CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHUMANA brINGS ME BACK TO the forest and, when I slip through the panel of the glasshouse, Dr Seymour has returned, too. She doesn’t ask me where I was. Sophie and I are escorted to the dining room for Christmas lunch, where Atlas and Marquis are whispering over their turkey. There’s still no sign of Serena or Gideon.
‘Soph?’ I say.
I know this is probably the last time she’ll let me use that nickname.
‘Can I talk to you? Privately?’
Sophie blinks. ‘All right.’
Atlas smiles at me, but I glare back. He doesn’t look away. Instead, when Sophie walks back out into the hall, he gives me an almost imperceptible nod.
Who does he think he is?
I glance at the Guardian by the door, who isn’t paying much attention, then back at Marquis.
He leaves tonight , I mouth, thinking of Karim still hidden in the library. Then I follow Sophie out of the room.
‘Recruits, where are you going?’ the Guardian asks.
I’ve never seen him before and come to the sickening realisation that he must be one of the replacements for the Guardians in the forest.
‘I need to clean up for lunch,’ Sophie says, holding out her ink-stained hands. ‘Deputy Prime Minister Ravensloe says it’s better to travel in twos.’
‘I’ve been ordered not to let anyone move without an escort.’
‘Escort us to the dormitory, then?’ I say.
The Guardian hesitates, glancing back at Marquis and Atlas, then decides we’re more valuable. He follows us up the stairs and stands outside the dormitory door, which I close.
‘What’s going on, Viv?’
Sophie looks exhausted as she casts a wistful look in the direction of the empty beds. It’s hard to believe that all of our dorm-mates are now either dead or in hiding.
‘Is this about Chumana? About the code?’
‘No,’ I say. ‘I’m not giving Wyvernmire the Koinamens. She’ll use it to control dragons and win the war, and I know what that will mean for the Third Class. I know what it will mean for you.’
She grabs my hand and squeezes. ‘Atlas was right,’ she says. ‘Back in the library, we were only thinking about ourselves. But this is how we make sure what happened to Nicolas never happens again. And it means that maybe, one day, we can go home. Together.’
Shame prickles my skin. ‘That’s what I want to talk to you about.’
With my hand in hers, I feel like a fraud.
She frowns. ‘Home?’
I let go and sit down on the bed beside her. My heart is thumping in my chest and my face is slowly burning up. How can I bring myself to say the words out loud? I want to be sick.
‘I did something terrible,’ I say.
She eyes me curiously.
‘Last summer.’
I pause, trying to dredge up every ounce of courage from within me.
‘Do you remember when I went to see Mistress Morris about my university application?’
Sophie nods. ‘We all did. She wrote our recommendation letters.’
‘Her daughter was also applying to study Mathematics at the University of London,’ I say.
‘I remember,’ Sophie says. ‘Lily.’
I nod. ‘Morris was worried Lily wouldn’t get in. So she asked me to do something.’
‘What could you possibly have done to help Lily get into university?’
I close my eyes and remember. Despite Sophie and I being on the Fast Track Programme to attend university early, Morris warned me that the universities were becoming even more selective.
‘Morris said you were Lily’s main competition. And . . .’ I take a deep breath and force the words out. ‘She asked me to imitate your handwriting to change some of your responses to the Examination.’
Sophie shakes her head slightly, as if she’s misheard me. Then she goes as still as solid rock.
‘She said that if I refused she’d remove me from Fast Track and have me stay on at school for another year. But if I helped her she’d personally speak to the Dragon Tongues admissions team about me.’
I wish I could shrink into nothing, but I force myself to look into Sophie’s eyes because it’s the least she deserves. I can feel my face turning bright red, hot like a fever. ‘It’s my fault you failed the Examination, Sophie. You were never ill-prepared or not clever enough. I changed your results so that you would fail and Lily could get the university place instead of you.’
Sophie sways. ‘B-but … why?’
‘I wanted to go to university earlier, to be the first to graduate at age twenty as a qualified Draconic Translator,’ I say, tears streaming down my face. ‘I was scared that if I didn’t do it, she’d write me a bad reference and I’d never get in. But Sophie, listen to me. I promise you that I regretted it as soon as I’d done it. I regret it still. And after you told me what happened to you, to Nicolas … I had no idea what life would be like for you.’
Sophie’s eyes are screwed shut. ‘But … you knew you’d never see me again. That I’d have to leave my parents. That I’d never be able to study.’
