by Nina D'Aleo
“There‘s only one way to find out,” I whispered. I tried to calm myself, find that feeling I’d been trying to shut down. I felt it rising up within me and didn’t fight it this time. I just took off running—my hand sweeping over the beds and bars and gurneys as I went. Fast as a descriptive really didn’t cut it—I was supersonic and my touch sent healing power into the prisoners. Tubes started popping out, chains started breaking—they were sitting up, standing, older children helping the younger ones. Some looked more confused and lost than others. Some just looked angry. It was so surreal it felt like I was still dreaming.
“Come on!” I heard Dark shout. “Follow me out!”
I ran up and down both sides of the warehouse, then tried to stop but failed—skidding and smashing into the wall. Dark dragged me up.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Two minutes,” he told me.
“So let’s go!” I said, then shouted out to the prisoners who had started to huddle behind us. “We’re breaking you free. Keep up!”
We headed, in a stampeding mass, toward the back of the compound. I started thinking we were going to make it. They weren’t going to catch us. But then a locked gate rose up before us, blocking off the exit. I slammed into the steel and was immediately shunted back by a volt of electricity.
I scrambled up to my feet and blocked Dark from getting any closer. “It’s electrified.”
“Can you shut it down?”
A sudden faintness swept over me and I half collapsed, smashing my knee on the concrete. I closed my eyes, trying to fight the way everything was rocking and shaking. I could hear the people around me breathing heavy, starting to panic, and I could hear the footsteps of the soldiers closing in behind us.
“Marco!” Dark shouted into his phone. “You need to shut down this gate!”
Marco’s muffled reply came through. “I’m trying!”
“Try harder!” Dark demanded, just as we heard yelling behind us.
“Freeze! Get down on the ground!”
“I can’t do it!” Marco yelled through the phone. “Something’s crashing my computer!”
The gate suddenly sparked up with a loud drone that zapped into silence. I couldn’t hear the electricity humming anymore.
“It’s down!” I said to Dark and he ran forward and kicked the gate, smashing it open. The prisoners crashed through as shots rang out behind us. Screams rose from the crowd and I ducked low, drawing my TRANQ gun. I aimed toward the oncoming soldiers and started firing, dropping one after the other. I saw Jovic and Feng diving behind a row of desks and felt a momentary flash of pain for Jovic. He didn’t know.
“Sil! Come on!” Dark shouted behind me. We ran through the gate and out of the warehouse, down the stairs to where the prisoners had gathered. Willow and Marco shoved through the crowd toward us.
“You did it,” I panted to Marco.
“No—someone else hacked in. You know a Byter?”
Dark and I exchanged a quick look and I nodded.
“Where’s Rocco?” Willow asked, her voice rushed and shaking. The rain began to pelt down heavier, as the shouts from inside the warehouse started closing in.
Beyond the compound fence I spotted something moving—growing larger and darker by the second. Shock and amazement blazed through me.
“He’s here,” I murmured.
The ship was gliding forward, just hovering above the road, with Rocco standing at the front. It wasn’t a six person deal either—it was huge. Dark cursed beside me just before it struck the fence, ripping it down and flattening it. The ground trembled as Rocco extended a ramp from the deck high above. We heard him shout—
“Move!”
No one needed more motivation than the gunshots behind us. Dark and I stayed at the back of the pack—shoving people up ahead of us, shouting for them to move faster. The General’s soldiers and the C11 agents burst out the back of the facility, opening fire. It was company policy—shoot first, ask later. Dark started returning fire, live rounds that made the soldiers lunge for cover. It gave us a chance to run up the ramp with Willow and Marco, the last ones aboard.
“Hang on to something,” Rocco shouted as he used his skills to send the ship speeding backward. I stumbled and fell onto my hands and knees and saw several others do the same. Some were clinging on to ropes and planks and objects, their faces pale and eyes wide with fear.
The ship was really gliding now—moving down the streets, past cars and apartment buildings. I caught blurry glimpses of shocked faces staring at us from windows and it made me smile. Let C11 try to cover this up—let the General try to explain a ship cruising down Main Street. Dark looked over at me, his hair blown back by the wind, and I could tell he was thinking the same thing.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Define okay,” I replied.
He snorted. Some of the freed Shaman had started to ask questions, calling out for us to answer them.
“You rest. I’ll talk to them,” he said and I shook my head. Dark comforting the distressed and confused usually involved a combination of buck up, shut up, stop crying for nothing, get over it and move on. And none of these people needed that kind of motivational speech right now.
Another wave of disorientation struck me and I squeezed my eyes shut. When I opened them again I spotted Dark at the back of the ship awkwardly patting a sobbing man on the shoulder. Marco and Willow were among the freed as well. Willow was sitting cross-legged with a bunch of kids and Marco was showing them something on his laptop. It sounded like a children’s program. It made me think of the dream and my brother’s baby… Had I seen the future? And then Omen appeared behind Willow, just standing there with his hands in the pockets, present for a few moments before vanishing. We all suddenly jolted as the boat reached the shore, crashing into the water. We’d finally made it to the docks. Rocco didn’t slow it there—he just kept sailing us through the water. I managed to scramble to my feet and went over to where he stood. His eyes were closed and he was concentrating deeply. I touched his arm and he raised his head, turning to me.
“Are they following us?”
