Page 51 of The Verdant Cage
“We should all get back to our houses. It’s late.” He grabs his shirt, pants, and shoes and stomps back toward the cave.
I want to follow him, to say something that might matter, but I feel locked in place.
“Nice going, Eero,” Sal says, glaring at him.
I can’t help but agree. At least the boy has the good sense to look guilty as we pull on our tunics and trousers, shivering in our wetness.
I’m surprised when Oscar speaks. “Gryphon risks everything to train us.”
“Why?” I ask, giving shape to the question that’s been bothering me since I stumbled on their secret session. I know why Gryphonsaidhe does it, but what do they believe? “And why do you all risk the same to learn?”
The four of them exchange glances.
“The Guardian House has too much power.” It’s Meryl who speaks for the group, her Entertainer’s voice lending gravitas to her words. “They have for a while. They tell us they’re doing it to keep us safe, that it’s a natural extension of their regular duties. And at first, I think it was. But now they’re calling Harvests without input from the Record Keeper. We can all see that. They confine us to our homes, keep us so busy working we barely have time to question them, let alone do anything about it.” She shakes her head. “Gryphon agrees they’ve gone too far, though I doubt he’d admit it. The closest he can come is helping us.”
“I was the first,” Sal says. “My dad was Harvested for standing up to Jarek, and Gryphon was the one who walked him to the basket.”
A shiver runs through me, raw and familiar. I know what it is to watch the people you love get taken, and to be left behind with the ruin.
“I think it killed Gryphon to do it. He knows his father’s up to something, that we’re all vulnerable inside the Wall as long as Jarek is running the show. Training us is how he makes peace with his role in that.” She grins fiercely. “He approached me the night after my da’s death, said fighting is all he knew how to do, but he was willing to share it. I said if I’m learning to defend myself, Meryl is, too.”
“And I had to invite my husband,” tomboy Meryl jokes, punching Eero in the arm.
He smiles goofily. “I brought Oscar on accident, when he caught me sneaking out to train.”
“Hey, I wouldn’t have ratted you out!” Oscar says.
By the way Eero laughs, I understand this is something they’ve joked about many times. Because they’re friends, and they’re brave. I’m feeling the warmth of it when Meryl’s face grows serious again. “We know that a handful of us training the bo staff isn’t going to be enough to make any change. There’s got to be something bigger.”
“Hush!” Sal says.
“Hush yourself.” Meryl narrows her brown eyes, using a rare, firm voice with Salvatora. “Rose is putting herself in the same danger as the rest of us by being out here. She deserves to know.”
Sal squares her jaw but doesn’t disagree, so Meryl keeps talking. “We’re going to stop Jarek,” she says, holding my gaze. “He’s the one heading all the new laws, the Harvests. It’s supposed to be the Record Keeper, but David Seingalt is weak. This system’s not going to change unless we do something about it. To start, we want to remove Jarek from the Council.”
“How?” is my first question. My second is, “Does Gryphon know?”
“No, he can’t.” Eero grimaces. “And we’re not sure how yet, but we’ve got some ideas. We’re not the only ones, you know. There’s others who’ve noticed the Valley isn’t working right, some who’re willing to risk their own necks for it. Especially since Jonas was framed.”
The wave of emotion threatens to knock me over. “You don’t think he did it?”
Meryl bundles me in her arms. “Of course we don’t, Rose! We know Jarek is responsible somehow. He disposes of anyone who gets in his way.”
“That’s enough!” Sal interjects, her voice raised. “We’ve already shared too much.”
Meryl releases me, and I feel unsettlingly light on my own. We bustle back to the caves. I braid my hair on the way to disguise its wetness, wishing that I’d considered that before jumping all the way in.
The angle of the sun tells me that we’ve lost track of time.
“Gryphon just left,” Albert says, emerging from the cave upon our return. Was he inside this whole time? Even with his increased mobility, there aren’t many places in the Valley a supposedly dead kid could spend the day. He wheels his chair closer to me the old-fashioned way, his tone pure sulk. “You’re training here regularly now?”
“Mind your own business, Albert,” Sal snaps.
I wonder what her issue is with him, but I can’t disagree. The new evidence linking the Guardians to the seeming murder weapon has cooled my suspicion of Albert slightly, but I still don’t trust him.
Eero stretches. “You’re going to be sore tonight after the sparring, Rose, even with the creek dip.”
“Count on it,” Oscar says. “And it’ll just get worse over the next few hours. My first day of training? I couldn’t lift my arms above my waist. Good thing I only had hemming to do.”
