I smiled right up until there was stirring in the air behind me, and McAllister yelled a warning. Someone clasped something cold and hard around my neck. Rhondarite!
I jerked away, only I wasn’t fast enough. I was wearing a collar, and behind me was the Blinker, the minion whose ability let him disappear from one place and reappear in another. He grinned and vanished. So did the electricity. I had a second to catch a clear view through the window. All I could see was hazy smoke; there was definitely a fire somewhere. Then the door swung open. A dark-skinned, short-haired girl entered the room, dressed in enforcer-black – but she was no enforcer.
The Electrifier held up her hands, sending sparks into the air, and gestured towards the far wall. “Primes – pick up the chairs, move them over there, and sit down.” Her gaze focused on me, and her expression hardened. “You stay right where you are.”
Grant grabbed a chair, scurried across the room, and sat, all straight and still as if he was a little kid in school waiting for the teacher to pat him on the head. The other Primes hesitated, casting concerned glances in my direction. They didn’t want to leave me alone.
“Now!” the Electrifier snarled. She flicked her fingers, sending electricity sizzling through the air above our heads. The Primes ducked and so did I. Those sparks were close enough to feel the heat, and I doubted we’d get more than one warning.
“Go,” I told them. “I’m okay.” The rhondarite was annoying, but it wasn’t like I would’ve been able to Sleepwalk anyway after exhausting my ability. The Primes still hesitated, and I added, “She’ll only hurt me if you don’t. Go!”
That got them moving. I kept my gaze on the Electrifier as the Primes shuffled towards the chairs, reading the hatred in her face. I hadn’t been lying when I’d said she’d hurt me. The last time she’d attacked Prime Willis it had been Connor and I who had defeated her, and minions didn’t forget failures. Back then, I’d used my ability to overcome hers. I had no chance against her now.
The Primes finished shifting the chairs, and sat reluctantly. The Electrifier called out to someone over her shoulder, “It’s all clear. Come in.”
I expected to see Terence with his mousy hair and washed-out blue eyes. The man who entered the room had white hair and brown eyes that peered from behind a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. He was wearing beige administrator robes and a general air of kindly benevolence, and it was hard to imagine a more harmless-looking old man.
Which only went to show that sometimes you couldn’t trust what you saw.
Neville Rose closed the door behind him, and smiled at me. It was his nice smile, the one that made him seem like everyone’s favourite grandfather. A liar’s smile.
“Ashala. I did tell you I’d be seeing you again.”
I kept my expression blank, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of a response. He couldn’t know just by looking at me that my whole body had gone cold with dread, and I was sure the trembling in my legs wasn’t bad enough to be visible from a distance. I didn’t want to be afraid of this man. But I was.
Neville watched me for a moment longer, then turned his attention to the Primes. “Allow me to introduce myself to those of you who don’t know me. My name is Neville Rose.”
“We know who you are,” McAllister replied. “A criminal, and Terence’s lackey. Where’s Terence?”
“Oh, I’m afraid Prime Talbot couldn’t possibly enter the city until it was secure.” He gestured towards me. “There are dangerous Illegals here, you know.”
“Terence is not the Prime!” Willis snapped. “And the only dangerous Illegals are the ones working for him.”
Neville put a fatherly hand on the Electrifier’s shoulder. “Jenny here – and others like her – have volunteered to protect Prime Talbot, but they have no doubt about their place in this world. You know you’re unnatural, don’t you, child?”
The Electrifier recited the same nonsense I’d heard from the minions before: “Obedience is service, and service is redemption.”
Neville beamed. “Exactly so.”
“You’re sick,” Willis told him. “And so is Terence.”
Don’t respond, I thought at her. Don’t react. He’s enjoying it too much. I needn’t have worried because Neville had moved on to other prey.
“Peter,” he said, heaving a disappointed sigh. “I’m afraid Terence won’t be very happy with you.”
“You didn’t tell me the taffa was poisoned! I could have died!”
“You didn’t drink it? Weren’t you warned not to?”
