FAR BENEATH THEM, the sound of drums beat on. “From where the road intersects the march, three more stops remain before you reach the City of Reckoning.” Pindle circled lower. “I have flown above the palace. I have seen Vaepor’s hosts. Unless the people remember, unless they unite against the enemy, there is no hope — Old Retinya’s final battle will be magnificent, but very short. Nick, I do not know you as I know Chloe, but I believe in you.”
Nick grimaced. Pindle swept down, dropped them among a thick crowd, and was gone.
Pilgrims’ steady footsteps parted around them.
“What in the world is this?” Nick cried.
“Why are you staring about, children?” A woman leaned over and smiled at Chloe’s scar. She turned her head and proudly revealed hers. “Just a few more days and all bad thoughts and dreams will again be gone.”
Nick’s eyes widened. “What is she talking about? Whatever it is sounds good to me.”
“Get up.” Chloe hauled him to his feet and Nob fell in behind. “I’ll catch you up to speed.”
Drums pounded on, and the next three days blurred together. The carnival atmosphere that had surrounded the beginning of the Pilgrimage had vanished. Balloons and vendors’ booths no longer lined the path, and pilgrims chose somber words over song and dance.
Older faces most clearly showed the unease. Their faces showed they’d been on this road many times before, and even though most couldn’t remember the terror that waited in the pool, somewhere deep inside there must have been a glimmer of recollection, untouched by the waters.
Children seemed to sense the worry and no longer ran or played. They were tired, their voices filled with whines and complaints.
The quiet time gave Nick and Chloe a chance to swap stories, an exchange they made in hushed tones, and only during daylight when noise masked their words.
“I was such an idiot,” Nick said. “I should never have set off on my own. I should have known. When they put me on the river dwarfs’ ship, I still had no clue.”
Chloe squeezed his arm. “How did you end up there?”
“I’m not sure. Things were going so well. I’d wake up each morning and walk around my private grounds. Everything was beautiful. My garden, the palace walls rising in the distance, the sea … Dari said it was the most beautiful place in Retinya.”
“Dari?” Chloe asked.
“Yeah, he was kind of my personal servant. Vaepor wanted him to make me comfortable. We spent all our time together.”
Chloe frowned. “From what I’ve seen, Vaepor’s not usually too interested in showing hospitality.”
“I agree it was odd.” Nick shrugged. “Dari spent most of his time watching me. I’d almost say imitating. It got to be uncomfortable sometimes. He asked more and more questions, mostly about our world. And the more questions he asked, the more curious he became. He asked about Mom and Dad and what it feels like to be blind. He asked about school and you and how I got here, and then it happened.”
Chloe peeked at Nob. He was doing a terrible job of eavesdropping.
“Dari showed up one morning and he was me — looks, voice, everything — except he was blind. It was scary, Chloe. Next thing I knew, the bleeding dragon flew me to a port, a group of river dwarfs took me aboard their ship, and you plucked me out of the water. Good thing too. They said they were going to offer me to him in exchange for safe passage.”
“Wait.” Nob placed his hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Vaepor has a copy of you inside and out?”
Nick winced.
Chloe stared back at Nob. “It’s bizarre, but is that a problem?”
“Many still carry a faint memory of Secholit. They remember he was blind. They won’t follow anyone but Secholit.” Nob’s eyes grew, and Chloe took over.
“So to bring all of Retinya under Its control, Vaepor would need a mouthpiece that pleased the eye to draw the young ones, and also was backed by all Its power to entice the dark things in your land. But the mouthpiece would need to act blind in order to win the allegiance of those who remembered Blind Secholit. The one who taught Dari would need to know what blind looked like, felt like, acted like.” Chloe slapped her forehead. “And he’d need to be from a different world, where Vaepor isn’t feared. No wonder It used you!”
