The Coalition (Coalition 1)

by Aria J. Wolfe

  "So that’s how Samael will kill her. He'll do it through her mind. He won't even have to be here to do it. It's the perfect plan,” he said as much to himself as anyone else.

  "If he succeeds." Mara dropped to her knees beside Shai again, her face a frightening shade of pale. "We need to prevent him from completing the reset or the rest of the Laelites will drop like ash from a raid-fire. He can destroy everyone in a matter of minutes through those pendants." Mara beckoned to her son. "She's not going to hold on much longer."

  "Damn." The curse caught in Aliah's throat and came out sounding strangled.

  "That's exactly what she is, son... damned."

  "He did this, Mother! He knew what he was doing all along!"

  "Who?"

  "My father, that's who! Samael! He... he set her up! He sent her to the Hill House to be his chosen one. He knew I'd come to her rescue. All he's ever wanted to do was destroy me. Destroy me by taking Shai from me."

  Mara looked at Aliah. "Do you know why Samael wants to destroy you?"

  "Because he hates me. Ever since I went to him for help... after I thought I killed Remiel. The pendants are my fault. I wanted people to forget about that day. I just didn't know they'd forget who they were."

  Aliah wanted to punch something. Venom coursed through his veins and carried a desire to destroy everything. Overturn tables, beds, and shove his fist through the stone wall. Break every bone in his hand if he had to. Instead, he kept talking while punching his fist into his other palm.

  "Samael's mad that the tables have turned on him. He didn't count on me taking my pendant off, or that my memories would come back. He thought that by taking Shai away from Lael that I'd go after her, because he knew the pendants would kill anyone this far from Lael. By trying to save her, I've only helped him with his plan."

  Ellersly beamed. "But he didn't count on those twenty-one kids going missing. That messed him up."

  Mara nodded and twisted a strand of her hair with a far-away look. "That's what upset Lael's balance. Without the future, the Coalition had no reason to form, but you broke the memory-loop and restored both past and future to Lael." She smiled but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

  Aliah felt like a small child whose mother tried to soften the reprimand she'd just given.

  Ellersly yawned and stretched. "So everything's good then. The emergency's over. Now that the loop's been broken everything in the Book can happen."

  Aliah glanced at his mother whose face remained pale. "It's true the future has been re-started, but since that particular page has been torn out, what's written on it won't happen."

  "Nothing on it will happen?" Ellersly's face went slack, his relative ease disappearing.

  "Nothing. No Coalition. No Division. No Lael. Even the Outerlands will disappear."

  Aliah shook his head. Everything felt sick, even the roots of his hair. "Well it doesn't matter. We lose either way because the Book is in Gershom so I can't replace the page. It's probably in Samael's hands right now. Why does he want the Book if he only wants to destroy me?"

  Mara put her head on the bed. "The Book is probably just bait to him. He must've found out the Book is linked to you and Shai and used it to get you far enough out of Lael for the pendants to do their job." She looked up at Aliah. "I never thought this would happen. After Elchai wrote the Book, I hid it. And when I thought the Book was safe I left it with my mother and we moved to Lael."

  "Where? You left it with your mother where?" Aliah shook Mara's shoulders.

  "Conley. My mother's the Nurse there. I left it with her. She told me she'd protect it, that she'd hide it, but someone must've found it and took it to Lael. Just to manipulate people with it."

  Aliah dropped to the chair and held his head in his hands.

  There was only one person in Conley who knew about the Book before.

  Kael.

  CHAPTER 58

  Shai

  Out of the thick darkness one light appeared. Then another and another until the black veil above was completely pierced with diamonds of light.

  Her arms tickled with the light wind that blew across her body. Strands of her hair fluttered across her nose, making it itch.

  An insect crawled across her elbow and bit her. She swatted it then scratched the bump it left behind.

  She smiled.

  There's nothing like a warm summer night, lying in the grass with your hands behind your head and staring up at the stars.

  Someone bumped her elbow and she turned. Remiel. He smiled at her, the moonlight slanted across his handsome face as he settled in beside her in the same position: legs crossed at the ankles, stretched out in the grass.

