“Then we could all use them.” Bodhi brightened.
“No, your shoulders are too wide to go straight on, you’d slow us down. And Mojica, sorry, but you’re just too tall,” Treva said, her face flushing.
Selah clapped her hands. “Let’s go. Which way to the next Keeper entrance?”
“It’s at the other end of Blue, right before Green Court,” Treva said.
“I can take you that far. I have jurisdiction in Blue to have you in my vehicle.” Mojica led the way, and the three followed.
Selah sat next to Bodhi in the rear section, while Treva sat up front with Mojica.
“I’ve been violated,” Selah said, her head bent.
Bodhi jerked away and held her by both arms. “Who hurt you? What happened?”
“Bethany stole a bunch of her blood,” Treva piped in without turning. “In reading my parents’ files, I surmised that something like this might happen. The ancients wanted these people sealed away until they had forgotten about Landers and the like. That’s the reason the Mountain is sealing.”
Mojica navigated to the upper lane for security travel, causing Selah to jump. She just wasn’t used to high-speed traffic where there were others to maneuver around.
“What is so special about my blood?” Selah settled back in the seat beside Bodhi. Some of these things no one could answer were frightening, but she’d have to save them and be scared later. Right now saving her family took priority.
“I don’t know that anyone here has the exact answer,” Mojica said. “They know components of your blood can increase longevity. They don’t know for how long, or why. The complete answers are 150 years old. They’ve gotten muddled with lost or omitted data, old wives’ tales, and in some instances, just plain inaccuracies. When we find the Third Protocol we’ll get the answers.” She pushed the speed limit and hurled them across Blue Court.
Selah looked up at Bodhi. She moved closer and felt his warmth. It made her finally feel safe and gave her shivers all at the same time. She wondered if her brain had been permanently scrambled and this was a made-up scene from her dreams.
Bodhi touched his index finger to her nose and smiled. “Hey, firefly.”
Selah felt prickles throughout her chest. This was real. Her head moved closer to his, and she suddenly felt self-conscious that those in front would hear their business. “I thought you were done with me.”
“Please don’t start fighting now. Wait till we get home or at least free from here.”
Selah started to move away. “So, are you faking being close to me?”
Bodhi snatched her back to his side. “No,” he whispered. “You were right. It was Glade making me say that, but I’m not doing it anymore.”
Selah dropped her glance. “So . . . we’re a couple?”
“If you’ll have me.” Bodhi took her hand and touched his lips to the back of it.
Selah slowly brought her eyes up to meet his. “And why should I have you?”
Bodhi lifted her chin with his fingers. He gently touched his lips to her right cheek. “Because I love you.”
A shiver rolled up her back, making her shoulders jerk. Selah closed her eyes and took it all in, savoring how she felt. “Tell me again.”
Bodhi tipped her head, kissed her left cheek, then looked at her. “I love you, and I want you to know in case something happens to me and I don’t make it out of here.”
“We’ll make it out of here. And I love you too.” Selah smiled softly.
Bodhi touched his lips to hers. His breath was warm on her face, and with his tender lips pressing hers, Selah responded. She closed her eyes and drifted a mile away.
23
Hey you two, we’re here.” Treva banged on the console without turning.
Selah swung her legs out of Mojica’s vehicle as Bodhi ran over 107 dos and don’ts. She tuned out the commands as she drank in his features. Those she would remember in great detail. Mojica shared tactical advice with Treva on Mountain technology and what she could supplement in their travels.
Mojica turned to Selah. “I’m sorry I can’t give you weapons. They’re traceable, and it would set off alarms for them to be on someone out of uniform. If something happens and we don’t meet you in Green at our Duncan and Marrow substation, I’ve told Treva where to find enough equipment to get you to the tunnels and out of here.”
“But we have to find my family and we can’t leave Mari. I feel like she’s here because of me.” Selah would never be able to live with herself if they were sealed inside.
