Tearing Down the Wall (9 page)

I look to
Vin, feeling helpless, but what I find is nothing. He’s staring at me blankly. No emotion, no support. No help. They’re calling out The Hive,
his home,
as being full of rapists and drug addicts and he’s just standing here, passive. Silent. He might as well throw me to these wolves. Without his support they’ll tear me apart.

“
You wanted help and that’s exactly what she brought you!”

I whip around
, startled. Ryan is striding across the room like he owns the place. He comes to stand directly beside me, his body nearly touching mine.

“
My name is Ryan Hyperion!” he shouts, grabbing the attention of every last person in the room. They quiet again, even though there are still murmurs drifting through the crowd. “I was a member of the Hyperion gang, a fighter in the Arena of The Hive. I recognize some of your Guard. Members of the Elevens, the Westies, the Pikes. I even recognized Vin when we arrived. And yes, we brought them here.” He points to the cannibals, all of them watching him intently. “We went to The Hive for help, but they wouldn’t give it. We went to the Vashons for help, but they wouldn’t give it. No one with the numbers we needed were willing to help us. To help
you.
”

Ryan pauses to look around the room
, letting that sink in. Reminding them that this was all for them.

“
Then we found them. Your prisoners. The people you want to kill. The people who risked everything to free you.”

“
They killed Rebecca!”

“
They were clear from the start that no blood would be shed if they could help it,” he replies, stretching the truth just a little bit. “The man who killed Rebecca was acting alone and he should be held accountable for his actions, no one can deny that, but you cannot condemn them all for what one man did.”

“
He’s a cannibal, like them. They’re all dangerous. They should all die!”

“
You’re a Colonist!” Ryan shouts back. “You’re all Colonists. You all kidnap and enslave. You should all be punished!”

The anger in the room is tangible. I want to thread my fingers through it as it weaves through the room
, feel it ripple warm over my skin. It’s that real. That visceral. Ryan has touched a nerve, but he’s also hit home.

“
They’re people,” he continues softly. “They’re men and women just like you, and they want what you want. They want freedom from the Colonies. They want to live with their families in the open, unafraid. Like it or not, right now we’re all beggars and we can’t afford to be choosy. You don’t have to agree with the way they live because, honestly, they don’t agree with the way that you live, but they’re still willing to work with you. I hope you have the common sense to work with them.”

“
The enemy of your enemy is your friend,” Trent intones.

Ryan nods to the room.
“The Leaders in the stadiums fear them just as much as you do. Take this chance to turn that weapon against them and take back what’s yours—your lives.” Ryan goes to stand beside the cannibals, turning his back on them and proving his complete lack of fear. “Talk to them. Hear them out. It doesn’t have to be here. Send them away tonight, seal your doors, but don’t turn your backs on them for good because they might be your only chance. The way things are right now, it can’t last. You can’t hold this building forever. Eventually the other Colonies will find out what’s happened here or The Hive will get wind of it, and then where will you be?”

“
Enslaved,” Steven replies.

There
’s a rumble of agreement, grudging and angry. But they’re not dumb. They know what’s coming and they know how fragile their situation is.

“
They’ll leave tonight,” Vin tells the room, his eyes on Ryan. “We’ll send them back to their home and we’ll agree to talk about joining with them on one condition. They have to give us the man who killed Rebecca. We do with him as we see fit, no interference.”

It
’ll never happen. Elijah will never allow it. Bryan may have acted outside the norm for the cannibals, I don’t really know for sure, but I do know that family is everything to them. Bryan is one of them and they’ll never give him up.

“
Good,” Ryan says. “That’s good.”

“
But remember this,” Vin continues. “This house will never be theirs. No matter what happens or where we go from here, they will never set foot inside these walls again. Is that clear?”

I meet his eyes
, nod curtly. “Crystal.”

“
Get them out of here.”

With that
Vin leaves the room. I’m surprised by the abruptness of it, but I don’t have time to worry about it. Immediately people are in motion all over the room and I’m worried about the cannibals. That’s the craziest moment of my crazy day—worrying over flesh eaters.

Members of
Vin’s Guard appear in the doorway. They make quick work of rounding up the cannibals and ushering them out of the room, a room that’s beginning to buzz louder and louder with discord. I’m starting to wonder if Ryan, Trent, and I shouldn’t leave tonight too.

“
Joss.”

