Luminary: Book Two In the Anomaly Trilogy

by Krista McGee

  “How will I get a horse?”

  “There happens to be one just outside.” John winks at me.

  After John leaves, I bathe and dress. I think of the last time I went to Athens on my own. It seems a lifetime ago. I pray I have another lifetime to spare.

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  Horses are terrible transports. I like them when I am beside them, feeding them apples. But sitting on top of them . . . why would anyone willingly do this? The entire lower half of my body is sore. As the horse goes faster, I am jostled up and down on this hard saddle. I try to keep my arms relaxed at my sides, the way John showed me, but when it goes too fast, I am forced to pull back on these reins. This is so much different than holding on to the ropes behind the chariot. At least in that, I was standing, not sitting. My legs were not forced to straddle a hairy beast, who could, at any moment, fall or jump and kill me.

  But at least I am not walking. Even with last night’s sleep to aid me, I would not be able to make that return trip on foot. The days without food in the black chamber have taken their toll on my body. I cannot stop eating. John packed me bread and cheese and a container of milk. I am trying to save some, but I am so hungry. I force myself to put the food away. Fear of eating with only one hand on the reins protects me from completely succumbing to the temptation to eat everything in the sack at my side.

  How I was able to ride out of New Hope with no one seeing me or stopping me, I do not know. John simply walked out with me, holding the horse. He gave me some lessons on how to manage the beast, then he sent me off. I looked back once to see him walking back to the village center. No one was around him.

  Will Berk be angry when he finds out where I’ve gone? Maybe he is still upset with me. He shouldn’t be. If anyone has the right to be angry, it is me. But I do not want to think about that now. I ride over a hill and see the walls of Athens looming in the distance. I do not know what to do. How far should I go before I stop? My thoughts are interrupted by a shadow hovering over me. The sun is bright today with no clouds on the horizon. I look up to see what caused the shadow. I pull back hard on the reins when I realize what it is: a transport. My transport. The one I rode here when I first came to Athens. When Alex rode up to me on his horse. The transport moves backward, but it remains high above my head.

  “You were told to leave.” Alex’s voice drifts down. The transport does not move.

  I pull harder on the reins and the horse stops. I swing one leg around and slide down the horse to the ground.

  “Why are you here?”

  I think of our first meeting. In this very spot. He sounded angry, firm then. Now he sounds tired. And distant.

  “I came to speak to you.”

  “Your words are full of lies.” Alex spits out the last word like it is poison. “You killed my sister.”

  “If you truly believed that, you would have killed me before I ever left Athens.”

  The transport drops down, and Alex points a weapon at my chest. “It wasn’t my choice to spare you.”

  I see the same hatred in his eyes that I saw at the funeral. Berk is wrong. Alex truly believes I killed his sister. He is not part of the king’s plan. He is one of the king’s pawns. Just like me.

  “Your father lied to you, Alex.” I look him in the eye, willing him to listen to me.

  “No. I’ve known him far longer than I’ve known you. You are the liar. Not him.”

  His eyes are glazed over, drugged. How much of the medicine has he been given, and how long until he recovers?

  “Don’t you remember what we talked about?” I take a step closer. He will not discharge the weapon. I am sure of it. “How we planned to help negotiate peace with New Hope? How we were going to go there after our wedding?”

  “I remember the lies you fed me.” Alex does not move. “I remember seeing you shoot my sister.”

  “No, Alex.” I remain still. “I cared for Helen. She was kind to me. She was good. I wanted to help her.”

  “You killed her.”

  “The king had her killed. Just as he planned.”

  The air around me explodes. Alex discharged the gun. I look down, unsure if I have been hit or not.

  “That was a warning.” Alex glares at me, weapon still raised. “Say that again, and I will not miss.”

  My heart is beating so fast, I have trouble speaking. But speak I must. I did not come all this way to be frightened away by this. “Please. Think back to that moment. Do you recall seeing me at the trial?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “I was restrained.”

