Rebels Read online

  So Beshup knocked on the Imperial Topaz door and waited. Still no answer from Fire Opal.

  Beshup’s door opened first. “Beshup?” The voice was female and high-pitched.

  “Shh,” Beshup said. “We’ve come to free you of this place. Where is Tsana?”

  Levi did not recognize the woman speaking to Beshup, but she looked to be near his own mother’s age.

  “Tsana is downstairs in the Moonstone suite. Must we hurry?”

  “Yes, but do you need help?”

  “No, I’ll get Paa and Kwis.”

  “Kwis is in there?” Tupi asked.

  “What other rooms are our people in?” Beshup asked.

  “Kwis is in here with me. Ani, Sunki, and Mamaci are in Fire Opal.” She nodded across the hall to the door Jemma had knocked on. “The others are downstairs in Moonstone and Blue Diamond.”

  Beshup turned to Mukwiv. “Then we should go down — ”

  “Jemma!”

  Levi turned back to the Fire Opal door and there stood Jennifer, hugging Jemma.

  “You’ve come for Jack’s Peak, haven’t you?” Jennifer said.

  “Won’t you and Mia come too?” Jemma asked.

  “Mia won’t come. In fact, you shouldn’t be the one to go after our girls in Blue Diamond. Send one of the Jack’s Peak’s girls after them instead. If Mia should see any of you, she might call for help. And there’s Faeryn in Moonstone as well. A Safe Land national who is pregnant. We should try not to wake her.”

  Jennifer waved Jemma inside the Fire Opal suite. “Go and wake the women. They’re all from Jack’s Peak in here. I’ll go down to the Blue Diamond Suite and wake the girls there. Hopefully Mia will stay asleep. Levi, you and some of the men could come with me.”

  “I’ll not leave Jemma, but Beshup, will you send some men down with Jennifer?”

  “Where is Samantha?” Mukwiv asked.

  “Down in the Moonstone Suite with Tsana.”

  Jennifer, Beshup, and Mukwiv went back to the staircase.

  Jemma went into the Fire Opal Suite. Levi made to go after her, but she turned and stopped him with her hand against his chest. “Wait here. There is only one exit from this suite. I don’t want you scaring these women in their beds.”

  So Jemma was separated from him, just as he’d feared. He waited outside as instructed, but he was unhappy about it. Yivan stood beside him, an eager look on his face. Nodin paced the hall behind them. Tupi stood outside the door to the Imperial Topaz room.

  Seconds later, the Imperial Topaz door opened again and Chowa returned with two other women. Tupi embraced one of them. The couple looked no older than Jordan and Naomi, though Levi knew they already had three children.

  “Take them into the kitchen and be quiet,” Levi said. “Nodin and Yivan, stay with me.”

  Tupi led the women toward the stairs.

  Jemma came out of the Fire Opal suite with two older women and a young girl who looked no older than Shaylinn. Yivan greeted the young girl by taking her arm and whispering to her. She hugged his waist.

  “That’s all,” Jemma said. “Let’s go.”

  “Gladly.” Levi took Jemma’s hand and motioned for the women to go first. “Into the kitchen as silently as you can go.” He and Jemma brought up the rear.

  “Where is Alawa?” Nodin asked the girl.

  “She’s not here. She’s in the doctor place.”

  “Why?” Nodin asked. “Is it far?”

  “Shh,” Levi said. “Wait until the kitchen to talk.”

  They reached the sixth floor, and Jemma tugged him to stop. “I need to make sure they got everyone from here.”

  Levi frowned and let Jemma pull him into the sixth-floor hallway. Beshup and Mukwiv were waiting in the hallway.

  Levi joined his friends. “Well?”

  “The one called Jennifer came out of Moonstone and went into Blue Diamond along with Ani, whose daughters are in there.” The Moonstone door opened. “Ah, here comes someone.”

  “Beshup!” It was Tsana. And another woman who ran to Mukwiv and embraced him.

  Reunions everywhere. But it was past time to go.

  Finally the door to the Blue Diamond Suite opened, and an older Jack’s Peak woman came out, helping a young girl along.

  “I want to stay with Alawa,” the girl said.

  The woman didn’t answer. She simply continued to help the girl along. Jemma ran to the girl’s other side and supported her.

  “Is she okay?” Jemma asked.

