by Maguire, Ily
“I couldn’t be drugged,” I say. “I haven’t eaten anything.”
“Essential oils from the capsule could put anyone into a nice, deep sleep. All you would need would be to ingest it or come in contact with its oil.” Ezekiel puts the container back down.
“Wait. I’m telling you, I just saw her. A few minutes ago.” I point my arm in the direction of the bedrooms.
“It gives Dory a nice headstart,” Pike states ignoring me. Ezekiel shakes his head. Am I invisible?
“I was just talking to her.” I stomp my foot on the ground. The impact sends a tingle up my leg, back and to my neck. I shake my head. It throbs. “If she did drug us, then I am once again in a prison.”
Pike looks at me. His eyebrows furrow. Being brought to Aegis and locked up in The Hollow, it surprises me that he wouldn’t understand. I elaborate. “It’s all going full-circle. I started here, in this house and now I’m back. Being drugged to leave and now to stay.”
“That isn’t all there is to life,” Pike tells me, reading my thoughts. “There will be a place that you’ll feel safe again. Where you’ll want to stay.”
I scowl at him because I know that the only place I want to be or will ever want to be is with him. He’s not thinking about that place with me. I don’t want him to say anymore. My shoulders tense and I turn to Ezekiel. “If Dory’s out there alone, she’s not going to make it on her own.”
“She’s probably better than we give her credit for,” Ezekiel answers. With him she would’ve been better off. He could’ve gone with her. He should’ve.
“We should check in on everyone at the safe house,” Pike says. His brow furrows. He’s thinking. I can’t look at Pike so I turn away. My anger at his only wanting to be friends is fueling the energy, the strength within to want to find my sister. “We’ll be able to figure it out there. It isn’t far. A few days hike on foot, but only a few hours by car.”
“She’s going to look for Evie. She knows where Evie is.” I open the note I folded into my palm with my real fingers. I don’t dare undo it with my fake ones. I’m not sure they wouldn’t rip it.
“I want to take a look at that,” Ezekiel stares up at me. I hand it over. Her writing is less legible than the notes she sent to me in Aegis.
He looks at it for no more than a few seconds.
“She’s going to Typhon in Hadestown.” He blurts out. Pike and I look at him.
Another abandoned city. Like so many others that have plagued what’s left of this land. Another dystopia?
“How do you know, Zeke?” Pike asks.
“It didn’t say that in the note.” I take the letter back and look it over. The paper is white and there is some sort of stamp embossed on it. Dory wrote over it and I can’t figure out what it says I flip it over and still, there is nothing legible but the words she wrote on it and nothing says either Typhon or Hadestown.
Ezekiel nods and points at the letter. “It’s all jumbled, but look at the letters.” Pike and I peer over his shoulder. We don’t notice anything. Ezekiel continues, “She spells out Mine Fire in her note. Those capital letters refer to Mine Fire City.”
I stare at the paper. There are some odd placements of capital letters on the paper. I-E-M-N-I-F-R-E. I see it now. Unscrambled, they spell out MINE FIRE.
“Typhon is the worst part of Hadestown. Why would she be going there?” I remember reading about it with Jenny during a history lesson. When the land changed, most people moved closer together, not farther apart. Those leftover places on the outskirts of Hadestown were abandoned. “And if I remember right, the most toxic chemicals are still simmering in Typhon.” That’s what got it the nickname Mine Fire City.
“It’s where they all get dumped at least,” Pike says. “It was the region dump for chemical waste. Still is, I suppose.”
“Why would she go there? Why would Evie go there? It’s in the opposite direction of anything, isn’t it?” I ask.
“It’s to the west of us. About a four hour drive. And you’re right, there’s nothing much out there. There’s nothing to the east either, though, now that the coastline’s all but covered by water,” Ezekiel says.
“Where’s the safe house?” I ask, hoping it’s to the west. At least then we’d all be going in the same direction.
“North. It’s just north of us,” Pike says.
“Everything’s so very close in reality,” I say. I think about trekking through the woods from The Hollow, and even running from Aegis. I had no idea how close everything was to everything else.
