Summer Ruins

by Trisha Leigh

  I stroke her hair, weeping along with her at the last actions of the man who, regardless of everything else he was, loved Greer. He knew he would die, that the Prime would kill him, but her safety was what scared him. It’s so sad that a love as strong as theirs ended this way.

  “I want to die, too.” She whispers the confession into the crook of my elbow, drawing her knees up to her chest as though a physical pain cripples her slight frame.

  My knee-jerk reaction is shock, but I smother it. I try to put myself again in her shoes, to understand some tiny scrap of her pain. I thread my fingers through her hair, warming them slightly in an effort to keep her comfortable. “I know you do, Greer. You’ve spent all these years imprisoned to be close to him, and now he’s gone. Maybe you don’t know how to exist without him anymore.”

  She doesn’t respond but curls into a tighter ball.

  “But you can figure it out. I know you can. You’re strong, and Nat gave up his life struggling to make sure you still had one. Don’t throw it away.”

  “Once we got here, Griffin and I fought. He held me down, kept us both here for hours before I convinced him to go to the Underground Core to try to save Nat.” She pauses, as though she’s seeing it all again in her mind. The promise of what’s to come, of what she was forced to witness, drips a cold stream of fear down my spine. “He was already dead. I hardly… I hardly recognized him. They beat him to pieces, Althea. So much blood, torn skin, broken bone. We took him. I made Griffin help me take him back through a portal, even though Kendaja saw us. They can’t follow him anymore, now.”

  “Can they find you?”

  She nods. “Yeah. We’re pretty far away right now, but we’re going to have to move pretty often. The magic in Ireland is hard for the Goblerts to navigate. Their powder gets them to the right region but not an exact location.”

  The explanation makes me nervous, even though she seems confident that we’re safe, at least for now. “You’re sure they can’t get here?”

  “The Others can’t travel without help from the Goblerts. Without the Spritans or the two of us, they don’t have any other option. In addition to Irish magic interfering with their powder, Dax is fond of us.” She pauses. “Of you, too. They’ll do what they can to stall.”

  “Oh.” I’m quiet, letting the idea that we have more beings on our side sink in. If the only way the Others can find the Sidhe is with the Goblert’s help, and they can blame magic or Ireland or whatever for slowing them down, that’s good.

  “Do you want to see him?” she asks softly.

  “Who?”

  “Nat,” she responds as though I asked the dumbest question in the world.

  Actually, that’s the tone of voice the Sidhe use in response to the majority of my questions. “Sure.”

  She struggles to a sitting position, rubbing some of the water from her eyes and cheeks, then to her feet. I follow suit, stepping toward the door before she spreads open a portal in the castle’s dank air. It shimmers blue and pink around the edges, bobbing as portals always do, and Greer raises her eyebrows at me. The expression reminds me of old Greer, the happy cynical girl, and twists my heart.

  “Silly me, thinking we’d be walking.”

  “You’re so funny, Althea,” she responds automatically.

  There’s nothing to do but step through the portal, which ends in what might have been a more populated section of this strange country. A white and gray marble box rests in the center of ground that had once been paved with brick or stone, and a destroyed metal structure has collapsed off to one side. The stone that used to cover the ground is mostly smashed or missing, some flung yards away. Grass and weeds creep through, reclaiming the stolen area.

  In the center is what appears to be a burial site, based on my recent experience in Deadwood. Greer picks her way over to the center and stops, staring down at a pile of dirt beside the grave. “Here he is.”

  My eyes flit back and forth between the actual grave and the freshly turned earth, deciding she means the latter. A small pile of pretty stones are piled at one end, and ring the body-sized spot. They were placed by a careful hand. I press close to Greer, trying to offer comfort. “Why here?”

  She nods toward the marble and stone box. “His name was Michael Collins. He was a revolutionary.” Greer cuts her eyes toward me. “A dissident.”

  My heart stops beating. “You know what it means?”

  “Michael Collins lived in a time when Ireland didn’t like being controlled by another country. I’m sure you can understand. Anyway, he led an important battle, he fought to free his people and give them independence. He almost died for the cause, and was sent away to a prison camp—a place not unlike the Harvest Site—but survived.” Her voice caresses the story, as though there’s something about it she loves as much as she loved Nat.

  “So revolutionary means someone who fights authority because they believe their people deserve to control themselves,” I puzzle out slowly. “And dissident means the same thing?”

  She nods, turning toward me. “Yes. That’s what you have always been, Althea. A fighter. Even when you didn’t know it, and before you realized you can do it.”

  “I still don’t know if we can do it, Greer.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Neither did Michael Collins, or anyone else who fought beside him.” She wanders away, collapsing under a sprawling tree in the shade as though the small excursion has exhausted her energy.

  I follow, sitting next to her and letting the rough tree trunk prop me up.

  “Earth doesn’t have a pretty history,” she continues. “Both bad and good make up every race of people, and sometimes the good have to fight for what’s right. They never know if they’ll win, and they lose innocent people—sometimes lots of them—in the process. But that’s never stopped them from fighting.” Though she doesn’t look at me, her hand does find mine. It’s stronger than it was an hour ago and determination flows from her words into me through our connected palms. “The loss, it can’t stop you, and it’s not going to stop me. I said I want to die, not that I’m going to make it happen. I’m going to live, so Nat didn’t save me for nothing.”

