Firstlife (Everlife #1) Read online

  “I think it’s the way out.” I opt for honesty rather than evasion. As much as I don’t want to get their hopes up, I do want to get their hopes up. Hope empowers. It’s the reason we wake and the reason we rise. The reason we keep moving forward. “If you could leave, and choose one of the realms—”

  “Yes,” they say in unison.

  “No longer interested in peace?” I ask.

  “Peace will always be my first priority, but I know I can’t achieve it here,” Kayla says.

  I don’t have the heart to tell her she’ll never achieve it. Troika and Myriad will never call a truce, and their battles will always spill into the Land of the Harvest.

  Reed frowns at me. “Tell me you have a plan to survive whatever’s in the water.”

  “I do. I’m going to figure it out when I get there.”

  He rubs the back of his neck.

  “What do I have to lose? My life? Been there, done that.” But what happens next? I don’t believe in Fusion, not anymore. Not for anyone. But I’m in Many Ends. I don’t think I’ll get to enter into the Rest.

  “I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Reed grumbles, “but I’m coming with you.”

  Kayla moans. “I knew you’d insist.”

  “You don’t have to—” he begins.

  “There’s no way I’m staying if you’re going,” she interjects. “Don’t even suggest it.”

  A little bubble of hope expands in my chest. There’s more to the girl than I realized.

  Reed nods. “Just...be prepared for the worst.”

  I hate the thought of risking their lives—and I use the term lives loosely—but if I’m right, and the song is the road map to freedom, this is our best option.

  “I’m prepared,” Kayla says. “Every day, I’m prepared.”

  “Your faith in me is humbling, guys.” I run the wire of a wrist cuff through two belt loops in Reed’s mud-stained jeans. Kayla doesn’t have belt loops, so I press her finger through the small metal hook. “Whatever happens, you keep a tight grip.”

  Her nod is reluctant, but hey, a nod is a nod.

  “Oh, a word of warning. There may or may not be seven women in the water, and if they try to romance you, you have to ignore them.” I grab their hands while they sputter in confusion. “Okay, then. On your mark, get set, go!”

  We bound forward, running as fast as we can manage. The birds swoop down, dive-bombing through the sky. And that’s not even the worst. The gorilla-spiders spring from the shadows of the forest, using their powerful arms to gallop and increase their speed. I should have known they were out there!

  Fight the panic. Stay focused. Any moment now they’ll reach us...almost there... I leap to the side, dragging Kayla with me to avoid another doorway. Then I sprint for the shore, forcing Reed and Kayla to keep pace. We end up belly flopping, the top halves of our bodies in the water, our legs on the ground.

  A gorilla grabs Reed’s ankle. A bird sinks sharp claws into my back while another bites Kayla’s calf, drawing Lifeblood. I kick my attacker and twist to throw water at the animals. The droplets splash over them, and like the Wicked Witch of the West, their flesh sizzles. We’re released, allowing us to scramble deeper into the water, but there’s no time to rejoice. No reason to bask in a sense of relief. In seconds, we’re sucked into a whirling vortex, traveling down, down, deeper and deeper into the water.

  As I attempt to kick my way to the surface, I swallow too much water and choke. We continue to spin, round and round, the wire wrapping around Reed’s waist. Zero! My plan to keep us together might just sever him in half.

  Finally, the spinning stops. I’m dizzy, but at least I can breathe again, the water sucked away from us—even from my lungs. We’re trapped in the eye of a great and terrible storm, suspended inside a beam of jellyair, I think. Fish...things...swim around us; they have the face and torso of a human female. The shape, anyway. Rather than skin, they are covered in scales. Long strands of pink hair drift around shark-like bodies.

  “Come with me,” one says. As she speaks, two layers of dagger-sharp teeth are revealed, a piece of flesh trapped between the two in front.

  “No, no, come with me,” another says.

  They giggle like little girls and continue inviting us over.

  A third speaks up. “Let’s be friends. Everyone could use a new friend.”

  Yes, yes, I’d love to go with them, would love to make a new friend. Sounds like the best ideas ever. Reed and Kayla must agree with me, because they’re already paddling forward, reaching for the seven ladies dancing.

