Petrified City (Chronicles of the Wraith Book 1)

by S. C. Green

  Luckily, Alain seemed to think better of whatever it was he was contemplating behind those dark eyes, and he dropped Cory to the ground. Relief flooded my body. I shuffled along the wall slightly, so I could see both their faces as they talked.

  “What do you want, Cory?” This time, Alain’s voice was calmer, although still strained. His jaw was set in an angry scowl.

  “I want to help!” Cory sobbed. “I want May back.”

  Alain’s face twitched. “May?”

  “I knew you wouldn’t let Malcolm doom her to the wraith, so I’ve been following you.” Cory rushed through his story, how he’d seen Alain bring me in, how he’d listened at the door of Alain’s room, and then followed us here. He finished with, “I didn’t mean to spy on you, or to threaten you. I’m not going to tell Malcolm anything, I swear. I just … I didn’t have a plan yet. You surprised me. I wasn’t ready, and I just said those things …”

  “A plan?”

  Cory nodded. “I’ve been trying to find a way I could help you. I want to bring May home just as much as you do.”

  “Do you? Why is that?”

  “I love her, sir.”

  Yikes. Just the thing a grieving father didn’t want to hear.

  Alain looked down at Cory as though seeing him for the first time. He was an impossibly tall boy—as all Reapers seemed to be—lean but strong and not a day over seventeen. Bright red curls encircled his face like a halo. Hard cheekbones and a solid jaw indicated he would be extremely handsome when he lost the puppy fat around his face. He stared up at Alain with wide eyes, clearly not certain he’d said the right thing.

  Alain waited in silence, then finally reached down and helped Cory up.

  “What we’re attempting is highly dangerous,” he said. “Not to mention in direct violation of Malcolm’s orders. Are you certain you want that hanging over your head? You’re young in the Order and with your skills, you have great potential. This could see you confined to the Compound for a very long time, perhaps indefinitely.”

  “It’s worth it to have May back,” Cory said.

  “That’s what I believe, too. And if anyone can help us, it’s you.” Alain shook his hand. “Come with me.”

  Alain left the storage room, dragging Cory behind him. A few moments later, he entered the training room and shoved Cory at my feet. “I assume you heard our exchange?”

  I nodded.

  “This is Cory. He’s going to help you get into the Citadel.”

  Cory’s eyes opened wide. “But I’ve never—”

  “Of course you haven’t been inside. But you’ve come closer than I have. I know you and the other boys like to hang around there at night, getting into trouble. Well, you can put some of that knowledge to good use.” He turned to me. “Sydney, Cory is our technology whiz. He’s invented everything from the projection system in here to the lacunamatic you were using in prison. You’ll work with him this afternoon while I attend to my other duties.”

  I tipped my chin up at Cory. “Hey.”

  He flicked his gaze toward Alain and wiped his hands down his pants. “Hey.”

  I trained with Cory for the rest of the day, trialling all the different weapons, and learning about some of the modifications and extra features he’d added. I liked Cory; he was a sweet kid with a sharp mind and a wicked sense of humour. He made the whole fighting-for-my-life-against-undead-ghosts practice a lot more enjoyable. In the end, I chose the particle gun, the crossbow, and a couple of short, deadly knives. I still didn’t feel very confident with close-quarters fighting, but if a Reaper ever held me by the janglies, I would learn fast.

  The sun had sunk below the murky horizon before Alain returned to the room for me. I’d spent eight straight hours running from, slashing at, and wrestling with the wraith projections. My lungs had forgotten how to work, and my body ached in places I didn’t know it was possible to ache. As soon as Alain entered the room, I threw down my dagger, and collapsed at his feet.

  “Let’s get you out of here.” Alain helped me to my feet. I leaned against him, enjoying the warmth of his body against mine.

  “Thanks.” I managed to choke out. Just the short, shuffling walk to the door made my body scream with pain.

  “Speak of this to no one,” Alain told Cory. “If anyone asks after your whereabouts, say you were training with Dorien today.”

