The Raising (The Torch Keeper Book 3)

  Cole’s clinging to me, restless, his eyelids fluttering, battling his own demons.

  Holding him tight, I bury my face in his hair, sobbing. “You’re okay, little brother. You’re okay.”

  I rock him gently, until he relaxes, before tucking him back into his sleeping bag, like I used to before our lives were torn apart. I give him a kiss on the forehead, wiping away a shiny tear that plops above his brow.

  Digory’s sitting up. Even in the darkness, I can see his body trembling all over. He’s in the throes of a massive seizure.

  I crawl over to him, gripping his arm. “Digory. What’s wrong?”

  He stares at me, shaking his head. “It is all our…Digory’s fault,” he whispers. “They are dead because of him.” He repeats this over and over again.

  Grabbing his shoulders, I stare right into his eyes, which are glazed and bloodshot. “It was just a bad dream. Your Hive is okay.”

  Digory pulls away from me. “Not the Hive. That…family. The Tychos. Digory’s parents. Our—his brother and sister. They are all dead because of us. Because he betrayed them.”

  He repeats the phrase, over and over.

  He betrayed them.

  This is the most helpless I’ve seen Digory since he returned to my life.

  He tries to take my hand but he seems to have lost control of his motor skills. I grip him, holding him steady.

  Not knowing what to say.

  Instead, I just wrap my arms around him, holding him tightly against me.

  We cling to each other like that until dawn, staring at the night sky.

  But unlike long ago, this time the stars bring no comfort.

  TWENTY

  As the first rays of sunlight paint over the canvas of night, I stretch my body. It’s stiff from Digory’s weight and lying in the same position for so long. But every throb of my muscles and creak in my joints is worth the chance to spend one last night in close proximity to the people I care most about in this world. Once we enter that installation, there’s no telling how much of me there’ll be left.

  It’s getting harder and harder to keep Queran Embers at bay. He may just end up peeling away the rest of my skin—the rest of me—and discarding it, slinking free of my remains once and for all.

  The image sends a bitter chill through me. I exhale a puff of frosty breath and disentangle myself from Digory, kneading the pins and needles from my still sleeping limbs. Even in the infant morning, he looks strikingly paler than before, the veins contrasted against his stark skin, most noticeable around his neck and temples. Dark circles cup his eyes, which stare at me, glazed and unblinking.

  “You don’t look so good.” I reach out to touch his forehead and flinch. “You’re burning up.”

  “It is nothing.” He pulls away and springs to his feet in a lithe move. For just a moment, pain flashes across his face then vanishes. “Regeneration is taking just a little longer than usual, that is all.”

  “I don’t think—”

  “That is all. We had better get a move on. The day is wasting.”

  Without making eye contact, he busies himself with packing up the gear.

  Hopefully, this place has some kind of med facility with something to bring down that fever. Not that I’d know what to give someone that’s been altered like Digory has. But if he’s right and Nexus Prime is where they developed the tech that transformed him—

  He’s right.

  That thought. So confident. And so alien. My skin breaks out in bumps. It’s like being infected with a parasite, burrowing its way through my veins, tunneling into my brain.

  I steady myself against a boulder and wipe the sweat from my forehead, waiting for the wave of head pain and nausea to slowly subside.

  You haven’t won yet, Queran. There’s still enough Lucian Spark in here to kick your ass.

  Taking a deep breath, I hobble over to Cole, who’s already rolled up his sleeping bag.

  “How’d you sleep?” I ask.

  His puffy eyes say it all. He shrugs.

  “How bad were the dreams?”

  Cole turns to the rising sun. “Bad.” He looks my way. “Not as bad as yours, I think.”

  My muscles tense. I know Cole was there when Cassius told me who I really was, but considering his state, I’ve been hoping he was too brainwashed to process it. Denial can be very comforting at times. “What did you hear?”

  He shakes his head. “He’s getting stronger, isn’t he?”

