Part 11 (1/2)

”Hot pink walls and frilly canopy beds aren't exactly appropriate for a grown woman's living quarters,” the Queen said before Shayla interrupted her.

”I am not coming to live at the Palace.”

”But...”

”I'll get my own apartment. Besides, I like my suite the way it is,” Shayla said, annoyed with her mother's a.s.sumptions. She was always so pushy. Shayla hated that.

”If you insist, but if you ever change your mind.”

”I appreciate it, Mother, really I do, but...”

”Okay, I hear you,” she said, but Shayla could see her mother was holding her tongue. Shayla knew her mother was pleased to have her moving back to town, especially given the stress of the last few weeks. Rumors of a renegade political group were dying down, but there were still murmurs on the Webavision.

She could tell her mother didn't want to talk about it, but Shayla saw the hints of stress in the deepening creases on her mother's face.

”It'll take me a few days to pack up my place in Cambridge, and then I'll be back.”

”Back where you belong,” the Queen said.

Shayla bristled. She said nothing as she left, but her emotions caught up with her on the flight back to Cambridge. It was good to be at the Palace, but it was good to leave, too. Then again, she didn't really want to go back to Cambridge either. No place felt quite right.

When she walked into her apartment, she didn't want to pack. Didn't she just move in? She sat on her couch and dug out the velvet bag that held Reminder of Truth. Reading it was her bridge to the two men she loved. Her father who gave her this book was gone forever, and now Nathaniel might be too. It was difficult to accept.

”Where are you, Nathaniel?” she cried as she held the book and remembered the time they had read it together. She wished he would reappear as quickly as he vanished.

The next morning, Shayla reluctantly went back to the Cambridge Public Works to clean out her desk. As she walked toward her office, she couldn't help but look where Nathaniel used to leave the bag each morning.

”Hey there, good luck in your new position, wherever it is you're going,” she heard.

She turned and felt stunned as Nathaniel's best friend Brigg stood before her, piercing her with a look of disrespect she was not accustomed to.

”I'm going back to Was.h.i.+ngton,” she said, uncomfortably. She knew this was Nathaniel's best friend, but she had no idea whether Nathaniel had told Brigg about her.

Maybe Brigg knew where Nathaniel was or at least had heard from him. She was desperate to know anything at all. She tried to gather the courage to ask.

”I'm sure you'll will do well. Unfortunately, we'll still be here, at the mercy of someone new,” he said and then turned and walked away without looking back.

Chapter 21.

”Your name is Joe Merino, and you just turned 21. Read your new file. We sent it to your electronic tablet. It has your birthday, your family situation and everything else you need to know. Memorize every detail.”

Nathaniel grabbed his electronic tablet and found the recently downloaded file. He thought of the last eight months of his life. It seemed so unreal.

”I'm really leaving?” he asked, thinking of Shayla. How he wanted to see her, even though he knew it was forbidden.

”First, you must become your new ident.i.ty and then we'll quiz you until you answer each question correctly. When you pa.s.s, you may leave. Go study, young man!” Crosby said with joy. ”Oh, and one more thing. The Boston accent must go,” Crosby said.

”What accent?”

”Trust me,” Crosby said, rolling his eyes. ”You'll be meeting with our linguistics coach. We didn't know where you'd be going or we would have worked on it earlier. The Master Instructors hope it won't take long, but as with everything, you will be kept here until it is perfect. It is vital that you fit in,” Crosby said, with as serious a look as Nathaniel had ever seen from him.

”Joe Merino, huh?” he said to himself as much as to Crosby, while he looked over the opening page of his file.

”That's who you are now,” Crosby said, and left the room.

”Nationality?”

”Irish and Italian. Catholic, but not religious.”

”Family?”

”Only child, parents a Delores and Anthony a died when I was 18 in a car crash.” Nathaniel couldn't help but think of his own parents. He'd never been close with them, left their house when he was 17 to live on his own, but he missed them now. He hoped they were still alive, but he had no idea.

”General background?”

”Grew up in Kansas City and have a strong secretarial background. You've been going at this for two hours and I have not answered a single thing wrong,” Nathaniel said, feeling antsy.

”I guess you are ready,” Crosby said teasingly.

”When can I leave?” Nathaniel asked.

”Soon.”

”You always say that.” Nathaniel looked skeptically at Crosby.

”Really. This time I mean it,” Crosby said, laughing before he left for the evening.

Nathaniel tried to go to sleep, but thoughts of his friends.h.i.+p with Brigg flooded his mind, along with memories of intimate encounters he shared with Shayla. The physical barrier of the Underground and all its' forced controls made contacting them impossible, but Nathaniel wasn't sure he had the willpower necessary to maintain distance on his own in the outside world.

”Ready?” Simon asked when he entered Nathaniel's room with Crosby the next morning.

”Yes, sir!” Nathaniel declared with vast enthusiasm. Simon's demeanor was entirely different than their last encounter. He no longer looked at Nathaniel with disdain.

”Follow me.” With that, Nathaniel took one last look at his cell and walked behind Simon through the maze of hallways that were silent except for the echo of their footsteps and the buzzing of fluorescent lights above their heads. It seemed like they were walking in circles as the hallways had so many twists and turns, but finally they reached the entrance that he hadn't seen since the day he arrived, eight months earlier.

Keep Your Laws Off my Body. Equal Rights and Justice for all Men. Nathaniel looked at the same words that greeted him when he entered the Underground. They were tattooed in his memory, as he had said them aloud each morning along with the other Grounders.

He remembered first reading them in Reminder of Truth. That seemed like a lifetime ago. He wanted to remember this mantra as it appeared, painted boldly behind the guard's desk at the Underground's entrance. He stared at it, thinking about what it meant, and how it represented the cause that he believed in, now more than ever.

Crosby said, ”Oh Nathaniel. I'm gonna miss you! You go out there and show those women you can take care of them and make them happy. Make us proud! We'll be thinking of you,” Crosby said before he threw his arms tightly around Nathaniel.