Arclight (7 page)

“Do you think—”

I can’t bring myself to ask him if it was someone taken during my rescue who told the Fade how to get past our security.

“I think they got lucky,” he says. Mr. Pace puts a hand on my shoulder, but removes it when I flinch. “They’ve always tested us. It was only a matter of time before they found a way in.”

“That’s the difference between us, Pace.” Honoria invites herself into our conversation. “I don’t
expect
the Fade to find weakness. What I
expect
is that the people who live here will stick to their assigned places.” She turns her temper on me. “Keep away from the power boxes, they can kill you.”

“I didn’t touch the box,” I say. “I was only hiding behind it.”

“From what?” she demands. “Did you see something?”

“The lights startled me. It was the closest thing to hide behind.”

“Well, at least you kept your head . . .” She never finishes the halfway compliment. Instead, she snatches my burnt wrist up to eye level. “Where’s your bracelet?”

“She got burned in the run,” Mr. Pace says. “I told her to put it on her other arm until she healed.”

I hold up my left arm so Honoria can see the alarm’s really there. Thankfully, she doesn’t test the latch.

“You should have gone to the hospital.”

“I gave her some salve, and told her to keep an eye on it,” Mr. Pace says. “Doc had his hands full. He’d have done the same thing.”

“Why are you out here?” Honoria’s fingers are rough on my ragged skin as she prods the burn and new scrapes.

“It started to bother me, so I put some cold water on it. Then I couldn’t go back to sleep. I smelled the fire, and—”

“From inside?”

I stare back, hoping my expression is as blank as everyone claims. I don’t know what to say, and thinking quickly usually ends with me tripping over my own tongue.

“Her room’s on that side of the building, Honoria,” Mr. Pace says.

“Get that wrist treated before it gets infected,” she says. “And have her window resealed. I won’t tolerate another weak point on this facility, especially not on a priority target.”

Priority target
. . . no way is that a good thing.

“And next time you take a stroll outside, wear your gloves. You’ll have a harder time scraping your hands.”

I dig my bare toes into the dirt, thankful she doesn’t look at my feet.

Honoria stalks past us. Mr. Pace gives a heavy sigh.

“You didn’t smell the smoke inside, did you?”

“I could have,” I offer lamely.

“The burn’s been going for hours. If it had bothered you inside . . . please tell me you haven’t been out here for hours.”

Yes, I’m definitely going to kill Tobin. This should be his lecture, too.

“Marina, I know it’s technically safe inside the Arc, and the sun’s only just set, but after last night—”

“Nowhere’s safe.”

“That’s not what I meant.” His hand falls heavy on my shoulder, but this time he doesn’t move it. “The Arclight
is
safe. Last night was an aberration, but it still happened.”

“Will it happen again?”

“We’re doing what we can to make sure it doesn’t, but we’ve stagnated on drills so long that we forgot the Fade aren’t simply monsters in some children’s story, easily overcome because they’re on the wrong side. They don’t move in the ways most convenient to us. They’re intelligent, and they can plan. Last night, their plans proved superior to ours. Next time we’ll have to be better. And that will be easier if you stay where you’re supposed to be.”

This wasn’t what I had in mind when I left my room. All I wanted was air and open space, not to cause more trouble for people who’ve already given too much to protect me.

“Where’d I come from?” I ask, nudging the edge of his dirt diagram with my toe. “Which side?”

“The short side,” he says. “We found you hiding in the Grey.”

“In the water?”

“Yeah,” he says. “There’s an old boat platform out there. You’d gotten into the water behind the pier supports. We almost missed you.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. We weren’t the only ones who couldn’t find you.”

He heads toward the main building, stopping when I pause to collect my shoes and socks. It’s a harder decision to follow him than it should be. There shouldn’t be anything out here daring me to stay, but there is. An itch I can’t quite reach kicks in every time I turn away from the horizon.

I wonder if this is what it was like for those who came before, if that itch is the first hint of hearing the call to join the Dark.

But I won’t. Not ever.

“I
’LL
have to scrape it before I can bandage it,” Dr. Wolff says after examining my arm.

Mr. Pace abandoned me promptly upon delivering me to the hospital. I suspect his quick exit had something to do with Dr. Wolff’s dirty looks and muttered promises of unspecified pain for those who thought they were better equipped to treat his patients.

