UNBREATHABLE (26 page)

Where do mutants come from?

I shiver and focus on the ground beneath me, and the palace, still a good distance away. But I feel safer, away from the dark confines of the alley. Though this is worse in some ways. I can easily be seen.

I pass silent houses as I run. Some have lights on, others are dark. I only pass one lone man roaming the streets, his head ducked beneath the collar of his coat. I keep my eyes glued to him until I pass.

I'm panting by the time I've climbed the palace hill. Swarms of dust burst and swirl in the gentle wind.

I pause beside a ring of boulders and scan the area. Though I don’t see anyone, I know there are guards—even in broad daylight there are guards.

I creep closer, staying beneath the shadows as much as I can. There isn’t a single cloud in the sky, nothing to lend to my invisibility. Moonlight illuminates my location when I’m close enough to see the swirling gold etched into the palace walls.

I tense.

I’m not alone. I whip my head up, but before I can turn, a hand tightens around my mouth.

I struggle against the person, digging my nails into the hand around me. I try to scream, but nothing penetrates the grip. Panic edges into my vision. Sweat burns my skin.

“Stop struggling,” a man whispers. Hot breath suffocates my skin.

He pulls me toward the palace, his hand still around my mouth. A guard?

I twist and try to see who he is through the corner of my eye, but I can only see the moon.

I dig my heels into the ground. But it’s no use. He drags me anyway. He’s strong, though the hand around my mouth is bony.

When he drags me beneath the shadow of an eve above a smaller palace door, he lets go. I fall to the ground, panting. My hand flies to my leg and I yank out a dagger.

“It's me, Princess,” the man says hurriedly. He crouches down in front of me, and moonlight illuminates his features.

“Ilen?” I ask, lowering my hand. My heart pounds loud enough for Jutaire to hear. 

He nods, eyeing the knife nervously. “Where were you?”

It takes me a moment to realize all of Jutaire thinks I’m missing. Everyone thinks Julian hurt me.

“Is Julian okay?” I ask.

Ilen nods, gravely and relief floods through me. “Barely. I see him sometimes, take him whatever food I've got.”

I blink in surprise. “You don't think–he didn't—”

“I know he didn't hurt you. I know all about Rowan and his plan.” Ilen sighs.

“How? Does the Queen know?” I ask. My mind swarms with questions.

“I was with him in the beginning. I wanted,” he pauses and frowns. In the light of the moon, he looks younger. “I wanted to go to Earth but I never thought it involved so much death. So I backed out. And no, the Queen doesn't know. I can't tell her.”

He shudders and looks closely at me, as if seeing me for the first time. “Why are you here, Princess?”

Can I trust him? He knows of Rowan's madness. He knows of Julian's innocence.

“I came to save Julian. Rowan is going to burn down the palace.”

“There’s nothing I can do,” he says, shaking his head before I can ask. “All the men here are loyal to him. I’m supposed to be, too, but I’m too scared, obviously.”

Ilen sneaks me into the maid's quarters and I trust him to stay silent. He murmurs something about his shift being over and disappears.

I slip through the door and squint in the darkness, quietly creeping through the wide space.

My feet kick something soft and I nearly stumble. When I right myself, I hear a soft cry.

“Jude,” a voice calls far to my right. I squint and my heart beats faster when I make out the sounds of breathing. How many Jute are in here? How many of them can see me?

A dim light brightens from above and I gasp. The wide room is filled with girls sleeping on the floor. Maids.

“Princess?” Someone whispers excitedly. I jerk my head toward the voice, recognizing the girl who dressed my hair on the eve of the ceremony.

I hold a finger quickly to my lips and everyone falls silent. “Hush. No one must know I'm here.”

She presses her lips together and nods. I let my eyes scan over the rest of the girls. They stare up at me with wide, expectant eyes. Their excitement is palpable in the air. The thrill of keeping a secret runs through their veins.

“Where’s Mia?” I ask them, my voice low.

“We don’t know. We haven’t seen her since you went missing,” an older girl says.

