The Proving (35 page)

She’s weak. Death is inevitable.

Skye shook away the thought. Such a Spartan statement didn’t feel right here in this place, in this moment.

“Ben,” Tahlia said, panic creeping into her voice. “She’s going into cardiac arrest.”

“Wei!” Gabriel shouted. Skye held him back, twisting his arm. He cried out in pain; she sidled around him, putting herself between him and Wei.

“Just let them help her,” Skye said, looking into his dark eyes and holding his concentration. “Let. Them. Help. Her.”

His breathing came out so fast that for a moment, she thought he might pass out. His panic had escalated to a point of no return.
He can’t calm himself down. If he gets past me, he’s going to push Ben aside.

“It’s my fault,” Gabriel said. “Wei, it’s all my fault. It’s all my fault.”

He began to cry. Skye held back her disgust and used the opportunity to gently push him back a few more steps. She gave Cassy a look and he stepped up, putting himself between Gabriel and Skye.

“She has a neural abnormality,” Ben said. He ran his medscanner across Wei’s scalp, gently brushing aside her black hair. “I have a reading on her left hemisphere where there’s no oxygenated hemoglobin, as if it’s blocked.”

“What does that mean?” Gabriel whimpered.

“Oxygenated hemoglobin fuels cell activity,” Tahlia explained.

“There’s a dead zone,” Ben said, “and it might be causing the cardiac arrest.”

Skye stepped closer, pulling her VR rifle. Ben had removed two small wires from his medscanner. A diode was affixed at the end of each wire, and with a steady hand Ben placed one diode on the right side of Wei’s temple and the other diode under her right ear. A message appeared on the screen.

“I’m performing a neural fibrillation,” he said. “Tahls, hands off.”

Tahlia raised her hands, just like Athenian surgeons always did in the holo-movies. “Clear.”

“Clear,” Ben said, pushing a button on the medscanner.

Wei’s back arched as an electrical shock hit her body. Skye flinched at the sight of it, surprised to feel so much worry infecting her mind.

She’s not one of yours.

She’s part of my brother’s Coterie. And she’s just a child.

“Again,” Ben said.

“Clear,” Tahlia said.

“Clear.” He pressed the button again. Wei’s back arched again as her body reacted to the shock. Skye looked away, overcome with emotion. Gabriel’s hands were pressed against his head as he watched over Cassy’s shoulder. A tear had made its way down Reza’s fat cheek, hanging from his chin. Cleo looked on, her mouth furiously chewing a piece of gum. The Historian was beside her, watching with a stoic expression.

They’re all lost in the moment. You’ll have to do what’s necessary when it comes. When Wei’s Specter appears . . . If her Specter rises up from her corpse . . .

Skye’s finger rested gently on the trigger of her VR rifle.

“I have a faint signal,” Ben said. He removed the diodes from her head and affixed them to her torso: one on her chest, one on the side of her ribcage. “I’m going to perform ventricular fibrillation now. If it doesn’t work, we need to move her inside the office so I can connect to the gravity battery.”

“Clear,” Tahlia said.

Skye felt a lump grow in her throat. She swallowed hard, trying not to think about what a Spectral form of Wei might look like. It would rise up from her body like some kind of spirit, glowing with a bright yellow energy. It would look around, deciding who among the Coterie would be its first victim.

Shoot fast, before anyone can stop you.

“Clear,” Ben said. He pressed the button again. Wei’s back arched more violently, then fell back to the floor. Her mouth opened. A quiet, soft whine escaped her lips. She took a deep breath. Her eyelids fluttered open.

“Wei!” Gabriel sobbed. He pushed past Cassy and knelt beside her. His hands shook; he rested his head on her stomach, crying softly. “I’m so sorry, little bug. I’m so, so sorry.”

“By Hades, I don’t believe it,” Cleo said, mouth agape. “People don’t survive Specter attacks. This girl’s one in a million.”

“One in seventy-one thousand,” the Historian said. The other kids pushed past him, crowding around Wei and marveling as she stood up on wobbly legs. Skye could only watch, astonished, her finger still on the trigger of her rifle.

Ben reached out for Gabriel, then thought better of it and simply set down the medscanner, unhooking the diodes. He stood up. “There have been a couple recorded survivors of Specter attacks. But the Specters in question were already terribly weak to begin with. And the survivors . . .” He let it trail off, glancing down at Wei with concern. He sighed. “Good job, Tahls.”

