I gripped Arden desperately. The horse jumped off the side of the road and in seconds we were in the dense wood. The thick branches of trees whipped at my arms and back. “Keep your head down!” Caleb yelled.
The lights of the Jeep disappeared behind us. The vehicle had stopped on the road. “It’s just a little farther,” Caleb reassured us, as our bodies pitched and heaved over the uneven terrain. I didn’t know what “it” was, but I hoped we would reach it soon.
The horse weaved in and out of the trees, finally coming to a stop in front of a nearly thirty-foot-wide river. Caleb jumped to the ground, helping Arden and me down. He slapped the horse’s rear and she took off. For a moment the forest was quiet.
I glanced behind us. The Jeep’s headlights lit the hazy night. The men slammed the car doors. “This way!” one of them yelled.
“Why are they after you?” I asked.
Caleb pulled us behind a boulder at the river’s shore and we all crouched low. “They’re not,” he said. I looked up at him, confused. “They’re after you.” He retrieved a piece of paper from his back pocket.
Arden plucked it from his hands. There, staring back at us, was a black-and-white photograph of a girl with long, dark hair, and a plump, heart-shaped mouth. EVE, the paper read. 5'7", BLUE EYES AND BROWN HAIR. TO BE CAPTURED AND DELIVERED, ALIVE, TO THE KING. IF SEEN, ALERT THE NORTHWEST OUTPOST. Arden held it in her hands until a giant raindrop fell, splattering across my name.
Caleb peered around the boulder, to where the Jeep was idling. “I found it on the road this morning.”
I grabbed the sheet from Arden’s hand and stared back at my own face. It was my graduation photo—the only picture ever taken at School. Last month a woman from the government came and lined all thirty of us up outside, photographing us one by one. In the photo, I stood in front of the lake, the windowless building just visible in the background. “But why are they after me? Arden escaped, too.”
Caleb looked down, his face half hidden by his matted brown hair. “What?” Arden asked. “What is it?”
He wiped the rain from his cheeks. “There’s been talk from the City of Sand—we originally thought it was a rumor.” Slowly, his eyes met mine. “The King wants an heir.”
Arden shook her head. She kept staring at the photo. “Oh no . . .” she mumbled.
“What? What is it?” I asked, feeling panic swell in my chest.
She peered back to the road, where a few flashlight beams now canvassed the trees. “‘Eve has proven one of the best and brightest students we’ve seen at School. So beautiful, so smart, so obedient.’” Headmistress Burns’s words sounded different coming from Arden’s mouth. Sinister, even. “That’s what you get for your Medal of Achievement, Eve. You weren’t going to that building after all. You belong to the King.”
My stomach was overcome by nausea. “What do you mean . . . belong?”
“You were going to bear his children, Eve.” Arden practically laughed.
The King’s pictures were in the hallways of our School. He was much older, with hair that was gray at the sides and dry, thin lips. Lines creased his forehead. I remembered Maxine had spoken of the King’s supposed graduation visit. It suddenly seemed possible he really had been coming . . . for me.
“Of course you were. You’re the perfect specimen. All that education, and all the Teachers’ praise . . .” Arden went on, her fingers pressing against her temple.
I crumpled the poster in my hands. My breaths were short, my lungs tight. I didn’t want to bear anyone’s children—especially not the King’s. But apparently the choice had already been made for me.
Caleb perched near the side of the boulder, his eyes fixed on the King’s men. They made their way through the woods, the sounds of their boots crunching on leaves filling the air. “We’re not safe here,” he said, looking behind him at the river. “Come—now.” He darted toward the shore and waded into the rushing water, the rain hitting his bare back. Arden followed close behind. It took me a moment to realize: he wanted us to swim across.
I crouched down, frozen on the bank, as Arden dove under with ease. Behind me, the flashlights scanned the thick woods. The voices of the troops grew louder.
“Come on!” Caleb yelled. He paused, the water at his chest, letting Arden swim past. She kept swimming, coming up only for air.
Caleb rushed back to me on the shore. “Quick,” he urged, grabbing my arm.
The river churned with white water. Arden moved downstream, swept away by the current. “I can’t swim,” I said, wiping my wet hair from my cheeks. My face crumpled as Arden struggled to the other shore. She was up, her clothes and backpack soaking, but unharmed.
“I don’t know how,” I said, my voice trembling. Behind us, the King’s troops were getting closer, their flashlight beams reaching the water. “Just go,” I choked out. I couldn’t stop the sobs from coming now, my chest heaving with defeat. I pushed Caleb forward. “Go.”