  Seven ladies dancing, ignore their sweet romancing.

  Loony Lina’s voice fills my head, drowning out the giggles and the chatter. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and concentrate fully on the task at hand, only then realizing the “ladies” are licking their teeth, preparing to chomp into the first person to come within reach.

  Zero! I yank on the wires, pulling the kids to my side. They fight me, actually kicking at me, desperate to join their new “friends.”

  In an effort to drown out the sweet romancing, I sing the song out loud. The kids fight me less and less, the fish-girls growing more and more agitated, screaming and cursing, the long strands of their hair actually standing on end and crackling with bolts of lightning, as if they’ve stuck their hands in a socket.

  When Reed and Kayla at last still, the bottom of the jellyair vanishes, and we’re dropped.

  Down, down we fall through a tunnel of darkness, finally hitting something sharp. We roll over dirt and rocks, the wires now wrapped around all of us, cutting both my arms to the bone. I hemorrhage, strength draining out of me at a rapid rate. I tremble, my limbs weakening as I untangle myself.

  In my pocket, only one leaf remains; the others must have been sucked out with the water. Reed and Kayla, who also packed their pockets, come up empty. I tear the leaf in three and we each eat a section.

  Warmth...my skin patching itself...a return of strength, but not a full recharge.

  I work my way to my feet, and Reed and Kayla struggle to stand alongside me.

  “Where are we?” she whispers. There’s a tinge of horror in her voice—a tinge I feel myself.

  “I don’t know.”

  The room is lit by bone torches—flames crackling at the end of human remains. The ground isn’t rock and dirt as I assumed but pulled teeth and...cat litter? The scent of baking soda does not prevail against unwashed bodies.

  Walls tower all around us, but they aren’t made of stone, wood or drywall. No, these walls are made of cages. Too many to count, one stacked upon the other. Inside each cage is a single spirit. The Unsigned? Those captured in the Realm of Many Ends? The occupants are contorted in different positions of pain, moaning with various degrees of torment.

  Laughter suddenly rings out, and it doesn’t come from the cages. Someone’s coming!

  “Six seconds to hide, up, up, and you’ll survive,” I command softly. “Climb. Now.”

  We scale the cages as if the ground is on fire, able to use the upper bars as handrails and use the lower bars as footstools. The caged people watch us, but they’re too pained to comment. This is going to haunt me for the rest of my—death.

  When three men turn the corner, we go still. I shake, beads of sweat trickling down my temple. The men don’t bother to look anywhere but the bottom row of prisoners. Prisoners who are shrinking back, making the men laugh.

  They stop at the cage on the far right, unlock the door and reach inside, dragging out a sobbing teenage boy.

  “Please, no,” the boy pleads. “Please.”

  “You know better.” One of the men holds the kid’s mouth open. “You don’t speak to your betters.”

  Another man palms a dagger, reaches out and slices off the kid’s tongue.

  The sheer brutality of the act makes me suck in a breath. As the men drag the boy away, he fights as best he can, but it does him no good. He’s too weak, and they are too strong.

  I
’m too weak to help. Three against one. Or three against three if Reed and Kayla help, but who knows if they will. I tell myself I’ll be captured. We’ll all be captured. We’ll be locked away, and we won’t be any good to anyone. It’s a choice. A smart choice. I can come back for him. For everyone. I’ll know the way to a safe place, and I can return armed to the max. Maybe. Hopefully.

  But I remember the time Bow—Archer—fought the guards inside Prynne. I did nothing and guilt ate at me.

  I might regret this, but—

  I drop, my stomach floating into my throat. I pull the wire in my bracelet—Thank you, Killian—the second I land on one of the guard’s shoulders. He grunts. As we fall, I wrap the wire around his neck but as soon as we reach the ground, I roll off him, the wire remaining in place, choking him. My arms are extended overhead, and I use them to pull myself around and kick him in the face. A face that’s bright red, almost blue.

  His eyes bulge as he struggles to free himself, making little gurgling sounds.

