Girl of Glass, #1

by Megan O'Russell

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Nola scanned the room where she’d been trapped.

  No. Protected. They’re keeping you safe.

  She had expected concrete, weapon-lined walls. But instead, a pattern of bright blue clouds decorated the eggshell-white walls. Along one side sat a small bed with a soft pink comforter, and in the corner Bea rested in a rocking chair, apparently unfazed by the commotion around her. Eden huddled at Bea’s feet, clutching a ragdoll.

  Of course Eden sleeps in the safest room in Nightland. Emanuel wouldn’t have it any other way.

  He’s keeping me safe, too.

  “How are you?” Nola asked, sitting on the floor.

  “Good,” Eden muttered, crawling over and planting herself firmly in Nola’s lap. “Did you get a booboo?”

  “A little one,” Nola said, shaking her head at Dr. Wynne’s startled look. “I fell and cut myself. It’s not that bad. I just wanted to hide the smell.”

  Dr. Wynne pulled a wash basin and jug down from the dresser in the corner and sat on the floor next to Nola.

  The walls shook, and Eden clung to Nola’s neck. “It’s okay,” Eden whispered into Nola’s ear. “My daddy made this place safe for me, and he’ll come get us when he gets rid of the bad men.”

  “He sure will.” Nola pushed Eden’s curls behind her ears with her good hand, trying not to flinch as Dr. Wynne began washing the dirt from her other palm.

  The walls shook again, and Nola swallowed hard, trying not to show Eden her panic. Trapped underground. What if the tunnel collapsed? They would be buried forever.

  Nola tried to picture herself in the domes, full of light and air.

  Far away from Kieran.

  “Why did the bad men come?” Eden asked, standing up so she was eye to eye with Nola.

  “They aren’t bad men,” Nola said. “You know how you’re afraid of them? They’re afraid of you, too. And sometimes when people are very afraid, they do things they shouldn’t, and they hurt people.”

  “Why are they scared of me?” Eden tipped her head to the side and scrunched up her forehead.

  “Because they don’t understand how wonderful and precious you are,” Nola said. “They don’t understand your daddy is just trying to make a safe home for lots of people.”

  “If they did, would they go away?”

  “I think so.”

  “When I get big, I will teach them we are nice, and my daddy is nice,” Eden said, lifting her pudgy chin in determination.

  “I’m sure you will.”

  “All done,” Dr. Wynne said, tucking a bandage around Nola’s palm. “While I admire the ingenuity of using dirt to try and cover the blood odor, I wouldn’t recommend using tunnel dirt for that purpose in the future. It’s not really sanitary. Although if it’s either that or be considered a snack, I suppose the chance of infection is worth it.”

  “Right, desperate times only.” Nola stood and sat on Eden’s bed. The mattress springs creaked under her weight.

  Eden followed her, curling up and tucking her head on Nola’s lap. Another boom echoed through the walls, this one more distant than the last.

  Were the guards being driven back, or simply coming at them from another direction?

  Eden whimpered and covered her face with her doll.

  “Hush,” Nola said, stroking the girl’s silky, black curls. “We’re safe here. Just close your eyes and relax.”

  Nola hummed a song her father had sung to her when she was very little. She couldn’t remember the words anymore. Only that she had liked the tune—the song had made her feel happy, safe, and sure her father would always be there to fight the demons away.

  Nola kept humming as Eden’s breathing became slow and steady, hoping Eden would fare better than she had. And Eden's father would come home.

  Loud banging on the door shook Nola from her stupor. Eden clamped her hands over her ears. Dr. Wynne ran to peer through the glass slit in the door. Even Bea sat up straight in her rocking chair, the first sign she had given that she had noticed anything strange.

  “Emanuel,” Dr. Wynne said, opening the door and tripping over Eden as she streaked past him into her father’s waiting arms.

  Emanuel swept Eden up, holding her to his chest. “It’s all right,” he murmured. “You’re safe, Eden. Daddy would never let anyone hurt you.”

  He had been in the fight. A long cut marred his cheek and blood matted his hair. The cut already appeared days old.

