“Ironic when you literally train noxiors to kill.”
“I train them to survive.”
“Ah, right. Because that’s what I did in the Arena with the Spore girl.”
“I never told you to kill her.” He actually sounds sad about it. Little does he know that she came back to life in some mysterious way.
I shove my free hand in my pocket to keep from throttling him and fist the wheat kernels that have tucked themselves into the fabric creases and corners. Strangely, I’m glad those weren’t taken from me.
“Look,” I say. “I’m at my final Awake. As soon as the nightmist comes for me, I’ll be back in the Real World for the last time.” Two hours. That’s all I’ll have. Two hours. “I’m going to do what I can, but I’m also going to do what I have to.”
In other words, I come first. And Galilei. I guess it’s a tie.
In truth, I really hope there isn’t somebody in the high-rise that Crixus cares about. I don’t like the idea of entering a building filled with dying LifeSuPod people—even if they are rich. Up until now I’d thought only about Galilei, but I’m sure Crixus is right: there must be other people in there. Why wouldn’t there be?
If so, Luc has never said a thing about them.
Crixus gives a sharp nod and turns back toward the Emperor’s fire tower. “Got it.” I’m irked that he accepts my response that easily. It makes me feel dirty. Heartless. It’s as if the centurion who runs the gladiator games has more heart than I do—the guy who tried to find a cure for the world.
“I’ll do what I can,” I say. And I will. But at this point I don’t even have a truck. For all I know, I’m still dying in that landfill.
“Sure.” His tone is crisp. He doesn’t believe me.
Well, that’s his problem. I pull him to a stop. “Don’t bother escorting me, centurion. I’m a citizen now. I know where to go.”
“You’re a prisoner until we deem you safe.” He grips my arm again. “And you don’t know anything.”
I assumed we were going to Luc’s atrium, but we bypass the fire tower. We’re almost at the base when he leads me around it to the back where there is a white building with a stretch of long stairs leading to a door guarded by four tirones. Crixus knocks on the door to what I can only assume is an infirmary of some sort.
It opens, and a child stands on the other side. The boy gives a little head bow to Crixus and steps aside. It still weirds me out to see children acting as servants.
“So where are that kid’s parents?” I ask Crixus when we’re out of earshot down a marble entrance.
“Gone. Luc employs the orphans until they come of age.”
“You mean until they stop being able to jump into the Real World?”
He nods.
“And then what?” I probe, despite already knowing what Stranna and Everett have told me.
“He waits to see if they become Spores or not.” That’s all he has to say. I believe him. I saw Stranna’s sister in the Arena. Luc sent her there. “That’s why it’s so important we rescue the kids as soon as we can from the Spores. The longer they spend with them, the more likely they are to become Spores themselves once they come of age.”
“Right. Rescue them faster so you can kill them when they don’t meet your needs,” I comment wryly.
He gives me a side-eye but says nothing. He knocks on another door. This time Luc opens it, still in his wheelchair. “One minute. That’s all you get.”
I nod and move to enter, but a child comes running up. “Emperor.” The girl bows. “The Cole parents are here.” She seems nervous, not meeting Luc’s eyes.
“Tell them to wait.”
The girl visibly trembles from head to foot. She stares at Luc now and opens her mouth, gaping like a noodled catfish.
“What is it?” Luc demands.
“It’s urgent,” the girl whispers. She takes a step back.
Luc runs a hand down his face, then turns to Crixus. “See that Cain is contained again before his final visit to the Old World.”
“I’ll see it done.”
Luc rolls his chair after the skittering girl. I expect if he were still able to walk, he’d be stomping. The girl keeps a healthy distance ahead of him. They disappear down the next corridor. The door to Galilei’s room has closed again, and I look to Crixus, waiting for him to open it, but then spy a map drawn on light calfskin stretched across the wall next to the door.
A map of Tenebra.
I step closer, feeling Crixus’s eyes on me. There are hand-drawn depictions of the Tunnels, the coliseum, Luc’s fire tower, and even the ghost town surrounding us. Then my gaze lands on the catacombs. They’re not that far, and they’re about half the size of the coliseum—quite large. I scan the edge of the map until I see the golden fields. There’s a single wheat stalk to mark them, but nothing else significant. No depiction of the light or warmth or the safety of it being the holding place for children who get infected.
Other places on the map pique my interest. Training Fields, Temples of Agon, Baths of Night, Ampitheatre, Circus Flaminus.
“What are all these other places?” I gesture to the map. “I’ve only seen people living in the coliseum, but there’s a whole city out there.”
“That was part of the original Tenebra,” Crixus informs me. “But the Spores have made them unsafe for citizens.”
I look back at the map, trying to imagine Stranna and the handful of other Spores causing so much havoc that an entire culture is trapped in the coliseum because of them. Not possible.
“There used to be more Spores,” Crixus continues. “We’re making progress.”
Progress meaning slaughter. Eradication.
