Rise An Eve Novel

eyes were glassy in the firelight. “Arden had told us you were being held in the City,” she said. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
    She pressed her lips together, managing a tight smile. I hadn’t seen her cry at School. She had always comforted Pip and me, was always the hopelessly rational one who managed to see every side of every situation, whose presence automatically made you lower your voice, talk slower, not be as angry or sad. Ruby’s hand rubbed at the front of her stomach as she took a deep breath, willing the tears away.
    “I’m glad we made it here,” I said. “I thought the same thing sometimes.” I leaned in, about to hug her, but something in her face stopped me. She looked over my shoulder, her expression foreign and cold.
    Pip noticed Ruby’s hesitation. “I never understood . . . why Arden?” she asked, each word spoken so carefully, as if she’d been waiting for days, weeks maybe, to say them to me. “You hated her at School. And then she comes to us, saying you’ve given her this key. She told us how you and her were together in the wild. She said you saved her.” Pip swiped at her cheek, catching a tear before it fell. “I just don’t understand why you brought her and not us.”
    “I didn’t,” I said. I grabbed for Pip’s hands but she slid them out from under mine. “I didn’t bring her. I found her after I left—she was the one who told me about the building. I was forced to leave alone.”
    “Who?” Pip’s voice wavered. “Who forced you?”
    “Teacher Florence,” I said. “I could leave only if I went alone.”
    “Then you shouldn’t have left at all.” She raised her voice as she said it. Ruby placed her hand on her back, trying to calm her, but Pip continued. “Do you know that I waited for you? I sat in that room all day, and I argued with Headmistress that I couldn’t go to graduation, that something horrible must’ve happened. I could not imagine that you would actually leave School without me. How stupid was that? How stupid was I, thinking I’d be going to the City? Imagining my apartment, the architecture firm I’d work for there—imagining that we’d be together.” She leaned in, her cheeks flushed. She was talking so loudly now that the girls turned, watching us. “I was staring at the lake as I walked over that bridge. I kept searching the water because I was so terrified you’d drowned. And the whole time you knew. You listened to me go on about my life in the City, and you knew .”
    My throat squeezed shut. I pressed my fingers to my eyes, trying to stop the tears, but my face was red, the whole room closing in on me. “I made a mistake,” I said, forcing each word out. “A really huge, irreversible mistake. And I still carry that. But I didn’t know until that night. I had only minutes to figure out what I was going to do. I wasn’t planning it. Of course I would’ve taken you if I knew.”
    Pip released a deep breath. The air felt heavier, the inches between us holding everything unspoken. “Now you’re the Princess.” Pip let out a strange laugh. “After all this time, you were living in the Palace.”
    Ruby set her hand down on Pip’s and whispered something to her, the words so low I couldn’t make them out. “Why do you think I’m here?” I asked. “I’ve escaped the City. If we’re caught I’ll be killed. I might’ve lived in the Palace, but it wasn’t as if I forgot everything that happened before.”
    Behind us Clara and Beatrice stood, collecting some of the bowls scattered on the floor. “Let’s get everyone situated in their rooms—you could all use some rest,” Clara said. She helped Helene up, wrapping her arm around her side. Slowly the girls moved into the surrounding tunnels, their eyes lingering on us.
    “Why did you bring them here?” Ruby asked. “What’s the point of this?”
    I tried to steady my breaths. “We’re going to Califia. Arden must’ve told you about the settlement over the bridge.”
    “The women’s camp.” Ruby nodded. As the fire dwindled down to the final, blackened logs, the room grew colder. “She said you’d had to leave there, that it wasn’t safe.”
    “It’s the safest place we have—maybe the only place,” I said. “Especially for the girls. A few of the women are doctors. There are midwives to help with delivery. I can set up lodging for all of us.”
    Pip studied me. “When are you going?”
    That word, you —not we —left me