The Veil (10 page)

Shit.
“Run!” Alex and I pelted forward away from the shouting voice.

“Stop those citizens!” shouted another warden. Some of the nearby crowds grew hostile, and hands grabbed at us from every direction. I had to shove dozens of people away.

“Get off me!” growled Alex. He shoved a palm into a tall Imp’s chest and sent him flying right off his feet. The surprised citizen collided with a dozen more and sent them all skittering like bowling pins.

“Sorry!” he shouted over his shoulder to the groaning Imp.

We broke through the tail end of the crowd – who were now parting – afraid to challenge us. I heard a stomp of boots and turned to see that Prince Rashad had stopped on his Unicorn, and all of the Lightwardens had drawn into a tight protective formation next to him, pike-guns raised and ready to fire.

We kept charging forward, the thumping sound of dozens of armoured feet closing the gap behind us. I didn’t dare look around in case they got a proper glance at my face. We tore through one of the archways, heading towards an expansive garden area. Trees and plants were growing in every direction at the sides of the wide paths.

“Where do we go?” panted Alex.

“There!” I shouted, pointing ahead, to where a long series of glass elevators were heading up and down in quick succession. A large arched sign read
Railport III
in a multitude of languages
.

Without turning, I heard the unmistakable sound of wings unfurling and knew the wardens had taken to the skies. Then I heard a series of clicks and low whines as they charged their weapons.

Merda!

I shoved Alex hard to the side. A torrent of energy balls shot past, taking out a tree in a burst of soil and leaves. Almost instantly afterwards, a huge, armoured vehicle burst in from a side street and screeched to a halt in front of us, letting out a low blare of its horn. Citizens around us gasped in fear and scattered like animals.

I felt a set of iron arms grab me and hoist me from the ground. Alex pressed me against his chest and hunched over. His expression had changed – become calm and focused.
He’s flipped the switch
.

My stomach lurched as he pivoted and hit the vehicle with his shoulder. The force was like a thunderbolt hitting my spine. The truck screeched backwards in a squeal of metal and tracks. It skewed sideways and tipped onto its side – almost flipping right over before crashing back down again. In a second, he had scooped me up and covered half the distance across the garden. Obscuring my face, I peered through parted fingers over Alex’s shoulder. The wardens had faltered in their chase, their expressions fixed in pure shock as they stared at the upturned vehicle.

Alex moved like a blur of light, streaking towards the elevator. He grabbed someone who was entering and pulled them out, sending them tumbling into a flowerbed. He tossed me down into the elevator, and I rolled a few times, hitting the glass inside. A split-second later a beam of light shot past and I watched in horror as it glanced against his throat.

“Alex!” I gasped.

“Connected with one of them!” shouted a warden in the distance.

Alex piled into the elevator cab and pressed the button before sinking to his knees. As the elevator shot upwards, I scrambled over to Alex and tugged at the lapel of his robe with trembling fingers. Thankfully the blast had only grazed his neck, creating a red welt with white lines that seeped out from the centre like a roadmap and sent blood trickling down his neck.

He’s okay.

Glancing out, I saw the wardens shrink to the size of ants in a second. I turned to face my soulmate and saw that his eyes were glazed and distant. “Alex, come back to me,” I said, cupping his face between my hands. “Come back.”

He blinked a few times, then the effect passed from his face like a storm cloud. “I’m okay,” he breathed.

“You sure?”

He touched the side of his neck and winced. “More or less. Those things pack a hell of a punch.” Grabbing my hand, he pulled us both to our feet and stared out of the glass.

“I still can’t believe they shot at us,” I said.

“And they won’t stop if they catch us,’ replied Alex. “You ready?” 

“Yes.” We both braced ourselves for the elevator doors to open.  When they did we raced out onto a long platform made from polished metal. It was completely austere, with only a few uniformed benches fixed to the wall, large posters of important looking Luminars and a large electronic display that showed a map of the rail route. Most importantly of all, there were no Lightwardens there. A wall-mounted panel nearby flashed blue, a series of symbols translating into “shuttle inbound.”

On the sleek line that ran out to the horizon, I could see the distant shape of the train approaching. In seconds it had reached the platform and the doors hissed open. We piled in and waited for the doors to close, me tapping my foot impatiently on the floor. There was a series of beeps as the shuttle readied itself for departure.

“Come on, come on!”

The elevator doors opened again and a swarm of wardens stormed the platform. “There!” shouted one of them, pointing towards us.

“Hide your face!” I shouted to Alex. We both turned and stared down at the floor. I expected to feel a harsh grip on my shoulder, but instead I heard the hiss of the doors and felt the jolt of the shuttle moving off. I waited a few more seconds and then glanced up briefly to see the vague outlines of the wardens standing on the platform, watching us go.

