by Lauren Mansy
Dragging myself over to the rock wall, I swing my pack off and sit against it. I let her believe it’s the map giving me all these problems, though my head feels fine. I just don’t want to reveal that all night I’ve done nothing but relive my time with Reid. Though like with Cade, Joss, and Penn, the memories are tainted with sadness because now I know how our story was always going to end.
Commander Averett sits beside me, and I lean my head back to watch the sunrise.
“Do you have a family, Commander?” I ask her.
“A man I love more than life itself and three copies of him.”
“All boys, huh?”
“They’re a handful but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Your mother was one of the few who could keep up with them, and they loved her for it,” she says. “Emilia is a beautiful person, a lot like your grandmother.”
I angled toward her. “You knew my grandmother too?”
“I’ve known your family as long as I’ve known my own. I have many stories when we find the time.” Pulling a rag from her pack, she cleans the blade of her knife with smooth, steady strokes. “We’re in very good hands, Julietta. Your grandfather is the best strategist I’ve ever encountered, and Felix is one of the toughest, cleverest commanders I’ve ever served.”
I laugh. “Felix, tough?”
She winks at me. “Some don’t need to flex their muscles to prove their strength.”
The back of my neck tingles.
Just like with Madame’s Minders, there’s no one there, and when I blink, Reid is standing right before us. He’s trembling from head-to-toe, uncontrolled in a way I’ve never seen from him before. With his clenched jaw and red-rimmed eyes, Reid looks like a stranger.
For a moment, I freeze. The edges of my vision darken, leaving only him. It’s the first time since we’ve met that the only emotion I feel toward Reid is fear.
Beside me, Commander Averett lifts her knife.
I’m lightheaded as I push myself to my feet and step between them.
Reid eyes me so intensely I don’t move any closer.
When his focus shifts to Commander Averett, I say, “Commander, please, lower your weapon.”
“I have orders to protect you,” she says under her breath.
“Your Gifts are equally matched, and he can fight as well as anyone in your army,” I whisper over my shoulder. “That knife won’t do anything except put him more on edge.”
Reid moves toward us, and a shiver runs down my spine at the coldness in his stare. “You know what I realized halfway out of Aravid? You’re the only one who knows the way back to the Mines.”
I frown. “Why go back? There’s nothing left for you there.”
“Nothing left for me?” he spits out. “For three years, I worked for Bray. For three years, he let me believe I could save Penn! He swore to protect the Shadows, but what if it’s all a lie? If his only goal is killing Madame, then he doesn’t care who lives and who dies. I won’t abandon all those kids to suffer because of him.”
I shudder at the thought of Reid confronting Bray. Pitting Sifters against one another never ends well. “If we don’t all work together, the Shadows are going to suffer anyway,” I tell him as calmly as I can. “I hate that Bray lied to you, but he’s our only shot at getting our armies to work together. The Shadows follow Bray. They trust him.” I step closer. “I can’t ever tell you how sorry I am for what happened to Penn, but I’m the one who hurt your brother, not Bray.”
Tears stream down his face before he groans, turning his back on us.
My throat closes as I watch him cry. I know exactly how he feels. Like his only job in the world was to protect Penn and he failed.
I turn to face Commander Averett. “You need to go back to Aravid.”
“My job is to protect you,” she repeats, planting her feet.
I lower my voice to a whisper. “Staying here isn’t the way to do that. Porter needs to know Bray and Reid are fighting their own battle against one another. If I’m forced to take him back to the Mines, let me try to convince Reid that we all need to work together.” I grab her pack and shove it into her hands. “He isn’t going to hurt me.”
Even as they fly out of my mouth, I doubt my own words. But Reid chose to trust me when he couldn’t be certain that I wouldn’t hurt him in some way. And in this moment, I’m choosing to do the same.
Commander Averett glances between Reid and me before giving a brief nod. “I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to you, but I’ll get the message to Porter. I swear it.” Putting on her pack, she gives Reid a harsh look before disappearing into the woods.
