“You’d be surprised what some people are capable of,” Mio says and stands. He walks to the center of the boat and draws all of our attention to him.
“We should be pulling into Libertas early tomorrow morning. If you’re not Adaline or Alexander I need you all to line up so I can distribute some paperwork to you for applying to reside in Libertas.”
“But Toby and I are gifted. Do we still need to fill out the paperwork? I thought this was a place for people with gifts,” Zavy asks.
“You two weren’t part of the original plan so yes you need to fill out the paperwork, but you will definitely be granted access. It’s more of keeping track of who goes into Libertas.” Zavy nods her head in response. Mio walks to the back of the boat and pulls out a grey binder from his bag with a black pouch, and everyone moves to line up to receive their paperwork. Mio begins to pull thick packets of paper from his binder and one by one each member of our group starts to fill out the papers that will determine their future.
Alexander and I move to the front of the boat to get out of the way. We sit side by side and look out into the horizon, the wind flipping pieces of my hair off my shoulder.
“I can’t believe they aren’t guaranteed access to Libertas,” I mumble.
“Maybe they’ll make an exception when we get there. This could just be a policy everyone has to follow,” Alexander says.
“I don’t know, I don’t feel like this is going to end well,” I say. I look over to the other boat and see that they are all filling out paperwork as well. I look back at our boat and see that Zavy is helping the younger girls fill out their paperwork since they can’t read or write. I remember that Zavy has an enhanced sense of hearing, and more specifically is a Communicator. Her gift might not have been extremely helpful before, but now she’s making good use of it. She still seems to struggle a bit with getting clear information from the girls, but she’s getting better at it. I glance back at the other boat and notice Cinder is doing her best with May and April as well.
“None of these people have anywhere else to go,” I say to no one in particular. Cooper comes up and sits next to Alexander and myself. “What kind of questions are they asking you on this paperwork?” I gaze over his papers.
“Just the basics. Our name, age, the date, if we have a gift or not, why we should be given access, how many others we arrived with, grades we got in school, previous jobs we’ve held. Kind of weird stuff to ask I guess,” Cooper says and starts filling out the paperwork.
“Do you think Mio’s right about not everyone getting to stay?” I ask Cooper.
“We’d be lucky if half of us get to stay,” Cooper says sharply. I look away from him and let the chill of his words settle on me.
Half. We’re at seventeen right now, not including Alexander and myself. Could I really cut that down to eight or nine? I take count of my traveling group again and feel nauseous at the idea of having to get rid of some of them.
“Who decides?” I ask Cooper and he looks off in the distance trying to process his next words.
“There’s supposed to be a council that will review our answers,” Cooper explains. He squints in the sunlight and looks to me. “I actually don’t really know who will decide. I really don’t have any idea what Libertas is even like.” I nod, and as of right now I’m not getting the best first impression of the place we are hoping to find freedom at. They seem to isolate themselves and think that they are more deserving of a better life just because they have a gift. Life in Garth is awful whether or not you have a gift, because truthfully the King is watching us all in case we make one wrong move.
“Adaline and I will do everything we can to make sure you all get to stay,” Alexander says over to Cooper. Cooper just nods his head as he continues working through his papers.
Again I put myself in the shoes of the council at Sard. Which eight would I be willing to let stay? The leaders of the group? Maybe the hunters that kept everyone fed? I understand what Mio meant when he said he was afraid the younger girls would be the first to get cut. What have they done to help get me to Libertas?
Abruptly I get up and walk over to Mio. “Do you have an extra application or paper?” I ask him and he tilts his head a bit confused.
“I do,” he says and hands me a blank sheet of paper and pencil. I take them and return to Alexander and Cooper without giving Mio an explanation.
I list out all seventeen members of the traveling group, excluding Alexander and myself, and start to decide why they should get to stay. I go down the list to each person and write down what they did to help me get to Libertas. The council will have to hear my explanation as to how this trip went, and they will want to know who I think deserves to stay. So, I will be ready to fight for every single member here, because like I told Molly we are all family now. I’m not losing my new family. Not a single member will be shipped back to Dather. We will stick together because I can’t bring myself to have to lose anyone else.
Chapter 25
“Would
