Evadere (21 page)

“No, I don’t. You’re not the person I thought you were. Emry Logan on Earth is not Emry Logan on Evadere.”

His face showed a hint of pain from my comment.

“This world was supposed to be beautiful, magical. It just seems like everyone’s hands have blood on them here. Everyone kills so freely. It’s justified somehow in their minds, but to me, it’s murder nonetheless.”

“Mrs. Anderson is a threat to
me
. She has tried to kill
me
. She’s a danger in the dungeon, out of the dungeon, on Earth, on Evadere,” he said.

I nodded. “Right. So just get rid of her.”

“Yes,” he said, smugness showing through. “So she’ll no longer be a burden. Ben is in agreement with this, too, and she’s his sister.”

“Oh.” I rolled my eyes. “I guess since Ben thinks it’s okay, then it is okay then.”

“Look what she did to you, in her basement,” he reminded me.

I thought about the time I had been viciously tossed down Mrs. Anderson’s basement stairs by her son and then kept there as a prisoner while they tried to keep me from interfering with Emry’s trial. I was severely injured and kept in dirty conditions until Carlin came for me and released me from Mrs. Anderson’s grip.

“You’ll have more enemies than just Mrs. Anderson. Do you plan on killing them also?”

He narrowed his eyes as if the thought had never crossed his mind before. “If it comes down to it, and if you’re referring to the Scaves, don’t think I’m not going straight for Karn’s throat. He murdered my father in front of my mother.”

I really didn’t want to stay here and watch the blood bath any longer. I would be sad to leave Emry, devastated even, but at the same time, this kind of revenge was not something I could condone. “I don’t want to be here for Mrs. Anderson’s execution,” I told him.

He ran his fingers through his hair and then his hand rested at his hips. “It’s happening in a few days. It’s something I need to train for. I need to save my energy and not use it on transporting, so just enjoy a few more days in Evadere.”

“Locked in this room?” I raised my eyebrows.

He shook his head as if I were being impossible. “Mrs. Anderson is a traitor to the royal family. She has always been after destroying the royal blood. She will be destroyed first, and this will be a lesson to others who may have similar ideas, to the Scaves even. That’s why it will be a public execution.”

Yes, it was all justified in his mind. Atavia had twisted his way of thinking. He was turning into the son she had always wanted all these years. He was conforming into her puppet.
 

“I have nothing left to say,” I admitted, my determination crushed by Atavia’s reign on her son. She wasn’t even present and yet her hold was still so strong.

“Okay then,” he said. “Right after the execution, I’ll take you back.”

I nodded and watched as he opened the door and slammed it behind him.

I heard the door creak as my eyes fluttered open in the dark. Someone turned on a lamp and came over to the bed where I had been in and out of sleep for hours.

“Hey.”

I looked up into the face of Jo. She sat down beside me.
 

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Early morning,” Jo said in a whisper. “I was just getting ready for the day. I heard you had to stay up here, so I thought I’d stop in.”
 

“Oh, Jo,” I said, feeling so pathetic but having had no one to talk to at all here. “This place is pure hell for me. Everyone’s against me. Everyone’s against the idea of Emry and me. Now they think I’m a murderer.”

“It’s easy to blame an outsider,” Jo whispered. “I’m sorry everything didn’t turn out the way you had pictured it in your mind.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I never pictured Emry Logan being the king of another planet. I mean, I knew he had powers, but all of this, and this castle and his mother …”

“Yeah,” she said. I could tell she really did sympathize with me.

“I’m the one who’s sorry. I got you in the middle of this mess by having you bring me here. Now Rooney is gone …”

“I miss Rooney,” Jo admitted. “But not Karn. I hope I never see him again.”

I sighed and sat up in the bed. “Jo, I have to tell you something.” I paused to look at her. She looked different. Her face was filling out from all the nutrients she was now receiving from eating properly. She looked healthy and had clean clothes on. Her hair was pulled neatly back. “I’m leaving.”

She looked down at her hands. “Going back to Earth?”

“Yeah. I can’t stay here any longer than I have to.”

She remained quiet.

“Do you want to come with me?” I asked.

She looked up at me then, her eyes big and round in alarm. The thought terrified her. “To Earth?”

“Yes, to Earth.”

“Anna, I can’t. I’m a Scave.”

“Actually, Jo, I bet you’d fit in there better than here. We could be roommates. I’d teach you all about humans. No one has powers there.”

She kept staring at me as if trying to decipher whether I was a lunatic or not. “I really like it here.”

“Serving Atavia?” I wrinkled my nose.

“I know she can be mean sometimes, but so was Karn. I get fed here. I have a nice bed. The other maidservants are really nice to me despite who I am. I’m just not as brave as you, Anna.”

“You’re way more brave than me. I can’t believe you’d even say such a thing. You left all that you knew to come here,” I reminded her.

She twisted up her lips. “Only because I had to. I have no other choice but to leave or die at the hand of Karn. I can’t go to another planet. I just want to stay here,” she said. And there was that shy girl I had first met on the beach. A shy girl with an enormous solider within her.

I patted her hand. “All right then, Jo. You stay here. Are you going to be okay?”

“You’re not coming back?” she asked, her eyes growing large again.

I looked away from her. “I don’t know. I really doubt it. Emry’s life is here, and with Atavia in the picture, his life can’t have me in it.”

“You need to fight, Anna.”

“I’ve tried. I talked to Emry about all this. It’s decided. It’s what’s best, really.”

Jo stood. “Have you heard about the execution?”

I nodded. “What are people saying about it?”

