Page 139 of Marks of Rebellion
"Zoe."
"I can't talk about it. I'll break down. Please."
"Okay."
She sniffles. "How are you?"
I catch her eye in the mirror and focus on my hands. "Out of the straitjacket."
She gapes but quickly recovers. "No. He didn't?"
"Yeah."
The water continues to run. Unspoken words and emotions pass through our eyes in our reflections.
Zoe breaks our silence first. "Penelope is here."
"What?"
"They sent her back to Panama. And Julieta...oh God." She closes her eyes.
"What?"
"She's back on the planes. They..."
Dread consumes me. "What?"
"I saw her today. They roughed her up. She had bruises everywhere. I... I hardly recognized her."
Tears drip down both our cheeks.
"No one escaped, then? They got all of us?"
"I haven't heard about or seen Naomi or Emilia. Have you?"
"Not since Tinker's."
"And Hunter? Is he alive?" she asks with hope in her eyes.
"He's in the jungle. He... He puts red hibiscuses out for me every night."
She smiles, and another tear falls. "That's great. I like Hunter. I wish... I wish I had a sign that Dirk was alive." She breaks down and covers her hand over her face, sobbing.
I wrap my arm around her back. "Why do you—"
A group of women walk into the room, and we straighten up.
"I'm so happy for you. Please let Carlos know that if he wants me to sing at your wedding, I would love to. Sorry, I just get so emotional over weddings!"
"Thank you. I will."
We nod to the others and leave.
She turns and hugs me. "I need to get ready to sing. Take care."
"You, too." We part, and sadness fills me. I turn the corner and go back to Carlos. He hands me a glass of champagne and kisses me. I play the part of the excited fiancée and focus on each conversation so I don't say or respond to anything in a way that will make Carlos angry.
I try to scan the room between conversations to find Penelope, but I don't see her anywhere. There are at least three hundred of the Global Leaders in the room. They all have their dates and we're seated at tables of eight.
