Firstlife
Page 79
He’ll walk through hell for me. I have no doubts about that. And I’ll walk through hell for him. But I’m not signing with Myriad. This? These cages? They seal the deal.
I have to find another way to be with him.
“I’m coming back for you,” I repeat. As I climb away from him, I’m sobbing, but I do what needs doing. I keep going, my determination giving me enough strength to heft Kayla up whenever she slips.
Finally we reach the top, and Reed, who is waiting for us, hauls us onto a stone walkway. Stone above, beside and below us. Every stone carved into the shape of a human skull. Empty eye sockets seem to follow me as I stumble forward, taking the lead. Left, left. Right. My knees shake. In this hallway, skeletons hang from the ceiling, each draped in a violet robe.
Troikan robes?
When we take the next left, strange symbols glowing on the walls, an alarm screeches to life.
Zero! We’ve been found out.
It isn’t long before a stampede of footsteps sounds behind us. I glance over my shoulder as guards hustle around the corner. Six of them.
“Go, go,” I tell my charges. “I’ll divert our tail.”
Kayla reaches for me. “No! We do this together.”
“Reed,” I say, and he understands.
He jerks her to his side, forcing her to keep pace with him. They make the next right, disappearing from my view.
I stop and spin, facing the guards as they barrel toward me. I’ll fight to Second-death if necessary, but these men aren’t getting past me.
A second later, the guards reach me and—
Chapter twenty-six
“Today you live, tomorrow you die. Make what you do in the meantime matter.”
—Troika
I jerk upright, my eyelids flipping open. Archer is standing beside me, holding my hand.
Relief bathes his features as he clutches my hand to his chest. “You’re alive. You’re going to be okay.”
“Where am I?” My voice is a foggy rasp. I’m panting, my skin clammy. I’m also dizzy and weak. “Where’s Kayla? Reed?”
He forces me to recline on a mound of pillows. “Let’s start with you. You’re in a Troikan safe house.”
Another safe house...in a bedroom that’s been turned into a makeshift trauma ward. Different machines circle us, some of them beeping in tune to my heart. Monitors are anchored to the walls, flashing numbers and symbols I’ve never seen.
“Kayla and Reed are in Troika, thanks to you,” Archer says with a bright smile. “You saved them.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Killian. Killian saved them. But...how did you find them?”
“They passed through a veil in Myriad and their spirits ended up in the Land of the Harvest. They were screaming for help, and a TL happened to be nearby. The two pledged allegiance to Troika, a bond formed and the TL was able to escort them into the realm.”
There’s hope, then. There’s hope for the Unsigned, even after they die. They can be saved! They just have to find their way out of Many Ends...out of Myriad.
I shudder. “Killian needs our help. He’s trapped.”
“You’re in no condition—”
“I don’t care. I have to go back for him. They put him in the Kennel, Archer. A dog cage.” I bite back a sob. “I have to go back.”
“You won’t do anyone any good until you’ve regained your strength.” He releases my hand only long enough to pull a chair to the side of the bed. “Your aunt killed you.”
“Yeah. I remember.” And wow. My throat hurts. I reach up, my hand trembling, and pat my neck. There’s a thick bandage covering the hole the pointy end of the paintbrush left behind. When my shoulder gives out, my arm falls uselessly to the mattress.
Zero! Archer’s right. I’m no good to Killian in this condition. To navigate the Realm of Many Ends, to climb those cages and race through Myriad, I have to be at my best. They’ll be prepared next time, waiting and watching for me.
Even still, my sense of urgency doesn’t fade.
“Besides,” he says, “you owe me big-time. I saved your life. And guess what I want in return? For you to stay in bed until you are fully recovered.”
Rat. He asks too much of me. “How did you find me?”
“I received a message from someone who knew my rank and ID. This someone mentioned 10:17 on November 12 and a girl who dies at the crack house. I decided to check things out and found your body in a pool of blood.”
“Lina sent you a message?”
“That’s my guess.”
“But how did she get your rank and ID? How did she get the equipment she needed?”
“Those are excellent questions she refuses to answer.”