  Another guard boots me in the stomach. Stars explode behind my eyes and pain shoots through me. He doesn’t help his friend—if they’re even friends—because the jerking motion of my body only tightens the wire.

  Mr. Boot draws back his leg, preparing to deliver another strike. I prepare to take it like a girl. Better than a man. Reed lands on him, and the two topple in a tangle of punching fists.

  The third guard releases the tongueless boy and runs. If he gets away, we’re toast. He’ll come back with others.

  Sometimes you can offer someone a second chance. Sometimes you shouldn’t.

  I yank my arms with all my strength. The wire cuts through the guard’s throat—completely. Suddenly I’m free of my burden and running after the last man.

  Kayla beats me to him. She knocks him down, whimpering and clinging to his back, even upon impact. He reaches back to grab her by the hair, but I latch on to his wrist before he’s able to make contact with her.

  Anger burns me while desperation cools me off. I’m one hundred percent conflicted about my next actions. Even still, I yank, pull the man out from under her and stomp on his head until he’s as limp as spaghetti noodles.

  I’m panting as I approach Kayla. “You all right?”

  “Yeah,” she says, but she doesn’t meet my eyes. “I think so.”

  I maintain my calm facade as I look back at Reed. His opponent is motionless, as well. He’s crouched beside the tongueless boy, who is just as motionless. Hemorrhaged already?

  All for nothing! my mind screams.

  I lift a mental chin. Salvaging my conscience—worth it. Worth all this.

  The prisoners in the cages are buoyed and cheer for us, even when we shhhh them.

  “If another guard comes, I won’t have a chance to free you,” I say, and finally they go quiet.

  I work on a lock for one minute, two, the seconds agony, but there’s no keyhole and I can’t find another way.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. I have to get Reed and Kayla to safety. “I’ll come back.”

  Next move?

  Five times four times three, and that is where he’ll be.

  I do the math. Five times four is twenty and twenty times three is sixty. Sixty and that’s where he’ll be. He who?

  Since Lina created the song especially for me, she would have known which wall I’d end up climbing when the guards arrived. She would have known my instincts. And my instincts are screaming to climb up sixty flights of cages.

  I hate my instincts. “Climb,” I say, returning to the spot I abandoned.

  Kayla moans, shakes her head. “I don’t think I can.”

  “Don’t think, do.” A motivational speaker I’m not. “It’s the only way.”

  “You can do it,” Reed tells her, giving her a boost. “You will.”

  We begin to climb...and climb...and Reed and I have to pull Kayla up several flights. A few times, one of the prisoners gathers the strength to grab hold of one of us and beg for help. Once again, I’m struck by the need to do what I can. I want to do something so badly I’m crying by the time we reach the thirtieth level. Only halfway. These people, they are emaciated, and they are filthy. They are injured and without hope. Every so often I stop to try to unlatch a few of the locks, but each time I fail, and it zaps even more of my strength.

  Two I’ll save, I’ll be brave, brave, brave.

  Right. Stick to the plan. Get Reed and Kayla to safety, come back for the others.

  By the fortieth flight, I’m shaking uncontrollably. By the fiftieth, I’m ready to give up. I give myself a pep talk. Been through worse, but came out stronger on the other side. So close to the end of the song—to victory.

  At the sixtieth level—I did it, I really did it!—my happiness is short-lived. I find myself staring into Killian’s eyes.

  Horror fills me, but so does elation, and I gasp his name. “What are you doing here?”

  He grabs hold of the bars, his dirty fingers ghosting through mine. He’s still in his Shell, a shiny golden collar wrapped around his neck, but I’m a spirit. “You died. How did you die? Damn it, Ten. I wanted you to live.”

  “Not my fault. My aunt kind of murdered me.” Enough about me! “How are you here? You—”

  “When did you sign with Myriad?” he demands.

  “I didn’t. You—”

  “You must have. You’re in the outermost part of the realm. The Kennel.”

  “No. And stop interrupting me!” Desperation gives my tone a sharper edge. “I’m in the Realm of Many Ends, same as you, and I want to know how you got here.”

  “This is Myriad, lass.”

  The two are connected through the lake?

  “How do I get you out of here, Killian? Help me help you. Please.”

