“I’ll go with Seven,” Three says.
I don’t miss the relief that washes over Corin’s face.
“No.” Rahn holds his hands up, palms facing outward. “Corin is obviously concerned. He should go.” And the way he says it, we all know it isn’t a recommendation: it’s a command.
Three’s eyes darken. “Eriksen, you so much as touch her, you’re dead. Don’t think I don’t mean it.”
“Her?” Corin snorts, looking down his nose at me with an air of contempt and disdain. “As if.” He turns and looks back at Rahn. “Fine. I’ll go with her. But only because you’re insisting—”
Rahn takes a step forward. “I’m insistin’? You were the one who was so adamant she mustn’t go on her own in the first place.”
Corin’s eyes narrows. “You’re insisting that I go with her. Her brother’s offered. But seeing as you don’t want him to go for whatever reason, I obviously have no choice. So let’s get it over and done with. I’m going now. I’m not waiting for food, it’s getting dark already. Give me your knife.”
After an exchange of glares, Rahn hands his nephew the knife from his belt. It’s almost as big as the one in my belt. Then Corin storms off, still limping. Rahn gives me a sharp look, and I follow Corin, despite the uneasy feelings within me that tell me this is a very bad idea.
We walk in silence for a good hour. Maybe more. In the end, the dog stayed with Esther, so it’s just the two of us. Corin leads the way, and I stick close behind him. Under the broken canopy, it’s hot and there’s only a slight wind. Insects buzz around me.
I want to ask Corin what happened to his leg; I’m pretty sure he wasn’t limping yesterday. But I don’t feel brave enough to speak now.
The land begins to decrease in angle. I walk with my knees bent, arms out, ready to stop myself from falling. A few minutes later, over the far edge of the steep land, I can see the glistening surface of the lake Rahn was talking about. It looks beautiful, and I have no choice but to look at it…like I had no choice but to steal the Calmness.
Just thinking about it makes the tiny bottle under my waistband feel bigger and more obvious. A part of me can’t believe it’s still there, that the others haven’t found it yet. That I still haven’t thrown it away. But I will, I tell myself. Of course I will. I nod. I’ve gone this long without it; I definitely do not need it. And I won’t need it. There’s no way I’m joining the people who stole my mother, killed Finn and Kayden, and tortured me. Good people don’t do that.
But it’s comforting to know you still have the augmenter with you, isn’t it? Comforting to still have the option, just in case….
“This way,” Corin says. He stops in front of me and holds back the long branches of an unfamiliar tree, revealing a pathway of sorts. “You go first.”
I freeze and look at him, trying to work out his agenda. A lump forms in my throat. Suddenly, I can’t stop my hands from shaking. The Seeing dream burns through me. Is this where he confronts me? I gulp. I look at the land. The pathway looks wet, muddy in places. Easy to slip. He could push me, and it’s steep. I’d go crashing down the mountainside.
“Why?”
Corin looks somewhat amused—or maybe it’s the angle of the light on his face, I don’t know.
“So I can stop you from falling. It gets steep up there. Well, I’d try to stop you falling. I tripped earlier. Look, I’m just doing the gentlemanly thing here,” he says. “Three would kill me if you got hurt. But if you want to fall, then you better not kill yourself as you’ll need to explain it to him.”
I squeeze past him. There isn’t much room, and I end up pressing closer to his body than intended. Then I’ve passed him. I start up the path. His footsteps behind me are heavy, but his intakes of breath are heavier. I walk a little faster. My shoulder’s not hurting as much now.
The ground gets even steeper, trickier. Tree roots stick up underfoot; several times, I nearly fall. But I don’t—Corin doesn’t have to catch me.
My shoes squelch on a waterlogged patch. I swipe at my bare lower arms as I march on. The air’s humid and sticky, and I can feel sweat forming in several places on my body. I speed up.
“I’m sorry,” Corin says suddenly. His voice is odd, like he’s choking. Like it’s a confession. Or an apology that comes before the crime.
