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Surrounded by his small army, John Brown had escorted Bloom and me back to Mini City. With a greasy leer, he’d deposited me in Bloom’s apartment and posted guards at the door with the promise to “give you what you got comin’ should you try to escape.” Whatever that meant.
Nearly a week had passed since then, and I had yet to lay eyes on that notorious villain, Moll Grimes. I halfway believed everyone made her up, like a bogeyman, or bogeywoman, used to scare everyone into behaving. To have such an interest in my family, you’d think she would’ve had the decency to put in a personal appearance.
“Sera, you’ve got to believe I had no idea about this.” Shep kept his voice lowered so the guards outside the door couldn’t hear him. He sat on an upholstered chair in the living room of Bloom’s little apartment on the tenth floor of Grimey Towers. Wringing his hands and biting his lip, he looked less like a pompous soldier and more like a puppy caught chewing his master’s favorite slipper.
“You never tried to hide your ambitions with Moll from me.” With a distrustful glare, I sat on an ottoman close to Shep’s knee so we could hear each other’s whispers. “Makes it hard to believe you feel sorry for me right now.”
“That was before Parvati and Dwivedi’s college.”
Snorting, I rolled my eyes and tossed up my hands. “What is it about me that makes me look that dumb? I’m supposed to buy the fact you fell in love or something, and that makes you suddenly sympathetic?”
He scowled, and ire stained his neck and ears red. “I’m just saying, Parvati makes me question things, and I know when she finds out about this, she’s going to kill me. If I ever want to step foot in her place again, then I’ve got to figure out a way to get you out of trouble.”
“Who says I need your help?”
He laughed coldly. “Who else is going to help you? Dwivedi’s people are not going to come riding up with guns blazing. Dwivedi won’t put himself in jeopardy like that. Can’t afford to lose trade with Moll.”
I hated that he was right.
“And Erik doesn’t stand a chance,” Shep continued. “He might be dumb enough to come here with an idea of rescuing you, but he’d never make it. This place is locked up tighter than the gates at San Quentin, and Moll won’t stand for any challenge to her authority.”
I sank further into the ottoman. It all sounded so hopeless. “What do you think you can do? And are you seriously willing to give up this life?” I gestured to the apartment around us. “Because you know you’ll have to run if you try to help me.”
He grinned, and for the first time, I had to say it seemed genuine and born out of warmth rather than malice. “If Parvati will have me, then I say it will be worth it.”
Cocking my head to the side, I gave him a questioning look.
“What?” he said, flinching back.
“So it’s like that, huh?” It was what Bloom had said to me about my feelings for Erik.
“Like what?”
I had only recently discovered the ramifications of allowing love into one’s life. It appeared that Shep was experiencing something similar. “You and Parvati. You got it bad, don’t you?”
He ducked his head, trying to hide his soppy smile. “Yeah, maybe.”
“If you got it for her like I do for Erik, then I suppose I can trust you.”
Shep glanced up at me, his brows drawn with curiosity. “His scars don’t bother you?”
“Should they?”
He studied my face like he expected my expression to belie my words. He could look as long as he wanted. I know what I think. I know how I feel.
He shook his head as if to loosen a thought. “I guess he’s one hell of a fighter, and he sure seems to care about you. I hope we can work it out for you two to be together again.”
“Aw, Shep,” I said, thick and sweet as syrup. Irony was great camouflage to cover moments of vulnerability, feelings of unworthiness and doubt. “You keep this up, and I might start to like you.”
The doorknob and lock rattled on the apartment’s front door, and Shep and I froze while we waited for it to open.
“Honey,” Bloom called in a singsong voice as she entered the room, “I’m home.” She carried a portfolio stuffed to the brim and studied another stack of papers in her hand. To better endure our forced cohabitation, Bloom and I had called a truce. I hadn’t completely forgiven her for abandoning me, and she hadn’t offered any more apologies. For the past few days, we’d coexisted in strained peace, mainly because we had no other choice.
My heart galloped in my chest, relieved that the intruder was only Bloom returning from work. Shep and I had kept our conversation quiet, but I took nothing for granted in that place. Sometimes I wondered if Moll had ears in the walls and eyes on the ceiling. She kept Bloom working most of the day somewhere in another part of the building. I only saw her when she came home to this apartment that had windows on the east wall looking over the roofs and broken faces of the buildings surrounding us. From this vantage point, I could see the river, and I imagined somewhere out there, Erik was waiting for me.
