The Severed Tower (20 page)

Mira’s stare was venomous.

She tried to break free with renewed effort, almost managed to do it, struggling to get to Ravan. Two more kids joined the others, subdued her, carried her off kicking and fighting. Holt wasn’t sure what had transpired between the two, but he could tell there was already a lot of history.

“Holt!” Zoey screamed in anguish as she was pulled away, too. Max howled after her.

But there was nothing Holt could do.

Two Menagerie pirates stood over him, smiling wickedly. Then a shotgun butt slammed down onto his head and everything went black.

*   *   *

AVRIL STOOD AT THE
crest of a rocky hill, staring down at the valley below. The Menagerie were there, grouped in what remained of an old wheat field. They’d taken the Freebooter prisoner, as well as another boy who seemed injured, and there was the girl as well, the small one.

The one Gideon had sent her to find.

Avril watched as they started marching in a column to the east, through the wheat, leaving a trail behind them, flattening it all as they moved. It was just like them. The Menagerie wilted everything they touched and never looked back.

She felt anger begin to rise as she remembered the black-haired girl and what she’d said. Avril wanted to believe it was a lie, but she knew it wasn’t. The girl had used her name. She
knew.
The artifact they were carrying in that crate was just the right size. She could guess what it all meant—but even so, she just couldn’t believe Gideon would do this to her.

Then again, in his own way he’d told her, hadn’t he?
One task you will like. And one you will
not.

The wind picked up again, blowing from the north, and she casually tied her hair behind her head. It was warm air, and the hair on her arms stood up as it swept over her. The land was changing and it had everything to do with that little girl down there. Even from this distance, Avril could tell the Pattern joined with her just like it would with any Anomaly. It meant Gideon was right. She was the one they had waited for, as hard as it was to believe.

“You feel it, too?” someone asked next to her. His name was Dane, tall and handsome, with wavy hair and lithe muscles, and he balanced his Lancet on his shoulders, arms hanging from either end. She could feel his closeness, and she liked it. She’d gotten used to it in a way she never believed she could.

Avril nodded. “From the north, coming hard.”

“Ion Storms in the second ring. It doesn’t feel real,” he mused in disbelief. She felt his eyes on her. “The one below, the one who knew your name. You
know
why she’s here.”

“Yes.”

“I won’t let them have you,” Dane said with conviction. She turned and looked into his eyes—and saw the passion there. “I
won’t.
”

Avril felt warmth spread through her. He would fight and die for her, she knew. Not because she was his Doyen, but because of who they were to each other when they were alone. Dane was the only person she’d ever let see her weaker side, the side that was vulnerable, and she wished she could curl up in his arms right then, but she couldn’t. The rest of her Arc was behind them, waiting, watching. She had to be strong; they had to see her as fearless.

“Sometimes we don’t have the choices we hope we will,” she replied.

“Why not just kill them?” one of the others asked before Dane could reply. “Why not just kill the Menagerie and take the little girl and be gone?”

“Know thyself, know thine enemy,” Avril simply said. “Right now, the Menagerie and the Freebooter are unknowns. We need to find shelter. We can pick up their trail after the storm.”

“Assuming there’s anything
left
to follow,” Dane said.

“There will be. I doubt it’s the Tower’s will for the Prime to die here.” Avril turned and lowered the black goggles over her eyes, cutting off her sense of sight. She concentrated in the way she’d been taught, felt the Charge all around her, followed it until she could see the Pattern of the land in her mind, the Anomalies that pulsed and moved all through the distance.

Then she and the rest of the White Helix leaped into the air in flashes of yellow and purple light.

19.
RIFTS

MIRA AND ZOEY WALKED AT THE HEAD
of the line, down an old, narrow country road, flanked on both sides by endlessly stretching fields of wheat and rotted cornstalks. Holt was unconscious, near the middle, carried next to the mysterious crate the Menagerie had been lugging.

Max refused to walk anywhere but underneath him, growling menacingly at the pirates if they got too close. Though they outnumbered the dog, none of them wanted to be the first to challenge him. Mira didn’t blame them.

Mira had kept the group moving northeast, hoping to come across one of the landmarks that pointed the path to Polestar. It would be much safer, from then on.