  I can’t hold his gaze. He knows. Of course he knows. I hunch down and grip his shoulders. “Yep.”

  I’m surprised when he pounds my chest with both his fists. Tears streak down his angry eyes. “And if he beats you, you’re going to leave again. And then you’ll never, ever come back.”

  Taking hold of his hands, I grasp them until the fury subsides. “We’re going to leave here soon. And then things will get better.”

  Yet somehow, they always seem to get worse.

  I stop myself from promising him anything. I’ve already broken too many, and he’d never believe me anyway.

  I wouldn’t either.

  He shoves the electrolantern back in its case. “And then what? Go home? What is that now?”

  “I honestly don’t know, Cole.”

  He stares at me for a moment, eyes like glass.

  “Thanks.”

  My brows arch. “For what?”

  “For telling the truth.”

  “Come on,” Digory calls.

  We follow him through the craggy pathway winding up the peak, the three of us traveling in silence for hours until we reach a crevice in the mountain with a pathway cut into it. Cole pulls out the lantern and hands it to me, while Digory patches into one of the flashlight tools from the Flesher waist belt he retained from his Haven disguise.

  Trudging the rest of the way, it’s clear this isn’t a natural tunnel, based on the nuts and bolts and steel reinforcements fused with the rock formations.

  “It certainly looks like you know where you are going,” Digory says to me. At least he doesn’t sound upset anymore.

  “I think I’ve been here before.” I’m stepping faster now. Cole and Digory rush to keep up, just as fragments of memory plow through me like a raging river.

  —breached our defenses, Sir.” The Aide’s voice is tremulous with panic.

  My strides are fast and long. The body guards and members of the cabinet struggle to keep up with me. You can smell the fear seeping through their pores. Even in the ventilated tunnel pumping fresh oxygen through the ducts, it is still hard to breath. But even as my lungs burn from the effects of the fires outside, both from man-made war and nature’s own climate rebellion, a surge of anger and excitement fills me with adrenaline and satisfaction.

  I lean in close to one of the generals. “I would have liked a little more time but you know what we have to do.”

  “With all due respect, Sir,” the Aide says from behind me, “we have to surrender. It’s a perfectly viable option. Otherwise there’ll be nothing left to govern.”

  He points to the body sealed inside the cryogenic tube hovering in the air between us. “I don’t see why we’re wasting valuable life support resources on someone that’s beyond assistance and ignoring the millions of lives out there. You have to open the doors.”

  The words freeze me in my tracks as effectively as if I’d been stabbed. And in this case, particularly sickening, coming from someone from my supposedly trusted staff.

  I grab the general’s sidearm and turn to face the Aide, barely able to look him in the eye without disgust. “What you’re proposing is treason. And you know how traitors are dealt with.”

  I turned back to the general. “You know what to do. Give the order.”

  My eyes study the interior of the stasis tube, and the charred mangled body within. The body of the man I loved, despite the fury of betrayal blazing inside of me.

  Maybe there are benefits to be reaped from this tragedy after all.

  My ha
nd touches the cold glass, staring at the letters etched into its surface.

  Case 1-Unit: Sowing

  I look up. All my rage is directed at the Aide. My finger squeezes the trigger like a vise, spattering his brains on the cryotube’s glass like gruesome rain—

  A piercing blast shakes me back to my new life.

  The memory of that all too familiar face sinks into the quicksand of my mind before I can retain it.

  The tunnel dead-ends at a steel door.

  Digory sidles up to me. “What is it?” In the metallic door’s reflection, his distorted image looks more like a machine, while my likeness is a twisted, two-headed freak show.

  “Through there,” I say.

  Touching the door’s cold, smooth surface, I feel for some groove, a latch, some way to open it, but find nothing.

  I slam my palm against it. “We’re so close.”

  Digory approaches the door frame, digging his pale fingers into the rocky earth surrounding it. “Let us try.”

  He freezes in place. His eyes roll back into his head. Even though I’ve seen him in similar UltraImposer hibernation states before, it still tears me up inside, emphasizing all the suffering he’s endured, much of which I’m responsible for.

