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WAKING UP SLOWLY, EVALENE’S head felt like it was splitting open. She felt numb. What had just happened?
She tried blinking, squinting, trying to see, and felt her eyes tear up from the pain. She was sitting in a chair against a wall. Her head hurt. Eyes watering, she tried to touch the back of her head, but both hands were stuck behind her back.
Straining, she felt around her wrists and discovered a scratchy, thin rope. Evalene moved her fingers along the rough edges of the rope, feeling where it was tied around her wrists and to the base of the chair.
The muffled sound of footsteps came from her right. As she turned her head to look, she groaned and was forced to close her eyes. It felt like someone was hammering sharp nails into her skull.
What’s going on? Her thoughts were groggy but getting clearer. Where am I? Where’s Kevra? She blinked and looked to the right, more carefully this time. The first thing to catch her eye was the puddle of something dark red near the corner of the cashier’s counter in front of her. Blood. Her blood.
Someone was making noise out of sight behind the shelves. There was movement in the mirrors above her. Evalene looked up and made out a dim reflection. Her attacker.
Evalene felt icy cold as her eyes took it in. Her mind refused to comprehend what was happening. This didn’t make sense. A sharp stab of pain registered on her forehead, overpowering the pounding coming from the back of her skull. She sensed something wet trickling down the right side of her face. She must have hit something sharp when she fell.
Kevra appeared around the corner of the shelves, walking towards Evalene. Her face had an odd calm, not smiling, not frowning. Just an emptiness in her eyes when she stared at Evalene, except for a flicker of something Evalene couldn’t name before she looked away. She stopped a few feet from where Evalene sat.
“I never wanted to do this.” Kevra crossed her arms, sighing. “I didn’t have a choice.” She stepped closer, and knelt on one knee, grasping an arm of the chair as if desperate to connect and be understood. “Evie, I found every ship headed to the FreeLands. I talked to every captain. They all said the same thing. Passage requires proof of ID. They confiscate your Identity Card when you board, and keep it until you land. I spent weeks trying to think of a way around this if we ran into it, but I’ve come up empty.”
Evalene was having trouble concentrating. Her head throbbed and she felt overwhelmed. “Did you say... weeks?”
For the first time since she’d woken up, Evalene thought she saw remorse flash across Kevra’s face. “I had to plan for the possibility,” she whispered, expressionless.
“Is that...” Evalene felt the words forming in her mind, but could barely speak them, not wanting to believe it, “the real reason you dyed your hair before we left?” Then an even worse thought came to her. “Is that why you needed me?” Her voice broke. She felt tears come to her eyes again, but not from the pain in her head this time. “You needed me to steal Ruby’s Identity Card,” she whispered the last words, “because that was the one thing you couldn’t get by yourself...”
“Well, not exactly,” Kevra defended herself. “I mean, I hoped we wouldn’t run into this problem. The ID was just supposed to be a backup. In case we ran into trouble and needed proof. But Evie, it’s not like it’s over for you. I’m not turning you in or anything.” Kevra took a deep breath, stood and continued, “In fact, I think you can still make it. We just can’t go together.”
Evalene gave a short laugh without any humor, then winced at the pain it caused her head. “How do you imagine I’m going to make it?” she snapped, ignoring the pain that made lights dance in front of her eyes. “You just told me passage on a ship requires an Identity Card, and you’re taking the only one we have. Across the sea. It’s not like you can mail it back to me.”
Kevra started to pace back and forth in front of Evalene, waving a finger back and forth. “No, listen. You could steal someone’s purse, use another high Number’s Identity Card.” She gestured wildly, the way she always did when she was trying to emphasize her point. “You could be just a day or two behind me!”
“With. What. Money,” Evalene said through clenched teeth.
Kevra spun to reach into her pocket. She’d been carrying the wallet since the harbor. Everything made sense now. Counting out a few coins, Kevra tucked them into the pocket of Evalene’s jacket. “This is how much it costs. And,” she sounded almost cheerful as she pulled out a couple more coins and added them to the pile in Evalene’s pocket, “here’s a little extra for food, in case it takes you a couple days to get the right ID. Ruby was loaded.”
Evalene gritted her teeth so hard the ache in her head turned into a piercing pain. She tried to relax her jaw. “Thanks so much for the advice,” she snapped sarcastically. “Could you please also give me some directions on how to get to the nearest Regulator Station and turn myself in?” She bit out the last words, “I think that’d be faster.”
Kevra had the nerve to act like they were still back home at their tree, planning. “You could also go back home, if you’d rather. I know your father would keep you safe, make up some reason you’d disappeared... You could go right back to the way things were. But Evie, I can’t.” Her voice broke a little, and she shook her head. “I can’t live like that anymore, you don’t understand. I couldn’t say no... I couldn’t report him... I couldn’t do anything.”
Kevra took two steps to the back door. When she turned back she’d wiped her face of all emotion. She pointed to the duct tape where it sat, jammed between the door and the wall, “I’m going to block the door open with this. I haven’t tied your feet on purpose. Once I’m gone, you can wedge your foot in the crack to get it open and get outside. You’ll still be tied to your chair, but I’m sure someone will drive by and see you.”
“Sure.” Evalene glared at her. “And they definitely won’t call the Regulators. Or have me arrested.”
But Kevra acted as if she hadn’t heard. “All you’ll have to do is be your pretend high-Numbered self, and tell them you were robbed.” She took two steps back to Evalene and gently rearranged her scarf. “There,” she said softly, “no one will be the wiser.”
Speechless, for a moment Evalene just stared at her, feeling as helpless and alone as she had back home. Maybe freedom had never been in her grasp.
She found her voice. “You honestly think someone will not only NOT check my tattoo while I’m tied up,” she grew louder as she spoke, “but they will also NOT report to the Regulators that they found me?” By this point she was yelling, something she hadn’t dared to do since she was 12 years old. “And you believe I’ve somehow developed the skills to steal a high Number’s purse, right from under their nose in the middle of a crowded public space?” The tears poured out of her eyes now, unbidden, as she cried out, “You can’t honestly expect me to believe this is a legitimate plan!”
Kevra wasn’t quite meeting her eyes anymore. That was answer enough for Evalene. She stared at her supposed friend with tears flowing freely down her cheeks, watching Kevra turn and walk towards the door, where she paused, holding the door knob. The fading light made the red tints in her hair shine, and she spoke quietly to the floor. “I really am sorry. You have to believe me, I never wanted this to be the case... it was just supposed to be a backup plan... just in case.”
Repeated apologies meant nothing to Evalene, and they didn’t seem to reassure Kevra either, although she kept trying as if she hoped they would. “I have to look out for myself, you know,” she tried one last time. “It was between you and me, and I had to make a choice.” The last part came out so quietly Evalene almost didn’t hear it. “But I really do hope you make it...”
And then the door swung shut and she was gone.
In the fading light of twilight, as the sun set and the last bit of golden light started to disappear, Evalene sat tied to the chair, unable to move.
She turned her face to the wall, rested her head against it, and wept bitterly.