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  Chapter Eleven

  “I’ll be back soon.” Nola leaned down and brushed her lips against Jeremy’s, unable to keep a smile from the corners of her mouth as he tried to pull her in tighter. “I have to go.”

  She had already been given a whole day to spend in Jeremy’s room, more than anyone but Lenora Kent’s daughter would have been granted. And, as far as Nola knew, none of the other injured Outer Guard had been allowed to have visitors stay in their rooms at all.

  Captain Ridgeway hadn’t allowed any of the wounded Outer Guard to be moved to the hospital wing, insisting on keeping his men separate from the injured Dome Guard.

  The lines between Dome Guard and Outer Guard had always been thick. Two arms meant to be doing the same thing but hating each other all the while.

  The Dome Guard alternated between calling the Outer Guard violent and incompetent, depending on how riots ended. And the Outer Guard called the Dome Guard cowards for never going out into the city.

  Then half the Dome Guard had been dragged away to help stop the fighting. Some had been injured, and four of them killed. But still the line between the two sections seemed as stiff as ever.

  “If you don’t get out of my way, I’ll bring your name before the Council!” The shout pounded through the door from the corridor.

  Jeremy moved toward the edge of the bed and was halfway to standing before Nola put both hands on his chest, trying to keep him still.

  “You’re not supposed to get up,” she said as the shouting voice came closer.

  “My men fought alongside yours against the wolves, Ridgeway!” Nola recognized Captain Stokes’ voice as his words became crisper, as though he were right outside the door. “And if you expect me to allow you to use my men to fight in your damned city again, I want answers!”

  Before she could wonder at Stokes’ foolhardy courage in shouting at Captain Ridgeway while surrounded by a flock of Outer Guard, stomping footsteps approached.

  “If you don’t mind”—Nola gasped as her mother’s voice cut through Captain Stokes’ shouts—“I need to get through this door to collect my daughter. Some of us in the domes are still trying to be productive rather than having pissing contests and shouting in the hall like spoiled children.”

  Nola was already halfway across the room when a sharp knock sounded the instant before the door swung open. “Nola, it’s time to work,” Lenora said in a dangerous voice that shot tension into Nola’s shoulders. “Jeremy, I hope you’re feeling better and can get some rest. That is if these cretins who call themselves captains can stop shouting like a couple of common city dwellers.”

  Nola didn’t dare look back as she followed her mother out into the hall.

  Captain Ridgeway and Captain Stokes stood ten feet apart, glaring daggers at one another.

  Nola ran past her mother and up the stairs, not stopping until the next landing.

  “I will not have my authority questioned by a man who knows as little about the state of the city as an earthworm!” Captain Ridgeway’s voice carried up the steps.

  Lenora made a sound somewhere between a tsk and a growl as she strode past Nola and down the hall. “How on earth do they expect to gain anyone’s respect by shouting?”

  Nola was glad her mother had moved in front of her and couldn’t see the look of astonishment on her face.

  “In troubling times, we have to stand together, not push away others who should be our allies,” Lenora said.

  “Was there a Council meeting this morning?” Nola jogged to catch up to her mother whose words sounded suspiciously like Council parroting.

  “Yes, there was.”

  Nola didn’t need to ask how the meeting had gone.

  “So, where am I going to be working today?” she asked, more for something to say that didn’t involve the Council meeting or the shouting guards below than because she really wanted to know.

  “You’ll be working with the outsiders again.” Lenora looked at her daughter with a furrowed brow. “Just because our work was interrupted doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to be finished. I let you have all day yesterday to sit with Jeremy. But the world keeps turning, and quite frankly we have more to do now than ever. Extra mouths to feed and all.”

  “Extra mouths to feed?” Nola asked as they reached the stairs to the Amber Dome. She grabbed a gardening uniform off the hooks on the wall.

  “The domes need extra help, which means more people to feed.” Lenora turned to her daughter, watching impatiently as Nola hastily yanked on her jumpsuit. “Honestly, Nola, you really should think things through.”

