I turned my head side to side to make sure.
Yes, everyone in the tent—in fact everyone I’d seen since Ketta, Jolie, and I had arrived last night—was male.
Were there no girls at the Haven? Or maybe there were but they ate elsewhere?
Maybe that was where my friends had been taken—to the girls’ tents—while I’d been required to share a bed with King Kong.
Elias took a plate for himself and handed one to me.
“Take whatever looks good to you. There’s plenty, so don’t be shy about it.”
I took him at his word and loaded up my plate with my free hand. Then Elias led me to the end of one of the long tables where we sat across from each other.
The other guys at our table stopped eating and simply stared at me.
They looked… fascinated.
Surely there had been girls back at their bases? Even if they’d gone to a boys-only school, they’d at least had mothers or older sisters.
If not—if Ketta and Jolie and I were the only girls here at the Haven, the only girls they’d ever seen—our stay here might be a little… uncomfortable.
“Where are my friends?” I asked Elias. “I want to see them.”
He stopped wolfing down his food long enough to look up at me then around at the gawking guys.
“Eat,” he ordered them. “With your mouths—not your eyes.”
They immediately turned back to their plates and each other, studiously not looking at us again for the duration of the meal.
“Your friends are safe,” he said to me. “They’re fine. They ate earlier.”
“When can I see them?”
“After you’ve all been debriefed.”
“And what does that involve? Debriefing?” I asked.
By now I’d resigned myself to the fact that it would happen—now I just wanted to get it over with.
“How long will it take?”
“We’ll see. I guess it depends on how cooperative you all are.”
“They don’t know anything,” I assured him. “They came along because I told them the Haven would be a safe place for us. Because they trusted me. I hope I wasn’t wrong.”
“Me too. That’s up to you as well, I guess.”
The ginger guy from last night approached the table, once again looking at Elias with respect. He did not look at me at all but instead kept his eyes trained on his leader.
“What’s up Zee?” Elias asked.
“Morning. I know better than ask if you slept well, but how’s it going otherwise, chief?”
Elias extended his free hand for a handshake.
“Not bad at all. And actually, I’ve slept really well the last couple of nights for a change.”
He darted a quick glance in my direction before continuing. “I haven’t interviewed her yet. How’s it going with the others?”
“We tried talking to them yesterday, but they were too tired and freaked out. It’s going better this morning. They seem to be who they say they are—and they don’t seem to know much. You were right. She’s the leader.”
For the first time, Zee looked directly at me. I gave him a smug look before turning to Elias.
“I told you… Chief,” I said. “We’re not hiding anything. We’re here for the same reason the rest of you are—asylum. All we want is to be safe.”
Elias returned my smirk. “We’ll see. Hurry up and finish your food so we can get on with it and stop causing such a spectacle.”
The last word left his mouth as a shout, and his fist slammed down on the tabletop, rattling the plates and utensils and causing our table mates to avert their attention once more. They must have been staring again.
“Anyway,” Zee said. “I’m assuming we’ll be ready for the Eligibility Trials in another day or two.”
Eligibility Trials? What was that? Another form of interrogation?
Whatever it was, I didn’t like the sound of it. I was beginning to think coming here had been a terrible mistake.
Elias simply nodded, and Zee turned to go. We finished eating quickly and left the table. On our way out of the tent, a lean, long-haired guy stopped us.
His eyes roamed over me then darted to Elias. “So it’s true. Is it true there are other girls, too?”
Elias frowned and gave the guy a terse nod, attempting to push past him and keep walking.
“When are the Eligibility Trials?”
“If they take place, it’ll be soon,” Elias said then physically moved the guy from our path before forging ahead.
“Where are we going now?” I asked as Elias practically dragged me along. He refused to tell me or even look back when he spoke.
“It’s time for you to answer some questions.”
“I will if you will.”
Now he darted a glance back at me without slowing his pace. “What’s that mean?”
“I mean, this interview thing goes both ways. I have to make up my mind whether we’re staying here or not, whether it’s a good home for my friends,” I said. “So far the hospitality sort of sucks. So does the food.”
He snorted in apparent amusement. “You get used to it. As far as the ‘hospitality,’ it’ll get a whole lot friendlier around here once I’m convinced you’re not spies.”
“And I’ll get a lot friendlier if you untie me and stop dragging me around like a pull-toy. How far could I possibly get anyway when you’ve got your army of wild boys just waiting for you to snap your fingers?”
He stopped so fast I nearly ran into his back.
Without a word, he spun around and unknotted the cord connecting us then removed it from my wrist before slipping it from his own. Then he turned and kept walking.
I followed, rubbing my wrist.
“Wild boys huh?” he said after a minute. “You a fan of Peter Pan?”
“Not really,” I said. “A friend of mine was. The little boy you saw… Daniel. He’s Heath’s brother.”
“And he’s a Gebby. Raised by Gideon?” He sounded incredulous.
“Not really raised by him. Daniel was created for Heath’s mom—to replace a baby boy she lost in the Calamity. But Heath says Gideon doesn’t see him as a son. His mom does. She really loves him. So does Heath.”
“Sure. Saint Heath, lover of Gebbies and fluffy gen-kittens and long walks on the beach at sunset.”
Actually Heath and I had walked on the beach at sunset once, the first time I’d ever seen the ocean. Not that I would mention that to Elias right now. His tone had been bitter and sarcastic. He was clearly not a fan of Heath’s.
“Why do you hate him so much? Did you ever meet him? Was Gideon—Dr. Rex—your doctor, too?”
That would make sense. We were all his creations, and he’d posed as our pediatrician so he could observe our growth and development closely.
What had he done to Elias to inspire him to leave the familiarity and relative safety of the military base and live in the wilderness instead?
