Luminary: Book Two In the Anomaly Trilogy

by Krista McGee

Carey nods. “But you haven’t been focused on learning everything about us. You’ve just been living.”

  “You’re agreeing with Gerald?” I take in a quick breath.

  “’Bout time.”

  “I am trying to find a compromise.” Carey raises his eyebrows at me. “Gerald and I have been friends for a long time. He and his family were kind to us when Kristie and I first got here. He has been part of New Hope since before the War.”

  “Born and raised right here.” Gerald is softening as Carey speaks.

  “I know you want what is best for this village, Gerald.”

  “’Course I do.”

  “Then let’s do all we can to avoid any more bloodshed.” Carey places a hand on Gerald’s shoulder. “Give the girl ten days?”

  Gerald sucks his teeth, looks from me to Carey and back again. “Fine. But one day you’re gonna see that talkin’ isn’t enough. We’ve got to fight back. And we’re ready. You hear me?”

  Voices that have been silent speak out—both in opposition and in support. The noise is so loud, my ears hurt. I look around. There are enough with Gerald to do this, men and women who would die for New Hope. The weight of that reality settles into my heart.

  I must go. I must succeed.

  Within minutes the crowd is gone. Carey and Kristie tell me all they know about Athens—which isn’t much. They have technology, but no one is sure how much or what kind. They prefer power to peace. Something I already surmised on my own. The Scientists who moved there were experts in pharmacology and anatomy. The current king of Athens is ruthless.

  “What do I need to find out?” I ask.

  Kristie folds her hands in her lap. “We want peace. We want to know what we can do to make that happen. Our two cities should not be at war. We should be working together.”

  I think of the burning house, of Peter’s coughs, and the fear in Diana’s eyes. “And if they want nothing to do with peace?”

  Carey stands. “Then we need to discover how to defeat them.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Peter is still recovering, but he and Diana are the only two with firsthand knowledge of Athens, and I need to know what they know. Kristie assures me that after a night of good sleep, breathing clean air and being fully hydrated, Peter will be able to hold a conversation. Diana has not left her brother’s side, so I find them both in the medical facility. I open the door and hear Dallas talking to Peter.

  “Your eyes look like raw meatballs.” Dallas’s face contorts. “Seriously, you’ll never get a girlfriend looking like that.”

  A pained expression passes over Peter’s face. Whether it’s from Dallas’s assessment of his eyes or his relationship status, I am not sure.

  “Thalli.” Diana looks up and smiles, though the smile does not reach her eyes. “Kristie told us of your plan.”

  “Dallas, get out of here.” Peter’s voice sounds rough, but he speaks without coughing.

  “Aw, you know I was just kidding.” Dallas backs away. “I didn’t really mean you couldn’t get a girlfriend because of your eyes.”

  “Thanks, but I need to talk—”

  “It’s your ugly face that’s gonna keep the girls away.” Dallas races out of the room as Peter lobs a container of food at his retreating form.

  “I am sorry.” Peter pushes himself into a sitting position. The movement seems to be painful for him, but Diana is at his side helping him, giving him water to drink.

  I watch her kindness and am filled with a mixture of sadness and anger. I would have liked to have had a sister or brother. Although in many ways I did. My podmates were like siblings. We grew up together, played together, cared for each other. My eyes burn as I think of them. All but Rhen are dead now, “eliminated” because they consumed too much of the State’s oxygen. The memory of walking into Pod C, empty of everyone and everything, makes my heart ache.

  John tells me I must forgive. But mass murder is hard to forgive. All those lives, all those personalities, those gifts. They were all normal—I was the only anomaly. They didn’t have excessive emotions, didn’t question anything. They all did their jobs and did them well. Faces flash in my memory. All dead. All murdered. Why would the Designer allow that?

  “Thalli?” Diana breaks through my reverie.

  I look at this brother and sister. “I apologize.”

  “Don’t apologize.” Diana releases a shy smile. “We have had to leave our home too. We understand.”

  The three of us sit in silence. A bond connects us, a bond of loss and heartache. I do not want to make them relive their hurt. I know they would prefer to forget what happened in Athens, to start over here. But Athens remains a threat, and I need to learn as much as I can about that threat before I walk into it.

  “I am going to Athens.”

  “Yes, Kristie told us.” Diana looks at the floor. “You are very brave.”

  “No.” I lace my fingers together. “I am not brave. Believe me. But I do want to help.”

  “Athens is a dangerous place.”

  I think again of the house on fire, of Peter being pulled out. The Athenians targeted him, tried to kill him. “Why? Why do they insist on working against us? Don’t they see that working together would benefit us all?”

  “The king of Athens doesn’t want to share his power with anyone. He cares only for his desires, no one else’s.” Peter lets out a long breath and closes his eyes. There is more to Peter’s statement than he is saying. Pain etches his face. Diana’s gaze darts from her brother back to the floor, an unspoken something hovering in the air between them.

  Diana touches Peter’s arm. “Thalli needs to understand how best to infiltrate the palace.”

