Halo (Blood and Fire Series (A Young Adult Dystopian Series)) (26 page)

“More like I assumed you’d gotten yourself caught up in one of your own traps. You’re forgetful in your old age, y’know.”

Jack’s shoulders shake with silent laughter as we move through the night. Nothing else is said for a while, until the lights and sounds of Freetown slowly grow from a distant hum to a raucous clamour.

Jada runs back to Ryka’s side as we near the bridge crossing the river. She pauses, looking up at him. “Jada, go home!” he hisses. She takes one last look at him and bolts.

“I’m going home, too,” Jack announces, thrusting the last two rabbits he carries at me. “The pair of you can take these up to the Keep.”

“What?” Ryka halts half way across the bridge, his boots clomping against the wood. I remain stock-still, myself, wondering why, after last night and our conversation today, Jack would send me anywhere near the Keep. He winks at me, which is even more confusing.

“Come now, you wouldn’t make an
old man
walk up that steep hill in the dark, would you?” There’s a wicked smile on Jack’s face as he swaggers off without us. I slip past Ryka, swiping the rabbits off his shoulder as I do so.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he demands.

“I’m taking the rabbits up to the Keep. It’s okay, you can go home, too.” If Jack seems to think it’s safe for me to go there, I might as well go alone. That way I can try to talk to one of them, figure out why the hell they want me dead.

“Like hell you are.” Ryka pushes in front of me and tries to take the dead animals, but fails. “Give them to me.”

“No! I’m capable of walking another mile.”

He rolls his eyes. “I know you’re capable of walking. It’s just not safe for people to be out on their own at night.”

I almost laugh out loud at the gigantic lie that slips easily from my lips. “I don’t feel threatened here.”

“Are you sure?” He reaches up and touches the tips of my hair, just like he did last night. The gesture throws me, and I’m glaring when I turn on him, angry that he’s right. Freetown’s people are out to get me, and he doesn’t even know about the priestesses’ assassin.

“What do you think you’re doing, Ry?”

“Did you just call me Ry?” he asks, grinning.

I scowl and shake my head. “Everyone does. It was an accident. Don’t worry, I won’t do it again.”

“You can call me that if you want. I’m sure you’ve called me worse, anyway,” he says, jumping to catch up as I set off without him. “And I touched your hair because I know you’re not telling me the truth. You didn’t cut it off yourself.”

“I
did
.”

“You did not.” His grin widens. “Olivia told me what happened.”

My mouth hangs open for a second before I manage to close it. She swore she wasn’t going to say anything, especially to him. How could she? She wouldn’t do that. No, she couldn’t. “You’re lying,” I snap.

“Ha! So, something
did
happen. Kit, come on. I can’t look out for you if you let people bully you and don’t tell me about it.”

I walk quicker, slamming my boots into the mud. “You’re not my keeper, okay? You can drop this whole
I’m going to watch out for you
, bit. It’s getting old.”

“Does it offend you that much? That I
want
to look out for you?”

I blow out an exasperated growl. “You’ve changed your tune. Seriously, not long ago you were shouting at me for not taking my knives off and generally being a jerk. Now you’re telling me you want to take care of me? It’s a little hard to buy.”

“I didn’t say I wanted to take care of you. I said
look out for
. There’s a difference.”

“Right. You wanna make sure I keep out of trouble while you
take care
of Simone, is that it?” I flinch as soon as the words leave my mouth, not sure why in hell I said them in the first place. The back of my throat burns like I’m going to throw up. I walk faster.

“Uhhh, Kit?”

“
No
.”

“You can’t just say no. You don’t know what I’m going to say.” He’s laughing and it makes me feel ridiculous. My cheeks are bright red again.

“I can if I know what you’re about to say. And I do. I don’t care if something was going on with you and Simone last night. And I don’t care to know, either.”

“Nothing was going on with Simone,” he says, his voice suddenly serious. I glance at him and the smile is gone from his face.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I keep on stomping, keep on wishing I could stop talking.

“Jeez, woman! Are you really going to pretend that I didn’t pretty much come straight out with it last night and tell you that I like you?” He goes for the rabbits again and I swing them away, rounding on him.

