Wings (A Black City Novel) (17 page)

“We need to go to Ulrika’s first,” Kieran says, and Lucinda nods.

“Who’s Ulrika?” I ask.

“My cousin,” Kieran explains. “She’s who we were coming to meet.”

I shoot a look at Natalie. She shrugs, as baffled as me.

“Your
cousin
lives here? That’s crazy!” Beetle says. “Isn’t she afraid of being caught?”

“No,” Kieran says. “The guards know she’s here. They’ve been told to leave her alone.”

Now I’m really confused. “Why would they do that?”

Kieran turns in his seat, ignoring my question. “Follow the trail for about five kilometers until you meet a fork in the road, then take a right,” he instructs Acelot.

“Are we fetching the yellowpox?” Elijah asks his mom.

A crease forms between Yolanda’s brows. “What are you talking about, sweetheart?”

“The weapon that you came here to get,” Elijah replies. “It’s yellowpox, isn’t it? I saw your research documents back in your lab . . .”

Lucinda scoffs, and Yolanda throws her a cold look before turning back to her son.

“I abandoned that project years ago, when it became clear to me it couldn’t work; even though some of us didn’t agree,” Yolanda says, sliding a look at Lucinda, whose mouth pinches together. “It would’ve killed all humans, not just those with the V-gene. That was a line I wasn’t willing to cross.”

“If the Ora isn’t yellowpox, then what is it?” Natalie asks.

“The Ora?” Yolanda quizzes.

“The
weapon,
” Elijah says, clearly confused. “Lucinda mentioned it in the letter she sent you. We’ve been looking for it.”

Lucinda laughs. “Oh Lord,” she mutters.

Elijah scowls, his cheeks flushing. “What’s so funny?”

“It wasn’t the Ora,” Yolanda explains gently. “It was
Theora.
She’s a girl.”

“I don’t understand,” I say. “How is this woman a weapon?”

Yolanda looks at my aunt. Lucinda sighs and begins to speak. “It all began thirty years ago, with a boy named Edmund Rose . . .”

EDMUND

I
LET OUT A STARTLED LAUGH,
the sound somewhere between hysteria and joy. A heartbeat. I have a heartbeat! I tilt my head to look at Theora, who is lying on the ground beside me. The shaking has mercifully stopped and a hush settles over the mountain. Theora’s long white hair is strewn with twigs and forest debris. A hand is clutched to her chest.
Did she feel something too?
We gaze at each other for a long moment. My pulse pounds in my ears, the sound deafening after eighteen years of silence. I have no idea what’s going on, but somehow I know it’s connected to her.

“How did you do it?” I whisper.

“Do what?” she says.

I frown, confused. “My heart . . . ?”

Her brow furrows. “What about it?”

I study her for a moment, wondering if she genuinely doesn’t know what’s going on, or if she’s lying to me, but her eyes don’t give anything away.

“Nothing,” I eventually say.

Disappointed, I quickly dust myself off and then help Theora to her feet. My heart clenches as our hands touch—it clenches!—and any tiny niggle of doubt I might have had that Theora wasn’t responsible for my newfound heartbeat vanishes in that instant.

“Thanks for saving me, Edmund,” she says, shaking the debris out of her hair. Panic suddenly washes over her face. “Kieran!”

We rush over to the groaning boy, who is lying beside the two Darkling girls. The older girl in the green dress is cradling a swollen ankle, and the younger girl is leaning over Kieran. From our angle, it looks like she’s feeding on him.

“Get off him!” Theora yells, roughly pushing the Darkling girl out of the way.

“Lucinda was just trying to stem the bleeding,” Kieran says, grimacing.

Lucinda shows her blood-soaked hands to Theora, who flushes slightly. The older Darkling girl groans with pain, and Lucinda’s head whips round.

“Annora!” Lucinda says, hurrying to her side. She gently inspects Annora’s ankle, which is starting to turn purple.

I study the two Darkling girls, Annora and Lucinda, trying to see something of myself in them. They both have narrow black eyes and delicate mouths and chins. It’s hard to believe these innocent-looking girls are the demons the Guild makes them out to be, but I suppose that’s how they get you to trust them. I must never forget what they are: Unholy. Sinful. Impure.
If Darklings are so bad, then why did that girl help Kieran?
A voice whispers inside my head.
One of their kind raped my mother!
I furiously reply. I’m under no illusion what they’re capable of, because their sins are in me too.

I kneel beside Theora. She lifts up Kieran’s shirt. He has a nasty gash along his flank and dark bruising around his rib cage. I hold my breath, trying not to smell his blood.

“Is it bad, T?” he asks.

“Well, you’ll live, but it’s going to leave a pretty nasty scar,” Theora says.

“That’s cool.” Kieran forces a brave smile. “Girls dig scars.”

