by Greg Dragon
He nodded. “I smuggled them out. They’re headed where no one can ever use them again.”
“Why did you come back?” I asked softly.
He didn’t answer, but we both knew. Our eyes met again, and he seemed to be looking for something in mine. The hardness of the man gave way to the boy. He looked at me with a searching, pleading expression. I felt myself falling, totally and completely—like jumping out of a chopper but without the wing suit. I’d never felt this way with Dresden.
A flash of clarity brought me back to reality. Dresden. We’d gotten back together . . . hadn’t we? He was helping me, risking everything for me. For us.
Vance watched me carefully. “It’s Bike Boy, isn’t it? He’s your contact at the academy.”
“Yeah.” It was barely a whisper.
He pulled away, letting out a deep, frustrated breath. “Is he really what you want?”
“No.” The answer slipped out before I realized it, and I took a deep breath. “He was once, but now—I don’t know. Now that you’re here, it complicates things.”
His expression darkened. “I tend to do that, complicate things.”
“I didn’t mean it that way, Vance. A week ago I had it all figured out, and then I met you, and what I’ve always wanted suddenly seemed so stupid. And now they’re trying to force me back into that dream, with Dresden again, and that’s not what I want anymore.”
“What do you want?” He threw his hands in the air. “Don’t think about it—just say it. Tell me exactly what you want, because frankly, nobody else is asking.”
“I’m not—I don’t—”
“You know what I want?” He gripped my shoulders. “I want us to run away. Right now. Leave all this nonsense about attacking the palace behind, and let all those mindless citizens go on with their dreary lives. You don’t have to fight for them, Treena. Mills showed me how to get my family out, but I couldn’t leave without you.”
My mouth worked soundlessly, as if my brain and my lips were disconnected. Vance could have escaped, and yet he came back for me. He wanted me. Vance was alive, and he wanted me to leave with him. I tried to process his words, but it was all too incredible to believe.
It was as if someone held a precious jewel in front of me, one that I’d never dreamed I could actually own, and my arms were tied so I couldn’t take it. After all this, there was no way I could abandon my people now. I couldn’t let Tali’s death and Jasper’s sacrifice mean nothing, not when I had the opportunity to change things. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. The system is rigged against you—you couldn’t succeed, even with half the nation on your side. Mills only has a few hundred followers, Treena. You’re going up against the empress, the commander, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers. There’s only one way this can end.” His expression was pleading now, and I felt a stab of pain somewhere between my heart and my stomach. “Please. Come with me. They’ll figure things out when we’re gone, maybe come up with a better plan that actually has a chance.”
I sighed. “I know it sounds crazy, but I have to do this. I can’t spend the rest of my life wondering.” Wondering if I could do it. Wondering what happened to my mom, to Konnor and his ambitions, to Jasper in the hospital. To the people I had abandoned. “I wish you could understand. I do care about you, and I want to be with you. But I can’t run away, not yet.”
He folded his arms and nodded as if he’d expected that answer. I could almost feel him slide his protective wall back into place. When he spoke, it was the voice of a stranger. “Fair enough.” He turned and put his hand on the stair rail, but paused. “I also came to deliver a message, in case you decided to stay. It’s from my clan.”
“Your clan? You met with them?”
“The few that I could find. Most are scattered, but there are about eighty who have managed to congregate. They’ve set up a communication system using the smugglers. It took some talking, but they agreed to help you ascend. On two conditions.”
“If I let them go home,” I replied.
He nodded.
“Of course. If we succeed, they’re free to go. Not just your clan but anyone who wants to leave. What’s the second condition?”
Vance watched me for a moment, his expression hard. “That I can’t tell you. It’s a condition for me, not for you, and nothing you’d care about anyway.”
I longed to throw my arms around him, to tell him that all I wanted was him, that I would follow him anywhere. That my world had died with him when the chopper exploded. But something told me that would only make this harder. The thought of him leaving and never coming back made me scramble to say something, anything. “Don’t leave. Please.”
His expression slipped, just a little, and exposed the pain beneath, but he covered it quickly. “My window of opportunity is rapidly closing. It’s now or never.”
“Your clan needs you. I need you.”
“Believe me, no one knows better what my clan needs. I’ll think of a way to get them out, and we’ll find a better place to settle, far away from NORA’s grasp.”
A realization dawned. “You’re next in line with your dad gone, aren’t you?”
“Would have been.” The look of naked pain on his face was enough to break down my defenses and send me running into his arms. “I really do hope you win, Treena. Be careful.” He whirled and stormed downstairs.
Then it was quiet again, except for the annoying sound of birdsong in the plastic trees.
41
I stopped by the Red hospital later that day, which was basically a small house with a converted second floor. They let me in but told me to keep it quick. Jasper lay flat in bed, shirtless and pale, a sheet tucked up under his arms. His eyes were closed. I sat softly on the chair at his bedside, unsure whether to wake him. In case things went badly for me tonight, I wanted to say one last good-bye. Instead, I sat and studied the man I would have called Dad.
