by Bobby Adair
Finally, curiosity got the better of caution and they followed.
Ella grabbed for William's hand, but he slipped from her grasp, running ahead to join Ivory. His head swiveled from side to side as he took in the sights. She couldn't help but smile at the curiosity on his face.
Crossing the gaping threshold, they entered the building. The building smelled like the oldest ones in Brighton—damp and unused. Broken beams and debris littered the floor. Ella couldn't help but stare at the multitudes of rooms that lined either side of the vast building, most without walls, most filled with dusty fragments of ancient stone. In the middle of the enormous main room was a steep set of metal stairs that descended into a dark rectangle, an abyss of blackness that extended far out of sight.
"That leads to a lower level," Ivory called back to them. "The Ancients had a device that carried them up and down."
"Unbelievable," Melora whispered, coming up beside Ella. "A secret, hidden level beneath the first."
"And one upstairs," Ella said, pointing to a similar set of metal stairs that climbed to a second floor. A similar number of rooms lined the entire perimeter of the upper floor of the building. In each room, Ella envisioned the Ancients greeting her at the door, waving an assortment of merchandise, or selling fruits and vegetables. She imagined a line of people navigating up and down the strange stairs, sifting through their purchases.
"I can hardly fathom what this must've looked like with people in it." Melora shook her head.
"This building is big enough to contain most of the people in the townships," Ella agreed.
Melora said, "When the rains came, I bet they didn't have to cover their pushcarts or seek shelter."
Ivory nodded, his face lit with a smile as he showed them around. Ella watched William run close to the stairs that descended to the lower level, as he thought about stepping onto them.
"William, stay here," she called. To her relief, William obeyed.
Ivory said, "I've traveled the stairs a few times, but I've always been leery about falling. I'm not sure if there are exits downstairs. We're probably safest staying up here. Take a look around. I'm sure you'll be amazed."
"Stay with me while we look around, William," Ella said.
"Okay," William said simply, changing direction and walking close to Ella.
Chapter 26: Fitzgerald
Fitz sat staring at the floor after Franklin stormed out of his quarters. She couldn't give up. She couldn't let him get to Tenbrook. Fitz had seen what Tenbrook was capable of. By walking into his house, Franklin would be entering a situation from which he might never return. Fitz sprang to her feet. Once in the hallway, she ran to catch up. Franklin was almost to the Sanctuary door. She watched him thrust it open with a purpose he hadn't possessed before.
It wasn't purpose, Fitz knew. It was reckless anger. And it would get him killed.
"Franklin!" she called.
Her words might as well have been whispers. He didn't turn, and he didn't stop. She rushed through the hall, catching the door before it closed, emerging into the daylight, even as the bitter chill bit at her skin and made her shiver. The area outside the Sanctuary was empty. The parishioners were gone.
Franklin kept going across the square, striding faster. He veered down one of the streets. It seemed as if he were intentionally leaving her behind. Fitz didn't care if she caused a scene; her only thought was to get Franklin to safety. She fought for breath as she ran after him.
She caught up to Franklin further down the road. He'd rounded a bend. Several soldiers hung in the distance, laughing and chatting, probably on their way back to Tenbrook's. Reaching Franklin, she grabbed his arm and forced him to a halt. The soldiers looked up and noticed.
"Franklin!" Fitz hissed.
"Let go of me," Franklin hissed back. "I'm meeting with Tenbrook."
"You can't do this!"
Walking close enough to be within earshot, one of the soldiers yelled, "Where are you going, Father? Aren't you getting ready for your next sermon?"
The soldiers chuckled.
A seething look crossed Franklin's face.
"I want to meet with Tenbrook," Franklin yelled loudly.
The soldiers went silent. They looked at him with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. "We can bring you there, if you'd like. But you'll have to leave the wench behind."
Franklin took an angry step forward.
Fitz pulled on Franklin's arm. "Don't do this, Franklin," she whispered. "Stay with me, please! I thought of another plan. Give me the chance to tell you about it."
Franklin paused, torn between her words and the conversation he'd started. The soldiers hung in the road, waiting.
Sensing she was getting through to him, Fitz continued. "Tenbrook won't listen. He'll use whatever you say to burn you. That will be a useless death. There's another way. You have to trust me."
The soldiers pivoted, impatient. "Are you coming or not, Father Franklin?"
Franklin stared at them for a minute. He shook his head. "No. I have other matters to attend to," he said finally.
Fitz breathed a sigh of relief and pulled him back toward the Sanctuary.
Chapter 27: Fitzgerald
"Did you hear them? They were laughing at me!" Franklin said, anger still flashing in his eyes. "Aren't they afraid of being burned? I'm an Elder!"
"Tenbrook is playing a game," she said. "He's using his soldiers to undermine your position."
Franklin shook his head in disbelief. "They never would've treated Winthrop this way."
"The soldiers have picked up on Tenbrook's lack of respect. They're trying to get away with things."
"I used to watch the expressions on their faces when they were standing next to Blackthorn, watching Winthrop. They knew Winthrop would never last a day in the battlefield. But they never said anything. Nobody could get away with disrespecting Winthrop."
