Chapter 27
The Death Sentence
“Is he dead?” My eyes dart to the right in dread.
“We can’t know.” Pesh draws back.
“What about Levon? Where is she?” I ask, frantic.
I watch as he pulls out a tablet from his drawer that seems to track Levon. “We’re able to see her?”
“Yeah.” He changes the view on his screen from animation to live view. “I have cameras all over Commonda Island.”
Focused, he draws a bunch of shapes on his screen, zooming in and connecting multiple wire-like images together on the screen. “I’m just scanning what we’re dealing with here. We have to make sure no one can see that we’re watching them.”
I nod, then look to see a red dot on the side of the screen beeping. “What’s that?”
“Warning. You’ve got to be kidding me.” Pesh sighs.
A huge bomb explodes behind Levon on the live footage. Oh no! Levon ducks, hiding against a huge tree. In the process, she scrapes her hands. She pants, eyes scanning all around.
“Argghhhh! I need help, I need help!” Levon continues to scream.
“We stopped hearing you for a while, what happened? Are you okay? Are you close to The Lawtem?” Pesh asks.
“I took out the ear buds because I figured you’d hear the wind and you all needed to help Swin before…
but, I’m having a little trouble here. I’m about four miles away, but there are gunshots being fired at me from the trees, and the ground around me is exploding.
What the heck? How are the trees firing gun shots? It makes no sense!”
“It can’t be,” Pesh exclaims. “He enabled The Zariki Obstruct! Oh my God.”
“What on earth is that!?” I turn to his face, and for the first time, I see Pesh terrified.
“Oh my world! I’ll stop the students.” Doctor Val walks out instantly.
I’m confused, but before I can speak, Pesh begins to direct Levon.
“Levon, can you hear me?”
I hear countless gun shots.
“Yes! Pesh, I’m on the ground!” She’s breathing heavily.
“Listen, Levon. Shantavia and I, we’re gonna get you out of there. I just need you to listen and do as I say.”
“I’m listening,” Levon responds.
“Good. The trees surrounding you, every one of them will blow up in 60 seconds. There’s an underground cave near where you are. You need to crawl on the ground until you feel a steel fiber door. Look at the ground around you. Do you see it?”
I hear Levon scampering, touching the sand to find the door. “I see it,” Levon says.
“Pull it open and jump in. You’re going to fall for a very long time. Once you get there, the doors beneath you will shut every five seconds. You have to sprint until the fifth one. Then wait. If you do not get there in time…”
Levon gulps, horror-struck. “I’ll die.”
“Yes.”
“Now, jump!” Pesh orders.
She screams.
“Levon. Runnnn!” Pesh commands.
I hear sprinting and panting and doors slamming, then complete silence.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
Then Levon speaks, “Okay, I’m safe. But I can still hear the gunshots.”
“Don’t worry about that. You’re safe for now. But in the next 10 minutes, the ground will cave in and explode. You can’t escape unless Shantavia turns on the water knob before the time elapses.”
“Where is that?” I ask, worried.
Pesh paces, hands on his face. “It’s nothing.” His expression appears bleak.
I look at him, eyes wide, perplexed. “What do you mean nothing, there must be something. What’s that thing you said at the start?”
“The Zariki Obstruct is a death sentence!”
“Pesh, my sister is about to die, freakin’ tell me what it is! What is The Zariki Obstruct?”
“The Zariki Obstruct is… oh my God.” Pesh turns to me, eyes aflame.
“The Zariki Obstruct is where the six tests from The Commons come from. The tests are nothing compared to The Zariki Obstruct. The tests are man made. The Zariki Obstruct is real life. There was a reason that Patron De Londe and Satri DeVichi chose this island to build The Commons. It’s because this island is the REAL test.”
“What do you mean? How is this island The Test?” My chest tightens, panic flashing through me.
“The Zariki Obstruct is the only way to get to the switch room that can turn off what Patron De Londe has activated to kill Levon. To get to that room, you must fight robots that mirror yourself, be submerged in a river of Conzamine, escape a volcanic eruption and much more. You may see real people that The Seventh Zone has exiled or drowned, and you will face diamond-like environments a hundred times worse than the Common Test—just to get to an invisible door like the ones you’ve seen.
And that is when you will reach the switch room.
This is the room that controls every test and powers all technology that The Commons creates.
This is the room that has the knob that can stop Levon from being blown up. ”
“That’s impossible!” I exclaim. “I don’t understand. If what you’re saying is true, that’s literally death.”
“Exactly!”
“What did Doctor Val mean when she said she’d stop the students?” I ask.
“The students right now are taking virtual tests where their answers are affecting reality. So if Doctor Val stops them, you’ll be able to face the test head on without interference.”
