Ash

by Shani Petroff

  Madden and I sucked in our breath at the same time.

  “What do you mean?” I said. “They can’t do that. He’s… he’s just confused. He’s a Purple.” This couldn’t be happening. Somehow this had gotten blown all out of proportion. They couldn’t just remove Link.

  The officer nodded her head briskly. “That’s exactly it,” she said, talking to Madden even though I was the one who had spoken to her. “There’ve been a few too many ripples happening of late. Mr. Harris’s execution will get major coverage. A bit of a reminder to respect their places in our system.” She shook her head and glared at me. “I’m not sure what your brother is trying to prove, young lady, but I hope for destiny’s sake you can talk more sense into him than the rest of your family.” When she opened the door, a blast of cool, stale air whooshed out.

  I felt sick, like I might throw up or pass out or both. I couldn’t seem to move as the woman’s words settled over me. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. I startled as I felt Madden’s hand brush against my arm.

  “Are you ready?” she asked. She met my eyes for a beat before busying herself with digging around in her bag. Her face was unreadable, but two red blotches now covered her usually flawless skin. She pulled a shawl out of her bag and draped it over her shoulders. “Let’s talk some sense into your idiot brother, shall we?” she asked, then marched away from me. Her heels clicked over the polished floors, echoing in the hallway. I gave one last look at Officer McCarrick, then hurried after Madden.

  It was a long, gray hallway. Fluorescent lights glared down from above. The cells were more like individual glass cubes. The first couple were empty, but when I passed the third on the right, my steps faltered. A rush of relief filled me as I realized the woman sitting on the bed was Raze. We locked eyes and I caught myself as a smile split over my face, immediately covering it with a fake cough. Raze was alive. One of her eyes was swollen and there were several bruises on her arms, but she was right there in front of me.

  “What are you looking at, kid,” she snapped. “Mind your own business.”

  “Sorry,” I said, catching on that she didn’t want anyone to know that I recognized her.

  Madden had paused ahead of me. Her arms were crossed as she glowered at the man inside. He was chuckling to himself—deep-throated belts of laughter. He must have said something to her. She seemed on the verge of telling him off before buttoning up her irritation and turning on one heel, once again marching down the hallway.

  As I moved toward Link’s cell, I stopped in front of the other prisoner and glanced in. Was it someone Madden knew? It wasn’t just anyone who could get past the future minister’s game face. He looked vaguely familiar. He was older than me, though not by too many years. He had dark hair and the beginning of a beard. Then it hit me. It was the man captured outside of Spectrum. Oena’s brother. The Blank.

  “An Ash with a Purple,” he called to me. His voice was deep. “Careful of the company you keep, love. The upper rings don’t treat their toys very well.”

  “Come on, Dax,” Madden yelled back. “Let’s go.”

  I picked up the pace, but risked another look back at him. I had never seen another Blank before, not in person. He grinned at me, and tipped his head. I was dying to talk to him, to find out what growing up as a Blank had been like. And more importantly, how he’d become a Revenant. But I had something more important to do. I had to stop my brother from becoming the ministry’s next target. I quickly rushed over to Madden who was standing in front of Link’s cell. He sat on an unmade bed. His scowl turned into a smile when he saw me and he jumped up, rushing toward the glass barrier separating us.

  “Dax,” he said, looking from me to Madden, and back to me, obviously surprised. “What are you doing here? How’d you get in?”

  “Madden helped me.”

  His eyebrows shot up even further. “It’s really good to see you.”

  I hoped that meant he’d listen me to. I looked my big brother over, anxious to make sure he was okay. He appeared exhausted and his usual groomed head of hair stood on end, but otherwise he seemed no worse for wear. All I wanted was to fling my arms around him. Since there must have been a foot of glass between us I settled on a smile.

  “Good to see you too,” I said. “Are you okay?”

  “Sure,” he said. “I’m fine.”