“But why would she go out toward Hadestown? It’s a wasteland. No one lives out there anymore,” Ezekiel finishes.
“Going to the safe house won’t be much of a detour. We should go there first.” Pike reiterates.
“Shouldn’t we get Dory first?” I ask. “She’ll be on foot, so she can’t be that far ahead of us.”
“Knowing that her pace is much slower than ours, we’ll be able to catch up. We’ll go to the safe house and inform the others.” Pike gets up.
“Ezekiel?” I look over at him. He hasn’t said anything about going after Dory.
“Hara and your friends know I’m coming back. I told them I would,” Ezekiel says. “We didn’t plan on them staying there any more than a week or two before they would want to find somewhere more permanent to hide out in case The Hollow starts to look for them.”
“You don’t think they’re safe there?” I ask.
“I don’t know. But I think if The Hollow has stopped looking for you, it’s because they’ve gone after them. To get to you.” Ezekiel stops talking. A screen turns on. It is light outside and with dew on the lawn. It’s morning.
Pike gets up and smiles at me. I smile back despite being angry at him. Despite him wanting to be just friends. But according to Ezekiel’s timing, that all happened days ago. Or did it happen at all? “Let’s take a few minutes to get ready and head out. We go to the safe house and then Mine Fire City.”
Pike moves toward the bathroom and Ezekiel goes to the kitchen. I stay where I am because I don’t know what I need or what I should do. I’ll change my clothes. Going to the bedroom, I hope I don’t come out days later. I strip down to redress in the same colored clothes.
“How long will it take us to get to Mine Fire City from the safe house?” I ask upon exiting the bedroom. I know everyone thinks Dory is safer than everyone else, but I’m seriously worried about her. Pike steps into the hallway from bathroom.
“A few hours’ drive. More if the roads are out. Once we leave here Zeke won’t get it up on satellite in the event that someone is watching,” Pike answers. I nod, anxious to get to the safe house and then to my sisters.
Knowing we’re leaving as soon as possible, I go to the bathroom and take a minute to clean up. I don’t know when I may have this luxury again, and I move as quickly as I can. I take the clean clothes off and turn on the shower. Steam collects on the mirror and it’s the first time I haven’t thought about anything since being here. I slide the glass door and hurry into the shower. I slide it back, behind me, letting hot water spray my head and back. Warm water rolls across my skin. My shoulder contracts to fill any space between my skin and the plastic arm. Once an airtight seal has been formed, my shoulder relaxes. Even my artificial arm appreciates the warmth. Fresh water is a commodity. Even though we have our own aquifer underground, the water will automatically shut off as soon as a certain amount flows through the pipes and I’m enjoying every quick moment of it. It’s the first real wash I’ve had since leaving home that hasn’t involved a mere washcloth and sanitizer.
Soap dispenses with the water and while I feel wonderful, I actually don’t feel any cleaner than before. The soap turns off and it’s now just water and mostly steam. I’m running out of time. My artificial arm becomes heavy and in a moment, I panic. I grab it with my other arm, afraid it may slip off, knowing, however that it can’t. Water beads up and rolls off its slick exterior.
The water turns off and I
open the door. Naked, I wrap a warmed towel around my body and another around my head. It’s much harder with an unwieldly arm, but I manage. Synthetic, soft, the towels smell like nothing and that’s good for me. My mind thinks of nothing. Not even my arm. No future projections. No memories.
A button beside the mirror on the wall blinks a light pink. On-off. On-off. I press it.
Whoosh!
A fan I can’t see begins to whir ever-so quietly. In a moment the steam is sucked up and away through a vent that opens in the ceiling. The opening closes. The fan stops whirring. The room is still warm, but dry. No moisture remains whatsoever, unless it’s on my body. Patting my arm to remove any excess water, it isn’t heavy any more. I can barely feel any difference at all. I pick up my clothes, piece by piece, and put them back on. I toss both towels into a hamper, knowing there is no one here to collect them, let alone wash and dry them. The bottom of the hamper drops out; my clothes fall through the floor to somewhere else. It doesn’t matter.
I run my fingers through my wet, tangled hair. I shake away excess water and droplets land on the counter and mirror before evaporating. My hair’s almost dry. I open the door and step out of the bathroom.
