Revelations (The Elysium Chronicles) (30 page)

It’s so quiet around here. Last time we were here, this street—the whole Sector—was filled with people. So much so we couldn’t walk from one end of it to the other without having to weave between them. Where are all the Citizens? The Enforcers? Guards, even?

Something’s wrong. I can feel it.

A few minutes later, Eli reappears, alone, and gestures for us to follow him. “Keep quiet. The city is under curfew.”

“Curfew?” Asher asks with raised eyebrows and Evie knits her brow together as if that doesn’t quite make sense.

Glancing at her, Eli says, “Mother instituted it shortly after you … left. In fact, she started a lot of new, more restrictive laws using you as an excuse.”

“Wonderful,” Evie murmurs. Guilt drips from every syllable and I can’t help but feel for her. She shouldn’t be here. She shouldn’t know what happened after we left. This isn’t at all what
should
have happened. I clench my fists, then force myself to relax them.

Just then Eli curses under his breath and yanks Evie deeper into the shadows. I immediately do the same, knowing better than to take longer than a second. When I turn, my back pressed as tightly as possible against the wall, I see someone that makes the blood in my veins turn to ice. An Enforcer stepping out of the shadows. I thought—wanted, hoped—I’d never see one again, but she’s unmistakable with her all-black clothing. The short dress that falls to just above her knees. The long boots, the tops hiding under the skirt, and the gloves and cape that cover the rest of her exposed skin. She’s looking right at us. Right at Evie.

Her eyes flick to Asher, who was the slowest of us getting to the wall, and I want to hit him when he whispers, quite loudly, “What’s going on?”

“Enforcers.” I barely breathe the word. It’s probably still too loud, but if I don’t answer him, he’ll just keep questioning. Next to me, Evie shifts from one foot to the other, and grasps my arm tightly. She’s shaking. Or maybe that’s me. The last time I saw an Enforcer up close, she was trying to put a bullet in me.

But then she—the Enforcer—steps backward into the dark. It’s almost as if she’s melting into them, becoming part of just one large Enforcer shadow. My muscles spasm at the thought.

Eli narrows his eyes, but doesn’t say anything. After a minute, he continues forward. Cautiously, I follow, sticking like glue to the walls. Last time, the shadows meant for the Enforcers kept us safe from the turrets. Not that running into more Enforcers is on my list of priorities—that last one is still causing my nerves to spit sparks throughout my body—but maybe with Eli here, they’ll ignore us.

I won’t get my hopes up.

I think he’s going to lead us to the maintenance tunnels Evie and I used the last time we were here, but instead he walks right past them.

“We aren’t going to use the tunnels?” I ask, tense.

He doesn’t even spare me a glance. “She’s too weak to crawl up the ladders on her own. Now hush and keep up.”

I glance nervously at a section of the ceiling that has a black pole protruding from it. “What about the turrets?”

This time he stops, but only long enough to give me a look. “Do you think I didn’t already think of that, Surface Dweller? I would not let harm come to my daughter, even if that means protecting someone like you. Now hurry, before another Enforcer sees us and all my precautions were for naught.”

I bite back a nasty comment, because he’s right. While the Square appears to be deserted, it doesn’t mean we can drop our guard. Enforcers could be anywhere. Didn’t Evie teach me that?

We move quickly through the spookily quiet city. Every once in a while an Enforcer steps out of the shadows, and every time they look in our direction, I think we’re busted. That it’s all over. But they just slide back into the shadows.

“What the hell,” I whisper.

Eli turns to me with an equally confused look, but his eyes are filled with worry and not a little fear. He mutters, “That’s not good.” Then he speeds up, but it still feels way too slow for me.

If Eli is worried, “that’s not good” is an understatement. My heart gallops in my chest and I feel cold, like I’ve just drunk an entire gallon of ice water in one shot. The only thing not stopping me from running straight back to the sub is Evie. Even though it’s obvious she’s terrified with her wide eyes and colorless face, she also looks resolute. There’s no way I’d get her out of here without a fight. Which would only draw more attention to us.

“This is insane,” I say as quietly as I can. “We’re going to get caught. The Enforcers
know
we’re here. I know they do.”

