Whispers in Autumn (33 page)

The knob on the Administrator’s door is cool underneath my trembling palm and doesn’t resist. Inside, Lucas lies faceup on the purple carpet—the sight of him nearly breaks all my resolve. Blood cakes his forehead and left cheek; his eyes sit closed. They are purple and swollen, exactly the way he looked when I touched the Warden. Lucas is still wearing shorts, and the wound in his leg has been dressed. The white wrap smells like decay, and bile rises into my mouth as I fling myself to the floor, gathering his head into my lap.

I run my fingertips over the gash on his forehead, resisting the urge to yell when he flinches away from my touch. I bend and press my lips to his, sobbing when his eyes fly open in surprise. They fill with confusion and pain before they focus on me.

“What are you crying about, you big baby? Does this mean you care?”

I can’t stop gasping long enough to conjure a smart remark. It doesn’t look like he can see much out of his left eye.

Suspicion rolls over me, trumping relief. “Why are you alone?”

He shakes his head and winces. “Some Wardens and Deshi smacked me around a while ago but they left to take care of something. A Healer’s supposed to come work on my leg some more. Apparently Deshi thought the pain would make me talk, but he doesn’t want me to die. Yet.”

His words set off alarms in my head. “So no one’s guarding you?”

As though I invite intrusion with my words, the door to the Administrator’s office flies open. I shoot to my feet, ready to fight, but stop at the sight of the Healer.

And Leah.

The Healer stares at us, openmouthed, and works at producing a sentence. The false smile drops from Leah’s mouth when she sees Lucas’s damaged body. The blood drains out of her face as a disconcerting array of emotions march across it. Confusion. Anger. Sorrow. Fear. Her eyes flick from Lucas, to me, to the Healer and don’t stop. I rip my eyes away from her when the Healer gets words out.

“Who are you? Why are you here? Excuse me, I’ll have to report this.”

“Wait.” I cross the room before he can leave. My heart begs me to reconsider. Every cell in my body screams against what I’m planning to do.

Lucas is barely able to sit up. He can’t do this; I have to.

The Healer’s eyes are wary and slightly panicked at my approach. His gaze flutters to Lucas and indecision registers. Healers don’t deal much—or deal at all—with people getting the sense beat out of them. His gaze pulls back to mine and I push away the self-loathing threatening to interrupt, shoving thoughts toward the Healer instead.

You don’t want to tell the Others anything. Look at us. We’re just kids, nothing suspicious. Help us
.

A fascinating change takes place on his lumpy, old-man features. His eyes, emerald and hard, start to focus on my face instead of looking through me. Fear slides in and mixes with confusion. “What am I doing here? Who are you?” He glances around, his fear growing. “Where are we?”

“Calm down. You came because you’re a Healer and Lucas needs help.” My words don’t sink in and his agitation grows. His eyes widen and flash back and forth, reminding me of the night I Broke Mrs. Morgan.

Lucas’s urgent voice rasps through my growing dread. “Use your mind to calm him down, Althea. I don’t think it works when you talk.”

I try it and the Healer calms down. He crosses the room to Lucas, opens his medical bag, and pulls out gauze, a bottle of liquid, and a syringe of fluid. He cleans and bandages the cuts on Lucas’s face, then studies the gaping wound on his leg. “The pills I gave you earlier broke the fever, but the infection is bad. You need a shot directly into the wound.”

Lucas’s face contorts as the Healer cleans the gash, then injects the syringe into his leg.

“Will he be able to walk?” I need to know he’ll get some strength back soon. We’re going to have to run.

The Healer nods, his back still to me as he tends his patient. “Yes. This antibiotic is potent. He should improve in less than ten minutes.”

I want to go to Lucas’s side but leaving Leah alone seems like a bad idea, given everything she’s been through. She’s a loose cannon, an unknown entity. Lucas busted her sanity, and the deranged look in her eyes declares she’s capable of anything.

