A Fortnight Later
“Why doesn’t someone stand up to him?” Catalina demands as she throws her hands in the air.
Cara answers as she rubs the slight swell of her belly. “Everyone who stands up to Hasan ends up missing, or they are made a martyr.”
“He shouldn’t be allowed to—” Catalina tightens her lips into a grim line. If anyone hears them talking about this, it could be a death sentence… or worse.
Hasan chooses a different female every few days. When they return, there are noticeable marks and bruises seen on various parts of their bodies… ankles, wrists. No one ever talks about what happens when they are with him, but anger boils deep inside Catalina from the injustice of it all.
This isn’t Earth, and there is no sense of democracy. But dammit, it still isn’t right!
“Do you like living with Kaia?” she asks Cara, trying to change the subject. It isn’t working, not with Tabia sitting right in front of her. Evidence of her abuse is still visible on her copper-colored skin.
“It is getting better. He takes good care of me.” She rubs her belly, something she does constantly, and offers a sad smile. “No one else is as mean as Hasan and his two protectors.”
“Ha!” Catalina scoffs. “You mean enforcers.”
Tabia remains quiet while she sits on the couch and stares at the floor. Catalina’s anger rises again at the thought of what that barbarian did to her.
Her mind races as she tries to come up with a solution to the conundrum, but nothing readily comes to mind. Maybe if she can escape and bring help back. Catalina quickly dismisses that idea. It is obvious by now that Theon will not come for her. Maybe the three of them can escape and live on their own. It is a long shot, but…
Determination etches her face, and she stares just past Cara’s shoulder as her mind searches for a solution, anything to get them out of here. When she glances at Cara’s face, Catalina’s eyes widen…just maybe. “Can we go for another walk outside the dome?”
“As long as we take a guard.” Cara cocks her head to the side. “That is the rule, but you know that. I will ask Kaia if he has the time to escort us.”
A question shines in Cara’s eyes as she looks at Catalina, apparently trying to discern her odd behavior.
“Great! Can we go now?”
Tilting her head to the side, Cara questions, “What are you up to?”
“Maybe nothing.” Glancing toward her other friend, Catalina asks, “Tabia, would you like to go with us?”
She gives a quick shake of her head. Cara’s face softens as she reaches her hand over and places it on top of Tabia’s clasped ones. “This shall pass, Tabia, and I promise you will be all right.”
That’s when Catalina realizes that Cara has been through this same hell. Her anger rises to a seething rage, and she bites her tongue to keep from saying anything else that might get them killed.
Tabia lifts her sad, dark eyes, and with a quivering voice, she says, “I would rather take my chances out there,” she tosses her head toward the door, “than to live here. I cannot go through that again.”
Catalina thinks about Theon for the millionth time over the past several moon cycles. She’s given up hope of him coming to her rescue. She is angry. Angry for the injustice these females endure, and angry that Theon has left her to the mercy of the Northern Clan.
Even though she’s pissed at Theon, Catalina always knows the Southern Clan is where her home is. Theon aside, she misses the familiar people, her daily visits to the Crystal Lake, just being free. But now that she is here, she knows she has to help any way she can. And if she ever gets the chance to escape, she will take Tabia with her. Cara, too, if she’ll go.
“Let me see if Kaia has time to escort us,” Cara says as she slowly rises to her feet. She disappears out of the room for a moment before sticking her head back through the door and nodding.
“Okay, good,” Catalina says, standing. Looking down at a quiet Tabia, she says in a soothing voice, “Everything will be okay. You’ll see.” Tabia lifts her eyes but doesn’t answer.
They walk through the beautiful flowers; some look familiar, comparable to Earth’s flowers, while others are completely foreign. “What are these?” Catalina asks, her hand cupping the soft, red flower petals. She isn’t really paying attention. All Catalina cares about is the outside terrain and where she can hide when she escapes, and why Cara always avoids the low-growing plants with the beautiful flowers.
