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Like what? If the adults in Avren didn’t tell us the truth about the caverns, what else did they lie about? What made a person undesirable enough to drive them from the city to this savage world?
“Was this your reaction?” I walk beside Grayson, my heels clicking on the smooth stones. His quick gait and straight back hold a confidence I can’t imagine achieving.
Grayson continues his pace, not slowing down to answer. “Of course. We are all fed lies by the Council. Your parents didn’t know any better when they told you stories of the Unseen—a place they never visited. We face instant death if we breathe a word of the true nature of our world.”
“And how does Avren keep you under their control?” I stop and bend to buckle my shoe. Grayson’s strides are too much for my best heels. “Can we rest for a minute?”
“Yes, but not for long.” He leans against a tree in the shadows.
Not caring too much about my white skirt, I sit on the grass and unbuckle my shoes before removing a pair of socks and boots from the government issued bag. Tanner plops down beside me and shakes out the contents of his sack.
“When you leave Avren, the government issues an ankle bracelet. This tracks you.” Grayson rolls up his pants to reveal a glowing blue ring around his leg. “If you don’t show up to work, the soldiers find you. If it happens too many times…” He runs his finger across his neck.
I rummage through the bag and remove my tracker. It glows in my palm, casting a luminescent blue over my skin. “And what if Tanner and I refuse to put them on?”
There’s a click, and Grayson points a gun at my head. “It’s not a choice. If the two of you don’t comply, they come after me.”
The only ones allowed to carry guns within the city are the guards. It is a capital offense if a Citizen is caught with one.
“Where did you get a gun?” Tanner has as many questions as I do.
Grayson doesn’t move the barrel. “Put on the trackers, and I’ll answer everything.”
As much as I don’t like the idea of Avren’s soldiers tracking me, it’s not much different from in the city. There, they track us with cameras. This started in public places—stores, schools, and parks—but then the Council passed Law 291. Each household needed to install a camera in every room. There were protests at first about privacy. But what did Citizens really have to hide? We were all loyal to the High Council. We shared all resources equally. And from what I heard from my friends at school, the government provided every household with a black cloth to cover the camera during private times between a husband and wife. These were limited to ten minutes, and a soldier would come knocking if they went longer.
With the blue trackers clicked around our ankles, Grayson drops the gun and holsters it at his waist. “There are ways to get things in the Unseen that aren’t available to us in the city. As an Undesirable human, you work as a servant for the people of Avren. As a Redeemed, you earn credits to use here. In the city, you’re given the same things as everyone else. Here, it’s survival of the fittest.”
“It sounds terrible.” Tanner stands, his boots laced up. “And what’s stopping people from stealing?”
Grayson taps his holster, and a devilish grin spreads over his lips. “Weapons… locks.”
“You have locks?” I scramble to my feet. There were locks on the way to the Unseen, but I had expected them. We had to keep what lurked in the wilderness out of Avren.
“Yes, we have locks. It’s the price of freedom.” He runs his fingers through his unkempt hair. “It will take you a while to understand. The locks keep out the beasts that roam the Unseen, seeking to prey on unsuspecting humans. The Council banished them in the second purge of the city.”
“Thirty years ago?” Tanner asks.
“No, that was the purge of the undesirable humans. This was the purge of Arazian and his followers.” Grayson picks up my bag, slings it over his shoulder, and starts walking. “The original founders of Avren had opposing views to Arazian. When they banished him, they erected the iron doors to keep out those they saw as monsters.”
Tanner takes my hand again as we both struggle to hold on to reality. “Are they real monsters?”
Grayson doesn’t turn to look at us. “Mutated humans built into Arazian’s army. He prefers Citizens over Undesirables. Also, vampires, fairies, dragons, nymphs, werewolves, mermaids—basically anything you read as a myth in the city exists just outside of your perfect little world.”
My body goes numb. He’s messing with us. It’s a way of scaring the new recruits—hazing. “So, if what you’re saying is true… the Council sees fit to throw orphans, the elderly, and mentally and physically disabled people literally to the wolves?” A fire burns deep inside me as I think about how many Undesirables the Council expunged from Avren each year.
Grayson whips around, his eyes burning with fire as he stares into mine. “And before you knew this, you thought sending people to work camps was ok?”
No, not really. But it was part of our life.
“You must learn to navigate this world. Most want to live in peace, but they don’t want city-dwellers to interrupt it. About ten percent of Avrenians make it past the first night.”
Tanner grips my hand tighter as we absorb this new piece of information.
“But don’t worry.” Grayson lifts the side of his jacket, revealing his arsenal of weapons inside—silver blades, wooden stakes, bottles with swirling potions. “That’s why the Council requested me as an escort. As orphans, I’ll take you to my cabin with the others of our kind.”
“How many are there?” I ask, still rifling through my knowledge from fairytales about which weapon kills which creature.
“There are four of us right now.” He removes a piece of paper from his pocket as we approach a split in the trail. “With the two of you, it will make six.”
