The bright light spilling into the Pantheon’s central square was almost blinding, although I could tell instantly it wasn’t natural. As we disembarked from the trams with the workers, it occurred to me that I’d spent the best part of two days away from daylight – and it had been quietly suffocating. We were surrounded by grand, imposing Romanesque-style buildings, but it was only when I looked skywards that my breath deserted me entirely.
The Arafel Elders had said there was a roof like the sky at the top, but that didn’t do justice to the extent of Octavia’s insanity. Beyond the haga nests, there were dozens of smaller coloured circles disappearing into the pale blue expanse. It felt as though we were looking out on an entire galaxy of stars and planets, and that Pantheon was the centre of them all. It was the most elaborate work of deceptive art I’d ever seen; and the sight was as spellbinding as it was terrifying.
Not content with playing with the inhabitants’ DNA, Octavia was also engineering Pantheon’s view of the outside world. As I stared, one of the planetary balls suddenly whirred and descended from the sky at breakneck speed. There was a general murmur of acknowledgement as the large ball came to rest about twenty metres above us, and both Pantheonites and Prolets stepped back expectantly.
There were a few quiet clicks and then the entire ball rolled over, revealing a flattened, rectangular edge, which suddenly flooded with light. Seconds later, the dome’s central white square burst into life with an image so real I felt I could reach out and touch it.
The five-metre-high full-colour picture of the city in ruins after the Great War hung momentarily upon the air, the white floor disappearing into heaps of rubble and dusty concrete. After a few seconds, it flickered and disappeared before another came up. This time it was an image of the forest, blackened and charred, with no evidence of life.
They looked so real I wondered if I could pass right into the picture and stand among the grim, charcoaled remains. I was transfixed as image after image flickered past, their message unequivocal: outside life was dead or changed beyond recognition, and Pantheon was the new world. Octavia was leaving nothing to chance, and the propaganda was frighteningly convincing.
The raucous cry of circling haga high above among the fabricated planetary system interrupted my concentration and a new, steely determination spread throughout my core. Octavia was not going to get away with this. The natural world was recovering, it was where people belonged – and the Insiders deserved to know the truth.
I sensed August’s watchful eyes across the throngs of people, and met his gaze squarely. I’d be crazy to believe such a senior member of her Government had completely switched allegiances. I couldn’t trust him, no matter how much I wanted to. He strode up to two of the guards observing the crowd from the tram station, his cloak discarded. They regarded him with a mixture of surprise and deference, it was clearly highly unusual for a Pantheon knight to emerge from the Prolet trams.
Swiftly, I recalled the agreement in Aelia’s cave. If the guards believed he was undertaking classified research for Octavia, we should all board the sky train – but if he was arrested, we were to disperse and find our own way to Octavia’s suite.
I caught sight of Max’s healthy-looking face among the scores of paler Prolets and wished he’d had the foresight to whiten his outside-tanned skin. He flashed me a concerned look, and I knew instinctively he was thinking the same thing. Aelia was close behind him and reached up to whisper something.
I frowned, and glanced back at August. He and the guards were sharing a joke – so far so good. He gesticulated to the middle of the queue before walking towards it. Clearly, Octavia hadn’t yet issued instructions for his arrest and my hopes soared; perhaps we stood a chance after all.
With a benign smile plastered to his face, he strolled onto the long white vehicle that awaited its Prolet workforce. I grimaced to myself. It would be so easy and so logical for him to turn us all in now. He could re-establish himself in Octavia’s favour, claim some heroic purpose even. The moment made so much sense I almost couldn’t believe it when the guard blew his whistle, and waved us past with an expression of extreme boredom pinned to his face.
I dropped my head and shuffled forward with the rest of my queue, who were being split three ways for different destinations. The shrill whistle blew again and I steeled myself for what was coming next. It was time to board the sky train.
Prolets travelled in the rear carriages, and there were no seats. I found myself squashed up against a grubby window, staring right into the municipal heart of Pantheon. Unlike the Prolet underworld, this world was bright and sterile. There were no laboratory mistakes wandering the wide, busy streets, and Pantheonites were tall, smartly dressed, and smiling. Silently I raged. How could they smile at this clinical world built by the blood and sweat of so many others?
A group of young children, hair tightly braided, walked down the centre of one of the streets, under the watchful eye of two schoolteachers. They stopped to look up at an imposing stone carving of a female warrior carrying an outstretched sword. She marked the entrance to a grand, porticoed building and I knew without doubt she had to be Bellona, the Roman goddess of war.
