How could any of this happen? I had the damn disc in my pocket. How could anyone get in here and do something like this?
The blood drains from my face and I take a step back.
This is how I ended up outside.
Whatever did this must have attacked me first so I lost consciousness. I remember… I remember needing to rest. Damn, I would have been an easy target.
This is all my fault for not being on guard.
Had I been alert, working on finding the information we need, Kani would be fine. No, more than fine. None of this would have taken place. I would have been able to stop it.
We have all been warned about Videus and what he’s capable of. I should have been more prepared than this. I should have—
“We need to go, Kani. Get up. Get up,” I command, “Now—”
She cries at my insistence, covering her ears again and rocking harder. It’s so out of character for her.
“We need to get back to the Lateral,” I tell her, holding out my hand. “We need to find help.”
Kani stares blankly at me, watching my every move. Eventually, she pushes up slowly to a stand and accepts my extended hand. I help her step out of the box and onto the floor. Her legs are wobbly and the lack of control she has is alarming.
This is not the Kani I know. She’s always been a rock under pressure. Whatever caused this kind of reaction from her had to have been beyond frightening.
I shove my right shoulder under her left and wrap my arm around her waist. Half walking, half dragging her along, we make our way to the exit. The debris on the floor makes our trek cumbersome and we each take turns slipping and sliding.
“Gone…Gone…” she continues to mumble over and over.
“I know, Kani. I know. We’ll find help,” I repeat, trying to reassure her.
At the entrance to the tunnel, Kani freezes, refusing to go any further. Her feet lock in place and she starts to skid backward.
“Kani, we’re not safe here—” I look deeply into her eyes, pleading with her. “We need to go, we need to get to safety.”
I’m not technically sure how safe we’ll be heading back, but I do know we’ve gotta try. Waiting here to see if whatever did this wants to finish the job—not such a good idea.
Kani shakes her head, backing away and trying to get out of my arms.
“Kani, we need to get to Landry,” I command.
At the sound of Landry’s name, Kani’s face twitches and she grabs my hand. Her jaw is resolute, but her eyes search my face filled with terror. Slowly, she takes a shaky step forward, allowing me to lead her down to the other end. Behind us, the sound of the stone wall closing echoes, making us both jump.
I turn back to Kani, but in the darkness, her expression is lost.
“Come on,” I wrench on her arm and resume our walk. “It must have just sensed that we walked through. I have the disc in my pocket.”
With each step further from the chaos, I start to feel agitated. How could all of this have happened and I had no idea. Why would they attack the Archives and Kani, but drag me outside in the middle of nowhere? Was it so I could die of exposure? To separate us? What would be the reason?
How do I reconcile any of this?
Will I be putting Landry in danger by involving him now? Guilt crashes over me, chipping away at my resolve. I have no one else to turn to for answers. Kani needs to be somewhere safe right now. Whatever happened to her, she needs to get back to being herself so she can help make sense out of what happened.
The further along we manage down the tunnel, the more control Kani regains over her legs, giving me much-needed relief. My stomach is still not well, and nausea continues to bubble to the surface. Most of the lights still aren’t working properly, but luckily they still give enough light to see where we’re going and how far we have left. Finally, we reach the end of the tunnel.
“Go first. I’m right behind you,” I say to Kani.
Her eyes are wide, but she doesn’t budge.
“It’ll be okay. There’s help up there. Trust me,” I urge.
At this point, I need to make sure she doesn’t fall down the ladder. She’s not as aware of herself as she should be. Besides, if there’s anything still down here, it will give her a fighting chance to get the hell outta here.
Kani swallows hard, but takes a trembling step upward. I climb right behind her, watching her movements closely. When she lifts the door open, the clean, fresh air wafts down to us, stirring my senses and helping to clear my mind.
She hesitates for a moment, but climbs out and disappears into the light above us. I lift myself out behind Kani, and flip the door closed. Kani promptly sits down in the snow, continuing her movements of rocking back and forth. Her arms clasp around her knees as she buries her face in between them.
Holy hell. I’ve never, not in all my life, seen Kani lose it like this. It’s completely unnerving. Without her stability, well, if you can call it that—how in the hell am I going to make it through all this? I don’t have Fenton’s dumb humor, or Runa’s gentle strength—
Coaxing Kani by the hand, I get her to finally stand back up and move onward. Our progress to the Lateral is excruciatingly slow. I have to half-walk her, half-drag her with me to get anywhere. I’m inches away from just picking up her scrawny little ass and carrying her—but this damn thumping in my head is threatening to come back and I better follow her advice to lay off the NeuroWand business. At least for a while.
Permanently, if possible.
A remnant of blood lingers in my mouth. I musta bit my tongue or something in my NeuroWand blackout.
“Kani, work with me, here. Dammit, woman,” I curse. Kani’s vacant eyes haunt me as she sits down plainly on her butt, staring at me. We’re almost to the cavern system, but for now we’re still exposed out here.
What in the hell happened in the Archives? What could have been so bad to do this to her? As far as I was aware, not many people even know about the Archives. It’s a select few of us on Delaney’s team. So the fact someone got in there at all—now, that’s something.
If it was someone.
