Ozland

by Wendy Spinale

  Ginger shoves me against the wall and unhooks a vine from her belt. “Let’s go,” she says.

  My knees feel weak, but I refuse to let the general see me as frail. She races ahead. I follow her, barely able to keep up with her pace. The slate walkway is not only damp and slippery, but it’s no more than half a meter wide. Some parts are eroded, leaving large gaps to hurdle over.

  When we reach a dirt path, I look back. The severed vines hang limply from the cliff. Oil stains the rock in a black sheen.

  “Why are you so bent on saving the king?” Ginger asks, thankfully drawing my attention away from what was almost my demise.

  “My dad” is all I can say.

  She waits, but I don’t add anything else. “Look, it’s not like we have adolescent girls on crazy hover machines carrying the key to save King Osbourne drop in on us daily,” she says. “I don’t know what your story is, but you’re better off going home. Just tell me what you know and be on your way.”

  “I’m not leaving,” I insist.

  At the top of the path, her mechnosuit sits abandoned, overlooking the cliff. To the northeast, just beyond the continuing battle, is a dilapidated stone keep appearing abandoned. I take in its beauty. “What is that place?” I ask.

  Ginger flips a switch on her mechnosuit and it buzzes to life. “The Black Keep. It’s our watchtower. We keep a lookout for intruders, especially those wanting to get to the king,” she says, giving me a disapproving look. “There are three others. One in each direction from here, so don’t get any funny ideas about taking off to reach him from another route.”

  I chuckle bitterly.

  “What’s so funny?” Ginger asks.

  “You’ve been living, sleeping, protecting your own from within the Black Keep,” I say.

  “And you find this amusing?” Ginger asks, her brows raised.

  I shake my head. “No. It’s just that I’ve done the same thing back in my home. Back in the Black Forest.”

  “While I fail to see the humor in this, the coincidence is strange,” Ginger says.

  “See, perhaps we are more alike than you think,” I say.

  Ginger grins. “Don’t push your luck, kid.”

  When Ginger seems satisfied with the setting on her armored suit, she turns to me. “Now that we’re all buddy-buddy and I’ve saved your life, I think I’ve at least earned information from you. What do you know of the Bloodred Queen?”

  “The queen?” I question, taken aback. “Why would I know anything about her?”

  “That freak show,” Ginger says, pointing at the flock of machines, “can only be the creation of one person alone: the Bloodred Queen. Last I heard, she’s still ruling Germany. You are from Germany. And since I’ve never seen those creatures before, I find it ironic they arrive shortly after you show up. Therefore, I can only conclude that you have something to do with it.”

  “No,” I say, stepping back. “I don’t know anything about them.”

  Ginger’s brows rise as she steps forward with every step back I take. “Is that so?” She pulls a gun from inside the cockpit of her suit. Her fingers slide into the grip of the weapon, giving her the appearance of having brass knuckles. I was grateful for Ginger when she used her strange weapons to save me, but now with one pointed at me, my blood runs cold. She lifts her weapon to my throat.

  “Maybe you didn’t hear me. What do you know?” she asks, teeth clenching.

  “Nothing,” I say, wondering if I could notch an arrow and make a lethal shot before she shoots me.

  Ginger’s face flushes. The arm of her suit slams me to the ground, and she stands over me. Placing the heavy foot of her suit on my chest, I can barely catch my breath.

  “Look. While you appear brave, this is not a task meant for you. Not only that, I’m not all that sure you can be trusted,” she says.

  I meet her eyes, determined to get my point across. “I made a promise to my father that I would save the king, and I’m not about to break that promise because you think you can intimidate me with your fancy weapons and armor. I will save the king, with or without you,” I manage to cough out, each word choking me.

  Grimacing, Ginger releases me.

  Gasping, I roll over to take in a breath.

  “Seems we have more in common than I thought,” Ginger says, unsympathetic to my shallow pants. “My father sent me here, making me swear to protect the king while he was in his weakened condition, knowing it would take time to recover from his attempted assassination. He said he would follow behind soon with the key to release the king once he and the other Zwergs planned an assault on Lohr to take out the Bloodred Queen.” She looks to the sea. “That was the last I saw of him.”

