Ordinaries: Shifters Book II (Shifters series 2) (24 page)

Chapter 45

Babies Could Be the Death of You

–TANNER–

“What?” I scream at Kai. “You were supposed to take care of her!” I’m so mad. I can’t believe he let something happen to her!

Marcus walks in and asks what’s going on.

Kai’s face melts into worry, fear, regret, and loss. “I’m so sorry. She was still sleeping. I thought . . .”

“You thought what, Kai? You should’ve been with her!” I know he feels bad, but I want to hurt him. Marcus gives me a look, but I ignore him.

I take a breath. “Were they taken? Who’s on duty?”

Kai shakes his head helplessly. I look around the quarters. Several people have gathered from all directions and stare with blank expressions.

I point to a few people I recognize and tell them to spread out and search for anything related to Kae or my sister. They nod and grab a few more to help them search. I look back at Alice. “Have the J’s track her cell phone.”

Alice doesn’t move. Instead, she reaches in her pocket and pulls out an iPhone. “I picked it up when she was having her meltdown. I was gonna give it back to her.”

I sigh. “Was Kae assigned one?” I ask Kai.

“Yes,” Kai says, gaining hope.

I run to the com panel. “Viktor! Get the J’s!”

Viktor jumps up. He looks at Marcus, who gives him a nod. He doesn’t question. He brings up the monitor, and I see one of the J’s on the screen.

“What’s up, Tanner?”

“I need you to trace Kae’s cell.”

“Sure. Let me pull it up here.” I see him moving a mouse around and entering something on his keypad. “Is there something wrong?”

“Ryland and Kae are missing.”

“I see Ry’s. It’s right next to you.”

“We have Ry’s. Can you tell us where Kae is?”

“Hmmm. That’s strange.”

“What is it?” I ask.

“Kae’s isn’t locating. Are you sure it’s on?”

“Can you tell where the last known location is?” I ask, hoping he keeps some kind of records.

“Hang on.”

He clicks around and types several things, muttering numbers and words that make no sense to me. “I have the log. Give me a minute. We haven’t exactly created an interface to read it yet.” I can see his eyes dart back and forth like he’s looking at more than one screen. “I have the last transmission coordinates.”

“Where is she?” I ask impatiently.

He asks his brother to overlay a map. “Got it. She was inside the city. We lost her signal thirty minutes ago, about a half mile inside the entrance. She was near a series of vertical tubes.”

“The glass elevators,” Alice says.

Mel looks like she is going to say something, but closes her mouth silently.

“Then she was taken,” Kai says with wide eyes.

“I don’t think so,” Baccas says.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

Baccas shakes his head. “They would have taken them through the Enforcers’ corridor. That’s a general lift. In plain view.”

“The curfew. Other than the Enforcers, the streets are empty now. Why would it matter?” E asks.

“The nighttime guards are Ordinaries,” Marcus answers. “They wouldn’t risk an Ordinary seeing them take a young Shifter into custody.”

E nods.

Mel’s eyes widen and she sucks in a breath.

“Do you know where they are?” I ask Mel.

“Of course she doesn’t,” E says, shaking her head. “She was with you.” She wraps a protective arm around Mel, pulling her close.

Alice kneels down and says, “It’s okay, Mel. Do you know where they went?”

Mel furrows her brow. She looks at E and turns back to me. Tears start to form, and she looks at Alice shaking her head.

“Leave her alone,” E pleads. “Can’t you see she doesn’t know anything? How would she? She only goes there for a few hours each night for breathing treatments. She never goes that deep into the city.”

I kneel next to Alice and plead. “Mel, please. If you know anything, you
have
to tell us.”

“That’s enough,” E says. “You’re upsetting her.”

Baccas takes Mel’s hand and asks, “Do you know where they might have gone?”

Mel starts crying and says, “I can’t tell you. They made me promise.”

“Who made you promise, Mel?” Marcus asks.

“I can’t tell you. Make them stop, E,” Mel says through her tears.

E pulls Mel into a hug. “Stop this now! She’s said enough.”

Kai has tears running down his face. “Mel, please. I need to find them. I need to find Ryland. I love her. I can’t lose her. If you know anything, tell us.”

“I told you I can’t tell you!” Mel shouts through her tears. She breaks away from E and runs out of the ship.

Stunned, I stand up and look at Kai and Alice. “We’re going to find them.”

