6. Chapter Six
Chapter six
S ilence roars in my ears.
Emeris finally stills at the bottom of the raised platform I stand on, with the glass board at my back. We stare at each other a moment, his skin has gone pasty underneath the sun-kissed tones.
‘What – what do we do?’ he asks. Pleads.
I close my eyes for a moment, pressing my hand to my chest. My breasts flatten a fraction under the pressure and distantly I think what a strange thing that is to notice when our world might be about to fall apart.
Has started falling apart.
‘Where is he?’ I ask, my voice quivering. ‘Are you sure?’
Blinking, frantic eyes are set in Emeris’s otherwise blank face.
‘Um … in his office.’ His voice is weak.
I stride from the room, desperately hoping Emeris is wrong and trying not to break into a run. But the shock on his face is clear – he knows.
Smiling at the prisoners I pass has never felt more fake than in this moment, and I push away the thoughts of what we will have to tell them, the insensitive questions they will ask, of what comes next – that, despite my desperate desire to go home, I am the most likely person to be asked to run the prison in his absence. At least temporarily.
Arriving at the Warden’s office door makes me pause.
But I only let it last a moment, just in case Emeris is wrong. The white-panelled door opens soundlessly into the handsomely decorated office and I glance to the window Blossom and I snuck in last night as if I could go back to that moment.
But, slumped on his desk, is the Warden.
Only the top of his head is visible from here but I can already tell his back doesn’t seem to be rising with his breath.
Swallowing, I cross the floor and press my fingers into the soft part of his neck, under his jaw.
Nothing.
I prod harder.
Please .
My throat thickens as I wait, imagining him sitting up and smiling warmly at me. Just like he did when allocating me Finn, my last prisoner.
There’s a tightening between my ribs. Please. Please, just let me see your kind, dark eyes. Look at me . Tell me this isn’t real.
But there’s nothing.
Just silence.
Stillness.
No marks, no sign he’s hit his head, or some other explanation for what’s in front of me. Nothing that the coldness starting to emanate from his skin doesn’t already tell me, despite how badly I want otherwise.
A spinning sensation takes root behind my temples.
Emeris’s face is starting to clear as I look back at him, but he’s still silent. I watch as I think through what we need to do: action. That’s what he would have expected of me.
There has been the occasional death on the premises before, but that’s normally a matter of notifying families and Traelen’s staff making the arrangements. The concierges would pack their belongings for the families but it never affected the running of the prison.
But this is …
Claudius.
A sob catches in my throat and I cover my mouth, shaking my head a little to try and clear it.
The prison needs running.
I’m supposed to be going home.
He was going to help me with Nix. And River and Blossom.
He was like my—
My head swims with the things that will need to be managed on the Warden’s behalf even as a sharpness takes root in my chest. He was my friend – my mentor. A man who wanted to help me create a good life for myself after so long serving here. The person who was going to help me understand why Nix and River are here, and exactly how to get us all home. And now …
‘Luka,’ Emeris says gently. ‘We will need to tell Traelen, but first I need to find Janly.’
I nod. It makes sense to have her – the concierge next in line, behind me – to help with whatever comes next. Neither of us will be able to take on the role of Warden permanently, that’s normally reserved for people with senior military backgrounds, but it will be the two of us who need to run it while that role is … vacant.
But before I can ask why Emeris would bring Janly in here right at this moment, he’s left and I am alone. With the Warden. The walls seem suddenly closer but I make myself turn away from the door and look back at him.
‘What happened?’ I hear myself ask him, as if he could tell me why he’s gone. How. Where.
Staring at him, if it wasn’t for the slight cold in the air surrounding him like an aura, something that feels like just the beginning of how cold he’s going to get, he could be sleeping.
If sleeping on the job was something he did.
A heart attack? A stroke, maybe? Would those things leave any signs? Wouldn’t there at least be some disturbance on his desk if something like that happened?
Instead, it looks like he tidied everything away before he lay his head down and died.
But why would he do that?
