“Eight,” Lisa said. “River’s right again.”
“I don’t know why any of us ever guess against her,” Gage said.
I smiled wanly at him as I held Bailey closer against my chest.
“Let’s give a round of applause for these brave men and women!” the colonel announced proudly.
Cheers ran through the crowd while the families grouped back together. They hugged each other close as tears were shed.
“If anyone else, who is of age to volunteer and is under the age of twenty, would like to volunteer, you may do so now!” the colonel declared.
It was rare anyone volunteered after the age of sixteen, but some did because of unforeseen events or maybe to escape the island. I’d only ever seen two do so, and no one moved forward now to join the teens who had volunteered today.
With the volunteers established, the cover on the back of the truck was pulled away to reveal the bags of mail, clothing, and other supplies stashed in the back. With no set postal service anymore and no real means of distant travel, letters only came and went to the wall on this day each year. Families with children who had volunteered in the past, rushed forward to collect the letters from their loved ones and to hand over the bags of letters they had written over the year. Everyone else waited to receive and divide the rest of the supplies until all those letters were delivered.
Cheers and laughter rang out as the families happily gathered their letters. Sometimes, along with the letters came the news someone had been lost. While I watched, I saw ten families being led away from the crowd and toward the high school by the military woman.
“That’s not good,” Gage muttered.
“No, it’s not,” I agreed.
“That’s more than five times the amount of deaths from last year,” Lisa said.
“Fromanyyear,” I replied.
“Some of those rumors about things amping up at the wall must be true.” Gage glanced at the wadded up fliers near his hand, shoving them roughly aside before rising to his feet. “Come on, let’s go dance or something.”
I placed Bailey on the ground and rose to my feet. Keeping hold of his hand, I led him through the crowd already beginning to celebrate once again. Glancing over my shoulder, my gaze fell on the last young girl who had volunteered. I’d seen days ago she would do so, I somehow knew her name was Carrie, but the thing I didn’t understand was why I felt like I’d be seeing her again.
I didn’t get impressions or visions or whatever they were about myself. I was too old to volunteer, and I knew neither Gage nor Lisa would ever betray me, but I knew something wasn’t right.
CHAPTER 6
River
It was late afternoon when we made our way back home. Bailey was asleep on my shoulder, his arms draped around my neck and his little breaths blowing against my cheek. The sweet scent of caramel clinging to his skin filled my nostrils. Damp with sweat, his hair stuck to my cheek. I kissed his head, my heart swelling with love when he released a small snore.
At our street, Lisa broke away with a wave to go to her and Asante’s small house. We walked in silence to our house and up the stairs to the door. No lights were on within, and I didn’t hear the drone of the news. Gage and I exchanged a resigned look when we realized the blackout was still in effect. Our mother would probably be in a worse mood now that she hadn’t had her TV to watch all day.
“I should cook the other fish before it goes bad,” he said.
“Yeah,” I agreed as he opened the door.
The screen door creaked closed behind us when we entered the house. Gage strode down the hall, and I started to turn to the right to put Bailey to bed when I saw Gage freeze beside the island in the kitchen. His head was down and turned to the side, his arms at his sides. He lurched forward and grabbed something from the counter.
I stopped, curious to see what had caught his attention. He spun toward me, his mouth gaping open and a piece of paper in his hand. “River—”
Whatever he’d been about to say was cut off by the squeak of the screen door opening behind me. A tendril of alarm coiled within me; I didn’t need any extra senses to know something was completely wrong. I kept hoping, if I didn’t turn around, I wouldn’t have to see what was making Gage’s mouth open and close like that and his eyes bug from his head.
No matter how much I didn’t want to look, I knew I had to face what was waiting for me. Taking a deep breath, I turned to find the middle-aged man and woman who had arrived for the volunteering standing in the doorway. Behind them stood my mother and a handful of Guards.
I placed a protective hand against Bailey’s back as my chin rose. My heart sank when I belatedly realized Gage had been holding a flier in his hand.
My mother rarely left the house, but there had been no electricity all day today. With nothing to do here, the volunteering must have drawn her out. Or perhaps the military had decided to do a door-to-door search this year in order to uncover this someone different they were looking for.
Either way, I knew my mother had been the one to sell me out. She may not know the extent of what I could do, but it had always been present in me. The foolish child I’d once been, the one who had still held out some hope she could come to love me, had told her about some of the visions I’d had before. I’d been too young to realize the love I was seeking by telling her my secrets would never be given. She would never love me the way a mother should love her daughter.
As I’d gotten older, and realized I better distance myself from this woman, I’d tried to keep it from her, but it was already too late by then.
