Sunset Rising

“It’s not fu

“I don’t know how this rebellion of yours is going to work if we don’t get more people involved,” Jack said, his voice serious.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. Our time here is ru

“It’s not a stupid idea. We’ll find a way to make it work.”

As he talked, the rhythmic sound of his deep voice hypnotised me. I let go of all my fears and allowed myself to feel secure in his arms. Sleep took me almost instantly.

Chapter Twenty-Five

I bolted awake, my heart pounding, an image of Madi still burned into my mind. I’d dreamed that she wasn’t dead when I dumped her and that she was climbing back up the mineshaft looking for me. Now that I was awake, the dream seemed ridiculous. She was very dead when I sent her down there.

I was all over Jack again, just as he had predicted. My legs were entwined with his and my arm was sprawled across his chest. He was snoring softly, so I gently eased myself away from him and got out of bed. My stomach was protesting the fact that I’d missed di

I was wide awake now and knew there was little chance of getting back to sleep. The back of my neck was tight with stress, and my head ached. I decided to exercise. It always eased my stress whenever I worked out with Jack.

“Su

“You’ll be happy to know I’m working out. You’ve taught me well, Jack,” I said between deep breaths.

He stumbled his way into the living room, stubbing his toe on one of the chairs. When he was done cursing, he joined me on the floor. “You couldn’t sleep?”

“Bad dreams.”

“You shouldn’t let it bother you. I bet a lot of people in the laundry room will be happy today when she doesn’t show up.”

“It doesn’t bother me that Madi is dead. It bothers me that I killed her.”

“And yet you want to start a rebellion. People always get killed when there’s a struggle for power. No one’s going to miss a supervisor like Madi. They won’t blame you for killing her. They’ll respect you.”

“People aren’t going to know I killed her.”

“I thought there were other people in the room when it happened?”

“Di and Crystal were, but they won’t say anything.”

“Maybe not to a guard, but they’ll talk.”

The bong bongs rang out, and the lights clicked on. Jack had taken off his t-shirt, and there was a film of sweat on his muscular torso. I averted my eyes since I found the sight a little too appealing. I got up and filled the sink with cold water.

“I’ll give you some privacy if you want to get washed. But don’t drain the water,” Jack said as he left the room.

I bathed as quickly as I could, fearing he would come in while I was naked, but he remained a gentleman. Then we exchanged rooms, and I found more clean clothes in the bag Bron had brought us. I put the hated vest on and went back out when Jack was done.

The line for breakfast was already getting long by the time we got to the common room. People greeted us cheerfully when we joined the queue. It shocked me that Jack and I had become so well known in such a short span of time. Just the day before I had been a stressed-out ball of nerves waiting for Domers to come and take us away at gunpoint and hand us over to President Holt. Today I was being addressed as ma’am by the guards and had complete strangers wanting to shake my hand. It all felt so foreign, but it did help me to feel more confident that no one would turn us in.

Jack and I collected our rations and found a seat alone together. Despite my nervousness at the thought of returning to the scene of the crime, I was starving.

“You want mine, too?” Jack asked when he saw me gulping down my breakfast.

“No, thank you.” I was embarrassed at eating so fast. I was getting far too comfortable around him.

I looked around the room and saw Crystal get up and head for the door. She was leaving for work already. She walked with her head down, hiding her face behind the curtain of her long hair.

“Are you going to be okay this morning?”

“I have to be.”

We pushed our chairs back and left the room, heading for our respective jobs. I tried to squelch the nervousness in my stomach, but it wouldn’t go away. Jack reached for my hand and held it as we walked along the hall to the stairs. I was grateful for his support. He kissed the top of my head before he left, as had become his habit. I watched him walk down the stairs until I couldn’t see him anymore, as had become mine. I climbed the few levels to the laundry room.

Crystal was already there, standing in front of the doors looking a little lost. The bruising on her face was worse today. One of her eyes was almost swollen shut. She had a hand protectively wrapped around her side where Madi had kicked her.

“I’m not sure what to do,” Crystal whispered when I walked up to her.

“Just stay here as if we’re waiting for her. That’s what we do every morning.”

“Okay. By the way, I saw your friend last night.”

“Summer?”

Crystal nodded.

“You didn’t tell her what I did, did you?” I didn’t want Summer to know. I was worried about what she would think of me.

“No. I’m not going to tell anybody what we did. I just told her what you wanted me to tell her. She says she misses you, too. She also said that the president is getting really upset because you and Jack haven’t been found yet. He had a complete door-to-door search done in the Dome and didn’t find any sign of you. He’s finally begi

“I’m surprised he hasn’t looked here yet. I mean, what is it that makes him think we wouldn’t come here?”

“Because he still thinks of Jack as one of them. As much as the Holts hate the Ke

“They must know I would come home, though.” Could Holt really be that blinded by his own prejudices?

“Don’t forget, Leisel told her father that Jack married you for love, and he believes that every good wife follows her husband. It’s never occurred to him that Jack would follow you. But he’s come up empty looking for you two in the Dome.”

“How much time do you think we have left?” I knew I should be grateful for the amount of time we’d already had, but it still made me anxious to know that my death was getting closer.

“I don’t know. Last night I overheard the president tell Mr. Forbes to put together a search team for the Pit. You might have a day or two at the most. Su

I nodded.

“How did you and Jack end up married?”

“Leisel tricked us into it so she could discredit Jack. But don’t tell. Everyone thinks our marriage is a big love story.”

“You mean it isn’t a love story?” Crystal looked confused. “I see the way Jack looks at you. He never looked at Leisel like that.”

Her confession surprised me. I didn’t really think Jack was attracted to me. “No, we’re not together like that.” I shook my head. “Like every bourge I’ve ever met, he likes the finer things in life, and I’m… well, I’m just me. An urchin.”

“I think you’re wrong—on both counts.”

The conversation made me uncomfortable. “So things went okay at the party last night?”

“Mr. West was really angry when I showed up with a black eye. He likes me to look pretty when I sing at public events. He demanded to know who gave it to me, so I told him truthfully. He talked about sending his own guards down here to have a word with Madi. I’m sorry. I should’ve lied. I didn’t expect him to take any action.”

I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You had to tell the truth. If you lied, then you would be implicating someone who didn’t deserve punishment.” She nodded. “Just remember, if they do show up, act like you know nothing. We came to work this morning and Madi didn’t.”