  “We’re not giving up, either. The kids we unveiled, they’re figuring out how to use the dymium in our favor, and—”

  “Stop. Don’t tell me any specifics, Althea. I can’t promise they’ll be safe.” She taps her temple, reminding me the Others have access to her in a way they don’t for me.

  “So, you probably still can’t tell us anything helpful, either.”

  “No. But I am going to tell you something you’re not going to like.”

  Breath catches in my lungs, staling until my vision blurs around the edges. Greer looks into my eyes, and I notice idly that hers have lightened, if only a smidge.

  “The Prime has your friends from the Harvest Site. He’s going to use them to try to get you back.”

  Chapter 27.

  “Who?” I manage to squeeze out of my oxygen-starved lungs.

  “Don’t know their names. We saw them for a minute when we were looking for Nat. The Prime’s got them chained in the common room so the Wardens can… harass them at their leisure.” Greer won’t look at me, and that scares me more than anything else.

  “What did they look like?” It has to be Emmy and Reese, but I hate the part of me that hopes it’s them and not Tommy. Not Jas. Leaving them out of the meetings had to count for something.

  “Two girls, one with really short brown curls and the other a dirty blond. A really handsome boy, if you’re into that kind of classically good-looking thing.”

  “No one else?”

  “Not that I saw.”

  I relax my grip on her arm, which I didn’t even realize I’d grabbed. It’s not that I want Emmy and Reese, or even Wes, to be captured and used as bait, but at least it’s not Tommy and Jas.

  “Do you know what he’s planning?”

  “No. But I’m sure he’ll find a way to let you know when he decides h
ow they can best be used to lure you back into their clutches.” She gets up, rubbing dirt off the rear of her shorts. “Let’s go back. Griffin will be worried.”

  We step through a portal back to the castle. Greer hasn’t returned to her former self, but she does seem better. She lets Griffin give her a hug, then tells Deshi it’s good to see he’s come to his senses.

  “I should take you guys back now. Greer and I need to move.” Griffin leans close to his sister and sniffs, then wrinkles his nose. “Somewhere with running water this time, I think.”

  Concern climbs back into his eyes when she doesn’t swat him. Instead she turns to me. “Thank you for coming, Althea. I knew you would understand. Is there anything you need that we can help you with right now?”

  Deshi, who hasn’t said much, jumps in. “I already talked to Griffin about helping us get to Dallas through a portal so we won’t have to walk or split up.”

  Relief washes through me that he’s been thinking ahead, and that we won’t have to tell Katie and the other injured kids that we’re leaving them behind. “That’s great, Griffin, thank you.”

  “We’ve worked out a way to contact them, too, if we need their help again. I’ll fill you in when we get back. I imagine Lucas and Pax will have questions, too.” Deshi anxiously twists his hands together in front of him.

  We’ve been gone too long. It was the amount of time I needed to get through to Greer, and to let her tell me what she needed to, but we don’t have hours to waste.

  “Griffin and I will go ahead to Dallas and find a good place for you guys to hole up, then come back to South Dakota and get you later today.”

  “Is it really safe for you to be with us?” She’s assured me once, and it seems wrong to bring it up again, but we have to know. If the Prime can find us through them, they have to stay away no matter how much help they’ll be.

  Griffin answers before Greer can get huffy. “We won’t stay with you long enough to be traced, I promise.”

  “Remember what I told you last spring, Althea? About how the Prime doesn’t know everything unless you bare it to him—if he has to go looking, he must explore until he finds the specific information he’s looking for?” I nod, and she continues. “The Prime has been in my head a few times, and it takes him about twenty minutes to pinpoint our location. Then the Goblerts have to transport the Wardens, but like I said, they miscalculate.”

  Weight lifts off my chest. “So even if you were with us in Dallas when the Prime started looking, you would know? And you could leave before he finds you?”

  “Yes,” Griffin snaps. “We’re not completely incompetent. He’s been in your head, Althea. Do you seriously think we could miss that kind of intrusion?”

  “No.” I bite my lip, then nod my agreement, suddenly anxious to get back to Lucas and everyone else. “Okay, we’ll let everyone know what’s going on and be ready to leave. We’ll probably keep walking, just to put space between us and the Others.” I raise an eyebrow at Griffin. “You’ll be able to find us?”

  He snorts. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

  For once, his arrogance makes me smile. “Of course. Now, can we go?”

  He obliges without another word, shoving us back through a portal to the woods, where morning has broken but our friends still slumber. With a snap of his fingers, the black dust falls toward the ground, disappearing before it comes to rest, and he vanishes back through his portal.

  Deshi shakes his head. “Do you ever wonder if that really happened?”

  “The Sidhe? Sure. All the time. It takes a while to get used to the way they come and go, that’s for sure.” I try a smile, even though I want to fall into a dead sleep. The emotional toll of helping Greer injects exhaustion into my blood, dragging like heavy sediment.

  “They seem helpful, though.”

  “For now.”

