Halo (Blood and Fire Series (A Young Adult Dystopian Series)) (37 page)

James’ grin looks particularly wide as he leans against a tree trunk, kicking his boots at the earth. “Sorry to ruin the moment, lovers, but we need to leave. There’ll be plenty of time for that when we get back.” He laughs a little too hard, and I have to fight back the urge to bound up the riverbank and smack him right in his smug face. From the tension in Ryka’s shoulders, he feels the same way. We follow James back through the copse of trees to my tent without a word. From there, we meet up with Callum, Max, and another boy I don’t know. He is introduced as Raff, and turns out to be the twins’ cousin. He does have their dark colouring, but his eyes are a startling green and he’s a clear foot taller than either of them. Jack comes out to see us off, and he does his best to hide his smile when he sees my hand interlinked with Ryka’s.

“Good luck to you,” he says. I get the feeling it’s not just our trip to the Sanctuary that he’s wishing us well for.

******

The trek back to the aqueduct takes eight hours. Eight hours of running that nearly kills me, with my arm throbbing fiercely and my stomach threatening to purge everything in it. My lack of exercise over the past few weeks apparently hasn’t done me any favours. We arrive at the same spot where I crossed through originally, and everything is much the same. Maybe this is its normal state: white water rushing the brickwork in a fierce torrent; foreboding, slick, black water.

“Bad memories,” Ryka mutters. “You realise your lips were blue when you climbed out of here last time. Freaked me out.”

“You’re not helping,” I tell him, shooting him a nervous glance. He really isn’t. My panic levels are at an all-time high. I inch back from the bank and slump down, not wanting to think about the river or drowning or turning blue. There’ll be time for that soon enough. Ryka says something about freshening up and disappears into the forest. James and the other boys pore over the map Ella drew for them based on my detailed descriptions of the Sanctuary. I don’t need to look at a map to recall the streets of my childhood; they’re all stored in clinical little boxes inside my head, unsullied in comparison to how my Freetown memories have been jammed away. Probably has a lot to do with the emotions tied to each and every moment I’ve spent there, when I didn’t feel a thing in the Sanctuary. Not really.

I flop onto my back and rest my hands on my stomach. There are stars visible through the canopy of the trees, distant pinpricks of light that have never caused me to so much as give them a second glance. Now I find myself wondering what else is up there amongst the deepening bruised blue of the approaching night.

“Mind if I join you?” Max interrupts my thoughts of space and the universe and all the things I don’t understand. I’m grateful; my world seems to get bigger and bigger every day and I’m in danger of being overwhelmed. Things were easier when it was just the Colosseum and the Sanctuary’s boundary walls. I prop myself up a little as Max joins me, brushing his hair back out of his face. He looks different, although his smile is still mischievous. Maybe it’s just the way he tucks his hands into his pockets as he sits down beside me that makes him seem more reserved.

“Do you think we’re going to be able to sneak these people out?” he asks.

“I can’t say. Maybe. If everything goes according to plan.”

Max nods. “Tomorrow night, James says there’s a match?”

“Yup. We’re meeting the cell leaders there. Jack organised it with Opa apparently. It’ll be less conspicuous if we all make a break for it while everyone is walking home. With that many people on the streets, no one will notice such a big group together.”

Max nods. “Makes sense. Aren’t there going to be technicians everywhere, though?”

“Probably. We just have to do our best to stay out of sight.”

“How do we do that?”

I think about this long and hard. “Act indifferent to absolutely everything and everyone.”

“So pretend to be dead inside?”

This is a startling statement, but it’s true. I don’t say anything. Max falls quiet, picking at his bootlaces. “Have you, uh
―
”

“What?”

He grimaces, but then says, “Have you been up to the Keep at all?”

A hot flush runs through my body. “No, I haven’t. I was sick and then
―
” I trail off, trying to find a way to word why I haven’t been up there trying to find Olivia. Max does it for me.

“There didn’t seem any point?”

I nod. “She made her choice. She wanted us to respect it. I can’t seem to forgive her for leaving, though.”

“
You
can’t?” he snorts. “I’ve always known what she intended to do, but it seemed so far away on the horizon. And then all of a sudden she’s come of age and they’re accepting her. And I’m
―
”

“Marrying Simone?”