“They’re excited. Such a thing has never happened. Everyone’s going,” Jo explained.

“Huh.” The excitement part had thrown me into a state of sorrow once again. “They just don’t understand what’s really happening.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Nothing. Never mind.” I forced a smile at her. “I’ll be leaving right after that.”

“Goodbye, human Anna James.”

I chuckled. “Goodbye, Scavegirl Jo. I’ll never forget everything you’ve done for me.”

She smiled. “Nor I you.”

Ben came to see me later in the morning.
 

“Have you eaten today?” he asked.

“Yes.” I looked at him curiously. “Ben?”

He raised his eyebrows as he opened the curtains wider to let more light in. The day seemed unusually dreary outside.
 

“Is Atavia still saying I have to be in here?” I really wanted to sneak out and talk to Cassie. I had been scheming since Jo left how I was going to get that chance.

“Yes,” he answered.
 

I sighed. “Of course she is.”

“She’s not going to change her mind, Ms. James,” he told me. “She feels more secure with you … secured.”

I rolled my eyes. I was so sick of this bed, this room, their queen. “For my lunchtime meal, can I request that the one maidservant who doesn’t speak bring me my food?”

He glanced at me as if trying to read my mind to decide if I were up to something.

“Because,” I said quickly. “I don’t feel like talking to anyone today. Sometimes the maidservants talk to me. I’m just not in the mood for chitchat, and I know for sure that one won’t strike up a conversation.”

“I can tell the maidservants not to speak to you,” he reassured me.

“No, just send that one. She’ll be in and out. And that goes for you, too,” I added. “You don’t have to check up on me again today. I don’t want to be disturbed.”

He eyed me up again as I collapsed back into the bed with my arm over my eyes as if pouting. I was trying my best to show him a classic human trait and hoped he’d send Cassie. I promised I’d take her back with me. I had to speak with her.

When there was a knock on my door around noon, I jumped out of bed realizing I had fallen asleep with my arm still covering my eyes. It took me a moment to realize where I was as if I had dreamt this entire thing.

I licked my dry lips and walked over to the door, praying it was Cassie.
 

“Come in,” I shouted.

The door opened and in she came, the only other human on Evadere. I saw Ben standing right outside the door. I briefly glanced at him and then shut the door behind Cassie.

“They said you requested me,” Cassie hissed. “What’s going on?”

“We don’t have much time to talk,” I whispered back, looking around is if there were cameras on me. “I needed to tell you I’m leaving.”

“Where? To Earth?” she asked.

“Yes,” I answered. “Right after Mrs. Anderson’s execution.”

“The witch?” she asked.

“Yeah, that’s her,” I whispered. “I’m meeting up with Emry right after and then he’s transporting me back. Are you coming with me?”

She hesitated and looked at her hands, realizing she still held the tray. She set it down on a small table.

“You don’t want to go now?” I asked. I couldn’t believe she was even considering staying here with Atavia.

“I’m just worried that the Queen will somehow find out I’ve deceived her all these years,” Cassie confessed.

I glanced back at the door, realizing every extra moment with Cassie would be suspicious to Ben. “She won’t. Just find me during the execution and stay close by. Your family misses you.”

“Another thing I’m worried about is going back. I’ve always dreamt of it, but actually doing it …”

“You’ve got to go now. Ben will be wondering why you’re still in here,” I told her. “You’re a human, Cassie. You didn’t ask to be here. It’s time you got your chance to go back home.”

Chapter 14

I watched out the window the following day. Groups of contributors poured into the castle yard crowding together. They were all dressed nicely in gowns and white suits while Atavia’s servants kept trying to keep them all happy with replenished tables of food and drink.

Ben knocked and entered my room. He came up behind me and stood with his hands folded behind his back.

“What are all these contributors doing here?” I questioned him.

He looked out the window from over my shoulder. “Today’s the day.”

“Execution day?”
 

He nodded. “I guess you’re in the mood to talk today?”

I frowned at his sarcasm. “Yeah.”

“You’ve changed your mood again,” he pointed out.

“I didn’t know it was going to be today. Today is when I go back to Earth then,” I stated.

He walked over to the bookshelf and then turned around to face me. “I thought you didn’t want to be here?”

“I just want to be with Emry.”

“The future king has responsibilities here. I’m not a relationship counselor. I don’t know how to help fix your emotions.”
 

Ben always seemed so calm, like a machine. “I’m not asking you to fix anything. Never mind. You’re a contributor. You don’t get it. And aren’t you the least bit sad yourself?”

“Why should I be?” he asked.

“Because it’s your sister who is being publicly executed today.”

“I figured you were going to refer to that.” He sighed. “Ms. James, my
sister
hasn’t been my sister in a very long time, since we were children. She practices a dark magic I’ve never had the intention of getting involved with. Just because we share the same blood line … She’s ill, as I see it. She’s done nothing but center her life around attempting to destroy the royal blood line. She’s had second and third chances, and it’s always turned out the same. It’s time we’ve rid ourselves of her.”

Amazing that he could just wash his hands of her so easily. He showed no remorse, no feeling. How I wished I could be like that today. I just wanted to be numb of all of the feelings I had of Emry Logan and rid myself of them once and for all.
 

“So all these contributors have come to witness this horrific thing that’s about to happen?” I asked.

He nodded. “Queen Atavia has invited all contributors. She needs to patch up her reputation after what’s happened to Raleigh, and she needs to set an example.”

“These people see it as a party?”

“Most of these people are just excited to set foot within the bounds of the castle as they’ve never had the opportunity before.”

“And you don’t think the Scaves will come?” I pried.