by Alexia Purdy
“Someone help me,” I cried. There was no way I’d be able to hold on for much longer. I was too stiff, exhausted, and cold. It was amazing how much the frigid environment of the underground wore away at my energy reserves without much effort. I squeezed my eyes shut, my teeth chattering as the humid mist slowly dampened my face.
Shaking as I held on, I knew right then that I was cursed. Every time something good happened to me, something awful happened. I wasn’t meant for happiness or a simple life. My misadventures proved it all. Clyde and Gideon would do good to stay away from me. I was a magnet for trouble, just like Gideon had mentioned when he’d saved me from Farlan’s prison.
I was in a prison of my own, cursed to be miserable forever.
My fingers ached, nearly frozen from the cold. The end was near, for I didn’t think I’d survive another immersion in a freezing cold river. I’d drown for sure. Maybe it’d be a peaceful feeling to die. Maybe it would be sheer agony. I didn’t want to think of it and tried my best to imagine a warm, pleasant beach where I could sit in a cabana and feel the heat of the summer sea breeze on my face. I’d never seen an ocean even though it was just outside of the city. I’d never left Petra before I’d nearly died at the coupling ball. There were so many things I still wanted to do, places I wanted to see.
But I wouldn’t be going anywhere, would I? The dark water called out to me as my arms weakened and my legs stiffened. Its frigid embrace whispered promises of peace and quiet. Death danced in the darkness, its fingers reaching for my feet to help me along.
Follow me home, Star. Show me how it ends.
My hands lost their grip, and I held my breath as I slipped farther down. Just as my shoes dipped into the water, a pair of gloved hands grasped my wrists and yanked me up, nearly pulling my arms out of their sockets.
I cried out, scared to find a Rogue at the top of the banks, ready to take me into the most desolate places. I was heaved over the edge of the river and dragged away from its morbid embrace.
I breathed hard as my body lay slack, worn from the strain of holding my weight on the rope. My arms were jelly, and my legs were immobile logs. I felt like I weighed a thousand pounds. A light flashed around me, lighting up the area and sweeping across my face.
“Star! Are you okay?”
Chapter Forty
Clyde
I nearly dropped the flashlight as I gazed down at Star. She was a ghastly white, nearly frozen and weak. If I hadn’t found her when I did, she would’ve been swept away in the river, probably never to be found again.
“Star! Are you okay? Say something. Star?” I pleaded, placing my jacket on top of her. I felt no cold as the adrenaline ran through me. There were dark, bruise-like circles under her eyes and scratches on her face. Although gaunt and thinner than I remembered her to be, she still looked beautiful with the halo of reddish-brown hair spreading out like the sun’s rays.
“Star?” I pushed some stray strands of hair from her face as she blinked, her eyes unseeing as she fought to stay awake.
“Clyde?” Her voice was but a whisper. My name on her lips couldn’t have made me happier.
“Yes, it’s me, Star. I’m here now. It’s all right.” I pulled her to my chest, giving her some of my warmth as we sat on the banks of the dark, underground river.
“Clyde… what happened?” she asked, her breathing beginning to slow. She focused on my face and began to move a little more. Her hands and cheeks were like ice, and I worried about frostbite. I held her closer.
“I thought I’d lost you. That creature… it took you away, into the darkness. I tried to follow, but it turned into shadows and rushed away, too quickly for me to keep up. I kept going though. Something told me I’d find you again, so I had to keep going.”
“How did you find me here?” she asked, sitting up and tugging the jacket around her as I sat behind her, holding her to keep her warm. She got the point and didn’t jerk away.
“I don’t know. You didn’t show up on my tracker. I figured you were too far away or else something had damaged or disabled your device. But I swear I heard your voice several times, echoing in the tunnels and caverns I crossed. I had to avoid these weird human-sized creatures. Luckily, they were far enough across some huge caverns that they didn’t notice me. I followed your voice, like a beacon in the dark. You brought me this way, and then I saw you at the side of the river, screaming and fighting to hold on.”