His head tips up and down robotically. I clear my throat and give up on lying down altogether. “Why did you do it, Max? I know you love her. So why did you Claim someone else?”

It takes a long time for Max to respond. He just sits there, very still, staring at my boots like they hold the answers to all his problems. “I guess
―
” he swallows and blinks for the first time in minutes. “I guess I wanted to make her see what was happening. I thought if it was a reality—that she was going away and I was going to be with someone else—she would realise she was making a mistake. I didn’t even think Simone would say yes. I didn’t ask her. Didn’t even tell her what I was going to do. When she accepted, I panicked. She’s a sweet girl, but she’s not Livvy. Now I feel like a bastard because she’s expecting all this stuff from me and I’m just...”

“Lost.” We’re getting good at finishing each other’s sentences. Max sighs and runs his hands through his hair. “If you go up there, can you, I don’t know, can you tell her I’m sorry? I shouldn’t have taken it that far. I just thought, even up until the very last second, that she was gonna change her mind. She just stood there and smiled at me. She was crying her eyes out, but she didn’t do anything. Just smiled.”

I think Max is seconds away from crying himself, and I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to do if that happens. I’m praying to all three of Olivia’s Gods that it doesn’t. “I will if I can figure out which one is her,” I tell him. “Olivia did make me promise I would go. Maybe when we get back
―
”

“You’re not going up there, Kit.” I nearly jump out of my skin when Ryka emerges out of the shadows behind Max. His hair is wet and pulled back into a fresh ponytail. “I don’t want you anywhere near the High Priestess. She’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” I can’t help but laugh a little. “She’s ancient, Ry. I reckon I could take her.”

Max’s cheeks go bright red. “You shouldn’t speak like that,” he says quietly.

“What, you believe in the Gods?”

“Not really, but people have seen things. She’s not normal. Best you just don’t say anything about the priestesses, even out here.”

“I don’t get it.”

Ryka inhales a deep breath and flares his nostrils. “Just trust me, okay? Max is right. She’s not normal, and she’s definitely not safe for you to be around.”

It’s obvious from the looks on their faces that they’re not telling me something. “Why, exactly?”

Ryka cracks his knuckles. “Because she’s never shown anyone her true face before, Kit. Never, not once in the forty years she’s been the High Priestess.”

“Is that a big deal?”

Max answers. “They say that if you look upon a priestess’ face, even by accident, then you’re cursed. And you looked upon the High Priestess’ face. That’s got to be, like, the mother of all curses.”

I flinch, recalling the way everyone at the pit looked away when the High Priestess threw her ceramic mask on the floor. Those women had closed their eyes. Had been crying. I let my head rock back and groan. “Fantastic. I’m cursed now, too.”

“Don’t believe in that crap. Jeez, what’s wrong with you?” Ryka hisses at Max. He sits next to me just as James ambles over.

“It’s dark enough,” he says. It’s true that the day dimmed quickly, and now all I can see of the solid fighter is the outline of his body and the sharp flash of his eyes. “Kit, you first.”

“I’ll go through with her,” Ryka says, getting to his feet. He helps me up, and James doesn’t say anything, but I know he’s watching us. I don’t care about James. The water is all that matters. It looks like thick black tar with the light all gone, and the fact that the surface is flat doesn’t do much to cheer me. It makes it seem more sinister, like it’s the pure embodiment of evil. Not a good thought when I’m about to submerge my body in it.

“This is going to be cold,” Ryka says softly. He drops his bag a second and pulls out his shirt. He slips it on, watching me the whole time. “It’s going to be hard to get through the tunnel without using my arms. We’re going against the current, okay, so it’ll be a fight to make progress. Hold onto the back of my shirt. If you lose grip, don’t panic. I’ll find you straight away.”

I eye him nervously, trying to keep my heart rate from accelerating out of control. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” he grins. “Kick like hell, Kit.”

I laugh somehow. Nervous, I’m shaking as we step into the water. He was right; it is damned cold. I suck in a sharp breath as the water swirls over the tops of my boots and floods them, instantly freezing me to my core. My shoulders tense, but Ryka’s hand on my arm is warm and reassuring. He gives me a small nod and then we both step forward. The water, deep and terrifying, swallows us whole.

