“Dax!” someone calls.
I turn. “Spiro, how did you get here?” He stands across from me, looking distressed. “Where did you come from?”
“It doesn’t matter,” says Spiro, looking grave. “I needed to get here quickly to find you, so I came.”
“But we’ve just spent six days journeying over the ocean. How could you get here before us?”
“There are lots of ways,” says Spiro impatiently. “It’s not important. I have news.”
“News?” Dread starts to gnaw in the pit of my stomach.
“So these are Cader lands?” Spiro asks. “It’s beautiful here, quiet. So quiet I can’t even hear birds.”
“Why are you saying that?” I demand. “You told me you had news.”
“Do you not think it’s odd, that there aren’t any birds?” Spiro asks, staring at me curiously.
I notice how deep and wrinkled his face is. He can’t be that old, but his skin is aged by the sun. “Spiro, please…” I beg, feeling the dread rise in me like a wave of nausea.
“When it’s so quiet that not even the birds are singing, it means something’s coming,” says Spiro darkly.
“You came all the way here. What happened at Purenet?” I plead.
Spiro takes my hand in his and looks at it for a second. I think I see tears swell in his eyes. “We got to Purenet, but I’m afraid it was too late, my son.”
My heart feels like it’s stopped. “Too late? What do you mean?” I feel panicky. “Ayah?”
“The Purenet people had gone mad. They’d taken the Grounders. They’d… They’d sacrificed them to the Sun God.”
“They’d what? They don’t have gods,” I cry. This can’t be real.
“They’d gone mad,” Spiro shrugs. “The world is turning upside-down. They’d sacrificed the Grounders and cut up their bodies.”
“No!” I cry.
“They displayed them on poles, outside the gates.” Spiro is still holding my hand. I yank it away. “I am sorry, Dax.”
“Ayah too?” I ask.
“Every last one of them.”
“What happened? What did Reznor do?” My heart feels like it’s falling apart. I don’t want to ask. I don’t want to know any more, but I have to.
“He went crazy. He burned down the whole Sanction.”
“The whole Sanction?” I echo. “Did anyone get out? Skylier?”
“No one survived,” says Spiro.
“My sister’s gone?” The words fall off my lips but I can’t understand them.
“The Emperor has mobilized his army. He’s going to crush every last one of us. That’s why I had to come and find you,” says Spiro. “But what about you? Where is Hayden? Where’s my Trinity?”
More dread washes over me. I know it’s coming; I can’t hide from it or stop the surge. Carefully I turn round and see we’re on the beach. Storm clouds are gathering over the gray ocean. I see the body washed up in the sand, sea pounding over it, draped in seaweed. Clumps of wet sand fly as I run to it and lift it up. It’s Trinity. Her eyes are open, but the life in them is extinguished. Spiro doesn’t move. I want to explain, tell him I did all I could, but his face is just stony with betrayal. I hold her in my arms, sobbing.
“No!” I cry. “Not you as well. Who did this?”
“Hayden,” her dead lips move and the word is whispered.
“Hayden?” I ask her. “Where is he?”
“Hayden? What are you doing?” she whispers, eyes staring cold and dead. “Where are you going?”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dax
I open my eyes blearily.
“What are you doing?” someone whispers. It’s Trinity.
I roll over and squint, barely able to make out Trinity and Hayden in the poor light coming from the bottom of the door. Hayden doesn’t respond; he keeps fiddling with the door, trying to get it open. I pull myself up and trot over. My stomach is already grumbling, empty from scant rations of bio-meat Trinity was able to steal from the crew’s kitchen hours ago.
“What’s going on?” I ask. Trinity turns and looks relieved to see me up.
“He’s like a zombie,” Trinity says. “He won’t respond; he’s just trying to open the door.”
“Where’s he going?”
