“I will get word to you when the time is right. The Sanction is in chaos now, and the guards will be out searching for Dax and the Grounders. I have spent my entire adult life working for the Chancellors, and I know how they work and think. I expect your mother is low on the list of priorities,” Gavyn informs me, making a good point.
“Adohnes, I trust Gavyn. He has no reason to deceive me,” I say.
Skylier, are you sure? Rian’s mind asks.
What other choice do we have? We can trust him as much as we need him, my mind replies.
“He could be laying a trap to lead the Purenet guards back to us,” Gerel, says cutting off our mental conversation.
“Abaven or Adohnes, which is it? Who are you really?” I ask.
“To you I am now Abaven, just as I am to the other lost children,” he replies. The group behind him nod. Lost children? I will ask him later about that.
“Why do the guards want you Gerel?” I ask.
Gerel goes to speak, but Abaven cuts her off. “If you believe him,” he tells me, nodding towards Gavyn, “then so will I. He need not know any more about us, however. Tell Luther’s servant, Sloft, when you have the plan, and where to meet,” Abaven informs Gavyn.
“Are you just going to let him go?” Gerel asks Abaven.
Abaven smiles. “After all these years you still question me,” he replies, walking towards Gerel. “It’s as if you don’t trust me,” he says, stopping in front of her.
Gerel shakes her head. “You know I do. It’s not you I don’t trust. It’s him,” she says bitterly.
“And you are right not to trust him. Let me deal with him. Never come back to this place. You and the others are to go home when darkness falls. Take Skylier and Rian with you. Make sure nothing happens to them. They are your new brother and sister. Make them part of our family as I have done with all of you,” Abaven says.
“Yes, Abaven,” everyone in the room chants in unison.
Chapter Fourty-One
Skylier
There’s a hurried feeling in the room as everyone empties the walls lined with different types of weapons, old guns like the ones which the Grounders have. There is no glowing blue panel like on the guns of the Purenet guards. These are weapons from the old days, the days that shaped this world we live in today.
Within moments the walls are naked, revealing only the hooks or shelves the weapons were on. This room must have been an old store at some point, probably forgotten about and lost in time, left for the lost to find.
“I’m going to miss this place,” one of the boys says as he throws his bag over his shoulder.
“Enoch, Abaven will make sure we will be safe to come back soon,” Gerel says to the boy she called Enoch. He looks like the youngest out of the group, but older than me. Where do I know that name from?
“You’re from the Cueva, aren’t you? Rian, look. It’s Enoch,” I say.
Even with the white makeup I can see the color drain from Enoch’s skin. Fear floods his eyes as he quickly looks away from me.
“No… no, I’m not,” he mutters.
“Yes, you are,” I reply.
“No speaking,” Abaven yells firmly. Why is Enoch not admitting who he really is? Abaven frowns as he stands beside Gavyn, signaling towards the guard with his eyebrows discretely. Enoch wanted to hide his true self from Gavyn, and there I was just blurting his identity out, like a siren alerting the world of his location.
These kids are all Selections from the Cueva. How had I not noticed if before? Maybe because of their artificial appearance. They look different to how they would have looked in Cueva.
“We can’t go outside like this,” I say, looking down at my pure white dress with lace details that only Hosts wear. Rian is wearing his training uniform, which is crisp and white; he looks older and handsome in it. Rian looks at his clothing fondly.
“Skylier’s right. Get them something,” Abaven says from the corner of the room, not leaving Gavyn’s side.
I’m sorry, Rian. I know you wanted to be in the Games, my mind tells him.
Yeah, I did, but not now. It feels like we are in our own Games now, Rian’s mind speaks to the truth.
“Here,” Gerel throws me a white shirt and matching pants just like the ones she’s wearing. They are hub staff clothes; I can blend in with these.
I look around the room. There is no way I’m undressing in front of these people.
