Broken Worlds

by Anitha Robinson

  Fallon draws me in behind a corner. He speaks in a hushed and hurried manner. “We need to move quickly. I will tell you everything as soon as we’re outside. Trust me, Kalli. Please.”

  I nod, and Fallon pulls me along again. Others are rushing around too, some giving out commands. If any of the instructions are meant for us, Fallon ignores them and trudges on.

  Finally we’re outside again, and I turn to him, expecting him to explain. Hoping against hope that he’ll tell me that Ellis has been found and is okay. But Fallon just meets my desperate eyes with a quick shake of his head.

  “Not yet. We’re almost there,” he says, moving so fast he’s practically running.

  He drags me along, and I almost fall. Fallon wraps his arm around my waist, lifting my feet from the ground, and runs. We’re heading toward a white marble structure. It’s huge, at least forty feet high and almost as wide. He pulls me down into a crouch. His face is inches from mine, and I can see the swelling under his eyes.

  “Things are moving very quickly,” Fallon whispers. “Lucas may not be in power much longer.”

  “What?” I ask a little too loudly, and Fallon covers my mouth with his hand.

  “Shhh,” he warns, and then continues on. “Our planet has been suffering for a long time. People were already losing faith in Lucas’s ability to lead us through this crisis, and now the mission failed under his watch. Plus all that stuff Adalyn said, about the Council not listening to her warnings, has cast a dark mark upon Lucas. Having a Leader who can be looked up to and trusted is critical. Lucas has been told that there are many in the Council who want him replaced.”

  This doesn’t matter now. “What about Ellis?” I breathe, trying to keep my voice as quiet as possible.

  “I’m getting to that,” he hisses. “Lucas’s time in power may be ending soon. We need to act quickly.” He grips my shoulders so that we’re looking at each other straight on. “We can try and save Ellis and Adalyn, or I can take you back to Earth. Lucas can get us a ship, and we can leave.”

  “What are you talking about? Of course I want to save Ellis. Why would we leave?”

  “When Adalyn opened the chamber, she destabilized Istriya’s core. The catastrophes she warned us about are going to happen. And happen soon. Lucas has people trying to counter it, but there’s no certainty that they will be successful.” He bites his lower lip. I look at him, waiting. “If they can’t, then Istriya will be destroyed.”

  “What? That’s crazy!”

  “Lucas can get us a ship. I can get you back to Earth.”

  “Then why isn’t everyone freaking out? Trying to escape?”

  He raises his eyebrows and tilts his head.

  And then it hits me. “They don’t know.”

  “There aren’t enough ships to get everyone off the planet. The Council ruled that in the interest of public safety—”

  “Public safety? But everyone will die!”

  “Kalli, it would be chaos if everyone found out. Anyway, it’s not up to us. The Council has made a decision to announce that the situation is under control.”

  “And they’ll let me go? Aren’t they worried that I’d talk and tell people about what you did?”

  “The Council isn’t going to stop you from leaving Istriya,” Fallon says.

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I did. You will be safe. Your brother will be safe.”

  I shake my head. “Margaret was going to kill me and all those women because she couldn’t modify our memories.”

  “Margaret isn’t in charge. Kalli, you need to decide. We don’t have much time.”

  Even after everything Ellis has done—the deceit, the heartache—I can’t leave without trying to save him. I look down at the thin dark line on my arm. A scar is already forming along the spot where Fallon removed the verbindi. It wasn’t all a lie. It couldn’t have been. Ellis risked his own life to save mine. “I want to find him.”

  Fallon shakes his head and laughs. “You two are so alike. Wanting to save everyone. Thinking you can. It’s not going to end how you think. It’s not going to be happily ever after for you and Ellis.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?”

  “I don’t get it. You’ve only known him seven days. He lied to you. Deceived you. Endangered your life. How can you forgive someone like that?” He turns away from me and mutters, “How can Addy love someone like that?”

  Pretending I didn’t hear the last part, I say. “I know it makes me look like an idiot. But I don’t think forgiving someone makes me weak. I think it’s a sign of strength. And I forgive him.”

