“What are you thinking about?” I asked, breaking the silence.
She opened her eyes halfway and ran the backs of her fingers across my right cheek. “Hatteras. I thought what we had there was real, but it was a lie. Now I want to believe that this is real, but . . . I don’t know. It’s just this feeling I have. You know what I mean?”
I rolled onto my back and sighed. “Yes, I do.”
Scanning the area around us to make sure no one was there, Rose leaned across me and planted a kiss on my lips. “So what’s bothering you?”
“Right now? Well, Chief told me that Kell is his right hand. He also said Jerren is like a son to him. But those two are hiding things from each other, and maybe from him too.” I fought to concentrate; it wasn’t easy with Rose so close. “I’m worried that they were both so interested in Dare’s cabin.”
Her eyes opened wide. “You think it was Kell who disturbed us on the ship?”
“I’m sure of it. What I don’t understand is why he and Jerren were there at night in the first place. What’s ours is theirs, right? They could’ve just gone during the daytime.” I took a deep breath. Saying everything out loud was making my concerns feel more real, not less. “No. There’s something more. What if neither of them is playing by Chief’s rules anymore?”
“Then we stay out of it.”
I gave a wry laugh. “Try telling Alice that.”
“Are she and Jerren . . .” Rose raised an eyebrow questioningly.
“If they’re not, I reckon they will be soon. Anyway, staying out of it might not be an option. Griffin noticed that Dare’s logbooks were missing some pages from about a month ago. He traced the ship’s course to Hatteras, but we don’t know where Dare came from. What if he visited here?”
Rose rolled her eyes. “Dare could’ve come from anywhere. And even if you don’t trust Kell and Jerren, do you really think Chief would keep something like that from you?”
“I don’t know anymore.” I puffed out my cheeks and let the air out in a steady stream. “I just want this place to be perfect, you know? Without all the stuff that tore our colony apart.”
“Sumter doesn’t have to be perfect to be good, Thomas. I mean, I know one person I can always trust.” She leaned in to kiss me. “And we couldn’t do this on Hatteras. Or . . . this.”
She opened her mouth, and so did I. The energy that flowed between us then had nothing to do with an element. It was more powerful than that, more all-consuming. And still I needed more. I slid my hands down her back and found the hem of her tunic. I pulled it upward, her bare skin perfectly smooth against my fingertips. When I reached her chest, she pulled away from me slightly so that I could lift it over her shoulders.
We heard the footsteps at the same time. Slow and heavy, coming from the battery.
Rose sat bolt upright and adjusted her tunic back down. The footsteps stopped at the first level. She reached out and took my hand, relief written all over her face.
Then the footsteps started again. Someone was climbing the stairs to the esplanade.
There was a bank about ten yards away. It looked like the other side was only a yard or so lower than where we were, but we crawled over and hid behind it. I didn’t stop to think about why we were hiding, or how guilty it made us look. I just knew that I didn’t want us to be seen.
The new arrival paused at the top of the steps. At first, I was relieved because it meant we probably wouldn’t be found. But why climb the steps at all, then? Unless he or she was looking for someone.
Or making sure that no one was around.
As the footsteps receded, I pulled myself up and stole a quick look. I didn’t see much, just the top of his head, but as the light caught the wisps of gray hair, I knew it was Chief.
Several footsteps later there was the sound of a door opening. There was a click as Chief closed it behind him.
Rose exhaled slowly. “Please tell me that wasn’t Chief.”
“At least it wasn’t your mother.”
She wasn’t amused. “He’s in the gunroom again. All those weapons—it scares me. Why is he visiting at dawn anyway?”
“I don’t know. But I do know he didn’t want anyone to see him.”
We lay side by side again, but apart now. Kissing Rose already felt like a distant memory.
“We need to know what’s in there,” she said. “And soon.”
The words could’ve come from Alice, but Rose’s tone was different. Where Alice would’ve been looking to prove someone’s guilt, Rose just wanted to reassure herself that everything was all right. At least we were in agreement about that.
“There’s no way we’re getting in that room, Rose.”
“We won’t have to.” She wrapped her fingers around her pendant. “Anyone would notice you or me sneaking in. But what about Dennis?”
“No.”
“He’s small, Thomas. If someone were to leave the room in a hurry, he could slide in before the door closes.”
“He shouldn’t get involved in this—”
“He’s already involved in this.” She huffed. “He’s split between us, my mother, and everyone new at Sumter. He doesn’t want to leave us. Anyway, has it occurred to you that he might want answers too? He’s not stupid, you know.”
“I know.” I wasn’t sure what I felt worse about: getting Dennis mixed up in everything, or telling Rose she didn’t know what was best for her own brother. “How can we make someone leave that room in a hurry?” I asked finally.
“Oh, I can think of a way.” She smiled to herself. “Want to hold my hand again?”
CHAPTER 23
Rose told Dennis what we wanted him to do. I almost hoped he’d say no, but he didn’t. After a lifetime of open spaces, he felt cooped up in Sumter. Checking out a room that no one else had seen was irresistible to him.
That’s what he said, anyway. But from the way he watched Rose the whole time, I wondered if he would’ve agreed to anything just to be with her again.
Two strikes after sunrise, Dennis hid in a shadowy space beneath the battery stairs, exactly as we’d told him. Down on the parade grounds, Rose and I stood beside the sewer entrance.
“Ready?” she asked.
“No,” I answered truthfully. But I took her hand anyway.
I didn’t think the diversion would work. The water level was at least a couple yards below us and our elements were as weak as they’d ever been. People wandered back and forth, a constant distraction. But my heart was pounding and so was hers. So I sent my energy through her and watched.
The stench grew worse as the waste reversed course. I closed my eyes and felt her element respond to my touch. I was vaguely aware of the liquid’s progress, but when I heard a shout, my first thought was that we’d been caught.
Rose let go of my hand and we split, taking separate staircases up the battery. Behind us, the colonists were gathering, staring with alarm at the filth strewn across the ground. It formed a dark circle in a yard radius around the sewer entrance.
Kell joined them momentarily and slipped away, making a direct line for the gunroom.
I retreated to the corridor just outside our room and spied from the shadows as Chief accompanied Kell outside. I would have kept watch too, but Griffin and Nyla were in the corridor and I didn’t want them to be suspicious.
They sat cross-legged opposite each other, signing in the half-light. Amazingly, Nyla already signed better than some of the Guardians ever had.
Good. Signs, I told her.
She accepted the compliment without smiling. Useful, she returned, the gesture too small, like she was still afraid of getting it wrong. “Imagine how this’ll change the food squads,” she said. “Jerren says the gatherers work in the same area so they can hear each other. But with signs, they could move anywhere, as long as the lookouts still see each other.”