The Indigo Thief (38 page)

The elevator chimed, and its doors opened.

Red sniper dots lit its back wall.

The guns fired.

Sage shoved me to the ground as bullets poured in. They’d known we were coming. I slipped Sage a gun as we ducked to the elevator’s side, and we both fired back at the guards. Sage handled the gun almost better than I did.

The red dots disappeared, and the gunfire ceased. We jammed the “Hold Door” button and waited for another round of retaliation, but none came. I poked my head out past the elevator’s door. Ahead, a desk sat empty in a corridor. Behind it, a door sat propped open and a retina scanner screeched. Where were all the guards who’d been firing at us?

Sage pointed ahead. “This way.”

As we hurried down the hallway, there was no one in sight—the guards were gone. Sage pushed past an empty desk and a screeching scanner, and I followed. We hurried down the line of cells. A door at the end of the hall stood open.

“FOR CHRIST’S SAKE.” It was Bertha’s unmistakable voice, shouting through the barred slots of one of the cell doors. “IT’S ABOUT TIME—”

Sage slammed the slot shut as she passed. She continued running down the hall and I followed her lead. Bertha and the others could wait. First, we had to find Charlie.

Sage ran straight for the open cell door, and cursed when she reached it. She wrapped her fingers along the doorway’s cold metal frame. “They got her,” she said quietly.

“What? What do you mean?” I scanned the room. My heart sank in my chest. No one was there. The cell sat empty.

“They must’ve taken her to the chancellor’s chambers,” said Sage. “They’ve been carting her between the two for a couple of days now.”

Now I understood why the guards had ceased fire—and why we had so easily avoided being shot. They hadn’t been trying to kill us at all; they’d merely been stalling us while they took Charlie hostage. My chest felt tight again, and I swallowed. “Where are the chancellor’s chambers?”

“One floor above us,” said Sage through pursed lips.

“We just rode past it.” Sage nodded. “We’ll—we’ll find her,” I said, hoping Sage didn’t detect the uncertainty in my voice. “Let’s get the others first.”

Bertha slapped me hard when Sage finally unlocked her door.

“Ran right past me!” she muttered. She grabbed the pink flip-flop I still held in my hand and slammed it across my chest. “And I have absolutely
zero
doubt you laughed about my flip-flops too… Probably thought Kindred was wearing them for sport.” She turned the sandal in her hand and examined its torn strap. “You get the bomb out?”

I nodded, and placed the bundle of microscopic explosive in her hand. She assessed its crumpled sides before slapping me again with the flip-flop. “Now let’s get the others.”

Mila stared at me hard when her cell door swung open. Her jaw tightened. “You.”

I stepped back. “Uh—er—hey, Meels?”

She stormed past me. “Don’t call me that.”

Bertha passed her the flip-flop, and she smacked me upside the head.

“Are we even now?” I asked.

“Not even close,” Mila said. She gave me a small smile, and then hugged me.

Dove was staring idly at the wall when we got his cell open. “Dove,” I said, waving my arms in his direction. “Dove Malone! Earth to Dove Malone!”

He shook his head and looked confused. “Whoa, whoa—uh, sorry,” he said. “Sorry about that. I was sorta daydreaming… You know… like when you’re dreaming… but you’re also awake.”

I patted him on the back. He still looked stunned. “Right, then,” I said, grateful he hadn’t slapped me. “It’s good to see you too, Dove.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Wait a minute… You’re the reason we got sent here.” Bertha offered the flip-flop, but he declined. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Balls,” he said, and then kneed me in the groin.

“I—I guess I should’ve seen that one coming…” I moaned.

Phoenix’s cell was farthest from the others. The Feds had known he was our ringleader, and so they’d punished him accordingly. I ran my hands along the cell’s painted black numbers.
Cell 14
.

Sage unlocked the door and pulled it open. Phoenix lay curled in a corner. His body was shaking and his eyes stared blankly at the ceiling. Mila and I ran to his side. Bloodstains wrapped themselves around his forearms, and a fresh scar ran parallel to his collarbone.

They’d been torturing him.

Sage stood quietly in the corner. “He had a visit from Minister Zane last night.”

Bertha shuddered. “
Don’t
say that name.”

Sage nodded quickly. The worried look that flashed across her face told me she knew she wasn’t doing a great job of making friends. At least she still had Charlie. We both still had Charlie.