‘I . . . yes,’ I sob. ‘I’m so sorry. I hate myself for it. And I don’t deserve your forgiveness, I know that. I ruined your life out of selfishness and ambition. I betrayed you. But please . . . please don’t hate me forever.’
Sophie is standing up now and when I reach out a hand she tenses and backs away. Her eyes are still closed, but there’s a look of absolute disgust on her face. My chest tightens and my head spins at the sight of it. Then her eyes fly open.
‘Hate you?’ she says, and her voice is almost a whisper. ‘I don’t even recognise you.’ Her mouth twists into a pained smile. ‘But you’ll pay for what you did to me.’
I can barely breathe, as if I’m about to suffocate within my own body.
‘I’m so sorry, Sophie.’
It’s all I can say, over and over.
‘I’m so sorry.’
She stares at me, her eyes flashing with fury. For a moment, it looks like she might kill me. I feel drunk, like I’ve descended into the deepest depths of oblivion with no way out.
‘I’ll spend my life making it up to you,’ I say.
Sophie backs away, opens the door with a bang and runs.
‘Oi!’ the Guardian shouts.
I slip off the bed on to my knees as the sobs rack my body.
Now she knows, will always know, who I truly am. A liar, a fraud, a shiny fake rotting beneath the surface. Exhaustion washes over me as I climb into Sophie’s bed and lay my head against the pillow. I’m enveloped in her smell, the smell of my childhood. I’ll never be this close to her again. I try desperately to grasp on to Chumana’s words, to remember what she said before my mind spins back into that awful pit of anxiety and hatred it’s permanently been in, ever since last summer.
You don’t have to forgive yourself . . . But you can offer yourself a second chance .
A floorboard creaks and suddenly there are familiar arms round me and a voice in my ear. ‘Care to tell me what’s going on, cousin?’
I sit up.
‘Viv?’ he says, his voice finding a touch of unusual seriousness. ‘What’s happened?’
I tell him.
‘I always knew there was more than you were letting on.’
‘I understand if you don’t want anything to do with me any more.’
He scoffs and ruffles my hair. ‘You’re my family. There’s nothing you could do to make me not want to have anything to do with you.’ He pauses. ‘You did an awful thing. But I know you well enough to know that you regretted it immediately. And I trust you to do the right thing now.’
He hugs me and for a moment I just savour the feeling. The feeling of being loved in spite of my mistake.
‘Did … Atlas say anything?’ I ask casually. ‘Earlier?’
He rolls his eyes. ‘He wanted to come up here when we saw Sophie run past, but I told him to bugger off. I’ve barely had a look in your life since he’s been around.’
I snort. ‘As if you haven’t spent your every waking moment with Karim.’
He grins. ‘What did you mean, yesterday, about Karim escaping on dragonback?’
‘The dragon I freed from the library is up in a field behind the forest,’ I say. ‘If we can get Karim out during the night, Chumana will take him to safety. Has anyone been found?’
‘No,’ Marquis says grimly. ‘But the Guardian staffroom is just below the library, and Karim has been listening through the floorboards all morning. They think Gideon or Serena might have escaped into the town, so they’re widening their search.’
‘What about Wyvernmire?’
‘She congratulated me on winning my category and told me I’d soon be able to return home,’ he scoffs.
‘And our family?’
Marquis shakes his head. ‘They won’t be freed unless you win your category, too. She said I’m only here because of you.’
‘That’s not fair,’ I seethe. ‘They’re your family, too, and you kept your end of the deal—’
‘It was never a real deal, though, was it, Viv?’
I look at him.
‘She doesn’t care what promises she made. If she did, she would never have made us compete in the first place. And now, because of her, we might have to face Bulgarian dragons. This war is about to get bigger.’
I take a deep breath. ‘If it comes to that … we know what side we’ll be on. Don’t we?’
‘Viv … I already told you that—’
‘And I agree,’ I say. ‘You were right about everything you said. I’ve been wrong my whole life. I want us to join the Coalition, Marquis.’
‘Is that because your boyfriend’s part of it?’ he jokes weakly.
‘No!’ I say. ‘I can’t give Wyvernmire the code. I can’t hand the dragons, the Third Class, our friends over to her.’
‘And if the Bulgarians turn against her?’
‘We’ll fight them,’ I say fiercely. ‘If it comes to that, there will be no government versus rebels any more. If Wyvernmire’s new friends take over, it will be Britannia versus Bulgaria.’
