“He’s been made a Seer!” the man at the front of the group shouts, pushes Mart forward. “He says we’re about to be attacked by Enhanced men who are using our images for disguise.”
Manning’s out in the tube in an instant. He grabs Mart.
“Finally!” Corin shouts. “You know, you could’ve saved a lot of time—a lot of lives if you’d just listened to us and what we were saying.”
“Get everyone to the gathering room,” Manning says. His eyes narrow as he looks at us. “Everyone. Now.”
And then the men are pushing past us again, running.
“Now!” Manning shouts at Corin, Esther, and me.
We run.
Esther’s still got the gun and knife, and Corin takes the Luger from her. She keeps the knife.
“Stay right by me,” Corin says to both of us. “Don’t ever leave my side.”
It’s the fierceness in his eyes that makes me go cold inside.
The Zharat are wasting too much time. It seems ironic, really, given Manning’s earlier speech about how good leaders make quick decisions.
We’re in the gathering room, but no plan has been made. Nothing at all. Everyone’s panicking and trying to find their families, but there are just too many people.
We stand at the end, by a wall that has water trickling down it. Corin’s hand is on my shoulder, he seems to have forgotten it’s there. Esther’s next to us, and a couple of children have attached themselves to us, saying they can’t find their mothers. They’re all crying.
And it’s my fault.
I realize it as I watch the toddlers cling to one another. It’s my fault the Enhanced are here. Raleigh has my eyes, and I went outside—my trip out there with Jed, on my second day here, must have done it. It was only after that when the Zharat girls started going missing. I showed Raleigh the way here. When I had that kavalah in me, when I couldn’t think properly.
But it’s still my fault.
Yet, I can’t help thinking I should’ve been warned about this. The bite marks on my body start to burn, and I think of Death’s words: Do not ignore the Dream Land warnings.
Ignoring them? Is that what I’ve been doing? But no, I haven’t had any. Yet I’m a Seer. I should’ve been shown something. Instead it was Mart—Mart, who wasn’t even a Seer before.
Yet he was the one who was shown.
I get a bad taste in my mouth. I’m a Seer. It’s my job to protect people. These people. And I haven’t. I’ve failed. I worked out the problem through actually seeing the evidence—the augmenters—like any normal person would’ve. Not because of my abilities.
What’s the point of me being a Seer if I can’t use my powers to work out atrocities before they happen?
I grimace, clutch my side. The marks are cold. Ice cold. They make my mother’s pendant feel hotter under the high neckline of the sleeveless, white dress. The crystal tells me I should have known about this, I should have been warned, I should have been able to save the lives that are going to be lost.
Corin clicks his tongue, stands up straighter as he looks over the others’ heads. “People are turning on each other,” he says.
As if on cue, in front of us, a man hits another, accuses him of being Enhanced. Shouts that there’s no way he can know for sure that his brother’s still Untamed, because the Enhanced use violence now. Our enemy breaks the one rule we had for them for so long. And that’s the problem. That’s the—
Seven!
My body jolts, and I start to feel strange—that’s the bison… That’s his voice….
I turn quickly, looking. The sky… I need to see it… But it’s not like normal… This is… Everything shimmers. For a second, I think I’m moving… And time’s passing, and I’m falling. Pain rebounds through my head…and my skull—something’s squeezing my skull.
I fall backward, darkness. So much darkness.
And, for a long time, nothing happens. I wait.
I wait for the bison. But he doesn’t come. There’s just… It’s dark and….
My skin starts burning, over my ribcage. Sharp pricks, and I know the strange marks are increasing, spreading. Know they are, and I don’t understand. But they’re connected—to the lack of Seeing dreams, the Dream Land visions—they have to be… They only started, the marks only started once the Seeing dreams stopped….
“Sev?” Corin’s voice, in the darkness. And he’s saying more words and….
I open my eyes, he’s holding me against his body. I breathe hard.
Oh Gods.
