Long after the dead were buried and Segura and her campers settled back down for the night, I sat between Ori and Hanna, who helped me re-bandage my sore arm. Hanna assured me the wound looked good—shallow with no signs of infection. Around us, the rest of Ori’s group reclined in different positions of attentiveness as a pink dawn glowed over the tops of the shacks. Even though we were physically and mentally exhausted, the adrenaline that had been coursing through our veins all night had not allowed us to sleep. Instead, we munched on fried insects and mesquite bread near the chiminea, discussing the next step.
“I know the importance of bringing down WaterPure,” Ori said. “It has been my intention all along.”
“So much for intentions. We need to act now,” Lech said. “We can’t let the deaths of our people be for nothing.” Lech’s tone sounded just as critical but much less threatening than before the battle. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was speaking with a new tone or I was hearing him with new ears.
“And we won’t. But we must not let people die if they don’t have to.”
For the first time since the discussion started, I wanted to hear more of what Ori had to say. Before Lech could respond, I put my hand up to stop him. I think if anyone else had done that, he literally would have bitten their fingers off. I had proven to be his ally, though, and I had earned his respect battling the LEOs.
“What’s your plan, Ori?” I said.
“I have a way to stop WaterPure that will put only one of us at risk,” Ori said, looking each of us in the eye. I was impressed. Ori was again willing to risk her life for her people and all of the people of the drylands. Hell, if she could take down WaterPure, she would be making life better for everyone in NorCoast, not just the outcasts. I couldn’t imagine how she could do it on her own, though.
“And who might that one person be?” asked Lech.
“Rain,” Ori said.
“Wait, what?” I stared at Ori, expecting her to laugh and say, “Just kidding. It’s me.” Didn’t happen. She simply glanced at me with raised eyebrows as if to say What were you expecting?
Lech took one look at my face and laughed so hard he fell back holding his stomach. When he recovered himself, he sat up and said, “You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m dead serious,” Ori said. “If you knew about Rain’s special talent, you’d know how serious I am.”
My special talent? The only talent she could be referring to was my being a Mark. Only a few people knew my secret. Unfortunately, Ori was one of them.
Tule and Trinity sat up to better hear how the new girl could possibly take out the enemy all by herself. Bitan stopped chewing his insect sandwich. Hanna turned to me and whispered, “I knew it.” Before I could ask her what she meant, Lech cleared his throat.
“I’ll admit that Rain did a kick-ass job last night commandeering a LEO vehicle and charging into battle,” Lech said. “But I’m having a hard time imagining what this special talent might be. Her marksmanship certainly wouldn’t qualify.” Lech cocked his head at me, waiting for an answer.
I couldn’t believe Ori would out me like that. Being a Mark meant living in fear of being discovered by WaterPure, who spent vast amounts of resources searching for Marks to recruit as assassins. Their heinous recruitment process began with bribery and ended with torture. I had known a few recruited Marks, or re-Marks as they were called. Both Evin and his sister had been targeted for recruitment. Evin had been tortured but hadn’t given in. His sister had given in, and it cost her her life.
“Ori, you’ve got a big mouth,” I said, furious. I stood and walked away from the circle. With rage burning under my skin, I still knew I needed Ori, which made me angrier. I needed her and her people to save Dal. Surprisingly, she seemed to need me, too.
As much as I felt betrayed by her, I also felt flattered. And powerful. This was one area where I eclipsed Ori in strength and skill. She could manipulate soldiers to win battles, but I could manipulate time. For once, I was the stronger one.
“Wait up, Rain,” Ori said a few paces behind me. She really needed me if she was willing to leave the circle to Lech’s influence.
I turned on her, so mad I spit when I spoke. “Do you know how dangerous it is for people to know what I can do?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m sorry that I didn’t talk to you about this before. You can trust my people, Rain. They would never compromise you.”
In my heart, I knew that. I was angry with Ori over another betrayal—how easily she disregarded Dal’s arrest. That was what I wanted to yell and scream at her about. I couldn’t believe that I had to convince her that he was worth saving.
“What’s the plan?” I said. “I’m assuming it involves my work at WaterPure.”