Well...maybe I already know the answers. Loony Lina isn’t so loony, after all. She isn’t polyfused but gifted. She saw into the future. She knew how to navigate two realms. “Where is she now?”
“Here. Locked up in the bedroom next door. She won’t hurt you again.”
She hurt me, yes, but she also contacted Archer so that he could save me. Right now, I don’t know what to think about her. “How long have I been out?”
“Only two days.”
Only? That’s forty-eight hours Killian and Elena have spent inside their cages. If they haven’t been freed. They seemed to think they’d be released sooner rather than later.
“Have you heard from Killian?” I ask.
“No.”
So he hasn’t been freed. My stomach sinks.
“Levi came here,” Archer says, “shared his Lifeblood with you—it’s stronger than mine and it kept your body alive while your spirit was in Many Ends.”
“And Myriad. Archer, Many Ends is connected to Myriad.”
He worries two fingers over the golden shadow beard on his jaw. “I know. Reed told me. All Troika is shocked, and all Myriad is denying the boy’s claim. The realm doesn’t want us to know they have access to the spirits of the Unsigned. Probably because they don’t want us to know what they do to the spirits of the Unsigned.”
Well, Killian knows the truth now. He’ll set the record straight. Once he’s free. I have to free him. “There are so many spirits locked in cages...not to mention the spirits being used as living bird food.” And worse!
“I know that, too. The kids told us everything they’d been through.”
“I have to help them. All of them.” But now that I’m away from the Kennels and my adrenaline’s on simmer, the task suddenly strikes me as impossible. Since I won’t sign with Myriad, I’ll have to remain Unsigned to enter Many Ends again. And next time, I’ll have more people to find and free, monster birds and nightmare gorillas to fight. They won’t give up their stashes of human-candy easily.
So the question is: Do I go ahead and sign with Troika?
I want to, it’s how I was leaning before this, but if I go that route, I may not be able to find another way inside Many Ends. And I haven’t yet gotten a very necessary promise from Archer. A promise he may not give me.
I want him to save Killian from Myriad’s wrath.
“Sign with Troika, Ten.” Archer must be reading my thoughts on my face. His stare turns mean. “We’ll find a way to save the spirits in Many Ends. Together.”
I have to find another way to be with him.
“I’m coming back for you,” I repeat. As I climb away from him, I’m sobbing, but I do what needs doing. I keep going, my determination giving me enough strength to heft Kayla up whenever she slips.
Finally we reach the top, and Reed, who is waiting for us, hauls us onto a stone walkway. Stone above, beside and below us. Every stone carved into the shape of a human skull. Empty eye sockets seem to follow me as I stumble forward, taking the lead. Left, left. Right. My knees shake. In this hallway, skeletons hang from the ceiling, each draped in a violet robe.
Troikan robes?
When we take the next left, strange symbols glowing on the walls, an alarm screeches to life.
Zero! We’ve been found out.
It isn’t long before a stampede of footsteps sounds behind us. I glance over my shoulder as guards hustle around the corner. Six of them.
“Go, go,” I tell my charges. “I’ll divert our tail.”
Kayla reaches for me. “No! We do this together.”
“Reed,” I say, and he understands.
He jerks her to his side, forcing her to keep pace with him. They make the next right, disappearing from my view.
I stop and spin, facing the guards as they barrel toward me. I’ll fight to Second-death if necessary, but these men aren’t getting past me.
A second later, the guards reach me and—
Chapter twenty-six
“Today you live, tomorrow you die. Make what you do in the meantime matter.”
—Troika
I jerk upright, my eyelids flipping open. Archer is standing beside me, holding my hand.
Relief bathes his features as he clutches my hand to his chest. “You’re alive. You’re going to be okay.”
“Where am I?” My voice is a foggy rasp. I’m panting, my skin clammy. I’m also dizzy and weak. “Where’s Kayla? Reed?”
He forces me to recline on a mound of pillows. “Let’s start with you. You’re in a Troikan safe house.”
Another safe house...in a bedroom that’s been turned into a makeshift trauma ward. Different machines circle us, some of them beeping in tune to my heart. Monitors are anchored to the walls, flashing numbers and symbols I’ve never seen.