“I don’t know. That’s what I said. He doesn’t respond,” says Trinity. She shakes Hayden’s shoulder but he just shoves her off blankly. “He woke me up muttering nonsense. I tried to ask what he was talking about, but then he just started pacing back and forth. I don’t know what to do with him.”
“We can’t let him get out in this state,” I agree. “Who knows what he’ll do. People will find us. He’s not safe.”
“He’s a danger to us too,” says Trinity.
“Yes, that’s what I mean,” I say. I pause, thinking. Then it hits me. “Oh no. Trinity, the virus… This is how the men in the mines were behaving.”
Hayden stops fiddling with the door then just stares at the wall.
“You can’t be sure,” says Trinity. “He could be sleepwalking. It doesn’t mean it’s the virus. He’s been fine for ages until now.”
“Hayden hasn’t been known to sleepwalk before,” I say grimly. He turns and paces toward the opposite side of the room. We watch as he stares blankly at the wall again, then paces back. “I really don’t like this,” I say.
“We have to tie him up,” says Trinity in a matter-of-fact way. “If he’s got the virus, we can’t let him get out and give us away.”
“He’s sick!” I say. “And what if we catch it too?”
“Well, what do you suggest instead?” she snarls.
I run over to Hayden and grab him.
“Hayden!” I hiss. “Hayden! Snap out of it! You have to stay with us.” I shake him and keep shaking him until he punches me in the nose.
“Oi! Stop it!” he yells, and I reel back, clutching my face.
Trinity grabs his arms and pins them behind his back. “Easy,” she says. “He was just snapping you out of your trance.”
“What happened?” Hayden asks.
Trinity and I exchange glances.
“Hayden, I’m really sorry,” I say. “We think you have the virus.”
“The virus?” he repeats.
“Yes, the one infecting the people at the mines. You must have picked it up there,” says Trinity. “Or maybe here… all that blood on you.”
“The mines,” I insist. “There were sick people everywhere.”
“How do you feel?” Trinity asks.
“I-I’m not sure,” says Hayden, slumping against the wall. “I feel a bit distant, but I’m OK. What was I doing?”
“You were just totally blank,” I say. “Muttering nonsense and pacing back and forth.”
“Maybe I need some rest,” says Hayden, lying down. “I’m exhausted.”
We all are. We’ve caught a few winks of sleep every now and then since we boarded, but none of us have had any proper rest. What with the seasickness and the food hunt, it’s been a tiring voyage.
“You should eat something,” I say, grabbing a pack of bio-meat.
“We should be rationing those,” says Trinity.
“You can find more from the kitchens again, can’t you?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she replies. “I nearly got caught last time. And you guys… I ran back and you were disposing of a body!”
We all sit silently for a minute. Hayden had been certain throwing that sailor overboard was the right thing to do, but it all makes me feel uncomfortable. Had he been in his right mind when he made that call? And what will happen when the guy doesn’t turn up for duty? Will they look for him anyway? Suddenly our safe little hiding place doesn’t seem so secure. I can’t wait for this voyage to be over.
“Let’s try and get some more rest,” I say eventually.
“We should take turns watching him, in case he gets up again,” says Trinity.
“You’re right,” I say. “I’ll go first. I don�
�t think I want to hurry back to sleep right now anyway.”
I shudder, remembering the dream. Had it meant anything? No, of course not. Dreams are meaningless. Maybe Trinity would say otherwise if I told her… I won’t tell her about it, then. But it made me feel even more uneasy about Hayden. It reminded me of what a traitor he is, something I’ve been trying to forget for a while. Why did we bring him? Did getting us out of Purenet really exonerate him, or was it part of a larger plan by my father? Is he spying on us even now? I should talk to him about it again, but he didn’t seem keen on talking last time I tried that. What is he playing at? He’s shivering next to a creaking pile of logs, straining against their bonds. He still has the sailor’s blood all over his jacket. He looks a mess. He shifts and tries to get comfortable. I gaze at a map on my watch, plotting the ship’s course. Two more days to Cader Sanction.
