His Red Queen

Chapter Twenty-one

Shade and I leave the house at dawn. How fitting for us, members of the Scarlet Guard. Though, I don't doubt that they are angry at me. The thought makes me cringe, reminding me that I am no better than Maven. But he isn't here right now. I push all thoughts of him aside and try to focus on the task at hand; follow Shade and get the hell out of here.

The only clothes left behind by our family is a few of Bree's old jackets, threadbare and fraying in some places. They're too big on both of us but that is not an issue. It's near freezing outside and being right near the river does not help with the chill.

The two of us make our way through the town with our heads down, desperately trying to avoid any confrontation or recognization by locals. I pull the hood over my head. The few people who are out already are busy working. As long as I keep my head down, no one should recognize me. Well, I hope not.

To my left, some fishermen are getting the boats prepped for the day's work. It tugs at my heart, reminding me of Kilorn. And then I remember how selfish I have been not to inquire about him.

"Do you know where Kilorn is?" I keep my voice low as more people start to emerge from the stilt houses and begin working in the endless cycle of servitude they have become all too familiar with.

Shade stops in his tracks. "I knew I forgot to tell you something."

"What?" I pull him down an empty alleyway and duck between crates of something that smells just as bad as the crowd on first Friday. I grit my teeth. "What happened to him?"

"We still need to break him out of prison. Farley got out but he wasn't so lucky."

I don't know whether to feel relived for Farley or angry at her for not helping Kilorn escape. "What do we do?"

"I don't have clearance to explain to you but she does." He looks around and sighs. "Ready to jump again?"

"Why didn't we just jump from the house?" A couple of kids peer down the alleyway and I turn my back to them. "That would have been a lot smarter than going out here and exposing my identity."

Shade rolls his eyes and shoos the kids away. When they're gone, he sighs. "I didn't think it through."

"Okay, Mr. Scarlet Guard," I tease. He does not find it funny, rather, he looks hurt and annoyed.

"Shut up, please," he warns. It was definitely a dumb idea to mention the Scarlet Guard out here. But it's not like, they are unknown. Most Reds that are around us would not think twice about hearing about the Scarlet Guard.

"Who's down there?" A gruff voice from
Behind us shouts.

Shade furrows his brows, squinting at the figure. "Sorry, sir." We head towards the other end of the alley and the man leaves, mumbling under his breath.

When he's finally gone, Shade takes a deep breath before putting a hand on my shoulder. Everything goes black.

In the immense darkness, there are little bright sparks of color. Silver and red—a mix of both.

Once again, I feel like a fraying wire and my stomach does flips over and over and over again until we appear in the woods somewhere I have never been before.

I stumble from the sensation of materializing somewhere out of thin air and am about to vomit when Shade says, "Sorry, we have to make one more jump. Had to make two." I curse but he quickly puts an arm around me and that horrible spinning, pulling, electric, darkness ensues. Then suddenly—

I throw up all over the floor of what seems to be the inside of some sort of cabin. How far did we jump?

When I look up, Farley and Cal are looming over me. Shade is beside me and offers to help me up but I swat his hand away.