Invasion

by Galaxy Craze

  “I don’t know anything about you anymore,” I shouted at his retreating back, as Tanner pulled me away.

  Then I leaned into Tanner’s chest and cried for Wesley, for Mary, for all of us. It felt like Wesley had died all over again.

  Except this time, it was worse.

  * * *

  Later that afternoon, I woke from a fitful, nightmare-filled sleep to find that Silver had ordered a big group meeting. Everyone was saying that they would finally share the master plan with all the rebel forces.

  We congregated in a side offshoot of one of the tunnels, so that everyone could fit and be in hearing distance. There were more rebels present than I’d even known existed. They gathered from passageways I’d never seen. The excitement was palpable, the low hum of whispers hanging thick in the sooty air. This was the moment everyone had been waiting for.

  Demkoe’s three main confidants, the men who looked so similar that I still couldn’t tell them apart, appeared first. The one with the perpetual scowl was among them. They climbed up onto a single overturned train car, which would serve as their high stage from which to address us. Wesley came out next, side by side with Silver.

  Tanner squeezed my hand in silent support.

  Silver began talking. He paced the top of his train car stage, going over the plan step by step, how they would blow the royal wedding, and Demkoe Ryker, to smithereens.

  “Wesley and I will be responsible for the placement and setting of the chapel bombs,” Silver said. “The rest of you will be stationed in the surrounding area of the chapel, primarily for backup manpower in case anything goes wrong.”

  Silver then paused. “What do I mean by something going wrong?” he asked rhetorically. “I mean if Wesley or I happen to be discovered, captured, or killed. I mean if the bombs we set fail for whatever reason … if the dynamite malfunctions.”

  He looked at me directly, as if I may have tricked him with defective dynamite.

  If only I had.

  “Assuming all does go according to plan,” Silver continued. “All or most of Demkoe’s army will be killed instantly in the blasts and we will quickly move in to secure the palace.”

  None of the rebels objected. Not a single one mentioned my sister.

  “What about Queen Mary?” Tanner yelled out. “Is your intent that she also perish in the blast?”

  The rebels fell silent. I could almost feel the whole lot of them pulling back in fear.

  Silver’s jaw tightened. His dark eyes turned to daggers.

  Wesley turned to the men on either side of him. “I’m sorry, but who is this guy?” he said obnoxiously.

  “My name is Tanner Davis,” Tanner called back, standing tall. “And I believe these rebels who are willing to put their lives on the line for the cause have a right to ask questions.”

  The tension had been cut. I sensed the consciousness of the rebels slightly tilt in Tanner’s direction.

  But Silver only guffawed. “Get him out of here,” he called to a few of his men. “And the princess, too. They’re too much of a liability at this point. Lock them up in the prison car.”

  Immediately Tanner and I were lassoed by bearlike arms. A huddle of muscled men held down our limbs, covered our mouths, and dragged us through the tunnels to an empty tube car.

  It was secluded, all by itself in an out-of-the-way, unlit niche. Inside was pitch-black darkness, no blankets, and the windows had been boarded shut. They shut us inside and secured the exit, wrapping heavy chains around the car’s exterior like a metallic Christmas ribbon.

  I banged on the walls, on the boarded-up windows, on the floor, until Tanner gripped me by the wrists and quieted me.

  “That’s not going to get us out of here,” he said.

  Then I knelt down into a huddle on the dusty floor, brought my knees to my chest. The musty air reminded me of my solitary confinement cell. Outside I could hear the footsteps and gruff voices of rebels stationed around us.

  I stared out into the dark. My skin ached and bruised where I’d been manhandled. Tanner held out his arms, and I nestled into them gratefully.

  What had happened to make Wesley change so much? I still couldn’t believe it. Tanner and I were caged like animals, and in a matter of hours, my sister would be killed.

  Tanner reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of the insectlike explosives we’d pulled from the bunker. “Remember these?” he said, triumphant. “We’re going to blast our way out.”

