Is that why the Exilers went without me? I’d been very vocal about my opposition to killing people. Perhaps, they didn’t want me around as their conscience.
The coast looks clear, so I take my chance and step out. Blinking lights catch my eye. There are explosive devices circling the platform as planned. The timer reads seven minutes. I set my watch to match the time. Somehow, it feels too short.
I know my way out from my visit with Jax, so I don’t hesitate to run down the ramp. The lower platform is also littered with the devices and bodies. Time to exit the premises. Since there aren’t swarms of people in the city models, I have to assume they’ve already left and ambushed the Headquarters building.
A familiar voice floats through the air—one I best avoid. Bailey. If she drugged me and has some sort of vendetta going on, then I’d prefer to delay our reunion indefinitely.
I hear another distant voice. This one I can’t ignore. Kira.
What is happening? Why is she here? I follow the sounds, and finally I see the most horrifying sight that I could possibly imagine about a hundred yards in front of me. My past, present, and future have all collided. Blonde hair, strawberry-blonde hair, and dark-brown hair—all in close proximity. I ditch my backpack and sprint towards them.
As I get closer, I can see better what is happening. In the center of a large, tiled platform—a foot or so off the ground—are Kira (who is holding a baby), Madison, and dozens more babies. Behind them is a glass cage containing our former classmates from Garden City High. The ones who had Kira and my babies implanted in them. Oh Gads, half those kids are mine. The one in Kira’s arms looks like Aiden.
Bailey is about twenty feet away from them. A body is down next to her. And beside the body is a bag and another blinking light.
Madison, Kira, and those kids are right next to a bomb.
They appear to be far enough from the mega-portal to avoid a direct hit. Each individual explosive device is small and not very powerful. The way they set up the devices, if done right, should cause the entire structure to implode rather than explode. But the bomb by Bailey is too close.
I can see them, but they haven’t seen me. They are concentrating on their standoff. How much time until the place blows? I look at my watch. A little over five minutes. My heart thumps against my chest, and I try to steady my breathing.
Bailey is shouting at Kira. “What’s it going to be? You or the babies? If you agree to strap this bomb to yourself, I’ll let you walk far enough away that your precious little kiddos may make it.”
Don’t do it, Kira. She’s lying.
Kira doesn’t hesitate. She kisses the baby in her arms and then sets him down. Then she gives Madison a hug. She braces her shoulders and steps forward. “Strap it on. I’ll happily sacrifice my life to save the lives of the others.”
I can’t get there in time. But I have to do something.
Bailey straps the bomb to Kira’s chest and locks it in place. She winks at Kira and says, “I’m hoping there are no second chances for you…but if there are, please remember every last minute of this—particularly this next part where I have you watch your children die. Think of this like a late baby shower gift. One with a really short fuse.”
She reaches into a bag near her feet.
There’s another device.
She tosses it towards the babies. Mid-air, I see the blinking time of :25 on the bomb’s display.
Madison and I reach the bomb at the same time. “Run,” I yell at her.
Then I pounce on top of the blinking device.
Madison collapses onto me, wrapping her arms tight around me. “Where you go, I go.”
The bomb ticks below us. So many thoughts flutter through my mind in rapid succession. I always thought I’d die for the Exiler’s cause, but I’m glad it will be to save my children. The Exilers betrayed me after I gave up Kira, gave up a normal life for them. I hope that the Exilers can take their fresh start and do something good with it, though I fear that they will create a society just as frightening as the SCI. Different doesn’t guarantee better.
My children can be my legacy. Even if I couldn’t love Aiden the way I should have, I want him to have the life I didn’t. I want Kira to live and Bailey to die in her stead. My son needs her. She is amazing with him, with all of them. I know that if she doesn’t make it that Jax will take good care of Aiden.
Please Jax. Come save Kira. She needs you.
My face is soaked with my tears, my hair wet with Madison’s.
I look up at Bailey and see a wicked grin on her face as she pulls a third device from her bag. “Later, you traitorous bastards.”
“Nooooooo…” Kira, Madison, and I shout simultaneously as we see it flying through the air.
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
Tick.
“The law of sacrifice is uniform throughout the world. To be effective it demands the sacrifice of the bravest and the most spotless.”
—Mahatma Gandhi
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Kira
Earlier that evening
Jax pulls me tight against his chest. “Don’t go, love,” he whispers into my ear. Then he drags his lips from my ear, across my cheek, and then brushes them against my lips. My nerve endings go haywire, from lips to toes.
I pull back and gaze into his gold-centered blue eyes. “I have to.”
“Even if it is a trap? Even if it will end badly?”
I look up at him and study his face. He looks absolutely tortured. What do you know?
The room fills with light, and we are no longer alone. The entire Arbiter council surrounds us.
“Jax.” His father grabs onto one of his arms, and Eli grabs his other arm. They pull him away from me. “You are constrained from involving yourself in this. You know this is not our business. Let her go. She can and must do this without intervention.”
What’s going on? Jax can’t come with me? I don’t understand.