When I turn back around, Reid’s already looking at me. His eyes are dark and distant, his jaw rigid and set.
“I’m so sorry,” I say quietly. “I don’t know what else to say.”
In his silence, there are so many things I want to explain, to make him understand that if I’d only known what awaited us in Blare, I never would’ve gone back. I keep quiet, knowing my words will fall on deaf ears. For four years I lived with the guilt of Penn’s death, unable to believe things could ever be made right. If it’s taken me that long to start to forgive myself, how can I ever expect Reid to forgive me now?
“Take me to the Mines,” Reid says through his teeth. “Now.”
I force myself to meet his stare. “I’m begging you to help the Shadows win this war. If we can’t stop Madame, she’ll hunt the Tribes—” I stop speaking as his face hardens. “It isn’t the time to confront Bray.”
He strides toward me. “After all this, you’re worried about what happens to Bray?”
“To Bray?” I slam my hands into his chest, pushing him away as rage overpowers my fear. “I’m not worried about Bray! I’m worried about you!” I point to myself, unable to stop my tears. “I know what it’s like to take a life. And once you cross that line, there’s no coming back.”
“The Shadows deserve a better leader than him!”
“We all deserve a better leader than one who builds their throne on murder,” I hiss before turning my back toward him, the fight leaving me just as quickly as it came. “But if you want revenge, you’ve already found me.”
I close my eyes as he draws close behind me.
“You may have been lying about who you were, but I never lied about who I was. My family means everything to me,” he says, his breath warm on my neck. “You’re the only one who can free Greer, and Greer is the only one who can stop Madame. I won’t let you be the reason I lose more people I love.”
My body feels cold and limp at his words. The truth in them slices through me, splitting open wounds that had begun to heal in Aravid.
As I force myself to move toward the Mines, I fight to remember the hope I found in Porter’s gardens. If someone like Porter can leave his past behind, I thought maybe one day I could too. But with each silent hour that passes between Reid and me, our time in Aravid slips further and further away. As much as I want to believe Porter’s words that a heart can heal, mine feels as if it’s shattered.
Using the shortcuts Felix suggested, we knock off nearly a day of traveling, and the sun is still high as we approach a trapdoor into the Mines. Reid follows so closely that I feel the energy radiating off his skin as I spot a scout high in a tree. The second she sees Reid, she lowers her bow and vanishes into the leaves.
Brushing past me, Reid pops the latch open and heads down the ladder without a word.
We twist through the tunnels to the cavern which holds the memory market. The booths are nearly deserted. Most have been stripped clean, all those supplies now with the Shadows standing in large groups.
A few glance over at Reid, but quickly return to whatever they’re doing when he ignores them. Many carry bows and arrows on their backs with sharp blades on their hips as they listen to various leaders calling out orders.
Protect the Ungifted. Kill the Minders. I take in a long breath. The auction is the day after tomorrow, so we barely have time to meet wit
h Bray and head out again. We’ll need to be in the Maze by tomorrow morning if we have any hope of being back in Craewick by Auction Day.
Across the cavern near the armory, Bray meets my eyes and strides over to meet us.
Reid clenches his hands into fists, and I curse myself for not putting up more of a fight to avoid bringing him back.
It’s clear from the hard lines of his face that Bray thinks we failed in Aravid. Before he can ask, I say, “I have the map, but there’s more you need to know.” I glance around at the Shadows watching us, afraid I’ve already said too much. If any one of them has their mind read during battle, it could tip Madame off to our plan. “We need to talk alone.”
We follow Bray down the tunnels to the dungeons. There are prisoners screaming behind locked doors, and I wonder how many of them are Madame’s soldiers, their minds being manipulated as they try to claw their way out of these cells.
“What happened in Aravid?” Bray says as we enter an empty cell far away from the other prisoners, his eyes flickering to Reid.
