I was in the same room with him?
Yes.
Is it possible to go into the same MemTap program with someone, like in the transfer programs?
Yes, they sometimes do that.
I knew it. Jax was there. He warned me, and he . . . he kissed me, told me he loved me. He knows about the Keys—
How much?
I don’t know.
Claudette removes the cloth and backs away. “Stand, please. Let me look at you.”
I rise and turn until I’m facing the mirror, startled by the girl who stands before me. She’s a beautiful a work of art, but she isn’t me. I lean in closer to inspect Claudette’s work. Lavender hue on my eyelids fades to a soft blue along the outer edge with light pink in the corners, and thin black outlines them. Long black eyelashes, flawless pale skin, and rosy cheeks . . . With all of this on my face, you’d think it would look hideous. But it doesn’t. “Wow, you did an amazing job,” I say. “You’re an artist, Claudette.”
I think of Smudge again. My sadness shows through the painted-on beauty, but only I recognize it.
“Thank you, Miss Lily. Now, it’s time to go! I’m sure everyone’s already there waiting. The music should start any moment.”
On cue, melodious music begins outside. Claudette holds out two golden slippers dangling from her fingers by their straps. My stomach lurches as I slip them on, first one, then the other.
Joy, they’re here, Mateo says. They’re forbidden to speak through the entire ceremony. I’m here with Pia, Chloe, and Raven on this side of the chasm. Everyone else is on the other side, except . . . I don’t see Smudge, Jax, or Vila.
With a heavy heart, I take a few painful steps in my golden shoes, which squish my feet. They’ll be the first thing in the chasm when we get to the caverns. What about Baby Lou? I ask. Is she all right?
Yes, Emerson has her. They’re standing apart from everyone else. I’m not sure why. They’re on the chasm bridge—at the other end.
Claudette removes a white-and-gold shawl from a hook and wraps it around herself, opens the door, and motions for us to go ahead of her.
I train my thoughts over to Zee. Why would they have Emerson and Baby Lou standing away from everyone else?
I’m . . . not sure.
You hesitated. You know, don’t you? I side-glance her, and she looks away.
Please, Joy . . . trust that it will all work out the way it’s supposed to . . . in the end.
We start down the path, and I glare at her. No, it has to now, right now, today, everything has to work out. We have one shot. Zero room for error.
I know. And we will do the best we can. That’s all we can do.
That’s not good enough. We need to do better than that. And what about Jax and Vila?
We’ll have to come back for them when we come for your son. I’m sorry, Joy, but there’s no other way.
We round the corner and head straight between the lab building and Maudine’s, back over the fisherman’s bridge, then turn left toward the chasm. Hundreds dressed in their best clothes sit in chairs on the Pure side, chatting and laughing. When they register my presence with Zee, they quiet, stand and bow. My face burns red, my chest flutters from the surge of adrenaline. The music plays a joyous melody, a strange contrast to the impending war waged in the name of love, and freedom.
Or maybe, it’s perfect.
Mateo’s chained to the railing near the three flower girls. They shiver, afraid even to look up and around. At the back of the Pure crowd, speaking privately with a pair of OAI Clergymen, Lord Daumier dissects me with a scrutinizing gaze.
I’m sorry, Joy, Zee says, but I have to do this. It’s for your own good, and the good of everyone involved.
Do what?
This.
I smile . . . without meaning to. Then my pace picks up, my posture straightens, and I twist around in my flamboyant dress like I haven’t a care in the world. And I did none of it.
Zee, are you . . . are you controlling me?
Yes.
Why?
Because if I do not, you will blow everything.
No I won’t—I promise! Stop, please, I hate this!
Joy, your friend, Emerson, and your Baby Lou . . .
As soon as she says their names, I see them both crying at the far end of the bridge. The Impure crowd stands when they see me. They bow, then sit back onto the ground in their filthy, tattered clothes, hatred and heartbreak on every face.
Past Emerson are Pedro, Serna, Johnny, Tristan, and the rest of my brothers and sisters, all red-faced and in tears, sitting in the grass mere feet from the murdered loved ones of the Impure.
