The Dark Shore (Atlanteans) (38 page)

She wrapped her arms around me, and it felt maybe safe, and it was a good feeling. Except that it complicated things.

“I don’t suppose you’ve thought any more about what we talked about yesterday,” she whispered softly.

I could barely remember yesterday, and yet I knew she meant asking me to stay. “Mom,” I said.

“I’m sorry for bringing it up,” she said. “I just can’t help it. I spent all night thinking about how to get word to your father, how to apologize to him. And even about how maybe Victoria would agree that you leaving here is too dangerous. I—I know it’s not fair of me, especially since so much is my fault, but after all the time we’ve missed, I just can’t bear the thought of being without you again.”

I listened and hated hearing this as much I wanted it. I was still angry that she’d run off, and yet also I felt willing to forget that, just to have a real family. It sounded better than flying off into the wilds. But turning my back on destiny, my team, on all the people who’d sacrificed to make this possible . . .

“I have to go,” I said. “My team needs me.”

Mom sighed. “I figured you’d say that.” She pulled back, holding my shoulders. “Okay. Well, don’t blame a mother for trying. We’ll just pick up when you get back. If . . .”

“What?” I asked, but then I didn’t want to hear her say it.

“Just . . . what if you don’t make it back?” she said, her voice small. “To find you now, if it’s only to lose you . . . while knowing how badly I messed up the past . . . I don’t know if I could ever recover.”

“Mom . . .” I didn’t know what to say. Part of me felt like, How was this fair? I never got a say when she left. And wasn’t she supposed to be the strong one, here? But that meant I needed to be.

“I’ll make it back,” I said. “Promise.”

She looked like she might say more, but I really didn’t want her to. I couldn’t deal with this anymore. Luckily, maybe she sensed that, too. “Okay. Will I see you after the ceremony tonight?”

“Yeah,” I said. I didn’t think I’d be heading out on the town with Seven again.

“Okay, good.” Mom smiled.

There was a knock at the door. A woman and three children stood there. Teenage kids, two girls and a boy. William’s family.

“Oh, come in,” said Mom. She moved to the mother and guided her inside. The mother’s eyes were wide, while staring resolutely at her husband.

They gathered around the bed. I stood back against the wall. Everyone seemed afraid to speak.

“Hey, okay, showtime.” I turned to find Seven at the door. She was in her white dress with the flower embroidery. She looked exhausted, wearing her sunglasses even though the room was dark.

“Hey, flyboy,” she said as she passed, “wanna help?” She knelt beside William.

“Sure,” I said. I knelt across from her and we joined hands. Seven took off her glasses. She gave me one quick glance, then kept her eyes on William. We repeated the rite, our words in rhythm, and I thought again about the night before, wondering what I’d missed and how things would be between us on the journey.

We finished the rite, and Seven said, “Ready?”

“Yes,” said William faintly. His family began to weep.

Mom turned the valve on the bag of Shine. Liquid leaped into the thin clear tube, rushing in loops down into William’s chest.

He closed his eyes. There was a moment of stillness. And then he smiled.

“I will be the divine,” he said softly. When his eyes opened, his pupils were dilated and darting around, as if each corner of the room was some new discovery to him. I imagined the auras and spin that he was seeing, his last glimpses of the world coated in magic.

“I’ll be back to prepare him for tonight,” Mom said to the family.

“My work here is done,” said Seven flatly. “You coming over to Tactical?” she asked me. “Leecher is figuring out the map stuff.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Mom, I’m gonna go.”

“Okay,” she said, “I’ll see you later. And Owen, sorry to let all those thoughts out. You do your thing, okay? Don’t worry about me.”

“Okay,” I said, thinking that, like Lilly, Mom should have known better than to think I wouldn’t worry.

“Mom putting the guilt trip on you?” Seven asked once we were back out in the plaza.

“Kinda,” I said. “She’s sad about me leaving. Wishes I could stay.”

