24

 

Fischer shoves me out the door and into the waiting transport truck before I have time to react. He didn’t see Frost Moon—he was too busy getting us out of there.

But I saw him, and Supreme Moon definitely saw me. I’m not sure what that means for any of us, but it almost guarantees we have no chance at getting out of this city.

I turn to relay my concerns when I catch sight of Keegan. “You made it!” I launch myself at him and he catches me, laughing, as the truck careens around a corner. Tires squeal as we speed away. It won’t take long for the city guards to be on top of us.

“Of course I made it,” Keegan says. “Did you doubt me?”

I laugh and shake my head, fighting the tears. “No, of course not. I was just so afraid. What about Isabel?”

Isabel grins at me from behind a stack of boxes. “I’ve been out for five minutes. Don’t know what took you so long.”

It’s too good to be true. We got out with the supplies, and each other.

My eyes fall to our loot and I gasp. “Keegan! Where did you get all these guns?”

Piles of black weapons line the middle of the truck bed. We barely had a chance to get the food, let alone carry all this weaponry out unnoticed.

“We got lucky there,” Keegan says. “Libee and Tye picked the right truck.”

I guess they did.

Fingering the cold, black metal sends chills up my arms. Using these isn’t the right thing. Can’t be the right thing.

I have no idea if it’s the right thing.

The transport truck careens around another corner and Tye shouts something back at us.

“What did he say?” I ask.

“We’re going to have to unload fast.” Keegan glances around the truck. “Everyone grab what you can, and let’s move.”

The truck stops and a moment later Libee swings the backdoor open. She grabs the first thing she sees and jogs toward the hole in the fence. Everyone follows. We make numerous trips within a minute, but it won’t be long enough to get everything, not with the guards onto us. They’ll find us any minute now.

“Get the guns,” Keegan barks. No one questions him, not even me, but I don’t obey. Instead I grab another box of noodles.

No one questions me, either.

Guard Rok, Les, and his men stand on the other side of the fence. They grab everything they can and stash it behind a line of trees.

“Time to go,” Fischer says. “They’ll be here any minute, and Tye and Libee need time to get away.”

I grab one last box and bolt for the fence. As I slip under, my hair catches. It’s too long. I haven’t had it cut since before Jamie was taken all those months ago.

Fischer drops his load and works to untangle the hair. I glance at him and smile my thanks. Memories of his words from earlier in the dome fill my mind, and heat floods my cheeks. Thankfully everyone is in too big a hurry to notice.

Now free, I hurry through the hole and make it to the trees. Fischer hides beside me while we wait for Tye and Libee to drive away. They have to lead the guards away from us before we can take everything back to the skyscraper.

Fischer’s hand brushes mine and I close my eyes. I try ignoring the way my stomach flip flops at his touch, but it’s impossible. I’m glad I don’t have much time right now to focus on our relationship.

The transport truck rumbles away, and we wait a few minutes to make sure it’s safe to leave. When we’re sure the area is clear, we begin the long trek back to the skyscraper while carrying supplies. Les stays back to guard everything else between trips.

I glance at him, surprised he would volunteer for the job. He grins and my goose bumps return. I look back to the path in front of me. He is definitely not what I want to think about right now.

By the time we reach the skyscraper, my arms ache. Sweat rolls down Keegan’s forehead, but he doesn’t seem all that winded. “Let’s drop the supplies here,” he says. We’re at the first floor. “Let everyone upstairs come down and carry it up. We’ve got to go back.”

The group agrees, and Keegan jogs up the stairs two at a time to recruit help.

“Here.” Fischer holds out a bottle of water and I take it without question. It’s warm, but I don’t even care. It washes my fatigue away.

Keegan is back in amazing time, and we’re out the door for our second load. “That went as well as can be expected,” he says.

I glance at him and nod. “Actually, it went better than I expected.”

The group walks in silence as the sun beats down on us. A thought nags at the back of my mind. It bogs down my thinking and no matter how I try to push it away, it won’t budge. Finally, I clear my throat and voice my concern.

“We’ll never see Tye and Libee again, will we?”

Keegan’s face drops almost imperceptibly, but I know him. His answer is barely a whisper. “I doubt it.”

Did they realize what they were getting into when they volunteered to help us? I’m not sure and now I’ll probably never know. Still, they risked their lives to join our group. And they probably lost their lives in the process. It’s been hours now. Did they make it out?

The thoughts plague me until we reach Les. He leans against the tree, munching on something from one of the boxes. Guard Rok frowns but doesn’t reprimand him. Everyone grabs a box and we immediately begin the walk back.

It’s going to be a long night.

After four trips, we have everything back at the skyscraper. My back hurts. My hands hurt. My legs hurt. Basically, everything hurts. No one else seems to feel any better.

Isabel and I sit in a leaning position against a wall on the eighteenth floor, both of us eating more than we’ve eaten in days.

“Do you think it was worth it? Even if Tye and Libee were captured?” The only thing I can see in my mind’s eye is Frost Moon. He isn’t going to let us get away with this.

Isabel takes a deep breath. She doesn’t answer at first, measuring her words carefully. Finally, she speaks. “I knew exactly what I was getting into when I left Lesser City 4 with you. This—all this—is nothing more than I expected. I know I’ll probably die before this fight is over. I hope everyone realizes the same thing.”

I shake my head. “I don’t think Tye or Libee realized it. I think they died, and they wouldn’t have if I would have stayed put in Lesser 4.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Hana,” Isabel says. “If you hadn’t started this particular crusade, someone else would have started another. The people have been enslaved to the Greaters long enough, and they’re tired of it.”

Her words don’t soothe me, but they do remind me of something else. “Today at the dome, you knew which way to go. How did you know?”

Again she pauses. Today when I asked, she didn’t answer. I’m beginning to think she’s going to keep her secret, but then she shifts and sighs. “It’s where I met your mom. We were gathering there to discuss the Middle Cities and how they might be of better use to us. It was a convention.”

My skin tingles as I remember her claims of knowing Mom. It can’t be true. Why would Mom lie about that? “Mom said she grew up a Middle. She had stories of her childhood and everything.”

Isabel shrugs. “We grew up in the same city—Greater City. We became fast friends once we met. She was going to marry your daddy, I guess. She was going to move to Middle 3 but continue her military work.”

“What was her work?” Suddenly I remember something Frost Moon said. Something he hinted at—Mom’s work. He wanted to know what she’d told me about it.

Nothing but lies, apparently.

Isabel shakes her head. “She didn’t tell me what she was working on, just like I didn’t tell her what I had worked on in the past. No one was supposed to know about the outer Lesser Cities, and I suppose no one was supposed to know what she worked on, either.”

So many secrets, but her words nag me. Even when the group—which has grown to over a hundred people now—lies down to sleep for the night, my mind races with questions. Why did Frost Moon want to know if I was aware of Mom’s projects? Why would it matter to me?

A fleeting memory races across my brain. The hospital in Middle City 3 as they prepared to take Mom away. Mom grabbed my hands and whispered, There’s more.

More what? She must have been trying to tell me something. Mom was involved in Frost Moon’s scheme. I should have asked, but I didn’t.

Tears burn my eyes and I squeeze them shut. No. Mom wasn’t a monster like him. She couldn’t have been helping him.

At some point I fall into a cold, dreamless sleep, but my last thought is of Middle City 3. There is one person there who might be able to give me answers. The thought of going home is so alluring, and seeing Dad makes my throat burn with tears.

Unfortunately, I’m the last person he wants to see.