by S. C. Green
My balance compromised, I lurched forward. Diana dived out of the way, and I landed on top of Dorien. He yelped with surprise but quickly flipped himself around. He hit me across the chest and sent me sprawling to the ground. May took the chance to redress herself and stood to block Diana.
“You’ll be mine soon enough, anyway,” Dorien growled at May. “Breathe a word of this to Alain, and I will make sure he’s the next Reaper to succumb to the wraith.”
“I hate you!” May sobbed.
“And you,” he spat at me. “Leave this place tonight, or I will have you both killed.”
He spun on his heel and stormed off down the hall.
I rushed forward and tried to embrace May, but she flung up her hands.
“Don’t touch me!” she yelled.
“But May, what has he done to you?” My heart broke to see this strong girl broken. Behind me, Diana clung to my leg, her tiny nails digging into my flesh.
“Just go,” she sobbed. “You’ll ruin everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you understand? If Dad finds out about this, it will destroy him. And then I’ll be all alone here, with him. Dad is the only one who holds Dorien back from his true nature. Without him …” Her whole body convulsed with sobs.
“If this is Dorien showing restraint, then I can’t even imagine what this true nature is. You can’t just let him do this to you.” My muscles stiffened. “This isn’t the first time, is it?”
She turned her face away and screamed at the wall. “You should have left me to be taken by the wraith. You should have never saved me!”
Dorien’s words rang in my ears. Perhaps one will even plant a baby in your belly. That is, if you don’t have one already.
My whole body numb with terror, I grabbed Diana and raced down the hall. I flung open the door to Alain’s room.It slammed against the wall, the sound echoing down the empty corridor.
“Wake up!” I yelled, grabbing him by the shoulders.
“Sydney.” He sat up, his black curls matted against his forehead. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Dorien.” I backed away from him, locating my boots by the door and shoving my feet inside. No time for socks. I pointed at Diana’s clothes sitting on top of the chest, and she started to pull them on. “He’s the one who’s the head of the sex trafficking. Not Malcolm. It was never Malcolm.”
“Dorien?” Alain laughed. “That’s crazy. You’ve just had a bad dream.”
“Oh, it was no dream. He’s been touching your daughter, Alain. I saw them just now, Dorien and May. He had her pressed up against the wall—”
Alain shook his head, but his eyes darkened. “It’s not true. Dorien loves May. She’s like his own daughter. He’d never do anything to hurt her. You must’ve mistaken—”
“I’m not making this up. Dorien was trying to force himself on her in her bedroom. He threatened her, told her he would whore her out to his ‘clientele’ if she didn’t do what he asked...” My whole body shuddered. Just hearing the words coming from my mouth made Diana sob as she finished dressing.
“Do you realise how ridiculous this sounds?”
“It’s not ridiculous.” The whole affair rushed upon me as I realised everything Dorien had done. I saw his whole plan laid out before me with diabolical clarity. “It makes perfect sense. He used his influence to turn enough of the Reapers to support him so he could seize power from Malcolm. He then framed Malcolm for Sia’s assault. That’s why he came and found me before he searched Malcolm’s room—he wanted to have a witness.” Realisation dawned on me as the memory replayed itself in my mind. “That’s why Sia cried when Dorien touched her. She knew him because he was the one who abducted her. And that’s why he threw her out of the Compound, because she’d started to talk, and he thought she might tell us that he was the one … Oh, God, Alain …”
“It’s not true.” Alain’s eyes flashed. “You can’t just make accusations like this without any proof.”
I leaned into him, catching his gaze, so he wouldn’t miss what I’d already fucking said. “Dorien was pawing at her! Your own daughter! What more proof do you need?”
“If May were in any kind of danger, she would come and tell me.”
“No, she wouldn’t,” I snapped. “Not if she thought she would hurt you. Yesterday, you kicked me out just for suggesting Dorien might be letting his power go to his head. You love that guy, even though he doesn’t deserve your love. But May knows that losing him would destroy you. She’s been carrying this secret for a long time, Alain. Ask her. You only have to look into her eyes to see it.”