  “She and her sister had an allergic reaction to something in the meds. Shootsi has mostly recovered, but her sister is still in the SC.”

  Levi’s heart sank. They had no way to get to the SC tonight, and enforcers would increase security once they learned of the escape.

  Jemma and the woman helped the girl toward the stairs. Finally, they had everyone. Levi followed and waited at the top of the stairs for the ladies to start down.

  “Behne, Levi.”

  He nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned around. Kosowe stood just outside the Blue Diamond suite’s door, her dark eyes fixed on his.

  “Head on down the stairs,” Levi said. “That’s the last of you. Right?”

  “Jennifer and Mia are in there.” Kosowe walked toward him.

  He backed against the wall and waved her past, not wanting to touch her. He was overreacting, sure, but he knew well that she was trouble. And the history the two of them shared . . .

  She walked past, and he followed her slowly, wishing she’d move faster. “Hurry, Kosowe. There’s not much time.”

  She turned around, facing him. “But Jennifer and Mia — you can’t leave them.”

  “They’re not coming,” Levi said. “They don’t want — ” Something tickled his waist. He reached down, patted his hip. No gun. He spun around.

  Mia was grinning at him. His own stunner trained on his chest.

  What? Why? “Mia, don’t be — ”

  She fired. The stunner cartridge blasted against Levi’s chest and knocked him back a step. He slammed against the wall and slid down it like a broom handle, stiff and hard, sharp pain immobilizing his body.

  “What are you doing?” This from Kosowe.

  “You wanted him, didn’t you?” Mia said. “Well, I want her. So help me get her.”

  Levi was stunned and couldn’t move, but his ears worked just fine. Her? Who was her? Not Jemma. Please not Jemma. Levi lay staring at the ceiling, straining to hear the whispers of Mia and Kosowe from the doorway. Kosowe stepped over him and walked toward the stairs.

  Mia’s face appeared over his. “You left us here, like we didn’t matter. Mason told me they made you elder, and then he left us too. But Kosowe told me all about the terrible things you did with her, Elder Levi. Not so perfect, are you? Wait until I tell Jemma what I know about . . .”

  Mia vanished.

  “He’s here on the floor.” Kosowe had returned. “He fell over.”

  “Levi!” Jemma knelt at his side, took his hand in hers and pressed her other fingers to his neck.

  He tried to open his mouth to speak. He could see Mia’s shadow shifting on the wall. No! God, help her! Please!

  But God did not. Jemma gasped as the stunner’s cartridge struck her back. She stiffened and fell on top of him. He could smell her hair under his chin.

  Mia dragged Jemma off of him and into the Blue Diamond suite. “He’s all yours,” Mia said, then she shut the door.

  Jemma!

  Kosowe grabbed Levi’s ankles and pulled him toward the stairs. His body tugged over the thick carpeting, four inches at a time as Kosowe dragged him along.

  Beshup arrived at the top of the stairs. “What happened?”

  “The one called Mia had a weapon. She shot Jemma and Levi. She has Jemma in her room and said she was calling the enforcers to come. I could not open the door.”

  Beshup looked down on Levi, his eyes wide. Shocked. Filled with conflict. Levi knew what he was thinking. Save the women or
go after Jemma? Enforcers on the way. What to do?

  Levi needed his body to move. Now! At least to speak. He willed his voice to make sound. To fight the numbness. It ignored him. All but a tear that rolled down his cheek and pooled cold and wet in his ear.

  Useless tears!

  “I’m sorry, my friend.” Beshup crouched and lifted Levi’s limp body over his shoulder. He carried him down the stairs, into the kitchen, out into the dead-end hallway, and down the dark stairwell, with Kosowe following. Down, down, down, leaving Jemma — his life and heart — behind.

  CHAPTER

  9

  Shaylinn went with Eliza, Chipeta, and Aunt Mary to Jordan and Naomi’s house to pray for the harem rescue. Though the night wasn’t going as Shaylinn had expected. Naomi had taken Harvey out to feed him, and Ciddah and her parents were in their rooms. Everyone else had somehow drifted off topic and were discussing the school situation again.

  “We need to get started teaching,” Eliza said. “I love having my kids back, but with the three additional Safe Lands girls, it’s pretty wild in my house. They need something to do all day.”

