Elected (The Elected Series Book 1) Page 5

  She placed the cup on the nightstand next to my bed. The tea smelled of mint. I looked up at the maid for a moment, long enough to see she was a teenager. This just sent me into more of a depression as I imagined her getting ready for the dance soon. Every boy and girl in the whole country got to attend except me. I jumped up from the bed and faced the maid.

  “Are you going to the dance tonight?” I asked.

  She seemed surprised and instantly looked away from me. “Oh, me? I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean, you don’t know? You have to go. All eligible kids go to the dance. So you’re going too, right?”

  The maid looked down, locks of strange red hair falling out of the shawl around her head. Her voice was quiet. “I suppose.”

  “Well, have fun.” I knew I was being obnoxious, taking out my pain on someone else.

  She looked down and started to make her way for my door.

  I turned, about to fall back onto my bed in a huff. But then I thought better of it. This was no way a future Elected should speak to his people. I’d never be a true leader if I treated my own servants cruelly. I felt the self-obsession and anger I’d been carrying all evening melt off my shoulders. I caught up to the maid as she placed one hand on the doorframe. “Look, I’m sorry.” I reached for her arm. I breathed out slowly. “It’s just... that...”

  “You’re lonely,” she finished for me.

  “Yes.” I was surprised she understood so quickly.

  The maid paused a moment, still looking away from me. She swallowed before speaking again. “Every day you get one step closer to marrying the Madame Elected. You won’t be lonely then.”

  I looked down and loosened my hold on her arm. That’s what everyone hoped.

  My reply to the maid was thick in my throat. “Thank you for the tea. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight.” She started opening the door. The maid faced the outside hallway, her back still to me. “Everyone’s a little preoccupied right now. There’s some secret technology meeting going on tonight that all the guards are trying to find. I don’t think anyone would notice if someone snuck out.” She paused. “Sometimes it’s kind of... exhilarating... to get away.”

  “What?” My head shot up, but as quick as the maid uttered her brazen dare, she was out into the hallway with the door slamming against her back. I ran forward, pulling the door back open. However, looking left and right, I could see no one in the hall. The maid was gone.

  I slumped back onto my bed, continuing to whittle the piece of wood into a pipe for a water spigot. Leave the house alone? Without an entourage of guards? Without my parents’ permission? It was a ludicrous notion. But as the minutes ticked by and the moon got higher in the sky, the maid’s words sounded more and more enticing. Here was my chance. Possibly my only chance to get out, when everyone was preoccupied with the Faction’s secret meeting and the teenagers’ annual dance.

  I couldn’t sit still any longer. I grabbed a cloak and a bundle of other clothes out of my bedroom closet. I stuffed miscellaneous shirts and pants under my sheets to make my bed look plump with my supposedly sleeping body. Then I tossed the dark cloak over one arm. I would easily blend in with the night shadows once I put it on. I took one look at myself in the mirror, gathered my nerve, and then cautiously pulled open my bedroom door.

  The maid was right. No one was patrolling the hallway tonight, so it was an easy escape down the wide staircase to the first floor. In fact, the house seemed uncharacteristically deserted. No guards sauntered back and forth across the lobby downstairs, and no servants were left cleaning up in the dining room. I was able to slink out the side kitchen door into the night shadows with none the wiser.

  Once outside, I thrust the cloak around my shoulders and over my head. I started walking against the house until I was sure no one from the stables was milling around. In one more minute, I’d walked into the open yard, still staying low in case anyone lingered here. Two guards flanked our front door, but I was far enough away now they wouldn’t see me unless I made a sound. My soft feet padding along the ground didn’t bring their attention. Before I knew it, I was running across the open Ellipse field in the direction of the town hall pavilion. I catapulted forward, almost throwing myself down behind a stone bench for cover.

  I felt lighthearted, sniffing the cool night air like a hunted animal who’d just escaped from a trap. I sidled next to dark, thatched houses on my way to the town center. I concealed myself well, running blithely from the shelter of one awning to the next.

