by Erin Grey
He looked up drowsily. “I can’t help you. I can’t save you back. I’ll just make things worse for you.”
“I didn’t ask you to help me or save me,” I said. “I asked you to come with me so I don’t spend the whole trip worrying about you. Then we’ll be even, ok?”
He threw his head back and exhaled roughly. Then he stood up. I clutched his arm. “That’s good,” I said. “Let’s get out of here.”
We followed Aidon down a winding passage beyond the bedrooms, and before long I’d totally lost all sense of direction.
“Where are we going?” I asked. “To the arena?”
“Near the arena,” answered Aidon. “Hopefully, just close enough for them to get a read on us.”
“And then?”
“Then we run.”
“Sounds like the perfect plan,” I sighed.
A short way into the passage, the floor changed from smooth stone to rough, uneven dirt, and the space narrowed. We went on for miles, or what felt like miles, in single file, our path barely lit by the dim glow of tiny pinpoints in the ceiling, the only sound our pattering feet and Brianus’ arrhythmic coughing and throat-clearing. It smelled of old air and damp and yeast.
“I cannot imagine what variety of fungus and mould spores we must be inhaling,” complained Jasper. “You had better schedule antifungal treatment on our return home.”
“What makes you think we can be treated for Eorthe spores?” asked Sandy.
“Dear Lord!” Jasper gasped.
As the walls crept closer and the air got thinner, anxiety clutched at my stomach. Claustrophobic. I was very claustrophobic.
I tried to distract myself by keeping an eye on Brianus. He stared straight ahead, eyes twitching erratically, mouth set in a grim line.
Aidon must have heard my increasingly shallow breaths. “Not much further now.”
Finally, just when the anxiety had reached my extremities, buzzing through my fingertips and turning my toes numb, Aidon stopped. A weak shaft of light shone through an open grate above us. Amethyst vines and roots crept between the bars, reaching down towards us.
“This should be close enough for the Regulators to pick up on us.” Aidon put out both his hands, palms up.
“What do you want me to do?” I glanced uncertainly from his hands to the grate.
“Exactly what I had decided to never do,” Aidon answered calmly. “Invoke the link.”
I glanced at Brianus, who had dropped to his haunches and hung his head. Then I put my hands in Aidon’s, and a little of his calm transferred to me. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“My best right now.” He gripped my hands. “Now breathe deep. Remember what we did in the arena just before we first felt the link.”
I panicked. “I don’t remember, I can’t—”
“Just hold on to me and breathe.”
I inhaled, but my abdominals were tight as knotted ropes, and I couldn’t get any air in.
“Relax, Jane,” urged Aidon. “Trust me.”
“You have done relaxation exercises many times in therapy,” inserted Jasper. “Perhaps now is a good time to remember those sessions.”
I closed my eyes and focused on progressively relaxing each muscle of my body. First my toes, then my feet, legs, knees, arms, torso. One by one, the tension released.
“Good,” said Aidon, feeling my hands slacken. “Now reach down into the earth like you did before.”
I did as he said, reaching down through my legs, my feet, the soft soles of my borrowed shoes, feeling the uneven surface beneath me, then pressing down deeper, into the ground, into the earth. The voices dulled and merged into one impulse pushing me onwards.
The previous times I’d done this, the snap and disconnect had happened at this exact point. I braced myself for the jolt.
But it didn’t come. Instead, I felt something new: a foreign energy reaching down alongside mine, connecting us both to the earth. Brown, loamy grains came into focus, tiny roots and creeping, crawling things, glimmering minerals and trickles of water and sprouting seeds and bones and rotting flesh …
My eyes snapped open, and the connection cracked away like a bolt of lightning. I tried to rip my hands from Aidon, but he held fast, his eyes still closed.
Slowly, they opened and watched me carefully, assessing my reaction. “You saw it,” he said softly.
I flinched as though he’d shouted. “I saw something. It scared me.”