"Things are different now," Fitz explained. "Tenbrook might've confused some of The People, but the soldiers know exactly what is going on. They know about the revolt. They know about Evan. They sense a change coming, Franklin, and they're aligning with the power in Brighton. That power right now is Tenbrook."
Franklin clenched his hands in frustration. "But I need to punish them. If I don't, then others will sense their disrespect. They laughed at me in public, Fitz!"
"How will you punish them, without Tenbrook's help?" Fitz asked. "Will you have your clergy carry them to the pyre? Or will you carry them yourself?"
Franklin fell silent. He hung his head, running his fingers through his hair. Defeat crossed his face. "I don't know what to do." Franklin breathed a heavy sigh. "Everything I feared is coming true. He's making me irrelevant."
"We need a better plan, Franklin. Rushing into something is an easy way to get killed. That's probably what Tenbrook wants. We'll never win over Tenbrook's soldiers. But we have a chance at winning over The People."
Franklin looked at her. "Outside, you said you had another plan. Were you just trying to lure me back here?"
"At the time," Fitz said with a sigh, looking out the window. "But while we were talking, I had an idea. I thought of another way we can get to The People."
"Something we haven't thought of before?" Franklin's expression showed his disbelief.
Fitz took a moment to formulate her thoughts. "What did Tenbrook's soldiers tell The People before the sermon?"
"They should tend to their work instead of going to the Sanctuary."
"They're discouraged from going to mass," Fitz repeated.
"Yes. Exactly."
"What if we were to hold mass somewhere other than the Sanctuary?" Fitz smiled, the idea becoming clearer as she spoke. "Why not deliver the message to them in the fields, instead of the Sanctuary? That way they'll be able to do their work, but they'll be able to listen."
Franklin opened his mouth, as if he might find fault with the suggestion. He couldn't. After a moment, he said, "You know what, Fitz? That might work. That won't br
eak Tenbrook's guideline. At least, not technically," Franklin said, his hope rising.
"Winthrop would hate that idea." Fitz smiled at the irony.
Franklin sprang for his notes. "We'll start with one of the smaller farms near the Sanctuary. We can test it there."
"Great idea."
"If we hurry, we might be able to round up a few clergymen while we have daylight. I don't want to waste any more time. Come on, Fitz."
Chapter 28: Ella
Ella walked behind William into one of the smaller rooms. It looked like he was trying to get ahead of her, though she couldn't tell for sure. Through cracks in various walls, she saw Bray, Melora, and Ivory exploring a different room. They were chatting in low tones as they pointed at the ceiling.
"William, wait up!" Ella hissed.
The floor was uneven with lumps of dirt, as though animals had called it their home at one time. Thankfully, she didn't see anything now. Ella stepped around the mounds, afraid that she might twist an ankle as she kept close to William. William stopped and examined a hole in the center of a mound of dirt.
"Be careful," she warned. "You never know what type of animal might spring out of there."
William stepped back, shooting her a glance she couldn't interpret. "Whatever it is, we're bigger than it," he said, patting his sword. "I can take care of it."
"I'm sure you can," Ella said, not wanting to argue.
"I can take care of a lot of things." William looked back down at the hole.
"What's wrong, William?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said quietly.
"Are you still upset about what you saw between me and Bray?" Ella said, taking a guess.
William heaved a loud sigh. "He'd better not try it again. If he does, I'll take care of him, too."
"William," Ella said, reaching for his arm. "I should've talked to you earlier. I apologize for not doing that."
William went silent. He stared at the hole in the dirt.
"I already talked to Melora," Ella said, "I know you told her. She was concerned. I told her that she doesn't have to worry. I don't want you to worry, either, William."
"I'm not worried. I'm just watching him. That's all."
William stood rigidly, his hands at his sides. Ella chewed her lip as she tried to think of another approach. She let the silence hang before continuing. "I've been thinking about what you said the other day, about you taking care of yourself."
William's eyes wandered upward as he prepared an argument.
She disarmed him with a smile. "I think you're right. I think you're growing up. You're turning into a young man, just like you said."
"You really think so?" William asked in surprise.
"Yes, I do. Ever since we left Brighton, you've grown up so much. The way you helped us track and find Melora was unbelievable. You're getting so smart. And you've never complained, even though things are a lot harder here than in Brighton." William's body seemed to relax, and she saw a puff of pride in his small shoulders. "I think you're old enough that you can understand what you saw. That's why I want you to believe me that Bray wasn't bothering me."
"But I saw what he did to you."
"I didn't mind," Ella assured him. "I need you to believe that."
"You didn't mind?" William's face turned confused. "But you whispered for him to leave you alone."
"I didn't say that," Ella said, shaking her head. "Maybe you misheard me. I told him we'd talk later. What I really should've done is gone inside and talked to you instead."
William went quiet again, torn between several emotions.
"I'm sorry I didn't speak to you about it earlier, William," Ella said. "That was my fault."
William stood quietly, and she tried to gauge whether her words were getting through to him.
"Will you forgive me?" she asked.
William shrugged noncommittally. The crunch of a footstep distracted them. Ivory was walking over to the room's entrance, the bow in his hand.