Grant licked his lips, looking uncertain. “Nobody told me not to drink it.”
The colour drained out of Neville’s face in an excellent imitation of genuine shock. “A terrible mistake. I’m so sorry. Come over here to me, and we’ll get a Mender to take a look at you.”
Grant stood up and took a few happy steps forwards before he suddenly stopped, a panicked expression crossing his face. “The others – they repealed the Citizenship Accords. I didn’t want to – they made me do it!”
“You worm!” Lopez hissed.
“Repealed the Accords?” Neville chuckled. “You have all been busy, haven’t you?”
He wasn’t angry. Worse than that, he was barely bothering with his usual kindly grandpa routine. I could only think of one reason why he wouldn’t care about the Accords being gone or about revealing his true face.
None of us were getting out of this room alive.
“Don’t worry about the Accords, Peter,” Neville said. “We’ll get it sorted out.”
Reassured, Grant started walking again, looking back to cast a triumphant glance at the other Primes.
Which was when Neville pulled out a streaker and shot him.
Prime Peter Grant stayed on his feet for another second. Then he crumpled to the ground, very surprised and very dead. The suddenness of it was shocking and yet I wasn’t shocked. I hadn’t expected Neville to kill so soon or so fast, but I had expected him to kill. Grant was just … first. And if I couldn’t find a way to get the others out of here it would soon be all of us.
The Primes surged up, shouting at Neville. He leaned down to say something to the Electrifier. She raised her hands and a crackling wall of energy formed in a circle around the Primes, trapping them in place. Neville put the streaker into his pocket and strolled across the room to me. Slowly, so that I’d have to watch him approach.
I forced my shoulders to relax into a slouch and did my absolute best to look bored.
He stopped about a metre away. “Make the smallest movement towards me and she will hurt them.”
I glanced over at the Primes. They were looking in our direction, but they wouldn’t be able to hear from this distance, not over the crackle of the sparks.
“So what? You’re going to kill them anyway.”
He chuckled. “Clever girl. But I doubt you want to hasten their deaths. Especially when you’re still clinging to the hope of rescue.”
I was, and I didn’t like how confident he was that it wasn’t coming. And while I could still hear the sizzle of streakers from outside the window, there was no shouting or weapons fire coming from the doorway side of the room. Only an empty, frightening quiet.
I affected a yawn. “I don’t need anyone to rescue me from you. You’re not that tough.”
“Defiant as always. I knew you would be. You don’t surprise me, Ashala. And I don’t surprise you. You’ve no idea how refreshing that is.” He nodded at the Primes. “Even they were surprised when I killed Grant. Who will I kill next, do you think?”
Whatever name I gave him would be the one he killed next. “Dunno. But,” I added, pre-empting what I knew he was about to say, “I’ll be last. So I can watch all the others die.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I’m not going to kill you. Although you will certainly watch a great many people die in the years to come.”
Years? I didn’t understand what he meant and I wasn’t going to ask. He waited for a second, just to see if
I would ask, and then kept talking. “It’s occurred to me that it would be a terrible shame if there was never anyone who truly understood my many … accomplishments. No witness, as it were, to the wonders of which I am capable. Which is why I am not going to kill you.” He smiled, and this time it was his other smile, the one that belonged to a monster who knew exactly how monstrous he was, and rejoiced in it. “You are my audience, Ashala Wolf.”
I wanted to throw up. Instead I bared my teeth like any cornered wolf would, and Neville’s eyes lit up. This would be no fun at all for him if I broke too easy. I could see the future as if I were Georgie and I knew he was going to destroy me and take his time about doing it. Years.
Someone knocked at the door.
Neville frowned and strode over to pull it open, speaking in a sharp tone to someone outside. Another voice murmured in reply. He looked back at me, and the glee I’d seen in his face a second ago was nothing compared to what was there now. He’s got something and it’s going to hurt.
