Astral Tide (The Otherborn Series)

by Silver, Anna

  “Shit,” Kim muttered.

  “How?” was all Tora could say.

  “It’s kind of like a shift. Rye showed me. Well, he didn’t show me, but he appeared to me. I figured the rest out from there. So, can you spring me? The real me, I mean?”

  Tora closed her mouth and nodded. “Sure. Let’s go.”

  Kim ducked behind an empty kiosk to wait as Tora, back under the influence of his charm, and London peeked through the windows into Facility Three’s well lit hall. London explained about the orderlies. They would need to be quick…and silent. She couldn’t manage another shift on top of the projection.

  Tora pushed open the door since London’s strength was waning and they both darted down the hall towards the hazard doors that lead to the patient cells at the other end. Just as they were pushing their way through, London heard the door to the orderly lounge swing open behind them. There was no time now to try to cover or explain. All she could do was hope whoever came out was too full of juice and chips to notice the hazard doors swinging closed.

  She and Tora sped past the dark cells and sleeping patients, all tidily strapped down and tucked away in their beds. When they got to her room, Tora simply reached into the door panel and turned a round, recessed knob. The red light switched to green and the door slid open.

  “That’s it?” London said.

  “It only locks from the inside,” she said, her disembodied voice giving London the chills.

  “How anticlimactic,” London mused as they made their way inside.

  London stood over her own bed looking down on her resting form. “You’ll have to unstrap me. I disconnected the feed on my vitals already, so no one’s going to notice if I go offline.”

  “Okay,” Tora whispered. “But we didn’t do the same for Kim, so we better hurry. I have no idea how long it will take one of those orderlies to notice he’s missing.”

  London stood there. The pull was less now, and yet greater at the same time, as though her body sensed her nearness and was eager for the reunion. But that tension, the threat of snapping the connection like a rotten rubber band, was gone.

  “Well…get back in,” Tora spat as she went to work on one of the buckles. “What are you waiting for?”

  “Right,” London said. “Only…I’m not sure how.”

  The clank of the buckle ceased. “You don’t know how?”

  London shook her projected head.

  “There’s really no time for this, but whatever. Close your eyes, okay? Deep breaths…see yourself rejoining with your body. Release, London. Lay back down and release.”

  It seemed weird, like she was just going to sit on herself, but as she lowered her projected self onto the bed, she felt it slide back into her actual body, sinking into the flesh the way a magnet draws a pin to it. The next thing she knew, London was fluttering her eyes, and cursing the pressure of the straps across her.

  Tora quickly worked the buckles, letting the straps fall to either side of the bed. The clang of a buckle against the floor woke Melbourne. He watched, looking both fascinated and terrified, as invisible hands plucked at London’s straps, cuffs, and electrodes along with her own.

  London sat up. “Melbourne, this is Tora. Tora, Melbourne,” she introduced them.

  “Is she imaginary?” he asked with wild eyes.

  “Kind of,” London laughed, dropping to his bedside and undoing the first buckle.

  “London, what are you doing? We have to go,” Tora was snapping.

  “We can’t just leave him here, Tora,” London snapped back. She worked her fingers around the next buckle and the next, until Melbourne was free.

  “We can’t take him with us! He’s a kid.” Tora’s voice reverberated through the cell, but there was no fear that anyone else would hear it.

  London helped Melbourne up and whirled on Tora. Only, she had no clue where Tora actually was, so she just kind of spun around until she was facing the door. “Think of Reginald,” was all she said, and she knew the Seer would stop complaining.

  They started toward the hall when they heard the voices coming through the hazard doors.

  “How long has yours been offline?” said the first voice. Dean.

  “Several minutes,” another male voice answered.

  “And you’re sure it’s not a malfunction? I mean, if two are down, it could be some kind of program glitch.”

  “No way. Edgar says bed 27 is empty. Someone’s out.”

  “How would someone get out?” Dean asked.

  “Don’t know. But if one of ours did, then they’re likely responsible for springing yours.”