The light catches on Gerel’s blade as she points over towards the store’s changing rooms. I head in and quickly change as Rian goes into a second changing room.
“Gerel, watch the prisoner, and try not to kill him,” Abaven says to Gerel, then adds, “and don’t injure him. Skylier, Rian, a moment, please,” Abaven says as he points towards a wall.
Rian and I look at one another.
Another wall puzzle, our minds think in unison. We smile and head towards Abaven.
He taps the wall two times, then pauses and taps three more times.
There is a gentle click as the tiles part from one another, revealing a space. Abaven turns and begins to climb down a ladder. The wall was hiding something below ground. Rian and I follow.
A click echoes around the room followed by a buzz as Abaven releases a metal cord attached to a glowing naked bulb, the only source of light in the room.
The room is the same size of my mother’s quarters, with the walls lined with blank monitors. Dust coats the front of them, making them look like a relic of technology rather than new.
Rian drags his finger along one of the monitors, collecting the dust as he goes. The waste would be cursed in the Cueva. Everything we owned was Purenet’s garbage, but we cared for it as if it were new, never knowing when we would get a replacement if ours were to break. We all became tinkerers, finding ways to fix things. My really father was good at that.
“We no longer need them, you will see when we take you home,” Abaven says as Rian studies the dust on his fingers then goes to wipe it on his pants, stopping as he realizes it would leave a dusty trail down his pants.
“Abaven, what happened last night?” I blurt out the question I’ve been dying to ask since I saw him.
“Madam Uri spoke with the guards, stating that I was planning to help you two escape. I only found this out as I got to the door. At the strike of twelve, Xander was waiting for me, as I was for you. It was like Xander knew what time I was going to be there. I didn’t tell him. There was no way I could inform you,” Abaven says, the softness in his voice reminding me of him back in the compound, when he was just the flamboyant man that prided himself on preparing us to be the perfect Hosts, not the leader of a pack of kids.
“You didn’t need to tell him, because I did,” I admit, taking the guilt from Abaven.
“Why?” he asks in a harsh tone, dropping the soft, caring voice he used in the compound.
“Xander can read my mind. I had felt it open, and Rian and I were speaking to each other, trying to stay awake. He must have been listening between the two compounds. Anywhere else would have been too far away.” The thought sickens me. What else did he hear?
“Oh, yeah,” Rian says, pushing his hand through his pure white hair.
“How can he read your mind?” Abaven asks, confused.
Rian laughs. “Yeah, Xander is Skylier’s older, crazy brother.”
Abaven shot up straight, startled. “Your brother?”
I nod. “Only by blood,” I respond.
Abaven pauses as he takes it in. “And the Chancellor, is he—”
I nod once again before he can finish.
“Oh, dear child. We need to get you to safety,” Abaven says.
His makeup is coming off with his sweat, revealing the wounds he tried to hide.
The room falls awkwardly silent as Abaven stares at me. “I’m sorry, Skylier,” Abaven says.
“Abaven, I told you he must have read my mind. You have no reason to apologize.”
Abaven shakes his head. “Not for last n
ight—for sixteen years ago. I was the doctor that brought you and your brother into this world. I couldn’t stop them from banishing you and your mother, believe me when I say that. I… I thought you both died in the wasteland. It wasn’t until Sloft showed me a picture of your mother that I really believed it was true... you both lived. The day they banished you, my life as Adohnes changed. I renounced my career as a doctor and became a makeup artist as a cover. Abaven was born, and my sole purpose in life became to protect the Hosts that came through the Sanction. I will never let one of my girls be left to die in the wasteland again.”
Chapter Fourty-Two
Skylier
Abaven looks down at his wrist as his device glows, and Gavyn’s does the same.
“Gerel,” Abaven says urgently. Gerel and Abaven speak for a moment, throwing glances at the group as we all wait to find out what is going to happen next. Part of me is dying to get out of this windowless room, and the other part of me wants to stay, keeping me away from any possible danger. But if I stay here I know at some point I will have to leave.
