this guilt. I didn’t ask to be chosen. Neither did they. Besides, now all we were chosen for was recapture and probably death.
“ Is that the Pledge?” I asked, surprised faces all around.
Gwen nodded . “That’s part of it.”
“ Do we have to take the Pledge?” I know Cal said we had to but I needed someone saner to confirm it.
“ It’s preferred.”
“ Or what?”
“ Or nothing—we’re not going to force you to do anything.”
I didn ’t believe her.
Joseph looked up. Gwen seemed startled by his intense ga ze and blushed. He smiled, trying to make her more at ease I suppose, or using his good looks for evil. I shifted uncomfortably on the vinyl seat. A shred of jealously peeked out from behind my eyes. Watching him, it occurred to me that if you knew how, you could brandish your looks like a weapon, but I doubted it would work for me.
“ Where are we going?” he asked, fluttering his eyelashes slowly, sweeping his hair back and handing me Orry without breaking eye contact with Gwen. He was giving her a look that said, You’re the most important person in the world right now .
“ To our settlement; it’s about a day’s ride from here,” she answered, her voice stripped of its earlier attitude, lower and softer than it had been minutes ago.
Joseph then launched into an absolute tirade of questions, but, as with everything, he handled it so well. His words poured from his mouth in a hard-to-keep up kind of way, sweetened like honey. She was like a fly caught in a trap. She answered everything as best she could, eager to please him. I wished I could be suave like that. Not just bust in and threaten people to answer me with my fists up and my eyes ablaze. Sometimes, well, most of the time, I didn’t really understand what he saw in me.
“ Are you the only ones?” Joseph asked.
Gwen shook her head, not as an answer but in dismay. “Pretty much. We are the biggest group, at least. There used to be tiny pockets of people all over but your Superiors took care of most them. If there are any leftovers, we certainly haven’t heard from them in years.”
“ How have you managed to stay hidden for so long?” Joseph said in a complimentary way.
Gwen smiled . “Your Superiors have become lazy of late. All they seem to worry about is their new projects and experiments,” she said, holding her fingers in mock air quotes. I cringed. I was one of those experiments. “We hid for a long time, never staying in one place for too long, but when we realized no one was coming for us, we built a settlement.”
I hated that she kept referring to them as ‘your Superiors.’ I didn’t want to be linked to them. I had enough blame hanging over my head without adding the Superiors atrocities to them.
“ But I guess that’s changed now,” Gwen muttered sourly.
Joseph leaned down and touched her arm gently. Steam rose slowly from the top of my head and I tried to wave it away. “We’re sorry,” he said.
She looked up at all of us. “Don’t be,” she said plainly.
When asked what the settlement was like, she wouldn’t go into any detail, just grinning and saying, “You have to see it for yourself.” Like it was some kind of inside joke we had to see to understand. I prayed it wasn’t underground.
Deshi, who had been listening intently but not volunteering any questions of his own, suddenly spoke up, his voice tight. “What are you going to do with us?” Hessa, as if reacting, slammed his fist on the table like an angry father, like my angry stepfather.
She flipped her head up to look at him. “You? We want help deciphering some of these borrowed technologies we can’t work out.”
She pointed to Apella, whose pale face had barely shown a flicker of interest since Gwen started talking. “You? We need help with our infertility issues.” Apella looked away, her expression that familiar mask. She and my mother could compete for who could be the least outwardly emotional. I knew they
“ Is that the Pledge?” I asked, surprised faces all around.
Gwen nodded . “That’s part of it.”
“ Do we have to take the Pledge?” I know Cal said we had to but I needed someone saner to confirm it.
“ It’s preferred.”
“ Or what?”
“ Or nothing—we’re not going to force you to do anything.”
I didn ’t believe her.
Joseph looked up. Gwen seemed startled by his intense ga ze and blushed. He smiled, trying to make her more at ease I suppose, or using his good looks for evil. I shifted uncomfortably on the vinyl seat. A shred of jealously peeked out from behind my eyes. Watching him, it occurred to me that if you knew how, you could brandish your looks like a weapon, but I doubted it would work for me.
“ Where are we going?” he asked, fluttering his eyelashes slowly, sweeping his hair back and handing me Orry without breaking eye contact with Gwen. He was giving her a look that said, You’re the most important person in the world right now .
“ To our settlement; it’s about a day’s ride from here,” she answered, her voice stripped of its earlier attitude, lower and softer than it had been minutes ago.
Joseph then launched into an absolute tirade of questions, but, as with everything, he handled it so well. His words poured from his mouth in a hard-to-keep up kind of way, sweetened like honey. She was like a fly caught in a trap. She answered everything as best she could, eager to please him. I wished I could be suave like that. Not just bust in and threaten people to answer me with my fists up and my eyes ablaze. Sometimes, well, most of the time, I didn’t really understand what he saw in me.
“ Are you the only ones?” Joseph asked.
Gwen shook her head, not as an answer but in dismay. “Pretty much. We are the biggest group, at least. There used to be tiny pockets of people all over but your Superiors took care of most them. If there are any leftovers, we certainly haven’t heard from them in years.”
“ How have you managed to stay hidden for so long?” Joseph said in a complimentary way.
Gwen smiled . “Your Superiors have become lazy of late. All they seem to worry about is their new projects and experiments,” she said, holding her fingers in mock air quotes. I cringed. I was one of those experiments. “We hid for a long time, never staying in one place for too long, but when we realized no one was coming for us, we built a settlement.”
I hated that she kept referring to them as ‘your Superiors.’ I didn’t want to be linked to them. I had enough blame hanging over my head without adding the Superiors atrocities to them.
“ But I guess that’s changed now,” Gwen muttered sourly.
Joseph leaned down and touched her arm gently. Steam rose slowly from the top of my head and I tried to wave it away. “We’re sorry,” he said.
She looked up at all of us. “Don’t be,” she said plainly.
When asked what the settlement was like, she wouldn’t go into any detail, just grinning and saying, “You have to see it for yourself.” Like it was some kind of inside joke we had to see to understand. I prayed it wasn’t underground.
Deshi, who had been listening intently but not volunteering any questions of his own, suddenly spoke up, his voice tight. “What are you going to do with us?” Hessa, as if reacting, slammed his fist on the table like an angry father, like my angry stepfather.
She flipped her head up to look at him. “You? We want help deciphering some of these borrowed technologies we can’t work out.”
She pointed to Apella, whose pale face had barely shown a flicker of interest since Gwen started talking. “You? We need help with our infertility issues.” Apella looked away, her expression that familiar mask. She and my mother could compete for who could be the least outwardly emotional. I knew they
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