Chapter 10

I'm looking outside at this city. I was once blown away by it. I once looked out and saw how beautiful it was. It was modern. It was a whole new world then I was used to. I was wrong. Just behind the well manicured streets and tall business district are the slums. Not even the slums could be as filthy as the system that controls them.

The entire system was corrupt.

“Hey babe...”

Ryder walks into the house. He is in his construction gear. He has on a hard hat and a dirty wife beater on. He walks up behind me when he sees me standing over the balcony. He walks up to me and he holds me. Ryder smells like a man. The blue collar workers never really seemed like something that attracted me but right now it's the only thing that attracted me. He barely made any money from his job but it didn't matter to him. He still went every single day hoping to contribute somehow to this household.

“You're late today,” I state.

“There were all these issues out on site today,” he responds to me, holding me tighter, “I probably smell like crap. I've been working so hard.”

“Is that all you have to tell me?”

He raises an eyebrow. He must be a little confused.

“Um...you look good today,” he says wondering if that's what I'm looking for.

“You called the cops on Apollo. I told you not to.”

Ryder bites his lip. I wonder if he really thought it wouldn't have gotten back to me that he was the one who ran to the police about the rape. The fact that he is standing there right now shows that he probably assumed I wouldn't. He must not have known the system. The High Liberty lived by his own rules. He did what he chose.

Ryder sighs, “Listen. I wasn't about to let him get away with that. It was call the cops on him or do something worse. He violated you. You think I was going to let that pass.”

He's headstrong. He's aggressive. He's just like an Aries. A part of me knows that this is how Ryder is. This is how he was raised.

He doesn't get the politics of all this. I cross my arms. I look back out towards the city. He walks up to me. He doesn't touch me. I think he believes I'm mad at him. I'm not mad though. I'm just sad about how everything turned out. I'm emotional.

“His trial is tomorrow.”

“Good! Good. Justice. Right. This is a good thing. You can find him guilty. Right?”

Ryder was saying something he didn't believe. I don't even look at him. He knows better. No. This was not a good thing. This was the opposite of a good thing. Ryder had opened a box that he couldn't close.

“They took me off the trial.”

There's silence at that moment. Ryder looks out to Whistler. Whistler is in the living room. She's standing at the door. She's been watching us this entire time. She's watching our expressions. She can probably hear everything we are saying. Ryder knows and I know. I can tell he is trying to be a little careful with what he says. Anything and everything we say in our own home will be reported back to the High Liberty.

“He's going to get off...isn't he?” Ryder asks.

I nod, “Yeah.”

“No exceptions. Not even 1?”

He's talking about my friends. I know he is. My friends are going to be on the trial. They are going to be handling the trial. He does come out and say it. It would be wrong to even assume I could try to mislead one of the Liberties on the Jury. I still haven't looked out at Ryder.

“No. No exceptions.”

“Listen. Fuck him. We still have each other. Fuck that guy,” Ryder says.

He's trying to make me feel better I know he is but as soon as he says it my heart just drops. The feeling of having someone at my side who really cares about me is something that means more to me now than ever. I feel so alone after my friends turned their backs on me. I'm alone in this city. Ryder is the only one who I can trust and now I don't even have him.

“Somethings happened...”

Ryder glares at me. He studies my face. Does he notice the tears? If he does he seems to upset to acknowledge them immediately. He holds onto my arm. He's firm.

“You're scaring me. What is it Law?”

I dreaded all day telling Ryder what the High Liberty told me.

“Our marriage has been annulled. You are no longer my husband.”

“That's impossible...” Ryder says, “I never signed off on an annulment. I know you didn't agree to one. What the hell is happening? That's impossible. Right Law?”

“Not for the High Liberty it isn't. Today was the pretrial. Tomorrow is the actual trial. Apollo will be found guilty and I have been matched to Apollo.”

Ryder sighs.

“He's on trial for RAPING you!”

“The matchmakers don't care about that. I wouldn't be surprised if this is some test that the High Liberty is putting me through.”

I expect Ryder to sit with me and stare out in the city. I want us to just spend our last night together crying. Once I'm married I wouldn't be allowed to live with someone else. I had no doubt Ryder would soon be matched with someone else if he hadn't been matched already. This was going to be our last night together. He knows it and I know it. There is this heaviness between us. I want to touch him but I don't want to mislead my emotions.

Ryder wasn't mine anymore.

That is just how things were.

He just stares out. Then he does something a Libra would probably never do. He punches the glass patio door. His arm smashes the thing to pieces. It's so loud that Whistler's eyes get a little brighter. Ryder notices. He pushes his way through the broken glass and heads to Whistler. I follow him scared that he is going to do something stupid.

