Into the Still Blue (23 page)

Far sooner than he expected, Hess took him into a chamber. He found himself staring at Aria, Roar, and Soren, Hess’s flashlight moving from one stunned face to the other.

Neither Roar nor Soren hid their shock when they saw the dark welts over Perry’s arms and chest. Shame made his face burn, but Perry stood as he always did, ready. Aria moved to his side, weaving her fingers gently through his, her touch bolstering him.

Hess posted his men outside, and waited until the door closed before he spoke. “This will need to be brief, which means you listen unless I ask you to speak.” He paused and they drew into a tighter circle, waiting for him to continue. Soren was smiling, failing to hide his pride. Hess acknowledged his son with a nod, and then lowered the beam to their feet, creating a pool of light across the floor.

“If we are to ally ourselves,” Hess said, “if I am to carry your tribe to the Still Blue, Peregrine, Sable will need to be expelled. His men will need to be thrust from this ship and my fleet of Hovers. That will require planning and coordination to execute successfully.”

Perry felt Aria shift beside him. This was what they’d expected. Sable was taking control. Hess couldn’t ignore it any longer. He was changing sides. “How long do you need, Hess?”

“Eight hours. We’ll move in the morning.”

“No. That’s too long.”

“You’re making demands already, Peregrine?”

“You’ve already taken a hit. Sable is commanding your men. He’ll take them all if you give him the time.”

“You think I don’t know that? That is precisely why I need to know how deep he has already struck before we proceed. A coup won’t work unless I can trust those who enact it. In eight hours, when everything is in place, we’ll leave the Komodo behind and take the Hovers.”

“Give me a knife,” Roar said. “I’ll end this in ten minutes.”

“Do you think I haven’t considered that?” Hess said. “What do you think the Horns would do if Sable were slain? Lay down their weapons and surrender?”

Perry knew they wouldn’t. With their survival at stake, they would stand and fight with or without Sable. In order for the Tides to be in, the Horns needed to be out—all of them. “Two hours, Hess.”

“Impossible. I need time to coordinate the effort, or he’ll know. He watches everything. He is shrewd, manipulative, and organized. He is a nightmare. A demon that wears a smile as he sinks his fangs into you.”

“He’s human,” Perry said. “I’ll prove it to you when I cut out his heart.”

The comment seemed to get through to Hess. His brow furrowed in concentration; his small eyes honed in on Perry. “Four hours. Not a minute less.”

Perry nodded, accepting the compromise. He glanced at Roar and Aria, wanting to get them out of there now, but Sable couldn’t suspect anything. That meant they needed to stay put.

“What about this meeting?” Aria asked. “What if he finds out about us?”

“Right now,” Hess said, “we are experiencing an unfortunate mechanical malfunction caused by an Aether storm.
Coincidentally
, that has happened while Sable and most of his men happen to be in other units of the Komodo. The few Horns who are in this one are in areas suffering from complete power outages. They’re being watched by my men with night-vision eyewear as they fumble about in the dark.”

“You staged this entire thing?” Aria asked.

“Sable is deep on the inside. It was the only way.” Hess turned the flashlight on Perry. “The only thing I didn’t account for was natural night vision among my captives. You could have ruined everything if I hadn’t intercepted you.”

Perry said nothing. Planning the Komodo’s breakdown so they could meet in secret was a smart move. He only hoped Hess could continue to outmaneuver Sable. “You have to stay away from him. Sable will know if you plan to betray him, just as I’d know.”

Hess waved a hand dismissively. “I’ll take care of it.”

“You don’t understand. He will
scent
your distrust. Your intention to betray him.”

“I
said
I will take care of it,” Hess repeated. “Four hours. No one even thinks about leaving until then. And I need an assurance from you, Peregrine. If I do this, you promise me you’ll get Cinder to break through that wall. You make sure he does it, or we have no deal.”

Perry felt sick, but he held Hess’s gaze. “You have my word.”

The tension eased from Hess’s face. “Good.”

Aria inched closer. Perry felt her arm rest against his, but he couldn’t look at her. He didn’t want to see her disappointment—or her approval. Barely a second had passed and he already wanted to unmake his own promise.

“Is that all?” Hess said.

“No,” Perry said. “I’m going to need some clothes.” He wanted his own clothes. The reassuring weight and toughness of leather and wool. But he’d settle for anything that would keep the bruises Sable had given him out of sight.

Hess nodded. “Of course.”

Emergency lights flickered on, a deep crimson color washing over the small room.

“Hurry!” Hess said. “We’re out of time. Back to your chamber!”

Perry pulled Aria to his chest, wrapping his aching arms around her. He caught Roar’s eye. “Keep her safe.”

Roar nodded. “Of course. With my life.”

Perry pressed a kiss to the top of Aria’s head; then he plunged back through the corridors until he was imprisoned again.

29

H
ow much time is left, Soren?” Roar asked.

“When you asked me that five minutes ago, I guessed three hours.”

“What’s your guess now, Soren?”

“Two hours and fifty-five minutes, Roar.”

Roar dropped his head, peering at Aria through a fringe of brown hair. “I knew he was going to say that.”

She forced a smile, feeling restless too. Three more hours until she was free of this room and back with Perry.

The Komodo was moving again, but at a slower pace. She imagined what the caravan would look like from outside: uncoiled, stretched out like a centipede under a sky full of Aether funnels. Every few minutes, the room shifted without warning and she braced, expecting it to stop, but the Komodo kept grinding along.