  Cory nodded and then left.

  Alain held the door open and helped me through. “You must be tired.”

  “I could ... keep going ... for hours,” I puffed, my breath coming out in short gasps.

  Alain gave me an odd smile. “I have no doubt.”

  My chest fluttered, and I almost choked on a hard swallow. Did the innuendo fun always come after training when I was all hot and sweaty? Why was he doing this to me?

  “I have a meal waiting for you back at your room, and I’ll also run you a bath. After you’re comfortable, we’ll run over the plan for entering the Citadel.”

  “Can we run over the plan while I’m in the bath?” I said, turning my head away so he couldn’t see my cheeks flush at the though of him being in the room while I was naked. “Because I don’t intend to leave it for a long time. Possibly never.”

  He laughed. “Fair enough. Don’t worry, I can wait.”

  ALAIN WAITED A LONG TIME. The bath was so heavenly that I stayed in there for almost two hours, well after the time the flower-scented water had gone cold and gross. I hadn’t had a bath in … Well, it was pre-wraith, let’s put it that way. Unless you counted Diana and I sponging down with some homemade sugar scrub and a bucket of cold water once every other month, which I didn’t.

  The bath was an old-fashioned tub that had to be filled by hand from water heated in a stove. It stood behind a curtain at one end of the communal bathroom on Alain’s floor. Luckily, no one else decided they needed a bath at the same time.

  When I returned to the room, Diana was already in bed. Dorien and Cory were telling her a story, using lots of hand gestures and voices. I gathered from the way she kept shrieking in delight it was meant to be quite scary. I hoped there weren’t any wraiths in it. I’d had more than enough of them for one day.

  Even though she was still coughing all the time, she sounded a little better. She definitely wasn’t as sick as when I’d left her for prison. There was definitely something to this Reaper medicine.

  Alain sat by the window, alternating his gaze between the bedside antics and the dark, silent courtyard below. The scene reminded me of a family, and that made my chest ache for some reason.

  I sat down next to him, and he nodded at me. My body tugged with an overwhelming urge to lean over and kiss him, but I kept my lips to myself. There would be time for that when I rescued his daughter.

  If I rescued his daughter.

  “We’ll go through the plan tomorrow morning,” he said, glancing at me. “In the meantime, I want you to get a good night’s sleep because tomorrow night is when we will make our move on the Citadel.”

  I gulped. That soon? I barely even knew how to use my weapons. “How long did the wraith give you to comply with their wishes?”

  “Five days. Today is day three.” His face looked pained. “I would give you more time if I could, but I am barely holding it together as it is.”

  Instinctively, I reached out to him, my hand closing over his. As soon as my fingers touched his, warmth swept up my arm. He stared down at our hands for a few moments, then withdrew his.

  “Please don’t get the wrong idea,” he said, his haunted gaze meeting mine. “I don’t want you to become attached to me.”

  His phrasing grated me, mostly because I suspected he might be right about the whole attachment thing. I folded my arms, my cheeks reddening. “Why do you assume that? Maybe it’s you getting attached to me.”

  “I’m a shell of a man, Sydney. All that’s good within me is gone. That’s not what you want. Remember, you’re only here because you can help me get my daughter back.”

 
Alain’s words were true, but his voice was so kind, I knew there was more to what he was saying. I couldn’t explain what attracted me to him. He was hot, sure. But hot alone didn’t cut it these days. But that wild, desperate look in his eyes when he spoke of his daughter, the way his touch on my arm instantly reassured me … all these things spoke of a man who still retained his humanity, his capacity for love. Unlike many of the criminals I associated with in the Rim, Alain hadn’t let the dome strip away every last vestige of who he was. Nor had he succumbed to the uninhibited hedonism that abounded throughout the Hub. He was strong, but vulnerable, like me.

  I wanted him to know that I understood. Again, I was seized with the urge to kiss him. It would be so easy, to just lean over and press my lips against his. Instead I said. “No, I’m only here because you can help me keep Diana safe. My motives are far from altruistic too.”

