The Fall (3 page)

‘Take your time,’ Clemence said. ‘I’ll wait for you outside.’

*

Dozens of people mingled in the square outside the brick hall. Many wore the guards’ uniform or plain work clothes, but some women, like Clemence, had diaphanous scarves around their heads and waists, brightly coloured beads sewn into their clothes, and jewellery. A handful of people queued where the kitchens were now serving, but most, Ana realised with a sense of trepidation, were there to see her.

Heat rose to her cheeks as Clemence guided her into the parting crowd, across the stone paved square to the hall’s central doors. In the Community, people had stared and whispered as she passed because she wasn’t Pure. Here, they were staring and whispering because she’d climbed over the wall. She felt the old barriers rising, defiance and determination setting in. She would not allow them to get to her.

Her gaze wandered, searching for Cole. She wanted to see him before she entered the hall. He could tell her what the representatives’ decision would be based on and warn her what questions they might ask.

Fingers tugged at her waist. Looking down, she saw a bird’s nest of brown hair. Eyes peered up at her from a five-year-old face. It took a moment for her to place the child, and then she felt an unexpected rush of happiness.

‘Rafferty,’ she said, crouching to the boy’s height. It was Cole’s nephew. Seven weeks ago, she’d saved him from drowning when he had tied a stage weight to his foot and jumped into Camden Lock. Now there was colour in his cheeks and his gaze, though serious, was expressive rather than haunting. ‘Hey,’ she said. ‘Do you remember me?’

He nodded, ducked in to kiss her cheek and then sunk back into the crowd, hiding. She stood, blinking back the sting in her eyes.

A giant, burly man had intercepted Clemence outside the hall’s double doors and was engaging her in a one-sided rant. Nearby, huddles formed as people discussed the imminent meeting. Simone, Rafferty’s mother, waddled out of the gathering, eight months’ pregnant. ‘Hello, Ana,’ she said. She smiled tentatively and rubbed her huge belly.

‘Hi.’

They stood in a moment of awkward silence. When Warden Dombrant had come looking for Ana in Camden, Cole’s brother, his wife and their son, Rafferty, had been forced to lock up the boat they were living on and seek refuge in the Project. Because of Ana, they’d abandoned their home and come here.

‘Rafferty seems better,’ she said.

‘He’s doing well,’ Simone agreed. ‘There’s a doctor here who managed to get us to see an expert in the City. The guy was able to run a whole lot of new tests.’ Behind Simone, Cole appeared, winding across the square. ‘They found a hormonal imbalance. He’s getting hormone replacements and he’s been making friends here – it’s all really helping.’

‘That’s great,’ Ana said, as Cole reached them. Energy flowed off him in crashing waves. It reminded her of the first time she’d seen him in the Acton courtroom.

‘Where’s Lila?’ he asked.

‘She’s in the nurseries seeding,’ Simone said. ‘She won’t be back till six.’

Cole looked frustrated. ‘Then you’ll have to persuade Nate to vote for Ana.’

Simone shook her head. ‘Nothing could persuade him. Sorry,’ she said shrugging.

Cole moved closer to Ana. His breath warmed her cheek as he spoke. ‘You OK?’

She nodded.

‘We’ve just got to get through this, and then there’ll be time to talk. Alone.’ His eyes met hers and she almost forgot to breathe. ‘You trust me?’ he asked quietly.

A longing stirred deep inside her, nerves and desire colliding. ‘Of course.’
Did she?

He watched her for a moment and then withdrew, physically and emotionally. ‘Have you spoken to Rachel?’ he asked Simone.

Ana felt a little tug of unease. Rachel was Cole’s ex-girlfriend.

‘Sorry,’ Simone said. ‘She’s not going to vote your way either.’

Cole let out a huff of air and frowned.

Clemence appeared behind him, sparkling with a strange sort of exhilaration. ‘All the representatives are inside,’ she announced. ‘Cole, if you’d like to bring Ana.’

Ana’s heart began to thump. Cole put his palm gently on the top of her arm and they walked together through the double doors. She wished he’d hold her hand but his face was closed in concentration.

Inside the brick hall, the table had been pushed aside and the wooden shutters on the high windows were propped up with sticks to let the air circulate. Half an hour ago the room had seemed large and empty, now it heaved with people of various ages. Did they all get to vote?

