For Darkness Shows the Stars (19 page)

Kai.

No, not her Kai.

Elliot stared at Kai in horror. He was still dancing around on the ledge but he noticed her and froze. His arms dropped to his sides. Even across the gulf of years and distance, he could read her. His smile faded. His mouth opened.

“I think I get it,” said Olivia. So did Elliot. “You mean like this?”

Andromeda tried to grab at her, but even with her reflexes—her swift, inhuman, abhorrent reflexes—she was too late.

Olivia jumped.

Olivia fell.

T
HE WIND HAD PICKED
up, but the most it did was catch the edges of Olivia’s russet skirts, twisting them around her like a current in a bloody river. She slammed against the stone and bounced hard, once, twice, before her body caught on a ledge of the nearest tower, a few stories below the cliff’s edge.

“Dear God,” Horatio shouted. “Olivia! Olivia!” He rushed to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

Elliot ran to his side and drew him back. Olivia lay crumpled there, a flower crushed beneath a boot. “Careful,” she whispered. “Let the Fleet captains go.” After all, they could.

Already, Kai was climbing down the side of the spire, feeling out handholds in the cracks. Already, Andromeda was rummaging through the boot of the sun-cart for a piece of rope. Up on the tower ledge, Donovan was shouting directions down to Kai, easily spotting then notifying him about footholds and loose stones.

“She’s not moving!” Horatio cried. “She’s not moving!”

Elliot wrapped her arms around her friend. “Shh. Don’t look.” She squeezed her eyes shut, her previous outrage all but forgotten in the moment.
Please, Olivia, please. Don’t be dead.

When she opened her eyes again, Kai had reached the girl. He held her head in his hands, and even from here, Elliot’s merely human eyes could see the red that stained his skin and the rocks beneath Olivia’s body. Andromeda returned to the cliff edge with her rope and tossed it, easily, to Donovan, who caught it just as easily. Their movements were the same as always—graceful as a cat’s, precise as a machine’s.

It was horrifying.

Below, Kai bent his face close to Olivia’s. “She’s breathing,” he shouted, and the words reverberated across the chasm. Horatio shuddered in relief. Donovan lowered the rope, which Kai tied to Olivia. With Donovan’s help, he climbed with her to the top of the tower.

“Can you make it across while carrying her?” Andromeda called.

Kai looked at Elliot as he answered. His tone was flat. “Yes.”

Of course he could. He was a superhuman.

“Don’t look,” Elliot said softly to Horatio. “Don’t watch this part.” She wished that she, too, could avoid it, but even if she didn’t watch, there was no denying that it was done. Kai jumped across to the cliff again, and this time he did it with a full-grown person in his arms. It was impossible. It should have been impossible.

Oh, Kai, how could you?

But there was no time, no time to even contemplate what had happened to the Cloud Fleet Posts. No time to do anything but offer a quick prayer that Horatio was too overcome by worry for his sister to think about the abomination before his eyes. Donovan leaped back to the mainland and they laid Olivia out on the grass. Andromeda wrapped bandages around her bleeding head. She was unconscious, but breathing. And every moment, she was losing more blood. Elliot felt her limbs for broken bones. Her leg was bent at a funny angle, and there was clearly something wrong with her collarbone, but the biggest damage by far was to her head. Elliot pressed cloths against the wound, hoping to slow the flow of blood.

“We have to get her home,” Horatio said.

“No,” said Elliot. “Take her to the Boatwright house. It’s closer, and Felicia Innovation can help her.” Indeed, Felicia might be the only one in two hundred kay who could. She’d known about their eyes that day in the cavern. What’s more, she’d
apologized
for taking away the wonder of the sanctuary’s stars. Felicia had been the one to do this to them. She’d doomed them all.

Elliot looked up at Kai, who was standing over them, breathing hard. His glittery, inhuman eyes were wide with fear, but they widened even more at her words.

“Felicia,” she repeated. There’d be time later to give in to her shock. “Perhaps it would be best to send one of the carts down there as quickly as possible. You can explain the situation and she can get ready. We’ll have to drive slowly with Olivia so as not to jostle her too much.”