Aidon’s eyes nipped back and forth, looking through mine and into my mind.
“Stop that,” I said. “I don’t like this.”
He released my hands along with a pent-up breath. “It would have been better if it had lasted longer—”
“That’s what she said,” interrupted Sandy with a naughty giggle.
“—but I think it did the trick,” Aidon finished. He pulled out a tablet and swiped through a few screens. I saw lights flashing on a map. The lights started to shift across the screen. “That’s it,” said Aidon. “Time to move.”
Off we went, much faster this time. Aidon held onto his tablet, constantly looking between the screen and the way ahead. The tunnel twisted like an earthworm caught in the sun. New passages sprang up on all sides. But we held our course, heading in a direction I couldn’t even begin to guess.
I don’t know how many hours passed. There was no sunlight to clue me in, no moonlight, no change in temperature. It stayed muggy but cool, like a tomb. Mitch started throwing up images of corpses and coffins and condensation on white stone and rows of skulls and catacombs.
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” whined Sandy. “You’re killing us!”
Emmy sobbed in the manner of an exhausted child compelled to force out sound in the half-hearted hope someone will finally listen.
The passage widened, and we came to an underground pool.
“Drink,” said Aidon. “The water’s perfectly safe. We’ll rest here a few minutes.”
I washed my hands, then gulped down what I could bring to my parched mouth. It was much colder than I’d imagined, and the chill froze my tongue and shocked my throat into a coughing fit. Brianus stuck his whole head in the water, and I amused myself by imagining steam floating off his hair. Aidon kept a watch on the tablet until the two of us had finished, then helped himself to a long drink, splashing water on his face and neck. It dripped into his shirt, making it cling.
“That view almost makes this worth it,” said Sandy.
Gwendolyn giggled.
>System status: Oxytocin spike detected_
Hair dripping, Brianus flopped to the ground next to a small boulder and rested against it, his head on his arm. Aidon flung himself onto a rocky ledge rising from the floor and stared at his slab. Finally, his shoulders slumped, and he leaned back against the wall. “The Regulators have slowed right down,” he said. “Must have lost their lock on us.”
“Well, we haven’t used our energies again,” I said, trying to wriggle into a comfortable position for my buttocks. “That must be their prime method of tracking us.”
“There’ll be residual energy around us for a while,” said Aidon, handing me the cloth he always had tied around his waist. “But it weakens with time and movement. So, you’re right, that’s what they must be tracking. As it wanes, it’s harder for them to follow it.”
I folded the cloth into a makeshift butt cushion. “Wouldn’t they have realised we’re in this tunnel? They could be heading for an entrance right now.”
“Ric and I are the only ones who know about these tunnels. Even Ric isn’t aware of them all.”
“But you are?”
He smiled. “I dug them myself.”
I looked around the cave, noting the stalactites reaching down from the ceiling. For once, my surroundings didn’t feel completely alien. I could even hear the obligatory drip, drip of caves everywhere.
“If the Regulators track one’s energy, they would need a sample of it in order to know which energy to follow,” said Jasper. “How were the
y able to acquire this for Jane?”
“Aidon,” I said. “How do they know what energy to track? This planet is full of energy. And you and I never combined our energies before this morning in the arena. I’d never accessed my energy at all. So how did they know what to look for?”
Aidon stopped swiping at his tablet and looked at me thoughtfully. “Good question.”
“I mean … they must have known something about us already. But I don’t see how they possibly could.”
Aidon pulled out his stone and rolled it between his fingers. “Unless it wasn’t us they were tracking.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, when we were at the clinic, we all assumed the Regulators turned up because they were after TRAG—”
“TRAG?”
“Thoughtful Rights Activist Group.”
“Oh, of course.” I waved for him to continue.
“Anyway,” he went on, “we thought they discovered TRAG’s rescue operation because of the alarms going off at the clinic. We just couldn’t figure out how they caught up with us so quickly. But what if it wasn’t TRAG they were after? What if it was you?”