I freeze, then turn back to look at him. He too stops, inches away from me, looking down at me. Huge leaves shadow his face, and the light’s beginning to seep away. His skin looks flushed, and a rash creeps around the side of his neck.
“What for?” My voice is weak. I try not to shake.
Corin pauses for a few seconds, pressing his lips into a thin line. His eyes do that weird flitting thing, like he can’t decide where to look. He clears his throat, and I see him swallow.
“I don’t think it would be revolting,” he says. His shoulders rise and fall a little. “I just had to get Rahn off my back. He thinks because you’re the only girl of my sort of age left, who I’m not related to, that we’re going to run off into the woods and have sex at every moment.” He takes a deep breath.
I try to look away from him, but there’s something about the warm depths of his eyes that capture mine, making it impossible.
“I told him before that—that he’s wrong, but he doesn’t believe me. Back at New Repliza, when we got caught, at that department store, he thinks it’s because we were…you know… Mind you, he speaks from experience… He’s probably banging Marouska right now.”
A dark shadow falls over his face for a few seconds as the wind moves the foliage above us. But then it’s gone before I can really notice it. Or maybe I imagined it.
Some birds call above us. I jump. My skin prickles.
“So, yeah,” Corin says. “Sorry for saying that about you. But I’m not interested in you. Anyway, your brother would kill me if I were.” He laughs slightly.
A moment passes. Neither of us moves. My breathing is a rushing in my ears. Then I turn and continue walking quickly. I keep going, concentrating on the rhythm of my steps. I can hear him behind me, keeping up with my pace. But I don’t want to hear him behind me. I want to be on my own. More than anything else, I want to be on my own now, and I don’t even know why.
I wake up early the next morning to Esther throwing up into a carrier bag. She’s in the back seat with me, but by the other window. Corin and Three, in between us, jerk awake, nearly clashing heads again.
Marouska bends over in her seat, searching for something on the floor as Esther coughs and retches. Rahn turns to look at her, wrinkling his nose. His glasses do a jiggly dance.
“Ugh! Get out!” Corin pushes at Esther as the putrid smell fills the car.
Water comes to my eyes. My own throat starts to convulse.
Breathe, Seven, breathe.
Three leans across, pushing the door open, and ushers Esther out. He follows, climbing over Corin, much to Corin’s annoyance. The wind rips through the car, whistling. Rahn and Three patched up the windows last night, before we slept in here, but most of the curtains have fallen down since.
“Anyone else need a bag?” Marouska asks from the front seat.
Rahn grunts. “Last thing we need is a stomach bug. Let’s hope she’s just got food poisonin’.”
I swallow hard. “We’ve all eaten the same food.”
“Well maybe her hands weren’t clean then,” Rahn says. I can hear him tapping his nails on the wheel.
Outside, Esther retches again. Three turns her away from the car, and, next to me, Corin grimaces.
I sit up straighter, forcing myself to look the other way. My stomach gurgles. “I don’t feel that well either.”
Marouska thrusts a paper bag in my face, and Corin tells me to get out of the car. I obey; my legs feel weak. I lean against the closed door, inhaling deeply.
Three appears next to me. “You as well?”
I close my eyes for a brief second. It’s probably just the effect of Esther being sick. “Is there any bottle
d water?”
Three shakes his head. “Corin had the last of it. And we haven’t got any water purification tablets left.”
“There’s the stream up yonder that feeds into the lake. You’ll have to drink it untreated,” Rahn shouts from inside the car.
“But that could’ve caused it in the first place.” Three frowns. “Why the hell haven’t we got any water? That’s, like, essential.”
“Well, don’t drink anythin’ then.”
“We have to rehydrate.” Corin steps out the car and holds a hand tentatively against his own stomach. Color drains from his face.
“All right?” Rahn’s voice sounds odd.
Corin nods, then grabs my empty paper bag.
“You’re lucky you’ve not got this,” Esther nods at Rahn, then Marouska.