The Healer straightens up, handing Lucas a cold pack for his eye. It’s been a little less than five minutes, and we can’t wait any longer. Five minutes is five minutes too many.

Lucas lurches to his feet, wincing and clutching his midsection. He puts minimal weight on his left leg.

“Can you walk?”

“Don’t worry about me. Let’s go.” He jerks his thumb at the Healer and Leah. “They can’t come with us.”

“We can’t leave him here like this. The Others will Break them.” Guilt twists in my stomach. This is why our powers are worthless. They hurt people.

“Well, try to put the veil back up then. Just hurry.”

The situation calls for decisive action and fast choices, and I wish Lucas would do it. He’s at least tried fixing a veil before.

There’s no time to argue, so I turn to the Healer and look into his eyes. I force the voice in my head to sound soothing and calm.
You never saw us. You came to heal Lucas, like they ordered, but he was gone. Everything is fine
.

His eyes glaze back over, staring through me.

Lucas grabs my hand and gives me a tight smile. “You did it. Let’s go.”

“Wait.”

Leah’s trembling voice stops us dead. We both turn to look at her, and the desperate tears in her eyes slice me open. Her pleading expression stops me, even though we don’t have time to deal with her. “What are you even doing here?”

Her gaze slides toward Lucas, then to the floor. “I saw him earlier, while I was working in the office. I made up an excuse about forgetting my backpack and came to check on him, but the Healer was already here.” She takes my free hand. “Please. Please don’t leave me like this, half in, half out.”

It sounds like she’s talking nonsense, but she’s not. Not really. Lucas puts a hand on her shoulder, flinching when he puts weight on his bad leg. “Which way do you want to go?”

“Take it out. Them. Take them out.”

His eyes meet mine, begging permission. Conflicting voices battle in my mind. “Lucas, I think it would be better to put the veil back up, if we can.”

A visible shudder rolls through Leah. “No. No, please. I can’t go back. I’ll pretend.” She drops my hand and steps into Lucas, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Like you. I’ll pretend.”

Our eyes meet over her jet-black curls, silent conversation ending in a decision.

I nod. “Leah, look at me.”

She obeys, turning away from Lucas.

You’re Leah Olsen. The Others keep humans in line by controlling their minds. You’re different than everyone else now, but you must act the same. You must
.

The crazed, cloudy anxiety in her gray eyes evaporates like fog on a warm spring morning. Her gaze is clear and determined. Scared, but a healthy amount. She gasps. “You have to go. Deshi and the Prime mean to take you away.”

Lucas squeezes her hand once before letting go.

She wraps me in a fierce, quick hug on our way out of the inner office. “Thank you, Althea.”

Our feet trade the silent thick carpet for hard, tiled floor. Lucas stops at the hole in the door, reaching out to touch the edges of the melted glass. He turns to me, eyes wide. “You did this?”

“Yes. Who else do you think did it?”

The amazement in his eyes irks me, like my stupid talent is something to be proud of, when all it’s good for is destruction. His eyes grow serious and I get the feeling he knows what I’m thinking.

“Just where do the two of you think you’re going, exactly?”

Lucas and I lock eyes, afraid to turn and confront the smooth, honeyed speaker. The clipped tone tells me it’s a Warden.

The question is, how many of them are here?

CHAPTER 29.

“Very interesting, what happened in this Cell tonight. Don’t you think, Rahaj?”

Lucas and I whirl together, joined at the hand. Mine is slick with sweat, and turn clammy upon contact with his icy one. Two Wardens stand outside the ruined door, smirking at us. One is tall, taller than anyone I’ve ever seen.

He speaks again. “Guess the stories are true. Chief is going to be upset he missed this.”

The shorter one steps through the hole, pulling his arms tight across his front to avoid touching the melted edges. “Which one of you is the fire-breathing dragon, anyway?”

I have no idea what a dragon is, but with the fire reference, he must mean me. The tall one laughs, planting himself in front of the opening.

We have nowhere to go.

