Page 19 of The Godhead Complex
She recited the motto they’d had since childhood. “From the sea to the sky, I promise.”
He hadn’t thought about the saying in years. “From the sea to the sky.”
Isaac went back to pounding on the metal to flatten the knife he’d made, and with Sadina looking on, it was almost like they were back home and she might start begging him to cut out of work early for the day to go for a swim.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Sadina asked and Isaac’s stomach dropped. How could she trust him with a secret and he not return the favor?
“Of course.” He wished he hadn’t promised Ms. Cowan to keep quiet until the day they boarded the ship.Should he tell Sadina?It wasn’t his whole secret to tell, but Isaac felt so much guilt about keeping this from his best friend.
“I’m a little scared about what happens when we get to Alaska. What if they want to separate me from you guys? Trish can’t take that.” She fumbled with a rock in her hand, and Isaac had to wipe his face to hide the springing emotions. Her question wasn’t a “what if” to Isaac—it was guaranteed to happen. She was about to get separated from her mom and her longtime friend before they even left for Alaska.
“You’re strong enough to get through anything. And Trish might surprise you, too. Just hang in there.” He hammered back away at the knife.
“When you’re done with that, can you help me make something too?” Sadina held up a piece of metal wire in her hands. “Found it on the beach.”
“Sure thing. What do you want to make?” He leaned over the makeshift forge. He only wanted to make her happy and hoped she didn’t hate him forever when it came time to leave.
“Something for Trish.” She also had a small piece of wood. It only made him wishhe’dcreated something for her to remember him by.
“Sadina . . .” Heneededto tell her. He had nothing to give but the truth. That her mom was sick. That he wouldn’t be getting on the ship to Alaska.
“What? You’re looking at me like you have some deep dark confession to make.” She laughed nervously but then got quiet. “Look, if you’re going to tell me you’ve always been in love with me or some weird sappy shit—”
“No. Nothing like that. I don’t think I’m your type, anyway.” He rolled his eyes but Sadina started to laugh again, and he realized he couldn’t be the one to tell her. Not now. “I just want you to know that I really would go from the sea to the sky for you.”
“I know.” She gave him a questioning smile.
He wanted her to understand. “If we ever get separated, I’ll find a way back to you and everyone else.”
“Isaac! Stop being so weird, we’re not going to get separated.” She snatched the hammer out of his hand, almost burning hers in the process.
“You’re right,” he lied.
With the ranks of the Evolutionary Guard to protect her, Alexandra confidently walked in front of the crowd that had gathered for Sunday Maze Mass. The air was icy on her arms and face, despite the sunny skies above. She folded the mustard-yellow wool cloak around her arms, holding tight to the disguise she’d once worn to fool Mannus into doing her bidding to kill Nicholas.
It was time for a good old-fashioned uprising.
It was time for the Evolution.
“You’re sure you feel up to this?” Flint questioned her strength as she walked to the stage. She’d thought by getting rid of Nicholas that she was done having people question her.
“Flint, I told you, the fainting was just a spell of grief that came over me. I’m fine.” But it hadn’t been from grief. She had no idea what caused her to black out. She handed Flint her cloak with a look that saiddon’t ever question me again.
“Hello, Faithful Pilgrims!” Alexandra faced the simmering crowd and waited until all had eyes on her. The group before her included those who were silently devout, praying in basements, all the way to the extremists who performed rituals and Hollowings. She looked for Mannus’ horns which typically stood out in the crowd, but there was no sign of him. She needed to speak with him, make sure he’d kept his word and that the arrangement between them was still private. She didn’t trust any of the Pilgrims, much less one who’d killed a member of the Godhead. “Faithful Pilgrims, I bring sad news today, but first I bring you news of hope.” She placed both her hands over her heart as if to brace the people of Alaska for Nicholas’ loss.
A crazed Pilgrim, almost naked, with jittery eyes as wide as two soap dishes, screamed at her. “The lights are solar flares! We’re doomed!” Those around him faltered in their faith, murmured agreement. She hated how easily the fear of simple things could affect their simple minds. She had almost no patience for this, for the uneducated. She counted the digits in her head while the crowd calmed again.
“No, the lights are our hope.” She waved her hands before her, slowly, like the movement of the Aurora Borealis. She turned on the melodrama. “The colors in the sky represent the colors within us. Our light within is coming back, and just like the skies above have evolved, it’s time for us, too to Evolve.” Murmurs again rumbled through the Pilgrims, and Alexa wondered if they even knew what the term “evolved” meant. Society had been stuck in survival mode for so long that she doubted many of them had an ounce of hope left for the future, any hope that life could ever be anything more than what it was right then. But it needed to be.
“My Pilgrims, we are at a crossroads in civilization and it is our job to choose faith. It is our choice to change history. And it is our responsibility to stand strong.” She again allowed space within her speech for the crowd to react and they did. She spotted a set of horns moving through the crowd, and as she made eye contact with Mannus, he tapped the side of one of his horns. She had all but forgotten her promise to remove those damnable things from his head.
“What is the news?!” The crowd chanted for her to go on.
“The news is of hope and our ending peril. The hope that we will soon become greater and more than we ever imagined possible in the past. We will become not only resistant to the Flare but Evolve with gifts that will allow each and every one of you to become a God within your own right.”
She held up her hands to the sky as she took a breath but the crowd didn’t cheer, they only rumbled in confusion at this. Impossibly, she’d overestimated them once again. Surely they’d understand what she said next. “But the sad news I bring to you today hurts my heart to announce.” She cleared her throat and lowered her head for dramatic effect. “Our God Nicholas was brutally murdered by those who opposed his plans regarding the Evolution.” It wasn’t a complete lie.
“Murdered!?” Gasps arose from the crowd.