I braced myself for whatever was coming as Neville stepped away from the door, gesturing to someone outside. I still couldn’t prevent a whimper from escaping my throat as an enforcer dragged a canine body into the room. Nicky. He was utterly limp and covered in so much blood it left a heavy red trail along the white composite floor. He can’t be dead. But he wasn’t moving and it seemed like he’d taken a lot of damage. Maybe enough that he was hurt too bad to heal himself? Nicky? Can you hear me? Please wake up!
He didn’t so much as twitch. Neville nudged him with his boot. “Your dog, I think, Ashala.” He looked out through the door at something I couldn’t see. “Or does the animal belong to him?”
Another enforcer entered, pushing someone in front of her. Someone who had a rhondarite collar on his neck and a head wound that gushed blood down one side of a sculpted face.
Connor.
THE ADMINISTRATOR
ASHALA
I was silent, trying to sense Connor, trying to reach him. The side of his face that wasn’t bleeding was bruised, and there was more blood on his clothes than could be accounted for by the head wound. He was badly hurt, blinking woozily and not focusing on anything. I wasn’t sure he knew where he was. I wasn’t sure he knew who he was.
Neville closed the door behind the departing enforcers and shoved a hand down on Connor’s shoulder, forcing him to his knees. I was dimly aware of the Primes shouting, which was about all they could do in their prison of sparks. Neville ignored them. They weren’t a part of this. It was about him and me.
“This is becoming quite the reunion, isn’t it?” he said. “The three of us together again.”
Of course he’d recognised Connor. Back when Neville had taken me prisoner, Connor had been passing as a Citizen and working as an enforcer in Detention Centre 3. He was the reason I’d made it out alive. Only he couldn’t help me now and I couldn’t help him.
The Primes were still shouting. Neville wasn’t. He wasn’t saying anything. I dragged my gaze from Connor’s face to his and realised he was waiting for me to speak. I knew what he wanted me to say, and it was futile but I said it anyway. “Let him live and I’ll do anything you want.”
“I know,” he replied in a sympathetic tone. A pretend voice. “But your problem is, Ashala, that there are so many people for whom you’ll do anything. And – did I tell you? – Prime Talbot is appointing me Chief Overseer of the Gull City detention centres.”
In other words, he’d have no shortage of victims to torment me with; he didn’t need Connor. A strange calm settled over me. Stupid Neville. He was ruining his own plan and he didn’t even know it. He’d never be able to make me watch people die over and over. Not when he was starting with the one death I wouldn’t survive.
My heart rate accelerated to an impossible, painful speed, pounding so hard and so fast it seemed like it would burst. Which it would, and I could use my heartbeats to measure out how long I had before it did. One. Neville began to raise the streaker, pointing it at the back of Connor’s head. Two. I stared at Connor, willing him to recognise me and know I was here, that he hadn’t been alone at the end. Three.
Nicky came to life.
He leaped for the Electrifier, clamping his powerful jaws around her arm and shoulder and dragging her to the floor. She screamed and the sparks around the Primes vanished as she poured electricity into Nicky. In almost the same moment, Neville’s arm jerked upwards and he fired a useless shot at the ceiling.
I lunged for Connor. Only before I could reach him the windows flew open and I was tumbling backwards through the air, out of the room and into the smoke-filled sky. I couldn’t see Connor. I couldn’t see anyone past the smoke stinging my eyes, or hear anything over the wind that was rushing past my ears. Then I was out of the haze and hurtling through salty air, down the cliff to the roaring sea below. I twisted, trying to work out what was happening. I was moving way too fast. All I could make out was the blurs of other people zooming through the sky like I was. Connor must be here, no one else could be doing this! Only how could he use his ability when he’d been wearing a collar?
I soared around the cliff and through the sea spray and up again into the sky. On and on I flew, until suddenly I was careening downwards towards – I didn’t know, something green. I flung up my arms to shield my face as I plunged through leaves before landing in dirt, getting a mouthful of it.