“Great idea,” Andromeda said. She turned to her brother. “Take Horatio and Wentforth and go. Elliot and I will take Olivia.”

“I can’t leave my sister,” said Horatio.

“The ride will be smoother with less weight,” said Andromeda. “I can drive it, and Elliot seems to have a handle on what Olivia needs, medically.”

“I’ll drive Olivia and Elliot,” Kai blurted. Elliot cringed at the sound of her name in his mouth.

“No.” Andromeda’s tone was firm. “You drive quickly.
I
drive carefully. Now go. Every second we waste might be her last.”

Horatio seemed appeased by this, and they helped load the unconscious girl into the cart. Then the boys all piled into the second cart and took off. As Andromeda steered carefully down the path toward level ground, Elliot cradled Olivia’s head from the worst of the bumps.

“That was smart,” said Elliot. “Sending Kai down first.” He’d bristled with energy he needed to race off.

“Well, I’m smart,” Andromeda answered simply. After a moment, she spoke again. “Though you wouldn’t be able to tell it from my behavior today.”

She didn’t, Elliot noticed, correct her about using Kai’s old name.

The ride seemed to go on forever. Soon they lost sight of the boys’ cart, though Andromeda was still driving as fast as she dared. Now that Elliot knew the appalling truth, she marveled that she’d never noticed it before. She’d never suspected how Andromeda could have driven like a maniac through the woods the previous evening. She’d never wondered how it was that she could so skillfully steer around every dip in the path. Or if she had, she’d simply chalked it up to the Fleet’s skill as pilots.

Elliot felt sick to her stomach. She wanted to scream, to leap out of the cart, but what good would that do? She could act like a model Luddite if she wanted, run away, denounce Andromeda then and there, and it wouldn’t help save Olivia’s life. Like it or not, she must not show anyone what she knew until the younger girl was safe. No matter how wrong it was, right now she needed these people to keep Olivia alive.

After an age, they finally arrived at the Boatwright house. Felicia Innovation ran out to greet them. “Bring her inside, quickly,” she cried. “I have to see to her head. Are there any broken bones? Has she stirred at all?”

Elliot answered the questions she could as Felicia got Olivia situated on a bed and began tending to her wounds. The Posts gathered around, their faces ashen. Horatio stood like a statue at the door.

“Olivia,” he moaned. “Wake up, please. Please wake up.”

Elliot went over to him and squeezed his hands. “She’ll be all right. Felicia will help her.” After all, the woman could work miracles.

Dangerous ones.

A
T LAST THE BLOOD
stopped seeping from Olivia’s head. At last Felicia set the final broken bone. At last the young girl’s breathing stabilized, and Felicia emerged from the sickroom and told Horatio that nothing more could be done, that they would have to wait to see if Olivia would wake up.

The
if
seemed to break him all over again, and he buried his head in his hands.

Both Elliot and Andromeda helped him to a chair. Donovan stoked the fire, and Kai stood, frozen, like he’d been ever since they’d arrived at the Boatwright house.

“I can’t lose her,” Horatio said. “She’s the only family I have.”

“Don’t say things like that.” Elliot stroked his arm. “She’s only asleep. We don’t know anything yet.”

“I’m so sorry,” said Andromeda. “I should have warned her. I shouldn’t have let her think she could make the jump.”

“It’s my fault,” said Kai. “I shouldn’t have jumped at all. She never would have been tempted to try if she didn’t see me out there.”

Horatio raised his head and forced a smile in Kai’s direction. “Look at us. You look like death, my friend, and I’m sure I do, too. We’ll never stop blaming ourselves. I guess that’s the price of love?”

Kai’s abnormal eyes widened and Elliot nearly cried aloud. “I should go,” she blurted. “I’m of no use to anyone here.” She touched Horatio on the shoulder. “As long as you can spare me?”

Horatio nodded. “I think I’ll be fine. The Innovations have offered me a room here so I can stay close to my sister tonight. Thank you, Elliot, for all your help today. Your quick thinking in bringing her here probably saved her life.”

