The Child Thief 2: Deep Shadows

by Bella Forrest

  I nodded firmly. Even if we were being watched, we had to search. We didn’t have enough time to stand around wondering what to do. We’d laid out our cover story. Now it was time to use it.

  With that, we flew into action at opposite ends of the room, running our fingers along the shelves and reading the markings aloud.

  “Seems like the city is separated into quadrants,” I murmured, leaning over to stick my head into a space and stare at the stacks of paper under me. “The labels here give me east, west, north, and south quadrants. What do you guys have?”

  “Same on this side,” Jackie said. “There are also a lot of sections being repeated. East, west, north, and south again and again. What does that mean?”

  “Years,” I replied, glancing from one stack to the next. “They’re also organized by years, probably showing new buildings and stuff like that. That means we want each of the four quadrants, from the most recent year.” I paused, and dropped my voice to barely a whisper. “You guys grab them while I get Gabby on the phone.”

  I turned away from the shelves and walked quickly to the table in the middle of the room, leaving them to handle the search. I quickly shuffled through the numbers on my phone to get to Gabby’s and punched call, then waited impatiently for her to pick up. When the phone continued to ring, I grew nervous, and by the time she finally answered I was ready to burst out of the library, find her ship myself, and pound on her bedroom door.

  “Robin?” she asked, huffing. “Hi. I’m here.”

  “What the heck took you so long to answer?” I asked, both relieved and frustrated. “You knew we were going to be calling!”

  “My dad… at the door… couldn’t…” she huffed, and that was all I needed to know. She’d been telling her dad to leave her alone. He’d probably been asking again why she was always on the WiFi—particularly after her promise that she wouldn’t use it anymore this week.

  “Never mind,” I said quickly. “I get it. I’m just glad you’re okay. You got my text?”

  “I’m fine,” she replied, catching her breath again. Then she paused. “Yeah, reading it now… You’re being watched by a camera, so you gotta mind what you say.”

  “Right. We’re in the first library,” I told her. “In the records room, I guess. The place where they keep the city plans.”

  I watched Jackie, Ant, and Jace shuffle toward the table with their arms full of paper. “It looks like the plans are divided, though. We have east, west, north, and south quadrants, and different versions, depending on the years.”

  “That works fine, just make sure you have the most recent plans and one of each quadrant,” Gabby replied. “That actually matches with what I’ve seen of the traffic cams. They’re divided by quadrants as well, so it will definitely make my job easier if you can tell me exactly which quadrant to look in.”

  I approached the table where the others had spread out four large sheets of paper, and looked down. In front of me, I could see the entire city laid out in a one-dimensional, full-of-boxes-and-lines way. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust before I started seeing things I recognized. The factory where I worked, surrounded by the high-rises where most of the workers lived. The library in which we were sitting, right there at the center of the map.

  The train station.

  Main Street.

  Everything was labeled in a neat, perfect print, and there was even a key for gauging distances.

  Our city was there, in print, and staring at it like that, it was beautiful, in a very logical, well-labeled way.

  Peaceful.

  Who would have thought that it was a city where the government snatched people’s kids and killed others who asked too many questions?

  I shook the thought off and got down to business.

  “Do you have any more details for us in terms of what we need for Mrs. Dunkin?”

  “Uh, yeah… Anything larger than the buildings around it, that has lots of land attached to it—but still within a sort of, I don’t know, fence or wall or something. I can’t give you much more than I already gave you, I’m afraid.”

  “Got it,” I said, my eyes running over the map. “Sit tight.”

  I put the phone down on the table, making sure I didn’t accidentally hit the speaker, and the four of us leaned over the map, our eyes scanning frantically. There were a couple areas that seemed like they might be it, but when we looked closer, we saw that each of them had something that didn’t fit. There was a large pond in the middle of a field we’d thought could take an airship, while another large space turned out to be a school.

  “What are the chances that they might have labeled it something other than what it is?” Ant whispered, frustrated. “What if they’re trying to hide it by calling it the wrong name on the plans?”

  “Why would they?” I asked reasonably, keeping my voice as low as possible. “They’re the ones in charge. There’s no reason for them to think that they need to hide anything from anyone.”

  “Any idea what it might be called, though?” Jackie mumbled, running her finger up and down the paper to keep track of what she was looking at. “Maybe we could find it quicker if we knew its… I don’t know, name.”

  “I don’t think you’re going to find any fancy name on this sort of compound,” Jace muttered. “It’s not going to be a public attraction, and though they might not feel that they have to hide, I also doubt that they’ll want to advertise their presence. Look for vague, generic labels. ‘Military Compound.’ ‘Government Buildings.’ ‘Authority Office.’ That sort of thing… Mrs. Dunkin said so.”

  I gulped, wondering if we were being too loud, but then reasoned that if we were doing some sort of school project, it might also include government buildings. We hadn’t said anything that would draw too much suspicion—yet. But we definitely had to be careful.

