When I get up to the point where Chase read Will’s flash memory, I realise Nate is rubbing his wrist, making small circular motions with his thumb.
‘You think they’ve done it to us.’ I say it as a statement. Because he does. There is no doubt in my mind that he does.
‘Well, they’ve done about everything else, haven’t they?’
That they have. My own fingers find the point on my wrist where the flash memory would be, if it is there at all.
‘I need to check on Marina—will you be okay for a minute?’
Of course I will be okay, but he is going to be gone much longer than a minute, so the statement is both insulting and untruthful.
‘I’ll be fine,’ I sigh. Nate gives me a hard look and then does the strangest thing. He wraps his arms around me and hugs me. It is only quick, and I give him a hostile look. Nate just smiles and then walks out.
I recline on my bed, trying to act as though everything is as normal as it was a few days ago. When things were manageable. Though I am acting for no one.
I hear a light rap on the door and I rush to it, expecting Chase. Only to find Bill. Naturally I am startled; he looks so much like Will.
‘Bill,’ I manage to get out. Though it doesn’t seem he has heard me.
Bill looks so blank behind his different-coloured eyes; it is as though there is no one inside his body anymore, or as though there never was.
‘I heard you found him.’ His voice sounds just as hollow as the last and only time I have ever heard him speak. ‘How did he look?’ Bill tilts his head to the side, regarding me steadily. The whole movement is so mechanical.
I am starting to feel off about this. How could he know already? How could he be left to wander around in this state?
I can’t think of what to answer, so I go with what sounds the most natural to me.
‘Dead.’
Our eyes are locked. Then, suddenly, Bill is laughing. A hard, rough version of a laugh, but a laugh. ‘Why are you here, Bill?’
He is still looking at me and I can’t recall the last time he blinked.
‘Do you know what my brother used to say?’ He is already using past tense to talk about Will.
I shake my head.
‘He would say that we should do what would make our father proud.’ Bill is speaking with a strange break in his words, as though it is hard for him to get a full sentence out at once. ‘Now, it may just be me, but I don’t think—’ He is now laughing between words. ‘Wasting time with a stupid war, when I don’t even like this country, especially Collins, for that matter.’ He is laughing as though his sides are about to split. His words don’t quite make sense, I don’t know what to make of them.
Then within a second he goes completely quiet and serious. ‘That’s why I had to kill him.’
There is no air anymore, his words are suffocating me.
‘Why are you here?’ I manage to breathe out again.
Bill pushes his way into the room, making me retreat, further away from escape.
‘I was actually looking for Chase—thought I could take out Little Law before I took care of the rest of the Five.’ His eyes roll around in their sockets so much he looks deranged.
‘Five what? What the hell are you talking about?’ Bill laughs again, this time with more genuine humour. I remember Cora using that same term. The Five. As though it is something important.
‘Someone once overheard Darria talking about five people, the “Infamous Five” they called them. And see, I think there’s you.’ He points at me and raises both eyebrows. ‘Nate.’ Bill starts to pace back and forth. Then he stops mid-step and points at me again. ‘Then it was meant to be Winter and Kane. But we all know about Winter.’ He puts his hands together and does an explosion motion and lets out a soft ‘poof’, then gives a short laugh again. ‘So since that turned to shit, I think the next logical choice would be Chase.’ I hate hearing him say Chase’s name. ‘You see . . .’ Bill begins pacing again. ‘Chase is a little too much like my brother. Just that little too perfect. Makes you wonder, why?’
Bill looks far off as he keeps pacing.
‘It’s because that’s who they are,’ I tell him.
Bill is standing an inch from my face now. I can see where all the new soft pink skin from his scar meets his old tanned skin. I don’t know how he got that scar, but I’m glad I wasn’t there when he received it.
‘Wrong.’ He smiles. ‘It’s because they’ve done things you could never imagine. Things you would kill people for.’
Our eyes are locked again, green, hazel and blue.
‘So they show the world they’re this one person, this perfect person, because they’re guilty. Nobody would expect it.’ Bill’s eyes are unfocused, a memory now clouding his vision. Then he snaps out of it. ‘But don’t worry, they all show themselves for what they are eventually,’ he whispers. ‘You just have to be paying attention to catch it.’
My feet hit the skirting board and I realise I have been moving backwards slowly, and Bill has been keeping pace, following me.
‘I’m doing you a favour, you know. I’m making it so you never have to see him like that. You should be glad I found you first.’
I watch Bill’s hand reach down to his waistband and pull out a small dagger. The breath catches in my throat and I hear a loud cracking. Like the splintering of wood.
Bill smirks, his half-smile pulling up the right side of his face. His eyes flicker over my face and I finally notice the hands, one secured at the top of his head and the other gripping the mandible bone of his chin.
Bill’s body falls to the side with a collection of crashes, probably because he has hit Nate’s bed and it has made his body crumple.
I just see Chase, his breathing heaving, his face looking beyond torment. Chase’s hands still linger in the air, as though he cannot begin to think of how to drop them.
