Fragments - Book One of the Missing

Chapter 19 - Rowan

Rowan stretched, feeling the stiffness in her shoulders and back. She must have passed out for a good part of the afternoon. She hadn't done too much else other than sleep, eat and read recently. Except for the other night. She put two fingers to her lips as if she could still feel Taniel's lips there.

She sighed. Taniel was a distraction. There were too many other things she should be thinking about. She was just too emotionally drained to focus on them. And there was nothing else for her to do, no one to look after. So of course she let Taniel fill the void. She couldn't let that happen.

But she missed her sisters. She missed Olive's quick laughter and Rosie's brightness. She even missed Margeaux, and just having her there; that old tether that tied them together from infancy.

She pressed her face into the couch to push the thought out of her head.

"Rowan, time to wake up." She rolled over to see Scooter sitting in a desk chair. "I think Gills would bop me on the head if he knew I was asking you this, but I also think he'd be mad if he had to sleep on that couch for another night."

She nodded in agreement. The twill and lumpy cushions were not welcome companions.

Scooter leaned back, interlacing his hands behind his head, a conspiratorial glint in his eyes. "Let's go on an epic adventure for a new bed! Gills never has to know." He laughed. "Okay, maybe it would be obvious, but we will be extra careful to keep you safe."

Rowan couldn't hide it, the excitement of another raid had vanquished all her previous exhaustion and nostalgia. They brainstormed the places they could find another, albeit small mattress.

"I saw a mattress store by the corner of Adam and Garner. We could check there."

"Amateur hour," Scooter scoffed. "Mattress stores were broken into long ago for use in the Underground. Too many recruits and it was an easy pillage." For a brief moment she wondered how he knew all of this. But remembering sent her tensing involuntarily.

"Why didn't you rejoin the Underground, Scooter?" She hadn't asked earlier, but she should have. The difference could mean everything.

He sighed. "For a lot of reasons, but long story short, it was for Gills. Gills wanted to be his own person, and wanted to rid himself of their antics forever. None of us will forget what Wills and his cronies did to us. But at least we had protection from the Officials, we had food, people watching our backs. And they wanted our city back... who wouldn't want that?

"But when he got back to Fenesmere they tracked him down and beat him. It wasn't pretty. Sure, we had gone through it a hundred times as kids, but we aren't the brats we used to be. As for me, my loyalty lies with Gills. It was his decision, but I was happy to follow my brother."

Her first thought was of guilt. She had judged them so unfairly. They were good people in bad circumstances. And for Taniel? He had to watch his back or get dragged into it all over again. Her second thought was of fear. If she was running from the Officials, and they were running from the Underground, where did that leave them?

"Alright, where do you suppose we look?"

He pointed at the map. They decided to head into another abandoned part of the city.

She restrained from fidgeting. She knew they stole to survive. That nothing they did was malicious. In fact, the more she learned about them, the more she knew their characters were stronger than most. But it didn't lessen the stream of thoughts about families that had lived there before.

"Relax, Rowan. You look like you just ate a sour grape. The people are long gone. No one is coming home for their belongings. And we can't just keep waiting for them. Trust me." He said this as though he had lost a long and trying battle. Totally defeated. Of course he would know the feeling of loss. And now at this point, what more did they have to lose?