Phoenix (Black City #2) 8

Five seconds.

We’re not going to make it.

Three. Two. One.

We burst out of the market just as the first bomb detonates.

The blast knocks us off our feet, and we crash to the ground ten feet from where we started. My ears are ringing, and every bone and muscle in my body aches. Everything sounds muffled, like I’m swimming underwater. I lie on my back and watch as confetti rains down on me. Another explosion sends more colorful bunting and bits of flaming debris up into the air. I try to move, but my body refuses.

Through the fog in my head, I make out the sound of marching boots against cobblestones. It’s getting louder and louder. The Sentry guards are coming. A voice screams in the back of my mind to get up, but my legs aren’t responding. Everything’s still in a haze, and I can’t concentrate. Get up, Ash. Get up, Ash. Get up—

“Ash!”

Natalie’s voice makes my world whoosh back into focus. I struggle upright in time to see her being slung over Garrick’s shoulder, about fifteen feet away. For a second, I think he’s trying to carry her away from the approaching Sentry guards, but then I notice her fists pounding against his back, the fear in her eyes. My heart leaps into my mouth. He’s trying to kidnap her!

“Let me go!” she screams.

I lunge for Garrick. He yells as I sink my fangs into his leg, injecting him with a heavy dose of Haze. Startled, he drops Natalie. Elijah helps her to her feet while Garrick staggers back, one step, two steps, before crashing to the cobbled ground, grinning like an insane man as the Haze courses through his veins.

“Down here!” Sebastian calls out to his men. They’re in the street next to us.

“We have to get to the safe house,” I say.

We grab our bags and stagger out of Chantilly Lane just as the first guards approach the market square. We hurry down the passageway, getting as far away as possible.

The streets start to fill with people as they evacuate their homes, carrying clothes, food, pets; some even attempt to carry heavy paintings and other heirlooms with them in their panicked state.

“Put up your hoods,” I tell the others.

We join the throng of people, using them for cover as more Sentry troops rush by. Everyone is running in all directions, uncertain where to go. With the factories, the Park and Chantilly Lane in flames, most head toward the Rise to take refuge there.

We walk for twenty minutes until we reach City End, where the safe house is. I’m just grateful I never told Garrick our plan, that fragging traitor! I think back to the first time I met him, after he’d brought Freya to the ghetto, and recall the slash marks down her stomach. I’d thought they were made by a guard’s sword, but now I suspect the Lupine was responsible. Was that what Freya was trying to tell me before she died? We pass dozens of houses, searching for the right one, but they all look the same, with black Cinderstone-brick walls and red doors.

“Which one is it?” Elijah asks.

I quickly check the top right-hand corner of each door until I find what I’m looking for: a small burning rose carved into the wood.

“This one,” I say.

We enter the safe house, slamming the door behind us. It is small and cramped, with dust on every surface and bedsheets covering the old furniture. The owner died a year ago, and Humans for Unity has been using it as a refuge ever since. We head up to the attic, as Roach instructed us to, and find a couple of sleeping bags, an oil lamp and some tins of food. There’s no Synth-O-Blood for me, but I didn’t expect there to be; everything in the attic has been here a while. My stomach growls, and I try to remember the last time I ate anything. It’s been ages.

There’s a small round window in the attic, giving us a great view over the city. Infernos rage in the three districts where we planted the bombs. Thankfully, the fires are still contained within those sections, but it’ll only be a matter of time before they reach us. We’ll stay here for as long as we can, then head to the station on the outskirts of the city.

Elijah sits down on one of the sleeping bags and begins to groom himself, licking the dust and blood off his arms, while I stalk about the room.

“I can’t fragging believe Garrick’s been playing us all this time,” I spit.

“Who do you think he’s working for?” Natalie asks.

“My money’s on Purian Rose,” I reply.

Elijah stops cleaning himself. “Then why tell us about the Tenth?”

“To gain our trust, so he could infiltrate the rebel headquarters.” I punch my fist against the wall, making my knuckles ache. “Fragg! He knows everything! He knows where the Darklings are going and that we’re looking for the Ora.”

