do that, so I was banished to the fields to work, just like any other childless woman. That is why my appearance is what it is. However, the queen stood up for me and allowed me one more opportunity. That’s how I met Elliot.”

  She glanced at Elliot, and he gave her a half-smile. She wrinkled her nose and looked back at me. But before she could say anything, I continued.

  “Unfortunately, there was an incident, and Elliot killed someone while trying to protect me. The man he killed was not sympathetic to the queen. We fled the village to escape retaliation from his family. Elliot brought me here, and we happened upon Ray. Apparently, Ray and Elliot have talked in the past about Elliot joining your colony.”

  She shook my hand off her arm and held up her own hand. “Wait. Let me get this straight. The two of you have killed someone. Perhaps maliciously, perhaps not. And you want my colony to protect you? To offer you sanctuary?”

  I bit my lip. It did sound pretty bad.

  “We don’t want your protection. We just need a place to go,” said Elliot.

  She frowned. “And what would your expectations be if someone from your village came looking for you?”

  “They’re afraid of you. They won’t come to you,” I said.

  She turned her narrowed eyes at me. “And why aren’t you afraid of us?”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but Elliot cut me off.

  “I brought her here because I knew of this old village. I thought we could take refuge here, that nobody from our village would dare come this far, looking for us. But when Ray came along, our old idea of me joining you came up. It seemed like a logical conclusion.”

  “You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t share the sentiment,” she said.

  “Genesee, they only want to better their lives. Why would it be such a hardship to take them in?” asked Ray.

  “The hardship isn’t bettering their lives. The hardship is protecting them. If we bring them into our walls—especially this one. . .” She pointed at me. “. . .we can guarantee that eventually, someone will come looking for them. Someone who is hostile. We’d be fools to invite them into our care.”

  “Well I think we’d be fools to leave them out,” said Ray.

  “Watch your tone,” she snapped. “You asked me here, and I came as a friend. But, I won’t risk the safety of everyone in the mountain for a favor.”

  Ray inhaled sharply and closed his eyes. “But,” he said, “If we take this risk, it could be the stepping stone to finally healing the rift between us. Don’t you see? She’s their future leader. If you show her kindness—”

  Genesee cut him off. “She isn’t their future leader. She’s already said as much. She’s a field-hand! A slave.” She sighed. “I would like to help them; I would. But, I can’t, in good conscience, help them if it means putting all our own people in jeopardy.” She stood up, and everyone else rose, as well. “I wish the two of you luck. I hope that you are safe here.” She looked at Ray. “I’m going home. Are you coming with me?”

  Ray shook his head. “I’m sorry to have wasted your time, Gen.”

  She pursed her lips. “You always did love a hopeless cause.” She strode from the cabin, leaving the three of us staring at the vines waving in the doorway.

  Chapter 6

  After she left, there was obvious tension between Ray and Elliot. And there was tension between me and both of them, as well. I didn’t like being caught up in a grand plan that was only being partially revealed to me.

  And it wasn’t even working.

  They sat back down by the fireplace, moving as if their limbs were made from brittle straw. They wouldn’t meet each other’s eyes.

  “How will she get back in the dark?” I finally asked. “Does she know the way as well as you do?”

  Ray shook his head. “We didn’t walk the whole way. She only needs to get back to the horses. They’ll know the rest of the way.”

  “Horses?” asked Elliot. “You brought horses?”

  “Yes,” Ray shrugged. “She’s a councilperson. She gets accommodations outside that others don’t.”

  “Wow, I would have liked to have seen them,” said Elliot.

  “What on Earth is a horse?” I asked.

  “They have the physique of a deer, only much larger. Large enough to carry a man,” said Ray.

  “Where did they come from? I’ve never seen an animal like that,” I said.

  “The mountain has genetic stores. We grew them, in layman’s terms.”

  I looked at Elliot. Ray seemed to be explaining a mystery within a mystery.

  “People didn’t just spring from under the mountain,” said Elliot. “There was a prior civilization.”

  I looked back at Ray. “Would one of you please explain?”

  “It’s kind of a long story,” said Ray.

  “We have plenty of time right now,” I said.

  “All right. So, at one time, there were billions of people living here. There were all kinds of people—they spoke different languages; they had different traditions and religions. Some lived here but there were people everywhere, all over the planet. It was very diverse. They also had a large amount of knowledge. They had such great command of the natural laws of science that they could build things they called ‘computers’. They connected them together, and what we call the ‘electronic information age’ was born.