“Those are dangrs,” Cara smiles softly, “one of my favorites.”
“It sounds like danger. Are they poisonous?”
“Not at all. We use the petals to make a sweet drink. It is especially good for those of us who carry young.”
They amble along, walking side by side. Kaia stays several feet away, giving them some privacy.
“You know,” Catalina ponders, furrowing her brow, “I remember reading an article.” She bites her lower lip, trying to remember as she walks along with her hands laced behind her back. “A lot of herbs can affect pregnancy… carrying young. Some herbs on Earth are very common, such as St. Johns’ wort, echinacea, and a few others. There was even a study done in… Shoot! I can’t remember which country. It doesn’t matter.” She waves the thought away and continues. “They used some herbs hoping to increase the male population, and it worked.”
“You think we are having male offspring due to ingesting this herb?” She holds up the flower in question.
“I don’t know,” Catalina shrugs. “It’s just a thought.”
“Hmm…that’s something the scientist should look into.”
They walk by other flowers and blooming bushes. Catalina can tell that Cara is lost in thought as she absently tells her about each flower as they pass by.
Catalina notes the high mountains that separate the two major clans, but the peaks are barely visible in the distance.
Glancing back down at an odd-looking flower, the one Cara purposely avoids every time they go on their walks, she starts to reach down and touch it when Cara blurts out, “Do not touch that!”
Catalina’s hand freezes mid-reach, her heart pounding from Cara’s outburst. Retracting her hand, she blows out a long breath. “Why not?”
“That one is very deadly.”
Catalina stares at the beautiful orange and black petals that grow low to the ground. Its colors are so different, and they are mesmerizing. She almost smiles…almost… knowing that this is the information she desires. “What does it do?”
Cara shakes her head in disgust. “I do not know why such an herb exists.” Sighing loudly, she continues, “With one touch, I would be dead within minutes.”
What? Is she serious? Catalina tries to hide her excitement when she asks, “With just a touch?” Cara gives a curt nod. “Does it affect everyone like that or just you?”
Catalina watches as Cara glances to where Kaia is standing before she whispers, “It is deadly to all of us.” She shakes her head and folds her arms protectively over her swollen belly. Cara’s eyes sweep to Kaia’s location before she continues in a hushed voice, “I am not supposed to know that.”
“How did you find out?”
“Kaia told me about them when he started escorting me on walks. He didn’t want me to accidentally grab one of the flowers.”
“What about the stem?”
“I do not know, and it is not a chance I am willing to take.”
This is the information Catalina wants. She knows Cara avoids this particular plant on every walk. “Why do you think Hasan allows it to grow if it is so deadly?”
Cara glances around, making sure Kaia isn’t close enough to hear. “Kaia says Hasan keeps it around so he can kill anyone he deems a threat.”
“Wouldn’t he just kill them with his bare hands?”
“Yes. But some suspect he killed his own father so he could lead the Northern Clan. If others knew that he killed,” she purses her lips and shakes her head, “they would not have readily followed him. By the time everyone realized what a monster he was, it was too late.”
A true monster. The others suspect that he killed his father, and he keeps the plant around to scare anyone who thinks to usurp his control. “Does Tabia know?”
“Kaia told me and asked me not to tell, so please keep the information to yourself. Know that many here do not approve of how Hasan runs the Clan, but they are afraid to face him.”
“Because of his enforcers.”
“Who are also Hasan’s brothers.”
Catalina’s eyes widen in surprise. His brothers? That explains so much.
“Cara,” Kaia calls over, “we need to head back.”
“Be right there,” she yells over to Kaia before facing Catalina. “Please do not tell anyone what I have told you.”
Catalina is still staring at the beautiful flower when she absently replies, “I won’t.”
The flower is about the size of a cherry blossom but has the shape of a sunflower.
A plan forms quickly in her mind. She doesn’t know how or when, but she knows how she will kill Hasan.