Slowly, I make my way to where he lies over the desk and kneel before him. Silently begging him again to open his eyes as tears prickle in my own. I’d been torn about my duty when I was first selected for my service. Knowing how much I was going to miss out on in my own life was a weight I couldn’t avoid, despite understanding the government makes decisions on what is best for the country. It was the Warden that helped me come to terms with what I was having to give up – with how much I was actually doing in a different way.
And I’d thought, with every part of me, that he would be there to help me understand the next stage, too. How to execute the recommendation he’d given me for Parliament, and serve my country even better. How to get there without spending another year of my life here.
I gasp as a thought hits me. Did someone not want him to not be doing that? Did someone know he got River and Nix here? Know he was clearly involved in something … other than what it appeared?
I let the tears spill gently as I draw back to standing, one hand on his shoulder. The sun streams in the window and catches something shining underneath his collar. Carefully, I pull his shirt away a fraction.
For those that prove— is written on his skin. It’s a tattoo I didn’t know he had, and I press his collar back gently before I read the rest. If he’d wanted me to know about it, he would’ve told me and reading now feels … invasive.
But it fires something in my blood all the same. Because I know, even with him gone, I will prove to him I can do this. I can find out what happened here. I can get to Parliament with the recommendation he started. And I can fulfil whatever goals he had for Nix and River. And me. Because, as evasive as they’re being right now, they forget how patient I can be. I will find out.
‘Oh, Claudius,’ Janly says quietly as Emeris shuts the door behind her.
I stand with Emeris while Janly says her goodbyes to the Warden, crouched where I was a moment ago. The sound of her whispers are like soft waves, but I don’t try to make out what she’s saying. The Warden was a special man to many of us here, and it’s clear he may have helped Janly as much as he did me. The affection in her voice wraps around me.
She gives his hand one last squeeze before joining Emeris and me at the low table on the other side of the room.
‘Traelen will need to know,’ I say.
‘And the concierges,’ Janly adds, her voice dull, eyes lined with red.
‘Did he have family?’ Emeris asks.
‘Some,’ Janly says.
I look between them until they each look up at me. It feels strange to break this moment, to let anyone else know of what’s happened here and who is gone. But there are events, and prisoners, and schedules, and reporting to the Prime Minister’s office that need to be done.
And I now also have my own agenda – help Nix and River, find the Vanan prisoner, and find out what happened to Claudius. All while doing my duty so I can go home – something that now Traelen will probably play an even bigger role in.
I draw a breath that’s tight with the knowledge of what I will now need to lead and manage. Because, even in death, I will never let him down.
‘Ready?’ I ask, trying to hide the trembling in my fingers.
I pick up the gold, antique looking, phone on the Warden’s desk. There’s a curled, shimmering cord that connects its two pieces that’s always intrigued me. It’s cool in my hands as I hold it up to my head.
‘Traelen,’ I say softly into the metallic finish.
There’s a faint chime I register distantly, watching Emeris and Janly as if we are part of some elaborate dream, grounding each other in the uncertainty that’s starting to whirl around each of us.
‘Warden,’ he says in greeting.
‘Traelen, sir,’ I respond. ‘It’s Luka, we – um – we’ve met … here be—’
‘I know where you’re calling from. You’re the one whose duty Claudius extended – I remember. How can I help you, Luka?’
I note the comment he makes on the Warden being the one who extended me. Up here, the message was going to be that I was extended from below. But I let the uncomfortable knot of two conflicting stories go and focus on what has to come next.
‘We, um …’ I take a cooling gulp of air, dragging it deep into my lungs and letting it out in a rush.
‘We have a situation sir,’ I say. ‘The Warden has died.’
Silence greets me from the other end and I don’t know how to fill it.
A moment later, Traelen’s voice comes back.
‘Can you keep him from view of the prisoners?’ he asks.
‘He’s in his office.’
‘Good. Lock the door and wait for me there.’
The line goes quiet in a different way than it did when he wasn’t talking, and I put the speaking piece back in its cradle on the desk.
‘We wait here,’ I say to the others.
