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"Always! I'll never leave you," he vowed to me, his voice quivering as he hugged me tightly.
"I'm scared, Alex," I spoke out what had been haunting me for days. What seemed to choke me, clutched my throat tightly ever since I had to watch idly as the woman was taken away. Yes, even before that, there had been many moments that had been frightening. The executions, the persecutions, and also the moment in the museum when I was helplessly at the mercy of the two guys. Until this mysterious Mr. Baldur saved me.
But my gut told me that something had changed in the last week. I felt it deep in my gut, an instinct that told me to dig in.
Never before had the Brotherhood used violence against the population, as long as they remained quiet.
All too clearly, I remembered the people who had played cards on the street. They had all done what humanity had acquired over the years in order to survive. They had looked the other way. It was as if they hadn’t heard the screams, hadn’t seen the woman, and hadn’t smelled her fear sweat.
Nevertheless, all life in the block had been extinguished. Why?
"I'm scared too, Rina," Alex suddenly said close to my ear. "But no matter what will happen. We have each other and will always look out for each other. We've been doing that since the sandbox, and that will never change. In the meantime, we'll make sure we get even stronger. Train with Jack and Edward.And when all hell breaks loose someday, we'll fight together side by side."
His passionate speech brought tears to my eyes. But the mention of Alex’s fellow students also gave me an unpleasant sting.
“Do you really think we can trust these two?” I asked cautiously.
“Definitely,” Alex assured me, unperturbed. “I’ve known Jack and Edward for so long. They would never betray me.”
Maybe not Alex, but what about me?it involuntarily popped into my head.
CHAPTER 22
Shortly after Alex had dressed and climbed out the window, racing the rising sun, I had showered and had chosen a dark gray dress for today. My hair lay braided on my back.
In the dining room, to my surprise, I met not only my father but also my brothers. It had not happened often in the past five years that all three of them visited us at the same time, but it had happened remarkably often in the last few weeks. What was going on here?
“Good morning,” I greeted the group and sat down in the seat opposite my father. His gaze flitted to me only very briefly. There was sadness in it. A pain that weighed heavily on his shoulders.
"Dad, how are you? Were you happy to sleep in your own bed again?" I tried to lighten the mood.
My father twisted his face into a pained smile. “Yes, you know me just too well, Myrina.”
He avoided looking at me. Furtively, I glanced over to Jordy and Rick, who were also slumped in their chairs and visibly uncomfortable with my presence.
Chris was the only one who looked me in the eye, but what I discovered in his made me wish I had lowered my gaze in time.
A tornado of horror and sorrow raged in his brown irises. Pity formed his calm center.
Something had happened. Something terrible. Would they tell me this time?
"The weather is beautiful today. Don't you think so?" Jordy suddenly spoke up. Surprised, I looked first at him and then out the window. The sun was disappearing behind a few rain clouds that would undoubtedly cause a shower in the course of the morning.
"Just the right weather for an outing." Urgently, my brother looked at me. "Don't you think it would be fun, Myrina?" he added.
Taken by surprise and, at the same time, insecure, my gaze now darted around between the four men at the table. They all stared at me as if they wanted to convince me with their eyes alone to answeryes.They clearly had something so explosive to tell me that it could not happen in the house. But why should Jordy, of all people, take on this task instead of Chris?
“Yeah, you’re right, Jordy,” I stammered. “Maybe we could go for a walk. I haven’t been out in Central Park in a while.”
“I’ll walk with you,” Rick grumbled, not looking at me.
“Too bad, but I have to return to the cathedral. My morning mass is waiting for me." Chris' words sounded as hollow and empty as his eyes, which had lost their luster.
Now, I realized why he was not allowed to accompany me this time. Because he seemed to be too touched by what they had to tell me. Then, certainly, it had to do with his church and the work. Had the order transferred him to another city? Or was it perhaps the tunnels under the church? Had they collapsed? Or worse, had they been discovered?
My head was spinning with questions to which I had no answers. With each of them, the knot in my throat tightened.
To cover this, I put on one of those fake smiles I’d practiced for hours in front of the mirror and bit into my toast with scrambled eggs.
