Page 72 of The Infinite Glade
“Some God, you are.” Roxy spat at Alexandra’s feet.
They’d fastened her wrists behind her back before she even knew what had happened. Now, they kicked the back of her legs and she fell to her knees. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 . . .
Roxy was next, thumping down next to Alexandra.
“Worthless,” Roxy said under her breath, full of venom.
13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 . . .
“How are those ridiculous numbers working out for you?” Roxy muttered.
Idiot. The digits were of infinite creation. Alexandra chided herself—she’d been a fool to think these low-minded Immunes could ever understand quantum entanglement and the power of the Flaring Discipline.
“Public torture is what they deserve!” a Pilgrim shouted.
Alexandra’s vision flashed red.
“Which one’s the real Godhead?” a soldier behind them asked.
“Kill them both!” another Pilgrim screamed.
233, 377, 610 . . .
An older soldier stepped in front of them, then faced the crowd to make an announcement. “We have very specific orders. All possible members of the Godhead will be taken alive and sent to the Bearers of Grief. They will decide their fate.” The soldier glared down at them, as if he saw only a pile of rotting garbage, infested with rats. But Alexandra didn’t care, her mind focused on what she’d just heard.
Taken alive.
The Goddess still had time to escape.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
Doomed
The Griever sounds echoed down one of the tunnels. It scared Isaac so badly that he’d lost all feeling or thought, felt totally incapable of taking even a single step.
A low hum vibrated through the air, making it feel like the whole inside of the lobby was shaking. Suddenly the air around him got much colder than it had been a few seconds ago. He tried to snap himself out of his immobility.
“Why would Grievers be here?” Isaac asked Frypan. He shifted his weight to his good leg, but he didn’t have faith in himself to run very fast. “Frypan?”
The old man didn’t respond, just stared into the darkness of the tunnel ahead, and that only made Isaac even more frightened. “We’ve got to get out of here,” he said, looking at the others, each in turn. “We’ve got to run! They tricked us!”
“No! Don’t move!” Cian held his arms out. “Don’t move or you’ll make it worse! I swear on my mother’s life!”
Isaac turned to Ximena, Jackie, and Miyoko. “We need to go that way.” He pointed to the tunnel they’d come through earlier, but the three of them and Frypan just stood there as the clicking and whirring and hissing grew louder. It was as if the sounds of the Griever had put them in a trance. “Guys! We’ve got to go. Now!” He limped over and grabbed Jackie by the shoulders, shook her. “Jackie!”
“Running won’t do us any good,” she said sadly.
Erros kicked the desk. “The Senate couldn’t wait for us to get down there and explain? They had to send these things? They just had to?”
“We can’t just sit here.” Isaac’s leg hurt too much to run, and he couldn’t leave Frypan, but Jackie and Miyoko were close to the exit tunnel. “You guys go!” he yelled half-heartedly.
“Stop! Just don’t move!” Erros shouted back at Isaac.
The Griever stepped into view from the farthest tunnel. Slimy skin, a giant slug with metal legs. A walking terror. It cleared the tunnel’s opening, whirring with its mechanical noises.
Ximena hurriedly opened her backpack then turned to Isaac. “Here. Take this.” She shoved a gun into his chest. He also had the axe from earlier, still looped through his belt, but Isaac wasn’t sure any weapon would help against the Griever.
“Just stay still and it won’t hurt you!” Cian shouted. But Isaac couldn’t forget what had happened to Cowan. Or how the Griever had attacked the glass pod holding Old Man Frypan, stabbing it with some hideous metal arm sticking from its flesh. It was still too fresh in his memory.
