Free Once by Anna Carey Page B

“He just can’t be.” I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes.
    Beatrice sat down beside me, the mattress springs creaking underneath her. She pressed a clean washcloth to my face, wiping around my hairline, my cheeks, then folded it and placed it gently over my eyes. The whole world was black.
    The day had been too much. The hope of seeing Caleb, the soldiers’ attack, Arden and Ruby and the King with his declarations—the weight of it fell on me, pinning me down. Beatrice was right beside me still, her gentle fingers rubbing at my temples, but she seemed so far away.
    â€œYou’re not feeling well,” she offered. “Yes,” she repeated to herself as I drifted off. “That must be it.”

thirteen
    THE KING STEPPED OUT ONTO THE OBSERVATION DECK AND gestured for me to follow. My legs were unsteady as I stared at the tiny world a hundred stories below. The wall wrapped around the City in a giant loop, stretching for miles beyond the central cluster of buildings. Expansive crop fields sprouted up in the east. Old warehouses spread out to the west. The land at the edge of the wall was covered with fallen buildings, garbage heaps, and rusted, sun-bleached cars.
    â€œI suppose you’ve never been this high up before?” the King asked, glancing at my hands, which were curled tightly around the metal railing. “Before the plague, there were buildings like this in every major city, filled with offices, restaurants, apartments.”
    â€œWhy did you bring me here?” I asked, staring at the short rails in front of me, the only thing preventing a fall. “What’s the point of this?” I’d spent the day in the top floors of the Palace. My arm was stitched and bandaged. I’d soaked in the bath, clogging the drain with dirt and bits of dead leaves. The King had insisted I accompany him to this immense tower, all the while rambling on about his City. My City now.
    He moved easily around the narrow deck. “I wanted you to see the progress for yourself. This is the best view in the entire City. The Stratosphere used to be the tallest observation deck in America, but now we use it as the army’s main lookout tower. From up here a soldier can see for miles. Sandstorms, gangs. In the event of a surprise attack from another country or one of the colonies, we’ll have plenty of warning.”
    Inside, the glass tower was swarming with soldiers. They peered through metal scopes, scanning the streets below. Some sat at desks, headphones on, listening to radio messages. I saw my reflection in the windows. The skin beneath my eyes was puffy. I’d woken in the middle of the night, trying to decide what to do about Caleb. I knew I could put him in even more danger just by mentioning his name. But I also knew Stark wouldn’t stop searching for him. I couldn’t let him be punished for what I’d done. “There’s something you should know,” I said after a long while. “Stark lied to you. The boy who was in the wild with me—he wasn’t the one who shot the soldiers.”
    The King froze by the metal railing. He turned to me, squinting against the sun. “What do you mean?”
    â€œI don’t know what Stark told you, but that boy helped me in the wild. He saved me. I was the one who shot the soldiers when they attacked him.” My throat was tight. All I could see was the soldier’s body hitting the pavement, the blood pooling beneath him.
    â€œYou can’t punish him,” I continued. “You have to call off the search. It was self-defense. They were going to kill him.”
    The King turned, his head cocked slightly to one side. “And what if they did? Who is he to you? This Caleb person, the one you sent the message to that night.”
    I stepped back at the sound of his name, knowing that I had revealed too much. “I didn’t know him well.” My voice was unsteady. “He acted