The Outerlands (Coalition 2)

  “Shai.” Her softly spoken name startled her. She sat up.

  “Remiel?” she whispered into the silence of the room. She hadn’t heard him speak to her like that in a long time.

  “Yes. I’m here.”

  “You’re here? In Kent? Have you finished your business in…wherever you went? Are you back in Sector Seven? You’ve been gone for weeks.” She reached for her clothes at the end of the bed, suddenly ashamed that she’d been refusing to let Mara launder them with hers and the baby’s.

  “No. I’m not in Kent yet. Soon.” A long pause. She thought he’d gone, but then he spoke again. Stronger this time.

  “I just wanted you to know that I’m always here. To talk to. If you need me.” His voice resonated in her chest, like she’d first heard him back in Lael. It raised the hair on her arms. She loved his voice, but she missed the way he used to appear to her, like a shimmery image. Even though she used to faint from the intensity of it.

  She put her head in her hands and spoke to him inside, like he’d taught her. “I miss him.” She bit the inside of her cheek to keep the tears in check.

  “I know you do, but I need you to focus right now. There’s something I need to tell you. In person.”

  She could picture Remiel’s earnest blue eyes and the jagged scar on the side of his face that turned white whenever he was upset.

  She nodded, then remembered he wasn’t in the room with her. “Okay. When?”

  “Tomorrow night. Wait until you can fully see the moon, then meet me just outside the entrance of Kent.”

  “But I won’t be able to tell when the moon is full unless I’m waiting above ground.”

  She felt him smile.

  “Exactly. Something tells me you’ve been underground for too long.”

  She shrugged but didn’t respond.

  “What are you doing in Kent still?”

  She shook her head. Don’t. Don’t do this now. He was your brother. You should know how paralyzing grief can be.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow night,” she whispered.

  CHAPTER 35

  Shai

  The following night, Shai couldn’t stand one more minute in the tiny room. Mara had worn a groove in the floor from pacing back and forth with the crying baby, and Shai’s head had threatened to explode hours ago.

  She jammed her feet into her boots, made sure the key was still around her neck, and left the room. There was still another hour until she was supposed to meet Remiel, but she headed above ground anyway. Maybe the fresh air would help clear her head.

  The sun was partially obscured by the buildings of Sector Seven and cast long shadows on the ground. None of the buildings were occupied; they were built as a front—a decoy—to keep the true entrance hidden.

  Shai headed over to one of the smaller buildings near the entrance and sat down on the stone steps. She startled a small animal from its hiding spot. It scurried away and Shai laughed when she saw the sector’s symbol painted in garish red on the animal’s furry back. The Kentites were very territorial, marking everything that belonged to them.

  Shai touched her own mark before leaning over and drawing two circles with her finger in the dust. The smaller circle in the middle of the larger circle looked so insignificant.

  Lael.

  She ignored the pang of sadness that came with thinking about the community she used to call home. Sitting here in Sector Seven, surrounded by symbols that she didn’t identify with, her stomach clenched. She didn’t belong. Even though Kent was her birthplace, she’d grown up with the other orphans in Lael. That dreary place was all she had known. And now everything familiar had been rearranged or removed from her life.

  She dissected the larger circle in the dirt with lines until she had a map of the sectors. She remembered when Remiel had explained the sectors to her, using a drawing similar to this.

  “Remiel,” she whispered.

  She glanced up at the sky and realized she must have been sitting there for quite some time. To the east, the sky had deepened to a navy blue while everything in the west was washed in the rosy-gold glow of the setting sun.

  Shai stood and dusted off the seat of her trousers. She stood in the entrance with her hands jammed into her pockets to wait for Remiel.

  “There you are!” A familiar voice behind her brought a smile to her lips. She turned around and threw her arms around Aliah’s best friend Ellersly. He patted her back awkwardly. When she broke away, she saw that his round cheeks had turned crimson. The Laelites who now lived in Kent were just warming up to the idea of affection ever since the poison from the pendants they’d been forced to wear for years had worn off. Their memories had begun to return along with their true eye color. Ellersly’s eyes were a light brown rimmed in a deeper brown. He was probably from one of the lesser-known sectors. She’d never seen brown eyes like his in Kent or Conley.