"Do you want to try it now?" Ivory called through the mostly broken doorway.
"Yes!" William said, distracted. Before Ella could stop William, he ran ahead of her again.
**
"I was thinking we can shoot at one of the walls," Ivory said, pointing to a distant room in the ancient marketplace that seemed intact.
"The walls will muffle the echo," Bray agreed.
"I'll keep watch on the door. You go first, William," Ella said.
William, Melora, Bray, and Ivory went to the room. Ella hung at the building's front entrance, splitting her attention between the massive room and Bray and her children huddled around Ivory. Ivory unslung his bag and placed it on the ground. He pulled out an arrow.
Ella was still uncertain about Ivory. It was strange, the way he knew so much about the Ancient City. And was it too convenient, the way he'd met Melora? What if he'd been following them?
She still wasn't positive what his motivations were. One of these mornings, she wouldn't be surprised to wake up and find him gone. I'll keep an eye on him, she thought. I won't make the same mistake I made with Bray in the beginning.
When she looked back at Ivory, she noticed that he had dropped an arrow. He reached down to scoop it up.
William crouched down to retrieve it. "I've got it!"
Ella was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice William's shirt sagging, revealing the hard knot on his neck. Ivory's eyes flicked to William's lump. His face changed. Ella opened her mouth, as if she might shout a warning, even though she was too late.
Ivory had discovered William's secret.
Chapter 29: Oliver
Oliver wasn't sure that hiking up the beach was the best idea, but he'd rationalized it anyway, and Beck did little to dissuade him. On the beach, they were able to walk on flat ground without the risk of all the hazards that seemed to be in the ruins nearby, making the ground sometimes too rough to safely cross.
What's more, they were able to see far up and down the beach, so there was no risk they'd stumble on demons without seeing them first. There might be some in the dunes, but they hadn't seen one, nor had they seen any since coming down to the water. Beck speculated that perhaps demons stayed away from the ocean for some reason.
"I meant to ask you," said Oliver, "when we were talking about the round earth, you said the Academy has an archive. You said you had countless items in your archive. What sorts of things do you have?"
"Plastic, mostly," said Beck. "Do you know what plastic is?"
"I used to have a piece before my parents were burned," said Oliver. "Lots of kids do."
"Most of our pieces were given to us by children who found them or who had received them as gifts. When children get older and realize the plastic is worthless, they often donate the pieces to the Academy."
"They're worthless?" Oliver asked.
"Collectors don't want them," said Beck. "Kids collect them because they're unusual, but there's too many of them around. Farmers find pieces in the field all the time. Hunters come across pieces in the forest sometimes. Even smugglers bring in pieces after they've pried the bits of metal out."
"The metal?"
"They find inexplicable things made of a combination of different kinds of plastics and different kinds of metals."
"I didn't know that," said Oliver.
"Most people don't."
After walking for a while longer, Oliver asked, "What is plastic? Where does it come from?"
"The Ancients, of course."
"I know that," said Oliver. "But what's it made from? Is it from a kind of plant that doesn't grow anymore?"
"That's a mystery," said Beck. "Nobody knows."
"Why do you archive them?" asked Oliver.
"The words," said Beck. "Many pieces have words on them, sometimes in a different color than the plastic, sometimes scratched in. It's not uncommon. You've probably seen bits yourself that have words."
Oliver nodded. "I never thought of it as important."
>
"I don't know if it is," said Beck. "But it's unusual, you have to admit that, right?"
"Sure," said Oliver, though he wasn't sure if he agreed.
"I think it has to be one of two things," said Beck. "Either the words on the plastic are important, although no one at the Academy has any clue why, or the writing is of no importance whatsoever. In the absence of context, the words make no sense. In truth, the context would probably make no sense, either. Or, the Ancients wrote trivial things because it was easy for them to do so, and perhaps everybody could read."
Oliver laughed. "Everybody could read? I only know a handful of people who can."
"As I said, both possibilities seem unlikely."
Chapter 30: Franklin
"All true things come from the gods. The Word is true. We hold The Word close, in hopes that our hard hearts accept the things we must suffer," Franklin called, throwing his voice over the wind and into the field. "We toil hard for our families, just as we work hard for Brighton and for each other. That is the true purpose of The Word: to be a community. To help one another."
A group of women, old men, and children grunted as they salvaged the last of their crops in the field. Franklin balanced on the bumpy, frost-burnt soil as he read through his notes. The farmers collected fruits and vegetables, cocking their heads every so often to listen. Franklin watched them as they tucked the produce into their baskets.
At first, the farmers were confused, even a little nervous at having an Elder among them. But after he'd started speaking, they'd fallen into their normal routines, glancing at him less and repeating their catechisms. The children were the first to lose their fear. In between helping their family, they gazed at the clergymen, hope flickering in their eyes.
It was Franklin's intention to capture that hope.
If things went well, he'd move to the next farm. Then the next.
Franklin would reach The People, one frigid field at a time.
He changed his notes from one hand to the other, trying to warm up his fingers. He was cold, but the fact that he'd skirted Tenbrook's law filled him with warmth he hadn't felt since before the burnings.