Page 67 of Knot in Their Wildest Dreams: Part 1

“What happened to the mess?” I asked, my heart in my throat as I waited to search her for any sign of who she really was.

“I cleaned it up. Stamped the issues right out.” She said absentmindedly before turning to me, giving me a tired smile that struck through my heart like a dagger. "Why do you ask?"

I forced a smile, masking the slow, burning realization settling in my chest.

"No reason," I lied. "Just curious."

Because now, I knew.

It was her.

Shewas the one responsible.

Chapter 49

Dante

Six years ago. That was the last time I heard from my remaining family, the moment I realized that Harringday Industries’ secrets went far beyond just corruption.

Arkala, my home, was mostly a blip on the radar as far as the rest of the world was concerned. It was far enough from the nearest country that it hadn’t been developed like the Provinces. But it was a beautiful island, and a peaceful way to live. At least, that’s what my mom told me, back before the metals changed everything.

Back when Harringday was first founded, they had initially been successful due to the quickly growing economy between the Eastern and Western Provinces. But they only grew to the behemoth that they are today when they started producing electronics.

By pure accident, it was discovered that Criodian, a rare and extraordinarily powerful metal, was essential to the function of much of the technology we now rely on. And as fate would have it, our island held it in abundance.

From the beginning, both Harringday Industries and the Eastern Province screwed us over. Our own leaders didn’t help either - they sold us out, and soon Harringday had exclusive rights to Arkala and its precious metal, gaining a monopoly on our resources. Leonard Harringday, Celeste's great-grandfather, made sure that the Criodian mines were sequestered off from the main towns. Over time, that intentional move paid dividends.

Arkala itself was fairly isolated from the rest of the world, and tourism was non-existent. The wages were so low that it was difficult to ever make it off the island, but some people left out of necessity. That’s how my mom ended up getting us into the Eastern Province - looking for a better life, with more resources and opportunity. She passed before she ever saw just how successful I would become .

I’d known of the Harringday family my whole life. A corrupt business was no big news in the Eastern Province. But things only became personal when Celeste stepped into her role.

It started with a postcard from my cousin. “Another storm is coming. Stay safe.”

I knew that something was happening on the island, something he couldn’t write about. The mail was being watched, and my cousin knew it. At the time, my cousin, my aunt, and most of my extended family worked either in, or adjacent to the mines.

Working in the mines was dangerous. They were prone to accidents - collapses, gas leaks, equipment failures. But what happened there wasn’t just another accident. It was a cover-up.

I’d managed to scrounge up the money to visit, and found the island was drastically different than I remembered. There were checkpoints, security, and it seemed that the people I’d left hadn’t had much luck. The money wasn’t enough to make much of a life here, just as I suspected. When I met with my cousin and aunt, they smiled and pretended everything was alright. But when I was in their small home, they huddled in the bare living room, speaking in hushed tones as they told me what was really going on.

“A mine collapsed.” My cousin told me in hushed tones. My heart sank. I found out that the conditions were so bad that almost nothing was up to code. The workers were already risking their health, but on top of it, there were very few protections put in place.

He went on to tell me that after the accident, Harringday had denied their responsibility at first. By the time the people in town found out, they had to do the rescue efforts themselves, losing precious time. When they finally reached the pocket where the workers were trapped, some of them were already severely injured.

Everything started to boil over. The workers were planning a strike, and if that didn’t work, a revolt. There was even talk of taking over the mines, pushing out Harringday and regain ownership of the metal trade.

“We’re going to take over the mining operations ourselves, and free the island from Harringday’s control.” He told me in an excited voice, before my aunt shushed him.

“Stop! There are ears everywhere.” She said, and I was shocked at just how bad things were in the beautiful place I’d grown up.

“You need to get off the island before the strike, cousin. It’s not safe for you here. But I wanted to see you in case anything happened.” He told me, his arm around my shoulder. I shook my head.

“That won’t happen. They can’t hurt you!” I exclaimed in frustration. Harringday wouldn’t go that far - would they?

“They’ve already confiscated the worker’s phones, we have no way of making outside contact once we’re in the mining zone.”

I looked at my cousin, who was so much more like a brother to me. “We need to tell someone about this!” I said, my mind racing as I tried to think what authority in the Eastern Province would be willing to take on Harringday. Most government agencies were hobbled by the corrupt politicians that got paid off by the wealthy. Harringday had found out, and was sending their leadership to manage the crisis.

I stood there in shock. I knew things were bad, but this was even worse than I thought. “There’s no way to get the word out.” He’d said, his voice quiet and urgent. “They’ve confiscated everything. Our phones, any communication. They are blocking it. The Provinces don’t care about Arkala anyway. The few reporters we reached out to didn’t follow up.” He said, and my stomach sank. “They’ve tried to take anything that can be used as a weapon. They know what we’re planning.” The workers and the people from the town had nothing but their bare hands and the tools at their disposal.

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