  “You know you’ve got Mom in hysterics.”

  “Mom is always in hysterics.”

  “Everybody else is pretty upset too.”

  “I know. I’m sorry, but I have to do what I think is right.”

  Anger flashed through me. “No, you don’t. Link. This is insane, you being here. The woman who let us in here, she just said they were going to execute you in three days.”

  Link closed his eyes for a minute and hung his head. When he looked up his expression was resolute. “I expected something like that would happen sooner or later.”

  “I just told you the government is planning to remove you, and you’re going to accept it? What’s wrong with you?” I felt like punching the glass between us. “Just tell them what they want to hear and let’s go home. There are other ways to make a point.” I had to somehow explain the Revenants to Link. I turned to Madden. “Could you give us a minute?”

  She nodded before moving down the hall.

  I wasn’t sure what to say to him. I didn’t know if Madden could hear or if anyone else was monitoring our conversation.

  “Dax,” Link began, “I know it seems crazy to you. To everyone. But I have to stand by my beliefs.”

  “There’s another way,” I said, my voice low. “I’ve met people, Link. Others who want to change the system. Aldan’s mystery girl, she’s one of them.”

  That stopped him in his tracks. “Then it’s happening already. That means it’s even more important to see this through. Aldan and I talked a lot before the race, Dax. He hated how the rings segregated people just as much as I do. He started something. People are talking. As long as I’m in here, the conversation is continuing. It’s getting louder. If I recant, it’s going to fade back to a whisper. Sometimes people need to be pushed too far.” He swallowed and his eyes got a far away look. “Aldan’s death started a backlash. If I need to give my life too, then that’s what I’ll do.”

  “Would you just wait a minute? You aren’t listening. I’m telling you there’s another option.”

  “Not for me. Not if something is going to actually happen.”

  “But—”

  “I’m sorry, Dax, this is too important to let it go. People need to know that others are willing to fight, no matter the cost. Anything less than that won’t make an impact.”

  My face flushed with anger, and I slapped my palm against the glass wall separating us. It hit hard and the sound slammed through the hallway. “Link, knock off the martyr act, okay?” I realized I was shouting. I didn’t care. “Just stop. Come home.”

  He held his palm up against the glass, a reflection of my own.

  “I can’t, Dax.” I stared at him. My handsome, quiet, serious big brother. I could see how much our conversation was hurting him in the tightness of his eyes, the clench of his jaw.

  “No,” I said. I pressed harder on the glass, willing it to crash down. “Please, Link.”

  “Dax, I’d do almost anything I could not to hurt you. But I can’t give on this. You have to understand, okay?”

  “It’s not okay,” I shot back, my voice frantic. “There is nothing about this that is okay. Link, I am begging you—”

  “I love you, Dax. I’m sorry.” He turned and walked back to his bed, stretched out and closed his eyes.

  After that there was nothing else to really say. I’d said my piece. He hadn’t listened. He didn’t want to listen. Rage and terror boiled through me, but I kept my anger in check as I stalked back down the hallway. I still had three days. This wasn’t over yet.

  Dax blew out of the cells, and I felt my stomach clenching in what was starting to become a famil
iar coil of knots. I had hoped she would talk some reason into Link, but it looked like her words had made no difference.

  I marched back to his cell, fuming. When I got there, he was laying down again. “Get up, Link Harris,” I ordered. Surprisingly, he actually listened, sitting up to meet my gaze with startled, unblinking green eyes.

  “You may think you know everything, but you don’t. What you’re doing isn’t going to help anyone. It’s going to do the opposite—remind them what happens when you break the rules.”

  “I don’t see it that way,” he said.

  He was so irritatingly stubborn.

  “Then how about this way—you are going to destroy your family, the people who love you, if you go through with this. Have you thought about how they’ll fare? Between Dax’s Blank tax, losing Aldan and you? They’ll probably wind up in one of those Ash complexes, the ones you say are horrible. Is that what you want for them?”