We made it.

I let out a sigh and slumped down onto one of the glass seats that filled the carriage. My hair was plastered to my face, and I swept it away with an equally damp hand. Alex sat down next to me and scratched the back of his head. “I can’t believe that just happened.”

I slammed a fist down on the armrest hard enough to create a crack.
“Dannazione!
. “Why the hell didn’t we just stay at the DIAS and say we made a mistake instead of walking off? I promised not to cause any trouble, and look at what we’ve just done. I’ve really messed up Alex, I’m sorry.”

“No you didn’t, Ella. They used
lethal
force on us for barely anything.  As far as I’m concerned what just happened only confirms what it seems both of us have been thinking: that there’s something
off
about this city.” He leaned his shoulder on the support pole and used both hands as he ticked off his reasons. “Why that level of hostility, just because two people pressed a couple of wrong buttons on a machine, and just what were those blacked-out areas anyway? Plus why won’t anyone tell us where the White Keep is when we ask, and why did Freya tell us to find the doors?” He shook his head. “No, we didn’t cause any ‘trouble.’” He used his fingers to invert the words. “All we did is start looking in directions they don’t want us to, and the result was all hell breaking loose.”

“Maybe,” I said with a sigh, staring out the window and watching the city streak past in a flash of sliver and gold. “But we don’t know this city… There are probably factors at work that we could never understand. We shouldn’t have interfered.”

“Gabriella, they
shot
at us! They chased us with a
tank
! I mean Christ, that is not normal behaviour.”

“I know. But we’re forgetting that Pandemonia is a world at war.” I leaned forward, my head in my hands. “Of course they are going to be secretive and meet any potential threat with force. Those off-limit areas are probably related to the Luminar military. After all, this city is a stronghold. It would be no different than if outsiders tried to break into the lower levels of the Warren.”

“That’s not true. We would arrest them and question them. Not shoot at them.”

I glanced up, raising an eyebrow. “Really? I’d like to think so, but these days I’m not so sure.” I sighed. “The Lightwardens are probably willing to do anything to stop normal citizens from getting inside those areas and discovering things that could threaten Fenodaria’s military secrets. Look at how many times the Warren has been infiltrated by the SOS…and that’s just one base. Imagine how many spies this entire city has.”

Alex paused. “I never thought of that.” He tapped his fingers against one of the support rails. “But then there’s only one way to know for sure. Only one way to know if what they are doing is above board, and that our teammate isn’t being hurt.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

His expression remained resolute. “We need to find a way in.”

6

Alex

Gabriella was silent for a moment as she considered my words, and she became difficult to read. “We’ve got more immediate problems to deal with,” she said eventually, turning to stare out of the window at the tall buildings that flashed past in streaks of gold and silver. “The Lightwardens who were chasing us saw us get this shuttle. Word will have spread by now, it’s only a matter of time before they find us.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Crap. So what can we do?” I said, staring around at the carriage as if I would find the answers just sitting in front of me. There was nothing.  In fact, the carriage was practically empty. Only a Djinn family sat at one end, their flaming hair flickering as if they were all preparing to spontaneously combust. None of them paid us any special attention. We just looked like ordinary – albeit human – revelers who had come from the festival parade.

“We need to get hold of the others,” said Gabriella, pulling her Biomote out of a pocket in her robe. “Thank god I bought this with me,” she added as she started to scroll through its menus. “I can’t be sure, but I don’t think any of the Lightwardens got a decent look at us…not from the front anyway. Chances are they’ll just be looking for a male and female travelling together. If we can form a larger group, we might have a better chance of avoiding detection.”

I pulled an impressed face. “Good plan. You gonna vocal-link them?”

Gabriella nodded.

Before we’d left, Faru had explained that Biomotes wouldn’t work in the same way that they did on Earth once we crossed the Veil. We couldn’t use any of their features, such as tracking, GPS positioning, scanning or mapping, or even use them like traditional phones. But that didn’t mean that they didn’t work at all. Each of them had a unique transceiver ID, which was stored internally in the system. They could communicate with those in the same field as one another, via a process called Collective Vocal-Linking, which was effectively a fancy term for a group walkie-talkie system. No one knew the exact working range, but it was supposed to be quite far – the Fae magic infused into every Biomote made them very powerful. Gabriella tapped the screen a few times and then pressed a button on the side of the unit and spoke quietly into the receiver. “Guardians come in, are any of you near the Union District?”

