‘I hope so.’
They exited the stairwell to the second floor and entered the final one leading to the third. Exiting at the bottom, they both took a breath before rejoining the others. The on-edge group had gathered in the space before the hidden corridor and the door to the viewing corridor.
Anya assessed the mood of the group. Thomas was folding his pages with the maps on and stuffing them into his backpack. Next to him was a quiet Jacob. Carissa was frowning at a sketch on a page in her hand. The Copy prisoner was slouched against the wall, looking bored.
Vanessa and Charlie were chatting separately in one corner away from everyone. She’d need to keep her eye on that pair.
Sheila and Imogen were standing with the other soldiers. None of them were talking. Some of them, still injured from the fight in the battlefield, slouched or sat against the wall.
Dom’s arrival softened Sheila’s hardened look.
She came over to him. ‘Well? What’s your plan?’
Anya glared at her. ‘It’s not up to him alone. We all make that decision.’
Sheila’s eyelids fluttered in surprise. ‘I didn’t mean...’ She swallowed. ‘What’s our plan?’
Anya folded her arms. ‘Oh, so you’re on board now, are you?’
Sheila flicked her gaze between them. ‘I’m sorry, Dom. I thought leaving might help. I didn’t think we’d find anything. Not so soon anyway.’
‘It’s fine, Sheila,’ said Dom. ‘But we all need to stick together.’
He looked over at Charlie and Vanessa.
Anya needed a moment to process what had happened up top, and she could see Dom did, too. She was about to suggest they check on June when someone tugged on the end of her top. She jerked back, and her gaze landed on a six-year-old girl. The girl had flawless skin and a rosebud mouth.
‘What the hell...? Who are you?’
The crowd parted and a grinning June came through. ‘Don’t be afraid, Anya.’
The soldiers stared at the girl. They obviously hadn’t seen her coming, either.
June placed a protective hand on the girl’s back. ‘This is Frahlia.’
Carissa appeared at the child’s side. She was staring at her.
She looked up at June. ‘My niece?’
June chuckled. ‘In a way, I suppose so.’
Carissa smiled down at the girl.
Stunned into silence, all Anya could do was to stare at the child. She had blonde hair, but a shade lighter than June’s. Her eyes were a strange shade of blue, different to June’s pale blue ones. She’d never seen eyes that vivid before.
No, wait, she had. Once, on the eighth floor of Arcis, when she and Dom had discovered a group of children who were being kept separate to the babies. She reminded herself that this was not June’s biological child. She was a product of a Breeder and an unwilling victim. Perhaps the rapid growth machine had given her the unusual eye colour.
Anya shivered. Had things played out differently, this child could have been hers.
The girl stared up at her. She looked innocent enough, but the situation gave Anya the creeps.
Aware that June was waiting for a response, she looked at her and said, ‘Frahlia?’
June beamed. ‘A hybrid of Frank and Tahlia.’
Anya smiled. She couldn’t think of a better way to remember them.
‘Can she talk?’
June frowned. ‘I don’t know...’
She hadn’t noticed Alex standing behind June. His eyes were on the child. His blond hair was probably a closer match to the child’s hair than June’s.
‘She can. The machine grows not only the body but the brain, too. It matures her intellect enough to match her age.’
Just like Alex had been grown and matured too fast.
A thought hit her. Could this child be from one of his forced interactions? She knew so little about what had happened before her arrival.
Alex had a wide grin on his face, looking like a proud father. Anya had been too busy fighting the breeding programme; it had never occurred to her that Alex might actually want a child.
‘She’s perfect, isn’t she?’ he said, placing his hand on the top of her head.
The child flinched and hid behind June’s leg.
Alex’s smile dropped away.
‘She just needs time to adjust,’ said June.
Alex nodded, looking too stiff to be comfortable.
17
Anya
Anya squashed her back into the wall, keen to distance herself from the readymade family before her. June was a mother. The man Anya had been forced into a room to breed with was a father. Things were changing too fast.
Frahlia watched her with curiosity. Her odd, blue gaze made Anya look away. She crossed her arms and concentrated on the others. This child—and others like her—was the reason Anya and the others had spent three months in Arcis and why she, June and Sheila had been held prisoner in this place. She was also the potential reason why Dom had been tortured.
‘So what now?’ said Jacob, his voice snapping her back to reality.
‘Charlie and I still think we should leave the city,’ said Vanessa. The pair had been chatting together in one corner. ‘More so since Carissa confirmed this is a trap.’
A worried Anya looked at Dom. They had to keep going. Who knew when they might get another chance?
To her relief, he shook his head.
‘Nobody’s leaving. We came here to find the Beyond and took a massive risk by doing so. We’re not leaving until we locate it.’
Vanessa lifted her hands. ‘It’s a mistake to stay, Dom. You know that, right? We’ll be outnumbered.’ She glanced at Carissa. ‘The Collective is still here.’
Except Anya didn’t believe it was. ‘Carissa heard Quintus, nobody else. Same as when she heard him on the battlefield. Same as when he contacted her in the camp.’
Vanessa blinked. ‘What are you saying?’
‘That Quintus appears to be acting alone. He might