“Dad,” a soft voice said.
Alain whirled around. There, in the doorway, stood May, her dark Reaper coat wrapped around her. Her voice quivered and her eyes were bloodshot, but her face was dry. She was no longer crying. Instead, there was a look of cool determination in her eyes.
“Go on, May,” I coaxed her. “Tell him what happened. Tell him what Dorien has done to you.”
“May?” Alain reached for her. “Is what Sydney said true?”
May’s face twisted with pain. She glanced from me to her father, back to me, and then her gaze finally rested on her father’s face, on his dark eyes.
My heart sank into my stomach. I knew before she even opened her mouth what she was going to say.
“No. It’s not true.” May shifted her weight from foot to foot, keeping her stance strong and her eyes on Alain. She was a good liar. She must have been practicing for years. How long had she hidden Dorien’s crimes from her father?
“May, don’t do this!” I wanted to shake her, to force the truth out of her. But with every word she spoke, I knew my own tenuous grip over Alain was fading.
He glanced from May to me, and then back to May again, his lips hardening into a line.
She kept her gaze glued on her father. “Please, don’t blame her. Sydney mistook what she saw. Dorien and I are in love. He … he wants me to be his bride. We were trying to find the right time to tell you.”
“You and … Dorien?” Alain blinked.
May nodded, throwing her arms around her father. “I’m sorry you had to find out like this. We didn’t know how to tell you.”
“It’s okay, my love.” He wiped her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead tenderly. “I’m so happy that you’ve found someone. Especially Dorien. He will look after you and treat you the way you deserve.”
Alain didn’t notice May’s body stiffen at his words, but I did.
Alain embraced his daughter and stared at me over her shoulder. “Are you satisfied? This was all a misunderstanding.”
“I know what I saw, and I heard Dorien threaten May so she would keep quiet. That’s how much he doesn’t want you to find out. He’s mad, Alain, and with the power he’s been given, he will damage you and May and this whole city beyond all repair. But if you are going to throw your lot in with him, then so be it.”
“What are you saying?”
“Diana and I aren’t staying here,” I snapped at Alain. “You promised me the Compound was safe, that you’d protect us, but you can’t protect us if you can’t even see the danger right under your nose. It’s worse than the fucking Rim. At least we don’t put pimps in charge of our police force and give murderers power over our lives.”
Alain’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t keep threatening to leave me every time you don’t get your way.”
“I’m not threatening anymore. We’re gone. Diana is not spending another minute in this hellhole. Not after what I’ve seen. Dorien’s become close to her, too, Alain. They’ve spent hours playing alone together, and now I don’t know what he might have done to her. Unlike you, her safety is more important than my happiness. I won’t be so blinded by love I refuse to see what’s right in front of me.”
“I just asked May what was going on.” Alain hugged his daughter to his chest even tighter. “She told me in her own words that what you saw wasn’t true. And I believe her.”
; “Then you’re a fool.” I kicked my box out from under the bed and picked it up. “Goodbye, Alain. I hope you and Dorien and May are very happy together.”
“Let me just talk to Dorien. Maybe he can explain it to you. Maybe you misunderstood—”
I guided Diana by the shoulder into the hall and slammed the door in his face, the sound echoing down the empty corridor. Turning away from the door, I wiped the tears from my eyes and started toward the staircase.
“Sydney, wait!” Diana shouted, catching up to me.
“What is it?” I said, trying to keep my voice even.
“We’re really leaving this time?”
I nodded. “I don’t think there’s anything Alain could say to me that would make me trust Dorien again. You were there. You saw…”
I so wished she hadn’t, though. At her age, she should’ve been more concerned with friends and growing up happy. Anything but this and our shitty life inside this dome.
“What about May?” She glanced back at Alain’s room, her forehead puckering. “I don’t want her to get hurt again.”
