When I woke up in the morning, I had a message from Ren asking if I was okay, which made my cheeks flush. I’d left him on the bridge, claiming a stomachache, but really, I just needed to be alone with my thoughts. Wondering if Lev and Kaia had planned their escape together had kept me up late last night. I’d gone from the betrayer to the betrayed.
I stretched, letting my body wake up, and heard a knock on my door. It was early for a visitor, which is why I immediately got worried. Had my visits to Mae and Sy been discovered? Was an overseer at my door? I gulped, but didn’t have a choice not to answer. Overseers could barge in if they wanted. A Citizen’s privacy wasn’t worth compromising the City’s safety.
I stood on my side of the door and pressed my cheek against it. “Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
I let out a sigh of relief at Mika’s voice.
“I brought the vegetables we talked about.” When I opened the door, she was standing with a basket of produce. “This is all extra,” she said. She lifted up a tomato and underneath I saw the familiar fabric of an overseer uniform.
“Thanks,” I said and took the basket from her. “Do you want to come in?” Dwellings were small, and it wasn’t usual to invite people in, but a sibling delivering produce wouldn’t raise any eyebrows. I had no doubt my neighbours wondered how a single female had been able to keep a couple’s dwelling for so long.
“I can’t stay long. I’m expected at work,” Mika said loudly from the landing. But as soon as the door was shut, she put down the basket and pulled out the tunic. “Ren smuggled one of his uniforms to me last night. I stayed up late tailoring it for you. It’s not going to be perfect, but at least you can slip into the Underland unnoticed.”
This was really happening.
“Ren will be waiting at the entrance in ten minutes. We thought it would be better to go early, before the day shift begins. Dex is tracking both of you and will scramble your pulse points as soon as you leave your dwelling. You’ll be offline, so we won’t know where you are. But neither will anyone else.”
I nodded. Mika bit her lip and furrowed her brow. “Are you angry I pulled you into this?”
I gave her a long look. “No. I want to do this.”
“I don’t think I could go,” she confessed. “I had no idea,” she broke off. “I don’t mean this as an insult, but I didn’t know you were so brave.”
Her words caught me by surprise. They might have been the first compliment she’d ever given me. “You better go. It won’t look good if the supervisor is late on her first week on the job.”
“Be safe, okay?”
“I will.”
When Mika left, I shut the door and inspected the uniform. It had a high neck and hung longer than a regular tunic. Though not as flowing as a Councillor’s robes, overseer’s uniforms had an air of formality about them that set them apart from Citizens’ clothing. As soon as I put the uniform on, I felt different. I’d spent my whole life being either afraid or impressed by overseers and now I found out all that made them different was their outfit.
I grabbed a lightstick and unlocked the door. The walkway was quiet. At first, I kept my head down, but then I remembered how overseers walked: head up, shoulders back. I’d draw more attention to myself if I looked meek.
I scanned the square in front of the gymnasium for Ren. He was standing in front of the stream. He raised one eyebrow when he saw me and made his way over. “Feeling better?” Ren asked.
I nodded; I didn’t trust myself to speak. Nerves had wreaked havoc with my stomach on the walk over. Having Ren beside me helped. He moved in front of me and down the stairs. As an overseer, he went down there every day and didn’t think twice about it. But sneaking me in to explore parts unknown put both of us in danger. I hesitated at the top. We didn’t know what we were getting into.
Was finding out the truth about the City’s secrets worth the risk?
I wished Kaia were here. She was the one who took charge; she’d know what to do. I looked down the stairs and gripped the lightstick tighter. Mae trusted me. She’d told me secrets about Kaia. Sy must have too, because he’d given me the MAP. For the first time in my life, someone had seen my potential. I couldn’t let them down.
I set my foot on the first stair and knew there was no going back.
¼
The further we went in the Underland, the staler the air became. A few other overseers passed us and both times Ren nodded in greeting. I did the same. But the further we got from the surface, the fewer people we saw. The corridor changed from carefully carved, smooth walls with ceiling cut-outs to narrow, crudely dug and uneven passageways. Ren had to duck so his head wouldn’t hit the ceiling.
“Can you check the MAP?” Ren asked when we reached a fork in the tunnel.
I’d planned our route before I’d left my dwelling, memorizing every turn, but actually being in the tunnels was a lot different than flying through them on my hologram.
As soon as it appeared in the air in front of us, the MAP zoomed in on our exact location. “I’m pretty sure the tunnel to the left is a dead end.”
“So we go right,” Ren said.
I nodded and by manipulating the MAP, navigated our path deep into the Underland until the same dark hole I’d stared into before loomed in front of us. “That’s it,” Ren breathed. “The pit.” Somewhere behind us, there were voices. I curled my finger and the hologram disappeared. Ren and I started off at a faster pace.
The corridor went downhill and shrank. We both had to walk bent over to avoid scraping our heads on the ceiling. “Nervous?” Ren asked. “I saw your finger trembling when you pulled up your hologram.”
“Aren’t you?” I asked.
“Of course,” he answered quickly. “But I’m used to the Underland. I was surprised you volunteered. It’s risky.”
The truth was, I’d lain awake last night coming up with reasons to back out. In the end, I’d decided I’d already lost what mattered to me. Kaia was gone and the match I’d been so desperate to secure had been a failure. But Mae, Mika and the rest of the CORE were counting on me. I couldn’t let them down.
I opened my mouth to try and answer his question, but Ren stopped short and turned to me with his finger to his lips. He gestured for me to pull out the MAP. I did and when it zoomed in on our location, I saw what had drawn Ren’s attention. The door across the tunnel wasn’t on the hologram. A sliver of light shone under it. We were deep in the Underland now. Why would there be a room so far away from the entrance? Who was inside of it?
