Sunset Rising (8 page)

“
That’s the world I want to live in, too. I’ve never had a best friend before, Sunny. I don’t ever want to lose our friendship.”

Our
eyes met in the mirror, and I searched her face for a hint of sincerity. With all my heart, I wanted to believe her.

“We
ll, don’t make me cry! My makeup is going to run, and Jack and I have a televised interview this morning. Do you believe people want to know about us?” Leisel shook her head in disbelief. “Why? We’re so boring.”

Too swept up in our plans, I had forgotten all about the excitement rippling through the Dome about the upcoming nuptials.
They had been showing the young couple on television as often as possible, getting everyone excited. Although, down in the Pit, people were more excited about being treated to a feast than they were about watching the wedding. But that wasn’t something I would ever tell Leisel.

“I don’t think you’re boring.
I think sharing your wedding day with everyone makes you closer to them.”

Leisel hugged me.
“You’re so sweet. But speaking of the interview, I need to finish getting ready. I’ll just slip you out of the dress—careful of the pins. They need to stay exactly as they are. When we switch in the Registry room, I can just remove them and the dress will fit me again.”

I put Jack’s robe back on while she carefully tucked the dress away into the garment bag.

“I probably won’t see you again until tonight. But you look like you should get some sleep anyway. I didn’t want to say anything, Sunny, but you look exhausted.”

And then she was gone.

Jack peeked around the corner.

“All clear?”

I nodded. “Leisel’s gone to get ready for the interview.”

“About that,” Jack said
, coming into the living room. “I’m not going to be here most of the day, so you’ll be on your own. Once I lock the door, I’m the only one who can unlock it, so you won’t be able to leave. Which is for the best, because if you’re caught walking around up here unescorted, it won’t be good for you. Do you understand?”

“Can’t I just go home
, please? I promise to come right back. You don’t need to hold me prisoner.” I really needed to check on my dad.

“I’m
sorry, but that’s just not possible. I want you to know that your loyalty to my fiancée won’t go unrewarded. Once we’re married, I’ll make sure you and your family are taken care of—it’s the least we can do.”

I was sickened when I realized he thought I was doing this for my own personal gain. I wanted to say something, but the doorbell
rang again. Jack motioned for me to go into the bedroom. A few seconds later, he told me I could come back.

“Here’s your breakfast
,” he said, setting a tray on the table.

There was a time when the Dome used replicators for meals, but
someone discovered that processing the food that way resulted in lost vitamins and enzymes. Now the kitchens produced food the old-fashioned way and served it in cafeterias throughout the Dome. I shouldn’t be surprised that Jack Kenner had his meals delivered, though. He came from an important family and would one day be the most important person in the Dome. The evidence that he had personal servants reminded me of just who I was dealing with.

“I can trust you alone here
today, can’t I?”

H
eat crept up from my neck to cover my cheeks.

“Yes
, sir.” I looked at the floor. I was too humiliated to look him in the eyes. I heard the door open and close.

I was alone.

My feet seemed rooted to the spot where I was standing.
I listened and waited. Waited for what, I wasn’t sure. A hand turning the doorknob? Guards to come crashing through and arrest me? But the only sound in the apartment was of my own breathing. I took a tentative step forward, heard the whisper of my foot sinking back into the carpet, and froze. Was anyone in the hallway? Could they have heard it too? I waited and listened again. No one was coming. I was being paranoid. Why would anyone come barging into Jack Kenner’s apartment without permission?

My focus turned to the tray of food sitting on the table
, and my stomach growled. I put my hand over my tummy to muffle the sound. I was pretty sure they heard it all the way down in the Pit. I grabbed the tray, ran on my tiptoes into the bedroom, and sat down on the floor where I’d slept the night before. I felt safer here. If someone did come into the apartment, I could roll under the bed and hide.

