Page 105 of Kingdom of Tomorrow
The familiar tome opened of its own accord, flipping through pages to reach a specific point. Text rose from the page, drawing together to form an image. Amelia! My beautiful sister twirled across the pages, straight from the vaults of my memory, and I pressed a hand to my fluttering pulse. Her laughter filled the air, and I couldn’t help but laugh, too, even as tears spilled down my cheeks. I remembered this day. We’d celebrated her acceptance into a gifted program for the best and brightest.
“If I get to pick my field of study, I’m choosing pritis,” she said. “They release a frequency I swear I feel in my bones. It’s like music. Soft and lyrical.”
Hmm. I’d forgotten she’d said that.
All too soon, the pages flipped, erasing her. “Go back,” I croaked. “Please.”
It didn’t. It stopped on a new chapter, and once again text rose, this time revealing my mother. “Oh,” I breathed out. I remembered thistoo. Health and vitality radiated from Mom’s pores. She beamed at an eleven-year-old Arden, who had just propagated her first weed.
“You are going to grow a paradise, baby,” Mom proclaimed with a hug.
In the present, I felt her arms around me. More tears dripped down my cheeks.
“What’s a paradise?” young Arden asked.
“A garden of delights filled with everything we could ever need or want.”
This was the day I’d decided my path. Agriculture or nothing.
Once again, the pages flipped and stopped, and suddenly Shiloh was making funny faces at me, turning a bad day into a cherished memory. I giggled and cried in unison, so happy to see him but also torn to shreds inside. A beautiful life cut short. Why show me these things?Why!
The book flipped to another page, revealing text without an image.The code is 80630941507.As soon as my gaze grazed the final number, the book closed, the library faded, the stone returned, and the symbols ceased spinning.
“Give me more!” Except for the code thing, each of those moments had marked me. They were slices of peace and joy within a chaotic world. Was that what the Tome Society—Soal?—offered me? “Just one mo—”
Cyrus appeared in my line of vision, blocking the Rock. Nooo! I attempted to slide past him, but he moved with me. With a viselike grip on my arms, he forced my attention onto his face. His mouth was moving, but no sound emerged. Wait. I frowned. Blood dotted him, sweat soaked his hair, and raw concern dominated his harsh expression.
Snap.The world returned to normal, noise bombarding my ears. Alarms, sirens, footsteps, shouts, bangs. Dead bodies scattered the ground.
“—need to run before doors are locked. Arden? Do you hear me?”
I blinked rapidly, confused and horrified. “Y-yes,” I responded. “Run.”
Cyrus slung an arm around my waist and tugged me along the street, away from Soal.
What. Just. Happened?
Chapter Twenty-Six
Though the storm blusters and the fire rages, I will bring you through unscathed.
—The Book of Soal1.23.43.2
We reached the Lux six minutes before lock-in, but it wasn’t relief I felt. I longed to return to the Rock. Felt as though I’d left pieces of myself behind and I would not be complete until I retrieved them. Or offered to give more of me.
Yes, yes, I should go back. So I’d be trapped in the darkness with feeders. So what.
According toCured, this was maddened behavior, but I wasn’t sick. I wasn’t! I just needed more information.
Cyrus might have sensed my intentions. He maintained a firm grip on my hand and a swift pace.
A pair of armed barons guarded the entrance to the towering building. They let us inside. We didn’t slow. A concierge rushed through the lobby to open elevator doors for us. No other patrons congregated in the area, giving me a full view of the opulence. Crystal walls, flawless furnishings, and a gold-veined floor proved this structure came from Theirland.
Cyrus and I entered the lift, leaving everyone behind. Tension hummed between us as the doors closed us in.
“Are you—” I began.
“We’ll talk about it when we’re alone,” he interjected, cutting me off sharply.
