The Madness Project (The Madness Method) (68 page)

He must have known what I was thinking, because he said,
“Mine’s locked.  It always is.”

“I know.”

“That means…the Ghost?”

I shuddered and bent over my knees.  “Must be.”

If it was the same Jixy who had shot my father, he could
move in and out of spaces at will.  Including my bed chamber.  Suddenly I was
wide awake.  There was no way I could sleep now.  He could still be here, too,
hiding somewhere else in the room, watching, waiting…

But he wasn’t a Cloak.  He would be visible as soon as he
finished moving, and I would surely see him.  I hoped.

Maybe I shouldn’t care
, a nasty little voice
whispered from the dark spaces of my mind.

I flinched and drove it away.  “I have to get out of here,”
I whispered.  “I can’t stay.”

Zagger didn’t protest—not that I’d expected him to.  Any
other day he would have left at once to get the motorcar ready, but he didn’t
tonight.  He went to the door and peered out, then stood there waiting for me
to join him.  I got up after a moment and followed him into the hall.  Shadow
shifted behind me, but when I turned to see, I found only emptiness.

“Who are you?” I asked suddenly, stopping and planting my
feet.  “Don’t hide like a coward.”

Zagger swore and came back to my side.  “Your Highness,” he
hissed.  “Are you insane?”

“Maybe.”

“Not today,” a voice said in the shadows.

I jumped.  The silhouette of a man flashed in the corridor. 
Just for a moment.  Just long enough that I knew he was staring straight at
me.  And then he was gone.

A breeze stirred behind me.

“One day…”

I spun around.  Zagger was white as a sheet, revolver drawn
and hammer cocked, his other hand stretched out toward me.  The silhouette
vanished behind him.

“You won’t be there to protect him.”

My blood turned cold, because all of a sudden, everything
made sense.

“Why don’t you just kill me?” I shouted, clenching my fists
at the shadows.  “You’ve got the chance now!  Just do it!”

But the hall was empty, and silent.  We stood breathless for
endless moments, waiting, but nothing else happened.

“What the hell was that?” Zagger growled, still staring
around, still holding his arm toward me, ready to drive me behind him in an
instant.

“Don’t you see?” I said.  My voice sounded thin and pale in
the shadows.  “It was always me.  I was the one he meant to shoot, not Trabin. 
I should have died that day.”

Chapter 2 — Hayli

The day after I escaped the Science Ministry, rumors were
flying about the Hole like mad that some of the skitters had seen Shade
prowling about, but none of them could tell me where he was or where he might
have gone.  No one but Shade’s little crew knew the truth of the bad business
he’d fallen into, but that didn’t stop Vim and Link from making nasty comments
about how Shade couldn’t handle the streets.  And that just made me furious because
I was afraid they were right. 

Shade had always seemed so strong.  I couldn’t conjure a
reason why life with us would wear him down so bad that he’d want to forget it
all.  I wanted to believe it wasn’t his choice, that he’d been snared by
Branigan and that was the end, but deep inside I knew I was wrong.  I only
wished I knew how to help, because it broke my heart to see Shade floundering
and fighting so hard to hide it from the rest of us.

Bugs found me out in the enclosure after dinner, in that spectral
hour between the sun setting and the gas lamp coming on.  He didn’t say a word,
just sat down beside me against the wall and pulled up his knees.

“What’s bothering, Bugs?” I asked, giving him a little hug.

He gave a shuddering sigh.  “Why does Shade keep lamming
off?  Is it he dan’ like us anymore?”

“Not a bit,” I said, trying to sound cheerier than I felt. 
“He’s just got lots of important business to take care of.”

“He looks awful,” he said.  “Every time I see him.  Like
he’s sick.  But he won’t let no one help him.”

I tightened my grip on his shoulder, leaning my cheek on the
spiky tufts of his hair.  “Dan’ you worry about Shade, Bugs.  Just watch, he’s
ganna save us all.”

Bugs laughed and peeked up at me.  “Sorry Hayli, I was
supposed to tell you that Kantian wants to see you.”