  I took one from him, folded and unfolded its legs securely into its body. “You never cease to amaze me,” I said, throwing his own words back at him.

  He smiled, but it was a sad smile. “We can do this. We can save your sister,” he said. “We just have to wait till most of the rebel forces leave for the mission. Then we can escape. And head straight for Mary.”

  He returned the handful of explosives to his pocket. “The rebels’ bombs will be set to detonate at six p.m. sharp. The exact moment Mary and Demkoe are supposed to say their vows. So all we have to do is reach Mary in time to keep her from entering the royal chapel on cue.” He paused. “We can manage that, if we blow our way out of here just after the rebels leave for the palace. We’ll go through the tunnels, and beat them.”

  His confidence lifted me up, renewed my confidence. It was like finding the dynamite. When I was with Tanner, I could do anything.

  Without realizing what I was doing, I threw my arms around him. “Tanner, I—”

  I almost blurted out the words I love you, but stopped myself in time.

  “You’re the best,” I said. “Thank you.”

  “I try,” he said, rubbing my back with soft circles.

  28

  There was nothing to do for the next few hours but wait. Tanner checked and rechecked his weapons, the knife inside his boot, the pistol strapped to his calf beneath his pants. I stared off into the distance, replaying Wesley’s voice in my head over and over. I’m sorry that we have to kill Mary, Eliza, but this is our only chance. Don’t you see?

  How could Wesley betray me this way?

  When I thought he was dead, I had mourned him, properly, with love and sadness. I could miss him and hurt in a way that made sense. Now nothing made sense. My feelings for Wesley were a confused blur. And then there was Tanner, making everything even more complicated.

  Tanner listened at our train car door for clues as to what was going on outside. A portion of the rebel camp had already begun leaving for the palace, but they were heading out in shifts, and too many still remained to safely bust out of our car just yet.

  “From what I can tell,” he said, “a few guards have been ordered to stay at camp just to keep an eye on our prison car. But I expected that.”

  I nodded, watching Tanner as he paced back and forth, a high-strung ball of energy, but still focused. Sometimes, he tossed his dark brown hair back from his face with a restless energy. He was so different from Wesley, who would have spent these moments sitting utterly still.

  And what was Wesley doing now? Setting a bomb that would kill my sister, with hands I knew so well, hands that had held me close, curled in my hair as we kissed. I couldn’t believe it.

  “Eliza.” I dimly realized that Tanner had been saying my name repeatedly. “I think it’s time.” He put his ear to the door and listened. “If we wait any longer, we’ll risk missing Mary. Are you ready?”

  “I’ve been ready for hours,” I said, standing up so quickly I got dizzy.

  Tanner attached two of the explosives to the doorway and turned to me. “Once these go off we have to make a break for it. Head for the Jeep, and don’t stop or slow down for any reason. If we get separated, go on to the palace tunnels without me. I’ll catch up to you.”

  “I don’t want to get separated,” I said.

  His face softened. “I will do everything in my power to not let that happen. But remember to save yourself first. Worrying about me will only slow you down.”

  I didn’t like the sound of thi
s warning. “You said there are probably guards out there anticipating an escape attempt,” I said. “Do you really think we can get past them?”

  Tanner patted at his gun. “Yes,” he said. “I do.”

  Then he reached for me, pulling me toward him. “But if anything happens, Eliza, I want you to know—”

  I couldn’t bear it, couldn’t listen to him say that he loved me. Not right now, with everything I was feeling swirling so confusingly inside me. So I did the only thing I could think of to stop him from saying it.

  I kissed him.

  It was a quick kiss, light and soft on the lips. I let it last for just a moment, then stepped away.

  “Okay,” he said, grinning, his face flushed. “Now let’s go save your sister.”

  I stepped back to the far end of the car, ducking down behind a torn-up leather seat as he pulled the insectlike explosive from his pocket. He fastened it onto the train door’s surface and ran to me, ducking down alongside me just in time.