  My father’s ash-covered face comes to my mind. His plea for me to take on this burden, even though I’ve never been more than a short distance outside our village. His last breath.

  My throat constricts as I consider Ginger’s brave face. It is a reflection of my own.

  She tucks the gun beneath the control panel and pulls a lever, arming her vehicle. Lifting her boot, she trudges just a few meters before she looks over her shoulder.

  “What are you waiting for?” she asks. “We have a king to rescue.”

  It takes Pickpocket only a few minutes to open the locks to the other prison cells. He races up the stairs to scope out our escape and returns equally fast.

  “The exit is guarded by at least four Haploraffen. I doubt I’ll be able to take off the panels as quickly as I did with this hunk of metal,” he says, banging on the steel chest of the disabled soldier.

  “Jack would be extremely useful right now,” Pete says, leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed. “If there really are hidden passageways, I’d about kill to find the one that leads to Gwen.”

  Pickpocket heads toward the opposite hallway. “Maybe there’s a way out in this direction.”

  “Right. Like Katt would leave one exit guarded and not the other,” Maddox says.

  “The snide remarks are getting old,” Pickpocket hollers from far in the dark passage.

  Lily struggles to her feet with Alyssa’s help. I rush to her and gently wrap my arms around her. She’s hurt, but her strong arms wrap around my neck.

  “How bad is it?” I ask through the lump in my throat. Seeing her in this condition hurts me more than the wounds crisscrossing my back. My beating was severe and long, but even one strike of the whip to her is far worse to me than the fifty I received. I brush my hand across her cheek, where one of the lashings struck. She smiles and shakes her head, but I know she’s covering up her pain. I’m not surprised. Lily is never one to show weakness. Being the only one with training and experience in medicine, I can call her bluff. She knows it.

  Her dark stare falls on mine and the crease between her brows gives away the pain she’s in, but I won’t reveal her secret. Instead, I’m lost in her gaze, and the conversations around me fade away. I hold her close to soothe the nightmares that rage through my thoughts, but it helps only minimally.

  Like the rest of us, Lily has lost all she knew of siblings, parents … of family … the day Hook and the Marauders invaded our home. The only difference is, her family was murdered in cold blood by the Marauders right before her eyes. I can only begin to imagine the anguish she must feel on any given day.

  “Gwen is our priority,” Pete says, drawing my attention back to the conversation. “Once we find her, we’ll get Doc to the lab, kill the Bloodred Queen, and then go home … wherever that is.”

  “Gwen is not the priority right now,” Alyssa says sternly. “Killing the Bloodred Queen is.”

  Pete’s expression grows cold.

  “She’s right,” Maddox says. “We have to think about the big picture—save one or save the world.”

  An icy silence fills the air, and no one dares to speak. Pete drops his eyes to the floor, accepting the fate that lies ahead. I turn my attention back to Lily.

  “I have to find the antidote, even if that mean
s going alone,” I tell her.

  Pete’s stare grows hard. “With the Bloodred Queen and Katt in charge, it won’t matter if we have the antidote or not. Your job is to do what I say. Stay back while the rest of us take down the queen, and then you can get the antidote.”

  “I’m not waiting on you,” I say. “Go get the queen. Kill Katt. That’s what you’re good at. Me, I will stay out of your way by going to find her lab,” I snap.

  Pete shakes his head. “I’ll give it to you—you’re good with mixing stuff and keeping us all alive, but you don’t stand a chance venturing out on your own in this castle.”

  “You know what? I’ll be just fine,” I shout. “I can handle myself without you or anyone else. And you’re right, Pete! I might not be like you, saving lost kids, rescuing those in need, but I keep everyone from dying. So don’t you dare discount my abilities!”

  I wait for him to fight back, but he says nothing. I let out a breath.

