I put my own hand over hers. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’
She winks at me.
…
Hours pass, as I try to rack up ethical brownie points. I share my water with Edwin. I check in on Catherine and make sure she’s doing okay. I ignore Nia’s pointed barbs, and defuse all her attempts to start a fight with me. I steer New-Riley away from any topics of conversation that might reveal whether or not he was rebooted when we got on the bus. I’m still not sure.
Being good is exhausting.
We debate our situation, but there’s no heat in it this time around, because I’m all calm smiles and reassuring comments, and Sandra’s not here to rile up Nia.
Being good is boring.
Eventually we drift back to our seats, and people doze. I remember the last time we did this, me leaning my head against not-Paxton’s chest and hearing his voice rumble. Smelling his cologne and it sparking that sense of familiarity.
It makes me feel sick to think of it.
Finally, the seatback displays flicker and fill with text.
You are in a moving vehicle. Before you the road forks. Ahead, there are five pedestrians. On the side road there is one. You can press a button and the bus will turn off onto the side road. The bus will not stop.
Do you press the button?
YESNO
0/5 responses logged.
I hear Nia suck in her breath and start tapping.
I stare at the words on my own display. What would a good person do? How should I answer? I guess I should worry about it. Feel bad either way. Go back and forth and try to figure out what’s fairest. Is this really how regular people feel all the time?
Before I can venture an opinion, the bus stops with a hiss of brakes, and a red light starts flashing overhead, along with an alert siren so loud that it makes my teeth ache.
Something is wrong.
‘Oh come on,’ Catherine mutters.
The door opens, and we all file off the bus again. I look over at Edwin, and there’s a gleam in his eye that wasn’t there before. The colour is back in his cheeks.
‘What did you do?’ I hiss.
He shrugs as black smoke starts to billow out from underneath the bus. ‘Maybe step back.’
I take a few steps backwards, into the protective embrace of the jungle. Leaves brush my arms and ankles, and my eyes water from the smoke.
‘Jeez, man. I hope that fire doesn’t reach the petrol tank,’ says New-Riley.
‘It doesn’t have a petrol tank,’ Cato Bell snaps. ‘It has a fucking lithium ion battery.’
‘Well, something there is very on fire,’ Nia observes.
‘Lithium ion batteries have an unfortunate tendency to catch fire when they get too hot,’ Edwin says conversationally.
‘The battery doesn’t get hot,’ Cato Bell says. ‘I designed that bus. There’s coolant being pumped around it constantly.’
Edwin turns and grins at her. It’s a slightly deranged grin. He reaches up and slides the glasses off his face and lets them drop to the ground. With a slow, deliberate motion, he crushes them under the heel of his sneaker. My eyes go to his other hand, which is by his side.
He’s holding my hunting knife.
‘I don’t remember much about my life before,’ Edwin says coolly to Bell. ‘But I do know that I truly looked up to you. I believed you could save the world.’
I feel a wash of relief. The plan has worked. We all still have our memories.
Cato Bell frowns and peers at Edwin, like she’s only just realised that he’s acting differently.
‘Edwin,’ she says, her creaky Catherine voice back. ‘Your name is Edwin, isn’t it?’
‘Incorrect. My name is Li Zhong Yoh, and I rather enjoy setting things on fire.’
Bell rounds on me, eyes blazing. ‘What did you do?’
I tilt my head to one side and give her my ditziest stare. ‘You don’t seem like yourself, Catherine,’ I say, wide-eyed. ‘Are you feeling alright?’
Her expression turns wild with fury.
With a noise like a thunderclap, the smooth chrome panel on the front of the bus blows open, slamming up into the windscreen so hard that the glass explodes, splintering into glittering fragments that spray out like a garden sprinkler. We raise our hands and crouch down. A piece whizzes past my cheek.
‘Take cover!’ Nia yells, and I reach out to snatch the knife from Edwin before scurrying back with the others into the jungle.
Bright white flares in my eyes and there’s a series of sounds like gunfire as the bus’s six tyres explode, flinging hot, semi-liquid rubber in all directions.
