Eternal Hope (The Hope Series) (33 page)

The Immundus beneath the dais stopped their rowdy conversations and looked up at him for a minute, every single one of them falling silent. Adrenalin burned through Farley, a shot of fire racing around her veins. Thousands of Immundus were about to start pouring out of the Great Room. They would discover her and hand her over to Simeon for sure. She waited. The sound of Simeon’s chair, rattling with the force of his angry convulsions, echoed around the room for a second before a wall of sound exploded again. It was boisterous and chaotic- the sounds of shouting and fighting.

Farley looked up through her cracked fingers and had to do a double take. She really hadn’t been expecting this: nearly every Immundus in the room was locked in a brawl of some description, swinging punches or picking someone up and flinging them into groups of other people. It was bedlam, and Simeon didn’t even seem to notice. He ticked his head towards the ceiling again, and occasionally snapped his teeth angrily over his shoulder, like he was trying to bite someone.

What the…?

It wasn’t just Simeon: they were
all
mad. The Immundus’ crazed affray did serve one purpose, however. Not one of them was going to notice her sneaking out the door. Farley crouched down as low as she could and tiptoed to the back of the room. The circular handle on the door was wrought iron and heavy. She lifted it with both hands, expecting it to creak or groan or do something equally detrimental to her health. It did nothing.

At the slightest suggestion from Farley, the door inched open without a sound, spilling in light from a small anteroom beyond. Quickly, she slipped through, drawing the door closed behind her. For some moronic reason she waited on the other side, listening for any Immundus that might be racing after her, but all she could make out was winded groans and grunts of exertion. What the hell was wrong with them?

The Immundus Farley had encountered before had all been the same: cool, calm and collected. She couldn’t even remember any of them speaking before, either. They certainly hadn’t screamed or shouted, or used their shoes to bludgeon each other. She backed away from the door, confused by their bizarre behavior but glad for it all the same.

The anteroom was nothing more than a landing to a narrow, stone spiral staircase. It wound so deeply down into the earth that the blackness took over before she saw an end to it. Down didn’t look like a good option, and so Farley went up, stumbling as she scrambled away from Simeon and his melee. It took just one rotation of the staircase before she came out into a long, sweeping corridor. Directly ahead of her a wide tunnel led off in a straight line, narrowing into a distant pinpoint. This had to be one of the passageways to the Quarters- not where she wanted to go. Or maybe it was. She had no idea whether the people from the Quarters would protect her. That probably wasn’t where Simeon was keeping Oliver, though.

She set off jogging around the circular corridor. Doors whipped past her on either side, different shapes and sizes. Some were made of wood, narrow and small with brass, polished handles. Some were huge industrial iron things with rusted metal rivets and wheels to open them. Despite their variety, they all had one thing in common: they all looked decidedly locked and bolted. Stopping here didn’t feel safe. She pushed herself harder, her breath coming out in short, sharp blasts. Her legs were aching by the time she reached an intersection, where another straight tunnel disappeared into the distance. She’d moved a quarter of the way around the compass. East, maybe, or west. Hell, it could have been north or south for all she knew. She hesitated, wondering if she
would
just be better off disappearing into the Quarters, when the sound of footsteps echoed off the walls up ahead.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Find somewhere to hide. Find somewhere to hide!

There
was
nowhere to hide. She pressed her body back against the bare wall in a hopeless attempt at camouflage, but a girl in a bright green t-shirt wasn’t exactly going to blend in with naked sandstone. Her legs went weak, spasming like they were ready to start running off without her. By the time she decided to run, it was too late. The first of the Immundus appeared around the bend, swiftly followed by another and then another two.

Farley bit back the urge to scream and froze like a rabbit in the headlights. So much for fight club training. Through her panic, it took a moment to realize the Immundus were forming a guard detail around someone in the middle of their group. There were eight of them in total, and in the center of them was a familiar head of black hair.

Oliver.

So he was here. Farley braced herself. They were going to see her any second now and it would all be over. The fact that she wasn’t really in the Tower didn’t matter much; they could easily persuade her tell them where the hotel was. Then they’d come and snatch up her body and probably kill all of the others. Simeon would have both her and Oliver, and there would be nothing to stop him from implementing Operation Reincarnation Aria.

Two seconds passed by and the Immundus rounded the corner. This was more how she was used to seeing them, with passive, blank expressions. They didn’t even bat an eyelid as they marched right up to her. She adopted a defensive stance, at least determined to land a punch or two before they took her, when something strange happened. They walked right on by.

She stared after them with her fists still raised, frowning. Oliver hadn’t even looked up; he’d just marched past with a blank look on his face. He wasn’t harmed in any way. In fact, he looked good- much more rested than he had done of late. The bruised shadows under his eyes were gone, and there was something about the way he stood a little straighter that seemed different.

Farley took a couple of paces after them, completely thrown. What was she supposed to do now? How was she going to help him get away from eight Immundus guards without getting herself killed?

“Oliver,” she hissed. She scurried carefully after them, wishing she had a few points of cover to dash between. “
Oliver!
”

Oliver’s shoulders tensed and his head turned slightly to the side. His quick pace faltered. He stopped entirely and swiveled to face back down the corridor, and the Immundus halted without saying a word. A shiver ran down the length of Farley’s body. Why weren’t they making him move? Why weren’t they shouting at him or shoving him off towards the Great Room? Oliver spun and looked back up the corridor, his eyes sharp like a cat’s. She waited for him to see her, but his gaze swept over her.

“Shadows,” he whispered to himself, a longing light briefly flickering in his eyes. He spun around and the Immundus set off marching up the corridor. The dull thud of their boots moving in unison faded as they disappeared, but the sick feeling in Farley’s stomach grew until she felt like she might wretch. Oliver wasn’t locked away in some dingy cell. He was strolling around the hallways of the Tower like he owned the place.

