The Torchbearers

by Ally Condie

  He blinked. Nico was hovering before a gnarled crease in the substance of the Void. It looked like a wound sewn shut, or fragments of metal welded together. Nico knew instinctively that he was in the right place, but it clearly wasn’t an active Rift.

  With a start, he realized Aster was floating right beside him.

  Aster?

  The girl didn’t respond. She had her head buried in her hands.

  Nico ordered his mind. Everyone! I found Aster, and maybe the France Rift. But something’s wrong. Home in on me.

  A moment later, tiny specks on the horizon grew rapidly until Nico recognized Opal, Logan, Tyler, and Emma. They zoomed to his side, keeping a polite distance from Aster, who was clearly crying.

  Is she okay? Logan sent. He pointed at the knobby space-scar in front of them. What’s this ugly mother?

  The France Rift, I think. Nico had been working it out while the others arrived. But it’s busted somehow. Or closed, which I didn’t even think was possible.

  Opal glided to the weeping girl’s side. It’s okay, Aster. It’s easy to visit France in our world. Transportation improved dramatically while you were gone. You can fly to Paris in like twelve hours now.

  Aster’s head flew up. I don’t want to visit France. Not here, in this time. I want to go home!

  Nico was astonished. He’d never seen Aster show weakness before. It was like watching a flower wilt.

  Emma’s eyes widened. You were trying to go back.

  Aster glanced at her, then away. Oui. And now I never will.

  Can someone please explain what’s happening? Logan huffed in a loud sending. Because I’m lost.

  Emma kicked at his shin. She was trying to travel back in time! To when she first entered the Void. That’s why she was searching for a Rift to France. Emma regarded Aster with sad eyes. It worked one way, so why not the other?

  Logan grimaced. But this Rift is toast. Bummer.

  “Bummer,” you say? Aster spat, twisting the word in her French accent. Bitter tears streaking her cherry-red cheeks. Bummer? My family is lost forever. I will never see my own time again. And soon there will be nothing left of your world. But you call this a bummer?

  Nico felt his heart stop. What do you mean about our world?

  Aster turned hot eyes on him. Follow me and see. She shot away into the Void.

  After her! Nico mind-shouted. He focused on Aster’s face, and felt a tug toward wherever she was headed. He arrived there seconds after she did.

  Nico knew where they were this time. He was staring at the Rift into Thing’s world.

  Let me show you a real bummer, my friends, Aster snarled acidly. Without another word, she leaped through the opening.

  Nico stared at the glowing gateway. The others closed in around him. He pointed.

  Why follow her? Tyler whined. She’s off the chain.

  Aster wants to show us something. Opal’s gaze shot to Nico. We should go and look.

  Nico nodded. He felt Logan and Emma silently agree. Finally, Tyler bobbed his head, too.

  One by one, they stepped into the Rift.

  24

  OPAL

  A craggy, pitted landscape stretched out before Opal.

  “Nightmare,” she whispered.

  “It’s like Yellowstone got hit by an asteroid,” Nico breathed.

  They were standing atop a high plateau of rust-orange rock. Around them, Thing’s world was a jumble of twisted, serrated stones in fantastical formations, rising up to form mountains and dipping down into ravines and canyons. Strangely animate brown plants grappled amid cracks and fissures. Heavy, roiling clouds hung low in a bruise-purple sky. Opal saw eerie green lightning streak across the plain below. Deep holes in the earth erupted with spurts of yellow and white-hot steam.

  Whirling, Opal looked behind her to make sure the Rift back into the Void was still open. She exhaled in relief to see the ragged tear shimmering a few yards away.

  “This is insane.” Tyler swallowed, then pointed a shaky finger. “Look. Is that a lake?”

  One plateau over, an expanse of midnight-blue liquid filled a depression in the center of the formation. The bubbling lagoon reminded Opal of the Darkdeep.

  “I’m not going for a swim,” Logan joked, with a nervous giggle. “See the fumes coming off it? That water could probably strip paint.”

  As they watched, an enormous head parted the lake’s surface. Then another.

  Emma clutched Tyler’s shirt in her fist. “Are you seeing this?”