Marquis slips his hand into mine. ‘And we’ll get Ursa back,’ he reassures me. ‘If the Coalition can seize Bletchley before the Bulgarians get here, we’ll make Wyvernmire tell us where she is.’
I nod, hope buoying inside me.
‘The Coalition could already be on their way, but they’re going to need inside help. I’ve got an idea, but it’s risky.’
Marquis looks at me expectantly.
‘We have to recruit more dragons.’
*
I scribble a last note for Atlas and fold it into four.
Atlas, last night was a mistake. Please don’t write to me again.
I know he prays in the boys’ dormitory after lunch, so I slip the note brazenly under the door. Marquis raises his eyebrows.
‘Don’t ask,’ I tell him.
Downstairs is empty except for the Guardian at the door, a different one from earlier.
‘Viv—’ Marquis hisses as we walk towards him.
‘It’s fine.’ I nod at the Guardian. ‘Afternoon,’ I say brightly.
He stares at me through his helmet.
‘We need to get out, please.’
He doesn’t move.
‘I’m the translator,’ I say in a bored voice, as if he should already know this. ‘I have orders to meet with some patrol dragons in the grounds, to help prepare for the … arrival.’
‘The grounds of Bletchley Park are now out of bounds to recruits,’ the Guardian barks.
‘Well, not to all recruits,’ I say sweetly. ‘Did the Prime Minister not inform you?’
The Guardian blinks and I see a hint of hesitation in his eyes.
I lean closer to him. ‘How are we to welcome our allies if no one here speaks Bulgarian?’
His eyes widen and he stands aside. As we jump down the steps, Marquis turns and gives him a cheerful wave.
‘The Bulgarian dragons speak Slavidraneishá, not Bulgarian,’ I say, shaking my head. ‘How does nobody know that?’
It doesn’t take us long to find Rhydderch. He’s patrolling the left side of the park, by the lake. Muirgen is flying above, circling us as we approach her brother. Rhydderch swings his huge head towards us and bares his teeth.
‘You again?’ he says gruffly. ‘I thought my sister scared you off when we last met.’
Better to get straight to the point this time.
‘Hello, Rhydderch,’ I say. ‘We’ve come to warn you.’
The dragon lets out a huff that sends smoke streaming out of his nostrils.
‘Warn us?’ he says.
The reflection of Muirgen’s blue tail flashes on the water of the lake. She’s listening.
‘Prime Minister Wyvernmire is planning an alliance with the dragons of Bulgaria,’ I say. ‘They’ll be here in two days, to crush the Coalition and force your Queen into submission.’
Rhydderch lets out a deep laugh. ‘The Bulgarians are the very reason the Peace Agreement exists,’ he says. ‘Why would Wyvernmire betray it, especially after she deliberately upheld it when that criminal dragon burned Downing Street?’
I shrug. ‘The Prime Minister grows impatient. She still hasn’t won the war, despite having the Queen and all her dragons on her side. She’s resorting to other means of victory.’
Above us, Muirgen lets out a screech.
‘The Dragon Queen and the Prime Minister came together to fight the rebels when they could have fought each other,’ says Rhydderch. ‘I don’t believe such an arrangement could be—’
‘The Bulgarian dragons owe Britannia, remember?’
Marquis grabs my wrist and squeezes it in warning. I know why. I’ve just interrupted a dragon. Rhydderch growls. Is he surprised that I know of Britannia’s role in the Massacre of Bulgaria?
‘Yes, the dragons of Bulgaria are in Britannia’s debt. In the debt of the human government and Queen Ignacia.’
‘Except Queen Ignacia can’t make the promises Wyvernmire can. If she can promise your old, senile Queen the flesh of human children in exchange for peace, what do you think she’ll pay the Bulgarian dragons for their strength?’
Rhydderch roars and the ground beneath our feet shakes. Marquis stumbles backwards as the dragon’s eyes flash.
‘Are you angry because I insulted your Queen?’ I say. ‘Or because I know of the secret clauses she had written into the Peace Agreement? It seems Queen Ignacia is not as honourable as the stories say.’
‘Shut up, Viv,’ Marquis says from behind me, but I ignore him.
‘Why would you betray your leader to me?’ Rhydderch says. ‘If what you say is true, my Queen will have this place burned to the ground.’
‘She’s not my leader any more,’ I say. ‘And I’m telling you because …’ I hesitate. ‘Because we need your help.’
‘We?’
‘The Human-Dragon Coalition,’ Marquis says.