I spat it out, and sat up. I was in a clearing, surrounded by the peeling brown bark and drooping branches of gungurru trees. The forests outside the city. There were a bunch of people here, and Wentworth, who was helping the Primes to their feet. But none of the people seemed to be a threat so I didn’t care about them. Ember was standing nearby, wearing red Mender robes for no reason I understood, and Nicky was at her feet. He was rolling on his back, leaving bloody smears across the leaf litter.
I scrambled up with a shout of alarm.
“He’s okay!” Em said quickly. “None of that blood is his, we put it on him to make him seem hurt.” She nodded at something over my shoulder. “Turn around, Ash.”
I swivelled, and there was Connor. He was standing a few paces behind me with his bleeding head and the collar around his throat. Except right next to him was another Connor, this one dressed in enforcer-black and unhurt so far as I could tell.
The wounded Connor shimmered, his injuries vanishing as he shifted into a familiar, brown-haired figure. And Jules said, “I knew I could fool you!”
I gaped at him. Then I ran to Connor and flung my arms around his neck, drinking in the scent of his skin and the feel of his body and the fact that he was safe, safe, safe!
He spoke against my ear. “Did Neville hurt you?”
Not in the way you mean. “I’m okay.”
His hold on me tightened. “You will be.” And I knew he’d heard – or felt – the words that I hadn’t said as well as the ones that I had.
“Are you okay?” I demanded. “I can sense – I don’t know, something.”
“Exhaustion. I pushed my ability to its limits. You’ve pushed yours, too.”
It figured that he’d picked up on my tiredness if I could pick up on his. He was fine. I was fine. And everyone else …
I let him go, turning to the others. Nicky was sniffing in the undergrowth. Em was watching me and Connor with a grin, and so was Jules. Like the others, Jules had changed clothes since I’d seen him last – into an enforcer uniform – but the details of why didn’t matter right now. What mattered was that no one was hurt. They’re here. They’re alive. They’re safe.
My knees buckled. Connor tried to catch me but he was shaky himself and the two of us ended up collapsing into the dirt. We both started laughing out of sheer joy and relief at being alive, and once we’d started it was hard to stop.
For some reason Jules and Em weren’t smiling any more. Jules was looking at us in concern, and Em waved to Wentworth, who came hurrying over.
“We’re all right,” I told Wentworth, between giggles. “A
nyway, you can’t really Mend me right now!” The collar around my neck wouldn’t stop her ability since it wasn’t touching her skin, but it would interfere with how well Mending worked on me.
“I can get rid of the collar.” She dropped to the ground at my side, leaning forwards to press the numbered keys in the collar lock. It clicked open, and Wentworth pulled it from my neck, tossing it away.
I was so surprised I stopped laughing. “How’d you know the code?”
“Your friends can explain in a moment.” She grasped hold of my hand and reached across to put her other hand on Connor’s arm. “Hush now, and let me work.”
Heat came trickling in to my body, flowing along my veins, and soothed away the aches and terrors of the day. That was nice. Being here was nice. I leaned against Connor’s shoulder, suddenly feeling the need to be still and quiet for a while. He did too – he rested his head against mine, and he wasn’t laughing any more either.
I gazed out at the space around us. People were scattered through the clearing, filling it with colours – beige-robed administrators, red-robed Menders, enforcers in black uniforms, and ordinary Citizens, most of whom were in Gull-City-blue. But there was some Spinifex-City-yellow and Fern-City-green mixed in there as well, probably the staff the other Primes had brought with them. The Primes themselves were standing in the centre of it all, crowded together and having an animated conversation with Willis’s husband. At the edge of the clearing was a distinctive rock formation, a mammoth, curved hunk of orange granite that looked like a giant turtle shell half-buried in the dirt. Turtle Rock. I knew where we were – about half an hour outside the city, and the highway was … that way. Now that I was looking I could see a bunch of parked cars and trucks through the trees.
The warmth flowing into my body abruptly stopped. I felt better. Sleepy, but calmer and stronger and not … well, borderline hysterical.
The Foretelling of Georgie Spider Page 10