“What did the Dream Land say?” Corin’s words are soft in my ear. “What’s going to happen?” His eyes are wide, alert.
I stare at him, start to frown. “Nothing… There was nothing. Just darkness. It was just dark… There was nothing there.”
Corin frowns.
I taste grit on the roof of my mouth as I look around. So many people in here.
We shouldn’t be in here. We’re all cooped up, like animals, like prisoners. My mind whirls. The Enhanced, if they’re all coming, they could surround us easily, launch a mass conversion attack. No, we need to get out of here.
Don’t ignore the facts. Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is death.
I look at Corin. Then Esther. “We need to get out there, outside.”
It doesn’t matter now. Raleigh and the Enhanced are already here.
“You did see something, what we need to do?” Esther’s face pinches in.
“No. But we need to go. It’s obvious.” I pause for a second, hear Rahn’s voice. Lesson seven: If attacked by the Enhanced, save as many people as you can, and get as far away as possible. I press my lips together. Get as far away as possible. “Come on.”
I try to lead the way out, but there are just too many people. I can’t get straight to the exit, so I sidle around the edge, Corin’s hand is in mine, and Esther’s behind him. I look ahead, trying to work out how close we are, but can’t see a thing. Just people, squashed together. Their shouts fill my ears and—
A figure staggers toward me. My chest tightens. It’s… No. It can’t be. But it is. It’s him. And there’s so much blood. He’s still bleeding.
It’s Jed.
He’s seen me; I see the look in his eyes. He’s coming for me, raising one arm, pointing. There are two men behind him, men who I distantly recognize.
I come to a complete stop, feel Corin press up behind me.
“What’s happening?” His voice is low in my ear, but the sounds of his words mingle with all the other sounds. Everything pounds in my ears. Too much going on.
And I can’t speak. I can’t do a thing, feel my body lock up. And then—and then Jed’s here, right in front of me, and—
He slaps me.
I fall back, but Corin and Esther are there, and there’s no room to fall. Corin pushes past me, Esther’s hands grab me.
“Hey!” Corin shouts, menace in his voice. “Don’t touch her.”
Jed growls something, and I notice the blood that’s all over him. His clothes, his skin. His eyes narrow as he points at me again. “She did it.”
The men either side of him start toward me. The blades in their hands flash.
I gulp, feel tingling down the back of my spine, down my legs, down to my feet. My knees shake. I try to turn, try to get away, but there’s nowhere to go.
“She stabbed me! Tried to kill me! I managed to get away, but I passed out somewhere, came ’round to men shouting about Enhanced Ones in here—but she did it! She did this to me. She stabbed me!”
“No!” Corin yells. “That wasn’t her! That was one of the Enhanced clones—one they made look like Sev! Jed, that wasn’t her.”
Corin pushes me behind him. I trip over something, accidentally jab Esther in the ribs with my elbow as I struggle not to fall. And then I’m turning, facing Jed, and I see the way he’s looking at me.
“You are lying, protecting her.”
“I’m not!” Corin shouts, but the room’s louder now. Not just v
oices, a deep rumbling too. Hard to hear his words. “Sev’s not violent like that! It was an Enhanced clone, not her. Look, they’re wearing different clothes—the one who hurt you had a violet shirt on. Sev—the real Seven—has a white dress, see. We realized afterward, when the real Sev came in and there were two of them. That’s how we knew they were among us.”
I swallow hard, don’t know where to look. Esther squeezes my hand.
Jed’s eyes narrow. “Surely she’s the clone if she’s not wearing the right color?”
“No,” Esther says, and then she’s pressing something into my fingers.
I look down. It’s my ring—the one Jed gave me. And I remember, distantly, her pulling it out of the puddle of blood. I take it from her, put it on quickly.
“She was with me,” Esther says. “The real Seven was with me but I spilled some water on her clothes, and she had to change. It was all we could find, the white dress. She’s the real Seven. Look, the engagement ring. Proves she’s the real one.”
