The Pledge (12 page)

When I hit the streets, I drifted into a sea of hundreds—maybe thousands—of others who were also evacuating their homes. I was pushed and shoved from every direction, and I could feel panic coming off the crowd.

The siren’s blast was earsplitting out here in the open—the
loudspeakers were set up every hundred feet or so, and in an emergency like this they were converted to an alarm system. Angelina buried her head inside my jacket, trying to shield herself from the shrill noise. Above the blare, I could hear cries of fear and desperation, but nothing that indicated the city was under siege. There was no roar of engines overhead, no bombing, no sound of gunfire in the distance.

It didn’t matter, though; the sirens were enough to keep me moving.

There were designated bomb shelters throughout the city, in churches, schools, and even abandoned passageways beneath the streets. That was where most of the people were headed. That was where families had arranged to meet in the event that the battles came close to home.

Yet Angelina and I wouldn’t go to the shelters like the others, because our father feared that the shelters were too exposed. He worried that there was nothing secret about those hiding places. Safe from attack maybe, but not from the troops that could march into the city from the east, or from rebel forces fighting to overthrow Queen Sabara. And sometimes men—at least those in the midst of war—were to be feared more than any weapons. Men could be brutal, ruthless, deadly.

We were to hide someplace else. In the mine shafts just outside the city.

My boots pounded heavily against the ground as I shoved my way through the crowds, gripping Angelina as I leaned forward, battering body against body at times. The farther we moved away from the city’s core, the thinner the masses grew,
until it was just the two of us, and the occasional straggler, who remained in the night.

I knew we were close. I could see the walls that encircled the city—walls that had been constructed to keep us safe, to keep our enemies at bay, yet now contained us and trapped us inside. They were the only thing separating us from the mine shafts beyond.

I watched as others climbed those walls, others who probably had mind-sets similar to my father’s.

We reached the perimeter, where the tall concrete barricade stood between us and our destination, and I untangled Angelina from my arms, forcing her to stand on her own two feet. “You have to go first,” I insisted.

She stiffened, but did as I told her. I lifted her up the wall as high as I could and then I shoved with all my strength. I didn’t have time to feel guilty as I listened to her land on the other side of the wall.

I scrambled up after her, using my boots to dig into the cement as I strained to pull myself up. When I was almost to the top, my foot slipped and the right side of my face slammed into the punishing concrete. The taste of fresh blood filled my mouth, and my eyes burned with unshed tears. I was sure I’d just shattered my cheekbone. But I refused to fall back to the ground behind me, and I clung to the wall, pulling until my arms burned. Finally I hooked one of my legs over the top and dragged myself the rest of the way up.

It was dark on the other side, with none of the light from the city finding its way through.

“Get out of the way,” I called down to Angelina, not sure exactly where she was.

I leaped from the wall, landing heavily on my feet and crouching low, my hands splayed in the damp grass in front of me. Angelina scrambled forward, finding me in the darkness, her small hands reaching for me just moments after I hit the ground. Behind me, the sirens never relented.

I didn’t waste any time; I reached around her waist, ignoring the fatigue in my arms and the fiery pain in my cheek, and I hauled her up again as I raced toward the mines ahead of us.

Brush and vines that grew around the mouth of the shaft looked like the shadowy outlines of jagged teeth. I barreled forward, not bothering to glance around to see who might be watching us. I needed to get inside, to find cover.

In the shaft, the blackness was almost complete, but I didn’t slow. I reached out, using the chiseled walls to guide me. I knew these tunnels; Aron and Brook and I had passed many long days inside these passageways as children, exploring and setting up camps and pretending that the mines were our own private queendoms.

And now I prayed they would provide shelter for me and my sister.

We stayed hidden within the caverns long after the sirens had stopped screaming. My cheek continued to throb, finding rhythm with my pulse until I knew my eye would soon swell shut.

I let my lids drift closed, fatigue settling through me. I felt
fingertips brush over the bruise that was already forming—Angelina’s fingertips—and before I could stop her, her lips brushed over it too, kissing it lightly. So much like a mother might do.

My own fingers closed around hers, my eyes wide now, alert. But it was too late. Already I could feel tingling in the wake of her touch. Already I could feel the ache beginning to fade.

“Don’t,” I whispered, thankful it was dark in the cavern, and that no one could see us. “You can’t do that. Never. Do you understand?”

She stared back at me, and I hated the flash of hurt I saw on her face in the gloom. I didn’t mean to frighten, or even to scold her. I just wanted to protect her and keep her safe. But her touch reminded me of why I was here, of why I’d been injured in the first place, and it forced me to forget about the sirens, the panic, the pain.

We couldn’t risk exposing our secrets in front of anyone. Ever.

“It’s okay. We’re safe now,” I soothed, squeezing her until I felt her relax again in my arms.