“I promise I will get them, but you have to listen,” Bodhi said firmly. “We’ve synchronized time with Treva. She needs to get you out of this Mountain by ten tomorrow morning—”
“But what if we—”
Bodhi grabbed her by both arms. “No buts. Please, Selah, no buts this time. Those tunnels took me an hour at a good jog to get here. Your life is at stake, and you have to be in the Reliquary with Glade at eleven when this goes off. Please. I love you.” Without warning, Bodhi pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply.
The intensity of his kiss made her knees quiver, and her fingers trembled as she clutched the fabric on his sleeves. But at the same time, Selah felt a lightning surge of strength and love . . . she felt loved. Their heartbeats turned into one synchronized sound that pounded in her ears. She drew power from their closeness, but she knew she had to be the one to pull away. A smile played at the corners of her lips. She slowly separated herself from the warmth of his arms. “I will be there, I promise.”
Selah jogged alongside Treva, who led the way through countless streets and past several tree-lined areas along the outside edge of the Mountain community. She noticed the landscaping had sparse tree stands along these edges, supplemented with a three-dimensional hologram of rolling hills that appeared to continue to the digital horizon.
They stopped in front of a multistory building surrounded by holographic trees. Its upper levels disappeared into the clouds floating in the bright blue sky. Selah stared. She’d never seen a building reach high enough to disappear into clouds. Maybe the top levels were an illusion too.
Treva pulled on her arm. “This is the place.” A slight tremor shook the earth.
Selah stretched out her hands for balance. “What was that? I didn’t know the Mountain had earthquakes.”
Treva scrunched her eyebrows together. “I’ve never felt one here before.” She led the way through the building corridors to a lower level and swung open a camouflaged stone door. A narrow slot swished open. Treva inserted her hand, and her biometrics turned the light green. An interior door clicked open.
They slid in and closed the entrance behind them. Lights brightened, and a ventilation system kicked on. Selah welcomed the cooler air. They leaned against the wall for a minute to catch their breath and take a drink.
“Are you going to be good in here?” Treva handed her the water flask.
“I have no choice.” Selah took several sips. “My family is more important than my comfort.”
“Do you blame me?” Treva fingered a random spot on the wall.
“Blame you for what? Bringing me into these death traps?”
Treva hitched a half smile. “These tunnels have been around much longer than we have, and I don’t remember anyone ever dying here. No, I mean about Cleon and your family getting captured by Varro. If I hadn’t sent them to the tunnels—”
“Don’t you dare think that way. You couldn’t have anticipated the level of evil coming from my stepfather. I still don’t understand why he wants to keep them.”
The tremor vibrated through the wall. They stepped away.
Selah glanced at a few wisps of dust filtering down from the ceiling. “Could this get serious?” Her concern clearly mirrored Treva’s.
Treva looked around. “We’d better get going. Just in case.” They started to jog.
Another tremor. This time harder. Treva bounced into the wall and broke her stride. She stumbled to a stop. �
��This is starting to worry me. I’ve never felt anything like this in the Mountain.”
“Maybe—”
“Shh . . . do you hear that?” Treva held up a hand.
Selah heard it too. Voices. “These tunnels have thin walls. Where is that coming from?”
“We don’t have time to stop every time we hear a voice.”
Selah raised her hand to say something, but Treva jogged away. Selah didn’t understand her sudden attitude change.
They jogged for a full hour without stopping other than to pass the water bottle back and forth, but it wasn’t the same as being on an open surface. The going was tough. They’d maybe traveled only a few miles. Selah kept her mind occupied to avoid worrying. She counted green dots and then blue dots along the walls—seventy-eight green and thirty-seven blue dots on little raised pads spaced along the wall.
“Do you know where we are?” Selah pushed her fists against her sides. The lightning flashes in her head were draining her, and they seemed to come on more frequently since the run-in with the pulse cannon.
Treva stopped and pivoted back, still pumping her legs to stay warm. “We’re maybe another hour from the coordinates Mojica gave me. We’re somewhere close to the back entrance where we came in. Security buildings are on the other side of this tunnel wall. They service the back gate where we came in.”
