Ethereal
Chapter 27

An Unexpected Twist

I slowed down once I passed the marketplace, turning around to make sure no one had followed me. The night was only beginning, and the Camp seemed to come alive the darker the sky grew. The same barrels that littered the courtyard were everywhere. There was a barrel in front of every tent and hut around me, lighting up every square inch of darkness. It looks like I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t too fond of the night. Only where I was afraid of the darkness itself, these people were afraid of what laid in the dark instead.

My breaths were coming out in ragged pants, my heart beating loudly in my chest. There was no where else for me to go tonight – I wasn’t even sure where I was going to sleep. But I sure as hell couldn’t go back to the courtyard, not after the scene I just made. Especially not after the look that Jax gave me before I bolted, his eyes slipping down to my swollen lips as he saved my life once again.

I kept my head down and threw my hands into my pockets, weaving in and out of people as I trailed along the looming wall that caged me inside of the Camp. The smell of roasting meat caught my attention, bringing me eye to eye with a vendor who was turning skinned rats over a fire. I wrinkled my nose in distaste, my hunger suddenly vanishing. Next to the rat vendor, a woman wearing a red bandana over her greying hair was handing out loaves of bread. I crept closer to her stall, leaning in as I breathed in the smell of the freshly baking bread.

“How much?” I said, motioning to the loaves.

The woman looked from the bread and back to me. “Three rats.”

“I only have coins,” I said, my voice wavering. I pulled out a single coin and put it on the counter, watching as her eyebrows shot up her forehead. “How much can I get for this?”

“Three loaves,” she said, though it sounded more like a question.

I puffed up my chest and lifted my chin higher. I’ve bartered with vendors before. I knew what kind of game she was playing.

“Six.” I said, giving her my counteroffer. I had no idea how much this money was worth in the Camps, and vendors will gladly take advantage of an ill-informed buyer. The only way I was going to learn was through trial and error.

“Six?” the woman said, giving me a fake laugh. “You jest. Four loaves.”

“Five.”

The woman frowned, her forehead pinching as she thought. “Okay,” she said, “four loaves and my honey will cook you a rat. Take it or leave it.”

I glanced over my shoulder at the man turning the rats over the fire pit. He glanced over at me and smiled, showing me all his five teeth.

“Deal.” I said. The orphanage had experienced its fair share of food shortages over the years, but we had never been hungry enough to consider alternative options such as rats. But who knew? Maybe it tasted like chicken.

The woman brought out four hot loaves of bread, making my mouth water. She gave me a small cloth bag to carry it all in, then shooed me away. I stopped and grabbed my rat on a stick before leaving, the man handing me the frayed rodent and suggested I start at the head and leave the tail for last – as it was the juiciest part.

I backtracked to the wall, setting my food down between my legs as I eased my back against the concrete. Should I eat the rat first, or the bread? I wondered. I knew I could stomach cold bread, but I cold rat I wasn’t so sure about. Without another thought, I pinched off a chunk of meat off the middle of the rodent, tentatively pushing it past my lips as I began to chew.

Rat did not taste like chicken.

It had a stringy taste to it, more like pigeon or rabbit. It was necessarily bad, but I forced myself to finish it off entirely, even licking the bones at the end in an effort to fill my stomach. I turned to the bread after I left the bones discarded besides me, ripping it in half as I inhaled the warm smell.

I finished the first half before I felt a pair of eyes on me. A child was staring at the second half in my hands from her spot inside a tent across the way, her eyes bulging out of her head as though she had never seen piece of bread before in her life.

I sat up straighter, my fingers picking apart the grains before I motioned for her to come over. The girl crawled out of the tent on her hands and knees, resembling an animal more than a young child. She crept closer to me, her eyes flicking from the bread in my hands to me, making sure I wasn’t trying to trick her. I held the bread out, letting her rip it from my hands as she retreated back into her tent as she quickly wolfed it down and licked the crumbs from her hands.