  Shai spoke first. “I didn’t know you were looking for me.”

  He shrugged off a backpack he’d been carrying and let it drop to the ground. “I wasn’t. I just arrived.” He used his shirt sleeve to wipe his sweaty brow.

  “Is Remiel here too?” Shai looked over her shoulder and scanned the land for signs of him.

  Ellersly frowned. “I didn’t go with Remiel this time. He didn’t tell you what’s going on?”

  “He might have. I don’t remember.” She made a gesture like it didn’t matter, even though she had to concentrate on not biting her lip in anger. Until earlier that day it had been months since she’d heard from Remiel. Not that I tried calling on him, but still, he knows what I’ve been going through.

  “Tell me how you’ve been? How did trading go?”

  Ellersly’s eyes usually lit up when talking about trading. It was his favorite topic. Ever since they’d settled in Kent, he had gone with Remiel to trade Sector Seven’s metal cooking ware for useful items from other sectors. But his light brown eyes didn’t light up this time. They looked clouded with concern.

  He stooped to open the flap of his backpack.

  “Did you go to Lael?”

  Ellersly shook his head and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his bulging backpack.

  “I went to the sectors, not Lael. Here, I…thought you should have this.” He stood and carefully smoothed the paper before handing it to Shai.

  She took it from him. Her breath hitched. It was the paper Aliah had torn from the Book and carried around with him during the last few days of his life. The markings on the page were barely visible in the fading light, but Shai knew by heart what was written on it: a map of the Division and the surnames of the Coalition members: hers, Aliah’s and Remiel’s.

  “Eli and Elyon under one commanding officer, the Son of Thunder,” she whispered. She looked at Ellersly, who stood watching her.

  “You were going to trade it?” She didn’t bother to disguise the pain in her voice.

  “No. I…I didn’t go to the sectors for trading this time.”

  Shai chewed her thumbnail. “Why did you go, then?”

  Ellersly closed his backpack, then slung it over one shoulder. “I think Remiel should tell you.” He flicked his eyes away from Shai and yawned. “Well, I should turn in. It was a long trip this time.” He smiled at her. “Keep the page, Shai. He’d want you to have it.”

  Right after Aliah’s death, Ellersly had tried to give it to her, but she’d refused to keep it. The memories were too much. But now, she wanted—needed—the crumpled piece of paper. It was the one thing that Aliah had treasured.

  “Ell?” Shai called out into the darkness as the young man walked away.

  “Yeah?” He turned around.

  “Are you okay? You seem…scared. You’re never scared.” He’d become a good friend to her since Aliah’s death and Remiel’s absence.

  She heard Ellersly clear his throat followed by a short pause. When he spoke, his voice sounded strained. “Sometimes I am. When there’s reason to be.”

  “Good night, E
ll.” She held the page close to her chest and leaned against the stone entrance.

  She looked out into the moonlit landscape that lay beyond Kent. A lean figure cloaked in shadows walked toward her.

  The mark on her chest warmed. Shai always felt his arrival long before he appeared; this time, though, Remiel had managed to surprise her.

  His white teeth flashed in the semidarkness when he smiled and lifted his hand in a wave. It was all she could do to keep from running to him and flinging her arms around his neck. Only the ever-present bottomless pit of grief prevented her joy over seeing Remiel.

  She tucked the page into her pocket, then linked her arm through Remiel’s as they walked through Kent’s entrance. Remiel’s breaths came quick, like he’d been running, and his shirt sleeve felt damp beneath her hand.

  “Did you miss me?” She smiled up at him and was rewarded with another one of Remiel’s quick grins.

  “Always.” The cadence of his voice reminded her of the water that rippled over the stones in Lael’s river.

  “So tell me. What’s so important to tell me that you ran all the way here?”

  Remiel stopped walking and turned to face her. He tipped his head, the easy smile still dimpling his cheeks. But behind the smile she detected something else. The same concern that clouded Ellersly’s eyes hid within the creases of Remiel’s smile.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Say what? That you have something important to tell me, or that you ran all the way here?”

