The Glass Arrow(54)

I shake my head, but the words have all dried up inside of me.

Nina. Salma. Tam. Are they safe? There are other families hiding in the mountains, but all I can think of is mine.

Nina, holding hands with the mayor.

Tam, made into a Pip.

I try to shove past them, but something sharp bites my waist. I jump back. The boy has a little silver box, and when he presses it to my skin, it shocks me.

“Bad girl!” he yells.

They slip out the door before I can charge through. And then it is locked again. And I am left alone.

*

I DON’T SLEEP. I pace until my heels ache and my skull can’t hold any more bad thoughts.

Finally, there’s a click in the door. The handle jiggles a little, and then the door opens and Amir is standing in the space, holding his nasty little metal shocker in one hand.

“Did you think about what you did?” he asks me.

I nod.

“Good,” he says.

When I move towards him I see the house Pip standing in the hall. He’s holding a silver tray and in the center, on a white lacy mat, are two meal pills.

“Put it on the ground,” Amir tells him.

When he does, Amir points at it.

“Eat.”

“I’m not a dog,” I say. My throat is parched. It has been too long since I’ve had water. When he pours some in a little cup beside the pills, my tongue seems to grow thicker in my mouth.

“No talking,” he says. “Bad girl!”

He jams the silver box into my belly and presses the button. It sends a bolt of lightning straight through my insides. My face screws up in pain. For moments after, I’m still twitching.

I want to take that box and smash it to pieces. Or maybe shock him with it, give him a little of what he’s doling out, see how he likes it.

But I don’t.

Memories of the Garden are pouring back over me. All I did was try to get out. I never played along and this is where I ended up. But all the girls who did—who followed the rules and did what the Governess said—they all got what they wanted. They got chosen.

I kneel. Something inside of me breaks, but I do it anyway. I bend over, grab the cup with my teeth and swing it back. Water streams from the corners of my mouth as I gulp it down greedily. I shove the meal pills in my mouth too. My stomach is gurgling now, and I can already feel the pills start to expand.

I don’t know the person who is doing this. She is weak. Desperate.

“Good girl,” he says, clapping his hands together. “Let’s play a hiding game.”

He makes it sound like it’s his idea.

“You hide first. If I catch you, you’re getting marked!” With that he runs away into the room next to mine and slams the door. The Pip remains in the hallway, a pointed stare on me.

I rise to my feet and step by him.

I walk slowly down the hall to the stairs, feeling the sensors in the ceiling above me adjust as I walk by. The Pip stays where I left him, still with that snooty look on his face.

Slowly, I descend the steps. One floor, then two, and another window appears on the stone wall. Trying to keep a cool head, I make my way towards it, careful not to touch the glass.

I’m still several floors up, but through the green-tinted glass I see a courtyard. A fountain sits in the middle of a garden, shooting streams of water into the air. Surrounding it all is a high stone fence.

Horses, led by men in day suits, move from a silver-roofed barn towards a sloped, twisty iron gate that opens as they approach. Drivers move amongst them—hunched, carrying the weight of this low, coal sky on their shoulders. They tend to their stock and hold them still while the Magnates climb up into their fancy saddles.

My heart races. Frantically I search for Kiran, straining my eyes, but none of them look familiar. The mayor probably has his own Driver staff. Why wouldn’t he? He has everything else.

Despite this, the open gate renews the urgency within me, and before I can stop myself I’m padding down the stairs. I descend two levels, and then a third. Finally I reach a wide, open room, fancier than any I’ve ever been in, with green-glass walls. There are five Pips cleaning these, and two more dusting the cozy chairs scattered around the room. They all look up as I step into the room.

Somewhere above me, in the distance, I hear Amir’s demanding yell: “Where are you?” It’s like someone’s pulling the tiny hairs on the back of my neck.

I’m on the ground level. Out the two sliding doors, directly across from the stairwell, are the horses, and the gates are already beginning to close behind them.

I spot Mr. Greer in the shadow of the barn, talking to the mayor, who is wearing a long gray suit jacket for the occasion. Something’s not right between them; the mayor’s posture is stiff and his arms are crossed over his chest. He throws his hands up and walks away, and after a moment of staring at his back, Greer turns away as well. He nearly runs into a Driver attempting to load a carriage with supplies, then stalks around the side of the house, his maroon scarf waving in the breeze until he is out of view.

My gaze returns to the carriage. From where I’m standing, it’s hard to see what was in the box the Driver loaded in the back compartment, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that he’s preparing to leave. He’s made his way to the front and has begun adjusting the straps that attach the contraption to his horse.