If Octavia observed every detail of the ancient Roman world, then this had to be the place her Senate met. I pressed my nails into my hands, as each child scribbled something on a small board they carried. In Arafel, the children ran freely through the trees.
Everywhere I looked there was life, but there was something fundamentally wrong. The buildings were too white, the occasional green lawns too manicured, and the streets too clean. Nothing was out of place and it was oppressive and terrifying. It was too clinical, too perfect. Too Octavia.
An unfamiliar whirring noise started beneath the train, and I caught my breath as I glanced down at the floor. It was completely transparent! As the whirring noise intensified and the ground started to race away, I felt warm fingers graze my hand and looked up to see Max’s calm profile. A quick glance around the packed space assured me that no one was particularly interested in us, and I relaxed a little.
‘Thought we were keeping our distance,’ I whispered through fixed lips.
‘We are, but this is going to get messy, Tal, and I needed to say something.’
My eyes flew up to his. I was so psyched already. What on earth couldn’t wait until after we had raided Octavia’s suite? The train jolted and as I grabbed the nearest handrail, the view beneath my feet made my stomach turn a complete somersault. Somehow we had left the ground behind, and were flying, trackless, through the air.
Mesmerized, I gazed down at the entire city of Pantheon laid out beneath us. From this distance, it looked beautiful. The bright, white, interconnecting streets were toy-like from this distance, and the people wandering them, tiny wooden dolls. At various intersections there were huge, monumental arches and columns, and right in the centre there was a circular structure that was far bigger than anything else in the city. It looked familiar somehow, though that was impossible. I guessed it had to be some kind of Government building, given its imposing size and intricate design, with ornate arches built into the stonework at regular intervals.
‘It’s your friend – August,’ Max continued, glancing down at me. His eyes were full of Arafel, but there was something else in them today, something I didn’t recognize. ‘I don’t trust him. The way he looks at you, it’s wrong, like he owns you or something.’
I bit my lip. I knew exactly what Max meant, there was something different in the way August looked at me. It was an intense, thoughtful look – like he was committing every detail to memory. I looked at my feet. The last thing Max needed was confirmation, and we had to find Eli and Grandpa – with or without August.
‘He’s not my friend. And I don’t know what you mean,’ I lied through gritted teeth.
‘He wants something from you, Tal,’ Max continued in an odd, low voice, ‘and you can’t trust anyone in here. Just stay close, and know that I’ve got your back.’
The irony of being told to stay close by two men highly suspicious of one another was not lost on me. I frowned.
‘I could say the same of you,’ I whispered bluntly. ‘What exactly happened to you when we first arrived anyway?’
He was his turn to look a little awkward. ‘I made it across the holding bay, and then the dome floor. By the time I reached the tunnels every guard in Pantheon was chasing me. And then they suddenly stopped. I couldn’t understand why, but I jumped onto one of the empty trams. Of course, I quickly discovered the tunnels weren’t as friendly as I thought. If it hadn’t been for Aelia and Unus turning up I would have been strix supper.
‘She took me back to her cave, and dressed my ankle, which one of the strix had tasted just before she arrived. She wouldn’t believe I was an Outsider at first. She thought I was delirious! But after she got to know me … well, she had to believe me.’
He glanced at me in a way that said it all. I cursed under my breath, looking at the floor, as he made a grab for my hand.
‘Hey, look at me. It didn’t mean anything … It wasn’t anything like you’re thinking.’
The Colosseum! The famous old world Roman landmark popped into my head as the sky train twisted sharply and lurched upwards, causing its occupants to stumble and press against one another. Max caught me around the waist to anchor me, and I was too annoyed to be grateful. How was it that a friend I’d spent so much of my childhood with could suddenly feel like such a stranger? I thought of August’s kiss in the cave and flushed. Hadn’t I done exactly the same thing?
At that moment, the whirring noise dropped and the train levelled out high in the dome. We drew into a busy platform eighty feet in the air, and a shrill whistle sounded. The carriages at the front emptied of smiling, coiffured Pantheonites before the guard blew two further whistles and the Prolet carriages opened. It was our turn.