With my free hand, I hugged Diana to my body, my heart aching for her. “Me neither. But we can’t force May to come with us or to tell her father the truth. We have done all we can here, and now the most important thing is for us to get out of danger.”
Diana bit her lip. “He killed Blackie.”
Tears sprung in my eyes. “I know, pet. I’m so sorry.”
“There’s something I have to show you.”
I bit back the urge to tell her to forget it, but she looked so worried. “Okay, lead the way.”
I followed her down the staircase, along another deserted hallway, and down another set of stairs. She pointed to the small door at the bottom. I suspected it led to a small storage cell.
“I saw Dorien and Lorcon drag something down here,” she said, biting her lip. “It was wrapped in a blanket.”
“When did you see this?”
“Two days ago. It was during the night.”
The night Sia disappeared. My stomach churned. I didn’t want to open that door. But I knew Diana was right. Before we left the Compound, we should know the truth of it.
Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the handle and flung open the door. The room beyond was a storage cupboard stacked with gardening tools, shelves of fertiliser tablets, and weed killing chemicals. On the floor was a large object, wrapped in a filthy woollen blanket covered in dark stains. Flies buzzed around it. The smell of rotting flesh wafted past my nostrils. I placed my hand over my mouth, my throat tightening.
I knew what I was going to see, but I had to be certain. Reaching in with one hand, I grabbed the corner of the blanket and pulled it away.
Behind me, Diana screamed. Before us lay a bloated body, the skin blue and blotchy, and crawling with maggots. Dried blood caked across the cheek, and a nasty wound that might’ve come from a heavy object caved in one side of the skull.
It was Sia.
Bile rose in my throat. I slammed the door shut before Diana could see any more, and steadied myself against the wall as my stomach convulsed and I dry retched. I shut my eyes, but the image of Sia’s ruined face had burned itself onto my eyelids.
“Sydney!” Diana called from behind me, her voice tight with terror.
I whirled around, and my next inhale froze in my lungs.
Dorien blocked the stairwell, his eyes dancing wickedly as he regarded me. He had Diana in his hands, a knife pressed against her throat.
“Put her down, Dorien,” I ordered, my voice low and even despite my stuttering heartbeat.
He shook his head, shooting me that familiar grin. I didn’t know how I’d ever thought he was attractive. Now, he appeared sinister, unhinged. “I can’t do that. Sorry, Syd. I have a client in the cloister who’s been waiting for days to get his hands on her.”
My whole body shook with rage. “You won’t be taking her anywhere.”
“I don’t see how you’re going to stop me.” Dorien backed up the stairs, dragging Diana with him. She whimpered as the blade pressed against her skin. “You know now what I will do to those who mess up my plans.”
My chest lurched. “Why? Why are you doing this?”
He laughed, a cruel sound that echoed along the empty stairwell. “Funny, a thief becoming the moral police.”
“There’s a difference between stealing hooch and … and ravaging innocent girls.” I clenched my fists tight, tensing my body, preparing for an attack. I had my knife in my belt just behind my hip. Dorien might not have seen it. I would have to act quickly and aim true.
“The difference is only a matter of degrees. We’re both the same, you and I. Morals have no place under the dome. You know this. You’ve been trapped in this fucking prison for as long as I have. What’s the fucking point trying to fight our true nature? What’s the point trying to save each other? There’s no light at the end of the tunnel, no superhuman swooping in to rescue us. We’re alone, forgotten, discarded. There’s nothing to do, to live for. So you might as well have what little fun you can while you’re still alive.”
“Some people drank themselves to death, but why this?” I gestured to the knife. “Why resort to brutality?”
He grinned again. “Oh, I admit in the beginning I was just like everyone else. I liked fucking girls from the Rim right under the noses of Malcolm and all the other elders with their saintly morals. But it got boring. Very little excites me anymore, Sydney. But the last few days have been positively electrifying. It was well worth the trouble of letting the wraith in here.”
“You ... “ I reeled at his words. “You let the wraith take the Mimir?”