‘You are with the enemy,’ Rhydderch hisses.
‘The Coalition isn’t your enemy, not any more!’ I say. ‘Not if Wyvernmire is going to betray Ignacia the same way she’s betraying Britannia’s humans.’
Muirgen’s shadow momentarily blocks out the sun as she continues to circle.
‘You have joined the cause that seeks to destroy the Peace Agreement!’ Rhydderch roars. ‘You are spies!’
He steps backwards, swinging his head from side to side, and then his eyes dart up to Muirgen in the sky. In a split second, she lands beside him and lets out a scream in our direction, so loud that it lifts the jacket off my back. Marquis grabs me and pulls me away, but I shake him off.
I look at Rhydderch. ‘You asked Muirgen to land. With the Koinamens.’
‘I will kill you this time, human traitor,’ Muirgen spits.
‘I lied to you before,’ I say quickly. ‘It wasn’t a dragon who told me about the Koinamens. It was Wyvernmire. That’s why I was recruited by Bletchley Park. To use special machines to decipher the Koinamens. We call it echolocation.’
Muirgen breathes inwards and her chest inflates, buoying her body upwards until she’s towering over me, the lingering smell of blood on her breath. There’s a blast of heat and suddenly the tree next to us bursts into flames.
‘Viv!’ Marquis shouts. ‘We’re leaving.’
We both stumble backwards, tripping as Rhydderch shoots his own flames at another tree.
‘I’m telling the truth!’ I shout. ‘Wyvernmire ordered us to listen to the Koinamens to help her spy on the rebel dragons.’
Rhydderch’s tail sways violently, sending two trees behind him crashing down.
‘But we’ve been trying to stop her!’ I shout desperately.
‘For fuck’s sake, Viv!’ Marquis screams.
‘I’m going to make sure she can never understand the Koinamens. But the fact that I know about it, that I understand some of it, is proof that Wyvernmire is against you, not with you.’
The two dragons stop and, for a moment, there’s no sound except for the crackling of flames. Marquis has pulled me behind a tree, and we peer round the trunk.
‘The Bulgarian dragons will be here soon,’ I say breathlessly. ‘If you tell your Queen, then she’ll declare war not only on the rebels but on every human in Britannia. The losses will be tremendous on both sides. But if you stay here and fight with us, fight with the Coalition, perhaps we can stop the whole thing from happening. We defeat Wyvernmire and drive the Bulgarian dragons out, and then maybe . . .’ I wheeze as black smoke fills my chest. ‘Maybe humans and dragons can reach an agreement again.’
‘We are done with your bastardly agreements,’ says Muirgen, sneering.
‘Wait,’ Rhydderch snarls.
I stare as the dragons face each other, communicating silently. Part of me wishes I had the loquisonus machine with me. Marquis, his cheeks bright red from the heat of the flames, looks at me as if I’ve just sprouted wings. Then Muirgen bows her head to her brother.
‘Go,’ Rhydderch tells us. ‘Before your lungs explode.’
My heart sinks. If the dragons decide to go to their Queen now, Wyvernmire will know I’ve told them. She’ll make sure I never see my parents or Ursa again. And when Queen Ignacia arrives she won’t stop to ask who’s on what side.
‘Will you help us?’ I say. ‘Will you tell the other dragons – Soresten and Addax and Yndrir—’
‘We will consider your request,’ Rhydderch growls.
Marquis squeezes my hand, a gentle way of telling me that he’ll kill me if I antagonise these dragons any more.
‘Thank you,’ I say.
We back away slowly, and it’s only when we reach the cover of several empty cars that Marquis begins to swear.
‘ Senile Queen ?’ he says incredulously. ‘ Force your Queen into submission ? You said those things to not one but two dragons, you bloody lunatic.’
All I can do is grin like an idiot.
We duck as several Guardians come down the steps of the manor and turn towards the fields.
‘What now?’ Marquis says quietly as we watch them go.
‘Tell Karim to be ready to escape tonight,’ I say. ‘I’ve got to find Atlas – he and Dr Seymour might have heard from the Coalition.’
‘Dr Seymour?’ Marquis says incredulously.
I nod and he rubs his forehead in disbelief. Then he stares up at the sky.
‘Do you think the rebels will get here in time?’
I imagine the Bulgarian Bolgoriths swooping down over Bletchley and a hollow feeling fills my stomach. ‘They have to,’ I say. ‘Otherwise, we’ve lost the war.’