  Only Aliah was missing tonight. He was late as usual. He had been acting strange during the last few days. She pushed her annoyance away. Every night, at this time, the three of them met on the grassy bank, near the water, to count stars and play the 'what if' game.

  Remiel started the game tonight. His voice was low and when Shai moved closer to him her arm touched his and she felt his voice rumble like a thunder storm.

  "What if..."

  "Yes?" She giggled and waited.

  "What if I could save the whole world, but it meant I had to die?" His tone was serious and she leaned on one elbow to look at him. He turned his face to hers, and when their eyes met the familiar conflicting pain twisted in her chest. I’m sure I love him. But then she thought of Aliah with his teasing green eyes and she knew she loved him too. It happened that way all the time, the tug and pull from one to the other.

  Remiel reached up and touched her face. He was gentler than Aliah. She leaned down and put her forehead against his, the light smell of his soap and the warmth of his skin against hers made her light-headed.

  "This game isn't fun tonight, Rem. I don't want to think of you dying. For anyone. Not even for me." She rolled away then and layed back down in the grass beside him. The sound of Aliah walking towards them made her pulse race. "Besides, I don't think the world needs saving." She looked at Remiel's profile and saw a tear slip out of the corner of his eye. Before it ran into his hairline, the moonlight caught it and turned it into another diamond, like the stars.

  Aliah flopped down beside Shai and sat cross-legged in the grass, looking at Remiel. When he caught Shai watching him he grinned and pushed one hand into his hair. His easy manner put her at ease and she forgot about Remiel for a moment. It was Aliah who made her cheeks hot and her palms sweat.

  The stars blurred together when she was struck with a sudden wave of dizziness. Aliah's fingers stroked the back of her hand and she turned her hand over to interlace her fingers with his. She found comfort in the heat of their palms. Her eyes grew heavy. Sleepiness pulled at her like an opiate. She let the heaviness of the night cover her. Let it soak into her until she could no longer move. She concentrated on feeling Aliah next to her, his long strong fingers locked with hers, and the firmness of his arm where it pressed against hers.

  Then she heard a whisper, softer than an inhaled breath.

  "I'd die for you." Remiel sounded like his heart was breaking.

  But she couldn’t reach for him. She couldn’t open her mouth. A dark vortex spiraled toward her, suddenly pulling her in. She held Aliah's hand tighter, but the heat of his presence had gone. She opened her eyes to search for Remiel, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  Darkness surrounded her.

  Emptiness filled her.

  She was utterly alone.

  CHAPTER 59

  Aliah

  Mara stayed by Shai's bed, holding her head in her hands, then every once in a while touching Shai's cheek with a finger like she was checking to see if the girl was still alive.

  Aliah paced back and forth until he finally leaned against the counter in the tiny kitchen and rested his head on the wooden cabinet above.

  Ellersly sat chewing his nails, spitting the pieces on the floor. He stopped long enough to say, "I hate the pendants more than I ever did."

 
Guilt twisted in Aliah's stomach. The pain radiated to his spine. He couldn't look Ellersly or Mara in the eye. He was responsible for all of this.

  As he watched his mother care for Shai, a realization dawned on him. His mother already knew. And since Ellersly's memories were returning as well, it was only a matter of time before he knew as well. They would've found out Aliah’s guilt anyway.

  Suddenly Aliah couldn't breathe. The room was too small, the light too yellow.

  He inhaled deeply then breathed out in a rush. The inside of his bitten lip tasted like raw meat. He pushed away from the counter and crossed his arms. Blame and guilt raged inside him.

  He hated himself for going to Samael and agreeing to the pendants and he hated Remiel for disappearing when he might be the only who could help Shai now. And he hated Elchai for not being willing to see him before tomorrow. He'd never felt so helpless before.

  He crossed the room to the door and paused with his hand on the knob. "I'm going for a walk. I can't breathe in here." He left before either Mara or Ellersly could comment.