I swallowed, hard.  I hadn’t talked to Kantian all by myself
since before I’d seen him at Kalethelia.  Every time I’d seen him since, I’d
got a prickly sort of uncomfortableness.  He was Kantian, and he was the Boss,
and he’d made sure I stayed alive all these years, so why did I suddenly feel
afraid of him?  I’d always felt a bit fitsy around him, but that wasn’t the
same as fear.  Not this kind of fear.  This kind of fear clammed me up inside,
made me want to fly away.  Made me doubt him.

But I couldn’t let Bugs know that, so I tousled his hair and
scrambled to my feet.  “Thanks Bugs.  I’ll gan and find him.  And keep an eye
out for Shade, but dan’ you worry about him.  He knows what he’s about.”

“Yeah,” Bugs said, wide-eyed.  “He’s gotta come back soon,
because I need to show him the new punch I learned!”

He scampered off into the shadows, and I sighed and made my
way into the Hole.  Kantian was waiting for me in one of the big offices that
had probably belonged to the factory foreman.  The place had never really been
cleaned up after the fire.  It was still a jumble of broken furniture and
scattered papers, so faded now you couldn’t even read them.  I wondered why
Kantian had picked this office to meet me in, except that it was tucked far
away from the living areas of the Hole, far out of earshot of the other
skitters.

“Hayli,” he said, waving me in.

He used his whole hand—at least that was a good sign.  I
slipped into the room and he gestured at the door, so I closed it quietly
behind me, leaving us with just the light of an oil lamp to fight the shadows.

“Yes, Boss?” I asked, standing next to the door like I
needed an escape.

“You helped Shade with the Macallum riot, didn’t you?”

I nodded.

“Good, that’s good.”  He sat on the desk, clasping his hands
and studying me thoughtfully.  “I was impressed by you lot’s work there.  But
I’m a bit worried that Shade won’t do anything with the ground he gained. 
People are starting to forget what they got so angry about.  Give it too much
more time and things will just slip back to normal.”

“He had to squirrel,” I said.  “Lay low a few days.”

“Yes, I know,” he said.  “I sent him to the palace to do
some investigations.”

I frowned.  He’d sent Shade to the palace?  He should have
sent us both together.  But Shade could’ve come back and asked me to go with
him, and he didn’t.  I sighed.  Of course he didn’t.

For just a moment I thought about how I’d met Prince Tarik
in the Science Ministry.  Could Shade have disguised himself to look like the
Prince?  Could that have been…?  No, that was impossible.  Shade didn’t know
aught about the Prince.  He didn’t even know what Tarik looked like—he never
paid any attention to the papers.  And he sure wouldn’t have known aught about
microscopes and Psych. Labs.  I thought it might have been funny, if Shade had
been with me.  I wondered what they would have thought of each other.

“What’d you need to see me for, Boss?” I asked, sticking my
hands in my pockets.

“I hear you did a bit of infiltration yourself,” he said. 
“Did you find out anything?”

I swallowed. 
Was that really a scientist you were
talking to at Kalethelia?  Was that really Dr. Kippler?

“I went to the Science Ministry,” I said.  “Div’n find much,
though.  Except they’re doing things to mages.  I dan’ na what.  But I think
whatever they’re doing is about to get worse.”  I froze when I realized I’d
been rubbing the back of my neck.  I shoved my hand back in my pocket and said,
“I better tell Rivano about that.”

“You think they’ll go after all the mages?” he asked, eyes
glinting at me.  “They’ll have a serious challenge if they try it.”

I bit my lip.  “Can I gan now, Boss, or have you got a job
for me?”

Kantian nodded, slapping his hands on his thighs.  “Scram. 
If you can get on the palace grounds again, see what else you can find out. 
Might be we have a battle to get ready for.”

I nodded and laid my hand on the door latch.

“Oh,” he said.  “You’ll want to report to Rivano as soon as
you can.  I’ve told him I think you’re ready to start doing more work for him,
and I believe he’s got some already lined up for you.  And send Shade my way
soon as you see him.  I want to know what he’s found out.  He’d better have
something for me or he might find himself on his own.  I have no patience for
kids who can’t put the good of the Hole over their own private wants.”

I nodded and made my escape.