  “The boys are driving Levi crazy,” Shaylinn said.

  “He should send them to the park,” Chipeta said.

  “He did,” Shaylinn said, “but they left the park and got in trouble, snooping around the greenhouses. Someone complained to Ruston, who passed it along to Levi, and now Levi’s grounded them to the house.”

  “Oh, dear.” Aunt Mary frowned at Shaylinn. “It’s got to be hard on the older boys, who had so much freedom in Glenrock.”

  “There are plenty of books in the library,” Eliza said. “Why not assign them all books to read and report on?”

  “It might be worth trying. Though they’re such a wide range of ages,” Shaylinn said. “I mean, how will I know if the book is too easy for them?”

  “How fast they read it,” Chipeta said. “But honestly, if they’re quiet and happy, I wouldn’t worry about it. Let them read whatever they want.”

  “And don’t forget, we won’t be here much longer,” Eliza said. “Once the Jack’s Peak women arrive, we can focus on getting outside the walls.”

  “But we still don’t know the secret of liberation,” Shaylinn said. “Don’t forget my mother and Omar and Mason.”

  Eliza looked like she was trying to find a way to say something delicately. “Shaylinn, no one knows what liberation is. Not the rebels, not the Kindred, no one. We’ll likely never know. Don’t you think we’d be wise to consider them lost?”

  “I will not!” Tears filled Shaylinn’s eyes. “I can’t.” The very idea of never seeing her mother again. Never seeing Omar. “I won’t give up hope, and neither should you.”

  “Your tone, Shaylinn,” Aunt Mary said. “You must not speak disrespectfully to your elders.”

  “I’m sorry,” Shaylinn said. “But I can’t just forget about them! We have to believe they’re okay, that they’re being protected . . .”

  “Let’s pray again,” Chipeta said. “I fear we’ve gotten distracted from our purpose.”

  And so they went back to praying for the rescue, and not stopping until Naomi returned, carrying little Harvey in her arms.

  “Is he sleeping?” Chipeta asked.

  “No, just waking up,” Naomi said.

  Shaylinn watched Naomi with her child, and fear overwhelmed her at the knowledge that she soon would have two babies to care for.

  What if she couldn’t do it? What if she failed?

  The front door opened then, and Jordan and Nash entered, carrying Levi between them. Levi’s head was limp and he was muttering, whimpering. A beautiful, dark-haired woman came in behind them. She looked like someone from Jack’s Peak.

  Shaylinn stood to make room for Levi on the couch. “Someone should get Ciddah.”

  “I will.” Chipeta jumped up and ran to Ciddah’s bedroom.

  Jordan and Nash settled Levi on the couch.

  “What happened?” Aunt Mary asked.

  Ciddah’s bedroom door opened and she ran out.

  “He was stunned,” Jordan said.

  “How long ago?” Ciddah asked.

  “An hour? A little less maybe? Kosowe said it was Mia.”

  Mia? Shaylinn looked to the Jack’s Peak girl, Kosowe. “Why would Mia do that?”

  “I know not,” Kosowe said, “but I was the last to leave. I blame myself. I will care for him as a debt.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Jordan said. “He has a wife to care for him.”

  Shaylinn looked back to the front door, saw it hanging open, then walked to it and looked out into the dark corridor. Empty. She closed the door and walked back to the couch. “Where’s Jemma?”

  “Jemma,” Levi said, his lips still not fully working. “Mia Jemma. Mia Jemma.”

  “Finally, he’s talking,” Jordan said.

  “Relax, Levi.” Ciddah knelt on the floor beside the couch. “Your voice will come back and then you can tell us everything.”

  Shaylinn frowned, overcome with emotion she could not explain. She grabbed Jordan’s arm. “Where is Jemma? Jordan, can you tell me?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What does that mean?” Naomi asked.

  “It means I don’t know.” Jordan was stormy, his eyes dark and angry. “I didn’t go inside. I was waiting in the truck with Farran when they all came out. Beshup and Mukwiv were carrying Levi, and there was no time. Kosowe said Mia had stunned Levi and called the Enforcers.”

  “Mia also stunned the one called Jemma and took her into the room,” Kosowe said.

  “Could have opened the room.” Levi’s voice was hoarse but clear and accusing. He glared at Kosowe. “You had a SimTag. It was your room.”