“You know what I want to know?” Soren said from the other bunk. “Why neither one of you is talking about Perry. Is torture normal out here? Is it like, ‘Yeah, I was brutalized today. Kind of boring. What about you—what did you do?’”

“I told Roar about it earlier,” Aria admitted.

“Did you keep it from me because of my father? Was he part of it?”

“No, Sable did it. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think you’d care. You always act like you hate Perry.”

Soren nodded. “True. I
do
hate him.” He leaned over his legs and shoved his hands into his hair. “What am I
thinking
? What are
any
of us thinking?”

“I’m thinking about getting out of this room,” Aria said.

Roar pointed between them. “Our thoughts are in harmony.”

“I’m thinking this,” Soren said, ignoring them. “Sable killed Perry’s sister. Perry killed his own brother. My father and Sable
both
left thousands of their people to die. I’m dependent on drugs to keep me sane. And we’re the ones who are trying to start over? How are
we
the best hope for a new world?”

“Because we’re the only ones left,” Aria said. Then she realized she could to do better. “We all have the potential to do terrible things, Soren. But we also have the potential to overcome our mistakes. I don’t know . . . I
need
to believe that. What point is there otherwise?”

She had to believe Hess was capable of redeeming himself. They were depending on him.

Soren lay back on his cot. He crossed his arms over his head, sighing dramatically. “What point is there indeed.”

Roar also lay down, resting his head on Aria’s lap. He closed his eyes, a small line of tension forming between his dark eyebrows. That line was new, since Liv’s death.

Aria wanted to smooth it with her finger, but she didn’t. It wouldn’t make him feel any better, and what she gave to Roar could only come up to a point. No matter how much she loved him, that line of tension wasn’t hers to fix.

Her thoughts turned to Loran. In hours, she’d be leaving him behind. That didn’t feel right, but as Sable’s closest adviser, he couldn’t know what they planned to do, either. She shook her head at herself. Why did she care? She didn’t owe him anything.

“If we get to the Still Blue,” Soren said, “we should look at how to make more people like you, Aria.”

She laughed.
“Make
more people like me? You mean half-breeds?”

“No. I mean people who are forgiving and optimistic and things like that.”

Aria smiled at the irony. Her thoughts about her father hadn’t exactly been forgiving or optimistic. “Thank you, Soren. That is the nicest indirect compliment I’ve ever received.”

Roar smiled, his eyes still closed. “I’m going to miss these talks.” The line between his eyebrows was almost, almost gone.

He sat up at the sound of voices out in the corridor.

The door opened, revealing a pair of Horn soldiers. “Come,” said the shorter man. “We have orders to bring you to Loran.”

Aria didn’t remember making a decision to follow them. One second she was sitting on the cot next to Roar; the next she was moving through the halls.

The sound of people running drifted to her ears, echoing from somewhere distant. Were Hess and his men organizing the overthrow? Something didn’t feel right.

“What does Loran want from me?” she asked.

“He gives us orders. We follow them,” said the shorter Horn soldier. A casual answer, but tension laced his voice.

Up ahead, two Guardians came into view. They paused, doing a double take when they saw her.

Aria recognized them as the two men who had come to escort her to Hess—the same men whose suspicion Loran had deftly evaded.

“What are you doing? Where are you taking her?” they asked, voices raised in alarm.

The Horn soldiers drew their guns before Aria knew what was happening. They fired at the Guardians, the sound sending a stab of pain through Aria’s ears. The Guardians reacted, diving for cover around the bend in the corridor.

The shorter Horn soldier yelled, “Go! Go! Go!” The two soldiers rushed ahead, pursuing the Guardians.

Aria bolted in the other direction.

“Stop!”

She froze, peering behind her.

The shorter man stood at the end of the corridor, aiming his gun at her. “Stay right here, and don’t move!”

As soon as he disappeared, she sprinted away.

When she’d left them far enough behind, she forced herself to slow down and walk calmly. Footsteps thundered closer. Her heart seized as a pair of Guardians came running with drawn guns. Panic blazed through her, but they shot right past, their frantic exchange pricking to her ears.

“What was that? Did Hess order an early move?”

“I don’t know. I’ve got no comm.”

“Whose orders are we supposed to be following?”

“I said I don’t know!”

She backtracked to her chamber, her pulse hammering. Instinct told her that Sable had moved first—just as Perry had predicted. Why else would the Horns have fired at the Dwellers back there? Sable must have learned about Hess’s plan and preempted him.

The corridors bustled with activity the closer she came to her chamber. Horn soldiers jogged past, shaking the Komodo, so focused they barely gave her a passing glance. By contrast, the Guardians who streamed through the halls looked stunned and confused.

Her composure returning, she broke her objectives down. Get Roar and Soren. Find Perry and Cinder. Leave the Komodo as far behind as she could.

She’d almost reached the chamber when Loran appeared at the end of the corridor, rushing her way. His eyes locked sharply with hers, like she’d shouted his name. He slowed. “I’ll meet you outside,” he told the men accompanying him.

Aria tried to catch her breath as he walked up. She wanted to run away. Or ask him the millions of questions that swirled in her mind. She didn’t do either. Her legs wouldn’t move. Her lips wouldn’t form a single word.

In the pause that spread between them, she realized the Komodo had stopped. Any doubt that Sable had staged a coup of his own vanished.