  In minutes, I saw lights ahead and heard the hum of excited voices. As I got closer, the sight was breathtaking. Four long, wooden poles surrounded a square dance floor. On each pole hundreds of candles sat on small shelves made of bits of metal attached to the wood. The flickering lights threw shadows across everyone’s faces and seemed to make this small square of land stand out, floating in a sea of darkness. Girls were transformed into fairy tale princesses for the night, their hair pulled back into intricate swirls. And the boys were everything I’d imagined—gallant, offering their hands to the girls who blushed demurely back.

  I snuck closer, one step at a time, until I was part of the crowd, my hood still loosely covering my head. All around me were the sights and smells of teenage desire. A girl brushed past me, brandishing some kind of meat on a stick.

  “Excuse me!” she called out over her shoulder as she kept going.

  “It’s ok.” I whispered, the words catching in my throat.

  This was it! I was there! In the midst of my people, enjoying the festivities along with everyone else. For a few minutes, I watched from the sidelines as girls and boys linked arms together and spun in intricate patterns on the dance floor. I couldn’t help blushing as I looked at the strong, lean boys of the country. If my hair were longer—if I didn’t dress as a boy—if I weren’t the Elected—would any of them want me? I blinked hard to empty my head of the ridiculous fantasy.

  Instead of staring at the young couples, I turned my attention to the older villagers standing around the dance floor. Parents stood by the sidelines, taking notes and talking hurriedly amongst each other. I pulled my hood closer over my head but continued to stare at all the festivities with immense interest.

  “Look! Margy is taking a liking to him for sure!” crooned one parent to another.

  “Yes, it does look like she and Albine will make a good pair,” said the father to my right. “We won’t even have to push them together. They’re already linking up!”

  I kept standing by the candles, taking it all in, until I felt someone grab my arm.

  “Hey, come on, let’s dance! What’s your name? Mine’s Griffin!”

  That’s when I first met the boy with the birds. He pulled on my arm as he ran us both onto the dance floor. I couldn’t think of what to do. Did he think I was a girl? All this time, was this the reason my parents always wanted me hidden? Because even when wearing a hooded cloak, I still gave off the impression of being female?

  “No, I... shouldn’t...” The heat of my words made cloudy white puffs in the air.

  “Why? Are you already linked up to someone?” He kept pulling me behind him until we were standing dead center in between all of the other dancing couples.

  I tried to keep my head down so he wouldn’t see my face, but before I knew it, we were standing in front of each other. His left palm rested against mine the way I’d seen other couples start dancing. I tried to say something, but I couldn’t think. I just felt his fingers against mine, the tips extending over mine by at least two inches.

  “Umm... yeah, I guess that’s...” My voice broke off as I looked up at the boy for the first time. Of anyone I ran into that night, my luck it would be this boy—the one who was always trailing his father in our house. Now I finally had his name.

  His eyes opened wide as he stared at my face, recognition seeming to sizzle in his brain. Then he looked down at the size of his hand against mine. My delicate fingers hinted at the secret my haircut
and falsely gruff voice couldn’t hide.

  “Hey...” His mouth was an O of astonishment. I could see Griffin’s mind trying to make sense of the situation. I inhaled sharply, my eyes skirting to the side, trying to figure out what to do.

  Griffin dropped his hand from mine. “Wait... but... aren’t you...” His voice trailed off, but he kept staring at me.

  Before he could get out one word more, I tore myself off the dance floor and started running. I didn’t look back. Just continued to run toward the dark houses I saw earlier. I hadn’t expected anyone to pull me onto the dance floor, let alone realize who I was.

  I flattened myself against an empty house when I heard a group of guards shuffling by. They came out of nowhere, descending from the shadows to walk single file down the nearby path. They peered left and right, seemingly looking for me. I was so caught. The boy must have alerted someone, and now there was a posse of guards trying to find me. I shouldn’t be scared of my own guards, but watching them walk in the stark, straight line away from the town center, they looked fierce and determined. The lines of their mouths were more firm than I’d ever seen before. I feared what they would tell my parents when they found me.