  Alex’s eyes widen, just for a moment. “Impossible.”

  “My hands were fastened behind my back.” I stare into Alex’s eyes. “Just like the other prisoners beside me.”

  “No.” Alex says this with less conviction than before. I have hope that, perhaps, the truth is more powerful than the drugs.

  “I was a prisoner.” I take another step forward. “Are prisoners allowed access to weapons?”

  “You are deceitful.” Alex waves me back with his weapon. “You tricked the guard into undoing your restraints. You stole the weapon from him.”

  “Remember that moment, Alex. You were looking at me. I was restrained.” I pray Alex does not choose to kill me for these words. “A guard shot Helen. He stood beside me, fired the weapon, dropped it, and ran off.”

  Alex stands frozen. He is remembering. I can see it in his eyes. They are darting back and forth. He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing, his eyes closed.

  “You remember?”

  “No.” His voice wavers. “It is not possible.”

  “You are stronger than the drugs, Alex.” I speak softly. “You can remember.”

  Alex slowly lowers the weapon. I do not move.

  “How do I know what you say is true?”

  I understand how he is feeling. In the State when I was in the Progress simulation, I truly believed I was in a village aboveground. I cared for the people there. I tasted their food, smelled their air. I was sure it was real. And when I discovered it might not be, my world felt shaken. When what feels so real is discovered to be false, reality seems impossible to discern.

  “You know what is real.” I look into his eyes, as blue as the sky. My heart softens.

  “You came here as a spy.” His eyes harden again. “I know that.”

  “That is true.” I lower my gaze. “But I did not come to harm you. The people of New Hope want peace. I was sent as a kind of ambassador.”

  “You told us you came as a refugee from the State.”

  “I did. I escaped from the State.” Even as I say it, I know I am justifying my lies. I cannot do that. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I went to New Hope after my escape. And I lied to you because the people of New Hope are afraid of Athens. Much damage has been done to them. Their crops have been stolen, their people injured. They live in fear of this city.”

  “As they should.” Alex stands taller, his eyes darkening.

  “No.” I stare back into Alex’s face. He has to see reality. Truth. “You know that ruling by fear is not ideal. You know your father killed your mother. Planned to kill your sister.”

  Alex is deathly silent, and I am afraid I have gone too far. I do not move, barely breathe.

  “How did you know he killed my mother?”

  “Helen told me.”

  “She must have trusted you.”

  “She told me about Peter too,” I say. “She said you disapproved.”

  “Of course I disapproved,” Alex bites out. “She was a princess.”

  “Not according to your father.”

  Alex sighs. “She did not deserve to die.”

  “I could not agree more. She was kind, beautiful, and caring. She deserved a life of freedom.”

  Alex’s eyes close. “I tried so hard to protect her.”

  “There is nothing you could have done.” I put a hand on his arm. He flexes his muscle, begins to pull away, but then relaxes. “But
you can do something for the people of New Hope.”

  “Why should I do anything for them?”

  “Because they have done nothing but try to live out their lives in peace. When have they attacked Athens? What have they done to antagonize you?”

  Alex blinks several times. “They withhold their crops.”

  “Your soldiers take the crops by force.” I motion behind me. “They take what is theirs and give nothing in return.”

  “They came here ready to attack.”

  “No, they came here to defend Berk and me.” I am speaking quietly now, standing just inches from Alex. “They came because they are friends and they were willing to risk their lives to save ours.”

  Alex is processing this information. How long he has had the drugs in his system, I do not know. How powerful they are, I do not know. I do know that truth sets us free, and I am telling him truth. I am believing that is more powerful than even the Athenian pharmaceuticals. I pray I am right.

  “You were our friend.” Alex is saying this as if a memory is resurfacing.

  “I am your friend.”

  Alex puts a hand on my cheek. He challenges me with his eyes. When I do not look away, he sighs, his thumb caressing my jaw. Suddenly he looks behind him. “They will see you here.”