‘How come there are so many of them?’ she whispered.

‘There are fifty-eight families in the Project and every family has a representative,’ Cole explained.

Ana steeled herself and climbed the two steps up to the platform where Seton and Tobias stood facing the crowd. Seton raised his hands for silence.

‘We are here to decide whether Ariana Barber, daughter of the renowned geneticist Dr Ashby Barber, will be given permission to stay with us in the Project. Tobias has made a formal Decline, and Clemence has made a formal Acceptance.’

Tobias slunk forwards. His lips were pursed, his jaw clenched. ‘I don’t think I have to spell it out to everyone here,’ he said. ‘The danger this girl poses is obvious. Her father was in charge of a secret Pure Intelligence unit who murdered a government minister when he tried to give us information concerning the Board and the Pure test.’ He paused, eyes sliding across to Cole.

Ana tensed. She looked at Cole confused. Had he told Tobias about the minister’s disc she’d stolen from her father’s office? What had Cole done with the recording?

‘I have no doubt,’ Tobias continued, ‘that Dr Barber will send a highly trained unit to find his daughter. It won’t take him long to guess she is here. I trust you all to vote with your heads.’

The Chief of Security stood back, folding his arms. Conversation rose through the representatives. Clemence smiled at them, sweeping across the platform, taking in each face as though it belonged to a close friend.

‘You have all heard of the unusual nature of Ana’s appearance among us,’ she said. ‘She is not what we expected. But the path is full of mystery. It is only by walking it that we will gain understanding.’

She is not what we expected.
Ana remained steady, impassively looking forwards. She wondered what Cole made of those words. A part of her felt scornful – surely Clemence, as a Minister guiding these people towards a prophetic destiny, was versed in the art of persuasion. Was that the best she could manage? But a stillness gathered deep in her heart as she remembered Cole’s Glimpse. His fleeting vision of the future
had
come true. She had been there. She had felt the power and mystery of that foreseen moment.

A female voice called out from the crowd. ‘We can’t trust her!’ The voice’s owner pressed forward. A slim, five-foot-four woman with dark hair and a slash of lipstick. Beside Ana, Cole stiffened.

‘Hello, Rachel,’ Ana said.

Cole’s ex ignored her. ‘She’s joined to Jasper Taurell,’ Rachel said, prowling back and forth in front of the platform. ‘Because of her, a group of us working on the outside were forced to close down. She manipulated us, infiltrated us. Her husband claimed to have evidence that proved there was an error with the Pure test. And because we trusted him, one of our contacts went missing. Did anyone ever see this evidence? And now Ariana Barber is here. Does she honestly expect us to believe that she has left her husband of three weeks, after marrying into one of the richest, most highly connected families in London, because she’s fallen for
Cole
?’

Ana’s gut wrenched. She wanted to wipe the condescending smirk off Rachel’s pretty face.

‘Touched a nerve have I?’ Rachel smiled.

‘Don’t put him down.’

‘And that’s supposed to convince me?’

‘Ana hasn’t come empty handed,’ Cole interrupted. His fist uncurled, revealing the wooden star pendant she’d given him the night her father caught them. He hadn’t given it to Tobias or the Project council. He’d held onto it. ‘She took this from her father. We believe it’s the recording Peter Reed tried to give me the night he was murdered.’ Cole unhooked the latch at the back of the star and a coin-sized disc dropped into his fingers. ‘Those of you who question Ana’s motives for coming here, should think about what she has already risked to expose the truth about the Pure tests.’ His eyes settled on Rachel with unmasked hostility.

The tension in the hall mounted. For a moment, nobody moved. Even Tobias looked surprised. But he was the first to break the silence.

‘It could be anything. Until we’ve checked it out we have no idea what it is.’

‘I suggest we vote,’ Seton said. ‘Those who agree that Ana should be allowed to stay in the Project if she takes the pledge and agrees to uphold our rules for entering and leaving in the future, raise a hand.’

Ana stared forward and took a steadying breath. If they voted against her, would Cole be permitted to leave too? Would they try to stop him?

Before her, a couple of hands raised. Her legs began to tremble. Rachel and a group of men in guards’ uniforms glared at her. But slowly the hall filled with lifting arms. Almost all of them were voting for her. The result was a landslide.