“At least he doesn’t know we’re going to Thrace,” Natalie says. “That’s something.”

I rake my fingers through my hair, trying to think of ways to warn the others, but come up empty.

“Why did he try and kidnap Natalie, though?” Elijah asks me. “Wouldn’t it have made more sense for him to kill you both?”

We all look at each other, trying to work this out, but none of it makes sense. It would have been the perfect opportunity for Garrick to kill me, so why didn’t he?

“So what do we do now?” Natalie says.

“I guess we carry on with our plan,” I say. “Garrick doesn’t know how we intend to escape the city; he’ll assume we’re already on our way out.”

“I hope he’s having a really bad Haze trip,” Natalie says, wincing as she sits down.

“Are you hurt?” I ask.

“It’s just that old bite mark on my leg,” she says. “Nothing to worry about.”

She opens one of the tins of soup, cooking it over the oil lamp, and we settle down for the evening. I keep a close eye on the window, to see if the fires are spreading in our direction. Elijah curls his lip at the soup when Natalie passes it to him.

“Fine, go hungry. I don’t care,” she snaps.

He quickly takes the soup and drinks it down. Honestly, where does he think we are? The Golden Citadel? As the Bastet Consul’s son, he’s probably used to getting the finest foods. I enviously watch them as they eat their dinner, my own stomach roaring with hunger.

Another eruption rumbles across the city. Something else has just gone up in flames.

“Do you think the others made it out okay?” Natalie asks.

I nod, although I just don’t know. Pain balls up in my chest, thinking about Dad and Sigur, not to mention Nick and Amy.

Natalie and Elijah finish their meager dinner while I triple-check the contents of my duffel bag, making sure we have everything for our escape plan tomorrow: wigs, contact lenses, veneers, makeup, clothes, Evacuation Passes. It’s amazing what Amy managed to cobble together for us in terms of disguises in such a short space of time. A lot of it was stolen from Black City School’s props cupboard and the makeup department at Juno’s work. I’m concerned that we have only two Evacuation Passes—the bloodied one Juno got hold of from a dead guy and the one Dad collected during the attempt to rescue Polly. We still need a third pass, which is another item on the long list of things that can go horribly wrong tomorrow.

Right now, our plan relies on the Sentry believing Natalie and I have already left the city. With Garrick still out there, our chances of escaping have just gone from bad to worse. I just pray Nick and Amy get out okay, for their sakes as well as our own.

“Do you think the Sentry will still honor the Evacuation Passes?” Elijah asks.

“I think so,” Natalie says. “If Purian Rose evacuates those who have been loyal to him, it’ll give other people around the country incentive to support him, rather than join forces with us.”

“I hope you’re right,” he mutters. “I have to get to Thrace. My mom needs me.”

“We’ll get there.” Natalie touches his arm reassuringly, and I feel a twinge of jealousy.

When Natalie’s done with her meal, she climbs into her sleeping bag and drops off almost instantly. Her skin is covered in a fine sheen of sweat, like she’s feverish, and I wonder if she’s coming down with something.

“You were with Natalie when she found Polly, weren’t you?” I ask Elijah quietly.

He nods.

“Did she die quickly?” I’ve been clinging to that small hope all day.

“I don’t think so, given the number of defensive wounds on her arms and hands. They took their time,” Elijah responds. “The Sentry likes to make their prisoners suffer.”

Elijah rolls over, turning his back on me. I remember what Natalie said about Elijah being held captive in Sentry headquarters, and realize this mission isn’t just about finding his mom or retrieving the Ora. It’s about vengeance.

16.

NATALIE

THICK BLACK CLOUDS of soot and steam billow out of the train, covering the platform in a viscous fog that hides everyone’s feet. It gives the impression the station is haunted with hundreds of disembodied ghosts trying to board the ten fifteen to Centrum, our ride out of this city.

All around us sirens wail as the city continues to burn. Choking ash drifts down on us in a blizzard of dark snow, obscuring our visibility. It’s been a blessing in disguise, though, as it allowed us to get to the station this morning unnoticed.

