The 7th Lie

by Tamara Grantham

  “Dying?” He chuckled. “Good job, Harper.”

  He slammed his boot into the side of Cade’s face. Bone crunched.

  My stomach sickened, and I had to look away.

  He reached into his furs and pulled out his canteen, took a drink, then knelt by the gardener and grabbed his face between his hands.

  Cade’s cheek was swollen and misshapen where Ivan had crushed him. I forced myself to calm down, think rationally, and try to control this situation as best as I could.

  “Ivan, tell me again how you knew I’d be here?”

  “Eh?” He glanced up for a brief second. “Your bracelet. I’ve been monitoring your communications with your AI unit. Saw you’d broken it. Knew you must be in trouble so I came as soon as I could.”

  I knelt to be eye-level with the big man. “You were monitoring my communications? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Didn’t think you’d mind. It’s my job to make sure you stay alive.” Ivan lifted the gardener’s head and pressed the canteen’s opening to the man’s lips. “Help me here, will you?”

  Anger and betrayal warred, making my chest feel impossibly tight. Ivan had been monitoring my communications? He had a history with Cade? What else had he thought wasn’t important enough to tell me?

  But I had to make sure Cade survived, so I knelt to help Ivan as green liquid pooled in Cade’s mouth.

  I knelt, resting my hand on his shoulder. “Cade, swallow it,” I nudged.

  He remained still, with only the rise and fall of his chest to tell me he was alive.

  “Cade. It’s green cerecite.”

  “Sa—Sabine...” he whispered.

  “I’m here. Drink the cerecite.”

  He gave a slight nod. His Adam’s apple bobbed once, then twice. Ivan placed Cade’s head down and hid the canteen in his furs.

  “I bloody well hope this wears off soon.” Ivan chuckled, though the sound didn’t hold any humor. “Probably should’ve warned you, but the gardener can’t be trusted. He hasn’t aged a day in the thirty years I’ve been here.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I asked, my tone sharp. “How much do you know, Ivan? How is it you stayed alive when all the other agents disappeared?”

  “Do you really want to ask so many questions when I’m here to rescue you? Maybe you’re not as brilliant as I thought.” He hefted a rope, then tied it around Cade, and fastened a gag in his mouth.

  “Why are you doing that?”

  “Can’t trust him not to run.”

  Really? Or was it that he didn’t want Cade talking?

  “Now.” He grunted as he hefted Cade on his shoulders. “Are we going to stand here and play twenty questions, or will you let me do my job and help you?”

  I stood to face the man. Indecision clouded my judgment. Cade had tried to kill me. He killed the past agents, so why was Ivan’s sudden arrival bothering me almost as much?

  “Look.” Ivan sighed. “You’re right to question me. If you’ve found all the objects, you must’ve gone out to the spirit caves, maybe figured I knew Rosa and the others were buried there. But I’ll have you know I had my reasons for not telling Vortech what happened.” He shook his head. “Vortech isn’t who you think.”

  “What do you mean?” The cut on my hand throbbed, and I kept it close to my chest. Thinking through the pain sent knives needling through my skull.

  “I’ll explain it all when we get to the gateway.”

  “But we can’t go yet. I’ve got to find my backpack. It’s got all the other pieces inside. Also, the prince and his aunt... I have to find them. They’re missing. I have to know they’re safe.”

  “Don’t worry so much. I’ve got this figured out. I’ve done all the grunt work for you.” He chuckled softly. “Follow me and you’ll be fine.”

  His words grated on me as he spun on his heel and walked away. Seeing Ivan in this new light made my skin crawl, and I wouldn’t allow him to dominate me.

  I stood tall. “No,” I spoke firmly.

  He spun around. “No?”

  “I won’t go with you,” I said. “Leave Cade with me. I’ll find my own way to the caves.”

  His blue eyes narrowed to icy slits. “You’re making the wrong decision. It so happens my house was designated as the royal’s safe house in the event anything went awry at the capital. Can you believe who came to me less than an hour ago? And guess what they brought with them? Your bag. I’ve got the first five objects, and the prince and his aunt are with me as well.”

  “What?” I questioned. “Where?”