We’re all sitting outside, on the ground. Esther still looks queasy, and Corin’s not looking that brilliant either.
Rahn drums his knuckles against the hardened ground. He frowns. “There’s still time.”
“We’re going to have get more supplies as soon as we can. We need purifiers, baking soda for emergency rehydration—yeah, I checked, there’s none left—and anti-nausea tablets,” Three says.
Last night, Corin and I eventually reached the top of the mountain and saw lights on the horizon. It looked like a big city, about two or three days’ hike away, on foot. My guess is as soon as we’re all well enough, we’ll be raiding that city.
“Are you sure we haven’t got any medical kits left?”
“We’ve got none.” Three shrugs. “I checked. Rahn, you mustn’t have got as many as you said you did. It’s easy to get mixed up, confused.”
My head spins as I blink up at the sky. It’s hard to see the sky—broken fragments through the trees. I’m not sure I like being in the forest, being cut off from the sky. For the majority of my life—or, at least, everything that I can clearly and consciously remember—I’ve been in the desert, where nothing separated me from the sky. The trees were sparse and mostly skeletal. The vegetation stayed on the ground, where it should be, creeping along the sandy mountainsides. Here, anything—or anyone—could be creeping up on us, and we’d have no idea until it was too late. At least in the desert you get warning. Here, it feels like we’re hiding, just waiting to be caught.
I count to ten, letting the air fill my lungs. I swallow cautiously. My throat burns as bile rises. I turn, fumbling with the bag.
“Classy,” Corin mutters. I catch him wrinkling his nose as I struggle to breathe.
“I’m not the only one.” My teeth taste disgusting. “Is there any mouthwash?”
Corin shakes his head.
“Anything else?”
“No.”
I wipe my sleeve across my mouth, swallowing frantically. But the taste won’t go away. It’s all around my teeth, my tongue, my lips, just like it was back at the Enhanced Ones’ compound. Just like… I shudder.
“Great. We’re doomed.”
“A bit pessimistic there, Sev.”
I snort. The augmenter in my pocket burns. I’ve moved it to the inside pocket of my jacket now, so it’s less obvious to them—there’s no bulky shape against my thigh now—but more obvious to me. With every breath I take, I can feel it.
I sigh. “The Enhanced don’t get ill.” They’re the Chosen—but the word still doesn’t sound right. I look at Corin. “Illness could wipe us out so easily—”
“Yeah, because it’s really worth it, converting yourself so you don’t get ill.” Corin glares at me, fire in his eyes. “Get some backbone, Seven. Or join them, and leave us the hell alone.”
“You and Eriksen have got to get on better,” Three tells me a few hours later.
He looks a bit better now—in fact we all do. What’s it been? Forty-five minutes since anyone’s been sick?
“Seven? You hear me?”
I nod. “Fine.”
I stretch my legs out, groaning inwardly. The ground beneath me is damp, but I don’t have the energy to move back to the car. And, besides, everyone else is there. I just want to be on my own, away from them all. Even Three, at times.
“Good. Because as soon as we’re divided, that’s when we’ll be weak and—”
“We’re already weak,” I point out.
“It’s probably only a six hour thing,” Three says. He’s sitting opposite me, his legs drawn up to his chest.
“There’s still time for Marouska and Rahn.”
Three shrugs. “Maybe they’re immune? But, you’re avoiding the point here.”
“What?” I squint at him, feeling jittery inside. Behind him, the trees wobble.
“You and Eriksen have got to get along.”
I frown at him. “I just said I would, didn’t I?”
“But that doesn’t mean you will.”
I turn to Three, my face burning.
“And this act you’re putting on doesn’t mean you like him either.”
Three’s eyes narrow as he frowns. “What?”
My eyes narrow. “Am I the only one who remembers that Corin and Rahn are responsible for our mother’s current situation?”
