Fif15teen

  Chapter 19

  Law 33

  Kill Often

  They sat in stunned silence for an eternity of endless seconds. Akeem shook his head in disbelief. Thaniel knows the way out? Why would he keep that a secret, and why hadn’t he left years ago? Akeem’s mind reeled. A dozen questions nagged at him, but he could find no sensible answers.

  Gideon flipped from being his normal belligerent self one minute to a babbling idiot who thought everyone’s name was Larry the next. Doc and Akeem eyed each other without saying a single word. Akeem needed to know more but caution was crucial. He was sure that Gideon would never tell Thaniel’s secrets if he didn’t have a crack in his head. If in a moment of clarity Gideon realized what he had revealed, he would feed them their own tongues to guarantee their silence. Akeem decided that his tongue was worth the risk.

  “Gideon, how long have you been here?” Akeem asked casually. Gideon swayed thoughtfully for a long while.

  “No bloody idea, forever it seems. We moved to London in ’49. It was just after World War II. I was three, maybe four,” he said scratching his temple.

  “1949?” Akeem asked in awe.

  “Aye.”

  “How did you get here, Gideon? How did you get to Fifteen?” Akeem’s curiosity was piqued.

  “You know bloomin’ well ’ow I got here, Larry; I’ve said it a million times,” Gideon slurred.

  “I know, but tell me again,” Akeem coaxed, raising his eyebrows at Doc, who sat huddled against the wall biting his nails to the nubs. Gideon stilled and closed his eyes as if replaying the events like a movie in his mind.

  “It was me fifteenth birthday, and I was stuck at school. It’s complete bullocks going to school on your birthday. It was me last class before going ’ome when I seen the bleedin’ golden box on the professor’s desk. Don’t know where it came from, but I wanted it. When class ended, I nicked it. It decided to open the moment I stepped into the flat. Lit me schoolbag up like a roman candle. Nearly sent Mum to her death, had her bawling about ghosts and witchcraft. Told her it was a flashlight gone wonky to calm her down. As soon as I was alone, right, I reached into the bloody bag, and the next thing I knew I was in the corn.” He sighed.

  “Happy Birthday,” Akeem said dryly, and Gideon barked a laugh at the irony.

  He sniffed. “I had a sister once; her name was Nanette. She called me Gee Gee.” His eyes closed and his head lolled to the side. Akeem and Doc bit back laughter.

  “And then what?” Akeem asked loudly, startling the boy awake.

  Gideon looked around confused. “And then…I was ’ere,” he blinked.

  “Were you the first boy here?” Akeem probed.

  “There were plenty fellas ’ere before me. Thaniel was one of ‘em; no telling how long ’e’s been ’ere, but ’e talks of strange things after ’aving too much bhang. Before I came they hunted down the Dogs like trail game—picked ’em off one by one. They killed every lad but Thaniel. ’E spent years alone in the forest hiding from ’em, setting those godforsaken traps and waiting for new boys to turn up. There was just a handful of Dogs when I arrived. Bad times then.” Gideon yawned; his head nodded again, his eyes closed, and a resounding snore vibrated through his chest.

  “Gideon!” Akeem boomed. “Wake up, man!”

  “Just resting me eyes,” Gideon said, snapping awake.

  “Who’s they?” Doc asked bravely.

  “What are you going on about, you four-eyed toothpick!” Gideon bellowed at Doc, startling the wits out of Akeem.

  “You said they killed every boy but Thaniel. Who were you referring to, jackass?” Doc said sweetly.

  Gideon missed the insult completely and continued as though he never heard Doc’s response. His eyes narrowed and he stared at Doc accusingly. “You hacked on me shoes, you bloomin’ idiot; I smelled like gut juice for weeks!” Gideon’s finger wobbled in Doc’s face.

  “We have all wished to vomit on you at one time or another; I merely fulfilled that dream. It’s been forty years, get over it,” Doc said snidely. Gideon lunged for him but Akeem held him back.

  “Whoa, calm down, buddy! Who killed all the boys? Do you remember?”

  “Course I member, right, I’m not daft ya know,” Gideon muttered. His words were becoming more garbled and his accent heavier than usual. “It were Angels. Why we call ‘em Angels is beyond me. Not like no angels I ever ’eard of.” He pulled Akeem close and whispered in his ear conspiratorially, “That Nishi is worst of all. God don’t want the likes of ’er and the devil’s afraid she might nick ‘is throne so ’e won’t let the witch through the gates of ’ell. Pure evil, that one. And their leader, Pox, loathes Thaniel with an unnatural passion. She’s the one that drove ’im out of Castle ’Aven; she’s the one that searched for ’im for years. I fink ’is def is what she lives for.”

  “Wait, did you say she chased him out of the castle?” Akeem asked bewildered.

  “It was ours, Larry. Thaniel and ’is Dogs lived there afore the first lass ever stepped foot in Fifteen. But they took it from ’im.” Doc and Akeem looked at each other in disbelief. “It was ours first!” Gideon bellowed.

  Akeem couldn’t believe it. Castle Haven was once inhabited by Dogs. The hair stood up on the back of his neck. Did Thaniel somehow tick Pox off by winning some long-ago game of checkers or something? That feeling at the back of his mind itched again; it wiggled and jumped. What was going on in Fifteen, and how did he get caught up in their deadly game? More importantly, who exactly is Thanial? Yipping from below shattered the silence that had fallen between the three boys.

  “Someone calls,” Doc said as he squeezed his way out of the sitting area, ducking through the small arched doorway to the landing. Akeem followed, pulling a stumbling Gideon behind him. Akeem grabbed the loose rope that doubled as a railing and looked down fifty feet at a mop of red curls.

  “What is it, Pudge?” Doc shouted down.

  “They’ve come for her! I couldn’t stop them,” he gasped, clutching his side.

  “Angels!” Akeem shouted as he ran to the nearest ladder.

  “No. It’s Mavin and his crew. They want revenge for Mouse and the others. They’re going to string her up, shoot her full of arrows,” the red-haired boy said between gasps for air. Akeem was on the ground running before the boy had finished speaking.

  “Akeem, wait!” Doc shouted. “Pudge, get up here. Keep an eye on Gideon and do not let him fall asleep. Find MacNab, he’ll help you keep him in line.” Doc grabbed his medicine bag and was on the ground in seconds. Akeem picked a path and ran hard, with Doc close on his heels, their exhausted bodies working on adrenaline alone. He had no idea how he would stop the boys from killing Piper; he just knew he had too. She was his only link to Quinn and after finding out there was an escape from Fifteen, saving Piper became of critical importance. He was getting out. No matter what troubles he might face back home, they would amount to nothing in comparison to the horrors he’d witnessed in the last few weeks. He had to get out, but he wasn’t leaving without Quinn, he couldn’t leave without her and Piper was the only person who could lead him to her.

  His pace quickened and he burst into the pits with a roar on his lips. He skidded to a halt, and Doc slammed into his back. He imagined the girl, beaten, abused, tortured. He expected to see her swinging from a tree with arrows protruding from her lifeless body, but what he found shocked him to the core. Three boys were lying unconscious and bloody. A fourth screamed for help from the bottom of the pit that once held Piper. The girl straddled the fifth boy, his body squished beneath hers, his head dangling precariously over the pit. She was strangling him with her bare hands. He kicked and struggled, gasping for air. She shrieked with fury, her strength far outmatching her stature.

  “Piper, stop!” Akeem hollered. She moved and something shot toward him, but he stepped aside at the last moment. It was as if time slowed to a crawl. He watched in slow motion—eyes wide, pupils dilated—as a blade sailed past him and straight towa
rd Doc.