10

SURVIVAL INSTINCTS

HE’S ALIVE. OR whatever counts as being alive in the Outers. Even pixilated on the holo-screen, Cale’s face is the same as I remember. Rugged, angular, and entirely unforgiving. The skin of his temple has been partially peeled back, revealing the glint of dull metal. We exiled him to the Outers to die, yet here he is, standing strong with an army of Reptiles at his back.

I should be surprised, but I’m not. Cale has always been a survivor. I suppose that when you’re created to die, you learn how to survive as a default. Even if it means becoming something loathsome—part man, part creature. The thought of it makes my blood curdle. Cale wanted to be king of Neospes. He’ d almost succeeded in erasing Caden. And now it looks like he’s a king after all… King of the Reptiles.

Sauer clears his throat. “This is unexpected.”

“Understatement of the century,” Caden mutters. “Guy’s like a cockroach, you can’t get rid of him.”

My mouth twists. “Stubborn genes.” Caden has never been known to run from anything. Stands to reason his clone would still be fighting for what he thinks is rightfully his. “Coupled with a strong survival instinct. Take everything you know about yourself and multiply it by meaner, harder, and tougher.”

“Thanks,” Caden says. “My uber-evil doppelganger sounds awesome.”

“You can see that he’ll stop at nothing.” I glance at my mother whose face is ashen, glued to the hologram. “Even uniting with the Reptiles to take back Neospes—in bones and ashes, if he has to.”

Sauer pulls up some schematics on another section of the screen. “They’ve got the entire dome surrounded—that is, any part not bordered by the Peaks.”

“So, we’re protected here?” Caden says. “We should evacuate everyone to this area, at least until Danton can reactivate the Vector army to defend the city walls. They’ll be safe.”

“Yes and no,” Sauer responds, studying the line of Reptiles. “If the Vectors are unsuccessful, then we’ll be stuck in a death trap. There’s nowhere to go but the Outers, and with dwindling supplies, it’ll be a slow death by starvation and dehydration.”

“But the rebels lived here for years. Right, Aurela?”

My mother turns slowly, snapping out of her fog. “Only with regular supply shipments from Sector Seven. If the dome is breached…” She doesn’t have to finish her statement. If the dome falls, we all fall.

“How many of them do you think there are?” I ask Sauer. “The Reptiles? A few thousand?”

He nods. “Four or five, maybe more. We have no idea if this is all of them. The Lord King—my apologies,” he says flushing, with an embarrassed look at Caden. “Cale was a master of strategy.” Sauer jabs at the images on the screen. “It’s possible this scene is only what he wants us to see.”

“The tip of the iceberg,” Caden murmurs.

Sauer frowns. “The what?”

“Iceberg,” I explain. “In the Otherworld, it’s a giant floating piece of ice that is dangerous because the bulk of it rests beneath the ocean’s surface. The Lord King is saying that we have no way of seeing what’s hidden.”

“How many Vectors do we have?” Caden asks. “If we were to launch an offensive?”

Aurela marches to the table, her earlier emotion replaced by determination. At one point, she’ d cared for Cale as much as I did. I’ll admit that seeing him out there surrounded by Reptiles had been painful for a sharp second, but I’ d said my good-byes to Cale after he betrayed me. And that thing out there isn’t Cale. Not anymore.

“Not enough to sustain an offensive,” she says. “Defense, only.” She presses a series of numbers, opening a communications line to my father’s lab. His face pops up on the screen, eclipsing all the other data for a second. Aurela wastes no time. “Danton, how long before the first line of Vectors is up and running?”

Ignoring her, Danton peers at me through the two-way comms screen. “You look terrible, Riven. Had fun on your little expedition?”

“Answer the question.”

“Hours,” he says, his eyes fixed on me. “Less.”

“We need them now,” Aurela snaps.

“Aren’t we demanding? Fine.” He waves a careless hand. “Give me a few minutes to test that the programming is online and functional, and you’ll have your army.” His eyes narrow and move from me to Aurela, before taking in the rest of the room. “Why the sudden urgency?”

“Because you were wrong,” she says. “We are under attack.”