Because, there’s that. I’ve seen some crazy stuff in the past few weeks. Stuff I couldn’t have even dreamed up before meeting Runa. This could have been caused by any number of things.
Looking into Kani’s vacant expression, I ask, “Kani, what did this to you? Was it Videus? Did you see him? The others—?”
My questions don’t even faze her. She doesn’t bat an eye or quirk an eyebrow. Instead, her face remains the same pale shade of green. Her eyes, vacant.
Sighing, I grab one of her arms to help her stand and then pick her up. We’re getting nowhere fast and we need answers.
“What did you do to her?” A small kid asks as I walk by, dragging Kani behind me. I’ve got no more strength after the hours of carrying her in some shape or form, and my head is ready to explode.
I practically growl, making the kid jump and scamper off.
Good.
Finally standing at our destination—Alina’s doorway—I pound on it and slump onto the steps with Kani. I hear beeps and weird mechanical noises, a loud scrape and stomping footsteps until the door flies open.
“I thought I said I was fine, Lane,” Landry growls as he steps out, nearly tripping over my hand as he tries to miss stepping on it. “What are you doing down there, Trae? What’s—what’s wrong with Kani?”
Kani’s expression hasn’t changed. She looks like some little girl’s doll; eyes unblinking, but wide open.
“I dunno. She—we—were attacked,” I sputter through the thumping in my temple.
“Attacked? Again? Attacked by what? By who?” he asks, rushing forward snapping his fingers in front of Kani’s face. “Kani, can you hear me? Kani?”
“Don’t bother. She won’t answer you. I’ve been trying for hours.”
“She’s in shock. We need to get her back to my house so I can diagnose her properly,” Landry says, heading back i
nto Alina’s for a moment.
“Oh, so now it’s worth seeing us,” I whisper under my breath, nodding to myself. “Just took some traumatization to make it happen.”
“—Yes, I’ll be fine. Come with if you want, but please, don’t be on my case about this,” Landry steps out, closing the door behind him.
No sooner does the door close, but reopens.
“I’m coming with you guys,” Alina says, eyeing Landry. Her eyes widen when she looks around to see both myself and Kani on the steps. “Are you guys alright?”
“Been better,” I say.
“Come here, Kani. Let’s go to Landry’s house,” Alina says, helping Kani to stand.
Kani seems to relax into Alina’s soft demeanor, allowing her to take her by the hand and walking her down the street.
Landry turns to me and says, “What the hell happened, Trae?”
I shake my head, “I honestly don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“Whatever happened, it happened while I was blacked out—or maybe drugged—I dunno. I woke up outside the Archives, flat on my back in the snow. I got back to an absolute disaster in the Archives and Kani trapped inside a crate. It was—mental. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Did anyone else know you were heading to the Archives?” Landry asks, his eyebrows pulled in.
“Nah. Just you guys,” I say.
“You blacked out you said. How did that happened?”
“Dunno, maybe the NeuroWand. Been having headaches lately—hell, I have one now— and Kani thought I was using it too much. It’s the only thing I can think of. Well, unless someone snuck in and did it somehow,” I offer.
“Do you remember anyone coming in?” he asks.
“Not even a little bit. I’ve tried to get details out of Kani, but it’s pretty useless right now,” I say, “She’s just too out of it.”
“You can say that again,” Landry concedes. “I know how she feels.”
I turn to look at Landry, whose face has gone ashen.
“How are you handling things? You know we’ve been worried about you.”
“Eh—” Landry shrugs, “been better.”
Walking up the steps to Landry’s place, he reaches for the handle, but pauses a little longer than expected. After a moment, he turns back and stares at me.
“Everything okay?” I ask, watching him closely.
“Look, I’ll do what I can to help Kani. I owe you and her that much. But when she’s better, I’m leaving. I can’t stay here, not anymore. It’s just not the same. I know you, of all people will understand that. But Alina—she can’t know.”
“Why? Why can’t you just take her wherever—”
“—Because I can’t. She deserves better than me. She deserves someone who’s here for her,” he says, scratching at the back of his bald head.
“Anything else?”
“Yeah, let’s keep things low key. For everyone involved, but especially Kani. If I’m gonna help her, I need her to relax, not relive whatever went on.”
“Yeah, okay,” I say, shrugging.
“Excellent,” Landry says, nodding to himself and opening the door.
I take a last quick glance up and down the street before heading inside.
13
Runa
HEAL THE WORLD. Yes, because that doesn’t sound daunting. I can’t even figure out where I put the Caudex, how on Pendomus am I supposed to heal the whole world?
“Trae, I don’t—” I begin, but he lifts a finger, hushing me.
“You don’t need to understand the healing the world part, but after everything—after this—” he sweeps his hands out in front of the devastation, “I know without prophecies, or messages from higher than we are, or whatever, we needed you. You were the one that would have stopped this from happening. And now—” he shrugs, “now, after all these years—I believe you still can.”
Sighing, I look down at my feet. I see now why it was necessary to bring me here. I wouldn’t have believed I wasn’t in my own time. I thought for sure it was him—somehow brought here by Videus, or changed by one of his minions, something. Not this.
