The Diamond Deep (56 page)

Onor stayed close enough to Evie to protect her if she got into any trouble. Her shoulders slumped and her steps dragged. They hadn't rested since they left Ash, and at some point soon they'd be so tired they'd make a serious mistake of some kind. He touched her shoulder. “Let's sit and think about this. We need a plan.”

“There's no place to sit.”

“I'll find one.” His feet already hurt; hers must, too. The one time they'd tried to sit on an empty bench, a gang of men had surrounded them and demanded they move.

“One more stop first,” Evie told him. As if to make sure he knew she meant it, she pulled out her slate and held it up toward a woman standing guard outside of a scrap of protected territory. “Have you seen this man?”

The woman reached toward the slate, but after one close call Evie had learned to keep it tight in her two fists. “Yeah, sure.”

“Tell me?”

“If you trade me something.” The woman gestured toward the slate.

“Not this.”

“I need
something
.”

“I don't have anything left to spare.” She had traded away a comb and her necklace of colored beads in the first few hours, both times for bad information.

An enforcer bot turned a corner near them, heading their way. They had been careful to avoid them.

The woman laughed, as if she found both Evie and the silver bot absurd, or maybe the timing. “Go that way. I think I saw him yesterday.”

Onor let Evie lead them in the direction of the woman's pointed finger, which was also away from the bot. As soon as they walked out of the woman's earshot, he whispered to Evie, “That's the fourth set of conflicting directions you've gotten. Haric wasn't even here yesterday.”

“I know.” She turned to look at him. “We needed to go somewhere.”

“The first man you asked sent us toward the observation wall.” Onor flicked his eyes up. He could see one of the observation windows far above. Maybe even the one Naveen had taken him to. It looked far out of reach. “The only other two people who answered you sent us in two other directions.”

She didn't say anything.

“Aren't I right?”

Aleesi answered. “Yes.”

“Can you just tell us where he is?” Onor asked. “Do you have a clue?”

“I can't see where you are. There are no public cameras in the Brawl.”

All of the space in the Brawl seemed to be guarded by family groups or gangs of opportunity. Onor took Evie's arm. “Let's walk and talk. Quietly. Stop drawing attention. What would Haric do if he were standing here?”

“I've been trying to decide that.”

Piles of food and slates and blankets and clothes seemed to be the protected heart of most territories. From the observation window, he had seen that people grouped, but from down here, the lines were clear and guarded. It was what he would do if people from the
Fire
were here, keep them together and safe and not let strangers in.

This must be what the guard had warned them about. A group of two made a small, vulnerable target, especially if one of them was a pretty girl.

“I'm sure Haric's trying to get away to get back to us. To you.”

Evie blushed. “What if we were trying to get home? What would we do?”

“Walk around by the doors. I bet there's one set in each wall. We came through one and didn't see him. So that gives us three more to look at.”

“Let's look before I'm too tired to walk that far.”

“So we start with the closest door.”

“Okay.”

Onor tried to size up the enclaves they passed. There was no unclaimed space; they had to “join” a group or talk one into temporary rent if they wanted a place to sleep, or even to sit. He should have bought trade goods instead of letting worry drive them down here so fast. “Look carefully into all the groups as we go. Haric has no idea we're here. But he might be trying to hide until we can find him.”

Even though he stayed close behind her, Onor missed a tall man on the right grabbing for Evie until she screamed. The man tugged her through three other men until a wall of muscle separated her from Onor. “Let her go,” he demanded.

Two men stepped toward him.

Evie screamed his name. “Onor!”

Ruby woke when the door opened. Instead of Joel, Marcelle stood with a cup of tea, some warm brown bread, and a relived smile. “You need something to give you strength.”

“Thank you.” Ruby took the cup from Marcelle's hand. She had pushed pillows together to create a nest that let her sit at the head of the bed and read news on her slate. Marcelle glowed so bright with impending motherhood that Ruby put a hand on her protruding stomach. “You look ready.”

Marcelle sat on the edge of the bed and sipped at her own tea. “I have to wait for Onor to get home.”

“Where is he?”

“Haric went to save the world and now Onor and Haric's girlfriend Evie and The Jackman have gone to save Haric.”

Ruby stiffened. “Have you heard from them?”

“I haven't, but Joel is off talking to Aleesi.”

That explained her conviction that Joel was hiding something from her. He should know better. “I need you to help me get dressed. I want out of this little room.”

“Joel will kill me if I let you move.”

“Did being pregnant steal your sense of adventure?” Ruby asked. “Joel's used to me disobeying.” Pain struck from somewhere in her abdomen and she turned her head away from Marcelle. When she turned back, Marcelle looked stricken.

“Joel told me you might be dying. Are you?”

“Not if I can help it. Satyana is sending a medical robot to help me. You should use it to look at the people you're so worried about.”

“There aren't any left.”

Ruby shivered. “They died?”

“We lost twelve, but thirty-five or so got better.” Marcelle's brow creased and she extended a hand to feel Ruby's forehead. “Do you think it's the same thing?”

