Unraveled

by Gennifer Albin

  The Guild miscalculated in thinking this would be enough to keep the female population happy, though. They hadn’t conceived of our evolution. But despite their mistakes, they’d kept their most important truths secret.

  While I was on Earth I discovered how far they had gone to protect their power. I’m the only Spinster who knows the true depth of their power—and their history.

  “You have no idea who you are dealing with,” I say to Hanna sadly, “or what he’s capable of.”

  Cormac flashes us a wicked smile. “They’ll know soon enough.”

  SIX

  SPECIAL TEAMS FLOOD THE CELLS. A GUARD jostles me out, pushing me against Cormac as a scream calls my attention back to the prisoners. Officers drag the Spinsters from their prison, herding them into a group. Hanna’s eyes meet mine before security forces surround the girls. From the mass of black uniforms a collection of arms reach out, grasping toward freedom, but I’m pulled down the corridor of the tower and away from the swarm of girls.

  Hanna’s final accusatory look burns in my mind. She sees me as the problem—another girl not only controlled by the Guild but willing to do as they wish. I want to believe I’m dangerous—that my power should be feared—but who do I scare? The more I think about it, the clearer the answer becomes.

  Myself.

  Despite my best efforts, I’m no closer to solving this situation without violence, and as I watch the chaos, knowing that there’s not much time left for the Spinsters here, my composed veneer cracks, fear and guilt seeping through it.

  Cormac is only a few feet away. Whatever he is planning, I can still stop it. If I invoke our agreement, I can remind him that a compromise will be a better course of action. It’s the best I can do, even as a tiny voice in the back of my mind reminds me this won’t be enough.

  “What are you doing?” I ask. He doesn’t bother to look at me. He’s too consumed with his business.

  “We have no choice but to institute Protocol Two,” he says. “Containment of the Spinsters is necessary, and this coventry and sector have been compromised.”

  “Can you transfer them out to other coventries? Separate the ones who didn’t rebel?” It’s less a question than a wish.

  “I’m not interested in keeping a bunch of traitors.” Cormac stops, but he searches the room around us. To him our conversation is merely another annoying side effect of the situation.

  Grady stands to the side of the action. He doesn’t try to stop the guards dragging the Spinsters away; he looks frozen.

  “You have to stop this,” I yell at him. “You know what he’s going to do, don’t you? Stop him!”

  The troops march the girls past us and out the door of the Ministry. I have no idea where they are taking them, but it can’t be good.

  “Cormac.” Grady finally speaks up. “Execute them if you must, but consider the people. They don’t deserve to be punished for the actions of a few Spinsters. Without the Spinsters—”

  Bile rises in my throat. He’s willing to sacrifice those girls to save the population. Cormac rounds on him. His face is pale and there’s a slight tremor when he raises his finger to point at Grady. “And let the taint in this sector spread through the rest of Arras? If we don’t contain the rabid propaganda here and now, it will be Protocol Three next.”

  “It will never come to that,” Grady says, but he slumps against a wall as if the weight of this possibility is too much to bear. “You’ve never been able to make hard decisions, Grady. I’ve made this one for you. You’re absolved for now.” Cormac waves a hand at him, shooing him in the direction of the exit. “Leave Allia before it’s too late. I’ve ordered emergency rebounds into the adjoining three sectors and the termination of every Spinster in the sector.”

  Grady’s face is slack, guilt hanging from it like oil pooling in a rag. Cormac may believe it’s easy to walk away, but I feel the heaviness in the air. No one can justify what’s happening here today. No one will be pardoned.

  “What will happen to them if you order this? Who will work the looms? What will happen to all those innocent people if the Coventry sits empty?” I ask Cormac as Grady ambles out of the room. Grady made it sound as if everyone would be punished for the blackout.

  “There’s no if. It’s done. You don’t need to worry about it.” He’s too busy sending messages on his digifile to even look at me.