He still had a thick head of chestnut-brown hair, although it was graying at the edges. The skin crinkled at the corners of his eyes. This man had chosen to abandon me and my mother. We shared the same DNA, but nothing about our lives was the same. Now that I’d found him, it seemed the fates were determined to keep us apart again. Even if he lived, I probably wouldn’t survive the night. It was strange, how rational that thought was. Or maybe I was just numb at this point.
Jasper’s hand suddenly grasped mine, and I nearly jumped in surprise. His head turned a bit to look at me. “Hi, Ametrine.” His voice was barely a whisper.
“Hi. How are you feeling?”
“Fantastic.” A twinkle in his eye told me that he still had his humor at least. He took a painful breath. “The protest?”
“Tonight. Mills said nighttime meant less civilian casualties. I need to get ready soon, actually. I just wanted to check on you first.” How can I lead an army by myself? Why did you have to get hurt?
“Your . . . stone.” He was looking at my necklace. I usually kept it hidden under my uniform, but the top collar of my uniform was unzipped just enough that he could see it. “She gave it—to you.”
“Shh, don’t talk,” I said, grasping the stone with my other hand. “Yes, Lanah gave it to me on my Rating Day—the day my life turned upside down.”
His face grew serious, and then he struggled to speak. “Not . . . just . . . your Rating.”
“Jasper, it’s okay. You don’t have to speak.”
He spat the words out more forcefully. “Your Rating. Not just because . . . you’re the successor.”
I paused. “What do you mean?”
He took a moment to gather his strength. When he finally spoke, it was a whisper. “Your stone. It’s ametrine.”
I didn’t understand at first. “My stone?”
“Yes.” He stared at me as if hoping I would understand.
“Wait. Lanah said you wanted me to be named Ametrine. After this stone?”
His lips curved upward in a soft smile.
“Is that because you’re named aft
er a stone too?”
Jasper’s smile widened. And then I knew. The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. It was true—Peak’s posterity were all named after stones. Tali’s mother had been right after all. “You’re a descendent of Richard Peak.”
He let his breath out slowly and gave a slight nod. “So are . . . you.”
I sat back. It didn’t change anything, but it was a stunning realization just the same. I had accused Jasper of selfishness and abandonment, and here he was, trying to help me understand our family’s legacy. “You left us because the empress offered you power, right? Because she was young and beautiful. Or was there more to it than that?”
He just watched, as if waiting.
“There’s got to be more. Is it what she would have done to us, if you refused?” The look in my father’s eyes was something I’d never forget. It was a mixture of pain, sorrow, and relief. He didn’t have to say it. “She would’ve sought Lanah out, taken out the competition. Just like she’s doing to me now.”
“Yes.”
Of course. I thought he loved me, my mom had said. I guess I was wrong. But he had loved her, and sacrificed a lot for her. She just didn’t know it.
How long had he wanted me to understand this? How long had he beaten himself up over it? And I’d blamed him for my low Rating. It wasn’t him at all.
It was all her. The empress. The imposter. What we were doing was right. She had destroyed my family. She’d caused hundreds of deaths and separated families, all in the name of her little empire. But there was something she didn’t know. A Peak had started the Rating system, and a Peak would remove it.
“I love you, Ametrine.” His eyes glistened with unspoken emotion.
“I love you too, Dad,” I said, realizing that it was absolutely true.
42
I cursed and retreated back into the shadows. A slow-moving vehicle hummed by, and the sidewalk went bright for a moment, then dark again. The entire monitor force seemed to be patrolling tonight, complicating my grand escape. I’d be miles past the wall by now on any other night. If Mills thought his protest tonight was a secret, he was a fool.
Wishing I could stretch my legs, I arched my back and looked up. Despite the streetlights, the sky was a deep black. Not a star in sight. I wondered how many citizens had even seen the stars in their lifetime. They’d probably never felt the need to gaze upward, had never weighed their singular insignificance against the magnitude of the universe.
Treena had, on our early morning walk. She would have loved my favorite stargazing spot up Lightning Creek trail, overlooking what had once been a fertile green valley. That would never happen now.
She made her choice. It’s her loss, not mine.
When the patrol vehicle was out of sight, I turned back to my escape plan. I’d been here dozens of times, but the massive wall was still daunting. Eleven feet thick and thirty feet tall, the metal slab extended the entire length of NORA’s eastern border. During the day, it reflected the hot sun like a giant mirror. Even now, in the cool part of night, it probably radiated heat. The electricity buzzing through the metal was deafening in the silence of a sleeping city.
Citizens thought it was to keep outlanders out. It was probably the other way around.
I pulled into the shadows again, letting out a long, frustrated breath. I hadn’t planned past this point. Any citizen trying to escape over the wall would be punished with their techband. Since I didn’t have one anymore, that wasn’t an issue, but I still had to deal with the electricity. There had to be a weakness, some way to disable the current and climb over. And I had to do it soon, before my clan realized I was escaping.
Laughter echoed through the empty streets. I carefully stuck my head out from behind the corner, just enough to watch the border wall guards shuffle off, replaced by two new ones—a heavy-set man and a tall, athletic-looking woman. I squinted as they took their positions. The soft glow of the light behind them illuminated what I’d never noticed in the daylight. A door. It was nearly invisible, but the shadows revealed some kind of handhold that looked like a doorknob in the surface of the wall’s metal.
