Page 48 of The Infinite Glade
“Come here, all of you!” Roxy shouted and pulled the islanders close. “Let’s stick together.”
Minho did a quick count, making sure they were all there. Fear darkened their eyes, wilted their faces. Only one was missing, besides Orange upstairs. And then he noticed a flash of movement, just out of the corner of his eye. Alexandra.
The so-called Godhead opened the back door of the Villa and sprinted away, into the night, into the darkness, soon only a bobbing shadow of yellow. Then nothing at all.
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Curse of Truth
The heat inside Isaac’s gut grew, burning like real flames. He pounded the side of the Berg with his fist. “We can’t just leave them there! We have to go back!” But he couldn’t even see the fires of Alaska through the window anymore. “Please, we can help!” They had crossbows, other weapons, the advantage of a Berg. But then the worthless feeling Isaac had when he accidentally stabbed himself rushed into his mind with doubt. There’d be no helping Sadina and the others. But that only made him feel more anger.
Ximena blocked Isaac’s next punch to the Berg’s interior. “Let it burn. The site of the Maze was never holy.” She always seemed to say the worst things at the worst times.
“This is all your fault!” He let all his frustrations out. Her predictions, her second-sight, jinxing them about the Villas burning. . . . He couldn’t take it anymore.
Jackie took a step forward to get between him and Ximena, “Isaac . . .”
“How is this my fault?” Ximena tilted her head and took a step back.
“You’re constantly manipulating. You jinxed us, or cursed us, I don’t know . . . you . . .” Isaac felt the same way he did whenever Sadina used to say something like,Don’t get stung by a jellyfish today, and then he did just the thing she warned him about. He turned away from Jackie and Ximena and pleaded for Old Man Frypan to join him in the argument. “We’ve got to go back there. Please . . .” Frypan could convince Cian to turn around. It wasn’t too late. They could still find their friends.
Old Man Frypan knocked his walking stick against his shoes. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, son.”
Isaac couldn’t believe his ears. “Sadina . . . Trish . . . Miyoko . . . Dominic . . .”And Minho, Orange, and Roxy.“They need our help!”
Frypan shook his head. “I’m sure Minho steered theMaze Cutterright out of harm’s way. We don’t even know if they made it to Alaska. And we’re no good to them dead, now are we?”
Isaac turned to Jackie. “We have to go back there.” But Jackie had a pitiful, sad acceptance coating her face. “Jackie?”
“Isaac . . . that fire looked like the size of our island. It was huge.” She twisted the palm bracelet on her wrist. “I don’t want to walk into a war—we’d just get ourselves killed. They’re probably not even there, like Frypan said.”
The old man put an arm on Isaac’s shoulder. “Minho and Orange have that Remnant Nation in their bones, they’ll protect the others.”
Isaac shrugged Frypan off. “What about the Godhead . . . the Cure?” He pushed against the window, knowing he’d become the biggest fool on the Berg but unable to help himself.
“Is the cure for fire, more gasoline?” Ximena asked, but Isaac didn’t have the patience for her riddles any more. “Fire will cleanse the Earth . . .” she said, and then mumbled something else he didn’t understand.
Isaac gave up on Ximena, and it didn’t matter if Frypan and Jackie were afraid. Only one thing mattered. He focused on Cian and Erros, “Turn around. You said you’d take us to Alaska, and we need to get?—”
Cian held a hand up. “Not a chance. It’s a guaranteed death trap between the crazed Pilgrims and the Remnant soldiers.” He let out something that almost sounded like a laugh. “Look, we’re saving you from what you don’t understand. There’s one hundred years of war and hate unfolding down there.”
Cian steered the Berg over open water, but the fire inside Isaac kept burning. He couldn’t accept Cian’s ‘Sorry we can’t,’ when he knew that theycould. They could find a safe spot to land and find their friends . . . and everything would be okay.It had to be okay.
Isaac launched his whole body at Cian and the controls. He startled him just enough to wrap his hands around the yolk and pull hard to the right. “We’re going back . . .” Isaac said through clenched teeth. “We have to find them . . .” On some level, he knew he’d completely lost his mind.
“Stop! Stop it, you idiot!” Erros yanked on his shirt and everyone dipped to the floor as the Berg leaned hard. Isaac struggled to hold on. His friends. He had to find his friends. He couldn’t leave them alone in that horrible fire.
“Isaac!” Jackie screamed as she slid along the Berg’s floor, all the way to the weapon pile.
“¡Dios mío!” Ximena held on to a bar below the window.
Frypan held on to Erros as he grappled with Isaac. “Come on, boy, let it go . . .”
“Stop!” Cian shouted, right in Isaac’s ear, pulling the controls back. Isaac finally crumpled to the floor of the Berg in defeat. He wanted to scream or cry, but he just covered his head in his hands and did neither. He had made a promise to Sadina to always be there for her from the sea to the sky, and now, flying high above the burning city of Gods, Isaac broke the only promise that had ever mattered to him.
The Berg righted itself and they flew on.
An army of Orphans was coming at them, hard and fast.