  Remiel sighed, and the sound resonated deep within her, disturbing the quietness that settled in her whenever he was around. Something was wrong.

  She tugged on his arm. “What’s wrong, Rem? You’re scaring me.”

  Remiel didn’t speak. Instead he gathered her to him and pressed her against his chest. The rapid beating of his heart pounded out its own urgent message beneath her cheek. His hands rubbed up and down her spine for a few minutes. They stayed like that, her arms wrapped around his waist, his hands rubbing her back. Breathing together. Just being together. Bathed in moonlight.

  At last he pushed her away gently and cupped her face in one hand. A sudden spinning sensation overtook her. Whatever he was about to say would change things again. She knew it. The aching heat from her mark flooded her with warning. Not that she liked the way things were now that Aliah was gone and she was here in Kent, but at least she’d been coping. She couldn’t handle another shift. Not now.

  “Darkness is coming.” Remiel paused. His eyes glistened in the pale moonlight.

  She shook her head, forcing Remiel to drop his hand from her face. “Of course it is. The sun has set.”

  “Shai.” Remiel’s tone took on an unfamiliar edge. She glanced up at him again. His eyes shone with unshed tears. “Darkness is destroying the Division because Ava found the Book.”

  The ominous way Remiel spoke made Shai shake inside. “Ava? Where is she?”

  “She’s still in Conley, but she’s heading to the Outerlands. With Aliah.”

  Shai blanched. “What?” She took a step back. “A…Aliah’s dead. What are you talking about?”

  Remiel shook his head. “She made a deal with Samael. She’d help him get back control of the Division if he released Aliah’s body to her.”

  “Why would she do that? She’s never even seen the Book. I was there when Kael thought it burned in the fire. Ava acted like she’d never heard of that Book before. And what does she want with Aliah? I don’t understand.”

  “Ava has not only seen the Book, she’s read some of it. Ava discovered it after Sileas took the Book to Conley before her death.”

  Shai blanched. “No. She didn’t. She couldn’t have.”

  Remiel grabbed her shoulders, shaking her a little. “Listen to me. Sileas took the Book to Conley because she wanted Kael to have it, but Ava managed to get her hands on it.”

  “Sil wanted to give it to Kael?” She resisted pushing Remiel’s hands away. She suddenly didn’t want him touching her. How could any of this be true? Why would Sileas bring the Book to Kael? How did she even know him?

  Remiel answered her unspoken question. “The night Sileas died, she’d read the Book in the chapel in Lael. She brought the Book to someone the Book told her she could trust. She knew then that she was going to die. She knew everything. That’s what gave her the courage to do what she did.”

  “But why Kael? Why wouldn’t the Book tell her she could trust me?” She shook her head. Remiel’s hands felt heavy on her shoulders.

  “She was protecting you. You’re part of the Coalition and she knew that.”

  “Right. Because the Book told her that too, I suppose.”

  The muscles in Remiel’s jaw twitched. “You weren’t ready to know all that, Shai. But that’s in the past now. We don’t have much time.”

  Shai went cold. “Time for what, Remiel? What’s going on?”

  “Ava gave up her sector to Samael. She sacrificed her people to…to the Hunters.”

  Shai tried to swallow, but her throat felt thick. “Why?” The word came out a choked whisper.

  “To build an army. To overwhelm the Division with Darkness. Samael wants to defeat my father and take back the Division, and Ava wants Aliah’s body. So they made a deal that would benefit both of them.” He shook his dark hair out of his eyes. “Elchai will explain it to you. Come with me.”

  “Where?”

  “To Thunder Manor.”

  Shai took a step back, her eyes wide. “No. I’m not going back there. Ever.”

  Remiel grabbed her shoulders in his big hands, his blue eyes earnest. “I know what happened to you there. My brother made mistakes, but I know he’d never want what he did to you to destroy you. Please, come to Thunder Manor and talk to my father.”