“Dax, we’re nearly out of food. This is the last packet,” says Trinity. We both look at Hayden. It’s been about a day since we first realized he has the virus, and he’s been drifting more and more often into the zombie state. To be honest, I can hardly blame him. Trinity and I are going mad too, cooped up in this cargo hold. Sometimes we hear feet clang past our door, but no one comes in. At least Dezi was right about this hiding place.
“You’re right, I’ll go find some more,” I say.
“No, I’ll go. I know where to find it,” says Trinity.
“But you got it before. I should be the one that has to go this time,” I counter.
“You’re better at watching Hayden, and that’s more important,” says Trinity. I realize we’re both arguing for the chance to get out of this hole. Even a dangerous mission is better than going mad in here.
Hayden stirs and lurches up. I grab him and push him back. “Hey, you just lie down and get some rest,” I say to him.
“Kill me,” mutters Hayden, but he sits back down again.
“See, he responds better to you,” says Trinity, and heaves open the door before I can think of anything to say back.
Hayden turns over and looks like he’s sleeping. I get up and pace the cargo bay, trying to get some exercise. The logs loom like ghost ships overhead. I run my fingers along the grain of the sawed ends, feeling the dried sap. The scratching feeling has come back. I only noticed it faintly at first, but each time it comes it’s fiercer. It’s like a scratching inside my head. I try to shake it off, and pace along the left side of the log bank. I hope keeping occupied will make it go away. It’s a feeling like something is trying to remove my thoughts. I try to count the logs to stay focused.
Ever since that dream, my thoughts have been turning darker and darker. I try to think of something pleasant to feel better again, but it’s like I’m losing all my happy memories. Then the scratching feeling comes and creeps around my head like it’s looking for other things to eat.
I realize I’ve done half a circuit round the cargo bay, but I’ve lost count of the number of logs. I turn back, inching my way to where I started—it’s darker in the back—and start again. I have estimated how many logs high the stack is, so now all I need to do is count one row. I pace along the pile, trying to hold the numbers in my head. It’s a struggle. After a while my mind drifts and I notice the scratchy feeling again. That little itch itch itch that wants to be in my head, replacing everything I used to enjoy.
There’s something wrong with my arm. I look at it. Something’s shaking it. My whole body moves roughly back and forth. What’s going on? Something’s grabbing my shoulders.
“Dax! Dax!” I can hear a voice, and I eventually connect it with the reason my shoulders feel grabbed. “Dax! Wake up!”
I blink. “Trinity, are you OK?” She just stares at me like I’m mad.
“You’re asking if I’m OK?” she asks. “What about you?”
“What about me?” I ask, confused.
“You’re pacing backwards and forwards like Hayden,” she says.
“What?” I say.
“Dax, you can tell me. I know you’re fighting the virus too.” The idea comes as a blow.
“I haven’t—”
“You’ve been wandering around when you’ve been sleeping, muttering nonsense. All just like Hayden.”
My heart feels cold. “It’s OK, I can handle it,” I say. She looks at me doubtfully. “Did you get more food?”
“That’s why I came back to find you!” Panic is rising in Trinity’s voice. “It’s madness up there. The virus must be all over the ship. I saw some of the men. They were all going crazy.”
“Crazy how?”
“Fighting, jumping off the ship,” she says, looking frightened. “I was spotted by a group of sailors, but they just didn’t care. The virus must have spread when you and Hayden were up there.” She pauses and frowns. “Hold on, where is Hayden?”
“What?” I ask, feeling distracted but trying to fight it.
“Hay-den,” Trinity says slowly, like I’m stupid. “You were meant to be watching him.”
“I, er—” We run back to where I thought I’d left him sleeping.
“Dax, is this where he was?”
“Yes, he was sleeping.”
“You didn’t tie him up?”
“I can’t tie him up, he’s my friend.”
