by Nick James
“Pearls,” I sigh. “That’s all the Unified Party cares about.”
“Pearls and Jesse Fisher,” Avery replies. “Mentioning you was my biggest mistake.”
I scoff. “But you have no problem selling out Alkine and the Academy.”
“It’s not an easy position-”
“Yeah. I bet it’s not.”
“It’s not,” she counters. “Both Skyship and the Surface have their problems. You know that. There are spies everywhere. Take Skandar’s dad, right? You’re not mad at him for spying on the Unified Party.”
“Because we’re the good guys!” The words come out louder than I mean them to.
Avery shakes her head. “It’s never that simple.”
“Tell that to those government cruisers trying to shoot us out of the sky.”
She frowns. “They’ll be shooting at me too, after what I’ve done. Cassius was supposed to take you to the Lodge today. I couldn’t let that happen.”
I grimace. “How do I know that you’re not in on it too?”
“I can’t-” She stops and reaches up to her forehead. Her eyes shut in pain.
“Avery?”
“Headache,” she whispers. “Ever since we left the Academy.” She rubs her temple for a moment before opening her eyes. “It’s gone.”
I look down at the floor, tracing circles with my finger in the dirt-stained concrete. “You didn’t have to work for the government,” I mutter.
She sighs. “It was my job.”
“You can change jobs.”
She lays her hand on her knee, bowing her head. “Not some.”
A silence fills the tight room. Someone thumps against the far wall, followed by muttering from the neighboring cell. More prisoners. Probably Fringers caught trading with Skyship.
“Look,” Avery starts. “I know it’s going to be hard for you to trust me. It should be. But I’m on your side now. I wanted you to spy on Alkine’s meeting so that you’d know the truth. Anything you want me to do, just tell me. I want to help.”
I shake my head, mumbling. “I think you’ve done enough already.”
“I can help,” she replies. “If I hadn’t had contact with Madame I wouldn’t have known about Cassius today. I wouldn’t have been able to stop him.”
A silence fills the chamber. Then I ask the question that’s eating away at my mind, though I’m not sure I really want to hear the answer. “Does she want me dead?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know, but she could’ve blown us out of the sky back there and she didn’t.”
I frown. “Then she knows where we are.”
“Maybe,” Avery starts. “I’m off-grid. I haven’t spoken with her for over twenty-four hours.”
I cringe at the thought of Avery speaking with Madame. “I can’t believe I was so stupid,” I mutter. “All this time. I thought maybe you actually… ” I trail off.
“What, Jesse?” She reaches her hand over to me.
I pull away. “Nothing. It’s nothing important.”
She kicks the wall, shaking her head. “You know I-”
A reverberating click from outside interrupts her.
Her head darts up. “What was that?”
I peer at the wall to our left. A crack of light streams in as the cell door slides open. The light widens into a blinding rectangle until it overtakes the darkness.
A figure stands in the doorway. I squint to make out details. It takes a second before I recognize who it is.
I knew he’d find a way down here.
“Evening, Fisher,” Cassius Stevenson smiles. “I’ve been looking for you.”
24
Something bursts inside me and I jump to my feet and lunge at the guy. I don’t think about it. I just attack.
I catch him off guard, reaching under his jacket and grabbing the pistol. Cassius stumbles to the ground.
Avery stands behind me. “Wow.”
I point the gun down at him, hands shaking.
Cassius gives an awkward grin as he pulls himself to a sitting position. The three of us are in an empty hallway, dimly lit by cheap overhead lights. The brown linoleum floor’s sticky. I guess Security Centers are the one part of Chosen Cities that don’t get the obsessive-compulsive scrub-down.
He stares at me, smiling. “Bravo. Looks like you got me.”
Dang right I did. And it’s the first thing I’ve done right this entire time.
I feel the trigger against my finger, the same one responsible for shooting Mr. Wilson. “Stand up.”
Cassius’s smile falls to a sneer as he lifts himself to a standing position.
“Finally grew a pair, huh?” He leans against the wall. “Good for you. And that must be your girlfriend. That’s twice in one week you’ve been saved by a girl.”
“Shut up.”
Cassius shakes his head. “You’re just delaying the inevitable. We both know you’re not going to shoot.”
“I thought this was between me and you.”
“Who said it wasn’t?”
Before I can respond, Avery steps forward and grabs him by the jacket. “Where’s Madame?”
Cassius squirms in her grip. “Who the hell are you?”
Avery ignores him. “I know she’s pulling the strings. If you-”
I glare at her. “Stay out of this, Avery.”
After a moment’s pause, she lets go and moves behind me without a word.
“Whoa.” Cassius grins. “Guess things aren’t as rosy in the happy little sky community as I thought.”
I ignore him. “Ever since I met you things haven’t been right. Something inside me went crazy today… like a heart attack.”
His eyes widen for a second before he can control his expression.
“Jesse,” Avery whispers behind me, “if we’re gonna escape we need to do it now.”
“Quiet.” I keep my eyes pinned to Cassius. “What happened on the rooftop?”
