The Treemakers (A YA Dystopian Scifi Romance Adventure) Page 29

  “I’ll go with you,” Smudge says. “There will be more guards.”

  Vila inspects her for a silent moment. “I think I’ve decided.”

  “Decided . . . what?”

  “That I like you. You are one badass chick.”

  Smudge grins, looks down at her hands. “Thanks. Same to you, V.”

  Vila gives her a gentle slap on the shoulder, then rubs her nose to Tallulah’s again. “You ready, girl?”

  Tallulah squeaks in response.

  “We’ll be back in a few minutes,” says Vila. “Stay here.”

  “Where’s the Chamber?” I ask.

  “The floor beneath this one.”

  That’s a relief. This place is huge.

  They slip through the doorway, and I peek through the crack. Smudge and Vila move quickly through the shadows along the wall, then disappear from view. I open the door a little wider and hold my breath. Before an arched doorway with a thick red curtain, three enormous guards stand erect with stone-grinding fists gripping skin-piercing spears. A few feet from them, Smudge and Vila peek around the corner. Then, Vila sets Tallulah down, and I’m amazed to see the animal travel along the wall through the shadows until she reaches the Queen’s quarters. She sticks her furry head beneath the red curtain, then scurries quietly inside, unseen.

  Less than one heart-stopping minute later, she’s out again. At first, I think she’s failed her mission, but when Vila kisses her nose, I realize it was a success. I exhale. They sneak back toward us, and my insides spin. Once the Queen discovers her key missing, we’d better be as far away from here with Pedro as possible.

  “Did they get it?” Jax asks.

  “Think so.”

  When they return to the door, I move aside, and they don’t even stop.

  “Come on.” Vila moves swiftly down the stairs.

  At the doorway one floor below us, Vila pauses to catch her breath and let Tallulah crawl back into her knapsack. “Mission accomplished,” she whispers. “Once we get in, we go through to the other entrance by the fountain and keep moving. Smudge, this time you’ll have to stun them. Last time, Mat spiked their liquor with concentrated Magiope.”

  “Can we just get this over with?” Aby shivers. “I hate it here.”

  “Don’t we all,” Vila says. “Don’t we all.” She opens the door, and Smudge ducks in. While Vila watches with intensity, the rest of us try to see over her shoulder into the dark room. A second later, she pushes the door open fully to three guards lying on the ground, and we share a spontaneous moment of celebration, then race to the door. Vila removes something from her pocket, places it in a hollowed-out groove in the door, then twists the design to the left. The Chamber door clicks opens. She lays a finger to her lips, and we enter the room.

  It’s long and narrow, with rows of silken curtains covering what appear to be beds. In the middle sit barrels full of what might be food.

  “I have no idea where he is,” Vila says into my ear.

  We move from bed to bed, passing up ones with obvious females or people way too large to be Pedro. No way he could gain that much weight in less than three weeks.

  “Who the hell are you?” a girl’s voice demands.

  “Your fairy godparents,” Vila says. “Go back to sleep. Or no wishes.”

  Halfway down the room, I spy a handless stump. I wave my arms in the air, then point. Everyone stops. Jax raises his hand, and taps himself on the chest. I nod, and he moves toward the bed, where he covers Pedro’s mouth. He wakes immediately, eyes wide with panic, then sees Jax, and they shift to surprise. They embrace, brothers who were never supposed to see each other again.

  “Quiet, man,” Jax says. “We’ll explain everything once we get out of here.”

  Pedro nods, then sees me, and I tap my crossbow. We mean war. He jumps from his bed, and we rush through the room to the other end, past a fountain and to the other door.

  “Hey!” the girl says. “Where the hell are you going?”

  “The Queen wants a midnight snack, girl,” Emerson says. “Now hush.”

  A rustling says others are waking up from the noise—our cue to get the hell out of here. Vila taps Smudge, and Smudge nods. She opens the door, and Smudge stuns two guards who see us all before they fall to the floor. We hop over them, follow Smudge and Vila around the corner and down a long hallway until we’re back by the Chamber entrance. The guards there haven’t moved.