I jerk when I feel a hand on my arm
, a hand attached to the quiet voice behind me. I’m pretty on-edge the moment, not really sure everyone in the room has moved past the ‘lynch her!’ phase, but I’m infinitely relieved and surprisingly happy when I turn to find Amber standing beside me.

“
Sorry,” she says with a sheepish smile, retracting her hand quickly. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“
You didn’t,” I lie. I do it poorly, as always. I can see it in her bright blue eyes that she doesn’t believe me. “How are you?”

“
Good. We’re all really good, actually. Well, except for tonight. The news about Rebecca is unbelievable.”

“
I’m sorry.”

“
We were worried for you there for a minute. Good thing your friend stood up.”

“
Oh, yeah, this is Ryan.”

She smiles.
“I heard. I’m Amber.”

“
Hi,” Ryan says.

“
I’m Trent.”

We all look at him
, Ryan and I both a little uncertain.

Amber goes right on smiling
, not knowing the weird she’s walking into. “Hi, Trent. I liked what you said about enemies and friends.”

“
It’s a proverb. Fourth century.”

“
Oh.”

“
Arabian or Chinese. No one knows for sure.”

“
Well, it’s cool. And fitting.”

“
You work in the kitchens.”

Amber looks at me
, unsure. It’s not exactly a question. “Yes?”

Trent doesn
’t say anything after that. He stares at her as though he’s waiting for something. Problem is, none of us knows what the hell it is he’s waiting for.

“
Anyway,” Amber says hesitantly, “we’re so glad you’re back, Joss. You were gone so long we worried we’d lost you.”

“
Yeah, sorry about that. Help wasn’t exactly easy to find.”

“
You did your best and we’re all grateful,” she says, lying much more convincingly than I do. “We’re lucky we had Vin while you were gone. He’s really turned this place around. It feels so different now.”

“
Who are the Mayors?” Ryan asks. “Are they a council?”

“
When we were a Colony we were split up into groups based on our jobs. The Guard, the gardens, the kitchen, you know. There used to be a Team Leader in charge of each group. When Vin overthrew the place, he put the Colony Team Leaders in prison and replaced them with our own people who work just like the rest of us, but they also meet with him. They’re the ones called Mayors. They’re a voice for each group.”

“
Wait, hold on,” I interrupt her. “Did you say ‘when Vin overthrew the place’? What? He did it alone?”

Amber beams excitedly.
“Practically. They tried to kill him twice and he survived both times.”

“
And that made him valuable to you,” Ryan says thoughtfully.

“
Well, yeah. It’s like what you said about the cannibals. If your enemy is afraid of it, you should use it as a weapon. After he survived the second attack when he was already injured, we were all convinced.”

“
Convinced of what?” I ask.

Ryan looks at me with a weird expression I can
’t quite read. It’s almost worried. “They were convinced he was the one who would set them all free.”

Amber laughs.
“Maybe not so biblical as that, but yeah. We realized he was strong enough to help us finally take over. We’d all wanted it since the day we set foot in this place. Vin gave us the opportunity and the courage to do it.”

“
We have to leave,” Trent says suddenly. “They’re moving the cannibals. We should go with them to make sure they get out safely.”

“
Oh, okay,” Amber says, sounding confused. She’s probably wondering why we care if the cannibals live or die. Part of me wonders the same thing. “Good to see you again, Joss. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

I smile at her.
“Thanks.”

Amber blushes suddenly
, her eyes going to Trent who has yet to stop staring at her like a lunatic. “Bye, Trent.”

“
Goodbye,” my robot replies.

We go our separate ways, Amber heading out with the flow of Colonists and us following the cannibals back to the shower room. More members of the Guard have joined our group, some leading and more following, and I’m grateful that Ryan, Trent, and I aren’t lumped in with the cannibals; we’re allowed to follow freely behind the herd.

“
All right, what’s wrong?” I whisper to Ryan as we walk.

“
With what?”

“
With Amber’s story about the overthrow. You didn’t like it.”

Ryan pauses
, his eyebrows coming together in concentration. “It’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s… I think it worries me. The sort of hero worship vibe I got from your friend could be bad news.”

“
Why?”

“
Because it reminds me of what Sam told us about Westbrook and how the Colonies first got started. And also because it’s not really true. In that story of him surviving two assassination attempts, where were you?”

“
I was with him by the wall when Caroline stabbed him.”

“
I know that and you know that.”

“
Caroline knows that,” Trent remarks.

