Phoenix

“Don’t lie to me. I saw you with her in the laboratory. She made you promise not to tell me something that would hurt me. So if you’re not trying to sleep with her, what is it?” I demand.



Elijah glances at Natalie again, clearly torn about something.



“Well?” I say, my anger rising. Why won’t he just admit it? “Last night, you said you loved her.”



He seems genuinely surprised by this. “I did? That was just the Haze talking.”



“Bullcrap.” A horrible thought strikes me. “How long has it been going on between you two?”



Natalie released Elijah from the laboratory months ago. Have they been secretly keeping in touch ever since, while I’ve been busy working with Roach and Sigur? The thought, the betrayal, is too much to comprehend.



Natalie’s roused by my raised voice, and her eyes sleepily blink open.



“Everything okay?” she says.



I stand up, my body shaking with rage. “Everything’s fine. We need to go.”



I’m halfway down the tunnel by the time they catch up with me. Natalie tries to take my hand, but I just can’t hold it, not yet. The pain is too raw. We walk down the railway tunnel in complete silence. Anger and humiliation surge through me, poisoning my mind. It’s one thing to think Natalie and Elijah hooked up over the past few days because they shared an intense physical attraction—that I can just about handle. But it’s altogether a different matter if they’ve been sleeping together for months. That would mean they have genuine feelings for each other, that they’re in a relationship. That, I could never forgive.



What I don’t understand is why she agreed to marry me if her heart doesn’t belong to me anymore. Was it out of a sense of duty? Fragg, does she feel sorry for me? I picture the burns on my arms and shoulders, the night terrors that plague my dreams, and realize she must pity me. Elijah does seem like an attractive prospect by comparison.



The tunnel exit can’t come soon enough, and I’m relieved when we reach it within the hour. We pull back one of the wooden planks boarding up the exit, allowing us to slip outside. Despite the blistering heat prickling my skin, the daylight is a blessing. Anything is better than being trapped underground with Natalie, Elijah and my thoughts.



I spoke too soon.



We surface on the rim of a bustling rail and truck depot. There must be fifteen train tracks feeding in from all directions, plus scores of cargo trucks hauling long metal containers. On the roofs of the depot buildings, digital screens show the latest news from SBN. Sentry guards busily unload the cargo from the trains onto the trucks, ready to be transported to their final destination. A lot of the cargo seems to be weapons, medical supplies and food.



Hovering above the depot is a familiar-looking Destroyer Ship. My stomach plummets. We’ve walked straight into the lions’ den.



We slink back into the tunnel, out of sight. When Natalie said the Sentry guards used the tunnel as a rail link to the camp, I hadn’t realized that the depot on the other end of it would still be in use. But of course it would be—it was stupid of me not to figure this out earlier. Still, we weren’t faced with many options at the time.



“Should we head back to the camp?” Natalie whispers. “If the Destroyer Ship’s here, they’re probably waiting for us to show up.”



I shake my head. “If they were waiting for us, there would be a hundred guards patrolling the tunnel at this end. They don’t know we’re here—they must think we escaped back into the desert.”



“So why are they here?” Elijah asks.



“Refueling?” I suggest.



“We should go back to the camp,” Elijah says.



“And go where after that?” I reply. “We still have no means of transport, we’re miles from anywhere, and I can’t survive in this heat for long. No, we stay here. We just have to find a way to get on one of those trucks undetected.”



“How do you propose we do that?” Elijah says.



“Throw you out as bait?” I suggest.



Elijah scowls and Natalie gives me a stern look.



I scan the depot from our vantage point within the railway tunnel, although my view is partially blocked by crates and upturned carts abandoned in front of the exit. I watch as groups of Sentry guards load crates onto rows of trucks, parked side by side, with just a few feet between them. The wooden boxes all have different locations printed on them: Centrum, Athena, Gallium, Leopolis, Thrace—yes! Some luck at last.



“There,” I say, pointing to the green truck where the crates marked for Thrace are heading. “We’ll escape on that.”