Seven punched me in the shoulder. “Just stay strong, partner. Twelve hours from now we will be home free.”

“I guess,” I said. I noticed her yawning. “Did you get any sleep?”

“A little. Wouldn’t want to get too much. Hey.” She stopped me. We were by the fountain. “Look, I hope I didn’t freak you out last night.”

I looked away. “I wish I didn’t get freaked out.”

Seven smiled. “Yeah, well, you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t. Besides, it would’ve been weird anyway, right? We’re like, first cousins a hundred times removed or something.” She laughed and I was glad to laugh too. “The other thing about last night,” Seven said, “was just the anticipation of finally getting out of this place. You don’t know what it’s like to be so close.”

“Victoria’s not giving you a guilt trip about coming back when we’re done?”

“I wouldn’t listen if she was, but, no way. Victoria could care less what happens to me after we fly out of here tomorrow.”

“Really?” I asked. “I would bet she has some feelings about you leaving, maybe?”

“Hah.” Seven slapped me on the back. “I’ve learned that it’s a mistake to assume that the Benevolent Mother has feelings. We’re just a means to an end for her. But that’s fine with me.”

I thought of Victoria on the dock with the injured Nomads. She’d seemed to have feelings then. “So,” I said, “you wouldn’t come back here after we’re done?”

“Beyond no,” said Seven. “I have performed my last death rite. It makes me sick to see those people giving up, drugging themselves, and then walking into oblivion.”

“How is that different from you taking Shine?” The question had come out before I’d really thought about it, but now that it was in the air, I realized that this had been bugging me.

Seven flinched. “It’s totally different. Taking the dirty edge off this world is completely different than running from it. It’s like I said at the dock: Do a few thousand of these death rites before you judge. Shine just makes the time in prison pass a little faster. But pretty soon we’ll be out of here, and then, problem solved.”

I thought of the dark side of her I’d seen last night, after I’d stopped her, and wondered if just getting out of here would be enough.

The plaza was filling quickly. The moons were being raised on ropes that spanned the area. I saw a giant jaguar on a turtle being erected out of branches and flowers.

We got to Tactical and found Leech and Victoria and Arlo standing at a flat, circular table. It had a monitor top and Arlo was swiping a satellite map back and forth.

Leech was looking from his sketches to the map. “Okay, then south, forty degrees. The mountains should be starting to the east.”

“Yes, the northeastern reach of the Andes,” Arlo confirmed.

“Hey,” I said.

Leech glanced up. “Hey. We’ve almost got it.”

“Cool.” Seven and I gathered around the table. Victoria joined us.

“Where’s Lilly?” Seven asked. “Still saying she’s not coming?”

“Her stuff’s out of her room,” said Leech. He looked at me.

I just shrugged. “I don’t know where she went.”

“Well,” said Seven, “did you look for her?” She sounded almost bothered by this.

“Why would I do that?” Why would Seven want me to do that? Had I been reading all the girl signals in the wrong language, or what? “Lilly didn’t want me to look for her. She made that pretty clear.”

“Oh man, flyboy.” Seven rolled her eyes. “You have a lot to learn about women.”

“Well, broken hearts aside,” said Victoria, “it does simplify things somewhat.”

“Maybe she’ll turn up,” said Leech. He sounded disappointed but quickly turned back to his map. “Okay, so check it out: We fly south until we hit the Andes . . .”

As Leech was talking I noticed Seven slip away from the circle. She faded back, directly behind Victoria, until she was in the center of the room. Then she headed for the doors to the balcony. Nico was holding one open for her. As they stepped outside, I saw that his face looked tight, serious.

“And then follow them southwest,” Leech was going on, “and there should be a series of lakes. . . .”

Arlo moved the map. “These?”

“Yeah . . .” said Leech. “And then . . .” He put his hand on the screen and slowly dragged the map to the right. “There.”

