Escape from Harrizel (13 page)

The bile tries to ambush my throat but I
suppress it again, watching the last few strands drag to the end of
the ivy shield and out of view. The leaves continue to scrape and
crunch but grow dimmer with the distance and after a moment,
disappear into the ruins completely.

My eyes flash to Raj’s captor. He’s panicked
and glancing from Reid to Pratt to the two on my left. After a
moment, he offers just the slightest of headshakes. Readjusting his
lock on Raj, he strengthens his hand on her mouth and looks to Reid
for help.

I can feel his head move. Mostly up and down
but a quick jerk creeps in every few seconds. I give up reading the
other boy’s face—he’s mostly receiving orders, not giving them—and
find Raj’s, willing her to open her eyes. I need my little buddy. I
need her here with me, conscious, able to remember and confirm
everything that happens here tonight. And then by coincidence—or is
it magic, again?—her eyes flutter open, finding mine immediately.
As I attempt to communicate, a soothing voice breaks the rigid
night air with a gentle whisper.

“I think it’s best we pop in for a quick
rest.”

“Eyes?” Reid asks.

“Open,” the man replies, as it if were a
silly question to want answered.

“But how can we trust them?” Raj’s captor
hisses. He scans us both, unconvinced. “They might be spies.”

“Don’t be impolite, Clark,” the man corrects
him. “You were them once.”

“Besides,” an unfamiliar female voice
interjects, “they’re not spies… just nosy. We’ll take them back for
a quick chat and be done. No harm.”

“Always harm,” Clark grumbles, disappointed
at his defeat.

I’m lifted, Reid’s arm locked tightly across
my stomach, cradling my ribs like a safety strap. He’s
strong
, deceptively so. Raj is on her feet across from me,
just behind Pratt. We’re turned and I finally catch a glimpse of
our other two guests before they slink through the trees ahead.

The woman—in her late thirties—offers us a
quick, slightly uninterested glance but the man takes a minute to
consider us both. He smiles at Raj, greeting an acquaintance and
then stops, taking an interest in me. His smile fades, if only
slightly, but is replaced with curiosity. Intrigue. A sense of
possibility perhaps? Before I’m able to fully accept the
compliment, he dashes into the trees, the woman right behind him.
Clark and Raj dart off after them as I feel my own body forced
forward.

Reid’s jaw brushes my brow. “It’s not
far.”

He leads me a few yards to a small clearing
where another large tree sits surrounded in a garden of pink and
blue tear-dropped flowers. The tree must be old, her belly spilling
forward and her rich, plentiful branches extending to her sister
trees around her.

Pratt’s gone, along with the man and woman.
Clark’s next, lowering Raj into a similar hidden opening at the
base of the trunk. He scrambles in behind her as Reid and I
approach. I jump down, Reid right behind me, snapping the trunk
firmly into place once he’s inside.

And then it’s dark.

I can just make out the shape of the boy
ahead, Raj in front of him, feeling her way through the hollow,
wooden tunnel. A dim light glows down a ways. Reid goes to secure
me again, instinct kicking in, but at the last second his hands
drop, flattening to his side.

“Quickly,” the man ushers.

We move to a run, called by the promise of
light and slipping through another narrow opening, one by one, we
each emerge into a wooden hovel, ten times the size of my bunker.
It’s roomy and welcoming with benches lining the space, carved
directly from the burrow’s wooden walls.

The woman selects a seat, elbows on knees
and her head dipping below her shoulders. Clark sits across from
her and Pratt, just down from him. Raj stands, shaking in the
center, her eyes lost on an image as Reid sweeps by, hooking toward
the right. The man closes the door behind him and immediately,
specifically turns to me.

“You took the tunnel,” he states. “From
where?”

“The Auditorium,” I want to chance a glance
at Pratt but decide against it. “We found the door in the
wall.”

“Did anyone see you?”

“No.”

“And did you go anywhere else?” he
approaches with a step. “Do anything else?”

“We were by the ruins. Not more than a few
seconds.”

“And you’re sure no one saw you?” the woman
asks. “You didn’t tell anyone where you were going. You didn’t tell
them about the tunnel?”