Mila rubbed Phoenix’s back. “Snap out of it,” she said. “Come on, Phoenix. We—we really need you right now.”

Drool rolled from the corner of Phoenix’s cracked lips, and his blank eyes stared at the ceiling. He grabbed my arm and pointed above.

W
ritten on the ceiling in red—dried blood, I guessed—was a single word:
Kai
. My name was circled with a heart.

I recognized the handwriting. It wasn’t Charlie’s.

Phoenix pointed to the wall next to him.
Mary Bradbury
was scribbled in the same red.

It was Mom’s.

“I keep thinking,” said Phoenix, “about the things they’ve already done to me, and the things they
say
they’ll do—”

Mila shook her head and sucked in a breath. “Stop, Phoenix—”

“And I think about how long your mother was here. And the things she endured. The pain that strikes you like lightning. Everything gets foggy. Memories. Places. People. Everything. It’s like I’m looking at them through water, and they twist and turn with each ripple of pain. It’s like I don’t belong to life anymore. Like I’m
this close
to being unable to connect the names and faces ever again.

“Your mom must have felt like this, too—like she was standing in the middle of oblivion. But somehow she still saw your face, remembered your name, and wrote it on the ceiling…”

I buried my face in my hands. My eyes felt damp. I couldn’t let the others see me like this. I had to be strong. I pulled my cheeseburger socks up above my ankles.

Phoenix stood. “It’s a testament to her strength, her courage, and her love for you, Kai. She stood there in the middle of oblivion, and still carried you in her heart.” He paused. “I am so sorry. For everything. For all the shit I’ve done. I don’t want to lie to you anymore. You’ll only get the truth from me, from here on out.” He looked at my feet. “For starters, I hate your cheeseburger socks.”

I laughed. “Maybe you don’t have to give me
all
the truth.”

He grinned.

“Well,” I said. “I guess it’s time for me to be honest, too. I hate that you think you know everything. And worse yet, I hate that you probably do.”

He shook his head. “Not everything.”

“Bullshit,” Mila muttered. “You know everything.”

Bertha clapped her hands. “All right! That’s enough of this crap. Group hug, and then let’s go kick some ass.”

We hugged. It was cheeseburger cheesy and wonderful. We weren’t Lost Boys—we were a family.

Sage stood in the corner. Bertha motioned for her to join. “C’mon on over here, Paige.”

“It’s
Sage
, Bertha,” I muttered.

“Quiet, Car Battery!”

Sage joined in on the hug. I thought I saw tears form in her eyes.

At last we separated, and Phoenix cracked his neck—back to business. “I take it we’re in lockdown?” he said.

I nodded. “Bomb threat protocol.”

“Excellent.” He glanced at the gum wrapper Bertha held in her hand. “You’ve got a bomb?”

Bertha mimicked Sparky’s voice. “Affirmative.”

“You and Dove take it to the basement. Can you rig it to detonate after a few minutes?”

She put a hand on her hip. “Do you even know me, Phoenix?”

He grinned. “Right, then.” He pointed to Sage. “She can show you the way.”

Sage shook her head. “I’m staying with Kai Bradbury. We’ve got to find our friend.”

Phoenix nodded, remembering now why I’d come all this way. “Well,” he said, “can you give ’em directions? You know this place better than any of us.”

Sage nodded.

“Meels,” Phoenix continued, “you’re coming with me. We’re finding the chancellor, and teaching him a lesson. Then we’ll figure out how to get out of this place.”

“The chancellor will be in his chambers,” said Sage. “That’s where Kai and I were headed—I’ll show you the way.”

Phoenix nodded. “We’ll meet back on this floor in fifteen.”

“No, meet on the twentieth floor instead,” said Sage. “It has the helicopters and the hangar. Sparky and Kindred are already meeting us there.” It wasn’t often someone corrected Phoenix, but he seemed grateful rather than irritated for the help.

“Listen to her,” he said to Bertha and Dove. “The twentieth floor in fifteen minutes—set the bomb to detonate in twenty, then.”

We passed a few guards on the way to the chancellor’s chambers, and fired a few rounds at them. They didn’t put up much of a fight: Sparky’s system hack had cut them off entirely from all communication, and like worker bees lost from the hive, they were aimless and unsure.

The chambers’ doors creaked as we entered. Inside, the dimly lit room was empty. Charlie wasn’t here.

Phoenix put a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, kid.”

I turned to Sage. “She was supposed to be here—you said she’d be here.”