“Well, now he’s gone,” says Trinity. We look down at the place where Hayden was, but there’s not a trace of him anywhere.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Skylier
The room is dark, but I can make out a large chair and desk in the center. To the left stands a row of faintly-humming computer banks.
“What is this place?” I whisper. Gavyn shrugs.
“Offices,” he says. “Just staff offices for the Chancellor. This part of the compound is where they make all the government decisions. Accountants, administrators, clerks, that sort of thing.”
“Oh,” says Rian, sounding disappointed.
Gavyn stands poised by the door, listening.
“Is it clear yet?” I ask.
“Shhh.”
We stand there holding our breath, silent, leaning against the door. I hear the footsteps go past. Gavyn has his hand up about to signal us to leave, when something flickering catches my eye. I turn and gasp. On the other side of the room, a screen has flicked on, and in it is a man sitting behind a desk, watching us. I grab Gavyn’s arm and point. He turns and I can see his eyes widen. We tense, not sure which way to run. After a couple seconds, though, we see the man fiddle with things on his desk, and it becomes clear he’s not looking at us at all. Gavyn lets out a long breath.
“Our camera isn’t turned on,” he says, sounding relieved. “This must be a meeting room.”
As we watch, a screen in another corner of the wall lights up and shows another man at a desk, talking to a clerk or something. The light from the two screens shows an entire wall of monitors. Some serious meeting room, then.
“This isn’t good,” says Gavyn. “We need to get out of here.” He lifts his barcode to open the door, but stops. “Too late,” he mutters. “Behind here, quick!”
We dive behind the row of computer banks as the door opens and a voice says, “In here, Chancellor. The meeting room is set up and ready for you.”
Two figures step in, and I draw my breath in sharply as I immediately recognize the shuffling figure of my father, the Chancellor. Our hiding place is so exposed that I know that the moment the lights come on, we’ll be caught. But they don’t turn the lights on. Instead, the Chancellor limps toward the desk. He isn’t looking well, but the fact that he survived that stabbing at all shows the power of the procedures they can do in his hospital. What’s going on in those labs?
“We’re late,” snarls the Chancellor. “Why didn’t you get me sooner?”
“Sorry, sir,” says the clerk. “Shall I turn the camera on?”
“Yes. Get on with it, then leave us,” snaps the Chancellor, and the man scurries to fiddle with the computer bank.
Horror leaps up in my mouth. He must
notice the three of us crouched behind here, mustn’t he? But the man is jittery, and looks like he just wants to get out of there. As he flicks switches, more screens light up, showing other men sitting behind desks. What is this? The clerk finishes what he’s doing and backs out of the room. The central screen, larger than the rest, lights up.
“Please stand for the Emperor,” announces an efficient voice from a loudspeaker somewhere above us. The Chancellor struggles to his feet, as do all the other men on the other monitors. An old man in a smart uniform marches into the central screen and sits on an ornate chair behind a desk. The Chancellor and the men on the other monitors return to their seats.
“Greetings, Chancellors,” the Emperor announces.
“Greetings, Emperor,” chorus the monitors. I realize these must be the Chancellors from all the different Sanctions. I shrink further into the shadows. No one will see us here in the dark, will they?
“Please present an update on Selection Day,” says the Emperor. “Aurora Sanction, what are your numbers?”
“Births, two hundred and thirty-seven,” says the Chancellor of Aurora Sanction from a monitor in the top right. “Deaths, three hundred and eight.” The Chancellor starts rattling off numbers and statistics. I zone out. I don’t know what any of this means.
“Acceptable,” says the Emperor eventually. “Aurum Sanction, your Selection Day update.”
Another Chancellor starts reading out similar figures. What is this meeting?
Do these numbers mean anything to you? I ask Rian.
No, but there seem to be a lot more deaths than births, did you notice that? Rian replies.
Oh, yeah. No, I didn’t notice. Do you think it’s important? I ask, feeling stupid.
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