“Shep has come to make nice with me,” I said.
Upon hearing that we had company, Bloom looked up from her papers.
“Hello, Corporal.” She bent in a shallow bow. “To what do we owe the honor?”
He stood and ran a nervous hand through his short hair. “I’ve come to discuss something with you.”
Bloom’s eyebrow arched, and her gaze cut to me, possibly looking for a hint about what Shep was going to say. After I gave her a reassuring nod, she set her papers and case on the little dining table between the living room and kitchen. I put my finger to my lips, urging her to keep quiet, and motioned for her to join us.
“What’s up, Corp?” Bloom asked.
“Moll isn’t going to let your sister out of here as easy as trading for a little of her boyfriend’s blood. So long as Moll keeps Sera, she knows Erik will keep doing whatever Moll asks.”
Bloom’s brows drew together. “What other choice does she have? I’ve asked Moll nicely. I’ve even begged. I’ve promised her everything short of my firstborn child. She won’t budge.”
“Sera’s only other choice is to escape,” Shep said.
Shaking her head, Bloom sank to her knees on the floor beside my ottoman and leaned in closer to us. “That’ll never happen in a million years. Every inch of this place is watched by guards. There’s no getting her out.”
“I don’t plan to get her out,” he whispered. “At least, not at first.”
“Then what?” Bloom asked.
“Yeah, what?” I echoed.
“What if, instead of getting Sera out, we let some of the dead in? More than some—enough to set this place in a panic. I can do it. Moll gives me that kind of freedom.”
Mouth open, eyes wide, Boom recoiled. “You’d betray Moll but expect us to trust you?” She sucked a tooth. “Besides, it’s too dangerous. Who’s to say we won’t end up fodder for the Rotters ourselves?”
Rotter fodder. Ha!
“I’m serious.” Bloom frowned, noting my smile. “We should wait this out.”
“Wait for what?” I waved at the city beyond Bloom’s windows. “For Erik to bleed himself dry or get himself killed trying to come after me? I’m not waiting, Bloom. I don’t need your permission. If Shep’s willing to help, then I aim to let him.” I poked her shoulder hard. Although Bloom had abandoned me, she hadn't actually betrayed me. Not yet anyway. She might have been selfish, but I had to believe she wouldn’t actively sell me out to Moll. “All you have to do is keep your trap shut.”
“We’re all going to wind up dead or worse.” With a grimace, Bloom rubbed her shoulder. “If you pull this off, who do you think Moll’s going to come looking at first? You and Shep will be safely away while I’m left behind holding my hat in my hands and begging for mercy.”
I was still mad at my sister, but I wasn’t completely heartless. “Come with me then.”
She jerked her chin up and looked down her nose at me. “I told you I don’t want to go. I like it here.”
“Well I don’t.” When Shep shot me a warning glance, I forced myself to calm down and lowered my voice. “This is a prison, and I did nothing to deserve it. If you expect me to understand why you want to stay here, then you’ve got to understand why I don’t.”
“We can do this without you, Bloom,” Shep said. “We’ll do it at a time when you have a perfect alibi, and there’s no way Moll can pin it on you.”
“You never told me why you’d risk yourself for Sera like this.” Bloom leveled a menacing gaze at Shep.
Boldly, he returned her stare. “I got reasons for wanting out too. Sera trusts me. That’s all that matters anyway.”
Bloom looked at me, her annoyance carefully contained. “You trust him?”
Shrugging, I press my lips into a crooked line. “I don’t really have a choice, but... yeah. I do.”
She sank back on her heels and wiped her face, brow to chin. “You two are idiotic and reckless.” Inhaling deeply, she laid a hand on my shoulder. “I don’t want any more bad things to happen to you, Sera. Are you sure you want to risk it?”
I opened myself to her, letting her see everything I felt. “Yes. More than anything.”
She studied me for several more heartbeats, her eyes roaming my face. “What’s your plan, Shep?”
He grinned and leaned closer, lowering his voice, so we almost had to touch noses to hear him. “First, I gotta round up some volunteers.” He rolled his eyes over to me. “And I think I know just where to start.”