  Kosowe shook her head. “There was no time.”

  “Get her out, Farran,” Levi said. “Take her to Beshup. Tell him to keep her away from our people.”

  “Levi, what has she done?” Naomi asked.

  “You heard the man. Let’s go.” Farran stretched his arm toward the door and waited for Kosowe to move, but she did not.

  “I owe you my life, Levi of Elias,” Kosowe said. “I will pay my debt.”

  “You owe me nothing. Get out.”

  Shaylinn’s eyes widened at such harsh words. Finally Kosowe turned and walked out the door, head held high.

  “I’ll check on you later,” Farran said, closing the door behind him.

  “What happened?” Jordan asked.

  Jordan’s eyes were wild and angry, but Levi’s were fire itself, blazing as he looked around the room. “That woman. And Mia. They tricked us. Me. I turned my back on the room and Mia must have come out and taken my stunner. She stunned me. Told me she wanted Jemma. Then Kosowe lured Jemma to me, to help me, and Mia stunned her as well. Once Mia dragged Jemma into a room, Kosowe moved me toward the stairs and told Beshup that Mia had Jemma and was calling the enforcers. Beshup made the choice to carry me out. I don’t blame him. He didn’t know.”

  “Why would Kosowe help Mia do that?” Shaylinn asked.

  Levi sighed, palmed his face.

  “Kosowe has wanted to marry Levi for years,” Jordan said. “Does she really think she can steal you like this?”

  “I have a wife!” Levi screamed. Then he sat up, or tried to. Jordan lunged forward and helped him. Once he was upright, he scowled and stretched out his arm, moving it in an arc, pointing at everyone in the room. “None of you believe her lies. She’s got a ton of them. Listen to me and know I speak the truth. One night in Jack’s Peak, Beshup and I found a case of alcohol. It should have been given to our elders, his or mine, but we kept it for ourselves and we drank it with Tsana and Kosowe.

  “Omar was there as well, but he was off with Nodin until much later. He came back and found us silly with the drink. The five of us slept in Kosowe’s teepee. And Kosowe . . . she led me to believe that something happened between us that night. That I should marry her because of it. She told Beshup, and they both threa
tened to tell my father. But Omar said she was lying, that we had only kissed. Regardless, I’m sorry for my behavior and for keeping it from you.”

  “It’s not our business to know, Levi,” Chipeta said.

  “Does Jemma know?” Naomi asked.

  Levi closed his eyes, shook his head. “Mia said she would tell her.” He looked at Jordan. “But what she’ll tell her are Kosowe’s lies. And my wife will hate me. And she’ll feel even more alone in that place. I never should have kept this from her. If I’d told her, at least she’d know the truth.”

  They stood there staring at Levi, who was staring at his hands, face pale. The fire had gone from his eyes and left them glassy.

  “Levi?” Chipeta sat beside him and patted his leg. “Jemma knows you better than you think she does. Trust her for that.”

  He startled, his shoulders raising like a scared cat’s. “I’ve said too much. Forgive me.” And he stood and walked unsteadily out of the house. The front door shut with a loud clump behind him.

  For a moment everyone remained still. Shaylinn looked from face to face, but everyone seemed to have taken great interest in things like the rug, the ceiling, and the wall fixtures. Jordan was picking at his hand. Then Aunt Mary started to cry, which made Shaylinn cry too.

  Jemma gone. In the harem again. It was really too much to bear.

  Shaylinn and Penny did all they could to keep the children quiet and give Levi space. But Shaylinn couldn’t just sit and stare as Levi did. Didn’t he know that she was sad too? That she loved her sister?

  Shaylinn decided to visit the library. She needed something to read, to distract her from her sorrow. Ciddah had also asked to go, so Shaylinn went to Jordan’s house to fetch her, since Ciddah still needed an escort to leave. When they walked inside the library, Tova was there.

  “Good afternoon to you, Shayleen. Who is your friend?” Tova seemed to be overly cheerful today, though she was giving Ciddah a wary glance. It was probably Ciddah’s flaking skin. There was no Roller Paint in the basements.

  “This is Ciddah. Ciddah, this is Tova, Ruston’s wife. Ciddah is a medic.”

  “I see,” Tova said.

  “Nice to meet you,” Ciddah said.