  Tyler spoke in an awed tone. “Beasts.”

  Opal hugged her body close, rubbing goosebump-covered arms. This world thrummed with an overwhelming feeling of menace. How did Aster manage to live here for a single day, let alone ten months?

  Aster.

  She was standing near the edge of the cliff, her back to them as she gazed out over the broken horizon. Opal led the others over to join her. As if Opal had asked her question out loud, Aster spoke.

  “I hid,” she said softly, observing the torched landscape. “Watched. Waited. I survived. Always looking for a way home. Then Dax found me.”

  “Where does Thing live?” Emma said. “Are there more beings like it here?”

  Aster shook her head. “I never saw any others. But this world is not as it once was.”

  Tyler’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean? How could you know what this planet used to be like?”

  Aster’s lips formed a grim line. “This devastation is all I have ever seen. But Dax told me it was different before.” She straightened to her full height, like an arrow in a bowstring, seeking a target. “It said to me, This world was a paradise before it was eaten.”

  Opal shivered, though twin alien suns were beating down on them and she’d already begun to sweat. Her lungs felt heavy, like she was sucking air through a wet towel. Opal was surprised humans could breathe at all in such an alien environment.

  The Beast survives on our world. I guess we can handle his. At least temporarily.

  Logan was looking around. “Are there no, like, human-ish people on this rock? Or did they all get … eaten?”

  “Intelligent species used to live there.” Aster pointed to a nearby cliff.

  At first Opal couldn’t tell what she meant, but then she noticed low alcoves dug into the cliffside. Remnants of ladders stretched between the abandoned dwellings, hanging forlornly, like driftwood littering a beach after the tide goes out.

  Opal squinted, trying to get a sense of the scale. Would something like Dax have lived there? Climbing and moving along those byways?

  “Let’s find Thing,” Logan suggested, then he snorted. “Unless you think it wants payback, and will put us in jars.”

  “Do we need jars?” Tyler asked nervously. He sniffed the air, nose curling in distress.

  Opal suppressed a shudder. We need to get out of here. Why are we on this world at all?

  “I don’t know where Dax went after I left.” The steel in Aster’s voice had given way to exhaustion. Opal could only imagine how brokenhearted she must be. Aster had been searching for a way back to her family and friends. A path to recovering her old life. All that was gone now.

  “Just how close are you and Thing really?” Logan asked suspiciously. “Because you acted like the two of you had barely talked when we first met.”

  Aster said nothing.

  Opal stepped closer to the French girl’s side. “What did Thing tell you, Aster? I’ve been thinking about your map in the showroom, and how you knew where the secret Torchbearer office was hidden. Was Dax the one who said where to find the Rift list?”

  Aster didn’t answer for a long moment. Then her head dropped. “What does it matter now?”

  “Lying to us definitely matters,” Logan growled. “You’ve been playing a game this whole time, and making us look dumb in the process.”

  Aster shot him a glare, but stubbornly held her tongue. Bolts of electricity rained down like fireworks on the broken plain below.

 
“So, this … eating you mentioned.” Tyler was keeping a close watch on the Rift behind them, though he kept darting glances at Beast Lake. “What, exactly, is that all about?”

  “Guys.” Emma’s tone caused everyone to turn. She was peering into a canyon. “Look.”

  A dark, glossy river was flowing through the narrow gorge. A gully beside it also began to fill with the viscous fluid.

  “That liquid,” Opal said. “It looks … unpleasant.”

  Nico licked his lips. “Not water,” he agreed. “Good thing we’re up here.”

  Entranced by the bizarre flood, the group snuck to the very edge of the plateau for a better look. More of the surrounding canyons were filling up with it. Several of the flows reached a confluence at a deep chasm in the earth.

  One of the inky rivers ran alongside the base of their plateau. There, the stream separated into strands—like mercury under magnetism—breaking and reforming in countless tendrils. The warped lines of black looked almost like …

  “Takers,” Opal breathed. “That’s a … a river of … Takers.”

  Nico jerked back and turned to stare at Opal, his face sheet white.

