Chapter Fifteen #2
“Hey.” His arms came up, his thickly wrapped hands bouncing against my back. “I’m okay, jaanu.”
I burst into tears at the name. A name reserved for lovers or husbands and wives.
A name that didn’t belong in this place or in our relationship, but I couldn’t find the strength to stop him.
“I’m so, so sorry I haven’t been to see you.
I tried. I wanted to. I’ve thought about you every second of every day and—”
“Ily...hush.” He chuckled tightly as I pulled away, leaving a few of my tears glittering on his pillow. “I’m fine. It’s fine. I understand why you couldn’t come.”
“Can I get you anything?” I looked around the suddenly rather empty gallery. “Some painkillers? Some water? I can get you something to eat—”
“Ily...” He smirked. “Seriously. Stop it.”
I slouched with a heavy sigh. The mania of finally seeing him faded a little, and I laughed under my breath. “Sorry. I’m just...really, really happy to see you.”
“Same.” With a trembling arm, he reached up and pressed his bandaged hand to my cheek. Using it as a tissue, he sopped up my tears before the exertion got the better of him, and he dropped it down again. “You okay?”
I flinched. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”
He scowled. “The past week has been the best in half a decade.” He cocked his chin at the other jewels in the beds. “No Masters to summon us. No gongs going off. No games to be endured. It’s a fucking holiday.”
Plucking the starched sheets, I asked quietly. “Who...who didn’t return?”
He stiffened. “You sure you want to know?”
It was my turn to scowl. “Just because I’m not allowed to sleep with you guys doesn’t mean I’m not one of you. Of course I want to know.”
“Sorry...I didn’t mean it like that.” He swallowed hard.
“I only meant the minute you know their names and how they died, it’ll haunt you.
” He looked away. “I have so many ghosts inside me, Ily...so many I’ve seen die in that fucking temple.
It’s made even worse by knowing their names, knowing them.
The minute I tell you, you won’t be able to forget. ”
Lowering his voice, he added, “Right now, all you know is some of us passed on. If it were me, I’d want to stay in that place where it doesn’t become too real.”
My shoulders braced. “Tell me so it is real. They deserve to be mourned. They deserve to be remembered. Their families have no idea what’s happened to them. It’s up to us to carry their memory.”
“You’re right.” Shuffling higher up his pillows, his voice turned almost cold.
“The six jewels who are healing with me are Yumeko, Morgan, Harper, Gail, Jo, and Kirk. I won’t go into our injuries, but let’s just say a few are hurt worse than others.
As for the five who didn’t come back...” He swallowed hard and glared out the window.
“Suri, Dane, Kirk, Rebecca, and Nancy did try to swim. I don’t know how far they got before the guards went after them in a speedboat.
Where they moored that thing, I have no idea, but we should find out for...
future attempts. They dragged Rebecca and Nancy out of the water.
They got Kirk next with a fishing net, but Suri and Dane snapped.
They duck dived. The guards opened fire. ”
I sucked in a breath, my aching ribs stabbing my lungs.
“Their bodies floated back up, and Kirk...” Peter shuddered.
“Kirk lost it. He was beaten, and...he hasn’t said a word since.
” His haunted eyes met mine. “I didn’t realise how deep his feelings for Suri went.
He did a good job of hiding it, but now...
now, I’m afraid he’s going to do something stupid. ”
Looking down the row of beds, I spotted one with a larger blond guy, huddled in a ball and facing away. God...the pain of seeing the girl you’d fallen in love with shot to death. The horror of not being able to stop it—
Rubbing at my tears, I whispered, “So Suri and Dane are dead. Who...who else?”
“Sonya, Phillipa, and Bet. According to the gossip mill, Sonya had her throat cut, and Pip had been—” He shuddered and cut himself off. “Bet was always quiet. Her mind broke on her second week here. She had no injuries, so...I’m guessing she probably jumped.”
I swallowed hard.
If only she’d waited.
If only the jewels trusted we’d get them out.
If only we actually could...
Taking Peter’s chunky bandaged hand, I placed it on my lap and did my best to take away his thoughts of pain and worry. “Those are the last names you’ll ever recite, okay?” I shivered at the sheer determination in my voice. “No one else will die here.”
He sniffed. Exhaustion from his wounds, his fever, and the past five years of hell pressed him deeper into his pillows. “You still believe we can do it?”
I didn’t bother looking at the cameras above us.
I just kept my gaze on my friend as his eyelashes dropped and his breathing slowed. “It’s almost over, Paavak.” I kissed his bandaged knuckles. “I feel it.”
