Page 28 of The Infinite Glade
“Might as well be a lie . . .” Ximena said.
Jackie tossed a rock into the center of the fire and ash floated up from the flames. “So we were tricked to come here.” She was finally getting it. “And Frypan’s family was tricked. WICKED is trick-ed.” She shook her head in anger.
Cian ignored her. “Frypan, your parents thought you would be protected by the Coalition and eventually what became WICKED . . . they didn’t realize until it was too late that you’d become theirproperty.” It didn’t seem to hit Old Man Frypan any less than hearing his family traded his life for theirs. The tattoo on the back of Frypan’s neck was hard to read but everyone back at the Villa confirmed that it still said PROPERTY OF WICKED.
Ximena wasn’t exactly surprised at what Cian said. She’d been the Villa’s property since before her birth. “So . . . study a child from each family, in order to create an individualized protection for those families to haveafterthe solar events?” Ximena asked.
Jackie piped in a somber reminder of the past. “Not everyone went so willingly, with so much hope and self-indulgence. We all know the story of Newt, how he was brutally kidnapped and separated from his own sister.”
Cian shrugged. “That’s most definitely true.”
Isaac took a turn. “Wait, based on what you said earlier, you’re making it seem like the Post Flare Coalition knew about the sun flaresbeforethey happened? The virus, too?”
The islanders were so naive.
Of course the government coalition knew.
“Isaac . . .” Ximena tried to tell him. “The truth is always hidden within the lie. . . . The fact that it was called thePostFlare Coalition meant they probably had a Flare Coalition too, one that prepared plans in place for any potential devastating Sun Flares.” Her ancestors had long known about the coalitions and how they failed to protect her Village.
“She’s right.” Erros finally acknowledged Ximena as he puffed on whatever coltsfoot was. “Our government—they knew it was coming. It was formed long before the Flares, both solar and virus, hit the Earth. . . . They created WICKED and implementing their plans was just a matter of time. But that very time was against them, and they didn’t account for how many people within the organization would disagree. They created the Flare Virus to mitigate the shortage of resources, but they didn’t have enough time to test it . . . to know what would happen.”
“The worst thing that could have happened, did happen,” Cian said.
“Well, what did happen? We weren’t there.” Jackie huffed as if no one was really coming out and saying anything of substance.
“Yeah,” Ximena agreed. She knew her Village’s account of what the fallout was but she wanted to hear this history in Cian’s own words. “Tell us the whole story.”
Cian began again. “The virus was meant to kill the weakest—thin out the herd, so to speak—but it ended up not killing them very quickly. Certainly not quick enough.”
“And it spread . . .” Old Man Frypan added. “It spread badly . . .”
Cian nodded. “Look, nothing happened the way it was planned . . . the Sequencers ended up creating their own problems, far worse than the original problem they were all trying to solve.”
“I still say, why should we believe you?” Jackie threw another rock into the flames.
“You don’t have to believe us at all. In fact, it’d be better if you didn’t.” Cian threw his red scarf at Erros. “There, are you happy? We told them.”
“No. I’m not happy . . .” Erros puffed the coltsfoot cigar and threw Cian’s scarf back at him.
“If these special people are so protected, why do they need the Cure?” Jackie asked.
“That’s a good question,” Frypan said.
Ximena’s face flushed with the realization that she still had what Annie Kletter and the Villa considered to be the Cure. Almost like she’d forgotten that she took it, all in a fit of anger, hoping to use it as leverage when the time came.
She glanced at the backpack, then Isaac’s eyes did the same before looking back up at her.
She pleaded with him, pleaded with her whole expression.
Please don’t say anything. Don’t tell them. Please. Please.
Isaac didn’t react. Didn’t say a word, didn’t make a face or offer a nod.
He turned away from her and refocused his attention on their new history teacher.
PARTTWO
WICKED is Bad
