by Tracy Korn
"Look, you're going to bleed out if you don't relax…the nanites they gave you are already weakened because that tunnel shark was on its last fin."
"Then tell me!" I demand. He takes a deep breath as the door panel behind him slides open and a tall, lean man with messy blond hair and wide blue eyes appears.
"Are you ready?" he says to Azeris and Vox, and when I focus on his face, I see the thin, white scar running through his left eyebrow…just like Liddick's.
"Liam!" I shout. Azeris's eyes flash back to mine as he shakes his head.
"He's not connected to this channel—he can't see or hear you."
"Who is it?" Liam asks, looking around the room. "Liddick?"
"No, it's his girl, but he's close," Azeris answers just as everything starts to fade and muffle.
"Wait! What are they going to do to my dad!?" I yell, panicking with the spreading blur.
"They're not going to do anything because we're going to get him out," Azeris calls back, his voice getting quieter as all the details of the room bleed together. "It's the tunnel shark nanites…you're knocking out, Jazz. Don't forget the message for Liddick, wise? The symbols, and the Phase Three bridge!" he adds.
"Wait! Make it slow down!"
"Come back to life, sand dollar! And go through the glacier in the Freeze biome—the crystals are wild!" Vox's last words echo until the light gets so bright I can't make out where she is any more, and in a blink, everything is dark again.
CHAPTER 48
The Freeze
My lips taste metallic and cold, but it's warm on the right side of my face. Everything feels warm on my right side, and I turn my head toward the heat. The bright glow is immediate, making me squint before I even open my eyes, and though my chest still hurts, at least I can breathe now.
"Jazz…don't move, OK? There's a tube in your side," Arco says in a low, quiet voice as I feel a hand brush my cheek.
"Why?" I try to say, but it comes out as a creaky whisper.
"Because you landed on a tanglebush—under your right arm… a branch punctured your lung," he answers.
"The nanites?" my voice creaks again.
"Yes…you have them. We all have them now. Everything is going to be OK, just stay still," he says as I open my eyes.
"Arco…"
"I'm here…" he smiles.
"Tell Myra thank you…for the tube. It was…scary for her," I whisper, then try to swallow as Arco's brows draw in.
"How did—?" he starts, but Myra interrupts him and kneels next to me.
"You're welcome," she says, her eyes clear and blue instead of wild and bulging, then she grips my hand and smiles as the fire blazing behind Arco comes into focus. I smile back at Myra and feel a hand brush through my hair from the left, then turn to see Jax's dark eyes wrinkling in the corners as he smiles down at me.
"You heard me, didn't you?" I whisper to him, and his brows flinch.
"Heard you?" he asks, angling his head.
"The nanites…" I whisper again, his eyes widening and reflecting the dancing fire. He presses his lips into a thin line, then pulls in a deep breath and nods.
"I guess so," he says trying to control his voice as he strokes his fingertip over the bridge of my nose, right between my eyes like he did when we were little. "I guess I did."
"I'll get you some water," Myra says, then stands. Liddick is sitting behind her with his elbows on his knees and his fingers interlaced in front of his mouth like an adamant preacher. When he sees me, he lowers his hands and raises his chin like he's about to ask a question, but then doesn't. His chest expands in a slow, deep breath, which he lets out just as slowly.
Hey…he finally thinks.
Hey…I reply, and he smiles so widely that he's surprised by it. He smothers it with his hand, then shakes his head.
I thought—crite, Rip…I thought you…he trails off, and my throat constricts, making it harder to breathe again. When I couldn't hear you any more…he restarts, closing his eyes as he takes in another deep breath.
I'm really sorry, I think, unsure if the stabbing sensation in my chest is from the tube or from him. It fades a little when Liddick laughs abruptly, then looks over at me with a wide, incredulous smile just before he gets to his feet. He hooks his thumbs in the rigging loops of his dive suit and meets my eyes again like he's trying to see straight into me, and in that second, I remember that he can.
Arco turns to face him, breaking his line of sight. Liddick moves to the other side of the fire and kneels next to it as I squeeze Arco's hand and smile at him, his hazel eyes dark when he turns back to me, but in the shadow from the fire, I can see a half-healed cut about an inch long over his cheekbone.