“The robot said so. Satyana says it's called the Death of Hope. I hate the name.”

Marcelle touched Ruby's cheek. “The ones we lost were mostly infants and older people. You should be fine.”

Marcelle didn't look as confident as she sounded, but Ruby let it go. She
would
be fine. “Help me get dressed.”

“Eat first. You're so thin your clothes will start falling off you soon.”

Ruby took a bite of the bread, which was hard to swallow. It calmed her stomach a little but it also filled her up. “That's enough.”

“It's not.”

“Don't be stubborn. Help me.”

Marcelle stared at Ruby for a long time before she extended a hand.

Ruby chose the simplest version of the old uniforms that she could find. It galled her that Marcelle had to help pull up Ruby's socks since it hurt to bend that far.

The details of Marcelle's earlier statement crept up on Ruby. “Haric's not old enough to have a girlfriend. “

“You tell him that.”

Ruby laughed. It felt good to laugh.

It seemed to take forever to traverse the small apartment and make their way to the bar. She sat down heavily in one of the chairs. Allen came right over to her and pulled up a chair, unasked. “I heard Joel brought you back last night.” He put a hand on her arm. “We were rooting for you. What happened?”

She bit her lip. “I don't know. I got tired and sick. I'll go back. I have to.”

“Was that drunk part of the problem?” Allen asked.

She had to think about that a minute. “You mean Naveen?”

“Yeah. I don't trust him. I never did.”

Marcelle said, “I think he's okay.”

Naveen wasn't easy to describe. Ruby did her best. “He's part of something bigger than we know. Everything is part of a conspiracy here. We're like children running amok through other people's plans. You should see what I saw out there. The waste. The beauty. It's all so different than I expected.”

A wait bot showed up with two glasses of water and a plate of crackers and spreads. “I wish people would stop trying to feed me.” But she took the water and sipped at it.

The bar was three times the size it used to be. “I like what you've done here.”

“It was partly for people to watch you.”

She sat back. “Really? Watching the concerts?”

“You always filled the place up.”

Ruby imagined the empty seats full of people eating and drinking, stopping from time to time to cheer for her. “I'm not worth all that,” she said.

“Of course you are,” Marcelle said.

“We didn't do this for you,” Allen said. “We did it for us.” He smiled at her.

“Good.” Ruby sipped some more water and Marcelle helped herself to a cracker and pushed the plate toward Ruby.

She ignored it. “Place is empty now.”

“It'll start filling up.”

Ruby wondered what they were going to watch without her, but she didn't ask. She still didn't want to think about a world that she wasn't in. She couldn't let it happen. Not to her. Not yet. Not for years.

As if on cue, Lya and a train of whispering women came through the door. They surrounded her in a circle. Ruby looked, but Min wasn't among them. She must still be back with Naveen and Jali and the others. Hopefully she was okay.

Allen stood up. “Don't cause any trouble now. I'll have you kicked out.”

Lya glared at him.

“I've got enough friends for it.”

“Would you give us some privacy, please?” Lya asked.

Allen looked at Ruby. “Is that what you want?”

Ruby looked back at Lya. “Okay. Yes.”

Allen and Marcelle left.

Lya waited until they were all the way out of the room, then said, “We have a message from Min.”

Ruby had been expecting a barrage of whispers and accusations. “Yes?”

“She says you can't trust Ix. Naveen manages it. He changed Ix so that it tells him everything it learns.”

Ruby sipped at her water, shifted in her chair, and drummed her fingertips on the table. Ix was the one trying to trap Koren. So was Naveen trying to help or hinder that? If they won back the profit from the
Fire
, she wouldn't have to sing any more. But Naveen hated Koren. “Why would Min want to help me by telling me this? Why should I believe her?”

If she only felt better. It would be so much easier to think.

Lya shook her head. “Maybe you should believe her because she isn't your friend and she told you this anyway. You're not the only one who cares about anything, you know.”

“I know.” She took a deep breath. “Did Min say how she learned this?”

“I asked her to get close to Naveen.”

“And Naveen told her this?”

“No. She heard him talking to someone else. He said that he was getting information about Haric from Ix.”

“Is Min sure?”

“Yes.”

“That's not enough to tell us that Naveen means us any harm.”

“But we know he's keeping secrets.”

“Everyone keeps secrets here. Even you, Lya.”

“Min told me something else.”

Ruby swallowed and lifted her head to look directly into Lya's eyes.

Lya pulled a lacy, white shawl that looked homemade tight around her shoulders, as if she were cold. “She said you came back here to die.”

“Would that make you happy?” Ruby asked.

Lya pursed her lips. It took her a long time to say, “I used to think so.”

Onor couldn't see Evie. Three of the men who had snatched her stared at him, as if calculating his weight and speed and finding him wanting. A dark one, a huge one, and a blond giant who was at least as old as Joel.

He couldn't let time go by. If Evie got hurt or raped, Haric would be devastated. Onor would never be able to forgive himself. “Don't do this. Please.” He stared at the men, who in turn stared at him. “We have to be somewhere. We're looking for someone. I can't leave her.”