Gerel walks towards us after speaking with Abaven. “He wants you to have these,” she says, pushing her fist into my chest. She’s holding a knife. Couldn’t she have passed it to me like a normal person?
“Thank you,” I say to Abaven, trying to pretend her punch didn’t hurt, but my lack of muscle over that section of my body made the contact rattle my bones.
Abaven smiles warmly at me. “Be safe, we will be reunited shortly.”
I stare at the knife for a moment, admiring the blade.
“Just as I thought,” Gerel says.
“What?”
“Using it as a mirror. You’re not going to last out here. You will give us up just as quickly as the other Hosts. Because your type are weak,” she whispers.
“My type?” I snip bitterly.
“Time to leave,” Gerel orders, not acknowledging my question.
She’s a frigging joy to be around, my mind blurts out.
She is, isn’t she? Rian’s mind almost sings.
“Really?”
“What?” Rian laughs as we move forward with the others, towards the door through which we first entered. Abaven and Gavyn stand behind, watching us.
Stay away from that girl. She’s bitter. Didn’t you see how she passed—no, punched—the knife into my chest? my mind tells him.
Skylier, you’re overreacting. You used to give people a chance before you judged them, his mind replies.
That was before, before I knew the screwed-up truth. Anyway, I trusted Gavyn, my mind defends me.
Only because if offered you something—his help—in return, Rian replies.
You’re only saying this because you like her, my mind snaps.
Ha ha, true, but just try not to forget who you really are.
That’s the problem: I don’t know who I really am. Mother said my ancestors aren’t even from this planet. Does this mean I’m not human? my mind spills out the question I’ve been trying to understand since speaking with my mother.
What does it matter which planet you come from? What’s important is being a good person, and Skylier, that is one thing you are, Rian’s mind says warmly.
“The Sanction has been placed on a curfew. Anyone seen outside past the curfew will be classified as a rebel and punished as one, so be safe, my children,” Abaven announces.
The group of kids mutter to one another at Abaven’s news.
“You, with Enoch,” Gerel says to me, then adds, “you’re with me” to Rian, much to his delight. He has a stupid grin on his face.
On the wall next to the puzzle door are monitors, all with different views. One displays the street we entered to get into the store, and then others show the streets that lead into the street, giving them a look out at all the key locations.
This way they can see who’s coming before anyone can enter. They must have seen us coming from afar, so why did it take them so long to open the door? Maybe because they’re just a group of kids with a crazy knife-throwing girl as their leader in the absence of Abaven. If they had opened it sooner, Gavyn would have never gotten in. Luckily, he was trying to help. If not, we would all have been killed.
“Go...go...go,” Abaven yells at us. One pair after another runs through the puzzle door into the empty street.
“Go,” Gerel says to me, gritting her teeth.
Adrenaline takes over my body. Part of me wants to knock her gritting teeth into the back of her mouth, and the other wants me to just run away from her.
I take the latter option and run like the others down the street. You wouldn’t know it was nighttime by the artificial light shining brightly from the streetlights. Only the twinkles of the stars in the crisp new night sky hovering over the glass dome give you a clue that’s its nighttime.
“This way,” Enoch says as he slows down to a walk and merges into the crowd of people hurrying down the road.
“The others went the other way,” I say as I watch Rian looking over his shoulder at me as he joins the crowd in the opposite direction.
“Don’t worry, we will meet up with them in the end. It’s best if we don’t travel in groups,” Enoch whispers. Makes sense to me.
Enoch says we will meet up at the end, my mind tells Rian.
Gerel told me the same. Be safe…
You too, my mind says back.
I look for Rian, but he’s lost in the sea of white people hurrying off the street to meet the imminent curfew. Each street is busting to the brim with people. I’ve only ever seen this many people in the communal area back in the Cueva for an event. The Cueva never felt overcrowded like these streets. People are stealing my air, making my chest feel tight as they brush against me.
