The Island (16 page)

He shouted a warning, realizing it was him she wanted, feeling her slip into his mind. But they had come prepared. Vivian wrapped her arms around Daniel, covering his mouth with a cloth pad. Almost instantly he slumped and she cradled him to the ground.

“We aren’t that stupid, Filina.” Malgam shouted up at her, then turned to the crowd. “She’s trying to control whoever she can now, to stop Rachel from telling you the tru—” Malgam’s words cut off abruptly. He stiffened and reached for his knife. Nandy tried to grab him, but he shook her off easily. Pathik leapt on his back to avoid his knife and was spun around briefly before he could slap his pad on Malgam’s mouth. Soon enough though, Malgam tumbled to the ground, unconscious, taking Pathik with him.

“Enough of this.” Nandy signaled Nipper. He crouched low, then leapt to the platform and was upon Filina in a moment. She screamed and scratched at him, but she couldn’t stop him. He had her down instantly, his mouth covering her throat. Nandy leapt up after him and plastered her drug-soaked pad over Filina’s nose. When she went limp, Nipper grudgingly released her throat, tail lashing.

Rachel stood her ground in front of the platform. “Filina isn’t hurt.” She watched the crowd warily. “Just drugged, so she can’t try to control anyone.” People were whispering, and some of them had drawn weapons. She waited, every nerve taut, to see what they would do. Finally, one man spoke. “How do we know what you’re saying is the truth?”

Rachel knew there was nothing she could say to reassure them. She took a breath, watched as two men advanced, blades drawn.

“Why don’t you come see Hannah?” It was Tom. He strode through the crowd to the foot of the platform. His eyes were bloodshot, his face twisted with pain. “Come see what’s left of Hannah.
That
should show you what’s true and what’s not.”

S
he doesn’t even know me.” Tom sat next to Sarah on the floor of her unit, untying the last of the twine that had bound her wrists. He’d given her the antidote to the drug she and the others had drunk the night before. She was still groggy, but the effects were fading fast. She was just relieved to be alive. Though she hadn’t told Tom, she’d been uncertain whether the antidote would actually work. The woman who’d provided both drugs—one of the strays—hadn’t inspired great confidence. It was a chance Sarah felt she’d had to take.

“I have to get to the office.” Sarah rubbed her wrists. “Can you take care of them?” She nodded toward the others, still drugged.

Tom just stared dully at the twine in his hands.

“I’m sorry.” Sarah knelt next to him. “Tom, I’m so sorry we couldn’t save Hannah. But right now we have to keep going, we have to try to change things.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “She’s still here, Tom. She’s still alive, at least.”

He nodded. “I’ll see to them.” He looked around at the people lying on the floor. They were people he’d known all his life. People who had become potential threats, all because of Filina. “Can you check on her, when you get there?”

“I will.” Sarah stood. “Listen, Tom. Wake Jim up first. Don’t untie him until you’ve had a chance to explain. Tell him I’m sorry. Tell him . . .”

“You go.” Tom started untying Jim’s ankles. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

People crowded into the office. They all had questions. Doug tried to answer as many as he could, but everyone kept talking at the same time. Finally, Daniel climbed onto the table and put his fingers between his lips, whistling shrilly. Relative silence fell, and everyone looked up at him.

“Listen. Listen, all of you. I know this is all very shocking and confusing. But we need to try to stay calm. When Hannah doesn’t show up wherever she was supposed to for transport the government will come looking. We need to have a plan.”

“Got him!” Two men came in holding David between them. He struggled half-heartedly, knowing he wouldn’t escape. “He was in his unit packing up.”

Hannah’s mother had alerted them that David was gone as soon as they arrived at the office. He’d run when he’d heard the commotion outside. Daniel and Malgam both thought he might have some answers, so they’d asked for volunteers to go find him.

Doug started toward David, his intent evident in his raised fist.

“Hold up.” Malgam stepped in front of Doug. “We need him talking, at least right now.”

Doug nodded, but he leaned toward David. “Later, my friend, you’ll get yours.”

“Is it true none of them really wanted to stay? Is that true?” A woman screamed at David from the back of the room. “Where’s my girl, if she didn’t decide to stay on the mainland? Where is she?”