Pike and Ezekiel look up. They are waiting for me. They stand between the kitchen and the living space and stop talking as soon as I step forward. They were too quiet for me to hear, but I’m guessing they were discussing my sisters or me.
“The car will only get us so far,” Ezekiel says. “We’ll have to walk a bit to get to it.”
“I saw you hid it beside the driveway. That’s not a walk, unless you figure we have to get around the crows.” I say.
“It wasn’t parked by the drive,” he answers. “It’s around back. Near the ravine.”
“Maybe Dory took it,” Pike adds, looking at Ezekiel.
“Dory wouldn’t take the car. She doesn’t know how to drive,” I state. “And there was a car parked by the drive. I saw it myself.”
Neither Pike nor Ezekiel says anything. Are they worried? Maybe they should shower. They’d feel much, much better. No, there isn’t enough time.
“Did you notice another car?” Pike says to Ezekiel.
Ezekiel shakes his head.
“I swear I saw one,” I state.
“We believe you,” Pike says. “But we’ll have to make sure Zeke’s car is still there as well or we’ll be in for quite a long walk.”
“Who would take the car?” I try to suppress my fear of hiking for days in different directions.
“I’m sure it’s still there, no one can start it without my code,” Ezekiel states, confident. “Once we get on the road, we’ll have to stop before the border of the Sunken City and we’ll hide the car then. We’ll get it again on our way out to Hadestown.”
“Timing is going to be everything,” Pike says to Ezekiel. “Do you know how to swim, Rose?” Pike asks me.
“Swim. I don’t know how to swim, no.” No one ever taught me that behavior. “Why?”
“Then we’ll just have to make it in time.” Pike steps beside me, grabs my shoulder, and squeezes. The current is back, running through my body once again. I can’t be this close to him without wanting to touch him. I can’t bear to be this close without wanting him to touch me.
“I thought you said the safe house was in the city?” I remind Pike of a conversation we had when we left The Hollow. “The Sunken City doesn’t exist. There’s nothing left there.”
“There is something left, it’s just covered by water. The safe house is on Lye Island, just past the Sunken City,” he answers so matter-of-fact.
“We should leave now. We’ve got to get onto the island before the tide comes in.” Ezekiel is out of the kitchen and walking toward the door of the containment room. Pike follows, and after making sure my own hiking boots are laced up, I follow them.
The door opens and we huddle into the quarantine containment room. Lights in the quarantine room start to dim. The door shushes shut and the outside one squeals open. Up the stairs and through the house, we stop at the top.
“Someone is inside my house,” I say and turn down the hallway. I can hear the clanging of dishes in the kitchen and the sound of a chair scraping across the floor.
“Rose, wait-” Pike tries to catch my hand, but I shrug him off.
“You hear it don’t you, c’mon!” I’m running now. Through the dining room, the table is set with actual place settings and laughter wafts from the kitchen like the smell of food would if we were hosting a party. “Mom? Dad? Is that you?”
I throw my arm into the door to the kitchen and stop frozen in my tracks.
Someone stands in the kitchen, no, two someones stand in the kitchen. The light reflecting off of the stainless steel countertops is almost blinding and I have to squint to see. The overhead light sways, casting shadows all around the room.
“Who are you?” I ask. The dishes in their hands drop to the floor and shatter into a million tiny pieces. My mother’s finest. I jump back. Pike is right behind me and he keeps me balanced.
“Who are you!” I shout, louder this time. The two men with black hair and long narrow faces are wearing coats to match. They’re from the Imperial Bead. Have they come to get me? What are they looking for? Where are they going to bring me?
“Rose-” Pike tries to pull me back out of the kitchen.
“Where are my parents? What have you done to them? I’m not going to let you do anything to me!” These men aren’t from the Imperial Bead. They’re the attendants from The Hollow, with their dingy, drab hospital scrubs under their long coats and snide smiles. They approach me. One has a syringe. The other leather restraints. I hear the squeaking and squealing of the gurney coming down the hall. “Oh, no, I’m not going back in there!” Something grabs my wrists and I thrash about. They have me and hold me fast.