  “Is that how this is going to work? I ask a question and you pat me on the head and send me back to the kitchen?” I plant my hands on my hips, hoping to appear defiant.

  “I’ll probably swat you on the ass, actually,” Cormac says, grabbing my arm to pull me in closer, “especially if you take that tone with me in public.”

  “If you think I’m going to be an obedient little wife—”

  “That’s exactly what you’re going to be,” Cormac roars. His hand flies up in the air, but I don’t shrink away from it. Our eyes meet and there’s a fire burning behind his usually cold eyes. He doesn’t strike me though, he merely waves toward a group of guards. They part to reveal Hannox, who pauses to nod at Cormac.

  “You two should get married,” I tell Cormac as Hannox heads in our direction. “You clearly have a very special relationship.”

  “You and I will after two hundred years, too.”

  “Oh, promise?” I ask, no longer trying to bite back the heedless spite that comes naturally to me. Even though I know it’s reckless, I can’t stop myself now. Cautious words and gentle reason have gotten me nowhere with Cormac. It’s as though he can’t even hear me.

  “There’s something you should understand now, Adelice,” he whispers in my ear. The urgency of his words and the heat of his breath raise goose bumps down the back of my neck. “I am the one with power in Arras.”

  “I have talents of my own,” I say.

  “And they are mine now,” he replies. Hannox appears beside us and Cormac points to me. “Get her to the transport. We’re leaving for the Northern Ministry shortly.”

  “I’ll have her transported back to the Western Coventry, and—” Hannox begins.

  “No.” Cormac stops him. “She stays with me.”

  Hannox lowers his voice. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

  “Do not second-guess me, Hannox,” Cormac snarls.

  Hannox’s jaw tightens and he glances briefly at me before snapping off a salute. “Yes, sir.”

  “Take her to the transport.” Cormac shoves me toward Hannox and I stumble into his arms.

  I’ve overheard enough exchanges between the two men to know things are tense between them because of me. The funny thing is that in some ways Hannox is a lot like me. We’re both at the mercy of Cormac, a man who thinks a relationship consists of ordering the other person around. It’s also clear that I’m not going to get any answers from Cormac about what’s happening here.

  As soon as Hannox leads me away, I ask him what’s going on. Maybe Hannox can see that we aren’t so different, too.

  “If Cormac wouldn’t tell you, why would I?” he asks.

  “Cormac won’t tell me because he thinks my ignorance gives him the upper hand.”

  “And you don’t think it does?”

  “I can’t possibly stop him,” I explain as he marches me out the exit of the Eastern Ministry.

  “For the first time, I agree with you. Remember this: Cormac’s fuse is considerably shorter these days,” Hannox warns me. He gestures for me to lead the way, ending the discussion.

  Outside the building, two shallow pools run the length of the path leading to the entrance. On each corner of the pools fantastical creatures with long hose-like extremities extending past marble spikes spray water. It ripples together, immediately becoming part of the pool. The fountains are like the coventries: both provide material directly to the source, parts flowing into one whole.

  “Elephants,” Hannox says beside me.

  “I’m sorry?” I say.

  “The animals are elephants,” he tells me. “We brought some
of every animal from Earth here initially. The elephants were my favorite.”

  “What happened to them?” I ask.

  “Some animals died, others evolved with the changing conditions, and others were deemed unnecessary.”

  “And these?” I ask.

  “No one saw a use for elephants. If an animal served no useful function, it was removed to allow Arras to prosper more efficiently.”

  “And elephants have no purpose?”

  “I guess not.” Sadness colors his words. Hannox doesn’t speak again until he hands me off to the security guard waiting by the fleet of armored transports near the Ministry. Hannox didn’t strike me as the friendly type when I first met him and I’m not sure why he would volunteer such a peculiar detail now. But sentimentality does strange things to people, I suppose.

