Breaking Point

“This,” I said, throwing my arms out to the side. “My house. My mom’s name. In the middle of the night!”

“Quiet!” said Stephen again.

Beth took a quick breath. “Okay. It’s kind of complicated, so just hang tight. There’s this thing called a safe house,” she said the term slowly, as if I’d never heard of it. “And people who are in trouble go there, but they have to wait at more remote places, checkpoints, for—”

“I know what a checkpoint is!” I shouted.

“Alert the neighborhood.” Stephen’s footsteps clacked against the floor as he marched into the next room. I tracked him with my eyes, wondered where this stranger thought he was going in my house.

“You do?” Beth tucked her hair behind her ears. “Did they teach you that in Sister school?” She pointed at my blouse.

“I’m not a Sister,” I said, face falling into my hands. “It’s a disguise, just like Chase’s uniform.”

She chewed her lip. “Maybe I need a disguise.”

I groaned. “This isn’t a joke!”

“Of course it’s not.” She looked wounded. “I help people here. I helped Mrs. Crowley across the street. The MM was coming after her, and I told her to hide here, and since then four more people have hidden here, too. People we know, Ember. And now they never have to get arrested.” She sniffled a little and wiped her eyes.

I felt like I’d been punched in the gut.

She’d grown quiet, waiting for me to answer. I said the only thing I could think to say.

“Mom’s gone, Beth.”

I closed my eyes, not caring that we were in my house anymore, or that there were patrol cars outside, or that Beth’s yelling had probably alerted half the city to my presence. I was so tired of it, all of it. The running and the sneaking around and the cruel games that the world played.

“That’s what Harmony’s brother said. I…” She sniffled. “I was really hoping it wasn’t true.” Her eyes shifted to Chase. “Did he know?”

He was crouched near my feet, watching me, never turning to glance at anyone else. There was just enough light to glint off his eyes.

“He knows,” I said weakly. “How did Harmony’s brother tell you?” Harmony, our friend from school, came slowly to mind. Long dark hair, almond-shaped eyes. I wondered absently if she was still dating Marcus Woodford.

“He joined last Thanksgiving, remember?”

“I remember. He’s playing both sides?” I pictured Marco and Polo.

She twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “Kind of. He’s not supposed to talk to Harmony, isn’t that crazy? But apparently he can talk to me without breaking the rules. Anyhow, he followed me home one night and wanted news about his family. I told him I would tell him if he’d tell me what they did with you.”

“You must have freaked,” I said.

“Was it your friend’s brother that told you to start a checkpoint?” Chase asked, diverting the conversation.

She glared at him, still angry.

“He doesn’t order me around,” she said stubbornly. “If anything, it’s the opposite. He wants to know about his family, he’s got to help me out.”

It occurred to me that Beth had no idea that she was playing with fire. If Harmony’s brother tired of her blackmail he could instantly turn the tables and send her to rehab or worse.

“He told you about the carriers?” I asked.

Beth nodded. “He told me about this guy in Chicago that takes people somewhere safe, and sent him this top secret radio message.”

“Beth…” I started, feeling the sudden urge to throttle her. “What you’re doing is really dangerous. Seriously.”

She cast me a hurt look.

“She’s saying the soldier could turn you in if he wanted,” explained Chase. “And if he knows about the safe house, and gets enough pressure from above to talk, a lot of people could die, not just you.”

“Die?”

It was as if she’d never considered that she could be killed. I felt very sorry, and very worried for her just then.

“What did he tell you about the safe house?” I asked.

Beth was frowning now.

“Nothing besides a guy comes and takes you there. He came last week and tagged your house all up with spray paint, I hope you don’t mind. He says all the places like this have that on them. He calls himself Truck ‘’cause I drive the truck,’” she quoted in a manly voice. “Stephen heard from someone at the soup kitchen where… where your mom used to work that I’d opened shop here.”

She leaned forward and whispered, “He’s got a warrant. For an Article Three.”

Article 3. Whole families are to be considered one man, one woman, and children. I could still see the Statutes we read over and over in the reformatory as though they were right in front of my face.

I looked into Beth’s puffy eyes, and all of a sudden everything—all my fear for her, and the anger at how naive she was being, and the relief at seeing her, but also the crushing disappointment that she wasn’t who I’d wanted her to be—collided into one big black pit inside of me. It festered when I thought of how stupid I’d been, fooled into thinking my mother was still alive. How once again I’d thrown Chase and myself into the eye of the storm for the same naivete I saw in Beth.

She was chewing on her lower lip, and flipping the flashlight from hand to hand.

“It was my idea to go by your mom’s name,” she said. “I figured since Lori was already… I figured it couldn’t do much harm since she wasn’t going to be coming back here. She was always so brave. It’s like she wasn’t scared of anything.” She hiccupped, then wiped her eyes again. “I figured this place could be, like, dedicated to her or something.”

Before she could say anything further, I scrambled up off the floor and escaped down the hallway toward my bedroom.

CHAPTER 14

“GO back to bed. This is between your mother and me.”

He stood over her—this man she’d said would complete our family. His shadow blanketed her body on the floor, where she was trying to pull herself up by one of the dresser drawers. When she saw me standing behind him, she gave a small, pained gasp, and covered her cheek with both hands.

She was too late; I’d already seen the mark.

Somehow, I was beside her, helping her up, telling myself she’d fallen. That was all. It was an accident. My mother didn’t let anyone hit her. My mother was the bravest woman I’d ever met.

And then it was tearing through me, all the rage and disappointment and disgust.

“Get out.” I blocked him as he reached toward her, already apologizing for the red welt on her cheek, and the tears that made it glisten. I jumped up and snatched the lamp, hefting it over my shoulder. “Get out!”

“Ember, stop it.” My mom was standing now. “Go back to your room.”

I couldn’t believe she’d said that.

“You know I’d never hurt you.” Roy’s voice broke. He put his hands on his hips. He started crying.