Naomi Grim: Complete Novel (Parts 1-4) (The Silver Scythe Chronicles) (3 page)

The
carriage came to a stop. Reynold opened my door and I stepped out. I was dizzy,
but I was determined to walk on my own. He wrapped my cloak around me and
lifted its hood over my head.

     He
pushed me ahead. We were on concrete now, which was not easy on my feet.

     "Hold
on," he said after a few moments, "there's steps."

     That
meant we had made it to the stage. Every Grim in Nowhere had to be standing in
the square watching, but I heard not a sound. They wouldn't be permitted to
speak until Dunningham told them to.

     Reynold
led me up the wooden steps and across the stage. At last, he removed the
blindfold. At first I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the light, then I was
awed by the sea of black hoods standing in front of me. I had never witnessed a
gathering from this perspective. Everyone looked solemn. No one looked happy to
be there, as they had in previous gatherings. Maybe because my father was
popular and respected in Farrington.

     I
spotted my family in the front row. They had been required to stand there. Dorian
looked down.  I couldn't see his face since it was covered by his hood. Bram
scowled, as usual. He looked at me, made eye contact and then looked down like
Dorian. Mother held a black lace handkerchief to her face to keep herself from
crying out loud. Her mother had given her that handkerchief and one day she
would have probably passed it on to me. Father had one arm around her, holding
her up. He looked at me, gave me a small smile, and nodded.

     After
seeing my family, I looked around the platform for the first time. To the left
of me was Dunningham's podium, where he prepared to make his speech. To the
right of me were the gallows. I was being hung. I looked at the rickety wooden
frame with a noose hanging from it. The gallows had been built hundreds of
years ago, but had never been replaced because they were sacred.

     I
should have known better than to wish for a quick painless death. I had done a
horrible thing to my fellow Grims. I wondered how long I would hang in that
noose before I died.

     From
the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Doyle walking onto the platform,
wearing a crisp black suit and polished leather shoes. He stood by the steps
with his arms folded against his chest. I was happy I'd thrown up on him.

     I
looked across the crowd of black hoods and wondered what Dunstan and the Foragers
had planned. He'd said this would be the perfect time, since we'd all be in the
same place, so what was going to happen? I hoped my family and friends wouldn't
be hurt.  

Dunningham
took a sip of water from the platinum goblet on his podium. "Dear fellow
Grims, we are gathered here today to witness the execution of a traitor. Naomi
Grim is charged and convicted of a grave crime—interfering with death. Now she
must satisfy death's appetite by giving her own life. Let this be a message to
you all. Do not go against the Covenant."

     Another
Watcher, not Reynold, led me over to the gallows. I spotted Keira and Chase.
Their families stood together behind mine. Mother began to sob loudly as I
walked up the steps and to the gallows’ platform.

     "Silence!"
Dunningham bellowed. Father tightened his grip around Mother's shoulders, and I
hated Dunningham more than I already did for yelling at her in her grief.

     I
stepped onto a large wooden block. The Watcher removed my hood and slid the
rope around my neck. It was rough and coarse against my skin.

     I
took one last look at my city. The beautiful buildings and wonderful shops.
Even standing in the midst of every Grim in my colony, I felt so alone. No one
could do anything to save me, like I had saved the kids at Kennedy High, not
even my parents.

     I
could tell Dunningham wasn't happy. The crowd wasn't as excited as they usually
were for an execution. He held his fist in the air. "Long live the
Grim!"

     The
crowd repeated the chant, but not with the usual fervor. Dunningham had to
repeat it four more times before he was satisfied. I took a deep breath and
waited for someone to kick the block from underneath my feet. Everyone watched
in silent anticipation.

     A
caw came from somewhere above me. I lifted my head in time to witness a black
raven soaring above me. I would have given anything to become that bird so I
could fly away from my impending death. The raven drifted across the
slate-colored sky until it became a small black dot and then disappeared.