He shakes his head. “You… you don’t know? Madame said-”
“Answer me. Or I’ll shoot.”
His expression softens. He shakes his head again, saying nothing.
Avery pushes me out of the way and grabs the pistol, keeping it pointed at Cassius. “Get in the cell!” She prods him forward. “Sorry Jesse, but we’ve gotta get out of here before the guards arrive.”
I sigh, watching Cassius move cautiously toward the cell door. “You heard her.”
Avery backs away from him, keeping the pistol out of reach.
Once he’s inside, I slam the door and turn the deadbolt, sealing him in darkness.
“Here.” Avery forces the pistol back into my hand. “I wouldn’t want you to think I’d use it on you.”
She takes off down the hallway. I stare at the weapon for a moment before following her, keeping an eye out for any movement. I’m not sure what I’d do if we ran across a guard. This isn’t a stunner I’m holding. It’s made to kill.
We tiptoe down the long, barren corridor, past a dozen cells just like the one we came from. A plain wooden door blocks our way at the end. There’s no telling what’s outside. Could be freedom, could be guards. I’m kinda doubting it’s freedom.
Avery leans her head against the door, listening for sounds on the other side. She glances at me with a doubtful look, but it’s the only way out. On the count of three, we yank it open and make a run for it-right into the belly of a security guard.
The guy grabs my wrist impossibly fast and sends the pistol flying to the ground. I cry out in pain. So much for the tough guy act.
Luckily, Avery’s on it, with a swift knee to the poor guy’s crotch. He loosens his grip, giving us the opening we need.
We push past him and careen through the small office, winding up on a rickety metal platform hugging the outside of the building. The night air’s cool on my skin. The city skyline surrounds us, window-shaped lights shining like a bright yellow checkerboard. The buildings stretch up too far to see the sky.
Below us zigzag severa
l levels of equally rickety, rusty metal stairs. There’s no way they meet government standards, but the only way out is down. Cautious of the guy in the office, we wind our way down the steps, clearing two or three at a time.
When we arrive on the next landing, a squad of security guards pool around the ground level of the building. Several surround the bottom of the staircase. From two stories up they look like insects. Insects with guns.
Shining heavy-duty beams in our direction, the guards notice us and raise their weapons to shoot. We stop at the landing and squeeze together in the spotlight.
A voice bellows from below. I can’t tell which soldier’s speaking, but it’s mass loud. Magnified. “All you’re doing is making things worse for yourselves. You won’t escape, and even if you did you wouldn’t get through the Net. Give yourselves up before we’re forced to shoot.”
I look over to Avery. She shakes her head, muttering something to herself. It would be easy for her to turn me in, show her true colors and let the guards take me to Madame. I wait for her to do it, to betray me like everyone else.
“Thirty seconds,” the guard warns.
Then, picking the absolute worst time in the history of the world, my chest goes insane. It’s pain like back in Mrs. Dembo’s classroom. This time it forces me to my knees.
I sink to a crouching position, holding my burning chest. Low alarms blare somewhere off in the distance. I’m so disoriented, I can’t tell if we triggered them or if they’re sounding for a different reason.
“Don’t move!” the guard orders. I can barely hear him. I open my mouth wide, hoping to puke or scream or something to stop the throbbing. The alarms aren’t helping.
“Jesse!” Avery sinks down to my side, gripping my shoulders. I can’t feel her.
I shut my eyes, exhaling-pushing everything out of my system. But it’s not like back at the Academy. It doesn’t help.
And then, a flash of light.
My eyes dart open and I force my head up to look at the skies. A ball of energy hurtles down from the stars, lighting up the sides of buildings as it crashes down. Past the Bio-Net. Past security.
A Pearl, and it’s headed straight toward me.
25
I take a deep breath and push myself to a standing position. It’s like moving through syrup, muscles howling in pain as I watch the Pearl plummet closer and closer to the Surface. Avery and the guards notice it too. They pull back, dropping their weapons.
The alleyway glows a brilliant green as the Pearl’s light reflects along the windows of the towers. Its path stays fixed on me.
“Back up.” Avery grabs my arm, trying to pull me away. “Jesse! It’ll kill you!”
I keep my eyes on the Pearl, ignoring her. My feet are cemented in place, every bit of me hypnotized by the glowing ball of light speeding to the ground.
I reach out my arms, hands open.
One thousand feet.
My eyes widen. The pain shoots from my core and meets the Pearl head on, pulling it forward.
Five hundred.
“Jesse!” Avery screams behind me, pressed against the railing at the back of the landing.
Fifty.
My fingers tingle with electricity as the Pearl rockets toward them.
Then I catch it. I don’t even stumble backward. It lands right in my hands like it was always meant to be there.
I hold it out in front of my face, gazing at the swirling chaos within-an entire universe before my eyes. It should have burned right through me. I should be dead. Instead, I feel mass complete, like a part of me I never even knew was missing has returned.
I glance down at the dumbfounded expressions on the faces of the guards, illuminated in soft green.
“What did you just do?” Avery whispers from behind me, approaching carefully.
