Part 44
“We shouldn’t split up,” Teddy
said.
“I agree, but which way do we go?
We don’t have an unlimited amount of time. At least we won’t get lost.” Our
footprints left a clear path behind us in the layer of dust.
“This way.” Wildman didn’t even
wait for us to discuss it, he just plunged ahead down the right corridor.
“Does this seem like the right
way?” I whispered to Teddy as we trailed him.
“Right way,” Wildman said.
Teddy shrugged. “I don’t know
where we are under the palace, but we’re definitely still on the grounds somewhere.
He seems to know where to go, and it’s better than just picking a turn at
random.”
Since we began this journey, my
emotions had been all over the place. Excitement and pride as I planned to
follow in Schvesla’s footsteps, horror and betrayal when we realized what was
truly going on, gratitude and pleasure I’d never felt before after Teddy and I
moved into an intimate relationship, to anger and frustration when our every
plan was thwarted by those who care too little.
The emotional upheaval was exhausting.
It was a relief to have the end in
sight, as it were. “We have to be close.” My heart was beginning to pound. “Is
your arm okay?”
“Fine.” Teddy rested his good hand
on the hilt of the short word tucked into a silenced scabbard at his side. He
cradled his other arm against his stomach. We’d taken unobtrusive weapons, but
I had a pistol as well, as a last resort. My ability was a far more
effective—and silent—method of personal protection, but it wouldn’t work at a
distance or on more than two or three people at a time, so I focused on keeping
the lantern bright enough to light our way but not blind us or give away our
position.
The corridor took an abrupt turn.
Wildman dropped to his belly and cautiously peeked around the corner. He
crawled backward and then stood up. He spread his arms. “Big room.”
“This has to be it,” Teddy
whispered. “Did you see anyone?”
He shook his head.
“What about a machine?” I leaned
forward, anxious to hear the answer.
Wildman shrugged.
“It has to be it. There’s nothing
else worth hiding down here.”
“Let’s check it out, but be
careful,” I cautioned them.
We crept out into a round chamber.
The ceiling was high, extending in the shadows beyond our sight, great metal
tubes pushing upward from the contraption sitting on a raised dais in the
middle of the floor. I paused, staring at the machine in front of me I’d only
ever read about in books.
Schvesla’s machine.
“This is it,” Teddy said. Wildman
prowled around to the back of the machine.
“It is.” I went in the opposite
direction. “But these aren’t supposed to be part of it.”
There were two cables running from
the machine to two bulky man-shaped metal cages. They were… chilling. I know
what they were used for. Evil.
“We have to destroy them.” Teddy
was standing next to me, and I swayed back, leaning into him for a brief
moment. “The machine has to be destroyed too, but how?”
My first plan had just been to
physically destroy it. But what if they rebuilt it? It was too big; we couldn’t
just smash it to pieces.
“I think… I think we need to
destroy it ourselves.” I turned and looked at Teddy. “I don’t know if it’s
possible, but if we overload it, burn it out and all the wires through the city…
they’d never be able to fix that. No one knows how to fix the cables Schvesla
invented to transmit the Beta power.”
“What if it burns us out? Like the
others?” Teddy was pale, and I understood his fear. Being a Beta was what I’d
based my worth upon for so long; what if I didn’t have that anymore?
“We won’t be able to stay here any
longer, and what good will it do us out there, outside the city? We can make it
on our own because of who we are, together, and not depend on what we are.”
Teddy swallowed hard, and then
nodded. “Let’s do it.”
“Wildman,” I called softly. He rounded
the back of the machine, padding along on bare feet that didn’t make a sound on
the rough stones. “Once we figure out where it is, we need you to flip the
switch or press the button that will activate the cages. Can you do that?”
He shrugged, turning and walking
back to the machine. He pointed to a set of cogs and a lever. “Here.”
Damn. He really was smarter than
his appearance and speech led a person to believe. I wasn’t going to ask if he
was sure; I knew he was.
“Okay.” I sucked in a breath and
let it out slowly. “Here we go.”
“I think we should take off
anything metal. We don’t want anything to spark.” I wasn’t sure if it would,
but it was better to be safe than sorry. Teddy unstrapped his long knife and
removed a small pistol I hadn’t known he was carrying. I set them on the floor
in front of the cage, and then shut the door.
He shivered, gripping the front of
it. I covered his fingers with mine. “You’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”
Teddy nodded. “I love you.”
“Love you too.”
I went over to my cage. I
unstrapped my long knife, but before I could set it down, echoing footsteps
from booted feet startled me.
“Stop! What are you doing there?”
I spun. A guard stood at the other
edge of the room, staring at us with huge eyes. His hand hovered over his
weapon. Thankfully, my pistol was in my hand. I pointed it at his head. “What
should’ve been done a long time ago.”
He took a step back.
“Take one more step, and I’ll
shoot.”
TBC
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