  His eyes flutter and he rips his hand free, dark blood oozing from his fingertips.

  There’s a flash of light and a low vibration. A stone panel slides out of place, revealing an oval, hand-sized screen.

  “What’s that?” Cole pushes forward and reaches for it.

  Dread oozes from the pit of my stomach. “No, Cole! Wait—!”

  Before I can stop him, his fingers graze the screen.

  It erupts into bright red. An alarm pierces the tunnel. Strobe lights emerge from the ceiling, bathing the scene in a series of nightmarish fragments.

  Warning! A voice blares from hidden speakers. Unauthorized thermal scan detected. Intruders will be eradicated unless proper authorization code is entered in T-Minus three minutes.

  Another steel door slams down from the ceiling. Cole pulls me toward him and out of the way just as it seals behind us, cutting off any chance of retreat back outside the mountain.

  Cole backs up into the corner. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

  “It’s okay, Buddy. I know.” My eyes shoot to Digory. “Any chance of you plugging back in and overriding the system?”

  “Negative. As soon as it detected our system hack it triggered a virus alert and shut us out.” His body’s trembling and his breathing’s completely out of whack. He pitches forward. I spring and catch him before he can hit the ground.

  “Sorry we failed you,” he groans.

  I hold him upright and let him regain his balance. “It’s okay. None of this is your fault.”

  When his eyes connect with mine, I can’t help but feel that neither of us is really talking about his aborted attempt to infiltrate Nexus Prime’s systems.

  Two minutes, the computerized voice warns again. Preparing to engage zero gravity contingency protocol.

  My eyes bounce between Cole and Digory. “Everyone grab on to something now.”

  The warning’s barely out of my mouth when all of a sudden everything not bolted down, including us, rises into the air.

  I miss grabbing the nearby railing, cursing under my breath while continuing to glide upward toward the darkness.

  But my ascension’s cut short. Cole’s grabbed my right hand. Digory has Cole’s other hand and has anchored himself to a support strut, the three of us forming a tenuous, floating chain.

  My eyes dart around the chamber. “I’m surprised we can still breathe.”

  I begin to drift and Cole tugs me back. “As long as there’s air we can breathe, even if gravity’s gone.”

  “Which means this sealed chamber must be generating an artificial atmosphere to keep the oxygen from escaping,” Digory chimes in.

  I shake my head. “I don’t get it. Why not just kill us?”

  All around us, panels in the rocky wall open. Shiny steel nozzles erupt, their tips like ominous black eyes.

  “I had to ask,” I mutter.

  Incinerators activated, the emotionless computer voice intones.

  A blue glow appears on the tip of each nozzle, like pilot lights on a gas oven. Except these all detach from their hosts, floating silently through the chamber, celestial bubbles, getting closer with each breath.

  Growing larger by the second.

  Despite my fear, I stare at the globes, mesmerized by the beauty masking their deadliness. “So that’s what fire looks like in zero gravity.”

  “Yes,” Digory answers. “Normal fires force hot air to rise. Since there is no buoyancy or convection in zero gravity, the carbon dioxide waste surrounding the burning flames remains stagnant and cuts off the oxygen feeding the fire.”

  Cole nods. “That’s why those globes keep getting bigger. The fire’s searching for oxygen particles—”

  “And the only thing between these fireballs and that oxygen is us,” I finish. “Talk about your slow burn.”

  The lethal spheres close in all around us, like the jelly-like Medusozoa of the ocean’s depths.

  I catch sight of the blinking thermal panel by the door below me. So close, but impossible to reach. “I don’t know what else to do.”

  “You don’t. But he does,” Cole says.

  Digory and I exchange glances. My eyes meet Cole’s. “If I go there again, I’m afraid I’ll get lost and not be able to come back to you.”

  He squeezes my fingers. “You always show up, even if you’re late. Besides, I’ll be right here, waiting, like I always do.”