The girl nodded, unable to contain her smile. “You too, doctor.” She looked over at Skye. She was waiting for
confirmation
! Skye gave her a nod and it seemed to satisfy the girl.

“That bug’s claw went
into
her,” Cleo said. “I mean, this is totally amazing.”

Ben looked at Skye, wearing a cute grimace. She couldn’t help but smile. He had such simple expressions and said “Um” so often that it had immediately ignited her ire. But the calmness he’d displayed, his steady hands, the very look of authority on his face while he saved Wei’s life . . . that had been, well . . .

Hot. Might as well admit it. Enjoy the moment, girl. You earned it.

“You’re hurt, too,” she pointed out, breaking the silence that had fallen over all of them.

Ben looked down at his hand. “Oh. Yeah. Just a little scratch is all.” He took off his glove and held out his soft palm. A “scratch” was almost an overstatement . . . it was little more than a thin line on the surface of his skin. It seemed impossible that such a surface wound could cause so much bleeding.

“You guys,” Cleo said, holding up her VRacelet. On the dimly lit touchscreen was a digital timepiece. “Dawn is literally happening right now. In a few minutes, every Specter in the area is going underground. How about we get the hell out of here?”

“Yes,” Ben said, taking off his glasses and using one finger to wipe the sweat from his forehead. “We need to send an emergency message to the Spartan Defense Center.”

“Why?” Skye asked, unable to quell suspicion from bubbling up.

“Bad stuff,” Cleo said. “Bad, bad stuff. Specter tests, DNA tests, and a whole lot of Specters doing things they’re not supposed to do.”

“You breached Level One security.” The Historian’s voice came from right over Skye’s shoulder. She turned, surprised to see Seamus’s calm expression replaced by a look of absolute terror. It seemed so alien on his face that it was almost comical. “You’ve doomed us all.”

“So you say,” Skye muttered. She turned to Ben. “Talk. You’re saying they were conducting experiments on Specters? So the Specters got loose somehow?”

“Um.” He looked at Cleo. “Well, judging by what we found, it’s clear the breach came from
inside
the mountain. A Specter made its way through the mountain, into the Phenocyte reactor core, causing an emergency shut-off.”

“Then the shields went,” Cleo added. “And then the animals escaped the zoo.”

“That’s impossible,” Tahlia said. She looked up at her brother. “Right? Specters lose energy when they pass through solid mass. No Specter is strong enough to pass through meters and meters and meters of solid rock. Right, Ben?”

Ben opened his mouth, then shut it. He shook his head.

Tell them about the human Specter.

Skye turned away from them, staring at the steel shutters leading outside. She couldn’t tell them. Father would need to know first. That was what he would want.

“I don’t know what
exactly
was going on in that lab,” Cleo said, “but I sure would like to know who in Clan Persia thought they could build a Specter containment unit.”

“They lied to us,” Ben said. “All of our teachers. They told us a bedtime story so we would feel safe at night. The Specters are more dangerous than we’ve been led to believe.”

“Five minutes,” Cleo announced. “Then we’re
officially
safe.”

“We don’t know anything for sure,” Gabriel said. Skye listened to him take a deep breath, hiccupping. She didn’t want to see his face. The weakness would be written all over it: the red eyes, the wet cheeks, the pale lips. She didn’t want to see it — those types of extremely despondent emotions were so absent on Spartan campuses. Seeing them on Gabriel’s face had made her feel so uncomfortable . . .

Because he’s weak.

No. He’s happy his sister is alive.

“You’ve doomed us all,” Seamus said harshly, interrupting Skye’s thoughts. “When Parliament finds out that the Coterie breached a Level One clearance, they will . . .”

“What, Historian?” Skye spun around. She stepped up to Seamus, pushing the tip of her sharp nose against his. She was nearly his height; as he shrank back his shoulders slumped. “Why can’t you just tell us what you know, coward?”

Seamus backed up a step. “Because I
can’t
.”

“Yelling at him won’t help,” Ben said. “We just need to get to the Tumbler and get home. We’ve been through a lot. All of us.”

“Two minutes,” Cleo said.

Skye turned back to the shutters. It was bad enough the Historian’s cowardice had nearly gotten her killed . . . now he was clearly withholding information.

If you’re so upset about secrets, then tell everyone about the human Specter.