I frown, watching my father’s face—nothing indicates surprise or shock. My memory flits to the Reptile soldier, Dorn, whom I’ d mentioned earlier in the lab. My father had tried to conceal that man’s programming when he’ d infiltrated the dome. Danton had said it was for my safety, but maybe he’ d known all along what the Reptiles were capable of.

“It’s Cale,” I say. “He’s the leader.”

Danton’s gaze swerves to mine across the video feed. “Cale,” he says in an intrigued voice. “Wasn’t he exiled?”

“He was. He’s a Reptile now.”

My father blinks. “He always was… driven.”

He says nothing more so Aurela disconnects the call and turns back to us. “We don’t have many options. Even if Danton completes the first wave, we’ll only have a few hundred Vectors to face off against thousands.” She rakes her fingers through her hair. “The dome may hold against a prolonged siege, but our defenses will falter.”

“How long?” Caden asks.

“Two weeks, maybe. Three, max.”

We stare at each other, with only one option viable. We have enough time to make it to Avaria and return with reinforcements. The distance between the cities is about five thousand miles. Still, the conditions aren’t friendly and we have no idea what to expect between here and there.

I clear my throat. “By hovercraft, we could be in Avaria in three or four days. Come back with help.”

“That’s three days of straight driving,” Sauer interjects. “And that’s if we don’t run into any trouble.”

“We could do it in shifts, and it’s not like we have any other choice. We either go for help, or stay and hope that we can hold Cale off.” Given the numbers, Sauer and I know that that’s a long shot, even with the Vectors.

“Wait, can’t we just evert there?” Caden suggests. “You know, go to the Otherworld, then take a plane and head to South America—it’s the same geography—and then evert back? That’ll only take a few hours, and that’s how Cristobal does it.”

“It’s not that simple,” Aurela says, waving a hand to bring up an atlas showing the topography of Neospes and its surrounding environs. Swishing her fingers together, she condenses the map and overlays it with another—a map of the Otherworld. The outline of the landmasses are similar, but they don’t line up exactly when you look closely. There are huge pockets of eroded zones, which means there is a lot of room for error… and death. “Without Cristobal with us, there are too many unknowns. You could evert right into an oil swamp. Our only option is to go by ground on this side, as Riven’s proposed. Take our chances with whatever’s out there.”

“We need a team,” Sauer says decisively. “Caden has to go to formalize the liaison. Riven, you should probably—”

“I’m going,” I say, staring him down. “You won’t last a day without me. And there’s no way I’m letting Caden go to a strange city on his own, diplomatic liaison or not. We have no idea why they’ d choose to form an alliance now when, by all accounts, they have a secret paradise. You have to wonder what they want from us in exchange.”

I don’t miss the look that Caden and Aurela share. My eyes narrow. “Wait. You already know what they want.”

She nods. “Your father.”

“Danton?” I collapse back into the seat behind me, my brain adding together the missing pieces—they want him because of what he knows, what he can do. Because of me. “That’s why Era was so intent on finding him. It wasn’t the Vectors. It’s because you need him for the agreement you have with these people. Don’t get me wrong. I hate the man, but you know what he’s capable of. You’re just going to hand him over to them?”

“It was their only stipulation,” Aurela says gently. “He’ll be treated well, Riven.”

“I don’t care if they starve him,” I snap. “He is a liability.” Not to mention a brilliant robotics scientist with an uncanny knack for manipulating his way out of any situation, and one who just happens to have an intimate knowledge of all Neospes’s secrets. “Caden, this is madness. You can’t—”

“It’s done. It’s the only way we could save Neospes.”

“Aurela, Danton knows too much.” I take a breath and hold her stare. “What about what he knows about me?”

“Riven—”

“The man’s a psychotic egomaniac, but he is our asset,” I argue. “We’re not just unleashing him on them, we’re giving a society we know nothing about a weapon to use against us. We’re vulnerable enough. How can we trust them?”

“They’re giving us their sovereign in return,” Sauer says. “Trust me, we’re getting the better end of this deal.”

“Sounds like a great trade.” I can’t keep the sarcasm out of my voice. I refuse to look at Caden or my mother. Call me a skeptic, but something is off. And it’s not because I’m jealous—though I am. The thought of handing my father over to strangers bodes well for no one. I take a deep breath, placing my hands flat on the table. “Fine, but for the record, it’s a shitty idea. Get the team ready, we leave at nightfall.”

