Fif15teen

  Chapter 27

  Law 40

  There Is No God

  The sounds of clashing swords and painful grunts sounded dangerously close as Akeem and his little band of misfits crawled through the corn. Crawling had worked the first day he came to Fifteen and it worked now. They avoided traps easily enough, but their progress was dangerously slow. The sun was cresting on the horizon, indicating that sunset was merely an hour away.

  “We’re not gonna make it,” Akeem chanted over and over again, a sick, queasy feeling causing his stomach to lurch.

  “We will make it,” Doc hissed.

  “What if she’s not there?”

  “She’ll be there,” Doc said for the thousandth time, but this time Akeem stopped.

  “How do you know she’ll be there?” he asked.

  “Because her being there will make things abundantly harder for everyone,” Doc said.

  “Not for me,” Akeem said and continued forward.

  “I stand corrected,” Doc harrumphed.

  As the blackened limbs of a tree came into view, Akeem sighed in relief. They were almost there. He climbed to his feet and ran. He crashed through the corn and skidded to a halt in the black sand that surrounded the base of the Tree of Laws.

  And there she was. She was talking to a group of girls with her back to him, the rays of the setting sun glistening over her golden brown skin. Her hair was loose and spilled down across her shoulders and down her back in soft waves. She wore a blue tank top, now gray with gore, the back of her shorts streaked with bloody handprints. Her long legs ended with one knee-length boot and one boot cut to the ankle. His heart raced out of control as she turned slowly toward him and their eyes met.

  “Akeem,” her mouth moved but no sound came out. He didn’t think he could live without air but for three entire minutes he did just that. He forgot how to breathe, how to speak, and his mind couldn’t form a single coherent thought. She was there, steps away. He wanted to run to her, sweep her up in his arms, and refuse to let go. He wanted to squeeze her until he was sure she was real, but instead he stood frozen, like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. It wasn’t until he felt dizzy and lightheaded that he finally remembered to breath. He sucked in a ragged breath and tried to steady his quivering hands. He took a shaky step toward her just as she took a step toward him. She came to a startled halt when Doc and the other Dogs stepped through the corn. Weapons of every shape and size materialized as the Angels and Dogs stood on opposite sides of the Tree of Laws prepared to attack.

  “Wait,” Akeem said as Quinn said the exact same thing. The two sides barely held themselves in check as they brimmed with homicidal tension.

  “What are you doing here,” Quinn said coldly, the sharp edge to her words stung Akeem.

  “I,” he stammered but could say no more.

  “Didn’t Piper give you his message, isn’t that why you are here?” Doc asked, stepping up beside Akeem and placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

  “How dare you speak her name, you filthy Dog!” Jara spat and darted forward. Quinn stopped her with an outstretch arm. The girl bristled with fury. She fidgeted and squirmed, unable to hold back her contempt.

  “Be easy, Jara,” Quinn said without taking her eyes from Akeem. Jara stepped back and lowered her weapon slightly but not before she cut Quinn a warning look.

  “I asked her to give you a message for me. I wasn’t sure if she would. I wanted you to meet me here,” Akeem finally managed to say.

  “She never mentioned you,” Quinn said, opening and closing her fists as if trying to decide whether to punch him or hug him.

  “Why would you ask her to deliver a message and then kill her? That doesn’t make any sense,” Chione questioned.

  “Exactly!” Doc replied cynically.

  “He’s a Dog, he’s too stupid to make sense,” Moani countered, spinning a cleaver in her hand.

  “You let that thing fly and you die, Angel!” Growled Chester as he hefted a short spear.

  “Is that a threat, Dog?” Marley snapped.

  “More like a promise.”

  “You have no business here, this is our territory—get the hell out!”

  “Make us,” growled Mavin as he touched his bruised eye.

  “Nice black eye, Dog, where’d you get it?” Jara mocked.

  “I’ll kill you.”

  “You can try.”

  “Bitch,”

  “Pig!”

  “That’s enough,” Akeem said quietly. “I think we’ve all come here for the same reason. We need to work together to find a way out,” he said, taking a step closer to Quinn.

  “Hell no, you killed Piper, why would we help you?”

  “You killed Mouse,” Doc hissed.

  “I did not!”

  “You killed Jonnell and Christie.”

  “I don’t even know who Jonnell and Christie are!”

  “I didn’t kill her!” Akeem shouted, silencing everyone. Dogs behind him gasped in shock, and the Angels looked at each other in confusion. Silence lasted mere seconds before everyone was talking again.