“I’m coming with you,” Baccas says, also standing up.

Alice, Kai, Baccas and I run through the dry waterway toward the city. I have never seen Kai so determined.

–RYLAND–

Kae looks at me with wide, round eyes. I can see she’s afraid. I can feel my stomach twisting into knots.

But so are the Enforcers. They almost quiver with fear. Which gives me exactly what I need, time to act.

I slide smoothly into my shift, attacking left and right. As only two of them follow me into the Shift, I realize the rest are Ordinaries.

Kae carefully takes out the Ordinaries, gently laying their bodies on the ground as though they are living dolls. I concentrate all my energy on the Shifters. They are older and slower than I am.

They have been trained in combat, but they can’t match my speed. Even with the low, underground roof limiting my flight, I am able to hit one on the left temple, leaving him crumpled on the floor. The other I slam into, hearing his tibia shatter.

He falls to the ground, shrieking in pain. His wizened face and gray-blue eyes look at me accusingly. “You’re trying to free terrorists!” he spits.

“You serve a tyrant,” I reply nonchalantly as Kae rushes to open the various prison doors.

In a matter of moments, we are helping two dozen or so wounded Ordinaries, those who have spent months or even years in tiny, cramped cells, probably for doing nothing more than stealing bread or saying something was unfair.

When we turn a corner to view the last few cells, another Enforcer is sneaking a three-year-old boy back outside through another door. I try to give chase, but the door slams in my face, and I don’t know the code.

The boy screams as the Enforcer flees down the hall with him. I feel my stomach clench with guilt. I should have checked to see if there were more Enforcers here before stopping to help every Ordinary get out. And that child will pay for
my
mistake.

His pale skin and dark hair are burned into my memory, reminding me faintly of someone, but I can’t place who it is.

I rush back to the broken tibia guy, stepping hard on his good ankle and twisting. “What is the code for that door?”

He grins at me through his pain. “They got him out?”

“Who is he?” I shout.

He laughs. “That’s your worst nightmare!”

Kae watches me with watery eyes. “Ryland, we—we’ve got to go. There will be more—coming—Enforcers, I mean. We can’t stay here!” she says, nodding toward the others who need our help getting out.

I feel so frustrated and defeated, but I follow her out. I help an older man to his feet, guiding him into the elevator. At least we saved some.

Somehow though I think that will only make things worse for the boy. Somehow I know that yet again I have failed. I am not the prophesied one. I am not a savior.

I follow the throng through the corridor, ignoring the feeling of being watched. It does not matter. If they attack us, we will win. Kae is better than I expected, a good match for Kai.

When we reach the tunnel heading out, we are met by Kai, my brother, and the others. Kai’s hard eyes glare at Kae. “What were you thinking?”

Kae motions to the filthy, emaciated prisoners around them. “We freed them.”

“You put yourselves in danger!” Tanner chides, giving me a hard look.

“They needed to be rescued,” I say, my only response to his accusation. “Someone had to do it.”

The prisoners cower at the growing tension.

“Can we just get out of here?” I ask, annoyed he and Kai are choosing the heart of enemy territory as the place to berate me for my suicidal decisions.

As we turn to leave, the others help those prisoners who seem shaky on their feet, not used to walking such a distance, short as it may be.

Kai still glares at Kae, and I mutter, “I can make my own decisions. No one needs to look out for me. I’m a big girl.”

“Who just lost someone,” Kai says. “You’re not thinking clearly right now.”

“I’m thinking more clearly now than I ever have. These people needed help, and I was going to give it to them,” I say, nodding toward the woman I have to half carry down the hall, whose belly is swollen with an unborn child.

Her dark eyes look up at me gratefully. She doesn’t speak, but I know that she thanks me for this. What kind of person would put a
pregnant
woman in a cell?

“Fine,” Kai huffs. “And who is this? Why did she need to be saved? What did she do?”

I look down at her.

Her eyes flutter weakly, and she breathes, “I got pregnant.”

Kai snorts. “And that’s a crime now?”

She looks at him with eyes as cold as steel, their warmth gone. “For a Shifter, it is.”

I almost gasp. Then the genocide hasn’t stopped! It didn’t end with us. It continued long after we fled. These children and their mothers are prisoners simply because one of us will be the downfall of their empire.