  “But how? Was your life so miserable that you fall for the first person who shows you a little compassion?”

  I inhale sharply. His words sting.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” he says.

  “It’s true. My life was miserable, but I’m not a fool. I know what he did. And I hated him for it. I probably still do. But I can’t pretend that I don’t love him. Even after you removed the verbindi, I still had feelings for him.” I cross my arms over my chest.

  “I don’t get it.”

  “I know.” I smile at him. “After all the crap I’ve had to deal with, I never thought I’d feel for someone the way I feel about Ellis. I thought that Sita and her men had taken away my ability to trust, to love. But they didn’t. That means something to me. It’s something to fight for. It’s something I deserve.”

  Fallon takes my hand. “Okay, Kalli, let’s go.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Fallon peers over the edge of the structure.

  “It’s clear. But we have to move quickly.”

  The scenery whips by in shades of gray and brown. Ellis’s voice plays out in my head. The home I grew up in was very bleak. I hated it. According to Adalyn, this was once a beautiful planet, full of plants and animals and vibrant life. How could they allow this to happen? Margaret said humans destroyed everything we touched. Is this the future that awaits us?

  Fallon slows down and walks between two large, barren trees. He sets me down and brushes away the dirt. I move to help him, but he holds up his hand.

  “Stand back. Addy told me that somewhere in here is an ancient entrance to a cavern system she discovered when she was mapping the planet’s crust. Ah! I think this might be it.”

  Fallon grabs a stick and draws a circle around the clearing. He digs his hands in and pulls. His neck, shoulders, and arms bulge under the strain. With a guttural yell, he removes a large disk of solid rock, revealing a dark gaping hole about three feet wide. Fallon collapses next to the massive stone, gasping and coughing.

  “Are you okay?” I ask.

  “Yeah, fine,” he croaks and stiffly gets back up. “You understand, Kalli, that once we go down there and start looking for Ellis and Addy, I can’t guarantee having enough time to get you off the planet before ….” The ground shifts beneath our feet. He doesn’t finish. He doesn’t have to.

  The shiver that runs through me has nothing to do with the cold temperature. “I understand. I want to find Ellis.”

  I was prepared to die when Ellis and I walked into the workshop, and then again when we jumped off the ship. I’m still prepared.

  He reaches under his shirt and pulls out a black pouch. He unzips the flap and removes a tiny flask. “Take a sip, you’re going to need the energy. I bet you haven’t eaten all day.”

  I think back to the last time I had eaten. I woke this morning to a note from Ellis saying he had gone out for hot chocolate. That seems a lifetime ago. I take the flask and drink the cool liquid that wets my cracked lips and parched throat.

  “Hey, not too much. Your body’s not used to this stuff.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s called Reponera. It quenches thirst and energizes the body. It even has a few healing properties.” He returns the flask into the pouch. “Okay, let’s get down there.”

  Fallon grabs a thick branch. “Get on my back and h
old on tightly.” And stressing each word, he says, “Do not let go.”

  Fallon stoops down so I can climb onto his back. He places the stick inside the hole, wedging it against the walls.

  “Okay, hang on. The first step is the bumpiest.”

  I squeeze my arms and legs as tight as I can around Fallon’s body. He leans over and grasps the branch, and we slide into the hole. I scream as I hear the stick cracking under our weight, but the expected plunge never comes. Fallon wedges his feet into the sides of the walls, holding us in place. Using the broken stick and his feet, he inches us down the dark pit until his feet hit solid ground.

  “Kalli,” he squeaks. “You can let go.”

  He clicks on a tiny flashlight, and I can see red blotches on his neck.

  “Sorry about that,” I say.

  “Don’t worry about it. Come on.” He grabs my hand.

  We creep along the narrow passage, his flashlight casting eerie shadows along the rocky walls. I squeeze his hand reflexively and feel his fingers tighten in response. The air is parched in the cramped tunnel. My breath comes in short sharp gasps.

  “Do you really think there’s a chance he survived?” I ask.

  “Addy said there are places to hide from the smoke and flames. Ellis is strong, Kalli.”