“Yes,” she said, searching my face. My cheeks grew hot under the scrutiny.
“So, what is it? You want me to go back into my memories and clog up all of the intake valves at WaterPure? Causing a temporary system shutdown probably won’t solve our problem. Besides, I don’t think I could do it in fifteen minutes.”
Ori shook her head. “Before I tell you, I want you to know that I’ve thought about this carefully. It is not a plan that I take lightly. I’ve also considered and reconsidered your role in it. I wasn’t sure you could do it until I saw what you were capable of last night.”
“What I was capable of? You didn’t think I could drive a van through an obstacle course?”
“No, I didn’t think you could kill.”
My jaw dropped.
“I mean,” Ori said. “I knew you could defend yourself if you needed to, but I wasn’t sure you could kill a defenseless enemy.”
A defenseless enemy? When had I done that? Then I remembered letting Ori and Lech believe I had killed the already half-dead LEOs in the van. This was where lying got me.
“I have a target for you to assassinate,” Ori said. “His name is Azov Petrov, and he is the reason for all this misery, all this bloodshed. He’s the one who deprives the outcasts of water.”
The name sounded familiar.
“He spoke to students in your primary school,” Ori said. “He was trying to recruit the high achievers to the WaterPure internship program.”
I remembered a short, thin man with thinning blond hair and sharp features speaking to a small crowd of fifth-graders, including Dal and me. He kept calling us special.
“Who is he?”
“He’s the controlling shareholder at WaterPure and essentially the Chief of Operations,” Ori said. “He makes or approves all the decisions.”
“Shooting for the top, I see. Do you really think this will work?”
“Yes. He gives a speech on the roof garden of your school when you were ten. His back is against a wall, literally—a low one, when he gives his speech. It won’t take much. Just one big shove, and over he goes.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. You’re fooling yourself, Ori. You can kill this Petrov person, but I’m sure there’s a successor. You can kill him or her, too, but you’ll always have someone waiting in the wings to take over where they left off.”
“There are people at WaterPure who are not aligned with Petrov. They see the cruelty in perpetuating water scarcity in order to make a huge profit for a very select few. With Petrov out of the way, things will change.”
“How do you know this?”
“I just do.” Ori seemed to know a lot of things. She knew the LEOs would attack Segura’s camp. She knew who was calling the shots at WaterPure. She knew about subversives in the WaterPure ranks. Where was she getting all this information? I simply stared at her, trying to figure it out.
“Rain, you’re going to have to trust me. You and I want the same thing, to help the people who need our help.”
“Yes, but I also want my brother.” Then a thought occurred to me. If I could convince her that Dal was a Mark, maybe she would admit that she needed him, too, for this plan to work.
“And you’ll have that,” Ori said. “As soon as you kill Petrov, everything will change. Your brother will be safe. You’ll be safe. Even Evin will be safe. None of the killings would have happened.” The thought of Dal and Evin and I the way we used to be, working together, hanging out together, made my heart leap. If only that were true. I knew the power of the Memory Visit. It could change things for the better. Dal’s being alive proved that. It could also bring tragedy, and Evin’s death proved that. My Memory Visits failed far more often than they succeeded. I couldn’t rely on this Memory Visit to save my brother.
“I can’t do this alone,” I said. “I need Dal.”
Ori raised her eyebrows. “For moral support?”
“For more than that.” I glanced around as if afraid someone would overhear. “You know what I mean.”
Ori gasped, and it was all I could do not to smile.
“That’s impossible. Dal couldn’t be a Mark,” she said. Of course, she was right, but I wasn’t about to tell her.
“What? You didn’t know?” I said with a mock surprise. “You seem to know everything. How could you have missed that tiny detail?”
“I didn’t. You’re lying.”
Lech approached with the rest following right behind him. “We’re tired of waiting on you two. What’s the plan?”
Before Ori could open her mouth, I said, “I’m a Mark. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it means that when I Visit my memories, I can change the past.”
“We know what a Mark is, Rain,” Lech said. “Congratulations. How is that going to help us?” His bored tone took me by surprise. Like Ori, the outcasts seemed to know everything. I didn’t know about Marks until I’d found out I was one. Maybe privileged people like me, who were sheltered from hardship, were often sheltered from knowledge as well.