Octavia’s suite was located on the uppermost floor, only accessible via the Senatore and Equite domestic quarters. If August was right, Grandpa and Eli were both detained in her personal experimentation room. I allowed myself a small, grim smile. Octavia’s lair might be the most well protected place in Pantheon. But, she was going to need it.
As we disembarked, I caught sight of August’s dignified figure and something brushed up against my ribcage, like the wings of the tiny butterfly I’d watched in the forest. Whatever his true loyalty, there was no denying his heritage, he looked every inch the elite Roman knight. I forced my gaze to my feet and followed the rest of my companions to the guard’s station.
When I reached the barricade, I was handed a bucket and cleaning brush. It looked as though the Prolets had the doubtful pleasure of cleaning up after the great and spoilt in Pantheon. I nodded. We weren’t promising to leave anything spick and span.
‘Disinfection delegation as per Request 363, Octavia’s orders!’ August barked.
Clearly unused to being addressed by such a senior Equite, the guards didn’t raise any questions as he assembled myself, Aelia, and Max. We took care to keep our eyes on the floor, and soon enough we were taking the glass box to Octavia’s penthouse.
Octavia’s suite was preceded by a series of thick, marble pillars that ran in curved symmetry. They looked suspiciously familiar, and I racked my memory for pictures of old-world buildings I’d studied in Arafel’s library.
We approached the gilded bronze doors swiftly, and I felt as though I’d plunged straight into the black water of Arafel’s entrance tunnel again. The pounding in my ears was so loud I was afraid others would hear it, and all I could think of was whether the doors ahead were separating me from Grandpa and Eli. I felt for my catapult secreted beneath my shabby Prolet clothes. August had said this was our most likely point of discovery, but nothing and no one was stopping me this time.
The two formidable guards at the doors were unimpressed by August’s rank, and looked him up and down with suspicion.
‘There’s no mention of a disinfection on the itinerary,’ the Senior Guard stated, rolling the word like it was a sour walnut.
I raised my eyes to his tall, rigid figure, bulbous eyes, and pristine uniform. He didn’t look the type to be easily convinced of anything. August raised his eyebrows superciliously. It was a look that befitted his Equite rank, and all my doubts redoubled.
‘I am Commander General Augustus Aquila, Lead Scientist on the Biotechnology Programme and this request relates to a classified research project. I can raise this directly, though I can’t guarantee Octavia will be impressed with a subordinate who feels it is his place to question her orders,’ he added brusquely.
The guard paled. Clearly Octavia did not welcome interruptions unless strictly essential.
‘Go ahead but keep it snappy,’ he conceded with an ugly sneer, ‘and enjoy the pets!’
I drew a deep breath. The thought of encountering any more of Octavia’s pets was less than welcoming, but Dad always used to say something about keeping your enemies close. I stepped through the gilt doors, and caught my breath in wonder.
I’d expected luxury, but Octavia’s rooms were more lavish than anything I could have imagined. Sheer, billowing curtains hung over arched alcoves giving the vast space an unexpected feminine feel, until my eyes alighted on several unrecognizable, mounted animal heads. I averted my gaze down the length of the room, and luxurious, scarlet long chairs made of sumptuous soft materials caught my eye, along with thick wooden tables that shone like glass.
Just inside the door, a photograph caught my eye. It was of an old-world building, and hung in a gilt frame with a bold inscription. ‘Basilica Di San Pietro, St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome,’ I read under my breath, recognizing the replica pillars in her hallway instantly. I grimaced. Only Octavia could get so ostentatious as to re-create the home of an ancient Roman Pontiff.
The rest of the wall was dedicated to displaying a huge collection of serrated knives, spears, and axes, all of which looked ancient and precious. Knowing the depths of Octavia’s obsession, I didn’t doubt they were Roman originals, and looking down over them all was a large, ivory fresco of a Roman goddess. From the way she was proudly displaying Medusa’s severed head on her shield, I guessed her to be Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom. I frowned, trying to remember the detail from her story but the meaning was clear enough. The goddess carried the mythical beast’s head so her enemies were turned to stone. It was a clear warning shot to anyone who entered Octavia’s rooms.
I held my breath as August motioned us down the long corridor, our footsteps echoing eerily on the marble floor, and we finally paused in front of two frescoed doors at the end.
‘Bedroom, library,’ August whispered in answer to my unspoken question.
