“If you’d been standing right there, you’d be dead right now,” Tian whispered, before turning and skipping up the remaining few steps to the top.
“I’m sure I would be,” I agreed, and Grey chuckled.
We continued to climb in silence, and then Grey said, “Oh, hey, have you looked at your indicator yet?”
I immediately looked down, and was surprised to see that there wasn’t even a number on it—only a little hyphen in green, as if it were waiting for something. A quick look at Grey’s wrist showed the same thing.
“Why is it—?”
“The paint that Quess developed is blocking any and all signals to and from Scipio. That means this doesn’t work in here. It’s been... kind of liberating, actually. Fair warning, though—Quess is going to ask you if you want to take yours off.”
“He can do that?”
Grey nodded. “Apparently so.”
I fell silent and rubbed my fingers over my own wristband. What would it feel like not to carry that burden anymore? To be judged based on myself and what I had to offer, rather than on what Scipio told others I had to offer?
“You okay?”
I looked over to meet Grey’s warm brown gaze and nodded. “Just thinking what it would feel like for me.”
He smiled and looked down, his hair falling to cover his forehead. “It’s your decision,” he said. “Maddox still wears hers around her wrist, as does Cali, but they do it in case they have to go out into the Tower for any reason.”
“Is that why you kept yours?”
Grey hesitated, giving me a speculative look, and then nodded. “Yeah—you never know, and it’s better just in case. Still, it’s great that it doesn’t mean anything in here.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” I had already decided to keep mine on, in case I had to go up there. It wasn’t even a question for me right now. But a part of me desperately longed to be free from it.
I looked ahead and saw Tian disappearing into Quess’s room, and moved to follow her. A flash of light momentarily caused gray spots to form in my eyes, though, and I winced and looked away, blinking a few times to clear my vision. When I looked back, Quess was lowering a welding wand onto the wide table in the middle of the room, and pulling up a pair of blackened goggles so they sat atop his head.
“Hey, Liana,” he said, a white smile breaking free of the lines of grime and dirt on his face. “Nice to see you’re feeling better. You gave us all a scare there.”
“Thanks,” I said, my worry over my lashes displaced slightly by the genuine warmth in his eyes. I fidgeted, trying to think of something to say that would qualify as small talk before I interrogated him on what he was doing to my equipment.
“She’s worried about her lashes,” Tian said after several long seconds had gone by, and I was immediately relieved. I had been drowning looking for a way out.
Quess’s smile grew. “I figured you would be,” he said jovially, disappearing behind the table as he squatted. He stood, his hands brimming with my lash harness, and I almost reached across the table to snatch it from him. I refrained, and watched as he gently placed the collection of straps and the circular lash housing on a clear area of the table. “Cali and Maddox are both equally protective over theirs as well. I made some adjustments to the spinner inside so you’ll be able to control the lashes more precisely. It causes them to repel and retract more quickly, too, so be aware of that. I also changed out the static beads at the ends with ones of my own design—ones that allow you to create a friction bond instead of a static one.”
I came around the table as he spoke, my hands immediately removing the metal dome of the lash housing. The entire rig was so familiar to me that it didn’t take me long to find all the modifications that he had made. However, since a modified rig was such a foreign concept, I had no idea how it would work until I tested it out.
I eyed Quess as he continued to speak, explaining the friction bond and how it worked, and tried to gauge his competence. I didn’t come up disappointed. He sounded so much like Zoe—even more technically-minded in some ways—as his explanations began to expound into theoretical physics. He fell silent when he realized everyone—including me—was starting to glaze over, and sighed.
“No one appreciates genius,” he grumbled. “Anyway, test them out. I should just warn you, though, to be careful not to hit anyone with them unless you really mean it. If they’re flung with enough force, they will shatter bones on impact.”
“Thanks for the warning,” I said, legitimately nervous about the state of my lashes. I’d definitely be testing them out as soon as I could. “Now, any chance I can find out what is going on with my baton?”
Quess smiled, but it was Cali who answered, surprising all of us with her presence. “Maddox is tinkering with it. I hope you don’t mind.”
I regarded her for a moment. “When will I get it back?”
She smiled, not unkindly. “When you need it.”
I glanced around, and realized everyone was looking away uncomfortably. They could sense a confrontation coming, and didn’t want to be a part of it. Everyone save me had gotten some time to get to know each other, and this was my chance to either make an utter fool of myself, or give a good impression. I licked my lips and decided that I would be direct, but try not to escalate the situation.
“Am I a prisoner here?”
Cali sucked in a deep breath, her smile fading some. “Not exactly, but I can’t let you leave right now. Roark explained to me about your friend while you were sick, and I’m sorry, but leaving now would only jeopardize our safety. Until we know how hard the Knights are looking for you, we just can’t risk you being seen up there. Especially after you’ve been missing for four days.”