David stared at the floor.

“Answer her!” someone else yelled.

“Stop.” Sarah pushed her way through the crush of people to stand in front of David. She looked at him, contempt curling her lip. “What we need to know is how many usually come, David. How many come to pick up the Honoree? Where do they meet? Do we have any chance of fighting them?”

“She’s right.” Daniel hopped down from the table. “Is he the one who usually takes them?”

Sarah nodded. “I think so. Filina is always on the platform at Celebration and it’s sometime during that they leave to go to the pick-up point, I think.”

“You act like you haven’t helped her.” David spoke so the whole room could hear. “Like you’re blameless in all of this.”

Sarah looked like she might break down just then. “I’m not innocent. But I never helped her without being forced to—unlike you.”

“She saved us.” David straightened, looked around the room. “She was the one person who had the courage to do what needed to be done—she saved all of you. Who here wants to die? That’s what they’ll do to us, if we don’t cooperate and give them what they want.”

“They want lab rats, you fool.” Malgam spat at David’s feet. “They want to see if they can find a way to use your gifts in their wars. They want subjects to experiment on, to test. And if they find a way, they’ll use all of you.” Malgam turned to the crowd. “He’s right about one thing, though. You
all
have a part in this. Trading your Honorees—your own people—for another year of your own lives. Filina can’t control all of you, all the time. You’ve told yourselves the story you want to believe.”

People shuffled and mumbled. Tension rose in the room, like an animal rising from a crouch. Sarah, who had listened to Malgam’s pronouncements with tears streaming down her cheeks, spoke.

“You’re probably right. We’re all guilty.” She looked around at the people in the room. “Some of us more than others. But we’ll have to deal with that later. Right now, we need to know where they’re coming to get Hannah.” She turned back to David. “How many will come? How can we fight them?”

David shook his head. “Filina won’t like this. You can’t keep her drugged forever.”

“Filina doesn’t run things anymore. Just—”

“We can’t fight them and win.” It was Rachel, her voice strong. “Not this way.” She walked to the table, stepped up onto it like her father had before her. She surveyed the crowd, her gaze stopping at the woman who had screamed out about her daughter, then at Sarah, then Malgam. Finally, she found Pathik and looked into his blue eyes while she spoke. “They have the power, but they have it because of fear. We can’t win as long as fear controls us.”

“But we
are
afraid.” 

Rachel couldn’t tell who spoke the words. She knew it didn’t really matter. “Maybe,” she said, “
they’re
the ones who should be afraid.”

I
t was all arranged. David had finally revealed the place—on the far beach in one of the old shacks—where the Honorees were picked up each year. “They have a small crew on the boat, but they only send one to the pick-up point. The rest stay on the boat waiting.” His expression made it clear he thought the whole plan was a grave mistake.

Instead of Hannah, Rachel would go, escorted by Jim, who had shown up at the office shortly after Sarah. He’d listened to Rachel’s idea and agreed that it could work. He knew the location of the shack and he knew in theory how the pick-up went, so he seemed to be the best choice to take her. He appeared to be eager to help, and very much shaken to learn how much he’d been controlled by Filina.

“I guess I can’t blame you for drugging me,” he’d said to Sarah. “Or any of us, for that matter. She would have used us to get what she wanted today, just like she’s done all along.”

Vivian had been a harder sell. “You can’t be serious.” She’d shaken her head in that way mothers shake their heads when they are not going to change their minds. “No. Absolutely not.”

Rachel didn’t budge. “It has to be me. I’m about her age, and that’s what they expect this year.”

“There are plenty of other girls around her age in their own group—”

“This is
our
group now, Mother.” Rachel sounded angry. “We came here looking for a place to start a better life.
This
is the place.
These
are the people. We have to start somewhere.”

Vivian studied her daughter’s face. She sighed. “I’m being a coward again, aren’t I, Rachel?” She whispered the words.

Rachel frowned. She knew how much that accusation—made at a time when she had understood so much less about loss—had hurt her mother. “You’re not a coward. You just want to protect the people you love. But you know I’m right. I already know how to use a stunner—none of them do. If I can get his stunner, we’ve got a chance.