Theoretically.

Her ability to get the Menagerie through the Strange Lands was, at this point, probably the one thing keeping her alive, and she felt Ravan’s glare on her back constantly now.

They were still traversing the uncharted areas, and near as she could tell, they’d entered the second ring about fifteen miles back. It had been a casual affair, she hadn’t even mentioned it to Ravan. In fact, it was the easiest ring crossing she’d ever done, but that was because of where they were.

The Western Vacuum.

There were only three Vacuums in all the Strange Lands, zones devoid of Stable Anomalies. For whatever reason, they couldn’t take hold there. It didn’t mean Mira and the Menagerie were completely safe, there were still Unstable Anomalies to worry about, but most of those were visible.

Then again, the Strange Lands were different now. She hoped what Echo had said about the Stable Anomalies not moving proved right.

Echo …

The thought of him brought a mix of feelings, most of them sad or guilty. He’d sacrificed everything to get them into the Strange Lands, and she hadn’t thought about him once since the Crossroads. There just hadn’t been enough time, but that was her reality right now. It seemed like it had been for a long time.

“It’s getting darker,” Zoey said, next to her. “And it shouldn’t be, should it?”

Mira looked down at the little girl. It was one of the few times she’d spoken since they’d found her. Mira wasn’t sure what had happened while she was a captive, but it had had an effect. Mira didn’t push her. Zoey would tell her when she was ready.

Zoey was right, though. The skies shouldn’t have started darkening until almost the third ring.

“How do you know that, Zoey?”

“It just … feels like things are different, but I’m not sure how I would know.”

The little girl kept looking behind her every few minutes, staring back down the old roadway to where it disappeared into the horizon.

“Are they following us?” Mira kept her voice low as possible.

Zoey shook her head. “No, but it’s looking. It won’t give up until it finds me.”

“It?”

“The Royal one. I can’t hear it anymore, it’s too far away. But it will come.”

The little girl was clearly traumatized. Maybe if she—

“And what are we talking about?” Ravan had walked close, studying them with a calm detachment, her hand on the shoulder strap of her rifle.

“We were just wondering if the Assembly was following us,” Mira answered, looking away.

“Doubtful,” Ravan said. “The Portal was a long way from town. They’ll have to run search patterns just to find our tracks. By the time they sort it all out, we’ll be at Polestar.”

“If you’re lucky,” Zoey said offhandedly. “They’re Hunters. It’s what they do.”

Ravan studied the little girl. The pirate Captain was no fool, and the less she figured out the better. If Ravan knew that different Assembly factions were blowing each other up to get to Zoey, she might decide to kill the girl and be done with it.

“What are you going to do with us?” Mira asked.

Ravan moved her gaze back to Mira. “Haven’t decided yet. If I see some value in keeping you, then I will.”

“And if you don’t?”

“I’m sure you can figure that one out all by yourself.”

“I have a Solid.”

“And I honored it.”

“You didn’t honor
anything.
You cheated me. That Solid came directly from Tiberius, and when he hears—”

“Whatever debt he may have owed you was rendered null and void the moment you started traveling with Holt Hawkins,” Ravan calmly cut her off.

Mira stared back. “Why?”

Ravan just smiled. “If Holt didn’t trust you enough to tell you, I don’t see why I should.”

Mira looked away. The Menagerie was the group looking for Holt, she knew now, the one he’d been running from since she’d met him. Ravan had recognized him, that much was clear. In fact, it seemed liked they
knew
each other. If that was the case, did that mean Holt had been
in
the Menagerie?

Mira wouldn’t believe that. Holt was … Holt. He wasn’t a thug or a thief. He wouldn’t have been in the Menagerie.

What did it all mean then?

She remembered the way Ravan had touched him, how she’d whispered into his ear. It implied … a familiarity.

Why hadn’t he just told her the truth? Then she never would have gone to the Menagerie in the first place. Then again, what would she have done instead? No one else would have helped her. Holt and Zoey would still be in the Assembly’s clutches, if not for Ravan.

Mira sighed. Nothing was ever simple.

Zoey groaned next to her, holding her head with both hands.

Mira felt for the little girl. The headaches hadn’t lessened any, it seemed. She touched her tenderly. “Sweetie, you okay?”