I exit the room without a backward glance. My robotics flicker out the minute I leave the room. I need space, away from everything and everyone.

I don’t realize where I’m going until I’m halfway across Sector Three and heading toward my old house in Sector Two. My father’s house. From the outside, it looks the same as the last time I saw it, except the flowers that once bloomed around its base have become nothing but brown clumps of dead leaves. I study the minimalist white abode. My father had caught Caden and me making out here. I feel a faint flush rise up my neck, and shove it away. No use thinking about Caden or any of that now. In the next few days, he’ll belong to someone else.

I glance up to the cameras dotting the landscape and make an obscene gesture, knowing someone will be watching. The symbol is from the Otherworld, but I’m pretty sure they’ll get the message.

Navigating the treacherous rocks edging the gorge at the back of the house, I swing myself down off the lip to find the hidden zip line in a shallow cave. I can’t believe it’s still there. Then again, titanium alloy is basically indestructible.

Grabbing the small metal lead hooked into the stone, I kick my feet out and take the leap. Exhilarated, I close my eyes as my body flies over the rocky gorge, the wind blowing in my face as the stone face of the other side rushes to meet me. To an onlooker, it would appear as though I was about to crash into the far side of the gorge, but it’s all part of the illusion I’ d built to deter prying eyes. Despite the knowledge, the rush is the same—the feeling of danger making my heart trip seconds before my feet kick past the material mimicking the rock around it, and I land safely in the cave beyond.

Automatic motion sensors power up, illuminating the roughly hewn space with soft white light. It’s connected to a solar panel hidden above a rock shelf on the cliff face. One good thing about Neospes—we get plenty of sun, which means lots of solar energy. A compact bedroll is tucked away in the corner along with a store of dried food and portable hydration packs. A collection of odds and ends litters the side of the cave—weapons, games, and childhood treasures. This cave had been my hideaway. My refuge. Feeling safe for the first time in months, I lie back on the bedroll and close my eyes.

But what seems like minutes later, I’m awakened by a scrabbling noise that has me on my feet in a hot second, ninjatas at the ready. Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I take a few breaths and force myself awake. Approaching the mouth of the cave that’s covered by the holo-screen, I listen carefully. The scraping is getting louder—something is out there, and it’s heading right toward me. I flatten my body against the cave mouth and raise my swords just as something presses into the side of the curtain. The canopy is pushed to the side, a shadowy mass blocking the light. I pull my blade back, ready to deliver a killing blow.

“Riven? You in here?”

“Caden!” I gasp and withdraw my weapon, dragging him inside, and letting the screen reseal to the rock face. “You fool, I nearly killed you. What are you doing here?”

“I followed you,” he grunts.

“How’ d you get over here?” He’s sweating and his breathing is labored.

“Climbed.”

I stare at him. “It’s fifty feet on either side.”

“What can I say? I’m determined.”

“Or you have a death wish. You could have fallen and broken your neck. And then where would your precious alliance be?”

“Well, I didn’t fall, did I?” He shrugs and studies my cave. “I always wondered what it was like inside when you pointed it out to me last time. Cool.”

I’m quiet as I watch him. I’m not sure that I have anything to say, not after the earlier heated exchange in the Peaks.

“So no dolls, then?” He grins.

“I played with weapons, not dolls.”

“I see that.” He examines my eclectic collection of items. “What’s this?”

He’s holding a book my father had given me after the Games of my seventh summer. I’ d forgotten about it. I take it from him. “My father gave it to me. It’s a collection of poems. A chapbook, he called it, left over from the war, from some anonymous person.”

Caden’s eyebrows launch into his hairline. “Danton Quinn likes poetry?”

I shrug. “He wasn’t always a jackass. He used to like other things before the science took over. Before the power got to him. There were times, glimpses really, where I could see that he was proud of me. Not me, the thing. Me, the kid.” I exhale slowly. “But whatever, it meant nothing. It’s a valuable relic, that’s why I kept it.”

I pass it back to him. He runs his finger along the worn leather of the binding and leafs through the brittle, yellow pages. He’s quiet for a while, studying the inked words. “These are amazing. Maybe they were his way of telling you what he felt.”

