Gray went to work arranging a supply of feather down pillows and comforters into a makeshift bed. When he was satisfied, he helped me get situated on the middle of the pile and then moved things around. Having a pillow—a stack of pillows—supporting my back made a huge difference.
Kaia knelt beside me.
Julia said she was going to look for water near the front of the train. She climbed the spindly ladder and eased over the side of the car.
There were only a few places she could look. I suspected she was going to talk to Phoenix. The pair obviously knew one another, though it was an odd match. But with that hair... Inwardly, I shook my head at the mop of green on that boy’s head.
Gray’s comm buzzed, and he paced as he read the message.
“Who’s it from?”
He looked up from the device and at my mother and me. “It’s from Kyan. He’s ditching the comm. He thinks they’re onto him. He also said his plan is working. And he was supposed to meet up with Adam but hasn’t made it to their rendezvous point. Kyan isn’t sure if Adam is there or how long either will be able to wait on the other.”
“You need to tell Julia.”
The thud-thud of the train every few feet echoed in the silence stretching between us. “Yeah. I’ll be right back.”
I giggled. “I’ll be okay. I’ll scream really loud if anything happens.”
And then the pain started again. I wanted to ask Kaia what Kyan was doing, what the plan consisted of and if it meant what I thought it did. Are we almost free? Has he unleashed Hell?
But I had to clench my teeth and hold my breath as the pain overwhelmed all rational thought.
I PAUSED FOR A MINUTE at the intersection of another sewer tunnel, sending my last comm. I was trying to make quiet tracks through the foul stream when I heard loud voices from above. It was another metal lid that led topside. Two guards from what I could hear. “The strange comm signal we were tracking. It came from this area.”
“Do you actually think it’s an outsider? How would they breach the gate?”
“I don’t know, but I do follow instructions. You’d be wise to do the same.” The last word was gritted out.
His buddy asked, “Are you okay?”
“No, my stomach. It’s in knots. I’m not sure how much longer I can walk around like this. I think I need to be transported to the med facility.”
That’s when the man began to wretch. The dry heaving turned to violent vomiting. When small droplets of puke started raining down, I backed away, wiping the splatter off my visor with my sleeve. That didn’t help; it just smeared the mess. But no way was I touching it again.
Great. Now the bottom half of me was covered in waste and the top half in another man’s vomit.
It sounded like the guard helped his friend up, probably to take him to the medical facility—not that they’d find any help there. It was the first place I’d released the virus.
I typed out the message:
I’M DITCHING THE COMM. I THINK THEY’RE ONTO ME, BUT THE PLAN SEEMS TO BE WORKING. I JUST NEED TO LAY LOW FOR A WHILE. I’M SUPPOSED TO MEET UP WITH A BUT TRAVEL IS SLOW. I HAVEN’T MADE IT TO THE RENDEZVOUS POINT. I’M NOT SURE IF ADAM IS ALREADY THERE OR HOW LONG EITHER OF US WILL BE ABLE TO WAIT ON THE OTHER BEFORE WE’RE FORCED TO MOVE ON. BUT I WILL TRY TO MAKE IT THERE AND I WILL TRY MY BEST TO FIND HIM. AND TELL J THAT I WILL MAKE IT HOME TO HER. IT JUST MAY TAKE A LITTLE LONGER THAN I’D HOPED OR PLANNED.
Dropping the comm into the filth, I walked farther into the darkness. Just a little more. I had to be halfway through the city now.
It seemed the sewer water was getting higher. Did that mean that more Greaters were getting sick?
I sniffed the air. No way to tell. It all smelled like death.
The visor map helped me navigate, but Julia’s face fueled me on. She was already out of Vesuvius—probably halfway home—and I couldn’t wait to get back to her.
MORTIN AND HIS TEAM HAD been working feverishly, but it was not good enough. I sat back in the chair behind my desk, my knee bouncing with aggravation.
“Tell me you have learned something,” I ordered.
“Yes, we were able to track the unusual comm signal into the city center. It was strong one moment and gone the next, Queen.”
I tried to smile. “It just disappeared?”
Mortin swallowed thickly. “Though it doesn’t make sense, it would seem so.”
Two knocks at my office door and a guard entered, escorting Healer Abry. Abry was an older man of seventy years of age. His hair had thinned and receded until only wisps of delicate white remained. His aged hands were clasped in front of him.
He bowed, as did the guard.
“Have you determined the cause of the sudden illness?”
“Yes, my Queen. I believe we have.” The resignation in his voice startled me. I stood and walked toward him, but he held his hands out defensively.
“No. Don’t get too close. It’s too risky.”
“What is going on?”
Abry pushed his glasses up. “It’s the virus, Queen.”
“The virus?”
He nodded, his eyes steeled on mine.
That was not possible. What remained of the virus was under lock and key. Only the scientists in one very secure laboratory had access to it. But Healer Abry was alleging it was the cause of so many of our citizens, our guards, falling ill. It had struck fast. That would certainly describe the virus we had engineered. “The Greater virus?”
“Yes.”
“It was contained.”
Abry shifted his weight. “There’s been a breach of security.” Abry gave Mortin the details.