  Before he can ask what I mean or I can figure out the best way to explain, everyone else starts to stir. Lucas’s eyes flutter, then fly open when he realizes I’m not beside him, but they land on me before he can panic.

  “It’s fine. Deshi and I have some things to tell you.”

  Deshi wakes Pax and Leah, and while the rest of the kids wash up in a stream, change their clothes, and munch on tiny breakfast rations, we fill them in on the night we had in Ireland. Or the day, I suppose.

  Even though Pax, Lucas, and I have read stories about brave people who fought, the rest of the kids haven’t. I tell them the story of Michael Collins, about revolutionaries and dissidents, and how we’re not the first of our kind after all. That the humans carry the legacy of people who were willing to sacrifice everything for what they believe is right, and I watch the story have the same effect on them that it did on me.

  Buoying, except for wondering how many more sacrifices we’ll be forced to make.

  The thought reminds me of what Greer told me about our friends, trapped in the Underground Core until they can be used against us, and I explain that news, too.

  Deshi relays the Sidhe’s promise to find a place for us to hide in Dallas so we can figure out the dymium before the Summer Celebration.

  “They’re coming back for us today?” Pax asks.

  “That’s what they said,” I reply. “I think they will. Greer, at least, seems motivated to help now that Nat’s gone. Griffin’s so worried about her doing something stupid and getting herself killed that I think he’ll stick close by, too.”

  “If they’re going to help, we’re going to need a way to contact them.” Lucas’s eyes are tired, as though he didn’t sleep very well.

  I wonder if he had bad dreams, and what they were about if he did.

  “Griffin had an idea. We all still have access to the hive, right? My wall is made of dirt now, so if we need them and they haven’t checked in for a while, I’m supposed to pop in and leave a small x in the earth on the bottom left-hand corner of my sinum wall, on the outside. They’ll check once a day.” Deshi supplies the explanation, easier than I expected but smart enough.

  It’s a signal, and even if the Others somehow notice a tiny mark in the dirt, it’s unspecific enough to keep us all shrouded. Nothing about the x will lead them to us.

  It makes me feel better that the Sidhe are alive and on our side. We’ve got them, we’ve got Deshi, and though they can’t take the place of the ones we’ve lost, they help me face the day with something that’s been slippery at best lately—hope.

  ***

  The Sidhe picked a place in the middle of what used to be the center of Dallas. It surprised me that they chose the city instead of somewhere more secluded, but it does make sense that we will be harder to find here since our pursuers will have to search every surrounding building.

  Dallas reminds me of the city Pax and I passed through in Nebraska. Glass from thousands of blown-out windows litters the street like a crunchy carpet. The empty buildings, some half-toppled skeletons, some reduced to rubble, still others hauntingly unchanged, stand guard over the barren, trash-filled streets. As with every road we’ve come across in abandoned cities, the asphalt is torn up in chunks, weeds climbing up to the surface and reaching for the sun.

  “Why is the Summer Celebration here? In the middle of all of this destruction?” I ask.

  “People never see any of it. When we arrive at the Celebration it’s like a Sanctioned City, mostly. Tents, food, games… it’s not like this.” Lucas pauses, glancing around and looking a bit spooked. “Not destroyed.”

  The standing structures funnel wind down the streets, and sometimes it howls like angry voices. The seven-story building the Sidhe lead us to stands intact and protects us from the elements. There aren’t any windows, but since it’s summer we’re warm. I seem to be the only one reveling in the sweat dampening our clothes. To me it feels like the perfect temperature, even though Lucas guesses it’s probably over eighty degrees.

  Everyone spread out after we arrived and did a little scouting in an attempt to learn as much about our location as
possible. Deshi even took a small group out into the city, searching for somewhere nearby that might serve as a lab or have information on the dymium or how to isolate its chemical makeup. It might be fruitless, but Pax and I learned on our trek west that outward destruction doesn’t mean everything inside the buildings is gone or worthless.

  We’ve found books, supplies, and plenty of other things along the way. Rita told us to look for buildings called hospitals and universities first, that they would be the most likely to have the equipment we need. Cities will be the best place to find it, she said.

  Then we have to figure out how to turn it on.

  The scouts haven’t come back yet, but the rest of us are gathered on the sixth floor in a room that looks as though it once was filled with books and light, but now houses a few broken tables, shattered glass, and pages ripped up like confetti. A few books remain intact, but they contain more remnants of history and nothing that pertains to science or our current issue.

  The sixth and seventh floors of this building were something called a museum, which is maybe like a historical site, and seems to be all about one man who died in the street outside. That’s what we’ve pieced together from the pictures on the walls and some plaques that hadn’t been taken down; he was killed when someone shot him from a window on this floor, and he was another president—like the ones whose faces are on the mountain in South Dakota.

  The first five floors appear to have been an office, but there’s nothing to tell us what kind, and the furniture and empty cabinets are mostly useless.

  While we wait for the five scouts to return, we haul old couches from the first five floors into three rooms on the ground level so we can all stay together at night but have a good escape route. There is a small debate on whether it would be better to be up high or down low if the Others arrive and catch us unprepared, but escape seems like the better option.