  “That is easy.” Peter’s face relaxes. “All you have to do is tell them you’re from the State. The king will be desperate to know what you know.”

  He speaks after a lengthy silence. “But Athens has intelligent people, good people too. Before the War, our grandparents said there was a large university not far from there. The first king was a professor at that university. But the War destroyed the university and many of those who worked there. The ones who survived, like the first king, were very smart but also very scared.”

  Diana nods. “Their whole world was dependent on technology. And most of those professors were left without the tools of their trades. All their research, their studies, their inventions—everything was lost. The town survived because they were far enough removed from the effects of the War. But they were not sure how to rebuild without the technology they depended on their whole lives.”

  “So when our grandparents came, the king immediately brought them into his inner circle.” Peter is speaking faster now, his voice stronger. “He wanted them to re-create the technology. He was sure they could reestablish communications with the State, receive aid. But Grandfather refused. He told them if the State knew survivors existed, they would destroy us.”

  “That is very likely.” I nod. “The Scientists believed the old world was beyond help. They created a completely different society. I doubt they would have allowed survivors back into their State.”

  Diana and Peter look at each other. Diana’s eyes close. “I always thought Grandfather was exaggerating.”

  Peter continues. “The king then decided that if they couldn’t connect to the State, they would create their own State. But he was convinced it would be better, stronger. And that one day, they could overcome the State.”

  “So he convinced your grandparents to help rebuild Athens?”

  “Convince?” Peter’s laugh is bitter. “The king of Athens doesn’t convince. He commands. He forced my grandparents to help reconstruct the city. Much of the technology that exists got its start from our grandparents—the electricity, the infrastructure. The other citizens took over once it was established.”

  “The rebuilding took years,” Diana says. “Decades, really.”

  “The city you will see is just a little older than we are.” Peter coughs.


  “Kristie and Carey said the king focused more on technological development than on food supplies,” I say.

  “The first king knew that New Hope had also survived the Nuclear War.” Diana twists her hands in her lap. “They had sent out groups scouting all around Athens to see what remained. They found New Hope and saw all its fields were still intact.”

  “Before the War, it had been an agricultural community.” Peter nods. “And miraculously the fields survived, as did many of the people.”

  “So the king decided that rather than spend time and resources trying to create crops in Athens, they would just take New Hope’s.”

  “Didn’t the people of New Hope try to fight him?” I can’t imagine the original survivors would simply hand over their crops.

  “No.” Peter sighs. “The king was smart. He told the people here that if they grew the crops, he would supply the technology. He promised they would work together for the ‘common good.’ ”

  “But he never meant it.” Diana’s voice is like steel. “He just wanted to keep them from developing their own technology so he could overpower them.”

  “Which he did.” I think of the fear on the villagers’ faces.

  “Exactly.”

  “When the people of New Hope realized the king’s true intentions, it was too late.” Peter spreads his hands. “Athens, with the help of our grandparents, had grown too powerful to resist.”

  I shake my head, a question burning in my throat. “But why . . . why would your grandparents agree to help the king? Did they agree with his methods?”

  “At first, they were angry enough at the Scientists who remained in New Hope that they cared little for what happened to the people.” Regret fills Peter’s voice. “But after a while they began to feel bad. They were still upset with the others. But they didn’t think it was right to punish the whole village.”

  “Besides, they had their own plans,” Diana said. “They wanted to develop pharmaceuticals to help sick people.”

  “That was their passion.” Peter nods. “They worked on those every spare minute. For years, the king didn’t know about that. He was only concerned with them completing the projects he assigned them.”

  “Electricity and infrastructure?” I ask.

  “Right,” Peter says. “But when they finally voiced their concern about this village, our father was born.” Diana and Peter look at each other, deep pain mirroring in their eyes.

  “He threatened their son?”

  The muscles in Peter’s jaw clench. “The former king and the current king have no problem threatening and destroying anyone who resists them.”

  “The king demanded that our grandparents continue their work.” Diana squeezes her brother’s arm. “The city was only halfway built, and he wanted it finished. He also wanted more weapons. When our grandparents refused, he had his guards capture Father. He released him only after our grandparents promised to obey the king’s every command. Their opinions were not allowed to be voiced. Guards were placed outside Father’s house to ensure they did what they were told and did not attempt escape.”

  “How old was your father when the guards captured him?”

  “Very young.” Peter takes a ragged breath. “He never spoke of it, but I know he was terribly mistreated while he was there. The king has no mercy. None.”

  “Your grandparents had no choice.”

  “When they finished rebuilding the town, our parents were expecting us,” Diana says. “And the new king was in place. This one is even crueler than his father.”

  “I heard he killed his own father to ascend to the throne,” Peter says.

  “That’s terrible.”

  “That is King Jason.” Peter is so angry his entire face is as red as his eyes.

  Diana swallows hard. “When King Jason discovered that our grandparents had developed pharmaceuticals, he insisted they stop and instead develop weapons.”

  “Using pharmaceuticals?” The thought is terrifying.