Jax struggles against them, but they hold him firm. “I believe in you, Kira—more than anything, I believe in you. You are the strongest person I know. Stronger than you think you are.”
The desperation in his voice kills a little piece of me. Why do I have to go alone? And why are they keeping him from helping? I do feel strong. Stronger than I have in years. If Jax believes in me, everything will work out. His instincts are always spot on. “It will be okay, Jax. I’ve got this.”
His face is soaked with tears. “I love you, Kira. Always have. I’m sorry I waited to tell you…I’m sorry for a lot of things.” The instant the words leave his mouth, the Arbiters all disappear.
I stare at the empty space where Jax was a moment ago. They took him away…forcefully. If anything happens to him…
“What was that?” I turn to see Madison. Her eyes are blinking rapidly, and she looks scared to death. She walks over and picks up the picture of the babies that I had set on the kitchen table and stares at it.
I gently pull the picture away from her and hold it to my chest. “Long story and one I don’t have time to explain. I have to go…to Garden City.”
“Take me with you. Please. Don’t leave me here alone.”
“Madison, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re safe here. And I can’t promise you would be safe in Garden City. The guy who invited me there, Brad Darcton, is crazy…an honest-to-goodness madman. He runs the SCI, and you don’t want to be on his radar.”
She grabs onto my hand and looks up at me with her big, brown eyes. “Then you need me there. I know it. I’m coming, and I won’t take no for an answer.”
The lights in the room flicker and Dr. Christo reappears.
“What? Why are you back? Where did you take Jax?” I ask the white-haired man.
“Jackson is safe. He is being detained. That’s all you need to know. He did, however, make me promise that I’d take you and Madison to the portal. You have five minutes to prepare. Time is of the essence. Do not dilly-dally.”
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Madison and I step through the portal onto a large, circular platform. There are dozens of tubes, just like the one we exited, emanating from the platform. There’s a man in a security uniform holding a placard with my name on it. Funny, Brad. How many girls did he honestly expect to come through from Military City?
“Follow me,” the man says. He leads us down a long ramp. I can see the lower platform, but we turn left instead of right and onto a pathway leading past one of the tubes. In the distance, I can only see a couple of the model cities. The rest are closed off.
We walk past the end of the tube for a while, and I can see a large glass wall with people behind it. In front of the wall is a flat area about a foot off the ground, with…oh my Gads, is that the babies? There are tiny wriggling forms all over the platform.
I break out into a run. As I get closer, the glass wall becomes a glass cage, and there are dozens of unattended babies in front of it. Their adoptive parents—my former friends and classmates—are pounding on the glass. I can’t hear their screams, but I can see them. I stop when I reach the platform and immediately pick up a crying baby boy who looks like Ethan. He’s not the only baby who is upset, and there is no way I can tend to all of them.
This is worse than the baby assembly line daymare. It is real.
Madison and our escort catch up with me. The escort pulls out a gun, points it at me, and instructs, “Wait here. Mr. Darcton will be with you when he can. And that is bulletproof glass, so any effort to let those people out will be fruitless.”
He walks off and disappears behind a door. I put the boy down and scoop up a dark-haired girl with my green eyes. I study her face but honestly can’t tell which one is her father.
“Help me move them all away from the edge and towards the glass so their parents can see them.” I beg Madison. We do our best to divide and conquer, but most of the babies are mobile. As soon as they are set down, they crawl, scoot, or roll away. It’s like baby bumper cars. They keep running into each other, screeching at the contact.
I grab a baby girl, who looks a lot like Evvie, and carefully walk between the babies towards the glass. My friends are begging, pleading to be let out. I hold my hand up against the glass and mouth, “I am so sorry.” A familiar face pushes through and holds her hand up against mine—Briella. Tristan is by her side. Tears are streaming down her face. She points to a little boy, and I ask Madison to bring him over. The bright green eyes tell me he is Blake’s. I wonder if they know? Surely they must suspect.
Tristan makes a heart with his forefingers and thumbs and points at the baby. I give the baby a kiss on the forehead and sign to Tristan, “I will keep him safe until we can get you out.” It seems like a lifetime ago that Tristan and I took American Sign Language together, but I still remember the basics.
I hear shots in the distance. A stampede of people exit the mega-portal ramp and rush out a nearby door. I recognize the city uniforms as being from Art City. Not good.
Blake told them about the mega-portal.
A very bad feeling overtakes me. I stand and watch the hordes follow men with guns. I hold up a finger to Tristan and Bri and walk towards the front edge of the platform.
They are invading.
Blake has been in Art City for weeks. He must be involved. Why didn’t he tell me? Warn me? Is this why Jax didn’t want me to come? I shiver when I think about the last time the Exilers stormed the city. It ended with their near annihilation.
What if they plan to try to disable the mega-portal?
What if they think we are the enemy and open fire?
What if I came here to die? What will happen to Evvie, Aiden and Zander?
I feel something tugging at my feet, and I look down to see a little cherub face with tears in her eyes. Ethan’s daughter. I’m so glad that Ethan and Blake aren’t here to see this. I don’t think they could take it because I barely can. So much for being strong. I push the negative feelings away. I worked too long and too hard to let them control me again.