“Oh my God, so the tests I took, if I killed someone there, that could have been real?”
“It could have been, but you didn’t in the Meaning Test.”
“How is this even possible?” My mind shudders.
“The Commons developed Commonda’s natural dangers with efficient and automatic parametric architecture in order to obstruct the way to the switch room that can save anyone.
There’s no telling which of the obstacles in The Zariki Obstruct is real and which are fake.
It’s all merged in nature, plus The Commons technology. ”
Levon interrupts us over the intercom, screaming, “Shantavia! You don’t have to do this! It’s better if I’m the only one who dies. We can say our goodbyes in the next few minutes. You can’t run into that for me, it’s death!”
I take a deep breath, lost in a thousand thoughts. “And this is the only way to save my sister?”
“The only way.” He shows me the map.
I take it and look at the way to get past The Zariki Obstruct and to the switch room. “And if I overcome The Zariki Obstruct and get to the switch room, what then? How do I know which switch is the water knob?”
“You don’t. But it’s one of the blue ones, that’s all I know. You have to go with your instincts.”
“Why can’t I just turn them all off?”
“There are 7000 switches.”
Oh my God. “I have to. I have to do it. I have to save my sister. That’s why I came here. Whether death or bondage, at least I’ll die trying than live not knowing if I could have saved her.”
“Shantavia!” Levon cries out. “No! Both of us can’t die now. You’re too young! Do not do this. You’re heading to a death trap!”
I am silent, my thoughts running at a thousand miles.
“Shantavia!” Levon screams.
“What, Levon!? Are you saying that I’ve failed?”
“What?” she responds.
“Are you saying I’ve failed you as your little sister? You taught me to be brave and strong. And to never give up. I will not disappoint you. And if I perish, I perish.”
Silence.
“Shantavia, I love you.” Her voice breaks.
A tear drops from my eye. Instantly, I wipe it and take off my ear pods, then turn to Pesh to say goodbye.
“Those won’t work in The Obstruct because there’s no service there. But you’ll be able to hear me when you make it to the Switch Room, so keep them,” Pesh says, holding me tightly, his emotions breaking.
Then, he hands me two swords. One with his name imprinted, the other with Levon’s.
My eyes scan the iridescent blades, tracing the outline of their names.
“I meant to give you these in other circumstances, but—”
“Thank you. How much time will I have before the ground caves in and blows up where Levon is?” I begin to put the ear pods back on as he hands me a special white combat suit.
“9 minutes now.” He closes his eyes in dread, scared for me.
“And once I get there and do it—?” I look down, exhaling, rubbing my shaking hands, trying to calm myself down as I set the suit aside.
“There’s a one-way door back to The Commons from the Switch Room. It only opens backwards like an invisible door, but it doesn’t go forward, unfortunately. I’ll be waiting for you right there.” Pesh holds my cheeks, looking intently into my eyes, struggling to let me go.
“Pesh, if I die—”
“No. No. You’re not gonna die. Listen to me, Shantavia!
I’ve been watching you. I’ve seen all your test results.
No one dives in to be eaten by a shark. Normal people do not go headfirst against a metal door and think it will open.
You’re not Common. And that’s why you’re going to pass this!
No one has ever impressed me on the Cognitive Test. No one has ever made me stand up to kiss them in the Chemistry Hallway.
No one has ever solved half of the unsolved math challenges known to our generation.
No one has ever impressed Suzandrick in the Chemistry Diamond Test. But you did that!
You do impossible things! Don’t you get it?
No student or Patron before you could do what you’ve done…
not even me. Knowing facts is not enough.
You are enough. You are more than enough.
This is your destiny. And that’s why you’re going to save your sister.
And The Commoners. There’s no one else that can do this, but you, and as much as I don’t want you to, I know you can.
If anyone can, it’s you. You’re the girl of impossibilities. Capiche?”
“Capesh.”
A smile rips through his lips, staring into my eyes. He looks down for a moment as though to control his emotions, then he looks at me. “Come here!” He takes me into his arms.
Our heads rest against each other as tears stream down our faces. He feels my warm cheeks with his palms.
I touch his with my shivering hands. “Remember, regardless of whether I win or not, love never fails.”
His fingers scroll over my shaking lips, and a tear begins to drop from my eyes.
It lands on his lips as he begins to kiss me in a soft, slow thrust. This time around, our kiss is not merely one of passion or intimacy or delight, our kiss is more of pain.
It is like a first and last kiss all in one.
Knowing full well that this might be the last time I might see his face, I gasp and pull myself back from him to stop my emotions from changing my mind. I have to go.
“300 years and a day, remember me.”
Tears cloud his eyes, and he tightens his fists.
“300 years and a day, come back to me.”