Cato Bell’s expression is a true source of delight to me. I want to bottle it and open it every Christmas for a big glorious whiff. I wondered before what it would take to get a reaction out of her. Turns out the answer was simple – blow up her fancy bus. She may have had spare humans lined up to take Riley’s place, but judging from her face she does not have a spare bus.
‘Right on,’ says Not-Riley, nodding and grinning as if he is on another planet.
‘Come on,’ Bell snaps. ‘We’ll have to walk back to Eleos.’
Nia looks at me, and for a moment there are no secrets between us at all.
‘Run,’ I say.
And we run.
BLUE FAIRY CHARGED WITH MURDER
Infamous Westbridge prankster Cecily Cartwright has been found guilty on two counts of murder, as well as a series of other charges including drug-dealing, identity theft and cyber-extortion.
In a separate trial, Cartwright’s accomplice Nia Ongoco was also found guilty of multiple charges, including financial fraud crimes, phishing, Darknet trafficking and being an accessory to murder before the fact.
A cascading series of other arrests have been made, encompassing other Westbridge students who engaged the Blue Fairy, including David Marquez, Mimi Pajalic, Malachi Edwards and, most shockingly, award-winning teen actress and popstar Jenna Ng.
Cartwright was ordered by the court to liquidate her cryptocurrency account containing the Blue Fairy’s profits. As the digital currency cannot be traced by the state’s legal team, the money can only be accessed if Cartwright surrenders her encryption key. She refused, and the court has compelled her parents, Richard and Annalise Cartwright, to pay nearly $13 million in reparations.
The Cartwrights were in attendance at court, after cutting short their holiday at an exclusive resort on Medhufaru Island to return for their daughter’s trial. The Cartwrights are well-versed in public courthouse appearances after a class-action lawsuit was launched against their multi-level marketing skincare company, PureBliss, five years ago.
Impeccably dressed in a navy Vivaldo sheath dress matched with navy suede Aviva Ming pumps, topped off with a powder-blue wool coat, Cartwright appeared unperturbed as she left the courthouse. Her parents followed close behind. Cecily Cartwright did not acknowledge or speak to them.
18
DAY 5
15:18
‘Why are we running?’
‘Shut up, New-Riley.’
‘My name is Jareth, man.’
Branches and vines whip across my face and body as we go tearing through the jungle, away from the road and up a steep hill. After who knows how many days of sitting on a bus, my body is in no way used to the exertion, and after a few minutes the adrenaline wears off and my lungs start to burn.
I glance over at Nia and am shocked to see the raw pain on her face. She’s favouring her left leg, and her skin looks clammy and pale, slick with sweat.
‘We need to stop,’ I gasp. ‘Take a break.’
She shakes her head. ‘We need to get out of range …’ She runs out of breath, but waves her wrist at me.
The wristbands. Of course. Bell doesn’t have access to a computer right now – Edwin blew up the displays on the bus. But as soon as she gets back to Camp Eleos, she can reverse whatever Nia’s done, and wipe our memories all over again.
‘How far is out of range?’
&
nbsp; ‘I have no idea.’
We keep running.
It’s darker than I thought it would be. Straight-trunked trees soar up to the canopy and compete for light, leaving almost nothing for us down on the forest floor. I stumble over a fallen tree, carpeted with thick green moss.
‘We don’t even know where we’re going,’ I say. ‘We need to stop and figure out our next steps.’
But Nia ignores me. I look over at Edwin, who is red-faced and puffing.
‘Um, guys?’ New-Riley has barely broken a sweat, his long legs unfolding in great strides beneath him. ‘I feel like I’m missing some vital information here.’
The air is humid, heavy with condensation. Thunder rumbles overhead.
We keep running.
I reach out for Nia’s arm. ‘We need to stop,’ I say.
‘I can’t,’ she replies, her voice strained through gritted teeth. ‘If I stop I don’t think I’ll be able to start again.’
I push through ferns and fronts and vines. Thorns reach out to carve deep lines in the bare flesh of my arms. Twigs snag on my clothing and in my hair.
I hate nature.