Trying to keep the focus off Reid, I tell Bray as quickly as I can about our journey, giving just enough detail to foster an alliance with the Woodland Realm and make him understand it’s our only option. His eyes go wide when I tell him about Porter being my grandfather but get very narrow when I share about Madame’s deep control of the Minders and the kind of violence they’ll unleash if he kills her.
“Neither you nor Porter have the numbers to win this war, but together, we have a fighting chance against Madame. And since Porter will align with you—” I say.
“But only if Madame lives, right?” Bray says flatly.
“Her Minders are criminals, Bray. Dangerous, violent, unpredictable. There has to be time to subdue them. Allying with Porter is what’s best for the Shadows.”
“Do you want to know what’s best for the Shadows? Madame, dead and buried,” he hisses. “Porter is manipulating you, Jules. Whatever was inside his memory of the Maze has clouded your judgment. What happens when I reveal my entire army to that madman? He’ll destroy us.”
“No, he won’t!” I hold my hand out. “I’ll give you a memory to prove it.”
“There’s no way I’m letting you inside my mind,” he snaps.
“Everything she said is true,” Reid says in a low voice.
Bray crosses his arms and drills his sight into Reid. “Look who’s finally decided to chime in. What was the point of sending you to Aravid if you couldn’t even keep Porter from manipulating her? She’s completely useless now.”
That’s all it takes for Reid to come toward him.
I close my eyes. “Reid, don’t do this.”
“Do what?” says Bray. “If you’ve got something to say, just say it, Reid.”
Reid shoves a finger in his direction. “You knew. This whole time, you knew. What kind of twisted person uses someone’s dead brother to earn loyalty?”
“The kind that knows losing a brother is the worst kind of pain someone can know,” he says, not missing a beat. “Saving Penn was what drove you.”
“Then I should be thanking you?” he spits out.
“No, but I’m not the one who killed him,” Bray says coldly, looking at me. “Want to know who did?”
“I already know who did! At least Etta was honest with me,” Reid shouts. “But you? You use people. You manipulate because you’re not a good enough leader to earn trust yourself. You’re no different than Madame, don’t you get that?”
When Bray lunges at Reid, I jump between them.
Bray whips the back of his hand across my face so hard I stumble and fall. I cry out, though I barely feel the hit. What stings deeper is the realization that the Bray I once knew, whose arms were always there to catch me when I fell, is nothing like the one standing before me.
Reid charges, slamming Bray into the wall. Reid lands a punch across his jaw before Bray drives his knee into Reid’s stomach. Reid’s knees hit the ground, and Bray kicks him in the chest and whips the knife off Reid’s belt.
“Stop!” I say.
Jerking Reid to his feet, Bray wraps his arm around his neck, the blade at Reid’s throat.
My fighting skill flares up, my veins tingling with warmth. Every bit of me wants to attack Bray, but I force myself to remain still as he tightens his grip on the hilt of the knife.
“Killing Madame will never bring Cade back, but we can still defeat her if you align with Porter. This isn’t any different than your plan,” I say.
“Aligning with Porter was not my plan,” Bray yells. “He sat back and did nothing while Madame murdered innocents year after year. Porter isn’t my ally, and if you can’t see that then you aren’t mine either.” He jerks his head toward the shackles at the back of the cell. “Lock yourself up.”
“No, we have to free Greer! You have to let us go.” I scream again when the tip of the knife draws blood on Reid’s neck. “This is between you and me, Bray. It has nothing to do with him!”
“You forget how well I know you, Jules. Torturing him hurts you more than I ever could. Now lock yourself up.” Bray’s voice is as low as a growl. “You’re both staying here until this is all over.”
Reid’s eyes are slits, swollen and red. He couldn’t fight Bray with his Gift even if he tried. He blinks twice, eyeing the small pouch hanging from his belt.
My heart races at the sight of the blinding powder, his keepsake from Felix.
Reid nods once just before jamming his elbow into Bray’s stomach.