My mind spins with everything I didn’t know about the Warden – his family, for starters, that Janly is obviously aware of. I steal a look at where she now sits on the couch in front of the desk. There’s a weariness in the set of her shoulders but no shock in her features like there was in Emeris’s – I can’t imagine the incomprehension on my own face – and the tears that gently roll down her cheeks seem almost resigned.
Traelen thinks I’ve been extended.
Now, not only can the Warden not tell him when I’m done, there’s no way I can tell him I wasn’t collected because Nix is here . That whatever substitute – and illegal, I assume – method they thought they’d organised for my collection didn’t work. Which means the only timeframe I am now working to is Traelen’s.
The most obvious thing would be for Traelen to leave me here until the next collection. But if anyone can organise an unscheduled portal back to the mainland, it would be the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff. An uncomfortable tingle breaks out across my chest and I rub at the exposed skin at my dress’s neckline. If Traelen does what he thinks Claudius wanted – to get me off the island after an extension, not at the next collection – how will I make sure Nix and River have done what they came to do before he gets them transferred to Vana? Including what is now my job of forging a relationship with Cortane?
Shit. What does happen to all those plans now Claudius is dead?
Me, a small voice at the back of my mind says. I happen. Between the academic school I established and ran, amongst all of the challenges in an industry filled with individuals with their own agendas and the fundamental belief that their way is the only way, and my time navigating the wants and needs of Nuntainia’s politicians up here, I can do this. Claudius trusted me. And … I need to trust me.
I jump in my place on the beige settee as the door handle jiggles slightly. Leaping to the door, I peek out to see Traelen in the light-filled hallway. Ushering him in as professionally as I can when there’s the body of someone I love on the desk, I shut and relock the door.
‘I’ll deal with this,’ he says, waving at the Warden and eyeing me critically. ‘Luka, you’re in charge until I appoint another Warden – I have something in train, but there are a few remaining sign offs to get before his arrival. Until then, you will report directly to me.’
I swallow. It’s nothing less than I expected to do on my own, but I didn’t realise Traelen would know how integral I was to the Warden as his unofficial second-in-command. But there’s also a flicker of recognition of doing what I do best – executing roles to an impeccable standard, but only temporarily. Never well enough to actually do the role on my own. Permanently.
‘It’s only temporary and should be quite short at that,’ he says, his voice a fraction softer than before and I register no surprise at his confirmation I’m never a long-term option. ‘Organise and host his send-off, keep the day-to-day running in the meantime, and then I should have a replacement.’
My mind starts to fill with all the things involved in that, but I nod through it.
‘Family,’ I say, my mind finally grabbing on to something. ‘I believe he may have some family who should be there?’
‘Leave that to me.’
He looks at Emeris and Janly, who haven’t said a word as yet.
‘You will assist Luka with anything she needs in this time.’
They nod, though Janly doesn’t meet his gaze.
‘Thank you,’ Traelen says, looking directly at me. His pale-pink suit is too much for the conversation we’re having. ‘He spoke very highly of you, and I have every confidence in your ability to shepherd us through this transition phase.’
I watch his back as he walks from the office, the long jacket he wears hugging his shoulders perfectly.
Transition phase. The coldness of those words leaves a chill down my spine.
Emeris stands, walking to me to take my hand in his.
‘We can do this, Luka,’ he says, squeezing my fingers. ‘We’ve got this.’
I hope so, I think. But first, I need to find Blossom, and tell Nix and River. If Traelen is going to be here with a new Warden sooner rather than later, their timeline for transfer to Vana just got even tighter.
Nix and River seem almost at home in my apartment, even if they do have to sneak in from the garden side so other prisoners – and, ideally, concierges – don’t see them. If Blossom feels any unease at having them lounging on our couches long after dinner has finished, she doesn’t show it. Not any more than the distrust they’ve already planted in her, anyway.
This was something I’d forgotten though – just how much room the two of them can take up.
‘You don’t seem surprised,’ I say, holding Blossom’s hand in my lap.
River sighs heavily. ‘I suppose we’re not. Not really.’
I drop Blossom’s hand and press my fingers into my temples, a wave of nausea rolling through me.
