River: A Novel (41 page)

 “Hmmm,” Gwen
mused, tilting her head with contemplation. Mace was completely limp, his hands
at his sides, mouth slightly open. “What to do with you?” she asked herself in
a sing-song tone. Before grinning slowly, something else flickered in her eyes. 

 Asher
turned cautiously to the side, moving as if approaching a feral animal. “Gwen,”
he said in a voice so low that I could hardly hear him. “You need to focus. Colin.
Elodie. Others are trapped. And they need us.” I started at my name and began
to hope they would find me.

 “I’m right
here,” I whispered, halfheartedly slapping the damn glass, trying to hold it
together.

 “Gwendolyn,”
Asher murmured soothingly, but with underlying tension. Frustration. “Please.”

 Gwen
blinked rapidly and turned to Asher. “Sorry, Ash. I’m… sorry,” she shrugged, bewildered
and slightly anxious.

 “It’s
perfectly all right,” said Asher, visibly relieved, almost smiling. “You only
saved us from a fate worse than death.” He shook his head at her, marveling at
the scene around them. “Where did that come from?” 

 “I don’t
know, exactly. But, if I ever have to do that again…” She shook her head as
though to clear it. 

 Asher
mashed his lips together for a moment, then said, “Let’s find them and get the
hell out of here.”

 Gwen
focused on Mace, her eyes still shimmering black fire in the spotlight. “Yes. Let’s.” 
Squaring her shoulders, she turned to two of her drones. “Take him to Elodie,”
she stated clearly and with authority. The men were up and running before she’d
finished speaking. Asher was on their heels, vanishing immediately when he
passed the light’s circle. 

 My frantic
gaze traveled from Gwen’s statuesque form in front of Mace and his followers to
the recess where Asher had disappeared with our enemy slaves. Panting and
breathless, my heart pounded against my ribs when a blinding spotlight sparked
from overhead. Startled, I stared into the silent Dark Room, wondering if this
could be a joke. I swiveled around to see that Gwen was still in command. Nothing
had changed except my immediate surroundings.    

 About to
pass out from confusion and fright, I heard my name.    

 “Elodie,”
Asher said in a nearly unrecognizable voice. I still couldn’t see him, though. Struggling
to adjust my vision, I stood completely still as my eyes roamed the shadows. Out
of nowhere, arms were around me. I shuddered into his chest while he held me,
stifling my choking sobs. “It’s all right, we’re all right.” Asher’s voice was
higher than usual with worry. “I’m sorry about the spotlight—it was the only switch
I could find.”

 “Sick
bastards,” I mumbled unintelligibly.

 “What was
that?” he whispered into the top of my head.

 “They are
sick
bastards
,” I said a little too loudly, and he shook with an anxious
laugh.

 “I’m
guessing you saw everything.”

 “Everything,”
I replied, shuddering again, my hands tightly clutching his jacket.

 Freeing him
from my grasp, I leaned back and touched the side of his face, staring at him
in the unnaturally harsh light. The direct beam was so brilliant that I was
momentarily blinded.  “Thanks for coming to get me.” I was sure I looked
fantastic after more than a day of torture, the real kind this time. His eyes
were shining silver in the strange glow. As I took in the sight of him, almost
all the tension left my body. Almost.

 Asher
studied me with scrutiny, and then leaned in to barely kiss my forehead. I
winced involuntarily as the spot must’ve been where Mace had either hit me or ground
my face into the floor, something of that nature. “Sorry,” he murmured, moving to
my temple.

 “I should
kill him,” he continued with softness that belied the words, turning his head
toward the window where Gwen was beginning to pace, her eyes darting from minion
to Mace and back again.

 “Well, Gwen
just might, if we don’t get her out of there to find Colin,” I suggested carefully,
a little frightened of the look on his face. I wouldn’t mind seeing that
monster on a slab, but Asher didn’t believe in killing. He thought that it
would make him just as cruel of a person. I didn’t
completely
agree with
that, witnessing what I had growing up, although I’d never seriously considered
the option until now. 