“I’m going to use a Memory Visit to assassinate Azov Petrov, but I need my brother, who is in Oasis, to do it.”
“No,” Lech said. “It would take him at least half a day to get here. That’s too much time. We need to act now.”
“Oh, it would take longer than that,” I said. “He’s in jail.”
A chorus of disbelief rumbled through the group. Hanna tugged at my shirt. “Why? What happened to him?”
I was so thankful that she didn’t ask what he had done. She must have known Dal well enough to understand that he was the victim, not the perpetrator.
“He was arrested for killing a woman who killed my boyfriend and was trying to kill me.”
I looked them each in the eye, challenging them to refuse me. When my gaze met Ori’s, I expected another accusation. Her lips were a tight, thin line.
“Your brother’s a Mark, too?” Lech said.
“Yes. We’re twins.” I knew fraternal twins shared no more genes than other siblings did, but it seemed to convince a few of the group that we might share this rare genetic anomaly. “I can’t do it without him. The memory is from primary school. I wasn’t big enough back then to push Azov over a wall, but Dal and I could do it together.” Again, I expected a reaction from Ori. Nothing.
“You’re pushing him over a wall, eh?” Lech raised one eyebrow and smirked. “I wish I shared that memory. I’m not a Mark as far as I know, but I’d love to see it.”
I smiled conspiratorially at Lech who grinned back and said, “Where is this brother of yours? Let’s go get him.”
We spent the rest of the day developing our scheme to break Dal out of jail. Spirits of the group were high. Both Ori and Lech contributed to the discussion as enthusiastically as I did and seemed to be getting along with each other better than before. Dal’s rescue wasn’t the attack on WaterPure headquarters that Lech had envisioned, but it required courage, daring, and danger, which appealed to him. Most importantly, it was furthering the cause of the people, giving both Ori and Lech a reason to get behind it. For me, it was all about rescuing Dal before he fell to the firing squad. I couldn’t look beyond that to the next step, assassinating Petrov.
When we had the details worked out, we said goodbye to Segura, gathered the supplies we needed, and made the long journey back to Oasis. The trip wasn’t what I expected. We spent half of it underground, and the other half on top of trains. The underground part I could handle. The train part, not so much. While Ori, Lech, and everyone else took naps on the roofs of the train cars, I plastered my body spread-eagle, face-down on the cold, hard metal, my fingertips pressing into the shallow grooves so hard that my hands turned white. No amount of teasing from Lech, Kern, or Hanna could pry me off the surface until the train came to a complete stop. Every few stops, we had to dive into the underground tunnels to avoid LEOs. And, of course, we had to go underground to cross the border into Oasis.
We arrived at the courthouse around dusk. We had just enough daylight left for half of the group to set up the escape route and the other half, which included me, to place the homemade explosives at the rear fire exit of the jail. Unlike a high-security prison that had guards and barbed wire surrounding the perimeter, the courthouse’s holding cells had nobody on the outside and were guarded from the inside by only a handful of LEOs. Security was not a top priority. First, there weren’t many criminals in Oasis. People were wealthy and content for the most part. No need for crime when you had everything you needed. Second, both trials and executions for dissidents like Dal happened so quickly, prisoners had very little time to plan an escape.
Lech and I adhered the bombs around the door frame. The plan was to blow the exit door and shoot the LEOs who approached the opening. Then, we’d invade the jail, find Dal, and use more explosives to break him out of his cell. We retreated to where the rest of our small group of twelve was hidden in the brush. It was a safe distance where Lech could detonate the explosives by shooting them.
“How long should we wait?” I said, seating myself on a patch of grass. The other half of our group was setting up the zip line through the trees for our quick escape from the hordes of LEOs that would descend on us once we freed Dal. I couldn’t think about the zip line. My harrowing experience on top of the trains had already taken a few years off my life.
“They’re gonna need another hour. Do you mind, Kern?” Lech leaned his head and shoulders back on Kern’s knees like he was ready to take another nap.
I picked at tiny chunks of red clay that had attached themselves to my pants during our sojourn through the tunnels. I hated waiting. It gave me time to think about all that could go wrong.
