by Stacey Nash
Scowling, the boy who must be Kalon, scrubs a hand down his face. “But Socrai … umm … there’s four … and only two—”
“The gate is secured and reasonably safe. The fence is not.”
Nik strides across the oval, and Josh hangs back. Cynnie shoots me a tiny smile and tosses her head toward Nik. As we walk across the oval, I look from the guy in front to the one behind. Joshua’s now following us across the open ground, swinging the sword in time to his stride. He and Nik look really similar. They have almost the same build, the same sweeping hair that hangs just shy of their different eyes and curls right at the nape of their necks. Yet they’re so different too. Even though they have the same smile, Joshua’s is all knowing like he’s in on a joke the rest of us aren’t, and Nik’s holds secrets too, but not of the same kind. There’s something about it which makes me think he’s hiding stuff. Whether it’s just from me or the whole world, I’m not sure.
As we near the fence we have to jump debris on the ground. Huge rocks and chunks of concrete, all bits of the fence no doubt. The hole’s ragged around the edges as if it was blasted open and so big I could just step right through it. Two darkly dressed men stand on either side of the hole and when Nik stops, they exchange a few mumbled words with him.
“Right, let’s hit the Iretum,” one man says to the other as they walk away.
I stare after them, and Nik’s voice snaps my attention back to our task. “We need to watch both sides.”
Nik ducks his head to climb through the hole. Joshua walks right past Cynnie and I, following his brother’s lead. “You girls stay on the inside,” Nik says.
Cynnie shakes her head. “He’s so … argh.”
Her reaction to him is like a see-saw: one minute she seems attracted to him, the next repulsed. I don’t understand it, either she likes him or she doesn’t. But I can’t think of that, my mind is still trying to make sense of all the new information from Socrai. “What’s the group Socrai mentioned?” I ask her.
She takes a deep breath. “There’s a group of people. Not Collective, but common people who want to see our downfall.” She pauses before continuing in a whisper. “There are those amongst us who think they’re right, those who don’t believe in the Founders’ Vision.”
“How do they know about us, though? Aren’t we like a huge secret?”
“The resistance, as they call themselves …” Nik sticks his head through the hole. “… are low lying scum who don’t know their place.”
Whoa. Cynnie’s eyes widen. Nik looks her straight in the eye as if challenging her to deny the truth of what he said. “No one can walk into our community and spit in our faces without expecting us to come back at them,” Nik adds.
“What?” I screw my nose up. “What are you talking about?”
“This fence, check out the hole. Some statement they’re trying to make.”
“So you think this … resistance blew up the fence and they did it to make a statement?”
“Where have you been, Mae?” Joshua asks from behind the fence. “Of course they blew up the fence.”
I stare at the place where his voice came from.
Mae.
It sounded like he was talking to me, but no one shortens my name. Somehow it feels right and sounds natural coming off his tongue the same way the sword looks right in his hand.
“This blows,” Nik huffs. “You lot can stay and guard the wall. I’m checking the perimeter.”
“What? No.” Cynnie sticks her head through the gap. “Nik! We have to stay here, it’s our mission.”
He snorts. “Mission? It’s hardly a mission.” His eyes lock on mine. “Are you joining me, Anamae?”
I glance at Cynnie then back to him. Her eyes are wide and his are narrowed, and I almost feel like he’s laying down a challenge. But it’s so unlike him, I’m not sure what to think. Maybe it’s the arrogance Cynnie sees shining through or maybe he doesn’t think I’ve got it in me to go against the rules. His hazel eyes continue boring into mine.
I swallow and point a foot out to step through the hole.
Cynnie grabs my arm just as I lean forward. “Don’t.”
I’m not scared of being told off by Socrai, I’m not scared of what’s outside, and I’m sure as heck not scared of Nik or Cynnie. A rush of excitement zaps through me, and I shoot her a smile as I step out, foot raised to go through the hole.
It catches in midair.
I lean into my step but don’t move forward, not even a tiny bit. Weird. It’s as if something stops me. I pull back but my leg doesn’t budge. It’s stuck like one of those dreams where you can’t run. I can’t move forward or backward either. My heart rate spikes as I try to wriggle my foot free.