Neither were the isolation unit I was looking for, but I pushed the second door open a fraction anyway. One half of the library was lined with large screens, filling the wall space from ceiling to floor. A complicated-looking crescent desk sat in the centre, dotted with a variety of controls. This had to be how Octavia monitored her insane world, she had a bird’s eye view of every area in Pantheon.
I craned my neck to look a little further and beyond the rows of books, there was a thick glass box on a heavily bolted stand. It looked like it was supporting an intricately coloured, large-leaf old book. My stomach plummeted as though it was free-falling off the highest tree in Arafel. From what I could see of its ornate pages, it had to be the Voynich. It was just a book, but one that hid the biggest secret the natural world had ever known, one that would destroy the fragile world I called my home. It was a secret I was determined should burn in hell.
I stepped inside the room, and started purposefully for the box when a quiet voice stalled me in my tracks. August was framed in the doorway, his face in shadows. He gesticulated to the wall. I craned my neck and could just make out a grid of shimmering red lines stretching from the glass box, up to a small black box set high in the wall.
‘Alarmed – and she has a twenty-four-hour guard,’ he whispered, suddenly behind me.
I forced a tight nod. Friend or foe, it made no sense to bring the guards rushing up when we were so close.
Reluctantly, I followed August back out to Octavia’s hallway, and frowned when a breeze stirred my hair slightly. I ran my eye up the walls carefully, and it was then that I noticed the window behind a sheer curtain, right at the top. I ran up to the soft material, pulled it aside, and gasped. The window was actually a pair of doors leading to a large, flat terrace, and one was slightly ajar. So much for Octavia believing the outside air was contaminated!
As though in a dream, I pushed the window-door open as wide as it would go, and the outside world rose up before me like an old friend. A sob clawed up my throat as I stared. Stretching out as far as I could see, and bathed in glorious sunlight, were the ruins of the old city. Most of the buildings had been reduced to piles of rubble, long since reclaimed by nature, but some of the larger city streets and buildings were still clearly visible.
I closed my eyes and, at last, let the real sun warm my body. I longed to feel the crumbling earth beneath my feet, to let the sounds of the forest envelop me, even to dive into the black water that led to Arafel. Wildly, I envisaged myself bolting through the open door, climbing to the ground, and taking my chances across the mined, brown dirt. I could be home within an hour.
Then Grandpa and Eli’s faces distilled from the whirlpool in my head, and opening my eyes, I gazed down at the remnants of life before Arafel. Before now, tales of our ancestors had only been stories, but here was real evidence of centuries of life, and of its violent demise.
Among the ashes, the pale gothic ruin of Exeter Cathedral rose up like a grey angel among the dead. Although the main structure had fallen, it still retained its tower and a ghost of its ancient grace. The sight of its earthly strength, despite the passage of time, gave me renewed hope. Octavia had the entire population of Pantheon believing in her scientific prowess, but like all her mythical beasts, she had to have a weakness.
August stepped into the natural light beside me, his face twisted into a heavy scowl, and I realized the extent of Octavia’s deception.
Drawing as much new strength from the sun as I could, I turned back towards Octavia’s rooms. I’d come to find my family, and the sun was climbing towards its highest point in the sky. I walked back into her sumptuous hallway and directly towards a closed white door on our right.
The plan was that August and I would check the isolation unit, while the others kept watch. I flicked a glance past Aelia’s pale face, she was the other weak link in this whole set-up, but it was too late now. Whatever fleeting closeness she and Max had shared also seemed to have dissipated entirely. Max and I couldn’t be more vulnerable.
Gritting my teeth, I gripped the door handle just as a tapestry to the left of the doorway caught my eye. It displayed a grid of embroidered, ornate lettering that looked strangely similar to some of the lettering in Thomas’s cipher. Each sweeping letter had groups of ordinary letters placed against it.
‘Genetic bases,’ I muttered in amazement.
Aelia was right – each letter of the medieval genetic alphabet corresponded to modern genetic coding! I pulled out my rough drawing of the symbols on our treehouse floor, and held it up. The single extra line of unknown Roman symbols translated perfectly.
I stared in astonishment. Thomas really had made the discovery of the century when he’d pieced together this Vigenère cipher. Now all we needed was the keyword and I would hold Octavia’s dream in my hands. Ready to smash it into a million tiny pieces. On the spur of the moment I grabbed the edge of the woven tapestry and tugged it off its hanger. It came easily, and with August watching silently, I rolled it and pushed it up my sleeve. Then I turned the door handle, and stepped into the darkness of Octavia’s personal experimentation room.