“Do you really think you can do it?” Lech’s voice had the slightest tone of accusation to it.
“Do what?” I wondered if he was referring to the zip line or something else.
“Kill Petrov.” This was definitely something else. Maybe making him think I had killed the LEOs wasn’t enough to convince him of my dedication to the cause.
“Of course,” I said. “Petrov gives his speech in front of a low wall on the roof of our primary school. With a running start, Dal and I can push him over that wall.” If Lech thought I couldn’t handle the assassination, then this mission meant nothing. I didn’t want him finding any reason to stop our rescue effort from going forward. I quickly added, “I can’t do it alone, though.”
“How old were you when Petrov visited the school?”
“Ten.”
“That’s a pretty old memory, Rain. I’ve heard Marks aren’t as reliable in old memories. Like, they don’t have as much control over their bodies during the Visit.” So that was what Lech was worried about. He wasn’t worried that I might have some moral conflict with killing Petrov. He was worried if I could physically get the job done. The others seemed to be wondering the same thing. They leaned in to listen to my answer.
I wasn’t worried. I’d made two Visits to my three-year-old self to save Dal from drowning in our backyard pool. Both times I had complete control. “That’s true,” I said. “Marks also don’t have much control in tight Visits, really recent memories. You don’t need to worry about me on either count.”
“And why is that?”
“I’ve done both.”
“And?”
“And…” I grinned. “I kicked ass.”
Lech laughed loud enough for guards to hear him near the jail, had there been any. Tule and Trinity laughed, too. “You’re full of surprises, Raindrop.” He sat up from his reclined position and stared intently into my eyes with a lustful look only two men had given me in my life.
I could feel a blush creeping up my neck into my cheeks, but I didn’t drop my gaze. His desire was obvious, and I hated to admit that I was attracted to him, too. His dark-brown eyes seared into mine, making me catch my breath. His chest strained against his clingy t-shirt. His broad shoulders, muscular arms, and long, strong legs had me mesmerized.
I didn’t realize that I was studying Lech’s body until his throaty chuckle broke my trance. His grin said, I caught you checking me out. Now let’s do something about this effect I’m having on you.
I met his gaze, and he gave a sideways glance to a thickly wooded area where we could find some privacy. His raised eyebrows asked the question. I didn’t know what my expression looked like. Cheeks flushed, mouth agape, probably. Whatever was happening on my face, he was encouraged.
“I’m gonna go kill some time,” he said as he stood up. “You’re welcome to join me, Rain.”
My cheeks still burned, but with embarrassment this time. It was like he had just announced to the group, “Let’s go make out in the bushes.” He sauntered off toward the trees. Just before he disappeared behind a pine sapling, he gave me a quick head motion to join him. I simply stared after him, glued to the ground.
“Damn, girl. Aren’t you gonna go?” Honey grinned at me in a friendly, mischievous sort of way. She was pretty with big blue eyes and curly blonde hair cut short like mine. She crawled over to sit next to me.
“I’d go if I were you,” she whispered in my ear. “Lech is an animal. In a good way.”
I felt everyone’s gaze on me, expectant, waiting. She sounded like she spoke from experience, and now she was encouraging me to return his advances? This was a new one.
“If you don’t believe me, ask Tule or Trinity,” Honey said. I looked back to see Tule and Trinity smiling and nodding at Honey’s statement. They, too, were encouraging me to be intimate with a man they’d had relations with. I didn’t want to try to understand the sexual dynamics of this group.
Like Honey, Tule and Trinity were young attractive women but very different from each other. Tule was tall and lean with skin the color of mocha while redheaded Trinity was short and shapely, her complexion fair and freckled. If Lech had a type, it wasn’t based on appearance. He was attracted to something else. From what I’d seen of these women, all three were tough as nails.
And that was what Lech thought of me.
Except, he was wrong. I hadn’t killed anyone. And I wasn’t certain I could kill Petrov. Sure, I had taken some risks in getting that van and charging into Segura’s camp, but I wasn’t being brave. I simply wasn’t thinking. When I’d thought my friend was in trouble, my body decided to act before my brain could stop it. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. Brave people, tough people, knew the danger and went forward anyway. I wasn’t tough or brave in dangerous circumstances. I simply lost any sense of reason.