I watched until she was done, looking around for her family. Was she alone? There was no one else in the tent except her, and I felt my stomach twist. The girl looked back over at me, hunger still plain in her eyes, and stared as I pulled another loaf out of my bag and held it out to her. Maybe it was stupid of me to give out my food portions so generously, but the little girl’s cheeks were sunken in, her arms and legs twigs below her. While I was being fed three meals a day back on Jax’s ship, she was starving.

Jax wasn’t lying, I realize. The Camp is much worse than I originally thought.

The girl came forward again, reaching out and grabbing the entire loaf out of my hands now. She said nothing as she scampered backwards and into her tent. I hoped that would tide her over until someone came to get her, if they were.

“Ya know the saying – ya feed a stray, you get the whole pack.” Said a voice.

I turned my head, gazing up past the official’s white suit and stared into the black mask. The voice sounded familiar.

“Edwin?” I said, scoffing. The Camp had a twenty-mile-long wall with hundreds of thousands of people shoved in here, and somehow, I managed to replace him again? On my first night back, no less?

Edwin growled, shoving the tip of his gun under my chin. “Don’t be sayin’ my name, maggot.”

“Aw, Eddie, I didn’t know how much I missed you until now. How’s your mom doing?” I said, sarcasm dripping off my lips.

Edwin growled again, until he suddenly stopped. He took a step backwards, and if he weren’t wearing his mask I’m sure he would be giving me a creepy smile as he glared down at me.

“I heard a little rumor that a little maggot was going around, asking questions.” He said.

“God forbid.”

Edwin acted like he couldn’t hear me. “Sayin’ somethin about replacein’ her parents. Elouise and Henry, if I’m right?” he said.

I kept my face neutral, trying not to react to him. If he wanted to get a rise out of me, he was going to be sorely disappointed.

“But what ya didn’t mention,” Edwin continued, “is ya brother. Marcus, if I’m right?”

My blood froze. No one – no one, knew about Marcus. I hadn’t mentioned him to anybody today – unless –

“You know where they are,” I said, rising to my feet.

Edwin cocked his head, letting me see the fire that reflected back against the black of his mask. “I have a general idea,” he said. He chuckled slightly then, as if he had said something amusing.

“Tell me,” I said, my hands curling into balls at my side. He could be doing this just to get a rouse out of me, but even if he was trying to start something there was no way he could have known about Marcus. He knew something about my family – and I was going to replace out what it was.

“What’s in it for me, maggot?” he said.

I quickly yanked out the small bundle of coins from my jacket and held it out in my hand.

“Five Citadel coins. Enough to get you a weeks’ worth of rations, if not more.” I said.

Edwin laughed, the sound muffled by his helmet. “I prefer to get my food elsewhere, maggot. Rats ain’t filling,” he patted his stomach.

I lowered my hand. There was nothing else that I could offer an official that would interest him. Maybe he liked liquor?

“What about alcohol? I know officials can’t drink on duty, but –“

“I already have a guy, maggot. Try again.”

I fumbled with my words, unsure of what else I could offer. I felt panic lacing the edges of my heart. This was the closest I’ve gotten to replaceing out about my family in thirteen years, and my chance was going to slip out of my hands and there was nothing I could do about it.

“Ya know what? I like you, maggot. So I’ll tell ya free of charge.” Edwin said. I almost hugged him, until he began to laugh again, his helmet and shoulders shaking from his giddiness. “Oh yeah, I remember little old Elouise and Henry.” He said. “Their boy was a right old maggot. Always sneaking around, trying to replace a way to leave the Camp. Then, they got it in their heads that they should join the Riots, and tried to blow up the wall. That didn’t end up so well for them.”

I blinked, trying to make sense of what he was telling me. They joined the Riots? What did that mean? And blowing up the wall? Is that where the scorch marks were from?

“Ya still confused, maggot? Or should I spell it out for ya?” he said. Edwin leaned in close, his mask almost touching my nose. “Your little maggot family was idiots for joining the Rioters, but they were plain stupid for getting killed once their little plan didn’t work.”

I felt my chest tighten, the air around me feeling as though it had altogether disappeared.