My chest tightened, and I blinked furiously, trying to steady my nerves. The room inside was dark and quiet, save for a low whirring at the back. August fumbled around on the wall and then, with a pronounced click, we were squinting in the bright white light suspended from the middle of the ceiling. Disappointment registered like an arrow through my chest. The room was completely empty.
My eyes flew to his suspiciously. ‘So, where’re Grandpa and Eli?’ I demanded. Was this what it was all about? Cornering us in Octavia’s own playground?
August shook his head, his forehead furrowed. ‘They must be back in the main quarantine ward, but I’d have staked my life they’d be here. I don’t understand, they’re the perfect bait to trap you … unless …’
Whatever answer I might have offered was lost in the wake of a sinister sound, a familiar rattling that caused every nerve in my body to strain with fear. The guard’s cryptic pet comment made sudden, terrifying sense.
‘Don’t … move,’ August whispered.
The seconds that followed felt like the longest in my life as my peripheral vision confirmed my worst suspicions: three of the vicious rattling monkeys poised in the doorway, ready for attack.
With furry black stripes and raised tails they could be mistaken for friendly animals at first, but I knew their closed mouths concealed rows of razor-sharp teeth that could shred a large prey in seconds. They were Trojan horses of the worst kind – their true nature mutated by the will of one woman, a woman I hated more with every new breath I took.
I forced myself to breathe while Max and Aelia approached stealthily from behind them, armed with a gleaming two-headed battle-axe and curved dagger I recognized from Octavia’s ancient weapon collection. Then one of the monkeys crept forward, and I caught my breath. There was an unmistakable white fleck in the first monkey’s black Mohican. It stared unflinchingly, and I was sure a malevolent sneer passed across its features. I knew in a heartbeat it was the same pack leader I’d encountered in the forest, and that it remembered me – and the apricot stone.
As though to confirm my thoughts, it curled its top lip, and arched its back. The rattling noise grew louder and more threatening. It was definitely personal.
‘Tal, move!’
Max’s warning resonated around the room as the leader sank back on its haunches, baring its fangs. There was a thirst for blood in its eyes. I tipped onto the balls of my feet and glanced rapidly around the room, looking for something, anything that might help. There were some empty shelves on the opposite wall. They would have to do.
The rattling fell suddenly silent, and I knew the moment had come. The creature pushed back and released, and I held my ground as it sprang towards me.
‘Now!’
August’s command rang out but my feet had already left the floor as Max swung his axe high, and brought it crashing down behind one of the rear monkeys. Aelia threw a Roman dagger at the second, while August crashed right into the snarling leader, sending it rolling as I grasped the light cord, and swung hard across the room.
The shelves became branches of the forest trees, which reached out and supported me as I deftly flipped a somersault back onto my feet. I pulled out my catapult as the furious creature recovered and sprinted back, screeching in fury. Max threw his axe and it clattered to the floor heavily, missing the monkey’s tail by a hair’s breadth. And then I knew for sure, the monkey wasn’t going to stop until it had what it wanted: me. Reluctantly, I raised my catapult and inhaled.
‘Three, four, five!’ I counted steadily under my breath. The last stone I’d slipped into my pocket in Aelia’s cave left my slingshot with perfect direction and energy. It flew straight and true, making full impact with the creature’s forehead only a metre from me. It collapsed in an instant heap, a tiny trickle of blood oozing down its forehead and nose. I watched as it pooled, hesitated at the tip of its nose and then dripped onto the cold hard floor. There was only a moment’s silence, and then the remaining two monkeys scurried over.
They pulled at their leader’s still body, making soft hissing noises, oblivious to the rest of us. We watched in silence until, satisfied he wasn’t moving, they turned and ran back out through the open doorway.
‘And don’t come back!’ Aelia called after them triumphantly.
For a moment we all stared at each other.
‘Are you OK, Tal? That was a close call.’
August’s proud face was unusually pale as he stepped up beside me, rubbing away a trickle of blood from the neck of his bodysuit.
‘I’m fine.’ I frowned, as Max made his way over to the monkey lying lifelessly on the floor. ‘Is it dead, Max?’
A brief nod confirmed my suspicions, and we all watched as he picked up the small body and carried it carefully to a thin blanket in the corner of the room.
‘Although as it’s vermin,’ Max commented, ‘we should really throw it in the bin!’
