Dawn (12 page)

“Yeah,” he said. “I'm ready.”

Older Ash reached out and touched my Ash, whisking him away to points unknown.

I just hoped he helped my best friend discover his happiness.

CHAPTER TWELEVE

When I got into the car, Jace started the engine and looked over at me.

“Are you sure you want to do this today?” He asked me. “We could always do it another day.”

“No,” I answered. “It needs to be done as quickly as possible. They deserve to be released just as much as my mother did.”

“Why don't you just let Doc Riley handle it?” Jace asked. “Why do you feel like you even have to be there?”

“Because I need to be the one who releases them. I owe them that much.”

“You don't owe them anything. The queen is the one who put them in those tanks, not you.”

“I know that,” I said with a tired sigh. “But I didn't do anything to help them the last time I was here. I need to help them now. Please, just take me there, Jace. Arguing with you about it just makes it harder on me.”

“But have you thought it through, Skye?” Jace asked, not letting the subject drop so easily. “All those souls being released at once...”

“I know,” I whispered, feeling the strain of what I was about to do like a physical weight pressing against my chest. “It's why I have to do it now. Please, just take me there so I can finally have at least a small part of this nightmare behind me.”

Without any further argument, Jace put the car in gear and drove us out of the cemetery towards the growth facility.

I could still vividly remember the first time I was taken to the growth facility by Walsh, the queen's right hand man in the Roanoke camp. The large black metal drums, which were in fact living tombs for more humans than I liked to think about, haunted my thoughts. Their limbless bodies wrapped in white latex, floating in the murky depths of the river water used to maintain their bodies at the perfect incubation temperature was a living horror. Even as a true Harvester, their fate had disturbed me. But, I ignored the small voice which had screamed at me to do something to help them then. I had simply turned my back on the humans the queen had trapped in limbo.

When we reached the group of warehouses which comprised the growth facility, my father met us at the door of the main building as we drove up to it. He opened the car door for me and extended his hand to help me out.

“We don't have to do this today, Skye,” my father said.

“You sound just like Jace,” I said in exasperation. “And like I told him, I have to do this now. The longer they remain like they are the more they suffer. The more I suffer. So please, just let me do this.”

My father nodded, but he didn't look pleased by my decision. “If this is what you feel like you need to do, then I won't stop you.”

I waited for Jace to come around from the other side of the car. I took his hand into mine drawing strength from just his presence before we walked into the warehouse together.

Classical music played within the large cavernous space of the building. I knew it was used by the Harvesters to keep the humans trapped within the oversized cylinders calm while in their forced partially aware stasis. I saw Doc Riley standing on the platform of the cylinder closest to the door. She was studying something on the control panel with a troubled frown on her face when I finally made it up to her side.

The top of the cylinder was open and the lights were on. Illuminated within were the limbless white latex covered bodies of people hanging from rods with an array of black tubes attached to various portions of their bodies.

“Is something wrong?” I asked Doc Riley.

She took in a deep, troubled breath and sighed heavily before answering.

“I'm just trying to figure out the most humane way to end their horrible lives. There are so many of them,” she said, her voice haunted by the tragedy before her. “There are five thousand trapped souls here.”

“What's the best option?”

“The most humane and quickest way we have available to us right now is to cut off their oxygen supply.”

“How long will it take them to die if we do it that way?”

“It would vary from person to person, but no more than three to four minutes for brain death to occur and seven to eight minutes for them to be completely dead.”

“Can we kill them all at once?” I asked.

“Yes. This panel controls all of the cylinders in all of the warehouses. It was probably easier to have one centralized set of controls than separate panels for each cylinder.”

I walked in front of the control panel Doc Riley stood by.

“What do I need to do?” I asked.

“Child, I can do it.”

“No,” I said diverting my eyes away from the lights on the panel to look at her. “It needs to be me. Just show me what to do.”

“All right,” she said reluctantly.

Doc Riley set up the sequence so all I had to do was press the enter button on the keyboard.

Before I pushed the button, I looked at the people within the cylinder in front of me and hoped they found peace by what I was about to do. Jace came up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders, silently letting me know how much he supported me.

I pressed the button and waited.

After a minute, the bodies in the cylinder in front of me began to thrash, twisting at the waist and neck. Within the whole warehouse you could hear the death throes of the dying. Thankfully, it didn't take long for them to become completely still again. Doc Riley watched the monitor on the control panel, waiting to tell me when they were all dead. But she didn't have to tell me. I knew when it happened because I was witness to the mass exodus of their souls.

The warehouse became filled with hundreds of lights flying through the air. None of them seemed interested in sticking around for very long. Almost as soon as they appeared they flew up past the ceiling into the sky above. 

“They're finally free,” Jace said to me.

I nodded, becoming choked on emotion. I wished them all well and sincerely hoped they found a peace in death which was denied them in life.

I sat in the car not really paying attention to where Jace was driving. I guess I just assumed we were going back to the house we were using as headquarters, the queen's mansion. I didn't question what we were doing until he pulled into a parking lot in front of a city park.

“What are we doing here?” I asked, looking at the swing set, slide, carousel, and see-saws dotting the open lawn. “I thought we were going back to the mansion?  Your dad might be here by now.”

