The Last City Page 29

  Let me up, I demanded of whomever was listening.

  “You can get up now,” came Mya’s voice.

  I opened my eyes. The green light was gone.

  Mya helped me up, holding me steady. “Don’t stand up just yet though,” she said. “Your body needs a few moments to adjust.”

  It was a relief to be able to move again, and I pulled my arm free of her gentle grasp. I tried to run through my memories of Jordan, of my time on Threa with him, and hoped nothing was missing. I wanted to scream at them, for taking it all away, even if it was only temporary. If there was anything missing, I wouldn’t know it. I would never know.

  I closed my eyes and tried to gather my thoughts, and unclench the frustration that tightened my chest. I wanted to know what they’d found, if anything. And why they suspected Jordan and Mason of turning on them.

  “We found nothing inside you to link you to what they’re doing,” Aleric said, before I could ask.

  “But how do you know they’ve joined the militia?” I asked him, attempting to lift myself off the table. I wanted to move away from it before they changed their minds and decided to restrain me once more.

  “I was there,” Aleric said. He turned away from the screen he’d been studying, to face me. “I was there when the militia overran the central building, and when Jordan was taken by them.”

  “What?” I gasped, but Aleric held up his hands, to stave off my concern.

  “And when he returned with her army behind him,” he continued. “I couldn’t read him. He would only communicate with Mason. They locked me out of the Central Unit, and then they locked it down. No one else could access it. Mason said he was sorry, but he had to do what was best for Threa. Seconds later, I was in the fields, outside of the city.”

  “We marked them,” Lena said, barely containing her anger. “Accepted them as one of us. They were supposed to fight with us, not against us.”

  “Well, maybe you should have discussed that with Jordan before you pulled him from his bed in the middle of the night and held him against his will,” I argued, wishing my voice had been louder.

  Lena rushed toward me, glaring at me as she did, but Mya stepped in front of me and held up her hands, stopping Lena’s attack.

  “Before you speak,” Lena hissed at me. “Try to remember where you are and what is happening around you. There is more to your little world, than just you and him.” She strode away from us as though she meant to leave the room, but hesitated at the doorway, before turning back to me. “Their Guardian is working with them. And these marks,” she said, indicating her own. “Mean more than just an implicit show of strength. It means acceptance, trust, and they broke that. The next time I meet them, they’ll know what it means to break that trust.”

  I waited for her to say more, but when she didn’t speak again, I looked about, hoping someone else would provide more information. It was then that I realized that that someone else was missing.

  “Where’s Dax?” I asked her.

  The anger that had cinched her face, turned to pain, but only for a moment. And without a word she left the room.

  “Aleric?” I whispered.

  “We lost him in the fight. We can’t sense him anywhere.”

  My first instinct was to sink back down onto the table. Dax couldn’t be gone. He just couldn’t. If he was dead and they could find him, then they could insert him, surely they could, if he hadn’t already been inserted. And if he had, then maybe he was already back in the Spire.

  Or maybe he was with Mason. After all, he was from the city.

  But there was no way Dax would turn on Lena.

  Just as there was no way Jordan would turn from me.

  I wanted to ask them what their next move was. I wanted to join them, to go with them when they tried to re-enter the city. We had to find Dax, in the very least. And I had to find my way to Jordan.

  But no one said another word. Those of us left in the room were quiet, as Aleric continued to work. I remained still, barely moving, trying to make sense of what was happening, of what Jordan and Mason were doing. But there was no reason, that came to my mind anyway.

  “Why?” I quietly asked. “Why did they lock you out of the Central Unit? Why are they fighting with the militia?”

  “Lydia, if you really wanted that answer, you would have already come up with it,” he responded.

  “I don’t understand. How could I possibly know anything, when I’m told nothing, by everyone,” I didn’t want to yell at him, but my volume rose with each word I spoke.

  “You know what the militia are capable of,” he said. “The people of Heart are determined to put an end to them, no matter who or what is destroyed in the process.”

  I didn’t want him to elaborate. I didn’t need him to. But after living amongst the Heart for almost a year, I couldn’t believe they would destroy Threa any more than it already was. This already mostly-dead planet, with its one remaining city, and barely a few hundred thousand citizens within it, deserved a little more than to be pushed aside in the tides of war. But at the same time, I couldn’t believe that even Lena could accomplish what he was suggesting. And if she could, why didn’t they do something sooner.

  “They have that kind of power here?” I asked.

  “No. I don’t mean the warriors that are here,” he said. “I mean those in their own dimension. On Heart, before coming here, Lena had trained her own army. Her brothers have authorization over them now, and they will do as she asks.”

  “But how will they know?”

  “When needed, Sater will come,” Aleric said. He turned back to his screen, scanning more of the information that flowed through it. He picked out pieces of the data, and let them rest in the air as he slowly pulled them apart, analyzing the smaller sections, before sending the pieces back to the whole.

  I wanted to ask how Sater would know to come? Who would notify him? Or, through whatever means he had on Threa, would he just know? But Aleric could hear every question as it came and went in my head. I was sure he was listening, always listening, just as Mason always was.