“Does she disappear often?” I ask, panic rushing through me.

“No,” a little girl whispers, half to herself. “Mia is always here. Not anymore.”

“The human, the platinum one.” One of them points at another door. “She’s in there.”

Dena. She’s safe and so close. My heart picks up speed. I walk around limbs and fingers, carefully making my way to the door on the far end. I look back at them, my hand on the door. “Thank you.”

A few of them smile. The rest break out into hushed chatter. I barely hear the two girls whispering beside me.

“She said she wanted to be left alone,” one says.

“But 
she 
isn't alone,” the other whispers back, and they both break into giggles.

I step into a short hall. The bright yellow glow of a globed oxygen candle warms the room.

Just like our masks, the globes produce oxygen, allowing the flames to sputter in yellow and orange, rather than blue and purple, like Jutaire’s fire.

I take three steps and pause when I see the shadows. Two heads inclined. My neck burns. Dena isn't alone. I step back, ready to leave when the floorboard creaks beneath my feet and a shadow flashes to my left, where the wall should be.

A hand pulls me into a hidden room, and darkness clouds my vision.

Faint moonlight bounces off the blade of my dagger when I whip it out.

“You are dazzlingly fast, Lissa,” an airy voice says innocently. I nearly drop the dagger.

“Mia?” I blurt in surprise.

“It would help if you were a little quieter, but yes, it’s me,” she says. Only Mia can be so blunt and sound utterly innocent. A light flickers on, illuminating a small bed, an unwrapped cloth with half-eaten food carefully set in its center.

“What are you doing in here? Why are you hiding?” I tuck the dagger back into my sheath. The room is so small I can’t stand fully straight. She sits cross-legged against the bed and shrugs.

“I know you’re the real princess,” I say when she doesn’t answer. She chimes a small laugh.

“There are men after me. I don’t know how they found out after so long, but I am slightly afraid of death.”

I almost laugh at the way she says it.

“You need to come with me. You need to be crowned. You need to—”

“No, Lissa.
You
are the princess. I might be royal by blood, but that doesn’t make me capable of leading anyone.” She looks down at her toes. “Sometimes I wonder how I lead myself from one place to another.”

I blink.

“Okay,” I say, sitting in front of her. I lift the emerald from my neck but she shakes her head.

“It’s yours now. It belongs to you. I just want to live a simple life. I like being a maid and dressing up in pretty clothes. This is the life I’ve always wanted and I am content with it. Do you understand?”

I raise my eyebrows, but in the end, I nod.

“Will you at least come with me? I can take you someplace safe.”

She smiles and chews on a chunk of bread. I wait, but she doesn’t answer.

“I wanted to say good-bye and see you one last time. We didn’t get a proper farewell before. So good-bye, Lissa. Farewell.”

She shoves me out of the room before I can say another word and locks the door. If I had to choose one word to describe Mia, it would be crazy. Whimsical, alive, caring, gentle, sweet, yes, but in the end, crazy.

The stupid floorboard in the short hall creaks beneath my weight again.

“Princess?”

“Ilen?” I ask in surprise.

He grins, his bright hair disheveled, and points to another door on the other end of the room. He 
is 
young, probably not much older than me.

“Thanks for coming back at midnight,” Dena says. She steps around Ilen and faces me, sarcasm dripping from her voice. Her face is flushed.

“I-I’m sorry, I—”

“Yeah, I know. Crap happened, right?” She asks with an eye roll. “Truth is, I never thought I would see you again, being in Rowan’s lair and all.”

I clench my jaw.

“You knew,” I spit. “You knew Rowan had me, but you didn’t even try to help.”
You didn’t want help either
, some part of me whispers.

Her eyes flash. “Help you? Strapped to a table?”

“You said you had a way out the night of the ceremony.” I shoot back.

“But you didn’t show up. You were busy getting cozy with Julian.” A vein pulses in her neck.

“Don’t talk about Julian,” I say, my voice deathly still. She scoffs. Ilen gently pushes Dena aside, breaking our stare.