What about Emerson and Baby Lou? I ask Zee, dreading her answer.
She takes my hand, with a broad, fake smile. They are . . . the sacrifices.
Zee, no! Not my Baby Lou! My insides grow hot and numb as a rage-fire ignites, and explodes. Please, tell me we’ll stop this before it happens!
We are. I plan to stop it well before that time.
Lord Daumier in his white-trimmed gold robe leaves his Clergymen and rolls toward the chasm, led by his smoke-canister men. He motions to the flower girls, and they stumble onto the bridge, tossing trembling handfuls of flower petals around them. From the far end of the bridge, Baby Lou screams for me. Lord Daumier points to Emerson, who hugs her to his chest, placing a hand over her mouth and sobbing along with her.
A tear crawls down my cheek as Lord Daumier looks my way. “Why are you crying?” Zee makes me wipe it away with a knuckle, gently, so I don’t mess up my makeup. “It’s all so perfect and beautiful,” she makes me say. “I can’t believe this is actually happening.”
An evil leer curls his blood red lips, and he extends his hand. Zee makes me kiss it, when I’d rather bite it off and pummel him into the chasm. He lifts his other hand into the air, and someone comes forward from the Impure crowd. I’d recognize those white robes and that face anywhere: Queen Nataniah.
Why is she here? I ask Zee.
I didn’t want you to panic or overreact, so I didn’t tell you. This is her reward for delivering all of you children—you. The Queen and her people get to move into the Alzanei village and live in the light, and the Queen herself could become part of Lord Daumier’s Clergy. She’ll unite you today. Or . . . at least that’s what everyone believes will be happening.
“Are you ready, my dear Lily?” asks Lord Daumier.
Zee forces me to nod and smile. “I’ve never been more ready for anything,” she makes me say. Well, that’s great, I tell her. At least this day can’t get any worse. It can only get better, right?
Right.
Lord Daumier holds out one elbow, and Zee makes me take hold of his inner arm, sleeved in silk, with my fingertips. The flower girls pass by, and Chloe’s sad, terrified, blue eyes beg me to save her. She pulls her thumb to her mouth, but at Daumier’s glare, she yanks it back down, trembling, a stream of wetness trailing down her leg. Fortunately, he misses her accident, too focused on the feast beside him: me.
He walks us toward Queen Nataniah. Beyond her, two red-clothed OAIs with whips usher Emerson and Baby Lou to the railing near us, where three steps up lead to the obvious jumping-off point. Emerson shakes with fury and confusion, while I hold a straight face. Never has there been a sound that’s ripped my soul from its fragile heartstrings like the pleads for me of my Baby Lou . . . when I’m right beside her, doing nothing. Thanks to Zee, I ignore her, and in an instant I realize she’s right for doing this. I would’ve already run for Baby Lou and gotten us all killed.
I wish I knew what this plan was, Mateo says.
Zee’s controlling me. My poor Baby . . . Zee knew it, that’s why she took control.
Damn. Well, hang in there. I’m sure she knows what she’s doing. Will she give some sort of signal or something?
Let me ask her.
I switch my focus to Zee. Will you signal when it’s time? And how will we free Mateo?
The OAI nearest him is programmed to cut his chain. And I’ll tell you . . . when it’s time.
What do I do when it is?
Duck, then run for the others. While I hold Lord Daumier and his Clergymen at bay with another OAI, gather the children and take them to the weather fan control room door. Tell Mateo that once he is free, he needs to take the three girls and meet you there. While you all move into the control room, I’ll initiate the stand-off. The OAIs will move Lord Daumier, the Queen, and everyone else to the chasm’s outer edges and hold them there with energy fields as long as they can, blocking off the bridge’s entrances.
I repeat to Mateo everything Zee told me, we stop in front of Queen Nataniah, and I flash her an unwilling smile. An unmistakable sadness sits in her; it resonates within me. So strange seeing a woman I thought was a monster, in this fragile, human light. Of course, next to Lord Evil, anyone would seem like a saint.
