Luminosity (18 page)

“Well, we’re both okay, and that’s all that matters. Maybe we should find Brandon and have dinner in one of our bunks tonight?” I ask. “I don’t think I feel up to eating in the cafeteria when everyone else is hurt and bleeding.”

“And without Mae.” Gabe lowers his eyes. “It’s going to be so different without her around. She always knew how to find the good in everything—Did you realize that? It’s like nothing could ever be wrong in her world.”

He is right. Nothing
was
ever wrong in Mae’s world. She could find the sunshine on a rainy, cloudy day, and if she couldn’t, she’d
make
the sun shine.

“I’m going to miss her.” He protectively wraps his arms around me, as if he could stop anything bad from hurting me or taking me away from him.

When I close my eyes again, I can see Mae staring at me with her blank, dead, violet stare and a smile on her face. My stomach twists into an uneasy knot. “I’m going to miss her, too.”

Chapter Twenty-One

We have come together in the Gathering Room to say our good-byes to those Seers who fell during the most recent Dreamcatcher attack. Brandon, Gabe, and I stand in front of a small wooden casket containing Mae’s body. Like the other bodies lying in their final resting places, Mae’s has been cleane
d and prepared for the viewing process. They took the trouble to tie a large, pink flower around her neck like a choker to cover the gash made by her own hands.

Staring at her brings about a queasy and uneasy feeling. Just yesterday she was standing beside me, watching as the convicted Dreamcatchers were dropped through the gallows and hanged. Now she sees nothing. I don’t know where we go after we die. At least, I don’t know where we go past the physical sense. After the viewing, Mae’s casket will be carried off to the incinerators, where she will be burned in a flash fire hot enough to destroy all that remains of a human when they’ve ceased to exist.

Gabe snakes his hand around mine and holds it tightly, a wordless show of support. Brandon is devastated and hasn’t spoken since he carried Mae’s body off the previous day. His eyes are rimmed red, and puffy half-moon circles darken under them. His hands, folded in front of him, are turning purple from holding on so hard, but what he thinks he’s gripping, I don’t know.

Some are gathered around their friends in much the same manner, some sobbing, others in too much shock to utter a noise. We are all grieving for different reasons, I’m sure. I am grieving for our past. We’ve entered into war, whether it’s been officially declared or not; I think most people can feel that there’s no turning back from here.

The Keeper makes her way to the front of the room, her hood pulled up over her head so that her face is shrouded in dark shadow. I’ve never seen her so solemn, and her presence silently demands the attention of all of us. Her raven flies from her shoulder and circles the room before finding a place to perch on top of a casket cover.

We all look the Keeper’s way, and I am suddenly reminded of the Vision I had of the piles of dead bodies in the Meeting Room. Was this what it really was? Not piles of bodies in the Meeting Room at all, but dozens of lined up boxes?

It didn’t seem so bad. This was much calmer and less frightening than the prospect of something creeping up behind us and murdering us
en masse
. I turn my head at the cry of the raven, whose wings spread open, then restlessly fold back.

“Today we say good-bye to many great Seers who have met their ends too soon. This is the way of the Dreamcatcher, to sneak up behind us and rob of us our abilities, and ultimately to rob us of our lives. It is a harsh lesson that we’ve all learned, even myself.” The Keeper admits a weakness, and it catches all of us off guard. There’s even a quiet gasp, followed by a deafening silence, as the room waits for some sort of reasoning or explanation.

The Keeper offers neither, though. She bows her head low and prays a quiet invocation. “When we send our friends and family off today, may we always remember our purpose and quest in the City. We must protect the Citizens, who lack the ability to protect themselves, and we must defeat the Dreamcatcher threat before they destroy and overtake what we’ve worked so hard to defend.”

We are all silent, washed out from emotion, filled with grief.

After the invocation, the Keeper exits the room and volunteer attendants gather by the caskets to take them all down to the incinerator room. Brandon steps forward to protect the box that holds Mae’s body, and when the volunteers approach, he shoves one of them away. “No!”

Gabe winces, letting go of my hand, and moves over beside Brandon to calm him. “It’s time for her to go, Brandon. You have to let her go.”

“No!” he shouts again and pushes Gabe next.

“Brandon…” I start, but it’s no use. I am shoved after Gabe, and after that Brandon once more pushes the volunteers who try and approach the casket. This continues until two Watchmen approach and pin Brandon’s large form against a wall, restraining him at the wrists.

