Escape from Harrizel (27 page)

“Only Blovid—one of the other Leaders—had
any sense. He’d been against the extermination from the beginning
but Reuzkimpart had everyone convinced. Somehow, Blovid managed to
persuade the others to stop, to see the malevolent slaughter of
their actions, but by the time they agreed to halt, there weren’t
many left. Clarence was missing and only a handful of humans were
found, most badly injured. It was decided the remaining humans
would be spared, but have their memories erased. They’d be put to
work in what would now be used as a research base, until finding a
better use for them. It was done. All humans forgot what happened
and were put to work under a clever lie Reuzkimpart and Beshib
devised. All aiding Dofinikes were to share the same fate, to
become slaves, working alongside the humans they so deeply cared
for.”

It takes a moment but with all the obvious
questions still hanging, Sampson goes on.

“Clarence came back of course. He’d never
admit where he’d gone—what he did. For his resistance, he was given
an especially cruel task—to bring all new humans here, to a fate
unbeknownst to us. You see, in the last few years, Reuzkimpart has
ordered more and more humans to be brought over. But why? What’s
the point unless you’re being utilized for something? And he’s not
having Clarence select the humans like
we
did—only rescuing
those who have no other way out. Clarence has a quota,” Sampson
sighs at the idea, “he must bring a certain amount of humans here,
delivering them to a knowing lie...” he stops, pausing and looking
up at us with grief in his eyes, “Can you imagine what that must be
like for him?”

“So the war…?” I ask.

He shakes his head, “Never happened. No,
you’re here on Harrizel because they
want
you to be. Because
you serve some purpose. One,” he turns to me, “even
I
don’t
know.”

Then it’s true. All the conspiracies, all
the lies—I’ve been right this whole time. But there’s so much to
take in, so much to grasp. The Dofinike prophecy. The near genocide
here on Harrizel. The ruins. My connection to it all… to what
Sampson described. Why didn’t Reid tell me about any of it?

“Fallon,” Sampson’s weak voice continues, “I
wish there was nothing else to reveal…”

Holding my hand up, I signal for silence.
Sampson obeys the request, glancing at Reid who seems content on
the direction of the conversation. Finally, after a deep exhale, I
nod.

“Vix is also a Dofinike.”

“And Clark?” I croak. I’m not sure I could
take Clark as a ten-foot tall power happy reptilian.

“No, no,” Sampson shakes his head. “Clark is
like Reid and yourself, a clever but curious human.”

“Don’t know about clever…” I mumble under my
breath, sorting through my thoughts before looking up, “…and Pratt
knows all this too?”

Sampson nods.

“There are so many things I want to
know.”

“Of course,” Sampson nods, “how could you
not?”

I run through my checklist quickly, finding
my key clues. “The prophecy?” I try, causing Sampson’s brows to
rise. I go on, fueled by the energy in the air, “You mentioned a
Dofinike prophecy.”

“Shall we accept discussing another time?”
his face scrunches in disappointment. “There’s really too much to
reveal and this is not,” he glances around, “the ideal
location.”

“You talked about connectedness. Stronger
and weaker.”

“Good questions Fallon and definitely
discussions needing to be had but ideally…”

“Explain it again,” I demand, “real quick. I
don’t understand what you mean by spiritual. Like you know what
each Dofinike knows?”

“Something like that,” he shrugs, “like we
can sense what others are sensing. A connection to one
another.”

“Tied to memories?” I probe further.

Sampson shifts uncomfortably, “Yes, at
times. But it’s mostly used for present communication. For
instance,” he sighs, “Clarence informed me his shipments will start
increasing.”

“Increasing?” Reid and I exchange nervous
glances.

Sampson nods. “They’ve doubled his
quota.”

“And we have no idea what for?” Reid tries.
“Has Clarence heard anything? Has Beshib told him anything?”

“Nothing,” Sampson shakes his head, “except
to bring more.”

“And does…
Jothkore
… know anything?”
I try, quickly attempting to catch up with their level of
knowledge.

“No,” Sampson shakes his head. “He’s only an
upstairs guard. He wouldn’t know.”

“How many guards are there?” I ask.