Eventually, Angelina drifted into a fitful sleep, but there was little chance that I would sleep tonight. I was tired—exhausted even—but the fear kept creeping back in, keeping me vigilant. That, and the nagging discomfort.

Beneath my jacket, my thin nightdress provided little warmth; Angelina provided the rest. I squirmed against the unyielding wall, trying not to disturb my sister, but my arm was cramped and my back and shoulders ached.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what my father had said, about staying behind to stop an advancing army from searching for me and Angelina, and I wondered why it felt like something was lacking in his explanation.

It was a lantern’s flame that shattered the darkness, casting a painful glow that scorched my eyes. But in that moment I saw Aron, and he saw me, and suddenly Angelina and I were no longer alone.

I could see the others now too. There were families who clung to one another for support, and people who had no one. Some I recognized, some were strangers. But we were all united now, seeking asylum within the cavernous underground walls.

Aron grinned as he scurried away from his family, rushing to where my sister and I were huddled. His father was too busy gossiping with those around him to notice his son’s absence, his stepmother too meek to point it out.

“I was hoping you’d come here,” I exhaled gratefully when Aron reached us. I scanned the darkness behind him. “What about Brook?”

Aron shook his head. “She’s not here. Her father probably took her to one of the city shelters.”

“Speaking of . . .” I glanced dubiously at Aron’s father. “How did your dad get outside the city’s walls?” I tried to imagine Aron pushing his father over the wall, the way I had Angelina.

“You’d be surprised how spry he can be with the threat of war at his heels.” His eyebrows were raised, but I could see he wasn’t kidding, and I was mildly impressed.

Aron settled down beside me and I leaned heavily against
him, more relieved to have his company than I could possibly express.

“How is she?” he asked, nodding toward Angelina.

I bristled, even knowing that there was no underlying meaning behind his words. I knew that if I looked into his eyes I wouldn’t see the unspoken questions about why she was always silent, about why Angelina couldn’t speak the way other children her age could. Questions that always worried me, and made me wonder if maybe they suspected something more, if maybe they’d realized she was different in other ways as well.

“She’s fine,” I said a little too harshly. And then with less hostility: “Just tired.” I knew Aron would understand that.

We stayed quiet, listening to the hushed voices around us that speculated on what might be happening in the city beyond the walls. There was no class division in those moments, yet I could distinguish variations in voice, in tone, in language. And even though I couldn’t share what I heard with Aron, I understood every word of it.

People wondered aloud about the possibility of an all-out assault on the city. Others spoke of a malfunction in the city’s defenses.

I hoped and prayed for the latter, unable to imagine anything worse while my parents were still out there.

Then, from somewhere in the darkness, I heard a voice echoing against the unyielding stone. And then another, and another, and soon everyone around us was rising to their feet out of respect, repeating the familiar words of the Pledge.

I lifted Angelina, refusing to release, or even to wake, her as I joined the others.

My breath is my pledge to worship my queen above all others.

My breath is my pledge to obey the laws of my country.

My breath is my pledge to respect my superiors.

My breath is my pledge to contribute to the progress of my class.

My breath is my pledge to report all who would do harm to my queen and country.

As I breathe, I pledge.

The words held more meaning now, on this night, than they ever had before. I wasn’t sure if it was fear or patriotism, but in that moment I truly was making a vow to my queen. Beseeching her for protection that only she could offer.

Eventually, as we settled down again, and talk wore thin, the night became heavy. I succumbed to the fatigue and curled protectively around Angelina, Aron’s body warm beside mine.

And somewhere, at some point, sleep became not just an option, but an inevitability.

Voices echoed down the interior caverns, jubilant and loud. The cries woke me, and I shrugged my weary shoulders, trying to work out the aches in my arms and neck. Angelina was already sitting up, pretending to whisper secrets into Muffin’s ear.

I reached for her, touching her leg. “Are you okay?”

She nodded.

It was light outside, and easier to see inside the passageways with daylight reaching down into them.

I looked up at Aron, who was still by my side. “Has anyone come in here?”

He nodded, and I glanced around, realizing that almost everyone had gone, his family included.

I smiled at Angelina, who was still playing with Muffin.

“What was it?” I asked him. “What caused the sirens?”

“Queen Elena’s army breached the defenses of several of the smaller cities to the east. The sirens were set off as a precaution, just in case her forces came too close.”

That was good news; it meant that the Capitol was still safe. And, almost as importantly, that the alarm system had not malfunctioned: The warning had been deliberate. We could trust the sirens.

Even better, it meant that my father would be coming for us soon.

“You didn’t have to stay, Aron. You could have gone home with your family.”

Aron wrinkled his nose, looking at me as if I were speaking nonsense. He shook his head when he answered, “I wouldn’t have left without you, Charlie. You know that.”

I did know; his words weren’t even necessary.

I grinned then, and shrugged. “Funny. I’d have left you in a heartbeat.”

But Aron didn’t hesitate. “Liar. You’d never leave me behind.”