“Vaepor couldn’t know if Nick would remain loyal, so he made a perfect copy, one that would forever be true to him.” Nob pushed his hand through his hair. “Who would speak his words and convince all of Retinya that he is Blind Secholit returned.” Nob squeezed Nick’s shoulder. “You were no longer needed, friend. You were to die in the bay.” He quieted. “Instead, I lost —”
“Nob,” Chloe said. “There’s something about that day I need to tell you —”
Chloe crashed into the woman in front of her.
“Watch your step, girl.”
“We’ve arrived,” whispered Nob. “The City of Reckoning.”
The city was not nearly as large as Medahon or Shadowton. In fact, it hardly resembled a city. “Maybe a prison,” Chloe would later say. “Something from the movie Escape from Alcatraz.” A series of watchtower rooms sat upon its towering gray walls, and shadows moved back and forth within them.
“There’s only one gate in and one gate out. Then it’s north to the pool. For ill or gain, our adventure is almost over,” Nob whispered.
“Why do we need to march through a city?” asked Nick. “What good does that do?”
Nob glanced around and leaned over. “The pool. It’s Vaepor’s prize. Think of the city as a maze, a series of roads all leading to the same point. The city controls the flow of people to the pool. Well, that’s what I’ve heard from Scout.” He dropped his gaze. “I don’t know. I’ve never been this far. I never thought I’d be here. Oh, Secholit, what have you done to me? I’m just a ferryman.”
“No.” Chloe kissed Nob on the cheek. “Much more than a ferryman. You’re my guide.”
“Still, Scout would know what to do,” Nob muttered and pushed ahead.
“Hey, Chloe,” Nick said in a soft voice, and grabbed her shoulder. “If there really is a pool, and this pool lets you forget all your pains, why wouldn’t we? I mean, why not go in?”
Nick said it aloud — the thought Chloe’d been pushing down since she first heard of the pool from the elf chieftain. But the harder she pushed, the idea, like a submerged beach ball, popped up at the strangest times and floated in front of her, all colorful and desirable. Why not forget the horrible times? Why not be free of the shadows that haunt me?
There’d be no more name calling, no more mocking. Not everyone was like Nob or Qujan or Grandpa. Every time her dad had looked the other way, every time he had ignored her — it all could be washed away. She could look at her dad without the memories.
What could be wrong with that?
She nodded. “There’s so much I want to wipe away. But look at these people. Do you want to be like them? Do you really want to forget everything? I watched Secholit bury someone’s pain, without stealing all that was good. That must be the harder, better way, I guess. But I hear you, Nick. Something in me wants it too. I want it so badly —”
“Closer! Press in, varmints! Adults to the left, children to the right. Surrender your infants to the carriers!”
Chloe looked up and shook her head. A giant three stories tall stood atop the city wall, straddling the front gate through which the crowd squeezed.
“The Crier.” Nob closed his eyes. “No turning back now.”
“Why separate families?” Chloe frowned.
Nob looked at Chloe and gestured with his hand. “Haven’t you put it together, lady? Do you think these are families? They’ve forgotten everything. That includes who belongs to whom.”
Nick gulped. “So each year families are … recreated?”
“Faster now.” The giant leaned so far over, Chloe smelled his breath. “Through the streets, report to an open inquisitor. Step lively. We’ve many to serve today.”
A wave of
people pressed Chloe forward, and past Nob’s outstretched fingers. She lunged for Nick, caught his arm, and hung on.
“Stay together!” Nob yelled from behind. “Don’t lose each other. I’ll find —”
“Nob!” I never told you about Scout!
His face disappeared in the sea of pilgrims.
“Looks like we’re back on our own.” Nick swallowed hard. “Chloe, I don’t want to remember what sick was like, or what blind was like. I wouldn’t stay in long.”
Chloe reached her hand behind his neck. “How would you know when to come out?”
They reached the gate. It was a sad scene, like the good-bye from D-Day Farewell. People wailed. Women wept and handed over their infants; husbands surrendered their wives. Brothers and sisters huddled together. But this scene wasn’t in a British railway station — instead it played out beneath a counting, snarling giant.