So, I wasn’t worthy of Lech’s advances. That wasn’t what was stopping me, however. I couldn’t hook up with Lech, even if I had the qualities he was attracted to and even if we weren’t on public display. I just couldn’t. Not with the possibility of Evin coming back. As much as Lech inspired lust, he could never make me love him. Only Evin could do that. Love wasn’t what Lech was after, anyway. Like he said, I was just a way to kill time.
“No,” I said to Honey’s big blue eyes. “I don’t want to…” My voice trailed off.
“Well, don’t leave him hanging,” Honey said. “At least go let him down easy. Male pride, you know.” She sounded disappointed, which made me think the entire group probably would have sneaked over to watch Lech and me go at it. Bullet dodged.
I got up slowly, brushed the dust off my butt, and headed toward the trees. I didn’t know what I was going to say. All I could think about was Evin, how I couldn’t do that to him. If things went as planned, Evin would be alive after Dal and I killed Petrov, and I didn’t want some seedy memory of Lech haunting my mind when I had Evin back in my life. I loved Evin, and no one, not even animal sex-exuding Lech, could make me betray him.
I thought I would see Lech after rounding the evergreen, but there was nothing but more trees. God, I loved Oasis. Green grass, tall trees, flowers. It never failed to amaze me how different the landscape could be just 700 kilometers away from Bainbridge, the main city in NorCoast. I leaned forward to stroke the rough bark of a pine when warm hands gripped my waist from behind and thighs pressed against my hips. Lech’s hot breath on my neck made my legs go weak. His lips brushed my ear when he whispered, “I was about to give up on you.”
Warm hands kneaded my waist under my shirt. His lips and tongue kissed my neck, and my whole body buzzed with electric fire. My hands found his, but instead of pushing them away, they stroked his fingers as his hands caressed my waist and then moved up to my ribcage to pull me tight to his chest.
His breathing was heavy. As was mine. I couldn’t think. Why was I here? What was I going to say? Fingers slipped just under the waistband of my pants, teasing me with tickling strokes on my hip bones. A sigh escaped my lips, and the sound snapped me back to reality. I whirled around to face him, to stop him from going any further, but before I could speak, he bent down and pressed his lips against mine. His kisses gently demanded a response, and I could not refuse. My lips moved with his, our tongues entwined. My body pressed tight against him, yet it wasn’t enough. I found myself on tiptoe, my arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him lower as his hands on my waist pulled me higher. I was buzzing again, the electricity shorting out my thoughts.
“You taste so good, Rain,” Lech breathed into my ear. His voice was soft and sweet, reminding me of another voice that used to whisper in my ear. A voice I missed so much. This voice was off timber, just a tad too low. It wasn’t the voice I heard in my dreams.
The kisses traveled down my neck, and the buzzing increased to an alarm. This was wrong. All wrong. “We have to stop,” I finally managed to say, the guilt building in the pit of my stomach.
“We’ve got time. Don’t worry,” he said in a husky voice. Just as he said that, the snap of a stick a few meters away jerked his head to attention.
“Who’s there?” he demanded.
“Sorry, Lech, but Ori’s arrived. The zip line’s ready.”
Through the thick foliage, I couldn’t see who said it, and it didn’t matter. Lech smoothed my hair, and with one last kiss on my forehead, said, “We’ll have to do this another time. How about a rain check? Get it? Rain check?” He laughed at his own joke, clasping my hand to lead me back to the others. It was a very tender act, which shamed me more than had he smacked my ass, and said, “Later, babe.”
“Ready to switch gears?” he said. “Let’s channel all this sexual frustration into rage at the LEOs.”
My palm grew sweaty in his hand. I slipped out of his grip to wipe it on my pant leg. “Yes, I’m ready.”
“That’s my girl,” he said with a smile.
Oh, no. I was not his girl. I had let this go too far. Way too far.
As we entered the clearing where the others were, I spotted Honey, Tule, and Trinity shooting knowing looks in our direction and I realized he couldn’t possibly take our little rendezvous in the woods seriously. The three women were evidence that he spread himself around. They were probably all his girls. No one seemed to be too attached to each other here. I was beginning to feel a bit better about myself until I saw Ori.