Theora laughs, but there’s worry in her silver eyes.

Kieran struggles into an upright position. He eyes Theora’s hair, which is covered in twigs and leaves from our tumble on the ground, and bursts out laughing. He immediately winces, but keeps laughing. “You look like a scarecrow.”

She blushes and shakes her head in an attempt to dislodge some of the debris from her snowy mane. Most of it falls out, but a stubborn Carrow leaf remains above her left ear. Without thinking I pluck it free.

“Leaf,” I say, showing it to her.

“Thanks,” she replies, turning pink again. “I must look like a complete—”

A gun clicks behind us.

I whip around, my heart slamming against my chest. Patrick stalks out of the shadows, his gun aimed at us. Instinctively, I move closer to Theora.

“How long have you been there?” I say.

“Long enough,” Patrick replies as he slowly walks toward us, his blue eyes fixed on me. Annora grabs Lucinda and pulls her protectively toward her. “I always knew something wasn’t right with you,
freak.
I could sense it in my gut. But Catherine kept saying I was just being an overprotective brother. But here you are, helping out a bunch of Howlers and these
nippers,
and I’m starting to think my suspicions about you were right all along.”

My throat suddenly feels tight. “And what were they, exactly?”

“That in eighteen years, I’ve never seen you eat. That you run away at the sight of blood. That you have fake teeth where your canines should be.” He slides a look between me and the Darkling girls. “It all makes sense now. You’re one of
them.
”

Theora shoots a confused look at me.

I nervously lick my dry lips. All these years I thought I was being so careful; I had no idea that while I was watching Catherine, her brother was watching me.

“That’s ridiculous,” I say. “You’re mistaken.”

“Yeah? Then explain this.” He pulls something out of his pocket and tosses it at my feet. It’s a purple corsage; the very one I intended to give to Catherine at the dance. It must’ve fallen out of my jacket when I attacked her! The fabric petals are covered in dried blood. Fear surges through me. Patrick’s handsome face contorts with rage.

“You killed her,” Patrick snarls. “You murdered my sister and then got your grandfather to lie about it, you fragging nipper!”

He aims the gun at my head. I shut my eyes, waiting for the bullet, then—

“Patrick! Edmund! Where are you?”

My eyes snap open at the sound of Mr. Langdon’s voice. Patrick turns his head, momentarily distracted. It’s the diversion we needed. Theora pushes Kieran out of harm’s way at the same moment I lunge for Patrick. We hit the ground together, and his gun goes off, the bullet smacking into the tree that Theora was in front of just seconds before.

“Father! Over here!” Patrick shouts as we wrestle. He strikes my cheek with the butt of his rifle, knocking me off him. He scrambles to his feet and points the gun at me.

“Not so fast!” Theora’s aiming my rifle directly at Patrick. “Drop it!”

He lets go and his rifle falls to the dirt. I grab it and hurriedly stand up, spinning the weapon around on him at the same time. My finger hovers over the trigger.

“Do it, you
freak
!” Patrick yells. “Murder me like you did my sister.”

I lower the weapon. “I didn’t mean to hurt her,” I whisper.

“Patrick, where are you?” Harriet calls out.

They’re just a few meters away; we haven’t got much time. I take Theora’s hand and the five of us—me, Theora, Kieran, Annora and Lucinda—hurry into the dense woods just as Harriet, Drew and Mr. Langdon enter the clearing.

“Go after them!” I hear Patrick shout.

We race through the forest, following Theora, who expertly navigates the thick undergrowth. Kieran and Annora are at the back of the group, both of them struggling to keep up because of their injuries. I let go of Theora’s hand and sling one arm around Kieran, holding my rifle in the other, while Lucinda helps Annora. The older Darkling grimaces with pain as she limps on her sprained ankle.

The farther we go into the forest, the steeper the ground becomes as we start to climb up the side of Mount Alba. Lower down the mountain, Patrick and the others dart through the trees, heading toward us. Drew spots me and shoots. A bullet whizzes by my head, missing me by millimeters. I shoot back, more to scare them than to hurt anyone.

“I’m going to kill you, Edmund!” Patrick cries out, his voices echoing through the forest. “And when I’m done with you, I’m going to pin your grandfather to the cross!”

“Guys, I need to stop,” Kieran says. His shirt is slick with blood.

“No time.” I grunt as I lift the boy over my shoulder. He weighs almost as much as me, despite being younger—Lupine’s aren’t exactly small—and I struggle up the steep slope after the girls, my feet slipping on the uneven earth. My boot skids on some loose rock, and I almost drop Kieran. His fingers dig into my back.

I risk a look over my shoulder. Patrick and the others are closing the gap between us. He raises his gun and another bullet whizzes by us. This one hits its mark, landing firmly in Annora’s shoulder. She cries out in pain, her legs buckling underneath her, and she stumbles down the slope, dragging Lucinda with her, straight toward Patrick.

