Текст книги "Sunset Rising"
Автор книги: S. McEachern
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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 22 страниц)
Chapter Six
The pounding in my head wouldn’t let me sleep anymore. The room was hot, and I threw a big fluffy blanket off of me. I was wearing nothing but my underclothes, and the bed I’d been sleeping in wasn’t familiar. It was big, soft, and very uncomfortable. I tried to sit up, but it only made the pounding in my head worse.
I was dying of thirst.
A glass of water stood next to the bed, and I sat up to drink it. The movement didn’t help my head at all, but the cool liquid sliding down my throat felt heavenly. I fell back on the bed, exhausted with my exertion, and tried to recall the night’s events.
The last thing I remembered was getting sick. I looked across the room and confirmed there was a bathroom adjoining this room. If I wasn’t feeling so awful, I’d probably be astonished that he had his own private bath, but all I could do was wonder if there was more water in there. I swung my legs off the bed and stood up. It felt like my head was going to blow right off my shoulders. I stumbled in and found a tap. I turned it on, ducked my head under, and drank.
My thoughts suddenly turned to my father, and anxiety gripped me. I wondered if he had at least managed to get up from his sick bed to drink. He wouldn’t go to the common room unless I was there to make him, of that I was sure. How long were they going to keep me here?
I went back to the room and lay down on the bed, but it was so uncomfortable and the room was so hot. The temperature in the Dome was much warmer than in the Pit. I rolled off the bed and onto the floor. The carpet was about the same thickness as my own bed, and it was a little cooler down there. I managed to drift back to sleep.
“Sunny? Spring? Summer?” A frantic voice disturbed my sleep. “What’s-your-name, where are you?”
The voice was demanding now. It sounded angry. I pushed up onto my elbow and was relieved that my head didn’t hurt as much as it had last night. Then I remembered I wasn’t dressed, so I pulled the blanket off the bed to cover myself.
Suddenly, Jack Kenner’s face peered over the side of the bed.
“What are you doing down there? Did you fall out of bed?”
Would he understand that I preferred the floor to his soft bed? Probably not. “Yeah.”
“Are you okay?”
“Fine, thank you.” My head hurt, I had an unquenchable thirst, and my stomach was growling again. All I wanted to do was go home.
“You scared me. I thought maybe you found a way to get out of here. Leisel would’ve killed me.”
“I’m still here.”
“Come on. They delivered a protein drink to me this morning in case I had a hangover. You have it.” He rolled off the bed and threw a bathrobe at me. “Wear this. Your dress needs to be washed.”
Tentatively, I stood up. Not as bad as last night, but I was still a little shaky. I slipped into the bathrobe, grateful to have something to wear.
Jack was sitting on the sofa reading something on a computer tablet when I came into the living room. He looked up at me and held out a glass. Hesitantly, I accepted it. I was suspicious of why he and Leisel were being so good to me. Despite her threat to turn in Summer, Leisel didn’t have to feed me or share her wine last night. And Jack had been kind to help me when I was sick and he was sharing his food. It was all so confusing.
I sat down on one of the chairs across from the sofa and took a sip of the thick liquid. It tasted like the food in the Pit. I gulped it down.
“Slowly or you’re going to get sick again,” Jack said. “Do you remember everything from last night?”
I thought for a moment. “I think so. You and Leisel want me to pose as the bride because you’re afraid someone is trying to kill her.”
“Well, you’re almost right. It’s what Leisel wants, not me.”
“Right.”
“I’m going to marry Leisel no matter what. I just prefer she’s the one standing beside me at the altar. So how are you and I going to make that happen?” He took his blue eyes off his tablet to give me a piercing look.
“What can I do? I’m powerless.”
“I disagree. She seems to really like you. You might be able to influence her.”
I laughed. “Me? Have influence over Leisel Holt?” Even the thought was absurd.
“Just convince her that no one is trying to assassinate her!”
My eyes opened a little wider at his angry tone. For a moment I’d forgotten exactly who I was addressing. My situation was impossible. I was caught between two of the most powerful people under the Dome. And I was no one. If I didn’t help Leisel, she would report Summer to the authorities and have her punished for stealing food. If I did help Leisel, then I could only imagine what Jack would do to me. Either way, I was in trouble.
I wished Summer were there to show me the bright side of the situation. I tried to think like my friend, to see what good I could find in all of this. Maybe I could find my answer in Leisel and Jack. Perhaps it wasn’t too far-fetched to believe that they were good people who did want to change things in the Pit for the better. If that was true, then I would be helping my own people by ensuring these two came into power one day.