Vivian nodded, but she still looked troubled. “Well, we’ve got a hostage. One the rest of the government would probably let die with no qualms at all. Where does that get us?” 

“As soon as he sees the copy of the map, he’ll know we mean business. We’ll have him scan it and send it to his commander and they’ll
have
to leave us alone.”

Vivian looked doubtful, but Daniel, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.

“I think it could actually work. The maps are probably still pretty accurate and they show every weak spot there is in the Border Defense System. Given the nature of the technology the systems run on, those weaknesses can’t be helped—they’ll always be vulnerable. Once the Unified States knows we have a map revealing theirs, and that we can release it to Unifolle, or worse, to Korusal, they’ll want to work with us. Then it’s just a matter of letting Unifolle and Korusal know we have theirs, too, and we’re untouchable.”

“So much could go wrong,” said Vivian. She sighed. “But I know we have no other choice.” She held out her hands to her daughter and her husband. The three of them sat together, silently holding hands, for as long as they could.

Too soon, Jim interrupted them. “We have to go in a few minutes. You sure you’re ready for this?”

Rachel nodded. “I have to do something first.” She hugged Vivian and Daniel, then walked toward the smaller room off the office, where she knew Tom sat with Hannah.

The room was quiet, unlike the office itself, which was still buzzing with people. Doug and Annie had insisted that Tom and Hannah be given some space. They’d stood guard at the door to the little room, letting Tom take what solace he could in Hannah’s physical presence. Annie made an exception for Rachel when she whispered in her ear, explaining her visit.

Rachel felt like she was interrupting a funeral when she walked into the room. “Tom,” she whispered.

Tom and Hannah both looked up. Tom’s eyes held recognition; Hannah offered only the polite gaze most people reserved for pleasant strangers.

“Rachel.” Tom smiled, though it was clear to Rachel it was a façade, empty of feeling, forged for Hannah’s benefit.

“I have to go soon, but I wanted to give you something.” Rachel dug in her pocket. “Han—um, it was given to me for safekeeping. In case I needed to get it to you.” She fished out the fabric packet Hannah had trusted her with and handed it to Tom. She leaned down and whispered in his ear. “She loved you so much.”

Tom took the packet, turning it in his hands. Hannah looked at it, but gave no sign that she knew what it was.

“Is it . . .” Tom let his words die unspoken. He knew what it was, knew Hannah would have thought of everything. He knew he would spend many hours reading and rereading whatever words she’d left him. “Thank you.”

Rachel put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll see you later.” She smiled at Hannah, who seemed bemused. “Take care of yourself, Hannah.”

Pathik stood waiting, right outside the doorway. He met her eyes, his own as serious as she’d ever seen them.

“Are you sure?”

Rachel stood before him, trying to find the right words to reassure him, but finally, all she could do was nod. “I’d better get going.”

“Scared?” Pathik didn’t move out of her way.

She shrugged. “Not too much.”

“You know I know better.”

Rachel grinned. “Where’s all that Usage training? You’re not supposed to sniff around reading my feelings without my permission.”

Pathik grinned, too. “I’m not using my gift. I just know you.” He stepped closer, drew her near and there, in front of all the people in the office, he kissed her. It was a long, soft kiss, one that Rachel wished could never end. When he finally let her go, he looked shyly at her. “I’d like to keep on knowing you, so be careful.”

“It’s still a ways off.” Jim tried to sound confident, but Rachel could tell he was as nervous as she was. They’d been walking for a long time. Just getting down the mountainside had taken hours. The trail was narrow and treacherous. At one point, when they negotiated a particularly nasty switch-back, Rachel looked slyly at Jim. “You had to carry me up this, huh?”

Jim looked uncomfortable, remembering his part in abducting her. “Um. Sorry about that.”

“You should be.” Rachel didn’t say any more about it.

They’d set off alone, without announcing their departure to anyone but Rachel’s group. At first, they hadn’t been sure how they’d manage to slip out—the office had still been buzzing with people, everyone asking questions, nobody having any real answers. Sarah had finally gone out to the platform to address everyone in the cave, to try to explain what was happening. Rachel and Jim had taken advantage of the crowd’s diverted attention to take their leave.