“FUCK the high LIBERTY. FUCK this system!” Ryder screams out at the top of his lungs.

What he has right now is real emotion. I respect him so much for showing it. I've always been so restrained. I've always been so in control of everything in my life. That is the way of the Libras. We have to perfectly balance everything. Aries doesn't seem to have that problem. They lead with their emotion. They have this fiery soul about them.

I attempt to calm Ryder down grabbing onto his arm, “Ryder don't...”

Everything he says is going to go back to the High Liberty. Whistler was a fucking spy and he knew it. We had to be super careful around her.

“You think I give a fuck?” Ryder asks.

“Ryder...don't be stupid...”

Ryder turns to Whistler. He walks right up to her. The girl is a ghost. The High Liberty wasn't even clever enough to get good spies. Whistler is so obviously a spy for him. She stands there just watching and waiting. There is no soul in her. Seeing her stand face to face with Ryder is crazy. They glare each other down. Sometimes I feel bad for the Virgos. Who would want to live a life without a soul? I wondered if they were always like that even back in the day before the Zodiac system. There isn't much history of what the world was like before the Zodiac system even on the Scale Mountains.

“I got a message for your puppet master,” Ryder says, “Tell him I refuse to have him control my life. And oh yeah. Give him this.”

With that Ryder punches Whistler dead in her face. Whistler doesn't expect it. She falls over, hits her head on the table and passes out. I'm shocked. My mouth just drops open.

“Ryder what the fuck. Do you have a death wish?”

“What it was an accident? My fist just so happened to hit her face. That's the story I'll go with when they come for me. But come on. We don't have much time.”

“Where are we going?”

“To the stars.”

~

Ryder takes me across town. It's only a matter of time before Whistler gets back up and comes looking for me. She always seems to find me. I'm thinking she has some sort of tracker on me but for the life of me I can't figure out what it is.

We arrive at a building. It's an observatory. Ryder literally took me to go see the stars. I'm not surprised that the building is closed. It's late at night. I'm also not surprised that this has no effect on Ryder what so ever. He breaks in the building helping me through and we make our way to the huge telescope.

“This is the largest reflector in all 12 nations,” he explains, “The dome is almost 50 feet tall. Here. Come closer. Let me show you.”

I wait while Ryder adjusts the telescope.

“How'd you find this place?”

“We did some construction on a site not too far from here. I figured I'd wait till our one year anniversary to bring you here. Guess we didn't make it to one year.”

His voice gets solemn when he says that. I hate thinking about it. I grab Ryder by the back of his shirt. He turns to me. We make eye contact. It's romantic with us in this dark room with this huge telescope. It would have made a perfect anniversary date.

“Let's not think about tomorrow. We still have tonight,” I explain.

He nods, “You're right. Come here. Look through the telescope. Tell me what you see.”

He helps me look through the telescope. The whole while it's hard to concentrate. He touches me in all the right places. His hands rest on my waist. His body presses up against me. He breathes slowly. Every moment I'm standing next to him I'm falling more and more in love.

“Stars.”

“That's the Libra constellation. Back in the day people used to use the zodiac constellations not only to talk about someone's personalities. They used to talk about the future.”


I laugh. I learned about it back on the Mountain. It was the reason the Zodiac system started in the first place.

“Astrology.”

He nods, “For centuries we look up to the skies looking for answers to the hardest questions in life. Now things aren't much different. Astrology is just the study of how the correlation of all those celestial bodies impact our day to day events. And how they can impact the future.”

“You can't tell the future in the stars. That's a myth.”

He shrugs, “They used to say Zodiacs were a myth. Libra, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces were just hobbies.”

“Now they are law,” I respond.”

“Maybe. Maybe they don't have to be,” he responds.

I knew he brought me here for a reason. I look over at Ryder. He had something on his mind. He had something bigger on his mind.

“What are you talking about?” I ask him.

“Look at those stars. We can't tell the future in them. You said that yourself. But that's exactly what they are doing. If you are born in January you have a good chance of being an Aquarius and living a lavish lifestyle. If you are born in March you probably are a Pisces and you have a lot of feelings so you'll end up turning to a creative art. That shit is bullshit.”

I shrug, “It's the system. It's how things are.”

“I can tell the future and I can see that things need to change,” Ryder explains, “I want to be with you. Whose to say we aren't a good match? We are. To me at least. Don't you feel that way.”

“The High Liberty will never let that happen.”

“Then we remove the High Liberty.”

His face is open. He's clear this time. He's obvious. I look around even though I know we are alone. What Ryder is talking about is high treason right now. This isn't some childhood game anymore. We were on dangerous territory.