I look up, it isn’t the attendants. A reflection in the glass cabinets makes it clear who is here. Dr. Flint, hands in her pockets, comes up behind me.
“You thought you could get away from me, well you were wrong, Rose.” Dr. Flint sneers in the glass. “I told you, I own you. You can never get away.” Her laughter fills my ears and I won’t go with her. I can’t. The room spins and my head spins with it.
“Get her out of here!” Ezekiel’s sharp tone rings out in my ears and Pike pulls me, with more force this time, out of the kitchen. He drags me outside where the air is moist and balmy.
“Rose,” Pike repeats, but doesn’t say anything more.
I am out of breath and my body is wet with perspiration. I sit down on the front steps trying to get my mind together.
“What just happened in there?” I ask. “Did you see what I saw?” I turn to look up into his face. His features are severe and there are lines throughout his forehead. He shakes his head.
“I hallucinated it, didn’t I?” I try to replay what just happened, but I don’t want to see what I just saw. If this is my mind, it’s playing a terrible trick on me.
“What did you see?” Pike asks. Ezekiel pats Pike on the shoulder and then passes me on the steps. He walks around the side of the house.
“What was in there?” I ask instead. I know something was there. Something had to trigger my psychotic lapse.
“Crows. There were just a bunch of crows.” Pike’s voice is laden with sympathy and he looks beyond me to the surroundings. I sit still for minutes and Pike doesn’t say a word. He stands behind me. Silent.
“Just a bunch of crows,” I repeat and cover my head with my hands. My bionic arm lands first and I think I can feel the strands of my hair under my fingertips. But I might be hallucinating that, too. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be like this,” I say and Pike doesn’t answer. I don’t know if he even understands. I look out past the front lawn and then get up.
“It’s not there.” I point to the line of trees.
“What?” Pike asks as my comment breaks the silence.
“I’m not hallucinating this. The car that I saw b
efore isn’t there.” It’s mid-morning and the light has come up and reflects off of any remaining glass in the windows. It’s later than I thought.
“Do you remember what it looked like? What color was it?” Pike asks. The crows are nowhere to be seen and I can’t tell if he thinks I’m crazy or not. He must think I’m a little crazy. As long as he doesn’t feel sorry for me. That would be much worse.
“I don’t,” I answer. “But it was farther away. It might have been a dark color, though. Blue or black. I thought it was Ezekiel’s.” I scan the horizon.
“Are you positive?” Ezekiel calls from around the other side of the house. Now I know he thinks I’m nuts.
“It was pretty chaotic out here and inside. If you-” Pike stops short. A bird cackles in the distance.
“I couldn’t have imagined it. No. It was there. I just wish I had gotten a better look at it.” I follow them around the house. “What happened in the kitchen was my mind playing tricks on me. And it may happen again, but it didn’t happen when I saw the other car. You have to believe me.”
“C’mon, my car’s still here. Dory didn’t take it.” Ezekiel waves us ahead.
“Maybe it was the other car that Dory took,” I state, trying to come up with some answers that make me sound saner than I am.
“Maybe it was the other car that came to get her,” Pike adds. Ezekiel and I turn to him.
“Like who?” Ezekiel almost accuses.
“Like anyone.” Pike moves away from us and strides down the embankment toward the car. The same car Ezekiel used to get Leland and Christophe, Delia and Hara away from The Hollow.
Pike stops, opens the door, and looks up at me and Ezekiel.
“I’m not saying she went willingly or even that she might have been taken. I’m just not sure that she has the mental wherewithal to plan a pick up. Maybe she saw them coming on the screens. Maybe that’s why she left the note,” Pike says.
I hurry down the embankment. The possibility that Dory was taken scares me so much more than her going off all by herself. If anyone was going to be taken, it should be me. At the bottom of the hill, I look back up at my house and see it the way it used to look. Statuesque. Magnificent. I try thinking back to reading with Jenny in the conservatory. From in there, we rarely looked out here. Now all that is gone and the only memories that invade my mind are of Aegis. And The Hollow. I take one last look and then don’t look back again. I don’t care if I ever see it again.