The Queen chants something, lifting high a painted spear, then tamping its blunt end onto the concrete beneath our feet. A few more times and she swirls it over our heads. “The gods have spoken. This Pure unification is welcomed . . . but it must come at a price. A sacrifice. Two Impure souls for two Pure. Please”—she motions to Emerson—“step up with the child.”
Emerson hugs Baby Lou to his chest, and inside I’m dying. He shakes his head, but Lord Daumier lifts one finger, and the two red-clothed OAIs move forward, whips raised.
A blast from the weather fan control room door makes us all jump. Baby Lou wails, and I discover I was wrong about the day not getting any worse. There stands Arianna Superior on impossibly tall legs, with a demonic grimace and bright orange fingertips held out toward Lord Daumier. “So . . .” She sizes him up. “This is how you repay me for all I’ve done for you?” Her voice is that of a broken machine.
“Arianna, please . . .” Daumier raises a hand to silence her. “There is no need for this—”
She blasts an orange orb from her palm, and it’s met by Lord Daumier’s own blue one. The two orbs burst together, dissipating into sparks. Another shot, and I recoil away from him. Zee, what do we do?
And the unthinkable occurs: Queen Nataniah hurls her spear at Arianna Superior and impales her, sending her toppling over the chasm bridge.
“Now!” Zee screams, and I duck. She shoots electricity from both palms, encasing Lord Daumier in a field that seems to freeze him. “Initiate stand-off sequence! Go, Joy—go!”
I sprint to Emerson, scoop up Baby Lou and kiss her, and scream for the rest of my brothers and sisters to follow. They jump from frozen terror and disbelief, and come running. With one glowing-red finger, an OAI slices through Mateo’s chains. Mateo gathers up the three girls and, with a limping run, ushers them toward us on the bridge.
Another OAI activates an electric force field around Lord Daumier so Zee can let go, and another group of OAI men approach him as we make it to the section of bridge that leads to the control room door. Along the outer edges of the chasm, the shocked humans and clergy members, now in an uproar, are held back by the energy fields that block off either side of the bridge. We race to the weather fan column and scramble inside, two at a time.
“Are we all here?” Johnny asks.
I swallow hard and nod. I shed my hideous gold shoes, kicking them out the door and between the bars of the railing. They’ll join Arianna Superior in her much-deserved and long-awaited end. Before I slam the door, I catch a glimpse of Queen Nataniah. She rests her hands on the metal railing, content, glad to see us go. She’s avenged her sister’s death . . . and my sister’s, as well.
“You look . . . different.” Johnny pants, taking Old Jonesy’s hat out of his back pocket and tugging it onto his head.
“Yeah, they changed my appearance. I’ll explain everything later.”
“We thought you were dead,” Serna says. “It’s so good to see you.”
“Good to see you, too, Serna. Let’s get out of here.” I start toward the elevator.
“No.” Zee stops me. “The stairs are safer, we can stay together.”
“Olders, help the youngers!” I say. “Hurry down the stairs, but carefully.”
Dozens of feet slap the metal as we descend, and I hug Baby Lou to my chest. I try not to trip over my stupid huge dress down the dizzying spiral. The dim white lights lining the ceiling above flicker with the sudden force of our fleeing.
“Where’s Smudge?” Johnny looks up from a few people below and ahead of me. “We thought she’d be with you.”
“I don’t know, but—”
“But what?” He slows, letting others pass, then falls in sync with my climb down. “And why is she here?” He points to Zee. “Isn’t she one of them?”
“No. She’s awakened. She planned and orchestrated our entire escape.”
“Oh! Well, I’ll be damned. Thank you.” He gives her hand a quick shake. “You look so much like . . . our sister, Aby.”
“Yes, I know. That was purposeful.”
“This is all so damn confusing.”
“I’m sure it is,” Zee says. “I’m sorry. I’ll explain more once we get to safety.”
“Sounds good. And you have any clue where Smudge is?”
“No, but there’s a place we can look for her. And if she’s not there . . . there’s a good chance she’s still alive . . . perhaps underground. The jungle, or somewhere else in Bygonne.”