I looked at him. “What do we do?” I whispered as I closed the MAP.
He led me to a nearby tunnel. It was even more narrow than the corridor we’d been in. Ren pulled his taser out of its holster and tucked his lightstick away. I did the same and we were plunged into darkness. “We wait,” Ren whispered. We stayed huddled against the wall. I was sure whoever was inside the room could hear my heart hammering in my chest.
Behind the door, there was a shuffle of feet, the quiet hum of a lightstick turning on and then the door opened. A lock slid into place. Whoever had left the room didn’t want anyone else going inside. I opened my eyes as the person walked past us. His lightstick illuminated his face just enough that I could see who it was. My breath caught in my throat.
Ren and I waited, pressed against the wall, until he’d turned a corner. “Did you see who that was?” he whispered to me.
I nodded. “Krux.”
“This must be his lab.” Ren moved closer to the door, inspecting the lock. It was the kind that connected to a pulse point. Only Krux could open it. He’d be alerted if anyone else tried.
“Maybe we should go back,” I said.
Ren shook his head. “We’ve come this far. Anyway, he’s gone for now.”
“What if comes back?” My stomach sank at the thought of being discovered by Krux. Suddenly, the risk had begun to outweigh the reward. But Ren was already moving further down the corridor and I had no choice but to keep up with him.
“Ren,” I whispered. I pulled on his arm to get him to stop. “Did you hear that?”
He stopped and listened, but we were met with silence. Ren turned to me and raised his eyebrows, asking if we could keep going. I nodded and lifted my lightstick so it lit up as much of the tunnel as possible.
Its beam landed on a tiny, filthy creature. She crouched against the wall with her arm covering her face. I looked at Ren. He was staring at her in shock. “It’s okay,” I breathed, more to myself than to her.
I took a step forward, but Ren put a hand on my arm, stopping me from going closer. The female stayed hunched over but lifted her face and peeked out at me with enormous eyes. Her hair grew in patchy tufts all over her head. Every boney joint was visible on stick-thin arms and legs. The tunic she wore barely covered her.
“She’s just a child,” I said to Ren and pulled my arm out of his grip so I could crouch down.
I held up my hands to show her I meant no harm. She lowered the arm blocking her face. She was still wary of me. I saw her eyes dart between me and Ren. “Who are you?” I said slowly. “What’s your name?”
“Ama.” Her voice was only a whisper.
“Are you hurt?” she shook her head, but her eyes didn’t leave my face.
I looked at her finger. There was no pulse point, nothing to identify her as a Citizen. “Do you live down here?” I asked.
She nodded.
I turned to Ren. He was staring at Ama, dumbfounded.
“Ama, we live in the City. Do you know the City?”
Again, she nodded. “We dig brine for you,” she said.
Mika had been right about the salt mines. I had so many questions about who she was and her people. How many of them were there? Where had they come from? Had they always lived in the Underland? But most of all, how had this world existed without anyone knowing about it? “Do you know other City people?”
Ama’s frown deepened. “Krux.”
I glanced at Ren. “We know Krux too,” he said.
Her eyes grew wide with fear.
I tried to imagine how I would feel in Ama’s shoes. Terrified, probably. I softened my face and smiled. “I’m Sari and this is Ren. We’re not going to hurt you. We’re just”—I searched for the right word—“exploring.”
Ama frowned with confusion, like she was trying to decide if she should trust me or not. Like any child, her emotions showed clearly on her face.
“Me too.”
“Did you find anything interesting?”
She stared at me and then shook her head. “I was looking for Jacob.”
My heart beat faster. The pieces were starting to fit. Sy had said I had to go deeper to find the answers and he was right. This Underlander knew Kaia’s birth elder. “Why are you looking for him?”
Ama pressed her lips together, refusing to talk. She pulled her knees tighter into her chest. “I’m not supposed to be out here. I need to get back to the pit,” she whispered. “But I don’t know where it is.”
“I do,” I said. “We can help you find it. But first, can you tell me about Jacob?”
“He’s gone. Krux took him.”
“Why did Krux take him?” Ren asked.
Ama shrugged. Everywhere else, she was skin and bones, but her shoulders were bulky, disproportionate from the rest of her. “We don’t know. Old Father’s angry. He’s been rumbling since Jacob left.”
“Who’s Old Father? Is that an overseer?”
Ama frowned at Ren. “He’s no person. He’s ancient and everywhere. Right here in these rocks, even in the air we breathe. Big Mother can’t protect us from him, not when he shakes the ground and splits the ceiling open. Rocks tumble down and there’s no getting away.”
“The tremors,” Ren whispered to me.
“You think when the ground shakes, it’s because Old Father’s mad?” I asked.
Ama nodded.
“What if you stopped digging? Could you do that?” Ren asked.
Ama looked at him like he was an imbecile. “Then we don’t eat. We only get food when the digging’s done.”
“Can you take us to the pit?” Ren asked.
I shook my head at Ren. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said quietly. “Imagine if some Prims showed up in the City unannounced?” He caught my meaning and nodded. “Ama, can you tell your people about us? Let them know we want to help? We’re going to come back another time. Maybe we can figure out how to help Old Father not be so mad.”
Ama kept staring at us, like she was memorizing every detail. “If you want to go back to the pit, take that tunnel. It’ll lead you right to it.” I pointed her in the right direction.
She stood up and slipped on her headlamp. Ren and I both watched as she scuttled away towards the pit. Part of me couldn’t believe we’d found her. Underlanders existed! But another part, a bigger part, was sickened at the thought that a whole group of people were living in the dark and no one knew.
No, that wasn’t true. At least one person in the City did know about them: Krux. And if he knew, others must too. They were digging for someone, after all. The question was: who?