‘What the fuck is going on?’ I ask, the events of the day weighing on me. ‘Literally everything was normal until you’—I look at Nix—‘didn’t show for my collection, and now nothing makes sense. He was in the prime of his life—’ I break off and close my lips tight around the strangled sound that wants to escape.
‘You weren’t supposed to be part of this,’ Nix says gruffly.
‘Of what ?’ I grind out. ‘Perhaps if you’d collected me when you were supposed to, I wouldn’t be! And he—’
‘There are things you don’t understand,’ Nix says, a mix of anger and resignation soaking his words.
‘So help me,’ I say, throwing my arms wide.
‘Lu,’ River says calmly, raising a hand in my direction. ‘Take a breath.’
I cross my arms. Fucking River. Always the sensible one. I do one, audible, inhale and exhale through my nose as I glare at River. ‘I know you’re both smart enough to work around the contracts – even if you have to talk in broad terms. Tell me. Now.’
Blossom watches the brothers impassively as they glance at each other, some unspoken message being passed back and forth. But I don’t miss that her hands are so tightly gripped in her lap that her knuckles are white.
‘It doesn’t leave this room, understood?’ There’s a bite in River’s tone I haven’t heard in a long time.
But I nod once.
‘We’re soldiers, Lu,’ Nix says.
I look between them, trying to listen to what they’re not saying. Nuntainia has no active conflicts and hasn’t for some time.
‘Former or current?’ I ask.
‘Current,’ River confirms. ‘For now. Our service would be terminated automatically when – if – we officially set foot in Vana Prison. Right now, we have a few … outstanding tasks.’
‘And these tasks came from the Warden?’ Blossom asks.
‘Yes and no,’ Nix says. ‘He knew our commanding officer.’
I turn it over in my mind. ‘So your commanding officer and the Warden worked to get you here … and the Warden wanted me in Parliament as a contact … he also said Traelen didn’t know about you. So I assume that’s true and having you here is not Traelen’s plan? Only Claudius’s and your officer’s?’
Nothing.
‘What happens to your – their – plan now he’s dead?’ I flinch at Blossom’s question.
‘Nothing,’ River says. ‘Claudius got us here and now we continue – there are others counting on us to succeed.’
Letting a breath leave me, I sink back into the couch as I think on the reality that we all have the same intentions – to follow through. And I can’t help but glance at Nix as I do so, at the way there seems to be permanent creases beside his eyes. Whatever has got him and his normally happy-go-lucky demeanour so … fractured, hasn’t changed that at least.
‘Claudius thought the Vanan prisoner could get you off the island once your job was done,’ I say. ‘Can you make sure you’re not actually imprisoned there before they have a chance?’
Nix shifts in his seat on the couch opposite Blossom and me.
‘Lu,’ he says, gently gripping his knees. ‘I promise, if we do this right – and you’re really going to contact Cortane – we’re not going to the other side.’
‘And there’s nothing more you can tell us?’ I ask, knowing the answer will be no.
‘You already know about the Vanan prisoner,’ he says, sounding almost defeated. ‘I assume you know what she can do. Honestly, it’s better you don’t know more than that. And sorting out the new Warden will keep Traelen occupied for a time, at least enough for us to get started on what we came to do. Then we’ll go back to the mainland.’
I notice him look at Blossom as he says that, but he doesn’t comment on how not seeing out her duty would throw her life into turmoil as well. But Claudius also thought she should be gone before the next collection.
Fuck.
What none of us have voiced is that breaking out a prisoner from Vana, using them to get an unsanctioned portal to the mainland – in the wake of who knows what River and Nix will have done – would make us fugitives on the mainland. But Nix didn’t use the word ‘home’. He knows that’s no longer an option for us, too.
‘And in the meantime,’ I say, ‘I’m supposed to just run the whole prison, get a new Warden up to speed, work to bust out a criminal, make sure you fit in here well enough that Traelen forgets you’re supposed to be in Vana while you do your tasks , and wait until Traelen releases me from the extension he didn’t order and organises me a sanctioned portal, while also finding a way for Blossom to get out before her duty is up?’
Can I do that?
Nix smiles grimly. ‘That would be great.’