It won’t move.
Cynnie sucks in a sharp breath, and Nik’s head appears by my leg in the hole. “Forgot about that,” he says.
He reaches in, closes his hands around my waist and gives my whole body a sharp tug. It moves me toward him, like I’m suctioned through goop, slowly sliding through the gap and for a few moments when my head is inside the … whatever it is … I can’t breathe.
I gasp and suck in nothing.
No air, no goop, just nothing.
It’s a vacuum. Panic. Pure and utter panic courses through my very being.
I can’t breathe.
His hands tighten on my hips and he yanks me all the way through. I emerge out the other side, gasping for air like a fish that jumped out of its tank.
Nik drops his hands from my waist and turns away, but not fast enough that I don’t see the expression on his face. His gritted teeth and briefly closed eyes. But I don’t have time to think of it because the feel of Joshua watching me draws my attention to him like a magnet. He frowns as he looks me over. “Are you okay?”
I nod, unable to speak through the air I’m still sucking down in massive gulps.
He shakes of his head, furrows further deepening in his brow. “The barrier shouldn’t stop you.”
Barrier? “What the heck is a—”
“Come on,” Nik says, tugging me away.
“Wait.” Cynnie jumps through the hole. My mouth drops open. Nothing stopped her. My stomach flutters and tightness spreads across my chest. It didn’t stop Nik or Josh, either. So why me? I want to ask, but Nik’s already pulling me away. I tug my arm out of his hold, and snake it around my tummy, the remnants of fear making both my arms quiver.
“What happened?” Cynnie asks as her and Joshua walk up beside me. But Nik’s charging away and I have no idea. Joshua gives a small shrug, looks me over again, then he turns to follow his brother.
“I don’t know,” I say, taking in her widened eyes and pale skin. The orange freckles on her nose are brighter than stars against the night sky. “What’s a barrier?”
She looks past me, probably at the boys marching away. Dropping her voice, she says, “The community is surrounded by a protective barrier. It’s to keep all the ordinary people out.” She scrunches up her face. “It shouldn’t have activated around you.”
Well, that opens up a whole host of questions, so many that I’m not sure where to start. We both walk away from the grabby fence, following the others. My stomach lurches, its contents swaying side to side. I dart into the trees but thankfully I don’t vomit. My stomach settles almost straight away so I move to her side, walking closer to the trees. We’re in some kind of a narrow clearing that looks like a track. Cynnie glances around nervously into the long shadows cast by the low sun.
She’s right. It doesn’t make any sense that the barrier stopped only me.
“So this barrier, it …?”
“It scans DNA. Anyone of Collective blood shouldn’t get caught.” She frowns and scratches her head. “Come on, they’ll leave us behind if we don’t keep up.” She jogs to catch up to the boys, who’ve become dark specks against the setting sun, their silhouettes almost identical except Joshua’s, which is at least half a head taller and a little thinner.
It stop
ped me. Does that mean I’m not truly of the Collective? I let the thought slide off my overactive mind—it’s too abstract to stay there—as we come up behind Joshua, who’s trailing a few steps behind Nik. His chestnut hair curls on his neck and I want to reach out and brush it straight, but I keep my hand pinned to my side like a normal person.
Nik jolts to a stop, his whole body still as a meerkat, then jerks his head to the side, staring into the bushes. Joshua halts too, and Cynnie grabs my arm making me stop, all of us tense with anticipation. The terrorists could be here hiding amongst the trees just waiting to strike again. That thought has my hand closing around my dagger.
Nik spins, slicing his sword through the air right at Joshua. Fear jumps into my throat, but Nik misses, his blade thunking into a tree right at Josh’s neck height. Thank God.
Joshua laughs, one of those funny snort-cackles.
Cynnie walks up beside Nik and peers at the tree. “What are you doing?”
He doesn’t answer, just stalks off again. She rushes after him and leaves me walking next to Joshua. He glances at me sideways and a smirk creeps onto his lips, and I can’t help but smile too. He points to the ground at the tree Nik struck. “Apparently we’re here for frogs.”
Frowning, I glance where he’s pointing. A little green head lays detached from its poor body.