What has he done?

Asking him was the only way to find out. He’d heard her; a part of him knew she was there, even if he couldn’t see her. She set off running after him, her fists pumping hard as she raced to catch up.

“Oliver!” The name echoed down the hallway but none of the Immundus hesitated. She ran harder. “
OLIVER!
”

Hands gripped Farley’s shoulders, shaking her roughly. She yanked herself forward, as if she could pull herself out of the forceful grip, and then the sandstone walls started to crumble. The world dipped out of focus. When she’d blinked away the confusing blur, Daniel hovered over her, frowning. It took a moment for Farley to still her legs from running on the spot. She swallowed and brushed the hair back out of her face. A very groggy Tess complained about getting kicked, while Grayson leaned into her field of vision with an excited look on his face.

“Well?”

“Ugh, back up.” She dragged herself into a sitting position and Daniel perched on the edge of the coffee table, his hands gripped together, pressed to his lips.

“Please tell me you didn’t let this idiot talk you into something stupid?” he demanded.

“If going to sleep is something stupid, then yes.”

Daniel shot Grayson a hostile look, to which he held up his hands. “She could have said no.”

A low growl emitted from Daniel’s throat. “You were supposed to be keeping them
out
of trouble.”

“She wasn’t in any trouble. Were you?” Grayson held a hand out to Farley, looking for corroboration. She kicked off the blankets and jumped off the sofa.

“Yes, I was, actually. We all are. We’re all in a whole heap of trouble.”

Putting Cassie and Farley in the same room was like dropping a strip of magnesium into water: only recommended if sporting protective eyewear and best observed from a distance. Daniel considered his escape options as the two girls stared each other down with murder in their eyes. The moment where he’d dreamed they might end up friends had blinked past so fast it was like it hadn’t happened at all. The sooner he could put a couple of hundred miles between them, the better.

“This needn’t have happened at all, y’know,” Cassie muttered under her breath. She was sitting at the breakfast bar kicking the foot rail with increasing force. “But no, you had to be petty.”

Farley stopped mid-pour, slamming the orange juice down hard enough for some of the liquid to erupt out and puddle on the counter. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I suspected this was Simeon all along. Kayden told me about the first vision you had where you were trapped with someone down in a vault. It was the first thing I thought of. I wanted to talk to you about it but you
had a migraine
.” She bunny-eared the first two fingers of her hands, throwing out air quotes.

“Yeah, well, it’s hardly surprising I didn’t want to talk to the chick who’d sexually assaulted my boyfriend right in front of me.”

“I didn’t know he was your boyfriend. I thought he was
mine
. He did make some promises the last time I saw him, y’know. It was a pretty reasonable assumption to make.”

“You think,” Farley said, laughing, “that you get yourself a boyfriend by reasonably assuming it? If we’d known that was how the world worked, Tess would have laid a
reasonable
claim to Brad Pitt about four years ago and Angelina Jolie would have been shit outta luck.” She shook her head. “No wonder you’ve been single so long.”

Daniel pushed himself away from the counter and hovered close to Farley. He put his hand up. This was on the verge of spiraling out of control, and despite what most guys’ fantasies dictated he had no desire to see two girls tearing fistfuls of each other’s hair out. “May I speak?”

Both of them turned on him and, at the same time, snarled, “No!”

“Oooookay.” He inched back, ready to wade in if it looked like one of them was getting ready to punch on. Cassie tossed her hair back over her shoulder and raised her eyes to the ceiling.

“You think this little fairytale of yours is going to work out? It’d be more likely Tess
would
marry Brad Pitt. She’s about as delusional as you are.”

“Oh? And how d’you figure that?”

“Easy. I think it’s laughable that you and your little buddy have trawled waist-deep into this situation without thinking any of it through. She hooked up with a guy who’s about to blow bigger that Mount St. Helen; a guy who’s defected to the other side, who
hit her
, yet she’s desperate to run and save him.”

Farley lowered her head a moment and took a deep breath. She picked up her glass and stepped toward Cassie.

“So you think domestic violence is laughable? That’s interesting.” She took a sip of her juice and then quirked an eyebrow at the other girl. “You know what I find laughable?”

“Enlighten me.”

“The fact that
your
little buddy couldn’t stand sitting in a car with you, so she drove off and left you outside a gas station like an unwanted dog.”

Cassie’s face morphed into someone else’s- someone who looked like they’d killed before and was okay with doing it again. “You haven’t asked me why I think
you’re
delusional yet.”

“That’s because I don’t care what you think.”

Cassie drummed her fingers on the breakfast bar. “You’re delusional because you think this will all work out.” She gestured flippantly towards Daniel.

This was the rocket fuel he’d been worried about. There was something utterly vile on the tip of the girl’s tongue and there’d be no taking it back. “Stop, Cass. Just leave it alone, okay? We’re all under a lot of pressure, and-”

She ignored him. “You forget that Daniel’s more like me than he is like you. I’m going to live lifetimes longer than you. I’m going to outlive your children and your children’s children. How does that make you feel? Consider this,” She pulled her head to one side. “The average life expectancy of a female in these technologically, medically advanced days is a paltry eighty-one years. You’ve already hit the ripe old age of eighteen, so that means, what? Only a mere sixty-three years until you drop down dead? And that’s assuming Daniel would stick around when you’re all wrinkly and hideous, or that the Reavers wouldn’t kindly expedite the process of your expiration for me. I’ve already waited decades for Daniel, Farley. I’m hardly happy about it, but I can wait another sixty. I can travel. I could probably learn some new languages and-”