The pain is gone, absorbed by the Pearl in my hands. Without realizing what I’m doing, I push it away from my skin. It floats off into the night until it hovers inches before my fingers.
My senses buzz, on overload.
I ball my hands into fists.
The Pearl explodes, sending a shockwave of energy in all directions. The guards topple over into a heap. My body deflects the energy, sparing Avery and me. The alleyway cracks and hisses. Street lamps and windows shatter, raining shards of glass onto the ground. Everything beams a brilliant green for a second, so intense that I have to shield my eyes.
As this happens, a figure emerges from the top of the Pearl, shooting up into the sky like an arrow until it’s well out of sight. It was humanoid, I think, but too blurry to tell-like it hadn’t quite flickered to life yet. I’m not sure anybody else saw it against the blinding energy. I’m not even sure if it was real, myself.
The Pearl energy finds a home in the circuits and transformers throughout the area, and soon we’re left with nothing. No more Pearl-just empty air and stillness.
The night is quiet once more, with one big difference. The guards below us lie in piles, unconscious in the alleyway. I hope they’re breathing.
I survey the scene around me-the blanket of broken glass, the blown-out windows-and realize what I’ve just done.
My fingers hum with residual energy. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end.
Avery starts off down the remaining steps, stunned into silence. I follow close behind, eager to escape the alleyway and get away from the bodies. Too much damage. Too easy for them to find us again.
As I take the final step into the alleyway, Avery grabs my shoulder and pulls me close to her, hugging me tightly. “You’re amazing,” she whispers.
I keep my arms at my sides, breathing hard. When she releases me, the shock of what just happened begins to sink in. I crane my neck upward, looking between the two buildings at the narrow strip of stars so far away. The alarms continue to rumble through the city.
“I don’t know what I am,” I whisper back, shaking my still-buzzing hand in the cool night air. “Let’s get out of here.”
She nods. We take off running through the corridor, leaving the chaos of the alleyway behind us.
26
Cassius balanced on the tips of his toes, peering out the slit of a window at the top of the cell. He couldn’t see much beyond the siding of the closest building. There was a street below. From his vantage point he could only make out the very edge.
Alarms rumbled along his ribcage. The Pearl Warning System. He recognized it immediately, though there was no telling how close the thing was to the city.
He’d been stupid and careless, allowing Fisher to get the jump on him. Part of him conceded that he deserved to be in the cell after underestimating the guy, but that didn’t mean that he was about to surrender. He’d contacted the head of security seconds after being locked up. They were taking their time.
He knew he had to stop Fisher and the girl from heading out of the city. If Madame found out that their escape was his fault, there would be consequences. He’d seen it before-confident trainees reduced to whimpering children after a meeting with Madame. What she said or did to them was a mystery, but the results spoke for themselves. No, he could not let Fisher and the girl get away.
He frowned. The girl.
She’d made an already complicated mission even more treacherous. She’d known to stop him at the elevators back in the Academy. And the way she’d looked at him in the hallway… it was as if she knew who he was. Cassius had never seen her before. He’d need to be careful.
Footsteps echoed in the hallway outside, nearing the cell door. Good. They were coming.
He rested his heels back on the ground and turned away from the window. But something caught his eye outside, stopping him.
He recognized it immediately, the reason for the warning alarm.
Like a falling star, the Pearl plunged toward the building. Its radiance grew stronger the nearer it came.
He analyzed its descent, amazed. With all the empty Fringe space, Pearls didn’t often fall inside Chosen Cities. It was considered a go
od luck omen when they did, though a dangerous one. Worse yet, this Pearl seemed to be heading straight for the security building.
Cassius watched as it grew in size, unable to turn away from the window even though he knew the danger of staying close.
Then the Pearl made an unusual change in direction, curving past his cell and down to the street below. He’d never seen a Pearl curve before. Something was wrong.
He grabbed onto the thin windowsill and craned his neck to look down at the alley, but couldn’t find an angle where he could discern anything of note.
So he waited, impatient. There was nothing worse than a fallen Pearl with nobody to capture it. He longed to hold it, to be the first to touch it.
The lock slid open behind him and a guard pulled on the cell door. Before he could get it completely open, an explosion from outside rattled the building.
A blinding green energy coursed through the rectangle window, throwing Cassius backward into the guard’s legs. The guard stumbled into the hallway, crashing against the wall.
The energy lingered only a second before disappearing into the air. All was still once more.
Cassius rubbed his neck and waited for his breath to come back before standing up and returning to the window.
Two figures darted off to the left. Fisher and the girl. They’d be heading to the Chute, probably. Quickest way out.
He dusted off his jacket and prepared for a sprint. He’d need to be fast.
On his way out of the cell, he stepped over the guard. “You were late,” he muttered before racing full-speed down the hallway and out the open door of the emergency exit.
27
“Move it, Jesse!” Avery shouts back as we bound up a short flight of stairs to the Chute Station. I don’t know where she gets off throwing orders around after what happened in the cell, but right now my number one goal is to get out of this city. The two of us will talk later.