Ashes of Twilight (31 page)

This has to be the way Alex came. How did he get in? Was security that lax a few days ago that he just walked in and followed the route until it came to a way outside? Is it truly that simple? I will know the answer soon enough.

We come to a large room. It is several stories high with windows around the very top. A table and chair sits along the opposite wall next to a set of large double doors with another regular-size door beside it. Empty crates are piled up behind it. At one time it clearly served as a warehouse for the dome. The supplies it undoubtedly stored are long gone, leaving behind nothing but an empty space, all the more barren because it serves no purpose.

The middle of the floor is blackened and scarred. We walk around it as if the bluecoats don’t want to tarnish their boots.

This is where Alex was burned.
The room is just as Pace described it. I can feel the horror of the moment as we pass by. I’m glad the bluecoats shove me on. I’m afraid if I stay, if I linger, that I will break down. That I will lie down and they will kill me because I can’t go any farther. That they will burn me alive, just as they did Alex.

We go through the smaller door and into another tunnel. One of the bluecoats turns on a lamp. As soon as I pass into the tunnel I know that something is different. The air feels lighter, if that is possible. The walls are strange, thick and polished like the dome. I want to reach my hands out to touch it but I am shoved onward. It is dark but I can see well enough with my shiner eyes to know that the world I have so desperately sought is right on the other side of the walls. We continue moving, uphill now. Jon is in front of me and he looks over his shoulder at me, questioning with his eyes.

I have no answer. All I can do at the moment is put one foot in front of the other.

We come to another door. “Stay put,” one of the bluecoats says. Jon and I are shoved to the side while our four escorts go ahead. I can’t see what they are doing because their bodies block my view. I hear several sounds. The click of bolts. The slide of chains. The slow creak as something heavy is moved aside.

Wind howls inward. Fresh and clean and tinged with salt. My hair blows back with the force and I turn my face into it, sucking it into my lungs. It is so clean that it hurts to breathe. My lungs, full of coal, rebel and I double over with a hacking cough that grips my sides like a vise.

“It’s real,” Jon says. “It really exists.”

The bluecoats motion us forward. I can’t move and I can’t stop coughing. Jon helps me by putting his arms before me, which gives me some support to move forward.

Before I can take a step the ground falls away from me and we both fall. The noise is deafening. The wind howls over us with a great whooshing sound and we both slide back the way we came.

“What is it?” one of the bluecoats yells.

“An explosion!” another one says. They run past us and over us as Jon and I fight to regain our feet. To my surprise we are left alone. We go to work on the ropes and are able to untie each other’s hands.

“What should we do?” Jon asks.

I look upward, toward the door the bluecoats opened. They shut it and bolted it but the chain still lies on the ground. Everything I have dreamed my entire life about lies right outside that door. All I have to do is open it. I’ve waited for this moment for what seems like forever. I’ve imagined it. I knew it existed; all I had to do was find the way to it.

Yet everything and everyone I love is still inside. And something is desperately wrong in there. “I can’t leave him.”

“I understand,” Jon says. He looks toward the door. “I’m going for it. I have no one inside. No one to hold me back.”

“Good luck.” He hugs me, fiercely, and runs to the door. In just a few tries he has it unbolted. I feel the air on my face once more as he slips through it. The door slams shut behind him with the force of the wind.

I turn and go back the way I came.

Dreams are nothing unless you have someone to share them with.

28

Chaos. Complete chaos.
The world is on fire. A great wall of flames dances up the wall of the huge room where Alex died. It’s the way we came in. I can’t go back that way. The doors we came through are on fire.

I hear the screech of strained metal and a crash that shakes the floor beneath my feet. I fall forward and scramble to my feet. The wall behind me, with the door that leads outside, is now on fire. I watch the flames shoot up and outward, a dazzling mix of bright yellows and oranges and reds, as bright as the paintings I saw earlier. They hypnotize me until I realize that I will die right here if I don’t move. I feel the flame inside my lungs and throat and they threaten to consume me on the inside. I have to find another way into the dome. Outside is lost to me, the path now engulfed in flames. I couldn’t go back even if I wanted to.