“
But Amber didn’t mention it. Does she not know that you’re the one who saved Vin that night?”

“
I don’t know,” I reply, not sure what it matters.

“
If you’re being left out of that story, are more people being left out of the other story? The other attempt on his life? If he was already injured, I’m thinking he wasn’t alone for that second fight.”

“
Okay, probably not, but who cares? He still survived. She’s right—they tried to kill him twice and he survived both times.”

“
But why did they try to kill him? Why did Caroline do it the first time?”

“
Because she was crazy and in love with him and she thought I was stealing her man.”

“
So it wasn’t an assassination attempt at all. It was one person acting on jealousy. And the second time, why did that girl try to kill him?”

“
Probably because Caroline was her friend and Breanne was kind of nuts. She went native the second we got here. She was insanely loyal to the Colony by the time I left.”

“
So neither attempt on his life was actually ordered by the Colonies or by the Team Leaders as a group—it was all personal and emotional, but that’s not how the people here are looking at it. They’re looking at him as some messiah who their enemies tried to strike down but couldn’t. It gives him this legend status and puts him on a pedestal. It’s no wonder they follow him like they do.”

I hadn
’t thought about it, but he’s right—these people are looking at Vin as their savior, but he’s actually nothing more than a gangster pimp with bad taste in women and a habit of getting shanked.

“
If he gets them where they need to go, then what’s the problem?” I ask, trying to convince myself as much as Ryan.

He shrugs.
“I don’t know. Maybe nothing.”

“
Are we staying here tonight?” Trent asks out of the blue.

“
I’m not really sure,” I reply hesitantly. “We’ll have to talk to Vin, I guess.”

“
Do you think it’s safe?” Ryan asks.

I want to say yes
, of course it is, but after what happened upstairs just now I’m not so sure. Vin didn’t turn on me, but he didn’t exactly help me either. He left me to fend for myself, and something about that royally pisses me off. Whether we’re staying here tonight or not, he and I have to talk.

“
Probably not. It might not be a bad idea for us to sleep behind locked doors tonight, wherever we go.”

“
Careful what you say. I’ll think you’ve grown to love prison life.”

“
I do miss the bathrooms. And the soaps.”

“
I miss the pillows.”

“
I miss the books,” Trent adds.

“
Was Sam right?” I ask him. “Could you have busted us out of there?”

“
Maybe.”

“
Maybe or probably?”

“
Definitely.”

My jaw drops.
“Why didn’t you?”

“
I didn’t need to,” he says like it’s obvious. “You wanted to stay.”

“
How would you have done it?”

“
Picked the lock.”

“
Is that easy to do?”

“
No.”

“
Then how do you know you could have done it?”

Trent grins.
“Because I did it.”

“
What? When?”

“
While you and Ryan were sleeping. Sam was out cold too. I was up and I was bored so I picked the lock. Wandered around a little. That house was nice. Big kitchen. They had oranges.”

“
Are you kidding me?” I cry incredulously.

The g
uards ahead of us look back at Trent warily.

“
No.”

“
Why didn’t you tell us?” Ryan demands.

“
You guys wanted to stay in that room and play by their rules until they let you talk to their council, so I played by their rules.”

“
Not really. You ninja-ed around their house in the middle of the night.”

“
Just for a few minutes. I told you, I was bored. Besides, if they had found out I could do that we’d have been killed or kicked off the island immediately.”

“
If you had been caught,” I begin.

“
But I wasn’t.”

“
But if you had been—”

“
But I wasn’t.”

“
Oh my God,” I grumble, closing my eyes briefly. “Ryan, I can’t.”

He rubs his hand on my back in small circles.
“I know. Believe me, I know.”

Luckily
, before I lose my mind we reach the showers. The body has been taken out—probably to the gardens, which is kind of fitting considering where Rebecca worked—but her blood remains. There are two people in the room cleaning along with two guards standing nearby watching. The cleaning crew pushes pink-stained mops toward the hole in the floor, water washing away the red remains of Bryan’s mistake.

It changes everything
, what he did. This could have been easy. Well, easier. The Colonists didn’t even have to know these people were cannibals. They could have been a random group of gang members we rounded up, something that would have gone over perfectly with the mixed company inside a Colony. But no, Bryan had to go and get hungry and murder some innocent girl and now we’re all screwed—Vin included. This castle of his, no matter how sturdy it looks from the inside, is made of sugar. And the rain is coming.

