I knew that voice—knew it—but it wasn’t possible. It wasn’t. I broke away from Fade on a burst of impossible hope. I shoved through the crowd, running, because I heard it again.
“Deuce. Deuce!”
Then I saw him. Stone was tan, like the rest of Rosemere, and his shoulders seemed even broader. He carried a small boy on them, striding toward me with an eager expression. In the Rosemere sunlight, his blue eyes shone brighter, contrasting with his mop of brown hair. Carefully, he set the brat down and then he swept me into a tight hug, smashing all the breath out of me. He’d always been as exuberant as a puppy, unconscious of his own strength.
Telling the boy, “Don’t move, Robin,” he spun me around until the market was a blur around me, just movement and color and my stomach felt sick, but on top of everything, I knew only the fiercest and most incredible joy, as if a secret wish had come true.
“Is Thimble with you?” I asked, hardly daring to hope. She’d been one of my closest friends in the enclave, a Builder who was always inventing clever things.
Stone nodded. “She’s at home. I came to offer our loft when I heard there were soldiers in need of shelter. I never dreamed I’d be lucky enough to find you.”
He let me go long enough to pick up the boy gazing up at me with huge blue eyes. Close up, I noticed the resemblance to my brat-mate, who had been a Breeder down below. “Yours?”
Stone’s look turned shy as he cradled the child closer. “Yes.”
“How in the world did you end up here?” I wondered aloud.
“It’s quite a story, an adventure you might even say.” His handsome face turned serious. “Along the way I wasn’t sure we’d survive, but Thimble always figured it out. I’ll tell you everything over supper.”
Beside me, Fade cleared his throat, glancing between Stone and me. He didn’t say more, but I heard the unspoken question. Am I invited to this party? If he wasn’t, then I wouldn’t be going either.
“Do you remember Fade?”
“Of course. I don’t know if we ever talked down below.” Stone offered his hand, Topsider fashion, and they shook. “I’m Deuce’s friend. Or I was. I’m not sure how she feels about me now. I’ve figured she must hate me and wish me dead, if she survived.”
The pain and anger of his betrayal felt like a long time ago. So I joked, “If I’d known you were this resourceful, I’d have let you take your own punishment.”
He flinched. “I know. I’ve been wishing all this time that I could explain … and say I’m sorry. Come with me and give me that chance?”
“That sounds good,” I said.
I felt oddly lighthearted as I followed my old friend through Rosemere. Along the way, he greeted the villagers, and a number of them had small gifts and smiles for the boy, who alternately giggled and tucked his face against Stone’s shoulder. He acted more like I’d seen topside sires behave with their brats than anything we’d learned down below, which meant he was better at adapting to circumstances than I had believed. Clearly I hadn’t given him enough credit when I martyred myself, thinking I was the only one strong enough to survive the exile.
More hubris, Mrs. James would say.
Stone and Thimble’s cottage was perfect, snug and small, built of the stone they quarried on the island and framed in raw timbers. Their roof was painted mossy green in contrast to the copper of their neighbors, and the front door stood open with my dear friend in the doorway. When she saw me, she dropped the box of tools she was holding and ran. Either her foot was better or she had crafted something to make it appear so because I hardly noticed her limp. We hugged tight and long; and the sun itself seemed to shine brighter, glowing on the white petals of the flowers growing in her window box.
“How?” she demanded. Then she seemed to think better of the question as she let go of me. “Food, first, I think, then explanations.”
Thimble looked more mature in her tidy brown skirt and white blouse. She wore an apron to protect it from whatever she had been working on. With busy hands, she beckoned us into the cool shade of the cottage. I came first, Fade next, and then Stone with the brat. Inside, there were wooden chairs with brightly sewn cushions and a sturdy table, a box full of toys near the door. A ladder stretched to the loft they had promised while a doorway led to the back of the house. There was a fireplace for cooking, and windows cut on either side to let in the light. Shutters would protect them from the elements. For a few seconds, I just admired their home.
While she hurried around setting crocks on the table, Stone performed the introductions, in case Thimble and Fade didn’t remember each other. Then I said, “Is there someplace we can clean up? The river isn’t as refreshing as it looks.”
“I should’ve offered,” Stone answered, handing his brat to Thimble.
He led us to a washhouse out back, where Fade and I tidied up. Afterward, we enjoyed their hospitality, the best meal I’d eaten in weeks. Thimble fed us soft cheese and dark bread, fried fish and sliced apples, fresh greens and chopped nuts. Fade and I tried not to be greedy, but after field rations for weeks, we quietly accepted seconds and thirds. As we ate, I told our story and explained how we’d arrived in Rosemere. They were interested in everything Fade and I had to say and concerned about the horde. But with the river as a buffer, the immediate danger seemed remote.
“I suppose it’s our turn,” Thimble said, once I finished talking.
Stone covered my hand with his, tentative, as if he expected me to pull away. I didn’t. “Me first. You gave up everything for me, and I let you leave thinking I blamed you. I’m so sorry, Deuce. You have no idea how much.”
I set down my spoon. “It would help if I knew why.”
“Robin,” Stone said.
The brat glanced up from his place on the floor, where he was stacking wooden blocks. “Yes, Da?”
“He’s why. I wasn’t supposed to pay attention to him after I did my part, but I always knew he was mine. And I loved him. When they said I was guilty of hoarding, I could only think that I’d never see him grow up, never be there for his naming day, and I would’ve done anything to stay with him … even let a friend suffer in my place.”
Thimble picked up the story, seeming to sense that Stone wanted her to. “And we were both frightened of what was happening in the enclave. We hoped we’d escape reprisal if we pretended to condemn you along with everyone else. It was … cowardly. I’m sorry too.”
“Did it work?” Fade asked coldly.
I had never seen such sorrow in my friend’s eyes as she shook her head. Then she told us of the massacre down below—how my exile, along with Banner’s death—led to open insurrection. Silk put down the rebels, but by that time, it was too late, and the Freaks took advantage of the weakness and disorder to sack College as they had Nassau. She shared the rest of their tale then; after she laid the traps and Stone played bait, they escaped to an old-world shelter, accessible through the tunnels. For a time, they stayed there, letting Thimble’s foot heal and Robin recover from the ordeal. He seemed like a happy brat, so it must’ve worked.
“That was when we named him,” Stone concluded. “I didn’t want to wait until he was older. That seems like you’re asking the world to take your child away.”
Pain blazed through me when I thought of Twist and Girl26. I’d left people behind, and until this moment, I’d tried not to remember them. Looking at Stone and Thimble, I couldn’t help it. “What happened to Twist?”