  A feminine hand shoots out the cage next to his, and Elena says, “You’re the one I blame for this.”

  Zero! I can’t leave without her, either.

  “She isn’t to blame.” More agitated by the second, Killian says, “You need to leave, Ten. Keep climbing. There are only twenty levels to go, and you’ll reach the top.”

  Only twenty? I whimper. “I’m not leaving without you. Reed! Kayla! Help me free him.”

  As we work (unsuccessfully) at the lock, Killian scrubs a hand down his face. “The Realm of Many Ends is connected to Myriad. I’d heard rumors, but I never believed them. How could I be so blind? But it makes sense, doesn’t it? Why else would Myriad say it’s better to remain Unsigned than to sign with Troika?”

  “Let’s worry about that later. For now, shut up and help me.”

  He reaches through the bars. “No. You need to leave—”

  “Ten four.” Reed starts climbing again. “I don’t need to be told more than twice.”

  Killian’s golden eyes beseech me. “At the top go left, left, right, left, right and kill anyone who gets in your way. Don’t hesitate. You follow those directions and you’ll reach a shimmery doorway. When we pass through it, we’re taken to the Land of the Harvest. Because your spirits are unbound, I’m not sure where you’ll end up.”

  Any place is better than this one, but I vehemently shake my head. “I told you I’m not leaving without you, and I meant it. You either, Elena.” Hurried, a bit clumsy now, I wind the wire from my bracelet around the metal lock and begin sawing. Sparks fly.

  “We’ll be let out soon enough.” He traces a fingertip over my knuckles. “We always are. You need to go.”

  “I’m making progress at last.”

  “Not fast enough.”

  He’s tearing me up inside. “Killian, I can’t—”

  “You can. You will.”

  “Unless you’re captured today, so you don’t have time for this,” Elena interjects. “Just do what he says.”

  Even as I shudder, the last of the song plays through my head. Two I must save, I’ll be brave, brave, brave. The one I adore, I’ll come back for.

  Lina foresaw even this. She knew the difficult situation I would face.
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  There isn’t another way, is there? “Okay. All right,” I say, the words yanked out of me. “I’ll go. I hate this, but I’ll go.” I unwind the wire as tears stream down my cheeks. “I don’t believe in fate, but I think I believe in destiny.” The path set before me, if only I make the right decisions. “I’m coming back for you.”

  He looks at me as if he wants to grip the back of my neck and kiss me. “The Generals now agree with Pearl. You’re better off dead than signed with Troika. But if you sign with Myriad, Ten, you’ll be one of us. You’ll be protected. And you and I...we can be together.”

  I want that. I want to be with him. He isn’t a boy, he’s a warrior. He isn’t someone I can push around, and I’m glad for that. When he looks at me, he sees who I am and he isn’t scared. Because we’re a match. We burn together—and he only wants me to burn hotter.

  He’ll walk through hell for me. I have no doubts about that. And I’ll walk through hell for him. But I’m not signing with Myriad. This? These cages? They seal the deal.

  I have to find another way to be with him.

  “I’m coming back for you,” I repeat. As I climb away from him, I’m sobbing, but I do what needs doing. I keep going, my determination giving me enough strength to heft Kayla up whenever she slips.

  Finally we reach the top, and Reed, who is waiting for us, hauls us onto a stone walkway. Stone above, beside and below us. Every stone carved into the shape of a human skull. Empty eye sockets seem to follow me as I stumble forward, taking the lead. Left, left. Right. My knees shake. In this hallway, skeletons hang from the ceiling, each draped in a violet robe.

  Troikan robes?

  When we take the next left, strange symbols glowing on the walls, an alarm screeches to life.

  Zero! We’ve been found out.

  It isn’t long before a stampede of footsteps sounds behind us. I glance over my shoulder as guards hustle around the corner. Six of them.

  “Go, go,” I tell my charges. “I’ll divert our tail.”

  Kayla reaches for me. “No! We do this together.”

  “Reed,” I say, and he understands.

  He jerks her to his side, forcing her to keep pace with him. They make the next right, disappearing from my view.