Elliot shook her head. “It was nothing at all.” She longed to be gone from this house, away from the Posts, whose odd eyes and precise movements now made her skin crawl. She needed to get her thoughts together. She needed to figure out what she was going to do next.

“I’ll drive you back to the North estate,” said Kai.

“No.”

“I insist.” He stared at her, and this time Elliot was the one to turn away.

“No. I’m fine. I need to walk. To clear my head.”

“Elliot—” Kai’s voice curdled the tones of her name. She could not bear it from him now.

“Leave her alone,” Andromeda snapped. Kai glared at the older girl. Andromeda glared back. Elliot noticed the lights refracting in their eyes and felt bile rise in her throat.

She needed to run, or she would scream their secrets for all the world to hear.

Dear Elliot,

There was a reason I didn’t wait for you yesterday. There was a reason I didn’t want you to come with me to visit my da at the healing house. Do you think you can butt in wherever you like just because you’re a North?

Kai

Dear Kai,

I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you wanted to be alone with him. I have gone to visit him other times—you know that. Why should yesterday have been any different?

Your friend,

Elliot

Dear Elliot,

It just is. When I go with you, it’s not about me and my da. It’s about everyone staring at you because you’re a Luddite. We can’t help but look at my da, at all the people in the healing house, and think that when your family is sick, you don’t go there. Your grandfather gets round the clock nursing. Your grandfather gets medicine my da doesn’t.

For what it’s worth, my da doesn’t want your medicine anymore. It won’t fix him. It just prolongs his suffering.

Your friend,

Kai

Dear Kai,

I just want to help. You don’t have to be mean. If I had medicine for everyone in the healing house, I’d give it to them. It’s not my fault that all I can do is sneak you things meant for my grandfather. I’d fix everyone if I could.

Your friend,

Elliot

Dear Elliot,

Would you? Would you really?

I get so angry sometimes, Elliot, thinking about all the people stuck in there. Reduced sent there to die because their hands or legs don’t work. Something as simple as that. There are Reduced who have been in the “healing house” for thirteen years. That’s as long as I’ve been alive. If they were the tractor, I could change their tires, but because of the protocols, we can’t fix them. We’re not allowed. How does that make sense?

Your friend,

Kai

Dear Kai,

It doesn’t always make sense to me, either. Is that what you want me to say? But it must be true. Everyone believes it. The protocols are there for our protection. We broke them once, and we got the Reduction. Isn’t it better that a few people die, as God wills it, than we risk destroying humanity all over again?

Humans tried to play God once, and we failed. We tried to make over humanity in our own image. It’s forbidden. We have to accept that.

Your friend,

Elliot

Dear Elliot,

Not everyone believes it. That’s all.

Your friend,

Kai

Dear Kai,

I heard about your father. I’m sorry. Please let me come see you tonight.

Your friend,

Elliot

Dear Elliot,

I’ve thought it over, and I’ve decided I don’t care how much trouble I get in. Not now. My father is dead, and the rest of the people in the healing house are going to die, and they are going to die even though we know how to fix them. We know how to save them. And we don’t?

No, not we. You. Luddites.

I
don’t
believe in the protocols! It’s not right to let people die for them. You can use technology without risking another Reduction. There has to be a happy medium. And if we never challenge the protocols, we’ll never know if we even need them anymore! It’s like I said years ago—I’m a Post. How do you know I’m not immune to the Reduction? How does anyone know that every Post in the islands wasn’t born immune?

Here’s what I think: The Luddites use the restrictions to make sure the Reduced stay that way. If it weren’t for the protocols, humanity might have found a cure, long before the Posts ever came. That’s human nature—to make our lives better. But the Luddites would rather let people die than risk giving up their control of the world. They’d rather let my father die.

You say that the protocols are to keep us from playing God. But I think you have it backward. When we have the ability to save someone’s life, and we decide they aren’t worthy of being saved—isn’t that playing God as well?

Your friend,

Kai