I took the lid off the tray and savoured the smell of breakfast.
Two eggs, a piece of ham, bread, and fruit. It was more food than I was given in the Pit in an entire day. I ate one egg and some of the bread, then replaced the lid and tucked the leftovers under the bed for later. Then I sat there on the floor with absolutely nothing to do.

After a moment
, I tiptoed back out into the living room. I wanted to turn on the television to watch the interview when it aired, but I was afraid it would make too much noise. I had never been interested in the royal couple before, but now that they wanted me to dress up as a decoy bride for any would-be assassins, my interest in them had been piqued. Sure, I had seen them on television before, but they were just images on a screen then. Now I knew them personally.

Did they really want to change the Dome for the better?

Maybe I could find out more about Jack Kenner. I was alone in his apartment, after all. I knew I shouldn’t snoop in his personal things. In fact, I had told him that he could trust me. But if I was going to risk my life for him so he could one day hold the office of president, then I owed it to myself to make sure he was worthy of it.

I opened the cabinet doors on either side of the television and was pleasantly surprised to discover shelves full of old books and magazines. Some of the magazines dated as far back as the 1990s.
They looked original, not like the stiff and glossy replicated ones. A pair of white gloves sat on one shelf, and I assumed they were required before touching the antique paper.

I closed the cabinets
and continued my search. I went back into Jack’s bedroom, but all I found in his closet and dresser drawers were clothes. There didn’t seem to be anything personal in the apartment at all. No diaries, letters, or photographs. Only the library of old books.

I went back to the cabinet and put
on the gloves. I recognized many classics I had learned about in school but never read, like
Pride and Prejudice
and
Paradise Lost.
Although I would’ve loved to read them, I was still hoping I wouldn’t be there long enough to finish them. Instead, I turned my attention to the magazines. They ranged in topic from news to nature, from architecture to computers. I took one out and looked at the front cover; it was dated April 2012, and the headline read “US and NATO Plan Defence Project.” The next one was dated May 2012: “Russia Vows Pre-Emptive Strike Against US and NATO.” I jumped ahead to the most recent magazine, and the headline read “Korea Not Happy with Vice President Kenner’s Visit.” The name Kenner caught my attention.

The article
was a short commentary on Vice President Theodore Kenner’s meeting with North Korea’s leader about working together to solve the current nuclear crisis. The meeting didn’t go well because the North Korean leader expected President Taylor herself, not the vice president. The article went on to say that instead of repairing relations between the two countries, the rift had grown larger. It was dated January 2024. The nuclear holocaust happened February 2024. Was the Kenner family somehow implicated in the start of World War Three?

T
hat the Holts and Kenners had never gotten along was no secret. Not that we followed that kind of gossip in the Pit—it was just common knowledge. The engagement of Leisel and Jack had come as a surprise to everyone. Maybe that’s why they were making such a big deal of the wedding. The Holts were finally forgiving the Kenners for their past mistakes.

I thumbed through the rest of the magazines but didn’t find anything
more about the Kenners. One headline dated early February 2024 read, “Are We on the Brink of World War Three?” I wondered why our ancestors were smart enough to ask that question but not smart enough to avoid a war. Reading about nuclear war was depressing. I already knew how we all ended up living in the Dome. What I wanted to know was when we could get out.

I abandoned the depressing news
magazines for the ones on nature. Seeing images of the outside world always lifted my spirits. I selected a few and shut the cabinet doors. As quietly as I could, I returned to my spot in the bedroom and curled up to read. I still felt safer tucked away in the corner with my food tray close at hand.

But reading about
nature turned out to be no more uplifting than the news magazines. Most of the featured articles were about global warming and how extreme droughts and vicious storms had wiped out more than a third of the earth’s population. Food production had become a global issue since the countries that received most of the rain were the northern countries that didn’t receive enough sun to grow the food. The world had become unbalanced. Even if there hadn’t been a nuclear war, the human race had seemed doomed anyway.

