With a little twinge of pain, I wondered if those had just been stories, like the one he was reading to us—full of promise that could never be realized. Because I knew the question would hurt him, I didn’t ask it. Maybe he saw it in my eyes because his sharp features drew in on a frown.
Presently Tegan came over with a different paper. “What’s ‘evacuation’ mean?”
I shrugged as Fade took it and scanned the words. Maybe he could figure it out from reading the rest. Not for the first time, I admired his mind as much as I admired the way he fought.
“I’m not sure,” he finally admitted. “But I think it has to do with people leaving. The person who wrote this seems angry. ‘Evacuation plans are slanted toward the rich and powerful. This is going to be Katrina all over again,’” he read aloud.
“Powerful, like the elders,” I muttered. “So whatever happened, the important people left first.”
“There were people left behind,” Tegan said. “That’s why we’re here.”
It was a sobering thought. We came from those who hadn’t been important enough to get evacuated. Though I might not be sure what the word meant precisely, I was positive its opposite was “left behind.”
“We could spend forever here and not learn more than this,” I said.
I was a little disappointed not to find all the answers in a single book, waiting for us turned to the right pages, but I now realized my expectations had been too high. A place like this couldn’t tell us where to go, or what lay beyond the ruins. If we were brave enough, we’d have to find out for ourselves.
“I’d like to look a little longer,” Fade said.
“Fine with me.” But I sat down. I was done poking around the dusty pages, looking to dead words for my answers. On the table beside me, I found what must be a child’s book because it was mostly pictures.
On a whim I opened it. “A is for Apple. B is for Bear. C is for Cat.” Intrigued, I went through, learning new words, things, and creatures with each flip. This book was sturdier than the others, so the pages had held up better. They still felt stiff. At W, I paused, wide-eyed.
“Tegan!” I called. “Come look!”
She got up with a sigh. I think she was ready to leave too, but we were indulging Fade, as neither of us really wanted to set out before nightfall anyway. We both preferred walking after dark.
“‘W is for Wolf,’” I read and tapped my finger on the picture. “Have you ever seen one of those?”
“Not for real. Just the human kind.”
“But you knew what they were?” I was disappointed and chagrined. Apparently I was the only ignorant one. Our schooling hadn’t included much Topside lore, and most of what I’d been taught was wrong. I comforted myself with the fact that Tegan didn’t know about Freaks or Burrowers. She didn’t know what my scars meant. Unfortunately, my knowledge was useless up here.
“My mom had this exact book. She taught me to read with it.” She sounded odd and choky.
There was no way it had survived her captivity, so I held out the book to her. “You want it?”
Her eyes got bright and teary. “Thank you.”
Tegan took it and hugged it before stashing it in her bag. I fiddled with a few more books before losing patience and going to look for Fade. I found him sitting on the floor, surrounded by books. They were huge and old with tiny words. My head ached just thinking about trying to puzzle all of them out.
“Learning much?”
“Yes,” he said. “But not about the things I wanted.”
“Like what?”
“The old days.”
I sighed. “Are you almost ready? It will be dark soon. I think we should get out of here as soon as we can.”
Before he could answer, a long keening noise echoed through the halls. I recognized it, and it chilled my blood. Fade’s black eyes met mine. “Where’s Tegan?”
Library
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Stalker shouted. “Come on, Semyon. There’s someone here who’s dying to see you.”
Fade closed his eyes. “He has Pearl.”
I didn’t care that much about Pearl, but I could see he did. “He’ll have brought the rest of his Wolves.”
Now I had a mental picture of them too: fierce and fanged with silvery gray fur and shining eyes. Stalker’s human versions couldn’t look like that, but if they came close, we’d have an awful fight on our hands, further complicated by Tegan and Pearl. Fade wanted to save his old friend for his father’s sake. I’d concede her loss if there was no other choice. But not Tegan. We’d saved her. He couldn’t have her back.
The darkness helped. I slipped along the edges of the wall until I could see what we were dealing with. Fade stayed close, his presence reassuring at my back. To my surprise, Stalker hadn’t brought an army, just a few Wolves who looked every bit as frightening as he did. They wore the same scars on their faces, but they’d painted them different colors. I guessed his meant he was in charge and nobody better forget it.
They stood just before the broken doors. As I’d feared, he held Tegan casually, a knife to her throat. One of his Wolves had ahold of Pearl. They were strong, well armed, and rested. To make matters worse, we lacked the element of surprise. They expected us to attack.
“What do we do?” I whispered.
Hiding was an option. If we slipped away, it was unlikely they’d ever find us. In fact, I was impressed he’d tracked us this far. I wondered if Stalker had only pretended to run and sent his cub for more Wolves while he tracked us, leaving quiet signs for them to follow. It was the only explanation that made sense.