  Within minutes, however, it became obvious that we weren’t going to find whatever it was we were looking for. We’d been over the entire map twice, with four sets of eyes, but we weren’t seeing it, and we certainly hadn’t found a name indicating government involvement.

  “It’s not here,” I murmured, sitting back. A deep sense of disappointment poured through my body. “It must be in another city.”

  Jace snatched up the papers, folded them, and thrust them back onto the shelves.

  “Well, then we have to go somewhere else,” he grunted.

  I nodded and picked the phone back up.

  “Gabby, any idea what the next-best city is, after this one? Where’s the next-largest population?”

  I intentionally used a vague setting for the question, now that I was speaking at normal volume. If we were being recorded, I didn’t think anyone would be able to interpret that as anything specifically not school-report-oriented.

  Gabby paused for a moment, and I heard the click of keys.

  “Voceville,” she announced. “There are factories there too, and the population is almost the same as where you are. I think that’s your next target.”

  “Voceville,” I murmured. Of course it was. Of course it was. It was the city where we’d found Bobby dead, and then almost been caught by the Authority soldiers. And now it looked like we were going back there, in search of a way to fight the very people who wanted us dead.

  31

  We got back to the train station quickly and checked the maps, then took the first train heading toward Voceville, each of us as quiet as the grave.

  It was only when the train began to move that we opened our mouths.

  “I don’t like going back to this city,” Jackie said from the seat right next to me.

  “I was thinking exactly the same thing,” Ant said from her other side.

  I nodded, but didn’t feel I had to answer. They’d already said everything I would have said. Voceville had been a terrible experience the last time we were there, and now it felt as if we were walking into the same trap a second time. I was certain that I was being crazy and paranoid, but part of me was terrif
ied that the moment we got off the train, the Authority agents would be there with handcuffs, just waiting to take us.

  “We’ll be just fine,” Jace murmured. “What do you think is going to happen, we’re going to get off the train and find Authority agents waiting right there to arrest us? Maybe the same guys who were chasing us before? I really doubt they would go to the train station and then just wait to see if we came back.”

  “Well, when you say it like that,” I replied. “Still, you have to admit that it feels like a bad move going back there. The last time we were there—”

  “Was a completely different situation,” Jace interrupted, his voice reasonable. “Today we’re a few friends going to the library. That’s it. Calm down.”

  I blew a breath out through pursed lips but had to admit that he was making it seem less scary than it had a few minutes earlier.

  “Right. Just a few friends going to the library,” I repeated. “Nothing there to interest the Authority.”

  “Sounds reasonable to me,” Ant said, leaning back and pushing his feet out. I could hear him take a deep, heaving breath. “God, I’m tired. I feel like we’ve been running full speed ahead since before the first raid. Since the situation with Marty, honestly. I want a break so badly I can almost taste it.”

  I hummed in agreement, allowing myself a moment to think about how wonderful it would be to take a shower in a normal shower or soak in a tub and sleep in my own bed, the TV murmuring in the background.

  Without any thought of the Ministry or the Authority in my head.

  I longed to wake up and go to work like I was any one of the thousands of other people around me…

  That’s not my life anymore, I reminded myself. I had something bigger to do, and though I still didn’t feel like I’d chosen it, it was also a lot more important than sleeping in my own bed or taking bubble baths.

  Before I could follow that thought any further, the conductor came over the intercom.

  “Voceville Main Street, next stop,” he said, his voice slightly metallic through the speakers. “Five minutes.”

  “Is it me, or was that trip a whole lot faster this time?” Jackie asked nervously.

  “Not just you,” I said. I glanced out the window and saw that we were already starting to slow. We rose from our seats and grabbed for the bars that ran along the aisle of the train for support. Ahead of us, I could see the station nearing, its dull coloration a dead giveaway for which city we were in.

  “Jackie, you got directions for the library?” I asked.

  She pulled out her phone, punched in a search, and nodded.

  “Just a block away,” she said. “So, the good news, I guess, is that we won’t be on the street for more than that. That means we won’t have to walk inconspicuously for long—which is really too bad, as I find Robin’s version of a subtle, natural walk hilarious.”

  I poked her in the ribs.

  “Be serious, Jackie,” I growled, though I was having trouble keeping a smile off my face at her teasing. I glanced at my watch. “It’s already noon, which means we’re going to run low on daylight very quickly. If the plans we need aren’t at this library and we have to go anywhere else, we’re going to be cutting it really tight. It’s not a time for jokes.”

  “There’s always time for jokes, Robin,” Ant intoned from above me, and I turned my face up to see his head almost right above mine. I frowned and took a step forward, and ran right into Jace’s back when the train came to a sudden stop.

  He turned, gave me a confused grin, and put out a hand to steady me.

  “You okay?” he asked. “You losing your nerve?”

  “No, I—” I began. “Never mind, let’s just get out there and get this over with.”

  The minute my feet touched the platform, my body gave me a visceral memory of the things I’d felt the last time I’d stood there. A wave of nausea swept through me. Then I felt a hand near the base of my spine, warm and steady. I didn’t have to turn to know it was Jace.