There was a pause and then Scarlett’s voice floated through the receiver as clear as spring water. “Hey Ella. Delagio, Sophia, and I are in the Ziggurat District. From what I remember from the map we just saw, that’s pretty quite close to the Union District.”

I looked up at an LCD display on the wall of the shuttle, which showed our route through the city as a red line travelling along a web of tracks. After a few seconds I saw the symbols for the Ziggurat District. “Railport Six. Three stops from here,” I said.

“Thanks.” I saw Gabriella’s mind whirring, thinking and planning. After a few seconds she held down the transmitter button. “That’s perfect. We need you to get to the railport there as quickly as you can without raising suspicion. We’ll arrive on a shuttle in a few minutes. Can you do that?”

“Of course. Is something wrong?”

“I’ll explain when we get there. Out.” She put the Biomote back in the pocket, her face forming the blank expression she pulled when her mental cogs were still rotating.

“What else are you thinking?” I asked, taking a seat and gesturing for her to sit down next to me. Gabriella sat down and turned to face me. “I’m thinking we need to change our clothes. We’re like walking adverts in these stained ones. We can get one of the team to buy something for us.” She looked up at the electronic map, her slender eyebrows dipping into a frown. “If the journey to the Ziggurat only takes ten minutes, then we’ll be arriving at the next station any second. Most of the Lightwardens were at the festival keeping an eye on Prince Rashad, so I’m hoping it will take them some time to reorganize. The next station might be empty,” she paused. “But then again, it might not. I don’t think we can explain our way out of this, so we need to be prepared to run again.”

“Okay,” I said nodding. “If it comes to it, we’ll do what we have to.”

“Good. Right. Let’s see if we can find an empty carriage. I don’t want anyone else getting caught up in this mess.”

I gave her hand a squeeze, and then we both stood up and strolled as nonchalantly down the aisle as we could. Only the youngest of the Djinn family bothered to look up, cocking his head in curiosity and then staring back at an electronic gaming device he was playing on. The inner geek in me was desperate to check it out, but my inner survivalist squashed that impulse and forced me to walk on.

There was a sliding door at the end, which slid open automatically as we approached it. We kept moving through the carriages, making sure not to look at anyone directly. A moment later I could feel the train start to slow, so I slipped into a seat and grabbed Gabriella, pulling her down with me. My heart was pounding as we ground to a halt at the next station. Looking out the window, I expected to see an army of Lightwardens waiting for us, but there were only a few groups of citizens, talking among themselves. Several got on  – sliding their currency cards down a scanner I hadn’t noticed near the entrances – and placed themselves around the shuttle, all completely ignoring our presence, which was a good sign.

They couldn’t get to the station in time. I just hope Scarlett and the others can.

The doors closed and the shuttle fired up again, speeding to an alarming rate in seconds. Gabriella and I stood up again, keeping our gaze set forward and ignoring everyone around us. We kept moving through two more carriages until we arrived at a door near the end. It was sealed shut, with a button placed on the wall next to it. The word
Premium
was written at the front. I tried to open the door, and as expected it refused to budge. So I pressed the button instead. There was a clicking sound and then the door slid open. We walked through and the doors slid closed behind us.

Welcome to the Premium carriage,
said a voice from above us.
Please note that it is a crime to enter this area if you do not have the funds to afford it on your currency card and will be treated as theft. If you have done so in error, please leave now. If you have available funds, please place your currency card on the scanner before exiting the Lightrail. Have a pleasant journey.

The carriage was far plusher than the rest, with big lounge seats and a cart filled with all manner of foods siting in bowls that rested on a bed of ice. It was also empty.

“Here,” I said, taking a seat in a large booth in the middle. I waited for Gabriella to sit down next to me. I tried to relax my posture, sinking back into the seat and trying to appear calm and innocent – which was difficult when my adrenaline was spiking and my heart beating like a pneumatic drill. I noticed a glass unit similar to a computer tablet slotted into a tray attached to the wall next to me. I picked it up and was surprised to see that it was some kind of electronic newspaper titled
Imidah O’Dheline.

Knowledge Is Power.

A constant barrage of stories kept flashing up on the screen, reminding me of the various casino offers and porn site invites that had pinged up all over my PC when it’d been affected by malware. These were far more propaganda than vice, mainly reports about casualties on the frontlines, acts of heroism and how to be aware of potential spies.

That was until a picture of Gabriella and me filled the entire screen.

I gripped the sides of the tablet, my heart stalling with panic. The image was similar to CCTV footage, but much clearer. The only saving grace was that it had been taken from a poor angle and showed little more than the backs of our heads and paint-soaked clothes. The words
Hostile Citizens
were written in bold red letters at the top of the image.

“Um, Ella, I think you should check this out.”