As if the future could truly last without the children regardless.

Fools.

Chapter 46

Public Speaking. I Know, Right?

–TANNER–

I really thought we were on a mission to save Ryland. I’m glad Baccas was right. Turns out, she was freeing prisoners. Without backup! I can’t believe she would do such a stupid thing. Go into the dome without telling anyone? And drag Kae along with her?

For such a smart person, she can be really dumb!

“Don’t move!” a voice calls out.

I turn and see a man in a sleek Enforcer uniform aiming a weapon at us. His eyes are wild, darting between us. Kai rolls his eyes and looks at my sister, who nods. The man is shaking. He aims his weapon at the pregnant woman and his quivering voice says, “One move and she’s dead.”

Kai tilts his head. “You think your finger is faster than me?”

The man looks at Kai and his eyes widen.

I slowly step in front of the woman. I will take the bullet or whatever they call it here. “You know who we are, don’t you?”

“They told us it was all lies,” he says, his breaths shallow.

“We don’t want to hurt anybody,” Ryland slowly says. “We’re just going to take these people somewhere safe.”

I catch him glancing just above our heads. I turn and see a camera focused on us. I get inside the controls, see through the lens, and disable the sound.

“They can’t hear us anymore,” I tell him and take a step forward.

“Stop where you are,” he demands, training his weapon on me.

“Do you know who’s watching us?” I ask, taking another step forward. “I told you. They can’t hear us. We can talk privately now.”

“How do I know you’re not lying?” he says, his finger twitching on the trigger. Ryland takes a step forward. I hold my hand up, motioning for her to stop.

“Would they do this if they had control of the system?” I ask. I spin the camera to face the opposite end of the tunnel. He watches with his mouth open. “Is someone watching?” I ask again.

“How did you do that?” he exclaims, his weapon still focused on me.

“Was somebody monitoring us?” I ask again.

He shuffles his feet nervously. His eyes dart between us. He’s either stalling, waiting for backup, or deciding his next move. “No,” he answers.

“He’s lying,” Alice spits. “We have to get out of here, now!”

He lowers his weapon and says, “Follow me.”

“So you can take us into custody?” Alice says. “No way.”

“We had to be sure it was true. Come with me now, or we’ll all be executed!” he says, sliding a panel in the wall, revealing a hidden keypad. He enters a code and a door opens.

I look at Kai and Ryland. Should we just
trust
this guy?

Baccas says, “Go! Follow him!”

I shrug and go through the door. The group follows and the door closes behind us. We start to run through a brightly lit corridor, following an Enforcer that only a few minutes ago was threatening to kill us. Remember that list of things I never planned on doing? Yeah, this is so far-fetched I never had the chance to add this.

He pauses at a door and enters another code. The door slides open, and I feel a breeze whoosh through. It’s a way outside!

He holds his finger to his mouth, shushing us. Wow! Is that like the universal “be quiet” signal?

“Wait here,” he tells us, and steps out.

“It’s a trap,” Alice says.

“I don’t think so,” Ryland says, trying to look through the door.

He sticks his head back in and motions for us to come out.

We step out into total darkness. It reminds me of how I could never see a thing if we were late to the movies. I remember how blinded I was by the sun when we left. It’s really annoying how my eyes adjust so slowly to both dark and light. Ryland used to take my hand and guide me around, teasing me the whole time. I never understood why she never had that problem. Dad said it had something to do with blue eyes. I must be cursed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ryland says.

I feel her hand instinctively grab mine, like she’s my night blindness seeing eye dog.

“It’s not my fault,” I tell her. “It’s my stupid eyes again.”

“Not that,” she says. “Them.”

I hear several people begin to clap. What is this? Are they celebrating our capture?

I squint and start to make out a large amount of human forms. They are all dressed in Enforcer uniforms. Instead of taking us into custody, they are applauding us with their weapons at their feet.

–RYLAND–

I shake my head, confused by their sudden approval. Did I not just fight some of these same men?

But Tanner takes this opportunity. “We need you to spread the word,” he whispers.

They stop applauding and stare at us with wide eyes. “Spread the word about what?”

“We are holding a demonstration,” he says.

I stare at him like the idiot he is. Are we really going to reveal our plan to the Enforcers? What if this is a trick? I know they’re Ordinaries, but they’ve fought alongside the Shifters before.

