The Unfinished World (The Armor of God Book 2) (16 page)

“
Hello
?” yelled Ezra, and his voice went down the hallway, without an answer in return. “We have to get out of here.”

“We will,” said Akiva. “I feel like they’re keeping us here until they figure out what to do with us. These people aren’t idiots; they saw the Creux outside, they understand we’re valuable in some way. They’ll figure out we’re not actually infected. We just need to explain to them why we’re here—what’s happening with the Laani. And we need to make them believe us.”

“Do they know? It’s happening just outside their door,” said Jena.

“I don’t think so,” replied Akiva. “If someone here does, they’re not letting anyone else in the city know. I heard them mention a leader—like, one person who governs this place. I expect we’re going to meet him soon.”

The hours passed, and no one in the cell knew if it was day or night, but suddenly Ezra discovered that he was the only one who remained awake, as if all of the others decided that night had fallen. Their sleeping schedule had been non-existent during the trip to Kerek—or rather, to Clairvert—as it had been so unpredictable; every time they set off from one of the oases, they couldn’t know how far they would have to go before they could rest again.

He didn’t know how they could find sleep. Yes, they were in a closed space, safer than the wilderness, and a bit calmer after having found Akiva and Milos Ravana . . . but how could they 
sleep
?

Ezra found it difficult to believe in Akiva’s hypothesis. The people of this city thought they were infected with the virus; they expected they would transform into monsters. Maybe this was a temporary holding cell before they were executed? Maybe not, but optimistic alternatives were few. Finding Akiva was only the first step towards their goal. How would they find the missing pieces of Milos Ravana and stop Lys if they were stuck in a cell?

Ezra felt his heart stop for a moment when he turned towards the darkness at the other side of the prison bars to find a shadow standing there.

“
Shhh
,” the shadow said, bringing a finger to its lips. It was like a ghost, and he couldn’t see her face, but Ezra could tell she was a girl. “Come here.”

Ezra looked over at the others. Jena and Erin shared the bed, and slept peacefully over the covers; Akiva and Garros had taken the floor. None of them were awoken by the ghost.

“Who are you?” he said, coming closer to her. “Can you let us out?”

A painful moan echoed through the cavernous hallway, coming from another cell. It scared Ezra, chilled his bones like it was foreshadowing his own destiny. It sounded like a man being tortured, but he couldn’t see, and that’s what made it worse.

“Don’t talk too loudly,” she said; he liked the purr of her voice—it was comforting enough to make him forget about the cold sweat on the sides of his face.

She finally came close enough to one of the torches at the sides of the cell, and her face was revealed: it was pretty, with eyes a wonderful hue between blue and purple, with long and wild auburn hair. There was something recognizable about her, a face he recognized from long ago, like a childhood friend.

But then, he remembered more clearly: this was the girl he saw in Kerek during the fight—the one he was trying hard to protect.

“I’m not here to let you out—I can’t,” she said. “I just came to thank you. I know you saw me back in the city, and that you were making sure I wasn’t hurt.”

He was too surprised to reply, had too many questions. He looked back; the others were still asleep. Akiva was snoring. “How the hell did you make it all the way here? You walked from
Kerek
?”

She chuckled. “Not everyone needs a Creux to survive.” There was confidence—perhaps cockiness—in her voice.

“You know about the Creux?” he asked; she was even pronouncing the word right. “What do you know?”

“I know a lot of things,” she replied. “But, again, I just came here to thank you. You’re a good person. And don’t worry, I don’t think they will harm you. I can tell you’re afraid.”

“That’s a relief,” he said. “I’m Ezra. I’m from Roue, a city in—”

“Yes. I know.”

“What’s your name?”

She smiled, flashing white teeth. Even the harsh light of the open fire of the torch made her look beautiful. “I’m Elena,” she said.

Ezra frowned, recognizing the name from one of the biggest questions that weren’t answered in Zenith. “I’m sorry. Did you say
Helena
?”

