Chapter 53
I manage to scrape out a few hours of sleep on the chilly basement floor, all of it threaded with nightmares.
Jonas screaming for help, his face contorted with terror.
Gran being ferried up in the basket and abandoned like a sacrifice for the green monster.
Gryphon and Marina kissing, stopping only long enough to laugh and point at me. Every one of my teeth falling out.
I wake in a start after each, squeeze Lucky Bunny, whisper to him that everything’s going to be all right. The new plan is not so very different from the previous one, I let him know. I never believed I could sneak back down the Wall with Jonas, not really. Heaven is a one-way trip—I know that.
I also know that if there’s even the slimmest possibility that my twin is alive up there, huddled and hiding, I can’t go on living without trying to save him.
If I can manage it, I’ll take some explosives to drop down on the vine monster—the Beast, as I’ve come to think of it—so even if I don’t make it back, I can protect those within.
Finally, a plan lets me sleep soundly.
The only window in the basement leaks in gray, ghostly light when morning comes. Today’s Thursday, and there’s no sun in sight. If the Astronomer House was correct, and they almost always are, tomorrow will be lousy with it.
Tomorrow night, the celebration.
The end of my life inside the Wall. I plan to go as soon as the tablet is charged.
Eero stirs next to me, groaning as he rises. “Nothing like sleeping on a stone floor with a bloody back.” He starts to stretch and then thinks better of it. “At least it’s cold.”
I check everyone’s wounds before examining the stitches on my belly and the cut at my shoulder. We’re all sore but not showing signs of infection. There’d been enough ointment for all of us. We’re going to heal.
“At least you got some sleep,” Sal grumbles.
She and Meryl are lying near the door, Sal’s arm thrown gently over the Entertainer. She is dropping a soft kiss on Meryl’s head when footsteps clomp down the stairs. Sal helps Meryl up and away from the door as quickly as she can, both of them growing pale with the pain of sudden movement.
The door opens.
Gryphon and Leonidas stride in. Gryphon has a black eye and a split lip. Leo looks like he slept on a bed of feathers. I’m surprised Jarek didn’t punish him for almost showing the whole village the green beast in action.
“Gryphon!” Meryl cries, stepping toward him.
His jaw cuts a hard edge. “We’re here for Rose. The rest of you await judgment.”
See? I want to tell the others. You’re finally witnessing his true colors. Instead, I steel my nerves. No way am I walking out that door with the Betrayer. “Why am I being taken away?”
“The Record Keeper believes you—and more specifically, our wedding—are important to preserving village unity. In light of recent events. So you must prepare.”
My chest burns. He has got to be kidding. “I’m not leaving the others down here. Certainly not to marry you.”
“You have no choice.” Leo smirks.
Gryphon’s eyes pierce me. “Guardians are stationed at the Apothecary cottage. There’s a concern that your aunt, uncle, and gran are supporting your rebellion. Any further…disrespect on your part will be considered proof of their participation.”
They’re holding my family hostage. Why am I not surprised?
“Go,” Sal tells me. “We’d rather be down here than doing our chores, anyhow. Isn’t that right, Oscar? Eero? Mer?”
They nod, their eyes shining.
Still, I can’t imagine leaving them behind.
“Please,” Gryphon says, his gaze weighted.
His earnest tone might have worked, if he hadn’t recently sliced my shoulder open after, oh, kissing the girl who’d made my school years torment.
Not to mention that he apparently suspected Jarek’s plan all along and never said a thing to me.
Suddenly, I feel small and foolish, but a heartbeat later I’m furious again, burning mad that I allowed myself to confide in him over Jonas and the vault.
I loathe Gryphon Tzu more than ever before.
But I don’t see that I have any choice but to go with him. I turn to the others. Fierce Sal, talented Oscar, innocent Eero, and clever, optimistic Meryl. It’s her that I entrust Lucky Bunny to, hoping his charm comforts them as it has me. I shove the tiny carving into her hands as a promise.
“I won’t forget about you down here,” I tell them all.
“Remember the plan,” Oscar says, tipping his head. “And trust the process.”
“What’s he mean?” Leo barks. “What plan?”
“To atone for our mistakes, of course,” I say with false piety.
I push past Leo and am halfway up the stairs when I hear him tell Gryphon he’s going to stay back and teach the others a lesson.
I’m not positive what the response is, but when Leo appears rubbing his rapidly swelling cheek, I have a good guess.
“Bring them food, water, and a bucket,” Gryphon snarls at the Guardian at the top of the stairs. “Leo, my father will want a report on their condition immediately.”
Leo glares at Gryphon and then storms off. I wonder what would happen if I did the same, just walked through the chapel’s front door and didn’t look back. I decide to test it. I make it nearly to the entrance before Gryphon grips my arm with viselike strength.
“You’ll not want to leave yet,” he says.
I turn as quickly as my wounds allow and get in his face. “And why’s that?” I ask.
“You’re needed in here.”
I stick out my chin. “Did Marina tell you to say that?” Almost immediately I regret my words, what they reveal about the state of my heart.
“No,” he says, gently leaning me against the nearest wall in an exact recreation of the move he’d used on Marina last night. How dare he! I hate the way it makes my stomach flip.
“But she did allow me close enough to retrieve this.” He holds up the white-ribboned key to the Record Keeper vault.
Relief verging on euphoria courses through me.
Gryphon’s body molds to mine, ensuring that the Guardians behind cannot see him hand me the key. He studies the thing with distaste until I slip the tied-off ribbon over my head, hiding the key beneath my clothing.
“You owe me,” he says. “Her lips were greasy.”
My heartbeat echoes off his chest and returns to me, stronger than it left. “Why?” I ask. I mean why did he take the risk of stealing the key, why is he helping me, why did he make everything so confusing?
Why???
He places his finger under my chin, continuing the ruse that we’re lovers reuniting after an awful night apart.
“You said Jonas saw something in the vault, something you think caused his Harvest. It could be connected to whatever is going on with my father and the other Guardians. In any case, you wanted the key, so I got it for you.”
Folded in the warmth of his body, I weaken, tears pricking my eyes at the surge of emotions his explanation brings.
Emotions I ought not feel, given my plans for tomorrow night.
I’m going to abandon our sacred union, and yet, for one selfish moment, I want to stay here with Gryphon forever. “Thank you,” I say.
His mouth tightens. He glances over his shoulder. One Guardian has exited through the chapel’s rear door, presumably to get supplies for the prisoners. The other is watching Gryphon and me suspiciously. He breaks away from his station and begins striding toward us.
I speak quickly. “Did you know it was a plant attacking us?”
He shudders. “No, that’s the first time I’ve seen it.” His glance flicks to my shoulder. “And I’m sorry I threw a knife at you. I couldn’t…I couldn’t let you kill him. I wish there’d been another way.”
I nod. He’s telling the truth. The approaching Guardian is nearly upon us now, his hand on his sword. Sojourner Confucius steps out, her expression severe.
“Rose,” she says loudly. “I’m ready for you.”
The Guardian who’d been approaching stops, confused.
I look to Gryphon. He steps aside and holds out an arm, the picture of graciousness. “My mother has requested pre-wedding counseling for each of us, given the situation. I’ve already completed mine.”