“You want to kill the High Liberty?”

“No. Maybe just force him to step down,” Ryder explains to me, “You're his heir. The High Liberty has all the power. You can destroy the system from within once you have that position.”

““You do realize I'm on his kill list right. With how things are going I won't even make it to become High Liberty.”

“You trust me?” he asks.

“Of course.”

“I have a plan.”

“What is it?”

Ryder shakes his head, “I can't tell you yet. And don't look at me like that. I trust you. That's not what this is about. I just want to make sure everything is in play and I'll prepare. In the meantime just try to be normal.”

“Normal. Meaning marry Apollo.”

“I'm not going to let that happen.”

“It happens tomorrow Ryder.”

“Fuck...” he says.

He's pissed about it. I know that if he could do something about it he would. He didn't have enough time to even come up with a plan. Apollo would walk tomorrow. I would have to marry Apollo.

“It's OK,” I tell him.

“NO IT'S NOT!”

I lean my head up against Ryder's forehead. We stare at each other. He's a rebellious soul. He's always up to no good. He was trouble and I loved every single minute of it. For a few minutes we stand there and I just calm him down.

“Focus on your plan. I'll be OK,” I say after a few minutes of silence.

That's when I notice it. Tears were streaming down Ryder's face. They were silent but they were real. He cared. This wasn't just some rebellious young guy acting up. Ryder truly cared about society and he cared about me. He leans his head up. He starts kissing me. His tongue goes into my mouth. His body presses up against me.

“I want to make love to you. One last time.”

“Here?”

“Here. Under the stars.”

I don't even get to talk about it. Ryder lowers my pants. He leans me up against the telescope. He gets on his knees and he starts to eat me out right there. I let out deep low moans as he does it. All this emotion is coming over the both of us. I don't know why I start crying. Maybe I cry because I feel feel his wet cheeks up against my butt. He's tearing up the entire time.

“No matter what I have to do with him...I want you to know this is real,” I tell him.

He hears me. His tongue goes deeper inside of me penetrating me. His body crawls up behind me after making me wet with his tongue. Slowly he starts to penetrate me. He gets deep inside of me. He pushes slowly and eases himself inside of me. I let out deep pants as he does it.

He fucks me whispering everything I'd want to hear, “This was real. I can see the future...”

“Yeah...” I say between pants.

His strokes get longer. They get deeper. He presses me up against the telescope. He reaches his hands over me. He strokes my dick. We make love in the darkness.

“Yeah I can see the future and you're in it,” he tells me.

He tells me that but truthfully I don't believe him. Every part of me kind of knows how this story ends. The system was too powerful. People wouldn't let a system like ours go down. This was supposed to be fair and balanced. There was nothing fair and balanced about this system. There was always a hand on the scale.

Even through all that dread I smile because I want to enjoy these moments. I know these might be the last moments we have.

“I love you,” I tell him.

“Don't say that. Why would you say that before we are separated?” he responds shaking his head, “This shit is hard man. It's tearing me apart. It's so hard.”

His dick goes deeper with each word. He's desperate to feel every inch of me. I know why. I know what he is scared of when I hear the sounds of in the distance. I can hear her coming.

Whistler.

She's found me.

She's not alone. She's brought people with her. Other Virgos. I hear the footsteps in the doorways.

“They are here for me,” he stated, “They are going to arrest me for attacking her.”

I knew this would happen. Just as they enter the room he nuts. He delivers his load into my ass. The warmth of his body is more than I can feel. His heart is beating up against my chest. He looks over at me. He bends down when he pulls out of me and I swear I think he's pulling up his pants but he's getting something out of it.

“Ryder will you come with us?” one of the Virgos asks.

The Aquarians are pulling up now. I pull up my pants. The Aquarians won't be as nice as the Virgos. Ryder had arrested their police chief. I was afraid for him. I was scared at what they might end up doing to Ryder. I was scared for Ryder's life.

What if this was my last time seeing him?

The Virgos wait patiently but the Aquarians are starting to come in now. I have no doubt they were notified by the Virgos. The Virgos weren't exactly police officers but they were government officials. I had no doubt Whistler called the Aquarians to arrest Ryder for the assault. They'd take Ryder by force if need be. I don't want to leave him. I hug him so tight and I refuse to let him go. I'm crying at that moment.

“Everything is OK. Don't let Apollo see you sweat and if he tries to force himself on you again kill him. You hear me?”

I nod, “OK...”

Ryder slips something over my neck. It's a necklace with a symbol on it.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Back in the day people didn't just have the zodiac symbols. There were a lot more symbols besides the scorpion or the lion or the crab or the scales. This symbol is called a heart.”