“I might get myself in trouble with you for saying this,” I said, “but she told me about your plans together. She told me that you both want to… change the way things are.” I paused for a moment to gauge his reaction, but his expression hadn’t changed. “I know this is completely unimportant and doesn’t have anything to do with your wedding, but recently my mom was Culled and my dad lost his job. I know it was his own fault, but he’s just so sad right now, and I am, too. I miss my mom so much. But if I don’t keep my job, my dad and I are going to lose our home. Do you know what that means where I come from? To lose your source of credit?”
“Look, I know you probably have issues in your life, and I’m really sorry for you. But I can’t change anything. I don’t have that kind of power.”
“I know you don’t have that kind of power yet. And I know my situation isn’t important to you. But what is important to me is that when you become president, you can change things.”
He studied me silently for what seemed an eternity. No longer able to meet his gaze, I looked at the floor. With growing apprehension, I wondered if I had just pushed him too far.
“I don’t know what my fiancée has discussed with you, but any plans she and I make for our future together are private. And if our private plans were ever made public, well, let’s just say I would never be given the leadership role.” He glared at me, and his lips were drawn into a tight line.
It took a moment before I realized he thought I was trying to blackmail him, which was the furthest thing from my mind. Who would listen to an urchin anyway?
“Please don’t misunderstand me. All I’m trying to say is that if you and Leisel want to make life better for us in the Pit, then I owe it to everyone I love to make sure you become president one day. So if someone is really trying to kill her, then I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her.” For a moment I wondered if I was being brave or just plain stupid. I decided to go with brave. It sounded better.
Something in his expression changed when I said that. He almost seemed surprised. His intense blue eyes narrowed. He seemed to want to look inside me, see right into my soul. Maybe he thought I was lying.
“So you’re saying you’ll pose as the bride and risk taking a bullet for her in order to save your people?”
“Yes.”
What I was saying could be considered treason. Jack could call in the guards and have me arrested right now. But I was going on the hope that what Leisel had told me was true—that they really did have plans together to change the Dome.
“So, you’re not going to talk her out of this?”
“Look, I don’t want to be the bride any more than you want me to be, but I think we both know I really don’t have a choice.”
The doorbell rang, and Jack set his computer down to go answer it. Leisel swept into the room wearing a big smile and carrying a large garment bag.
She kissed him. “Good morning, Jack.”
“Darling.”
“Look what I brought you, Sunny.” Leisel held out the garment bag for me to see, then laid it carefully across the sofa and unzipped it. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Leisel, I’m not supposed to see it!” Jack said, suddenly turning into the playful bridegroom.
“Then go away.” She watched as he went into the bedroom. “He behaved himself with you last night, right?”
“He was very nice. He slept on the sofa and gave me his bed. He loves you very much. I don’t think you should worry.” I suddenly felt very self-conscious in his robe.
“You need some clothes, don’t you?” It was almost as if Leisel read my mind again. “I’ll bring some later. But right now, maybe you wouldn’t mind trying this on.”
She produced her wedding dress with a dramatic flourish. I knew I should feel honored. There were thousands of people excitedly anticipating seeing her wedding dress the next day, and here I was about to try it on. But I was all too aware of what it would mean for me to wear this dress and walk down the aisle. I could be caught. I could be shot.
The dress was beyond beautiful. The top was silk with a high collar. The bodice was form fitting to mid-hip, and then the silk seamlessly dropped away into a waterfall of chiffon. The back of the dress was just as stunning with a row of diamond buttons ending at the small of the back in a cluster of silk and chiffon roses. From there the dress cascaded away into a long train.
“It’s beautiful, Leisel.”
“Isn’t it? I had it replicated from a picture in an old magazine. I saw it years ago and thought if I ever got married, this would be my dress.”
“I can see why. You’ll look beautiful in it.”
“No, you’ll look beautiful in it. Try it on, but first this.” She produced a thick vest. “You’ll be bulletproof.”
I took off the robe and pulled the vest over my head. It felt heavy and hung from my slight frame, but Leisel adjusted the Velcro fasteners and pulled the vest snug to fit my form. Then she slipped the dress over my head. Even with the bulletproof vest, the dress was too big. It looked horrible. I tried to hide my relief.
“I don’t think it’s going to work,” I said, a little too happily. I bit my lip.