Sage wandered around the room, seeming lost for the first time since I’d met her. “I—I thought she would be. I guess—I just—I don’t know.”

Phoenix put an arm around her shoulder. “C’mon. Maybe she’s with the chancellor. We’ll find him and get them both.” He paused. “We don’t have much time until we have to meet the others.”

Sage nodded, still lost. “I guess.” She took a deep breath. “Let’s go, then.”

As the rest of them ran out into the hall, I hung back in the room, entranced by the glowing green globe on the chancellor’s desk. Strangely, it reminded me of the Skelewick district’s hypnotic lights.

Mila popped her head back into the room. “You coming, Kai? We’ve really gotta go…”

“I—I don’t think so,” I said. “I think I should wait here. Maybe Charlie will show up. I—I just need a minute. I’ll meet you at the top.”

Mila nodded—she understood. She knew what it was like to hang your hopes and dreams on a person. She’d done it with her sister. The door slammed shut behind her.

I ran my hands along the dark room’s walls, and hit a switch. The room lit up. I wandered to the green globe and pressed my fingers against its curved glass. Gases swirled around my fingertips, and the sphere hummed.

And then I saw her. She was lying flat on the ground beyond the desk, her eyes shut, her arms folded across her chest. After all this time, I’d finally found the girl I’d been searching for.

I’d found Charlie.

On the outside, I was standing still in an ordinary room, but on the inside I was flying. Charlie lay there on the floor, her chest rising and falling in spurts. Since I’d last seen her, her cheekbones had gotten sharper, her eyes more sunken in her skull, and her long blond hair had been replaced by her bald head’s soft sheen. But she’d never looked more beautiful to me. It was like my heart hadn’t known a part was missing until it was found again. For the first time in a while, it remembered why it was still beating.

I brushed Charlie’s cheek with my hand, and she yawned and smiled. Her eyes cracked open, the same brilliant blue I’d remembered. “Hey—hey there, Kai-Guy.” She winked. “I think I’m ready for my close-up.”

I laughed and rubbed her cheek. “Of course you are.” I pulled her to her feet.

“I apologize,” she said, only sort of laughing, “for looking like a hardboiled egg.” She glanced at her legs—they were thin. “Correction,” she said, “for looking like a hardboiled egg on sticks.”

“But in a good way,” I said. “Like a classy hardboiled egg on a stick—the kind they’d serve as an appetizer in a fancy French restaurant.”

She chuckled—that familiar laugh. “A French appetizer, huh? I suppose that’s mildly reassuring.”

There was a fire in my chest. I wanted to kiss her and hug her and take her out to have a Cotton Candy Cocktail. I saw two pencils resting on the chancellor’s desk, and I offered them to her. “Like chopsticks,” I said.

She rubbed her bald head. “For my hair?”

I shook my head and grabbed a pencil from her hand. I held it to my head.

She smiled. “Unicorn.”

“Almost,” I said. “Narwhal.”

“Heard they’re extinct.” She put her hand on my shoulder. My palms got sweaty.

“You never know. I saw a dolphin.”

“A real one?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “And I broke into a ministry.” Girls loved a bad boy.

“Really?”

“Not the one for education either. That one would’ve been pretty lame.”

“You could’ve gotten yourself a lifetime of abacuses…”

I pretended to nonchalantly flick dust off my shoulder. Pieces of lint just stuck to my sweaty palms. “I broke into the Ministry of Health.”

She shrugged, but I could tell she was impressed. “That’s nothing,” she said. “I learned how to burp my ABC’s.”

“Really?” I teased. “I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true.” She breathed deeply. “
A
—”

I was madly in love with Charlie Minos. I knew it right then—right at that moment—without a doubt. She was the only girl in the world who could’ve burped the ABC’s and had me at A.

“Sage taught you,” I said. My heart was beating fast. I tried to catch my breath.

“Yeah, she did. You’ve met her?”

“She’s how I found you.”

Charlie smiled. “She’s pretty unusual—a man-riding-the-subway-wearing-a-bag-of-peanuts-as-a-hat-and-declaring-himself-a-king kind of unusual—but I love her just the same.”

“You love everybody, Charlie.”

“At the risk of sounding as clichéd as every girl, in every movie, ever: I really missed you, Kai.”

I should’ve kissed her then, but I was too nervous. Instead, I did the only thing I could think of: I put the two pencils between my teeth and clapped my hands. “WAL-RUTH!”