     "Long
live the hybrids!" a man's voice shouted from somewhere.

     Everyone
looked around. A worried murmur ran through the crowd.

     "Long
live the hybrids!" I spotted a man, Moore, to be exact, standing on the
roof of Brickman's. Everyone's attention was drawn to him.

     Moore
was only the distraction. I think I was the first to see the others. Several
other Forager men, some I recognized and some I didn't, appeared on the roofs
of the stores and restaurants that surrounded the square. They held bows and
arrows, which they aimed at the crowd. Something whizzed by my head, and I
looked back to see the Watcher standing next to me fall back and land on the
platform.  An arrow protruded from his chest. He wasn't going to die. He had
too many years left, but he was horribly injured.

     It
only took two seconds for it to happen. The square broke out into the most
chaotic scene I'd ever witnessed.

     The
Watcher tried to pull the arrow from his chest, but it wouldn't budge. Several
Watchers whisked Dunningham from the stage while others aimed the silencers
they always kept tucked in their jackets at the Foragers on the roofs. The
Grims in the crowd ducked, trying to avoid being struck by an arrow.

     No
one was paying any attention to me. I took the rope from around my neck and
sprang from the platform. As I jumped from the stage onto the concrete,
something caught hold of my cloak. I turned to see Doyle pulling me toward him.
I struggled to get out of the cloak, but he grabbed my arm before I could.

     I
looked him dead in the eye. I wasn't the least bit afraid of him. I knew he
couldn't kill me himself. My death was supposed to be a public execution. An
example to the others of what would happen if they broke the rules. Dunningham
would flip if Doyle took it upon himself to kill me with no one watching. But
most importantly I knew his secret.

     "I
know about you. I know you've been working with them. I know you go to the
Outskirts to see Dunstan. I know all about you."

     He
looked surprised for a moment then he quickly recovered.  "I don't know
what the hell you're talking about and you don't either."

     "Let
me go or I tell Dunningham everything. He'll hang you right next to me."

     He
thought for a moment, then he let me go. I looked back as I ran. He stood there
watching me.

     Many
of the Litropolites began pushing and throwing punches. They would pay for that
later.

     Grims
grabbed and held on to their children. Several fights broke out, and Grims had
dispersed, running into stores and homes for safety. The Grim men were caught
off guard. Aside from the Watchers, none of them had weapons on them.

     I
pulled my hood over my head and dodged through the crowd. I wanted to see if my
family was okay, but I had to be smart. None of them could be killed, but I
could. I had less than a hundred years. I was mortal now, and I had to get the
hell out of there before I was captured again.

I
ducked low and ran through the crowds of screaming Grims who were trying to get
to safety. Once I was out of the square, everything was calm, but I couldn't
stop running. Fate had given me a second chance at life, and I couldn't risk
getting caught again.

     A
woman slammed into me, and we both fell to the ground. She looked at me
briefly. It was Samar, one of Mother's friends. She stared at me, wide-eyed. I
helped her to her feet and then we continued in the directions we had been
running.

     I
ran through the streets of Farrington and through the stream. Still weak from
the chair, I ran strictly on my will to live. I knew how the Fated felt when
they fought for their last breath.

     Gun
shots sounded, one after the other. I wondered how many Foragers would lose
their lives. It was foolish of them to attack when they could be killed and
their enemies couldn't.

     I
made it to the wall. Several ropes hung there. The Litropolites had used them
to get over the wall to attend the execution. I opted for the hole. The stones
were already pushed away. Apparently some of them wanted to take the easy way
through. I ran through the empty city, not sure where to go. I couldn't go back
to the Outskirts. The Foragers had used me as bait to distract the Grims. Who
knew what else they would do?

     I
went to Odessa's tent and waited, wondering how long it would take her to come
home, or if she would even get home. Odessa didn't have enough years to be
indestructible, I didn't think any of the Litropolites did.