“Don’t despair. I’ve brought pins.”
My tiny spark of hope fizzled out quickly as she shook a box of pins. She set to work taking it in on either side, pulling it this way, tucking it that way. At least we were the same height so it didn’t need to be hemmed.
“There,” she said when she was finished.
She guided me to a mirror on the back of a closet door. I couldn’t believe it was me in the reflection. “This dress makes me look beautiful.” I wasn’t being modest. The dress was truly spectacular. As I admired how perfectly it fit, all hope of getting out of this plan faded.
“No, you make the dress beautiful. It never looked this good on me.”
“I’m sure that’s not true, Leisel. It was made for you and —”
She held her hand up to cut me off. “No argument. You look beautiful in it. In fact, when you get married—I mean for real—you can wear this dress, and I want to be there to see it!”
“What?”
Leisel laughed at my confusion. “I think it’s a shame that no one will actually get to see you in this dress. Everyone will think you’re me. You’re helping me out so much, Sunny, the least I can do is let you borrow it for when you marry that handsome man you were telling me about last night.” She smoothed my hair back into a ponytail. “And I hope you’ll let me be part of your special day, too.”
I had to think about what she was proposing: me in a big white wedding dress, down in the Pit, marrying Reyes, with bourge as guests. And not just any bourge, but the president’s daughter. Somehow, I just couldn’t see it happening, though the image was nice. I managed to stifle my laughter, but I still broke into a huge smile.
“See, I knew that would make you happy.”
“It’s not the dress that makes me happy. It’s the thought of living in a world where I could have a wedding with you there as my friend.” I spoke the truth, even though I knew it was a fantasy.
“That’s the world I want to live in, too. I’ve never had a best friend before, Sunny. I don’t ever want to lose our friendship.”
Our eyes met in the mirror, and I searched her face for a hint of sincerity. With all my heart, I wanted to believe her.
“Well, don’t make me cry! My makeup is going to run, and Jack and I have a televised interview this morning. Do you believe people want to know about us?” Leisel shook her head in disbelief. “Why? We’re so boring.”
Too swept up in our plans, I had forgotten all about the excitement rippling through the Dome about the upcoming nuptials. They had been showing the young couple on television as often as possible, getting everyone excited. Although, down in the Pit, people were more excited about being treated to a feast than they were about watching the wedding. But that wasn’t something I would ever tell Leisel.
“I don’t think you’re boring. I think sharing your wedding day with everyone makes you closer to them.”
Leisel hugged me. “You’re so sweet. But speaking of the interview, I need to finish getting ready. I’ll just slip you out of the dress—careful of the pins. They need to stay exactly as they are. When we switch in the Registry room, I can just remove them and the dress will fit me again.”
I put Jack’s robe back on while she carefully tucked the dress away into the garment bag.
“I probably won’t see you again until tonight. But you look like you should get some sleep anyway. I didn’t want to say anything, Sunny, but you look exhausted.”
And then she was gone.
Jack peeked around the corner.
“All clear?”
I nodded. “Leisel’s gone to get ready for the interview.”
“About that,” Jack said, coming into the living room. “I’m not going to be here most of the day, so you’ll be on your own. Once I lock the door, I’m the only one who can unlock it, so you won’t be able to leave. Which is for the best, because if you’re caught walking around up here unescorted, it won’t be good for you. Do you understand?”
“Can’t I just go home, please? I promise to come right back. You don’t need to hold me prisoner.” I really needed to check on my dad.
“I’m sorry, but that’s just not possible. I want you to know that your loyalty to my fiancée won’t go unrewarded. Once we’re married, I’ll make sure you and your family are taken care of—it’s the least we can do.”
I was sickened when I realized he thought I was doing this for my own personal gain. I wanted to say something, but the doorbell rang again. Jack motioned for me to go into the bedroom. A few seconds later, he told me I could come back.
“Here’s your breakfast,” he said, setting a tray on the table.
There was a time when the Dome used replicators for meals, but someone discovered that processing the food that way resulted in lost vitamins and enzymes. Now the kitchens produced food the old-fashioned way and served it in cafeterias throughout the Dome. I shouldn’t be surprised that Jack Kenner had his meals delivered, though. He came from an important family and would one day be the most important person in the Dome. The evidence that he had personal servants reminded me of just who I was dealing with.
“I can trust you alone here today, can’t I?”