I kneel down and try to offer the little girl comfort.
After what seems like an hour, the stampede ends. There are still a few people over by the mega-portal. I can’t tell what they are doing.
A door opens to the right of the platform and a familiar face steps through. He turns slightly, so I can see the bulge of a gun at his back, but he doesn’t pull it on me. If he knows about the invasion or sees the people in the distance, he doesn’t show it. His eyes are on me and me alone.
Brad Darcton.
He looks really tan, as if he spent a summer in the sun, but he’s still pencil-thin and wearing metal-rimmed glasses. What does he want? Why did he do this? I stand up to face him.
“Kira,” he greets me. “As per my promise, I have delivered you proof that your babies are all alive and well.”
“Why are their parents all locked up? Why were the babies left with no one to watch them? No bottles, no food, no diapers…”
He looks over at Madison and grimaces. “Well, I had wanted to have a private conversation with you. But apparently, you decided to bring a friend along. I don’t believe we have met? I am Brad Darcton, Senior Ten of The Second Chance Institute.”
At that declaration, Madison shrinks away from him. I tell her, “Keep the babies from falling off the platform while I talk to Brad.” She grabs a couple babies and scuttles back towards the glass cage.
I cross my arms over my chest and tap my foot. “You certainly have a strong flair for the dramatic. For what purpose do we owe this particular show of force?” I wave my arm in front of the babies and glass cage to pay you-are-a-psychopath homage to his masterpiece.
“Some interesting information has been brought to light…even more compelling than your theory that Joshua and Alexa staged the attack back in Los Angeles…”
“Okay?”
“When we found out that Jackson and Dr. Christo were Arbiters, I naturally got suspicious. After all, Dr. Christo had been in charge of our Garden City reproductive laboratories and served as Ethan’s personal physician. He was the one who removed your eggs and created the embryos that were implanted in both you and your friends. He had been very…enthusiastic…about working with someone of pure Light blood. Add that to your rather annoying tendency to pretend like you were following the rules while whispering otherwise, and I’m a little disappointed that my hired help were not able to eliminate you during their many attempts. They’d have been successful had you not had Arbiter help. And why would the Arbiters help if they didn’t have a stake in keeping you and the babies alive?”
My face falls. I don’t like where this is headed. Does he know about Ethan? Does he know about the babies? I try to keep myself steady, making sure I’m not locking my knees. Otherwise, I’ll pass out for sure. “I’m not really following,” I bluff. “Just take a look at the babies…they are clearly mine, Ethan’s, and Blake’s.”
“Yes…yes…I’m not disputing that. Not at all. I’m glad you confirmed it…glad you asked me to check in on the babies. I’d planned to anyway, but you moved up my timetable. I arranged to have a team of doctors other than Dr. Christo do full examinations on all the babies. Given Ethan’s history and the fact that you are an Original Light, I wanted to make sure they were all of sound health.”
I feel ill. Is there something wrong with them? They seem okay. They’re surely active. “And are they? Are they okay?”
“They are. But here’s the problem. They don’t fit the…how should I say this…the typical Daynighter profile. Their blood has very unusual markers that we haven’t seen before. And given all the…intervention…we have seen recently by the Arbiters and their little abomination child friend, you can see why I might be concerned.”
My knees start to wobble, and I can feel sweat dripping from my hair line, all the way down my back. I blurt out a rather articulate, “Huh?” Neither Jax nor Ethan ever mentioned Arbiter blood as having different markers. I guess that makes sense. But only half the babies should have
those.
“I was hoping you could explain to me what exactly your children are. If you cannot, I will have to assume that they are a danger to the Daynighter population. And I think that I’ve shown that I deal with threats in a swift and decisive manner.”
“You would kill dozens of babies over a theory?” I spit the words out at him. He will not hurt these children. He’ll have to kill me first. My body grows warm, blood boiling with fury.
Brad rubs his temple, as if he’s fighting a nasty headache. “Oh, Kira. I’ll kill your little abominations for less than a theory. I don’t know if it is you, Blake, Ethan, or all the above who passed down the peculiar traits. But I refuse to give rise to a generation who may wish the SCI harm.”
A gunshot whirs through the air.
Brad Darcton collapses to the ground, face first.
The mighty has fallen.
I look up to see who is responsible and relax. It’s Bailey. An Exiler, enemy to the SCI.
The enemy of my enemy is a friend, right?
Or not. The look on Bailey’s face is anything but friendly. Her eyes are narrowed, teeth are clenched.
And her gun is now pointed at me.
Bailey manages to flip her hair back while still keeping her gun trained on me. The gun has me less nervous than the blinking light next to her. It looks like a bomb. And who knows what else she has in her bag of tricks. She says, “I have dreamt of this moment. Blake thought he could hide you from me…keep you safe. What a fool he is.”
I need to distract her. Remind her why she is really here. “What’s going on, Bailey? Did I really see all the Exilers come through the portal from Art City?”
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