“Those poems are about love, Caden. If they were written in programming code, maybe I could believe that.”

He turns to a well-worn page, and I flush. It’s a poem I know by heart. “Why does your heart hide,” he reads, “when it knows only the obvious comfort of a love fully returned, so beautiful it renders the world tearful… and I, as silent as you.”

I look away, biting my lip, even though the words are seared into my brain. Suddenly the cave seems smaller, suffocating. I snatch the chapbook from his hand and snap it closed, my breath hitching in my throat. The combination of Caden’s presence, the poem’s meaning, and the look in his eyes is unraveling me thread by fragile thread.

“They’re just stupid poems about nothing.”

“Riven—”

“Want to do something fun?” There’s a bright, desperate edge to my voice that I can’t quite conceal.

“Sure.”

“How good is your boarding, as in skateboarding?”

He frowns. “Decent.”

I rummage around the back of the cave, and hand him a curved steel board, hefting a similar one under my arm. “Ever try hoverboarding?”

“Where… out there on the half pipe from hell?” His eyes flare with excitement at the sleek-looking hoverboard.

I nod and raise an eyebrow. “It’s a rush like no other.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Come on, don’t be a chicken.” Pressing the power button, the board comes to life in my hands. “It’s easy—the board will stay about a foot off the ground, but the rocks make it interesting. Just don’t fall,” I yell over my shoulder as I leap onto the deck and carve my way sharply down the stony canyon face.

“And you call me the one with the death wish,” Caden yells. But he doesn’t let fear of a bone-crushing fall stop him, and follows, showing off with a shaky ollie on the topside of the gorge’s lip.

“Fancy moves get you killed,” I say zooming past him.

“Says the girl with no game at all.”

I grin, and tip my toes forward on the hoverboard’s nose to increase my speed. I do my version of a kickflip on the far side, watching the board oscillate beneath me before landing firmly back onto its deck. “Beat that!”

I’m too busy boasting and not looking where I’m going. The hoverboard tilts off a particularly large rock and the sudden imbalance has me struggling to stay upright. It’s a losing battle. I brace myself as I tumble into the unforgiving side of the ravine. My arms whip around my head to protect it as I roll to a final, brutal stop, gasping for breath.

“Riven!”

“I’m fine,” I croak, but even speech causes my ribcage to hitch painfully.

Caden swoops to my side, leaping off his hoverboard, his brow furrowed. “Can you move? Should I call Sauer? Your mother?”

“No.” I grimace, wincing at the sting radiating up through my back. The nanobes are rushing around trying to repair the damage, but it’s extensive, and I know it will take a while. “Help me back to the cave,” I grit out. “I have a medkit.”

Caden lifts me gently, but even the smallest movement has me flinching. I’m lucky that I didn’t crack my skull open. Half splayed on Caden’s hoverboard, we make our way back to the cave. The hoverboard powers down and I roll onto the cot.

“Where is it?” Caden asks.

“In the back. Near the book. Silver. Syringe.”

The meds will take the edge off, and hopefully the nanobes will do the rest. Doesn’t help that I feel like throwing up. What was I thinking?

Caden slides the needle into my leg and I immediately feel the cool rush.

I flinch. “That was dumb.”

“But you get points for sheer awesomeness.”

“Thanks,” I manage, my face hurting from trying to smile. “I don’t think the rock missed a single inch of me. I got worked.”

Caden kneels near the bedroll. “Here, let me.” His fingers slide along my back, releasing the catch of my suit.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re bleeding. It could get infected.”

“It won’t.”

“Can I just check, or are you going to talk the whole time?” His fingers are feather light against my neck, sliding the zipper down along my spine. I’m wearing flimsy undergarments beneath the suit, but it’s not like I was expecting taking it off in mixed company. The suit works better when it’s attuned to me with no extra layers in between. I blush and meet Caden’s eyes, but the only thing filling them is worry.

“How bad is it?” I ask.

“Pretty bad.”

“Use the stuff in the clear bottle from the kit,” I say. “It’s a tissue repair agent. It’ll help. The nanobes will get the rest eventually.”