“That’s nice.” Giving me a dreamy smile, he sighed and fell into a sick-heavy sleep.
I sent him healing light and strength.
And then I went to find the girls to begin a war.
* * * * *
“This is absolutely crazy,” Rachel said the moment I stepped into the kitchens.
May, the kind cook who’d given us muesli bars before Emerald Bruises, cocked her chin at a shadowy corner by the huge larder full of herbs, spices, and a mountain of pasta boxes.
“Go talk there, girls.” She shooed us away with a tea towel. “There’s a dead spot in the camera’s sight. But...for the love of our maker, please keep your voices down.”
Obeying May, the three of us huddled close in the larder’s shadow, keeping our heads as near as possible, speaking with the quietest whisper. Even with all the boiling, steaming, chopping, dicing, and extraction fans, who knew how sensitive the cameras were.
Without guests staying, the kitchen still worked at a furious pace to feed the guards and Henri.
I didn’t know if the staff got the same meals, but they still needed food, and after my headcount over the past week, I’d tallied at least twenty of them, possibly more counting the gardeners and maintenance crew who didn’t come into the castle.
“Are you guys okay?” I whispered.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Rachel quipped again, shaking her head.
“You were the one who started growing a countdown clock in your womb.” Mollie smirked, brushing aside her blonde fringe. “Nine months and counting you said. Get me out before this spawn is born...isn’t that what you whispered a few nights ago?”
“I know, but—”
“We have to try, Rach.” I gave her a soft smile. “But I understand if you’d rather—”
“No. I’m in. I am.” She braced her shoulders. “Doesn’t mean it’s not crazy, though.”
“Oh, it’s crazy.” I nodded. “And dangerous.”
“And that’s why if we’re doing this...we have to be slow, smart, and steady,” Mollie said. “Nothing is in our favour. We’re outnumbered, out-gunned, and out-powered. But...if we plan it well and luck smiles down on us, then it’s possible.”
“I agree.” I smiled. “Adversity only makes us stronger.”
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. Sun Tzu.” Mollie grinned.
Memories of my father quoting his favourite poet spilled quickly. “Wonders happen if we can succeed in passing through the harshest danger. Rainer Maria Rilke.”
“God, can you two stop trading bumper sticker slogans?” Rachel rolled her eyes.
Mollie and I snickered, grateful to be able to laugh after everything Peter told me and all the lives that’d been lost.
A short silence fell before we all sucked in a breath and unanimously got to work.
“So...anything I missed this past week?” I asked.
Mollie shook her head. “Nothing. Been one of the most boring weeks I’ve ever spent here.
It’s been sublime. I feared without Victor around, the guards would get a little trigger-happy, but...
they don’t seem to care.” She flicked a look at one of them lounging by the exit to the kitchens.
“No one has stopped us when we’ve done errands for Dr Mel and Rose.
We haven’t been reprimanded for getting soup for the patients. It’s like we don’t exist.”
Rachel sighed with relief. “Mols is right. The past week has been a bit of a dream. For those of us not healing, of course...or dead.”
We all flinched.
I sent a thought to those who were gone.
Clearing my throat, I said quietly, “Peter said the same thing about the castle being slow and guards being lax. That’s a good thing. If they don’t care about us moving around, and there’s no Masters to serve...then this is the perfect time to—”
“Yeah, about that.” Mollie cut in. “Rachel and I have been talking and...even if we could get our hands on cleaning supplies to make our little presents, we have no idea how we’d get them set up around the castle.
We’ve sat up night after night wondering how we can build a big enough ‘present’ to achieve the best possible ending, and the fact is... we can’t.”
My heart fluttered. My bruises ached. I had no idea how to plan an insurrection, but...my family had always taught me strength came in bigger numbers. Our community always came together to help each other. The elders shared their knowledge, and the young ones helped the elders.
That’s what we need.
Mollie, Rachel, Peter, and I couldn’t do this on our own.
We need help.
It’s risky—
Shutting up that fearful voice, I whispered, “We need to expand our little war effort.”
“You what?” Rachel’s eyebrows shot into her dark hair. “You want to tell more people? Are you insane? The more ears that know, the more mouths that speak.”
“The other jewels already know,” I said. “Most of them heard Peter’s ranting when we ran.”
“Yes, but no one actually believes he’ll try.”
“They will if we show them our plan.”
“We have no plan,” Mollie muttered. “We have the know-how, but without supplies and distribution—”
“Exactly.” I nodded. “Having the other jewels in on this is all well and good, but they’re just as restricted as us in what they can and cannot do.”