“Fifty. That’s enough for this group.” The Crier leaned over and slapped Chloe’s back, sending her tumbling through the gate. She turned. The giant crawled down and blocked the entrance.
Chloe turned to Nick and wiped sweat from her forehead. “I guess I’m number fifty.”
They funneled forward onto a thin street, lined with crumbling gray buildings, each one identical to the one beside it. Chloe’d never seen such a depressing city, nor had she ever felt so watched. Eyes peered out from each window, and Chloe quickly placed her gaze back on the road.
Escorts.
Their path wound like a snake, and Chloe quickly lost all sense of direction.
“What are we doing again?” a girl whispered.
“I don’t even know where we’re going,” another hissed.
“No.” From the front of the pack, a boy of twelve shook his head and stopped. “No. I’m not going. My year was just fine, thank you very much.” He whipped around. “If you jump in that pool, you’ll forget your name! Did your parents tell you that?”
There was silence.
“Think of your friends. You won’t remember them. They won’t remember you. This little group right here, this is all we have. We’re it.” He looked left and right like a scared rabbit. “We turn, hide in one of these buildings, and wait for nightfall. Who’s with me?”
Nobody flinched, and then from the back, a boy’s hand slowly appeared above the group. And then another hand, followed by two more, until there were twenty kids in all. They hugged friends and relatives and pushed back through the small crowd, disappearing around a curve. Chloe stood and waited with the rest, her palms slick. Anxious glances spread through the group, and for a moment Chloe thought all of them would turn and race back out.
Then, from around the corner, a kid screamed. Just once, the brave boy screamed. And all was silent.
Chloe, Nick, and the rest quickly began to move again. Soon the street forked and forked again. At each split, arguments erupted. Half the kids went left and half the kids went right, and after countless twists and turns only Nick, Chloe, and a handful of girls remained. Three small kids huddled together, watched over by an older girl who looked to be around eight.
“From above, this city must look like it’s covered with spaghetti,” Nick said.
Chloe nodded and moved toward her youngest traveling companions. “What are your names?”
“I’m Gina, and this is Leesa and Falia. They’re my sisters.”
“Are you triplets?”
Gina shook her head, and Chloe saw the beginning of a mark on her neck.
“Do you remember any of it?” she asked. “Do you know what happens next?”
“I remember.” The older child spoke so quietly, Chloe barely heard it. “I remember it all.”
“How?” Chloe glanced around. She repeated the question, this time in a whisper.
The girl puffed out air. “I’m Mara. We will meet the Inquisitor, who will let us pass to the pool. I don’t swim, so when I step in the water, I stay in the shallows. They always yell at me, ‘Your head, you must dunk the head.’ I finally bob under and when I do I hear a voice. Does that sound crazy?”
“Go on.” Chloe said.
“The voice always says, ‘You have no reason to be here. Stand up, child.’”
I wouldn’t hear that. I have a life full of reasons.
“I’m not saying things are good, I think I just empty out on the way. My dad taught me how.” It was her turn to whisper. “Have you ever heard of Secholit?”
“Once or twice.” Chloe grinned.
“Dad says that’s who I hear in the pool. My dad tells me stories of long ago when people remembered. Then I get out and go my way. See? Eight times in” — she craned her neck — “and not a mark.”
“But what if a kid went through stuff and did things they didn’t want to think about?” Nick asked.
Mara shrugged. “There’s a different way —”
“You have no idea what some people live with!” Nick yelled. “You don’t know what it’s like to be in a hospital and be told you’re going to die within a year and that you’ll never see again. You don’t know what it’s like to be alone, in the dark. And the seeing darkness isn’t as bad as the inside darkness, because all you want is one friend!”
Nick crumpled into a heap on the street, sobs shaking his body. Mara cried too.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Chloe bent down, sat beside Nick, and wrapped him in her arms. “I could have been so much nicer to you back home. I never knew all that, but it shouldn’t have mattered and —”
“Move, children.” A cold wind blew from behind, but Chloe saw nothing.
