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“EVIE, WE’RE HERE!” EVALENE opened her eyes to find Olive standing over her. Her field of vision was still narrowed to the bunk in front of her and the wall behind it, ignoring the rest of the room, and she pulled the bucket closer out of habit, but she didn’t need it. The rocking wasn’t as bad now.
“What time is it? We made it?” Evalene stretched a little, blinking awake.
Olive bounced nervously onto the springy mattress across from her. “We got in at dawn, but they had to leave right away. Something’s happening at the news station. They wouldn’t tell me what. All Luc would say was, ‘we don’t have time to watch over two defenseless girls. We need everyone who can fight. We’ll come back and get you.’” Olive’s imitation of Luc wasn’t nearly as flattering as it would’ve been a few days ago. Maybe his allure was finally wearing thin.
At first, staying on the ship sounded like great news. They wouldn’t have to fight. But as Evalene’s stomach squeezed sharply, she closed her eyes and groaned. They couldn’t get off the boat? How long would the fighting last? A day? A week? Maybe even a couple weeks?
“It should be calmer now that we’ve docked,” Olive said, trying to comfort her. She hopped from her bunk onto Evalene’s to pat her on the shoulder, unwittingly bumping the bed and disturbing Evalene’s stomach more.
It was true. The rocking motion of the boat was less now than out on the open sea. Evalene groaned, but pulled herself up to sitting. The room spun.
“Hey, you feel better!” Olive said, jumping up, rocking the little bed all over again.
“Sort of,” Evalene said, although it wasn’t much different. She moved slowly, dizzy, setting her feet on the floor. “How long have they been gone? Can we go up to the top deck? I think that would help.”
“Just an hour or so,” Olive said and stood. “Sure, let’s go.” Leading the way on light feet, she passed the bunks, through the galley, and up the steps. Evalene wobbled after her. The floor felt slightly crooked, but the urge to empty her stomach lessened as she gulped deep breaths of ocean air.
Evalene stared out at the crowded city of Delmare. The walls built up throughout the city blocked her view of the streets. But far away, in the heart of the city, orange flames flickered, swallowing up one of the wall towers, smoke billowing out around it and the nearby buildings. “What’s happening?” Evalene whispered.
Olive came to stand next to her at the railing, leaning against it and staring out at the nearby city. “I think that’s the Regulator Headquarters,” she said. “Luc was supposed to send half his company there when we landed, but at the last minute, something came up and they all headed for the news station.”
Evalene tore her eyes away from the chaos to look at Olive. “That doesn’t sound good.”
Olive frowned. “I know. I wish there was something we could do to help. They’re headed there now, but I don’t know if they’ll make it in time unless they find a faster way than walking.”
Neither of the girls moved for a few minutes. They were anchored far enough out to feel separate from the awful scene. The deep blue waves peacefully lapped at the bottom of the ship. Evalene felt a twinge of relief that she didn’t yet have to step foot back in Eden. Suddenly Olive ducked below the railing, jerking hard on Evalene’s arm. “Get down!”
Evalene let Olive pull her to the ground, scanning the docks as she did. “Why? What’s going on?”
“There’s a Regulator on the shore! He was looking right at us!” Olive sounded more afraid than Evalene had ever heard her. “Luc told me to stay below, but I didn’t think it was a big deal because I thought they’d taken the docks. I’m sorry Evie...”
Her words hit Evalene squarely in the chest, taking away her breath. They’d been discovered? Already?
Maybe Olive was seeing things. Steeling herself, Evalene crawled to the left, away from Olive about a dozen feet. Cautiously, she peeked over the railing.
Sure enough, there was a man wearing black. Not only was he staring directly at their ship, but he was waving to someone behind him. More men in black uniforms poured out of an alleyway into the harbor. A few were already running towards a smaller motorboat. It would take them less than a minute to reach the ship.
Evalene gasped and ducked below the railing again.
“What did you see?” Olive hissed.
Shaking her head, Evalene just said, “They’re coming.”
“We can hide!” Olive said, copying Evalene’s crawl and scuttling over to her. “We can stack the boxes again! Or we could go down to the galley, find some place deep in the bottom of the ship where it’s dark—”
“No,” Evalene said, searching for an escape. “They saw us. They won’t give up –” An idea struck her. “Olive, are there any lifeboats left?” Ships like this had dozens, enough to carry every passenger on the vessel if necessary. But had the rebels taken all of them?
The girls rushed together across the deck to the side of the ship that faced the ocean. Hanging above the water, tied tightly to the ship, were two small boats.
Thinking quickly, Evalene took the ties holding the closest boat against the ship and frantically started pulling them loose. Waving to Olive, she hissed “Help me lower it!” Olive imitated her, unravelling the ties on the opposite side. As soon as it was loose, they climbed into the boat where it hung midair, and spun the wheels that lowered the boat onto the ocean until the shore was out of sight.
Evalene struggled to find her balance, feeling queasy. It was a long shot, but the tangle of boats along the shoreline might offer enough cover if they could reach another ship. Maybe. The lifeboats weren’t powered with an engine, but that would’ve just given away their position anyway, and they had only seconds before the Regulators reached this side of the ship in their boat. “Grab a paddle,” Evalene said, lifting one herself and thrusting it into the water. “This will only work if we’re out of sight before they reach this side of the ship.”
