Chapter Twenty-Three

 

Pandora hesitated at the door before barging in with the fires still burning in her chest. She'd made it from the Lazona to the Terreno in half the time it would have normally taken.

Her mother was seated at the desk, scribbling in a ledger with her good hand, the one made of steel and bone and gold holding down the book.

"You're not supposed to be here. Go back to the Pajot," said her mother without looking up.

"I came here to talk, and that's what we're going to do," said Pandora.

The glancing glare was like a shock to her system. Pandora hated the way her mother had that control over her.

"You'll be lucky if he lets you live, considering you did everything you could to sabotage our plan in the Drops."

"It was old men and women and children in that building. Three died. Lucky it wasn't more."

"That's good. Maybe you should have thought about how to minimize casualties yourself. It seems whoever did it for you knew how to do their job," said her mother with a smirk.

"This isn't how it's supposed to go down," said Pandora, regretting the words as soon as they left her lips.

Her mother looked right through her. "That's not for you to decide. Now leave, before I grow cross."

She reached inside the top drawer. When the brass clicker appeared, Pandora Pulled it to her hand. The object's sudden departure left her mother snarling.

"I don't think you realize how big of a mistake that was."

Using the opal, Pandora enhanced her muscles, squeezing the clicker until it bent to an unusable state. She shoved it into an inside pocket so it couldn't be repaired later.

"Mother. Selena. Let's forget this place. If you want, we can leave right now. Look what he's done to you. Before long, you won't be human anymore. There'll be nothing left but spite."

"Cutting out the weakest part would be a boon. It's what's driving you to mistakes, letting that human need for connection blind you from your path. You could be great. That ability is in you, but you must carve away the weakness."

"No."

Her mother set down the pen and gave Pandora her full attention. Her expression was a mix of pity and contempt.

"It's Emilio's family that has you confused."

"It's more than that," she said, but didn't want to air her thoughts knowing that they'd be used against her.

"If you want to save them from the coming storm, I can give you an elixir with which to knock them out, keep them safe until it's over. Once they see how their world has changed, they will acquiesce." She blinked. "Or they won't."

"It's happening soon?"

Selena tensed. It was barely perceptible and quickly smoothed over with a contemptuous smile, but Pandora knew she'd seen it.

"As you can see, you were not trusted with this knowledge because of your past failures. Had you killed the Razor boy, or set the explosives, things might have been different. As I said, you'll be lucky to come away with your skin intact after all is over. I had to beg for your life, and you know how much that cost me."

The war was coming. Not soon, but now. A hundred thoughts raced through her head, none of them supporting her mother's plan. Is this who I am?

"Leave me," said her mother, slamming the book shut with authority. "I have errands to run. You'd best get back to your precious Drops if you want to save your friends." The half of her face that had been replaced with steel and bone after the accident twitched. "A word of this to anyone will ensure your fate. Do not tempt him to remove your disobedience once and for all. A second round of training would eliminate what's left of your weakness."

Adrenaline flooded her body. Pandora wanted only to flee the room and the Undercity. Anything other than being sent back to training. What a benign word, hiding the truth in its torturous claws.

"I don't need retraining."

Her mother hesitated before her office door. "Good. But prove it. Be the daughter I've always wanted you to be. Dismissed."

Pandora found herself outside the building before her mind had caught up with her actions. The earlier defiance seemed foolish. Childish even. What had she been thinking? If the plan was at its final stages, then there wasn't anything she could do. Her best course of action was to stay away from the Pajot and wait for it all to be over and then hope that the punishment for her failures wouldn't be too severe.

She headed the opposite direction to clear her thoughts. As she rounded the bend near Hotel Endless, Pandora glanced back, catching sight of her mother in a hooded cloak, hurrying the opposite way with a stainless steel cylindrical cannister in her bone–and-steel fist. There was an insignia on the top, but she couldn't tell what it was other than the color black.

Curiosity battled with her mother's authority, the former winning out as Pandora hoped to have more information for a decision. Using the sapphire radar to keep tabs on her mother without being in eyeshot, Pandora followed at a meandering pace.

When she disappeared down an alleyway, Pandora feared she'd lost her until she realized that it was an exit into the caverns outside the Terreno. She kept up her surveillance, finding the tunnel leading in a direction she was unfamiliar with. Voices stilled her feet. Pandora leaned against the wall, determining that there were eight figures in the cavern with her mother. She risked a peek to see a group of Blue Daggers circled around her mother, licking their lips in anticipation. When she lifted the top of the cylinder, revealing a carousel of blue vials, Pandora realized what was happening. The Blue Daggers were being paid in Eclipse for their support.

Pandora retreated back to the Terreno before one of the Blue Daggers scanned the area with their amber, revealing her hiding place. She wandered through the wide streets, ignoring the few vendors hawking their wares as she wondered what she could do to stop the war. She was deep in planning before she realized she was opposed to her grandfather's plans. Pandora had come to the Undercity prepared to carry out his wishes in subjugating the clans. She'd been willing to do anything. At least until she'd lived with the Drops and met Kuma. If her grandfather's plans came to fruition, all the people she cared about in the Undercity would be dead. She couldn't let that happen, but she was only one person. Stopping the shipment of Eclipse might slow or halt the plan, but there was no way she could take on eight Blue Daggers by herself.

Vertigo overtook her with the realization that she was no longer following her grandfather's plan. Defiance would come with a price, one that she'd have to pay eventually, but she couldn't carry out his brutal mission. All the training in the world couldn’t convince her to kill the people she'd grown to love. Triana and Vasy's faces rose into her vision, followed by Emilio’s and finally Kuma’s. The last came with more than fondness.

When she'd been sent to the Undercity, she'd thought the clans were like the gangs of her youth, undisciplined and brutal, their purpose almost entirely criminal. While the Undercity clans certainly carried out the same ruthless illegal acts she was well familiar with, they seemed to be trying to create something larger than themselves as well. Had created. She looked around the Terreno to see a place that had been built with that purpose in mind. Even if they didn't know it, they wanted to come together into a larger society. The Terreno was proof of that.

Her grandfather's rule would strip away the society that had been built. She knew all too well how he operated. There would be obedience. Period. Nothing less would be tolerated.

Lost in thought as she wandered the Terreno, she didn't realize there were three people staring at her from the shadows of an alleyway until her mind caught up with her eyes. A warmth filled her midsection as she found Kuma staring at her with equal interest. Had his friends, Camina and Tick, not been standing at his side, she would have thrown her arms around him with the same exuberance as a drowning person to a lifeline.

But this was the Terreno. Snooping eyes were everywhere. She acknowledged their presence with a barely perceptible nod, then turned the opposite direction, heading to an exit while watching them with her sapphire. They didn't follow right away.

Outside the flashing lights of the Terreno, Pandora waited for them in a side cavern with her exit to her back in case she'd misread their intention. Not long after she set up, the three Razor members entered.

The girl with the slicked-back hair and darkened eyes turned towards Kuma with a snarl on her lips.

"We're here to kill her, right?"