  “I can’t be involved romantically.”

  “I’m not asking for that.”

  “Fine.” Alain turned back to the window. “If you say so. You seemed—”

  “Well, I’m not.” Honestly, the nerve of this guy. I celebrated inwardly that I hadn’t made that move to kiss him. Still, he’d given off some mixed signals. I decided to throw a little back at him. “And no offence or anything, but with everything you know about me, it seems as though you’ve been watching me a lot longer than three days.”

  His eyes followed a lantern as it bobbed through the darkness below, carried by a black-cloaked Reaper.

  “Reapers keep a close watch on everything going on in the city,” he said. “Even in the Rim. Rimside folk think we have all but abandoned them, but that’s not true. We are simply spread too thin, our numbers dwindling as we attempt to hold back the wraith. But we’re there, watching. You were brought to my attention by one of our informants, and I instructed them to bring you in.”

  Bring me in? But he brought me in, unless … “You had me arrested.”

  “You got yourself arrested.” Alain dared a faint smile. “I simply created a scenario that was too good for you to resist.”

  “All that liquor sitting in that cabinet? I knew it was too good to be true.”

  “Unfortunately, you were seen as a simple way to dig deeper into the gangs, so we had to get you. If you’d been in jail another couple of months, you would have been approached to become a spy for us, but I broke you out before that happened.”

  He had set a trap for me, like I was a wild animal he wanted to tame. I punched him in the arm. Hard. Hard enough to make him wince. “Fuck you, Alain. Diana could have died.”

  His eyes flickered. “I know that now. I’m sorry.”

  I shook my head at the floor. What was done was done. “Can I ask you something?”

  “I may not answer.”

  “That’s your prerogative. If there are no female Reapers, who is May’s mother?”

  A shadow passed over Alain’s face. “There are several female Reapers, but they are all on the other side of the dome. The last of those trapped in the city died a year after the wraith attack began. May’s mother was one of our foremost, an honoured member of the inner sanctum of the order. She worked high up in the government as part of a team working for Reaper rights. Her job was to keep the existence of the Reapers secret, while also putting us to use for our country.”

  “That sounds honourable.”

  “Does it?” Alain smirked. “She was working with the authorities on the wraith infestation. Only, she got out of the city just before they installed the dome.”

  “Oh.” Silence washed over us, dark and oppressive, while I digested that news. “You think she knew about the dome beforehand? And she just left to save her own skin, without her daughter?”

  “I try not to think about it at all,” Alain growled. “Enough questions for tonight, Detective..”

  Shit. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with that kind of pain. Alain knew nothing about May’s mother after she’d left. Had she simply left them behind? Did she have no choice? Was she trying to get back to them but didn’t get there in time? Was she still alive? Was she trying to get back inside? He had no way to reach her, no way to get closure.

  My mother’s face flashed before my eyes. I hadn’t thought of my parents in months, but now, there they were again, as raw against my mind as the day of the fight, the day I’d packed up and left their home, determined I wouldn’t be a pawn in their game of keeping up with the Jones’ any longer. There were others there, too, somewhere beyond the swirling grey surface of the dome. Friends, acquaintances, other junkies I’d met when I lived on the street. Did they know what had happened to me? Did they care?

  Dorien pulled the blankets up over Diana’s chest and squeezed her hand. Cory gave her a shy wave.

  “Sleep well, Red,” Dorien said. He glanced over at Alain, who nodded and stood. The three of them left the room together, shutting the door behind them.

  I set one of my new knives on the table beside the bed and crawled into bed beside Diana. I pulled her close to me, and she settled her head into my shoulder, breaking into a small coughing fit before settling back down. Exhaustion washed over me. It was hard to believe only the night before, I was sleeping on a metal slab in a dingy cell, the snores of Carrina Dimitri on the bunk above me the only lullaby.

  “Sweet dreams, Red.” I patted her hair.

  “Don’t die on me.” She grinned as she closed her eyes.