“They’re trying, but we’re faster,” he said. His eyes moved over my face. “I’ll head for the cruise ship, but we have to expect it will be a trap.”
I nodded and looked back to the young Shamans, the ones who had been imprisoned. “Are they awake?”
He glanced over his shoulder, “Some are, some aren’t. We’ll need everybody up to speed by the time we reach the ship.”
“I don’t want to be the one to wake them. I don’t want to use these abilities.” I held my hands out in front of me. “I’m going to end up losing it like Omen did.”
Rocco shook his head. “That’s no certainty of that. We’re all different.”
“But if I do?”
He stared across the dark waters and said quietly, “We’ll deal with that if we come to it.”
The dizziness threatened to drop me again and I stumbled against Rocco. “Sorry,” I murmured, shaking my head, trying to get clear.
“Don’t be,” he replied, sounding closer than before.
I looked up just as he kissed me, warm lips pressing against mine. For a moment I was confused, the thought running through my mind that he didn’t need to act as though we were together anymore, but when he pulled back I saw the look in his eyes. He wasn’t acting. I was sure I was about to say something insightful, maybe even witty, but then a violent surge of disorientation collapsed my legs from beneath me and I ended up dropping to my knees in front of him and somehow accidently ripping down his pants in the falling process. It really wasn’t the subtle segue into romance I’d been imagining, but I was too sick to register embarrassment. I collapsed down on one side with an inelegant grunt.
Rocco knelt beside me and said, “It’ll get easier. Just breathe. Try to relax.”
I closed my eyes and took in deep breaths of the salty sea air, my mind full of thoughts of my family. Were they safe? Were
any of us safe? What was the General planning? One thing was for certain—whether the rest of the world knew it or not—we were now at war.
Acknowledgments
This book would never have seen the light of day if it wasn’t for my incredible agent, Sophie Hamley—my deep gratitude again and always.
All my love to my family—my husband, George and my sons, Josef and Daniel, and to Mum, Dad, Berto, Emma and Charlotte.
My heartfelt thanks to everyone at Momentum, most especially Joel Naoum and Mark Harding for their ongoing support and creative brilliance, as well as the wonderful editors Tara Goedjen and Kate O’Donnell.
Much love to my friends and family for their encouragement and support, with an especially huge thanks to Barbara Pitt and Karla Johnston, the best friends a person could hope for.
About Nina D’Aleo
Nina D’Aleo wrote her first book at age seven (a fantasy adventure about a girl named Tina and her flying horse). Due to most of the book being written with a feather dipped in water, no one else has ever read “Tina and White Beauty.” Many more dream worlds and illegible books followed. Nina blames early exposure to Middle-earth and Narnia for her general inability to stick to reality. She also blames her parents. And her brother.
Nina has completed degrees in creative writing and psychology. She currently lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her husband, George, their two sons, Josef and Daniel, and two cats Mr Foofy and Gypsy. She spends most of her days playing with toys, saying things like “share,” “play gentle,” and “let’s eat our veggies” and hearing things like “no,” “no way” and “NEVER!”. She is also working on more books—including the next book in The Demon War Chronicles series.
Also by Nina D’Aleo
The Last City: The Demon War Chronicles 1
An intoxicating blend of noir crime, science fiction and fantasy, The Last City is Blade Runner meets Perdido Street Station.
Scorpia – the last city of Aquais – where the Ar Antarians rule, the machine-breeds serve and in between a multitude of races and species eke out an existence somewhere between the ever-blazing city lights and the endless darkness of the underside.
As a spate of murders and abductions grip the city, new recruit Silho Brabel is sent to the Oscuri Trackers, an elite military squad commanded by the notorious Copernicus Kane. But Silho has a terrible secret and must fight to hide her strange abilities and monstrous heritage.
As the team delve deeper into Scorpia’s underworld, they discover a nightmare truth.
Hunted by demons, the Trackers must band together with a condemned fugitive, a rogue wraith and a gangster king and stake their lives against an all-powerful enemy to try to save one another and their world.
The Last City is the first book in The Demon War Chronicles.
For more information, please visit momentumbooks.com.au/books/last-city/.
Also by Nina D’Aleo
The Forgotten City: The Demon War Chronicles 2
The battle is over. The war begins.
Scorpia City enters a new era. The Androts have fallen and the gangsters rule.
The Trackers stand scarred but together, unaware that a new threat stalks them from the shadows of a dying world. A nightmare from Silho’s past returns to claim her, driven by an evil more formidable than anything the team has faced before. The Indemeus X has risen.
As the team is ripped apart, new alliances are forged, enemies unite and friendships fall apart. Diega and Shawe fight to survive a new and violent world, while Eli ventures into the darkest levels of the city, making a shocking discovery that will change everything.
Meanwhile in a forgotten place built on secrets and lies, a city spirals into madness, and hope emerges from the darkness.
The Forgotten City is the second book in The Demon War Chronicles.
For more information, please visit momentumbooks.com.au/books/last-city/.
First published by Momentum in 2014
This edition published in 2014 by Momentum
Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney 2000
Copyright © Nina D’Aleo 2014
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
A CIP record for this book is available at the National Library of Australia
The White List
EPUB format: 9781760081218
Mobi format: 9781760081225
Print on Demand format: 9781760081331
Cover design by Matt O'Keefe
Edited by Kate O'Donnell
Proofread by Thomasin Litchfield
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