“Hold still” is the only warning he gives, and when he’s done, tiny dots of blood glisten on my skin where he scraped away more than one layer of flesh. But unlike Honoria, Dr. Wolff tries for gentle. “That wasn’t too bad, I hope.”

I grit my teeth, determined not to let the tears show.

“How’s your inhaler?”

“Why won’t it work on anything but my headaches?”

“What else would you need it for?”

“My leg,” I say, kicking it for emphasis.

“You pushed it too hard last night, didn’t you?” he asks.

I shrug. Dr. Wolff isn’t intimidating in the least when he’s not armed with medical instruments, but my throat threatens to close up every time I come here.

“Does it hurt now?” he asks.

“It’s a little sore,” I lie. The echo of pain from my nightmare has plagued me since I woke up.

“You didn’t break the wound open?”

“No,” I say quickly, afraid he’ll decide he needs to examine it again, which will only lead to more questions and a longer stay.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, sir.”

Dr. Wolff eyes me suspiciously for the too-polite answer, but I imagine he’s seen plenty of people acting strange since last night.

“How’s Jove?” I ask, redirecting him.

Several beds are curtained off, so I assume he’s behind one of the partitions, but I’d sort of like to know that what Anne-Marie and I did last night made a difference. It would be nice to be the answer to a problem for once, rather than the cause.

“He’ll be all right,” Dr. Wolff says. “I understand he has you to thank for that.”

“I didn’t do much.”

“Not many people would have made the choice you did.” My face must show my confusion because he explains. “You and Annie kept him from going into shock. It takes a great deal of compassion to offer aid after someone’s hurt you.”

Somehow I don’t think he’d appreciate my saying I was more concerned with keeping Anne-Marie from losing it than keeping Jove comfortable.

“Jove was scared,” I say. “He thought . . . you know . . . that his mom was one of
them
. He thought she’d come with the Fade to take him back to the Dark.”

“And he blamed you?”

“He always has.”

“Do you think his opinions have changed?”

“I doubt he can tell me. I’m pretty sure his jaw was broken.”

“Dislocated and fractured,” Dr. Wolff corrects. “But it should heal good as new.”

He picks up an empty syringe. I’d hoped we could skip the blood sample this visit, but the man is nothing if not consistent. I roll up my sleeve and give him my arm, watching the tube in his hand as it fills.

“Have you given any consideration to where you’d like to focus your studies once you age up?” he asks.

“It sort of slipped my mind.”

Along with everything else that wasn’t “run for your life or die trying.”

“Well, should it happen to slip back in, I hope you’ll consider what I’ve said. There are some things a person’s born to, whether they want to believe it or not,” he says. He removes the needle and taps me on the head with my hospital file while I bend my elbow to stop the bleeding.

“You might as well let me refill your inhaler while you’re here. If you’ve been using it for your leg, you’ve probably depleted it. I’m surprised you haven’t overdosed.”

I pull the cord over my head and hand it to him without mentioning that most of my inhaler usage was in a dream.

“It’ll be a minute or two; the new batch isn’t mixed.”

Dr. Wolff disappears into the back room where he keeps his supplies locked up, leaving me to wait alone. He wasn’t exaggerating the need for healers when he spoke in class. In all the time I’ve spent in this room, I’ve seen maybe a dozen people wearing patches that denote medical service, and none are here consistently. They only come when called to assist.

I close my eyes again, straining for sounds to give the moment depth. Pinging machines, or the whoosh of air from the overhead vent, even my own heartbeat. Often, finding that faint layer beneath the usual clamor or quiet is the only way I can function. Absolute silence terrifies me.

I’m counting the ticks of a wall clock when I hear footsteps approach from the door on the opposite side of the hospital, stopping behind the curtain next to my bed.

“I’m sorry, man.” It’s Tobin, talking to Jove. “I know you can’t hear me, but I’m sorry.”

I should tell him I’m here, but I already know I won’t. I can be very still when I want, and right now, I’m grateful for it. He’d never talk like this if he knew I could hear him.

“And don’t think I’m only apologizing because Annie threatened unspecified yet terrifying retribution if I didn’t.”