“I actually got Dena out late last night,” he says.

Dena’s quick breathing slows and she sighs, her whole body sagging.

“All of Jutaire is looking for you.” I look away. I’m ashamed I let my anger control my words when Dena isn’t the same person I first met.

“I’m sorry,” I say quietly. Dena was in danger, Julian is still in danger.

“Why are you here?” She asks.

“Rowan is going to bring down the palace,” I say flatly. She sucks in a breath and I tell them everything.

“Ilen, you need to get the maids somewhere safe. And Dena, you need to go back,” I say. She meets my eyes. “To the Tower.”

“And do what?” Ilen asks. I look at him and blink. I never thought of that. “There isn't much good in telling them there’s a ship.”

“No,” Dena agrees. “But they need to prepare. Get everything together.”

“If Rowan does set the palace on fire, he’ll be the one to take the ship,” Ilen says, stating the obvious. “The humans will stand no chance against him.”

“Why not? We have more numbers than they do. He only has one-tenth of the Jute,” Dena says, narrowing her eyes in confusion.

“Haven’t you heard of mask tracking?” Ilen asks.

“They track our locations, we know,” I say. That was what I was worried about when I broke into the Chamber. I never thought someone else would set off the Chamber’s own alarm.

“There are two parts to the control. The main panel that tracks the masks and a smaller, portable control that controls the oxygen flow. It’s here, unguarded, secluded, and easy to access. One flick of a switch and every mask will stop functioning. Every human will die,” Ilen says.

Dena and I share a glance. Her face suddenly looks so much like Chancellor Kole’s—haunted.

“Well then, there's only one thing I can do.” She grins half-heartedly and unzips her leather jacket. I furrow my brow as she pulls the flaps open, revealing a clean tank top underneath.

The inside of her jacket sparkles in the candlelight. Sown carefully into the leather are rows and rows of glass vials. Filled to the brim with blood. My blood.

“You've been preparing,” I say, my voice no more than a whisper.

“I told you I would help from the inside. Already mixed with the catalyst and ready to go,” she says proudly.

“Can we stop wasting time?” Ilen says.

“How did you get so much?” I ask, ignoring him.

“Five vials were more than enough. Your blood multiplies faster than I thought.” She shrugs.

“Then why did we think I would die?” I ask. What if we bloated everything? What if my mother never planned on killing me at all?

“The more it multiplies, the less potent it becomes,” Dena says, zipping up her jacket. “There’s a nutrient in hybrid blood, which, when derived, functions as the catalyst. When fresh, it’s the strongest. These aren’t strong enough for the Jute, but perfectly fine for humans. And yes, I kept my ears open in there too.”

“Dena,” Ilen groans.

“Yeah, yeah, keep your head on. I'll leave now.”

“Alone?” I ask. I still see the countless vials lining her jacket. I still can't comprehend how such small bottles can save so many lives.

Ilen shakes his head. “She can go with me. There's a body I’m due to collect at sunrise. May as well get an early start.”

I shudder. While I was away, humans were still being hung. I remember how much Chancellor Kole used to frighten me. I remember the limp bodies, the masks. The gaunt faces of every man, woman, and child living because there’s nothing else to do. Dena reaches for my hand.

“It'll all end soon, Lissa,” she says softly. No doubt she's remembering her father too. “Try to stay alive.”

She crosses the short hall and turns back, eyes narrowed.

“What are you going to do, anyway?” She asks.

Does she know what happened to Julian? I’m selfish and afraid she'll want to come. I'm afraid she'll have questions that I won't be able to answer.

I let Gage die. And Chancellor Kole. It won't happen again. 

“There’s something I need to do,” I say, letting loose a deep breath.

Ilen meets my eyes and places a hand on Dena’s shoulder before she can push any further. “Come on, Dena. Let her do what she has to do.”

I thank him silently and watch them leave, quickly and quietly. As soon as I’m alone, I reach for the emerald, warm from my skin, and knock on the hidden door again. Nothing. I call Mia’s name. Still nothing.