The Madness Project (The Madness Method) (73 page)

Chapter 6 — Hayli

I saw a whole sea of faces staring at me, but I couldn’t
make out a single one of them.  Usually when Kantian gave a kid the lash, he
did it quiet-like, in secret, never calling anyone out in front of the group. 
But he’d sent the whole lot of skitters up to watch my fate, and he’d even
brought in some men—real, grown men, armed with revolvers—to make sure all they
did was watch.  And the way he held so tight to my arm, I guessed there was
more rage than justice in what he’d got planned.

“Why’re you so scared of me?” I hissed.  I tried to get my
hands free, but he had them knotted together good and tight.

He shot me a furious glare.  “You know things you
shouldn’t.”

“You mean that man you’ve been talking to, that scientist? 
Dr. Kippler?  I div’n betray you, Kantian.  You betrayed us first!”

He spun, hand flying.  I felt my hands hit the pavement,
pain shattering up my arms and flashing across my cheek.  Some of the kids
cried out, but Kantian just grabbed my elbow and hauled me back up.  I
stumbled, my gaze frantically searching the little crowd.  Wasn’t there anyone
who’d help me?  Just one?  Kantian wasn’t going to punish me.  He was going to
execute me.  I knew it with a certainty, all at once, and I swallowed hard on a
sob of fear.  I wouldn’t be afraid.  Never.

If only I hadn’t driven Shade away.  Oh, God.  Those things
I’d said… An image flashed into my mind—his face, stricken with grief and
horror and utter desolation.  And I’d taken that wound and ground my heel into
it.  Me.  The one who should’ve stood by him.  I’d turned on him, and who knew
if maybe…maybe I’d driven him to his death…

I closed my eyes and let Kantian lead me to the stone column
the kids used as a goal post for their ball games.

“Not a word,” he hissed in my ear.  “Keep that to yourself.”

My lip stung too badly, or I would’ve spat at him.  Instead
I just glared at him.  The skitters had started whispering, their faces awful
pale.  I finally spotted out Jig and Anuk by the wall, tense and furious, but I
knew they wouldn’t step forward.  Couldn’t.  Not with those revolvers flashing
on the belts of Kantian’s toughs, warning them all away.  I was alone.

He shoved me toward the pillar.

“
Kantian!
”

One shout, and my heart froze.  All the skitters fell
silent, all at once.  Kantian and I both turned to see Shade striding straight
for us.  The kids parted around him, staring at him wide-eyed, but I had to
bite my lip to keep from falling apart.

“Shade,” Kantian said, hand like a tourniquet on my arm.  “Back
off.”

Shade didn’t even slow down.  He was an oncoming storm, all
rage and darkness, his white tattoo burning like lightning.  When he’d almost
reached us he stopped suddenly, and before anyone could move, his hand flashed
out, the grey light shining off the barrel of a gun.

“Let her go,” he said.  “Or I swear by Wake I will make
you.”

“Shade!”

Everyone started looking about in confusion, because that
was definitely Derrin’s voice, but no one had seen him for ages.  And yet there
he was, standing next to Coins.  Shade’s gaze flicked back toward him, but he
didn’t so much as flinch.  Didn’t remove that gun, pointing like an accusation
at Kantian’s head.  The toughs stood statue-still, hands hovering over their revolvers. 
Any minute and they’d decide they’d seen enough, and it’d all be over.

“Shade, stand down,” Derrin said.  “
Stand down!
”

The muscle in Shade’s jaw tightened.  For an endless long
minute he didn’t move at all, then all at once he flung the gun aside.  We were
still watching it clatter across the pavement when Shade grabbed Kantian by the
front of his jacket and slammed him against the pillar.

“You think she was the traitor?” he hissed.

I stumbled a step away from them, heart pattering, throat
burning.  One of the toughs grabbed me from behind, his arm like a chain across
my shoulders.  I wanted to beg Shade to stop, to get away, but I knew he’d
never listen to me.  He grinned, a mad, feral kind of grin, madder than ever
because of the terror in Kantian’s eyes.

“I’m the one you ought to punish.”  He shoved Kantian one
last time, and released him.  “So let her go.”

“Don’t you dare try to stand up to me, boy,” Kantian
growled.

The smile vanished from Shade’s face, and my blood turned
icy cold.  “You’re not the most powerful man I’ve ever stood up to,” he said.

“Shade!” I cried.  “You dan’ have to do this.”