Feeling hungry again, I took off the gloves and ate some of my
leftover food. Then I replaced the lid and got up and washed my hands. As soon as I turned on the faucet, I shut it off, alarmed at how loud it sounded in the silent apartment. I held my breath for a moment, straining to hear if someone was coming. But when no one rushed in to arrest me, I felt more confident and turned the water on again to take a good long drink. Then I returned to my spot and fell asleep.

The pressure of a hand on my shoulder jerked me awake. At first I thought I’d been caught in Jack Kenner’s apartment, and my heart jumped into my throat.

But it was Jack.
“Fall off the bed again?” he asked with a sarcastic grin.

I placed a hand over my chest.
“You scared me.”

“It’s time to get up.
Leisel wants you in her apartment to get ready for the wedding.”

“The wedding?
How long have I been sleeping?”

“You were asleep when I got in last night. I decided to leave you that way.”

The magazines were gone. I felt ashamed at being caught with his personal things. He had asked me if he could trust me, and I had said yes.

“I thought you and Leisel were both coming back last night.
I thought we would all get the chance to talk again.” I was still looking for a way out of the plan.

“Leisel decided to go straight back to her apartment last night. I think she was angry with me for trying to talk her out of thi
s little farce.”

“And did you?
Talk her out of it, I mean.”

“No.
But she promised me that she told her father. We should be safe.”

What did he mean by
“we?” I was the one not only taking the risk of being caught impersonating the bride but also of playing decoy for an assassin. “Did you ask the president? You know, just to make sure she really did tell him?” I had no right to question him, but I was desperate.

“If Leisel said she talked to her father, then I believe her
.” His tone brooked no argument. “Now we really are running out of time.”

“I have nothing to wear
.” I was still in his bathrobe.

He hardly looked at me
. “That will have to do. You’re ready then?”

“
I guess so.” I didn’t have any more excuses.

“Just give me a minute
.” He picked up his computer tablet and tapped away on the screen. “Okay, that should give us enough time. Let’s go.”

Jack tentatively checked up and down the hall before he opened the door wide enough for me to exit.
Putting his finger to his lips, he gave me the “ssshhh” sign, and we quietly walked down the hall and into the elevator. Leisel lived on the tenth floor, the highest floor in the Dome. The ride was short, and within seconds we were exiting onto the tenth level. I expected Domers to be guarding this level, but the hall was empty.

The layout of this floor was a little different than the eighth floor where Jack lived.
Instead of hallways feeding off the elevator lobby, there were four large ornate doors, and above each door four family names stood out—Holt, West, Powell and Forbes—the four most powerful families in the Dome. No one should be on this floor without a formal invitation.

Jack led me to the door with
the name “Holt” above the entrance. He waved his hand over the scanner, and a click sounded as it unlocked. He opened it hesitantly and made sure the hall was clear and then waved me through. I was so scared of being caught that my stomach was in a tight knot.

We made our way down the hall, hurrying as much as we could without making noise.
Then we heard a door opening. We stopped dead in our tracks. There was nowhere to hide. A figure stepped out into the hall, and I held my breath for a second. Then I saw it was Leisel. She motioned for us to hurry up, and we rushed inside her apartment.

“I’m so relieved you’re here
, Sunny! I kept torturing myself with thoughts that you went back home—that you decided not to help me and I’d have to make that walk myself. Thank you so much for staying.”

“I
’d better go,” Jack said. “The guards will be back soon.” I wondered where the guards had gone, but thought it best not to ask. They seemed to have it all worked out.

“I’ll see you soon, my love
,” Leisel said, wrapping her arms around him. “Everything will turn out just fine. I can’t wait for us to be married.” She gave him a long, passionate kiss, and I busied myself staring at the wall.

“I’m still worried,
but I trust you, Leisel.” He gave her one more kiss and then slipped out the door.

Leisel laughed when she took in my appearance.
“I see you’re still wearing that bathrobe. Let’s get you into the shower. We have a lot of work to do to get you ready for the wedding of the century.”