Mortin went to work accessing the system from his portable communicator. Within minutes, video of the laboratory’s door appeared. People shuffled past the door quickly as he ran the vid in fast forward.
“Slow down, please.” Abry requested. His eyes scanned the people. “There.”
Mortin stopped the footage.
Abry pointed at the screen. “The sanitation worker. He was the only one, besides our scientists, who would’ve had access to the vials.”
“Who is he?” I asked.
Abry shook his head slowly. “No one knows. He’s not known in the Lessor Section at all.”
I slammed my hand down on the desk beside me. “Find him, Mortin. I want to know who he is, how he got here, and what he has done!” Before Mortin reached the door, I stopped him again. “And take the scientists into custody. If one of them was assisting him, I want to know it!”
“Yes, Queen Lillith. Right away.” Mortin scurried away, the door closing with a slam behind him.
Abry looked from the door to me. “There are vials missing from the containment closet in that very room.”
“How many?”
He slowly shook his head, settling into a chair across the room. “It doesn’t matter. One is enough.”
“If he has used it.”
Abry nodded knowingly. Both of us knew. Guards and citizens alike were showing signs of sickness. The medical facility was overflowing, but beyond that, the healers and clinicians were also ill.
“How is it transmitted?”
“We engineered it well, Queen. It’s airborne, but can spread through both direct and indirect contact. It can even be spread through water.”
Standing, I walked to the window and looked down at the city—my city. “How long do we have?”
Abry cleared his throat. “Hours. Perhaps a day? We’re not certain.”
“What sort of clearance would one need to access the containment door?”
“The highest, Queen.”
“Someone has been helping the Lessers.”
“I’ll inform Mortin on my way out, Madam.”
I nodded. “See that you do.”
Watching as he stood up stiffly and exited the room, I wondered if he had brought the virus to me. He had told me to stay back, but did it really matter? If the virus had been set free, every Greater in
Olympus was as good as dead.
A moment later, a knock sounded at the door. “You may enter.”
Mortin eased his head inside.
“Come in, Mortin.” The man was exasperating. I could not fathom how I had decided to make him head of security.
“We have a situation.”
“Explain.”
He eased the door closed and looked at me. “The gates are closed. Nothing in or out, per your orders, but...”
“But?”
“There are four trains full of guards outside the gates.”
I could feel my face heating. “Why are there four trains full of guards outside the gates?”
He pulled on the collar of his shirt—the collar I wanted to choke him with. “It seems that someone sent an order for all guards to be recalled from the Lesser Villages. They are waiting outside the gates for clearance.”
Hmm. If I bring them in, they would be subject to the virus. If I leave them outside the city, they are of no use.
If the Lessers wanted war, if they were taking us down, they’d go down with us. “Bring them in. Give orders to round up all Lessers within the city walls. Take them to The Cliff.”
Mortin’s eyes widened. “We have the lower Lessers secured in the Lesser Square.”
I had had enough. “Move them! And recall the clearance of all Upper Lessers. Have the guard take every last one to The Cliff. Now!”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, double chin still quivering.
“Tell them to find out who is orchestrating this rebellion. Motivate them by any means necessary.”
He nodded fast. “I’ll pass along your orders now, Queen.”
“See that you do.”
I turned back to the window. The war had begun. If we could not win the battle brought to our doorstep, we would make sure they died with us.
CLIMBING UP AND DOWN TRAIN car ladders was fast becoming a talent of mine. When I got to the engine and opened the metal door, I could see Phoenix. Julia was pacing behind him, swiping tears from her eyes. Phoenix wrapped her in a hug and let her cry.
Bad timing. I’ll just come back later.
The door I’d opened so quietly decided to screech behind me, and I was busted.
The two of them were jumping apart like they’d been electrocuted. I knew they weren’t together. But they seemed so uncomfortable being caught. Friends hugged. I knew that. Of course, Kyan would be an angry guy if he found out. Not that I’d tell him.
“Oh, hey. We got a comm from Kyan. Abby wanted me to tell you right away.”
Julia smiled. “Please.”
“He’s making his way through Vesuvius, but it’s slow going. And he’s going to meet up with Adam. But he has to ditch his comm. He thinks the guard is onto him.”
Her sharp inhale startled me a little.
She grabbed Phoenix’s forearm. “Will they find him?”
“No, I think they were just tracing his comm. When they discovered Abby was gone, they would’ve looked for anomalies of any kind. His comm’s signal would’ve eventually been found because it isn’t registered there. It’s registered to Orchard.”
She nodded, so I continued. “So, if he ditches it. There won’t be a signal to trace. The downside is that he can’t communicate with us anymore. But he told me to tell you that he’d be coming home to you, it just might take longer than he thought.”
Julia nodded, and the tears started flowing again.
Phoenix looked at me as if to ask permission to comfort her. I gave a tic of my head. Everyone needed a friend, especially then.
“Thank you for coming to tell me, Gray,” Julia said, pulling away from Phoenix.
“You’re welcome. But you should thank Abby.”
She scoffed. “She’s the reason we’re all in this mess.”
