I had no idea where we were, except I knew we were traveling north again. The pirates seemed to know what they were doing, because their caravan moved fast—as fast as the broken roads allowed. I counted ten vehicles: three pickups, two jeeps, four tanker cars, and a converted fire truck the pirates used for pumping water. Somewhere overhead, the helicopter followed.
“Do you have children?” I asked.
The pirate was silent for a moment. “No,” he said finally.
“Are you married?” asked Will.
“Yes,” said Ulysses.
“Where’s your wife, then?” I asked.
“You ask a lot of questions,” said Ulysses.
I waited for him to say something else, but he did not, so I decided to stay silent as well. I peered out the window over Will’s shoulder. Minnesota did not look any different than home. The landscape was brown and dry, and there were broken buildings and cracked roads everywhere. No people; no signs of life. If there was more water here, you certainly couldn’t see it from the ground. Minnesota kept its riches well-hidden.
The trucks rumbled northward. I nudged Will, but he ignored me. I occupied myself instead by scanning the horizon for clouds. The sky, however, was perfectly blue, and every time I thought I saw a wisp of moisture, it turned out to be a trick of the eye, sunlight glancing off dust.
I wondered what our father was doing right now. Had he gone to the army to report our disappearance? Had he told our mother? In her fragile state, the news could make her worse. But surely she would notice our absence. The more I thought about it, the more I became sick with anxiety—not for myself, but for my parents. In the front of the truck, I felt strangely secure with Ulysses driving, although I knew I should be frightened. But when I thought of my parents—alone and worried—I was seized with panic. I reached for Will’s hand, and though he was pretending to be asleep against the door, he twined his fingers with mine and held tight.
We spent the night in the truck with the dogs. Ulysses said it was too dangerous to sleep in the tents. I didn’t think pirates were afraid of anything, but he explained that Minnesota was one of the few places where wild animals still roamed freely. They were aggressive and hungry and would think nothing of eating a couple of children if they could. Although it was cold in the truck and grew colder as the night deepened, Ulysses had plenty of blankets. In the darkest part of the night, he started the engine and warmed the truck with the heater. The rumble of the engine and the warm circulating air soon made me drowsy, and I fell back asleep.
In the morning I awoke with my head against Ulysses’s shoulder. For a moment, before I was fully awake, I could swear he was watching me. But when I opened my eyes, he was looking straight ahead.
“Where are we going?” I asked, rubbing my forehead with the palm of one hand. I was embarrassed to have fallen asleep on him and didn’t want him to think I had noticed.
“You’ll know when we get there,” said the pirate.
“How do you know where you’re going?” I asked.
“A pirate’s intuition,” said Ulysses. When he smiled the creases around his mouth looked like deep crags. He shook off his blankets and opened the door of the truck. “You stay here,” he commanded.
I watched him walk to the closest truck, his broad shoulders swaying as if he were carrying a weight, one leg dragging slightly, the dogs at his side. He had told us pirates didn’t fight except when forced to; they preferred to use stealth and cunning. But most of the pirates I had seen were crossed with scars, missing fingers, and crooked or bent limbs. For men who didn’t like to fight, they were well-bruised and battle-worn.
“They’re taking us farther north,” I said.
“I know,” said Will.
“Why are they following Kai?”
“We don’t know it’s Kai. It could be any boy and his father.”
“If they’re following him, it means he’s still alive.”
Will nodded.
“But if he’s alive and they learn that we know him, then we’re in danger,” I whispered.
“We’re already in danger.”
“Why can’t the army rescue us?” By now the RGs had surely reviewed the security logs and would be looking for us. I would gladly take being arrested over being killed.
Will shook his head. “They won’t cross the border. You know that.”
The lower republics would not risk war with Minnesota over two missing children—not when they were already at war with the Empire of Canada and the Arctic Archipelago. Although Minnesota was technically neutral, the republics depended on it for fresh water. They would do nothing to upset that delicate balance. By crossing the border, we had lost all hope of rescue.
We stared out the front window, watching the pirates gathering inside the circle of trucks. Someone had made a fire, and breakfast was cooking. The salty, smoky smell of something frying in a pan drifted into the front cab. My stomach grumbled. I realized I had not eaten since breakfast the day before. I was famished. Will, too, sniffed eagerly.
Ulysses gestured for us to get out of the truck. I hesitated until he made an eating motion: cupping one hand and putting it to his mouth. Then I scrambled from the seat and jumped to the ground. Will followed.