Your One & Only(59)

On the other side, they worked their way through the trees parallel to the path that headed toward Vispera. At first they went slowly, and then Jack heard the grunts of a Viktor clambering over the wall after them.

He took Althea’s hand and veered them left, away from the path.

“Jack, the box!” Althea yelled.

He hardly slowed as he saw it tumbling to the ground.

“Leave it,” he said, but she wrenched away. “Althea, don’t!”

She turned back. Jack almost went after her, but then the Viktor rushed forward. Althea backed away. The Viktor raised his flashlight.

“Who’s with you?” he said.

“No one. I’m by myself.”

The Viktor was a Gen-310, the same age as them. The others hadn’t caught up yet, and he wasn’t carrying a weapon. Jack wasn’t about to let a clone take Althea. He moved closer to them, ready to act, just as the ground shivered. A boom shook the trees. The air compressed around them. Birds squawked and scattered into the sky.

There was no time to react before a second distant roar followed, and a third. A mounting glow filtered through the leaves, casting vermillion shadows on the ground and foliage. The faces of Althea and Viktor reflected the glow before the light waned as quickly as it’d appeared. The chase forgotten, the Viktor sprinted for the clearing of the path. Althea glanced at Jack and then ran after, leaving Jack with no choice but to follow them both.

They stopped in a glade looking down toward Vispera, on a path that ended at the bank of Blue River. In the sky far above the trees, blooms of orange and red folded into the night air and merged, resolving in the end to thick black smoke. Watching the explosion, Althea’s expression was a mirror image of the Viktor’s next to her. It was as if they were concentrating intently, as if distant sounds called to them, voices Jack couldn’t hear.

The Viktor reached out his hand, and instinctively Althea took it. Their fingers wove together. Her eyes met the Viktor’s, and an understanding seemed to pass between them, a current of energy, fleeting and intense.

“They’re hurt,” the Viktor said, his tone dipping low as if saying something already understood.

Jack said nothing as Althea nodded. He watched their shoulders touch, their bodies connecting along the length of their arms. The Viktor’s thumb brushed the back of her hand, drawing a small circle on her skin. Without another word, they reached a silent agreement. Althea released the Viktor’s hand, and he hurried down the path toward the billowing midnight smoke. Althea leaned slightly, her body poised to follow, to race with him to the river’s edge.

The remaining security guards emerged from the trees and stared into the distance in a daze. They paid no attention to Jack, simply walked on toward the river. As if they’d materialized in the darkness, even more clones appeared. They came from the direction of town, and they met on the same path. They followed the Viktor, a steady stream of people, toward the explosions, the direction Althea was staring, her grip still tight on the box as though she needed something to hang on to. Althea took a step toward the stream of people before Jack grabbed her hand. He felt her draw away.

“It’s the boats, Jack. The ones going to Copan. People are hurt. I have to go to them.”

Jack was mindful of the silence of the crowd moving collectively toward the river. There were no shouts, no calls to gather or to wake those still sleeping. Hands reached to twine together and eyes met, but no words passed.

The clones didn’t need words.

“Come on, then.” He moved to join the line on the path.

“No,” she said. “Go back to the hospital. I’ll meet you there later.” When he shook his head, not understanding, she said, “Jonah did this. They won’t want your help.”

“You can’t know it was Jonah.”

“Who else? He’s the only one capable.”

To Jack, the profound silence of the moving crowd became heavy, almost tangible. The faraway look in Althea’s eyes was like cold water dashed against his skin.

“That’s not what you really mean, though. If he’s capable of it, then I am too, right?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. Jonah and I, we’re the same person, after all. That’s what the Council believes. I thought you were different.”

With a hoarse whisper, she said, “I am different.”

Jack put his hand into hers as she had done with the Viktor. He held the knot of their fingers in her line of sight and said, “What do you feel, Althea?”

Confused, she searched his eyes. She cast her gaze back to the path. The clones’ steps had quickened. They moved as one, responding to some imperceptible impulse like a flock of birds, shifting flight instantaneously. She wanted to join them.

She looked back at Jack. “I don’t understand,” she said quietly.

“You felt something with the Viktor, didn’t you? Something you don’t feel with me.” They both knew it was true. “Is he one of the ones you—”

He didn’t need to see the way her mouth tightened to know he shouldn’t say it. He pressed his lips against his teeth, keeping himself from completing the question. He didn’t care whether she’d Paired with the Viktor, not really. But he’d seen what had passed between them. She had a connection with him, with all of them, that Jack could never share.