Deprived

Chapter 13

Back home that evening, Maize paced the floor in her apartment. William was on his way to see her. She wanted to change plans, skip seeing him because she needed time to think about the note left in her cubicle. She had to come up with a plan. Although she already knew part of that plan involved meeting the owner of the note alone.

The message, left by the stranger, played over and over in her head.

If you want Liam to live, meet me at Celeste community farm tomorrow night at 7 pm. Alone.

But all she heard was that someone wanted to hurt her baby brother.

Maize was always protective of Liam, but now that he was sick, she wanted to protect him even more, and it didn't matter if she was forbidden to return to the village. She would find a way.

Having to wait until tomorrow night to meet the stranger of the note was torture. She would have to conduct a full day of productive work at the Finders Department before heading off to meet the stranger. Why didn't they write what they wanted in the note? Or ask to meet her tonight?

A meeting tonight would have at least kept her mind from worry, her heart from anxiety.

Maize looked at the time on the comm device strapped on her hand. It was 6:30 pm. William would be there in half an hour.

She walked to the bathroom and looked over herself in the mirror. She wore her hair down. Whatever Liz had put in her hair had outlasted a couple of washes. Her curls were still tame and lush.

The gray dress hanging in her closet fit comfortably. She was glad to wear something other than the pantsuit she wore all day.

William said he would bring a night meal. The contents of the meal would be a surprise, he said. He wanted her to try some of his favorite foods and see if she liked them.

Maize rubbed a hand over her stomach. She had seen first-hand what the medicine and food in Wisteria had done to her own body. She was constantly full of energy. Even when she was under dire stress, her body recovered quickly.

Though her mind was always clear to undergo the rigorous school curriculum at the Finishing school, it had gotten sharper.

Maize truly believed she had gotten smarter since she'd been through quarantine. Whatever the pink-eyed people had pumped into her body had revived her—the chronic stomach pain which had her folded over in pain at least once a day for most of her life had vanished.

Maize had to admit. Wisteria was a remarkable place. The river, trees, flowers, the Oasis, the medicine and technology, seeds harvested and preserved before the great war, the Eden-food, as they called it, that still existed in abundance.

The fact that they didn't help those in the village showed the leadership's hatred for them. It showed the deep deception and manipulation involved in all of this.

According to Jack, the leadership kept the cure to the virus from the villagers because it wasn't the right timing to release it. Pure evil.

But Maize wasn't shocked. She and her nana had always suspected they had a cure and were deliberately keeping it from them. Now because of Jack's confession, she was sure of that.

Maize walked over to the window. She looked up and searched the sky, shrouded in darkness, and spotted one star. She missed the diamond-speckled sky in her village. Gazing at the stars was her pleasure, her nightly ritual. On a night that was too cold at home, she would explore the stars through her bedroom window. It was one of the only things that made her feel happy. The stars were always there, and even on a cloudy night, she knew they were still there.