“You followed my voice?” she asked, blinking at me in disbelief as she shook her head. “I don’t know how that’s possible. That creature who stole me away, his name is Jarvin, and he is a fae lord. He kept me in his cavern full of crystals. He said a lot of things you won’t believe. He only let me go if I’d agree find his consort and bring her back to him.”
I leaned over her shoulder. “What do you mean? You made a deal with a faerie?” My heart sank, my head spinning. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“I had to, Clyde. Or else I’d still be trapped.”
“How would you know how to find this consort of his?” I asked, clearing my throat. I had to stay strong for both of us. She couldn’t know what she’d done. Later, when we were warm and safe, I’d tell her everything and why the fae were not meant to mix with humans. I only hoped nothing would happen to her before then.
“He told me about my sister, Andromeda. I never knew I had a sibling until he showed me her picture. She disappeared when I was six years old.”
“Wow,” I breathed in slowly. “That’s crazy. Wouldn’t your parents have told you that you had a sister?”
“That’s what I thought, but I lost my memory from a severe bout of meningitis and fever. I didn’t remember her, and my parents didn’t want to be reminded of their lost daughter.”
“Oh.” I scratched my head, staring at the remains of the ruined bridge on the other side of the river. Poor Star. Things seemed to grow worse for her as time went on. She was right on the brink of repairing her relationship with her parents, and now this? I couldn’t imagine how she felt.
Attempting to change the subject, I moved and grabbed my pack, which I had tossed when I’d pulled her up. I rummaged through it then handed her a bar of rations. Her pack was gone, probably lost in the river.
“Here, you need energy. Are your underthings soaked?” I asked, glad she couldn’t see the blood rush to my face as I asked her.
“No. I’m dry, just cold. I think we’ll never be warm again.” She stared at the moving water, probably imagining the watery grave she’d just escaped.
“Don’t say that. We’ll get out of here really soon.”
She glanced my way, scoffing. “There’s no way out of here. This is our fate.”
“What? No. I mean it. I found it.”
At this, she blinked my way, a spark of hope showing in her deep hazel eyes. “What did you find?” she asked, looking skeptical.
“The prison chamber. It’s not that far. I was there trying to figure out which prisoners we needed to awaken when I heard your voice. I ran over here and found you just in the nick of time.”
She rolled this information around inside her mind, her eyes lost in thought. Why didn’t she look happier about this? We were nearly home! Now that I’d found her, we could get the prisoners and blast the wall to get out of the tunnels and head home. She looked nearly devastated at this revelation.
“Star?” I looked over to her as her eyes remained lost in thought.
“Gideon… have you heard anything about him?”
I shook my head, my shoulders slumping. “No. I never saw him again after we were swept away by the river. He didn’t show up on my tracker either.”
She closed her eyes, a look of despair on her face. I reached over to comfort her, but she leaned away from me. My heart died just a little at this.
“Jarvin told me he was somewhere neither of us could go. That we couldn’t reach him or save him. Gideon needs us, and I have no way to find him.” She blinked, moving her eyes in my direction. Tears hove
red in them, trying their best to not fall.
“I’m so sorry, Star. I know how much he means to you. He’s a resourceful guy. Strong and quick thinking. I was always a bit jealous of his wittiness. He grew up fighting. I always felt weaker compared to him, but I’d never want him to get hurt.”
She nodded, pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them tightly as she rocked just a little. My jacket fell to the side, and I scooped it up to place it back on her shoulders, but she refused it.
“We have to go, Star. Those creatures… I don’t want them to find us here. We’re vulnerable in this place. I lost my cuff and knives tripping along. My hip is really bruised, and I’m afraid I might’ve pulled something or torn a ligament. I can’t defend us in this state. You need medical attention as well.”
I scrambled to my feet, holding out my hand to her. She glanced at it for a moment before finally taking it, struggling to get up. There was some color in her cheeks now, and the tip of her nose was bright red, as were her fingertips. I was sure they were not feeling pleasant as the warmth fed back into them.