******

Up.

I can’t tell which way is up. Water fills my mouth, my nose, my ears. It feels like it’s doing it on purpose, trying to fill me up with all its blackness. My lungs start to scream almost instantly, shocked when my chest hits the water. The only thing grounding me, keeping me from losing myself to panic, is the fistful of material I have in my right hand.

I can’t see him but I know from the tugging on my arm Ryka’s swimming, trying to pull us against the powerful flow of water. It’s trying to sweep us all the way back to Freetown and I have no idea whether it’s succeeding or not, because I can’t see a thing. I have a fearsome urge to scream, and a war rages inside me
―
my overriding urge to freak out, going head-to-head with my natural instinct to keep my mouth shut tight. It’s like the circuitry inside my head has been fried and all I can do is focus on the pressure building behind my lips.

Think, think, think…

…do something… just think…

Ryka told you to…

A smile. Gentle brown eyes.

Kick like hell, Kit.

I kick. Finally, I kick, just like he asked me to. I screw my eyes shut, because that makes it less scary that I can’t see anything, and I kick like I’m running from the High Priestess herself. My legs feel like lead weights in the water but I move them anyway, pushing, pushing, pushing. A tumbling motion twists my body over and I feel hands on arms, lifting me upwards.

My face breaks the surface of the water and I drag in a frantic gasp of air that makes both my head and my lungs explode. Fear pulses through me for a second when I open my eyes and it’s still dark. I’m neck deep in water. We’re in the tunnel?

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Ryka says. “I’m right here. I’ve got you.” With his arm locked around my ribcage, pressing me to him, he really does have a firm grip on me. “We’re halfway, okay? Just take a breath. Get some air into your lungs.”

I can’t, though. It feels like I’m trapped in a vice and my chest can’t expand. “Take…take me back
―
” I splutter.

“It’s okay, just relax. I have you. I’m not letting you go.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I can’t. Just take me back. We’ll find another way around.”

“We don’t have time, Kit. Please, just calm down.”

I start struggling against him, gripped by sheer animal instincts, and his hold tightens. “Kit! Don’t make me knock you out. Just trust me!”

My arms and legs go still. It takes everything I have but I force my body to relax. “I do trust you. I just
―
I can’t breathe.”

I feel his lips against my forehead and even though I can’t see him, the contact steels my nerves.

“This will be over in less than a minute,” he says quietly. “We’ve got to go back under so we can get out. Are you ready?”

The current pulling at my legs feels impossibly strong, but I nod. “Okay. Okay, I can do it.”

“Good girl.” He kisses me once more, his lips pressing against my temple, and then he pulls me down. It feels unnatural to keep a hold of him as he sinks, but I concentrate this time, putting everything I’ve got into propelling us forward. It doesn’t take less than a minute. It feels like it takes ten, although it’s probably more like two. My brain feels like a light switch being turned off and on in rapid succession as we rise to the surface on the other side. I’m so disorientated that it takes me a full three seconds to realise it’s okay to inhale.

“We’re done. We’re done. It’s okay, it’s over,” Ryka says as he hauls me up the riverbank. My legs are boneless as my boots scrape against the thick mud, trying to catch a foothold. Ryka does most of the work, pulling me up until I lie flat on my back exactly where I collapsed after the tree pinned me when I first escaped. Once he’s got my legs fully up onto the bank, he sinks down next to me. His hand finds mine.

I’m too inundated by relief and adrenaline to figure out why, but suddenly I’m laughing. It’s the kind of laughter that shakes your whole body, and I’m so close to hysteria, I can taste it.
 
Ryka puts his hand over my mouth to hide the sound, then his other hand covers his own mouth. He surprises me by joining in, his body shaking with nervous laughter as we both gasp for breath.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” I choke out.

His hand tightens around mine, squeezing. “It’s really okay.”

We’ve barely stopped when Raff pulls himself up the bank, swearing. “Got mud in my boots! I can feel it squelching between my toes.” The disgust in his tone is almost enough to make me laugh again, but the reality of our situation kicks in and I don’t. We’re back in the Sanctuary.