“But how would they even know about me?”
“Zhian.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said with an emphatic shake of my head. “He could have turned me in the minute we landed. He had nothing to gain by setting up an elaborate raid to make me think I’d been accidentally caught.”
“Didn’t he?” asked Aidon, scanning my face. “Are you absolutely sure about that?”
I thought about it.
“Maybe he gets off on elaborate ruses,” said Sandy.
“I don’t think so,” said Gwendolyn. “I think he wanted to keep us close.”
“Zhian has an innate need for control,” said Jasper. “Turning Jane over to the Regulators would rob him of the control he already had.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” I said to Aidon. “I don’t see how it could possibly benefit him.”
“Maybe he wanted leverage, to make you feel beholden to him. If he got you free of the Regulators, you’d owe him a great debt.”
“But after you outed him for abducting me, he admitted he just wanted to keep me ‘safe’ with him.” I firmed my jaw. “No, it couldn’t have been him.”
“Then we’re back to the question of how the Regulators could have found out about you. Who else knew you were here?”
“Ric, Idesta—” I broke off. Idesta.
“I always said she was a bitch,” Sandy snarled.
“Do you really think she could have done it?” asked Gwendolyn anxiously. “She seemed nice.”
“B-I-T-C-H,” spelled out Sandy. “Bitch.”
“Bish,” said Emmy.
“Emmy, no, don’t say such things,” scolded Gwendolyn. “Sandy, you must stop talking like that in front of her.”
“I don’t think Idesta liked me in her space,” I told Aidon. “I was a major threat to her safety and comfort. Could she have ratted me out?”
Aidon nodded. “Very likely, she did.”
“But how would she have gotten a sample of my energy to give them when I hadn’t even used it?”
“Your energy is always there, whether you use it or not. You leave minute traces of it behind you, like your scent. If you’re in a particular area long enough, the build-up of those traces creates a signature that can be tracked.”
“So Idesta notified the Regulators,” I said carefully, slotting the pieces together in my head, “they got a read on me—maybe through residual energy at Zhian’s house—which they then used to track us to the arena.” I scrunched up my face in confusion. “But how could they only pick up on me there? Why didn’t they locate me much sooner by following me from the sea back to the base?”
“The sea would have blocked any scanners. The only way they could have found us was if someone alerted them. We were underwater long enough for them to lose all trace while they were within range. But linking your energy to mine would have boosted it. It must have been just enough to show up on their scanners, even at that distance.”
“Gee,” I said, rolling my eyes. “This link has been super helpful, hasn’t it?”
Aidon laughed and shrugged. “Can’t win ‘em all, I guess.”
I thought about how we’d bound together properly during our last linking attempt. And remembered the bones and skulls. “What were they all about?” I asked aloud.
“What was what about?”
“The bones and skulls. When we were linked. The feel of death.”
Aidon stiffened and turned away slightly, but continued to watch me from the corners of his eyes. “That’s what you saw?”
I nodded.
He puffed out all the air in his chest, like a deflating blow-up doll. I almost expected him to collapse into a pile of crumpled plastic. “It’s hard to explain,” he said, scratching his head. “I can feel everything under the ground. And I … sense death.”
“Did NOT see that one coming,” said Sandy.
“How macabre,” added Jasper.
“What does that mean?” I asked. “You know when someone’s going to die? Or when someone’s already dead?”
“Not exactly. I can’t see the future. But I can sense the dying process. Down to the tiniest molecule.”
I pondered this. “But molecules are dying around us every second. You can sense them all?”
He nodded slowly. “If I invoke my energy.”
“How would that even help you? What’s the purpose of a power like that?”
“That’s not how energies work. You don’t get to choose. They’re not assigned to you for a purpose. They just … are.”
I leant my head back against the rock wall behind me. “Sensing the death of tiny molecules. That is so weird.”
“That’s not all,” he said, his voice quietening. “To some extent, I can manipulate them.”