She glanced at the screen and swore loudly. “What does it say? Click on it!”

I tapped the screen and the page flipped over to a bunch of text.

These image captured individuals were seen to be acting suspiciously in the Union District, and refused to acknowledge several friendly requests to stop and explain their actions to patrolling Lightwardens.

I touched my fingertips to the searing wound on my neck, which was thankfully starting the healing process already.
Friendly my ass.

They were last seen boarding a Lightrail shuttle at Railport III – Union District. These people should be considered dangerous and potentially armed. If you think you might recognize them, or notice anyone acting suspiciously, please do not confront them directly. Instead notify a Lightwarden immediately. Do not ignore this message. Your inaction could result in your loved ones’ death.

“Nice over-the-top ending,” I barked, slamming the tablet back into the rack.

Gabriella let her head slump back against the seat. “How did things go so wrong so fast?”

The shuttle slowed again and came into Railport V – the stop before the one we needed. Gabriella looked out of the window and then her hand gripped my arm.

I looked out the window and my heart sank.

This station was a very different story to the last. A number of Wardens were waiting at the station, armed to the teeth. I felt my stomach tense and tried to calm myself, thinking of how best to handle the situation.

“What do we do?” I said.

“Get ready to run.”

The doors hissed open and the Lightwardens started to board the shuttle. A small saving grace was that the exit to the premium carriage required a currency card scan to open, so no wardens got on ours. However, two boarded the carriage just beyond and started to work their way down, staring intently at the passengers.

“Ella?”

“I’m trying to think,” she said, her eyes squeezed shut. The train pulled away from the station a second later, building speed until it was traveling at well over two hundred miles an hour.
There goes our escape plan.

“Maybe we can talk our way out of this,” I said. “You know say it’s a case of mistaken identity. We are Guardians after all, surely they’d be inclined to believe us.”

Gabriella kept her eyes shut and didn’t respond. I could tell her mind was working overdrive, scanning options, working out variables. They snapped open a moment later.

“I can’t believe I’ve never thought to try this before!”

“What?”

“No time to explain.  It’s a long shot, but we don’t have a choice. We’ll try your way first, but if that doesn’t work then we give my idea a try. If
that
fails, we surrender. Agreed?”

I blew air out through my teeth. “Agreed. Hopefully they won’t try and blast us full of holes on a moving train.” I leaned out of my seat and saw one of the Lightwardens talking to an Elf standing near the centre of the next carriage. He pointed in our direction and the Lightwarden’s head snapped around. I shrunk back but I knew it was too late.

“Here we go.”

“Follow my lead,” said Gabriella, standing up.

I followed her over to the buffet section, where we nonchalantly picked up plates and acted like we were checking out the spread. A moment later the door slid open and I could hear the footsteps of the Lightwardens approaching.

“Citizens!” he demanded.

We both looked up calmly, Gabriella allowing her lips to part into a friendly smile. “Evening Lightwardens, is something the matter?” she said.

Without another word, the two of them rushed us, seizing our shoulders and shoving us up against the glass windows of the shuttle. The warden’s fingers dug into the hidden wound on my neck and I sucked in air through my teeth, trying my best not to react.

“What are you doing?” hissed Gabriella, the side of her head forced against the glass by the glaring Lightwarden.

“We ask the questions here. Where have you both been?” asked the warden securing Gabriella.

“The Homestead District,” she said, her voice controlled against the fury I knew she was holding just beneath the surface. “We visited the Kor’Istis games, but I wasn’t feeling very great, so we left and went to watch the parade instead.”

“And then we–”

The warden rammed my head against the glass hard enough to cause a crack. “Silence! You were not addressed.” I took a deep breath and resisted the urge to wrench both of his arms out of their sockets. “You’re humans,” he added. “Who are you, and why are you here?”

“We are Chosen, actually. I am Gabriella De Luca, Huntmaster of Orion, first response Hunter unit of The Warren Base. This is Alexander Eden, one of our finest Guardians. We are guests of Highwarden Caria.”

I could feel the grip on my neck falter as the Lightwardens no doubt started to mull over the gravity of their actions.
This just might work.

“Can you prove that you are Guardians?” barked Warden.

Gabriella’s smile widened. “Of course I can, if you would stop trying to press my head through the window for a moment.”

In the reflection of the glass, I could see the wardens look at each other for a considered moment. Then the one securing Gabriella let his arm drop away.

“Thank you,” she said, turning around. She held out her hand and the symbol appeared on her wrist as proof. “We have come from Earth on important orders from our Sage, but we we’re off duty this evening. So after the games and parade, we were on the way to meet up with the rest of our unit before dinner with
your
Highwarden.”