“Let go! Let go!” Brandon thrashes, but it’s no use. The casket is carried away, and Brandon only settles when he can’t see it or Mae’s face anymore. A part of me is enraged that I missed my opportunity to say good-bye to her, but I also know that I am selfish for thinking that way. None of us got to say good-bye to her. The Dreamcatchers stole that opportunity from us when her nails ripped into her flesh and peeled her neck open.

Eventually, the three of us are left in a crowd of people who no longer have bodies to mourn. I sigh and turn to Gabe and Brandon, who both stare at the ground in an attempt to hide their own grief. But I don’t comment on it. Instead, I turn and start to walk out of the Gathering Room, and the two of them follow like lost little ducklings without anywhere else to go, or anyone else to follow.

I don’t have the heart to tell them that I have no idea where I am going either. We wander the halls floor by floor, walking past the Recreation Rooms, the cafeteria, the arena. I think all we really want is to be alone without actually being alone. I can’t figure out if Gabe would be angry with me or not if I were to approach him and offer comfort. When I look back at him, he’s walking near Brandon, but far enough away that he can brood. Maybe it’s me who wants the comforting.

I decide to take us all to the roof, since it’s quiet up there and Gabe always seems to be most peaceful when he’s standing on the top of the Institution, looking down at the City. In fact, I feel much the same way, come to think about it. We take the stairs and solemnly climb each one of them until there’s nothing left to climb. I push the door open and it flings back, exposing a sight that I wasn’t prepared for. Gabe and Brandon come to a stop behind me as we stare out into the sky, which looks as if it has fissured down the middle, purples and pinks pulling it apart like a tear in the skin.

“What the hell…” Gabe whispers as several large airships descend over the City. Two thrusters rotate in any direction, helping to propel forward or backward or to hover in place. We’ve never seen real ships before, but we’ve read about them in our history books. These ships look old and rickety, with some newer pieces of metal patching up random sections of the hull. One opens fire, and little streaks of fiery light whizz through the air and toward the City’s buildings. When they hit, the buildings shake and crumble, and some of them cease to exist as soon as the explosions die down. Even our breathing disappears.

“What are they shooting at? Why aren’t they aiming toward here?” I ask the obvious question, since I don’t understand why they’d be destroying random Citizen structures when they could be taking out the fortress of the Seers.

“We have a barrier,” Brandon reminds me and picks up a piece of concrete that has crumbled from around the stairwell. He chucks the rock off the side of the building, and it hits an invisible shield that shatters the stone into a million, tiny pieces. “See?”

“Oh yeah.”

Gabe isn’t buying it, though. “But doesn’t the City have one of those, too?”

“I thought so. But, apparently not.” Brandon picks up another stone and does the same thing. The invisible shield crackles when the concrete disappears, turning into a fine powder before falling through the air.

“No, the City did have one. It’s always been a bit shoddy, though.” My words are nearly choked off at the end by the sound of a raid alarm, one I’ve never heard before in my whole life. All of the City lights are cut off at one time, and we are thrown into a blinding darkness that is only relieved when the ships begin to fire once more. The Institution PA squeals on, and the Keeper begins to immediately hurl orders at us.

“Seers! Your time is now! I need all of you to suit up, gather in your teams, and report to the staging area immediately. You will be deployed with or without your whole team, so do not delay! The City is under attack! Do not delay!” The PA cuts off.

“Come on!” Gabe grabs me by the wrist. We all run down the stairs, taking them two or three at a time. Brandon uses the rails on each side to swing down half the flights, heels hitting the ground with a
thump
before he’s back up and doing it all over again. Eventually we get to an elevator, which drops us down more than a hundred levels to the first floor, where the staging area is. It is packed with hundreds of Seers, from Team A to Team Z, all of us ready to fight, even if we really aren’t ready at all. Those near the end of the Team alphabet have the least training, and they all look like they have peed their pants judging by the way they stand huddled together like a bunch of toddlers in the cold.

“We’re in trouble,” Brandon dares to say as we pass them, the words certainly not a compliment. Maybe some of them even
are
toddlers, now that I can get a closer look. They look barely old enough for Institution privileges, which allow you to wander around without an escort.