  “In my rover.” He nodded to the door. “Just outside.”

  “You’re telling the truth?”

  He let out a deep-bellied laugh. “Why would I lie to you? I want to get off this damn rock just as much as you. You want to go home, don’t you?”

  Home. It’s what I wanted, didn’t I? To see Dad again. To complete my mission. To stop the flare.

  I held Cade’s knife in my injured hand, yellow blade warmed by my pulsing blood. A second passed, and the jewel facets changed shape. A tiny glimmer so subtle, no one else would’ve noticed it.

  My hands trembled. I held the seventh lie.

  I had everything I needed within my grasp. All I had to do was follow Ivan, and I would go home.

  “Follow me.” Ivan called as he turned. “We’ve got to get that wound tended.”

  I stood unmoving. Choices raged a wicked battle in my head. But what choice did I really have? Stay here and bleed?

  I placed the knife in my boot’s sheath and cradled my bloody hand. With my good hand, I grabbed the skull and rushed to keep up with Ivan, following the trail of Cade’s blood into the street.

  Outside, clouds hid the stars. Rain pelted me in a steady drizzle. Pools of hazy light lit my way. Ivan stood with Cade thrown over his shoulder beside a tank-like vehicle, its engine rumbling quietly on the street. Its rugged, metal dome and track wheels seemed suited for an alien terrain.

  A muffled groan came from the gardener as Ivan opened the door and tossed Cade inside. Ivan reached inside the carriage and pulled out my leather pack, then shoved it in my face.

  “What did I tell you?” he said. “I’ve done everything for you. Follow me and you’ll be fine.”

  Biting back my retort, I took my pack from him.

  “Where did you find this?” I demanded, holding up my bag.

  “I didn’t. They did.” He nodded inside the carriage. “Now get inside. We don’t have time to lose.”

  At the thought of seeing Morven, I hurried to the carriage. Inside, Cade lay on the floor. Morven and his aunt sat on the back row of seats. The queen regent didn’t look at me, keeping her gaze focused forward.

  Morven’s eyes widened as he saw me. “Sabine?” He sat forward.

  I climbed over Cade and made it to the seat beside Morven, hugging him tightly. His warmth surrounded me. I inhaled the woodsy scent of his clothing. Was this really him? I could hardly believe it. When we’d been separated, I knew something bad was bound to happen, but here he was—whole and uninjured.

  “Your hand,” he said as he pulled away.

  “He cut it.” I nodded at Cade. “But I stabbed him. I think we’re even.”

  “Not even close,” Ivan said, climbing inside to the bench across from us. He pressed a button on a panel to the right of the door, and it slid closed. “Take us to the caves,” he said. Lights blinked from the ceiling, as the carriage rolled forward with a gentle lurch.

  “You’ll have to tend to that hand,” Ivan said. “It’s been poisoned with yellow cerecite.” He pulled a roll of gauze and a bottle of green liquid from his bag, then leaned forward.

  I pulled away from him.

  “I can do it myself.”

  Bushy eyebrows rose. “Touchy one, aren’t you? Let me see it.”

  “No.”

  Morven leaned forward and grabbed the supplies from Ivan. “Here,” he said gently. “Let me.”

  With a nod, I he
ld out my hand, and he set to work, cleaning it, rubbing the ointment in my palm, then wrapping it with the gauze. When he finished, I sat back, the pain and exhaustion starting to catch up to me once again.

  Morven took my good hand, threading his fingers through mine. Our eyes met, and his unspoken gaze said everything. We were together again, and we were alive.

  The carriage rolled through the lanes, the rhythmic clicking of the track wheels lulling me. Outside, the shapes of the buildings came into view, illuminated only by the infrequent streetlamps. I spotted the palace’s single spire rising above the rest.

  “Did they take over the castle?” I asked Morven quietly.

  “Only in name. They have no real power. We’ll get it back.”

  Morven’s aunt sat straight, and her face turned resolute. “We will,” she echoed him.

  Chapter 27

  The sun rose as we approached the canyon. I’d managed to catch a quick nap, and we’d shared a meal of some breaded potato cakes and a few sips of water. The carriage halted. Outside our window, the shadow of the cavern’s entrance loomed.

