The Killables (22 page)

‘Who’s Lucas?’ Linus asked, his voice agitated. ‘Tell me.’

‘Lucas is my brother,’ Raffy said.

‘But it can’t be him. He’d have been just a boy when your father . . .’

‘He was fifteen,’ Evie told him. ‘He left school to go and work for the government. Everyone said it was because he was embarrassed about his father. Ashamed.’

‘I thought he was ashamed,’ Raffy said quietly. ‘I’ve hated him all these years.’

‘He wanted you to hate him.’ Evie put her hand on Raffy’s shoulder. ‘He wanted everyone to believe that he
was
ashamed. So that no one would suspect.’

‘Your father must have trained him up before . . .’ Linus was shaking his head incredulously.

‘Before they killed him?’ Raffy asked, his voice choked with emotion.

Linus nodded. ‘I’m sorry.’ He looked at Raffy sorrowfully. ‘He was a good man. I can’t tell you how sorry I am about what happened. But we’ll avenge his death. Don’t you worry about that. Tell me, is the device compromised? Does the Brother know about it now?’

Raffy shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I don’t think so. No one believed me. Lucas told everyone I was mad. That I’d planted a glitch and was deluded about what it could do. He locked me up at home so I couldn’t tell anyone else, so they couldn’t talk to me.’

‘Clever man, your brother,’ Linus said grimly. ‘And then what?’

‘Then the System made him a K,’ Evie said, a strange feeling spreading out from her stomach. Lucas. All that time. That’s why the System hadn’t known about her and Raffy. Hadn’t Lucas said he’d known, that he’d protected them? He must have stopped the System from seeing them, from finding out. Everything he’d ever done had been for a reason. Everything. And all she had ever done was despise him. ‘Then he came and found me and told me that we had to run. He’d been planning it for days. He’d been looking for my father’s key.’

‘Your father is a key holder?’

Evie nodded.

‘So the key you’ve got is real?’

‘Of course it is.’ Evie felt it in her pocket, gripping it in her hand. All she could think about was Lucas, alone in the City, his cold eyes hiding the boy underneath. The boy who had watched his father being taken to his death, who had gone undercover and grown into a man protecting everyone except himself.

Linus exhaled thoughtfully. ‘Okay, then,’ he said. ‘We need to talk to your brother. We need to talk to Lucas.’

Lucas saw the icon flashing the moment the connection came through; he had been waiting, hoping, worrying. It had been several long days and nights; the days spent with his usual mask on, the blank smile, the formal language, the cold authority that had served him so well all these years. But at night, his mask slipped; at night, the demons surfaced, telling him that he had let his father down, that he had left his brother to fend for himself, that he would never see him again, would never see Evie. Evie . . . He closed his eyes for a second and steeled himself, in case the news was bad, in case the worst had happened. Then, carefully checking as he always did that no one was near, no one could see or would suspect, he input the code to activate the device.

‘Operator. Your message?’

‘Are we safe?’

‘We are safe.’

‘A monster lives in the north, but where?’

Lucas smiled. It had been his father’s idea to use passcodes based on the fairy tales and myths that he had told Lucas secretly when Lucas was small; their secret, not to be shared with anyone else. By the time Raffy was the same age, their father was dead. Lucas hadn’t been able to bring himself to tell his brother the stories; he had been afraid that his mask would slip, that he would crumble. He had worried that Raffy would not be able to keep the secret, that in telling him he would risk everything. But how much had he denied himself and his brother? Too much? He felt a stray tear appear in his eye and brushed it away. Crying felt alien now, as though it was something only others did.

‘Loch Ness.’

A pause. ‘You are not who you have led me to believe you are. To know that you are friend not foe, tell me something only you would know.’

Lucas felt his body stiffen. He knew; Linus knew who he was. Which meant . . . He took a deep breath, told himself to stay calm, not to let relief flood his veins, not yet . . .

‘If you have who I think you have, tell them to look away now.’ He waited. ‘Ask them about the tree. Where they used to meet. No one else knew.’

There was a pause.

‘Okay. And who am I?’

Linus looked at the screen, tried to work out what to say, how to explain what he knew and what he’d been told. ‘My father told me that you are a good man, a man who can change the future. He told me to keep you informed. He told me to protect my brother. He told me to wear a mask and never take it off until I knew it was time. He told me that you would tell me when that time was.’