 “We should
go,” he nodded. Taking one of my hands, he led me into the utter gloom that had
been my life for over a day. I grasped his arm with the other, unwilling to let
any black space between us.

 “How do you
know where to go?”   

 “I
memorized the steps,” Asher answered quickly. It was farther than I’d thought. “Ah,
here we are.” 

 I breathed
in deep, though it hurt, realizing that I had been taking nothing but shallow
breaths for a long time. There were no clicking sounds of an opening door, but
Mace’s men were waiting—I could hear one of them wheezing. “We’re going back to
her,” Asher said to him as we went through a tight corridor. One of them moaned
impatiently in response.

 Unfortunately,
we were still in darkness. It frayed my nerves, and Asher’s voice was the only
remedy. “What
was
that with Gwen?” I asked with curiosity. I was under
the assumption only one person could be tranced at a time. He had said, in what
seemed like days ago, that Speakers usually traveled in packs, so it had made
it impossible to take them down with hypnosis. Until now.

 “I don’t
know,” Asher said, worry coloring his tone. “I didn’t think it was possible,
but Gwen… she’s special. She has no boundaries, I guess.” Then we were finally in
dim light, and I saw that he wore a slight smile. He was proud of her. 

 “Yes it
was… otherworldly.” I struggled for the right word. Asher grinned at me in the now-bright
hallway.

 I had my
sight back, albeit not well since my glasses were gone, so I didn’t need to
talk, just being able to see him made me feel as though everything was going to
be okay. We may have still been stuck in the Domain, but Gwen had created a posse
of slaves to help us out. 

 “What now Asher?”

 “We get out
of here, head to River and help gather the people who want to leave. Then Gwen
will transport Mace and company into the middle of town good and lulled. Same
plan, really.” He grinned a little wider, raising his eyebrows as if surprised
how simple it would be. “Just have to find out where Gwen wants us to meet up
with her.” We burst through two more sets of doors. The last was in total blackness,
and I gripped Asher’s hand until certain I was hurting him. He didn’t seem to
notice.

 When the soundless
entrance to the Dark Room slid open automatically, our guides sprinted to Gwen,
already on their knees, crawling in an awkward race to be closest to her.

 “You know,
that really doesn’t get old,” remarked Gwen with an unapologetic grin. “About
time you got here, Elodie.” She reached over to grab me up in a hug, beaming.

 “I don’t
know what to say,” I mumbled into her hair. The lavender scent around her was instantly
soothing. For some reason, I’d thought she would be different, but she was
still Gwen. “I am so grateful.”

 “Forget
it,” she shrugged, letting me go back to Asher. “I did what I had to do.” Gwen
backed into her circle again. “I found out what I needed. He’s the only one who
knows where to find Colin.” She jerked her chin toward Mace in disgust. “He’s
safe with my grandmother in one of the rooms on the other side of the complex.”

 “Go get
them,” Asher said, before glancing at me. He then turned back to Gwen. “Can you
find Marcus and Valeria, too?”   

 She nodded
and tilted her head to me. “I’ll find them and direct them to the huts. I
guarantee they will come willingly… after the terror they’ve probably been
through. Don’t worry, Elodie.”

 “Thank you.
Marcus was just protecting them, you know.
Us
, I mean,” I added in a
whisper, suddenly needing to defend the father who could have been mine. I
didn’t know him at all, but somehow I knew that he had been forced to mute
people. And Valeria was completely innocent. Gwen gave a small, understanding nod,
and then glared at Mace. I followed suit, though with less potency.

 Asher began
speaking quietly, forming a more concrete plan. “It will take you a while here…
Elodie and I will run back to town and help round everyone up to leave.” He
glanced down at me. “We’ll have to go on foot. There is only one tram, and Gwen
will need it after she trances the rest of the Domain to transfer them back to
town, but that will have to be at the last possible second—we can’t afford for
one of them to wake up before the Lulling is back on.”