  “It’s not…it’s not just that. Lael…Sileas…I can’t go back. I thought I could, but I can’t.”

  “Sileas traded her life for yours because she knew who you really were. Don’t let her death be in vain.” His whispered words cut like a dagger deep into Shai’s soul.

  She wrapped her arms around herself as chills ran up and down her spine. “Why Thunder Manor? Why can’t we meet Elchai here or in another sector?”

  “Thunder Manor’s where it all began, and it’s where it will all end if…if you don’t help us.”

  “End? You really think the Hunters have a chance at destroying the entire Division?”

  Remiel’s throat moved when he swallowed. He didn’t answer.

  Shai’s stomach bubbled. “What do you need me to do?”

  “Ava has one of the keys. They unlock portals for whoever wears them.”

  Shai raised her eyebrows. “So that’s your secret.” She smirked. “Which means I’ve been able to do that all along with this.” She tapped the key on its chain around her neck.

  Remiel nodded. “How else were you able to get to Gershom and back?”

  “So you need me to get one of the keys from Ava. But how?”

  “Go to the Outerlands.”

  Goosebumps covered her arms. “Why the Outerlands? That’s where Lael’s baby-making camp is! I can’t go there.”

  “It’s true the Camp’s in the Outerlands. But it’s not what you think. I know the rumors. I know people say it was a hospital for soldiers during the War Between Worlds, then was converted to a baby-making camp where they suck the pigment from infants’ eyes to disguise their heritage before sending them to Lael to be raised.” He cleared his throat. “Well, that’s true, but there’s a lot more to it than that. The Camp’s a scientific facility where perfection is preserved. After the War, my father converted it to a safe house.”

  “So that’s not where Laelite children come from?” She crossed her arms.

  “Not exactly. It’s where Laelite children are…preserved.”

  Shai raised her eyebrows.

  “Shai, Ava took Aliah’s body there. She read about the Camp’s medical facility in the Book. She’s planning on using its reso
urces and technology there to bring my brother back. You must go there. Get the key from her. And kill her. It’s the only way to stop her from building an army of Hunters for Samael.”

  She backed away from Remiel as he tried to pull her to him. A sob burbled from her chest. “I can’t kill her! I can’t kill anyone!”

  “Shai, listen to me! You can do this! If she brings back my brother from the dead using the Camp’s technology…” He shook his head. “He’ll be used for her purposes. It won’t be him, it will be his body, but not his mind or his personality. He wouldn’t want to be used like that.”

  “I can’t just walk in there, she’ll recognize me. She’ll kill me before I—”

  “Please, just come to Thunder Manor. My father will explain everything there.”

  “Rem.” Shai looked at the ground. “I can’t see Aliah again. It would kill me to see him. Especially if it’s…not really him.” She avoided looking at Remiel’s calm face and jammed the toe of her boot into the dry ground, scattering loose stones everywhere.

  He touched a finger to her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. A sad look crossed his handsome face. The long jagged scar along his jaw glowed in the moonlight. “I know.”

  A sharp wind suddenly picked up, swirling dust and loose stones.

  “Come.” Remiel took her hand. “Elchai will explain. Then you can decide.”

  CHAPTER 36

  Shai

  Shai followed Remiel back inside Kent. The heels of her boots echoed loudly on the stone floors inside the main building where she’d first entered with Aliah and Kael. It seemed like years ago.

  Remiel reached for her hand. She let herself be comforted by the strength of his presence. Everything about Remiel was large. Being with him swelled her chest, made her take deeper breaths, and made her open her eyes a little wider. His effect on her was powerful, but not in the same way Aliah’s effect was. How she missed him. She was crazy thinking she could do this. She couldn’t bear to see Aliah again knowing he wouldn’t be the same.

  Remiel didn’t lead her underground. Instead, he walked hand in hand with her through wide hallways that felt cold and damp with disuse. The sound of dripping water reverberated off the walls.

  “Where are we?” Shai’s voice sounded hollow in her ears.

  “We need to go somewhere we can travel through a portal without anyone seeing.”

  Anxiety gnawed at her stomach. Remiel squeezed her hand.