  “Who?”

  “The guards. They are always watching.”

  He believes me. He is willing to work with me. I want to jump up and shout, but Alex’s face is so serious, our situation is so precarious, and I cannot.

  “You have to leave.” Alex glances toward the wall, drops his hand, and steps back.

  “Come with me. Remember our plan? Your father will not attack if you are in New Hope.”

  “It won’t work. Father made his plan. Nothing will stop him from carrying it out. Nothing.”

  “But the people of New Hope—” I do not like the look of despair that has settled into Alex’s eyes.

  “They have days left.”

  “No.” My heart drops. “Alex, we have to do something. They are innocent. Like Helen, like your mother. We cannot allow him to destroy an entire village.”

  Alex looks back at Athens. I follow his gaze. “You’re right. We cannot.”

  I wait for Alex to speak, but he says nothing. He puts a hand to his head and groans. I don’t know what to do, how to help him. I don’t know what he is thinking. I place my hand in his. He squeezes so hard I feel like my fingers will break.

  “There is only one way to save them.” Alex releases my hand. “We must kill the king.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  I cannot kill anyone. I cannot. Even knowing how evil King Jason is, knowing his plans to destroy the people of New Hope. And Alex cannot kill him. That is his father. Alex loves his father.

  I am thinking all of this while lying in a ball beneath Alex’s tunic. He has hidden me here, on the transport. I don’t know how we will get into the palace without being seen. Alex is planning to take the transport all the way to his room. But he does not fly it very well. This was his first time out with it. His father sent him on a test run to see how high it will go and how fast. Engineers are working to create more of these for the army.

  Every time we make a turn, the transport dips and I am sure I will fall off. I hold on to Alex’s foot, which is also beneath the tunic. But if I pull too hard, we will fall. And right now, we are above the city walls. I do not wish to fall from this height. So I hold on lightly and pray for a quick, safe landing. And I pray no one who sees us will question why Alex’s tunic is lying on the bottom of the transport in a human-shaped lump.

  “Excellent.” I hear the king’s voice from far below. “It climbs higher than I expected.”

  “Yes, sir.” Alex tries to sound happy. “Maneuvers well.”

  “Better than a horse?”

  “Much,” Alex calls back.

  “Come down here. Let me take a look.”

  I panic. If the king gets on the transport, we will surely be discovered.

  “I wish to try one more thing, Father, before I return it.” Alex sounds like a little boy.

  “Very well.” The king laughs—Alex’s act fooled him.

  I sigh, then grab hold of Alex’s ankle as he lowers the transport for what I assume is the descent into the palace.

  I think of my horse. It is returning, hopefully, to New Hope without me. Alex said the guards would have seen it and seen him talking with its rider. But it would be too great a distance for them to discern who it was. He is sure they would not even be able to tell it had no rider on the return trip. I hope he’s right. And I hope those in New Hope will not think the worst when the horse returns without me. I do not need them returning to Athens. Their presence would only serve to prevent us from achieving our goal.

  I swallow as I think again of what that goal is: killing the king. I do not want that to be the solution. I want there to be another option. But Alex insists there is not. We cannot imprison the king—the people will revolt. We cannot reason with him. We cannot even speak to him about this. He cannot find out I am here and that Alex is no longer under his control. The transport drops to the ground. Alex steps off, opens a door, and then propels the transport through. I almost roll off as the transport tips to fit through the doorway.

  The door closes, and Alex takes the tunic off me. I stand and stretch—my muscles are doubly sore. Alex’s room looks the same. It seems wrong that it should be so familiar. So much has changed since I was last here—telling him the truth about my coming to Athens, him telling me what his father planned, discussing our marriage. That seems more like a dream than a reality.

  I turn to find Alex’s gaze on me. “Thank you.”

  “For what?” I think of the danger I am placing him in, of all the pain he has endured.