“It feels like…” Zoey whispered. “It feels like something’s coming.”

“What does
that
mean?” Ravan asked dubiously, but Mira ignored her.

Mira had come to trust Zoey’s instincts, as unpredictable and strange as they were. If she said something was coming, Mira took note. “What’s coming, sweetie?”

“That.” Zoey pointed to the north. When Mira looked icy fear gripped her spine. A mass of swirling darkness was building there, and it seemed to glow faintly with blue light; massive, towering into the sky, out of sight for miles, and it was moving, toward them.
Fast.

The sight was stunning. Everyone down the line stopped automatically to stare at it.

“Looks like a sandstorm,” Ravan said.

“It’s no sandstorm,” Mira answered in horror. “It’s an
Ion Storm.
” Mira couldn’t believe it. Ion Storms were
third
ring Anomalies, but there it was, sweeping powerfully down the hillside, tumbling toward them, a wave of darkness that blocked out the dim sunlight as it moved.

“It’ll rip everything organic apart, down to the atoms. It won’t leave anything. We have to get inside something.”

Mira looked around wildly. There were a few abandoned cars nearby and an old tractor, but their windows were broken, they wouldn’t be any shelter.

“There,” Ravan pointed.

In the distance, half a mile maybe, a dirt road diverged off theirs. It ended in the middle of an overgrown field, where a small clearing was encircled by a large chain-link fence. Inside the clearing rested a group of five or six small, square buildings.

There was no indication of what it used to be, but it didn’t really matter. Even from here Mira could tell the buildings were made of concrete. If they were still sealed, they might survive the storm inside. Might.

“Tell your men to run,” was all Mira said. She lifted Zoey onto her shoulders and bolted down the road as fast as she could. Behind her Ravan shouted, and the pirates reacted instantly, following in a dash.

The storm swirled powerfully down the hill, and then leveled out and blossomed forward when it reached the valley.

It was coming fast. Too fast.

“Mira!” Zoey shouted. She had almost run past the road leading to the fenced area.

Mira’s feet slid as she turned and raced down it. She could hear the frantic footfalls of the Menagerie behind her. The storm was barreling forward. Mira reached the fence, and skidded to a stop in front of it.

There was a gate, but it was padlocked. Next to it, a rusting metal sign hung on, with a message that was barely readable.

PROPERTY OF STATES AIR FORCE ENTRY STRICTLY AUTHORIZED USAF PERSONNEL USE OF DEADLY FORCE SECURED FACILITY

Mira set Zoey down, ignoring the sign and kicking the fence. It was old, but it was strong. It wouldn’t break. “Damn it!” She kicked it again.

“Move!” Ravan shouted behind her. The rest of the Menagerie were coming fast. One of her men had pulled a pair of bolt cutters from his pack. Mira jumped out of the way as he placed its open mouth onto the padlock and squeezed. He groaned with the effort.

“Parker!” Ravan yelled at him. “You wanna die out here?”

“No, skipper,” the boy said through gritted teeth, trying harder. The padlock snapped apart. Ravan kicked the fence in and everyone charged forward. The rumbling sound of the Ion Storm filled the air.

“Mira!” Zoey shouted as the pirates ran past and knocked her down.

Then one of them scooped her up as he ran. “Got her!”

Mira didn’t argue, she found her footing and ran into the fenced yard. The storm was almost on them now, blooming and rolling forward, blocking out everything as it towered over them, coming fast, darkening the sky.

She could hear it now, too. The strange, voltaic rumble that came from whatever charged particles the storm was made of bouncing off one another. It was growing. Louder and louder as it roared toward them.

Max barked frantically, and Mira turned as she ran, saw him growling and biting at the pirates carrying Holt, disappearing with them inside one of the buildings.

They were little more than shacks, cubes of concrete, maybe twenty square feet each, with heavy metallic doors on the outside. The closest one was ahead of her and to the left. Ravan was running for it, too, and Mira double-timed it.

As she ran, she saw something else in the middle of the field. A giant circle of steel, hundreds of feet across, stretching from one end to the other. Some kind of huge, metallic door set into the earth. What the hell
was
this place?