“That's not what a heart looks like.”

He laughs, “Not a real heart no. Not like the one in your chest. This is a symbol of love. They used it a century ago. When you doubt me. When you doubt anything just look at that symbol OK. From now on that is the only symbol that matters OK? That is the only sign that matters to us.”

“You're acting like you're gone. Ryder. Why are you acting like you're saying goodbye?” I ask.

He smiles at me.

“It's not goodbye. Not yet. Remember. I can see the future,” he tells me.

I watch as the Aquarians start pulling Ryder away. I run in to stop them but Whistler and the Virgos hold me back. The Aquarians start roughing Ryder up right in front of me. They are beating all over him while they arrest him. They throw him to the ground. They pound on his face with their boots. Ryder is screaming for help but I know that there are no laws protecting him. He was an Aries. Worse than being an Aries Ryder was an Aries who dared to call out an Aquarius leader.

If Ryder survived this in one piece it would be a miracle but as they drag him away I am left with his symbol of love around my chest.

The heart symbol. It was the only sign that mattered.

~

I arrive at work the next day. I'm not allowed in the trial room but I am waiting in the common area where I see the Libras who are on Apollo's trial. Every part of me knows that things are going to all go downhill from here. Apollo would be released. I knew that was going to happen. I was aware of that.

“You need to cheer up,” Lourdes says to me, “The trial is going to be over soon.”

“Lourdes please. You can't find him innocent. He raped me. Please...”

I”m crying again. I know I look a little weak. I look a little pathetic. Truth is I have no power in this situation. I've been played...completely. I had to sit on the sidelines and beg these people to believe a truth that I knew happened. Not only was my rapist about to get off but I was going to be forced to spend every day looking at him.

“Are you supposed to be trying to sway the trial?” Loreal asks me.

“Was I talking to you?”

“You're talking around me. That's good enough for me,” Loreal responds, “How would you like it if I went to the High Liberty and told him what you are up to.”

Loreal is playing hall monitor or something right now. Now that I am in a bad situation her true colors are really starting to show. She is a nasty person and she isn't going to admit it but I can see the real her. Loreal has a horrible soul.

What's worse is that Lourdes and Lizabeth don't say anything. They just let Loreal go around threatening me like it's nothing.

“Leave him alone,” Lloyd tells Loreal, “There's no need in rubbing it in when he's down.”

I don't expect Lloyd of all people to come to my defense right now.

“He's lying!” Loreal states.

“I know but it doesn't matter. At this point lets just get this over with. Let's just make sure everything is fair and balanced.”

Fair and balanced. I knew what fair and balanced was. It was a bunch of bullshit. It was a myth they fed you.

“Listen everyone. Can I just say something?” I ask.

“Why should we listen to you? Everything that comes out of your mouth is a fucking lie,” Loreal says.

The others look on.

I sigh deeply, “Listen. I know you all want to believe Apollo is innocent. Up until not too long ago I swore that I wouldn't have gone against this system. I believed in the system. But deep inside all of you must wonder what it's like to be in love with someone BEFORE you are matched to them. Could you imagine how perfect that would be? I know it sounds stupid. I know it is strange but please. If Apollo is found innocent I have to marry him. I have to marry the man that raped me.”

“Allegedly,” Loreal adds in.

“It's nothing alleged about it,” I respond. “Listen. Love isn't made up with a compatibility test. Love is chemistry. It's real chemistry. Please don't let me do this. I'm begging you. Just imagine for a minute.”

I'm putting my heart into this last plea. For a minute I swear I think Lourdes wipes his eyes. All I needed was one person to cast a guilty vote. It would move the others to agree.

That's when Loreal rolls her eyes and break the silence, “Sounds like bullshit.”

I ignore her. The others are laughing though. They laugh right in my face. I'm just looking at the tiles on the ground. I'm thinking about Ryder. I'm thinking about the fact that he is locked up somewhere beaten to a pulp and that was if he was lucky. If he was alive he would be lucky.

“Apollo is a catch,” Lizabeth adds in putting her arm on my shoulder,

This bitch really had some nerve.

“Get the fuck away from me.”

“Are you serious right now?” Lizabeth asks me, “What? Are we not friends anymore because I'm not believing your little lie.”

Lie. I wish Lizabeth was the only one who felt that way but I look around the room. Ever since I walked into the Justice Hall I'd been getting the stares. Rumors were floating most likely about what had happened with my falling out with my friends. They were all looking at me like I was some kind of liar. Maybe they thought I was doing this out of spite for Apollo and Lloyd's relationship. None of them probably knew that I was going to end up marrying Apollo. I had no reason to hate on Apollo's relationship.