  “Sorry,” Nola said, not really sure what she had done wrong.

  “You’ll be back with your group from before. They seem competent. Just make sure they don’t hurt the plants or steal anything.” Lenora strode up the stairs and straight to the high platform in the center of the dome, a sure sign the conversation had ended.

  “Thanks, Mom,” Nola muttered before looking around the dome.

  They had gotten a lot of work done the day before. The rows of plants that needed to be condensed were already finished. The existing plants moved to the far end to make room for the new crop.

  Lenora had been right. They had needed outside hands to help in the process. The amount of work accomplished during Nola’s absence would have taken at least a week for the Domers to do on their own.

  One group moved through with carts, harvesting all the food ripe enough to be eaten. The food would be taken down to the distribution center and sent out to the families of the domes. That had always been Nola’s favorite part of the work. Taking the food they had grown and sending it away to be eaten.

  But the group with the carts weren’t Nola’s people. She had to make nearly a full lap of the dome, passing a group refitting the underground irrigation pipes, a group on ladders to reach the top of the high rod-like towers where the herbs grew, and another pruning back the dead branches on the fruit-bearing trees before she finally found her group working on a seedling tray.

  Three hundred tiny containers of soil lay on a long table, ready to receive the new seeds on the brink of sprouting.

  T stood by the seed tray, carefully counting out how many they had. Beauford moved down the row, putting one seed into each container. Catlyn followed behind him, covering each seed and giving it the tiniest bit of water.

  “Wow,” Nola said, her voice coming out awkwardly bright as she tried to sound encouraging. “You’ve all done a great job!”

  “Thanks.” Catlyn gave a quick smile while Beauford only spared a moment to glare at Nola before placing another seed. “It’s good to see you back. They didn’t tell us where you were. I was worried you had been injured in the evacuation.”

  “No,” Nola said as she tied her hair back, wavering on the point of lying.

  Don’t add lies. There isn’t any reason for it.

  “A friend of mine was hurt in the fighting in the city,” Nola said.

  There was a sharp intake of breath from T’s direction.

  “Is he okay?” Catlyn asked, pulling Nola’s attention away from T.

  “It was pretty bad, so they let me sit with him,” Nola said, moving closer to T, “but he’s doing better now.”

  “It’s amazing what you can do with fancy medicine,” Beauford said from down the table. “Save you from all sorts of terrible things.”

  “My friend was very lucky,” Nola said. “But he was hurt trying to help people in the city.”

  T gripped the edge of the table.

  “Are you okay?” Nola asked, softly enough not to be overheard by anyone outside their group.

  “Fine, ma’am.” T let go of the table and counted another set of seeds into her hand.

  “Were…Is your family safe? Did they all make it through the riot?” Nola asked, covering T’s hand to stop her working.

  The girl didn’t brush Nola away, but she didn’t look at her either. “I don’t have any family in the city.”

  “And we wo
uldn’t know if they had been hurt anyway.” Beauford grabbed the seeds from T’s other hand. “We haven’t been allowed to leave the damned domes to go back to the city. Everyone we know could be dead, but they’ll keep us locked in here to work.”

  Catlyn hushed him as one of the Dome Guard headed toward their table.

  “Is everything all right here, Miss Kent?” the guard asked, narrowing his eyes at Beauford.

  “We’re fine,” Catlyn said. “Things are moving along.”

  “I didn’t ask you,” the guard said roughly to Catlyn before turning to Nola. “Is everything all right here, Miss Kent?”

  “Y-yes,” Nola said, taking a deep breath and trying not to let the gruffness of the guard shake her. “I was actually wondering what time the workers were going to be escorted back to the city tonight.”

  “Transports in and out of the city have been halted,” the guard said. “No point in risking guards’ safety while the city is eating itself alive.”

  “But what if they need to go see their families?” Anger crept into Nola’s voice. “What if the workers need to get home?”