"You're hurt?" I ask, reaching to touch his face. He wraps his hand around mine and brings it to his lips, then shakes his head, and my throat tightens.
"Not any more," he whispers. Brushing his thumb just under my bottom lip for a few seconds before leaning down and kissing me.
Myra returns with a tube sticking out of a cylinder of water. I must make a strange face because she giggles.
"The straw is the first part of your desalinator tube—the rest is in your side. Ellis can put some of it back in your suit when you're better, but we'll need to find a way to roll up your sleeves so you can get a drink until then," she smiles. I take a long pull from the tube, not realizing how thirsty I am, then notice the strange red hue of everything around us.
"Where are we?" I say, my voice feeling a little stronger.
"At the edge of the Sand biome, almost to the glacier," Dell answers from several feet away. "We weren't far off when the tunnel shark attacked," he adds, and suddenly, I remember everything: the shark, the fins, all its mouths, and…Liddick.
A current runs through me, pushing away all the violence with the memory of him calling to me, of him shouting that he loved me. The force of it spreads in my chest, igniting everything until I make myself shake it loose. We have different definitions of love, and I know that. He knows that. I push these thoughts aside as soon as I'm aware of them too because the last thing I want is for him to eavesdrop on my thoughts and hear me rationalizing this all over again.
"Are Dez and Fraya OK? Where are they?" I ask abruptly, then try to sit up.
"Whoa…stay still. They're fine," Arco says as Ellis moves in behind him.
"They woke up from the initial nanite infusion, but are asleep again now—they got a big dose, especially Fraya, so it will take a little longer for their bodies to regulate," Ellis says with a small nod. "Welcome back."
"Ellis…you're OK?" I ask, and he nods again as his lips quirk into a smile.
"Xenotrope 6," he says, angling his head at Liddick. "I was brass in that cine," he adds, and I laugh, but it hurts.
"And the others?" I ask, looking around for them. Ellis moves out of the way, and I see Zoe, Tieg, and Cal sitting on rocks about five feet from the blazing red fire, which Avis is stoking with what looks like the remnants of one of the long spears we made in the Bog biome. I squint, trying to make out what the massive charred thing in the middle of the fire is.
"Is that—?"
"The tunnel shark's head," Liddick answers before I can even finish the question. He doesn't look up from watching it burn, and I feel a ball of ice form in my stomach after a second, which tells me that it was him, in the end, who killed it.
***
I don't remember falling asleep, but when I wake up again, we're not in the same place. Long, light blue crystals shoot out in every direction from the milky walls, as well as from the ceiling that is somehow moving. My head bounces off an uneven surface, and when I try to sit up to see what it is, the ground underneath me creaks.
"She's awake," Fraya says. "Jax, stop…"
The ground shifts under me, and then I realize it's not the ground at all when I grip the sides for balance. I look down and see gnarled, gray branches weaving in and out of each other.
"What is…?" I start, but trail off when Arco and Jax appe
ar, then Myra.
"It's a sled. We made it from the tanglebushes at the edge of the Sand biome to get you, Fraya, and Dez out of there after the…" Myra says, pausing and glancing over her shoulder at Liddick. "After the tunnel shark," she says under her breath, then gestures to me. "I took out your tube—sorry about the hole in your suit," she says, rolling her lips between her teeth. I feel under my right arm and find that the hole in the fabric is a few inches in diameter, but the exposed skin there is raw and pink, and the ache feels like it goes straight into my spine. It's better than the searing pain from before, though, and I take a hesitant breath, expecting the stabbing sensation to return, but it doesn't.
"You fixed it," I say, smiling up at her as Arco kneels at my side.
"Does it still hurt?" he asks, moving his hand over my leg. I shake my head.
"Not like before. It's just an ache now, but at least I can breathe," I say, and the tightness in his jaw releases. I swing my legs out of the sled, and he slides his arm around my waist to help me up. Jax sets down the sled and moves to my other side.