No. That information goes to Clan Sparta first. Father decides what to do with it.

. . . But what if Father knows about the human Specters?

“Cassidy,” she said. Her brother stepped beside her. He was still holding Wei’s pistol in his left hand, his own pistol in his right. He stood a head shorter than her, yet he seemed to have grown a few inches since the morning.

You’re just not used to him standing so tall.

“You did really well,” she said. She swallowed her jealousy. “Father will be pleased.”

“I don’t care.”

“You should.”

“Well I don’t. I just want to get out of here.”

“
I’m
proud of you.”

He took a deep breath. “Thanks. I care about
that
.”

She smiled and reached an arm around his shoulder.

“Time to go,” Cleo announced. “The party’s over. Don’t worry about the mess . . . our hosts have graciously agreed to clean everything up. It’s the least they can do.”

Skye stepped aside, watching Gabriel walk with Wei wrapped tightly around his waist. The girl looked sleepy and sick, like she might vomit at any moment.
But she’s alive. She’s alive because of Ben’s quick thinking.

The Athenian and his sister put away their medical kits, following Cleo and Reza and the Historian. As Ben passed he gave her a weak smile. A
cute
smile. She missed the chance to smile back before he turned away. There would be other chances. They would be working together a lot from here on out. They would take a couple classes together. They would train twice a year together. They would serve Parliament together whenever needed.

And who knows what the future holds?

They stood in a line in front of the steel shutters, Cassy on one end and Skye on the other.

“All right,” Skye said, lifting her rifle. “Open the shutters, Cleo.”

Cleo entered a command on her VRacelet. The steel shutters rose. Morning sunlight seemed hesitant to slip inside the loading bay. The sun was somewhere to the left of the facility, and the morning rays bounced off the two black Tumblers, casting weak shadows over the ground. Now they could see clearly just how many had died in the rescue attempt. Spartan bodies were strewn everywhere. One was reaching out toward the entrance. Two more lay near the rescue Tumbler. Three had formed a perimeter, dying with their VR rifles still clutched in their hands.

“Slow,” Skye ordered. “Gabriel . . . slow!”

“Sorry.” He stopped while the rest of them caught up. He’d managed to take a handful of steps, pulling Wei with him, foolishly getting ahead of everyone else and putting himself right in the line of fire should something spring up from the shadows.

He’s afraid. He’s weak. This is why Father doesn’t trust Parliament. It’s run by people like Gabriel who can’t control their emotions.

Skye cleared the thought, mentally discharging it like a proton bullet. Gabriel had at least remembered the role of the Coterie, and that was something. Had Gabriel not spoken up, they would have never come to this place. They would have returned and the first thing Father would have asked was: why? Why hadn’t they responded to the distress call and fulfilled their duty? She’d been wrong and he’d been right. And he’d been willing to risk his life, too, if it meant saving others.

Don’t stick up for him.

Why was she so conflicted?

Skye pointed her rifle toward the trees at the edge of the small lot in front of the doors. The camera on her glasses searched for movement. It identified something: a red circle appeared in the thick leaves a handful of meters from the ground.

“Chi, enhance.” The camera zoomed in, giving her a pic-in-pic.

A bird. A tall bird with a flat head and red plumage.

“Clear,” Skye called. She fought the urge to check her six. Instead, she moved closer to the other Tumbler, panning her rifle back toward the facility.

Trust Cassy.

“We’re inside,” Gabriel’s voice came through the earpiece.

“Get Wei in the back,” came Ben’s voice, stern and professional. “I want to do a complete scan and get some electrolytes in her body.”

“Skye,” Cleo said. “You should probably get in here. The satellites are back up. We have an emergency comm request.”

Skye turned. Cassy had his back to her, pistols pointed at the sparse pines just beyond the gravel lot on the opposite end. Just like he’d been taught. Just like a true Spartan warrior. Skye backed toward him so she could cover the entire entrance to the facility. “Back up slowly, Cass. I’ll cover you.”

Cass backed up to the Tumbler door. Skye followed him inside, blinking a few times to adjust to the dim lighting. Cleo was at her control panel. Wei was lying on an aluminum tray that had been lifted from the floor in the rear. Ben sat beside her, inserting a thin needle into her arm while Gabriel and the Historian watched. Reza and Tahlia sat in the seats nearest to Wei, holding hands.