  My jaw clenches and I nod. “Digory. Try and pull us toward you. I have an idea.”

  Digory’s arm muscles tense with the effort. Carefully, he draws Cole to him. A couple of times, we have to duck to avoid the hovering globes.

  In seconds, the three of us are huddled together, holding on to the pillar. The spheres have all merged into a large mass on a direct collision course with our bodies.

  Sixty seconds to input the authorization code, the computer announces.

  Using our belts, we anchor ourselves to each other by the waist.

  Digory braces against the wall.

  I press my back against Digory’s chest, holding on tightly to Cole, who’s pressed against me in a similar fashion. “When I give the signal, kick us off as hard as you can toward the thermal panel on the door. It needs to be hard enough so the momentum will carry us across.”

  Digory nods against my neck, just as the giant sphere moves in.

  “Now!” I shout.

  My body’s propelled forward. I spin and twist, narrowly avoiding the fireball. We sail past it, but I lose my grip on Cole.

  “I got you.” I reach flailing fingers toward him—

  And he floats out of my grasp.

  “Lucky!” The terror in his voice is like a livewire to my veins.

  At the last second, his body snaps back where he’s tethered to my waist.

  But I can feel the belt giving way.

  I slam against the exit door, my fingers dragging across the panel toward infinity—

  Digory’s body slams into mine, knocking me into the panel before I can float away.

  Thirty seconds to input authorization code, the computer warns. Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight. Twenty-seven.

  I slam my hand on the thermal screen. It flashes from red to green.

  Thermal scan complete and confirmed, the computer voice announces. Please enter security passcode.

  Cole’s screaming. The tether joining us together begins to slide through my belt loop.

  I squeeze my eyes tight to cut off the thought and concentrate as hard as I can on the past.

  On his past.

  It feels like my skull’s being crushed. I reach into the bowels of my mind.

  Pain wracks my body. My father—my other father— slammed a book down on my hand once, breaking my fingers—

  Daddy’s hom
e from the factory. I run to him and he scoops me in his arms, twirling me around. I giggle and tell him to go faster—

  I have two fathers. But only one of them loves me.

  Ten seconds…, that cold voice drones from a million miles away…

  —The young man looks deep into my eyes, caressing my face with warm fingers. “I love you so much, Queran,” he whispers. “I don’t care what our parents, or anyone else, says.”

  “Don’t worry. No one will ever separate us. I promise.”

  Our lips press together, still sweet and succulent from—

  The belt around my waist rips free. A child shrieks.

  My mind tears away from the memory of that haunting kiss. My eyes spring open and my fingers fly over the keyboard, typing one word.

  Manzana.

  Identification verified, the computerized voice announces. The door slides open with a loud vacuum hiss.

  I catch a glimpse of Digory grabbing Cole by the ankle. Then gravity kicks back in and the three of us tumble through the open door. There’s a blast of searing heat as the massive fireball erupts just behind us—

  The door slams shut again, sealing the fire out.

  Both the alarms and strobe lights cut off.

  I roll over and crawl to Cole. “Are you okay?”

  He nods.

  “Looks like I owe you yet again,” I say to Digory.

  “Lucian, what about you? Are you hurt?” Digory’s voice sounds muffled to my addled brain, like it’s coming from behind yet another steel door.

  I turn to him but my balance is off. He stops me from toppling over, resting me on the ground.

  “I’m…okay.”

  But it feels like my head’s been cleaved in half. I rub my face until the sharp pain eases into a dull throb. When the nausea subsides, I open my eyes again, noticing the bright blood spattered on my hands.

  Cole digs into his pack and pulls out a rumpled shirt. “Take this.”

  I dab at my nose, and he takes over, dabbing the blood from my face and wiping where it’s trickled onto my suit.

  I ruffle his hair. He doesn’t try and stop me this time. Baby steps. “Looks like you’re going to have to watch over both of us now.”

  “Guess so.” He continues to dab at the blood without making eye contact. “It was worse this time.”