Rebellion (8 page)

“What is this?”

“The original way into the Caverns. There was going to be a train like there is from Two to Three, but that of course never happened. Shortly after work stopped, there was a minor tremor and it caused the cave-in we just crawled through.” He pushes on the airlock door and it slides up just enough to let us belly crawl through it.

“And Mother has no idea that it's here?”

He pushes the airlock back down. “She's sent Enforcers from time to time to check it out, but even though they managed to get through the airlock, they couldn't get past the rocks. It was a terrifying time for the Caverns, so I'm told, but the Enforcers never came back. As far as I know, Mother has no idea what's on the other side of those rocks.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because they wouldn't be there if she did.” He says it bluntly and without a hint of emotion. “She wasn't even born yet when her father stopped building that. And it was never talked about when she was alive, as far as I know. None of the plans for the hotel have anything other than that tunnel and a note about possible future expansion. I assure you, she doesn't know.”

“You'll have to forgive me if I don't trust you.”

He only shrugs in answer and continues through the Tube. When we get to the airlock on the other side, he does the same thing as he did with the one by the Caverns, but before I can slide under he says, “You have to be careful here. The cameras in this Sector are still working and I'm not there to monitor them.”

My nerves ramp up so they're at an all-time high, but I nod my understanding. I knew this wasn't going to be easy. I'll just have to trust Eli knows how to get around the cameras.

When we enter Sector Three, Eli doesn't even appear nervous. He barely glances at the green people-shaped globs I remember from the last time I was here. I, on the other hand, steer as far from them as I can without straying too far from Eli. One tried to eat Asher when he accidentally stepped in it, and another attacked us when we were briefly trapped with it.

However, I do notice that they have moved from their original location. At least the ones on the main floor that were from where all the people from this Sector were massacred. They're closer to the windows, and there's a small track in the cement. As if it had melted away.

I shudder at the thought of any of it touching me.

Eli clears his throat and I jerk and look over at him. He's already at the elevators, holding the door open for me. He looks pointedly at the green stuff. “It's all over this building. We've permanently closed it and have built a temporary connection to the Agricultural Sector, because it appears that whatever it's made of is eating at the structure of this building.”

“Any idea yet what it is?”

He doesn't say anything for a few seconds, but then he sighs. “
My
mistake. After … everything last time. Mother just left all her failed experiments here to kill each other until no one was left. When she was sure it was ‘safe,'” he makes air quotes with his fingers, “she sent someone to clean up all the bodies. I went with the crew, because I wanted to try and gather the nanites and see if they were still operable. But when we got here, we saw the oldest of the bodies had been liquefied.”

I glance at the green stuff and feel my stomach twist. “Liquefied?”

He barely glances at me. “I haven't quite figured out how that part happened yet, but I believe it has something to do with the nanites trying to clean up the dead tissue like they're programmed to.”

I swallow and nod.

“Naturally I was upset. All those nanites. Lost.”

“Naturally,” I say, and want to roll my eyes. Of course he'd be more concerned about the nanites than actual human life.

“I was eager to study what was left of the bodies to find out what had happened, and found out the nanos were still working. Still trying to perform their primary function: Keep the body running. And some were succeeding. Not all the parts had liquefied in some of the bodies and the nanites were trying their damnedest to get them working again. Then it hit me. I thought, if Mother could take men and make them monsters, maybe I could take monsters and make them men. Reanimate the bodies. Use them against Mother, like she uses the Enforcers.” He closes his eyes. “But it failed. Miserably.”

“What happened?”

His eyes open and he stares into mine. “Can't you see? I reanimated the bodies, but not like I expected to. And now they're this … substance. Worse than anything Mother programmed. It destroys almost everything it touches or comes near. And turning off and destroying the nanos has done nothing. The stuff is reanimated and operating somehow on its own. So now I spend my free time trying to figure out how to get rid of it, but I'm worried it's too late. Mother has her own ideas of how to handle it.” He gives me a look. “If you plan on returning, I'd make this a fast trip. I'm not sure there will be anything to dock to if you take too long.”

I look back at the Tube, then nod and step into the elevator. “I'll make it fast.”

For the rest of the trip to the submarine bay, we don't speak. I don't know what to say to him and he isn't exactly sending off the vibe he wants to talk to me.

When we get to the submarine bay, the one we'd used before, he places his hand on the hand plate. The door opens and he gestures toward it, handing me my bag. “Your ride awaits. I trust you remember how to operate it?”

I'll do as well as I did the first time, I guess. At least I'm not being attacked by a bunch of crazed Enforcers this time. I just nod, then glance toward the door again. Once more stopped by the desire to go back to Evie.

“There's a button on the console that will bring you back here.”

I take that step into the submarine, but it's almost impossible. My heart and my head fight against each other the entire way. I can't believe how hard it is to leave. It's not like I'm not going to return.

I turn around just as he's about to press his hand to the plate again to shut the doors from his side. “Wait!” I say.

He lifts his eyebrows.

“What happens if there's no place to dock when I come back?”

“Just hurry and we won't have to worry, will we?” Then he shuts the doors before I can say anything else.

I take that to mean I'm screwed if this building is gone when I get back. It really will have to be fast.

I take the controls. I don't really know how to drive this thing, but I just press the same buttons I pressed the last time as best I can remember. The sub bursts away from the facility and, for some reason, this trip feels a hell of a lot faster than the last time I took it. Probably because I don't have someone dying next to me. I sigh. No. Not just someone. Evie.

When I get to the Surface, I almost steer directly onto the beach near my house like I did before. But I know if I do, Asher's father will just take the sub away again.

So I moor it to the island across from the village, making sure it's anchored securely and won't float away before I can get back to it.