‘Actually, it’s a highly developed Saimiri sciureus, genetically modified with piranha gene and given an advanced prefrontal cortex,’ a glacial voice said, reverberating through the room. ‘The animal was an expensive experiment and valuable asset to the Scientific Programme. Its loss will come at a high cost to the pack, the scientific team, and its creator … won’t it, Augustus?’
For a moment no one breathed. Then, every muscle in August’s face hardened as he turned to face Octavia, framed in the open doorway.
‘Ah yes, the modified Saimiri sciureus was one of your first achievements for the Programme as I remember, wasn’t it? But then, you were always so interested in the fusion of multi-genus DNA. I can’t remember how many specimens you voided, before you developed the current model.’
August’s cheek flexed as I stared at his unflinching profile. How could he claim to be a conscientious objector while being the designer of such a hideous creature? Was this the final moment where I would see him for who he really was? A double-crossing perverter of the truth for his own egotistical gain? I dug my nails in until the flesh of my hands screamed for release. I was determined not to give either of them the satisfaction of any reaction.
Octavia looked me up and down slowly. To me, she looked exactly the same way she always looked: immaculately groomed, and wearing a tight-fitting black tunic that had a tiny neat row of diagonal buttons across her chest. Her tone was metallic and her eyes an aqueous, translucent blue. I repressed a shudder, she was the most lifeless person I’d ever set eyes on. She was also flanked by Cassius, and a half-dozen armed guards barely restraining the same number of powerful molossers. No wonder the remaining monkeys had beat a hasty retreat.
‘Where is my grandfather?’
The words were out before I could check them, and to my relief, they sounded remarkably cool.
‘Ah yes, finally! The granddaughter I’ve wanted to get better acquainted with,’ Octavia crooned, walking forward.
‘Your grandfather was so … eloquent in fighting your case. I am left in no doubt as to the regard he bears for both you and your brother. But you see, Talia, I have to work practically.’
I stared at her woodenly.
‘In Pantheon, space is a valuable commodity and every man, woman, or creature needs to prove their worth, or value, if they are to occupy it. Now I consider myself a fair woman, and I’ve racked my brains for evidence to the contrary but no … I remain sadly disappointed as I’ve found absolutely no reason to justify your space whatsoever.’
‘Fine, give me my family and I’ll leave,’ I fired back.
Images of Octavia interrogating my feeble grandfather filled my mind, and I struggled to contain my rage.
‘Oh, I’d like nothing better, but it’s not quite as simple as that,’ she glittered, walking directly up to August. He had to tower at least a foot and a half over her, but he still paled as she approached. ‘Is it, Augustus Aquila?’
She smiled like she was baring her teeth, her head tipped to one side. I squirmed. She was overfamiliar, and terrifying.
‘Leave the girl out of this, Octavia. I’ve done everything you asked in bringing them here. But they can’t tell us anything. Let them go and deal with me. I’m the one who’s broken oath.’
I took a swift step back from August’s ashen profile. What did he mean ‘brought us here’? We’d come of our own accord, or at least I thought we had. I shot a quick look at Max who was staring at August with a murderous look. Even though I’d suspected August of dubious loyalty, it felt like a stinging blow. I’d been such a fool.
‘Well, that would just be a little too easy wouldn’t it? You were my prize student, Augustus, always full of such bright ideas …’
‘They were your ideas! You threatened to use the Prolets if I didn’t comply!’ August suddenly roared, eyes blazing. ‘I was too young! You made me believe it was all for the good of Pantheon, that the gene research would lead to medical breakthroughs … not … not what you wanted! Not this!’
He twisted his gaze to me with a jerk, his face was stormy and his eyes burned with an intensity I didn’t recognize. I remained detached, behind a new wall.
‘Oh, Augustus, you always were so passionate, so prone to dramatics. I’d say, I’d earned a little entertainment with our new specimens here?’ Octavia drawled. Her upper lip curled contemptuously. ‘I know you must want that; after all, you’ve caused quite a bit of disappointment, my sworn Equite.’
‘She’s remembered the cipher, all you need to do is find the Book and you’ll have the key,’ Aelia interjected, anxiety etched all over her usually impassive face.
‘No, Aelia!’ Max cursed, grabbing her wrist. She shook his arm off as Octavia regarded them in cold amusement.
