The Other Side Of Gravity (Oxygen, #1) (33 page)

He tossed me inside. It was completely empty except a small hole in the floor. No cot, no nothing.

“You should feel special,” he quipped from behind me. “There’s never been a manhunt that went on as long as yours did on this planet. See? That’s something to shout about.”

I was lying on the floor, facing away from him, exactly where I’d fallen. I closed my eyes and tuned him out. He was just trying to goad me so I’d say something and he could hit me. Maybe he would hit me anyway, I didn’t know. But either way, I was done with this day.

Or so I thought.

“The people with grievances against you are here to see you.” He chuckled. “I’m sure you can imagine who they are.”

I stiffened.
Rivers.

Chapter Eighteen

rev·o·lu·tion - a forcible overthrow of a government or social order by uprising, rebellion, or insurgence in favor of a new system or way of doing things.

Maxton

I
t all happened in slow motion. Sophelia was fine, everything was going according to plan, and then that patriot betrayed us right at the checkpoint. There were too many sentries. The twins pulled me away as a sentry barked for the vendor to take the cart further up the street.

“We can’t help her if we’re dead, man,” Roddy hissed in my ear.

I still fought against them. I couldn’t just let them take her. I couldn’t just let her think that we did nothing to save her. “Get off me.”

“Max, my man, listen. We’ll go get her. We promise. Trust us, our butts are on the line, too. We want her back even more than you do.”

I sighed raggedly and closed my eyes. “I highly doubt that.”

“Just wait. You can’t lose your cool. If you get taken, too, then there’s no way you can save her later. And there’s no way you can save her now. There’re too many.”

I lifted my hands to tell them I was fine and settled my shoulder against the hard bricks just as they opened the lid and tugged her out. Bastards. I gripped my hair painfully to keep myself from running over to her.

When her eyes lifted to mine, I thought I’d lost the battle, but my feet stayed. When he hit her, Fletch grabbed the back of my shirt while Roddy gripped my arm to keep me there. As soon as I saw them take off in the SkyLark, I ran toward the hover rail. The twins followed close behind. When we reached it, I began to scan my arm, but it was yanked down. I looked over at Roddy to see him scowling at me.

I muttered, “They’ve got Sophelia. They don’t care about me anymore. They were only after me to get to her.”

“You’re that sure?”

“If we go by foot, it’ll take too long,” I growled. “I’m not going to let her stay in that place for days on end while we walk there. Just…no,” I growled harder, thinking of the conversation Soph and I had about confinement
and the things that went on there.

“Okay,” he conceded. “You first. We’ll follow you.”

There was a small line of annoyed people waiting to scan their arm so they could go through the holographic door and not get the piss shocked out of them, or get left on the platform. I lifted my sleeve and raised my arm to show the scanner without waiting any longer. If they still wanted me, then so be it.

But it scanned me and let me proceed with no warning. The twins scanned themselves as well and we boarded the hover rail. In a matter of a couple minutes, we were on our way. I turned my head to see Congress Hill out the window and let my head rest on the back of the seat. We stopped several times, and lucky for me, Roddy and Fletch knew that I wasn’t in the mood for their antics right then because they stayed blissfully silent.
              When we finally arrived at Congress Hill, the last stop on the tram before it went back down the track, we stood and exited the tram. But as soon as we came down the stairs from the platform, there were several sentries waiting for us.

“It’s so confusing, really. You already got your silver for turning her in,” one of them said snidely. “What can be keeping you sticking around this one slave girl? Yeah, she’s got an amazing little body on her.” I lunged for him, my fingers grazing his neck just barely before I was subdued by two others. He kept going. “And that hair. Whoo, boy! I bet it’s really pretty to have your hands all tangled up in.” He moved closer, taunting me. "You ever had your hands all tangled up in that fiery hair, Maxton?”

“You shut your mouth about her,” I heard my growl back at him, but hadn’t even thought the words. I knew he was bating me, but I couldn’t let him say those words about her. I felt like I was spinning, dreaming maybe. None of this felt real.

They laughed.

“Well something is definitely keeping you around besides the money. But don’t worry. I’ll find out.” His grin was all teeth. “I’ll find it, all right. I bet it’s something under that tight little jacket she wears. Whatdayathink?”

“Shut up.”

They all laughed again, all around me. They dragged us inside, under the hill and down a long hallway to a room, and threw us inside without another word. I could barely breathe knowing Soph was in there with those “men”. They were animals, monsters, beasts.

We’d only been in our cell for half an hour when Fletch got my attention.

“Hey,” Fletch said and kicked my boot, “hey, someone’s coming.”

We all looked down the long hallway to see one man making his way to us, his gaze straight ahead, a determined look on his face. I stood and told the twins to stand, too, as he opened the door and came inside. I’d never seen him before, but he was tall and seemed unassuming as he accessed us.

“So you’re the one who found her on the ship.” It was not a question so I didn’t answer it. He seemed to know already. “And then you turned her in?” He squinted in confusion and even looked a little…angry?

“I did, but then I—look, what do you want?” I barked at him.

“I want to know what you want from Sophelia!” he barked back.