Eli only nods. “We must hurry. It’s safe where I’m taking you. I assure you.”

I’m not “assured,” but Evie follows, leaving me no choice unless I hit her over the head and drag her back with me. I have to admit, that’s looking more and more like a good option.

Suddenly, there’s a giggle and shout.

“Meredith! No.
Stop!
”

A little blond-haired girl darts by, and we all stop in our tracks. Eli’s face goes from worried to full-out terrified. He lunges forward, trying to grab the child, but she only laughs harder and slips right out of Eli’s outstretched hands. I reach for her too, but she only twists her body around, dodging me, still giggling.

“Meredith!” a woman calls. We can’t see her yet, but I don’t need to see her to know she’s in a full-out panic.

I focus in on Eli. The panic he’s obviously feeling is practically pouring off him in waves, which makes the dread pooling in my stomach weigh like a stone. He seems torn—undecided—but then he straightens his shoulders and takes a step out of the shadows. Evie makes a short squeaking sound, then slaps her hand against her mouth, her other hand reaching out to him. As if she’s willing him to come back.

But it’s too late. An Enforcer has beaten both of us to it. Eli steps back into the shadows almost instantly.

The Enforcer is holding the girl, who isn’t giggling anymore.

Somewhere in me, I know what’s about to happen.

A woman rushes around the corner, then stops in her tracks at the sight in front of her. Her eyes shut and even from here, I can see her swallow. But she straightens her shoulders and walks calmly forward. I have to admire that even though she’s obviously terrified, she doesn’t turn tail and run.

“That’s my daughter,” she says, her voice only wavering slightly. “I apologize. She just learned how to open doors. She doesn’t understand the curfew. It won’t happen again. I promise.”

The Enforcer doesn’t say anything. She looks down at the child, who is shrieking now.

The mother is still blabbing on, stepping forward, but Eli is mumbling something too and I can’t make out what either is saying. I want to do something, grab the girl and run, but I know what would happen. I’m a Surface Dweller. She’d probably kill the girl, then come after me next.

But Eli could do something. Right? He could stop what’s happening. Why doesn’t he?

Without warning, the mother’s body jerks as red spreads across her chest. Her eyes widen, but I can see the light in them die before she even hits the ground. I turn back to the Enforcer to see the glint of a gun in the Enforcer’s gloved hand.

Her voice is as dead as the woman on the floor when she says, “Curfew is for the safety of all Citizens. Failure to comply will result in severe punishment.”

Then she turns and disappears with the girl into the shadows. The girl’s howls slowly fade away.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-SIX

Citizen Evangeline Summers, you are hereby summoned to report to the Medical Sector, tomorrow, March 15, to initiate fertilization treatments.

—
S
UMMONS FOR
P
ROCREATION
D
UTY, DATED SEVENTEEN YEARS PRIOR

Evie

The memory comes so fast and so hard, I almost feel like it’s pulling me from one world to another.

“Congratulations! Evelyn has been chosen for Mother’s special program.” The woman behind the desk smiles. “You two must be so proud. It isn’t every family that gets the privilege of serving our city so completely.”

“Special … program?” My mom, my real one, clutches me tightly to her chest. Dad is staring at my mom like something horrible has happened and it’s all her fault. I can see him clearly, but when I look at her, her face is just a smudge of smoke.

She turns back to the woman behind the desk. “But—but we thought Evelyn was meant to be a scientist, like her
father
and I.”

I fidget in my seat and try not to look at the woman, but fail. She makes me nervous. I want to suck my thumb even though my mom says big girls don’t do that.

“Mother requested her personally,” the woman says, her voice notably cooler. Then she laughs and her blue eyes sparkle with fake happiness. My parents don’t join her. They’re too busy having one of their silent conversations. “Her genomes have proven superb.” She forces her face into a serious expression, one that makes me even more scared of her. “Of course,” she says, “you will be fully compensated for your contribution.”

As if summoned, a young woman slips out of the shadows, startling my parents and terrifying me. I cling to my mom’s neck as the shadow woman walks directly to me.

“She is in my charge now,” the new woman says. Her emotionless voice causes my little body to shudder and I cower even more into my mom’s chest.

“Now?” my mom asks. “But—”

“She must begin immediately. There is no time to waste.” The monster takes my hand and rips me from my mom’s lap.