  I WOKE AMIDST A DREAM, my mind in turmoil. My mother had been reaching for me across a deep ravine. I was running up and down the length of the ravine, frantically looking for a way to reach her—a tree I could cut down to make a bridge, a handy rope I could throw across. All she did was teeter on the edge in her stiletto heels, her hair perfectly coiffed, her corporate clothes pressed against her stick-insect body, and cry out to me in her soft, keening voice. I decided to take a running jump, but as I leapt over the edge of the ravine, something dark and evil stretched up from the blackness, seizing me with cold fingers, and dragging me down—

  It took me several moments to remember where I was. It sounded as though I was back in the Rim. Gone was the peaceful silence of the cloister. Outside the window was some kind of commotion. A bell rang incessantly, and people shouted to each other. Someone shrieked. Diana’s weight against my shoulder reassured me.

  I wasn’t in prison. I was in Alain’s room in the Compound. I was with Diana.

  And we weren’t alone.

  My heart pounded against my chest as I realised what had woken me. Someone else was in the room. A shadow moved across the wall. As silently as I could, I reached my hand out from under the blanket and stretched it toward the table. My fingers grazed the handle of my knife.

  I had one arm trapped beneath Diana, but I couldn’t wiggle it free without waking her. I hoped I could get rid of our unwelcome visitor without causing her any harm.

  I gripped the handle, and quietly, slowly, pulled the knife toward me and concealed it under the sheet.

  The shadow moved across the room, stepping around the bed. He paused in front of the window, and his features came into view: Alain.

  “What are you doing here?” I demanded, willing my heartbeat to return to normal. I released the knife under the sheets. “Don’t sneak up on a person like that. I could have gutted you.”

  “Wake Diana,” he said, his face grim. “We must leave immediately.”

  I gasped at the urgency in his voice. “Why? What’s happening?”

  “I need to take you to a safe place.” He took hold of my wrist. “The wraith have broken into the Compound. They’re here. Right now.”

  5

  The wraith were here?

  It didn’t make any sense. The Compound was the most heavily protected building in the city. Reapers guarded the perimeter day and night, their sophisticated weapons trained to eliminate any ghostly presence, at least temporarily. Plus, the wraith had Alain’s daughter. They were waiting to see if the Reapers accepted their bargain. So why would
they risk the agreement to enter the Compound?

  I opened my mouth to question Alain, but he clamped his hand around my wrist.

  “No time for questions,” he said. “Quickly now.”

  I shook Diana awake, bundled the blankets around her while she grumbled herself out of bed, and pulled on my threadbare sweater. Alain pushed the door open a crack and peered into the hall. Black-robed figures passed, lanterns held high in the air, like shadows moving through the gloom. Two ravens flapped their wings as they shot through the hall, followed by several more Reapers in human form.

  Once Diana was on her feet, I pulled her after Alain. He led us along the hall, following behind the other Reapers who rushed the staircase and poured out into the courtyard. I expected them to be shouting at each other, calling instructions or signalling to spread out, but they were silent. Cory pushed past us, his hands laden with particle weapons, which he tossed to his brothers as they flocked down the stone steps.

  At the foot of the staircase, down another dark hall, Alain held open a door. “In here.”

  It was a laundry room. Two ancient washing machines sat against one wall, the shelves above them cluttered with plastic bottles of detergent. On the opposite wall were three piles of black robes, towels, and clothes.

  “Hide yourselves under the laundry.”

  I snorted. “You want me to sit under a pile of stinking Reaper cloaks? No thank you.”

  “Don’t argue, Sydney. And don’t move from this room. I’ll come back for you.”

  “You’d better. I’m not going to die choking on Reaper sweat.”

  Alain shot me a wicked grin, then slammed the door behind him. I pressed my hand against the wood as he darted away, joining the line of silent men who filed into the courtyard.

  I yanked off the clothing on top of the furthest pile and helped Diana climb inside, arranging the cloaks around her like a nest. She had a hole for her head to poke out and breathe, but apart from that, her body was completely covered.