"Are you sure you can walk?" he asks, and aside from my legs being a little stiff, I feel surprisingly strong.
"I'm good. Where are we?" I ask, looking down the long, blue crystal corridor that stretches out in front of us.
"Ice caves," Zoe says, then whistles through her teeth to call everyone at the front of the group to us. "Welcome back," she says with a wide smile that puts little apples in her freckled cheeks. Fraya walks around the sled and hugs me, then hooks her arm in mine as the others gather around, and I start to feel a little awkward with everyone just looking at me and smiling.
"Thank you…for helping me," I say, nodding to the group and wishing someone would talk. Liddick steps out from behind Ellis and finds my eyes.
"Nothing you wouldn't have done," he says, the blue light hitting the side of his face and making the scar through his eyebrow stand out—the one he got from falling down the dune as a kid. Liam…I think, suddenly remembering the message I'm supposed to deliver.
"Azeris said that he and Liam were almost finished with the bridge to Phase Three," I blurt, making everyone's eyes widen. "He told me to remember the symbols, and I just saw your scar, and I saw Liam! Azeris and Vox made it to the mountain. I mean, Azeris got there through port-carnate, but Vox made it, and Liam is helping them. And my dad…Jax…dad…" I say, whirling around to find my brother, but then the room starts to spin.
"Hey…" Jax says, catching my arms. "Sit back down." He tries to help me into the sled, but I don't want to go back to sleep.
"No, I'm fine," I say, biting the inside of my cheek to help me focus as Myra takes my pulse, and after a minute, the room goes back to normal speed.
"We had to guess at the nanite dosage…" she says. "So you're probably still regulating like Dez and Fraya had to, but it's taking longer because you had such a bad injury too. You just have to take it easy for a little while more," Myra adds as Fraya nods at her with a big smile, and I feel the underlying confidence she must be feeling as her eyes sparkle in the blue cave light.
"OK, I'll try," I say, and the proud smile finally breaks free over her face as Jax's hand moves to my shoulder.
"And dad?" he asks.
"They put him in a holding tank…" I answer, trying to pick up where I think I left off. Jax's expression shifts from worried to proud as I explain what Azeris said about our father ruining the last experiment needed to send Lyden and Arwyn to Phase Three…that he bought us a few more days.
"What happens in Phase Three?" Dez asks Jax instead of me, as if he knows somehow. Aren't I right here explaining everything to him? A small ember sparks in my chest at the idea that she is probably just refusing to talk to me out of her own jealousy over Liddick, and all at once I'm exasperated. Crite, we're in the middle of an ice crystal cave under the seafloor fighting giant mutant-people sharks, and she's worried about me stealing her boyfriend?
Rip, that's not it…read why she's—Liddick starts thinking, but I don't want to hear it.
"Azeris drew three wavy lines for Phase Three," I say out loud over his thoughts as I try to push my frustration aside. "Phase One was a wave, Phase Two was a little open arrow or mountain, and Phase Three was three wavy lines…air. The atmosphere!" I say, the overdue epiphany rising in me like a geyser as I jerk my attention to Liddick, but then wobble when the room takes another spin.
"Slow! Slow…" Arco says, putting his arm around my waist again until Liddick crosses to me.
"Before we left the Vishan tunnels, you said Azeris told you Phase Three was a facility in the atmosphere somewhere. What's the rest? He told me that he and Liam were almost done building a bridge to Phase Three, and that you knew the rest. Liddick, what is Admin City?" I say, gripping his arms.
"He told you about Admin City?" Liddick's dark eyebrows shoot up in surprise as he takes a step back from me to lean against one of the facets of blue ice crystal jutting from the wall.
"No, there wasn't enough time before the nanites put me to sleep. He said you would tell me," I say. Liddick sighs.
"Don't get so worked up…" Tieg answers. "Admin City is just what the Seam and the rest of the conspiracy theorists call some covert interior level of the Grid where all the subliminal programmers code our next thought for us," he adds, rolling his eyes. "It's supposedly this giant floating rectangle that magically sits right on top of the port-cloud servers and virtuo-cine studio platforms in the atmosphere. But of course, it's invisible," Tieg adds, his biodesigned blue eyes widening as he nods slowly for effect, then squints like he's just witnessed the stupidest thing he's ever seen.