My feet move from under me and I slide down the wall so that I am sitting in an awkward position between Chase and Bill’s dead body.
Two dead in one day. Brothers. Clones, but still brothers.
Chase’s face is hollow as he finally lets his hands fall to his side.
They’ve done things you could never imagine. I pull my legs towards myself, trying to get them away from Bill. His face is turned away from me, yet I can tell he is still smirking. Things you would kill people for. I don’t want to be so trapped, so closed in by death. They all show themselves for what they are eventually. I close my eyes and then open them instantly. His words flood my ears and his face haunts the insides of my mind. You just have to be paying attention to catch it.
Nate
How one person could cause so much pain in such a short space of time astounds me.
I watch the scene from the outside, my insides twisting with the immensity of my guilt. None of this would have happened if I had just stayed with Hermia.
She is staring at me now; she doesn’t look mad, just empty.
Chase turns and I see what this has done to him; he looks worse than Hermia. He doesn’t see me at all, just moves at a slowing pace until he is before me. I step out of his path and he continues on his way, wherever that may be.
I move over and try to pull Hermia up, but she refuses to help me and I can’t lift her from this position without her assistance.
‘I’m not leaving you here like this,’ I say.
Hermia doesn’t look at me. She is still caught up in her own head.
I wouldn’t wish her thoughts on anyone right now.
I just watch her for a few more minutes, not knowing what to do.
After a few moments pass, it starts to wear on my nerves. I can’t stand leaving her just sitting there next to this dead guy. So I try again and, with a lot of effort, pick Hermia up into my arms.
I start to make my way from the room, but as soon as I make it into the hall I feel Hermia’s hand squeeze my forearm.
‘Stop, put me down.’ I do stop, but I don’t lower her.
Hermia looks at me. Her eyes are still hard and empty, but she seems to be taking interest in her surroundings again.
‘Look, you’ve already carried me out of a room once this week. I don’t want to make this a regular thing.’
I look at her, regard her. Then I decide to trust her judgement. Besides, if she collapses, I can pick her up again and she will have no choice in the matter then.
As soon as Hermia’s feet have hit the ground, I hear more approaching.
Darria, Law, Rence and two more of the regular keepers. Chase follows after them still looking dazed. ‘Hermia—’
‘I’m okay.’ Hermia cuts Darria off before he can say anymore.
It is easy to pick their similarities, but at the same time their differences are obvious.
Darria and Hermia break their gaze and it is as though everyone starts breathing again.
‘He’s in there.’ Hermia throws her head back in the direction of our room.
Darria nods. ‘Rence, go up and collect Will’s body and deliver him back to the compound.’
Rence nods once, quickly and then takes off up the stairs.
‘Nate, can you please go and wake Josh? Tell him what’s happened and that we are moving next week’s plans forward. Then help him get Bill’s body back to the compound.’
After a few seconds I realise Darria is just blankly staring at me, and then another second later I realise he expects me to move.
‘Oh, okay.’
I move forward, having to go past the group before me to get to Josh’s room at the end of the hall.
I look back, catching a last glimpse of Hermia’s fear-filled eyes before they turn back to hard, cold stone.
Josh is harder to wake than I first expected. It takes around four minutes of tapping and thirty seconds of banging before he finally makes it to the door.
He has clearly just woken up, but is fully dressed in jeans and a navy sweater. I take in his appearance and he seems to notice.
Josh yawns and rubs one of his eyes with the palm of his hand. ‘My work doesn’t really allocate time for sleep, okay?’ I feel my face screw up and then nod.
‘Ah, Will and Bill are dead,’ I tell him.
Josh’s head snaps up. His eyes search me for any sign that I am lying.
‘Bill killed Will and Chase killed Bill before he could kill Hermia.’ He looks like the words I speak cannot possibly be plausible.
‘Darria wants you to know that they’re moving next week’s plans forward, and I’m to help you move Bill’s body back to the compound.’ Josh cracks a smile at me, and then wipes it away.
‘Darria must trust you a lot now.’
I think over it and I still don’t understand why.
‘Bill and Will were both very good friends of mine.’ Josh’s look is searching. ‘It was very easy to see that Bill was jealous of Will. It killed him to live in someone’s shadow.’ It sounds as though he is speaking about more than just his two lost friends.
‘What’s your deal?’
I can’t believe I’ve asked it. This question must be really bugging me for me even to speak at all.
Josh finally looks at me, his brow pulled together in contemplation.
‘All right.’ He moves aside and I step into the room, Josh closing the door behind me.
‘It seems Winter and I would have a few things in common, if she were still alive.’
I sit, my back pressed against the far wall. The sweat on my shoulderblades makes my shirt stick to both me and the wall.
‘What?’ I really don’t understand.
Josh sits on the edge of the bed with his forearms resting on his thighs. He looks down at me, but he doesn’t look at me. If that makes any sense.
‘Winter’s father is of great power in this world, as was mine.’ I wait for Josh to continue.
