Livia Lone (Livia Lone #1)(10)
The box continued to sway slowly from side to side. Livia looked through the holes and saw they were moving up, and then sideways, and then down again, down, down, and then there was a loud thud and suddenly everything was still again. No, not still—there was a vibration under them. There was a sharp smell in the air, like burning plastic. Livia thought the machine had moved them from land onto a boat, that the vibration was a motor, like the one on a motorcycle or in the van. And the smell . . . some kind of gasoline? She thought about trying to tell the other children, but she didn’t know whether it would calm them or frighten them more. So instead she just held Nason and whispered, “It’s okay, little bird, it’s okay. I’m here. I won’t let you go.”
After that, it was quiet for a long time. Even the children who had been crying the most grew silent—asleep, maybe, or else too exhausted even to weep. There was a strange sense of movement, a mild rolling, almost, but Livia got so used to it, and to the vibration, that she had to think about the sensations to realize they were there.
Livia lost track of time in the dark—dozing but never really sleeping; waking but never really feeling awake. If they were on a boat, were they moving? And if they were moving, where were they going?
It was so hard to not be afraid, but she couldn’t stop her thoughts. Had the men forgotten the children were in here? Or had something happened to the men, and now no one would be able to find them? She thought about banging with the bucket again, but what if all it achieved was getting everyone whipped with belts? Or worse, what if no one came at all? She decided to wait, to keep the possibility open just in case. But she was so hungry, and thirsty, and the crackers and water were all gone. And it was getting cold. She pulled Nason closer and tried to warm her with her own shivering body.
At some point, she realized she could see a little—the box was filling with a dull, gray light. She looked through the airholes and realized she was seeing the sky. It was morning. There was a new smell amid the stink of the buckets and the children’s fear—something salty, a kind of tang in the air Livia couldn’t place. She watched the sky get lighter. There were clouds, and the clouds were moving. But was the wind pushing the clouds, or were they on a boat, a boat that was moving past the clouds? She was afraid of the answers to her questions, but it was horrible not to know.
Some of the other children noticed it was getting lighter, too. They discussed as best they could what it meant, whether they were moving, where they were going. Who these men were who had taken them. And whether they were coming back. There were no answers, and after a while, they all grew silent again.
Time passed, and then she heard the sound of bolts scraping on the door. She’d been praying the men hadn’t forgotten them, but at the sound of the bolts, she was suddenly afraid again. Who was coming? And what would they do?
The door opened, silhouetting three men outside. Livia squinted and saw it was the same three who had taken her and Nason from the village—Skull Face and Dirty Beard and Square Head. She glanced beyond them to try to get her bearings. Yes, a boat, they were on a boat, an enormous boat—the string machine must have swung the box, as she’d suspected. But aside from that, she could see nothing, just a vast expanse of sky. She didn’t know what had happened to the fourth man, the one with the belt. She didn’t care. She just hoped they were going to get something to eat.
Skull Face remained standing in the doorway. One of the other two came in and replaced the used buckets with empty ones. The third handed out bottles of water and little metal cans with pictures of food on them. Livia realized there was food in the cans, but didn’t see how to get to it. She looked for an opening, a top, but couldn’t find anything. Other children were similarly perplexed. The man who had handed out the cans laughed. He took Livia’s can and fingered a ring at the top of it, then pulled back the ring and the metal top peeled off. Instantly Livia smelled something so savory and delicious it made her salivate. She held out her hand greedily and the man, laughing again, gave the can back to her. She almost upended it into her mouth, but then remembered herself and exchanged it for Nason’s closed can. Nason needed no prompting—she dug into whatever was in the can and began devouring it.
Skull Face was watching her, seemingly intrigued that she had given her open can to Nason. But Livia didn’t care about that. The smell was making her head swim. She pulled the ring back just as the man had done, and the top of the can peeled off like a magic trick. She dug in and winced—the edge of the can was sharp, like a knife. But she was too hungry to care about a cut. She brought the can up, tilted her head back, and poured the contents into her mouth. She thought she had never tasted anything so delicious—balls of meat, some kind of noodles, and a tasty, tangy sauce. She actually moaned with relief and realized the other children were making a similar sound.
The men watched and waited while the children ate. It took a while because the children were wiping and licking every last drop of sauce out of the cans. A few of them cut their fingers on the edges, as Livia had done, or even their tongues, but none seemed to care very much beyond a momentary wince. Livia showed Nason to be careful, then handed over her can when she had finished eating from it so Nason could lick it clean, keeping the top for herself.
One of the men walked around with one of the buckets, indicating to the children that they were to throw their empty cans in it. Livia finished licking the top and was ready to throw it in the bucket when she realized—the edge of the top was so sharp, it could be useful as a weapon. She glanced at the men, saw that no one was watching, and quickly slid the top into the back pocket of her pants.