For several weeks, morale stayed high. Patrols passed with relative ease, we met the meat quota, and I enjoyed being a Huntress. Apart from the occasional clash with Freaks, things stayed quiet. I had the awful feeling that once they stopped gorging on Nassau, they would head for the next nearest enclave. Us. Still, I kept my misgivings to myself.
When I least expected it, disaster struck. But not in the way I thought.
Fade and I were among the last to return from patrol that day. We had to range wider than usual to fill our bags. Half the snares sat empty, worrisome enough, but we managed to take enough prey to justify calling ourselves Hunters. We also dropped a couple of Freaks, but I hardly called that a deed worth mentioning. These had been near death, nothing but skin and bone and bloody teeth.
When we clambered across the barricades, I knew instantly something was wrong. The guards stood facing away from their posts, for one thing. They barely glanced back at us to make sure we were human before returning to the common area just beyond.
I glanced at Fade, who hefted his bag in a shrug. We put the meat in a pile with the rest—Twist would tend to it later—and inched closer to hear what was going on. The Wordkeeper held court with Whitewall and Copper standing to either side. They had a big sandy-haired guy trapped at the center of the circle. Everyone had stopped work to watch events unfold. My movement drew the Wordkeeper’s eye and he smiled at me, as if we shared a secret.
“You stand accused of theft and hoarding,” Whitewall said, his voice hard.
“How do you plead?” Copper asked.
“I didn’t. I would never!”
Oh, no. Even before I cut around enough to recognize his face in profile, I knew Stone’s voice. He cradled a brat in one arm, his face drawn with terror.
“Silk found this hidden beneath your pallet.” The Wordkeeper held up one of the slim, colorful books I’d brought. “You were seen lurking around the archives. Can you offer any explanation before we sentence you?”
Tears streamed down my friend’s face. The brat in his arms caught his mood and started to cry in little gulping sniffs. “It’s not mine. I don’t know how it got there.”
Watching them, I knew. With a terrible growing sickness, I knew. Skittle probably hadn’t done anything, either. Every so often, they picked a citizen at random. They put artifacts in his private space and then they accused him of hoarding. They needed the consequences to be fresh in everyone else’s mind. This was how they kept us from questioning their decisions. I’d once believed the elders to be benevolent and wise.
But no more.
Stone had no chance Topside and he had a brat. He’d sired one; it could be the boy tucked into the curve of his arm. I couldn’t watch this happen. If the tunnel brat haunted me, there was no way I could live with watching my friend’s exile.
“That’s no defense against the evidence,” Whitewall said.
“It’s mine.” I spoke before I knew I meant to.
Unfriendly hands shoved me toward the center. I stumbled and then restored my balance, approaching with my heart thumping like mad. I didn’t want to do this; I couldn’t be doing this. I didn’t want to leave the only home I’d ever known.
The Wordkeeper narrowed his eyes on me. “You claim you stole it? After presenting yourself as a model citizen?” His tight expression said he knew I’d done nothing of the kind.
“Then how did it wind up in Stone’s private space?” Silk demanded.
I don’t know what I would’ve said, but Fade pushed forward then. No, don’t do this. Stay and be safe. In that moment, I tried to will him not to speak. I even shook my head, but he didn’t look at me.
He focused on the elders. “I put it there. I was jealous of their friendship, and I wanted him to be blamed for what she’d done.”
After the initial gasp, silence.
I could see them weighing the benefit of seeing two former heroes brought low, two sacrifices for the price of one. Fade had proven the best Hunter among us, so he would make an excellent example. See, they would say. Anyone can stray. That is why constant vigilance and obedience is so important. They conferred far too short a time, unlike after my naming day. This was serious, and someone had to pay.
Whitewall said, “I accept your confession. From this moment forth, you are banished, stripped of your titles, and will be offered no aid or shelter by any College citizen, on penalty of exile. Go Topside, lawbreakers.”
Though I had expected it, the weight of the pronouncement crushed me. I tried to catch Thimble’s eye but she turned away. One by one, everyone else did the same. As a brat, I’d taken part in a shunning; I just hadn’t realized how it felt. I’d been secure in my status. Every year, I realized. We sent people Topside every single year.
With some part of me, I recognized they’d targeted Stone as a warning. Because I cared about him, because we’d been brat-mates. It was a reminder to keep silent about anything I might’ve learned from Banner or Fade. They couldn’t have expected me to react like this. Even I couldn’t believe it.
Stone wore a bewildered look, as if he couldn’t understand what was happening. He patted the brat on the back and dried his tears while staring at me with mute hurt. We’d been through so much together. Did he truly think I—
“Thief,” he spat and turned his back, like the others.
He didn’t know I’d saved him. There would be no acknowledgment of the sacrifice. The knowledge rendered me numb.
“You have five minutes,” Silk said. “You will not be permitted to take our food or water. We will allow you your personal effects, but you will be searched before leaving the enclave for the last time.”
Her eyes reflected a sad, quiet awareness of what I’d done. Of what Fade had done. Though I didn’t like her, I didn’t believe this was her policy; she merely enforced it. I knew why I’d spoken up for Stone; I was less sure of Fade’s reasons for getting involved. Whatever they were, he now had no choice but to follow me into the exile.
With shaking hands, I put my few belongings in the bag I took on patrols: spare clothing, my blanket, the tin of salve Banner had made, and a few of my shiny baubles. All told, there wasn’t much. That left only my weapons, and I strapped them on feeling hopeless and heartsick.
Twist stopped me on the way and tugged me into his private space. I’d never seen it before. “We don’t have much time.” He rummaged in his crate and came up with an item that looked like a leather harness. He filled the packets with dry meat and the pouches with water. “Here, put it on under your shirt.”