Page 12 of The Infinite Glade
Isaac peered at every corner of the clearing, waiting for them to re-appear when Old Man Frypan suddenly cleared his throat right behind him. The exact same way he did at the Villa, every time one of the Assistants approached the glass pod cell, to signal that they were no longer alone. The blood swooshed harder in Isaac’s ears. He slowly turned to see two tall strangers, no longer shadows, and definitely not Lettie and Timon. Older than Isaac’s two kidnappers, but much more dangerous, as they each held a crossbow, aimed and ready to shoot. Isaac held his hands up to show that he had no weapons, but thought about the knife strapped to his ankle, the one Minho had given him.
“No sudden moves . . .” the one wearing a red scarf said. Very slowly, Isaac looked over at Jackie. They should have listened to Ximena’s second-sight. They shouldn’t have been so stupid as to think they’d find their friends this soon. He tried to show how sorry he was, and she looked back at him with an emotion in her eyes that he’d only seen once before . . . when Carson and Lacey died.
Sad. Devastated. Helpless.
Something deep inside of him broke.
CHAPTERFOUR
War Games
Minho walked behind Alexandra, constantly checking for movement in all directions. Neither of them spoke as they made their way back to the coast, and it wasn’t until they finally turned the bend to see theMaze Cutterthat Minho relaxed.
“That’sthe ship?” she asked.
“Yeah.” With every step closer he could better see Dominic, Roxy, Trish, everyone already on board.
“It’s too big. We’ll have trouble in the inlets. There’re too many rocks and plenty of places where the water isn’t very deep. We need a small fisherman’s boat, or a canoe?—”
“A canoe?” Minho scoffed. “How do you expect us all to fit in a canoe?”
Alexandra paused, her eye catching Sadina atop the ship. It was clear to Minho that she didn’t care about anyone but herself and Sadina. The Orphan named Minho didn’t understand the reason she cared so much about Sadina and her family, because he didn’t yet completely understand the inner-workings of families. But he understood why shedidn’tcare about the others. The Goddess was selfish. Plain and simple.
“Fine, we can use the Berg.” He’d been wanting to fly one again anyway.
“You’re crazy.” She sighed. “That Berg crashed if you couldn’t tell. A fuel leak. You didn’t smell it? The smoke’s already gotten to you then.”
No, he didn’t smell any fuel back there, and he’d looked at every inch of the Berg through his binoculars. There were no dents, nothing that showed a crash, new or old.
“Okay, if you don’t want to use the Berg then we’re traveling on theMaze Cutter.” All the while, he’d led Alexandra to the steps of the plank, ready to board the ship. She hesitated, mumbling random numbers. “Unless you have another chariot somewhere?” He turned to her just in time to see her roll her eyes at him before stepping aboard.
“Hey, you’re back!” Roxy greeted Alexandra with an unreturned smile. “Hello, son.” Her face showed relief and a slight sternness, as he imagined mother’s sometimes did. “Don’t do that again.” She hugged him.
Miyoko came up to them. “Minho, Alexandra . . .” She sounded surprised. Or worried. Or mad. Minho sometimes couldn’t tell the difference between all these islanders’ constant emotions.
“Where’d you go?” Dominic asked.
“I wanted to make sure she was okay. There’re all sorts of half-Cranks and downed Bergs out here to be wary of.” He didn’t trust the others enough to tell them what he saw. Except Orange . . . she might believe him.
“You good . . . ?” Orange asked, eyeing Minho’s fingers lingering on the trigger of his gun.
Soldiers had an unspoken bond. An unspoken language. He nodded to Orange and the rest of the group, maintaining his hand on the weapon so she’d know from his active stance that he wasn’t ‘good’ . . . especially with the Godhead.
“Wait, did you say Berg?” Dominic’s shoulder bumped into Minho’s. “You mean we can fly out of here? Why didn’t you start with the good news?”
“Bergs? Out here? You’re crazy. Absolutely mad.” Alexandra quickly smiled and tilted her head enough to look Minho right in the eyes.
He stared back at the lying, murderous, Godhead.
He knew without a doubt that she couldn’t be trusted. Not because he watched her suffocate someone with her cloak. Minho had killed dozens of people. But she lied about something that didn’t need to be a lie. “Really? You didn’t see a Berg in the field?” Minho pressed.
She chuckled. “Oh, perhaps the smoke has gotten to your eyes,” the God-less Goddess said. “Would you like my cloak to wipe them?” She offered the same corner of her cloak that she’d used to choke the pilot of the Berg and Minho watched as Trish, Miyoko, and Sadina laughed at the exchange. He certainly didn’t yet understand all the emotions of the islanders, especially laughter—but this didn’t feel like a very appropriate time to do it.
Minho looked to Orange, his finger still on the trigger of the gun at his side.
She squinted and turned her head just slightly before nodding.
They’d been trained in such slight movements and signals.