“It would be nice to just walk out this tunnel door and out of the Mountain right now,” Selah said. Voices drifted toward them again.
“Good thinking, except Bethany gets to monitor this gate—long story—and only citizens are supposed to be using it. That’s why I could get us in. She will definitely be monitoring it, and if we try to get out—”
“Okay, I get it. I was just thinking out loud.” Selah sighed. “Please, I need a little break.”
This time Selah knew the voice she heard. Her back stiffened. Bethany Everling.
Selah’s voice rose in pitch even though she tried to be quiet. “How can that be Bethany? Does she know we’re in here?”
Treva shushed her. “No one knows we’re here. This system has been secure for 150 years. I told you the rooms on the other side of this wall are security quarters. I think she’s here because of Jaenen and Varro. Listen.”
Treva laid her hand against one of the small green plates on the tunnel wall. A foot-high plascine rectangle in the wall turned clear. Selah ducked down against the wall, clawing to pull Treva down. “They’ll see us.”
“These are one-way acoustics. On their side it’s a solid black noise panel. They can’t see us.”
Both girls peered into the opening.
A tremor began under their feet, small like the buzz of invading bees. The shaking increased as it radiated down the tunnel and crept up the walls, filtering silt down on them. The sound grew louder.
Treva had to shout. “We need to go now. I don’t like being in a tight space with this happening.”
Selah steadied herself against the wall. “We have to see the male she’s talking to. I think it’s Varro.”
“It won’t do us any good if this place comes down on us,” Treva said, grabbing Selah by the wrist to pull her down the tunnel.
“Can we mark these coordinates—even that blue spot—to know where this is on the outside?” Selah resisted moving.
The tremor slid into a rumble, and the filtering silt turned to pebbles then chunks of rock.
Treva yelled, grabbing Selah’s arm. The tunnel roared behind them, and a cloud of dust rushed along the floor and billowed to envelop them. Despite the light rope buried in the rubble, the sections above their heads stayed lit.
The haze thickened, invading Selah’s eyes. The grit and her tears blocked most of the light.
Treva started to cough. She covered her mouth with her hands, then pulled up her tunic to use as a shield against the invading dust particles.
Selah hacked, trying to suck in air. Tears flowed down her cheeks. She rubbed the back of her hand across the wetness and felt the grit on her face. She didn’t know if she should be frightened and believe this was happening. After all, she’d been through this same thing just yesterday morning, and it hadn’t been real.
She coughed hard, wheezing through burning lungs. Her mouth felt gritty and her throat burned raw. She bent over, leaning against the wall. This felt real. She slid down the wall till her knees were level with her chest. She tried to hug them to her chest to stop the pain in her lungs. No air.
Suddenly dirt rained down on top of her. She pushed herself from the center of the dirt storm and pulled her way to the edge. Dirt poured up to her knees, trapping her. She cried out. She could barely make out Treva’s silhouette in the haze.
Treva dropped to the floor. Her coughing spasm ended in gagging and retching. She labored to suck in air.
The tremor stopped.
Selah clawed at the dirt around her knees, trying to free her legs. Her movements were hindered by the lack of oxygen. She fisted the dirt from in front of her, pushing it to the side. The musty smell of the wet earth pressed in around her.
Treva groped along the floor on hands and knees, crawling to Selah. She reached the edge of the dirt and started frantically digging to free Selah. Her labored wheezing made Selah dig faster to reach her. She broke through to Treva.
They hugged, trying to cover their faces with their arms and clothes. Selah felt herself drifting. Lack of air. She faded to black.
Selah heard it before she felt it. The cycling of the ventilation system. She could breathe. Her lungs burned like seared meat when she inhaled, but the air was fresh and clean . . . and cool. She didn’t want to open her eyes. She wanted to lie down and rest—
Treva! Selah’s eyes shot open.
Treva lay beside her with her arms draped across Selah’s back.