He turned and met my gaze as two of the toughs came and
grabbed him by the arms.  He didn’t pitch any kind of struggle.  His eyes held
mine a moment longer, then he turned away.  But he stood a little straighter,
and his face grew a little colder.

“This is what he wanted all along,” he said, to me.  Then,
to Kantian, “Isn’t it?”

“How many different sides have you been playing, Shade?”
Kantian asked.  “How many backs have you stabbed so far?”

I held my breath, but Shade gave a smile that looked more
like a snarl.  “One too few, apparently,” he said.

“You all think he was your friend?” Kantian cried, talking
at all the skitters.  “You have no idea what kind of traitor this kid is.  How
brazen he’s been about betraying all of you.  The closer he pretended to be to
you, the worse he betrayed you.  And now Bugs is dead because of him.  Don’t
you think he deserves to be punished?”

Shade’s face went perfectly still, but it scared me worse
than all the anger he’d shown earlier.  I half-expected the skitters to take up
Kantian’s rallying cry and call for Shade’s blood, but they didn’t.  They just
stared at Kantian, at the men twisting Shade’s arms behind him, at Shade cold
and calm and unmoved.  I shivered and clutched my hands on my bare arms. 

“Chain him up,” Kantian snapped.

The men shoved him against the pillar, dragging his hands
forward so they could manacle them to the ring on top of it.  Soon as he was
tied up, Kantian unhooked the lash from his belt.  One of the toughs grabbed
Shade’s shirt and ripped it from his shoulders.

Half the skitters screamed when the first lash fell.  I
couldn’t.  I flinched, but couldn’t tear my gaze from his back, his undershirt
and skin all split from shoulder blade to hip.  When the second blow struck, I
saw Jig jerk away from the wall, hands balled in fists.  One of the toughs
noticed him too, and flashed his gun at him to ward him back.  Jig’s face
turned terribly pale, every muscle in him strained to breaking, like a spring
stretched too far.  Anuk grabbed him by the shoulder.

A gasp of pain dragged my attention back to Shade.  His
whole back was a bloody mess, and he sagged against the pillar, his feet
slipping in the pool of his own blood.  My stomach churned.

“Kantian!” I cried, my voice breaking.  “Kantian, stop,
please!  You’re ganna kill him!”

“Let him go,” Derrin said.  “This is madness.”

Kantian paused just long enough to turn and glare at me. 
“Do you want to take his place?”

My gaze flashed to Shade, almost expecting him to make some
kind of sharp come-back, but he’d sunk to his knees, his head pressed against
the rough stone of the pillar.  All the words died on my lips, and I stared,
and stared, waiting to see him turn and smile at me, or just to see his shoulders
lift in a breath, but he didn’t move at all.

“Shade!” I screamed.  Nothing.  “You killed him!  You
killed
him, you—”

“It would take more than a lashing to kill that boy.”

We all spun around that time.  Rivano stood at the edge of
the crowd, Scorch and Shiver and a handful of other mages in a close knot
behind him.  Finally, finally Shade’s head twitched, just enough that he could
get a glimpse of the Clan Master.  A little sadness tugged my heart, because
soon as he saw him, he closed his eyes with the ghost of a weary kind of
smile. 

“You said you would stay out of the Hole’s affairs if I
stayed out of the Clan’s,” Kantian said.

“But you haven’t stayed out of the Clan’s affairs,” Rivano
said, stepping closer.  “You tried to use that boy to sully the Clan’s name
with your anarchist crimes, didn’t you?  Tried to manipulate us so that we’d
have to stand with you against the king’s men?  But I’m afraid the Clan wants
nothing to do with your war.”

“You wanted it as much as I did!” Kantian cried.

Rivano’s eyes darkened.  “
A
war,” he said.  “Not your
war.”

One of the toughs raised his gun.  I think I shouted
something, but Scorch moved faster than anyone, his hand flashing out in a
blaze of light.  The gunman swore and jerked his hand back, the revolver crashed
to the ground, gleaming red like a furnace.

“Call off this nonsense now, before anyone else gets hurt,”
Rivano said.  “Unchain that mage and walk away.”

“Do you have any idea who he is?  What he’s done?”

Rivano shrugged, looking unimpressed.  “Do you?” 

“That boy is a traitor!”

“There’s a traitor here, I’m sure,” Rivano remarked.  “I
just don’t believe it’s him.”  His gaze shifted to me, and he lifted a hand to
beckon me over.  “Hayli, come.”