  “We lost everything when the village was burned to the ground. I made a cure in Everland, I made a new one in Umberland, I remade it in Evergreen … I’m tired of making and remaking cures that help only a handful of people. It’s time for me to end the destruction of the Horologia virus for good. Your enemy is the Bloodred Queen. Mine is the virus,” I say, feeling both frustration and a surge of guilt.

  There’s a long pause, and finally Pete nods. “Fine, I’ll escort you to the lab, but the rest of you will find Gwen.”

  I stare at Pete. I know he wears his heart on his sleeve, and I can see how hard it is for him to not take off after Gwen this instant.

  “Then we take out the Bloodred Queen,” he’s quick to add.

  “Look, Katt said the Bloodred Queen was much too strong for her to kill,” Alyssa says. “Why would she openly admit that and then just set us free to do the job for her?”

  “Well, we’re not exactly free. She had no intention of just letting us loose without those hunks of metal on our tail,” Maddox says.

  “Yeah, but something’s not right with her story,” Alyssa says.

  Before anyone can respond, Pickpocket calls out from down the hall. “Look who I’ve found. Seems like someone who could be useful to us, don’t you think?” Caught by his shirt collar, Hook struggles in Pickpocket’s grip. Pickpocket shoves Hook in Pete’s direction. Face-to-face again, the archenemies stare each other down. “Seems like our old friend is now the queen’s prisoner. I think I’ve swayed him to be on Team Pete for a change.”

  Pete lunges for Hook, but Maddox and I grab him by the arms and hold him back.

  “Hook,” Pete sneers. “I thought I smelled cod.”

  “Nice seeing you again, too,” Hook says, brushing the wrinkles from his shirt.

  Furious, Pete pulls from our grip and clenches his fists. He spits on the ground. “You’re a murderer, Hook. And murderers, in my book, don’t deserve to live,” he growls.

  “As if you haven’t killed a few people yourself along the way,” Hook retorts.

  Pete lunges for Hook again, and this time he slips past our reach and shoves Hook up against the stone wall. “I’d watch my mouth if I were you. You’re not exactly in good company.”

  Hook shoves Pete back. “Everland was a mistake,” Hooks admits. “I’m not as callous as you think. My mother led me to believe that England was the enemy. That England needed to be contained. I had no idea what her true intent was. I was her son, doing what she asked. Nothing more, nothing less.”

  Pete throws a swift punch to his face before Maddox and I can pull him off. “Pete, enough!” I shout.

  He wrenches free from our clutches and juts a finger in Hook’s direction. “You killed everyone I loved. Maybe not directly, but your choice to attack London took everyone who was important to me away, starting with my sister.”

  My throat grows tight at the mention of Gabrielle. She was my first love. My heart and soul. The day she took her last breath, it was in my arms. When I turn my attention back to Hook, hurt becomes fury. “Pete’s right. You are a murderer.”

  All eyes fall on me. I swallow hard. “You’ve also killed those I cared for.”

  Pete’s brow furrows. Our friendship has been contentious, at best, since the death of Gabrielle. However, no one standing here knew her but us, and they never will. They’ll never know her beautiful smile that brightened a room wherever she went. Nor will they know her generosity, her kindness. Although paralyzed from the waist down, she never used that as an excuse to keep her from living a full life. An orphan, just like her brother, Pete, what very little she earned by busking Gabrielle still gave to those in more need than her.

  I’d intended to marry her, but now she’s gone.

  When Pete brought her injured and broken body to me after the bombing, there was nothing I could do to save Gabrielle. Her death left a hollow in my heart. One I never thought could be filled again.

  Lily laces her fingers with mine and the pain eases, but only slightly. I wonder for the briefest moment if there’s room in my heart for both Gabrielle and Lily.

  Pete glares at our intertwined fingers before turning back to Hook. “You’re also responsible for the deaths of the Lost Kids. All the Lost Kids, every single one, are gone because of you. You set the virus loose, killing their families and eventually them. And—” His voice cracks. “And Bella. You killed Bella.”