  Back at the stairwell that leads down and out, I hug Pedro tightly. He lifts me off the ground and kisses my cheek. Then, together, we descend the stairs as quickly and as quietly as we can. In the back of my mind, a small voice tells me it’s too soon to celebrate. But I do anyway. We did it. We are brave, we are strong, we are invincible. We have freed our brother from a horribly wretched, grotesque death. Now, we’re taking him home. We’re taking him to paradise.

  THIRTY-ONE

  “Where’s my brother?”

  Of course, it’s the first thing Pedro would ask. Even before we get down the first few flights.

  “He’s fine,” I lie.

  Aby looks away.

  “He’s waiting for us in the trolley,” I say. “He . . . wanted to keep watch.” The worst lie ever, and I feel horrible, but if I tell Pedro that Miguel is dead, we likely won’t make it out of the Subterrane.

  “Well, let’s get the hell out of this godforsaken place, then. I thought I’d never see you guys, or Miguel, ever again.”

  “Okay,” says Vila once we reach the bottom floor. “I’m gonna open this door, and we have to be quiet—move silently and quickly.”

  Aby tries to hide her tears as she pushes past us and Vila, places her hand on the handle, and yanks down. “Let’s just go.” She opens the door. “There’s no one down—” Her body jerks and her eyes snap open wide.

  “Oh my God!” Vila cries.

  Then, I see it: shiny and silver, piercing Aby’s stomach through one side and out the other. Dark red blood pours from the spot.

  “Aby!” I scream.

  “Go!” Smudge yells. “Go up—now! It’s her!”

  The door slams against the outside wall with such force, it splits in half. There, standing before us, with a metal spine ejected from her wrist and through my sister’s midsection, is Arianna Superior. Smudge throws both of her hands in the air, and Arianna flies backwards into the wall. Aby slumps to the floor, and I collapse to her side. “Aby! No!”

  “Go!” Smudge screams again.

  Arianna flies toward us with super speed, and Smudge blasts her back again.

  “We have to leave her!” Jax says.

  “No! I’m not leaving her!”

  “Joy, she’s dead!” Smudge yells. “You have to go! You have to! Now!”

  Emerson and Johnny drag me by my arms up the stairs, and I glance over my shoulder to see a blast of red from Smudge’s two hands as Arianna Superior flies all the way back through the platform and to the railway.

  “Go!” Smudge shouts. “Next floor up!”

  We sprint up the stairs and burst through the next floor’s doorway, met by guards and alarmed townspeople dressed in brown robes. Smudge blasts them all, while Johnny shoots two of the guards in the feet with his crossbow. The stunned people drop to the ground as we sprint through the main room, past everyone, to what looks like an elevator door. One glance up, and I notice so many in the Subterrane are now awake.

  A handful of guards rushes to block the elevator. On impulse, I lift my crossbow, shoot one in the neck, then another in the chest. I’m picturing Aby, my sister who I never forgave, lying on the floor as a fresh meal for these people, and I want to kill them all.

  Everyone from our group follows my lead. Emerson chunks his spear into the chest of one, and Vila impales two of them with a pair of quick wrist jerks. Johnny shoots three bolts behind us, into the quickly approaching townspeople. Two of them fall, screaming, grabbing at the bolts implanted in their bodies.

  “I’ll empty it!” Johnny screams, swinging t
he crossbow left, right. “So back up!”

  They push back, and we dash toward the elevator, skipping over still, bloody guards. Before we even get to it, the door opens, and as we scramble on, a woman’s voice bellows from above.

  “Demons! You will get what is coming to you!”

  As the door closes, I catch a split-second glimpse of the dark skin, white robes, and high cheekbones of who might have been an enraged Queen Nataniah. The elevator begins to move, and we all collapse into each other, heaving and crying.

  Smudge stands before us, rigid and straight-faced. “I know this is devastating, but we have to be strong a little longer. We can’t give up now, not yet. When this elevator gets to the bottom, we will be leaving through the jungle.”

  “You said there was another exit, in the jungle, right?” Johnny asks.

  “Yes.”

  “How far are we from it?”

  “Not far. A few hundred yards.”

  “Well, that’s great,” Emerson says, finally catching his breath. “We should—”

  “What about my brother?” Pedro asks me. “You said he was waiting for us in the trolley.”