  He shook his head no. “I don’t, but they’ll understand, I’m doing this for our country. They’re fighters. They’ll be okay.”

  I glared back. “You’re taking the easy way out. You want to do something for our country, fine. Propose legislation, write an article.” I lowered my voice. “Be more liberal in your designations. Instead of Ash, assign Slate or Yellow.”

  “That’s not something I ever thought I’d hear you say.”

  Neither did I. “As long as people are still completing their destinies, I don’t care where they live if it means you stay alive.”

  That stopped him for a moment, but finally he just shook his head, his voice softening. “It’s not that simple, Madden. You know that. My ring appointments are scrutinized, just like any Destiny Specialist.”

  “Then make a better case for a higher ring designation.”

  “It still doesn’t fix it. Look at Dax. She’s a Blank. There’s no improving her standing. She’s smart, she has the ability to be anything, but she can’t, because our system has cast her aside as worthless. And there are others just like her.”

  Others including me. But I couldn’t think about whether he was right or not, I just had to get him out of here.

  My voice was quieter than a whisper. “I don’t want you to die.”

  “I know.” He reached his fingers through the air holes so they were touching mine. “You’ve changed. The Madden I knew wouldn’t be here. Wouldn’t have helped Dax come to see me.”

  “I care about you, Link. I never stopped caring.”

  He hung his head down, and when he looked back up at me I saw his eyes were starting to well up. “I never did get over you, Madden.”

  We just stood there, looking at each other. I wanted to say more, I wanted to tell him everything—about my destiny, about Dax, about my feelings for him. But then he turned away from me and his voice got distant again. “You should go.”

  “Please, just think about what I said,” I told him. He didn’t turn back around. I took one last look at Link and headed toward the door.

  “Got a thing for prisoners, do you?” The man from the other cell yelled out to me, “Want to come play in my cell?” he asked before erupting in a ridiculous laugh. I rushed out of the holding area, past Officer McCarrick into the lobby.

  Dax was standing there, her face looked empty. On another person that might have been normal, but Dax went through expressions like Portia went through gowns. They were noticeable and extreme, and you couldn’t help but take note. I didn’t know what to do with that look.

  It was just the two of us. I did my best to keep my expression in check. “I couldn’t get through to him,” I said.

  “This… he… I hate this.”

  “Yeah.”

  We stood there awkwardly. Dax scuffed a sneaker over the floor. Her shoes were filthy, and a hole was starting to form in one toe.

  She looked at me again with those hollow eyes. “There has to be something you can do. Isn’t there some kind of loophole? Or protocol? Or government legislature that can be enacted?” She was starting to wake up now. “Madden, there’s got to be something no one’s thought of. Just tell me where to look. I’ll go through old archives. My dad works at the library—he and I can both look. If we could just buy him some more time. Maybe we can get him to come around.”

  I was racking my brain as she spoke, trying to think of anything I might have overlooked. “Unfortunately the law is very clear on anything related to destiny like this. There’s no room for interpretation. I’ve done everything I can think of.”

  Her face fell again. I took in a deep breath, knowing full well I’d probably regret it later. “If there is anything I can do to help, I’ll do it. Maybe there’s an angle I haven’t thought of. At the very least, I’ll petition for an extension.”

  Hope flickered across her face, and I immediately dashed it. “I wouldn’t count on it, though.” I held up my hands helplessly. “Like I said, the law is very clear on destiny breakers. I’m sorry. I wish there was more I could do.”

  “We have three days,” she said.

  “That’s right.” I wasn’t sure if she was reminding herself or me.

  “You’ll work on an extension?”

  “Of course. But it’s a long shot. More than a long shot,” I amended.

  “Then we’ll just have to increase the odds,” she said. “I’m going to get my brother out of that cell, one way or another.” She flipped her blonde ponytail back over one shoulder. “And Madden, thanks. Really. I appreciate it.”

