“I love you,” Dad mouthed before turning with his back towards the doorway and letting the rope take his full weight. With a deep breath he released his grip from the doors edge and held onto the rope as Richy lowered him towards the platform on Eden.
As much as I wanted to make sure Dad arrived safely, my hands white knuckled the seat and my body was rigid. It was my turn next.
“He's down safe. You're turn Aurora,” came Richy's voice through my head piece.
My 'thank you' was barely audible before I took the head piece and placed it beside the chair. Forcing myself to stand up on wobbly legs I shuffled my way towards the door. The gushing air did its best to rip me out before Richy could clip my harness to the rope, making my mouth dry and sticky. Swallowing, I tried to dislodge the lump growing in my throat but all it did was make me sick.
Richy reached out and grabbed my hands pulling me closer to the doorway before grabbing onto my harness shackle and attaching me to the rope. Turning around I let him guide me backwards towards the doorway, the sound of the blades ripping through the air deafening me and hiding the whimper that left my lips. Lowering myself for the rope to take my weight I gripped onto the doors edge as my father had and when the rope went taught I bounced on it a little to ensure it would hold me. It held, but it didn't ease the racing of my heart.
The sound of the rotors ripped through the air, giving me flashbacks of my nightmare where I was sucked up into them and chopped into pieces. Sparkles danced across my vision and I drew in a deep breath to push them away. Leaning back, I closed my eyes until the rope began to lower beneath the helicopter and I grabbed onto my harness, my fingers going numb.
Eyes squeezed shut, I swung this way and that until I had no idea if I was anywhere near the platform I was aiming for. The fear of missing forced me to open my eyes briefly and I glanced down, the darkness of the Earth a black abyss below me. The fear racing through my veins silenced me, not allowing me to so much as scream.
Then there were hands on my torso, crawling up to be under my arms. And my feet touched down onto a hard surface. There was the sound of the unclipping of my harness, the weightlessness of being free and the roar of the helicopter disappearing into the distance.
“Aurora, you did it. Aurora, open your eyes.” My dad's muffled voice forced me to draw in a deep breath and look him straight in the eyes.
“I did it?”
“You look like you're going to pass out on me, but yes, you did it.” His eyes beamed with excitement at what he'd accomplished.
I looked towards Vault, who looked between my father and me. “I did it.”
My eyes widened, and a grin spread wide across my face. I wanted to jump up and down and scream, do cartwheels, something to celebrate what I'd done. But my excitement was short lived.
“I'll close this then we'll head to the vents,” instructed Vault.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Vault pulled a lever to raise the platform we'd landed on and close the doorway in Eden's hull, leaving us in the dim light of a small room. He removed his oxygen mask and Dad and I followed suit.
“I'm Vault, welcome to Eden,” he held out his hand and Dad took it in his and shook.
“Benjamin, and this is my daughter Aurora,” replied Dad.
My body still trembled as the adrenaline from what I'd done left my system and I gave him an awkward wave.
“Leave your harnesses in here,” he instructed.
Dad and I unclipped and stepped out of our harnesses, my body tingling all over.
“This way.” Vault swung open a door and led us down a long corridor lined with metal and dim lights hanging from the ceiling.
It brought home I was back in the world of the Elite and the Guard. Back where I was wanted dead or alive. Back with the people who'd murdered my mother and hunted me down. A cold shiver ran over my body and I hugged my arms around myself.
The corridor turned to the right slightly as we walked, and Vault paused at a doorway, swiping his card across the panel beside it. With a hiss it slid open and Vault beckoned us inside.
The room was small, maybe three strides across both ways, and in front of us and above us were the familiar round grates of the vent's openings.
“I'll have to hoist you up into the vent above us,” began Vault. “You'll need to listen to my instructions carefully, one wrong turn and who knows where you'd end up. Don't need you climbing up onto the streets in front of the Elite Leader Mr. Abell, or worse, the Eden Guard's headquarters.” He gave us an amused smile, but all it did was twist my stomach tighter.
“We'll be fine. You give us the instructions to get as close to the laboratories as possible and we'll do the rest,” replied Dad.
“Once you're up in the vent you'll need to head this way.” Vault pointed towards the right. “It'll be a long crawl I'm afraid, but here are the turn's you'll need to make. Take the right, left and right.”
“Right, left and right. Got it,” repeated Dad.
“Then you'll get to a steep incline. The insides of the vents aren't made much for climbing but I've done it myself, you'll be able to get to the top. Once you get up there, you'll spot the opening. Open it with this.” Vault handed Dad a small screwdriver. “Make sure the coast is clear first. The room's small and rarely used, mostly full of boxes of files and stuff. You'll be in the heart of the Eden Guard Headquarters so don't hang around for long.”
“Noted,” I replied.
“You'll need to hoist yourself up using some of the boxes to get up into the vent opening. When you're back in the vents you'll need to take the left vent until you come to the end where a ladder will take you up to the sidewalk in front of the lab's.”
“Right where we need to be,” said Dad. “Right, give me a hand up.”