Parents say tearful good-byes as their children are ushered onto the train. One little girl in a red dress refuses to let go of her mother, and her father literally has to pry her off and carry her onto the train. His expression is grief stricken as he returns to his wife.

“She’ll be all right,” he says to her. “She’ll be safer in Centrum.”

That’s if she even makes it there. The steam train is armored by heavy sheets of silvered steel, while the windows have been barred in a bid to protect passengers from bandits and Wrath attacks as the train travels through the wild and deadly Barren Lands.

The only possible points of weakness on the train are the emergency escape hatches in the roof, but they’re protected with layers of acacia wood, which Darklings are severely allergic to, so I think we’ll be okay. I’ve done this ride before, when I moved from Centrum to Black City a few months ago, but that train was for government officials, so it had much better security. Right now, I’m more worried about the Sentry guards patrolling the platform, checking passengers’ Evacuation Passes and making sure they’re not on Purian Rose’s Most Wanted list. Like us.

There’s a blast of steam from the train, stirring the ash-snow, revealing a figure in a striking black uniform and flat cap striding down the platform, followed by a troop of Sentry guards. Sebastian! His head has been cleanly shaved to reveal the rose tattoo above his left ear—the mark of a Pilgrim, a devoted follower of the Purity faith. There’s a small tear on his black jacket, where his silver rose medal used to be, before Polly ripped it off. I quickly turn my back on him just as he walks by, although I know it’s unlikely he saw me lurking in the shadows under the iron stairwell. We really have to get out of here before he sees us, but we can’t go anywhere until we’ve got the last Evacuation Pass.

“What’s he doing here?” Ash whispers.

“Maybe they’ve found Nick and Amy?” Elijah replies.

I bite my lip, worried for them and us. I couldn’t stand it if Amy got hurt because of me. Images of Polly’s dead body instantly flood my mind, but I force them aside, along with my grief. I can’t think about my sister, not right now, because if I do, I’ll just crawl into a hole somewhere and never get out again. So instead of heartache, I fill the void with another, more productive emotion: anger. This is what will fuel me until the day I look Purian Rose in the eye and drive a knife into his chest.

I snatch a look in Sebastian’s direction. He’s standing farther down the platform, overseeing a pack of Lupines who are loading crates, antique furniture and paintings onto the train. It’s all from the Sentry HQ. My mother’s belongings! But I guess now that she’s a fugitive and Sebastian pretty much runs the city, it’s his stuff. It makes me sick that Sebastian is more concerned about saving his property than people’s lives, but I’m not surprised. He talks quietly to one of the male Lupines, who’s wearing a dark red leather frock coat and has teeth braided into his hair. Clearly visible on his neck is a crescent moon tattoo. He must be the leader of the Moondogs, which Ash told me about.

At that moment, five tall figures appear on the other end of the platform, smoke swirling around them. I stifle a cry. It’s Garrick and four of his Lupine pack: two men, two women. They all look similar, with gray clothing, silver eyes, and fur-like hair styled to look like a shark’s fin down the center of their heads, except the others are shorter than Garrick and one of the females has dyed her hair to match her shocking-pink lipstick.

The people on the platform hurriedly get out of their way as they stalk toward Sebastian and the Moondogs.

“There you are—I’ve been waiting for you,” Sebastian snaps at Garrick. “Did you find them?”

“No,” Garrick says. “They’ve left the city.”

The Moondog in the red coat scoffs.

“You got something you want to say to me, Jared?” Garrick growls.

The man glowers at Garrick, but says nothing more. I’m getting the impression Garrick holds a high position in their society, if he’s able to talk to the Moondog pack leader that way. Tension bubbles between the two packs, with Garrick’s gray-clothed First Landing pack on one side, and the red-clothed Moondogs on the other.

“We’ll find them,” the female with pink hair says to Sebastian.

“You better, or you’ll find yourself in the Tenth with all those other animals,” Sebastian replies.