  “He’s not.” My voice quivers. “His parachute didn’t open. I thought he was dead. But Adalyn did something. I don’t know if it worked.” I clasp my hands and press them against my lips.

  “Kalli.” Fallon pulls my hands from my face and unclenches my fingers. “We are going to find them.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because she can’t be dead. Not like this.” For an instant, I see a man who has lost everything. His entire face pulled down from the weight of his grief. But just as quickly, Fallon recovers. The sadness is replaced with determination. He straightens. “We need to keep going. Addy had mapped out all these caverns. She showed me once, so I know how to get to the main cavern. The temperature is going to get even more intense but as long as we stay on the path we’ll be okay. The drink you had, the Reponera, will keep you hydrated, but you really have to slow down your breathing.”

  We walk along for what seems like hours, the only sound our footsteps crunching in the rubble. Fallon’s flashlight provides a narrow stream of light along our path, leaving the rest of our surroundings completely hidden. My imagination spirals to visions of poisonous creatures slithering nearby, waiting to strike.

  “Do you know how much farther?” I ask.

  “I’ve been counting the turns we’ve made. We should be coming to a fork soon. We keep to the left and once we hear the roaring of the lava, we’ll be close to the spot Ellis and Adalyn fell.”

  And he’s right. Just when I think my legs are about to fail, we arrive at the fork, and my energy rebounds.

  “We stay to the left,” he says and pulls me along that way.

  Within seconds, the intensity of the heat soars. I’m drenched in sweat. It’s running down my face, blurring my already poor vision. My ears ring at the deafening roar.

  “Stay close,” Fallon shouts. “We’re almost there. Start yelling and looking for them.”

  I scream out Ellis’s name over the sound of the fire that looms ahead.

  It starts as an orange glow casting light upon our feet. As we move closer, the fire swells into a blinding blaze that emerges from the middle of the large cavern.

  “Stay against the walls, Kalli,” Fallon says.

  He pushes his foot out slowly, prodding the ground for stability. At about three feet, it cracks and splinters. I plaster myself against the wall as we move around the fiery pit.

  Sparks shoot out. Fallon tries to shield me. I duck my head out from behind him, trying to see through the flames.

  A movement to my left catches my eye a second before Fallon notices. It’s a body, about twenty feet from me. Ellis. I run toward him. Fallon reaches out to grab me but misses. I’m only a few feet from Ellis, when I see the long rainbow streaked hair. Adalyn. Her arm is outstretched toward Ellis’s hand. With only inches remaining, they hadn’t succeeded in closing the gap.

  I grab Ellis’s arm and pull. His eyes open, and then suddenly, I feel the ground beneath us giving way.

  CHAPTER 28

  “No, Kalli. Go back,” Ellis breathes.

  Before I can answer, I’m torn from Ellis and flung against the wall.

  “Ellis,” I cry, crawling back to him.

  Something suddenly lands with an echoing thud on my right. I turn to see Ellis slumped beside me, and Fallon, blackened and glistening with sweat, beside him. The ground Ellis had been lying on just seconds before breaks into a thousand pieces and plummets into the fire.

  Gasping, Fallon looks at me. “You are such an idiot.”

  “Where’s Adalyn?” I ask, afraid of the answer.

  Fallon jerks his head to my left, and there, lying on her back, with her arms and legs splayed, is Adalyn. Fallon tugs at the zipper on his pack and removes the flask. He pours the liquid into Ellis’s mouth. And then he crawls over to Adalyn, cradles her in his arms, and gives her a drink too.

  “Kalli,” Ellis moans softly beside me.

  I lift his head onto my lap. I can’t believe it. He’s here with me. We’re together. We’re alive. His hand reaches up and touches my face.

  “You found me,” he croaks. “How?”

  “Fallon,” I whisper back.

  He smiles and nods. Fallon is back on his feet, carrying Adalyn’s limp body.

  “Is she—?”

  “She’s alive,” Fallon says. “Are you able to walk?” he asks Ellis.