Vault crouched down onto one knee holding his hands out cupped together for Dad to use as a foothold. Dad stepped onto his hand and jumped gripping onto the sides of the open vent. The muscles in his arms flexed as he strained to pull himself up inside, but soon his legs disappeared with plenty of grunting and groaning and his face and arms appeared staring down at us.
“You're turn,” he grinned.
Vault did the same for me as he had for Dad, and with my much lighter weight, he easily thrust me up towards the vent where Dad took a hold of my upper arms and pulled me inside with him.
“Best of luck you two. You have exactly twenty-four hours to be back in this room. I'll contact the chopper as soon as you arrive,” called Vault.
“See you then,” replied Dad as he pulled a flashlight from his belt and flicked it on. “You ready to do this?”
Looking ahead of him it was impossible to make out how far the vent would go. The darkness caved in around us and our small flashlight.
“Sure, I love small dark tunnels,” I moaned.
“That's my girl.” He shone the torch up at his face, casting shadows around his eyes and nose.
Dad turned and began crawling his way through the vent and I followed close behind him. The vents weren't as claustrophobic with only two bodies making their way through them. It also helped I hadn't been made to go first and I concentrated on keeping up with Dad, shuffling as he did, keeping the dim glow of his torch under my hands. If only Fletcher had seen what I'd done. Hanging from the bottom of a helicopter. He understood what I had to do, but I couldn't have imagined the fear coursing through my veins. Maybe I was lucky he hadn't seen me. My face was sure to have turned a pale white.
“Right.” Dad's voice gave me a fright and I jumped smacking my head on the vent above me. “You okay?”
“Yup, you scared the crap outta me.” I rubbed at my head as best as I could while keeping up as we took the right vent over the left.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked, his voice muffled as it echoed back to me.
“About what a sight I must've been when I was hanging under the helicopter. Fletcher would've found it hilarious.” I shook my head.
“Fletcher.” He h
ung on the name for a moment. “What's going on with you two anyway?”
“Daaad,” I whined in a singsong voice.
“What? I'm your old man, I'm supposed to be worried about these things.”
“Dad, it's Fletch. There's nothing to worry about.” I scrunched my face up not wanting to talk to my dad about boys of all things.
“There is if he's interested in my little girl,” he argued.
“I'm not exactly little anymore. Plus, Fletcher and I are good friends.” Despite the words coming out of my mouth, I didn't believe them anymore. Something had shifted between us. Something that made my stomach flutter, but also scared me more than hanging out of the helicopter.
“Well, if you were ever to become more than 'friends', I want you to know I approve,” he said.
I smirked to myself as Dad took a left turn, and the smile didn't fade until we took another right turn. Then the sight of Dad's knees slipping from under him made my grin fade away.
“Guess this is the incline,” he said.
Widening his knees he placed the torch in his mouth, splaying his hands against the sides of the vent, pushing with his toes and pressing with his fingers. With some effort he got away in front of me and I scrambled to keep up as to not lose the light of his torch. I had my own, but carrying it, and making my way up the incline looked difficult.
“Kay?” Dad mumbled with the torch between his teeth.
“Yup, getting my footing.” My muscles ached as I wedged my toes onto the metallic surface of the vent and I pressed my palms into the walls beside me.
Inch by inch, we continued up until my fingers throbbed and my knees and calves ached.
“Nearly there,” Dad said much clearer and soon I saw him sitting above me panting.
I pulled myself up to join him and we both rested a moment giving our aching muscles a chance to recuperate.
“I'm not as fit as I use to be,” he puffed.
“Did a lot of crawling up vent's when you were younger did you?” I asked.
“You'll be surprised at some of the adventures your old man had.” His lips turned up into a cheeky grin.
“I'm not sure anything would surprise me anymore,” I confessed.
“Yes, well. Your mother would've had a heart attack if she heard I was dragging you along on one of them.”
I rolled my eyes. My mother wouldn't have noticed if I was missing half of the time.
Noticing the shift in my mood Dad tried to console me. “She loved you…”
“In her own way,” I sighed. “You can stop it Dad. I know, and she spent the last moments of her life saving me. Doesn't take away all of the years of being alone and unwanted.”
“I know sweetheart.” His expression grew solemn.
“Let's get to this room Vault mentioned. I'm ready to stretch out my poor limbs.”
Dad turned back onto all fours to crawl forward towards the grate in front of us marking the end of the vent. He turned the torch toward me as he peered through the grate ensuring the room was indeed empty. The coast was clear and he passed me the torch to shine on the grate so he could unscrew the screws holding it in place.
Soon he'd removed all the screws and gently lowered the grate down onto some boxes below the opening. I passed him back his torch and he climbed from the vent helping me down onto some boxes and to the ground.
Both of us stretched our necks, arms, and legs, enjoying having space to move. But Vault had warned us not to stay in one place for too long, so Dad soon began stacking the boxes around us against the wall to reach up to the vent in the ceiling.
Dad clambered up the boxes, only stopping once to maintain his balance, and hoisted himself into the vent before turning around and poking his head through the hole.
“Your turn.” His amusement ringing through his voice.
I rolled my eyes. “You're enjoying this aren't you?”
