If only I knew who to trust. If there were only one person is this stupid town who…

“Jax!” The whispered exclamation pulls me from my thoughts. Emily steps out from between the houses on my left. “What is going on?”

Great. Just what I need. “Nothing, Emily. Don’t worry about it.”

She rolls her eyes, purses her lips and exhales. Her obvious exasperation stops my forward motion. I’ve never seen Emily any less than perfectly composed and cheery. “Look Jax, I know what you think of me…of us, but there’s a lot you don’t know.” When her gaze meets mine, there’s something new in her eyes, a hardness I don’t recognize. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I might be able to help.” When I don’t respond, she continues, “Come with me. I’m not asking you to trust me blindly, but at least let me try to help you.”

My muddled brain manages to direct my head to nod. I’m stuck anyway, might as well see what assistance she may have to offer.

* * * * * * *

Emily leads me toward the girls’ dormitories, where single girls with no adult male relatives are required to stay until being Promised. Thankfully, I never ended up there. When we arrived here, Jace made it clear that he refused to be separated from me and he fought for us to be assigned one of the smaller houses near the gate even though we weren’t of age at the time. Maybe if I had been placed with the other girls I might be different now, better? More likely, I would have never recovered without my connection to Jace pulling me back into myself. Without him there to chase away the nightmares…I would have never slept.

When we reach the front doors, Emily smiles at the man standing guard. “Hello, Seth. I’m just bringing Jasmine in so she can join our sewing circle today.”

While I try to contain my laughter and twist my face into a vapid smile, Emily bats her eyelashes at him. Seth returns her smile and waves us through without pause. Feminine wiles really do come in handy.

Once we’re out of earshot, I pause. “We’re not really sewing, right?”

Emily laughs and shakes her head. “No, I’m not expecting you to sew. I know better than that.”

I follow her up the stairs until we reach the third floor. She leads me into one of the rooms off a large common area, shutting the door behind us.

“Now tell me.” She sits on the bed and folds her hands in her lap.

I pace back and forth in the small space, putting the right words together before I speak. Keep it simple. Don’t give away too much. “The aliens took my brother. There’s one locked up in the holding cells. I need him to get into the city to rescue my brother.”

Emily’s eyes have widened and she blinks quickly. “Wow. I can’t say that’s what I expected you to say.”

I shrug. “Can you help or not?”

She crosses her legs and leans forward, resting her chin in her hand. “I know I can get you past the gate. With all the hubbub surrounding the festival tonight, that will be no problem.” She raises her eyes. “Getting your alien friend out of lock up might require a bit more planning.”

“Festival?”

“Really? Do you pay attention to nothing around you? The fall festival is tonight,” she says. “You know, food, dancing…the fall Promising ceremony.”

“Oh yeah, that.” I smile sheepishly. “I definitely don’t pay any attention to that.” Emily giggles and raises her hand as if to touch my arm, but quickly lowers it again. “So why are you doing this? I haven’t exactly been very nice to you.”

“I know how you feel about this town and its restrictions…Did you ever stop to think that others might share those feelings? Do you know how I ended up an orphan, how I ended up stuck in these dorms with guards by the door and people watching my every move?”

I shake my head, moving to sit down on the bed. Emily’s body tenses for a moment and she shoots me a look I can’t interpret.

“My mother was Promised to one of Dane’s cronies. He was twenty years her senior and not a nice man. Five years later, she fell in love with a trader, my father. He managed to smuggle her out of town and they lived on the run for nearly two years.” Emily takes a deep breath and stares out the window. “Dane had some of his soldiers hunt them down. They killed my father and dragged my mother back to Bridgelake. She was eight months pregnant.

“Her Promised husband welcomed her back… with closed fists. She had me and we lived there with him until I was ten. He’d always hit her, but the first— and only— time he went after me, she killed him. Dane had her executed. And there I was, no male relatives and too young to be Promised.” She turns to face me, her eyes shiny with tears. “My father was killed for having the gall to go up against Dane. My mother, for disobedience. Do you really think he’s not going to continue taking his revenge out on me?”

My mouth opens, but no words come out. I break away from her gaze. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” I say.

“It’s okay.” Her head down, she twists her hands in her lap.

“Why didn’t you just say all this to start with? What’s with all the sewing circle stuff?”

She raises her eyebrows. “They are always watching. Not everyone, but most of the soldiers and at least half the others. Dane rules this town and those that aren’t bowing down to him are terrified of him. I could tell you weren’t exactly itching to be indoctrinated into Dane worship, but your brother is best friends with his son. You’re pretty chummy with him too.”

I shrug when she glances at me. “I’ve known Flint forever. He and my brother were friends before we even moved here. He’s almost like another brother to me.” When her brow furrows, I rush to explain further. “Doesn’t mean I agree with everything he does. And I certainly don’t agree with the way Dane runs things.”

Emily nods. “I couldn’t take the risk of revealing myself without feeling you out first. It was the only excuse I could think of.” Her mouth turns up at the corners and she shakes her head. “Who knew you’d be so against anything sewing related.”

Our laughter fills the room and warmth seeps into me. Jace is my brother and I love him, but there’s something different about laughing with another girl. Despite our differences, Emily and I share some common ground and the fragile threads of friendship forming between us give me hope. That, plus she talked about my brother in the present tense and she’s willing to help me when no one else would.

“So, where do we start?”

“The festival begins in an hour,” Emily says. “First, we’ll work on you learning to have a conversation without looking like you’re about to vomit. I can distract the guards, but you‘ll have to play your part too. Then, we get dressed.”

“Dressed?”

She motions toward my clothes and I smack myself in the forehead with my palm. No wonder people were staring at me. I’m still wearing the pants from earlier.

* * * * * * *

Twenty minutes later, Emily no longer falls over laughing at my attempts to flip my hair and bat my eyelashes. She still giggles a little though. It will have to do. Emily turns her attention to my clothing.

“I don’t suppose I can just wear what I have on?” I ask.

Emily laughs. “Everyone’s going to be dressed up. You need to blend in, be more girly. I think you’re going to have to borrow some of my clothes.” My face twists into a grimace and she laughs again. “A dress won’t kill you. Besides you don’t have to wear it all evening, just until you can get to your own clothes.” She swings her feet over the side of her bed.

It takes her a moment to select a dress from the closet, but when she does my quick intake of breath causes her eyebrows to raise. “You like it?”

I hate to admit it, but I do. She’s selected a dark green dress made in a soft, flowing fabric. It’s not a work dress and certainly not a dress made for anything practical, but it’s beautiful. Long enough to brush the middle of my calves, fitted in the top and flaring at the waist. I slide into it and marvel at the feel of the fabric swishing around my legs.