“Frogs.” Joshua snickers. “Killer Frogs?”
“Poor frog.”
We follow Nik and Cynnie. The nice feeling of Joshua calling me by another name hangs in the air, and his smile makes me feel so comfortable. So, clasping my hands together, I watch his face for a reaction. “When you called me Mae. Well … no one has ever called me that. But … it felt … I don’t know …”
“Is this that déjà vu rubbish again?” He chuckles.
My chest sinks into the pit of my stomach, both of them trying to occupy the same space. “It’s just … I feel like I know you. I mean really know you.”
“It’s okay to like me.” There’s a hint of jest or maybe arrogance, I’m not sure, to his tone.
What a jerk. Picking up the pace, I set my sights set on Cynnie and Nik. There’s no way I’m hanging around here for his amusement. An incredible heat flushes my face and neck.
Joshua’s hand clamps around mine, pulling me to a stop. He stops chuckling and I try to pull free. “Anamae, I get it,” he says. “Lately I’ve been getting strange feelings too … like, I don’t know …”
I turn to face him. He feels it, too?
His eyes, the brightest green, hold mine. They’re so clear and honest, I believe him. Relief, sweet and strong, threatens to buckle my knees.
He graces me with a heart stopping smile, one that lifts both sides of his mouth and makes me wonder why he doesn’t smile like that more often. He squeezes my hand then lets go, trailing it along the stone fence as we resume walking. A shiver shoots up my back. Something about the fence makes me want to back away. Like its dangerous and shouldn’t be touched or even looked at. I edge a little closer to the trees.
“What are we looking for anyway?” I ask him.
“It’s Nik. Who knows? He’s probably hoping to stumble across some of them, let off a bit of steam with a fight.”
Cynnie’s stopped walking up ahead, and he’s nowhere in sight. Hand on her hip, she faces the trees. Where has he gone? Into the trees, further ahead? When we reach Cynnie, I give her a questioning look, and she shrugs. Joshua looks at the ground, following a path I can’t see which goes to the trees. He strides into them.
“What is it?” Cynnie asks.
“Someone’s been here.” He throws the answer over his shoulder.
“Huh. That’s unusual,” Cynnie says.
“Unusual that people have been here? Don’t people come around all the time, like kids and joggers?” I ask.
“No, the barrier puts off a sense of unease. It should stop most people even pushing past the pines.”
Bile rises in my throat. First the barrier captured me, and now its repulsion affects me too. This is something I have to discuss with Manvyke. There has to be something wrong with me. As if she read the look on my face, she gasps. “By the Founders. You can feel it, can’t you?”
I nod.
Nik comes bounding through the low branches, followed closely by Joshua. Josh looks bored, as if following Nik around is the last thing he really wants to do. Nik, on the other hand, has crazy eyes like he’s on a furious excited rush. They’re brighter than I’ve ever seen them.
“Someone’s been hiding out in the bushes,” he says. “There are motorbike tracks leading back to the road.”
He strides off in the same direction we’ve been walking. Joshua shrugs and follows his brother.
Cynnie glances back the way we came. “We should be guarding that hole.”
I shrug and jog to catch up to the boys, confusion over the barrier warring inside me. If they don’t care about the stupid hole, then I don’t mind either.
Before I reach them they both stop and, in the fading light, I see a small gap between the trees as if a trunk or two were missing from the long row.
Cynnie moves up beside me, huffing and glancing back the way we came. Nik looks around the gap, poking at the ground with his sword. How that thing isn’t blunt by now I don’t know. I would’ve thought jabbing at the dirt would ruin it. Joshua cranes his neck, looking up at the tree tops. He shoves his blade through a loop in his belt and walks over to the tree closest to the edge of the small clearing. He climbs.
Cynnie exchanges a questioning look with me then we both move to where he disappeared up the tree. When we reach it, small chunks of wood nailed into the thick trunk form a trail all the way up into the overhanging branches. I arch my neck and peer into the tree, but it’s too dark and shadowy so I can’t really see anything, certainly not Joshua. I look to Cynnie, shrug, and place my foot on the lowest chunk, my hands on another, and pull myself up.