The other skitters were in the lounge, causing a royal
ruckus, but I barely had to scan the room to see that Shade still wasn’t
there.  I gritted my teeth and stalked up to the nearest group of them.

“You seen Shade?” I asked.  They stared at me, round-eyed,
like I’d sprung out of the cement, so I added, “Kantian’s looking for him.”

Bobs shrugged, his round face paler than ever.  “I dan’ na,
Hayli.  Haven’t seen him for ages.”

“I saw him earlier,” Whip said, barely whispering.  “But
then he left again.”

“Again?”

I clapped my hands on my cap, grinding my teeth with
frustration and worry.  None of the other skitters had a jot to add to that, so
finally I sighed and turned to leave.  A hand caught my arm just as I reached
the door.  Anuk.  He didn’t try to draw me back, though.  Instead he pushed me
forward, out into the hallway.

“You got a ken where Shade is?” I asked, scowling up at him.

“Saw him about an hour back,” Anuk said, eyes shadowed.  “He
didn’t look so good, Hayli.  I mean, worse than usual.  I’m worried.”

I hesitated.  “I know.  Me too.”

“Something’s got him…he’s going through something and I
don’t know how to help.”

I patted his arm.  “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I said, but my
lie didn’t convince anyone.  “Which way’d he gan?”

He let out all his breath and jerked his head.  “Back out
the west door.  By the park.”

“Thanks.  Say,” I said, spotting his torch on the crate
behind him.  “Can I borrow that a bit?”

“Sure.”  He swiped it off the crate and dropped it in my
hands.  “Careful, Hayli.  Let me know if you need me.”

I nodded, my voice skitting out on me, and slipped away to
the west porch.  But if Shade had been out at the wall, he’d already left by
the time I got there.  I frowned, peeking into all the shadows, finding
nothing.

“Shade?” I whispered into the darkness.

Still nothing.

I picked my way over to the wall and leaned on the dry
stones.  The darkness seemed thicker out in the park, with its hissing pipes
and sulphur stench.  Shade wouldn’t have gone out there.  No one in their right
mind would go out there. 

Then again, that didn’t exactly define Shade’s current
condition, so I flicked the torch on and swung the beam over the ground, over
the brambles and the overgrown weeds and the misshapen boughs of the trees. 
Over the dark silhouette of a boy, slumped against a tree trunk.

I swallowed.  Then I hollered, “Shade!”

He didn’t move.

I’d never crossed the wall.  Never never never.  Few things
terrified me, but that park did.  But Shade was out there…not moving.  I gulped
back my fear and clambered onto the wall.  Straddled it for the longest time,
then dropped to the ground beyond.  The mossy soil squished under my feet,
softer than I expected.  It masked my footsteps as I stalked forward, swinging
the light back and forth to make sure no rabby squirrels were sneaking up on
me.

I stopped beside Shade and shone the light full in his face.

He was deathly pale, pale as ice.  He should have looked
sickly, only he didn’t.  Somehow I even caught my heart beating faster than
ever when his dark lashes fluttered against his cheeks.  He wore only his white
shirtsleeves and trousers, and I glimpsed a few splotches of dried blood
flecked over his side.  I couldn’t tell if it was his blood or, worse, someone
else’s.  A minute and he didn’t move, and the light just gleamed off his white
tattoo, then all at once he flinched and threw up an arm to block the
brightness.

“What’re you doing out here, Shade?” I asked, dropping to a
crouch beside him.  “You must be frozen.”

He shuddered away from me.  Some mumbled words fell from his
lips, but I couldn’t pick them out.  He curled his knees up to his chest and
hid his face from me.

“Leave.”

I caught that word.

“No,” I said.  “What’s wrong with you?  You sick?”

He laughed, a cold, hollow laugh.  “No.”

“Shade, you’re scaring me.”

I reached out to touch his shoulder.  Even with his face
hid, he must’ve had some kind of extra sense warning him, because his hand shot
out and knocked the torch from my hand.  It spun off into the darkness.  Hit a
tree, and flickered out.  I scrambled after it, groping through the darkness
until I found it next to a reeking metal pipe.  Shuddering, I slammed the torch
against my hand once, then twice.  Nothing.  I couldn’t see Shade at all now. 
I couldn’t see anything.