Kae beams. “You can tell everyone! We need everyone there.”

The men begin to grin back at us, unable to resist Kae’s goofy charm. “What do we tell them?”

“Tell them to meet us in the commons, tomorrow at dawn,” Tanner says, sure of himself.

Tomorrow? So soon? I knew we were preparing for a demonstration, trying to unite the various rebel factions across the colonies, but this seems too sudden.

“Tell them,” Kai says, “to remember those they have lost.”

My eyes well with tears as I look at him, trying desperately to forget.

One of the Enforcer’s radios crackles with static, and his eyes widen. “You need to leave now!” he hisses.

As we exit the dome, prisoners weighing heavily on our shoulders as we help them through the barren desert-like landscape of their world, I glare at Tanner. “Why are we trusting them?”

Tanner shrugs. “They’re Ordinaries. We’ll need them, too.”

Kae smiles reassuringly at me. “I can tell what they’re feeling. They’re on our side.”

I nod back at her, trusting her Apt more than Tanner’s judgment right now.

When we get close to the ships, others rush toward us. I see several people pushing through our throng of prisoners, weeping as they find loved ones.

Mel crashes through the crowd, wide-eyed. Her panicked whimpers sound more animal than human. “Henley!” she shouts.

E grabs her by the shoulders as Mel’s body is heaving with sobs. She shudders, hyperventilating in the barely breathable air. “Where is Henley?”

“Who is she talking about?” I ask E.

E shakes her head. She mouths at me, “Dead.”

I nod slowly, understanding. Mel has lost someone, but she can’t admit it. She can’t take it so she keeps looking for him.

“I need to take her to the dome,” E says. “She needs to breathe clean air before she passes out.”

I nod, and Mel tries to wrench herself from E as if E has suggested pouring acid into her eyes. E tries to soothe her. “Hush, girl. I will be with you.”

“No!” Mel gasps, but there is no fight left in her.

E picks up her nearly feather-light body and begins the long march back to the dome, the burden of Mel’s loss making every step heavy and deliberate. I feel that heavy burden inside me, too. I feel the pain of their loss mingling with my own.

But not tonight. Tomorrow, we remember the dead.

The rest of the night is a whirlwind of preparations. Flags are sewn and distributed, some are even taken into the dome early for distribution among the Ordinaries. Weapons are gathered for those who feel the need to remain armed. Tanner has spoken against it, trying to go for some sort of suicidal peaceful protest. My brother, Gandhi.

When the morning light finally casts a sickly glow across the sky ahead of what looks like an oncoming storm, we are sneaking into the dome. I’m not sure how sneaky we are really being. There are thousands of us. We are probably setting off alarms everywhere, but it should be too late.

Their weapons should be sealed away. Their paths should be blocked. We should be safe from the Enforcers’ attack.

As we gather in the center of the dome, I am astounded by the sheer number of those who have joined us. I am astounded by their faith in us, their trust we can keep them safe. I am astounded by their bravery.

The gathering clouds swirl above the city, darkening the commons.

As people gather, Tanner slowly steps forward onto a small podium built of pallets from shipping cargo. His face is practically green. His nervousness from public speaking has yet to wane despite the fact that he is leading us all.

I notice the security cameras around the area turning to face him. I know that we are broadcasting this to every colony, to Gaia itself.

Tanner is now the face of the resistance.

One of the Ordinaries hands him some kind of earpiece and motions for him to put it on. They show him a couple of buttons. He nods like he understands. “We are here today to remember those who have fallen,” Tanner says, his voice booming in the large space, echoing around us. His voice is filled with empathy and sorrow. “We are here today to honor their sacrifice.”

Piper steps forward. “My father.”

Marcus takes out a small square of blue, a folded flag. He hands it to Piper, gripping her hands as he does so. “We thank you.”

Piper nods, her face expressionless.

Others step forward.

A brother.

A sister.

A mother.

A friend.

Suddenly, Marcus stands before me. “We thank you, Clay,” he says as he hands me the small folded square.

I look down at the blue and white “O” in my hands. My tears stain the blue, darkening it. I remember this dream. I remember this pain, but there is pride in it now, pride for the sacrifice he made.

I look up to see the others with the same pride shining on their faces. I look up to see that we are bound together, bound by this indelible bond. As one, we raise our flags above us, sharing that dignity with every Ordinary on every world.