 I was
trying to pay attention. I really was. But the sight of Mace on his knees
drooling in front of Gwen was incredible; I couldn’t believe that this puddle
of a man had terrorized us for the last twenty-four hours. Glancing in the
direction of my invisible window, where I had been helpless, I felt a swell of
pride through the lightheadedness. Up close, the scene was so much more
astonishing. This had been a triumph for Asher and Gwen… for us all.

 Tearing my
sight away to Asher, he was apprehensively waiting for me to acknowledge the
situation. I finally breathed shakily and gave a bit of a smile. “I’ll crawl
out of here if I have to,” I said, trying to make him at ease, when really the
thought of trekking however many miles it was back to town made me dizzy. It
could have been the fact that I hadn’t eaten anything in over a day.

 Corroborating
my foggy thought process, my stomach twisted and gurgled loud enough for all to
hear. I clutched at it with my free hand and tried not to think about food. 

 Asher
realized my predicament while I looked back at the Mace-drone as a
starvation-distraction. “Elodie, I’ll get you something to eat,” he said
quickly, as if he felt guilty for not packing a picnic for my rescue. “I worked
here recently at the Autumn Ball,” he narrowed his eyes. “I can get in and out
of the kitchen.” At that he looked to Gwen. “Do you need anything?”

 “Just Colin
and Gram,” she replied, beginning to pace and wring her hands. “Go,” she
continued with a crooked grin, “I’ll be fine with my personal tour guide.”

 Asher crossed
the few feet to her without dropping my hand, so I had to pick my way through
the drones’ limbs in various states of worship. When we neared Mace, I cowered
behind Asher’s back. Even though we were safe for the moment, I had a dreadful
image of him snapping to and grabbing my ankle like a monster under the bed. I
peeked over Asher’s arm to give Gwen a shy smile. She was my hero. She grinned
back as Asher hugged her with his free arm.

 “Thank
you,” he whispered and kissed the top of her head. “Go find your family. We’ll
meet you at the camp. Two hours.”

 “And then…”
She took my hand around Asher and said, “Freedom.”

  I smiled
wider. “See you there.”

Do not panic. Do not panic. No one
will
see you.
Asher will be back in a second
. 

 As soon as
we had left Gwen, the enormity of the Domain refueled any adrenaline that had
leaked out of me right back into my veins. It was a huge labyrinth. Infinite
and thousands of times bigger than the mirror maze. I didn’t understand how Asher
knew where he was going and decided that if I had been able to escape by my own
devices—I could have been lost in here for days. Probably would have starved to
death before finding my way out. 

 Trying to
keep my mind blank, I waited in my little unused corner under a staircase for
the sound of footsteps, praying they were Asher’s.

 “Miss me?” A
whisper right in my ear made me jump. Literally. There was air between my feet
and the floor.

 “Sorry,” he
chuckled noiselessly, taking my hand again and brushing it with his lips, still
grinning.

 “Ugh,” I
whispered back. “Can we get out of here please? There’s only so much my heart
can take.” I was so relieved it was Asher that my voice squeaked even in
whispers.

 “Definitely,”
he agreed, and led me through the halls. “Don’t want anything to happen to that
heart.” He threw a grin at me that made me forget we were running for our
lives.

 I shook my
head.
Too late
.

 Becoming
dizzy all over again, I followed Asher as we climbed up and down steps, turning
corners on a dime and crouching behind half-walls at the tiniest noise. Asher
had told me earlier that the time was close to three in the morning, which was
a surprise to me, but my head hurt too badly to try to figure out exactly how
long I’d been here. I was just trying to keep going, and it would’ve been
impossible without him. Wishing for some way to communicate with Danny and
Petra, I only hoped they were having the same success navigating the Domain. Even
though Mace had been incapacitated along with a dozen of his followers, there
were still countless others somewhere in the complex whom Gwen had to corral. We
were just lucky it was the middle of the night.

 When I was
about to tug on Asher’s shirtsleeve that I needed to stop for a second, he did
just that. Shaky and winded, it took me a moment to see we were in front of an
air duct in what reminded me of a school basement.