This is the island that fuels my nightmares. Not because of its eerie fog or that there's absolutely no game on it, despite its deep forests. It's the island I came to with my hunting partner, Con. The one that had me careening down a cliff and forced to wait in a cave. The one where I stupidly made the decision to venture into the tunnels that eventually led to Elysium. The one that led to Con's death.

The place where I anchored is right near the cave and I can't stop myself from peeking into it. The ghosts of those that came before me beckon like the Sirens from long ago to lead me back to the tunnels. Con's voice is the loudest, and for one second I can almost believe he's been at the end of the maze of tunnels the entire time and needs my help.

But when I get about a hundred feet into the tunnel, water splashes against my ankles, soaking my shoes. I remember seeing water puddled along the sand floor last time I was here and thinking the tunnels must fill during the rainy season. I guess I was right. The whispers I hear are just the slap of the water against the cave walls.

Guilt pulling at me, I force myself to turn around and step back out through the cave's wide mouth onto the rocky ground at the bottom of the ledge of rocks. Carefully, I pull myself up hand over hand to the top of the cliff and wind my way through the foggy forest, to the beach where Connor and I left what could roughly be called a raft.

There's not much left, but I have to hope it's enough to get me across before it falls apart altogether.

After dragging it into the water, I use a stick to push toward the cove. Luck seems to be a little on my side this time, at least. The tide is coming in and I'm able to use that as a propellant to get me across the cove toward my beach as quickly as I can. I take a few minutes to hide the raft in the underbrush again.

I rush toward my house, more eager than I expected to see Mom and Tristan.

I stop on the threshold of the door, suddenly anxious. What the hell do I possibly say to them?

Sorry for taking off for over a month without telling you where I was going or what I was doing and probably dredging up old feelings from when Dad died.
Or maybe:
Hey! I know I just got here, but I have to go right back out and find Asher's grandma because I'm in the middle of a mutiny and it turns out she's the key to everything after all.

For a moment I even debate just getting Lenore without seeing them at all. I'll be back after everything is all over and they'll never even have to know the dangerous parts. But then it hits me that even if everything turns out for the best and we do get Evie's people up here, there's the distinct possibility I won't be returning. That it isn't just a simple mutiny, it's a full-out revolution, and every revolution throughout history has had casualties. I have to accept I may be one of them.

I can't just leave them like that.

Not again.

Not like Dad.

After taking two deep breaths that really don't do anything to relax me, I push open the door and walk straight to the kitchen, where I know they're either eating, or Mom will be cooking.

I'm right. She's at the stove, stirring something in a pot. It smells so good my mouth waters. I've had to endure Elysium's food for entirely too long. I smile when I see her. I can't believe how much I've missed her.

“Mom,” I say.

She spins around so fast, the pot she was stirring catches on her apron strings and flies off the stove to drop at her feet.

“Holy shit!” I run to her, dropping all my stuff as I go. “Are you burned? I'm so sorry. Are you okay?”

She doesn't answer; she just wraps her arms around me. Her whole body is shaking and I realize instantly that she seems so much thinner than she was. I can almost feel every bone in her back as I hug her.

Was she always like this? Did I just never notice how thin she was?

I push her back a little and really study her. Her face is drawn and thin, her eyes all red from crying. And there's a bruise on her right cheek.

Guilt tears through me. “What happened?” I touch her cheek.

Something like fear fills her eyes, and she glances to the door. “Did anyone see you come? Did you talk to anyone? Did you come straight here?”

“No. No. And yes,” I say with a frown. “What's going on? What's the matter?”

She shakes her head. “It doesn't matter,” she chokes out, pulling me to her again. “It doesn't matter. You're home now and it doesn't matter.” She's still surprisingly strong for as thin as she is. “They said you'd died. That you'd been lost on the trip to Rushlake. But I knew that wasn't true. It couldn't be.”

I close my eyes and clench my fists. I know
exactly
who told her I'd died. Asher's dad. The mayor.

“I didn't die. I'm sorry, Mom.” I hug her tightly and tell her the whole story, starting from the time we left here, being attacked by the vulture hawks, then getting lost and almost killed by coyotes in the Outlands. Getting to Rushlake City only to find out that Asher had left with Evie to take her back to Elysium, and then following her to Elysium and everything that's happened there.

She looks around me. “Is she with you?”

“Evie? No. She had to stay there. In fact, she may not be able to come back here. Ever. Her … sickness is keeping her there.”

Mom frowns at me. “And you came back?”

“I had to check on you. And Tristan.” I want to tell her the real reason I'm here, but I can't force my lips to say the words. Besides, it'll only worry her and she obviously doesn't need any more of that right now. I can tell her when I get back with Lenore.

“But you're going to go back, right?”

Something about her tone throws me off, but I say, “Yes. Evie's going through a hard time right now and I have to be there for her. I love her, Mom. I have to be where she is. No matter where that is.”

“I know.” She smiles, even though her lips quiver a little. She touches a cold hand to my cheek. “But you have to promise to come back and visit.”

“Is that a ‘here's your coat, what's your hurry' thing?” I laugh. “I'm not leaving yet. I have to handle a few things first. And one of those things is to make sure you guys are taken care of.”

She shakes her head quickly. “You need to go back to Evie. She needs you. We're fine. We'll be fine.”

This time warning bells go off. Why is she in such a hurry to get rid of me? It's obvious they need me back. I touch the bruise again. “Are you going to tell me what happened here?”

She looks down and I know she's not going to tell me, but a voice behind me says, “Mayor St. James hit her.”

I whirl around to stare at my brother, Tristan, then turn back to my mom. “He
hit
you?” I demand at the same time she hisses, “Tristan!”