It was the opposite.

I am depressed. If anything happened to Ryder I just don't think I can go on.

“We were never friends,” I state.

With that Lizabeth grunts, “Fine. Come on Lourdes.”

I feel bad as they walk away. A part of me knows that they are just cold because thatch what they learned. Still. I'm hurt. This is a feeling I never experienced before. I feel empty inside. I feel lost.

I feel alone.

I watch Lourdes, Loreal and Lizabeth out of the common area into the hallway. They don't say anything to me. They don't even look my way. It's more clear than ever what they are going to do.

Then I see Lloyd. Lloyd does something strange. He walks up to me.

“I believe you,” he says.

I'm shocked.

Lloyd just comes up to me and says he believes me! I'm beyond shocked at that moment. He stands there staring at me and I don't understand.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I believe you.”

My heart races, “Lloyd. Lloyd thank god.”

That's when Lloyd reaches over and gives me a hug. He holds me close.

“You're right about the love thing. When you were talking I was sitting there wondering what I was really mad at. I wasn't in love with Apollo. I felt like you ruined my marriage but then I came to the conclusion that I don't know how much I really care that I'm not with Apollo. And I know how obsessed Apollo is with you. I can see how he would do something like that. I am just confused on why the High Liberty would marry you off to him.”

I turn at that moment. Whistler is sitting right there. She's listening on.

“It's not a good time.”

“It's the best time,” he responds, “The High Liberty visited my apartment one night. He was making some sort of deal with Apollo. Do you think you were really matched man? This is going to sound like treason but what if the High Liberty annulled your marriage to Ryder so he can fix a new match with Apollo.”

“We'll talk.”

“Something weird is happening isn't it?” Lloyd asks me.

There is so much he didn't know. There is so much I need to tell my best friend. Two was better than one though.

“We'll talk,” I repeat again, looking back at Whistler.

“Yeah. Meet me somewhere after the trial,” Lloyd says, “Something weird is going on in this city and things just aren't adding up but don't worry. I'll make sure the vote isn't unanimous and if we have to stay in that room for days I'll make sure we do. I don't care if I make it a hung jury. There is no way I'm going to let that fucker off for what he did to you.”

This was the Lloyd that I knew. This was the Lloyd that I grew up with. I know Lloyd was blinded but I can't help but to smile at him right now.

“Thank you Lloyd.”

“Don't thank me yet. This is going to be tough,” he responds,” I just want to make sure that yo don't hold anything against me. I treated you so...bad...”

“I don't.”

Lloyd smiles. He walks away. My heart races. A part of me knows that I have to find a way to get to Ryder. If I had another Liberty with me I could do things. I could really start swaying one Libra at a time. We could turn against the High Liberty directly from the bench. I turn in an attempt to see where Whistler was.

She was gone.

Weird.

I start walking towards the entrance of the courthouse. I wouldn't be able to attend the case but I'd at least be able to hear parts through the door of the court. I am joined in by Sagittarian reporters who gather around the back with me. A few minutes later Apollo is carried into the courthouse. Our eyes connect.

That's when Apollo does the worst thing imaginable to me. He blows me a kiss. I want to throw up. The hatred I have for him is so clear. Apollo is beyond cocky. He thinks he is untouchable. He's been untouchable for so long.

Things were about to change.

I watch at that moment as the Liberties start making their way through the hallway into the court. I make eye contact with Lloyd. He gives me a slight wink letting me know that he is still on my side.

Apollo and I look at one another. I mouth the words, “Rot in hell.”

He laughs. He must be amused. God knows what the High Liberty's deal with him was but he feels like he can't be touched. It must have been a really good deal.

I turn to Lloyd. I smile at him.

Just at that moment I see someone break through the crowd. Someone running. At first I think the person is running towards me, but then I realize something else is happening. The person has a gun but I'm not the target. He runs right past me!

What the fuck!

As he makes his way right past me he removes his mask. I see the face. The Sagittarians see his face too. The guy does this on purpose.

I know why.

It's Simeon.

He is a tool for the High Liberty just like the Virgos. I watch at that moment as Simeon raises his gun and then I realize it. Whistler was gone. It was almost like she went to go do something. Nothing usually seemed urgent to Whistler except watching me. It was very rare that she ended up disappearing.

Also she left right after hearing my conversation with Lloyd.

Oh my god.

Oh my god!

“:LLOYD!” I scream at the top of my lungs.

It's too late. Simeon fires the weapon into the crowd. It doesn't miss. The gun fire is targeted right at my best friend and within a minute Lloyd is dead on the ground...

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