I shrank under her accusing stare. Disapproval was written all over her face. Lech seemed to notice and quickly began pelting her with questions about the zip line. She answered him without taking her condemning gaze off me. Suddenly, my shame turned into defensiveness. How could she judge me? She was ready to let Dal, supposedly the love of her life, go to the firing squad to keep her leadership role intact. I was momentarily weak, cheating on a boyfriend who wasn’t even alive. She and her judgy attitude could go to hell.
“Are we ready to roll?” I said in a loud voice. Lech looked at me with an approving grin.
“Yep,” he said. “Let’s blow up a building.”
Ori simply nodded at the two of us and directed a few sharp-shooters into position. Lech took his place in the front, lying on his belly, elbows braced in the dirt, his rifle steadily aimed at the explosives. The rest of us hid behind trees or rocks to avoid being hit by flying debris. The bombs weren’t that powerful, but better safe than sorry. I ducked down behind a rock at the front of the firing line, next to Lech. My face flushed again at being so near him. I bit my lip, hard, to distract myself from his bulging bicep that held the rifle.
“Everyone ready?” Lech said.
“Ready,” came a chorus of replies.
“Firing on five … four … three … two…”
“Wait!” I put my hand on Lech’s shoulder. Through a chain-link fence, I saw the familiar form of my brother dressed in a black suit with two armed guards flanking him. They walked the narrow path from the jail to the courthouse.
“That’s Dal. The trial has already started.”
“The trial’s over,” Ori said. “The only thing they’d be doing this late in the day is reading the verdict.”
“Looks like we got here just in time,” Lech said.
“I’ve got to get in there,” I said. I had to hear the verdict even though I knew what it would be.
“Not looking like that, you won’t.” Ori dug around in her pack and pulled out a flowery sundress. “Always prepared for an infiltration.”
“That won’t fit me,” I said, looking at the tiny dress that would never make it past my shoulders.
“It’s not for you. It’s for me,” Ori said. She smirked and slipped off her shirt. No bra. Heat rose to my cheeks as I tried to act like it was no big thing. No one else seemed to care, not even the guys. “Honey, you’ve got something for Rain, right?”
Honey handed me a cream-colored, silky, button-down top with a pair of olive pants. “What about my boots?” The thick, brown, lace-up hikers were scuffed and stained red from the tunnel soil. They didn’t exactly complement the ensemble.
“The pants are long. No one will notice,” Ori said as she pulled the sundress over her head. “You’ll be grateful for those boots later.” She wiped the dirt off her face with a towel from her pack and threw it at me. I did the same and then buttoned the long shirt over my thin t-shirt. I slipped out of my jeans and pulled on the pants. Bitan handed me a comb which, judging from the condition of his hair, he never used.
“Are you sure you want me to use this?” I said. “It might get lost in my tangles forever.”
“Obviously,” he said, motioning to his messy hair, “I’m not that attached to it. Give it a try.”
I combed little bits of my thick hair, but instead of smoothing it out, the combing turned my head into a frizz ball.
“All right,” said Lech. “This is gonna gross you out, but it’ll work.” He spit on the comb. I should have been disgusted, but as he began working it through the front of my hair, grossed out was not how I felt. My cheeks warmed at the closeness of his body. My nose, practically touching his chest, breathed in his intoxicating scent of musk and pine. The electric fire pulsed through my veins, again causing my pulse to quicken. While Lech tenderly combed with one hand and smoothed with the other, I wanted those hands to hold and caress the rest of me like they had in the woods.
“There,” Lech whispered, tilting my chin up. “Much better.”
My eyes met his, and the heat of his gaze made me catch my breath. What was the matter with me? How could I be thinking of him like that at a time like this? How could I think of him like that at all? I had to focus on the task at hand. I cleared my throat, stepped back, and murmured, “Thanks.”
I looked at Ori, the perfect distraction from impure thoughts about Lech.
Ori wasn’t paying any attention to us. She splayed the middle of her long brown braid to reveal a long, metal needle with a sharp point at the end. So that was how she smuggled a blade past the LEOs at Segura’s camp.