Nia stumbles and her leg gives way underneath her. She collapses to the ground with a low moan, and I skid to the ground to crouch beside her.
‘Are you okay?’ I touch her shoulder and she leans into me, her brows drawn together, her eyes closed in pain. Her breath is coming in shallow pants and I forget my own scratches and scrapes, my own aching chest. ‘Tell me what I can do.’
She shakes her head. ‘I’m okay. Help me back up.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ I say. ‘We need to stop for a moment. Figure out the plan.’
‘Wait.’ It’s Edwin, who has sunk down onto a mossy rock. ‘You said you had a plan.’
‘I did,’ I tell him. ‘And it worked perfectly. You were amazing, by the way.’
‘But what about the rest of the plan?’
‘It’s a work in progress.’
New-Riley leans against a tree trunk. ‘I don’t want to sound uncool, but I’d really like someone to tell me what’s going on. I’m feeling like this isn’t part of the official experiment?’
We ignore him. Nia’s eyes are still closed. I don’t know if she’s going to be able to do this. I wish I’d brought one of the water bottles from the bus.
‘Water,’ I say. ‘We need to find water.’
It’s as if I’ve uttered the words to a magic spell. A fat, wet drop falls right onto my forehead. Then another, and within the space of a minute, rain is pouring down in great sheets, thundering against every leaf and branch. Cool water pours over my skin, my hair, my clothes, washing away the sweat and dirt. It feels like waking up.
New-Riley cups his hands and lets the water collect there, then raises it to his lips. I do the same, then proffer my cupped hands to Nia.
‘Drink something,’ I tell her. ‘It’ll help.’
Her eyes open a fraction and she tilts her head forward to my hands. Her lips brush against my skin, and for a moment everything else falls away.
But only a moment. The rain gets harder, hammering us and turning the ground at our feet slick, rivulets all crisscrossing and joining up to form bigger streams.
‘This can’t be natural!’ I yell above the downpour. ‘This amount of rain, it’s too much.’
Edwin raises his eyebrows, and water streams into his eyes. ‘It’s literally why it’s called a rainforest,’ he says, blinking furiously. ‘It rains a lot.’
The water has revived Nia a little, although she still looks like she might faint or throw up, or both. ‘So what’s the plan?’ she asks.
I open my mouth to reply. When I was thinking about this part, I always assumed I’d come up with the goods. That the plan would fall into my brain, fully formed and perfect. After all, this is what I do. I’m the Blue Fairy. I can solve any problem. I can grant any wish.
But I’ve got nothing.
‘Can I make a suggestion?’
‘Shut up, New-Riley,’ I snap.
‘It’s Jareth,’ he says. ‘It seems like you guys have some thinking to do. And while I don’t really have any idea what is going on, or where we are, or why we’re running away, it seems to me like the most sensible thing to do is find some shelter where we can hide and figure out the next step.’
‘And how do you suggest we do that?’ I ask. ‘For all we know we could be going around in circles.’
‘Let’s follow these little streams,’ he says. ‘They’re bound to join up with bigger ones eventually, and those bigger ones will probably join that river that we saw. And rivers all run towards the sea, so at least then we’d know how to orient ourselves. This rain won’t last long, so a reliable source of water is probably a good idea too.’
Fucking New-Riley. How dare he be sensible.
I help Nia to her feet and put her arm around my shoulder. ‘Put your weight on me,’ I say.
She doesn’t even try to protest, which is how I know how serious this really is.
The ground is treacherous as we follow the muddy rivulets, and our progress is slow.
‘I’m sorry,’ murmurs Nia. ‘I hate this. I don’t want to be a burden.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ I tell her. ‘We wouldn’t have gotten away at all if it hadn’t been for you.’
We take a few more steps forward, and emerge from the rainforest. The ground beneath us drops away in a steep, slippery cliff face, fringed with ferns and moss. Water pours over the edge. The air is so thick with rain I can’t see the other side of the gorge. I can just make out the river below, churning brown and fierce from the sudden downpour.