How could I have? Everything has seemed too ordinary. Well, with the exception of being on the desert side—or where I thought was the desert side, I guess.
“This is all so…” I begin, and finally sigh, “strange. I had no idea we were out of our timeline. Or that it was even possible to be out of it for that matter.”
“I wouldn’t have believed it either, Runa. Not until—well, seeing you look—you’re just as I remember you. With the exception of your hair,” he says, reaching forward to tuck a strand behind my ear.
I smile, taking his hand in mine and pressing it to my cheek. Leaning into it, I close my eyes. How must he have felt all this time, thinking I was—
I open my eyes to watch his.
“Did you give up hope on me?” I ask, unable to help myself.
“It’s been thirty years, Runa. I came to terms with never seeing you again long ago. It was—difficult. For the longest time, I thought I’d be able to save you. Find a way to bring you back without the Tree. I even hunted for your brother, oh what was his name? Baxter?”
“Baxten,” I correct.
“Right, Baxten,” he nods, “I found the Vassalage.”
“You did? How? Where was—” I start.
He opens his mouth, but closes it again, narrowing his eyes.
“What? What is it?” I ask.
“I’m just not sure how much I should tell you. What difference it could make with the timelines. With your destiny,” he says, blinking rapidly as he thinks.
“Traeton, from what you’re telling me, my destiny has me locked here while Videus destroys everything I hold dear. I’m lucky you made it out alive—I don’t even—” my voice cracks as I realize he’s alone and I haven’t even asked about anyone else. “I don’t even know if anyone else made it. Kani? Fenton?”
Trae flinches at the sound of their names, and I know the worst has happened.
Dropping his hand I walk away.
How could this happen? How could any of this happen?
“Forget the timelines, the continuum, whatever destiny you think I have, or might have. I need to know where the heart of Videus resides. If I make it back to my timeline, I’m hitting him—hard. I’m not letting any of this happen. I promise you.”
“It’s not that simple, Runa. Not all of it—not everything happened at the same time. Or for the same reason.”
I walk back to him, looking deeply into his sad, worn eyes. He looks tired; defeated even.
“What are you not telling me?” I ask, watching him closely.
“Let’s focus on the one thing you may have control over,” he says, sighing.
“No, let’s start there. Then continue on with the rest,” I say, raising an eyebrow.
After a moment, he narrows his eyes, but nods.
“So spill it, where do we find the Vassalage?”
Trae tilts his head nodding in the direction we came from, “Let’s walk.”
We continue in silence for a couple of minutes, getting outside of visual sight of the Helix and the devastation at the cavern before he finally speaks again.
“Do you remember your professional appointment?”
I pull in my eyebrows, and turn to him, “Of course I do. It was only a couple of months ago.”
“Right, I keep forgetting,” he says, running his fingertips over his wrinkled forehead, “Anyway, turns out your placement there held significance.”
“How do you mean?”
“In my research, I found the Crematorium was actually the Vassalage, hidden in plain sight.”
“The—what?”
My mouth drops open, my head spinning with the revelation.
Trae nods and continues, “The Cremators were the ones who were turned into Labots—at least, initially. The Crematorium was where they sent the “problematic” people who they de
emed a security threat to the Helix. Then, those who couldn’t be turned, would end up in the Vassalage. It started out only a couple of cells, meant to house those they were trying to rehabilitate and turn. But as the process grew, more and more people were kept there for—other reasons,” he says, turning to me.
“What kind of other reasons?”
“Mostly to torture for information. To find out what they knew. Then, it was as a way to study those with different abilities, for lack of a better word,” he says, his eyes falling to the ground.
“Are you saying there are people on Pendomus who can do things? Things that aren’t normal?” I ask, holding my breath.
If that’s the case, what does it mean? How do I play into it all? Am I not as special as I thought? Or does it mean something entirely different?
“There are lots of people on Pendomus who have low grade psychic ability. Like my sister Ava. She was one of them, turns out. They tortured her, trying to find out how she could do it. From a very young age—and under our noses. I had no idea,” he says. “Videus wanted to learn how to control it. Master it with science, I suppose.”
“Wow,” I mutter, more to myself than Trae, “this is unreal.”
“Exactly,” he says, his eyebrows raised.
“What about my brother? Did you find Baxten?” I ask.
Trae’s lips purse. “Yeah, I found him.”
There’s an odd silence that falls, as I wait for him to continue.
“Runa, pulling Baxten out was the beginning of the end for us. It set off a chain reaction that led Videus straight to us. It’s the reason why he and his creatures attacked. The reason there’s a crater where our home should be and why everyone—”
“I need to get back. I need to find the Caudex,” I say, my footsteps picking up speed.
“What is this Caudex, anyway?” Trae asks, keeping up along side of me.
“It’s all I have left of the Tree of Burden—and it’s my key to finding out what comes next; what I need to do. If I can just find it, or go back to where it was—maybe I can find something in there that will help me get back to my timeline,” I say. “This can’t be the way of things. I have to find a way to stop it.”
The Complete Pendomus Chronicles Trilogy: Books 1-3 of the Pendomus Chronicles Dystopian Scifi Boxed Set Series Page 37