  “Kieran?” Dr. Wynne said, before Nola could form the word.

  “He’s alive,” Julian said from behind Emanuel’s shoulder.

  “Alive?” Nola clung to the door.

  “He was hurt,” Emanuel said. “Badly. But he’ll heal.”

  “They didn’t get his heart?” Dr. Wynne lifted a trembling hand to his glasses.

  “No,” Julian said, “though they tried their damndest. He’s unconscious now, but I think if you give him another dose of ReVamp—”

  “He shouldn’t need anymore. Not for weeks.” Dr. Wynne’s voice sounded thin, like there wasn’t enough of him left to contemplate the injuries of his only son.

  “He needs to heal more quickly,” Emanuel said. “Stitch him up, and give him an injection. Then we can wake him and get him to the bridge.”

  “Bridge?” Nola said. “What happened to Kieran that he needs more ReVamp? He’s supposed to be able to heal.”

  “He will,” Julian said.

  “But—”

  “Kieran needs to be fit for the exchange,” Emanuel said. “We’re moving forward.”

  “But they attacked us!” Nola said so loudly Eden covered her ears again. “They came in here and ruined everything, and you think they’ll go through with the deal?”

  “They’ll have to,” Emanuel said. “They won’t leave you standing on the bridge.”

  “And you’re just letting them take me?”

  “They only sent in a handful of guards.” Julian spread his hands in a helpless gesture. “If we tried to keep you here, it would be a rallying cry to start an all-out war.”

  “We can’t protect Nightland if they decide to do that,” Emanuel said, handing Eden to a waiting Bea who shuffled past them into the kitchen. “They could blast down from the city.”

  “It would be catastrophic, and not just for Nightland. For the humans who are still trying to survive aboveground,” Julian said. “But after tonight, I can’t find it in myself to believe the Outer Guard wouldn’t do it.”

  “So, we go to the bridge.” Nola’s voice sounded far away as she said the words.

  “I’ll try and wake Kieran,” Dr. Wynne said.

  “Don’t.” Nola gripped his sleeve. “Let him sleep. He needs to heal.”

  “He would want to be there,” Julian said.

  Nola shook her head, wincing as the pain of heartbreak cracked in her chest. “I don’t know if I have the strength to walk away from him.” Her voice came out barely louder than a breath.

  “Is there anything you want me to tell him?” Dr. Wynne asked, squeezing Nola’s hand.

  “Nothing that will make it hurt less.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The tunnels had collapsed in places. Bits of stone and piles of dirt littered the corridor. Some of the light bulbs had blown out, and those that remained flickered feebly.

  Raina maintained a viselike grip on Nola’s arm as she steered her though the halls, half-lifting her over the ruble.

  “I’m not going to try and run,” Nola said as Raina’s fingers dug painfully into Nola’s arm when they passed a vampire lying in a pool of his own blood. The man’s breath rattled though his wounded chest. “Should we help him?”

  “He’ll heal,” Raina said. “And I’m not worried about you running. We have a lot of pissed off vampires who don’t know if the Outer Guard are going to try and attack again. I’m supposed to get you to the bridge, and I’ll be damned if I let someone snatch you before trade time. Sorry, you’ll just have to live w
ith the bruises.”

  Sour bile rose in Nola’s throat as Raina led her past a woman mumbling and crying as she clasped her bloody stump of an arm.

  They reached 5th and Nightland, but if Nola hadn’t known their destination, she wouldn’t have recognized the club at all.

  No music pounded through the air. No dancers writhed to the pulsing beat. The bright flashing lights had been replaced by pale moonbeams creeping in through the giant hole that led to the streets above. Lined up along one wall lay five vampires, their hands crossed gently on their chests. Nola tried not to look at the horrible wounds that covered their bodies. One woman had a hole larger than a fist in her chest. One man’s head was barely attached to his neck. All were too far gone to heal.

  Under the hole where the trap door to the street had been lay six guards, their bodies torn and beaten, their faces still hidden by helmets. The body of a tall, broad shouldered male lay farthest down the line. His boots were shiny and new, his uniform hardly worn aside from the tears from the fight.