“Yeah, the Seven I was with didn’t have that on,” Corin says quickly. “So that wasn’t the real Seven. Proves it wasn’t her.”
Jed glares at Corin. “You seemed pretty happy to undress the clone, thinking you were contaminating my woman, stealing her purity.”
The rumbling’s getting louder—and I don’t know how anyone can hear anything. The air is too thick, too heavy with voices and humming and rumbling.
Esther nudges me again. “Act shocked that Corin thought he was going to—”
Jed screams.
I whirl around, hands braced, see him fall against the men. He turns, eyes open but unseeing, and then his weight sags. The two other Zharat men shout words I don’t understand.
Jed’s body jolts. The men are holding him up. He looks at me. I go cold. And then he’s really looking at me. His hands reach out for me, but there’s something in his eyes, something that’s not him.
Enhanced? Is he a clone?
I try to back away, but there’s no room.
“We have to go now, Seven,” Jed says, and his words wrap around me. “I have to save you. We have to go now!”
But it’s not his voice, isn’t deep enough, and the words aren’t spoken with the guttural tones he normally has. They’re clearer, there’s no accent. His lilt has gone, gone completely, as if his voice has been stripped back.
Something hisses near me. Something—the wall? But it does it again, hissing—like something’s going to happen.
I frown, turning, and—
Hands grab me. Corin’s. His eyes catch mine, and then he’s pushing me away. Away from what? Can’t tell.
The pounding in my head speeds up.
“S’ven!” Jed screams—his own voice now.
I turn, pull away from Corin, see Jed’s hand. His blood-covered hand, and then I see the rest of him. And—
“He’s told me to save you! It’s the only way!” Jed’s eyes are wild, on fire. And something’s happening to his body—it’s…it’s shimmering. And I see how the blood stops pouring out, how the wound starts to heal. Seer powers—I know it is. “He told me the augury—”
“Sev!”
And—
That’s when the gunshots go off. One after another. Quick succession. Thumping, in my ears.
The Enhanced. They’re here.
No. Oh Gods.
Blood.
I scream. Others scream.
Hands grab at me. Corin’s? Esther’s? Jed’s?
There’s a loud crack, above. I jerk my head up, look. Dust falls, gets in my eyes. Stings. I cry out, rub my eyes, but there’s blood, and everything’s red and sharp and gritty.
Another round of bullets. Someone next to me falls. I hear someone shriek Manning’s name in a voice that sounds too much like Esther’s.
And then there’s stuff falling, and something hits my head—hard. Too hard. I scream, hunker down, arms over me. Hissing fills my ears. Too high-pitched and—
“Get out!”
People are screaming. Zharat and—
Manning’s body.
Blood.
Clare—a blaze of violet—with a knife.
I shriek, and then I’m moving. Running, faster and faster.
Corin.
I turn, eyes bleeding as I look for him, for Esther. But the air’s hazy. It’s thick, it’s going opaque. And the hissing’s getting louder, and everything tastes funny, smells funny. And—
Burning steam sprays over me.
I shriek, turn, feel my skin blistering, wet. I push through people, stumbling, need to get away from the jet of steam.
“Volcanic gases!” someone screams.
“What?”
“The Gods are angry! They’ve activated our Fire Moun—”
“Elmiro! We’re sorry, we worship you—”
“Get out!”
People are screaming. Red, blistering faces loom up in front of me. People push past me. I trip over something hard, manage to keep my balance.
I turn.
“Corin! Esther!”
Can’t see them.
Oh Gods.
And the air…it’s… The hissing’s louder. I look up, see part of the lava wall on the far side break. Actually break. Cracks appear, run down and—and a whole section blows out. Steam and vapor and water jet out, toward us. Hot.
“Gas eruption!” someone screams.
“But it can’t be—the Gods keep us safe! These are their caves!”
“We’ve angered them! Just get out, they’ve turned on us!”