“Are you kidding, Rahaj? The girl is Flacara’s daughter. Look at her hair.”

For someone else to acknowledge Fire as my mother solidifies the fact in my mind. My stomach feels funny, amazement and loathing fighting for a spot.

The second one squints at me as though he’s trying to see someone else in my face. He comes closer and my heart races at the thought of him touching me. The memory of the younger Others talking about liking me—wanting to do things to me—returns with enough force to make me gag. Lucas steps between us at the last moment and the short one’s leering face disappears from my vision.

“Get out of the way, boy. Or did you enjoy the beating you took earlier?”

“Don’t touch her. If you’re going to take us, just get it over with.”

“You hear that, Lanej?” I can’t see his face as he addresses his cohort. “Sweet, isn’t it? Young love?”

The tall one barks a laugh. “Adorable. These humans and their love. Maybe we should tell them what it did to their parents. How the Prime tore their minds apart until they begged to die.”

“Move aside, hero,” Rahaj leers. “I want a good look at your girlfriend.”

Lucas grabs the short Warden’s hand and he howls. The sound is unlike anything I’ve ever heard, deep and guttural. Agonized.

He pulls away from Lucas with some effort, a tearing sound accompanying the split. Lanej runs through the doors to help his cohort.

The two of them are still between us and the exit. Stepping up next to Lucas, my mouth falls open and my stomach heaves at the sight of Rahaj’s arm.

It’s missing skin. A
huge chunk
of it.

“Lucas.” The word rips from my throat. What has he done?

Lucas doesn’t answer. He’s in some kind of daze. He turns to me and his eyes focus a bit. “Althea. I saw something when I touched him. The room they tortured Ko in. The Prime ordered the Wardens out after us. How did that happen?”

“I don’t know. I saw something when I touched one earlier, too. Their minds are connected, like Cadi said.”

Lucas snaps out of the dream state faster than I managed to in the hallway, frantically wiping his palm on his shorts. He tugs me closer to the door as Lanej straightens up and sidles back to his position blocking our escape. He looks scared but still unwilling to let us go.

He turns glaring eyes on Lucas. “What did you do? Fix him.”

“I can’t. I don’t know how.”

“He froze my skin to his hand and when I pulled away it ripped…off…” Rahaj attempts to explain but the pain lacing his voice makes his words hard to hear.

My hands itch to cover my ears, to block it out.

Leah’s pretty face contorts and she does cover her ears, then drops to her knees in one corner of the back office. The Healer squats beside her, patting her head and looking more confused than ever. They’re not going to be any help to Lucas and me, but at least they’re safe.

Lanej obscures our path but no longer looks sure he wants to be there. The need to get out overtakes every other emotion stewing inside me. The fear, the pain, the loathing over hurting people. Or even hurting Others.

Pushing it all deep down, I screw up my courage until it sticks. “If you don’t want to get hurt like your friend, I suggest you get out of our way. We’re leaving.”

“No. What are you going to do? You’re just a couple of kids.” He sounds like he’s trying to convince himself. It’s probably what Deshi said when he asked them to detain us.

“Really? Why don’t you ask your skinless friend over there? I’m guessing you showed up here because of the melted security cameras. How about I do that to your face?”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

He’s no more sure than I am. “Do you want to take your chances or just get out of the way?”

“You can’t hide. There isn’t anywhere you can go where we can’t find you. Don’t you want to come with us, find out more about who you are? Meet your parents?” He’s baiting me, desperation tingeing his voice.

Those boys who disposed of Mrs. Morgan were so frightened of Deshi. The Prime tortured Ko without remorse, the sick pleasure on his face giving away his enjoyment. The big question at the moment is whether this Warden’s fear of punishment from his own kind is enough to trump his fear of us.

He glances at Rahaj, and I follow his gaze. The Warden Lucas hurt has fallen unconscious. His eyes are closed and he slumps up against the wall. In front of my eyes, the flaps of remaining skin grow back toward each other.