  “Jeremy.” Nola wrenched her arm away from Raina and ran to the end of the line. She knelt next to the body and cradled his head, trying take off the helmet. Her hands shook too badly to manage even its slight weight.

  “Let me,” Raina said, lifting away Nola’s trembling hands.

  Raina pulled off the helmet, and tears streamed from Nola’s eyes as a head of bright blond hair emerged.

  Nola had seen this man before. He was just old enough to have always been in the class above her. Lying in the dirt, he looked like a child.

  A surge of guilt flooded through Nola.

  Not Jeremy. It’s not Jeremy.

  He hadn’t been lost to Nightland. But someone would mourn when the blond boy didn’t come home.

  “Not him?” Raina asked after a moment.

  “Not him.” Nola pushed herself back up to her feet. “What are you going to do with them? They’re Domers. They should be burned and scattered to the wind.”

  “After we get you traded back, we’ll figure that out,” Raina said, taking Nola by the waist and lifting her high into the air, passing her to hands that waited at street level. “If they play nice and give us what we asked for, we might give the remains back as a peace offering.”

  Desmond set Nola down on the cracked pavement.

  “And if not?” Nola asked, giving a nod of thanks to Desmond.

  “We put them in the river,” Raina said. “It’s where all the death around here comes from anyway.”

  “It’s time,” Bryant said from his place at the head of the pack of vampires that had assembled as Nola’s escort.

  Nola nodded, feeling more like she was being led to the gallows than sent home.

  Bryant led them through the city. A haunting clang echoed down the empty streets every time he struck his pipe on his open palm.

  The journey to the bridge seemed much shorter than the first time Nola had made the trek alone in the darkness.

  As the bridge rose in the distance, a lone figure in a long, black coat emerged from the shadows. A silver sword peeked out from under the coat’s trim.

  “Nice of you to join us,” Raina said.

  “I was scouting the bridge, if you must know,” Julian said as he matched step with Nola. “And they do seem to be playing nicely.”

  A strangled cough came from Raina. “We’ll see.”

  The first gray of dawn peered up over the hill.

  The shadow of the Outer Guard caravan waited across the river.

  Nola stood flanked by vampires. Julian and Raina each held one of her arms.

  “Just stay calm,” Julian said in a low voice. “They want to get you home safe, and so do we. If we all stay calm, we’ll be in the tunnels before daylight and you can have a nice breakfast with your loving mother.”

  Nola nodded, not trusting her voice.

  “Don’t play the victim just yet,” Raina said. “Keep your big girl panties on until you get back to the domes. Then you can curl up in a ball and tell them how badly we abused you.”

  “I won’t lie,” Nola said. “You’re not monsters. You never hurt me.”

  “They have to believe we kidnapped you,” Julian said. “Don’t worry about our image. Keep the story believable, just like we practiced.”

  “Besides, I stabbed you,” Raina said, a glint of laughter in her eyes. “Use that for your inspiration.”

  “Right,” Nola said. “That did really hurt.”

  “It’s time,” Desmond called from his perch on the side of the bridge.

  “Forward ho,” Julian said, pushing Nola in front of him and Raina as though using her as a human shield.

  “Can’t I walk next to you?” Nola said, fighting her instinct to run as guards piled out of the trucks.

  “I want to get you home safe, dear,” Julian said, “but I’d like to get home, too. And they’re much less likely to shoot you than me. So, you first.”

  “Right.” Nola put one foot in front of the other. But somehow the distance between her and the trucks never seemed to lessen.

  I’ll have to walk until dawn. We’ll still be walking across this bridge when the sun rises and burns the vampires.

  With a bright flash, all of the trucks turned their lights on as one, shining them directly at Nola. The hiss of the vampires echoed behind her. She tried to lift a hand to cover her eyes, but Julian and Raina kept her arms pinned to her sides. She squinted, trying to see past the lights. Spokes of bright white emanated from the sides of the glow that blinded her.

  Shadows moved in front of the lights, and red beams joined the white ones.

