Chapter 5
Saffron
Saffron let herself into the apartment, tossing her jacket at a hook. When the sleeve fell over the camera set into the wall, the resulting alarm shrieked at her. The deadbolt on the door slammed shut in warning. Cursing, Saffron tugged the sleeve aside and the alarm died instantly. “Thank you for your cooperation.”
“Bite me,” she enunciated very clearly at the Directorate-issued camera. The deadbolt slid free. “I don’t know where they think we could even hide rebels or Greencoats,” she muttered at Killian who had burst into the hall from his room. “It’s not like there’s any space in here.”
He just shrugged. Saffron had known him for years but she’d never heard the sound of his voice. Despite that, they never had a problem communicating. But before she could tell him about the leaf mask, the front doors slammed open. “Hey, little brother!”
Killian’s expression went carefully blank. Haruki and Mason were full of swagger and cheap wine, as usual. Haruki was unfairly beautiful, all angular lines and dark eyes. He was one of the beautiful people handing out Gingerbread in the Rings. The Rings kept the Elysians distracted: entertainment, food, bright lights were usually enough to convince a person it wasn’t so bad after all on this side of the Wall. Gingerbread was one of their many offering and Haruki took as much as he sold. Even now, his pupils were dilated, his smile slightly strange. Gingerbread made you docile. It painted the city in pretty colours, fattening you up like Hansel and Gretel at the mouth of the oven.
“There’s a Jack loose in the City,” Mason said. “And we mean to run him to ground.”
“Good for you, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out,” Saffron said as Haruki pulled weapons from their room.
“Saffron, how come you never spread---“
Killian pushed past her. Before she could grab him, Mason had already dodged his punch and returned with his own. Mason struck him again, in the kidney this time, until he doubled in pain. They had no reason to hate him, they just did. Killian on the other hand had every reason to hate them, and he didn’t. At least not as much as Saffron did.
“Get off him!” she yelled, elbowing Mason in the ear as hard as she could. He grunted, letting go of Killian.
“You little bitch…” He lunged for her but Killian shoved his foot out, tripping him.
“Boys,” Papu coughed from his bed under the window. He’d moved in soon after the City had been closed. Oona was born in this building, back when it had working elevators and electricity. Now it was just one more high-rise lit by candles and chemical sunsticks. Solar generators were rare and expensive. She was just glad they lived on the third floor. Mrs. Fieldman lived on the thirty-second floor and hadn’t left her flat in years.
Mason grabbed Killian again, twisting his arm behind his back at a violent angle. If he pulled any harder, he’d break Killian’s arm. Again.
Saffron reached for the dagger in her boot. Haruki was faster, smashing her in the shoulder. Her arm went numb and the dagger clattered to the floor. She launched into a forward roll that brought her to the brothers’ packs. She pulled a lighter from her pocket.
“Hey! Morons!” She held the flame under one of the packs. The fire licked at the canvas, scorching it black. “Hard to get the bounty on the Jack if I burn all your pretty toys.” She probably couldn’t do much damage to any weapons inside, but food rations and hunter’s pardon notes were susceptible. And they were necessary.
Mason and Haruki froze. “Don’t you dare,” Mason ground out.
She smiled, holding the flame closer. “You let Killian go and then you get the hell out of here. I’ll toss your things out into the hall after you. That’s the deal.”
“Your girlfriend’s still fighting your battles, little brother.”
“Yeah, it’s called having someone to watch your back, jackass,” Saffron shot back. The fire was eating a hole through the canvas.
Mason shoved Killian away. “This isn’t over, Saffron. Live in fear.”
“Just as soon as you become scary, I might. Now run along, boys.” Black smoke lifted off the packs. “Or did you want to talk some more? I think I smell some protein bars cooking.”
Mason swore. He jerked his head in Haruki’s direction. “Let’s go before someone else claims the bounty.”
Saffron waited until they were out in the hall. “Good boy,” she said mockingly, before tossing the packs out and slamming the door shut. She locked both deadbolts. Killian pushed to his knees. He’d already cracked his nose back into place. His mother watched silently from the doorway to their room, wringing her hands. Sometimes, Saffron hated her as much as she hated his brothers.