  As soon as Cormac joins us, we’re evacuated out of the Ministry’s emergency rebound chambers directly into the Northern Sector. But we don’t go to the Ministry offices as Cormac insinuated earlier. He still hasn’t given me any answers about what’s going on. Instead we’re whisked through the metro in a motocarriage.

  I take a deep breath and push the words out of my mouth that I don’t want to speak. “I think there is room for compromise regarding the Eastern Sector. You don’t have to destroy it.”

  “There is no compromise,” Cormac growls. “Our partnership doesn’t extend to the governance of Arras.”

  “I thought you wanted someone to help you control the situation on Arras,” I say.

  “I do, but I’ll tell you when and how you will be necessary for that purpose.” He tugs at the vest strapped tightly around his neck.

  “Then I’m not sure why you brought me here,” I say. I don’t shrink away from him even as he presses closer to me. There’s a violent electricity in the air between us. One of us could snap at any moment, and I can’t say how much longer I can play nice.

  “Because you’ve never been able to see the big picture.” His breath stings my nostrils as he gets in my face. “If this taint spreads through Arras, Earth will die along with it. I’ll be forced to use more of its resources to rebuild our world.”

  “And the only way you can stop this threat is to destroy everything you built here?”

  Cormac grabs my wrist so forcefully that it feels as though my bones will snap. “I have this under control.”

  “Are you sure?” My question is soft.

  “Never presume that I’m not in control.” His words are firm but his eyes tell a different story. He can’t hide the fierce panic blazing in them.

  “There are a lot of innocent people in this sector,” I reason with him. “Are you going to desert them?”

  His voice lowers to a whisper. This point is meant only for me. “Tell me, Adelice, how do you know when someone is innocent? Because two years ago I was called to a retrieval gone bad, and I walked in ready to face a traitor. And do you know what I found? A scrap of a girl who couldn’t run fast enough to get away.” Cormac trails a finger down my throat, and my hands curl into fists. “You looked innocent, and what a fool you made of all of us.”

  “You’re wrong,” I say in a quiet voice.

  “You were innocent?” he asks.

  “No, about me not seeing the big picture. It’s not that I don’t see it. It’s that I see a different one than you.” I pause, waiting for him to interrupt, but for once he’s listening to me. “You’re looking at the past, Cormac. Your world is falling apart while you squint and pretend the big picture isn’t deteriorating rather than face the truth.”

  “And I suppose you’re going to enlighten me?” he asks with a scoff.

  “I can’t do that, which is why you need me. You’re holding on so tightly that you’re strangling Arras. Call off the protocol and we’ll figure something out together.”

  Cormac hesitates, his black eyes fixed on mine, flickering like he’s trying to read a secret code. He won’t find anything hidden there, because I believe every word I’ve said to him. “This sector isn’t beyond saving,” I continue. “Nothing in this world or the one below us is beyond saving. The fact that you brought me here proves you know that. You gave me another chance, Cormac. You can give those girls one as well.”

  Cormac’s gaze falls to the floor and he straightens up, unable to meet my eyes. It’s the first time he’s backed down from me. It’s the first time I’ve won.

  I try to bite back the triumphant smile tugging at my lips as he cocks his head. “Hannox,” he calls.

  I think of Hanna’s judgmental eyes. She scorned my methods, but I have gotten results through diplomacy. Cormac might be a twisted man, but he always does the best thing to advance his career. Abandoning the Eastern Sector wasn’t going to earn him popularity points.

  “Hold the protocol,” he says. “Wait for my orders.”

  As soon as he ends his conversation, his eyes fall wearily over me.

  My heart takes flight like a freed bird as we pass outside the central part of Cypress, past tall buildings and shops out to the cookie-cutter streets that comprise the neighborhoods. It’s evening and the streets are empty, lights flicker in windows, but curfew is imminent. Posted signs warn us to turn back—that we’re entering a restricted area. When we finally stop, Hannox helps me out of the back of the motocarriage. We’re on a bluff much like the one Cormac brought me to during a goodwill tour we took together. The men speak in furious whispers until Hannox climbs back inside the motocarriage, leaving Cormac and me alone.