“Elena,” she repeated. Suddenly another howl coming from the depths of the cave joined the first. Then another. She looked to her left, afraid, as though something was coming for her from the darkness. “Ezra, I can’t stay here. In fact, if they see me, they’ll hurt me. I have to go, but don’t worry: you’ll see me again.”

The sounds became louder and louder, until he saw Garros open his eyes before sitting up in a sudden rush of panic, not recognizing his surroundings and frightened by the howls of the other prisoners hidden away in the darkness. “What the hell is all that?”

When Ezra looked back at Elena, she was gone.

“That’s what I was telling you about; I heard it yesterday as well,” said Akiva, shifting his weight, trying to find a comfortable position to get back to sleep. “It’s the others they keep here. Something’s wrong with this place. Hope we don’t stay here—” He was asleep before he finished the sentence.

“Who were you talking to?” asked Garros.

“It was—that girl . . . the girl from Kerek,” Ezra whispered, like it was still hard to believe. “I told you there was someone in the ruins. It was that girl. She had the same accent as Malachi. She’s
from
here.”

“What?” Garros got up. “What was she doing there?”

“I don’t know,” he said, looking out, trying to ignore the painful screams coming from the other cells. They were horrible, and amplified by the acoustics of the cave. “She knew who we are, man. She knew about the Creux—she even used that word. Her name is Elena.”

“
Helena
?”

“No, not Helena; Elena. I thought the same thing. I don’t know who she is, she didn’t tell me much, but I know she’s hiding something. I will look for her. The moment we get out of here. I’ll find out what she’s all about.”

When the screams finally died down and silence returned to the cave, Garros found a spot next to Erin. Her hand was hanging from the bed, so he grabbed it against his chest, and fell asleep on the floor.

Ezra couldn’t stop thinking of Elena. Was her name—and its closeness to Helena—a coincidence? They had never discovered what
the Helena Fork
was; not even Erin or Garros knew.

He started sweating. Sleeping behind bars was filling him with anxiety; somehow he felt like he was being watched, even if there was no one in sight.

Yet the others could sleep, and sleep well, it seemed.

Why am I so weak?

Ezra took a deep breath and closed his eyes, resting his head on a balled sheet and trying to ignore the rough surface of the floor. Things and words and faces—Elena’s face—swirled in a vortex within his head. Even with his eyes closed, it was disorienting. Maybe so much so, that he fell asleep.

You’re not
, Nandi whispered somewhere outside.

He woke up several hours later to the sound of voices—whispers—and found Erin and Garros standing next to the bars. Malachi and an older man stood at the other side; if this was an organized force, this second figure seemed to be higher in rank. He was wearing a uniform similar to Malachi’s, but more formidable, more thickly padded, especially on the shoulders, from where a thick red cape hung.

“It’s the way it is,” the man said, his voice was gruff, almost sickly, in contrast to his imposing exterior. “I don’t expect you’ll be hurt again, in any way, not by us.”

“Wish I could say the same. If this little runt touches her again—”

“Garros, shut up,” snapped Erin, and Ezra could see him gnashing his teeth. Garros was acting strange—angrier; Ezra wished if it was just an effect of the Creux, and not a new, unpleasant side of his friend and teacher.

 “What’s going on?” said Ezra, coming closer to the others.

“Sorry about your hand,” said Malachi. Ezra looked down at the hand he had harmed a few days back, saving Garros’ life; his loose fingernails hadn’t fully set in place, and they were bleeding again. He had probably twisted them during his sleep.

“You didn’t do this,” he said. “Are you letting us out?”

“Yes,” said the larger man. “You must be Ezra Blanchard. My name is Farren, and I’m captain of the Clairvert Guard. We’re preparing a hearing with the leader of Clairvert—”

“Heh.
Leader
. I don’t think they like
political
-sounding words,” explained Garros, amused.