‘And why would I trust anything a Prolet girl said, even one educated at the generosity of the Programme?’ Her sly eyes travelled from Aelia to August, and back again.
‘I am ambitious, Director,’ Aelia continued. ‘I too have studied the Voynich and, as a doctor, I have great interest in its translation. When it became apparent Talia knew of the Voynich cipher, I paid attention. From what she told us I believe we could be the closest we’ve ever been to possessing the full cipher.’
I went white with fury. First August and now Aelia. Didn’t anyone in here understand the meaning of the word loyalty? I clenched my fists though every fibre of my being wanted to scratch out her yellow-bellied eyes for once and for all. I eyeballed her furiously. Her face was emotionless, and her voice detached, like she couldn’t have cared less if she tried.
But, as she claimed indifference, a barely perceptible nerve jumped oddly at the base of her neck. I watched it with the oddest tendril of doubt unfurling in my head. Aelia might not feel any loyalty to me, but I couldn’t believe she really wanted to risk Max’s neck, or August’s if it came to it. I’d watched how she was with them, how she looked at them. She might be able to turn me in, but could she really betray them?
The more I thought about it the more conviction I felt – Aelia was acting, but why?
‘Lia!’ August’s low voice vibrated with a feeling I didn’t recognize.
I shook my head. The only thing I should be concentrating on was rescuing Grandpa and Eli, and escaping. Luckily, Aelia wasn’t the only one who could think on her feet.
I scoffed with as much irony as I could muster, and a dozen pairs of eyes swung my way. Stepping forward, I closed the gap between myself and Octavia, and a half-dozen guards stiffened instantly. Two of the largest molossers snarled, their harnesses straining as I levelled my own Siberian stare at Octavia.
‘Your hunt for the Book of Arafel is a waste of time. My grandfather told the truth. It was destroyed long ago, and Aelia and August were bought with nothing more than a fairy tale. All everyone has cared about since I arrived is the Voynich, the Book of Arafel, and how Thomas’s fabled research unravels it all. It was logical to play along, to indulge the fantasy and put a high cost on my own neck – too high to warrant anyone breaking it.’
I turned and flashed a bright, false smile firstly at Aelia, and then at August. The former regarded me furiously, aware I was undermining whatever plan she was hatching, while the latter remained stony-faced, giving nothing away. It didn’t matter, he was nothing more than Octavia’s pawn anyway, no better than the hybrid monsters she created. At least there was no hiding what they were.
‘But I was a better actress than I thought,’ I went on, ignoring Max’s frantic head-shaking. ‘You believe Arafel is the guardian of the Voynich cipher, when the truth is Thomas discovered absolutely nothing at all. There is a cipher but it’s pure nonsense, like the Voynich itself. Thomas was little more than a mad rebel with a dream, and he created the Myth Code to cover his defection from the Lifedomes.
‘When my grandfather found none of Thomas’s research made any sense, he destroyed the Book of Arafel and let the myth live on. After all, he didn’t want to be the one to blacken the name of a forefather of Arafel. So, you see it has been a deception from the start,’ I directed at August before turning to face Octavia. ‘Arafel is hiding nothing of any worth to you. But if you let me take my grandfather and Eli home I give you my word … I’ll return in their place.’
There was silence, while Octavia stared back at me, giving nothing away. For a moment, I wondered if she’d even heard me at all. Then she raised her right arm and swiped her open palm hard across Aelia’s cheek.
Aelia gasped, her ear scorched red from the impact. She recoiled, cradling her cheek as August started forward, his face stormy and protective. He seemed to remember himself at the last minute, but the damage had been done. Octavia’s expression darkened in fury.
‘It seems we haven’t isolated the gene for stupidity in Pantheon yet. I do hope we don’t need to add cross-bordering to your growing list of misdemeanours, Augustus?’
I’d never heard of cross-bordering, but knew exactly what she meant. I’d had my own suspicions about August and Aelia, but hearing Octavia speak them aloud was different. My skin prickled oddly, and I eyed August with cold resentment. The tiny muscle beside his mouth was twitching so fast I wanted to reach out and slap it. Why did he have such an effect on me? I’d only known him for a couple of days.
‘No! I’d never met Augustus before he was brought to me as a casualty,’ Aelia protested in fury, the left side of her face smarting with a scarlet stain.