I pressed my lips together, trying to keep calm. I really didn’t need a reminder of how much time I’d been away. I exhaled. “Look, I’m not like everyone here. No offense.” I looked around at everyone, my hands raised in what I hoped they would understand was polite contrition, but continued ahead. “I have people in the Tower who are good people. People who know that there is something going on, and who are at risk of being punished for that knowledge. My last interaction with one of them wasn’t good, and once she hears that I’m missing, she will fall. I know her—as furious as she is at me, if she thought something bad had happened to me...”
I trailed off and looked around the room, trying to find some sort of support and only finding Grey looking at me. I met his gaze, pleadingly, and was relieved when he looked over at Cali.
“I want to help her friend, too,” he said. “I owe it to her. Without her, I wouldn’t be alive to stand here right now. Besides, this might be your family down here, but up there—that’s hers. Imagine what you would do in her shoes.”
Cali stared at us both, her face an impassive mask. Then she turned to me and asked, “Do you think your friend could wait for a few more days?”
I felt my heartbeat pick up. “I think she could. Do you mean—”
“I can’t make any promises,” she said, holding her hand up to stop me. “And I won’t give you a firm date. But I have a meeting scheduled with my contact in the Eyes in a nearby signal relay station, and he can give me a better assessment of the situation. Maybe we can come up with a plan to get your friend a meeting with you. Does that seem fair?”
I paused, aware that everyone was waiting to see if I would accept her proposition.
I met her keen gaze. “Only if I get to go with you.”
She hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then nodded. “Very well.”
Our deal struck, I breathed a little bit easier, relieved that Cali did indeed have a heart. Now all I had to do was keep busy until it was time for the meeting—then, hopefully, we could get the information we needed to get Zoe’s rank up before things got too awful for her.
I prayed she could keep it together until I got to her.
30
Five days later, I found myself praying I could keep it togethe
r. I was bursting at the seams to get out of the tight confines of the monitoring station, to use my lashes, to do something. Not that I wasn’t finding ways to keep myself busy—there were all manner of ways to keep busy. Chores, training, repair work, sparring—I’d run out of time before I ran out of things to do.
And I got to know Tian, Quess, and Cali a bit better. Maddox as well, I suppose, but the young woman was a tough nut to crack. She talked, sure, but it was mostly dry witticisms, short statements with liberal doses of sarcasm and a general disdain for whatever I, in particular, was saying at any given time.
I’d hate her if she didn’t remind me so much of myself. Just a... gruffer version who was a little more unrefined than I’d like to think I was. Besides, I could fully comprehend that it was hard for any of them to let new people in. I learned that they’d been living this particular hideout for two years, and hadn’t interacted in person with too many people—neither with their contacts, nor with the other undoc units Cali managed. The policy kept them safe, so they couldn’t be identified and so no one knew where they were.
Their closeness was palpable, that much was sure. It was hard to even transition from room to room without feeling like an interloper. Tian, Quess, and Cali all tried their best to make us feel welcome, but I was still adjusting to my new life here. Still learning who everyone really was—and how life was going to be from here on out.
Yet none of the work or bonding ever fully distracted me from the worry I felt for Zoe, Eric, and Alex. I was so scared at how worried I’d made them, a part of me fearing that when they found out I was okay, they’d never forgive me for abandoning them like that without so much as a word of what was happening.
No matter how many times I tried to remind myself that there hadn’t been any time to do any of that, it still didn’t ease the anxiety I was feeling. Which would probably explain why I leapt out of my hammock and onto the floor when I saw Cali descending the stairs, Roark in tow.
I moved over to intercept them, climbing the stairs. “Hey,” I said when I was close enough. “Is it time?”
Cali nodded and looked at Roark. “You’ll need to take Paragon before you go,” he said, holding out a pill. “Just in case.” I took it and swallowed it immediately and impatiently, raring to go.
“I already took mine,” Cali added, glancing at Roark from the corner of her eye. “Of course, it’ll be impossible to tell whether it works until we’re outside.”
“It works, you shrew,” Roark said, and Cali chuckled, not at all offended by the rough edge of Roark’s tongue.
“All right, all right—I trust in you and your work, okay? Liana, I’ll meet you in the dining room in ten minutes.” It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway, immediately turning down the stairs and racing back to the sleeping area.
It didn’t take me long to strip down, get my harness on, and get dressed again. I made sure to thread the lashes through my belt, opting for safety rather than speed, and fingered the new beads at the tips. I’d tested them in a limited capacity inside, but I hadn’t been able to give them a real trial run.
Testing them out would keep me distracted until we got to wherever we were going, to speak to whomever Cali’s contact was in the Eyes. The one who was going to help me find a way to Zoe. He had to.
I finished getting ready and hurried to meet Cali up front. She was already waiting there, Maddox standing next to her with her arms crossed, a displeased expression on her face. As soon as Maddox saw me, her eyes narrowed into slits.
“I should go with you,” she snapped, her head swiveling toward her mother.
Cali’s mouth pressed into a thin line that reminded me of my mom when she got angry, but, to my surprise, her voice was soft and patient. “Three have a bigger chance of attracting attention, and you know it. Liana will back me up if anything should go wrong.”