28
The bit about death
“You can manipulate death?” I shivered.
“For some reason, that makes him sexy,” said Sandy. “He’s got that whole ‘Hades’, underworld thing going on.”
“Death is not sexy,” said Gwendolyn. “It’s icky and disturbing and … and sad.”
“Does that mean you can stop death?” I asked Aidon. “Or speed it up?”
His sigh warned me that I wasn’t going to get much more out of him. “This is really not my favourite topic of conversation,” he said.
“Oh, come on,” I coaxed. “Just one more fact about your energy, then I’ll let you sit in brooding silence again.”
He frowned. “I do not ‘brood’.”
“Right,” I said. “You assume a pensive attitude and contemplate life’s mysteries. Now spill.”
“Humph,” he said. “You’ll have to ‘brood’ in silence yourself for a bit. See what it’s like.”
“Spoilsport,” I teased. Sandy was having great fun getting him riled up.
“We better move on.” Aidon gestured to Brianus. “Want to wake him? He likes you.”
“That’s what shared near-death experiences do to you—form an unbreakable bond.” I knelt at Brianus’ side and gently poked his arm. “C’mon Sleepy Head, time to get going.”
He woke with a jerk, but pulled himself together fairly quickly, although his eyes kept blinking in an unnatural pattern. We crossed the cave to an opening hidden behind rocky outcrops. There were no lights in the adjoining passage. Aidon switched on a light that beamed from his tablet—slab—and Brianus and I dogged his footsteps to avoid being left in complete darkness.
“Don’t like dark,” whimpered Emmy.
“It’s alright, dear,” said Gwendolyn consolingly. “No monsters here. And if there are, Aidon will protect us.”
“M-monsters?” cried Emmy.
“Monsters?” echoed Mitch.
“Great, now you’ve got them both upset,” said Sandy.
This passage was wider than the last, but the floor was far more un
even. The darkness didn’t help. Aidon held the light aloft to diffuse it, but still we stumbled and tripped, loose pebbles skittering in every direction.
We went on and on and on. My legs shook; my throat burned.
“Can we rest?” I croaked.
Aidon hesitated before turning the light to illuminate a place to sit. After a cursory sweep for spiders or other creepy crawlies, I flopped to the ground. Brianus leaned against the wall, breathing hard. Eventually, his knees gave out and he slid to the floor. He hadn’t said a word the entire journey, only coughed or cleared his throat.
“In the last hour or so, he hasn’t even done that,” said Jasper.
“Have we got any water?” I asked.
“Sorry, no,” apologized Aidon. “I should have thought of it.”
“It’s ok. We were in a rush.”
He clenched his jaw—a gesture that was becoming familiar to me. “That shouldn’t have mattered,” he said. “I’m supposed to protect you all, think ahead so I can keep you safe.”
“Any one of us could have thought to bring water. Why are we your responsibility?”
“I started all this: the group, the rescues. If not for me, neither Brianus nor you would be in this position right now.”
“You’re right. We’d be incarcerated in that clinic and/or drugged up to our eyeballs with no hope of ever leaving la-la-land. Give yourself some credit.”
I shoved my hair away from my face, trying to capture it all in the one remaining hairclip I had left. I hated when my neck got sticky.
“Now just get me back to Earth and I’ll give you five gold stars.” I glanced over at him, noting his sagging shoulders and downturned mouth. “Why did you start all of this anyway? The whole TRAG thing?”
Aidon rubbed his face with both hands. “It’s a long story.”
“Gee, does everything have to be pulling teeth with you?”
“What?” Aidon said, puzzled. “Why would you pull someone’s teeth out?”
“You don’t have that expression? Don’t you have dentists?”
“A dentist pulls out teeth? Is he some kind of villain in your world?”
I laughed. “Some people think so. Although I’ve never had a problem with them. I’d be in a world of pain without them. Orthodontists, however …” I grimaced. “I hope you appreciate this gorgeous smile, because it took two very long and painful years to get it.”