Read Online The Choosing (The Arcadia Trilogy Book 1) by Rachel Hanna, Bella James - Free Book Online
Authors: Rachel Hanna, Bella James
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favor of the villagers. That one caused one of the boys to be struck a hard blow across the face with one of the Centurion's staffs. Livy found herself almost on her feet, ready to go to him. She'd seen him around Agara, knew he was a shop keep's son, and she thought his cheekbone had probably been broken.
But when she tried to stand to go to him, her seatmate, today a tiny girl named Lilac, put one hand on her wrist without moving anything else – not her faraway gaze, not her body, nothing but the one hand, cold and small but incredibly tight on Livy's wrist.
At the same time she caught sight of the female Centurion, the one who had warned her off when the grain fly had bitten the child. She wasn't moving either, simply watching Livy with eyes that bore into her.
Livy turned to the window, trying to control her emotions, her mind torn between the screaming of the boy with the broken cheekbone and the wonder of the desolate land beyond the bus windows.
Logic won. There was nothing she could do for the boy. He'd brought his punishment on himself and she'd been warned by more than one person not to try and heal him.
She turned her back on the boys with the flasks and the girls with the soft hands and looked out at the vision of expanse beyond the window.
She wished the injured boy would shut up.
Tony was on the ground, writhing, and his mates were trying to get ice to him, divvying up any willow bark they might have. A surprising number of the boys carried flasks of alcohol, and those were proffered in closed fists, one over the next as the knot of boys knelt at the back of the bus.
It was the first time Livy had seen a separation like that, the voluntary difference of boys and girls.
The next day the glass and steel city rose into view, as cloudy as a barely glimpsed dream behind its glass dome. Livy had always anticipated it would be small and finite – how could a city under glass be anything else? But ingenious engineering and no price spared had gone into making a dome that stretched farther than her eye could see, the dome itself rising high, high into the blue sky.
Moments after the city came into view, the shutters over the bus windows slammed down, sealing them into premature nighttime. In the front of the bus, a shield went up between passengers and the Centurion driving.
The others stood at the front of the bus and stamped their staves until they had the attention of every last one of the youths on the bus. Livy looked around, still putting names and faces together. The thirty or more kids on the bus were more people than she'd ever been introduced to at the same time. It was confusing.
"Listen," intoned the guards at the front and everyone fell silent more readily than Livy would have expected, given the excitement and terror that the sight of the capital city brought.
"You'll be separated in the capital, by province and sex. You'll follow all instructions given to you, whatever the source."
The staves stopped stamping. The Centurions were done.
"Wait!" Voices chorused up together, demanding to know what was going to happen to them, begging for something to drink before they left the bus, for food, for a way to contact their families, for reassurance, for word about what would happen to their loved ones.
There were no answers. The guards slipped through an opening in the shield that had separated them from the front of the bus and cut off all view and now they were alone.
The silence was stunning.
T he window blinds went up without warning. Suddenly they were passing over paved roads, leading ever deeper into the city-state of Arcadia.
"Look at them!" someone shouted and everyone raced to the windows.
Outside in the dirt and dust of the far end of the capital, crippled children and adults were begging, pleading, falling to their knees with their hands outstretched toward the bus. The sound of their wailing started to come in through the windows. High pitched and eerie, the Untouchable's call
But when she tried to stand to go to him, her seatmate, today a tiny girl named Lilac, put one hand on her wrist without moving anything else – not her faraway gaze, not her body, nothing but the one hand, cold and small but incredibly tight on Livy's wrist.
At the same time she caught sight of the female Centurion, the one who had warned her off when the grain fly had bitten the child. She wasn't moving either, simply watching Livy with eyes that bore into her.
Livy turned to the window, trying to control her emotions, her mind torn between the screaming of the boy with the broken cheekbone and the wonder of the desolate land beyond the bus windows.
Logic won. There was nothing she could do for the boy. He'd brought his punishment on himself and she'd been warned by more than one person not to try and heal him.
She turned her back on the boys with the flasks and the girls with the soft hands and looked out at the vision of expanse beyond the window.
She wished the injured boy would shut up.
Tony was on the ground, writhing, and his mates were trying to get ice to him, divvying up any willow bark they might have. A surprising number of the boys carried flasks of alcohol, and those were proffered in closed fists, one over the next as the knot of boys knelt at the back of the bus.
It was the first time Livy had seen a separation like that, the voluntary difference of boys and girls.
The next day the glass and steel city rose into view, as cloudy as a barely glimpsed dream behind its glass dome. Livy had always anticipated it would be small and finite – how could a city under glass be anything else? But ingenious engineering and no price spared had gone into making a dome that stretched farther than her eye could see, the dome itself rising high, high into the blue sky.
Moments after the city came into view, the shutters over the bus windows slammed down, sealing them into premature nighttime. In the front of the bus, a shield went up between passengers and the Centurion driving.
The others stood at the front of the bus and stamped their staves until they had the attention of every last one of the youths on the bus. Livy looked around, still putting names and faces together. The thirty or more kids on the bus were more people than she'd ever been introduced to at the same time. It was confusing.
"Listen," intoned the guards at the front and everyone fell silent more readily than Livy would have expected, given the excitement and terror that the sight of the capital city brought.
"You'll be separated in the capital, by province and sex. You'll follow all instructions given to you, whatever the source."
The staves stopped stamping. The Centurions were done.
"Wait!" Voices chorused up together, demanding to know what was going to happen to them, begging for something to drink before they left the bus, for food, for a way to contact their families, for reassurance, for word about what would happen to their loved ones.
There were no answers. The guards slipped through an opening in the shield that had separated them from the front of the bus and cut off all view and now they were alone.
The silence was stunning.
T he window blinds went up without warning. Suddenly they were passing over paved roads, leading ever deeper into the city-state of Arcadia.
"Look at them!" someone shouted and everyone raced to the windows.
Outside in the dirt and dust of the far end of the capital, crippled children and adults were begging, pleading, falling to their knees with their hands outstretched toward the bus. The sound of their wailing started to come in through the windows. High pitched and eerie, the Untouchable's call
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