  “Anything for Link,” I said. And the truth was, I meant it.

  My head was swimming as I parted ways with Madden. There had to be a way to save my brother.

  I felt a small vibration on my wrist. Theron was pinging me. “What happened? How’d it go?” he asked. I could barely think straight, let alone write out an answer. Especially to questions like that.

  “I didn’t get anywhere,” I tapped back. “He just ignored me.”

  I felt another buzz, followed by a request for a full connection. I accepted and a second later Theron was standing before me. Well, a tiny, holographic version of him anyway.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” I lied. “I’m fine.”

  “Dax,” he said, “what’s going on? How are you really?”

  That was the thing about holo-talking—it made it a lot harder to hide how you were feeling. “I’m… I don’t know. Angry. Sad. Frustrated. I have to get Link out of there.” I told him everything that happened.

  “Maybe he just needs some time to think about what you said,” Theron offered.

  “He doesn’t have time.”

  “Then go back again tomorrow. Wear him down. Convince him there are other ways,” Theron said.

  The knot in my stomach started to uncoil. Theron was right, there were other ways. I might be able to get my brother out. With some help. “Thanks, Theron,” I said. “I know exactly what I have to do. I’ve got to go. Talk to you soon, okay?”

  I saw the confused expression on his face as I disconnected the holo-talk. But I couldn’t tell him that he just triggered an idea. One that he would in no way support.

  The more I thought about what I was going to do, the more right it felt. I pinged Oena. “We need to talk. Urgent.”

  She said to only contact her if it was important—and this certainly qualified.

  Seconds later, through no doing of my own, a map opened up on my tracker with a black dot situated near the East 2 stop in the Crimson zone. It was a meeting spot, I assumed, and it was close by. I hopped the train and was there within minutes.

  My tracker led me to an alleyway behind a bar. I ran my hand over the back of the building, hoping to find a hidden hologram, but no luck. The dot on my map was exactly where I was standing, but I couldn’t find the entrance. There was just dirt, some dried up leaves, and an old manhole cover. Was that it?

  I got my answer soon enough. I jumped as the metal under my feet began to move, and the top of Oena’s head appeared “Come on
,” she whispered, “before someone wanders back here and sees us.”

  She didn’t have to tell me twice. I darted after her onto a narrow ladder and slid the lid back in place overhead. Once we hit ground, she immediately got down to business. “I saw the feed of you going into the UV building,” she said. “What happened? Did you find out any news?”

  I told her about Raze and Zane, happy to finally share some good news. A look of relief wash over Oena’s face. “I hadn’t heard anything about Zane in the past few days, and nothing on Raze, period. I’d thought they’d been killed.”

  “They’re okay for now. But the ministry is going to kill Link,” I told her.

  “I know,” she said, her voice grave.

  “What? How?”

  She paused, as if debating on what to divulge. “We have a couple of people on the inside at the UV. Purples,” she finally said.

  I was taken back. I knew Aldan was helping the Revenants, but I never expected that they’d have other higher ups on their side.

  “They do what they can,” she continued. “Information, supplies, things like that. But they had a hard time getting intel on Raze and Zane. The insides of the cells don’t have cameras. The ministry doesn’t want proof of what’s going on. It doesn’t help with the illusion that New City is crime-free and that Revenants don’t exist.”

  “Then how did they know about Link?”

  “His lock-up is common knowledge, so information on him is available to those with clearance.”

  “Oena, I can’t let him die. And who knows how long Raze and Zane have? We have to get them all out of there. These contacts of yours, can’t they do something?”

  Her eyes clouded for a second. “Not enough. A breakout is impossible.”

  “You’re a Revenant,” I shot back. “Not too long ago I thought your existence was impossible. There has to be a way.”

  Her expression hardened at my tone, and for a moment she looked dangerous. “You’re not the only one who has a brother in there. You don’t think I would have tried anything I could to get him out?”