And then a man shrieks as he’s soaked by the scalding water. His skin turns red, bright red, and it’s all welting, blistering, puckering up with white bits that stand out from his crimson flesh as he falls, and he’s still screaming. Just screaming. Screaming. Everyone’s screaming.
“Get out—”
I try to move, but everyone’s trying to get out. Bodies press against me, and the air’s too thick. No one can see. People are shouting, yelling, crying. Sweat runs down them, runs down me. It’s hot. Too hot. The air is burning, scalding.
“Get my baby!”
The words are screeched into my ear, and I turn, strain my neck, try to see a baby. But I can’t. It’s just men and women. I can’t see the floor…and…no children. Can’t see any children and—
I fall. My face crashes into the ground, the hard floor. Stone. Hot and wet.
I scream, try to get up, but feet kick me, press down on me. I try to move, try to protect my head as they run past me—over me—but I can’t. Can’t move my arms. Suddenly a face appears in front of me. One of the dolls with the straw hair and painted features. It grins at me.
And I can’t do a thing as the burning steam reaches me, soaks me, scalds me, burns me. Burns me until there’s nothing left.
I’m screaming, screaming, screaming. Too hot, burning. Too hot, white. Pain. Burning.
I try to move, but there’s water, hot water.
Nothing’s left. Nothing’s left. Nothing’s left. The words play over and over in my head, and that one phrase is all I can think of.
I cry out. But opening my mouth just makes more of the bad air enter. Burning, in my throat, my lungs. Too much burning.
It’s eating me…eating me…eating me.
Hands. I see hands. Fingers. Coming for me.
I scream again, try to call out, because he’s coming. He’s coming for me. Not going to leave me behind.
I’m screaming…writhing…but he’s there. The cage. My cage…around me. All that I know, all I can feel as the darkness comes down because the air’s too heavy… No something’s too heavy…and they can’t stop it.
No one can.
No one wants to.
They like it like this… It’s beautiful.
Dazzling colors.
And I’m free. At last, I’m free. No longer trapped. Not a prisoner.
Not anything.
I shut my eyes, but I don’t feel them. Can’t feel anything. No body. I’m f
ree, not trapped in a vessel—a body that doesn’t work, a body that’s broken. A body that’s useless. But I haven’t got it now, and it’s okay.
It’s more than okay. Because there’s nothing to hurt—
Something hits me.
I feel it.
I am awake. And I feel it. I start to cry. I’ve got a body. I’m vulnerable again, only free for a second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
I look around. He’s gone. My cage. Where has he gone?
I try to see, and I’m standing up. I’m walking but the pain is there. It wraps around me, squeezes me. I push my wet hair behind my ears, and it’s hot, burns my skin. I start screaming and try to push the scalding heat away, but I can’t.
Seven.
I jump, flinch, turn. Look around. Barren landscape. My scalp crawls. But there’s no one here.
I continue walking, don’t know where I’m going now I have my body back… He’s still not here… Corin’s still not here. And we’re….
I frown. This isn’t the cave. The Zharat cave…it’s gone.
The Noir Lands?
I look around, but there’s nothing to distinguish this place. It’s just flat. Scrubland. Grass.
It starts to rain. I speed up, hunch my shoulders. Haven’t got a hood. The droplets get heavier, pounding my skin. And—
I remember. The cave, the debris, the people, the screaming, the gases. My eyes widen, and then I’m shouting at the bison, because he’s here. He’s right here.
“Help! Tell me what to do! Show me!”
But he’s turning away, running, hooves pounding. Running away from me, getting smaller and smaller in the sky. The far-away sky. Until he’s not there. A black dot that’s disappeared.
Gone….
He’s gone….
Your mother’s gone….
The bison’s gone….
My mind reels. The Zharat have gone too? Everything’s gone? Destroyed?
Coldness wraps around me. I start to call out, but there’s no one here. But I don’t understand. If this is a Seeing dream, how can the bison just go? Just leave me?
And you shouldn’t be here.
I shake my head.
Suffer.
The word pulls through me. I shudder, feel my neck crick.
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