“Luci!” Kieran shouts right next to my ear.

Theora spins around on her heel and races after them. She manages to grab Lucinda’s hand, but Annora keeps tumbling down the slope, out of our reach.

“Annora!” Lucinda screams as Theora lifts the girl over her shoulder and continues running up the mountainside. She punches Theora’s back. “Let me go! That’s my sister!”

“We can’t go back; we’ll be shot!” Theora says.

I snatch another look behind me. Annora is on the ground and Drew’s gun is aimed at her head. Her onyx eyes are wide with fear.

“Don’t kill her yet,” Mr. Langdon orders, his voice carrying on the breeze. “Bring her back to Amber Hills; I want the whole town to watch the demon burn.”

Drew and Harriet drag Annora onto her feet while Mr. Langdon and Patrick continue up the mountain toward us. I turn away. There’s nothing we can do for her now.

It’s hard to keep pace with Theora as we run through the woods, and I stumble more than once on a fallen branch or tangle-weed. This is
her
territory, and she knows it like the back of her hand. She suddenly drops Lucinda on the ground, leaps at one of the evergreen trees, and easily shimmies up it. She pulls herself onto a thick branch, then helps us up after her, and not a moment too soon, as Patrick and Mr. Langdon arrive. Farther down the slope, Harriet and Drew restrain Annora.

“Where did they go?” Mr. Langdon says.

“I’m certain they came this way, Father,” Patrick says.

Patrick studies the ground, searching for our tracks. He won’t find anything, though—there’s too much vegetation for him to spot our footprints. He lets out a frustrated yell.

“They have to be nearby!” Patrick says, his face red with fury.

“Let’s go back to Amber Hills,” Mr. Langdon says.

“No! Edmund killed Catherine; he can’t get away with it,” Patrick says.

“He won’t.” Mr. Langdon tilts his head up and says in a loud, carrying voice, “We have your Darkling friend and your grandfather, Edmund! If you hand yourself over to the Guild, they will be spared. If not, we’ll execute them both. You have until noon tomorrow!”

I can’t let Grandfather and Annora die for me! I should hand myself over now. I move, and Theora shakes her head.

“They’ll shoot them,” she mouths, nodding toward Kieran and Lucinda.

I sit back.

Patrick and Mr. Langdon leave. They join the others farther down the mountain and head back to Amber Hills. The instant they’re gone, I turn to Theora.

“I have to go back,” I say.

“They’ll kill you, Edmund,” Theora says.

“But we have to save my sister!” Lucinda says. “You heard what they said. If Edmund doesn’t hand himself over to them by noon tomorrow, they’ll execute her!” Lucinda makes a move to leave. “I need to tell my family what’s happened. Fragg, when Uncle Icarus finds out, he’s going to be
so
mad. He’s only stayed away from Amber Hills because it suits his needs, but this changes everything.”

I grab her arm. “He can’t find out. If he goes after Annora, lots of people could get killed, including my grandfather,” I say. “Most of the folk in Amber Hills are good people. They don’t deserve to die.”

“Edmund’s right; we can’t risk any more bloodshed,” Theora says.

Lucinda scrunches up her brow. “But Annora . . .”

“We’ll save her, I promise,” Theora replies. “We’ll go to Amber Hills tonight, when it’s dark, and get Edmund’s grandfather and her. Maybe if we return Annora safely, Icarus can be persuaded not to retaliate. But until then, you should both come back to my village. It’s not safe out here, and Kieran really needs to see a doctor.”

Kieran groans and clutches his side. Blood seeps between his fingers.

Lucinda looks at me, and I nod. It’s the best plan we have. We climb down the tree. Theora and Lucinda gracefully leap off the bottom branch and softly land on the earth. Kieran struggles down, grimacing the whole way, but it’s clear he’s an expert climber. My attempt is much clumsier, and I fall into the bracken.

Theora grins and stretches out a hand. The instant our fingers touch, a shiver of electricity shoots up my arm and into my chest. Theora inhales sharply, her cheeks flushing.
Did she feel that too?
We hold each other’s gaze for a breathless moment. I search her silvery eyes, trying to see any sign that it’s not just me who’s experiencing
whatever
the heck it is I’m feeling. It’s hard to describe. It’s like I’ve known Theora my whole life, which is crazy, because we’ve just met! I wish I understood what was going on; I’ve never heard of someone’s heart spontaneously activating after eighteen years of silence. How is this even possible?

We hike up the forest-coated mountain, getting as much distance between us and Patrick as possible. Everything around here looks the same; it would be easy to get lost if you didn’t know where you were going. Our progress is slowgoing because of Kieran.