“
Warn Elijah to stay away,” Ryan tells Macy as they approach the drain. “It’s not safe to come here again.”

“
No joke,” she mutters.

“
I think we’re all assuming the plan is off,” Kyle agrees bitterly.

Ryan steps up to him
, catching his eye. “Not yet. It’s not over yet.”

“
They’ll kill us if they ever see us again.”

“
If they ever see you
here
again.”

“
What’s your point?”

“
This place was meant to be a battle, but it’s not the war.”

“
You really think they’re going to fight side by side with us someday?” Macy asks, her tone disbelieving.

“
I think very soon they aren’t going to have a choice.”

“
You think the Colonies are coming,” Kyle says.

Ryan shakes his head.
“Worse. I think The Hive is coming.”

“
Marlow knows what we have planned,” I mutter, catching on. “He knows Vin is here. He knows we don’t have a prayer without him or the Vashons, and he definitely knows the Vashons told us no.”

“
It won’t be long before he comes here. He’ll rally a small army and storm this place, just like we did. The thing that worries me is what will V—”

“
No,” I blurt out, interrupting Ryan.

He looks at me with surprise on his face
, but I shake my head firmly and shift my eyes to the guards; they’re standing on the edges of the room, listening.

I don
’t know what Vin was doing up there in the rec room letting me drown myself in stupid, but I’m not willing to undermine him in his own house. Not yet. Not until I know what his deal is. Ryan must pick up at least part of what I’m trying to convey because he drops the issue immediately.

“
Tell Elijah we’ll send word on the plan,” Ryan tells Kyle, offering his hand. “Until then, please ask him to sit tight.”

“
What about Bryan?” Macy asks suspiciously.

Ryan sighs.
“Tell Elijah about Vin’s demand, but I won’t be shocked when he says no. We’ll have to figure out a way around it.”

Kyle hesitates only a second before taking Ryan
’s hand in his. “You got it. Good luck.”

“
You too.”

We watch the cannibals go one by one down into the drain. The cleaning crew doesn
’t even stop their work. A thin river of blood and water pours through the hole on top of the cannibals as they leave. They’ll be covered in blood when they get home, but they should count themselves lucky it isn’t theirs.

“
What’s the plan now?” Ryan asks me when they’re gone.

“
You and Trent go look around. Mingle. Whatever,” I say with a shrug, not really concerned what trouble they get themselves into. They can go set the display tree on fire for all I care. Things can’t get much worse than they already are.

“
What are you going to do?”

I angrily chew on the inside of my lip until I taste blood.
“I’ve got a date with a pimp.”

***

“Where is he?”

The g
uard—another Hive member, judging by the hornet tattoo on his neck—looks me up and down.

“
Why?”

“
Why what?”

“
Why do you want to know where he is?”

“
Why do you think?” I ask hotly.

The guy smirks.
“For the same reason all the women look for him.”

“
Unless all the women here are looking to kick his ass, then no.”

“
That doesn’t make me want to help you find him.”

I turn away in frustration to head up the hall.
“I’ll find him myself, dick!”

“
Roof.”

I stop
, looking over my shoulder at him. “Why?”

His smirk becomes a grin.
“Why what?”

“
Why are you telling me?”

“
Because you’re not a Colony girl. You’re a wild girl. He likes wild girls.”

“
You’re still a dick.”

He laughs.
“So are you, wild thing.”

When
I reach the roof, there he is—just as the hornet downstairs told me he would be. He’s sitting on the edge of the roof, his legs dangling, his back to me. It’s a dangerous position he’s in, and no eyes on the entrance? It worries me more than impresses me.

“
What’s on your mind, Joss?” Vin asks without turning.

I sigh before going to sit next to him. The anger I had building inside of me is dying out. Maybe it
’s because I’m tired, but it’s probably because it doesn’t matter. I’m still alive. The cannibals got out alive. One Colonist died—I genuinely feel bad about that, but it could have been worse. So, so much worse. All in all, if I survive to see the sunrise, I’ll count it as a good night.

When I sit
, I let my legs dangle off the edge of the building as well. Like a little kid. A little kid sitting three stories above the ground, tempting fate, begging it to take its best shot.

“
Nothing much,” I lie.

“
Did they send you up to tell me to hand over the Colony?”

“
Nope.”

“
Then why are you here?”

“
Not for the company, that’s for sure.”