  Hook drops his gaze to the ground. “All I wanted was to please my mother. To make her proud just once. For one moment to see an inkling of love from her.” Hook throws his hands up and peers around the dungeon. “But despite everything I’ve done for her, in her eyes, I’m no different than you. I’m expendable. She doesn’t see me as her son. I’m just another soldier in her cause or prisoner of her wrath. I have no one I can call family any longer either. I am no different than you. I’m …”

  “A Lost Boy,” I say. “Parentless, homeless, and in need of a family.”

  The comment obviously stings, as Hook peers down at his tattered and filthy clothes. One moment he’s the cause of the Lost Kids’ deaths, the next he is one himself.

  “Let’s get one thing clear: You are not a Lost Kid, nor will you ever be,” Pete says, anger in his tone.

  “Understood,” Hook says.

  A hush fills the air. I wonder if everyone else feels the nervous tension that simmers in my gut.

  “Look, there is nothing left for me here at Lohr,” Hook says, breaking the silence. “I never wanted royalty. The title, the wealth, it means nothing to me. It never has. All I wanted was a mother. It’s silly and childish, but it’s the truth. And now I know it’s something I’ll never have.”

  “Why should we trust you?” Alyssa says. “You’ve left my country in rubble.”

  “Because,” Hook says quietly, “I have nothing to gain by helping you, and everything to lose if I don’t.”

  While the arm that he lost by Gwen’s sword in Everland has been replaced with a mechanical one, the other remains gloved. He tugs on each finger of the glove until it slips off. Wincing, he holds his hand out.

  Immediately, the smell of rotten flesh makes me want to gag. While I’ve been around my share of dead bodies, this is far worse. Like so many I’ve treated, his hands show signs of the original Horologia virus, only his skin is blackened and sloughing off. At first glance, it looks like a third-degree burn. However, I know that he was exposed to the virus like the rest of us. Only, we received treatment, and he returned to Germany. I’m unsure if the return home slowed the disease or the exposure to the mutated virus has caused his symptoms. Either way, his wounds appear incredibly painful, and there’s no question in my mind that if his other extremities are equally as bad, he will die.

  I can’t help but ask, “Did you take the antidote?”

  “No.” Hook shakes his head. “My mother threw me down here upon my return. Told me I didn’t deserve the cure. That I could let the virus kill me, slow and painful. Judging by what she and Katt look like, she might have done me a favor.”
<
br />   Pete glances at me, silently wanting my assessment of his situation. I suck my bottom lip in and nod. While he may not care less about my opinions, as a doctor able to diagnose Hook’s prognosis, I’m useful. “Hook will die without the cure,” I say, leaving the choice up to Pete whether to save him.

  “Fine! We’ll take you with us, but if I smell anything fishy from you, I’ll end your misery. Are we clear?” Pete says.

  “What? You’re going to trust this guy?” Maddox says. “After everything he’s done?”

  Alyssa sidles up to him. “Let’s at least give him a chance. Maybe he knows the secret passageways that Jack was talking about back in Evergreen. With the Haploraffen guarding the entrance, we could use all the help we can get.”

  Maddox says nothing.

  “Right now, all I care about is finding that lab and creating the cure,” I say. I glare at Hook. “Where is it?”

  Hook snorts. “You’ll probably have better luck than the apothecarists. They’ve been working on it for months.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “The Professor’s notes and all your work on the Horologia virus were brought here by Katt. When I returned with the poison apple, it was confiscated. Everything was taken to a lab where they’ve been working on a cure,” Hook says.

  “How far have they gotten with developing it?” I ask, alarm building within me.

  “I don’t know. I was imprisoned shortly after returning. The Bloodred Queen wanted nothing to get in the way of creating the cure. Especially her son, who’s failed her repeatedly,” he says bitterly. “What I do know is where the laboratory is and that I can get you there undetected.”

  “What about the queen?” Pete asks.

  “You’ll never kill the queen, not in her condition,” Hook says. “With the antidote she’s taken, her scales are like armor. Combined with the fact that she ultimately controls the Haploraffen army, a hundred of you could never bring her to her knees.”