“We don’t need to tell that story,” Matilda said.
“No.” Artan leaned forwards, the light from the fire highlighting his brow and casting a shadow across his eyes. “We do.”
Matilda sighed and leaned back.
“Can I?” Olga said.
“Bit late to be asking,” Matilda said.
Olga drew a deep breath in through her nose. “When Hugh found out you were still alive, he left Edin to find William and Matilda. They thought you were dead; otherwise they never would have left.”
“And he left the gate open?” Artan said.
Olga nodded. “You guessed it.”
“Shit!”
“We were going to tell you, Artan,” Matilda said.
“That Edin fell because of me?”
“Because of Hugh. He was stupid, and he left the gate to the national service area open. He let the diseased in, not you.”
“But he wouldn’t have done it were it not for me.”
“That was his choice,” Matilda said. “You had no control over that.”
As much as William wanted to say something to diffuse the situation, he had no words. Max came to the rescue when he said, “My entire family turned.”
Artan had been leaning into the semicircle, glaring at Matilda. He pulled back into the shadows.
“I had to end them all,” Max went on, telling the floor rather than those around him. Those who’d been with him in Edin knew the story, but Dianna, Hawk, and Gracie watched on, Gracie with her mouth hanging wide. “I had to kill every one of them, and now, when I’m surrounded by diseased, I always see their faces.”
Cyrus had already told them as much, which Max didn’t know. Olga, who sat beside the traumatised boy, reached over to put her arm around him. But he shifted away. Since Cyrus’ death and his time in the Asylum, he’d withdrawn from everyone.
William jumped when Dianna cleared her throat. Her voice soft, she said, “I grew up in Umbriel. Rita and Mary raised me.”
The slightest smile cut across Hawk’s strong features at the mention of the two women.
“They were the best two mums I could have ever wished for.”
Hawk laughed. “I felt like they were mums for the entire community. The hunters might have provided the food, but that place would have gone to shit were it not for them.” His smile fell. “I wonder what they’re doing now.”
“Probably the same as always.” Dianna laughed this time. “They’re probably keeping that place running. Keeping everyone in check.”
Gracie reached across and laid her hand over the back of Dianna’s. “Who are your real mum and dad?”
Dianna shook her head. “I don’t know. Rita and Mary. But as far as biological parents go, I’m guessing Grandfather Jacks is my father.”
“But he wanted to …” William said.
Hawk raised an eyebrow. “You sound surprised.” His delivery turned several degrees colder as he transitioned from question to accusation. “After all we saw.”
William went back to seeing the boys in the cage. The flames in front of him blurred with his loss of focus. He spoke in a voice he recognised as his own, even if he didn’t connect to the delivery. “Yeah, I suppose.” They’d gone on too long. The world returned to a sharper focus. He lifted one side of his bottom and pulled the map in the plastic sleeve from his back pocket. He spread it out on the floor in front of them. “Gracie, where is your community on here?”
“I can’t show you. It’s a secret.”
“Well, that’s a recommendation to go if ever I’ve heard one,” Olga said.
“But if you come with me, I can show you. Everyone in Dout has sworn to keep the place secret. It’s the only way we’ve survived as long as we have. We live in the shadows of larger cities, and we move in the darkness. What were your plans when you came through the funnel?”
“We were heading south,” William said, drawing a line with his finger across the map, tracing where the wall bisected the land.
“Anything more specific than that?”
“South of the wall.”
Gracie laughed. But when no one else joined in, her face fell. “You’re being serious, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Okay, well, one step at a time.”
“We’ve waited long enough,” William said. “So how about we take that first step? How about you tell us what that city on the edge of these ruins is all about?”
“I wanted to make sure you’d had one last rest before I told you about them.”
“We’ve rested. We’re ready to hear it.”
While Matilda, Max, and Dianna watched on, the others nodded their agreement with William.
Gracie straightened her back and filled her lungs, her chest rising with her inhale. “Okay. I suppose there’s never going to be a good time.”
Chapter 3
William sat with the others, waiting for Gracie to speak. She stood up, the crackle and hiss of the fire highlighting her silence. The flames rippled in the wind. She walked to a large window looking out across the city. It must have had glass in it at some point, but no traces of it remained.
William followed her over, and one by one, the others joined. Matilda came to William’s side, slipping her hand into his.
Almost every building in this place stood taller than any William had seen. Many of them challenged his beliefs of what he’d thought possible. “It’s a wonder none of them fall down.”
When Gracie turned to William, he said, “In Edin, a structure any taller than a few stories would collapse. We built a few larger structures, but lots of families died beneath the weight of falling rubble when the design of their homes grew too ambitious.”
“Steel helps,” Gracie said.
The empty window funnelled the wind. William clamped his jaw against its chill and shivered. “I can see.”
“So, this is the last part of the journey,” Gracie said. “One of the shortest parts too.”
Olga turned her palms to the sky, her face twisting as she spat her question. “But?”
Thankfully, Gracie didn’t bite. “But it’s probably the trickiest part.”
Matilda leaned closer to the ginger girl. “Trickier than