“Of course. Malcolm wanted to keep all that power for himself. I gave it to the wraith so we all might benefit. Can you imagine it? The wraith are going to destroy the dome. It’s inevitable. The Reapers can’t stop them. After ten years of ignoring us, of pretending Petrified City doesn’t exist, we’ll be free in the world. And everyone outside will have to face up to what they did to the chaos and mayhem we bring forth.”
“No, they won’t.” My fingers closed around the knife. I yanked it from my belt and hurled it at Dorien’s head.
He threw his body to the side. The knife missed his face, but the blade flicked over his ear, drawing blood. He cried out and thrust himself forward, flinging Diana into a wall as he came at me.
He was bigger than me and had the advantage of momentum. I didn’t have a hope of overpowering him. But in the split second I had before he barrelled into me, I formed a plan.
I pressed myself against the wall, forcing Dorien to swing around in order to come at me. He grabbed for my throat, slamming my back against the stone and forcing the air from my lungs as he dug his fingers into my skin. I gasped for air, all thought fleeing from my head as I kicked and thrashed and fought for my life. I didn’t even know what I was doing. I pressed my hand against his forehead.
In my mind, the layers of his skull became clear, and one by one I moved through the scalp and bone and watery cushion between the membrane, and I dived into the warm buttery mess of his brain. Neurons zoomed around me, the delicate filaments of their pathways like a spider’s web. I traced my way through it, searching, hunting …
My lungs screamed for air. My whole body ached. My mind slipped away, delving further into the vision inside Dorien’s head, even as my own consciousness slipped away. Any moment now I would pass out, and it would be too late.
Ahead of me, I saw an area of Dorien’s mind that was intensely active. It throbbed with neurons, firing in all directions like motor cars on a highway junction. In the centre was a red spot that seemed to grow larger as more neurons moved toward it.
My body screamed as it started to shut down. I’d lost all feeling in my limbs. It was as though I wasn’t inside my body any longer, but was floating inside Dorien’s brain, clinging to life by a thread of hope. Hope that this would work.. I dived toward that red spot, and I held it, clutching it close to me wit
h my mind. And then I pushed.
The piece of brain matter moved.
Dorien howled, the sound not like a human at all. He ripped his hands from my throat and sank to his knees, cradling his head in his hands. My connection to him severed, but whatever damage I’d done had already been done.
I fell to my knees, gasping for air. My throat burned, and every breath felt like stabbing blades into my oesophagus. Diana crawled toward me, sobbing, clutching the shallow wound in her throat. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, and together we stumbled to our feet and picked our way around the writhing, screaming Dorien.
Up the stairs we ran, across the courtyard, and out through the gates. I recognised Lorcon’s raven form on the post beside the gate. He inclined his head as we raced past but didn’t try to stop us.
And just like that, we were once again alone, at the mercy of Petrified City.
19
Things in Petrified City were worse than I’d thought—the place was like a ghost town or a wild west village during a shootout. Down every street we turned, we had to step around husks. No one walked openly in the streets. They ducked furtively between buildings and down dark alleys. I felt eyes burning into me as we passed the familiar buildings in the Rim, watching our every move.
The apartment Diana and I had been sharing was still unoccupied, except for the mother cat and three small kittens that must’ve crawled in the gap under the window and made a home in the laundry basket. Diana made a beeline for the kittens, stroking them all lovingly. I knew there was a hole in her heart after Blackie’s death and that she was still reeling from everything she’d already seen today, so I didn’t lecture her about the worms and ticks and transmittable diseases the little critters might at that moment be passing to her.
“Where’s all our stuff?” I looked around the sparse living room. I used to have several boxes of potentially useful junk I’d collected stacked against the wall, but now all that was inside the room was our threadbare couch and a chipped wooden coffee table.
I pulled open a kitchen cupboard, expecting to see the small collection of chipped, mismatched crockery we’d acquired over the years. But there was nothing, save a stale loaf of bread and two small plates.