He pauses every few words, but no matter how hard I listen, there’s never a response. He must be filling in Jove’s half of the conversation with his own imagined answers.

I do that—imagine conversations with Tobin. I apologize for his father’s death and he accepts, or I apologize and he curses me; it depends on my mood. I don’t have to pretend with Jove or the others, because I know where I stand with them, but Tobin won’t even acknowledge that his dad’s dead. Somehow my offense seems greater with him, like it’s worse because his father was the one who made the call to save me over the rest.

“And Mr. Pace didn’t make me come, either. I just wanted to apologize. I’ll do it again when you’re awake, okay?”

Tobin’s words may be friendly and familiar, but his voice comes thin and hurried, punctuated by bouts of swallowing.

“I’m probably rambling you into a deeper coma, but I haven’t slept, so it’s not my fault. I doubt anyone slept after last night. Well, maybe Annie.”

He laughs; I put my hand over my mouth so I can’t. Anne-Marie can sleep anywhere. I’ve even seen her do it standing up when we were in formation too long. She dropped her forehead onto Jonah’s back and started snoring.

“And, when you wake up, we’re going to talk about Marina. You have to step off. You can’t keep—”

The door on the other side of the room slides open again. This time someone enters with the sound of heavy boots rather than student shoes.

Can’t keep what?
I want to shout.

“I’ll go,” Tobin says. “I just wanted to check on him.”

“Why were you at the perimeter?” Mr. Pace’s voice comes through the curtain. “How’d you get out there?”

“Doors are usually the easiest way.”

“And I’ve got yours monitored.”

“You can’t do that. You’re not my father.”

“I keep tabs on all my kids, Tobin. And I’m trying to help you.”

Adults’ alarms can be set to track their children, so they know if anyone goes across the Arc. I didn’t know teachers could do the same for their students.

“I don’t need help,” Tobin snaps.

“Tell that to Jove.”

“I’ve already told him everything I came to say.”

My stomach flips again. I search for something to hide behind in case Tobin comes my way rather than passing Mr. Pace, but everything large enough is bolted to the floor and walls.

“You cannot keep walking away from your problems like that’s the solution to them, Tobin,” Mr. Pace says. “If you keep running away, I’ll just keep following until you talk to me.”

“I don’t want to talk about my dad.”

“Fine, then you can tell me what’s happening with you and Marina.”

I lean forward to make sure Dr. Wolff isn’t on his way back yet. The way my luck runs, he’ll show up before Tobin can answer.

“Marina?” Tobin asks.

“Normally you two won’t even look at each other. I saw you pick her up during the run.”

“She couldn’t make it on her own, so I helped. End of story.”

“Middle of story,” Mr. Pace corrects with the infernal, maddening calm that always marks his temper. “Jove’s got two broken ribs, a busted nose, and bruises that say it’s nowhere near the end. I’ve got Annie telling me you plastered him because he insulted your father, and I’ve got Marina’s version telling me you did it to protect her. Which is it?”

“What difference does it make?”

“I want to know why she’s covering for you,” Mr. Pace says. “The truth. No threats of punishment. No teacher. No student. Just the guy who’s known you since you were born and needs to know why you were outside with Marina, at sunset, by the Arc.”

“I didn’t know she was there,” Tobin says.

“Fair enough,” Mr. Pace says. “But she knew you were, and she didn’t tell anyone, not even when Honoria cornered her.”

“You can’t expect me to understand what goes on inside her head.”

“Do you even understand what’s going on inside yours?”

Silent defiance is his only answer.

“You’re not your father, Tobin. You don’t have to be, and you don’t have to bear his burdens.” He pauses. “I know you’re not going to want to hear this, but are you sure you want to stay in the apartment by yourself? Dominique’s offered—”

“You’re not taking my house away from me!”

“It’s not good for you to be wandering around a space that big with nothing to do but sit and wallow.”

“When my dad gets back—”

“Tobin . . .”

“Mr. Pace, please—”

“What’s all this noise?” Dr. Wolff rushes past me.

My luck’s worse than I thought. It’s when Tobin is at his lowest, begging, that Dr. Wolff returns and yanks the curtain open. On the other side, Tobin stands with his back to Mr. Pace, which means he was facing the curtain. With it gone, he’s facing me.