  “They refused,” Diana says. “They could not do it.”

  Peter’s hands clench into fists. “So they killed our mother.”

  I gasp. “But you were just babies.”

  “Barely a month old,” Diana replies. “And they threatened to kill us too. So our grandparents went to work. They spent years developing all kinds of pharmaceuticals that did many things, but they told the king they hadn’t found the right formula for the weapon he wanted.”

  “The king made sure they wrote down everything they did,” Peter says. “And he had his own experts brought in to supervise them. Of course, those ‘experts’ only knew what our grandparents taught them, so they reported back to the king that they were working on a solution, but their attempts were failing.”

  “What about your father?” Losing a wife like that had to have been devastating.

  “My grandparents taught him enough to make him too valuable to kill, but not enough to allow him to know how to make the weapon.”

  “He was never the same, though.” Diana bites her lip. “Grandfather and Grandmother told us that before our mother died, he was happy and funny, loved life. All we ever knew was a sullen, angry man. I am sure he cared for us, but he was too broken to show it.”

  “Our grandparents raised us.”

  “But they never taught us anything about their work.” Diana shrugs. “They didn’t want us to endure what they had endured.”

  “They always hoped we could find a way to escape here.”

  “Did your grandparents help you escape, then?” Hope bubbles in my chest. If Diana and Peter’s grandparents are there, they will be allies.

  “In a way.” A tear slides down Diana’s cheek, and the bubble of hope I felt bursts. “The king got tired of waiting for them to complete his project. So he—”

  Diana cannot speak. She does not need to, though. “He killed them?”

  “He killed them all.” Peter spits out the words. “Our grandparents and our father.”

  “You were spared?” I ask.

  “We were forced to watch them die,” Diana chokes out through her tears. “They were burned alive, tied to a metal pole. There was no way to stop them.”

  Burned alive. That is beyond cruel. What kind of king is this? “What did you do?”

  “Nothing for a while,” Diana says. “We knew we needed to escape, but . . .”

  Peter sits up straighter. “But I didn’t want to leave.”

  “What?” I lean forward. “Why?”

  “Helen.” The one word is almost a sigh. I recognize the look in his eye.

  “You loved her.”

  “I love her.” Peter closes his eyes.

  “Why not bring her with you? Escape together?”

  “It isn’t that simple.”

  “Does she love you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “Helen is the king’s daughter.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  I allow this news to sink into my brain. Peter is in love with the king’s daughter. The king who murdered his parents and grandparents. “How?”

  Peter shrugs. “I don’t want to talk about it. And you must not let anyone know you know this. When the king discovered we wished to be together, he decreed my death. Helen found out and risked her life to help me escape.”

  “How did you do it?”

  “I climbed out on the roof of one of the factories. Helen tied sheets together so I could scale down the city walls. It was late at night. It’s a miracle the guards didn’t see me. But I made it.”

  “What about you?” I look at Diana. “What did they do to you when they found out?”

  “Nothing.” Diana stares out the window. “They knew I had nothing left. There was nothing to be gained from hurting or killing me. Not until Peter was found.”

  “They were sure they would get me back,” Peter says. “And when they did, then they would have hurt her. To punish me. So I knew I couldn’t get caught. I would not allo
w Diana to suffer for me. I was going to keep going, but the folks here told me there was nowhere else to go and that Athens would attack whether I was here or not. A few of them weren’t happy I was here. But most of the people made me feel welcome. So I stayed, and I hoped that the king would let it go. It was a stupid hope.”

  “I kept working at the factory where I worked for the last year.” Diana looks at me. “No one spoke to me. It was like I had a disease. But no one touched me either. For that, I am thankful.”

  “But then you discovered the plan to attack New Hope and retrieve your brother?” I recall her story, hiding in the back of a car the soldiers drove here from Athens.

  “Yes.”

  “They’ll just come again.” I see now why the villagers are so upset. But they have no right to be upset at these two. They are innocent. Staying in Athens would have been a death sentence.

  “They won’t stop until someone stops them,” Peter says.

  This is what Carey and Kristie said. But I do not feel any closer to comprehending how to stop them now than I did before I came in.

  “Be careful in there,” Diana says.

  “You can’t trust anyone.” Peter leans forward. “They may act friendly, but they’re all master deceivers. You can’t imagine the things that have been done to the people of Athens. They can’t imagine. Most of the citizens are completely fooled. I think they are drugged.”

  “Drugged?”

  “Yes, the people who worked with my grandparents learned enough to make mind-altering pharmaceuticals.” Peter shakes his head. “I am sure the people there are drugged.”

  “Or just frightened.” Diana places her hand on Peter’s.

  “Whatever the case, you will find no allies there.”

  “What about Helen?”

  “Don’t bring her into this.” Peter takes in a shaky breath. “She has been through enough.”

  There is more that Peter and Diana are not telling me. About Helen. But I do not ask. I’m sure that information is not necessary to know in order to help New Hope. And I’m also sure that information is painful, both to Peter and to Helen. Some secrets are best left unsaid.