  Ellis nods, and together we clamber to our feet. With our arms entwined around each other, we follow Fallon along the edge of the cavern and back into the darker corridor.

  Ellis draws me closer into his body. “When I first saw you, I thought I was hallucinating. A beautiful memory to take with me,” he says. “After all I’ve done, you still came. Why?”

  Even in the absence of light, I can see his eyes fixed to mine. Those eyes that I had fallen for the instant I had seen them. Those eyes that had stared into mine and lied. Those eyes that I hated. But now I finally look past all of that and see what’s really there.

  “Because I couldn’t allow another catastrophe to shape my life. You made mistakes. Terrible mistakes. But I believe that a lot of what you did was out of love. Love for your people and then love for me. And I thought you deserved a chance. That we both deserve a chance.”

  “Thank you, Kalli.”

  “We don’t have time for this, Ellis,” Fallon says. “We have to get to the ships.”

  “So what’s the plan, Fallon?” Ellis asks.

  “Lucas doesn’t think he’s going to be in power much longer. And considering everything that happened ….” His gaze drops to Adalyn for a split second and then quickly resumes looking ahead. “He’s probably right. Like I told Kalli, there’s no guarantee we can make it to the ships to get off Istriya.”

  “Why the hurry?”

  “It’s because of what I did,” Adalyn says.

  We all look at her, shocked at the sound of her voice.

  “It’s my fault. Isn’t it?” Adalyn presses.

  None of us answer. But there is a response. It starts with a slow grumble and then escalates as the ceiling implodes and massive pieces of jagged rock come crashing down.

  Ellis pins me against the wall, shielding me, as the air fills with endless echoes of deafening crashes.

  It’s happening. The disasters Adalyn warned about are happening. It’s so loud it hurts.

  Then as quickly as it started, it stops. The roaring ceases and is replaced by something even worse. A cry so painful and shrill, my ribs vibrate inside my chest.

  “Kalli, are you okay?” Ellis breathes into my ears.

  “Yes,” I croak.

  It is no longer dark. The black cavernous roof has been replaced by a gray lifeless sky. And in this dismal
source of light, I can see the enormity of the devastation. Massive rocks and rubble surround us. Our bodies, faces, and hair coated in dust. And on top of the rubble is Adalyn. A tortured sound escapes her lips. At first I think she’s trapped, but then I notice her arms rising and plunging back into the rocks, throwing them aside.

  “Fallon,” she cries. “I’m so sorry, Fallon.”

  “Oh my God!” Ellis says. “Adalyn, where’s Fallon?”

  She screams as she heaves a huge boulder from below her. “I don’t know. He threw me aside and then he fell and everything came crashing down.”

  “Kalli, stay right here. Don’t move.”

  Ellis crawls over to Adalyn and starts moving aside the rocks.

  “He risked his life for me!” Adalyn sobs. “And now he’s gone. He’s dead.”

  “Shut up!” Four eyes turn and look at me, astonished. Even I’m taken aback by my own words. “He’s not dead.”

  “Kalli, I told you not to move. It’s not safe.”

  “I know, that’s why we have to find Fallon quickly and get out of here,” I say, moving a rock.

  “Stop it!” Adalyn screams. “You need to lift them. If you just jostle them, you’ll crush him.”

  “Come on, Addy, we’re all trying to help. And this wouldn’t have happened if….”

  “If what?”

  No one speaks. The answer hangs in the air. Ellis and Adalyn move faster, their arms a blur as they pull out rock after rock.

  “Shhh.” Ellis holds up his hand. “Do you hear that?”

  We freeze. I close my eyes, hoping to hear something. Hoping to hear Fallon.

  “It’s coming from under here,” Adalyn says, as she ferociously flings her hands into the pile of rocks and tosses them aside. “Fallon? Can you hear me?”

  A low moan winds its way through the spaces between the rocks. Ellis scrambles closer to Adalyn, and together they clear the boulders that have claimed Fallon. His face and chest are covered in blood. Ellis tunnels his hands under Fallon’s body, trying to lift him out.

  “We need to get out of here before everything gives way,” Ellis says.