  Shit! I grow numb. My ears ring, my head spins, while black spots sweep my vision.

  And then, they’re tugging me up off of the ground.

  “Joy?” Mateo says, hovering over me.

  “She’s fine,” says Vila. “She just fainted.”

  “Joy, can you sit up?” Mateo asks.

  “Yeah. . . .”

  He helps me into a sitting position.

  “Where’s my brother?” Pedro demands. “If he’s up there, we need to get—”

  “Your brother is dead,” Smudge says. “Joy didn’t tell you before because she was trying to save your life. It wasn’t the time to tell you.”

  At once, Pedro’s face tightens, and he drops to his knees in the corner of the elevator. He begins to weep, and I cry, too.

  “No,” he whispers, then yells, “No!”

  “Please,” says Smudge. “Don’t scream. They have very good hearing and are extremely fast. If you aren’t careful, you could alert every one of them in a five-mile radius.”

  “Alert . . . what?” he asks through his sobs.

  “The beasts that killed your brother. They live in the jungle, where we are about to go.”

  “Are we stopped?” I ask, wiping away tears.

  “Yes,” says Smudge. “I’m holding the door closed until it’s time.”

  Pedro shakes his head. He rubs his eyes with his stump. “Is this real? I mean, I’m not . . . dreaming?”

  “No,” Vila confirms. “You aren’t dreaming, it’s real.”

  “And if what Smudge says is true,” Emerson adds, “we should hightail it out of here and make a run for that entrance.”

  “I am getting a signal of two Reapers not too far from here,” says Smudge.

  “Be honest.” Vila steps up to her. “You aren’t human, are you?”

  “Not entirely. I’m an OAI; part human, part machine. The rest I will tell you later. Right now, we must run for our lives.”

  Johnny and Jax help Pedro up from the floor, while Mateo and Smudge help me up.

  “I’ll count to three,” Smudge says, “then I’m going to open the door. Everyone stay close, but more importantly, please . . . you have to trust me.”

  We all mumble in agreement.

  “One . . .”

  I snap to, realizing what we need to do. The crossbow in my hand has three bolts left.

  “Two . . .” says Smudge.

  We tighten behind her.

  “Three.”

  The door opens to a short, dark tunnel with a raised gate at its end. Two lonely bulbs flicker on, illuminating the area. Reaper-free. Together, we dart down the tunnel to its exit and, after a glance around, Smudge races off toward the jungle. We follow, weaving in and out between trees, hopping over rocks and fallen logs. I almost slip on a slick spot, but Mateo catches me. A few more yards, and Smudge comes to a dead stop. She turns with a raised hand, and a visible ball of white-hot energy streaks through the air, into the giant body of a Reaper just ahead of us.

  “Holy shit!” Vila yells.

  “More are coming, we have to hurry. Come on.” Smudge takes off again, us after her. My heart pounds so hard, it feels like it’s going to explode. I can’t believe how enormous that thing was—twice as big as the one who killed Miguel, though maybe because we’re closer. We race along the river bank, a few feet from its edge, and for the first time, I see points sticking up from the water. Whatever they are, they’re racing with us, probably waiting for us to fall in.

  “Almost there,” says Smudge.

  Another minute, and we stand on the edge of a pool that branches off from the river, where black water swirls around. Inside, those same pointed fins poke up from the surface. Something rumbles behind us—where we just came from. We pivot around. A black wave of Reapers thunders toward us, and riding one is a beastly figure with red glowing eyes.

  “It’s her!” Smudge yells. “She’s controlling them! We have to jump!”

  “In there?” I scream. “Are you crazy?”

  “It’s not real!” Smudge reaches into a bush, pulls out a brown bag, and straps it across her chest. “It’s a holograph to keep the Reapers out. They’re programmed to stay away from the water! Please, trust me—you have to jump!”

  I glance back. They’re close enough now to make out Arianna Superior’s features. She’s on the back of the largest one, surrounded by at least twenty more, all barreling toward us at lightning speed.

  We don’t have much choice.

  “Together!” I say.

  We all grasp hands and jump into the water.

  Except . . . it isn’t water. We pass through what should’ve been the surface to land on some sort of cushion. A hatch above slams closed, and seconds later, a thunderous pounding makes us all push together in the corner.