  “For coming back.” Alex takes a step closer and takes my hand in both of his. “For believing in me.”

  “You will be a wonderful king.” I place my other hand on Alex’s arm. “I am proud to know you.”

  Alex crushes me to his chest before I can take a breath. “Thalli, when this is all over, will you—?”

  A loud knock at the door interrupts and causes him to pull away from me. He rushes to the door to make sure it’s locked, and then he returns to my side.

  “Do not say anything. Do not leave this room until I return,” Alex whispers.

  I nod, the reality of what we are doing, what I have done, making my heart pound. Alex motions me to go under the bed. “Hide there until I come back. Servants might come in to clean. It’s the safest spot.”

  There is another knock, louder this time, and I drop to the ground as quietly as I can and crawl far into the shadows.

  “Who is it?”

  “Your father.”

  How could he have arrived here so quickly? He was outside the palace just minutes ago. Perhaps there are even more secret passages than I’m aware of.

  “Come in.” Alex sounds relaxed, though he must be as nervous as I am. I hope the king cannot read in his eyes the truth of what is happening.

  I hear the door close and heavy feet shuffle across the floor.

  “The guards told me they saw you speaking with someone outside the city.”

  “Some grunt from New Hope.” Alex says the words he rehearsed. “He wanted to discuss peace, beg for mercy. I told him to go away.”

  “Excellent.” The king draws out the word. I see his feet, so close I can touch them.

  “And that is all?”

  “You want to know the entirety of the conversation?” Alex asks.

  “Not necessarily.” The king moves away. I cannot see his feet, but I can hear his footsteps. Firm. Frightening. “But the guards said they believed the rider to be inexperienced. And female.”

  “The guards were far away.” Alex does not allow any hint of fear to color his voice. “I was up close.”

  “You have been deceived by those from New Hope before.”

  “I will not be deceived again, sir.”
Alex moves now too.

  “Have you used this sword, son?” I hear a metallic scrape. I recall seeing a long sword hanging on the wall above the fireplace in Alex’s room.

  There is a long pause before Alex speaks. “No.”

  “I have used this sword. I have used many weapons.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “If you are to take my place someday, you must do the same.”

  “I know, sir.”

  There is silence. I want to peek out from under the bed, to know what is happening. But I wait, praying Alex is safe.

  “You have murder in your eyes.” The king’s voice is low and deep. My blood freezes with each word.

  “As you have taught me, Father.”

  Something has changed. This conversation is no longer casual. There are threats in the king’s tone and defiance in Alex’s.

  “Do not follow in the footsteps of your mother.” Metal slides against metal once again. “Do I make myself clear?”

  “Of course.” The king is gone for several minutes before Alex speaks again.

  “Thalli.” He looks under the bed, his gaze meets mine. “We do not have much time.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  I have been in Alex’s room for an entire day. Under his bed. Servants have come and gone, but Alex has not returned since the conversation he had with his father. I imagine all kinds of scenarios. Alex is dead. The army is destroying New Hope. I am powerless, cowering in this room. Doing nothing.

  Alex made me swear not to leave. Not under any circumstances. But if he is unable to return for me, am I still bound to that promise? I pull myself out from under the bed and look around. The door is shut tight, no lights are on, and the curtains are drawn. A tiny sliver of light peeks out from between the two dark panels of the curtains. Enough for me to see where I am going. I stand and stretch. The food Alex left for me sits heavily in my stomach.

  I move as quietly as I can to the windows and part the curtains just enough to see out the window. The courtyard is busy but quiet. People—mostly men—move with purpose. They wear a uniform of gold and purple made from a shiny material. One of the Athenian synthetics, I am sure. I do not see Alex or the king. But I did not expect to see them. The king is likely in his chamber. At least I hope he is. I pray he is not moving toward New Hope. I hope the army is still preparing. That Alex is able to stop them long before they leave Athens.