There’s a bridge. It’s not at all like the one we drove across yesterday – it’s a few fraying bits of rope barely supporting uneven wooden slats, splintering and uneven like rotten teeth. We’re maybe thirty metres above the river below. It’s enough to make my stomach lurch.
‘Seriously?’ Nia says. ‘A rickety bridge across a gorge? Are we supposed to Lara Croft across it?’
Edwin has gone a little green around the gills, and I remember that he doesn’t like heights either.
The gorge is slick with rain, a deep cleft in the earth. There’s no path down to the river. We’re standing in a little clearing around the bridge, but in either direction, the jungle reaches right to the edge. Following it would be dangerous, especially in this weather. But not impossible. Looking down I can see the river rushing downstream, swallowing boulders and logs in a frothing, boiling roil. At least we know which direction it’s flowing. We can follow it along the edge of the gorge, and eventually we’ll find a way down.
There’s a track, too. Overgrown and thick with brown mud, but it’s there, stretching from the bridge into the jungle. There’s a good chance that it leads back to Camp Eleos, where Cato Bell will be raging and out for revenge.
Which way to go? Heading to the ocean seems safer, but what do we do when we get there? Is it better to return to Eleos and try to overpower Cato Bell? Try to force her to help us off the island?
Nia’s breathing is ragged. Maybe it would be better to give ourselves up. What if she’s badly hurt? I don’t know anything about the health risks of having a prosthesis. If it gets broken, or if something happens where she can’t use it anymore, I don’t want to be responsible for letting her get into a situation she can’t get out of.
Edwin takes a step away from the edge, looking nauseated. ‘Er, could we all agree that the one action we are definitely not going to pursue is an attempt to cross that bridge?’
I nod. ‘I’ve seen enough movies where they try. It never goes well.’
‘So what do we do?’
‘We go around, I guess.’
‘To where?’
‘Wherever it leads. The ocean. Or maybe we’ll come across the other bridge that we drove over yesterday.’
Nia leans heavily against me.
‘Are you okay?’ I ask, lowering my voice so the others don’t hear, my lips almos
t touching her ears.
Her head jerks in a nod, but she doesn’t look okay. She looks scared.
‘Hey, I know what I’m doing,’ I tell her. ‘I’m the Blue Fairy, remember?’
Her face turns to me, sharply. ‘You read it.’
‘Yeah, I read it.’
Neither of us speaks for a moment. The mutual understanding that we used to be together – that we were in love – hangs between us like a living thing.
Does Nia still feel that way? Do I? The thought is terrifying. If I still have feelings for Nia, then I have to be careful. After all, she’s the one who turned me in. She betrayed me.
Does she know that?
There’s a different tone to the rain. A lower, rumbling growl. For a moment I think it’s more thunder, but it’s too consistent. And it’s getting louder.
A jeep bursts into view, and I curse myself for not pulling the keys out of the ignition and throwing them off a cliff when I had the chance. Cato Bell is in the driver’s seat, her white hair swinging loose around her shoulders in wet whips. She looks glorious, like an avenging goddess ready to smite us. I hear Edwin draw a sharp breath and I’m totally with him. She’s amazing.
We have to get away from her.
‘Get in,’ she says. No big speech. No threats. Just one simple demand. Her voice not yelling, but raised enough so that we can hear her over the rain.
‘Piss off,’ Nia tells her.
Cato looks to New-Riley. ‘How did you get mixed up in this?’ she asks. ‘You’re better than this, Jareth. You deserve better. These aren’t good people. I can help you. I can make your life better. Are you really going to throw that all away for a bunch of criminals who don’t even know you?’
New-Riley looks from us to Cato Bell and back again. It’s like he’s waiting for us to make a counterargument.
‘Go,’ says Nia. ‘We don’t care.’
New-Riley looks a little hurt as he lopes over to the jeep and climbs in to sit beside Bell.
‘I thought you would understand what I’m trying to do,’ Bell says to Nia. ‘You’re supposed to care about the little guy. About how the system punishes people for being poor or brown or disabled. The Erasure Initiative is designed to fix that.’
The Erasure Initiative Page 22