  “Nope nope nope!” Tyler made chopping motions with both hands. “Let’s get the heck out of here!”

  Emma pointed at the giant chasm, which was filling rapidly as dark torrents emptied into it. “I think they’re gathering in that hole.”

  “Oui. They are.”

  Everyone turned to Aster, whose face was a mask of dreadful resignation. Down on the cracked moonscape, the flood-like surge separated, Takers assuming their individual forms. They marched up onto the plain directly below where the Torchbearers stood.

  “What is happening, Aster?” Nico voice was tight, barely controlled. “Please explain.”

  She was silent a moment, then her shoulders dropped. “This world is all used up. The Takers are hungry, but there’s nothing left for them to consume. And not just those creatures—their master thirsts for a richer realm to devour.” She faced the group squarely. “A fresh planet, unsullied and ripe for the picking. Ours.”

  Opal blanched. “You’re saying they want our world? That, all of a sudden, they’re coming for it?”

  “They were always coming, Opal.” Aster’s eyes were downcast. “Why do you think I wanted to return to my time?”

  “Wait! Just wait.” Logan’s voice was wild, bordering on panicked. “Is this what my father is talking about? Is this the … the doom, or whatever?”

  Aster shrugged. But she seemed to consider his words, and nodded slowly. “If your father told you the end of the world was imminent, he’s right. He must know about the Eater.”

  “The what now?” Tyler whispered, through a hand covering his mouth.

  “They’re definitely headed somewhere.” Emma was still gazing over the cliff. “I don’t—”

  Emma’s whole body went rigid. Her hands clenched at her sides as she stared downward, with eyes like Frisbees.

  “Did you see something?” Opal joined Emma and followed her gaze. Her stomach dropped into her shoes.

  An enormous, broad-shouldered creature had stepped from the shadow of a monolith and was moving among the Takers, crushing unlucky ones beneath its clawed feet. The Takers surged around it, humming with what sounded like reverence. With a flick of its wrist, the giant ordered them forward. Ghastly, doglike animals streaked from the gloom to flank the gathering horde on the plain. As Opal watched, horrified, several Beasts emerged from the bubbling lake and began climbing down to join the throng.

  “Holy crap,” Tyler groaned. “It’s an army.”

  “The big one,” Emma squeaked. “It’s a boss monster. Like in a video game!”

  The lead creature was massive—as tall as a building—and covered in mangy brown fur. Its red eyes gleamed as the monster roared a command at the crowd of creeping nightmares. Opal spotted blackened rows of razor-sharp teeth in its mouth.

  “Do not let his barbaric appearance fool you,” Aster said solemnly. “The Eater is very cunning. And relentless.”

  “What’d you call that thing?” Logan croaked.

  “The Eater. Consumer of worlds.” Aster spoke dully, as if no fight remained inside her.

  The Eater thundered again, stepping onto a roughhewn wooden platform with colossal wheels attached on both sides. A swarm of creatures began moving in concert, dozens of Takers pulling their warlord forward on the massive cart.

  Opal tracked the line of their march. In the distance, ahead of the monstrous army, loomed an enormous mountain, with a dark cavity dug into its side. Sickly yellow-green light glimmered from inside the cave, visible even from where the Torchbearers stood.

  Opal pointed at the distant cavern. “That’s where they’re going. I think it’s another Rift.”

  Nico stiffened at her side. “Not just any Rift. Those are the colors we saw at Yellowstone.”

  “An unguarded portal,” Emma and Logan said at the same time.

  Opal felt her insides turn to ice.

  “The Eater has gathered his strength, and will take his army through.” Aster’s voice had a hollow ache to it. “I had hoped not to witness this, but the Stalker’s presence on our world leaves little room for doubt. They are coming.”

  Opal flinched. “The Stalker? That yellow-eyed shapeshifter we fought on the island?”

  Aster nodded wearily. “The changeling. A creature of many skins that serves the Eater. The Stalker was doubtless sent to scout our world’s defenses, though the presence of such a creature plays havoc with the weather of any world it visits. The Eater will be pleased when it reports how weak they are.”