  “Lower your weapons,” Desmond’s deep voice boomed from far behind her. “Lower your weapons, Domers, or Magnolia Kent goes into the river.”

  The flashes of red lowered toward the ground.

  “Magnolia, are you all right?” A magnified voice came from the far end of the bridge.

  “Yes,” Nola said, her voice stuck in her throat. She swallowed. “Yes!” She shouted.

  “Bring the package to the middle of the bridge,” Desmond called. “Once we confirm you’ve given us what we asked for, we’ll give you the girl.”

  Lights bounced across the bridge as three guards ran forward, two with rifles pointed at the vampires, one with a box in his hands.

  “That’s it?” Nola asked. “That’s all you wanted?”

  “It’s a lot.” Julian let go of Nola’s arm and took a step forward. “I’m coming to inspect the package.”

  Nola held her breath as Julian ran toward the rifles all alone.

  “He shouldn’t be out there by himself,” Nola said. “What if something goes wrong?”

  “Careful, Domer,” Raina said, “you almost sound like you care.”

  The guards placed the package in the middle of the bridge and took three steps back.

  Julian bowed to them as he reached the box before kneeling over it.

  A minute ticked past and then another as Julian examined the package.

  “It’s all here,” he finally called over his shoulder.

  “Here we go.” Raina pushed Nola forward. “Try not to end up in Nightland again.”

  “In case you stab me a little too well next time?” Nola asked, trying to sound cavalier as her knees wobbled with each step.

  “If you hadn’t been wearing an oversize protective guard coat, I would’ve gotten you in the heart. And then what would we have to trade?” Raina said.

  Nola turned to see a smirk on Raina’s face.

  “Hooray for oversized coats,” Nola whispered, unsure if any sound had really come out.

  Julian stood, hands behind his back as he faced the guards.

  “I’ll pick up the box,” Julian said. “Then Magnolia walks to you.”

  “The girl comes to us first,” the guard said.

  “Funny how I know our prisoner’s name, and you call your citizen the girl.”

  “Julian,” Raina hissed.

  “Anyway,” Julian sai
d, “I pick up the box, then you get the girl whilst we run away. If you don’t agree”—Julian pointed over his shoulder, and instantly cold hands wrapped around Nola’s neck—“one flick of my dear friend’s wrists, and Magnolia is no more.”

  Silence hung over the bridge. Raina’s fingers around Nola’s neck drained the warmth from her body, leaving her shivering.

  “I like that,” Raina murmured. “Keep it up.”

  “Take the box,” the guard said.

  “Thank you.” Julian lifted the box that seemed to weigh hardly anything, at least to a vampire.

  “Now the girl,” the guard called.

  “Good luck,” Raina said, shoving Nola forward.

  Nola stumbled before her legs remembered how to walk. The bridge echoed with each step under the heavy boots Raina had given her. In two steps, she was past Julian. A moment later, a guard lifted her into his arms and sprinted back across the bridge, carrying her like a child.

  Roars spilt the night as the Outer Guard’s trucks started.

  Nola twisted, trying to look back at the other end of the bridge to see if the vampires had made it to safety. In the glare of the truck lights, she could almost make out two figures running away across the bridge.

  “You’re safe now,” the guard who carried her said.

  “Is she hurt?” Lenora jumped out of the back of a truck and ran toward them.

  Someone pushing a gurney sprinted forward.

  Lenora grabbed her daughter’s hand as the guard lowered Nola onto the gurney. Nola gagged as the smell of medicine and cleaner surrounded her.

  Lenora gasped, looking horror-struck at Nola’s red, scarred hands. “What did they do to you?”

  “Out of the way, ma’am,” a doctor said as two guards lifted the gurney into a truck. Lenora clambered in after, and the truck sped up the hill.

  A guard waited in the corner of the truck. He reached out, placing a hand on Nola’s shoulder before taking off his helmet.

  Sweat covered Jeremy’s forehead, and tears welled in the corners of his eyes.

  “You’re alive,” he whispered, lifting Nola’s hand to his lips. “Thank God you’re alive.”