Just thinking about her makes me feel bad. I haven’t done anything to rescue her. I’ve just left her with Raleigh, where she has clean water, food, shelter, safety… And I’ve been traveling with the two men responsible for her capture. I’ve let them get away with it. I haven’t even been thinking of her much recently—what kind of person does that make me? My eyes smart as I stab a finger into the soft, earthy ground.
“Seven, you—you can’t say that!”
“I just did.”
Three leans forward. “You weren’t there—”
“Neither were you!” I shout. My fists shake. “Do you not even think about her?” In the car, about a hundred yards away, I see Esther’s pale face turn toward us.
Three bows his head. “She chose them.” His voice is quiet, subdued.
I bite my bottom lip. “You and I both know that’s a lie.” I fix my eyes on an acacia ahead of us. It’s a small one, and some big cat has scratched deep claw marks down the base of its trunk, scarring the bark. “They know what happened to our mother. Exactly what happened. I know they’re not telling the truth.”
Three shakes his head, lets out a long, long breath.
“Well,” he says at last. “Seeing as we’re not doing much else today, you can help me rig up some more radios. I was going to ask Corin and Esther to help, but their fingers are like walruses. And, besides, you think they’re—what? The devil’s spawn?”
“Don’t worry,” Three says as he hugs me tightly. “We won’t be gone that long, I promise.”
I nod into his chest, trying to remain calm, but I’m close to tears. Just the thought of him—of them all—undertaking this journey to the Enhanced makes me want to build a cage around them all. What if they never come back? Rahn reckons the city Corin and I saw must be New Sié. A massive Enhanced city. They’ll have scanners there and all sorts of other technologies to detect any Untamed who sneak in. I gulp. What if I never see my brother again?
Three leans away from me slightly, but still watches me intently. “Don’t cry, Seven. You’ll not even notice I’m gone.” He smiles, but now I can see how nervous he is, the look in his eyes says it all. “Don’t worry.”
I nod, my lips trembling as I breathe in the musty smell of his jacket.
“Three, come on,” Rahn says.
He and Corin already have their backpacks on; Corin reckons it will take them at least a day to walk to the city—I think that’s far too ambitious. They’re taking nearly all the supplies we’ve got left, tightly packed into their bags. Esther walks over and joins them. She swings a large pack onto her back. It feels like they’re all going off, leaving me all on my own, even though Marouska’s staying here too.
I want to go with them more than anything—after all, I am the fastest runner. But Corin insisted I should stay here. He got his way this time.
“Remember, Marouska, you two must stay together all the time,” Rahn says. “I don’t want us comin’ back to find only one of you still alive.” He glances over at me, and I get the feeling that, nonetheless, he wouldn’t mind if I disappeared. “You’ve got enough food to last you if you ration it, and you’ll only need to go and collect water daily, but that ain’t far. Just stay here. There’s no need to go off huntin’ or gatherin’. And I want you both sleepin’ in the car.”
Marouska salutes him. “Yes, Comrade.”
Rahn nods and looks at his traveling companions before nodding again. “We’ll see you in about three days,” he says. He nods at both of us. “Four or five, at the most. We will be back.”
Three hugs me again. “Look after yourself,” he whispers into my ear.
Then he walks away. He exchanges a few words with Esther and Rahn. Corin has already turned away. He’s been mostly silent all morning.
“Bye, Seven.” Esther waves at me, and I smile back. But it is a bittersweet kind of smile that leaves my lips aching.
Then the four of them walk away, each resembling a packhorse. The dog, by my feet, barks at them, and Three turns back, taking one last look at us for a second. Then their figures disappear into the thick mass of trees.
“Good luck!” says Marouska.
After a few seconds, I echo her words. But the four of them don’t hear, or, if they do, they don’t respond.
I spend the rest of the morning helping Marouska collect water and sort through the food packages. There aren’t many left.
“All right, Seven?” she asks. She’s tied her long, graying hair into a high bun on the top of her head, and several wispy strands hang down, swaying in the slight breeze. It’s colder today, and the air’s more humid.
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