  The blast was small but effective. I winced, squeezing my eyes shut, reopening them to find that what had been the door was now a gaping hole, and the inside of the train car had filled with gray smoke.

  “Go, go, go!” Tanner ran ahead of me with his gun drawn.

  There were a few rebels left behind to watch us. They’d all been knocked down by the blast. Some of them appeared to be injured, but none of them had been killed. One caught Tanner by the ankle, bringing him tumbling down to the ground.

  I hesitated.

  “Go!” Tanner screamed.

  I ran ahead as fast as my legs would carry me, trying to ignore the sounds of fighting behind me.

  But then two gunshots rang out, echoing across the Tube, and I froze in my tracks. Tanner.

  “Tanner!” I screamed.

  I started running back toward the noise. I couldn’t lose him, not him, too. I had a terrible flashback to the moment when I looked over the railing of the tanker, right after Wesley had been thrown overboard, and realized that my world would never be the same.

  But then he appeared, running straight for me with blood-splattered clothes. He caught me by the hand and we continued through the Underground together.

  We didn’t stop running until we were out onto the street and in sight of the Jeep. I was running on adrenaline, the high of Tanner surviving, of him being there with me at my side, hitting me with full force. I almost felt like I could fly.

  Before I knew it, we had parked the Jeep and were dropping down into the palace tunnel entrance. Sweating, hyperventilating, limbs aching, we let ourselves freefall into the tunnel’s black-hole darkness.

  Tanner landed beside me with a thump. When I caught his eyes I could see they were filled with hope.

  “We made it,” he said, his chest heaving.

  “Almost.” I pulled him off the ground to a standing position. “Follow me.”

  We moved in sync, running together as I led the way, pure instinct kicking in. I could navigate these tunnels with my eyes closed if I had to. Each step was bringing us closer to Mary’s bedchamber, where she would be getting ready. We would get there and help her escape before the blast.

  I thought I heard sounds farther along the tunnels, but I just turned and redirected our route, making us run faster. No living soul could outwit me in this maze. It belonged to me and my sister.

  29

  We were quickly running out of time.

  “Fifteen minutes and counting,” Tanner said, checking the stopwatch around his neck. Its blocky typeface cartwheeled the seconds and minutes until six p.m., when the bombs would go off.

  We were hurtling down the final rocky passageway as fast as we could, trying to outrun the ticking clock. I knew it was enough time, but just barely. As we ran, I tried to send Mary a message from my mind to hers; that we were coming to help her. Just be strong, I thought. Soon you’ll be safe.

  I couldn’t let the possibility of not making it enter my mind. I would never be able to live with myself if Mary died because of me.

  “We’re almost there!” I yelled to Tanner.

  The old dumbwaiter that led to Mary’s bedroom was nearly in sight. It rose up through the back of her closet door. Tanner and I would have to ride up the dumbwaiter, break through Mary’s closet door, and eliminate whatever Rykers were standing guard in her room.

  The dumbwaiters were also the way I escaped the palace the night of the Roses Ball, when my father died. Wesley had been fighting with his father, had seen me in the dumbwaiter, and helped me escape rather than turning me in.

  That was how we met—here, in the dark, surrounded by blood and chaos.

  Of course, Demkoe had discovered the closet’s trapdoor when he first took over the palace and had the closets sealed off and the dumbwaiter carts abandoned here in the tunnels. But if we hooked the cart back onto the cord, we could use it to break into Mary’s bedchamber. We’d saved one last mini-explosive for this exact purpose.

  As we turned a corner, Tanner rummaged through his cargo pants pocket to retrieve one of the little metal creatures, not even breaking stride.

  “Ten minutes,” he said, checking the stopwatch around his neck. The anxiety in his voice echoed through the dark and off the dingy cemented walls.

  Tanner’s face was flushed, his clothes still splattered with blood from his fight to get us out of the Tube. Sweat had plastered his dark brown hair to his forehead. I could barely breathe. My chest burned as if my lungs were crying out, begging for a moment of pause.