  “I can see how nervous you are, and so will anyone else who cares to look. Relax your face, Robin. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, I promise, but you’re going to get us caught if you don’t settle down.”

  I cursed whatever trick of fate had put me in the position of having to sneak around so often, because it was becoming increasingly obvious that I was not good at it, and willed my face into an expression of ease.

  We walked through the exit of the train station and down the stairs to the street, which looked exactly the same as it had the last time we’d been on it. There, we stopped and looked up and down the road. There was a normal amount of traffic for a Wednesday in a factory town, and I didn’t think we’d have any trouble blending in. We also weren’t searching for people the government was also searching for this time, so maybe we’d have more luck with obscurity than we’d had before.

  “Which way, JK?” Ant asked, his intonation emphasizing the fact that he was rhyming.

  Jackie sighed heavily at Ant’s crack and checked her phone.

  “Left,” she said. “About a block. The library isn’t quite at the corner, but it’ll be on our side of the street.”

  We turned as a group and made our way quickly down the street. It was already noon, and though we could hope for the good luck of finding what we needed there, we had to assume that we might be going to another city after—and if we didn’t find what we needed there, another one. We couldn’t afford to take as long at this library as we had at the other.

  “No dawdling this time, guys,” I said quietly. “Jackie, just get what we need and let’s get to their records room. I hope that we find what we’re looking for, but if we don’t…”

  “Positive thoughts, Robin.” Jace smiled. “This is the second-biggest city for miles and our second-best chance at finding the right location. Have a little bit of faith.”

  I sighed but didn’t respond. It had been a long time since I’d had faith in anything at all. Back when I’d been able to feel an emotion like that, I hadn’t really known what it meant. That had been before I’d been betrayed and lost everything.

  Right now, faith seemed like a far cry from anything I could hope to find.

  Within minutes, we were in front of the library and Jackie was stopping to stare up at what had to be the ugliest building I’d ever seen. It was flat, white concrete, and whoever had built it hadn’t bothered with windows. Just the front doors. It was only three stories tall and resembled an oversized children’s block.

  “That’s it?” Ant asked dubiously.

  Jackie nodded without answering, and Jace began walking forward without saying anything else. The rest of us followed, anxious to see whether this building held what we needed.

  Several steps took us inside, and while the other library had conveyed an old-fashioned charm, this one was sterile. Everything was made of white concrete or marble. Even the desks were painted white. It was cold and hard, and not the sort of place I wanted to stay in any longer than we had to.

  “This place gives me the creeps,” I mumbled. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Jackie walked up to the receptionist’s desk and gave the man there a charming smile.

  “Excuse me,” she said cheerfully. “I’m doing a project on urban planning for school, and I’d like to see the city plans for my report. Can you tell me where to find them?”

  The man glared at her as if she’d just asked for his social security number, and I gulped, terrified for a moment that he was going to refuse, forcing us to find another way to get what we needed.

  Then he jerked his head to the left.

  “Down the hallway, last room on your right,” he growled. We nodded and were turning to head in that direction when he added, “Make sure you put everything back where it was! That room doesn’t get cleaned often, and I don’t want to go in there next month and find the place a mess.”

  I wondered why the hell the guy worked in the library if it made him so cranky, but
pushed the thought aside as we strode down the hallway.

  The room was exactly where he’d said, and it looked very similar to the records room in the other library. Small, dark, and lined with shelves that bore labels for quadrants and years.

  “This must be the standard setup for this sort of joint,” Ant said, moving in and closing the door quickly behind us. His eyes flew up to the corners of the ceiling and walls, and he nodded. “No cameras in here, thank God, unless they’re really well hidden. Though, I vote we still keep our voices down, just in case. Same setup as last time?”

  “You bet,” I confirmed, moving with Jace to one side of the room while Ant and Jackie covered the other. We found what we were searching for more quickly this time, since we had an idea of how to look, and a moment later the others were laying the maps on the table while I was calling Gabby.

  “Gab, we’re in the next library. We’ve already got the four quadrants laid out, and I want you on the line in case we find something or have questions.”

  “I’m here,” she said, her voice subdued. “I’ve figured out how to get into the traffic cam system. I just need to know where to look.”

  I set the phone down, still not putting it on speaker, and leaned over the sheets of paper in front of me.

  “Everyone lean as far over as you can,” I murmured. “If there’s a camera in the room somewhere, I don’t want them to be able to see what we’re searching for. If we find it.”

  We moved our bodies over the maps until we were practically lying on them, and I took the east quadrant, running my finger over the different buildings, streets, squares, and clearings marked there.

  Voceville looked as if it was more crowded with buildings than Trenton, the last city. The structures were both smaller and more crammed together, making it difficult to really see what we were doing. The stress of the situation gave us wings, though, and we flew through the lines on the map. Every so often, someone would murmur something as they thought they found the right place, but then a pointed finger or an answer from someone else would prove them wrong, and we’d return to searching.