“We didn’t know about it. We just found it
tonight.”

“You followed us,” Reid folds his arms,
glancing at Pratt. “Didn’t you?”

“Yes,” I admit, turning back to the older
man, “I followed you. But I was hoping it would lead to the ruins
and it did—that’s all.”

“Why do you want to get there so bad?” Reid
narrows his eyes.

I keep my focus on the older man. Somehow, I
know he’s the one to hear this. “It feels familiar.”

“What?” Clark laughs, filling the wooden
room with his echo. “Did you say
familiar
?”

I wait for the others to start chuckling but
nobody does. If anything, I’ve grabbed their attention. Raj, Pratt
and the woman perk up, interested in the response. The man, swiftly
gliding toward me asks with genuine curiosity, “What exactly is
familiar?”

Everything
.

I want to tell him I can anticipate the
direction of cobblestones in the grass; that I can predict their
hidden, meandering paths, if prediction is even the right word.
It’s not really predicting when you know something. But how to
explain this? How to explain that the flow of each wall is as
familiar as the contours of my own body—an instrument, during even
the darkest and cloudiest hours, I will always, instinctively
recognize. They’d think I was a freak if I said that.

“It just feels that way.”

“Fallon, did you say your name was?” the
man’s voice is calmer, less distraught.

“I didn’t… but yes.”

“I did wish to meet you under more pleasant
circumstances. Tonight, unfortunately,” he glances to the others,
“will have to do. I’m Sampson.”

He slips his hand over mine as I try to
suppress the squeeze of his calloused palms and fingertips. He’s
got kind eyes. I notice that right away. Light blue, like a robin’s
egg. I can’t quite tell his age. He seems too young for his body so
maybe that’s why his hair hasn’t figured out if it wants to be
white or gray yet. He’s tall like Reid, maybe taller and, taking a
step back, reveals the rest of the group before me.

“This is Vix, Clark, Pratt and Reid. And of
course, you know Raj.”

“And how do you know me?”

“Come now, Fallon,” he offers a playful
grin, “you must know by now that there are no secrets on
Harrizel.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Clark mumbles to
himself in the corner.

“But truth be told,” Sampson goes on, “I was
alerted to your arrival.”

“By Raj, no doubt…” Clark mumbles again.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she explodes
with four very angry steps.

“Can we have quiet?” Vix asks,
“
Please
. Tonight,” she’s talking to me now, “you said
tonight was the first time you used the tunnel?”

I nod.

“So you’ve never been here before? You’ve
never seen anything like that?”

“No,” I shake my head, turning back to
Sampson. “No, what
was
that?”

“Again,” he chuckles to himself with
anything but humor, “what a night to make friends. I’m sorry to
inform you, Fallon,” he looks up at me with saddened, apologetic
eyes, “but your fantasy here on Harrizel might not be all you’d
hoped. But then,” he considers me more thoroughly, “you already
suspected.”

“Of course she did,” Reid passes as he
saunters about the room, arms folded across his chest.

“
What
fantasy? Just tell
me—
what
is going on?”

“I’m further sorry to say…” Sampson exhales,
pacing again, “that we don’t have many answers for you.”

“So you guys don’t know either.”

“We’re working on it,” Clark gripes, “but if
we didn’t have to worry about
you
two,” he makes a face at
Raj, “we could’ve followed them and found out.”

“Sorry for the inconvenience,” I glance from
him to Sampson, a bit of pleading in my eyes. “But really?
Nothing?”

“Not
nothing
,” Reid shifts closer. He
takes a breath, his heavy brown eyes flickering between mine,
registering their level of trust. My heart stops for a second,
caught in their power. “We have someone on the inside.”

“
Reid
,” Vix projects.

Sampson draws a finger in the air, motioning
for silence. Reid continues, encouraged by the support. “Our
information is extremely limited. Inexistent, almost…. but,” he
glances from Sampson to Clark, Vix and Pratt and finally back to
me, “they’re planning something. Something
big
.”

“Duh.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

“Look—they’re doing something. Beshib used
to make daily Lectures. Now they’re weekly. He’s leaving the Castle
all the time and the guards are constantly upstairs with the
scientists. And then incidents like Hinson the other day,” and
then, as if remembering suddenly, “and
tonight
.”