“Maybe. It's been a long time since I spent so much time with my little girl.”
“And since you got to go on secret missions on floating cities,” I added.
“That too. But it's cool to be able to go on one with my daughter.”
“Cool? Did you say cool?” I climbed up onto the first box, wobbling a little as I found my balance and crawled up onto the pile.
“What? Your old man's cool isn't he?”
“You got the old man part right.” I laughed.
I climbed up onto the last box and reached up for his outstretched arms. As I did the weight of the box shifted beneath my feet, and it slid to the side sending me off balance. Dad's eyes widened as I leapt, reaching for his forearms and he grabbed onto mine with a firm grip as boxes crashed to the ground below me. The noise echoed through the darkness of the small room and I swung in mid-air for a moment before Dad hoisted me up into the vent.
“Let's get out of here in case someone heard us,” he said, and we took off down the tunnel.
At a quicker pace than before, we crawled through the vent, trying to put as much distance between us and the room of boxes as we could. Vault had said the room was usually left alone, but the idea of attracting unwanted attention from the Eden Guard still made my heart race. After a turn to the left we soon found ourselves at the ladder Vault had told us we'd find. Metal rungs were welded to the side of the vertical tunnel and Dad began climbing with the torch back in his mouth and I followed close behind him.
A dim light glowed down the tube towards us revealing the surface was near, and an excitement bubbled through me. Eden. I was going to see the floating city of Eden. As we neared the top the sound of laughing could be heard in the distance and Dad switched off his torch and returned it to his belt. He pressed against the grate covering the tunnels entrance and I followed him as he climbed out. We emerged in a narrow alleyway between two tall buildings, both taller than the Saxby's three story mansion on Utopia. I looked up, admiring the gleam of their metallic surfaces, running my hands along a wall.
“They're different aren't they?” asked Dad.
“They're amazing.”
“Well don't get too bewildered. We still have to cross the pathway down that alleyway and then make it two blocks to the labs. Then I have to convince Kylie to hear me out and not hand us over to the Eden Guard.” He tilted his head from side to side as he spoke.
“You think she'd do that?” I asked.
“I hope not. She was always loyal. But it's been four years and she doesn't handle pressure well. Let's cross our fingers and hope for the best.” He raised his crossed fingers.
He took off towards the end of the alleyway and I followed close behind him. The familiar temperature of the floating cities comforted me. No more extreme heat or freezing cold, the temperature was perfect. But as we peered out from our hiding spot in the alleyway it was evident the temperature was the only part of Eden that resembled Utopia. Despite the late hour, a group of teenagers stood under the bright glow of a streetlight and random people ambled up and down the paths. Not only were they out late, but each of them wore their hair in different styles, not a ponytail, plait or crew cut in sight. One lady had her hair all twisted up into a bright pink bun on top of her head, while the person beside her had bright blue strands covering half of their face.
Their clothing matched their wild hairstyles. Bright patterns, to rival the horrid floral dress Lula had forced me to wear in the Freedom camp. Tight long pants, puffy sleeves, they were the clothing of my nightmares.
“Don't get distracted,” Dad pulled me from my staring and took my wrist, guiding me across the pathway towards another gap between two buildings.
I noticed a few people glance our way, but the rest of the group continued with their loud conversation. “Have you seen the latest designer shoes? I'm going to get myself some in florescent green, they're to die for.”
“I've already bought two pairs. Yellow and Blue. They go perfectly with my orange designer skirt,” boasted a woman.
Their conversation made me want to barf. It also made me
want to hug Mr. Saxby for making us wear our boring clothes on Utopia.
We made our way down the alleyway and out the other side, across another pathway was a mirrored building in the shape of a dome.
“Is that?”
“The laboratory. It's awesome, isn't it?” asked Dad.
“It's amazing,” I replied, my mouth agape.
“Are you crossing your fingers?” asked Dad.
I held both hands up showing him my index and middle fingers crossed over.
“Let's go see Kylie.” I tried to ignore his hard swallow before we darted across the path.
* * *
Dad pressed the silver button beside the entrance repeatedly, his gaze sweeping back and forth behind us. “Come on Kylie, you have to be here.”
“Dad, we can't stay here. It's way too open.” A group of people ambled by looking at us before turning to each other and laughing.
“You're right, get around the corner. I'll have to come up with something else.” As he stopped pressing the button a screen lit up above where he'd been pressing and a drowsy eyed woman with platinum blonde hair swept up into a messy bun appeared on the screen.
“Kylie,” Dad sighed in relief.
“What on Eden do you want? Do you know what time it is?” Kylie grumbled as she slid glasses over her eyes and peered at the screen.
Dad plastered on his corniest grin.
Kylie's eyes widened. She pulled her glasses down and rubbed at them, then they widened once more. “Ben…”
“The one and only. Can you let me inside? I'm supposed to be dead you know.”
Kylie hesitated for a moment, then began nodding to herself before the screen went black. The door slid open in front of us and Dad ushered me inside.
Lights blinked on as the door slid closed and Kylie made her way towards us wrapping herself in a soft lemon dressing gown.
Eden (Secrets of Aurora Book 2) Page 17