Nothing appeared for a few seconds. Then:

‘Your brother and the girl are safe. It is nearly time. We have been preparing. I need information from you.’

‘Anything,’ Lucas wrote back, his eyes shining, his whole body feeling like a firework had just gone off inside it. And he told himself that it was because his brother was safe. He told himself it was because it was nearly time. But he knew there was something else. Something that had always been there, always kept him going, even though it had always been hopeless, even though he had been deluding himself. Evie. His Evie. He sighed deeply.

Raffy’s Evie.

The thought winded him, just as the discovery of their little meetings in the tree had made him feel like his insides had been hollowed out. They were with Linus, together; they would always be together and Lucas would always be alone.

But that’s where the mask came in. That’s where the mask really paid its way.

‘I will supply whatever information you need.’

‘The time is approaching. Code 32. There is a full moon next Wednesday. We have a City key now. I’ll be in touch. Message over.’

The icon disappeared and Lucas stared at the screen where it had been, offering such hope, his only connection to the man he’d worked for for so long. Then he stood up, his expression clearing to a blank as he left his office and walked down towards the System Operator Unit. Next Wednesday, Code 32. He would be ready. He would be waiting.

Evie’s emotions were whirling as Linus closed down the communication device. ‘That was really Lucas?’ she asked.

‘It really was Lucas,’ Raffy said, his eyes gripped by the screen. He turned to Linus. ‘So what’s happening next Wednesday? What did you mean about it being time?’

‘I meant,’ Linus said, his familiar smile finally reappearing, ‘that it is time we paid your City a visit. Time we shook things up a bit.’

‘We’re going back?’ Evie asked, her heart thudding loudly.

‘No, we’re not,’ said Raffy. ‘I promised we’d never go back. I promised Evie.’

‘I want to go back,’ Evie insisted, her voice low.

Raffy stared at her. ‘You want to go back?’

‘That’s settled, then,’ Linus exclaimed. ‘We’ve been waiting a long time, but I think we’re ready.’

‘Ready for what?’ Raffy asked.

‘Ready to avenge your father’s death. Ready to show the Brother up for what he really is. Ready to save Lucas and free the people of the City, to make it the place it was always meant to be.’

‘But the police guards . . .’ Raffy protested. ‘How are we going to—’

‘Don’t worry about the police guards,’ Linus interjected. ‘We’re going to take some friends with us.’

‘Friends?’ Evie asked cautiously. ‘Which friends?’

‘The Evils.’ Linus smiled. ‘Now come on, we’ve got work to do.’

It is cold, it is dark. She feels strange arms around her; her throat hoarse from crying, she is silent now. She feels her head fall forward; feels her eyes closing. She wants to sleep. But she forces them open again. She cannot sleep now, she knows that.

A door opens and a light shines out of it; as it closes behind them she is enveloped in a suffocating warmth. She is put down; she is on a chair. There are people looking at her; a crowd of them, she doesn’t know how many. They are staring, pushing forward. She doesn’t look at them. She looks down at her feet; it is something that she has learnt to do. Only make eye contact when you know what is happening, when you know that you are safe. She has seen violence in her life; she has seen men killed in front of her, seen savages taking human bodies for meat. Her parents tried to tell her that she was mistaken about what she saw, but she is wiser than her years. She knows.

‘Delphine. Ralph. Would you come with me, please?’ The man speaks; a couple leave the crowd and walk towards him. They talk in hushed voices. Then the couple approach Evie.

‘Evangeline?’ The man is the first to speak. He crouches down to her level. ‘Evangeline, I am so glad you are here. I’m your father. This is your mother. We have been waiting for you.’

Evie is startled. She was prepared for many things, but not this. She breaks her rule; looks up. Their eyes lock.

‘My father,’ she says. ‘My father is . . .’ She trails off; she doesn’t know how to finish the sentence, doesn’t know where her father is.

‘I am your father, Evangeline,’ the man says gently but firmly. ‘The man you came with will be looked after. He needs our help, and you want us to help him, don’t you? You want us to help all the people you came with.’

