“Sweet dreams,” Arija called out.
Aaron clenched his fists and shoved them into his pockets, scratching his knuckles on the harsh fabric. He walked until he was out of sight of Artimé, cursing Haluki and Mr. Today and his own brother for being the cause of all the bad that had happened to him.
When there were no more lights to guide him in this remotest part of Quill, he moved off the road and sank to the ground against the wall to sleep. He stayed there in the shadow of the wall for two days.
» » « «
On the third morning Aaron ignored the few travelers passing by and staring at him. He got up and continued walking, quite weak for lack of water in this heat, but what else could he do? He began to search the ditches for anything that could be considered edible or drinkable, but he knew his chances of finding anything were terrible since it was against the law to throw away food, and there wasn’t enough to eat or drink in Quill to make anyone wish to throw it away in the first place.
Aaron pondered it all from his new perspective of homeless and hungry’and he began to wonder why anyone would wish to stay in Quill when life looked so good in Artimé. If he were high priest, he knew what he’d do. He’d make Quill better than Artimé. He’d create more food’an abundance of food. And he’d utilize the ocean he never knew existed until a few months ago. Indeed, he had to question ( but only slightly) the sanity of the High Priest Justine to keep such a thing a secret when it held so much potential. It was puzzling.
If Aaron were high priest, he’d create a way to make that nasty seawater drinkable. And he’d open up a passage to the water on this side of Quill and figure out if there was anything in the ocean’like some sort of chicken of the sea’that people could actually eat. Wouldn’t that be something? he thought. An endless supply of food. He grew nearly delirious at the thought.
As the day wore on, Aaron found himself on exactly the opposite side of the island from the university’near the Ancients Sector and burial area. There were a few people around, and Aaron wondered briefly if his father might be out digging graves today, but then realized it was late and all the Necessaries who’d stayed in Quill would have headed home by now, or out to do the jobs of the traitors who’d left.
Aaron stopped at the death post, a tall, branchless, dead tree trunk that had been anchored into the dirt and was leaning against the burial shed. On it were posted the most recent deaths. He took a long look at the list of names of the recently departed, though it wasn’t very up-to-date since only teachers were allowed to write, and they didn’t have time to stop at the Ancients Sector very often to update the list. Only the Wanteds got their names listed, but this list was longer than usual due to the battle with Artimé.
His eyes moved to General Blair’s name, and then to the High Priest Justine. Aaron stared at it reverently. His throat was scorched from thirst, but now it ached even more from the sorrow he knew he shouldn’t feel. With significant effort in his weak state, he touched the letters of her name and closed his eyes. Using his well-trained mind and all the effort he had in him, he willed his sorrow to turn into bitterness, knowing that his bitterness would soon grow into a most unhealthy desire for revenge. And revenge was necessary now. After all that had happened in recent weeks, Aaron knew the truth: Revenge was the only thing that would keep him alive.
Meghan Rules
Meghan called the Necessaries to order on the lawn, clapping her hands to get their attention. The other nineteen Unwanteds from Alex’s year stood in line nearby, feeling fairly important as the crowd gazed upon them with a certain amount of awe.
“Welcome,” Meghan said. “We are delighted to have you here!”
Samheed poked Alex. “She sounds just like Mr. Today.”
Alex grinned. “Definitely.”
Lani shushed them.
“I’d like to start by introducing your group leaders,” Meghan went on. She began calling the names alphabetically, and everyone stepped forward when their names were called. Alex glanced at Lani, whose face was hard.
“What’s wrong?” Alex whispered.
“It reminds me of our Purge. Same names, same order,” she said. “I don’t like it.”
“You’re right,” Alex said. And it did feel ominous.
Samheed, who overheard the conversation, said nothing, but his eyes were troubled. “Don’t say anything to Meg,” he said. “She’d feel bad. I’m sure she didn’t mean it to be like that.”
Alex and Lani nodded. When Samheed turned his attention to Meghan, who was assigning him his group, Lani elbowed Alex in the ribs. “See?”
“Ouch,” Alex said, rubbing his side. “Why are you always doing that?”
“He likes her, you dolt. Can’t you tell?”
“He does not,” Alex said. He watched Samheed for a minute. “Does he?”
“Totally. Watch him glare at Cole Wickett. He’s furious that Meg’s spending so much time with him.”
“Really?” Alex watched, and sure enough, when Cole went to the newly established groups to give out name tags, Samheed practically ripped them out of Cole’s hand.
Lani grinned. “You need to spend more time noticing things. Less of this brooding and wandering aimlessly.”
“But that’s what I do,” Alex said. “Are you trying to change me?”
“Never,” Lani said, a mischievous look in her eye. “Okay, here goes me.” Meghan called out the names of the Necessaries who would be in Lani’s group.