“He's not here yet,” Jace reassured me. “If he were, someone would be here to tell us.”

“Be here?” I asked.

“I told your father where we would be coming after we got through with the growth facility. He knows to send someone to get us if my father gets here before we're done.”

“Done with what?”

Jace grinned. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

Jace opened his door and got out. I did the same, not seeing that I had much choice and curious to know what it was Jace wanted to show me here. I met him in front of the car, and he instantly took one of my hands into one of his.

“What's here that you want to show me?”

“How long has it been since you played?”

I felt confused by the question, like Jace had suddenly started speaking in a foreign language. The word 'play' hadn't been a part of my vocabulary for a very long time.

“I guess,” I began, really having to think back to the last time I truly played, “it had to be before the war.”

Jace started to walk forward, tugging on my hand indicating I should follow him.

“Then come on,” he said.

We walked over to the swing set first. Jace turned me around in front of one of the faded green belt swing seats and gently pushed down on my shoulders indicating I was expected to sit in it.

“Jace,” I said, taking the seat even though I felt silly sitting in it, “we have a lot to do. We don't really have time for this.”

“Of course we do,” he said walking behind me.

“We have to get Simon back and figure out how to kill the queen,” I argued.

Jace grabbed the chains of the swing and pulled me back. He let me go and I began to swing in the air.

“We have time, Skye,” Jace said, continuing to push me until I got high enough to push myself through the air without his assistance.

Jace sat in the swing beside me and watched me swing back and forth, grinning like he was receiving joy in just watching me play.

The feel of the wind on my face was cool and cleansing. I closed my eyes and thought back to the last time I swung on a swing set.

I was in the backyard of my parents' house. The war with the Harvesters had just begun. My mom and dad were packing bags, getting ready to take us into hiding because they knew what was coming. My mom had told me to go out to the backyard to play one last time because we were about to leave our home forever. I remembered not worrying about it too much. I was only seven after all. As long as my parents acted like everything would be fine, I didn't see any reason to question the future.

I opened my eyes and looked over at Jace who was smiling for all he was worth. I used my feet to bring me to a stop beside him.

“Thank you for this,” I said, holding my hand out to him.

He twined his finger with mine.

“I thought you might need it after the day you've just had,” he said, worry for me in his eyes as he looked at our joined hands.

I felt a sense of guilt. It seemed like that was all Jace ever did, worry about me.

“I did need it,” I agreed. “I just didn't know it.”

He stood from his swing and tugged on my hand.

“Come on, let's go on the slide.”

I laughed. “Are you sure you brought us here for me or was it secretly for yourself?”

Jace shrugged, still grinning. “Does it matter?”

I shook my head.

“No,” I said, happy to see a twinkle of amusement in Jace's eyes instead of worry. “No, it doesn't matter at all.”

And then Jace and I played.

We slid down the slide, went back and forth on the see-saw and finally Jace pushed me on the carousel. It was one of the few times in my life I felt happy, almost carefree like we didn't have anything in the world to worry about.

As I sat on the carousel going round and round, I told Jace, “My father asked me if we were planning to get married.”

Jace slowly brought the carousel to a stop. He sat down beside me on the platform.

“My dad asked me the same question a while back.”

I felt my head tilt of its own accord. “You never mentioned it to me. The first I heard of Michael wanting to know if we were going to get married was from Ian.”

“Ian?” Jace asked, surprised by this fact. “I didn't realize he spoke to Ian about it.”

“It just seems silly, doesn't it?  Something left over from the old world.”

“I don't know,” Jace shrugged. “Maybe it's a good idea.”

“Do you want to get married or is it just because it would make things less awkward with our fathers?”

“Both,” Jace said with a slight laugh. “Would it be so bad if we got married?”

The way Jace was watching my face I knew my answer meant a lot to him.

“No,” I told him. “It wouldn't be bad. If it would make you happy, I would be willing to do it.”

Jace hung his head and shook it. “Not exactly the enthusiastic response I was hoping for, Skye.”

“I’m sorry. I didn't mean for it to sound like I don't want to marry you, but, I mean, who still gets married?”

“Maybe we could start a trend,” Jace said, looking back at me. “Maybe we can show people that life the way it used to be before the war can come back.”

“I'm not totally against the idea,” I said, “but I think bringing the sun back would be more of a morale booster than a wedding.”

“I know. And I have every intention of helping you make that happen. Let's make a deal.”

I narrowed my eyes at Jace. “What kind of deal?”

“On the first dawn we have, let’s get married. It'll be like a new beginning for the world and a new beginning for us as a real family. Can we do that?”

I couldn't help but smile at the sweet sentiment.

I nodded. “Ok.”

Jace smiled and tugged me over into his arms. He was just about to kiss me when I heard a car pull into the parking lot.

“I think your father made it here,” I said to Jace, looking over beside our car and seeing Paul open the door of the jeep he just drove up in.

Jace took in a deep breath.

“Play time is over then,” he said in disappointment. “I guess that means it's time to start saving the world.”

When we got back to the mansion, we found everyone in the living room. Michael immediately hugged Jace as soon as he saw him. Surprisingly enough, Ian hugged me just as fiercely.

“Wasn't sure I would be seeing you again,” he told me, “at least not the human you.”