Heat crept up from my neck to cover my cheeks.
“Yes, sir.” I looked at the floor. I was too humiliated to look him in the eyes. I heard the door open and close.
I was alone.
Chapter Seven
My feet seemed rooted to the spot where I was standing. I listened and waited. Waited for what, I wasn’t sure. A hand turning the doorknob? Guards to come crashing through and arrest me? But the only sound in the apartment was of my own breathing. I took a tentative step forward, heard the whisper of my foot sinking back into the carpet, and froze. Was anyone in the hallway? Could they have heard it too? I waited and listened again. No one was coming. I was being paranoid. Why would anyone come barging into Jack Kenner’s apartment without permission?
My focus turned to the tray of food sitting on the table, and my stomach growled. I put my hand over my tummy to muffle the sound. I was pretty sure they heard it all the way down in the Pit. I grabbed the tray, ran on my tiptoes into the bedroom, and sat down on the floor where I’d slept the night before. I felt safer here. If someone did come into the apartment, I could roll under the bed and hide.
I took the lid off the tray and savoured the smell of breakfast. Two eggs, a piece of ham, bread, and fruit. It was more food than I was given in the Pit in an entire day. I ate one egg and some of the bread, then replaced the lid and tucked the leftovers under the bed for later. Then I sat there on the floor with absolutely nothing to do.
After a moment, I tiptoed back out into the living room. I wanted to turn on the television to watch the interview when it aired, but I was afraid it would make too much noise. I had never been interested in the royal couple before, but now that they wanted me to dress up as a decoy bride for any would-be assassins, my interest in them had been piqued. Sure, I had seen them on television before, but they were just images on a screen then. Now I knew them personally.
Did they really want to change the Dome for the better?
Maybe I could find out more about Jack Kenner. I was alone in his apartment, after all. I knew I shouldn’t snoop in his personal things. In fact, I had told him that he could trust me. But if I was going to risk my life for him so he could one day hold the office of president, then I owed it to myself to make sure he was worthy of it.
I opened the cabinet doors on either side of the television and was pleasantly surprised to discover shelves full of old books and magazines. Some of the magazines dated as far back as the 1990s. They looked original, not like the stiff and glossy replicated ones. A pair of white gloves sat on one shelf, and I assumed they were required before touching the antique paper.
I closed the cabinets and continued my search. I went back into Jack’s bedroom, but all I found in his closet and dresser drawers were clothes. There didn’t seem to be anything personal in the apartment at all. No diaries, letters, or photographs. Only the library of old books.
I went back to the cabinet and put on the gloves. I recognized many classics I had learned about in school but never read, like Pride and Prejudice and Paradise Lost. Although I would’ve loved to read them, I was still hoping I wouldn’t be there long enough to finish them. Instead, I turned my attention to the magazines. They ranged in topic from news to nature, from architecture to computers. I took one out and looked at the front cover; it was dated April 2012, and the headline read “US and NATO Plan Defence Project.” The next one was dated May 2012: “Russia Vows Pre-Emptive Strike Against US and NATO.” I jumped ahead to the most recent magazine, and the headline read “Korea Not Happy with Vice President Kenner’s Visit.” The name Kenner caught my attention.
The article was a short commentary on Vice President Theodore Kenner’s meeting with North Korea’s leader about working together to solve the current nuclear crisis. The meeting didn’t go well because the North Korean leader expected President Taylor herself, not the vice president. The article went on to say that instead of repairing relations between the two countries, the rift had grown larger. It was dated January 2024. The nuclear holocaust happened February 2024. Was the Kenner family somehow implicated in the start of World War Three?
That the Holts and Kenners had never gotten along was no secret. Not that we followed that kind of gossip in the Pit—it was just common knowledge. The engagement of Leisel and Jack had come as a surprise to everyone. Maybe that’s why they were making such a big deal of the wedding. The Holts were finally forgiving the Kenners for their past mistakes.
I thumbed through the rest of the magazines but didn’t find anything more about the Kenners. One headline dated early February 2024 read, “Are We on the Brink of World War Three?” I wondered why our ancestors were smart enough to ask that question but not smart enough to avoid a war. Reading about nuclear war was depressing. I already knew how we all ended up living in the Dome. What I wanted to know was when we could get out.
I abandoned the depressing news magazines for the ones on nature. Seeing images of the outside world always lifted my spirits. I selected a few and shut the cabinet doors. As quietly as I could, I returned to my spot in the bedroom and curled up to read. I still felt safer tucked away in the corner with my food tray close at hand.