She shook her. “Treva. Wake up. Are you all right?”
Treva moaned and coughed up a bunch of phlegm.
They both rubbed at watering eyes. The tunnel air was as clear as before the earthquake.
Treva labored to clear the dirt she’d inhaled. “We can’t stay in here for another hour to get to the meeting point. But we can get to the next exit about a half mile away.”
“But Bethany is—”
“Back behind that slide,” Treva said, pointing behind them. The falling earth and stone had filled the tunnel. “That security section could be cleared out. We don’t know how extensive this slide is.” Treva scrambled to her feet.
Selah crawled herself up the wall to a standing position. Moving required a little more oxygen than she could take in at the moment. But a few more deep inhales and a couple of productive coughs, and she seemed stable.
They came out of a doorway in a wall covered by a three-dimensional holographic forest. The doorway was cleverly hidden behind several real trees. They scooted out onto the road and walked away, trying to brush off the dust and dirt they’d accumulated. Selah felt stronger. Air had never felt so welcoming.
“How much time did we lose?” she asked.
“We have seventeen hours to be at the tunnel. We should have met Bodhi and Mojica right about now, and we’re still an hour away from them—by tunnel—which I really don’t want to go back in.” Treva grimaced.
Selah winced. “I’d prefer if we didn’t. How should we get to Bodhi?” This was one of those times when she’d have preferred to deal with Bodhi barking orders and her reluctantly listening. When things like the cave-in happened, she doubted her abilities. Not that she thought the tunnel collapse was her fault, but she should have been able to reason it was going to happen and avoid the situation. Bodhi wouldn’t have made that mistake. The flashes—her mind was a jumble of sensations.
“Will that communicator reach him?”
“Sure. Do you want to tell him why we’re late?”
Selah screwed up her lip. She didn’t want to explain the delay after he’d made her promise not to be late, though technically she was off track because of the earthquake. “I’ve been yell
ed at enough for one lifetime. Can we delay it?”
“I could just keep communications turned off. They still have our bios, so they know where we are.” Treva looked sheepish.
“No. You’d better contact them. Up to this point it isn’t our fault that we’re late.” Selah laced her fingers tight so she wouldn’t rub the spot where her scar had been. After having that memento for many years, she’d wakened one morning as a novarium to find the scar was no longer there. It bothered her to keep tracing an empty spot.
Treva keyed the ComTex. Her brow furrowed and she pushed the link again. “We have no signal on any channel.”
Selah looked down at Treva’s wrist. “Did it get damaged in the cave-in?”
“I don’t think so. There’d be damage to my wrist if it got hit hard enough to kill the signal.”
“Could it be jamming? Would Bethany have the ability to disrupt Mojica’s communications?” Selah felt fear trying to take root and stomped on it.
“I truly don’t know what all has gone on in here since we escaped. Looks like we’re on our own until we meet up with Bodhi.” Treva frowned.
Selah’s chest constricted. What’s wrong now? No response. She tried again and touched Treva’s arm. “Is it my imagination, or did I get hit too hard on the head? I can’t seem to mind-jump with you in here.”
“No, that’s another thing I found out when I left you with Bethany. She’s got her blocker system running as though she expected some kind of Lander attack. Why? What did you mind-speak?”
“I was wondering why you’re looking like that.”
“Because I was contemplating whether to tell you I marked the coordinates to Bethany’s office location while we were in the tunnel, or whether to just keep moving you toward Bodhi.”
Selah grinned and put both hands on Treva’s shoulders. “Look into my eyes. What do you think you should tell me?”
Selah and Treva stopped at a small shop and bought a change of clothing. Treva explained they were too dusty to walk around unnoticed. Green Court was the hard-working class, but when they came home, they did so clean and polished, and in nice clothing. These families were the miners and oil riggers who operated the laser equipment in the energy fields. They were called builders because when they had exhausted an energy field on the outskirts, it was turned into community housing space and they just drilled farther into the mountain range to create new energy fields and more communities.
Lightning Page 21