‘As was my mother, more importantly. And the rest of my family. I’m the very last one alive.’
I try not to, but I pity Josh. No one should have to be so alone. Wait, aren’t I in the same boat?
‘Why?’ It’s the only question I can think of.
Josh takes a deep breath. ‘Because my mother was the Queen of Great Britten and I was the heir.’
It seems as though a weight is lifted as Josh releases a long sigh.
‘When the flare hit, my grandparents took shelter in a specially designed bunker. They stayed there for three years, crippled by their fear of the unknown. But when they emerged they found a small colony that had survived, who welcomed them back to the leadership my family has held for thousands of years.
‘God, it’s been so long since anyone has known who I am. Seems strange now to think of myself as Prince James,’ he scoffs, but I can tell this is a big deal.
My mind is so messed up, words are flying around, but I know I have to say something so I just blurt out, ‘Who killed them?’
‘Blake and Caden—why else would I be here?’
I nod, makes sense. When Josh said so long ago that he had nothing left for him back in Britten, I guess he meant it. ‘So no one knows?’
Josh lets out a small laugh.
‘Of course Darria knows. He practically knows everything.’ I can’t help but laugh at his use of the word practically. I wonder what it is that Darria doesn’t know. ‘Chase knows, but no one else, no.’
We sit in silence for a long time, both just thinking through the things we have discovered today. Well that’s at least true for me. I have no idea what Josh is thinking.
‘How did you end up here?’ I ask.
‘The day my mother died, she knew that there were people coming for her, though I didn’t know it at the time.’
Josh looks so deeply caught in the memory I wonder if he is even talking to me at all.
‘She brought me into her library, probably because she knew I loved it in there so much. The only reason I remember everything so vividly is that I went back over it in my mind every day for almost a year. Trying to figure out what I could have done differently, blaming myself.’
Josh stops talking as he looks down to the ground. Then his head snaps up again and he is back to normal, as though he’s discussing someone else’s life. I can relate a lot to Josh, I feel the same guilt and the same loss every day.
‘I know she said exactly this: “Find a man named Darria. Join him and do whatever it is he asks of you in order to gain his trust. But whatever you do, never, under any circumstances, trust him. A day will come when you have the opportunity to leave his company. Take it. Leave and remember everything you’ve seen and done.”
‘Then she kissed me on the cheek, took me in her arms and held me so tight, as though she were trying to imprint the last of herself onto me. Then she whispered that she loved me, and then she left.’
Those words resonate through me long after Josh has stopped talking.
‘She knew they were coming, so she sent me away, and just waited for them to come and kill everyone in our community. She knew that was the last time I was ever going to see her, and she didn’t do anything to stop it.’ I give it a second and then speak quietly.
‘Maybe she wanted you to remember her as the person you admired, not as a person falling apart.’ Josh looks me dead in the eyes.
‘No.’ He shakes his head. ‘She wanted me to be the strong one while she fell apart and gave up.’
Hermia
A spot of blood falls on the top of my thumb, right under the knuckle. I feel my heart falter as I look up to the high ceiling. There is nothing. I lower my head and then raise my hand to my nose as a second thought. A dark red streak is left across the inside of my wrist.
I hate being in this room. I hate looking at the patch of carpet where Bill’s dead body lay before me.
I run my index finger over the plain walls as I press a wad of tissue paper to my
left nostril.
Every time I try to get someone to take me to Darria they keep coming up with excuses. Good to see his promises are still as good as ever.
The longer I run my finger over this wall, the more my hatred for this place grows.
I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be trapped. Though I wonder if I was ever truly free. I check how much blood is on the tissue paper, and finding that it is minimal I tuck it into my pocket in case I need it later.
I make my way out into the hall and head down to Law’s room. I have no idea who he shares with, or if he shares with anyone. But I still want to try and see him.
I only have to knock twice and he answers.
‘Hermia—’
‘I’m not here to badger you about wanting to see Darria.’ The way he says my name makes it obvious that that was what he thinks I wanted.
‘Good, because he’s gone and won’t be back for a couple of days.’
‘Fine by me,’ I answer. ‘I want the meadow room.’
Law is stunned at my demands, though he looks to be considering it.
‘Meet me upstairs in ten minutes.’
Law walks straight past me. I watch him go and start my ten-minute countdown.
I am brought to the master bedroom of the house up top, but Law has set an orb to show the meadow. It must be in his memories and not in Darria’s, which I find intriguing.
Law stands at the open door as though he is ushering me in.
I stop and look at him for quite some time and then I utter, ‘Thank you.’
Law simply nods at me as I walk through.
‘Have enough arrows?’ he asks as he holds the door ready to close me in.
I look down to my crossbow, which I hold tightly in my right hand as it rests down by my side.
‘Full quiver, should be enough.’
Law nods and then leaves me to it.
The whole conversation with Law, I must say I actually enjoyed it. I don’t know why I am so afraid of him most of the time; he really isn’t that bad.
Enmity Page 20