“Do you believe what people are saying, that Dax is alive? And he stabbed the Chancellor,” a lady in the crowd mutters to her friend.
“I do. He was never one to be trusted, unlike Xander,” her friend replies.
I scowl at the women. “If only you knew the truth,” I say before I can stop myself.
“What are you kids doing on the street? Didn’t you hear there is a curfew? Your parents will be worried,” she says.
Enoch tugs at my arm. “This way,” he says, pulling us away from the gossiping women.
“You really need to work at blending in,” he scolds me.
“I know, I know. Just can’t stand listening to them bad-mouthing Dax,” I reply.
“Why do you care about Dax?” he asks.
Jeez, I can’t be bothered to tell anyone else about my new twisted family. “Forget about it. What’s the plan?” I ask.
“We are going on the work shuttle, then to the living quarters,” Enoch replies.
I stop walking. “Are you crazy?”
Enoch smiles. “We do it every day.”
“Every day?”
“Yes, we all work in the hub.”
“How do you get past the hand scanners?” I ask.
I expect him to show me a piece of pig skin like Dax, and nudge my body away from Enoch, right into some women. “Sorry.”
I can just make out the sound of a tut through the waves of chatter from the passengers as they surge forward towards the shuttle.
“Our barcodes have been changed,” he says with a smile.
“What? They can do that?”
“Yeah, just for select things, like getting us into areas that we’re not meant to be in. I just wish they could work out the bitcoin part so we wouldn’t have to work. Abaven disagrees with that, says that would make us dishonest, but…” Enoch pauses.
“But what?” I push.
“I think he has worked it out, because how else could he afford the things he has? Wait till you see his stuff,” Enoch explains.
“If they can get you in, that’s all I need. A barcode upgrade will get me into the Chancellor’s labs,” I say.
Enoch pulls me to the side towards a quiet street, threading his way through the crowds, which part around us, m
uttering with disgust at our behavior. “Skylier, do you really think that’s all you need? That you can just walk right in, you and Rian, get your family, and leave? There are going to be guards monitoring every section. I guess they will be on high alert after what happened today. It’s a suicide mission. You may as well stay out tonight and get yourself arrested and get the punishment over and done with,” Enoch says bluntly.
“I’m not stupid, I know I need more than an upgrade.” I wish it were that simple.
“I said that, Skylier, because no one deserves to die. Your life is worth more than that. All of the lost kids, we were on the edge of death, either at the hands of the Sanction or our own, when we were rescued,” Enoch says, pressing his lips together.
“Did Abaven rescue you?”
Enoch nods as sorrow fills his eyes. “I was thrown out with some others, but luckily for me, I was too high to follow the other Bazis into the wasteland, and I and some others spent the night by the Sanction walls. The banished Hosts thought that they would be allowed back in, and them being banished was a mistake. The drugs actually saved my life. Abaven rescued me and the Hosts.”
“They threw you out? Why?” I ask.
“The crowds are thinning down, we need to hurry,” Enoch says, changing the subject.
“How am I going to get on the shuttle? I don’t have an upgrade, do I?” I ask.
“Here.” Enoch passes me a flesh-colored patch with a barcode on it. “Place this over yours. It’s just a temporary one, though. It will do the job for the shuttle because their scanners aren’t as good as the ones in the capital.”
I slip the paper off the back, making sure no one is watching me, and place it carefully over my barcode, giving me an instant upgrade. No need to be a Host or Bazi first. I wish the real world were like this. Why can’t it be? If there is technology available, why can’t we give it to everyone? There would be no division in class, and everyone would be able to get treatments for sickness. Then there would be no Hosts and no Bazis.
“This way,” Enoch says as he heads towards the hand scanner that will allow us access into the Gate.
“Don’t I need bitcoins for the scanner to work?”
Wasteland: Age of Sanctions (A Invasion Survivor Series) Page 18