“This won’t make it through the metal detectors,” she said and handed the needle over to Trinity who slipped it into her cinnamon braid. “Let’s go, Rain. The rest of you, wait for my signal before you blow the door.”
Ori and I took off for the courthouse. The chain-link fence was easy to scale. There weren’t any guards in front of the jail or the courthouse. Security was so lax in Oasis, unlike NorCoast, which was crawling with LEOs. Of course, NorCoast was also crawling with criminals. I bet Dal was the only prisoner these Oasis LEOs had.
“When we get in there, find your family,” Ori said. “I’ll stay near the back. When it’s over, I’ll run out and let our guys know. After the judge reads the verdict, they’ll take Dal back to his cell. You need to get inside the jail with Dal to let him know what we’re up to.”
How would I do that? Security might be lax out here, but inside would be a different story. More puzzling than that was why Ori was suddenly so interested in saving Dal when she had been resisting it earlier. The walk to the courthouse was too short to open that can of worms, though, so I kept my mouth shut. Besides, I had to figure out a way from the courtroom into the jail to warn Dal.
The courthouse didn’t have guards outside, but they had plenty inside. Surprise, surprise. I counted six in the foyer alone. If they weren’t barking orders at people entering the building, they were standing around looking bored. Ori and I waited in a long line to get through the metal detectors. I panicked briefly when I saw a LEO checking IDs midway through the line. I had mine, but didn’t know about Ori. Without hesitating, she flashed her HT at the LEO. I should have known she’d have a fake ID that wouldn’t give her away as the young rebel she was.
Once through the turn-style at the end of the line, Ori split from me immediately. I kept my focus straight ahead, through the giant mahogany doors opening into the courtroom. The ebony benches were filling up fast. The audience directed their attention to the very front of the room where a large woven tapestry hung, depicting a collage of the logos of the West Coast’s main corporations including a flaming sun, a sleek silver train car, a cross section of an HT, and, of course, a bright-blue water droplet. Beneath this imposing textile sat a distinguished black-robed woman at an elevated desk, a gavel in her hand.
A door opened behind the judge’s bench. Dal entered with two LEOs right behind him. He walked with his shoulders straight and hands folded in front. His face looked serious but relaxed, like he had resigned himself to his fate. At the thought of Dal’s giving up hope, a burning rage began to rise in my gut. I closed my eyes and took a couple of slow, deep breaths to squelch it. I had to remain calm if I was going to get through this. With the rage tempered, I opened my eyes. Dal had arrived at his lawyer’s table. His lawyer rose to pull out a chair for him, and that was when I noticed them. Just peeking out from under the sleeves of his suit coat were shackles that held Dal’s arms in front of him. No amount of deep breaths was going to quiet my rage now, but maybe that was a good thing. I suddenly knew how I was going to get inside that jail with Dal.
Scanning the seats, I noticed my mother’s blonde hair a few rows from the front, and I figured I should probably sit with her if she’d let me. She didn’t. As soon as I started down her pew, she said in a loud voice, “This entire row is taken.” Her reaction didn’t surprise me—she blamed me whenever anything bad happened to Dal—but still, it hurt.
I found a seat right behind her beside one of my WaterPure co-workers. Another one slid in next to me, nodding with a sympathetic smile. I nodded back before returning my gaze to the judge’s bench underneath the giant tapestry. Fortunately, no one tried to engage in conversation. A well-dressed prosecution lawyer stood behind the table on the far side of the room, droning on in legalese, barely audible to the audience. The courtroom was packed. When I turned around to look behind me, I faced a sea of oddly familiar faces. Some I instantly recognized from work, from the neighborhood, from my mother’s circle of friends. Others were just shadows of familiarity hard to place out of context. The faces blurred together, except for one.
I locked eyes with Ori who, from the last row of seats, stared right through me, her stoic expression giving no hint of recognition. Her doll-like face and petite stature gave nothing away about her true nature or her true power. Seeing her here, in this courtroom, reminded me of the time I discovered a snake gracefully yet unnaturally gliding through our swimming pool—the wild meets civilization. She was abrasive and self-serving, but she was also formidable. I was very glad to have her on my side.