Caden is incredibly gentle as he swabs the liquid onto a cloth and applies it down the length of my back. “I’m going to turn you around, if that’s all right,” he says in an oddly tight voice. I nod and help maneuver my body around so my back is against the floor with Caden crouched over me. His fingers peel the rest of the suit off my shoulders and down my torso, exposing my serviceable bra, before they skip down the sides of my ribs. He pauses, his fingertips skimming my skin, coating the wound with the liquid repair salve. He sucks in a breath.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. It’s just… amazing.” His eyes meet mine, full of wonder. “I can see the robotics working beneath your skin, healing from the inside out. It’s incredible.”

“Perks of being a cyborg.”

“You’re incredible,” he whispers, as if I hadn’t spoken.

I clamp my lips shut, acutely aware of his achingly tender touch on my bare skin, not to mention that I’m half-naked with the boy I love with no one around to remind us of who we are and what we should or shouldn’t be doing. The meds are working faster than I expected, eclipsing my pain with things I shouldn’t be feeling. Not now. Not anymore. I want to stop him, honestly, I do. But I can’t… not when he inches the suit over my hips and down each leg. If his ragged breathing is any indication, I know he’s feeling as unhinged as I am. A butterfly touch caresses the inside of my sole and flutters up my calf before brushing the side of my thigh.

“Caden…”

“Shhh, just let me enjoy this for one second,” he says, his hands continuing their journey over the tops of my legs, the backs of his knuckles sliding across the thin material to the hard, exposed ridges of my stomach.

“Enjoy what?” I manage.

“You being at my complete and utter mercy.” Half-stooped over me, Caden’s hands are grasping mine now, lying just over my head.

A breathless sound escapes my lips. “I’m not human, remember? I’m not at anyone’s mercy, least of all yours.”

He bends his head to brush a kiss across my cheek, holding my hands in place. “You look pretty human to me,” he says right before his lips settle on mine in an exceedingly possessive kiss, one meant to remind me of exactly how human I am. I open my mouth and sigh, giving in to the sweetly coaxing demands of his lips.

Before I know it, we’ve twisted on the bedroll and I’m lying flush on top of him, his hands kneading my backside and my lower back. I have no idea where his shirt went, only that we’re skin to skin, and his pants are undone. In a smooth motion, Caden flips me over, his lips following the hot path of his hands and then nibbling their way upward back to my mouth. Pain forgotten, I’m awash in a sea of blissful sensation, one that’s flooding me from head to toe, until the only thing I feel is this boy.

The Lord King of Neospes.

The thought is a swift, brutal dose of reality.

“Caden, we can’t,” I say against his mouth, struggling to gather my thoughts and rein in my racing pulse. I slam my palms against his bare chest, feeling his pulse leap wildly at my touch. “I can’t.”

He pulls away. Understanding shimmers across his face as he brushes a strand of hair off my cheek. I can tell he doesn’t want to stop, but he’s not the kind of boy to force himself on anyone. I can see the dark blush of passion in his eyes and I can feel it in his body against me. I don’t want to stop either, but I’m scared, and if I don’t end it now, I won’t be able to. Getting lost in Caden is an all-too-easy proposition and there’s so much on the line… so much to lose.

But staring up into his face, my entire future flashes before my eyes. And it’s bleak. It’s empty without him. Life is about taking chances. It’s not tomorrow when we’re on our way to some strange city. It’s not in a year from now. It’s today. It’s now. I don’t want to lose him, not yet, not when I have him here right now with me. In this moment, he’s mine. As I am his.

Caden doesn’t have to say a word. I know he’ll do whatever I want. I slide my fingers up his chest to his neck and through the fine hairs above his temple, feeling his heart thudding harshly into mine.

“What are you thinking?” I ask him.

“That there’ll only ever be you for me.”

“What about the alliance?”

“It’s an alliance.” He taps his head. “That’s here.” His hand slides to his heart nestled between us. “You’re here. Just you.”

I swallow hard. Instead of responding, I pull his head down to mine, and run my palms down the sides of his muscled back, hooking a knee upward to tug his pants down with my toes. The position makes us both gasp.

“Riv,” he whispers. “Is this what you want?”

“Yes. I’ve never been more sure of anything.”

“Are you okay? I mean, you’re still hurt.”

I grab his chin with my free hand, this time locking both legs up around his waist with a wild, unrestrained grin. “Perks of being a cyborg.”