I crouched, then shuffled around the corner, ducking behind a parked vehicle just as another patrol transport came by. Its headlights illuminated much of the road, making the shadows contort and rotate, and then it turned down the next darkened street.
The female guard swatted at her partner. “Quit looking so nervous. It took me forever to convince Blare to put us together. Just act natural.”
The man beside her grunted. “Not too hard considering nobody’s even told me what’s going on.”
“Oh, quit pouting. I only know the plan because Mills needed exact coordinates for his stupid missile. I’m the only one on the force who was qualified.”
I’d started to creep closer, but at the mention of Mills, I froze midstep.
“He really has one, then? I thought he was just pretending,” the man said.
“Far as I know. Not sure if it still works, though. I guess it doesn’t matter whether it’s seventy years old or brand-new—you shoot it, and it’ll explode somewhere.”
“Hopefully not in his face.”
“Why not? We’ve already been paid.”
More laughter. Without realizing it, I had retreated back to the parked transport. A missile? Mills’s plan didn’t involve a missile, and even if it did, why would the border guards know about it?
“What I don’t understand,” her partner said, “is why he hasn’t shot it yet. What could he be waiting for? Every second, the chances are higher that he’ll be detected.”
“That’s the genius of it. Mills sent some kind of distraction, something sure to draw the empress out. Probably the whole Council, too. In one strike he’ll take out both branches of government. ‘Like fish in a barrel,’ he said.”
The man paused. “Fish in a barrel? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“No idea. Must be an Integrant thing.”
I sat against the cold metal of the vehicle, anger burning through my body, hot and thick. Mills was an Integrant. Or rather, he was an outlander, and probably far outside the borders right now. That would explain why the guy refused to appear in person at meetings. How convenient that we had agreed to run his rebellion for him. All he had to do was sit back and orchestrate it all, with no risk to himself. Brilliant, actually. He’d throw the whole country into chaos by taking out the entire government at once. And its successor.
Treena.
“So when are we supposed to let him back in?” the man asked. “When the missile strikes?”
“Shh! Here comes another patrol. You don’t want to get thrown in prison tonight, believe me.”
“Hey, you’re the one who brought it up.”
I couldn’t understand the rest of what they said. My breathing came hard and fast, and rage muddled my thoughts. Treena. She thought she was saving people, making peace. Mills obviously had other plans for her and the hundreds of innocent citizens supporting her. A lot of people would die tonight.
But both sides hated me—NORA’s citizens because I was a red and an outlander, my clan because I had changed sides. I didn’t belong in either world. If I was going to escape, the chaos that would ensue tonight would be the perfect cover. I could overpower the guards in seconds and escape out the door to freedom.
Keep them safe, my father had said. His last words. Well, I’d done that, practically selling my soul to NORA for two years and then making that stupid agreement with Mills—he’d arranged for my family to be smuggled out yesterday. They were already outside the wall somewhere, waiting for me to join them and start a new life. If we went far enough east, no one would ever find us. We could survive on our own.
If I stayed, I knew what my clan would do. In a small settlement where people depended on each other so much, treason was unforgiveable. I’d be executed.
Keep them safe.
Them.
My memory was clear, the words unforgettable. Da
d hadn’t said to keep my family safe. He had said to keep “them” safe. Was he referring to his people or his family? If it was the clan, I had failed miserably. Even if I hadn’t spent the past two years rounding them up, I had just talked the remainder of my clan into joining the rebellion. They would be arriving at the square any minute, completely unaware that a missile was aimed in their direction. What was left of our clan would be decimated.
Keep them safe.
I had once asked Dad what it was like to be the clan leader. He gave me a thoughtful expression, set his book down on his lap, and said, “A leader doesn’t just order people around, Vance. He gives himself to his people, sacrifices his wants for the needs of everyone. My grandfather died serving in the Old American War. When the dust died down, my father built this settlement and welcomed any who wanted to join us in peace. I’m proud to call myself a Hawking, and you’ll make an even better leader someday.”
That future had been torn from me. NORA had nearly succeeded in taking who I was, but they couldn’t alter my DNA. If Dad was here now, there was no question what he would choose.
I crept away, waiting for the sound of footsteps and shouting behind me, but the night was still. The square was over twelve miles away.
Once I turned the corner, I took off running.
43
This was the stupidest thing I’d ever done.
I adjusted my sequin-lined uniform dress as we walked, chilled by the cool night air and incredibly self-conscious. Mills had insisted I look the part of the successor tonight. I felt ridiculous. He’d placed me at the head of our mob—although the 230 worried faces behind me looked more like a death march than a mob—and insisted I make myself visible to unite the people. It wasn’t going so well.
We’d started at the store, shouting “Treason” to wake up the neighbors. Now, several kilometers later, our chanting had become a bit more subdued. Even our whispers echoed sharply against the hard surfaces of the roads and buildings. Mills had said our march would impassion and ignite the people, but nobody came out as we passed. Instead, we’d grown accustomed to the sound of locks being shoved into place. We were on our own.