“Not as many as you’d think. Not as many
Dofinikes on this base as they’d
want
you to think. They
make it all too easy for you, actually. What with your real
memories here, I’d imagine—”

“Our
memories
?” I gasp.

“Oh yes, they’re here…” Sampson glances
around, considering his bunker deeply. “Somewhere, on
Harrizel.”

“How is that possible?” How is
any
of
this possible?”

“It’s the same way the other pills work,” he
quickly explains. “Each pill controls part of your brain. There are
pills stored here that contain each of your memories. Each of your
past lives.”

“And you have no idea where?” I shift the
question between them; hoping one will have the answer. But both
shake their heads. “The others need to know.”

“The Rogues?” Reid asks.

“And everyone else. If they knew who they
really are, if they knew what was
really
happening, they’d
be more inclined.”

“To?”

“Fight back.”

Reid and Sampson exchange looks. They’ve
talked about this before.

“Come on, we can’t do
nothing
,” I
glance to Reid. “Especially now. Every day I have to talk myself
into staying here. If there’s a way we could leave, we could
actually fight back, we need to do it.”

“As I’ve said,” Sampson agrees, “there
aren’t as many Dofinikes here as they’d have you believe. Your
numbers more than triple ours and not all of us are against
you.”

“But we can’t just tell everyone,” Reid
shakes his head. “If you leak the information too quickly, they’ll
panic. Just like with the pills.”

“Tell the Rogues, then. When there’s a plan
in place, we can tell the rest, but we at least need
them
on
board.”

“We can set up another meeting at Camp,”
Reid looks to Sampson, “you can disclose everything.”

“I think that’d be ideal.”

“When?” I ask.

“Soon,” Sampson nods. “The sooner the
better.”

I’ve been working outside for hours and I
still can’t wrap my mind around it. Not everything, at least.
What’s bothering me most is that Sampson, a Dofinike, doesn’t even
know what’s happening and he’s our best hope. The fact that Sampson
is a Dofinike is also pretty huge.

And then there are the ruins. Why are they
so—

Something flashes past.

It has wings and maybe even legs, tiny and
black and thin, like charred toothpicks. I’d call it a bug, but it
was bigger than that, about the size of my hand—did no one else see
it? But everyone’s facing their walls, scooping out gobs of gibb in
silence, undisturbed.

I must be seeing things. I get back to work,
thrusting my Senz into the gibbed wall when it—whatever it is—flies
past again, right in front of my nose. It’s taunting me. Willing me
to see it and not, to question my faith in its existence. I keep
still as a tiny introverted voice speaks for me.

I see you.

After a second, it flashes by once more—but
there are two this time. They flutter past with racing speed, still
unwilling to offer a solid look. What do they want? And why does no
one else see them?

“Hey,” Reid whispers, distracting me.

“Hey.”

He throws his Senz into the blue wall.
“Tonight you’ll come with us. To gather food.”

“Good.”

“Meet me at my room after Leisure Time—only
a handful know so it’s not public knowledge,” he inches closer,
keeping his voice low as he speaks into my ear. “Twelfth floor,
sixteen from the Northeast stairwell.”

“I thought Pratt was picking me up?”

“Not tonight,” he shakes his head. “It’s
important you know how to find me. This time, I’ll take you.”

He leaves as quickly as he arrived. I watch
him go, watch his body move through the others, everyone adjusting
to him. No one wants to challenge Rox. Even the ones not involved
in either Clan know he’s someone of importance. It’s obvious the
way everyone acts around him. The way they see him coming before he
arrives, the way they stiffen at his approach.

Reid sails through the trench and Ansley
attaches herself to his hip. My blood boils but Able’s here, taking
Reid’s spot. He grins, aware of my discomfort just over his
shoulder.

“Don’t even worry about it,” he starts
digging.

“What’s her deal?” I glare at the scene
behind him.

“Can’t accept she blew it, I guess. Keeps
thinking he’ll take her back. He won’t,” Able assures me, “
no
way
. Plus, all the Rogues hate her so if he’s serious about
resuming his post...”

“She was the reason he left, right?”

“Yup,” Able tosses his scoopful of gibb into
the bucket between us. “What she did to him… and she still thinks
she’s got a shot.”

“And she doesn’t?”