“We don’t have any disguises,” Natalie says. “They’ll recognize us.”



“Then we just have to do this the old-fashioned way and stay out of sight,” I say.



We cover ourselves in sandy dirt from the cave floor, darkening our skin and clothes, in hopes that this will serve as some sort of camouflage. I flinch slightly at the sight of the black cloth around Natalie’s forearm, remembering what I did. She rolls down her shirt sleeve, covering it.



“We ready?” I say.



“No,” Elijah mutters.



Natalie nods.



I cautiously approach the tunnel exit. About twenty feet away, three Sentry guards are loading cargo onto a red truck destined for Gallium. That’s our best shot at cover. The trucks are parked close together, so we can easily run from one to another, hiding under them until the coast is clear. I’ll need to distract the guards, though. Scanning the area, I spot a pile of smaller crates to the right of the truck, each with a green cross and the word FRAGILE printed on it. Medical supplies. Perfect. I grab a stone from the ground, weighing it in my hand. I’ve got only one shot at this. Taking a deep breath, I lob the rock at the pile of crates. It smashes into the middle box, and the medical supplies crash to the earth.



The guards all run to assess to the damage, shouting at each other. We’ve got mere seconds to get across the dusty path.



“Go,” I say.



We sprint out of the tunnel, bursting into the blazing sunlight. Adrenaline pumps through my veins, and my mind is thinking just one thing: RUN! We keep our heads low, darting between the crates and upturned mine carts for cover. The Sentry guards are still fighting over who stacked the medical supplies, blaming each other.



Just as one of the guards finds the stone, we reach the truck.



The guard inspects the stone in his hand, his brow creased.



I usher Natalie under the vehicle. Elijah’s next.



The guard starts to turn.



Fragg!



I dive, rolling under the truck just as the guard looks in our direction. My heart crashes against my chest as the guard walks over to the vehicle. Did he see me? A pair of brown leather boots stops directly in front of us. I hold my breath. There’s a long pause. Eventually: “Come on, you lot, we haven’t got all day,” he calls over to his two colleagues.



I exhale.



There are loud clangs above our heads as they continue to load the heavy crates into the truck.



“I can’t believe we’ve been lumbered with shipping this fragging crap to Gallium, given all the trouble there,” Brown Boots moans to one of his colleagues.



“What’s going on in Gallium?” his colleague asks.



Elijah impatiently taps my shoulder and motions for us to leave, but I shake my head. I want to hear what the guard says.



“Fragg, Spinner, don’t you ever watch the news? The Darklings broke out of the ghetto. It was a bloodbath,” he says. “Why do you think they need all these weapons and medical supplies?”



When did this happen?



“I didn’t really think about it,” Spinner says.



“You don’t think, period,” Brown Boots says.



“I heard rumors that Phoenix was there,” the third guard chimes in. “Apparently he single-handedly killed fifty guards.”



“I heard it was a hundred,” Brown Boots says. “Ripped their throats out and drained all their blood.”



“No kidding?” Spinner says nervously.



My mind reels with this news. The Darklings have staged a rebellion in Gallium, the capital of the Copper State? This is huge. The Copper State is where all the munitions factories are located. With the rebels causing havoc in the state and Emissary Vincent executed, the place will be in chaos. This is . . . this is brilliant!



I wonder who spread the rumor that I was involved in the uprising. Probably Roach. It’s a good plan. Not only does it keep the Sentry off my tail as I search for the Ora, but it’s made the guards scared of me. Sometimes the myth of a person is more powerful than the real thing. Little do they know that the real Phoenix is hiding under their truck, covered in dirt and frightened as hell.



“Did you hear what Pearson’s got in his cargo hold?” Spinner says.



“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Brown Boots replies. “He’s always making up crap. One time he said he shot a Lupine, and it turned out to just be some guy’s dog.”



The third guard laughs. “Yeah, and what about that time he claimed he took on a whole nest of Wraths?”