  “They can go whenever they like.” The guard glared at Beauford who stood next to Nola, blatantly not working. “Anyone who doesn’t want to stay and work for the domes is free to leave. They’re used to the outside air, they can walk back to the city.”

  “We just won’t be let back in or paid for our work,” Beauford said. “But we’re free to go back to the burning city and starve whenever we like.”

  “Then perhaps you should be grateful for the food and bed we’ve given you.” The guard turned to Nola. “Would you like me to have him removed from your group?”

  “No!” she said too loudly.

  The guard narrowed his eyes.

  “I think we’re all just a little stressed from the last few days,” Nola said. “Beauford can stay with my team.”

  The guard nodded. “I’ll report him to Dr. Kent. She should be kept informed of workers who cause trouble.”

  Leaving his threat lingering in the air, the guard turned and strode to the center platform.

  “Look busy right now,” Nola spoke through gritted teeth, grabbing a few seeds and moving to the closest pots. Even Beauford had the sense to follow her lead.

  After a minute or so, she glanced back at the platform. The guard had gone, but Lenora stared in their direction, watching the group work.

  Running out of seeds in her hand, Nola moved back to T. “Can I get another handful?”

  T passed Nola a little dish of seeds.

  “Please be careful with them,” T said. “They only gave us enough for the pots. I think they’re afraid of us trying to smuggle seeds out. If we ever get out.”

  Nola worked on the closest tiny seed pot, miming planting since that soil had already been filled. “Do you want to leave?”

  “I doubt I’d have any place to go,” T said, her voice shockingly calm. “Where I was staying, it was right near Nightland. If the fighting was as bad as it sounds, I can’t imagine I’d have a place to go back to. The tunnels are valuable to vampires and wolves. If there was a big fight, it would have been there.”

  “But the Domers went out to fight—” Nola stopped working as T’s eyes widened. “What?” she whispered, moving closer to T, pretending to need more seeds though she hadn’t used any. “If the big fight was Domers and wolves, it might not have been near Nightland. The domes don’t want anything to do with those tunnels.”

  “You’re right,” T said. “Maybe I’m just being pessimistic. I might still have a place to live and a few friends left alive. No way to find out, but I might be that lucky. Or, maybe the world’s turned even more inside out. I did just hear a Domer say Domer after all.”

  “What do you mean?” Nola looked back down at the pots, pretending to plant more seeds, grateful her hands didn’t tremble and betray her.

  “I’ve never heard a Domer say Domer.” T moved in closer, so her shoulder touched Nola’s.

  “Have you known many people from the domes?” Nola asked, carefully not saying Domer.

  “No.” T shrugged, jarring the dish in Nola’s hand. “But I’ve known even more Vampers than you have, Magnolia Kent. And Vampers say vampires, and Domers say whatever the hell name you like to call yourselves that makes you feel better about the whole world hating you.”

  “The world doesn’t hate us,” Nola said.

  “Of course, they do,” T said, switching Nola’s full seed dish out for another full seed dish. “You should know that better than anyone. Emanuel would have made sure of that.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The air in Nola’s lungs froze. There was no way for her to breathe. Nothing for her to do. Fear had consumed her body.

  Emanuel would have made sure of that.

  The dome spun for a second before everything went black.

  “Magnolia,” a distant and unfamiliar voice called. “Magnolia, are you all right?”

  No! the voice in Nola’s head screamed. Nothing is all right. Nothing has ever been all right!

  But her lips formed other words as her eyes fluttered open. “I’m fine.”

  She was in the medical wing, on a bed with a bright light overhead.

  Doctor Mullins leaned over her, concern wrinkling her brow.

  “What happened?” Nola tried to sit up, but the doctor placed a firm hand on her shoulder, pressing her back onto the bed.

  “You fainted,” Doctor Mullins said. “In the Amber Dome. Do you remember?”

  “Yeah.” Shame and fear pinked Nola’s cheeks. “Yeah, I do.”

  “Your levels are all fine,” Doctor Mullins said. “You want to tell me what happened?”

