CHAPTER SIX #2
Nya’s response was to plant her feet and declare that I was not coming with them. End of story. And she refused to hear anything else about it.
It was Kieran who finally asked what my reasons were.
It was difficult to look the two of them in the eye.
But I had squared my shoulders and forced myself to hold each of their gazes in turn as I said, “I want to go Outside. I want to see what the world is like out beyond the walls. How you live. The magical creatures and beings that I’ve only read about.
But most of all”—here I pressed on, despite a lump forming in my throat—“I can’t sit here for a third time, watching the days go by, knowing you’re risking your lives out there.
And that I may never see either of you again.
So you can follow through on your threat to hurt me or kill me or whatever it is you have to do.
But I won’t help you with this unless you take me with you. ”
At my words, Kieran’s eyes had shifted in that way that only his could, darkening from that chrome silver to the deep blue-gray of the sky just after a storm.
“We risk our lives every day,” he had said, his voice surprisingly gentle.
“The same creatures that we’ve been seeking out could randomly appear in our camp one night and slaughter us all in our sleep.
There’s a real possibility you could die out there. ”
The next words that came out of my mouth should have surprised me more than they did. But the same way it becomes easier to lie the more you do it, it becomes easier to admit the truth the more you do it. Or at least, that’s how it felt to someone who had spent the last decade being dishonest.
“Magical beings and beasts aren’t the only things that can kill you,” I said.
“People kill, too. And besides, having your life taken in that manner isn’t the only thing to fear.
” My voice had become so soft, it was barely above a whisper.
“Having to continue living when you’ve lost everything that you loved, everything that gave you purpose, everything that made you look forward to the future… that’s its own version of death.”
I’m not sure how much time passed before Kieran spoke again. “And if we decide not to do either one—take you or hurt you—but just leave and never come back here again?”
“You won’t?” It was meant to be a statement. But the question was there in my voice.
Kieran’s slow smile, closely followed by Nya’s exasperated sigh, was my answer.
It was decided. I was going with them.
Nya and Kieran said they would have to return to the Strangers to present my terms. Which, despite Nya’s concerns, they were fairly certain that the other decision-makers in the group would accept.
Just that word, “terms,” made me feel like a child roleplaying as someone important.
But I suppose there was no other way to describe the agreement I presented:
Nya and Kieran would sneak me out of Cyllene for two days, to return at the end of the second day.
In exchange for meeting these people I had been assisting and getting to see the Outside firsthand, I would not stray from what I was instructed to do, would not take unnecessary risks, and would keep my distance during the confrontation with the Leviathan.
I would never speak of what I saw or experienced Outside, but would use that knowledge to fuel my continued support of the Strangers from inside Cyllene.
That last part had settled heavily over me. Cyllene may have been a city of rule-followers, but I hadn’t spent my childhood staying up late into the night, reading mysteries and thrillers with Irene for nothing. I knew well the concept of a double agent.
And that’s what I was now, formally and willingly, agreeing to be.
While Nya and Kieran did their part, I did mine in turn. I found an excuse to be sent down to the basement level of the Library again. Just like before, while researching the actual project Cato had given me, I soaked up every bit of information I could on the Leviathan.
Near the end of the third day, I steeled myself to find out just how skilled ten years’ worth of lying had made me.
With palms sweating, I found Cato in his office.
I confirmed that I had had a lot on my mind, as he had guessed.
I told him I didn’t want to talk about it, but I thought I could benefit from a few days to myself.
In my decade working in the Library, it was my first time making a request like that.
The conversation ended up being both easier and harder than I had expected.
Easier, because Cato believed me right away and didn’t probe.
Harder, because I had to sell it like I finally trusted him enough to admit what I needed in order to feel like my old self again.
I could tell, by the compassion in his eyes and the reassuring pat on the shoulder that he gave me as I left, how much that meant to him.
Maybe one day I would tell him the truth.
And maybe one day I would tell Brielle and Zander the truth, instead of feeding them a lie about working in my room on an extremely important Library project and asking that they please not disturb me for several days.