She crawled out onto the fire escape, away from the Directorate monitors and alarms and Killian’s mother’s sad, pathetic eyes. Killian followed, moving gingerly. “I really hate your brothers,” she said. She massaged the back of her head where Haruki had yanked some of her hair out. Killian’s sister had joined the Protectorate, mostly to escape them. Saffron wished Killian had somewhere to go too.
She dropped her voice so that it was barely a whisper. “I found a leaf mask,” she mouthed.
Killian stared at her for a long startled moment. He waited, one eyebrow raised. Hour long speeches by government officials trained in rhetoric had said less.
“I found it,” she said defensively, even though he technically hadn’t accused her of anything. “By the Wall. That’s who your brothers are chasing.”
He touched his eye, then pointed at her.
“I hid it already.” She’d buried it in her secret balcony garden across the street, in a potato pot too heavy to move. It was nearly impossible to get to; she had to cross an old rope bridge no one bothered to use anymore. It was more difficult in the rain, but not impossible. And overall, it was just crazy enough that no one would think to look up here, even when chasing a fugitive Green Jack. Especially since the ropes only led to a building smudged with black smoke from a fire that had eaten through the centre. The stairs there were beyond repair and they used to dare each other to leap from the edges of what remained. Killian always went the highest, even when they played with the older kids. Oona said everyone had demons, except for Saffron because she was a one.
He stared at her intently.
“I’m always careful,” she said.
He didn’t need words to tell her what he thought of that.
They watched the clouds chase each other, reflecting the multi-coloured lights from the Rings. For a while, Saffron could almost forget what stretched around them, alleys and soldiers and guns. She thought about the leaf mask and what exactly she was supposed to do with it. Taking it had been an impulse; keeping it would require serious planning.
The sound of rain pattering on the metal fire escape was replaced with the sounds of a fight. She sighed, rolling to her feet. “Welcome to Elysium City.”
Killian joined her at the edge of the balcony, scanning the area. In the mouth of the alley, two Taggers surrounded a skinny boy with spiky blue hair. She recognized him from the sideshow. She’d busted him twice for trying to sneak in. She thought his name was Aaron.
“Are you tagged? Roll up your sleeve.”
“Got to hell,” Aaron sneered.
The tranquilizer dart hit him in the thigh. He plucked at it frantically, but it was too late. Apartment windows slammed shut all around them. He blinked, disoriented. The sedative was already seeping into his bloodstream. The second Tagger tied Aaron’s hands, annoyed that he hadn’t just cooperated. Killian shifted.
“Don’t,” Saffron said tightly, knowing exactly what he was thinking. “They’ll just tag you too.” Killian looked frustrated. “You know they will,” she insisted. “Anyway, do you think he’d help----.” She cut herself off when an arrow sliced between Aaron and the Taggers, leaving a burn of blood and torn leather on a Tagger’s shoulder.
“The rebels,” Saffron muttered, recognized the signature green fletching on the arr
ow. “Unbelievable. Where were they when I was being chased?”
Killian just shot her a speaking glance and went back to watching an older man and a girl with enough resemblance to be his daughter shoot out of the alley. She carried a smirk and a sword. She cut through Aaron’s ropes even as her father knocked one of the Taggers into the mud with one blow. His companion clicked on his taser, blue lighting hissing.
“Son, don’t be any stupider than you have to be.” The rebel hit him in the throat so fast Saffron barely saw the blow. The Tagger jerked back and slumped unconscious at his feet.
“Get up,” the girl barked at Aaron. He pushed to his feet, bewildered “Now run, idiot.”
She vaulted off the roof of a car and onto a balcony. The thud of her boots on the metal reverberated. Aaron made a move in the same direction but an arrow prevented him from following her. The green fletching quivered an inch from his nose, embedded deep into a tree trunk. He was fighting to keep his balance and his eyes open at the same time.
“Other way,” the man suggested, using the rope to tie the Taggers together. Aaron stayed where he was, swaying. “Shit, boy,” the man said. “Don’t you have any sense?”
He grabbed Aaron under the arm and half-carried, half-dragged him deeper into the alley. Saffron and Killian twisted around the metal railing to watch. They could just see the rebel pushing Aaron into a dumpster. “You’ll be safe enough there until you wake up.”
He was gone within seconds, leaving Aaron buried in garbage and Saffron with a strange feeling in her belly.
Killian was grinning. Saffron turned away from the rebels. “It must be nice to think this City is worth saving.”