  The smell in the corridor assaulted his nose the moment he stepped outside the door. It hurt to breathe deeply and the cabbage-boot smell turned his stomach sour.

  He walked head down, hands in his trouser pockets. The page in his waistband crunched with the movement of his hips, reminding him of the pain he'd caused everyone. He had to do something! Go to Gershom to find Remiel? Force Elchai to see him?

  At the fork he turned left and the corridor widened and became brighter. If nothing had changed in the Center's Core he knew around the next corner the corridor would be lit with electric light, tiny bulbs strung on thin wire along the ceiling. Further on he'd pass the spot where he helped hang them. He had delighted in the trade his Sector had made with Adena, Sector One, the city of electricity. He had been eleven then. Happy and self-assured if not a little cocky. He grew up in Kent with only one rule: stay inside the Division boundary. But where there's a heart of rebellion, a rule merely becomes a challenge to overcome.

  He shook his head and smiled to himself. He was a wanderer even then. He remembered that age of innocence. Dim memories of life in Lael, before the pendants, began to surface more rapidly. Memories of Remiel, Shai and himself. Memories of a silly game they played every night. He also remembered when the pendants had changed everything. Shai's zeal for life had been replaced with a hatred for Lael's rules. But because she inwardly feared the consequences of breaking those rules, she never did.

  But Aliah lived and breathed rebellion. He thought the pendants potency had a lesser effect on him because, deep inside, he resisted the pendant’s control. I guess that’s what made me a good Watcher. Appearing on the outside to be following the rules while on the inside I had another agenda. Some would call that hypocrisy. But I call it protecting Shai.

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. I’m a fraud. A liar. By keeping Shai from the truth I was really protecting myself from discovery. I am just like my father Samael.

  Someone bumped into him in the corridor and mumbled an apology before they hurried away. He recognized Uli who held two aluminum-wrapped trays and carried a canteen under each arm. Hopefully Mara could figure out a way to get some water into Shai. But Aliah had no appetite.

  He passed the spot in the hall where he'd helped string the electric lights. A pain in his chest told him he missed this place more than he knew. But instead of retreating from the pain of the memory he leaned into it. The ache reminded him that at least he had memories now, even if they hurt.

  But thoughts of the future brought a greater pain. The thin thread of hope that had been sparkling brighter and brighter since his memories had returned, now felt almost completely out of reach. Like a silver strand of hope was underneath Samael's boot. He could feel the crushing weight of his father's foot and it made him hate the present. And that was all he had, the present.

  When he looked up he was in the Core. It seemed brighter than he remembered, the smells stronger. He'd always loved this part of the underground with its curving stone walls and dirt floors. The electric lights crisscrossing overhead on thin strands of wire only enhanced the Core's natural beauty. The lights shone like pin picks against the high, stone ceiling, and if you tipped your head back and squinted your eyes just right, it seemed like you were outside looking up at the stars. As a child it was the next best thing to being outside. While the war raged aboveground, everyone was safe below. I remember how much I missed the sunshine.

  Aliah looked around at the place he had spent most of his childhood in. The Core could hardly be described as a room, or even a cave. It was an entire city, living and breathing, beneath the earth's surface. The cold, stone metal-works factories puffed black smoke into the air aboveground, giving the impression that nothing lived, while below ground an entire city thrived.

  Aliah stood there with his hands behind his back, watching the Kentites rush around. He breathed in the yeasty scent of bread from the old bakery, mixed with the smells of beer and wine from the Bar next to it. He inhaled the sharp scent of rich loam from the vegetable stand to his left, and let his eyes wander over the bright colors and various textures of the textiles store and the machine shop. The food store, where Cookie worked, was to his right. A rushing, roaring sound filled the place. The sounds of people trading their services for wares, non-stop chatter, and the laughter of children playing rang in his ears like a familiar lullaby. Pleasure rushed through him and made his eyes moist.

  He watched the steady stream of people overhead as they pushed carts of metal, gears, and levers across a narrow bridge. Pedestrians crossed over a wider bridge underneath. And in the center of it all, beneath the two bridges was the reason he found himself standing here. The Core's Lake. A vast underground body of water with a massive, metal wheel in the middle of it.