  Shit. London grabbed Melbourne and they spun around. Copying Tora, she reached into the nearest door panel and turned the recessed knob. “Stay in the hall,” she spat, hoping Tora would hear her. “Get us after.”

  She pushed the door closed behind them and watched the light go red, then she shoved Melbourne towards one of the patient beds. “Get underneath,” she commanded as she did the same, opposite him.

  From beneath the hanging hem of the sheet, she watched the orderlies scoot by, their white suits just visible in the dark corridor between cells. They were headed for her own room.

  From behind the soundproof walls, London couldn’t hear their cries of alarm, but she saw it in the hurried step of their pounding feet as they rushed back toward the entry hall to alert the other orderlies. There would be orderlies and guards crawling all over this place in the next couple of minutes. Kim was shoved under a kiosk and Tora was loitering invisible in the hall. She and Melbourne were trapped under occupied beds. How the hell would they escape now?

  London crawled out and started pulling at buckles. “Come on, kid. Help me out!” she said as Melbourne crawled out of his hiding spot, too.

  London’s fingers flew over the electrode wires, pooping them from the tan skin with little sucking noises. It was only then she realized she was standing over Kayla from Ag. They were in Crow and Kayla’s room.

  “Up!” she screamed, shaking the little girl. “Get up! Now!”

  Kayla’s eyes flung open and the little girl sat up. London looked at her as Melbourne jostled Crow, rousing him from his sleep. “Remember me?” she asked and Kayla nodded. “Friends, remember?”

  The girl nodded again just as their door slid open. London gasped and spun around, ready to lay flat whatever orderly had busted them, but there was no one there.

  “Hey! I know you!” Tora said, suddenly becoming visible. “Come on,” she added, grabbing London. “We’re springing the whole hall. It’s the only way.”

  Tora and London raced down the corridor, turning knobs as they went, watching the doors slide open and the red lights blink green. Behind them, the three kids were darting in and out, unfastening buckles on the patient beds and trying to wake the inmates. Some patients, new ones mostly, jumped up and sprung into action, barreling down the halls and calling for others they knew were here, friends or family. Many just stumbled sleepily from their beds, wandering into the corridor with shuffling feet. Sedative Serum Three looked promising alright.

  Still, it was enough. Orderlies fell on the patients, grappling runaways and ushering the more docile ones back to their beds, but they were outnumbered. London pushed past them, Tora invisible on her heels, and into the hallway of exam rooms. They were nearing the doors to the main entry room when a thick hand grabbed her by the arm, spinning her around.

  “Not so fast, Kit,” the familiar voice said.

  Dean had London tight by one elbow. He crammed something between his teeth and reached for her other arm, until he had both of her wrists wrested behind her back and held with one hand. He took the syringe from his mouth as he pushed her against the wall. “I got an extra big dose for you, Kitty,” he said.

  London gritted her teeth and tried to push back with her hips, but Dean was probably a few times her weight if not much taller, and she didn’t have the force needed, especially with her cheek plastered against the slick white pane
ling, to repel him.

  From her peripheral, the syringe squirted, a drop of Sedative Three fountaining through the air and onto her shirt sleeve. She might have been somewhat immune to whatever the Tycoon’s were using before, but London had no idea if this new formula of Rand’s would be so ineffective. She was about to find out.

  Suddenly, the syringe flew out of Dean’s hand and London felt the weight of him press against her with a grunt before he fell back. Free, she didn’t take the time to see what or who had saved her, though she could pretty much guess Tora was behind it. Being invisible had its advantages. Instead, she threw herself at the syringe rolling across the floor as two orderlies wrestled with a knot of patients trying to pass through the hazard doors in front of her.

  London grabbed the syringe between her fingers and turned to find Dean doubled over, his head resting on the bright white tiles, as he clutched miserably between his legs. Behind him, the doors to the main room were wide open.