There has to be another way out. Which way did the bluecoats go? The room is dark, yet bright with heat. I run to the far dim corner, farthest away from the fire. To my relief there is another door there and it is unlocked. I dash through and I am outside of the building and into the street.

I cannot believe what I see. The furnace building is on fire, along with the building behind it that housed the fans and the warehouse I just escaped from. The fans are not running, I’m not even sure if they are there anymore. The smoke is so thick. My eyes water and my throat burns. I’ve got to get away from it. I’ve got to get back to Pace.

To my surprise I find my goggles still hanging around my neck. I cover my eyes and raise my kerchief to protect my nose and mouth. I run. I become part of the masses that are trying to escape the fire. People and dogs and cats and rats, even a donkey runs with us. From the other direction come the fire crews with their steam engines and their pumps and the long hoses that will be attached to hydrants that pump water up from the underground river.

Fire is the enemy in the dome. There’s no place to escape it. We always believed it to be outside, and we lived in terror of it consuming everything and everyone in its path if it came inside. Fire is the death sentence for the more horrible crimes. Fire is the consummate ending.

It is like living my worst nightmare. Except I’m not on fire, my world is. I was so close, so close to escaping, so close to the outside, so close to proving what I knew all along and I walked away from it.

Because it is nothing without Pace.

What if I can’t get back to him? What if he’s not there? What if my father already put his mother out as bait to capture him? What if he’s dead?

I’ve got to know, one way or another. I know that the outside world exists. The way out is gone, but the outside isn’t going anywhere. It will always be there. I will just find another way. A way for all of us.

I don’t know how I’m still on my feet. I don’t know how I’m running or even breathing. I just know I’ve got to keep going, got to keep moving until I get back to Pace. I come to the promenade. It’s full of people, all running from the burning side of the dome to the other. Bluecoats try to make sense of the utter panic that fills the streets. They form a line to keep the people from crossing over into the royal side. They try to calm the people and when that doesn’t work they beat at them with their thick clubs. There are not enough bluecoats to handle the streams of people coming at them. Some slip through and disappear into the darkness of the alleyways that run like spiderwebs away from the promenade.

I stand in the middle of the screaming and the yelling while people run to and fro around me. I look up at the enforcer building and the wall of windows that I know is my father’s office. Is he up there staring down at this mess? Does he wonder if I’m outside, or maybe he thinks I am once more responsible? I hope it’s the latter.

I’m not trying to reach Park Front, as the rest of the people are. I just want to get to Lucy and David’s. I try to turn down an alley that is as full of people as the promenade; something blocks the other end and their cries of panic rise to the rooftops. I cut over and over again until I’m on the correct street. The people who live here are outside, watching the fire flicker and talking in excited tones. They ignore me as I pass through until finally I pound on the door in the alley.

Harry opens the door. The look on his face is pure shock. I can’t say that I blame him. “You’re alive,” he says. I have no more strength. Whatever got me here is gone. I fall through the door and he catches me in his arms.

“Pace? Where is Pace?” I gasp.

“Here. He’s safe.”

Harry half drags, half carries me into the kitchen. I don’t see Pace anywhere. Peggy runs to me and hugs me but I look beyond her. Adam, James, and Alcide are all there. All safe. Where is Pace?

“Pace?” My throat is so raw I can barely form the words. Alcide fills a cup with water and hands it to me. I gulp it down and he fills it again. “Pace?” I say, clearer this time. I can’t stand on my own and Peggy and Harry put me in a chair. I hold on to the edge of the table. I’m afraid I will fall over if I don’t.

James shakes his head and goes to the closet beneath the stairs. He moves the trunk and opens the hatch. “You can come up now,” he says.

My body shakes with relief or shock, I don’t know which. I look around the kitchen, trying to focus. I can’t believe I made it back, alive and whole. David and Lucy’s home is an island of peace and calm compared to the chaos outside.

Alcide and Adam come back from the front of the house. “They’re calling for volunteers to fight the fire,” Alcide says. “Someone on the street said they’re starting a backfire to control it. They’re trying to save the stockyards. As long as we can get below we should be okay.”