Maddox’s bright green eyes found mine and stared at me, hostility glistening in them. “She’d better,” she said, not even bothering to disguise the threat in her voice.
I blinked as she stalked by me, turning on my heel to watch her go, and then turned back to Cali.
“I’m, uh, sorry if I caused you two to fight,” I said, feeling a bit awkward. I didn’t feel bad about going with Cali—I needed to hear whatever her contact had to say—but causing strife between mother and daughter wasn’t my intention, and I did feel bad about that.
“Don’t be,” she replied, smoothing her clothing. “I tried to raise my daughter to have more fun, but she’s got too much of her father in her. He doesn’t trust easily, either.”
I frowned. I’d assumed Maddox’s father was dead, since he wasn’t a fixture, but she’d just referred to him in the present tense. Which meant she thought he was still alive. Maybe she’d had to abandon him when she and Maddox had fled?
It was hard to tell; while I had gotten closer to Cali, she was tight-lipped about her past. I had tried asking her a few questions about her experience in the Tourney—after all, she had won a few of her own battles (not that that had affected much, as Devon had still become Champion over her). There hadn’t been a real Tourney in my lifetime, and it was unlikely there would be one either. I had hoped she’d want to talk about it, but she didn’t, much to my disappointment.
Cali began climbing the ladder leading back up to the entry, and I waited a few seconds before following so I could collect myself.
Outside, it was dark, the glow of the moon barely penetrating the deep shadows below. Soft lights ran along the handrails of the catwalks, helping to illuminate the path, but their light was muted and practically non-existent after a few feet. The visibility out here was downright dismal.
I looked at Cali, ready to ask her about it, when I noticed her pulling something from her coat that flopped around in her hand. She took hold of it with both hands, and a second later the one thing became two as she pulled it apart.
As she held one up to me, I realized they were goggles—much like the ones Quess had been wearing, but with red lenses. I took the pair she offered and followed her lead, fixing them over my eyes.
The haze immediately lessened, and my vision improved dramatically. The lights were brighter, clearer, burning like little white suns in the night. I tilted my head around, amazed, and then noticed something bright green from the corner of my eye. As I adjusted my gaze, I realized that it was a mark, and that there were several of them, not just in green, but also in pink, purple, and blue. I looked over at Cali in question, and saw her smile knowingly.
“Tian’s a living and breathing map,” she told me as she pulled her lash ends. “I swear, she never gets lost, no matter where she is. As a result, she paints directions for us, so we can find our way more easily and not get lost—the blue is for where we’re siphoning our water from, pink is for heading inside, green is for the nearest greenery, and purple is for the safe routes in and out of the Tower.”
I blinked, and studied the little marks. “So anyone can see these?”
“Not without the goggles. Quess designed the paint she uses to be visible only through these. It’s also a way for us to leave signals for each other, in case we need a safe place to hide. So keep the goggles with you, okay?”
“Okay. So where are we going?”
Cali’s answer was to whirl her lash once and launch it at the ceiling overhead as she leapt off the catwalk, trusting that her aim was true. I watched as she plummeted down another ten feet, and then the lash caught, arresting her fall and turning it into a graceful arc. I gathered my own lashes quickly and moved to follow her, praying that Quess’s modifications held.
Thanks to Quess’s goggles, I was able to keep pace with Cali fairly easily, although I held back some, letting her lead the way rather than attempting to catch up. The modifications Quess had made to my lashes seemed to be holding all right, although the amount of moisture in the air made me considerably twitchy at first. But after a while, I began to trust them more and more, and took the chance to really stretch out s
ome stiff lashing muscles.
We lashed for fifteen or twenty minutes across the bottom of the Tower before Cali slowed to a stop and began retracting herself up to the structure above. As I watched, she pressed something, and suddenly a section of the ceiling drew back, revealing a dark hole above. Cali pulled herself through it, and then held out a hand for me a second later.
I drew close and grabbed it, and she heaved me up and in with a grunt. I grabbed onto the first stationary thing I saw, and helped her heft my body up farther, relaxing when I slid my hips into the room. She relaxed as well, and then stood upright and disappeared into the darkened room. Even with the goggles, I couldn’t see where she had gone, or anything at all really—the room had no discernible light anywhere.
Then I heard a click, and a light blossomed, nearly blinding me with its proximity and brightness. I took off the goggles and gave my eyes a second or two to adjust, letting Cali’s blurred form come into focus as she moved around. The light was being generated by a small lamp over a workstation—a workstation at which Cali was now sitting.
The rest of the room was fairly cramped and compact, rife with wires, conduits, circuit breakers, and pipes everywhere. There was maybe enough room to stand ten feet apart, but that was about it in terms of the size of the place.
She bent over and pressed something underneath the desk, and immediately the terminal turned on, the screen glowing white. Cali touched the screen, and began typing something into it.
“So this is a relay station?” I asked, looking around. “What’s it relaying?”
“Orders from Scipio, ranking adjustments, location updates... As much info as they can possibly collect on the people who live here.” She continued to type as she talked, and I saw screen after screen come up.