  Then, suddenly, they all stopped in front of another empty house a few hundred yards ahead of me. One by one, they entered until all the guards were off the path.

  I crept on my hands and knees from the side of one house to the next, determined to get past the guards unnoticed. But in front of the house, I couldn’t help pausing for a moment. It was altogether too quiet in there, even though about thirty guards just entered.

  I knew I was being careless, but I wanted to see what they were doing. I got up on my knees in front of a cracked window and peered into the dim house. I couldn’t see anything. So strange. I could have sworn I saw guards enter there just a moment ago. And then a candle was lit right on the other side of the window, and everything inside suddenly came into view.

  I saw the group of people, men and women alike, standing against the opposite wall. They were shedding their clothes, and I wondered to myself if this were a place where dirty uniforms were laundered. But the clothes these people tossed to the floor weren’t all pieces of the guards’ normal attire. Some wore a guard’s shirt but regular linen pants. Others wore the guards’ traditional blue and yellow braided pants but only a white t-shirt on top. Now that I could see these people in some kind of light, they didn’t seem like guards at all.

  One by one, the people all sat on folding chairs against the farthest wall, waiting for someone or something. I stared, spellbound, my hands resting on the windowsill. Finally, a man started talking, and I could make out a few of his words through the cracked glass.

  “Thank... for coming... know it is... great caution... made it here tonight.”

  A few people murmured agreement from the sidelines, and the main speaker continued. “Quiet, quiet. We must remain... as possible... many... to discuss tonight.”

  The man, whose back was still toward the window, leaned down. When he came back up holding a large metal object, I realized what I was witnessing in this deserted part of town.

  The speaker held some sort of saw, but when he flicked a switch, the thing shuddered to life. His audience gave great sighs of appreciation, trying to keep their excitement contained behind hands over their own mouths.

  “...so pleased to show you... fixed this machine... tinkering... assure you! But... not all we have to speak of tonight! Tonight... venture... more interesting topics... fall of the Elected family!”

  At this, my fingers broke away from the window, pulling out a mass of the sill’s rotten wood as I fell backward. I scampered like an insect on its back, pushing my feet against the dirt to scrunch along the ground.

  From within the house I heard movement and then the speaker’s voice again. “What... that? Did... hear something?”

  I needed to get away from there, and fast! But the front door of the thatched house opened, and a big man looked all around. I couldn’t get up for fear he’d see me.

  “Come back in!” hissed the speaker. Now that the door was open I could hear his voice clear as day. It sounded slightly familiar. “Don’t show yourself; it isn’t safe. Here, put this on. Then go out and see what the noise was. If it’s a spy, maim the bastard!”

  At once, the big man was out again in a flash, something dark wrapped around his head. I scrambled backward again, hoping he wouldn’t spot me, but my foot caught on a branch and the noise instantly set the man toward me. I crawled to my feet in a flash. My hood was off my head too, but it didn’t matter. I ran like my life depended on it, because most likely it did. If the man caught me, he’d hurt me as instructed by his leader. And if he saw I was the Elected, I’d be in even more danger. But no matter how fast I ran, the big Technologist was right behind me. And since he seemed to know the outdoors much better than me, he enjoyed a large advantage. I stumbled multiple times on roots and other brush, and the man pressed on, gaining the advantage.

  I ran amidst houses in the dark and back out to the Ellipse. But, out in the open, the Technologist gained even more of an edge on me.

  I looked over my shoulder frantically. One of his beefy arms reached out, and it was on my cloak in a second. I shed the material, but the man grabbed onto my ankle, drawing a knife with his free hand. We both fell down onto the ground in a fit of grunts. We struggled together in the dark, me reaching down to try to unclasp the man’s fist from my legs, his knife slashing my shin. This was it, I told myself. The Faction had me now. How pleased would they be to have found a member of the Elected family defenseless?