“Mommy,” I yell, tears rolling down my cheeks. But she doesn’t get up, and the monster doesn’t even pause as she removes me from the room.

When I come out of it, I’m staring at a woman’s body and the small pool of red forming around her. I feel like I’m going to be sick.

Everyone is still gaping and Eli looks shell-shocked. After a second he yanks me down the hall in a full out run. Gavin is pushing me from behind as if he’s terrified I’m still not moving fast enough. Finally we reach what Eli calls—and a little voice tells me is—the Residential Sector without further incident.

I can tell Gavin thinks this has been too easy, despite the scene we just witnessed. He’s watching Eli warily as if he thinks we’re being led into a trap, but I hope he can shove down his paranoia enough to let Eli help me. If it is a trap, then we’ll just have to deal with that when the time comes. I don’t have to tell Gavin to be prepared. He’s got his fingers wrapped tightly around the gun.

We take a set of stairs and by the time we make it up the half dozen or so flights, I think my heart’s going to explode the way it’s banging against my ribs. Finally we reach the right floor and go through a door and down a hallway. We stop at a door at the very end and Eli knocks loud enough to startle everyone.

“What’s he trying to do?” Gavin whispers to me. “Wake the dead?”

I wince. Not exactly the right wording there.

A few seconds later, the door opens slowly and blue eyes peer out from the crack. Then it jerks open slightly more as those eyes catch slight of Eli.

“Father?!” The woman bows her head, the only part of her body I can see, but her hair covers most of her face besides her eyes. “To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you so late this evening?”

“Evangeline.” His tone—one I’ve heard Gavin use when talking to me—has everyone glancing at him, before Eli shakes himself. Suddenly he’s all business. “Evelyn has returned. These Surface Dwellers have brought her back to us, but her memories are wiped clean. The nanobots have done their job. Too well, it would seem.”

The woman’s eyes widen; then she follows Eli’s gaze over to me, and the door flies open, banging against the wall. It makes me jump, but the woman ignores it.

She leans against the door and I’m surprised to see how familiar she looks to me. As if I’ve seen her before, but I can’t remember where.

“Come, come. Get in here before someone sees you,” she demands.

We step inside, and she immediately shuts and locks the door behind us. She starts toward me, but Eli brushes her off. “No time for that now. We need to get her memories back or she’ll never be able to help us. Where’s the best place?”

She gives him a bland look. “The Medical Sector,” Evangeline says.

“You know we can’t risk that,” Eli says.

She gives him another look, but sighs. “Follow me.” She pushes past him, leading the way down a hallway painted a pretty lavender with wood wainscoting on the bottom. It reminds me a little of Asher’s house in Rushlake. Pictures of a little girl are framed on the wall and I tip my head to the side to study them closer. I think I recognize her from somewhere.

Eli clears his throat. “Come on, Evelyn. We should get started as quickly as we can.”

I follow him, though I keep glancing back at the photos until I get into the room. It too is purple with the wood wainscoting. The pictures in this room are all of flowers. Disappointment pricks at me. The answer to where I’ve seen that girl before had been just at the edge of my memory.

“Lay here.” Eli gestures to the bed. “I’ll be right back. I need to get some things. I hadn’t been expecting to do this.”

He starts to walk past me, but I place a hand on his arm as the question I should have asked first finally comes to mind. “How did you know we were here?”

“The nanite substrate.”

“Excuse me?”

“The nanite substrate. The green substance? It moves. I’m sure you noticed.” He lifts his eyebrows. “Mother has me studying it. I told you. And we’ve been trying to figure out what it is. We’ve figured out it has something to do with the nanites of the deceased bodies, but we’re not sure exactly how they went from”—he glances at me—“human bodies to that substance. We’ll figure it out eventually. Anyway, it sets off the alarms in the Sector. As you can imagine, Mother hated that the alarms were going off every time the stuff migrated.” He shrugs when Gavin scoffs. “So I rerouted them to send an alert to my slate. That included
all
the alarms for the Sector. Including when the sub docked, and the alarms for the Tube station. I knew the minute you came back.” He glances at Gavin. “You weren’t as secretive as you thought you were.”