"A giant floating candy bar…" I say to myself, remembering Vox's description.
"Uh…sure? You should probably sit back down, Jazz," Tieg chuckles and shakes his head, and I narrow my eyes at him before turning back to Liddick.
"Azeris said Phase Three was in Admin City. Why did he want me to tell you about the symbols, and that he and Liam were almost done building the bridge? What does that mean?" I ask, holding Liddick's eyes with mine so he can't deflect or reroute again. He takes in a breath, and after a second, finally just resolves to say it.
"He wanted you to tell me about the symbols as a confirmation code so I would know that no one else hacked into your channel…it was so I would believe what you said about the bridge," Liddick answers, and I raise an eyebrow at him. "The symbols were the first real breakthrough Azeris and I found when we went back through the virtuo-cine code that Liam used to warn me about Gaia. Lyden had actually written it to keep Liam from going to Gaia before me, but neither one of us figured it out in time. No one else knows that, so…" Liddick explains, crossing his arms over his chest. I swallow hard, trying to keep my focus.
"So Lyden wrote those symbols into the code when he was still working in the Grid?" I ask.
"Your brother worked in the Grid? He's a Quantum Programmer?" Tieg asks, and Liddick gives him an exhausted look.
"Yeah, before they put gills in him," he flares. I grip his shoulders to get him to focus again.
"All right, what was the code supposed to tell you—that the symbols were all Gaia tags? A wave for Gaia Sur, the arrow thing for where we're going now, and wavy lines of air for another Gaia in the atmosphere? No wonder you didn't figure it out in time," I say, and Liddick shrugs.
"Only part of the code ever got through the mainframe firewall anyway…that's the same reason we only heard part of your dad's message with the marlin," Liddick answers.
"Wait a minute…" Arco says, holding out a hand. "The wave symbol, that's a State geographical key. It doesn't mean water though, it means coastal land, like home…like Seaboard and Skyboard. The arrow tip with an open bottom means hilly terrain over sand, like the Badlands, and three wavy lines means…" he adds, his cheeks and nose red in the cold until he blanches with realization. "Three wavy lines means water. Those symbols are…pull sites," he says as Avis covers his mouth.
"Right," Liddick says,
pressing his lips into a thin line. Tieg closes his eyes, then drops his chin to his chest and blows out a breath.
"What does that mean?" Myra asks, shaking her head.
"Phase One subjects are pulled from Seaboard and Skyboard communities like ours, and then are sent to Gaia Sur. Subjects for Phase Two come from—" Arco starts, but Dell interrupts.
"The sharks pull them through the sands in places like the Badlands…" he says, darting a glance at Zoe. Cal sighs, then studies the ground.
"And Phase Three subjects come from under water—from the homesteads and from Gaia Sur," Liddick finishes. "That's why your dad and Liam were trying to keep us from going there at all."
"So the State knows about this?" I ask, incredulous as Jax chuffs a laugh.
"That would explain why Mr. Paxton was sweating like he was standing in a cook pan at the port-festival. Remember?"
"Who's Paxton?" Zoe raises an eyebrow.
"He's our head councilman…like Jove," I say, recalling how nervous Paxton was when he announced us at the port-festival.
"So he knew he was sending us somewhere they might experiment on us?" Fraya asks.
"Our council leader was rattled too," Dez speaks up. "She's usually so polished, but she always loses her footing during the Skyboard North port-festivals. It's kind of a joke back home…" she adds, trailing off as she and Tieg exchange glances.
Avis pushes a hand through his blue-tipped black hair until it's pulled completely off his wide forehead. "They just sold us out," he says, then startles with a new question. "Did our teachers know too?"
"No, there's no way Ms. Wren knew. She was too cautious about giving me hints to help me pass the interview. She was excited for me," I answer without hesitation.
"And what about this bridge?" Arco asks, pinning Liddick to the wall with a level stare. "Why was Jazz supposed to tell you the bridge to Phase Three was almost finished?"