  Adena had built the waterwheel as a means for Kent to supply their own power. Aliah had always found the turning of the wheel fascinating as it picked up water in its huge metal buckets. At the top of the wheel the water poured out of the buckets, the force of the flow caused the wheel to turn.

  Two channels carried water, away from and to, the wheel. The channels flowed around the perimeter of the Core in a giant circle with the two bridges arching across the lake. A metal guardrail around the lake protected people from falling in but, the channels had no railing.

  Kentites were fond of swimming in the channels and often floated around the ring, scrambling to the dirt embankment just before the water flowed back into the lake.

  Aliah walked to the guardrail and leaned against it to look into the water below. A part of him hoped the water would be calm long enough for him to catch a glimpse of his reflection. He thought if he could see his face, just for a moment, he might see who he really was. Not Aliah of Lael. Not Ace, Watcher of Lael. But somebody who mattered. He began to long for the person the Book identified him as. The identity he was created to have. Aliah Elyon, warrior, rebel of the Division... one who'd be remembered for revolutionizing the Sectors. For overthrowing the dividing line that separated the original Edan. For restoring truth and standing up for the original Law that Remiel had talked about: the Law of Love.

  Yes, he even wanted to know love again.

  He leaned closer and the cool metal railing chilled his chest through his sweater.

  The rapid current around the waterwheel reminded him of Lael's swollen river and fast undertow the night he smashed Remiel's jaw, and knocked him into the river. He rubbed his face, as though he could wipe away the memories of Remiel's lifeless body floating downstream. He had searched for three days for Remiel before he'd finally gone to Samael with his guilty conscience.

  Samael. It had been years since he'd seen his father face-to-face. But his voice, he'd never forget even though he wanted to.

  He stared into the water. Do I look like my father?

  Tension made his neck and back ache. He squeezed the guardrail until his knuckles turned white. He closed his eyes. He
didn't want to see his reflection anymore. When he opened his eyes the atmosphere in the Core had shifted. A hush descended and the only sounds were of the water crashing over the waterwheel.

  Aliah turned around.

  People had stopped walking and just stood staring at something in the middle of the street. Traffic paused on both bridges. Aliah pushed through the crowd to see the distraction.

  The slender shape of a young girl in dirty trousers, bare feet, and a ripped, yellow shirt stood in the middle of the crowd. Matted hair that would've been blonde if it were washed, stuck in clumps around her head. She held both arms outstretched, her left hand held palm out in an effort to keep everyone away. Her right hand gripped a long knife. The curved blade glistened shiny-wet with a dark, crimson liquid that dripped down the blade and onto the hilt. The hand that held the knife couldn't be seen for the blood.

  When the girl turned, Aliah saw the stain that spread down the front of her tunic. Dark red. Her wild eyes caught his and she ran towards him with the knife held high in the air, above her head.

  CHAPTER 60

  Shai

  The darkness startled her with its suffocating strength. It pressed on her chest, her stomach, her face with the weight of a lead blanket. She pushed at it with her hands, clawed the air in front of her, but found nothing. She turned her head left and right to try and find a pocket of air. She gasped and gulped, choking, as icy water filled her mouth.

  A pinprick of light appeared before her and she followed it, lifting her face higher and twisting her head to keep her eyes on it. When at last the prick of light flooded her eyes, she found she could suck in a gasping, wheezing breath.

  Her hair, face, and upper torso were soaking wet. She was bent over at the waist looking at her own face reflected in the rippling water of a large bucket. Large blue eyes blinked back at her. She shivered and felt herself being pulled up to stand straight, then being turned around.

  A hazy face appeared in front of her, and in a few seconds she made out a thin straight nose, flashing dark green eyes rimmed in long dark lashes and a full-lipped mouth. The mouth smiled, but not the kind of smile that makes you want to smile back. This kind of smile prickled her back and made the fine hairs on her arms stand erect. The face was handsome and a sense of familiarity touched the edge of her subconscious, teasing her, before it darted away.