Page 48 of Summer

After supper, Aaoric gives me a slight nod to his study. I return to my room and wait until the sounds of the house quiet and then slip out my room. He answers on the first knock and ushers me inside.

“We have to get her,” I say before he can speak.

“How?” Aaoric asks. “If our parents have banished her there, it’s not as easy as calling her home. They’ll know.”

“So?” I challenge, pacing the small space. I’ve dug through every possible solution to this problem through dinner and while waiting in my room. Each of them is just the inkling of an idea, each of them as unlikely as the last to work. “We can’t just leave her there.”

“I know,” Aaoric sighs.

“I can get her. Once I’m free,” I say, turning to him. It’s the only solution I could think of. How? I know nothing about the boarding facility. I don’t know if they allow their teachers freedom to leave the school. Which planet is it located on? Is there any civilization there, or is it just the school?

“It’s not that easy,” Aaoric admits, dropping into his chair. He scrubs a hand over his face. “The school is a fortress. It’s made for unruly females, and they do everything to keep it contained. There’s nothing around it for kilometers, it’s so remote. It also has layers upon layers of security. It’s the perfect place to send someone if you want them to disappear.”

“I’ll find a way,” I say, my chin raised.

“Do not throw away your freedom on that endeavor. I will see what I can do. Perhaps I can use your death as an excuse to call her back.” I can tell he doesn’t believe his words. I don’t think he’ll just give up on Gennelle and leave her to rot, but I also fear he doesn’t have the imagination. Gennelle was the planner; she concocted our plan to free me when Aaoric and I struggled for a single idea.

“Perhaps she has a plan!” I suggest. “We know she did not go willingly. She is surely planning and plotting, from the moment she arrives.”

“What makes you so sure of that?” Aaoric asks.

“She is always thinking, planning. This is her home. She would do everything in her power to come back to it.” To her home, not to me. I am going to be declared dead before she comes back. Was today really our last day together? Am I really never to hear her laugh again?

My throat burns with unshed tears. I feel untethered, like a gentle shove will send me floating off into space. I grab the back of the nearest chair for support, for something to keep me grounded.

I refuse to believe she left willingly, without saying goodbye.

“You don’t know my sister,” he says softly. He’s not looking at me – he’s gazing at the far wall, his eyes unfocused. “She has always done as our parents demanded. If they insist on this course for her life, she will not resist.”

“No,” I say, slamming my hand on the chair. Aaoric jumps. “We cannot let her rot there in that stupid school. I am going to get her – with or without your help, freedom be damned.”

“Why?” Aaoric asks, blinking at me. “Just focus on your freedom, I will find a way to get her out. It will give me something to do while I pretend to mourn you.”

“How long will that take?” I press.

“As long as it must. That is the way of things in society, they happen as they’re meant to. I will write to her and suss out her intentions. I’ll not have you caught freeing her and upending the entire plan. You forget, my freedom relies on you remaining dead.”

He’s right. It wouldn’t just be my life I’d sacrifice; it’d be his. After all he’s doing to help me, I cannot screw this up.

“I’ll write to her this evening, send it first thing tomorrow – without my parents’ awareness. They cannot intervene that way. If she says she went there on her own accord, we will let it drop. If she expresses distress, then I will think of something.” He says it with such a note of finality I want to strangle him.

Instead, I turn on my heels and march back to my room.

I refuse to believe she would willingly leave all of this behind. She loves this house, the countryside, her work here. I sink into the soft blankets of my bed, reaching out for a body that’s not there.

22

GENELLE

Tomorrow is the wedding, and I’m not to attend.

At least – I think it’s the wedding. There’s something odd about the way time passes in this place, as though it happens independent of the rest of the universe.

My parents packed none of my belongings. I arrived with nothing but the clothes on my back. When I was escorted off the ship and into the courtyard of the school I was met with silence and darkness.

The star that provides light and warmth to Frindun is only visible half the year. The other side of the planet is entirely dark, bereft of warmth or light. Torches lead the way from the docking station to the entrance of the school.

The school is a tall manor, at least seven stories high, made of dark brick that blends into the surrounding night. Upon arrival, I glanced up at the rows of windows, most of which had little faces pressed to them, attempting to peer out of the frosted glass.