“Kayla and Reed are in Troika, thanks to you,” Archer says with a bright smile. “You saved them.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Killian. Killian saved them. But...how did you find them?”
“They passed through a veil in Myriad and their spirits ended up in the Land of the Harvest. They were screaming for help, and a TL happened to be nearby. The two pledged allegiance to Troika, a bond formed and the TL was able to escort them into the realm.”
There’s hope, then. There’s hope for the Unsigned, even after they die. They can be saved! They just have to find their way out of Many Ends...out of Myriad.
I shudder. “Killian needs our help. He’s trapped.”
“You’re in no condition—”
“I don’t care. I have to go back for him. They put him in the Kennel, Archer. A dog cage.” I bite back a sob. “I have to go back.”
“You won’t do anyone any good until you’ve regained your strength.” He releases my hand only long enough to pull a chair to the side of the bed. “Your aunt killed you.”
“Yeah. I remember.” And wow. My throat hurts. I reach up, my hand trembling, and pat my neck. There’s a thick bandage covering the hole the pointy end of the paintbrush left behind. When my shoulder gives out, my arm falls uselessly to the mattress.
Zero! Archer’s right. I’m no good to Killian in this condition. To navigate the Realm of Many Ends, to climb those cages and race through Myriad, I have to be at my best. They’ll be prepared next time, waiting and watching for me.
Even still, my sense of urgency doesn’t fade.
“Besides,” he says, “you owe me big-time. I saved your life. And guess what I want in return? For you to stay in bed until you are fully recovered.”
Rat. He asks too much of me. “How did you find me?”
“I received a message from someone who knew my rank and ID. This someone mentioned 10:17 on November 12 and a girl who dies at the crack house. I decided to check things out and found your body in a pool of blood.”
“Lina sent you a message?”
“That’s my guess.”
“But how did she get your rank and ID? How did she get the equipment she needed?”
“Those are excellent questions she refuses to answer.”
Well...maybe I already know the answers. Loony Lina isn’t so loony, after all. She isn’t polyfused but gifted. She saw into the future. She knew how to navigate two realms. “Where is she now?”
“Here. Locked up in the bedroom next door. She won’t hurt you again.”
She hurt me, yes, but she also contacted Archer so that he could save me. Right now, I don’t know what to think about her. “How long have I been out?”
“Only two days.”
Only? That’s forty-eight hours Killian and Elena have spent inside their cages. If they haven’t been freed. They seemed to think they’d be released sooner rather than later.
“Have you heard from Killian?” I ask.
“No.”
So he hasn’t been freed. My stomach sinks.
“Levi came here,” Archer says, “shared his Lifeblood with you—it’s stronger than mine and it kept your body alive while your spirit was in Many Ends.”
“And Myriad. Archer, Many Ends is connected to Myriad.”
He worries two fingers over the golden shadow beard on his jaw. “I know. Reed told me. All Troika is shocked, and all Myriad is denying the boy’s claim. The realm doesn’t want us to know they have access to the spirits of the Unsigned. Probably because they don’t want us to know what they do to the spirits of the Unsigned.”
Well, Killian knows the truth now. He’ll set the record straight. Once he’s free. I have to free him. “There are so many spirits locked in cages...not to mention the spirits being used as living bird food.” And worse!
“I know that, too. The kids told us everything they’d been through.”
“I have to help them. All of them.” But now that I’m away from the Kennels and my adrenaline’s on simmer, the task suddenly strikes me as impossible. Since I won’t sign with Myriad, I’ll have to remain Unsigned to enter Many Ends again. And next time, I’ll have more people to find and free, monster birds and nightmare gorillas to fight. They won’t give up their stashes of human-candy easily.
So the question is: Do I go ahead and sign with Troika?
I want to, it’s how I was leaning before this, but if I go that route, I may not be able to find another way inside Many Ends. And I haven’t yet gotten a very necessary promise from Archer. A promise he may not give me.
I want him to save Killian from Myriad’s wrath.
“Sign with Troika, Ten.” Archer must be reading my thoughts on my face. His stare turns mean. “We’ll find a way to save the spirits in Many Ends. Together.”