Thank goodness the two of them never had a reason to cross paths with Cato to confirm.
Everything had gone according to plan. But there was one step left, and it was going to be the most challenging one.
Nya and Kieran had to sneak me out of Cyllene.
I was dressed in my most comfortable T-shirt, black jeans, and black sneakers.
My hair was pulled back in a smooth ponytail instead of a braid, which helped cool the sticky sweat that was already forming on my neck.
Whether it was from the humidity that lingered after another sweltering day or from my nerves, I couldn’t say. Probably a combination of both.
As I was getting ready, I had allowed myself to look at my reflection for the first time in, well, I suppose I couldn’t even guess at how long it had been. Not a quick glance, but a truly intentional moment of observing myself. Seeing the person before me. Even the parts that reminded me of Irene.
Where did this person come from? This person who would demand to go with two people she barely knew beyond the walls of Cyllene?
As I fidgeted now on the floor of the balcony, I decided I must have been waiting for an hour or more. But in spite of the anxious energy that kept my legs bouncing and my feet tapping, I wasn’t concerned.
Nya had forewarned me that they could only give an estimate of when to expect them. One patrolling Enforcer could mean the difference between crossing the wall and having to hang back until the coast was clear.
However, I had been staring at the dark cityscape for so long that the buildings were starting to look like they were moving.
No. That was actual movement.
The shadowy shapes weaved and bobbed, all the while drawing closer. As they neared, I realized they were leaping from rooftop to rooftop. How was that possible?
When the shapes reached the edge of the high-rise directly across from my apartment, they paused.
I stood and walked to the edge of the railing, holding my breath.
One of the shapes moved quickly across the rooftop.
Faster and faster, until it sailed over the edge, across the street, and onto the living quarters’ lawn.
I could make out now that it was Nya. She sprinted up the incline until she was in line with the column of balconies that led to mine.
I had assumed she would climb from balcony to balcony, but instead she launched herself into the air.
She landed right beside me, the soles of her boots smacking the cement. That, I realized, was the thud I always heard from inside the apartment.
Kieran wasn’t far behind. He followed the same path as Nya, who stepped aside to make room for him. He landed in a crouch, straightened, and flashed me a grin.
“Okay.” Nya’s voice had that commanding edge that it took on when she was focused. “Maila, you’re with Kieran.”
“To do that?”
I had known we were going to have to do some running and climbing to sneak out of the city, but I hadn’t expected what I just witnessed. Leaping inhuman distances and arcing through the air like giant crickets.
Kieran lifted his shirt sleeve to reveal a diamond-shaped marking on his left deltoid. It was about two inches long and one inch wide, the lines contained within too intricate to make out fully in the dark.
“Congratulations! This is your first encounter with magic.” He said the last part in a mock ominous tone, waving his hands in the air.
Nya rolled her eyes. Then she lifted the cuff of her shorts to show me the identical marking on her right thigh.
The realization made my chest constrict and my pulse start hammering, but in the best possible way. Kieran was right. I had spent most of my life reading about magic and researching magic. Now I was witnessing it firsthand.
Starting with these tattoos, which I assumed were the work of an enchantress.
I adored enchantresses, mostly because some research I had done on them a few years back had led me to this eloquently written line from an Enforcer’s field journal: “Holy fuck these people look like people, but I don’t think they ARE people. ”
Turns out, they were people. Just not “our” people. They arrived during The Awakening.
“Luck is on our side tonight,” Kieran continued. “The wards are disabled in one section of the wall.”
There was one burning question answered. Finally. “Who disabled them?”
Kieran’s smile was the definition of smug. “I did.”
“Both of you be quiet and come on.” Nya’s chastising whisper came from the other side of the balcony. She had slung my bag over her shoulder, where it hung against her backpack, and she was already perched on the railing.
Kieran turned his back to me and squatted down.
After a beat, he spoke. “The magic only works on me. So unless you’ve been concealing some magic of your own, you’d better hop on.”