He pointed to a high mountain peak. It almost resembled a chair, with a high jagged back and sloping sides around a bowl. On the back side was a sheer cliff that dropped hundreds of meters. There was actual snow in the chair’s seat, possibly a remnant glacier. “Can we zoom in?”

Arlo tapped buttons on the edge of the table. The picture clicked, enlarging, and stopped.

Now the craggy peak was almost filling the screen. You could see the uneven flanks of the bowl, the sheer granite drop behind it, and, nestled in the crook of the highest edge, a faint impression of geometric shapes. Buildings. A large round dome, a smaller structure that was maybe a tower, and some other curves that seemed to be built into the wall.

“That’s at four thousand meters elevation,” said Arlo. “You’re going to be some kind of light-headed.”

Leech exhaled slowly. “That’s it, though. That’s where we’re going.” He looked up at me. “Think you can fly us up there?”

“Definitely,” I said. Flying again sounded like a dream compared to all this emotional business.

“What’s there?” Seven was back. She was staring at the map, but she looked worried about something. I wondered what she and Nico had talked about.

“Not sure,” said Leech. “Maybe my skull.”

“It’s about three thousand kilometers from here,” said Arlo.

I ran the numbers in my brain. “If we can keep the vortex charged, that should take us about three days,” I said, “with stops to rest.”

“We should be able to give you a recharge along the way with the drones,” said Arlo. “Their range is about half that distance, but we can cover you for a little while.”

“Excellent,” said Victoria. “Okay, I need to get ready for the ceremony. Seven—” she started, but then looked around. Seven was gone. She sighed. “Arlo, you and Leech should have time now to make your trip, if you hurry.” She rubbed Leech’s shoulder. “You’re sure you still want to go.”

“Yeah,” said Leech. “I do.” He looked at me, his eyes wide and serious. “We’re going over to Cryo. He’s there. You can come along, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” I said. “Now?”

“Now.” Leech closed his sketchbook and started shoving it into his pocket. I could see his limbs shaking, and I wondered if it was the sickness, or what we were about to find.

WE LEFT TACTICAL AND CROSSED THE PLAZA IN HAZY dusk light. Arlo led the way, and an armed guard joined us. The moons were strung high, and all the café tables and chairs had been cleared. Torches had been lit and people were crowding in.

Leech had been quiet as we walked. Now he said, “I wish I was armed.” He reached toward his belt. He had the sextant around his neck, but . . .

“Where’s your boccie ball?” I asked.

“Can’t find it,” said Leech. “It was gone from my room this afternoon.”

“Huh,” I said.

“Owen!”

Mom and Emiliano were heading toward the pyramid, guiding William, the volunteer, between them. They were both dressed in long, crimson ceremonial robes.

“Where are you going?” Mom called, looking at me quizzically.

“Just a sec,” I said to Leech, and started toward them.

“Wait—” Leech called, but I was already on my way over to them.

“Hey, guys,” I said.

“Hello,” William said dreamily, his eyes darting around.

Mom glanced over my shoulder at Leech and Arlo. “Shouldn’t you guys be sticking around for the ceremony?”

“Yeah, we’ll be back in time,” I said. “We’re just making a quick trip first.”

“Oh, where?” asked Mom. “I don’t need to be worried, do I?”

“Nah,” I said, “it’s gonna sound weird, but we’re heading over to EdenSouth.”

“EdenSouth?” Mom’s face grew serious. “Why?”

“Leech has a brother in the cryo facility here. He wants to see him.”

“Well,” said Mom, sounding very parentlike with disapproval, “but he knows that those people are all, essentially . . . gone, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah,” I said, “but he just wants to see him, just to know for sure, I guess. And he wants me along, as a friend.”

Mom nodded seriously. “I don’t love the idea of you going out there in the wilds on your own.” It almost sounded like she was weighing whether or not I could go, and I felt I didn’t need her permission, and yet I still found myself wondering what she would say. “But it’s good of you to be there for your friend.” She rubbed my head and her smile returned. “See you in a little bit. Be careful!”