The tough let me go.  I stood ashamed, because I knew if I
so much as twitched the wrong way, Rivano would see that clockwork tattoo on my
neck.  But he kept gesturing me to join him, so I bit my lip and lifted my
chin, and walked quietly toward him.  To my relief, he switched his attention
back to Shade and Kantian before I reached him.

“Let him go,” he said.  “I’m not asking again.”

“You’ve got five mages with you.  You’re outnumbered.”

“Perhaps.”

The word had barely left Rivano’s lips when Derrin stirred,
and came to join us.

“Derrin?” Kantian asked, face turning a bit red.  “What’re
you doing?  You’re supposed to be working for me.”

Derrin smiled.  “That’s what you thought.”

“He never worked for you,” Rivano said.

I stifled a gasp and Kantian’s mouth twisted, but he didn’t
get a chance to retort, because suddenly Jig and Anuk went streaming after
Derrin.

“Stay where you are!” Kantian cried, face red.

Jig shot him a smug kind of look and stopped beside Derrin,
arms folded.

Coins slipped around behind Kantian and, faster than I could
follow, slipped the lock on Shade’s manacles.  Soon as the chain fell free,
Shade collapsed.  I watched, heart in my throat, as Coins looped an arm around
him and hauled him to his feet.  Somehow he was still awake, barely, his eyes
shifting listlessly over the crowd.

“Get him inside,” Rivano said to Coins.  “I have a feeling
he’ll be on his feet again in a few minutes.”

“All you lot, scram,” Kantian snapped at the crowd of
skitters.  “Nothing more to see out here.”

They stared at him wide-eyed, then, without so much as a
peep, they turned and shuffled into the Hole.  Coins waited until the kids had
all gotten inside, then Anuk went and helped him haul Shade across the
enclosure.  One by one the rest of the folks moved away.  Kantian snapped and
snarled at his toughs, until they slunk away like kicked mutts, and then he
disappeared inside too. 

“Dan’ you let him back in there!” I cried.  “Kantian’s a
traitor.  He’ll get us all killed!”

“I’d like to see him try,” Jig said, his voice dangerously
low, and he stormed off toward the Hole.

“Jig, wait,” I called.  “Be careful!  You can’t stop him
alone.”

But he didn’t even slow down.  I gritted my teeth and turned
to follow him, but Rivano held up his hand suddenly.

“Hayli,” he said.

I jumped.  My name ground out on a knife’s edge, jagged and
sharp, and everything inside me wilted up.  I swallowed hard.

“Yes, Master?”

“Turn around,” he said.

“Oh, God,” I whispered, and, biting my lip hard, I faced
away from him.

“What is that on your neck?”

I dragged in a shattered breath, shivering as the wind tore
over me.  “I dan’ na.  I dan’ na what it is.”

“So,” he said.  “They did get to you.  And I suppose you’ve
been taking our secrets to them?”

“What, who?” I cried.  “I’ve not told anyone’s secrets to
anybody!  I’m not a traitor!”

“Maybe not intentionally.”  I turned around, flinching as I
saw the anger black in his eyes.  “I’m sorry, Hayli.  If they’ve gotten to you,
then I cannot trust you.”

I gritted my teeth, knotting my hands, wanting to fight. 
“But I haven’t done anything!  I dan’ understand.  What do you think I’ve
done?”

“I think you’ve only done what you believed was right.  You
may not even remember doing anything.  But that does not mean that you did no
wrong.  We cannot let you stay.  You put everyone here in danger.”

“But—”  I clacked my jaws shut.  For all I wanted to wage
war on the universe just then, and for all Rivano was trying to sever me from
everything I’d ever known, I couldn’t argue with him.  Arguing was weak.  But
stars, if I didn’t feel weak just then.  “What am I supposed to do?”

He tried a smile.  “You’re a smart girl, Hayli.  I’m sure
you will manage.”

He took a step back, then turned to walk away, leaving my
heart and all the world breaking.  “Wait!” I cried, just before he got to the
steps.  I could barely speak.  “Please.  Do I have to gan away now?”

“Yes,” he said.  “Now.  You’ll understand why, of course. 
Kantian thought you’d betrayed us to Branigan.  He didn’t know the truth, that
you’ve betrayed us to the Ministry.”

But I haven’t…
I thought, then asked the crow,
I
haven’t, have I?

Not that I recall
, she said, sadly. 
But I’m not
sure I would be able to, if they’ve trapped your mind.

“Master,” I said.  “You’ve got to listen to me. 
Kantian
betrayed us to the Ministry.  I saw him talking to one of the scientists.  And
he must be teamed up with Branigan, too.  There’s no other way he would have
known…”