“There are four of them.”
But they wouldn’t be like the cubs we’d faced in the warehouse. We’d tried not to kill them because they were brats, but these opponents would be like fighting four trained Hunters, I had no doubt. Were we good enough?
Stalker lost patience. “You have one minute before I start making new holes in these two Breeders.”
I made the decision before I realized I had and stepped into view. “So you found us. What’s the complaint? We’re not in your territory now.”
“You injured eighteen of my cubs. Two of them died.”
“They had it coming,” Fade said. “And they’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”
I murmured, “Why don’t you let them go? We’ll talk.”
Stalker smiled. “I don’t want to talk.”
Before he could give the order to attack, a horrible smell drifted to me on the wind. I’d only smelled anything like it once before, near Nassau. Oh, no. Before I heard the scrabbling movements, I knew we had Freaks incoming.
I didn’t realize they ever came Topside, but as soon as they burst through the doorway, I saw we were dealing with the smart ones. Their eyes looked different, not swimming with hunger and madness. No, these were worse because I recognized cunning and craft. In daylight, these creatures looked more horrible with their yellow skin, bloody claws, and fierce, sharp teeth. Sparse hair sprouted from their misshapen skulls, stained dark with their kills.
“We’re not your biggest problem now!” I shouted.
To his credit, Stalker whirled. His Wolves shoved Tegan and Pearl away and fell into a fighting stance. Unlike their brats, the Wolves fought well—and as a unit. Not up to the standards set by Hunters, but they had a surprising amount of discipline. But they weren’t used to Freaks. I could see fear in the way they tried to block snapping fangs and raking claws.
My daggers in hand, I joined the battle with Fade close behind. As I whirled into the attack, I counted—part of my Huntress nature. Twenty Freaks. We’d once faced almost as many underground, but they had been weak and stupid, plus the shelter offered a certain amount of protection.
We stood back-to-back, blocking and striking in harmony; sometimes it felt like his arms and legs were an extension of me. I could count on him to keep them off me from behind. My daggers became a blur as I cut and thrust, driving the Freaks back. I couldn’t spare any focus to see how Tegan and Pearl fared. I didn’t use any of my flashier moves—no kicks or spins. My goal was to protect Fade’s back. I heard Silk telling me relentlessly, Take them down. Simple and clean is best. Don’t waste energy.
Now that he wasn’t trying to kill me, I admired Stalker’s style. He was incredibly fast, using two small blades strapped to the backs of his hands. Slash, slash, slash. Fighting him, you wouldn’t die of one great wound, but instead bleed out slowly, surprised to find yourself weak and dying after a thousand cuts.
The Freaks dropped back after the first wave fell. They studied us with their red eyes, as if assessing for weakness. Beneath my feet, the floor flowed with blood. We’d lost three of Stalker’s Wolves, and I didn’t see Pearl anywhere. Tegan was hiding—smart girl. This wasn’t like knocking cubs unconscious.
“What are those things?” Stalker asked.
That answered my question as to whether they’d seen them before. “We called them Freaks underground. I’ve also heard them called Eaters. I don’t know what they are. I do know they’re hungry.”
His pale eyes widened as the Freaks decided to make another run at us. But he had no chance to ask further questions as the fight began anew. We’d taken ten of their number at a cost of three. The Freaks seemed to think math favored them—those who survived would feast on the dead—and I wasn’t sure they were wrong about the odds.
But Stalker and his sole remaining Wolf went back-to-back like Fade and me. They didn’t have our rapport or our rhythm, but they made up for it in desperation and ferocity. I slashed open a Freak’s jugular and blocked with my left hand. But I was slow. It sank its teeth into my arm. I screamed and slammed a dagger into its eye. The pop and squelch turned my stomach every bit as much as the smell.
And Fade went feral. He broke formation, fighting as he’d done in the tournament; it seemed so long ago now. His hands and feet were a blur as he demolished the one trying to eat me. When all enemies stilled, red spattered him from head to toe and he was shaking.
The last Wolf had taken grievous wounds. He bled from four different bites and had a painful claw wound across his chest. I couldn’t tell if Stalker was hurt. Like Fade, he had too much blood on him for me to be sure if any belonged to him. He stared at me with his odd, light eyes, wearing an unreadable expression.
So help me, I thought, if he tries to fight us now …
“Are there more of those?”
“A lot more,” I said. “Underground. I guess they found a way out.”
Part of me feared they’d broken through to the Burrowers and discovered those subtunnels with the holes that led up the surface. Jengu might be dead, and there was nothing I could do about it. The whole enclave might be dead by now. I feared for Stone and Thimble; maybe the underground tribes were no more. Quickly I put those worries aside.
“We need to move,” Fade said. “If I know anything about those things, there will be more. They’ll smell the blood and come, looking to eat.”