  From a distance I could swear I heard the slightest echo of chamber music, coming from the direction of the chapel. The vibrating strings of a violin or cello, and the soft moan of a French horn.

  “Do you hear that?” I panted. “I think the ceremony’s begun.”

  “Right on time,” he said. “Demkoe should be entering at any moment.”

  And there was the dumbwaiter chute door, square and metal green, decaying into its own corroded background. I lunged for it, gripping its rusty handle. We were so close. All we had to do was ride the dumbwaiter up the chute, break through the closet door, and find Mary.

  “You ready?” Tanner asked, fumbling to check that everything was hooked on properly. “Are you clear on the plan once we blast through?”

  “Yes.” I had to be.

  Adrenaline rushed through my veins. We were so close to Mary now. I could almost see her face bloom with relief at the sight of us breaking through the door. She would be wearing her wedding dress, probably the same one we’d chosen for her to marry Eoghan in. And in spite of her circumstances she would look beautiful.

  “I’m ready,” I said, lifting open the dumbwaiter’s door. “Let’s do this.”

  That’s when the first bomb hit.

  It made a huge sound, like thunder. Apocalyptic thunder of the sort I hadn’t heard since the Seventeen Days.

  Tanner and I were blown backward, through the air, hard against the brutal tunnel wall. All the walls around us were shaking. Bits of concrete and mortar crumbled down their surface like rocky streams. I could taste some of it in my mouth. Tanner had landed diagonally across me, still with the insectlike explosive in his hand. Its pin remained securely in place.

  What’s happening? I thought to myself, just before the second bomb hit. It rattled through my whole being, heavier than the first, deep within my bones.

  “Tanner!” I screamed out, but he didn’t answer. Then everything went black.

  * * *

  When I reopened my eyes, Tanner was covering me with his own body, a living human shield. Blood dripped down his forehead, from his nose and his swelling bottom lip. But he was more concerned with my safety than his own.

  “Eliza, Eliza, can you hear me?” He kept repeating my name over and over. “Are you okay?”

  I could still feel the blasts reverberating in my ears and through my intestines. My hearing had gone fuzzy, as if I’d ducked my head under water. “I’m okay,” I croaked. “What—what happened?”
r />   “The chapel bombs went off early.”

  30

  I didn’t understand. Silver had set the bombs off early, just like I had begged him to. But why? What had changed his mind?

  I tried to climb to my feet, but I stood up too quickly and nearly fell back onto the ground. “If Demkoe is dead, then this might all be over,” I said, reaching for the crumbling wall for balance. A sharp pain rattled my left ankle.

  Tanner tried to steady me. When I was stable, he wiped his hands down the front of his pants, and then rechecked the placement of all his weapons. “We have to find out for sure. We should go to the chapel.”

  I shot a look to the dumbwaiter’s door handle. It hadn’t budged.

  I knew Tanner was right, but I desperately wanted to see Mary. And she was so close. “Maybe we should split up,” I suggested. “I’ll go on up the chute while you check the chapel.”

  “No way. I’m not taking my eyes off you,” Tanner said. “We’re staying together.”

  There were faint screams echoing from the direction of the chapel. Tanner took a few careful steps toward them. “It sounds like total chaos up there.”

  Not a peep came from the direction of Mary’s room above us. I couldn’t even make out the sound of footsteps. All of our bedrooms—mine, Mary’s, and Jamie’s—were shock fortified, to protect us from just this sort of occasion. So it was possible Mary had experienced the blasts as nothing more than a slight rumble.

  Mary might actually be safer in her room without us right now, I realized. If we appeared, the Ryker guards up there might take drastic action. But if we waited just a few minutes, gathered some of Silver’s rebels as backup, we could rescue Mary without risking her life.

  The stopwatch around Tanner’s neck told me it was still five minutes before six. I glanced in the direction of the chapel. By the sound of the cries coming from that way, and the damage to the tunnel, I was pretty certain the chapel had been destroyed. I doubted there would be any survivors.