  “You did kill her, I saw you!” Jara shouted.

  Akeem smirked. “Did you really?”

  “You told us you killed her?” Michael said angrily.

  “I told you she was dead, you assumed the rest.”

  “You had Nishi’s bow—,” stated Moani.

  “If you didn’t kill her, who did?” Quinn interrupted, taking a step closer. Her eyes bored into him, looking into his soul, searching for the truth.

  “He’s lying, don’t fall for it, Quinn,” Michelle said, making Doc roll his eyes at her.

  “I never even touched a bow until that day,” he insisted.

  “His arm has barely healed from an arrow wound. Even with training he could not have made that shot,” Doc added.

  “From where he stood, I couldn’t have made that shot and I’m nearly as good as…” Chione began but didn’t finish.

  “Nishi,” Jara finished for her, finally putting the pieces together.

  “You really didn’t do it,” Quinn said, taking another step toward him. Angels and Dogs on both sides shouted in disbelief.

  “So you’re finally getting it, huh?” Akeem smiled. She was so close now that he could see her heart beating in her chest.

  “I can’t believe it,” Jara said as it all began to make sense.

  “Nishi killed her own kind, and you call us pigs. Foxhunt!” Mavin demanded.

  “There will never be one,” Michael sighed angrily.

  “Why not?” Cheyenne whined.

  “Thaniel is too proud to admit that his Dogs didn’t kill one of the most deadly Angels in Castle Haven,” Doc said wearily.

  “And Pox will never believe that her number one killed one of her own. Besides, nobody saw Nishi do it anyway,” Jara said, shaking her head.

  “I saw her do it,” Akeem said without taking his eyes off of Quinn.

  “Your word against hers, it won’t stick,” Doc said.

  “We all saw him with the bow. It looked like a clean kill to me,” Moani said frustrated.

  “I don’t care what anyone thinks, as long as she believes me,” Akeem said, opening his arms to Quinn. She stepped toward him, but before she could wrap her arms around him, the ground began to tremble beneath their feet.

  “What’s happening?” Doc asked, looking around, but all he received were the troubled stares of Angels and Dogs. A maddeningly beautiful sound—like the twittering of a million flutes—broke through the silence. The sky darkened as if all light had been ripped out only to be shoved violently back in a moment later. A blinding pulse of light shocked their senses and sent them toppling to the ground like dominoes. In an instant it was over. Dogs and Angels scrambled to their feet. Swords were raised, bows were nocked with arrows, and numerous weapons appeared where there were none before. They all stared suspiciously at one another, blinking away the spots before their eyes.

 
“What was that?” Akeem huffed as he climbed to his feet, temporarily blinded by the intense light. When his eyes finally returned to focus, he was startled by a girl standing between himself and Quinn. She had materialized so close to him their noses nearly touched. Angels and Dogs alike were rendered speechless by her sudden appearance.

  No one moved, no one breathed, and all eyes were on her. She was tall and exotically beautiful, with her brown hair pulled back into a braided ponytail. She wore a utility belt around her waist and a compound hunting bow with a quiver of razor capped broadhead arrows strapped to her back. She had a hunting knife in a case attached to her right calf and another strapped to her ankle. She wore a tank top, camouflage pants, and combat boots like she had just walked out of a war movie.

  He yelped when she lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and knocking him to the ground. He struggled briefly before being rendered completely confused when he realized the girl was laughing and squeezing the life out of him.

  “Get off him!” Quinn growled. She snatched the girl by the back of her shirt and threw her roughly to the ground. Still laughing, the strange girl rose to her feet, brushed herself off, and came face to face with Quinn. Quinn’s mouth fell open. She swayed on her feet and she blinked hard. Her body began to shake uncontrollably as she turned to Akeem, her eyes wide and color gone from her face.

  Akeem jumped to his feet, looking at the two girls in awe. They were mirror images of each other, the same height, the same build, the same patch of freckles over their perfect noses. He stood there transfixed, unable to move, barely breathing. His knees buckled, threatening to spill him to the ground once again. This is impossible, he thought as he took a closer look. He noted Quinn’s puckered scar that started at her jawbone and crawled its way down her neck. The other girl had a scar too, but it was over her right eye, and it was narrow and white. They could have been the same person if not for those telling marks. His tired mind worked ceaselessly, trying to understand what his eyes were seeing. He shook his head in disbelief. This was impossible? He was bewildered, momentarily thrilled, and then instantly horrified when the realization of who this girl was hit him like a ton of bricks.

  “Aly!” Akeem roared. “Oh God, no!”