When Cara turns to leave, Catalina quickly grabs the stem, snapping it at ground level. The stem itself contains several flowers. Now if she can just get it to her room without dying.
~~~~
Back in her room, she hides the flower from prying eyes. She needs a plan so she can be ready when Hasan comes back. Her heart races with possibilities. It is only a matter of time before Hasan will come for her; she can see it in the way he leers at her body every time he walks in the door. A hiding spot in her dress will work, that way she’ll always have the flower with her.
Catalina still can’t believe her good fortune. A flower that all Curazins are allergic to. When she tries to picture it in her mind, pictures of peanuts and anaphylactic shock spring forth. Stranger things have happened besides being allergic to flowers.
With both hands on the door frame, Catalina leans her head out and calls, “Tabia? Can you help me with something?”
When Tabia enters her room, Catalina quietly shuts the door behind her. “I need to ask you something, but you must keep it a secret. Can you do that?”
Tabia nods.
“When I leave here, would you like to go with me?”
Her eyes widen, and the fear is easily heard in her shaky voice. “Live with the Southern Clan?”
Catalina nods.
“They will not allow me to live with them.”
“Why not?”
“Because I am different.”
“So am I.”
“Because I…” she shakes her head and licks her lips. Cocking her head to the side, she says with a confused look, “I do not know.”
“Would you like to go with me?”
Tabia inhales deeply, hope sparkling in her eyes. “Yes.”
Catalina’s face stretches wide in a big smile. “Great!” Now for the next part of her plan. Exhaling loudly, she hurries on, “We don’t have much time. I need to modify this dress and add a hidden pocket. Any ideas on how to do that?”
“Hmm…” she scrunches her eyes while tapping her chin with her finger as she stares at the dress, thinking. “We can use the design-o-pad, but it is forbidden to wear anything other than these.” She clasps her own dress between her forefinger and thumb.
“You have a design-o-pad here? In the Commons?” Catalina’s excitement is audible in her voice. If she can get her hands on one of those, she can make all sorts of things.
Hiding spots.
Weapons.
The list is endless.
“We do. But everything we make needs to be approved.”
“By whom?”
Tabia cocks her head to the side. “I do not know. We rarely use it. Most of us do not know how to use it.”
“Can you show me where it is?” Tabia nods, turns on her heels, and leaves Catalina to follow after her.
Catalina’s mind swirls with plans and ideas. She will steal the design-o-pad if she needs to. Anything to help her get away from the tyranny that Hasan and his enforcers rain upon them.
Hidden away in her room, Catalina uses the design-o-pad to make several hidden compartments inside her dress. She needs to have a place to hide a couple of knives and the forbidden flowers.
More than once, the tiny flowers catch her eye and beckon her to touch them. Laying down the design-o-pad, she turns toward the stem of flowers on the table. What if? She isn’t Curazin. Would she take the chance?
As the only human from Earth, Catalina feels isolated from everyone. Theon isn’t coming for her, and she wants to save Tabia and the others, but then what? She stares at the tiny flowers while the pros and cons flow endlessly back and forth.
What if Theon doesn’t know what happened to her, and she touches the flowers and dies? What if she doesn’t take the chance, and Hasan kills her, or hurts Tabia again? She’s not from here, so the likelihood of the flowers killing her…
“Just do it, Catalina,” she chastises herself. In one quick swoop, she picks up the deadly flowers, the petals brushing the palm of her hand.
At first, nothing happens and a huge smile spreads across her face. And then….
Her stomach protests, and she gags. Holding the palm of her hand in front of her mouth, she makes a mad dash for the bathroom and violently retches up everything in her stomach. When there’s nothing left, she rinses her mouth and notes that the queasiness slowly abates within her. Sweating profusely, she takes long, deep breaths until she starts to feel somewhat normal.
Sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, she opens her hand and sees the flower. Staring at the beautiful, deadly blossom, she sees only her ticket to freedom.