‘Silence!’ Octavia roared, her fury exciting the molossers who snarled and strained against their sweating guards. I scanned the dog’s ugly, bloodthirsty faces and wondered how long before she gave the command for attack. We had few weapons between us, and could offer no match for them in this small, enclosed room with nowhere to hide. I’d never needed Eli so much in my life.
Octavia turned back to me with a look of malevolent satisfaction. ‘If it is as you say, and don’t think I’m taken in by your little … charade … then there is no reason for anyone to speak of Arafel again, let alone go there. All this time, I’ve put up with your pathetic little forest home and its paltry samples. I played along with the truce because it suited me, believing it might prove useful one day. But if you’ve no use, you’ve no point. Consider your grandfather taken care of, as all your friends will be.
‘And yes, I accept your offer of … you. While I think about it, we could do with a fresh … What might you call it in Arafel? Harvest?’
‘Octavia.’ August’s voice glittered as a volatile air suddenly filled the room. Octavia smiled; it was a bitter, caustic smile.
‘But it’s your key project, August,’ she cajoled, running a finger down his face and letting the sharp edge of her nail make a faint impression, ‘one of your undoubted successes. Without regular harvesting, Pantheon would never have been able to boost its own population and control the Prolets. And, it’s your heritage too. She’s young with so much to give …’
She paused to look from him to me, her spiteful face twisted into a deadly smile, and I knew in a heartbeat she saw something. Between us.
‘Just think of all the new Equite knights you could create – your very own battalion. In fact, I think you should perform the honour yourself, Augustus. Guards!’
All of August’s warnings suddenly clamoured for attention in my head, as though they’d been submerged in the tunnel water all along and just powered to the surface. He’d always referred to me as precious, and the story he told me about his own Prolet mother stirred. I’d scarcely believed him at the time, but now it seemed the entire Pantheonite population started life as Prolet embryos. One look at his ashen face told me I was right, and a new feeling ripped through my muscles. Disgust. Did Octavia really think she could help herself to my ovaries as well as my family?
‘You will not touch her! You have manipulated me since the day I was created, Octavia, but on this I will not keep my sworn oath,’ August threw fiercely. ‘Isca Pantheon has a right to know she and the others exist. They represent hope, a new world for us all. Wasn’t that one of the founding principles of the Lifedome: to provide life support until the world outside could do the same?’
Octavia’s face was no longer contorted with a twisted smile; instead, her eyes blazed with maniacal fury. She brought her arm down sharply to signal the release of the molossers. Talking was at an end.
‘Tal!’ Max yelled as he threw a curved machete in my direction. I leapt and caught the handle deftly, just as he dived at the nearest guards, and I found myself looking up at a face I’d come to despise.
‘Cassius!’ I scorned with as much loathing as I could muster. ‘I see you’ve left your nobler half behind.’
My satisfaction was short-lived as a cruel smile spread across his face. ‘Brutus is undergoing a little … behavioural modification,’ he enunciated carefully, leaving me in no doubt Brutus was paying the price for defying him in the laboratories. ‘It isn’t unusual for primary phase species to need realignment. No doubt, you will find this out for yourself soon,’ he crooned, as hot bile rose in my throat.
Within an instant, I’d whipped the machete out from behind my back and forced the tip into the skin of his neck. To my satisfaction, the pressure released a trickle of blood. He inhaled sharply and stepped back while I followed, maintaining the pressure until he was flat against a wall.
‘Right after you,’ I spat, threatening to sink the knife further into his flesh. There was a sudden cry from Aelia and, while I was momentarily distracted, Cassius brought his arm up and knocked the knife from my grasp, sending it spinning across the floor. He wasted no time in forcing me round, and pushing my arms up the middle of my back until I thought they might break.
‘Nice try,’ he whispered maliciously in my ear. ‘Now say goodbye to your friends. Tomorrow you will watch them die slowly in the Flavium, while you enjoy a little modification at the hands of your knight in not so shining armour. Of course, you still have tonight to look forward to, your last night as an original Outsider. Would seem a shame not to mark it in some way.’
His tone left me in no doubt as to his meaning, and my skin crawled with horror. I kicked back wildly, though his callous laughter told me my efforts were futile, and he lifted me easily. There was a voice and it was screaming. It didn’t sound like my own but several faces turned my way as I was hauled, kicking and writhing from the room.
The last thing I registered was August’s eyes as he struggled beneath two snarling molossers, only for once they weren’t mocking or veiled – they were full of fear.