“I mean….” he hesitates, “the two of
them...they just have a lot of history. I think she’s banking on
that.”

I glance over his shoulder to Reid and
Ansley arguing. Reid’s digging, tossing heated scoops of gibb into
the bucket at his feet, while Ansley is doing her best to explain
something with her hands. Able turns to see, looks back and rolls
his eyes.

“Seriously, don’t worry. I could understand
if she tried again before you showed up. I think she was hoping
he’d crawl back to her,” he laughs at the impossibility. “Yeah
right.”

“BACK OFF!” Reid barks, everyone turning at
the sudden disruption. Ansley stands frozen as Reid storms off.

Able and I exchange looks before Ansley
casts a loathing glare my way, heading for the ladder.

“Eek,” Able grumbles under his breath,
“she’s pissed. Might be good to steer clear.”

I dig for a moment longer. “She’s a Kiss,
isn’t she?”

“Well, you didn’t hear it from me.”

“Come on… what happened?”

“I can’t tell you that. Not until Reid
does,” he looks at me like I’m dumb. “He’d literally
kill
me
if he found out I told you.”

“That bad?”

“Let’s put it this way…” Able clears his
throat, “I think you’re cool and all, but I’m taking a big risk
talking to you. If I was smart, I’d ignore you like everyone else,
pretending I don’t see you—that your female body has
miraculously
escaped my notice…”

“Oh…” I toss some gibb into the bucket,
suddenly heartbroken for Reid. And for everyone to know about
it.

“Yeah,
oh
,” Able narrows his brows.
“You noticed he only sent Pratt…”

I
did
notice it was always Pratt, but
for different reasons. It never dawned on me he’d had a whole
network at his disposal and could’ve used anyone of them—Scout,
Clansmen or Client—to bring me the food.

“This is an emergency Lecture,” a voice
breaks over us. It’s not Ergiloff like usual. The voice is stern,
cautious, looming. It’s belongs to Beshib. “Please report to the
Auditorium at once.”

“Crap,” Able searches the trench’s nearby
occupants. He ushers us along, his sights on someone in the
distance behind me. “This can’t be good. Come on.”

“What do you think it is?” I spot Pratt over
his shoulder. Wide-eyed, she stands rigid in a sea of movement. I
gesture her toward us and she springs forward, weaving through
bodies.

“Who knows? But if Tucker doesn’t know, it
means Reid doesn’t… basically this is
new
, straight from
Beshib.”

“Great,” I cement my feet to the ground,
“because he always has something good to say.”

Able glances back at my hesitation, just as
Pratt joins my side, her confused eyes shifting between us, looking
for an explanation. But Able only shrugs and leads us toward the
closest ladder. There’s already a huge hive of people waiting to
climb out. Able surveys the crowd on both sides, locking eyes with
someone on each.

Finally it’s Pratt’s turn. She climbs out
and I follow, Able right behind me. Hoards of people sweep past,
heading for the Castle and we join in, seamlessly, rolling with the
wave.

It’s quieter than normal.

Everyone moves in eerie silence, not with
the usual whispering and innocuous interactions that usually
accompany the beginning and ending of Rebuilding. It’s different
now. No one wants to speak, to draw attention to themselves.
Apprehension soaks the air like fog and it’s hard not to breathe it
in. I glance back at Able. He’s a few paces behind me, and his
focus keeps shifting between the Castle ahead and me. A bit away,
Chief moves to his left and Jace glances around to his right.
They’re all scoping, scanning the grazing herd.

A million crazy thoughts race as I pass
through the open portcullis. Is this a trap? Has Beshib finally
decided to kill us all in one swift action? Or will he be taking
half of us away, right here and now?

We spill into the four openings and into the
darkened Auditorium below. Tetlak motions us in faster, gesturing
with his three pronged staff. Keeping Pratt close, I grasp her
hand, roping my fingers with hers. Someone shoves past, knocking
into a few girls. They cause a small panic which quickly dissolves
itself at Tetlak’s inspection.

We’re in near darkness.

The Auditorium is lit by less babeebs than
usual, with only a handful in each ceiling corner. The majority
hang below the main Gizella roots in the center over the trunk,
illuminating it like a spotlight.