  Cade lay motionless on the carriage floor. He hadn’t moved since we started. Already his face had healed, and the stab wound to his stomach was knitting back together, leaving only a raised purple scar.

  Despite a few hours to process everything, I still had trouble understanding what Cade had told me about this world. About him being from the future. About the wormhole and time rift it had opened.

  My stomach churned with queasiness.

  Ivan’s threat to kill Cade bothered me. And although Cade had tried to kill me, I knew his reasons. Would I have done the same in his situation? Maybe.

  Ivan opened the doors. The early morning sun shone down on us as we exited the carriage. Ivan hoisted Cade over his shoulder. Morven and his aunt followed us. Sand shifted beneath my feet as we trekked into the desert toward the cave.

  I searched for my knife in the swells of sand but saw nothing. Mima June’s heirloom was lost to me—but that didn’t mean she was gone. Her memory would live forever with me, at least, that’s what I told myself, hoping one day, it would feel like the truth.

  The skull and the yellow cerecite knife sat in my pack along with the other five pieces of white cerecite. My scanner had stopped functioning, but at the gateway, I wouldn’t need it.

  We entered the cave, our footsteps echoing. Salt crystals lit our path. Morven walked beside me, though he didn’t speak. He kept his eyes on Cade. Was he starting to recollect their time together in a different life?

  The floor rumbled.

  “What was that?” the queen regent asked, stopping beside me.

  The cave shook again. Small pebbles dislodged from the ceiling, sailing to the floor, and smashing to pieces.

  “Keep moving,” Ivan said.

  We continued walking, though the tremors increased until we made it to the drop-off. Ivan removed a collapsible, metal-pieced ladder from his bag, attached it to the lip of the gorge, and allowed it to unroll until it reached the bottom of the drop-off.

  After making sure the ladder was secure, Ivan untied Cade and removed the gag, though kept a knife at his back.

  “Try to run or do anything stupid, and I push this blade through your heart.” His furs rustled as he gripped the blade’s handle. “Understand?”

  Cade only nodded. I half expected the gardener to fight Ivan. But he only stood stoically, blue eyes focused straight ahead.

  We took turns climbing down the ladder, the cavernous room trembling around us. Morven and Ivan helped the queen regent, who made it down more spryly than I thought possible while wearing her black dress and heeled slippers. Several times I lost my grip on the damp metal, but I managed to regain it. I breathed a sigh of relief as my feet connected with the ground.

  We reached the underground river, following the same path Morven and I had taken. The cave shook more violently. Larger stones crashed from the ceiling, landing with loud splashes in the water. Cold droplets sprayed my exposed arms and face.

  “Why is the cave shaking?” I asked.

  “The white cerecite,” Cade answered, his voice barely audible over the rumbling. “There are seven pieces together. It’s too much energy. It’ll tear the cave apart. It’ll do the same to our world.”

  I adjusted my bag’s straps on my shoulders. The quiet clanking of the cerecite made me too aware of what I carried inside.

  We passed through the room with Rosa’s body. The queen regent gasped, though the rest of us continued to the final chamber as she trailed behind. I heard Morven speaking quietly to her, perhaps explaining this strange underground world we’d come to.

  Cade only briefly glanced at the body, then focused straight ahead, his face unresponsive, a guise of composure.

  As we entered the largest chamber, the gateway loomed over us. Ivan stopped when we reached the bottom of one of the giant pillars comprising the looming rectangular structure. The mirror-like panels, the rectangular slots, and the wall of blackened rock behind it, brought back memories of the first time I’d crossed. My stomach knotted with apprehension.

  “Tell her how it works,” Ivan demanded, his knife at Cade’s back.

  “It’s operational?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Ivan answered.

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  Ivan straightened his furs. “Because I fixed it.”

  “Fixed it? I thought you said you didn’t meddle with any of this. That’s how you stayed alive.”

  “No. The way I stayed alive was by telling no one what I was up to. Including you.”

  Cade shifted in Ivan’s grasp. “Let me go and I’ll help her open it.”

