Sunset Rising

“Oh my god, I am so sorry!” I flew into a sitting position. Jack was wide awake and smiling at me… or maybe he was laughing. It was hard to tell.

“I don’t mind.”

“I was asleep. I didn’t know what I was doing.” I rolled off the bed and stood up. “I’m so embarrassed.”

“There’s no reason to be embarrassed.” Jack got out of bed, too. He stood close to me and brushed a lock of hair away from my face. “It’s not your fault. I’m just a hard guy to resist.” Laughter lit up his face.

I rolled my eyes at him and left the bedroom. I went to the faucet and splashed cold water on my blushing face. Jack’s habits really were rubbing off on me. Just a few weeks ago it would never have occurred to me to waste water like this.

“Well, we made it through the night,” Jack said. Our imminent capture was probably weighing heavily on his mind too.

“I barely slept at all.”

“Oh, I think you got a few good hours.” Jack gave me a wicked smile before he ducked his head toward the sink and splashed water on his face.

I dropped the towel next to him and went into the bedroom to put my vest back on. It felt heavier every time I wore it.

“You can’t wear that again today. It almost killed you yesterday.”

“I can’t show up to work ten pounds lighter either,” I snapped. “I’ll just have to stay on Madi’s good side so I can get my water ration.” Although I knew that was easier said than done. She was cruising for a fight.

We put our hats on and left the apartment. “You’re not in a very good mood today.”

“I can’t imagine why. My life is so fantastic.”

He was right, though. My mood was particularly bad. Not only was I feeling vulnerable with my identity exposed, I wasn’t altogether happy that not many people had showed up the night before. All the hope I convinced myself of seemed to have been dashed with a bad night’s sleep. And the only thing I had to look forward to was going to work in a room that was hotter than Hades under the glare of a sadistic supervisor. I was exhausted.

Jack put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him as we walked toward the common room. I stiffened at his touch at first, but decided to let him do it. We looked like any other married couple on their way to breakfast. I put my arm around his waist.

“Try to remember we have people down here on our side now,” he said in a low voice. “Even if someone wants to turn us in for the credits, it will probably be Liberty guards who come looking for us.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him. “You mean Alliance guards?” He gave me a wry smile. “I wish I could feel as confident as you do.” Maybe it was the lack of sleep the night before, but I really couldn’t shake this feeling of doom.

It was still early, and there wasn’t a big line-up to get into the common room. A guard stood by the door as usual.

“Good morning, sir. Ma’am,” he said as we walked through the door.

Jack bid him good morning, but I was too shocked to speak. No one had ever called me “ma’am” before, let alone a guard.

“Why did he call me that?” I whispered.

“He’s trained to show respect to his leaders.”

“But I’m not his leader.”

The woman serving the food greeted us with a huge smile. She grabbed one of my hands with both of hers and held it warmly for a moment. “You’re doing a good thing,” she said. She gave Jack a smile too before she passed us our containers of food, water, and cups of hot tea. “A treat this morning.”

“Hot tea? What’s going on?” I said to Jack once we were seated.

“You’re a hero to your people, Su

“But I haven’t done anything to deserve the title.”

I wasn’t a hero. I had been a naïve girl who had fallen for Leisel’s lies and was on the run from her father. I suddenly felt bad for keeping that truth to myself so everyone would think I was someone I was not.

“Sure you have. Stop being so hard on yourself.”

I gulped my breakfast down and drank my water. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get a lunch break today or not, so my meal was especially important to me.

The room was starting to fill up, and it surprised me every time someone walked by and greeted us. Some people I recognized from the night before, others I didn’t. It concerned me that so many people knew who we were.

“Drink the tea. It lowers body temperature, which you could use in that hot laundry room,” Jack said.

“Really?” I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not, but I drank the tea anyway.

I absentmindedly watched Crystal leave the room. The day before I would have run to catch up with her and try to find out what she knew about Jack, but there was no longer any doubt in my mind she knew who we both were. I wondered if she would tell Madi.

“Su

“What?”

Jack gave me a puzzled look. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Just preoccupied. I guess now that everyone knows who we are I’m feeling vulnerable. I don’t know how you’re not feeling that way, too.”

“I am feeling that way. I’m just better at ignoring it. I take comfort in the fact that we have guards down here on our side. I know you still don’t trust them, though, and I understand." He picked up my hands from the table, held them in his, and looked at me with his intense blue eyes. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe.” I appreciated his reassurances, but I just didn’t believe them. He was every bit as powerless as I was.

“I better get to work. I’m usually there waiting for Madi, and I don’t want to disappoint her this morning!” I tried to sound cheerful. I really did need to shake off the melancholy mood.

Jack and I stood up at the same time. He slung his arm around my shoulders and squeezed me against him as we walked through the door and out into the hall. I knew he was just trying to show his support and put me in a better mood.

“Be careful at work. Drink water today,” he said then kissed the top of my head and started the climb down the stairs toward the coal mine. I watched him go until he was out of sight.

I walked the few flights up to the laundry room. Crystal was already there, as I knew she would be.

“Good morning, Su

I stopped dead in my tracks and gave her a blank look.

“Don’t look so surprised. Everyone knows who you are now. Although, I figured it out the first time I saw you with Jack Ke

So I had been right. She had recognized him. “How do you know Jack?” There was no point in keeping secrets now.

“I sing at all the presidential parties and di

I tried to imagine him at a stuffy party as Leisel’s fiancé but couldn’t. The Jack I knew didn’t fit the image of presidential heir. And the thought made me a little mad. I didn’t want to think of him as a bourge, particularly one who had a relationship with the president’s daughter. Yet he must have fit in at those parties.

“What was he like up there?” I asked hesitantly, not sure I really wanted to know.

“I never talked to him personally, but he always seemed polite to everyone. I did notice that whenever they brought girls up from the Pit for their parties, he never touched them. That is, until he left with you the night of his bachelor party.”

“You were there? At the bachelor party?” I asked in surprise.

Crystal nodded. “I was serving the head table. I belong to Malcolm West, one of the president’s closest advisors.”

“You belong to Malcolm West?” She nodded again. I wasn’t really sure how it worked between a bourge and someone he claimed as his own. “Just like my friend belongs to Holt,” I mused out loud.

“You know Summer?”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. It never occurred to me that she would know Summer, too. “Yes. But don’t tell anyone she knows me!” I was horrified that I had just divulged that information. “If Holt ever knew she was my friend, he’d use her to get to me.”