  “The problem with all this technology was that they imagined ways to use it against each other. They built weapons and made threats. Every group of people wanted to gain power over others, to dominate. The government here started building the colony under the mountain in case one of the other groups attacked. They would hide there; they could be safe there for years. For whatever reason, the government abandoned the project.

  “But, a group of people who lived nearby—many of whom were the people brought in to build the colony—they didn’t think construction should stop. So, they continued. And when it was done, they moved in. Not long after that, a period called ‘the winter’ began. Virtually everything outside the mountain died. But not the people in the mountain. They stayed inside the mountain for over a thousand years. When they realized it was likely safe to come outside again, they started sending people out.” He smiled. “I think you know the rest
.”

  I stared at him. “Do you believe this story?” I asked Elliot, without looking at him.

  “Of course. Why would anyone make it up?”

  “Billions. There were billions of people. And there was food enough to feed them all? And they had places to live?”

  “I didn’t say all the people lived well. Hunger and homelessness were just two of the problems that plagued humanity.”

  “But where is the evidence that they existed?”

  Ray shrugged. “The winter wiped it out. Nothing manmade remains. At least, nothing we know of. Not out here.”

  “Then, how did the mountain remain?”

  “The mountain is smaller than it was. Natural erosion has seen to that. But not by much. Only a few feet.”

  I didn’t respond. My brain was trying to process the magnitude. Was this why our village was so focused on expanding? I knew of it only as a means of survival, because so many died young. But maybe it was more than that.

  “I can see I’ve left you with a lot to think about,” said Ray. “Maybe I should go.” He squeezed my shoulder and went outside.

  Elliot followed him, and I could hear them speaking softly, but I was frozen in place. Elliot came back in alone. “Are you all right?” he asked.

  I closed my eyes and mentally shook myself. Nothing had really changed—the situation was still the same. I just knew more of the history behind it. “I’m fine,” I said.

  “Are you sure? You seem shaken.”

  “Yes,” I insisted.

  “All right. Gather your things. We’re moving.”

  There was an urgent tone in his voice, so I did not stop to question his demand. I grabbed my satchel and put on my cloak. He did the same.

  I followed him as he left the cabin. He moved past the rock, and I glanced back over my shoulder. I could just barely make out our old cabin. He led me to a large tree.

  “Do you know how to climb a tree?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “Okay, wait here.” He handed me his things and climbed up the tree. It didn’t look hard, but I wasn’t in a hurry to try. I lost track of him as he rose above the branches and leaves. Here and there, I could make out shaking, but I could no longer see him.

  He came back down after a short time.

  “Okay, good. He’s on his way back.”

  “What about her?”

  “I assume she is, as well. She would be too far ahead to spot.”

  “Wait,” I said. “Why did you have to check that?”

  “I’m not sure I trust Ray at the moment.”

  He started walking on a path away from our cabin and the rock.

  “Why?” I struggled to keep up with him. He seemed almost as afraid as he’d been when we left our own village. “You said he was your friend. You said he trusted you, and you trusted him.”

  “That was before,” he said over his shoulder.

  “Before what?” I asked.

  “Before he was in love with the person he told about us.”

  “Genesee?”

  “Yes. He loves her. And she doesn’t want to help us. That is not a good thing. Stop talking and get a move on.”

  “But where are we going?”

  “West. We’re going west.”

  There was only one thing I knew about the west.

  Felines.

  ◆◆◆

  Every snapping twig, rustling brush, and tweeting bird had me on edge. I followed Elliot, but my eyes were everywhere but on him. As a result, I stumbled over rocks and branches often.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Elliot asked. “You’ve lost every bit of grace you had in the last hour. We’ll be fine, you know. We’re just moving as a precaution.”

  “It isn’t the move. I’m worried about running into a feline.”

  He laughed. “I don’t think we really have anything to worry about there. I’ve never even seen one. They’re probably just a story to scare children.”

  “A story I’ve never heard,” I said.

  “Well, you weren’t like most children, were you?”

  I didn’t respond. Whether or not it was a story to scare children, it wasn’t something either of us knew anything about. And we were blindly going in the direction where Ray had said they could be found.

  “Besides,” he added. “We aren’t going far. I only want to be clear of the village, in case she brings back someone to get rid of us. We have to be close enough, in case Ray returns.”

  “You think Ray will come back?”

  “Maybe,” he said.

  “What good would that do?”

  He shrugged and turned to scan the trees behind me. “I think this spot should be good.” He dropped his satchel and sat on a log. He produced a looking glass from his pocket and looked back towards the village with it. I noticed it had the royal seal stamped into the leather on the side.

