Kamrin was a glamorous district, like a miniature city in itself. Buildings of flashing golden glass clustered together, and it had a small yet efficient streetcar system of its own, in which four person streetcars whizzed past them on the flawlessly paved streets.
“If you had to be named after a borough,” Luke said admiringly as he looked around the modern grace of the structures, bright skies, and bustling atmosphere, “this isn’t a bad namesake.”
“I’d rather Marzin, I loved it there. It’s too busy here,” Kamrin said a little crankily, still not fully awake as they’d departed early from the house to begin their sixth day.
By the time Kamrin borough had lightened fully for the day, Luke and Kamrin had seen enough dark scenes in the borough to make their good spirits decline. They’d had a narrow escape from running into a group of thieves again, whom they’d managed to avoid by taking a lengthy detour from the streetcar tracks.
During their detour, they saw many, many homeless people sitting by the streets in rags. “I never would have thought Graceway had these problems,” Luke said, trying to process his shock. An old lady with unkempt, rough hair had looked up at him disgustedly and sworn at him using vulgar language, and another man had stood up and walked toward them, staring straight at Luke with pale, hostile eyes: “You’re not from here.”
“You’re right, I’m not,” Luke answered, trying to keep his voice steady. A brief staring contest, and the man stepped back like a defeated yet dissatisfied wild animal, still prowling for prey.
“Let’s try and avoid them, Luke,” Kamrin whispered nervously, as they came upon another street with many other homeless people sitting along its edges.
“We can’t avoid everyone we see,” Luke whispered back. He was not afraid of them, but he knew that their hostility would soon begin taking an emotional toll on him. Finally, yielding to Kamrin’s increasingly desperate pulling on his hand, he agreed to further stray from the tracks to avoid the homeless. Their eyes, Luke would recollect later, were usually a dulled, lightless gray. Their faces were wrinkled and lusterless from living on the streets. And their stares…reproachful? Envious? Angry? Luke had never found it so difficult to look someone straight in the eyes.
“I don’t like Kamrin,” Kamrin murmured tearfully, “Luke, I’m scared.”
“Kam,” Luke said quickly, “don’t be. Those people are jealous of the privileges you have, that’s all.”
“I never knew I had any privileges until I ran away,” Kamrin said remorsefully.
“Well, you’re blessed to have realized it,” Luke said gently, “When you go home, Kam, what are you going to do with all the things you have, that other people don’t?”
Kamrin stared at him. “I…don’t know. What can I do?”
“I don’t know, either. But I know you’ve already taken the first step of realizing how fortunate you are to have grown up in such an ideal environment. You can take your time to figure out what you’ll use it to do.”
Kamrin nodded, smiling up at him. “I’ll do that. What about you?”
“Me?”
“What will you do once you go back to the Purlieus?”
“I’m not sure exactly,” Luke said slowly, “I’ll think about it as well. But things will change. The thing is, before I had the chance to visit Graceway, I thought it would be this perfect, rich, and glamorous city it’s known to be in the Purlieus. There, Graceway is a safe and glamorous haven that every child dreams of visiting at least once in their lifetime, did you know that?”
“No! Children here often complain,” Kamrin answered wonderingly.
“Well, there were lots of things about the northern Purlieus I hated,” Luke continued slowly. “Just because I wanted to get away from the water didn’t mean I loved the heat and dust. I hated that children usually had to drop out of school by the age of twelve or thirteen, to assist in farm work, which never seemed to do anything more than barely feed people in the Purlieus. As grateful as I was to visit the legendary Graceway with you, I was ashamed to be from the Purlieus.”
“You sure didn’t show it,” Kamrin said, but it was evident that she’d already known.
Luke smiled. “Over the last few days, though, I’ve been able to see how flawed Graceway is, and how hardworking and honest the people from the Purlieus are. I’ve never noticed these things before. Realizing that Graceway isn’t the heaven I believed it to be…it’s strange, but it’s more relieving—and liberating—than disappointing. Does…that make sense?” he asked uncertainly, once again reminding himself that Kamrin was eleven.
“Somewhat,” she answered seriously, and Luke smiled again, knowing that she was having difficulty understanding him, but did not want to admit that. She was just as independence-seeking and prideful as Luke had been at age eleven. Luke had often wondered what he’d be doing if he had been able to stay in school, and he now found himself having absolute confidence in Kamrin’s future. Within such a nourishing environment, Kamrin had the necessary sensibility and intelligence to grow up to do great things.
An hour later, they’d had a few more encounters with homeless people, the sky had clouded over again, and they were under more stress. Luke suggested that, rather than walking through potential rain, they remain at a house until the weather cleared up, and then walk through the night to make up for the time they had missed. Kamrin agreed, and they walked toward the nearest house. As soon as they were taken in and the door closed, the clouds flashed with lightning and thunder crackled through the air. Rain swept over Kamrin borough.
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Luke and Kamrin resumed their walking mid-afternoon. They had eaten and slept for a few hours at the house, and the rain had stopped. The sun was glowing softly, its radiance dimmed by the remaining clouds in the sky. The pavement was wet with the rain and the air felt soft and cool.
“Look, there’s another forest,” Luke said in disbelief, watching the golden tracks disappear into a mass of tall, dark trees that seemed even thicker and more hostile than the one they’d traveled through in Marzin.
