It wasn’t too late. Instead of continuing to walk to the Heart of the Stone, she could grab her friends and lead them in the opposite direction. She could keep them going until they reached the outer gates. But then what?
Could they possibly fight their way past the Protectors posted at every exit? And even if they did make it out, was she strong enough to make sure they could all escape and survive out there, with winter looming and god knew what other dangers lying in wait?
Glass stopped walking, closing her eyes. She drew a determined breath, ready to warn the white-clad young women about what lay ahead. But before she could speak a single word, Octavia darted back to her and gripped her arm, her eyes flashing a warning. Far ahead at the front of the line, Margot was oblivious.
“Not yet,” Octavia hissed into Glass’s ear. “Wells has a plan. It’s happening soon. We just need to be ready to run.”
Octavia slunk forward to take her place in the tidy line. Stunned, Glass scanned the rest of them and saw a grim line to their mouths, a fearful but steely glint in their eyes. They all knew.
Glass blinked at Octavia. Octavia nodded once, then lifted her chin and stared blankly ahead.
Onward, then.
Glass kept them moving, her own heart flailing in her chest, all the way to the Heart of the Stone.
It wasn’t until they walked in that her step faltered. This couldn’t be it. She must have made a wrong turn. Glass knew every inch of this place by now, mapped in her mind as if etched there permanently, so she was sure she’d taken them to the right place. But no… this was impossible.
In the center of the orchard was a grotesque construction: a carefully erected gazebo made of bones—human bones. And on it stood the High Protector, looking beatific, like a priestess waiting to bless her flock.
Peering down at the line of girls, Soren’s eyes landed on Glass and she gave her that loving smile, the one that had previously made Glass feel warm, like she belonged, like she was special. But now Glass saw the truth behind that smile: Her sweet, maternal nature hid the fact that she was brainwashing all her people. Convincing them with her gentleness that something as awful as this Pairing Ceremony was good and natural.
Glass turned, searching desperately for Wells, as Soren began to speak. So far, only the female recruits had been brought into the Heart of the Stone.
“My children. Welcome. Today, I stand upon bones that were once buried in the Earth, bones of the selfish takers whose greed brought on the Cataclysm. As Protectors, it is our duty to take pollutants like this out of our beloved Earth. The Pairing Ceremony is our promise to Earth, so we perform it standing on these bones as a reminder that we have formed a better, more thoughtful society. As Earth has brought you to us, now we must give back to Earth, planting seeds that will…”
Glass could hardly hear her through the pounding of her own heart. She glanced right to see Octavia perched on the balls of her feet, ready to run.
Glass closed her eyes, picturing the best way out of here. West and then south and then straight through the narrow, jagged alley and out to the fields… she just needed to wait for the—
A great, shattering boom drowned out Glass’s thoughts and Soren’s speech.
By the time Glass opened her eyes again, the ground was lurching beneath her feet. She knew only too well what this was. An explosion… the kind that destroyed everything in its path. Just like the explosions that had rocked her camp.
But this time, judging by the looks on the Protectors’ faces, they weren’t the ones dropping the bombs.
A second explosion went off; both had come from around the outer walls of the Stone. Based on the way the ground was shaking, though, the entire structural integrity of the compound was being compromised. And the ground wasn’t the only thing shaking—the gazebo started to sway, bones tumbling out of it.
“Get back!” Glass shouted, pushing the girls toward the exit of the courtyard.
Soren looked stunned for a moment; then her head whipped around to her advisors. “Find the men and get to the armory!”
Without a blink, the women in gray turned on their heels and sprinted out of the courtyard as she’d commanded.
Soren started making her way out of the gazebo, but as she came toward them, the gazebo’s bone floor shifted and one of her legs fell through it. She peered up and reached toward Glass. “Help me out… quickly!”
Glass turned to the other girls and spoke in a rush. “Run west, toward the water. Take the alleys, those walls are thicker, less likely to fall.”
“Glass!” Soren called.
“Go,” Glass said to the others, ignoring the confused question in Octavia's and Anna’s eyes… why wasn’t she coming too? Then she turned back to Soren, whose hand was extended, asking for help, just as another blast seemed to tilt the very planet off its axis.
This one was too much for the gazebo to withstand. The entire behemoth leaned forward, back, and forward again, careening downward, crushing everything in its path.