  “He is my father,” he finally said, sounding neither impressed nor annoyed by the fact.

  After Mason’s startling explanation of Sater, I started to ask how that was possible, but Aleric changed the subject before I could.

  “If you want to know why Jordan and Mason joined the militia, it was to stop the Heart from destroying this planet. I can’t say I blame them, but it won’t make a difference.”

  “Why won’t it? And why didn’t you discuss this with Mason?”

  “We did discuss it. He knows the danger the combined power of the Spire and the Central Unit presents to everyone, and not just to this planet. But I understand his purpose, he’s protecting the only family he has left.”

  “Why don’t they just dismantle the damn Spire. The people inside it could be given a choice, couldn’t they? To leave it, or die with it.”

  “We can’t dismantle it,” Aleric whispered, his voice echoing disbelief. He turned to stare at me for a few moments before resuming. “The Spire is a living organism. It may be man-made, and made for a specific purpose, but it is alive just the same. And it is growing.” He paused, most likely to give me time to question what he’d just said.

  But I couldn’t have questioned it. The idea of the Spire being alive was one of those over-whelming concepts whose sole purpose was to sink my mind into an empty fog, a black hole surrounded by a million and one questions, from which none would escape, or even be acknowledged. And when I failed to make a sound he continued.

  “If we were to neutralize the Spire,” he said, lowering his voice. “Everyone who has already been inserted and brought back out, will die. They can’t survive without it. So, you see, there is no choice.”

  “What?” I whispered. Lena’s words, her attempts to make me see the bigger picture, began to sink in. Everyone who had been inserted would die. Grid, Gia, R
ebecca, Hammond. My family. A large part of my little world.

  “Before the militia were forced off the planet,” he continued. “They embedded a biological code within the Spire’s living surface. Code that linked itself to every inserted person’s DNA. Like an on/off switch. Anyone inserted cannot survive without the Spire. This is where the Guardian got the idea from, to connect itself to each of its wards,” he paused, touching his fingertips to his forehead as though a headache was forming. It was a lot to take in, I guess even for him. He lowered his head, shaking it, before resuming. “And the militia knew the city council wouldn’t harm all of those people. It guaranteed them, that the Spire would not be touched, that it would remain intact until they returned to claim it. Mason has spent a millennium trying to remove the code.”

  “Why tell me all of this now? And with the Heart just outside, listening.”

  “You’re in the Colony, and Mya is right behind you. This room is shielded. No one can hear a thing,” he said, but the look he gave me was one of disappointment, or maybe it was pity, as if I’d missed some crucial point. He then turned from me, back to his screen. And I waited for him to finish analyzing whatever information had captivated him, hoping he would say more.

  “If you should find yourself close to Mason at any point, let him read you, tell him we’ll be ready,” he said. “And let him know that his enhanced Spire theory will work.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. I couldn’t understand why he would want me to pass such a message on. It sounded as if he was working with them, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “He gave you some information for safe keeping, not only guaranteeing your safety, but also knowing that I would analyze it,” he said, and nodded toward his screen.

  “But, if he’s working against you…”

  “We’ve been through enough. All of us. I want to give him the best chance to keep what he has left, alive. No matter what happens.”

  “Aleric,” Mya said. “They’re ready.”

  “Ready for what?” I asked. I didn’t want to leave, I wanted Aleric to keep talking.

  Aleric however, didn’t immediately move. He sighed and only stared at Mya for several moments. But this was one time I was glad I couldn’t hear what they were saying. There were already too many questions churning through me. Too much that didn’t make sense, too much that I didn’t want to think about, I just wanted to reach Jordan. But I had to think about it, all of it, if I was going to make sense of it.

  “We’re going back into the city.”

  27

  Things I May Not Like

  “I’m going with you,” I told him, as we left the room.

  “The hell you are,” Grid’s voice came from behind me. At least they weren’t lying when they said he was ok. However, I couldn’t help but notice that this was only the second time I’d heard Grid swear. Perhaps he no longer cared about such things, or maybe the stress of it all was getting to him.

  I embraced him, and asked about the others. But I didn’t want to let him go. I couldn’t help but feel that this was my last moment of sanity.

  “They are fine. They’re with a small group of warriors under the Arena. Hera is amongst them,” he smiled, and released me. “They won’t let her fight. That girl has some temper. Heaven help the militia that tries to take her. I think she’s related to Lena.”

  “I’m right here,” Lena complained.

  “I know. And even if you weren’t you would still hear me,” he smirked at her before turning back to me. “I came… to take you back.”

  “No,” I told him, holding up my hands. “I’m going to the city. With them.”

  “Figured you’d say that,” he mumbled.

  “And don’t you dare try to stop me,” I said, taking a step away from him.

  “I wasn’t going to,” he answered, but the defeated look upon his face told me he’d hoped to avoid this conversation. “But before you settle on that decision, you should know that the ward, your ward, is back.”

  At first, I could only stare at him, unable to respond, hoping I’d heard that wrong.

  And I cleared my voice before attempting to speak, “You know this, how?” But I really didn’t need that question answered. Grid wouldn’t make this stuff up. Not even to scare me into going with him.

