“It’s Dracken technology, right?” Brink asks. “Why not just give it back to them?”
I’m about to respond when Nan stops me by placing her hand on my shoulder.
“I’m sure that’s Max’s intent, Brink. Perhaps Van can take the suit Garrett is wearing so he can safely return to Pentras Tower.”
I reach into my pocket to pull out the suits I’m carrying, but stop myself. Van leaves to get the suit from Garrett, while Brink and Nan discuss tactical maneuvers for getting us near the dome’s entrance. I pull Frey away from the others, moving us off to the other end of the room near a couple of gas tanks that are feeding the power to the shelter. Once we’re alone, he pulls me in close and kisses me deeply. I pull back, reach into my pocket, and pull out the picture of my mother.
“Does this look familiar?” I ask him, tapping on the dragon tattoo she’s donning.
“It looks just like the one I have,” he responds.
“Who told you to get it?”
“Troy’s father.”
“Did he tell you why?”
“No, not really. I thought it was odd, but Guy Larsen was getting me into The Litarian Battles, so I wasn’t about to argue with him.”
“Maybe he thought of it as a way to get to me. And when that didn’t work, he had Troy use the Archives to jog my memory.”
“He wouldn’t have known you would be sent to The Litarian Battles.”
“Sure he did. Leader Fallon told him. Troy knew of the mutilation done to me long before anyone else did. The only way he could’ve known that was from Leader Fallon. She would never have talked to him directly, but it makes sense that she would tell his father, to ensure his loyalty to the Patrician.” I slip the photo back into my pocket and remove one of the suits from the other pocket. “Here, put this on under your clothes, but be discreet about it.”
He takes it, goes off to another vacant area, and puts the suit on. He returns just as Van does. I instruct Van to put his other clothes on over the suit, so it’s not obvious he’s wearing it. The three of us return to Nan and Brink who have moved back to the main area with the cots. The four of us head back towards the entrance, but stop short of the guards.
“What about Garrett?” Brink asks.
“We’ll take care of him,” Nan answers. She turns her attention to Van. “Would you mind giving me a couple of your detonators?”
He looks puzzled at the request. “They won’t work for you,” he says. “They’re designed to be used exclusively by me.”
“You and the Keepers. We just never mentioned that part to the Matrons.”
He hands her two and cinches the bag closed.
Nan hugs Frey again, but this time with tears in her eyes. “I’ll be thinking of you,” she says to him.
“I’ll be back,” he says to her.
I know what her intentions are with the detonators, but I’m not telling Frey until I have to. He won’t ever understand the sacrifice his mother is about to make, but I do. I hug her as well, holding on for a long time. I feel like I’m also saying goodbye to my mother. Secretly I am, in a way.
The guards open the door and the four of us step out. The doors are sealed shut immediately behind us. There’s no going back now. I take Van and Frey by the hand. Brink takes Van’s other hand and I loop us. I could loop us right into Pentras Tower, but something is telling me that isn’t the way to proceed. We land a few seconds later just outside the mansion. Everyone has either scattered from the area, or is dead.
A massive explosion draws everyone’s attention. The hill the shelter is under buckles and collapses as flames erupt through exposed gas pipes. Fire eats away at the second-level housing, lighting up the evening sky.
“Mom!” Frey shouts.
I loop us again before he can run back towards her.
Twenty-Eight
We’re at the entrance to the dome when Frey says he needs a break. I don’t give him one, and instead move us quickly through the dome and deep into the Dead Zone. He shakes me loose before I can loop us further and sits on the ground. The Patrician have not ceased their bombing and the glass of the dome is almost cracked completely through.
“Why? Why would she do that?” Frey asks anyone who will answer him.
“I’ll tell you when we’re back in Pentras Tower,” I say, reaching my hand down to help him to his feet.
“You knew?” he asks, swatting my hand away, anger heavy in his voice. He stands, grabs my arms, and begins to squeeze them tightly. “You knew she was going to blow them all up? Why didn’t you stop her?”
“She was saving us all, Frey,” I say as I try to hide the pain that is flooding my muscles. “You have no idea what the Dracken were going to do.”
“But I’m one of them, Max. So is Brink. So are you. This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Can we have this discussion someplace safer?” Van says, pointing to the drones that are moving in on us.
They open fire as we run. Frey and Brink fire back using the Aedox guns they took from the shelter. Brink runs out of ammunition, so I toss him a clip from my pocket. I reach out for Van and Frey. They each take my hand. Brink grabs hold of Van and I loop us, but not before searing pain shoots up my arm. I can’t hold on to Frey any longer, and he falls out of the void just as we make it to the lobby of the tower. He falls hard onto the concrete steps while the rest of