  “I panicked. I was talking to one of the outsiders. They…they mentioned Nightland, and I just panicked.” Nola hoped her answer would be close enough to the truth for the doctor to allow her to leave without asking any more questions.

  “You weren’t feeling faint or nauseous?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “I just freaked.”

  “It’s okay.” Doctor Mullins took her hand from Nola’s shoulder, allowing her to sit up. “You’ve been through a lot, Magnolia. More than most could handle. If you need to talk to someone, we can make arrangements—”

  “I really don’t want to talk.” Nola pushed herself to her feet and swayed as the room began to tilt again.

  The doctor grabbed her elbow, steadying her.

  “Thank you, but I’m fine. I just want to do my work and help the domes and…” Nola’s voice faded away. She didn’t know what else she wanted to do.

  “I understand.” The doctor took Nola’s hand. She was young, probably only ten years older than Nola, and there she was, a doctor. Saving people. “I know what it’s like to want to help. But you have to take care of yourself, too. If you want to talk, let me know and we’ll arrange something.”

  “Thank you.” Nola hurried toward the door.

  “And if you start feeling faint or dizzy, sit down and have someone call for help. If the outsiders brought in an illness, we need to find it.”

  “Is one of them sick?” Nola asked.

  “The pregnant one fainted in the Amber Dome yesterday,” the doctor said, the tone of concern she had had for Nola all but gone. “I ran some tests and there’s nothing we can find, but it’s always best to be alert.”

  “But what about the baby? Did you make sure the baby was all right?”

  “There isn’t much to be done.” The doctor shrugged. “She’s an outsider. We can’t give her dome medicine. She’s already eating dome food. And who knows what damage the child was already subjected to in utero? I have enough patients with the guards who were hurt in the attacks and the dome citizens who need routine medical care. I can’t add another patient who isn’t even mine to care for.” She opened the door for Nola. “No more work for you today. You need to go home and rest, but make sure you get something to eat first.”

  “Thanks.” Nola was out the
door and into the hall in a moment, walking as quickly as she dared.

  How could a doctor not care about the health of an innocent child?

  It’s Nightland’s fault.

  Nightland had made the domes’ existence so precarious. Nightland had made the city so violent. The Vampers and the wolves were the ones to blame for the horrible things that were happening. It wasn’t the domes’ fault that T and her baby might be sick.

  It’s our fault if we don’t do anything to help.

  Nola stopped at the end of the hall. She could go to Bright Dome. Eat, then go see Jeremy. Pretend Doctor Mullins had never mentioned T at all.

  She turned around and walked back to the room where she had woken up.

  “Actually,” Nola said as soon as she stepped into the room, making Doctor Mullins jump, “I’ve been feeling a little run-down, what with—” She gave a weak smile and, just as Gentry had done days ago, waved a hand as though to say everything. “Would it be all right if I got a vitamin pack? Just to make sure I don’t catch anything.”

  Doctor Mullins stared at Nola for a moment, her gaze seeming to take in everything from the slight purple under her eyes to her shrinking frame. The Domers were never given pills unless they were ill. Their diets were carefully controlled so they received all the nutrients they needed from food. Vitamin packs were reserved for the ill and endangered.

  “I’m glad you’re willing to admit you aren’t feeling well.” Doctor Mullins moved to a locked cabinet in the corner. “Being in tune with your body is the first step toward staying healthy.” She pulled down a little glass bottle and handed it to Nola. “Take these with each meal and come back in a week, we’ll see if you’re feeling more yourself. In the meantime, remember, whether it’s anxiety or just dizziness, come and see me.”

  “Yes, I will. Thank you.” Nola backed out of the room. “I appreciate it.” As soon as the door shut, she ran down the hall, the feeling of having stolen from the domes chasing her the whole way.

  She headed straight for the Amber Dome, keeping the little glass bottle hidden in her palm. Her heart raced. What she was doing was wrong. A terrible offense against the domes.