No one says anything, which she takes as a yes. She gets into position, reaching up for the first hold, a deep depression in the rock. And then she’s up, born only by the strength and positioning of her own hands and feet on the wall.
I send Tawni up next, and despite her concerns, she seems to quickly get the hang of it, using her height to her advantage as she is able to access the best handholds simply by stretching herself out.
I’m third, and although I’m not afraid of heights, I feel a pang of fear thud in my chest. It’s like I’m worried that after all I’ve been through, I might die because of a stupid wall—and it scares me. But I find my first handhold and manage to get up, pushing off with my legs. I don’t see Trevor start climbing behind me, but know he’s there because of the jostle of the ropes that connect us.
We move slowly upwards, like one organism, my mom as the head, Tawni the torso, and Trevor the legs. I guess that makes me the butt. One leg up, push off, reach with my arms, grab a rock, raise the other leg, repeat. Again and again, until I know we’re getting high. My heart continues to hammer in my chest and I fight the urge to look down. My palms are sweaty with exertion—and though I hate to admit it: fear.
I look up and see my mom clamber over the lip at the top, disappearing for a moment. Then her head appears, looking down at those of us still climbing. She offers a hand to Tawni, who takes it, allowing Mom to pull her up the final few feet. Finally, my heart rate slows. It wasn’t so bad, after all. We’re all going to make it.
You know how bad things tend to happen when you least expect them? Like right when a miner discovers a massive gemstone, and he’s gawking at its beauty, that’s when the roof collapses on his head. That’s how it is now. I’m not paying attention and my foot isn’t completely secure when I push off. I feel it slip off the edge and I wave my arms wildly, trying to find something to grab onto. Both hands find holds, but my sweaty fingers won’t grip the slippery stone.
I fall.
I’m very high up and I fall.
I cry out and Trevor does, too. There’s a twitch as the rope connecting me to Tawni tightens, and then I’m dangling in midair, swinging across the wall. I feel a jerk as my momentum wrenches Trevor off the wall, too, and now his full weight is pulling on my back.
Despite my better judgment, I look down. Below me is hell, frothing with fire and death. I gasp, let out a high-pitched shriek. Say something like, “Ohmygodohmygod!”
I hear my mom yell from above. “Reach for the wall—both of you!”
I look up and expect to see fear in her eyes, but instead there’s a gritty determination as she hangs on to something I can’t see. Tawni is also dangling precariously, barely clinging to the wall. My mom’s holding all of us up.
I grit my teeth and reach out an uncertain foot to the wall, trying to stop us from swinging. As soon as my foot touches the wall, we start to spin, the rope twisting. It’s disorienting and it takes all of my willpower not to look down again. “Trevor,” I say, “reach for the wall on three.”
“Okay!” he yells, his voice shaking.
“One!” I take a deep breath. “Two.” My hearts slams against my ribcage. “Three!”
We both kick and scrabble and stretch for the wall at the same time. Our synchronized motion stabilizes the swinging, spinning rope for a moment, and I’m able to find a rock to grab on to. One of my feet finds a hold, too, and suddenly I’m back on the wall, secure, as if none of it ever happened. The only reminder is the sharp pain in my shoulders from having Trevor’s weight pulling against the straps of my pack.
“Now climb!” my mother yells.
I don’t look up, or down—just straight at the wall, focused.
“You can do it, Adele!” I hear Tawni yell from above. My trusted cheerleader has apparently made it. I push off once, twice, and then strong arms are pulling me over the top. My mother’s arms. My rock.
I’m exhausted, but it’s not time to rest yet. Immediately I turn and grab one of Trevor’s arms as my mom grabs the other. We haul him up. The four of us lie in a row, panting, laughing stupidly, our tongues hanging out.
When I finally manage to push to my feet, I’m stunned by the sight before me. In the least likely of spots, there’s a train, doors open and ready to whisk us away.
Finally, I’m going to see Tristan again.
And my family.
All together in one place for the first time.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tristan
For once, I’m well rested. If I dreamt last night, I don’t remember. The Resistance is situated so close to subchapter 1 that we’re able to walk there. I feel like I’m at the head of a cavalry, me and Ben and Roc and Elsey, marching out in front of a few hundred stomping boots. Vice President Morgan left hours earlier to prepare for the peace summit in her subchapter. Jinny’s here too, walking alongside Elsey, who is chatting with her like we’re not heading to the most important meeting that the Tri-Realms has seen in a hundred years or more.
Naturally, my mind is on Adele. I wonder how she’ll look. The last time I saw her, on the screen, she looked confident and beautiful, but that was before someone tried to kill her. Why would Brody do that? All we know is he was a spy for my father, but why target Adele? Is it because of who her parents are? Sort of a revenge for their efforts at resisting his rule? Or does he know what she means to me? Is he taking another shot at me? I remember his declaration from the presidential steps, when he was speaking to all traitors: …brought down like a hammer on you and those you care about. It felt like he was reaching through the telebox then, grabbing me by the collar and speaking those words directly to me. If he was targeting Adele because of me, he’ll surely try again. When she arrives I’ll stay by her side at all times just in case.
“Eww, gross,” I hear Elsey say. It’s about as relaxed a comment as I’ve ever her heard make, and I turn to see what has prompted it.
A bat lies twitching on the tunnel floor, injured, dying. For some reason I can’t take my eyes off of it. A sense of dread enters my heart—like the dying bat is an omen, a sign of things to come. Not for us in general, but for me personally. One of the Resistance soldiers strides forward and stomps on the winged rat, and when he lifts his boot again, it is still. Dead. An omen, perhaps.
I look away and keep on walking. You make your own fate. My father’s words, and yet they help to calm my troubled mind. Adele cannot die. I won’t let her.
“What are you thinking?” Roc asks.
“Heavy stuff,” I say.
“Thought so.”
“Was it that obvious?”
“Only to a friend,” he says, grinning.
I smile back, glad that he’s here. “I’m worried my father will target Adele again, maybe as early as the peace summit.” I told Roc what had happened before we slept last night.
“And Tawni, too?” he asks sharply, his brown eyes flitting back and forth like a caged animal. I keep forgetting he’s got a crush on Tawni.
“I don’t think so,” I say. “I’m pretty sure she was just collateral damage. But if she’s near Adele when he goes after her, Tawni could be in danger too.”
“We can’t let anything happen to either of them,” Roc says firmly.
“We won’t,” I promise. “We won’t leave their sides.”
* * *
Less than an hour later we emerge from the tunnel and into subchapter 1. It’s weird being out of the mysterious catacombs of the Resistance and back in a proper city. The last time I was in a moon dweller city it was subchapter 26, and the city was crumbling beneath the weight of the star dweller attack. I’m not sure what I expected, but it’s not this. The city is untouched. Old and rundown, but not bombed, not full of smoking debris and rubble. Instead, it’s just as I remember it from my last annual contract negotiation trip. The Water City, they call it, because it’s literally built on an underground lake.