“Here, take my gloves. They’ll help keep your hands warm.” I plucked them off, slipping them onto her small hands. They were a bit too big, but she didn’t seem to notice, weaving her fingers together to adjust them. I grinned as I zipped up my jacket once more and scooped up my pack.
“Ready?” I asked.
As though awakening from a dream which wouldn’t let her go, she nodded, focusing on my face before giving me a small smile.
“There’s that beautiful smile,” I said, smiling back and holding out my hand. She took it, letting me lead her into the tunnel I’d come from. We walked in silence. No matter how much I wanted to talk to her and ask her about things, I kept quiet. She didn’t look ready to talk about anything yet. I was sure Gideon was on her mind, causing her to worry. I had to admit that I was thinking of him too. He was still my flesh and blood, no matter what wrongs and misunderstandings we’d held against each other. Something told me he was still alive, still out there fighting to survive. I didn’t know how I knew, but maybe blood connected us more than I’d realized.
We were still breathing. Still alive. Maybe we were the lucky ones after all.
Chapter Forty-one
Star
Clyde typed in the code to open the massive, metal-lined door. The clicking and unlocking of the mechanisms filled the area with echoing noise. Once it finished, Clyde pulled the door open, the metal hinges screeching in protest and reverberating across the stone walls and out into the tunnel behind us.
If any Dark Ones were around, they would’ve surely heard the ruckus. I hoped they didn’t cross the river boundary either, or we’d be in serious trouble before we could get out of there.
“Come on.” Clyde beckoned me into the dark room. “We should lock this door behind us, just in case.”
I nodded, scooting in and taking the flashlight from Clyde as he held it out. He grunted at the effort it took to shut the door. He was sweating and breathing hard by the time it snapped closed. I held the light for him as he entered the code to lock it once more. The sound of the gears and pins shifting into position was sweet relief. If the fae got to the door on the other side, they wouldn’t be able to enter without the code. I prayed none of them knew it.
Closing the door made losing Gideon feel so final. Did it mean he was trapped in the tunnels forever? I pressed my lips tightly and blinked away the fiery sting behind my eyes. I wasn’t going to cry. Not anymore.
“Star, let me see the light.” Clyde held out his hand to me, and I pressed the flashlight into his palm. He grinned, looking excited and happy enough that I had to smile as well. We were so close to home now. The inside of this chamber was technically within the boundaries of the Glass Sky City. The fae were forbidden within its borders, which meant we were probably home free.
Clyde found a lever to the left of the door for switching on the power panel. It sparked as it swung up, loud shifting noises echoing through the chamber. Fluorescent tubes in the ceiling flickered on and strobed with tiny clinks as the bulbs brightened.
More lights came on within a dozen long, glass-topped capsules. Each one held a person. The red lights within shifted to a warm light, showing their faces and upper bodies. They were clothed in prison-issued grey jumpsuits with prisoner numbers embroidered on the left chest.
Clyde frowned. “We have to blow right through the power supply to get into the tunnel opposite, and then we’ll be sealing it off again. Without power, everyone in here is going to die. Come on, let’s find out exactly who we’re killing. I think they deserve to have someone know who they were.”
“Wouldn’t they have records of who is down here in the Glass Sky?” I asked.
Clyde shook his head. “No. Some of these people are unnamed. Most of them are crime lords who caused extreme havoc nearly fifty years ago when there was unrest. They weren’t put down here to awaken later, they were put here to be forgotten.”
“Why didn’t they just execute them? Seems like a waste of resources.”
Clyde laughed, a bitter undertone to it. “I’m sure they wanted to, but the Chief Superior back then was a pacifist and didn’t approve of executions. Since then, some other prisoners have been spared death for various reasons, mostly political.”
“Oh,” I sighed, glancing around at the silent bodies surrounding us. Panels at their feet lit up if touched, displaying the status of each prisoner.
“Do you think they put anyone down here who wasn’t a prisoner? Like hiding them?” I wiped away the dust on the nearest capsule, peering down at the face of one of the very people we were to retrieve. “This is one of the ones we’re looking for.”