“Yeah, we all knew ‘the good doctor,’” he said. “Never met his kid, though. Never want to. Anyone related to that man has to be a monster, too.”
“I told you… Heath’s not like his father.”
Where were they right now? Heath and Apollo Gideon? Had word of our escape reached them?
By now our parents knew we were gone—the authorities at the base knew. It stood to reason they’d passed the information along to Gideon, global summit or not.
He could be on a plane right now, making his way back to the country to launch a search for us.
“I know, I know,” Elias said. “He’s our ‘friend.’”
Clearly he was not convinced. “I believe he’s your friend. And I intend to find out what all that entails.”
“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
Right now there was something I wanted to know. “Why do the other guys here look at me like they’ve never seen a girl before?”
He gave me a wary glance but he answered me. “They have. It’s just been a while since they’ve seen a new one. They’ll get over it.”
“What are the Eligibility Trials?”
Elias looked away, fixing his eyes on the platform ahead. “Just a tradition we have. You’ll take part in it—if you end up staying.”
“And what determines whether we stay or not?”
“It all depends on what happens in this tent.”
We stopped at the entrance of yet another tent. This one was small. As I stepped inside I sniffed then recoiled.
“What is that smell?”
It reminded me of the doctor’s office on the base—and of the sterile white room where I’d been shackled and threatened with death inside Gideon Corp.
My eyes darted wildly around the tent, taking in a cot and various medical implements. There was a guy inside. He had dark brown skin and curly dark hair.
“Hi. I’m Marcus. I’m the closest thing the Haven has to a doctor. Don’t be afraid. We’re not going to hurt you.”
His smile was friendly, but he stood next to a tray containing some shiny metal instruments and several hypodermic needles.
Was he planning to torture me? Drug me? My heart shuddered with fear and anticipation.
I’d escaped the base to avoid ending up in that situation again. I certainly wasn’t going to let myself be subjected to it here.
Spinning, I turned and burst out of the tent in a panic, running to the edge of the platform toward the ladder. I’d only made it a few steps before Elias’ arm locked around my waist.
“Oh no you don’t.”
He lifted my feet from the ground and hauled me back against him, turning and marching toward the torture tent once more.
“Where do you think you’re going? You weren’t wrong about those wild boys, you know.”
“They can go to hell, and so can you, you sadist.”
My thrashing and screaming did no good. Elias was far stronger than me. He forced me back inside the tent and pushed me down on the cot, whipping out the dreaded polycarbonate cord again.
This time he bound my hands and my feet while I fought and spat and called him every insult in my repertoire.
“I’ll give you this much, Sunshine,” he said with a shake of his head as he checked the knot at my ankles. “You’ve got a good kick. Sorry to say all this resistance doesn’t make you look any less guilty.”
“I’m not guilty you idiot— I’m scared. This is exactly the kind of thing Gideon does when he wants his way.” I shouted.
I’d meant to sound intimidating, but it had come out sounding high and shrill.
Elias rocked back on his heels and blinked a few times. His brow furrowed. He let out a few audible, irritated-sounding breaths before responding.
“Well… there’s no need to be scared of me. Not if you’re really who you claim to be and you’re actually here for sanctuary.”
He was in a squatting position, and his eyes were nearly even with mine. In the daylight, they were the color of dark, smooth honey.
They held a hint of sympathy, which surprised me.
“Don’t worry, the Verax serum doesn’t hurt. Well, the injection might sting for a second. Everyone who comes here gets it. We have to be sure you’re telling the truth. You get that right? I have to protect my people. They’re my responsibility—just like your friends are yours.”
That calmed me a bit. I stopped struggling and sat still. “Were you the one who convinced the kids from your base to leave?”
He nodded slightly, then his eyes left mine and went to the side of the tent. “Yeah. It was my idea… for better or worse.”
Setting his jaw, he rose to his feet and gave Marcus a nod before backing out of the way.
The young guy approached with the tray of medical supplies. Lifting a hypodermic needle filled with a clear liquid, he tapped it a couple of times to make sure there were no air bubbles.
Then he turned to me. “Sorry. The sting won’t last long. Then you’ll feel like you’re falling asleep.”
“You’re going to knock me out?” I shrieked. I did not like this—at all.
“Get that thing away from me.” I renewed my attempts to evade the needle, but bound as I was, it was a pointless struggle.
Based on his twisted expression, you’d have thought Elias was the one about to be injected with a mysterious substance.
“Look, I’m sorry things have to be this way. Believe me, I’d love to just take you at your word and welcome you all in, no questions asked,” he said. “God knows we could use more…”
He paused a half-second before finishing. “…people like you here.”
People like us? Did he mean Gebbies? Or…
Marcus, who’d backed away, approached me again holding the needle. I kept my glare on Elias.
He was the one giving the orders, so this was his fault.
“Why haven’t I seen any girls here?” I demanded. “Everywhere we’ve gone, on all the platforms, in the meal tent—it’s nothing but boys. And that guy who spoke to you as we left the meal tent… he acted like there were rumors going around about me and Jolie and Ketta. Where are all the girls? What have you done with them?”
Elias’ expression was forbidding.
“It’s my turn to ask questions. You’ll get your chance later… provided you pass the test.”
“Okay just sit still. This’ll only take a second,” Marcus said. “No one’s gonna do anything to hurt you. You’ll wake up safe and sound, I promise.”
He swabbed my arm with an alcohol prep pad before injecting me. I winced at the momentary pain then lay back on the cot and waited for it to take effect.
What other choice did I have? The truth was about to come out whether I wanted it to or not.
I only hoped Elias would be satisfied with what he heard.