  “Not a chance,” Ivan barked. “You’ll stay right here with my blade at your neck.”

  “Tell me how it works,” I asked Cade, my voice calm. “Please.”

  His chest rose as he inhaled. His eyes roved the gateway. “The seven spaces in the pillar here.” He pointed. “That’s where you’ll put the pieces. Once you do, you’ll have to punch the code into the screen. Two-four-three-seven-Alpha-Lima-Juliet. When it switches to the next screen, scroll to INITIATE. Make sure to transform all the objects into their original forms, and they’ll open the gateway. Do you understand? It’s important each object is in its original form,” he spoke slowly, enunciating each word.

  I studied his face. An unspoken communication lingered in his eyes. Blue eyes that seemed lit from within—strange and beautiful—the color of cerecite.

  I nodded to him—a single gesture to let him know I understood. “I’ll make sure,” I said. “All seven will be in their original form.”

  “What are you waiting for, Harper?” Ivan demanded. “Do it now!”

  I opened the bag. White light shone, enveloping my hands and face. I pulled out the first orb, then cradled it in my hands. Tremors rumbled while I placed it inside the slot. With a mechanical click, it slid inside the niche. A beam of white light lit the two side pillars and top of the gateway. A low hum resonated.

  I repeated the same process with the next four orbs, the mechanical whirring growing louder. When I got to the skull, I transformed it the same way I’d done with Rosa’s rock, until six beams glowed from the structure.

  As I lifted out the knife, the ground shook violently. A thunderous clatter filled the air. Everyone fell to the floor. The queen’s screaming overpowered the smashing rocks. I landed on my back, dropping the knife. It slid away from me.

  Ivan crawled for it and picked it up, but Cade loomed over him.

  “Give it to me,” Cade demanded.

  “Are you crazy? I’ll kill you first!” Ivan lunged. Cade sidestepped, and the big man rounded, his furs flying, pure hatred and anger lighting his eyes.

  Rocks fell from the ceiling with deafening thuds.

  He attacked again, slashing with a wide glancing blow that nicked Cade’s arm.

  “Stop,” Cade seethed. “I told Sabine I would open the gateway for her. But I won
’t do it for you. You helped me kill Rosa, but then you broke our bargain. You said you would protect the gateway so no one else would come through. You were supposed to protect Ithical, Ivan!”

  “I had a change of heart,” he yelled. “Thirty years is a long time to be here. It’s time for me to go back, to start what should’ve started a long time ago. I’ll bring Vortech back here and mine this stuff. Do you know how much money is in this industry? Billions. Trillions!” He laughed. “And I’ll own it all.”

  He took a step backward, then another, until he reached the gate.

  Anger at Ivan’s betrayal seethed in my blood. I couldn’t let him take another step. “Is that true?” I called to Ivan. “You helped him kill Agent Rodriguez?”

  “It doesn’t matter anymore,” Ivan goaded. “We’re about to open the gateway, Harper. Don’t you want to go home?”

  I stood facing Ivan, the glittering knife held between us. Home was all I could think about for the past six months. Without it, my life was meaningless.

  My nails cut my palms as I clenched my good fist. I’d sworn I would do anything, anything to go home. But Dad’s words rang in my ears.

  Harpers finish with honor.

  Maybe I couldn’t go home, but I could finish this, and do it with a little honor in the process.

  When Ivan turned around, I rushed at him. I threw my body into his back so forcefully, he toppled sideways. The knife flew out of his hand and hit the floor with an echoing clatter.

  Cade rushed in and caught it as it spun over the ground.

  The world quaked. Boulders fell from the ceiling, smashing what remained of the mining equipment and spaceships.

  Morven approached the three of us. “This place is getting torn apart,” he called. “We’ve got to get out of here!”

  “We’re opening the gateway first!” Ivan yelled back. A chasm split the floor, a seam breaking through the rock that cracked and bent living stone. He held out his hands to keep his balance.

  “No,” Cade yelled back, the chasm between them. “I won’t let you harm this world. Ithical will stay protected. Forever.” He tossed the knife into the open chasm. It sailed with a whoosh until it clattered to the bottom dozens of feet below.