men into a smaller room, adjacent to the area with the fissure. The loud humming emitted from a large generator. Several secured cables snaked in from adjoining corridors and joined together at a center point, then spliced into the machine. She had often pondered how the electricity was supplied, but she had never expected such an elaborate setup.
The shock of seeing such technology stunned her. Although forced into caves, the people who rebelled were anything but barbaric. They were far from ignorant, and their ingenuity proved it. Once again, her father had been proven wrong.
Ellyssa circled the generator, studying it. “How do you keep such a machine running?”
“Battery packs charged by solar energy,” Jordan answered, his words drawn out as if he were tired.
He took a step toward Ellyssa and stumbled. She caught him, but barely. He felt so light in her arms, so fragile, like a frayed string.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Fine, maybe a little tired.” He chortled, as if embarrassed. “Doc, do you mind escorting me to my holey?”
Mathew moved his eyes between Ellyssa and Rein, then a grin she had trouble identifying appeared on his face. He winked at her. “No problem.” He took the back of their leader’s elbow and led him from the generator room.
Ellyssa waited for the echoes of their shoes against the rocky ground to disappear before she turned her attention to Rein. “Is he going to be all right?”
“He’s getting up there in years.”
She nodded, understanding that the settlers of this area didn’t have the medical advancements, nor the superior genes, that helped prolong life.
“Solar energy batteries?” Ellyssa asked, indicating the machine.
Rein pointed at a power pack, roughly the size of a processor. “We have three of those. While one is working, the other two are being charged.”
“But…maintenance?”
“We keep up-to-date.”
“How?” she asked.
“The Resistance,” Rein said quickly, as if he didn’t want to elaborate.
Ellyssa could have easily picked it from his brain, but she didn’t. If she were to stay in this type of society, she’d have to learn to trust them, along with earning trust
Rein walked over to the machine and knelt next to the battery. “See this red line?” He pointed at an indicator stretching across the expanse of the machine. It was lit to a halfway mark. The red haze highlighted his cheekbones and tinted his dark hair.
“This shows us how much power we have left.” Standing, he dusted off his knees. “We turn off lights at certain points during the day to conserve energy.”
“How many people live here?”
His mouth pulled to the side, as if considering whether divulging such information would prove fatal. A few moments later, he responded, “A hundred forty-seven.”
The number was higher than she’d expected. “All are descendants?”
“Some are. Most are from other camps we brought in. Others were kind of adopted, like Jeremy and me, from parents in society who didn’t want to send their less-than-perfect children to the concentration camps, or have them killed.” His tone sharpened as he spoke. “You know they do that, don’t you? They use the imperfect children as slave labor or, if they are lucky, kill them.” Anger flashed in his green eyes.
She averted her gaze and picked at a thread from the seam of her T-shirt. “I am aware.”
“I figured as much.” He huffed past her to another tunnel. “Come on.”
She stood her ground. “I might have been aware. That does not mean I agree with how the people are treated. I ran across several things I have not agreed with. That is one of the reasons I left.”
Spinning on his heels, Rein’s face hardening into stone, he spat, “You should’ve done something.”
Ellyssa felt her stomach churn as rage boiled up. That was an emotion she knew, and knew well. Muscles twitching, aching to release pent-up energy, she spat back, “Like what? What could I have done? Why do you not tell me what you would have done?” Her voice matched his venom.
Rein rocked on his feet as if she’d slapped him. Lids narrowing, his face pinched into a scowl. He stepped forward, his hands balled into tight fists. Ellyssa instinctively coiled, like a snake about to strike, waiting. The moment never came. As fast as the air sizzled with intensity, it dissipated. His features and stance loosened.
Skeptical, Ellyssa tossed away her previous reservations and plunged into his head. Rein’s thoughts were jumbled, fleeting, shifting from one to the other faster than a deck of cards being shuffled. Brief doubts about why she was here, what she wanted, whether she should be trusted. Regret filtered through for blaming her for a situation she hadn’t caused. He wanted to accept and trust her as easily as Jordan and Mathew had. She was just so damn confusing.
Rein focused on her appearance. The angry pink in her cheeks began to fade, and her hair glowed yellow under the light. He wondered if her hair felt as soft as it looked, like silken thread.
Ellyssa’s midsection quivered and heat pulsed in her veins. She pulled out.
He squared his shoulders, but not in a confrontational way. “I don’t know,” he stated, pulling his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry.”
“Your apology is accepted.” Her tone was still sharp, but only to mask the sensation of uncertainty.
After all, she was the outsider here. For the most part, everyone she’d met had accepted her, although she should be considered the enemy. What he—the whole community, for that matter—knew had happened in the past was nothing compared to future plans. Society was to be exterminated to make way for a perfect human being. A perfect soldier and Ellyssa’s and her siblings’ genes were the key.
Maybe she should leave. Her father would not give up until she was returned home. The longer she stayed, the greater the risk.
They deserved the truth. She’d have to reveal her secret eventually.
“Ellyssa?”
Snapped from her thoughts, she looked at Rein. He was smiling, not a happy one, more filled with chagrin.
“I really am sorry. That was unfair. It’s just—” He shrugged.
“I understand.”
“Are you hungry?”
Nodding, Ellyssa’s head filled with questions about when she should tell them the whole truth. She turned back toward the direction of the hospital. He shuffled behind her, but instead of following, he put his hand on her shoulder. His grip was firm, and thrilling. She wheeled around, ready to defend; his hands flew up in surrender.
“Wait,” Rein said, amused. “We’re going to the dining hall. It’s time to meet the others. Jordan insists.”
His hand glided from her shoulder to her hand. His touch was different than when he’d held her hand through the enclosure. The soft stroke of his fingers traced along her skin like a feather. She looked at him.
Pulling his lips into an uncertain grin, Rein entwined his fingers with hers, and a pleasant shock ran through her veins, turning her blood into a mixture of ice and lava. Her pulse quickened.
“Come on,” he said with a tug.
Ellyssa followed behind him, cherishing the heat radiating off him. She relished how his touch felt different from the doctor’s or Jordan’s, how her heart hammered in expectation. Unsure and elusive. New and tantalizing.
They entered a part of the tunnel where the lights had been turned off to save energy. Darkness closed around her, but instead of going on high alert, she relaxed. The inky black seemed to last forever, until they turned a sharp corner. Light stretched along the rocky ground and wall and, with it, came the sound of whispered conversations.
A bit further along, they stepped into a room where the ceiling towered overhead. Although the middle part leveled into a large floor, speleothem deposited mineral ornaments had formed along the edges of room. Beautiful formations rose from the floor and dangled from above, and flowstone cascaded into layers of limestone steps.