Bray cowers before raking the knife across Reid’s back.
Reid rears up, a look of anguish on his face, as I crash into Bray.
He loses his footing, slamming into the wall behind us before he throws me off him.
Then the cell fills with chalky gray dust.
CHAPTER
17
The blinding powder burns like fire on my skin, but I’ve turned quickly enough to keep it out of my eyes.
Bray falls to his knees beside me, his pupils already glazed over.
I bolt toward Reid and swing his arm across my shoulders, but he pushes me away.
“Get out of here, Etta,” he yells.
“Quiet!” I clutch him as hard as I can, dragging him out of the cell. I slam the door behind us and lock it with the steel lever. It rattles on its hinges as Bray pounds on it, and we stumble down the hallway.
“I can’t see anything.” Reid grimaces, his eyes gray and lifeless. “Just go. I’ll only slow you down.”
Staring at the crimson cut down his back, I snap, “You really think I’m going to leave you here?”
I wrap my arm around his waist as he leans on me, and I search for an exit through the narrow tunnels. We finally come across a trapdoor which leads out into the forest.
Reid’s eyes shine like glass in the sunlight before he leans over and coughs. His sleeve comes away bloody.
Clenching my hands into fists, I realize any fear I felt toward Reid has vanished. He hasn’t stopped looking at me like I’ve betrayed him, but defending me against Bray proves he’s not going to hurt me. All I feel now is fury at what Bray has done to him.
I yank him along between the trees and as we wade through streams to cover our tracks. I’m terrified that the scouts surrounding the Mines will start after us, but no one comes down from their perches in the trees. Not without orders from Bray.
As if reading my mind, Reid says, “Bray will send scouts—”
“Bray’s locked in the dungeon. We still have time to get away from here,” I say.
“Head starts don’t matter with good scouts and limping runaways. I’m slowing you down.”
“What do you want from me? To apologize because I didn’t let you die back there?” I clutch him tighter. “Just keep moving!”
Pulling up the map of the Maze in my memories, I recall what Porter said just before I took it . . .
“The northern route into the Maze is longer but infinitely safer.”
“But if an
other route is faster—” I say.
“No, Julietta, the entrance is on the edge of Kripen’s training fields. And that section of the Maze is no longer used. Greer and the others reside in the heart of the prison, but the outskirts are filled with traps and obstacles that were too dangerous to dismantle. Stay away from there. You won’t be any help to Greer if you’re hurt along the way.”
I bite my lip, sorting through our options. It’s difficult to imagine anything much worse than traveling through Kripen in broad daylight—except traveling through Kripen in broad daylight while dragging along a blind Sifter. We better hope that Felix’s estimated time for this stuff to wear off—“One to two hours, my boy!”—is correct.
“I know where to go. Don’t worry,” I tell Reid. But we’re going to need that sight of yours to return before we get there, I almost add.
We zigzag until we hit a large rocky hill that I have to help Reid down. That’s when he says, “Wait a second . . . I can feel the sun behind us. Are we heading east?”
When I hesitate, he repeats the question with a harder edge to his tone. “Possibly,” I force out.
“East? Toward Kripen?” Reid plants his feet, surprisingly strong enough that I can’t move him. “Why?”
“Because we’re going to cut through the military base to get to the Maze,” I say as if it’s the most normal thing in the world.
Reid lets out an angry laugh. “Do you know anything about Minder training? The commanders set criminals loose to hunt them like wild animals—”
“We’ve got to risk it if we want to be back in Craewick on time.” When he still doesn’t move, I add, “Do you want to take the lead? Go right ahead! If not, then just calm down.”
He doesn’t justify that with an answer.
It’s a long, tedious hike to Kripen. I wish I could say I’m the picture of courage, but at the sound of each breaking branch or bird that whistles, I’m convinced we’re seconds away from the Shadows’ ambush to haul us back to Bray. Sweat trickles down my spine. My chest tightens so I can barely breathe.