The image of her cold, blue body flashes,
the familiar bile threatening to rise with the memory of those dead
eyes staring off into nothing.

“Well what can we do?” I glance around the
room, waiting to hear their plan, their solution to all this. But I
see only flat faces and sideways glances, except for Reid, who’s
caught me straight in the eye. But there’s nothing there, only
questions. Unable to suppress a scoff, I try, “There’s got to be
something, right?”

“Keep putting the clues together,” he
shrugs, “like we’ve been.”

“That’s it?”

“You think you got something better?” Clark
flies to his feet. “We’ve been here a
lot
longer and…”

“…Maybe now you’ll start getting some
results, I agree.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think you know exactly what it means.
Sampson,” I turn to him as Clark storms over in a fit, murderous
fists clenched at his thighs. Reid jets forward but Sampson flies
between us the next second, arms extending to keep us apart.

“We need everyone’s help,” he looks between
us, “the only way we’ll discover the truth is to
trust
each
other and to work together—collaboratively.”

I see what Raj means about him being a
mediator. He looks at Clark as if to say,
listen to me or you’re
out
and with a loud sigh, Clark obeys, dramatically spinning
and planting himself on the carved wooden bench again. He flings
his arms within each other and slouches to a pout.

Sampson turns to me. “Fallon, we would
appreciate any assistance you might offer. Now tell me, how did you
find your way exactly? You were in darkness, yes?”

I motion to Raj. “She has a Callix.”

Sampson’s blue eyes light up at the word, a
stirring growing within. “I see.”

“We also followed yours,” I motion to the
blossom lying across Pratt’s lap. She’s been silent this whole time
and I’d almost forgotten she was here. “And you?” I ask, returning
my focus to Sampson. “How’d you know this was here? Or how to
get
here?”

Everyone looks to each other. Who’s going to
be the one to inform me? And inform me of what, exactly?

“You can’t tell anyone. I’m serious,” Reid
inches closer and for a fleeting moment, my heart stops. The fiery
roots in my abdomen enflame again, scorching my organs with a raw,
unfamiliar ache. “This is our only advantage. If it gets out, we’ll
have nothing.”

“But…” I blink, still trying to understand,
“why go back at all? Why not just stay out here?”

“We can’t,” Sampson shakes his head, “we
have friends inside, friends we want to help, friends we need to
take care of. Otherwise you’re right. We would have escaped long
ago.”

Suddenly I understand Reid’s short tone with
me earlier. It sparks a seed of guilt. “Does anyone else know?”

“No one. It’s just us.”

“And about tonight, with Hinson?”

“
That
…” Clark explains, a pompous
tone to his voice,“…is something
entirely
different. Maybe
they don’t know what’s happening but people know about the
Snatchings.”

“You mean when the Dofinikes take you for
leaving through the gate?”

“That’s one way. Then you’ve got the Kings
to worry about—they snatch you up and you’re gone for good.
Multiple ways to disappear here on Harrizel…” he sighs, “anyway,
we’ll all probably be ratted on by dawn knowing what
she
is.” He sneers at Raj, new detest growing in his dull brown
eyes.

“Manners, Clark,” Sampson corrects.

“What?” he jumps from the wall again. “It’s
the truth!”

Reid’s words come flying back for the second
time tonight,
Raj’s tailing her.
What does that mean? If
she’s not working with a Scout and that Callix was a gift from her
boyfriend like she said, then what? What
is
she?

“I…” Raj starts, all eyes on her.

“Tell her,” Reid orders, in a casual way
that seems natural to him.

It takes Raj a moment to gather her words.
After one minute that felt like ten, she exhales softly, her eyes
on her blue slippers which pinch together at the toes. She speaks
with quiet, nearly inaudible words, so soft they could break at the
weight. “You were my first assignment.”

“What?”

“She’s a
Kiss
,” Reid flinches at the
word, circling Raj whose head hangs between her shoulders, “not
part of either Clan, they’re their
own
system.”

“To do what?”

“Gather important information.”

“How is that different from working with a
Scout?”