Reconciled

The hall blurred around Ana as she was pulled from the stage. Cole hurried her through the side door. They followed Seton downhill, leaving behind the longhouses and huts, until they crossed a path that ran along the side of the mound. Stretching out to their right, as far as the eye could see, were giant vegetable plots. They turned left and three large ponds shimmered ahead of them in the early evening light.

‘Why did they all vote for me?’ she asked. Was it because Cole had told them about the disc? Or was it something to do with the Minister and people’s amazement that she had come over the wall?

‘I don’t know. But it’s lucky for us they did.’ Cole’s grip tightened on her hand. He was still on edge.

‘If it had gone the other way, could you have come with me? If you wanted to?’

A smile jerked up the side of his mouth. ‘If I wanted to?’ he said. ‘You think I might have left you out in the City by yourself?’ His eyes were puzzled.

Lost for an answer, anxiety wormed inside her. She’d said the wrong thing. He might be smiling but he sounded offended. Since they’d been separated, and she had gone with the Minister and he’d been left with Seton and Tobias, something between them had shifted.

Seton stopped up ahead, waiting for them to catch up. ‘After you’ve taken the pledge,’ he said to Ana, ‘you must choose whether you wish to become a permanent or temporary resident.’ He continued walking and she fell into step beside him. Cole let go of her hand, the path not wide enough for the three of them. ‘Theoretically, you may stay indefinitely. However, it will be safer all round if we move you as fast as we can to one of our outer London safehouses. I realise this isn’t giving you much time to consider the options, but Cole and I think it would be best if you left the Project as soon as possible.’

Ana stole a quick look at Cole. ‘Could we have a moment please?’

‘Of course.’

She stared after Seton as he strode ahead. The walking hadn’t tired her, but her chest heaved anyway. ‘Are you happy I’m here?’ she asked, once Seton was out of earshot.

Cole raised his arm and hooked it around the back of his neck. His deep-set eyes were a gathering storm.

He took so long to answer, inwardly she toppled off balance. ‘That’s quite a long pause.’

‘I’m gonna work this all out. I’ll get us away from here safely.’

She nodded. Was she a charge? A responsibility he felt obliged to take care of? She felt compelled to prove she wasn’t a burden. ‘I have jewellery we can sell.’

‘I’ve seen the necklace.’

‘Good.’ She smiled, though it was the last thing she felt like doing.

‘Ana, we have to talk, but not now.’

Her breath flew from her lungs. ‘Sure,’ she said, starting down the hill. Cole followed, but this time he didn’t reach for her hand.

Beyond the ponds stood a lone building covered in moss and hidden by trees. Invisible until you were up close. The Project wall towered over it.

Seton waved them into the wood and mud interior. A boy of about fifteen lounged with his feet up on a table beside a narrow corridor. He sat up as they entered. The narrow passage beside the boy’s table cut the room into a lopsided ‘L’ shape.

‘Here,’ Cole said. He took her hand, dropping Jasper’s wooden star necklace into it. Their eyes met for a moment. What was going on with him?

‘We need to register a newcomer for a temporary residency,’ Seton said.

The boy did a double take. ‘But—’ He looked back at Seton, then Ana, confused. The passage was apparently the official place for any comings and goings. The boy blinked a few times, shuffling around as he slapped open a giant log book. He turned to the back of it.

‘Name?’ he asked.

‘Ana Barber,’ Seton said.

The boy curled his pen across the paper making uneven, fluid letters. Ana’s mother had taught her script, but she hadn’t written anything other than her signature by hand since she was eleven. She wondered if she could still do it.

‘Interface, mobiles, electronics, in this tray please.’ The boy held out a wooden box. She shook her head. ‘Nothing electronic?’ he asked.

‘No.’

‘The disc,’ Seton corrected. ‘You can hand it in here. It’ll be safe until the council have agreed on who will go out of the Project to have it analysed.’

Ana closed her fingers around the star. ‘Will I be able to go too?’

‘I’m afraid not,’ Seton said. ‘If you went you’d be putting yourself, the disc and whoever we send with you at a greater risk than they will be already. I’m sorry.’

Her throat grew tight. ‘Can’t I just hear it?’ she asked.

Cole’s hand raised to her face, brushed back a strand of hair. ‘Once they’ve had it analysed, the Project has contacts that can get it out to the public. Everyone will hear it.’

 ‘I could just borrow your interface for a few minutes,’ she said.