  “Before Mason turned on us,” he began.

  “You don’t know that he has,” I interrupted.

  “Before he turned on us,” Lena took over from him. And as much as I didn’t want to hear what she had to say about the ward, I was grateful that she was at least, still speaking to me. “They were monitoring the movement of the wards. He warned Aleric.”

  “After the attack, we checked several of the graves,” Grid finished. “He’s gone.”

  Great. My only response, but it stayed in my head. I couldn’t even make myself speak the word.

  “Sure you want to go with them?” he asked.

  I nodded. I had to find Jordan. I had to know if he’d really left me alone in this about-to-be less-than-ash world.

  He pulled me against his chest and squeezed. But it wasn’t goodbye. It never would be.

  “Keep your wits about you,” he breathed into my ear, and then released me, but his hands lingered around my upper arms.

  “You’re not coming?” I asked, but I shouldn’t have, his place was with Gia.

  “No,” he said, his steady gaze held mine in place. “We have a family to protect. No matter what happens.” His fingers dug into me as he said this. He was trying to say something, but I had no idea what.

  And too soon, he released me. He made his way through the crowd without once looking back. It was still quite a trek to the Arena, and I silently wished him a safe journey back.

  “Castor and Seph are already in,” Aleric’s voice brought me back to the crowd around me. “They’ve set up a series of safe houses leading to the Spire, in the north-west corner of the city.

  “Why the north? Isn’t that where the militia came from?” I asked him.

  “It is,” he answered. “But there are no wards in that area, only militia, and most of them only have physical communication. They are easier to silence. And we don’t know what the wards are up to. They didn’t fight with us, but they didn’t exactly fight against us either. And considering how vastly outnumbered we are right now, this is the safest way in.”

  “She shouldn’t go with us,” Lena said, breaking her silence. “We can’t watch her, the wards, and the militia, all at the same time.”

  “I agree,” Haize added, moving toward us. “It’s too dangerous. And now with your ward out there as well.”

  “You don’t need to watch me,” I said back to Lena, but she only narrowed her eyes at me. “What, you don’t trust me? You were just in my head. Where am I going to go? What is it you think I’ll do?”

  “Every person needs to carry their own weight, protect themselves. You can’t do it,” Lena finished.

  “Yes, I can. I don’t need you to protect me. And the ward won’t attack us as a group.”

  “And if we’re separated?”

  “I can take care of myself. I always have,” I trailed off, annoyed that she would even try to force me to stay behind.

  “I’ll stay with her,” Mya said, as she stepped forward to stand beside me.

  “Fine, but if anything happens to her it’s on you,” Lena responded. “If she defects and helps them in any way…”

  “I get it. She won’t leave my sight,” Mya promised.

  Aleric cleared his throat, bringing the conversation back to him and their mission.

  “Small groups, same ratio, two Rathe, four Heart. Kill only if necessary. We don’t want to attract attention. Remember our goal is to get to the Spire.”

  Kill, easier said than done.

  “You’re with me,” Aleric said, nodding toward me.

  “Thank you,” I softly said back, grateful at least, that he knew I could
do this.

  “No,” he responded to my thought. “If Mason and Jordan want to see you, they need to come to me first.”

  If they want to… even he wasn’t sure. But I couldn’t dwell upon it. I had to focus upon getting there. Once there, I was sure Jordan would explain everything. They had to be wrong about him.

  ∞

  Ours was the only group of seven, me being the odd person out, and they kept me in the center as we went. We were the second to last group to leave. From the moment we stepped out of the Colony, I could feel Mya behind me, shielding me, my every thought, with her mind. Not once did it waver.

  We crept under cover of the darkened night. The ground from the Colony to the city was slushy beneath my feet, and the air while chilly, was at least calm. And then I remembered that it wasn’t real. It was generated, all of it. But I hadn’t shown Jordan snow, and I couldn’t help but wonder where and who the winter had come from, and who had re-created it here on Threa. And more importantly, why re-create a winter storm during a raging battle. Mason had to be in control of that. And unless the militia were used to dealing with such cold weather, it would only make the battle that much harder.

  However, the snow, while a welcome distraction, was the least important issue at hand. But I made a point to inquire about it later, if I survived.

  Once we’d made it to the tree-line beside the wall, we traveled north amongst the wood, before coming to a stop. Aleric gestured to us to be quiet, and to stay while he disappeared ahead of us. And when he returned, it was only to urge us onward, through the trees to the wall.

  “Seph tried to get us around the edge of the demolished section of wall, but it’s too heavily guarded,” Aleric whispered. “So, we go through.”

  I stared at him for a moment wondering what he meant by the demolished section of wall, when a hand moved me forward. And I decided not to think about it. I was sure I would see it soon enough.

  Once we’d stepped out of the shelter of the trees, I saw before me a familiar, deep, dark doorway in the wall. I wasn’t looking forward to stepping through it, and briefly remembered the last time. While in the darkness of the doorway, I’d felt as though it had sucked out my soul, leaving me empty, bereft of every sense. And this time was no different.