“You’re acting weird, Ryka. You hate me one minute and the next minute you’re saying bizarre things to me, and…urgh! The next minute you’re this! You have to forgive me for not understanding.”

“I can forgive you. But you have to forgive me, too. I’ve been hostile, but I explained that. My pride was bruised.”

“No kidding,” I snap. He just laughs, which makes me angrier. “So why have you decided to be nice to me now?”

“Because
―
” He touches my hair again and my cheeks flame. What the hell is going on with my body? “I don’t like the thought of someone doing this to you, Kit. Tell me what happened.”

He looks so serious that I almost consider telling him for a second. Consider telling him everything—James, Joshua, even about the priestesses’ assassin. I have the words poised on my tongue, ready, when Ryka squints off up the Holy Walk.

 
“Hey, is that Olivia?” he says.

I follow his gaze and squint, too, struggling to make out the figure running towards us. The gentle tinkle of bells reaches us long before she does. Sure enough, it’s Olivia. She falls into Ryka’s arms, laughing hysterically.

“Ry! They said yes!” she cries. “They finally said yes!”

“What are you talking about?” He stands her up, laughing with her, although there’s confusion in his eyes.

“The priestesses, Ry! They accepted me. They’re going to let me join them. Isn’t this the best news? Oh, Kit! I didn’t tell either of you. I wanted to wait until I was sure they were going to
―
”

“You’re joking,” Ryka whispers. In three seconds his body language has changed dramatically from amused to horrified. “You can
not
be serious.” His words mirror my own thoughts exactly. There’s no way she can go into the Keep, not when I know how dangerous and manipulative they are.

Olivia’s smile falters. “Be happy for me, brother. I may not have said anything but you’ve always known this is what I wanted.” Ryka steps back; he laces his hands behind his head, his whole body shaking.

“I’m not going to be happy for you! This is a huge mistake, Liv. You’re throwing your life away!”

Olivia’s shoulders tense; she looks like she’s about to explode. “How is serving the Gods throwing my life away?” she whispers.

“We both know you’re not going to inter yourself in that mausoleum of a Keep because you want to serve the Gods. Jeez, she’s not in there, Livy! She’s gone. She’s
dead!
” That word echoes off the hillside, repeating harshly, and all three of us wince. With her hands tucked into the pockets of her skirts, Olivia seems to grow smaller.

“You can think what you want, Ryka. We’ve no proof that she’s dead. Of course she’s in the Keep.” She runs off down the path towards Freetown and I watch her go, unsure what I’m supposed to do. Ryka and I stand side by side in silence and it’s long after Olivia has disappeared from sight before I turn to him. He immediately looks away, but not quick enough to hide the fact that there are tears in his eyes. I’m too stunned to say anything.

“Go after her. Make sure she’s okay,” he says quietly. I know he’s not telling me what to do. He’s asking me, pleading with me, so I won’t see him cry. I drop the rabbits at his feet and run after Olivia.

******

The news of Olivia’s acceptance as a priestess travels quickly around Freetown. Over the next week I see Ryka and Jack a total of three times, always together, and both of them look tired and worried. Few words are exchanged between us, mainly regarding Olivia’s determination to follow through on her plan, no matter what her brother and her grandfather say. I spend time with Olivia as usual, and she seems to have forgotten all about her exchange with Ryka on the Holy Walk. She goes back to being intensely happy about her upcoming move into the Keep, and now I know why.

Olivia explained that her mother went missing after Matthew’s death, and no one knew where she went. She was heartbroken over the loss of her husband and took to walking in the forest. One day she just didn’t come back. Months later, bones were found out in the middle of nowhere and that was that; everyone accepted that Jack’s daughter was dead. Everyone except Olivia, that is. Mirry was a devout woman, and Olivia is sure her mother consigned herself to the priestesses’ care, giving over the rest of her life to work in the service of others. Her conviction unshakeable, Olivia believes that when she becomes a priestess, she will be reunited with her mother. The whole town is buzzing with the news and it’s all I seem to hear about.