Climbing up the trunk, it becomes more obvious someone has gone to a lot of effort in making this. Not only are there footholds, but a wooden platform spans right above my head. Reaching, I place my hand on it, ready to hoist myself up but a warm hand grabs mine and heaves me up over the side. Smiling, Joshua lets go of my hand and as I rise to my feet, he moves to the center of the platform, inspecting a metal box attached to the tree.
Cynnie scrambles up beside me, and stands so close we both struggle to fit side by side on the small platform. “Wow,” she says looking around. It’s made from planks of wood and the space seems cleared of leaves and branches like they’ve hollowed it out of the tree. “What is this?”
“Looks like someone’s tree house.” Joshua rattles the box.
I look through a hole that seems to be trimmed from out of the branches. “Someone’s spy lair is more like it.”
A smash and the crunch of something breaking makes me spin around too quickly and my shoulder crashes into Cynnie, almost sending her flying over the edge. Luckily, I grab her arm in time and hold us both steady.
There’s a squeak as Joshua pries apart the broken box, letting the smashed pieces fall to the timber floor.
“What the?” Nik’s voice comes from below, quickly followed by grunts and heaving noises as he climbs. “What is this?” He peeks above the edge. “Make room.”
“Frogs.” Joshua’s whisper is barely audible and makes me grin.
Cynnie sidesteps Joshua and settles on a branch extending out from under the platform. Nik grunts and pulls himself up. “See. Spitting in our faces,” he says. “They think they can get away with anything.” His eye bulge in crazed anger.
“Keep your hat on,” Joshua says without looking away from the mangled mess of a box.
“Who do you think you are, little brother?” Nik crosses the space in a single stride, shaking the platform. My knees lock to keep me steady as quite frankly Nik’s a little frightening today.
Joshua raises a lone brow and the corner of his mouth tips up. “Brother,” he salutes, “to th
e Slayer of Frogs.”
Laughter bursts from deep in my chest. And Cynnie wears an expression twin to mine. We both cover our mouths at the same time, trying to stifle our amusement.
Nik moves in front of Joshua and stares him down eye to eye. But Josh just looks right back into Nik’s face, unwaveringly … For a moment they stand there glaring at each other and I get that strange feeling again, like I’ve seen this before. After what seems like forever, Nik’s the first to look away—right to the smashed box. “What was that?”
“Just something stuck to the tree. It was empty.” Joshua moves to a nearby branch and reaches out, touching something on the trunk, but I can’t make out what it is through the gray shadows. He climbs up, disappearing from sight.
Nik shuffles over to Cynnie, peering out the gap in the branches. “I can see our house.” He jerks at his shirt, pulling it away from his neck. “These people need to be reined in.”
“You don’t even know it’s them,” Cynnie says.
“Who else would it be, kids playing house?” he asks in an icy tone.
“Well … ah …” Cynnie says.
“Exactly.”
A soft rip like tearing fabric makes me spin to see what the noise was. Someone slams into me and I tumble through the air. There’s no time to scream before I crash into the ground, pain echoing right through every bone in my body.
Feet scuffle across the timber platform and shouting makes me try to focus just as a dark blur flies over the edge. It lands a few feet away with a solid thud.
I push myself to my feet, gritting my teeth against my throbbing leg. Nik, the blur was Nik, who’s now trying to get up, but a huge, burly man is on top of him. Nik bucks, and the man rolls off, deftly bounding onto his feet.
Nik’s sword gleams in the fading light by the base of the tree, thrown from his grasp in the fall. I dart toward it, but the huge man shoots out first. I don’t think he sees me, but he’s now between me and the sword.
Scuffling and cursing noises come from the tree. Josh? I swivel, looking behind me, and see Cynnie half-sliding, half-climbing down. A groan comes from Nik’s direction, and the other man just stands there, staring at Nik like he’s stunned. I’ve got a good view of his back; the muscle shirt covering his torso leaving his arms bare, not much protection against the freezing air. Muscles ripple down his arms, and his stubbled jaw’s set firm like he means business. He lunges, reaching the sword before me. His huge hand closes around it. He whirls around fast, sword raised, and I swipe out at his legs with a kick, but he jumps and I miss.