“What do you mean
what I want from her
? I just want to get her out of here.”

“How do I know I can trust you.”

I leaned back. “Excuse me, but if anybody in this scenario is not doing the trusting, it’s going to be me.”

“I second that,” Roddy said, and it was clear he was as confused as I was.

I just went for it. “What the hell is going on here?”

I was surprised when no sensors went off. I guess they didn’t put them in the cells.

The man sighed and ran a hand through his hair as if he was working up his courage. “I’m the one who put up the big reward silver for Sophelia.”

I felt my eyes bug. “But why? Who are you?”

“I’m…nobody. I thought with a big reward like that, nobody would be able to resist and she’d be brought in in no time. But,” he lifted his gaze to mine, “I didn’t account for you. You’re a lot craftier than you look.”

I felt my eyebrow rise. “There’s a compliment in there somewhere.” He conceded with a small nod of the head. “What do you want with Soph?”

“Soph,” he said softly with a small smile. “I want to take her where she belongs. Where she’s needed.”

Fletch leaned around my shoulder. “You’re a Patriot,” he said in awe.

“I am,” the man answered.

“Prove it,” I said, now that I knew the drill.

The man stared me down and lifted his shirt sleeve. There it was, in a light color so it wasn’t as noticeable on his skin, but it was there, the words “I AM NOT A WONDERING STAR” waving on his skin.

“Yeah,” I pressed, “but that guy on the beach had one, too. And he turned her in just now.” I gritted my teeth.

“Did he have any markings or scars over his tattoo?” he asked.

Roddy nodded. “It looked like he had slices through it.”

The guy shook his head. “He’s no longer a Patriot. He did something to be excommunicated. Something bad. That’s the only way they would take your tattoo like that.”

I scrubbed my face. “So what are we going to do about Sophelia?”

“I’m going to run interference and you three are going to get her and get out of here.” He pulled something from his pants leg pocket, revealing four face scramblers. “Take these. Put them on and get out that hall, up the hill, up the stairs, and on that hover rail before anyone knows you’re missing. If that fails, this all fails.”

I put mine around my neck and the other in my back pocket for Soph. We were going to get her. Nothing and
nobody
was going to stop me.

Chapter Nineteen

au·thor·i·ty - the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience, typically political or administrative.

Sophelia

I
could only think of one thing in that cell.

Maxton’s tattoo. That black bird that flew all on its own against his skin, with no help from anyone. It flapped so hard to be free and yet it was trapped there on Maxton’s tan skin. No matter how hard it beat its wings, it would never be free. That’s exactly how I felt right then.

Though I’d gladly be trapped on Maxton’s skin, any time. That didn’t seem like punishment to me.

I then faced the wall and tried to reason and logic this thing out.

See, here was the thing. There was no way that Rivers put up that huge reward for me. I wasn’t worth it. He hadn’t paid anywhere near that for me in the beginning. Rivers’ pride wasn’t worth it either.

And the reward had gone up substantially after it was initially announced about my running away from Rivers—and his piddly amount he put up for the reward—so someone else had upped the reward money. But why? And who? What purpose? I was a nobody slave and no one knew who I was, so…

But before I could debate any further, I heard the holographic door buzz behind me to let someone in and knew my first guest was here. I readied myself to see Rivers, steeling my fists, knowing he was going to say a plethora of lies to try to make me feel horrible, but when I turned, it wasn’t Rivers I saw in the room with me, and my breaths turned shallow as I backed up until my back hit the wall.

Havard said just two words, and they stopped me dead. Just two little words, but they brought a wash of revenge with them. And I knew I wasn’t just in confinement, I wasn’t just in trouble, I wasn’t just in for a rough time with the guards.

I was in Hell.

“Hello, poppet.”

First, to my God, thank you. Then to my amazing, fantabulous husband, Axel—for all those days of “I think I’m going to finish the book today” and then I SO did not finish the book that day, thank you for understanding and always hanging tight. And always bringing home supper so I could keep on working late into the night. You’re the best there is, and I’m the luckiest for being “stuck” with you, Crane.

Thanks to my oldest son, Jonas, for helping me name the new animals. He thought that was rad. Porcupig is his own creation and I give him total creative rights to it. I am the borrower of the porcupig. Thanks, bud! You’re awesome.

Thank you to my writing buddies, Samantha Davis and Rachel Higginson. You girls are one of the main reasons this book is done. Thank you for the encouragement and long days of sprinting! You are rockstars!

To the Five Horsemen!! I freaking LOVE YOUR GUTS! I wouldn’t make it through a book release, let alone a day or week, without you. I love us, that we can be us, and we get us. You are ROCKSTARS.

Thank you Shayne Leighton, for being my reading buddy, rocking out at being the best beta there is. Georgia Cates, thank you for all your help with this book. You’re THE best. Love ya, girl.

Thank you to my readers. I know with my heath “stuff” going on that things get a little crazy sometimes. Thank you for always sticking with me and being supportive! You don’t know how awesome you are. To my Street Team and the Aces, you are my A-MAZ-ING. Thank you, thank you. To Meg Howard, my Street Team assistant. You work your toosh off and I adore you for it! Mwah!