“The streets are a madhouse,” Adam says. “I can’t believe you made it through.”

“How did it get started?” I ask. Not that its advent wasn’t timely for me. Still, it seems like it couldn’t have been a coincidence, could it? I look around the kitchen, where things seem as normal as they can be. On the counter sits the makeshift cage for Pip and a bag that looks like the one Adam carries charges in when he’s working on a tunnel. I recognize it because my grandfather had one just like it.

Peggy wets a cloth with water and wipes my face. It comes away black with soot. I’m surprised they recognized me. “What happened to you?” she asks, ignoring my question about the fire.

Where do I begin? There’s so much … “David?” I ask.

“He’s alive,” Peggy says and I feel another burden drop from my shoulders. I’d felt so responsible for all of them. Knowing that everyone is safe, in spite of the fire, almost makes me crumple. I won’t. I won’t do anything until I see Pace. Until I see with my own eyes that he’s here and unhurt.

“Whatever hit him went right through,” Peggy continues. “But we think he will be all right. Lucy and Jilly are with him. What happened to you?”

“You won’t believe it,” I say.

“We lost Jon,” Harry says. “Have you—”

“He’s alive,” I say. “He’s outside the dome.”

“What?” Harry sinks down into a chair and Peggy looks at me as if I’ve grown two heads.

“When Pace gets here,” I begin. I am interrupted by Pace exploding out of the hatch and launching his body at James. They crash into the table and onto the floor. Chairs and dishes fly across the floor as they grapple with each other, twisting and turning and punching until Pace scrambles on top of James’s midsection and punches him in the face. Harry and Peggy both grab for Pace. My chair tips over and I fall backward.

“You son of a bitch,” Pace yells at James. “Now we’ll never find her!”

“She’s here!” James yells back. “She’s right here!”

Adam and Alcide pull Pace from James. Pace fights them and all three of them slam him against the wall.

“She’s here,” Adam says. “She’s safe.”

Peggy helps me to my feet.

“Pace?” I don’t know how much longer I can last. He sees me and his beautiful blue eyes widen and his glorious soul spills out and I know it’s all for me. It was worth it. Not going out because of him. He stops fighting the ones who hold him. The last thing I see is him coming for me and then everything goes dark.

*   *   *

When I come to I am in Pace’s arms. He holds me close while Peggy wipes my face. I realize I wasn’t out long as the only thing that’s changed is the furniture has been returned to its proper place.

“Don’t you ever do anything like that again,” he says softly against my ear so only I can hear him. For the first time today I feel safe. The entire dome may be on fire but I don’t care. Pace holds me close in his lap, against his chest, sheltering me with his arms and his head that is bent over me.

I know my friends are concerned. I know everyone wants to know what happened, especially since I said Jon was outside. I don’t want to talk to anyone. I don’t want to be here. I want to be back below, in our cave, with Pip and Cat. I want to feel safe again, if just for a while. I just want to be with Pace, to listen to him make silly jokes and play with Pip. I want this all to be over but I have a feeling it has just begun.

“Why were you below?” I ask, just as quietly as he spoke to me.

“Because your friends put me there. To protect me.”

“He went a little crazy when you ran off,” Peggy says. She holds a clean cloth and goes to work on my hands, which are black with soot.

“We had to drag him back,” Alcide says. “Because James knocked him out.”

“We put him down there to keep him safe, just like you asked,” James says with a smirk.

“You can’t do that, Wren,” Pace says. “You can’t make decisions for all of us like that.”

“If they had gotten you you’d be dead now,” I say in my defense. I am certain James enjoyed every minute of it, from knocking Pace out to dropping him into the tunnel and making sure he couldn’t get out. Still I am grateful that he did it, no matter what his motives.

“I thought for certain you were gone,” Pace says. “So it didn’t matter to me if I was alive.”

“Don’t ever say that.” I look into his beautiful blue eyes. “Ever.”

“I hate to interrupt this lovely moment,” James says. “But you need to tell us what happened.”