They dug into the waves on both sides.
Breathless, Evalene glanced back as they rounded the front of the ship. No other boat had appeared yet. Whipping back to face the front, Evalene forced her burning arms to paddle harder, faster. They passed in front of the ship, and Evalene breathed a sigh of relief. But it was short lived. Only some of the Regulators were in pursuit, and those left on shore spotted them immediately.
Evalene and Olive froze as weapons were trained on them. Hands in the air, they sat in the boat as it bobbed up and down in the water, drifting closer and closer to shore with the current.
Four men in pursuit appeared on a motorboat. One of them yelled, and Evalene flinched, expecting to feel the shot any second. But nothing hit them.
The metal side of the Regulator’s motorboat thunked into the wood of their little lifeboat. Two of the men boarded their craft. Evalene gritted her teeth against the pain as her arms were wrenched behind her back. She felt the harsh sting of a rope around her wrists, tying her hands together.
If they spoke to her, she didn’t hear. Her ears were ringing and her heartbeat muffled all sound, tears blurring her vision.
She pictured herself hanging from a rope by the end of the day.
Why had she agreed to come?
“Evie. Evie!” Olive’s voice broke through. “Evie, what’s going to happen?”
Their captors were dragging them by their elbows into the Regulator motorboat, not caring if they stumbled. Thrown onto the bottom of the boat, Evalene curled up, closing her eyes and her ears to Olive’s pleading, and begged God to let her die right then.
It would be better here than what they would do to her.
She could throw herself into the sea... she peeked one eye open. The water wasn’t even visible from her vantage point in the bottom of the boat. She’d never make it. She felt bruises forming on her shins from being hauled over the metal sides.
Olive’s voice reached her ears.
“It’ll be okay,” Olive was saying. “Evie, we’re going to be ok–” she yelped as one of the Regulators struck her across the face. His gloves were rough. Evalene watched as her friend’s left cheek grew red and swollen.
The numbness receded. Evalene felt a surge of anger.
She stared at the sour-mouthed man who had hit her friend.
Through her anger, she made a choice. Evalene angled her body to the side, leaning awkwardly on her hands where they were tied behind her back, pushing herself up until she was sitting tall. She glared at the man with the puckered mouth.
What more could they do to her, that wasn’t already going to happen?
The hostile Regulator who’d hit Olive was stocky, built wide and short. His cropped hair was bleached a platinum blonde underneath his heavy helmet. He cradled his gun as if hoping to use it.
As the boat neared the docks, he barked a command to the waiting men. There were only six or seven of them, but it was enough. Evalene didn’t have the skills to fight even one, and she doubted Olive could take more than one or two. While the men on the docks leapt to secure the boats, their leader moved out of Evalene’s line of sight.
Only then did Evalene notice the Regulator behind him, who’d been steering. His olive skin, though darker than her own, seemed light against his thick black hair. His forehead and eyes were stern, his fists clenched, but his frown was directed at the leader, rather than at the girls. His grip on the weapon at his side was so tense, his fingertips were turning white.
When Evalene met his eyes, he looked away.
She didn’t have time to wonder about it. A vicious pair of hands yanked her to her feet so hard her arm nearly popped out of its socket. She could guess without looking who hauled her roughly over the side of the boat onto the dock.
The younger man moved away from the wheel, still not meeting her gaze, and helped Olive stand. Behind her, Evalene’s captor snorted at the gentler treatment as he jerked her around to face the city. Evalene twisted her neck back, worried they were separating her and Olive. But the young Regulator who held her friend was lifting the girl – much less roughly – over the side of the boat as well.
Evalene’s bad-tempered guard was almost wrenching her arm out of its socket. She struggled in the vise-like grip of her jailor, digging in her heels. They’d come here to fight, hadn’t they? She twisted in his grasp, succeeding in pulling away mostly due to surprise. Before she had a chance to run or somehow attack with her arms behind her back, a sharp crack sounded, knocking her off her feet.
Off balance with her arms tied, she dropped hard and the impact knocked the air out of her lungs. The slap stung but she ignored the pain. Instead of attempting to stand, she stayed on the ground, knowing it would irritate him more if she was harder to move.
When he reached down to haul her up, she kicked. Hard. All the years of frustration with Daeva when she couldn’t fight back were thrown into the kick. She aimed for his groin, but missed, hitting his knee instead. It was still a good blow. She enjoyed a small, tight smile of victory before his boots laid into her side. Each blow of his heavy boots left her gasping, certain that he’d broken at least one of her ribs, and the kick to her stomach made her vomit up the little bit of bile left in her stomach after the long voyage.
Someone stopped him, and Evalene lay in the dirt, eyes closed, mentally assessing the damage. Everything hurt. Arms hauled her up on both sides. She’d been reassigned to two new Regulators who dragged her along, following in the wake of their leader.
Olive was ahead of her now, the younger, dark haired Regulator pressing a hand to her forehead to lower it as he loaded her into the backseat of a Regulator vehicle. Picking up her feet, Evalene tried to meet Olive’s eyes as they passed, but the men blocked her view, and she was deposited in the backseat of a second vehicle.
Isolated in the backseat, the men in front didn’t say a word. Where were they taking them? She was left alone with her thoughts as they traveled through the city, stopping briefly at check points, waved through quickly. Would she ever see Olive again?