  Tyler pivoted ever-so-slowly to face Aster. “What, exactly, does the Eater … eat?”

  A familiar voice sounded inside Opal’s head.

  He’s finished here. The Eater seeks another world to devour.

  By the others’ wide-eyed stares, Opal knew everyone had heard those words.

  “Thing! Where are you?” Opal demanded. “We need help!”

  There’s no more time. I’m trapped and cannot help. Return through your Rift immediately. Each second you remain here is multiplied on Earth.

  Nico cringed. “Oh jeez. Forgot about that. We better book it!”

  But Opal didn’t move, clenching her fists in frustration. “Tell us what to do, Dax! How do we stop that monster?”

  You can’t, Opal. I’m so sorry.

  It’s already too late.

  PART FOUR

  THE VOID

  25

  NICO

  Nico yanked on a dry sweatshirt.

  He nearly fainted in pleasure. His pruny fingers still shook, but at least he wasn’t soaking wet anymore.

  Beside him, Tyler sneezed, then stamped his feet. “Man, I’m getting tired of these freezer plunges.”

  They were back on the houseboat, changing out of their wetsuits in the foyer. Logan seemed shocked out of his wits—he’d slumped to the ground with his back against the front door, eyes wide and barely blinking.

  “What time is it?” Logan asked suddenly. “We left in the morning, but it’s full dark outside. If we’ve been gone for like a century or something, they better have flying cars by now.”

  Tyler scrambled to read his watch. “Oh jeez! We’ve been gone all day! My mom is going to end me.”

  Nico heard Opal’s voice through the curtain. “Okay, guys. Come in!”

  “We’ll worry about the time later,” Nico said, although he imagined his father sitting at home, staring at the clock, and couldn’t repress a shiver.

  The three boys dragged themselves up and trudged into the showroom. Nico worried that this was the best they could do—assemble every so often to discuss the latest calamities, but with no idea how to solve anything.

  Some Torchbearers we are.

  Opal, Emma, and Aster were sitting on the floor in a circle. Emma waved them over. Nico took the spot next to her and tried to gather his thoughts. But all he could think about was
a three-story-tall monster with jagged teeth, surrounded by an army of Takers and other hideous creatures. How could they possibly fight against that?

  “How long were we gone?” Emma asked immediately.

  “All freaking day,” Tyler answered glumly.

  Emma tensed. “Same day?”

  Tyler’s eyes shot back to his wrist, then he exhaled a shaky breath. “Yes. Man, you scared me to death.”

  Nico rested his elbows on his knees. “Well, what now?”

  “Tell them what you told us,” Opal urged Aster, who was staring at her hands.

  Aster sighed. “What is the point? We have no defense against this force of darkness.”

  “We’re not giving up,” Emma insisted. “We’ve beaten Takers before. They don’t scare me.” She swallowed before adding, “Much.”

  “You refuse to understand.” Aster pressed her lips together. “The being you saw is called the Eater. He controls a force of demons that conquer and devour worlds.”

  Nico raised a palm. “Just explain it as best you can. Torchbearers have guarded the Rifts for a long time. Maybe we know some things that might help. We have to share information.”

  Aster seemed about to protest again, but closed her eyes instead. A moment later she sat up straighter. “The Eater feeds off life. The energy contained in living things. Dax told me its world was once a beautiful swamp, but our enemy came and ravaged it. There is nothing left.”

  “A beautiful swamp?” Logan snarked. “Now I’ve heard everything.”

  Nico gave him a cool look. “To a bullfrog, swampland is the most wonderful place in all creation. Everything is about perspective, Logan. Try to be less stupid.”

  Logan bristled, but at a sharp glance from Opal he kept his mouth shut.

  “You were saying?” Opal prompted.

  Keep Aster talking, Nico thought. Maybe we’ll finally get some real answers.

  Aster gripped her braid in both hands. “The Eater is a plague, like a swarm of locusts. He strips the environment bare and leaves only destruction in his wake. The Eater moves from world to world, never pausing, always feeding. His hunger is a bottomless pit that can never be filled. Those creatures that follow him? They have been enslaved to his will. Now they seek to feed always, too.”