“Okay, where are we going?” he asks. “And what about Jax and Vila? They’re still out there, too, aren’t they?”
“They have them in a lab,” I say.
“What?” He stops. “We can’t just leave them—”
“It’s the only way right now. But we’re going back for them later. We have to anyway.”
“Why?”
The adrenaline, along with the downward climb, has me dizzy and winded.
“You okay?” Zee asks.
I nod. “There are hundreds . . . of innocent . . . lives that need to be . . . saved,” I tell Johnny. “We have to get the . . . Seeker’s Key—another one, like . . . the one Cheyenne gave you—along with my daddy’s book . . . of magic from Lord Daumier’s . . . quarters. And . . .” I place my hand onto my abdomen. “They took my unborn son. He’s being grown into an OAI.”
Johnny stares down at my stomach, dumbfounded. “What the—you were—?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“I don’t know. But after we . . . rescue everyone . . . Alzanei will . . . burn.”
We continue our spiraling descent, and soon, the line slows ahead of us. “We got a door!” Emerson yells from the front.
“Wait!” Zee says. “Let me make sure it’s safe before you open it.” She squeezes past all of the frightened boys and girls, and disappears around the corner.
“What’s this place where we’ll be checking for Smudge?” Johnny asks.
“It’s called ‘The Pit.’ It’s . . . where they dispose of the bodies of the ‘Lesser’ Impures, or discovered AOAIs.”
Johnny’s gaze turns sad as he tugs at Old Jonesy’s hat. “Joy, if we don’t find her, I don’t know what I’ll do. I never told her . . .”
“Told her what?”
“That I loved her.”
“I hope you get to.”
“All clear!” Zee calls back, and the line begins to move forward, down the stairs again, amid the deafening pound of the mighty rushing water. A thick, cool mist greets us as we move closer to the platform. “Watch your step, it’s extremely slick!” I can just hear Zee’s voice over the thunderous noise.
After we get through the door, a narrow ledge with a rusted railing leads us into an even narrower crevice in the stone to our right. To our l
eft, the waterfall blocks us from the view of Alzanei and its power plant.
“Do not touch the railing!” Zee shouts. “The salt in the water has corroded it, made it unstable!”
We inch along, single-file, much slower than I’d like, but a slip could prove deadly. One by one, the children disappear through the crevice, and when it comes to me and Baby Lou, I have to reposition her to fit. As I’m doing so, my gaze lands on a heart scratched into the stone where, inside the heart, are two pairs of initials: P.T. + M.K. Below these are the words: Love will set you free. I kiss my finger, place it on the heart. “Thank you, Mr. Tanner.” And I disappear between the rocks with Emerson behind.
After a few minutes of squeezing through the tight space, and ripping my fancy dress to shreds against the rough wall, a stench hits me as the children sound the alarm ahead with their clamors of disgust. The area widens a little, with light shining down on us from a hole in the rock above.
The line stops, and Zee pushes her way through to get to me. “Are you ready? It’s around the next corner.”
“Em, will you hold Baby Lou?” I ask.
“Sure thing.”
I hand her over, though she screams for me. “I’ll be right back, my Baby, I promise. Momma will be right back.”
“I’m going, too,” says Johnny.
“Okay.” I say a quick prayer. “Lead the way, Zee.”
We move past the children and round the corner, where the odor of rotted flesh multiplies, tenfold. The hole is directly above us now, and in a giant pit below lay dozens and dozens of bodies all in various stages of decay. I fight my initial instinct to spin around and vomit, and force myself to scan the death-heap for the face of my dear friend.
Before I realize what’s happening, Johnny’s jumping into the pit. “No!” He lands with the crunch of bone and squish of rot. “No!”
Then I see her, a line of dark red sliced across her neck, and I jump in, too, trying not to notice the oozing give of the corpses. Zee follows, and we wade through the decay until we make it to Johnny, who sobs, holding Smudge close. I cry with him as he clutches her nearly severed head against his chest.
The Soultakers (The Treemakers Trilogy Book 2) Page 24
