“Excellent news. Greta's family, the Prowe family, lives far out of the area. She has new information about your sister.”
My heart sank. I quietly prepared myself for the possibility that my sister might already be dead.
“Please, whatever the news is, just tell me,” I begged.
Pricilla nodded at Greta. “It's fine. Beryl is going to take my place here at Eaton Manor.”
Greta smiled at me.” Karine is alive. She is promised to my family's eldest male heir. He chose to send her home last night after declaring her his future first wife. She is also my sister now”
“He sent her home. How?” I asked in disbelief.
“By foot, across the open space between the city and the dry seabed. They have declared her dead assuming no woman could survive the journey alone.” Greta explained.
“No, she is strong but not against the open sun and alone.”
“The gear they could find for her and the provisions will sustain her for two days if she is careful, but there is no way to make it into the city it in two days. Help must be sent.” Greta was calm, and her words were measured, but I began to feel like I couldn't breathe.
“Beryl, calm down, we need your help. She needs to be found on a general scan—then, a rescue can begin. I can't pull this information out of the air by magic.” Dredge was right. We couldn't risk the authorities finding out the Reds helped in any way.
“We have already bombed close to where the settlement is located. The Red people have been alerted to our next target. We gave them time to leave, and in return they gave us back Karine, but the bombing will continue. The government wants this confrontation. We have to find her before she's harmed.”
The driver was ready to leave. The staff had my day gear prepared for me to put back on. One stranger handed me a small computer screen, and another gave me a scanner. The third had a key card for the fifth floor of my father's propulsion lab.
“Take these items to the fifth floor, tell anyone who asks you are on an errand for your father. A woman from security will meet you. If all goes well, your sister will text you from her hacked finance bracelet, and you will have help from the tech lab to locate her position.”
“I don't think I can do this Dredge, what if our lie is discovered?” I confessed, my hands shaking with fear.
“You are the only one who can do this and make the circumstances look like a random hand from fate. From any of the rest of us, this coincidence will look very suspicious.” Dredge explained.
“Right, right. Okay, let's go. Wait, have you told Jason?”
“No, I haven't. Jason needs to stay focused on the bombing, or this won't look real. I'm sending these men to meet your father next. He and your brother need to find Karine. Her rescue needs to be a perfect media win, or she will return home to a far more dangerous situation than the one she left.”
Priscilla stood and helped the staff secure my day suit. “We will talk more when you return home. We have some papers to sign, and your room is ready for you.”
“My room?” I asked.
“It's a suite, across the house from mine. As the new lady of the manor, we can't have you living across town now, can we.” Priscilla smiled and patted me on the hand.
“Of course, I've been so distracted.”
“It's to be expected with everything that is going on. All will be well by this time tomorrow, you'll see. I told you not to worry.” Priscilla did it all, found her, secured her release, and orchestrated her recovery. I only needed to play my part as instructed. I thought to call my mother and tell her everything was going to be okay, but I stopped myself. I took a deep breath and refreshed the list of instructions in my mind. I can do this.
PURPLE AND GOLD
The sky above me was shades of purple and dark blue. The moonlight cast the dust and the tops of the crag rock cliffs in eerie silver light. Noah walked close behind me. I got the impression he was trying to judge if I could climb the cliff face on my own. This walk back was never going to be an escorted trip home. At some point, he would need to turn back.
“We are halfway up the face now,” Noah explained. “I need to take my detour south. I'm not going back to the settlement.”
“Why,” I questioned. “Where will you go?”
“There's a small group going to see some old shipwrecks. The whole area is expected to be lost to the event. I need to take a break from settlement life. Get a change of perspective,” he explained.
“I can understand that.” I shifted my pack to my other shoulder and scratched at my neck. “A lot has happened recently.”
“Do you have sand in your shirt already?” Noah asked. “No, there’s itchy lace on this undershirt.”
“I can fix that.” Noah snapped open his knife and carefully cut the lace trim from the neck of my shirt. “Your skin will rub raw with this heat if you keep scratching at that.”
Noah crumpled the extra lace in his hand and removed a folded piece of cloth from his thigh pocket. “I have something for you. My mother made me promise to give this to you. It was my aunt Carly's.”
Noah placed a silver and turquoise necklace in the palm of my glove. “It's beautiful.”
“She wore it all the time as far as I can remember. When her husband died, she came to live with us. I was just a kid, but I still remember helping her move out to her own tent.
“A topsider baby girl was going to be brought to her. The baby was sick, and she was going to heal her, but the baby never arrived.