  I could already feel my own hot blood leaking out of the wound on my leg. The Technologist was pulling me farther down toward him. In a second, his hands would circle around my neck. The man would destroy me here on the spot.

  Right when I thought I couldn’t fend him off anymore, a high pitched whistle came from the pavilion in front of us. The man hesitated just long enough that I was able to extricate my leg. Bleeding profusely, I didn’t care to look back. I scrambled up and ran as fast as I could. When I reached the entrance of our stable doors, I finally stopped and looked behind me. I couldn’t see the man anymore, but I didn’t see anyone else either. Neither the Technologist, nor the person who’d startled him.

  I clutched my leg, knowing I needed to wrap the wound so I wouldn’t keep bleeding. At the same time, I knew my family deserved to know the Faction’s plans as soon as possible, even if it meant I was forced to tell them about sneaking out. Tomlin was right; freedom was dangerous. Maybe I just didn’t need to tell my parents exactly how dangerous it had become for me.

  So instead of confessing everything that night, I held back. I limped my way into the dark house and up to my room without being noticed. I wrapped my leg tight with the bindings from my chest and made the resolution to tell my parents only about seeing the Technologists. I wouldn’t tell them about making it all the way to the dance.

  I’d sought independence, but I’d come away with a few other realities that night. Having seen the Faction up close, I finally understood my family’s relentless dedication to maintaining stability. There were people who wanted to overthrow us and put our country in harm’s way once again. My father was the only man with enough clout and power to keep the Technology Faction at bay. My family needed to stay in power. I should show pride in my Elected role, not lament how unfair my life was compared to all the other kids. It was time I embraced the responsibility.

  That night, though, as I continued to stave off the bleeding from my leg, I’d taken one last moment to revel in the excitement of my escape. I’d run out on my own. Intermingled with my people. Caught up with the Technology Faction. And... the boy. Griffin, the one I sometimes saw helping his father around our house. He touched my arm. I looked down at my palm, tracing a pattern over where his fingers grazed mine.

  Right there was my downfall. If I weren’t infatuated with the excitement of being at the dance, I might h
ave told my parents the whole story. I might not have merely centered my admission on seeing the Technology Faction, but also told them how someone may have guessed my gender. If I’d been brave back then, maybe I wouldn’t be in this predicament now.

  5

  I sit against my bedroom wall, trying to think of something to set myself right again. What has Tomlin always told me when things are rough? After my parents took all the toys from my room? When my first “play” fight session ended with a black eye and a broken rib? And, of course, when I asked my parents if I could go to the annual dance and they said absolutely not?

  He said, “This too shall pass. One step at a time, Aloy.”

  I do as he instructed. I get up off the floor and walk to my water basin. I splash a cold handful of the liquid onto my face. When I think I’m presentable, I open my bedroom door and step into the hallway again. This time the corridor is empty. My guards must still think I’m going about my usual schedule. By the daylight, I think it’s noon. The sun is high in the sky. What do I usually do at noon each day? I eat lunch with my parents. So with this in mind, I walk stiffly in the direction of our dining room.

  Once outside the room, I pull the heavyset oak doors open and see the comforting sight of both my parents at the table. My father holds a mug in his right hand and a piece of paper in his left. My mother sits adjacent to him, leaning against his arm to see the page.

  When they hear me, they both look up.

  “Ahh, Aloy,” my mother says, smiling. “You’re up! We wanted to let you sleep as much as possible after your ordeal yesterday.”

  I nod, not offering up the fact I encountered an even bigger ordeal this morning. I sit down at the table next to them and bite into a thick piece of wheat bread. It tastes bitter on my tongue, but I force myself to swallow anyway.

  “Since you’re up,” my father says, “you should come with us to the town meeting today.”

  Every month there’s a town hall where my father tells our people the latest news and they converse back to him with questions and comments.