“My friend is hurting!” she yelled. “We’ll move when we’re ready!”
“Move, children.” The voice was louder.
Nick wiped away his tears, glanced back, and jumped up.
“Run!”
He grabbed Chloe’s and Mara’s hands and herded the little children forward.
“Nick, there’s nothing there,” Chloe sputtered.
“Winged snakes don’t bother you a little?”
The young ones screamed. “It’s all right,” Chloe said. “It must not be a very big one if we can’t see it.”
Nick grabbed her ear and yanked it toward his mouth. “It fills up the entire street! It must’ve been following us the whole time.”
Then she heard it — a long, low hiss. A few yards back, stones scraped off the wall and tumbled to the ground.
“Okay, now run!” Chloe yelled, and Nick took off.
Chloe stayed behind the others, urging them on until her legs burned and the strange chill no longer worked her spine. She slowed and took in deep breaths while she turned a corner. They’d reached the end of the road. She approached the others standing clumped near the wall of a dead-end alley. A small door was set into the brick, with Nick slumped against it.
The gray around them felt so heavy, Chloe could hardly move. She stared at Nick. He looked so frail. Mom was right; he’d been through a lot, much more than she could imagine.
“Accident.” Chloe said, and plunked down beside him.
“What are you talking about?”
“You asked me about my nickname when we were on the bus the first day of school. One of my dad’s inventions snapped, chains flew across my face. I was eleven. I’ve been scarred ever since.”
Nick grimaced and rubbed his head. “The kids were really harsh. I was really harsh. But now …” Nick stared at her. “But when I see you, I don’t even see the scar. Honest.”
Chloe nodded and playfully slapped his arm. “Then you are still blind.”
“We need to go through,” Mara said. “Shield your eyes, because it gets brighter through the door.”
Nick scooted to the side and Mara pushed until hinges creaked and light surrounded everything. They all fumbled for each other’s hands and stepped out of the alley. The door promptly swung shut behind them.
Chloe spun around. There was no sign of the door or the city. They st
ood in a glade of tall grass dotted with wild flowers, and directly in front of them sat a dark silhouette bent over a desk. It beckoned them to step nearer.
“Far enough.” It spoke with a voice that made Chloe want to clear her throat.
“Names, all of you.”
Mara stepped forward. “Mara.”
The man Chloe assumed must be the Inquisitor picked up a large pen then set it down. “You are a confident child.”
“I am answering your question.”
“Come close, Mara.”
“Don’t!” Nick hissed. “There’s nobody at the desk!”
“What?” Chloe asked. “I see him.”
“They’re all around us, these shadows. It’s like she has an escort. She’s surrounded by them, and they’re looking at her neck.”
“You’ve not been to the pool before,” the illusion behind the desk said in a grave voice.
“I have, it just didn’t take. Now let me pass.”
Chloe hung her head. She’d just met the bravest girl she’d probably ever know.
Mara didn’t wait for a response, but walked past the desk and disappeared into a brilliant light.
The three younger kids broke free and ran. “Mara! Wait for us.” They too disappeared into radiance.
“Convenient.” The Inquisitor scribbled and looked up. He pushed back from his desk and stared at Nick.
“Foolish Senseri. The word was sent out long ago. We need no more imitations of that boy. We found Nick weeks ago. Dari’s transformation is complete and Nick’s been disposed of. You can return to the streets.”
“Go with it,” Chloe whispered.
“But I want to forget. Even an imitation can want that.”
The Inquisitor shook his head and waved Nick forward, and then turned his gaze toward Chloe.
“Name.”
“Chloe Lundeen, son of Ray Lundeen, the famous inventor.”
“Come close, child.”
Nick was right. She felt cold breath on her neck as she walked.
“I see you’ve been here before. You may pass.”
Chloe nodded and walked into the light.
Chloe heard a crunch. The gravel road on which she walked was just like the roads back home. She relaxed and kicked a rock, and a smile tugged at her mouth. But something was missing. She jogged and joined the crowd moving ahead silently.