I’m the stronger of the two of us. There’s nothing to stop me from keeping it. I could win. Why shouldn’t I? Prove to my father that I am the better, prove to Phaestion I’m the greatest of his Companions. I’m tired of losing. Why shouldn’t I triumph?
Then I remember another voice, my mother, saying, You will forget what you saw here today. My father made Edgaard his heir and beat my mother in front of all of Tao. He may think me unworthy of his love, but I know for fact he’s unworthy of mine. I put the ring into my brother’s hand.
“Sigurd and Perdiccus are still out there,” I say. “Whoever has this is going to be a target.”
There’s a rumble in the chute above us.
“Run!” Edgaard shouts.
We jump up and pump our legs. I’ve lost my helmet and heads-up display, so Edgaard takes the lead.
“The pickup zone is on the surface level!” he shouts.
We swerve right down a dark avenue toward a residential district within the arco. The edifices are abandoned here, like ancient metal ghosts. We stop to catch our breath in the foyer of one apartment structure. The entire place is covered with soot, the concrete walls cracked, and the glass panes are filthy or shattered. The place looks as if it has been put to the torch.
“We have to get to the Banshee Rail,” I say. “Can you map a way to the top?”
“Headset’s giving a layout.” Edgaard taps his helmet.
I have a moment to think again. The Julii Academy soldiers would not have slaughtered all those people without orders. Someone told them to do what they did. Was it Phaestion? I don’t want to believe it, but who else? He watches everything. It could be his father. It must be. Please let it be.
A child’s voice interrupts my reverie. “There isn’t a pneumovator.”
Edgaard and I whip around. Out of the darkness steps a little girl, perhaps Edgaard’s age, with dark, tousled hair and a grime-covered face. She wears the tatters of a monochrome jumpsuit like the denizens I saw earlier. She stares at us with curiosity. She isn’t a Nightsider, but neither is she a Daysider. She’s some sort of half race like me.
“Who’re you?” I ask.
“None of your business,” she fires back.
“Why are you here?” Edgaard asks.
“I live here, or I used to.” Her voice is sad. “Before the fire.”
“Whoever you are, it isn’t safe,” I say.
“I can help you to the top, Edmon,” she says.
My eyes narrow with suspicion. “You know my name?”
Perdiccus dives through a dirty window with a crash. He slams Edgaard to the ground. I run to help, but I’m lifted off my feet. I sail through the air. I twist my body, roll as I land, and spring up, looking for my assailant. Sigurd is barreling toward me.
“Where’s the data card, snail guppy?”
I ready myself for an impact . . . which never comes. The little girl dives into Sigurd’s feet, tripping him. They tumble into a pile of broken junk. The little girl extricates herself from the tangle of limbs and stands. She flashes a grin as I stare slack-jawed.
“Told you I could help.” She shoots me a thumbs-up.
“Watch out!” I shout.
Sigurd stands behind her and takes a swipe at her head. The girl ducks the blow with surprising speed. Only one other person I know moves with that kind of agility and grace . . . and he’s not fully human. Who is this kid?
“Too slow, you big bully,” the girl teases. She dodges his grasp and kicks Sigurd in the shin. He grabs her. The speedy little girl isn’t able to escape this time. She cries out. I hurtle myself forward, throwing my fist out with all my might. I connect with Sigurd’s faceplate. It shatters. He grunts with pain and lets go of the girl. He reels, trying to find his bearings.
I don’t let up. Jab, hook, uppercut. He falls back. I step into his fall and roundhouse kick him in the gut. He doubles over. I grab his head and slam it into a doorframe. He smashes to the ground. I see a massive staircase in the next room that twists and turns to the top.
That’s our way out.
I look back. Edgaard holds Perdiccus in an armlock and cranks. Perdiccus screams a split second after I hear the hideous sound of snapping bone. The little girl runs and jumps into the air in a surprisingly acrobatic display. She boots Perdiccus in the head, and he’s knocked unconscious.
Are there other people down in these arcologies like her?
The girl helps Edgaard up. “The stairwell leads all the way to the top of the arcology.”
I nod. “Thanks. How did you know about us?”
“Are you kidding?” she asks. “The girls at the shelter are never going to believe I met you. Edmon Leontes. You’re our favorite character!”
I shake my head. That’s what I am to people, a character in a stupid aquagraphic.
“The others think Edgaard’s kind of, well . . .” The tomboy blushes.
“What?” Edgaard asks innocently.
I cut in. “Thank you. We have to go.”
Sigurd’s already pushing himself up off the floor. A crash at the door hastens the end of the conversation. Julii soldiers swarm the foyer. I grab Edgaard’s hand, and we run.
The last I see of the little girl is her leaping and climbing through a window much too high for any normal little girl to reach.
Whomever she is, she has Talousla Karr’s fingerprints all over her, I think, but the truth will have to wait.
Flight after flight of stairs burn our legs. Perdiccus, Sigurd, and the rest of the soldiers below us are predators. We’re the prey. They’re gaining.
Edgaard slows. I pull him up the steps until finally we reach a door. I run at it full force, smashing into the metal that busts from the jamb. We spill out above the arcology onto the streets of Meridian.
A sondi hovers at the skyline. Our ride. How the hell do we get to it?
“This way!” Edgaard shouts.
We turn a corner to another flight of steps. They lead to a platform and the Banshee Rail.
Oh no, I think. This is a terrible idea!
The sonic-lev train car rushes into the platform station. The howl of its engine whines as it slows to a stop. Doors slide open, and we dive into the car, safe for the moment. We are surrounded by worn faces. They regard us furtively. Then I catch movement from my periphery. It’s a streak of black with blond hair, diving in from the edge of my vision. Hanschen. He tackles Edgaard and wrenches the ring from his grasp.
“No!” I scream. I throw myself on top of my brother’s assailant.
“It’s mine!” Hanschen screams maniacally.
I draw back my fist and slam it into his nose. He howls and writhes under me. I lose my balance. Hanschen is up on his feet the next second and racing through the cars of the train.
“He has the card!” I scream.
Edgaard is already running after him. I scramble through one car, then another. I push past bystanders as I head for the back of the train. I bat a camglobe aside angrily.
We reach the last car of the train, and Hanschen crashes through the Plexiglas door. The compartment depressurizes. Wind rushes past us as the banshee engine screams. Passengers cover their ears. I’m thrown to the floor. I wish I hadn’t tossed my helmet away earlier.
Hanschen swings himself outside of the train.