I could feel my brows touching one another. “No, she isn’t. It isn’t her fault they took her from her home. It isn’t her fault they took her eggs and implanted a child in her womb. It isn’t her fault she’s about to give birth to that baby on this train!”
Phoenix looked scared.
“It’s her fault that Kyan is out there!”
“The hell it is! Kyan volunteered to do this—and not just because Abby is his friend, either. He’s doing it to protect everyone. He’s doing it to free the Lessers, and to give you and him a shot at normal, sweetheart. So, don’t forget it!”
With that, I spun and shut the door, walked across the coupling and climbed up the ladder of the next car.
THE MAN WHO’D BEEN GUARDING me had gotten so ill he had to be transported to the med facility for treatment. The one standing behind me afterward looked virile—anything but ill. He was an enormous man, thick and muscled. I wasn’t a tiny man. I was tall and average-sized, not too big, and not too small. And, though I was aging, I still sported muscle. But nothing like that man.
When his meaty hand clamped down on my shoulder and squeezed, I froze. “Time to move. Your rights as an Upper Lesser have been rescinded.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you, and all your little friends, are going to join the Lowers at The Cliff.”
I swallowed, straightening my spine. The Cliff was exactly that. Most of Vesuvius was located at the bottom of a hill. It wasn’t a mountain by any means, but still big enough that the palace sat regally above all, a constant reminder of our place below the monarchy.
The Cliff was to the west of the palace where the side of the hill had been blown away. Shards of slate-like sheets of rock were all that remained. Most of the larger rock had been used building the city. The only thing left at the bottom were the remnants of the blasting.
No one went to The Cliff. I’d only seen it once in passing. And though I wasn’t sure what, if anything, happened there, it was definitely not a good thing all Lessers—Upper and Lower alike—were being herded there. It was a very, very bad thing, more than likely.
Queen Lillith must know how the plan had been unfolding. She must’ve seen how the fabric underneath her had been unwoven one careful and strategic thread at a time, until nothing but a delicate web remained, not even enough to support the weight of her own lies.
I stood and eased the casters on the bottom of my desk chair back.
“Hands up!” he ordered. The command echoed from guards positioned at each cubicle around the room, as did the sound of rolling chairs and shuffling feet.
Each Lesser looked around at the scene, some stunned, others frightened. The barrel of each rifle was pointed at one Lesser.
One guard.
One gun.
One Lesser.
One pull of the trigger was all it would take to end a person.
But one person standing up might inspire others to do so as well. If the Lessers banded together as one, they might stand a chance. But it wouldn’t be wise to start there in that room. We were evenly numbered, and they were armed. We would’ve been mown down in an instant.
Each pair, Greater guard and Upper Lesser, were herded out the door, down the stairwell, and down every step of the fourteen floors to the lobby. We marched into the stifling spring air. The sun was descending. I watched as it dipped below the horizon, the sky ablaze with vibrantly colored clouds.
If it was my last sunset, I was thankful it was a beautiful one.
Thoughts of Kaia and Abby ran through my mind with each step toward that western sunset. We wound through the streets, converging with other groups, melting into one mass of them versus us.
Street after street, building after building, until they became sparser and there was nothing but gravel underfoot. We were on our way to The Cliff.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Those were the sounds filling the air. Boots and shoes on gravel. Thousands of them. The cacophony was deafening.
My palms sweated though they were still pointed piously toward the sky, and the wind blew lightly in the opposite direction.
A commotion to the right drew my atten
tion.
“What are you going to do to us?” a man screamed.
“Shut your mouth and keep walking, Lesser.”
“No! We—”
The sound of a quick burst of bullets cut off his words. He grasped his neck, collapsing in a heap, as did one of the men nearest to him. The first man’s body hadn’t been thick or strong enough to stop the bullets.
Several people gasped, mothers clutching their children tightly. The children. Their faces were dirty, and they held on to their parents in desperation. They wanted what every child craved, what every child deserved: security, safety, protection from evil.
No child should have to see that. No human being should be subjected to such treatment.
Crunch.
Crunch.
“Move!” A guard shouted. “Unless you want to end up beside them!”
The crowd parted, flowing around the two dead men, their life-blood leaking steadily from their wounds.
The Greaters, even the guards, had been taught we were nothing unless we could do something for them. When we were no longer useful, we were a burden—an insect to be squashed.
I wondered what would happen when the guards were no longer useful. What if they learned about the virus that was about to kill their families?
When the road wound around the side of the hill, bending to the left, I could see a large group of Lessers gathered there. They were clad in work uniforms, dirty and worn. All the Lower Lessers were there. They’d been rounded up against The Cliff.
Opening my mouth was a risk, but it was one I had to take.
I glanced back and made eye contact with my guard.
“What are you looking at?”
“There’s a virus.”
“A virus?” he asked, a stern expression on his face.
“It’s been released in Vesuvius. It only affects Greaters.”
“So?”
“Do you have family?” It had been a gamble. Some of the guards didn’t have wives. Most didn’t have children.
“Yes, I have family.”
“You should contact them to see if they’re ill.”
He eyeballed me, never slowing his steps. “You’re serious?”
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