  London darted for the open doors, but Dean clutched her ankle as she dashed past, pulling her to the ground with a thud. Her chin hit the floor hard and London tasted blood where her teeth split the side of her tongue. She kicked and rolled over, but the fat orderly had a death grip on her leg. Without a word, London plunged the needle into his pudgy arm, just under the edge of his rolled up sleeve, and compressed the plunger.

  In shock, he released his hold and London sprang to her feet. “Enjoy a taste of Sedative Serum Three, on the house,” she called as she flew through the open doors, past the empty kiosks, and into the synthetic tunnel behind Kim and Tora.

  Chapter 33

  * * *

  Trade

  WITHIN MOMENTS, THE tunnel would be flooded with black-clad, armed Tycoon regiments. London snatched at Kim and held her hand to the fabric of the rounded wall, feeling it, willing it to split beneath her skin. Behind them, fast steps sounded, breaking her concentration.

  “Oh, no,” Tora gasped.

  But when they turned, it wasn’t guards or orderlies approaching, it was Melbourne and the twins from Ag. In the scuffle with Dean, London had nearly forgotten about them.

  “What the—” Kim started to ask, glancing at London.

  She didn’t have time to explain. Kneeling, she grabbed Melbourne by the arm and stared hard into his face. “Once we leave this tunnel, run like you’re on fire. Understand? Try to keep up. If you can’t, or if guards come, you three hide. You’re smaller than us. Use that to your advantage. Don’t come out, no matter what you see. Don’t expose yourselves.”

  She looked from Melbourne to Kayla and Crow. “You stay put until you can get to the woods safely. Then you find us, or you find a camp. Got it? There are people who live outside the walls, outside Ag. People like you and me. People who can take care of you and who won’t send you away for dreaming.”

  Her eyes pleaded with them to understand. It was the best she could offer them under the circumstances. “Try and keep up,” she said a final time, and three small heads nodded back at her.

  She rose and faced Kim. “We’ll drop them at the nearest camp as soon as we can.” She wasn’t asking.

  Kim looked doubtful, but there was little choice. She’d set them free; she couldn’t just abandon them to Dr. Rand once more. How much more sedative would they pump into their veins if they thought them capable of escaping? How much could a small child take?

  London placed her hand back against the fabric and heard it tear from top to bottom almost instantly. Night air poured through the gaping hole she warped and London tugged Kim out after her into it, knowing Tora and the kids would be right behind.

  They pounded through the open air lot toward a tree line in the distance. Empty quarantine trucks dotted the gravel, their pale gleam alive in the moonlight. Daring a glance over her shoulder, London could see where the tunnel led to a rounded drive circling the windowless building of the Ward, an easy drop-off for the trucks coming in full of “patients”. On the other side of the tunnel, she heard the rumble of trucks, black trucks, guard trucks. A dark clot could be seen moving down the tunnel already. Outdoor guards who were fleeing their posts to help inside as reinforcements arrived.

  Just as the first man stumbled out of the hole she’d made, London’s boots met grass. They were only a few paces from the cover of the trees when the first shot rang out and Kim grunted beside her, stumbling. London reached for him as she dove for the tree line, pulling him in behind her.

  Inside the shadows of the woods, more shots sounded from behind them, causing the kids to scatter through the trees like buckshot. London just kept moving, her pace slowing to a slow jog, then a fast walk, as she dragged Kim along, Tora finally appearing on the other side of him.

  “What? Kim, what is it?” Tora begged as they continued slogging deeper into the cover of the woods.

  London made for the tangle of some dense underbrush up ahead, half-dragging Kim behind it. She hoped the kids found cover as well, and would stay put until she could look for them at first light. When she could barely make out the stars overhead, or see anything but the shadowy twists and turns of forest behind, she let Kim drop to the ground, exhausted.

  Tora was on him in an instant, her eyes full of tears, stroking his face and checking his head and chest. “Kim, what? Where?”

  “My leg,” he grunted, bearing down on a knuckle with his teeth. “Goddamn it hurts!”

  London looked at Tora and saw the fear flood the Seer’s eyes. “What are we gonna do?” Tora whispered, her face losing all color, even whiter in the night than Kim’s. “He’ll never get anywhere like this.”