  “Is that my looking glass?” I asked.

  He flashed a quick smile and shoved it back into his pocket. “I really couldn’t say,” he said.

  “It has the royal seal. You either stole it from me or the queen.”

  “I didn’t steal it. It was a gift.”

  I sat on the log beside him and looked back towards the village. We’d been slowly ascending, and I hadn’t really noticed. Even though the trees were thick, with how the hillside cut away, we had a view of the area I knew to be the village. But with the naked eye, there was not much to see.

  “And who gave it to you?”

  He cleared his throat. “My father.”

  “Where did he get it?”

  “Look, I get that you think this is yours. Maybe it is. I can’t say for sure. I only know what my father told me. The queen gave it to him as a token of her appreciation, a reward. Not too long ago. And he gave it to me.”

  I narrowed my eyes. The queen did not bestow gifts lightly. “May I see it?” I held out my hand.

  He dug it from his pocket and set it in my hand. The leather tube was smooth and finely milled, just as mine had been. The royal seal was imprinted in red, and the placement of the glass in either end of the tube gave it perfect balance. But, it was never a possession I’d taken much notice of, and I couldn’t say for sure whether it’d been one of the many things stripped from me.

  “You can hold onto it, if you want,” he said.

  I closed my fingers around it but handed it back to him. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you took it. It isn’t important how you came by it.”

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I know how it looks.”

  He busied himself with building a crude shelter. He cut long branches and leaned them against the trunk of a large tree to create a small, triangular frame. Together, we piled more branches and leaves on top of the frame, until it provided enough coverage from the night dew. He spread his cape on the ground under the frame, as he’d done in the cabin. We’d have my cape to keep us warm.

  By the time we were done, dusk was almost at an end. We ate some dried fruit and nuts that Ray had given Elliot. Neither of us spoke. I tried to keep my mind calm. I didn’t want to worry about the felines, or Ray and whether or not he would side with Genesee. I only wanted to get through the day. My mother’s voice rang in my head: Only with rest will things become clearer. It was something she’d told me many times. Until now, it had never seemed like useful advice.

  I crawled into the shelter ahead of Elliot. He spread my cape over us, and we used our satchels as pillows. I couldn’t help but notice that Elliot had Ray’s crossbow loaded in front of him on the ground. But, it was nothing to think about, just a precaution.

  ◆◆◆

  In the morning, I woke alone in the shelter. Elliot was sitting on the log, holding the looking glass to his eye. He noticed I was awake and smiled. “Good morning,” he said. His voice was quiet. He could see something. Something was down there.

  I scrambled out from under the cloak and out of the shelter. “What is it? Is someone there?”

&
nbsp; “No,” he said, lowering the glass. “Why do you ask?”

  I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. “Never mind.”

  “It’s been quiet. But, it’s too soon for Ray to have come back. He wouldn’t be back before the afternoon.”

  “Oh,” I said.

  He patted my arm. “We’ll figure out how to get inside the colony. Don’t worry.”

  I sat on the log beside him. “Maybe Genesee is right. What if they do come looking for us? Do we really want to put their group in danger?”

  “They won’t come.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I just know. They won’t come,” he insisted. His lips flattened into a drawn line. He raised the looking glass again and scanned the area below.

  He wasn’t going to give me any answers—at least, not right now. But, I could still ask about what he was watching so carefully for. “If it’s too early, why are you watching?”

  He frowned and lowered the glass. “You sure do ask a lot of questions.”

  “Wouldn’t you? Though I don’t know why I should think to ask, when apparently, just about everything I know about the world is false.”

  “I suppose.”

  “Do you know anything about the world? About before this winter that Ray talked about?”

  “Just bits and pieces. From what he told me. And from the things I’ve seen him use.”

  “Like what?”

  He held up the looking glass. “Like this. His version of a looking glass looks nothing like this. It does far more than this archaic thing, too.”

  “What does it look like?”

  We whiled away the morning as he told me about something Ray called a “tablet”. Elliot was fascinated by it, but Ray would never really let him hold it and study it.

  “He said it was delicate. Though I didn’t see how. It was a thin rectangle of clear material—he calls it ‘plastic’. It looked like perfectly-formed glass but much lighter, and it didn’t scratch. And with the way he poked at it and dragged his fingers around on it, it certainly wasn’t fragile.”

  “Do you think he would show it to me?” I asked.

  “I doubt it. Once he realized how interested I was, he stopped bringing it. Sometimes, he’d say he lost it or broke it. Or forgot it. I suppose he was afraid I wouldn’t give it back.”