But reading about nature turned out to be no more uplifting than the news magazines. Most of the featured articles were about global warming and how extreme droughts and vicious storms had wiped out more than a third of the earth’s population. Food production had become a global issue since the countries that received most of the rain were the northern countries that didn’t receive enough sun to grow the food. The world had become unbalanced. Even if there hadn’t been a nuclear war, the human race had seemed doomed anyway.
Feeling hungry again, I took off the gloves and ate some of my leftover food. Then I replaced the lid and got up and washed my hands. As soon as I turned on the faucet, I shut it off, alarmed at how loud it sounded in the silent apartment. I held my breath for a moment, straining to hear if someone was coming. But when no one rushed in to arrest me, I felt more confident and turned the water on again to take a good long drink. Then I returned to my spot and fell asleep.
The pressure of a hand on my shoulder jerked me awake. At first I thought I’d been caught in Jack Kenner’s apartment, and my heart jumped into my throat.
But it was Jack. “Fall off the bed again?” he asked with a sarcastic grin.
I placed a hand over my chest. “You scared me.”
“It’s time to get up. Leisel wants you in her apartment to get ready for the wedding.”
“The wedding? How long have I been sleeping?”
“You were asleep when I got in last night. I decided to leave you that way.”
The magazines were gone. I felt ashamed at being caught with his personal things. He had asked me if he could trust me, and I had said yes.
“I thought you and Leisel were both coming back last night. I thought we would all get the chance to talk again.” I was still looking for a way out of the plan.
“Leisel decided to go straight back to her apartment last night. I think she was angry with me for trying to talk her out of this little farce.”
“And did you? Talk her out of it, I mean.”
“No. But she promised me that she told her father. We should be safe.”
What did he mean by “we?” I was the one not only taking the risk of being caught impersonating the bride but also of playing decoy for an assassin. “Did you ask the president? You know, just to make sure she really did tell him?” I had no right to question him, but I was desperate.
“If Leisel said she talked to her father, then I believe her.” His tone brooked no argument. “Now we really are running out of time.”
“I have nothing to wear.” I was still in his bathrobe.
He hardly looked at me. “That will have to do. You’re ready then?”
“I guess so.” I didn’t have any more excuses.
“Just give me a minute.” He picked up his computer tablet and tapped away on the screen. “Okay, that should give us enough time. Let’s go.”
Jack tentatively checked up and down the hall before he opened the door wide enough for me to exit. Putting his finger to his lips, he gave me the “ssshhh” sign, and we quietly walked down the hall and into the elevator. Leisel lived on the tenth floor, the highest floor in the Dome. The ride was short, and within seconds we were exiting onto the tenth level. I expected Domers to be guarding this level, but the hall was empty.
The layout of this floor was a little different than the eighth floor where Jack lived. Instead of hallways feeding off the elevator lobby, there were four large ornate doors, and above each door four family names stood out—Holt, West, Powell and Forbes—the four most powerful families in the Dome. No one should be on this floor without a formal invitation.
Jack led me to the door with the name “Holt” above the entrance. He waved his hand over the scanner, and a click sounded as it unlocked. He opened it hesitantly and made sure the hall was clear and then waved me through. I was so scared of being caught that my stomach was in a tight knot.
We made our way down the hall, hurrying as much as we could without making noise. Then we heard a door opening. We stopped dead in our tracks. There was nowhere to hide. A figure stepped out into the hall, and I held my breath for a second. Then I saw it was Leisel. She motioned for us to hurry up, and we rushed inside her apartment.
“I’m so relieved you’re here, Sunny! I kept torturing myself with thoughts that you went back home—that you decided not to help me and I’d have to make that walk myself. Thank you so much for staying.”
“I’d better go,” Jack said. “The guards will be back soon.” I wondered where the guards had gone, but thought it best not to ask. They seemed to have it all worked out.
“I’ll see you soon, my love,” Leisel said, wrapping her arms around him. “Everything will turn out just fine. I can’t wait for us to be married.” She gave him a long, passionate kiss, and I busied myself staring at the wall.
“I’m still worried, but I trust you, Leisel.” He gave her one more kiss and then slipped out the door.
Leisel laughed when she took in my appearance. “I see you’re still wearing that bathrobe. Let’s get you into the shower. We have a lot of work to do to get you ready for the wedding of the century.”