  London buried her face in her hands and breathed deep. She shot up and looked down at them both. “I’m going to get Rye. He can help us.”

  “No, you can’t—you can’t leave us here,” Tora cried.

  London knelt again. “Tora, I have to get help.”

  “Please, London. I’m scared. Don’t leave us.” She was trembling as she said it, and Kim suddenly turned his face to the side and vomited into the pine needles gathered there. He was going into shock.

  “Okay. But think for me. Remember when I was stung? What did you do to help me? For the shock, not the breathing.” London pulled off her button down and ripped one of the sleeves from its seam. She wiped at Kim’s mouth as gently as she could, her own fingers a trembling mess.

  Tora gulped, her face clammy with the tears. “Um, raise his feet.”

  London wadded her shirt and tried to place it beneath Kim’s feet, but when she touched the leg that had been shot, his left one, evident by the dark stain of blood seeping into the pale patient pants, he cried in pain. Tora brushed his hair back from his face and London did her best to prop the only leg she could.

  “Give me that sleeve,” Tora said and London passed it to her over Kim’s body. The Seer wrapped it around Kim’s thigh, swallowing hard every time he cried or groaned in pain, and tied it tightly. “This will help stem the bleeding.”

  “What else?” London asked.

  “Keep him warm. That’s all I know.”

  Outside New Eden, the chilly desert nights were well behind them. Warmth was no issue. London sat by Kim’s side and held one of his hands in hers. “I’m going to try to project and find Rye. It’s all I can do without leaving.”

  “What if you’re seen?” Tora asked.

  “I’ll release it,” London said. “Snap back. They don’t know where we are exactly yet, so we shouldn’t be any worse for the wear.”

  “Okay,” Tora agreed.

  London closed her eyes and forced the Astral before her, thick and curved. She pushed herself through it hard, holding Rye in her mind at the same time. She hoped she could project herself wherever he was this way and not have to wonder about searching for him. They didn’t have the time for that. Kim could be bleeding to death for all they knew, or infection could set in. But in all likelihood, the guards would find them first.

  It was harder this time. She was still tired and weakene
d from the strain of her efforts before, but Kim needed her. She felt the extension come on her quick, the cord between herself and her body instantly taut, pulling at her with a tremendous strain.

  London blinked in the dark of the room, a pink glow from a strange lamp coursing over the nearby bed. London knew this room…and she hated it. All the pink was enough to turn her stomach, even in the dark.

  The rise and fall of the mauve duvet let her know someone was asleep in bed. She took a few steps closer and saw Rye’s face, slack with sleep, on the embroidered pillow. Beside him, the covers were drawn back where someone else had been and gotten up. She didn’t allow herself the time to picture who had been there or what they’d been doing. She had Rye alone, and that’s all that mattered.

  She reached out and touched his face, but it was as if the feel of gloves had grown thicker over her hands. She had to press hard to stir him, tapping his face with a force that felt more like a slap. Part of her enjoyed it, thinking of him snuggled up next to Avery. But a bigger part of her just needed his help.

  Rye’s eyes danced open and closed a few times before he really noticed her. Then he shot up, surprised. “London?”

  She took and breath and dove right in. “Rye, thank God. Okay, we’re outside of the Ward, in some kind of forest. I don’t know, it’s pretty dark. But Kim—Kim’s shot. In the leg. And Tora’s freaking and the kids took off and there are armed guards who’ll be all over those trees as soon as they get all the patients back in bed and—”

  “Stop,” he said, rubbing at his forehead. “Are you projecting right now?”

  London nodded. “Please, we need your help. We—we came for you. And Zen.”

  Rye sighed. “Okay. Just tell me where you are exactly.”

  “Outside the Ward, in the woods.”

  “London, there are acres of trees between New Eden and the Ward. You’re going to have to do better than that.”

  “I can’t,” London whined. “I don’t know. It’s dark out and we’re in shock right now. Kim could be dying! You have to do something.”