“I don’t think there’ll be a waterfall in this one,” Kamrin said, nudging him lightly. “I’m sure Savannah is right beyond it; there’s a large forest near its boundary. The West division has lots of forests. We’re almost there, Luke!”
“We are,” Luke agreed less enthusiastically as they entered the cool shadows under the pine trees that were dripping cold leftover raindrops off their needles.
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They walked until the faint sunset light reaching them through the thick trees faded completely. Soon they were walking through nearly complete blackness, cool and rustling, save the very faint light of the moon that peeked at them from the dark crosses of the trees overhead.
“Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to walk at night,” Luke said nervously, lowering his voice to match the eerily quiet forest atmosphere.
“We won’t do it again,” Kamrin agreed, “but we’re so close to home. My parents are probably very, very afraid,” she added suddenly.
“That is true, Miss Dalhaven,” Luke answered, reminding himself that she had parents at home worried about her, “you’ll be in for it once you get home, and deservedly so.”
Kamrin nodded meekly. “I know. But I want to see them again still.”
“I hope you’ll remember, Kam, how much they love you and care for you after this. Meanwhile,” he added guiltily, “my aunt and uncle are probably concerned for me as well.”
Kamrin giggled. “We’re both good at upsetting our elders, aren’t we?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Luke sighed, “but you have a baby brother who looks up to you, Kam! I’d better not be seeing him turning up in the Purlieus within the next ten years.”
Kamrin laughed out loud, but a sudden noise made both of them freeze. There was a long silence, and they did not hear the noise again.
“I think it was some animal in the forest,” Luke whispered after a while, attempting to disengage his hand from Kamrin’s ice-cold grip. “We can’t expect to be the only ones in the woods. I’m realizing what an idiotic decision this was, Kam. Should we turn back?”
“No,” Kamrin answered in a small voice. “We might as well keep going.”
That was true, and so they did. Luke lost track of time, but occasionally he’d make some casual observation to Kamrin, both to make sure she was awake and alert, and to reassure himself that he was still alive. The darkness and silence were eerily isolating. Luke’s instincts told him to be alert and armed in case—some wild animal decided to pounce on them, he explained to a frightened Kamrin as he picked up a thick tree bough from the side of the forest path.
“Luke?” Kamrin whispered so quietly that Luke had to stop walking to hear her. “I think I heard something behind us.”
She’d been glancing behind them nervously for the last few minutes.
Luke whirled around, and the next moment descried shadowy figures now walking straight toward him and Kamrin, now that they realized they’d been spotted. His heart pounding in terror, he tightened his grip on his wooden weapon and pulled Kamrin to the side of the road clinging to the slim hope that it was not them the people were after.
But they were. Luke was determined to avoid a physical fight in such a dangerous situation, so when the four men approached them slowly, he did not make the first attack.
“Rich kids,” one man drawled, “what are you doing here at this hour?”
Kamrin shrank against him and Luke kept his silence.
“We’ll make this nice and simple,” another man said in a low voice, “do you have money with you?”
Realizing that they were homeless people desperate for money, Luke found the courage to say truthfully, “No, sir. None.”
“If you don’t, does she?” the man asked, pointing to Kamrin and grinning. The next moment he lunged toward her.
Swinging Kamrin behind him, Luke shoved him away by driving one jagged end of the wood into his face, his sudden fury giving him the burst of energy he needed. Furthermore, the realization that they were homeless men, desperate, starved, and likely weak, gave him more confidence. “Let us go. We don’t have what you’re looking for.”
“That’s a lie,” snarled the man on the ground with the stabbed eyes.
The next few minutes were a dark, confusing blur. Only hoping that Kamrin was somehow protecting herself, Luke kicked away one of the remaining three men in the jaw. The other came up from behind him and yanked his backpack roughly off, to which Luke paid not the slightest attention; seeing that he was distracted by the potential contents of the backpack, Luke looked around desperately for Kamrin, hoping that they could escape while the men were occupied. But before he could find her, the remaining one man sprung at him furiously, likely realizing that the pack was void of anything valuable. Luke saw the vicious recklessness borne of disappointment in his wildly glinting eyes as the he sprang at him. Luke had trusted his own youth and strength to overpower the man, but this man seemed to have some experience, as well as the advantage in momentum. They both fell backward and wrestled ferociously on the pine needle-covered ground, but soon the man was on top of Luke with both of his gnarled hands around Luke’s throat. Luke was grappling with the man’s face, but the attacker’s hands did not relax. Luke could barely hear Kamrin screaming his name in the background, but it was a few moments later when he was suddenly able to breathe again, his ears stopped ringing, his vision slowly refocused, and it was suddenly quiet.
Blinking, he had to gaze at what was in front of him for a few moments before realizing it was his attacker’s silently choking face. Behind it was Kamrin’s wild expression: she was on the man’s back, strangling him with Luke’s backpack strap. Horror lending him a wild burst of strength, Luke managed to roll himself out from under the man. Only then did Kamrin release her victim, run to Luke, and burst into tears.
The other three men, Luke saw, had somehow gotten to their feet and run. One arm around Kamrin, Luke stumbled over to the choked man and saw in relief that he was not dead. Seeing them peer down at him, he spat hoarsely, “You’re from the Purlieus. Why are you here?”