     Still
feeling ill, I laid down. I would feel this way for another week probably. Nausea
churned in my gut, but I didn't feel like moving. Odessa would have a fit if I
threw up in her home.

     The
never-ending gunshots still worried me. I thought about the children and the
innocent people who were in the square.

     After
a while, I  heard noises—the murmur of voices and people moving around. Someone
wailed in the distance. A woman's voice shouted over the wailing. "This
was a mistake! I told them not to do it!"

     "Shut
up! It isn't over!" Odessa replied.

     She
pulled back the sheets that covered the shack's opening. Her eyebrows raised
when she saw me, but she didn't seem too surprised. "Oh, you got
away."

     I
nodded. "What happened?"

     "What
we expected to happen, I guess. They captured and killed some of the men, a lot
of them are hiding out in different places throughout the city."

     "Oh.
Where's Nigel?"

     Odessa
went to the corner and dug through her dishes, pulling out a pot. "He's in
hiding." She looked at me. "A lot of Grims are wounded."

     I
would imagine so. That was something we weren't prepared for. Grims never got
sick, and it was a freak occurrence when someone got hurt. When that happened, the
family took care of the injury themselves. There were no doctors or hospitals
in Nowhere.

     "So
this rebellion was a mistake, huh?"

     Odessa
smiled. "No, it's going just the way it's supposed to be. They need
medical attention. Home remedies aren't going to help the wounds they have from
swords and arrows. The Grims in the Outskirts have medical equipment from the
human world. There are doctors there, trained to help them. Someone will put
the bug in Dunningham's ear, and he'll send for them. Well, at least that's
what we're hoping."

     "How
did they get stuff from the human world?"  We could never bring things
from their world to ours when we were dispatched. Only our personal belongings
could come back with us. How did they manage to do this?

     Odessa
sighed. "Oh, I don't know." But I could tell she was lying.

     "That
plan's stupid, and it's not going to work," I said bitterly. I was angry
at them for hurting innocent people. Sure, things weren't the way they should
be, but it wasn't the Grims’ fault. They didn't have a choice but to follow the
rules. "Dunningham will let those Grims live with their wounds forever
before he lets Foragers in his colony."

     Odessa
poured some water from a pitcher into a pot. "Half of his Watchers are
wounded, and his important people from the Upper Estates. Trust me, he'll send
for Carey and medical supplies. I only wish they had hit Dunningham himself,
but of course he was pulled away from the scene immediately.”

     "I
wonder if my family's okay."

     "Why
don't you go check?"

     "I
can't. They'll capture me again. Your friends set me up."

     Odessa
shook bottles of spices over the water. "What do you mean they set you
up?"

     "They
kept wanting me to go to Farrington so Dunningham would catch me. They wanted
the execution to happen so they could stage this."

     Odessa
rolled her eyes at me. "You're an ungrateful little twit, you know."

     "What?"

     "If
they wanted you to die, they would have waited until after you were hung to
make their move, but they didn't do that. They saved your life. You would be
dead if it wasn't for the rebellion and instead of thanking them, you accuse
them of setting you up?"

     I
hadn't thought of it that way, but she was right. They could have easily waited
a few seconds later, and I would have been dead. My body would be hanging in
the square for all to see.

     Odessa
took the pot outside. I didn't follow her. I needed to stay out of sight. I
thought it would be best if no one knew I was there.

      "So
what's the next step?" I asked once she come back inside.

     "They'll
make their next move. During the execution, every Grim in Nowhere was in the
square. That means stores and homes were left open and unattended. Those men
could be hiding anywhere. We all know they're very skilled at hiding and
lurking in the shadows. The prisoners in Gattica, the Foragers who work in the
Mill, they're in on it too. Our men will join them when the time is right. We
have the Watchers and the men of Farrington and the Upper Estates
outnumbered."

     Dunningham
wasn't stupid. I was sure he was planning something as we spoke. "What
about Grims getting hurt?"

     Odessa
shrugged. "The casualties of war, my dear."