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I just didn’t hear her.
She knew about the Guild and how far renewal technology could go, but she hadn’t told me. Loricel had covered up the Guild’s biggest secret: they made themselves immortal at the cost of other people’s lives; their own life spans were extended using the time strands of people whose lives the Guild had cut short.
“If Sebrina is out there,” I say, trying to focus on the task at hand and not on the questions burning through my brain about Loricel’s secrets, “we need to go after her.”
Despite the chaos and strategizing going on around us, Dante grins at this. He looks a bit maniacal. It’s how I know we’re related.
“That’s our next order of business.”
EIGHTEEN
THE STREETS ARE DESERTED, AS THOUGH THE citizens are still abiding by the quarantine Cormac placed on the sector before he severed it. I can tell people have been out of their homes, though. Glass crunches under our feet from the shattered remains of storefront windows. The food co-op is devoid of rations. I wonder how many mothers and fathers fought one another for the little bit of food stocked on its shelves. I wonder how many people have run out of food entirely after the Eastern Sector’s time in limbo. This is how Cormac left things. When he severed the sector in front of me, I thought he was a monster. But knowing that he left millions of people to starve in the dark makes me question if the word monster can even begin to describe him.
I trade my traveling suit and heels for something more practical—boots and jeans. Valery’s shorter than I am, and her jeans and tunic are a bit too short and tight on me to be comfortable, but it’s still better than running around in a skirt and stockings.
“We have to move quickly because we estimate resources will run out in as little as two weeks here,” Dante explains to me.
“And what happens then?”
“People will start to die.” He blows out a long sigh of frustration. “We need to evacuate everyone between now and then.”
“Dante,” I whisper. I’m not sure I want Jost to hear what I have to say. He has to be worried enough about Sebrina as it is. “Doesn’t it seem too quiet to you here?”
Dante gives me a quick bob of the head that the others don’t see. “On the one hand, it follows the pattern of behavior of the people left behind on Earth after the exodus. There’s clearly been looting. Most food supplies are compromised. But you’re right. On the other hand, it’s too quiet.”
“What do you think is going on?”
“I’m not sure,” Dante says. “But it’s not a coincidence if the Guild’s involved.”
Jost and Erik walk a hundred yards ahead of us, watching for danger. Valery trails between us and the Bell brothers. I want to ask her to join us, but I need to talk to Dante and I’m not sure I trust her yet. She may have proven herself to the others somehow, but her betrayal is still fresh to me.
Watching Jost and Erik in the distance, I can’t help but think they’re both avoiding me, and yet the sight of them working together makes me smile. They’ve become friends again in the time I’ve been gone.
“And those two?” I motion toward the brothers.
“They seem to have reached some sort of agreement after Cormac took you. It was pretty obvious since they stopped bickering all the time. Bit of a relief, actually.”
“Cormac didn’t take me,” I correct him.
“It’s pretty hard for a man to admit when a woman’s sacrificed herself for him,” Dante says. “It’s pretty hard for a father to admit it, too.”
“What a waste of energy,” I say.
“Says the one worrying about semantics.” Dante shines his handlight over his face and raises an eyebrow. “You have a point.”
Jost holds up a hand for us to stop. We slow down and wait as he moves forward a few steps into an alley. His figure disappears behind a building, and Erik follows him. Both brothers are swallowed by darkness and before I can call out to her, Valery goes in after them.
“Do they think that I’m going to wait around here and—”
A piercing scream shatters the night.
Dante and I race toward the alley, skidding to a stop at its dark mouth. Ahead of us is a figure, barely visible under the blacked-out sky. Dante flips on his handlight and the beam scatters across the figure. It’s Erik. He waves for us to put the light away.
“Remind me to speak with him about hanging out in dark alleys without handlights,” Dante mutters. He doesn’t turn it off, but instead points it at the ground.
“Deal.”
We approach Erik cautiously, unsure what to expect, but as soon as we’re even with him, Dante’s light reveals Jost crouched near the wall of the alley.