Clyde nodded and came over to start tapping the wake-up code into the panel. “I wouldn’t doubt that. People aren’t infallible. I’m sure there are prisoners who shouldn’t be in cryostasis who are trapped due to someone abusing their power over others.”
I shuddered at this and moved on to the next capsule. After wiping the dirt from the glass, I noted that this one was a man we wouldn’t be waking up. The next one was no different. After looking at half of them, I began to wonder if any prisoners were women. Maybe, since they were scarce, women weren’t allowed to be frozen. Just as I had come to that conclusion, the next capsule I looked into contained a female.
I gasped as I studied her. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t pinpoint where I’d seen her. Her hair was the darkest black, and her face was tattooed across one cheek and above her eye with runes and symbols I’d never seen before. Her hands were clasped together and small. I could see just the tip of a tattoo sticking out from her wrist, disappearing up into her sleeve. These were letters in English, but without tugging up her sleeve, I could only see two words: No One’s.
They looked hastily tattooed and definitely not done professionally. Was this woman a hardened criminal, or was she victim of circumstance? She looked dainty, thin, and harmless. She was a girl, not really yet a grown woman. I studied her more closely and found the tiniest of freckles sprayed across the bridge of her nose and onto her cheekbones. She was beautiful, but the tattoo made it impossible to tell who she was.
I circled the capsule and tapped on the screen at the end of her pod. Her picture popped up with her age, weight, and other vital statistics. Apparently she had suffered from a debilitating chronic illness before being frozen, but it hadn’t kept her from being incarcerated for treason, major arson, destruction, and robbery. Tapping through the screens, her name never appeared. Finally, I found her personal details page where she was listed simply as Jane Doe.
No one knew who she was, or her name had been withheld to protect her. I sighed, rubbing my eyes and blinking the fatigue away. I was going to take a long, hot soak in one of the whirlpool tubs back in the Glass Sky to ease my aching muscles and forget about the bone-chilling cold of the underground. It felt as if I’d never feel warm again. Even though I knew it wasn’t true, it didn’t do anything
to brush away the fact that I felt like a walking corpse, frozen and stiff.
“This one should wake within ten minutes. Let’s find the other target.” Clyde’s voice snapped me out of my stupor, disturbing my morbid thoughts. I nodded, moving away from the woman and looking at the next pod. I again swiped away the dirt and sneezed from the flying particles. I was so tired of dirt, debris, and feeling disgusting.
I stared down at the man in this one. He was young too, and I estimated that he wasn’t a year older than eighteen. Wrinkling my nose as I wiped it on my sleeve, I shoved away all propriety. I could worry about the state I was in later, when I could do something about it. This guy was handsome, with blonde hair and tanned skin, as though he’d spent many days under the sun. He looked harmless, but if I had learned one thing about life, it was that no one was harmless.
I moved to the next pod. It was another inconsequential prisoner. As I moved on to the next, I began to fear I’d get too attached to these faces and not be able to do what we had been tasked to do. Sneezing again, I moved to the last one in my row. I was about to swipe at the glass when Clyde abruptly announced, “I found him!”
I rushed over to look down at the face of the second prisoner we were to free and take with us to the Glass Sky. Watching Clyde begin the reanimation sequence, I shivered.
“Do you think this is a good idea?” I asked, realizing how ridiculous of a question that was when we’d already started awakening them.
“It doesn’t matter what we think, Star. It’s our mission. I don’t know what these guys are down here for, but”—he glanced around at the other pods, an indecipherable look in his eyes—“I just know that if I think about it too much, I might lose my nerve. That’s the thing about war. No one really wins.”
“I feel the same way.”
He grinned at me and then held out a pair of gauntlets. “Here. I have a second pair to use on this one. Place these on the first guy before he wakes up. I don’t want to know how he feels about being cryogenically frozen.” He winked, and I threw him a wide-eyed look. Was he kidding?
