Cyana

I follow the signs to the lobby, check out at the front desk, and take the tram home. By the time I get to the front steps on my family’s unit, it’s just past 07:00. Safe in my room, I reapply the new medications to the girl’s wounds.

“What happened to your arm?” she asks, pointing to the gauze that now snakes around my forearm.

“I had to get you meds somehow,” I respond. Her eyes light up.

“You burned yourself just to get medication for me?” she says.

“Of course,” is all I can think to say. Before she can question further, I sneak into the kitchen to steal some bread and sausage for her. Once she’s finished eating, I help her under my bed in case one of the servants comes in to clean.

“So you’re just going to hide me in your room indefinitely?” the girl asks.

“Would you rather be on the streets?” I answer. She looks away from me. “It’s a temporary solution,” I continue. “We’ll figure something else out this evening.”

At that, I leave to shower and dress for duty, then it’s a quick walk to the military station. I hop in line behind Axel and spend the first hour of duty drilling. Then, it’s on to patrolling the filthy streets for theft and Rebels. I walk around with Axel, who chatters in my ear the whole shift about the broken pipe at the electrical plant.

“Rumors say it was sabotage by the Rebels,” Axel says.

“I don’t think it was,” I say, thinking about the Rebel girl fixing the pipe.

If it was her group’s doing, why would she fix it?

“What makes you say that?” Axel questions. I can’t give him any suspicions. I shake my head.

“I saw the pipe,” I say. “It clearly broke from age. You know that plant was around before the Republic.”

Around noon we return to the station for lunch. The rest of the day flies by as a mixture of paperwork, patrols, and more drills. When we’re released from our shift, I hurry home, much to Axel’s surprise. I trot up the front steps and quietly open the front door. The last thing I need is Father knowing I’m home. I’m not ready to face him yet. As I turn the corner and head down the hall, I see my bedroom door propped open. The other last thing I need is one of the servants finding the girl. I pull the door open.

Rose is sitting on the edge of the bed, wrapping bandages while the girl nibbles away at a slice of bread with butter.

I’m frozen.

“I’m sorry to burst in here like this,” Rose says calmly. “But I just had to meet your fiancé.”

She finishes pinning a strip of gauze under the girl’s arm and turns to me.

“Ella needs a doctor,” Rose continues. “Lucky for her, I’m better than any at the hospital.”

With that, Rose flips her hair and smiles.

“And doctor’s orders are, no more hiding under your filthy bed. Some of the wounds are already infected. I’ve instructed the servants to stay out of your room, so there should be no problem with Ella spending the day off the floor.”

“Does Father know?” I blurt out. Rose giggles.

“No,” she says. “But you better promise me I can watch his reaction when you tell him you’re marrying Outer Ring vermin.”

Rose turns to the girl.

“No offense, darling.”

“None taken,” the girl responds with a smile. I can’t tell if she’s genuine or not. At that, Rose stands and heads for the door.

“I’ll be sure to check in with my patient tomorrow,” Rose says. “And make sure you feed the poor girl. A husband is supposed to provide for his wife.” With that, Rose disappears down the hall. I’m quick to close the door.

“Are you alright?” I ask the girl. “Did she hurt you?”

“No,” the girl responds. “But a little warning that I was ‘Ella’ your ‘fiancé’ would have been nice.”

I can feel my cheeks blushing.

“It was the first thing I thought of, alright?” I say. “It’s not like you’ve told me your real name.”

“According to the Party, I’m Jared,” the girl says.

“But that’s not your actual name, is it?” I say.

“No,” the girl says. “But I still don’t know if I can trust you, so that’s what you’ll have to call me.”

After everything I’ve done for you!

“Alright,” I say, sitting on the edge of the bed. “What do I need to do to earn your trust?”

“Well for starters,” the girl says, “why are you pretending to be Rebel just to help me?”

“Who said I’m pretending?”

“I know all the Rebels in the Outer Ring, I think I’d remember your face.”

If she knows all of them, she must be pretty high up in their ranks.

I look at the floor.

“I want to help,” I say. “But with my Father who he is, I didn’t think I’d be allowed to join the movement, so I’ve been acting on my own.”

“Doing what?” the girl asks.

“Mostly gathering information,” I say. “Trying to figure out how communication through the military works, how they’re tracking people. That’s why I enlisted- it’s the easiest way to gather that kind of information.”

“And what’s your plan once you’ve figured things out?” the girl asks. “It’s not like you have anyone to tell.”

“I’m hoping I can do something, disrupt the communication lines, spread a false rumor, something like that,” I say.

“I see,” the girl says.

Okay, now that I’ve made up a believable excuse, it’s time to start drilling into her story.

“How did you join?” I ask.

“My father was involved in the movement,” the girl responds. “It just made sense to follow in his footsteps.”

“What did he do?” I ask. The girl closes her eyes and leans against my pillow.

“I’ll tell you some other time,” she says. “The pain paste is finally kicking in. I might be able to get some sleep now.”

I feel it might be an excuse not to tell me, but I don’t want to push her. Like she said, I have to gain her trust first. I stand and turn off the overhead light, then strip down to my boxers and curl up on the blanket on the floor.

The next three days are much the same. I wake up early and sneak the girl some food from the kitchen, the shower and dress for duty. After work, I hurry home to find Rose finishing up her daily check-in with her patient. Even though she’s Party through and through, I can tell she’s enjoying pretending to be a doctor. She even managed to sneak some antibiotics from the hospital, supposedly for my wounds but we both know they’re for Ella/Jared. The only real problem is, I can tell the servant girls are growing suspicious of me; one of them caught me carrying two glasses of juice back to my room. And furthermore, I’ve been avoiding Father for too long. Sooner or later, he’s going to bring me into his office, and if he knows about the girl, well, I’m in real trouble. It’s not like I have intel to spill- the girl still won’t talk deeper than casual conversation. At work on the fourth day, I decide it’s finally time to start pushing answers out of her. I need some return on the risks I’ve taken.

But when I arrive home, I find Rose alone in my room.

“Your fiancé played you,” Rose says.

“Where is Ella?” I say.

“Gone, obviously,” Rose says. She points to the open window. “Took all the medications with her and vanished.”

I hurry to the window and stare down at the empty street. There’s no evidence of how the girl got down, especially in her state.

Where did she go?

Rose stands.

“I still get your right to the family crest,” she says, then leaves without looking at me. I sink into the faded carpet under the window.

Now what? I’ve risked so much – even given up my right to the family crest – and I have nothing, absolutely nothing to show for-

The curtain blows over my shoulder. Something scrapes my arm. I grab the silk cloth and pull it out straight. Pinned to the corner is a tiny sheet of paper. I unpin the slip and fold it open.

“Thank you for saving my life. I will find a way to repay you. Go to the cigar shop at the corner of Wade Street and Maverick Ave and tell the old woman you’re looking for Cyana.”