“You’re lying,” I managed to say.

“Am I?” he said, leaning back. “I still got a little souvenir from ya maggot brother. Still had it in his hand, up until the end. Had to have it – a man’s gotta enjoy the simple pleasures in life, ya?” his fingers reached into the pocket of his shirt, and pulled out a tiny, blue marble.

I stopped feeling the hard tug in my chest. I couldn’t feel my legs or feet below me. It was like I was floating in midair, staring down at everything that was happening but unable to comprehend any of it. It all came slamming back down in an instant as I tumbled backwards, my head connecting with the wall behind me as I lost my balance and fell. A faint stinging in my cheek told me that Edwin slapped me, hard.

“I said look at me when I’m talkin’ to ya, maggot.” He said. Edwin crouched down with his hands on his knees as he looked me in the eye. “I want ya to know that whatever ya might be thinkin’ right now, that ya maggot family deserved what they got. Every bit.”

I don’t know how I went from lying crumpled against the wall to holding Edwin by the neck, choking the life out of him. The world was screaming all around me, calling my name. I heard my parents, the shouts of my brother, the blinding glare of car headlights as my family was ripped away from me.

Edwin’s hand shot up and punched me in the jaw, throwing me clean off him. I heard him pull the handgun out of his holster as he tried to get up and fell back down again, the mud proving to be too slippery even for him.

My mind didn’t register the fact that I was about to die until the heard the click of Edwin’s gun as a bullet was loaded into the chamber, and he aimed it at my head. I rolled just as he pulled the trigger, hearing the zip of the bullet land in the mud just a few inches from my head. I grabbed a fistful of mud and flung it at him, hitting his mask.

Edwin grunted, trying to use both of his hands as he wiped the mud from his mask so he could see. I ran at him, throwing us both backwards as we collapsed into the mud and Edwin blindly swung his gun and pulled the trigger.

My body fell off his, lying face down in the mud as I waited for the pain from the bullet to come, but it never did. I sat up, feeling up and down my chest and then inspecting my arms and legs for any signs of bleeding. I looked over at Edwin and felt the blood drain from my face.

Blind from the mud on his mask, and in the confusion of us wrestling in the mud, Edwin tried and failed to shoot me off him, and ended up shooting himself in the chest while he was trying to aim for me.

I stared as the dark red puddle slowly began to grow, but Edwin’s chest didn’t rise or fall. He was already dead. My fingers moved on their own accord, my mind numb as I slipped into his pocket and retrieving my brother’s blue marble off his body. I looked down into its swirling blue, remembering how I used to think it held the entire galaxy within its tinted glass, and tucked it into my shirt pocket.

My eyes lifted up from his body, connecting again with the little girl I had given bread to earlier. She was unaffected from the sight of the body, her eyes watching both of us warily as she continued to chew on her bread, as though someone was going to take it away from her.

“Nor?”

I looked over to see Jax standing a few feet away, his face white. A wave of relief washed over me at that instant, and the feeling returned to my hands and feet. My mind whirled back to life as I felt tears beginning to drip down my chin.

“I – I didn’t mean it,” I said, my voice shaking, “he tried to shoot me, but he couldn’t see, and he hit –“

“Himself, I know.” Jax said. He crouched down and helped pull me up, his warm arms wrapping themselves tightly around me. “I was following you since the courtyard, but I left to get food for – me.” The last word came out after a brief hesitation, as though Jax was going to say something else and then thought better of it. I pictured the little boy from earlier, and understood what he meant to say instead. “I heard the first gunshot and came running. Somehow I knew…” his voice trailed off, pulling me closer to his chest.

“Jax,” I said, feeling my shoulders tremble. “what am I going to do now?”

Jax pulled away from me, brushing a piece of hair out of my face.

“If the officials catch you, they’ll hang you.” He said, his voice soft. “But I’m going to get you out of here before they do.”

“What?” I said, “By out do you mean –“

“Yes,” Jax said. “I’m getting you out of the Camp. Tonight.”