The judge rapped her gavel three times to call the room to order. I already knew the verdict, but I reminded myself that I must respond as if I had expected a different outcome. A visceral reaction to the judge’s words would be easy. All I had to do was call upon my outrage at WaterPure, my love for my brother, and my grief over losing Evin. Those three emotions, combined with my fury at all of the other injustices that I’d witnessed, would fuel what I had to do next.
The judge cleared her throat and said, “Dal Shattuck, please rise.” With his lawyer by his side, Dal stood, shoulders back, head held high. The judge continued, “It is the finding of the court that you, Dal Shattuck, are guilty of the murder of Chelan Munroe. An execution date will be determined when we convene tomorrow, but the date of execution will not precede your birthday, August twenty-sixth, when you turn eighteen. Bailiff, please escort Mr. Shattuck to his cell.”
Dal’s shoulders slumped, his head dropped. The crowd around me reacted in subdued astonishment with low moans and murmurs of distress. A woman wrapped her arm around my mother’s trembling shoulders and whispered consolation in her ear. On the other side of the room, the celebratory reactions of Mrs. Munroe’s family were just as controlled out of respect for the court. I, however, would flout all decorum in my reaction to the verdict.
“No, no, no, no!” I screamed hysterically. “This is not right! This is not justice! Dal acted in self-defense!”
My mother whipped her head around and glared at me with her ice-blue eyes. Next to her, one of her friends offered a sympathetic look, bringing her finger to her lips in an attempt to quiet me. Despite my co-workers’ efforts to hush and restrain me, I stood up, shouting, “Dal! Let him go! Let my brother go!”
Before he reached the door, Dal turned in my direction with a pained expression on his face. I cringed at the thought of adding to his misery, but I couldn’t stop now. I kept screaming his name until my voice cracked and the tears came.
The judge, pretty tolerant of my tantrum so far, finally banged her gavel and told me to calm down or I’d be escorted out of the courtroom. That definitely wouldn’t do, so I amped up my tirade.
“You can’t kick me out! I have a right to be here. I’m a citizen of Oasis with a right to be in this courtroom, no matter how unjust it is!”
“Please escort the lady out,” the judge said to one of the bailiffs.
Uh-oh, I’ve pushed it far but not far enough. I screamed, “I won’t go! And I’m no lady, just like you’re no judge!” There, that ought to do it.
Scowling over her reading glasses, the judge said, “Young lady, I know you are upset by these proceedings, but personal insults are unacceptable. I will give you one more chance to comport yourself in a dignified and respectful manner, or if you cannot do so, I will have to find you in contempt of court.”
“Go ahead and find me in contempt. I don’t care. You’re wrong about my brother, so nothing you say holds any weight with me.”
“Fine,” she said. “You leave me no choice but to find you in contempt. Twenty-four-hour detention. Bailiff!!”
On cue, the bailiff who had walked over to my pew ordered the people to evacuate their seats so he could reach me. I was still screaming, “No, no, no!” when he grabbed my arm, dragged me out into the aisle, and marched me toward the same door through which Dal had been escorted. I heard more murmuring from the crowd as I struggled half-heartedly against the bailiff.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the shaking shoulders of a man chuckling softly to himself. Was someone on to me? Was my acting that bad? I turned to get a better look and the hairs rose on the back of my neck. It was Nile. I bet he was there to make sure Dal’s trial went the way WaterPure wanted it to. He probably had a fat wad of money in his tailored suit pocket to ensure the judge gave a guilty verdict.
As the bailiff and I walked past Nile, I turned to meet his eye. He stopped laughing, but his grin said it all. He knew what I was up to, and to prove it, he tipped his imaginary hat at me. I looked away, not wanting anyone else in the courtroom to follow my gaze and wonder why this man was so amused. He may have figured me out, but to the rest of my audience, including the judge, my performance was convincing.
Before I walked through the doorway, I had just enough time to look over my shoulder at Ori, who stood near the door at the back of the courtroom. She gave me a subtle nod before slipping out.
Good. The plan was in place. When the bailiff threw me into the holding cell next to Dal, I’d be able to tell him everything.