Today, there are other reasons why Freetown is alive with chatter, though. The countdown to the matches has begun, and there are three days until the first round of fights. Ryka’s fights. It seems everyone is on edge and filled with energy, and I spend my time continually looking over my shoulder, black-masked faces always standing in my peripherals. There’s never anyone there when I look, of course.

The smell of roasting pork fills the air all over the tent city as families slaughter their animals to prepare the blood for the festivities. In Lockdown, I’d never thought of pork as an actual animal. I’d never even considered where it came from. All that mattered was that I received enough protein with each meal to repair my muscles and build new ones. That made me a better fighter, stronger, quicker. Now that I’ve seen the actual animal, smelled its thickened blood sprayed into my clothes, well…I’m not sure I’ll ever eat pork again, no matter how good it smells.
 
Olivia, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.
 

“Mmmm, this is so good,” she groans, wiping juice from her chin as she finishes her barbecued meat. “You could have bought some for yourself if you were wearing that pretty purple skirt I gave you.” She’s stopped using up her little bells on me since she gave me all of her clothes
―
I get the feeling I’m quite well off now
―
but I don’t care. I’d rather be hungry than noisy any day of the week. My tight smile tells her as much, and she elbows me in my ribs. “What’s up with you anyway? You’ve been quiet for days.”

I search the sky for the right way to tell her that I don’t want her disappearing into that Keep, that the priestesses are pretty much evil and tried to have me killed. If she goes with them, I’m worried I’ll never see her again. Technically, I won’t. She’ll be covered head to heel in that red, floating material, never permitted to speak again. My traitorous throat closes up and I feel my eyes prick. I’m really getting the hang of this crying thing.

“Hey, you don’t need to be sad,” Olivia says.

“I’m just worried. There’s…there’s something you should know…”

“I’ve been waiting for you to tell me,” she says softly. “Jack already explained what happened to you the other night. I know he thinks the priestesses ordered someone to attack you, but I promise you, Kit, they would never do something like that. They are holy women. They value life above everything else. This man, whoever he was, is going straight to hell for daring to wear that sacred mask.” She loops her arm through mine and pulls me towards our destination, the crowd parting for us as we go. “Now, I’m sorry that happened to you, but I’ve heard it all from my grandfather. I won’t change my mind. Just be content that I’m happy and setting off on a journey to do something important. It’s not like I’m going to be dead or anything. You can come up to the Keep whenever you want. I might not be able to talk with you but you’ll know it’s me. I’ll make sure of it.”

“I’m—I’m not sure I’ll be staying in Freetown,” I mumble. I feel like my legs have been pulled out from underneath me now that I know Jack’s already told her what happened to me. I was so sure she would rethink once she heard about the assassin and the way he drugged me.

Olivia makes a
tsk
ing sound. “And why would you leave?
How
could you leave now that I had that beautiful big bed made for you?”

I touch my fingers to my neck, something I haven’t done in a while.
It’s not there, stupid.
Chastising myself won’t do much good, though. Learning to deal with the thickness of emotions is the only way any of it gets better, I know. Still, it’s so hard. “I won’t have any reason to stay here,” I tell her. My voice stays level and that in itself is a small miracle.

“You have so many reasons,” Olivia says. “My grandfather is quite taken with you, infamous warrior of the Sanctuary Colosseum. And what about Ryka?”

 
I glare down at my boots. “I’m not the same person that left the Sanctuary. A warrior doesn’t burst into tears when someone cuts off her hair. And Ryka? I’ll be gone a week before he even notices I’m not here.”

“You’re so ridiculous. You’re lying to yourself, you know that, don’t you?” Olivia lets go of my arm as we reach the pits where Ryka was called as Mashinji. “Even
I
know my brother’s developed quite the infatuation with you.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” I say, but something warm and not entirely unpleasant burns in my chest. I pray it’ll just go away; I pray I’m not attracted to Ryka.

Just because you don’t want to feel something—it’s not convenient, or you just want to ignore it—doesn’t mean it’s going to go away. It’s only going to make you miserable, and that goes for the other people that your decisions affect, too.

I know Olivia’s grinning at me, because I can feel her over-excited eyes on my skin. “I’m going to be a lot more peaceful in my decision if I know my brother has someone he can turn to, Kit. He needs that.”