“No, this is real this time. He said he caught it two days ago in Fire Rapids,” Spinner says a little defensively.



Fire Rapids? Why does that name ring a bell?



“If it’s true, why hasn’t he shown it to anyone?” Brown Boots challenges.



“He was worried someone would try and steal it.”



“He’s lying,” the third guard says.



“If he’s lying, why would he have called Sebastian Eden down here?” Spinner says.



“Because Pearson’s as stupid as you are,” Brown Boots replies.



Brown Boots and the third guard chuckle heartily while Spinner mutters curses under his breath. Natalie gives me a questioning look. That explains why the Destroyer Ship is overhead. It’s a relief knowing for certain they’re not here waiting for us, but whatever is in that cargo hold must be pretty important if Sebastian’s paused his search for us to check it out.



As they continue to load the cargo, the guards’ leather boots kick up plumes of red dust, which tickles our noses. Natalie covers her nose just as a sneeze escapes. She gives me a panicked look.



“Did you hear something?” Brown Boots says. I wave at Natalie and Elijah to move. We crawl across the sand to the truck parked a couple of feet away, just in time to avoid being spotted as Brown Boots peers under the red vehicle, where we were hiding.



“Huh,” he mutters, shaking his head.



We scamper under the next vehicle, keeping out of sight, and after a few heart-stopping minutes, we make it to the green truck heading to Thrace. It’s parked next to an armored cargo train, but the cargo isn’t medical supplies: it’s prisoners. People scream and groan inside the carriages, their hands stretching out of the barred windows, begging passing guards to free them or give them water.



“We have to help them,” Natalie says.



“We’ll be spotted,” Elijah replies.



A Sentry guard opens the truck door and climbs in. We don’t have much time.



“Ash, look!” Natalie whispers, pointing to three figures walking alongside the cargo train, heading right toward us. It’s Sebastian and Garrick, plus a third man—a Sentry guard, who I’m assuming is Pearson.



The guards scurry out of Sebastian’s way as he’s led toward one of the carriages. The silver buttons on his Tracker uniform glisten in the sunlight as he walks. His head and face are both clean shaven, highlighting the rose tattoo above his left ear. The ink has darkened from a vivid scarlet to a deep mahogany where his olive skin has caught the sun.



By comparison, Garrick looks bedraggled and tired, and there’s blood around his ears where the sonic shields must have burst his eardrums. His expensive clothes are torn on one side, and I’m guessing he came face-to-face with a pack of hungry Wrath Hounds. They must’ve turned off the sonic shields like we did, not realizing what they were for. Only the guards who worked at the Barren Lands camp would’ve known about the jackals. It would explain why they didn’t find us in the tunnel; they probably didn’t stick around long enough to thoroughly search the area.



He sniffs the air and peers in our direction, his eyes squinting against the desert sun. We slink deeper into the shadows.



“Do you think he saw us?” Elijah whispers.



My muscles tense. It’s dark under the truck, and we’re covered in dirt, so it’s unlikely he can see us. I’m more worried that he can smell us, although the stench of the prisoners in the cargo train should help camouflage our scent. Garrick continues to look in our direction for what seems like an eternity before turning his attention back to Sebastian and the Sentry guard. The tension in my muscles uncoils.



“This had better be worth it,” Sebastian snaps at Pearson.



“Oh, it’s worth it,” the guard says.



He slides open the door of one of the carriages, revealing the cargo inside.



Natalie clamps a hand over her mouth, stifling her gasp.



Inside the carriage, chained and hanging from the ceiling, is Sigur.



That’s why Fire Rapids sounded familiar. It’s where Sigur said he was going when we discussed our escape plans. His wings are shredded, and he’s been badly beaten, his white hair soaked through with red, his face almost unrecognizable. For a fleeting moment, I hope Sebastian won’t be able to identify him.



Sebastian steps into the carriage and grips Sigur’s face, turning it from side to side, inspecting it closely. A cold, frightening smile breaks out on Sebastian’s lips.



“My day just got a lot better,” he says.