Evie nods. The warmth is permeating her bones; it is intoxicating. She has not been warm for so long.

‘Are you hungry, Evie? Shall we go and have some food?’

This time it is the woman speaking; her eyes are scrutinising her, making Evie feel self-conscious. She nods again. The woman looks pleased. She holds out her hand and Evie takes it.

‘Good,’ says the man who carried her into this room. ‘Good. Now, please wait here. There are more. Please be patient . . .’

It was Wednesday morning. Evie woke up and looked around. She was in a smallish tent with cream canvas walls and ceiling; under her was a mattress with cotton sheets; next to her was Raffy, deeply asleep still, his rhythmic breathing providing a slow tempo beat. They were alone; since arriving here there had been no more talk of being captive, no more ropes, no more threats. And yet Evie was more afraid now than ever before. Not for herself so much; she had stopped worrying about her future as soon as she’d learnt the truth about her past. But for all of them. Raffy. Lucas . . .

‘Morning.’ Raffy opened his eyes and the customary lopsided grin appeared on his face, making Evie laugh in spite of herself. The same grin that had greeted her in their tree for so many years, the same grin that had reassured her, comforted her, teased her for what felt like her whole life. Raffy had been the one constant, the one person she could rely on, talk to and confide in. Yet now, here, beyond the City walls, where they were free to be whoever they wanted . . . Somehow things felt different.

‘Look,’ he said, looking around. ‘We’re all alone.’

He grabbed her and pulled her towards him in a bear hug; but as she moved she turned so that she was facing away, his face meeting the back of her neck instead of . . .

Instead of her lips?

She frowned. They used to kiss all the time, in the City. Kisses that were full of hope, desperation and longing. Kisses that bound them together even whilst they were being torn apart. Kisses that spoke of their solidarity, their fervent belief in each other and their rebellion against the life that had been set out for them.

But since they had been here, since they had arrived at Base Camp, their lips had not so much as brushed each other’s.

Evie knew that it was not Raffy’s fault; she knew that it had not been he who had turned his head, changed the subject and given a hug instead, made a joke. What she didn’t know was why.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath; she had dreamt of lying like this with Raffy, had dreamt of a world where such a thing was possible. Now, somehow, his arms felt claustrophobic around her; his breath tickled her neck; he was suffocating her, pulling her down when she needed to . . .

Needed to what?

And then she knew what it was she had to do. There was a secret that was weighing her down, coming between them.

‘Raffy,’ she said quietly. ‘There’s something I have to tell you.’

‘There’s something I have to tell you, too.’

‘There is?’ Evie looked at him apprehensively.

He grinned. ‘I have to tell you how much I love you. I have to tell you how beautiful you are.’ He pulled her towards him again, kissed her, and Evie found herself kissing him back. As she arched towards him, he pulled off the old T-shirt she’d been sleeping in, pulled off his own shirt and her skin against his felt so exquisite, so dangerous, so right. And as she lay down, his eyes sought hers and looked into them so intensely, so deeply, that she felt perhaps he could see, perhaps he knew already, perhaps he had accepted it and forgiven her. And then she knew that he must, because he was inside her, because they were as one, and the ripples in her body were consuming her, making her cry out and grasp onto Raffy like a life raft, like her salvation. And then she was crying, tears of joy, but also something more, and as Raffy kissed them away, more came to take their place until her cheeks, her neck, the pillow beneath her head were wet.

‘Don’t cry, Evie. Don’t cry,’ Raffy whispered. ‘Everything’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be fine.’

And Evie nodded, because she wanted to believe him. She needed to believe him.

‘So what was it you wanted to tell me?’ He grinned, rolled off her and kissed her again. ‘My beautiful Evie. What was it?’

She closed her eyes. Then opened them. ‘I need to tell you something that happened. The night we ran away,’ she said, her voice wavering.

Raffy’s face darkened slightly. ‘Look, I know what happened that night,’ he said, turning away. ‘I know I got Lucas wrong. I know you did what you had to do. I . . .’ He swallowed, turned to face her again. ‘Look, it doesn’t matter, does it? We’re free. We’re here. We have each other.’

Evie nodded. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps it didn’t matter. But she knew it did. He loved her, but he didn’t know everything. The love wasn’t real. Not yet.