Brandon, Gabe, and I suit up faster than we ever have before. I pack a few extra beacon grenades this time, as well as some flares, just in case we get lost out in the dark. My machine gun is locked and loaded, and I tuck extended magazines into my combat belt, ensuring that I don’t run out of ammo. Hopefully. Gabe follows my lead and does the same thing, and I’m sure Brandon is packed with anything extra he needs, though with his weight and height, he always seems like he just barely fits into his jumpsuit.

The lights on the bay doors begin to spin, illuminating the room in yellows and reds. We can hear the impact of the explosions, which are still far from us, but close enough to rattle the floor at times. I think about all those poor Citizens who have been terrorized the last few weeks with the Dreamcatcher hunt. Now, the Dreamcatchers are hunting the Citizens themselves, and most of them are defenseless, waiting on us to save them.

The doors couldn’t open more slowly. It feels like a whole decade goes by before they are wide enough for the teams to pass through. Rachelle is at the lead of her team, which suddenly reminds me that I am probably at the lead of mine. When I spin around, not only are Gabe and Brandon behind me, but the rest of Team A is as well. They are waiting for orders, which even I don’t know.

“Stay close and follow!” This should work. I turn and run out behind the other teams, boots crashing on the ground in unison. I have to figure something out before too long. Teams B and C look as though they are heading straight into the heart of the matter, but in my gut, something tells me this isn’t the right choice.
What are they shooting at? What are they shooting at?
The question keeps replaying through my mind, and I make a sudden move down a somewhat broad street that veers to the left, leaving the rest of the teams behind. One or two of them follow me, though, which is good, since there will be more of us should we need it.

What are they shooting at?

And then, I See it. The Vision hits me like a punch to my stomach, and I stumble backward into Gabe, who thankfully catches me. I can see the glow of my violet eyes in the tinted face shield of his helmet. I can See the answer to my question. “It’s a distraction,” I whisper.

The other teams gather around as Gabe gets me back to my feet just as soon as the light in my eyes begins to fade. I swallow from the ache that comes after the Vision. “It’s a distraction. We need to get away from the Dreamcatchers and stay by the Institution.”

“Why?” I look toward the question and see Elan, his helmet tucked under his arm. He’s been moved back up to Team A with us. He looks confident and ready to kill someone. Maybe he’s learned his lesson from last time. Kill or be killed.

“Because. That is where they are trying to go. All of us are running toward the ship, but who is staying behind to protect the Institution?”

The rest of them “oh” in unison. It is so obvious, but yet most of the Seers are currently racing toward the ships anyway. I pull my gun up and nod to the left. “We’re going to continue going this way and find ourselves a building that is strong enough to act like a fortress. Anyone have any ideas?”

Most of us aren’t very familiar with the City. There are only a handful of Seers who are allowed out on a regular basis. The rest of us are confined to the Institution for our safety. Thankfully, it seems we have one of that handful in our group. A girl with curly red hair raises her hand, waiting to be called on like we are in class. I call on her, and even in the middle of this chaos, I think it’s amusing. “What about the bank? It’s made of marble, and because it’s a bank, there are plenty of secure places inside.”

“Good idea,” Gabe concedes, his eyes finding mine to see if I agree. I’d much rather Gabe were in charge right now, as he’s so much calmer than I am. My heart is threatening to beat right out of my chest, but Gabe is cool and collected, not one sign of fear or apprehension on his features.

We are briefly distracted when we notice a ship pulling up a net filled with Citizens in various states of distress. Some are badly injured, others are screaming for their lives, but they are all swallowed up by the ship, disappearing in front of our eyes.

“I agree.” Only because Gabe agrees. I look away from the ship, which has held my attention for long enough. “Let’s get out of here and head that way. We’ll talk about a better plan when we get there.” We run double time down the streets and in the direction of the bank. Behind us, the constant sound of explosions, crumbling buildings and screaming people echoes through the City.

When we get to the bank, I don’t regret my decision. The building is squat and wide, but thick and sturdy. The windows are covered in iron bars, and the door is made of reinforced steel. The security guard allows us in, muttering a thousand “Thank yous” as we file in and set up a perimeter.

“Get the Citizens to the back of the building!” I order first, since they will only get in our way. Some of them are crying and others look at one another with suspicion, fearing there may be a Dreamcatcher hiding amongst them. “Now!”

Gabe leads the group in peeling Citizens up off the ground, where they’ve lain down to take cover. Some of them are reluctant to stand, so Gabe pokes them in the side with the barrel of his machine gun, a silent threat. Other Seers start to scream at them, “Get up! Get up now!”