“—and you should be meeting him in a few minutes.”

Ezra wanted to ask them about Elena, who hadn’t yet left his mind; he then remembered that she had taken a risk to visit them, and he shouldn’t betray her. “What is this place?”

“Exactly what it looks like,” said Erin. “It’s a prison.”

“It’s called the Caduceus, and we like to think of it as a sanatorium, not a prison,” explained Farren after clearing his throat of phlegm.

“Tell that to the others. I’m sure you’ve heard their screams,” said Akiva, indignant, finally awoken by the conversation. Soon after he said the words at a normal volume, he noticed Jena’s eyes opening.

“Well, madness is painful,” said Farren. “There are more than fifty men, women, and children here, and all of them are free to leave at any time. All they need to do is ask.”

“So what, they
choose
to be locked in here?” asked Erin.

“Yes. It’s either the Caduceus or the wasteland,” said Malachi harshly, not interested in explaining the rules to outsiders.

Ezra frowned and thought of Elena.

“They’re welcome to try their luck outside. When the Asili takes us, and it can take any one of us, we can’t be part of the community anymore. They are dangerous, sometimes even more dangerous than the monsters.”

“The Asili,” said Erin, recognizing the word. “Is that the virus?”

“Not the virus,” said the captain, looking at them like they were stupid. “The virus is called the
Laani
. The Asili is the heart of the mountain—there’s an enormous hole in the ground, deep in the caves. There’s light inside. It created these mountains; it keeps the monsters out. It keeps us alive, but it comes at a price.”

Erin looked at Garros, and then at Ezra. They were talking about the Creuxen’s energy, the energy at the center of every oasis. If it was the cause of madness, and it was hidden somewhere inside the mountain—

“There’s one in here,” whispered Ezra. “There’s a Creux somewhere in this mountain. Going by what he’s saying, it’s a powerful one. Maybe as powerful as Lazarus. Right?”

The guards looked at them as though they were speaking in a secret language.

“Yes, it might be another Creux,” said Erin, giving the two guards her back and looking directly at Akiva. “
Or
. . . it’s what we’re looking for. Guys, I think the missing pieces of Milos Ravana might be hidden somewhere inside this city.”

ф

Vivian sat on the floor inside the last train she’d ever take from Zenith to Roue. She wore civilian clothing she hadn’t worn since a trip to the city, back when things were still all right, and there was still some purpose to her life. A mostly empty military bag lay next to her, carrying the few possessions she had outside of Zenith—the only she had left.

A toothbrush. Some underwear. Two books. Her Zenith ID card, which she had to hide so it wouldn’t be taken away by the military. She needed at least that memento to remind her of Zenith. Of Rose.

“You did your part,” Jed had told her. The last hours she spent in Zenith after returning from the voting day in Roue had been too painful, and more than ever she wanted to be alone. It couldn’t be so; Jed had found her in the dormitory hallway, looking at Rose Xibalba’s emblem on her bedroom, which her keycard no longer opened. “What happened isn’t your fault in any way. It doesn’t matter what happens now, you’ll always be remembered as a hero, just for being a part of Zenith.”

His lies weren’t even comforting.

“I was supposed to die in a Creux, or in a new world outside. Not in Roue,” she had replied, words she had spoken to General Adams days earlier. “I should have gone with Erin’s team; I don’t know what I’m doing here. I would be out there fighting if it wasn’t for Ezra Blanchard.”

She hated him so much. She didn’t want to say his name.

Jed had looked at her then, warmth in his scarred face, not knowing what to say. Then, he just said goodbye, adding: “I’ll see you soon.”

And now, she sat alone in the train to Roue, the place where she would soon die with everyone else. She had never believed in giving up, but suddenly she didn’t have a choice. Maybe she could use some of the severance money she’d get and retire to one of the small farms at the edges of the dome. It was hard to be alone inside a cage, but she had found ways before.