  “Are you here to tempt me?” I ask him as he appears by my side. He’d offered me Arras once as we looked over a cliff.

  “No, we’re here to witness.”

  “Witness what?” I ask, suspicion seeping into my voice.

  He taps his wristwatch. “Soon. I thought it was time I showed you the big picture.”

  I stare out past the edge of the bluff. A metro stretches, sparkling, at the foot of it. The night is still, not a trace of wind in the air, but as my gaze moves upward there are no stars. No moon.

  “Why are we here? I thought we were going to the Northern Ministry,” I ask, not wanting to understand why he’s brought me here, because I think I already know the answer.

  “We are standing at the boundary between the Northern Sector and the Eastern Sector,” Cormac explains.

  This information sends a chill running through my veins, but I don’t repeat my earlier question. The lights below are merely the candles and emergency flashes the population is using while the sector is in blackout. Instead I wait, dreading the answer that I know is coming.

  I’m here to witness Protocol Two.

  The black sky flashes rainbow. Colors streak across, lighting it in brilliant ruby and sapphire, each shade fading into another. Until it ceases to be. It’s no longer empty air. It’s more. It’s become a gaping void. The space-time around us vibrates, filling the abyss overhead with the low hum of absence. Under it the metro tremors and fades, stripped before my eyes. My mind fills the silence with screams. But would they scream? Would the people of the Eastern Sector even know what was happening to them? Did they feel their removal from Arras?

  Did they know they had been cast off from life? Through the lost cries echoing in my head only one thought is clear: Sebrina is in the Eastern Sector. I’ve failed Jost again.

  I step closer to the edge, and when the air stings my tears, I realize I’m crying. “What have you done?”

  “I’ve shown you who is in control here. Don’t forget what you’ve seen.”

  I swallow my own scream as I stare across the expanse, wishing I could explain to Jost what just happened. And hoping I never have to.

  For a moment there is nothing, and I understand why Arras has strict boundary laws. Passage between sectors is controlled to ensure citizens stay where they are supposed to and don’t see anything they shouldn’t. But also because this might need to be done at a moment’s notice. I feel certain it has been before.

  “How many times have you done th
is?” I ask Cormac, forcing my hands to my sides even as they ache to reach out and rend him in half.

  “Protocol Two?” he asks.

  I nod, my eyes never leaving the empty space stretching before us. We stand on the precipice of this world. Past us lies nothing but a blank gap in reality.

  “I’ll never tell,” he says.

  I round on him, leaving no room between us. “You can’t do this. There are innocent people there. There are children!”

  My throat is thick with grief, and I choke on the final word, my heart splintering even further for Jost and Sebrina until I’m sure I will crack under the pressure of my guilt.

  Cormac grabs my shoulders, squeezing them until my fingers start to tingle. “Do. Not. Question. Me.”

  Each word is a threat, spoken in a low tone that registers only in the shiver running up my spine. He drops his hold on me and steps away, opening and closing his fingers in rapid succession as he stares into the void.

  There is more wrong here than an altered reality. No one is safe under the authority of Cormac Patton.

  A placid gray washes across the vacant sky and the stars reappear. As I watch, the world changes into a calm, still scene, erasing the violence that preceded this moment. Water ripples into place, flooding the space below the cliff. It is born of nothing, and it rushes in gentle waves until it reaches the edge of the precipice. Now I stand on a rocky beach instead of the end of the world, but the ocean is a lie. Now there are three sectors instead of four. Now I see Arras in a new and terrifying light.

  We can destroy the world as quickly as we can build it.

  SEVEN

  BY THE END OF MY FIRST WEEK back at the Coventry I’m smiling, but only for the surveillance feeds that watch me. By the end of the second week, I begin placing orders from the catalogs left for my perusal. I learn patience as I try to forget what I’ve given up.