  The sound fades, though it feels like we’re sitting still.

  “We’re moving,” Smudge says in the green glow of oxygen lights. “We’re safe. There’s no way for them to get in. I’m sure of it.”

  “We made it?” Vila says. “We’re alive? Holy shit, that was intense! Woo!” She pounds a fist into the black cushion next to her, then peers around at our faces. “I’m sorry . . . I know you guys lost your sister, but . . . but we made it. We got Pedro, and we made it. Reason to mourn . . . reason to celebrate.”

  §

  Inside the padded escape pod, the green lights blur through my tears. I collapse into a retching, wailing ball. Hands grab me, pull me into someone. And he cries, too.

  Jax.

  “I . . . I never . . . told her . . . I . . . forgive her,” I cry.

  “I told her,” he says. “I told her you did. On the . . . on the beach. That’s what we were talking about.”

  “You . . . you told her I forgave her?”

  “Yes.” He nods. “You had a lot going on, and just because you didn’t say it, I told her, didn’t mean you didn’t.”

  I hug him tighter, cry harder. “Did she believe you, Jax? Because I did—I did forgive her! I don’t know why I didn’t tell her! I should’ve told her!”

  “Shh.” He rocks me. “She knew, Joy. She knew you did, because she knew you loved her.”

  I push away from him—from everyone—and into the other corner of the cramped pod. Then, I scream. I scream, and I scream, until my head feels like it might explode, my throat burns, and all of my energy is spent. I try to scream again, but instead, I lie in the stillness, hearing low sobs and murmurs from the opposite side of the pod; rolling from side to side, the pain’s too excruciating. I hug around my middle and curl up into a tight ball, whimpering with agonized sorrow. A catastrophic emptiness in my heart and soul brings me to a place worse than death . . . because I am feeling it, experiencing it, carrying its crushing weight on my back, forever, until my time ends here on Earth.

  “It’s my fault,” I c
ry. “I shouldn’t have let her go. She was too fragile—always too fragile. I should’ve protected her. I shouldn’t have let her come.”

  “Stop blaming yourself,” Smudge says from beside me. “It’s not your fault.”

  The pod rumbles, and then, it spits us out into the same bunker as before, up through the floor, near the trolley platform.

  Raffai, with his men behind him, charge into the room. But once he sees it’s us, he sends them away.

  “You made it!” he cries, as the see-through dome over the pod retracts. “You made it back alive, and with your brother!” He scans our faces, and me tucked into a ball on the padded floor. The happiness fades.

  I sit up, wipe tears away with my sleeve. “Our sister. . . .”

  “Oh, no. . . . How?”

  “Arianna Superior,” Smudge says. “Somehow, she found us at the Subterrane—at the trolley platform. Aby was the first to open the door, and she . . .”

  “Oh, no. . . . Oh, my dear. . . .” Raffai shakes his head, then his face flushes a bright, angry red. “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have let you go—”

  “If we hadn’t have gone, we wouldn’t have rescued Pedro.”

  “Where exactly are we?” Pedro asks. “What happened at the Tree Factory?”

  “I’ll tell him everything,” Johnny says.

  One by one, we step out of the escape pod and return the crossbows to Raffai. Mateo winces as I help him out, while Johnny and Pedro walk slowly toward the exit, Johnny explaining everything, starting from the Tree Factory escape.

  “I’m sorry,” I say to Raffai. “We killed some of her guards. They were standing in front of the elevator, and Aby had just died, and . . . I wasn’t thinking, I—”

  “Don’t apologize.” He wraps an arm gently around my shoulder. “I’m so sorry you lost your sister. And if they come, we’ll be ready for them. I’ll brief my militia shortly.”

  With Mateo limping badly, and Emerson helping to steady him by gripping under his arm, we head toward Johnny and Pedro standing at the bunker’s open door. When we reach them, Johnny’s at the part where we’d headed to Zentao on the trolley to drop off the children. Pedro’s listening, but he’s also staring at the moonlit ocean, tears streaming down his face. When he sees me, he scoops me up and holds me there for close to forever, rocking me back and forth, back and forth, to the rhythm of the waves hushing against the shore.