I do. Somehow, since the first day he told me to keep strong, I have trusted his guidance, whether I knew it or not. I follow him back to the campground as he leads me toward a tent in the far back. It’s strange that here he no longer keeps up his knightly duties following me.
A realization occurs to me. What if I continue to refuse to join them? Their original plan was to off me and use Sebastian’s grief as a way to get Devlan close to the prince. They will have no need of me. I can’t just wander back inside Court harboring this kind of knowledge. I shiver.
Devlan said he’d have never allowed that plan to go through. I wonder how much sway he truly has here. And Fallon? Who is she? Would she really see killing one small girl as being that big of a deal in comparison to the war she’s waging?
Devlan’s suspiciousness when he asked if I’d fallen for Sebastian slams into me. He was feeling out my loyalties. I wrap my arms around myself and stare at his back. He’s been slowly grooming me to be the one to get close to Sebastian. But if I was falling for the prince, that would be the fatal flaw in his plan. He wouldn’t be able to trust that I could go through with it and keep the truth from someone I love.
I know this, because I would question the exact same thing.
All these worries swirl inside my head as I try to figure a way out of this limbo and the many pressing dangers. I walk as if in slow motion toward a large brown tent. Somehow, I have to convince Devlan that I’m not the one for the job, but also maintain that I won’t reveal their secrets to Sebastian.
I can keep that promise; I plan to be far away from the castle, Sebastian, and this whole scheme the first chance I get to escape.
Devlan stops before a huge brown tent, and I take a breath, bracing myself for his newest surprise when he pulls back the flaps.
My jaw drops.
Monitors are everywhere—flashing blue and green screens. Wires drip from the top of the tent and run along the dirt-packed ground. People walk back and forth, and some are seated in front of the screens, hitting keys on boards before them. Towers, like ones I’ve seen in old magazines my father showed me, sit in the corners, blinking green and blue lights.
I look at Devlan. “What is all this?”
He cocks his head. “It’s Mordred. Our headquarters.” He walks to one of the desks and seats himself in front of a large monitor. A small smile curls my lips as I connect the name of King Arthur’s enemy in the fabled tale to their headquarters. The enemy who inflicted Arthur’s fatal wound. “It’s where we hack into the Force’s network, gain intel, and view Outside.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Hack?” I quickly forget wanting to know what the word means as Devlan clicks his monitor on. I look at the screen. “Is that outside of Karm?”
“Yes.” He taps the keyboard, and the screen bleeps in and out. With a flicker, it displays a dark land as it pans, revealing a dry and dusty landscape. “This is right outside the barrier. Nothing much to see as it’s night, but nothing much to see anyway during the day. It’s all dead land. But see the barrier?” He points to the edge of the screen.
I do. I press my hands on the desk and lean in closer. It blazes blue-white with three-dimensional blocks of squares. “You can see the complete grid of the force field from Outside.”
He types something else on the board and the screen flashes, then displays a giant building. It’s a gray, three-story brick building, and lights shine from the windows as if…as if people are living inside.
“Here. This is the compound. We dubbed it Morgana.” He turns and meets my eyes, rests his hand over mine on the desk.
I barely register his touch as my eyes search the compound. “What is it?”
“This is where the Virus takes us after we leave Karm.”
“What are you saying, Devlan?” My voice cracks. The front of my head pounds. The flickering lights of the monitors penetrate my skull, making me light-headed and dizzy. “The Virus kills us. It has since the Final War.”
He quickly punches the keys and the screen changes angles.
People. So many people.
They’re digging a trench and laying something down in it. I get closer to the screen, squint my eyes, try to focus. “How…how are they Outside—what are they doing?”
Devlan clears his throat. “Laying cables. This is just the first perimeter, where most of the power to Karm is fed. It takes a lot of juice to power the barrier, so the cables are repaired often. Others work inside the plant.” He points, motioning off the screen. “This is the main reactor where the nuclear power is generated.”
I shake my head, over and over. “This can’t—no.” I cover my mouth with my hand. I’ve wondered all my life how King Hart powered his realm, but this can’t be the truth. It’s too bizarre and evil. “And the Virus?”
“Hart has his friars inject us at our christening with the Virus he developed during the Final War.” He sucks in a deep breath, scrubs his hand down his face. “He was the lead scientist for the American government’s warfare department. But he’s had the strain mutated since then.” He shakes his head and points at the workers on the screen. “Look at them.”
“What?” My voice is strained. “What am I supposed to see?”
“Look how they walk, how they move. How no one talks.”
I study them, and I see it. They’re in some kind of trance. Oh, God. This can’t be true. It’s too absurd. They move as if they’re sleepwalking. They’re faces are blank slates, pallid and emotionless—not human.
Devlan places his hand on my shoulder. “All right, that’s enough for now. I think you’re about to have a meltdown.”
I jerk out of his hold and grab the screen. “No.” I try to see into the monitor. “Move the camera closer. Do…make it get closer. Zoom in.”
He hesitates, and I snap, “Do it!”
Tapping the keys, he does as I ask, and the cam moves in closer. The pale faces of the workers become clearer. The hollowed, dark circles under their eyes. Their dirty smocks and greasy hair and filthy skin and—
My. Heart. Stops.
Lit by the radiant glow of the barrier, with dirt and sweat and blood smeared across his face, is my father.
NINETEEN
I drop the monitor.
It thunks the desk hard. Its blue-green screen flickers in and out, flashing images of my father.
My father’s Outside. He’s one of those workers. He’s in a trance, digging a hole to help power Karm. I don’t blink. I watch him shovel and scoop. Toss the dirt. Shovel and scoop. Toss…
“Zara,” Devlan says softly, near my ear. “I’m going to turn it off now.” He swipes a button on the side of the monitor and the screen goes black.
I press my palms to the table and lean forward. My body begins to tremble. I can’t feel the ground beneath me.
My father’s alive.
The thought is a shot of adrenaline to my heart. I turn toward Devlan and latch onto his arms. “He’s alive.” I blink rapidly, clearing my vision. “I mean, he is alive, right?” Hope hangs in the air like a fragile snowflake dancing around on a warm breath.
He presses his lips together and nods. “His heart beats. And his brain functions. Like my parents, he’s alive, in a sense.” He slips his fingers beneath mine and curls my hands into his, removing my death grip from his arms. Then he leads me to a chair. I don’t realize I’m sitting until I look up at him when he says, “Even if we were to take the barrier down tonight, there’s nothing we can do for them. The Virus takes their minds. They don’t know who they are or were. They’re simply there, programmed to keep Karm running.”
A whirring rises in my ears, and I don’t hear the last of his sentence. I spring out of the chair and barely hear his calls after me as I slap the tent flaps back and march through the Rebel camp. Embers from dying fires fly up, singeing my dress, as I stomp through them.