When her boot draws back to kick me down the shaft, I somehow grab it, twisting with what I have left.
Crack!
She drops and tumbles over the edge of the platform, grabbing the end of the ladder, her body flailing like a hooked fish. Then she starts to climb up again, ignoring the moans of the metal as it tries to twist loose and topple into the chasm.
Without looking back, I drag myself up the corroding steps, clutching my side, which feels like it’s on fire. I grip the door handle and fling it open.
I’ve reached the torch at last.
I dash out of the spherical base from which the flame must have once burned, onto a circular dais surrounded by a thin railing. The cloud cover’s dissipated, and I can see the gray waves crashing against the statue far below.
I grip the railing to ward off the dizziness and skirt the base, my heart thudding in my head and throat.
“Cole! ” I shriek.
And there above me, embedded in two tongues of opaque, synthetic flame protruding from the torch, are two figures.
The outline of a young girl …
And a little boy.
My heart almost bursts.
“Cole! It’s Lucky! I’m here! ”
Congratulations, Recruit Spark. Select the button to release your Incentive from cryogenic stasis and claim your victory in the Trials.
There are two buttons-marked Juniper and Spark-implanted in the wall.
I reach a trembling finger toward the button that will release Cole and finally end this nightmare-
Ophelia grabs my hand before I can press it. She tries to push her own button instead, but I grip her hand with my free one.
Then we’re locked in a dead heat, each trying to overpower the other. She snarls and jabs her knee into my ribs. I drop to the floor, my eyes fixated on the button that would free Cole, just behind her shoulder, gleaming, taunting me-
Ophelia reaches for her own button-
I kick her as hard as I can, slamming her into the panel-into the button marked Spark.
A green glow surrounds the synthetic flame encapsulating Cole, while the other one-the one with Maddie inside-glows red, despite how many times Ophelia now jabs her button.
Stark realization dawns in her eyes.
Congratulations, Recruit Spark. Your Incentive has been reprieved. You have bested your fellow Recruits.
It feels like I’ve just been reborn into a new world.
Ophelia’s shaking her head, as if in the throes of a nightmare. She reaches up, clawing at the shell encasing her sister. “Maddie! Maddie, sweetie! It’s me ! It’s Fee-Fee! I’ve come for you! I’m here ! Maddie! Maddie!” she bellows.
Another panel slides open underneath Maddie’s flame.
Recruit Juniper. You have failed the Trials and will be sentenced to the work camps. Your Incentive will now be shelved. In ten seconds, a stream of hydrochloric acid will be released into her enclosure. However, if you choose, you can activate the override instead, releasing an electrical charge that will instantly stop your Incentive’s heart. As always, the choice is yours.
Despite everything she’s done, I feel icy claws ripping through my heart, shredding it.
Anybody that’s capable of love can’t be all bad.
“I’m sorry, Maddie … I tried … I … really … tried … ” Ophelia bows her head, weeping.
I limp over to her. “Ophelia. I’m so sorry.” I reach out to touch her shoulder-
“Don’t touch me! ” she shrieks.
Make your selection now, Recruit Juniper.
“Goodbye, Maddie,” she whispers, pressing the button.
There’s a quick spark inside Maddie’s chamber. Then it goes dark.
The glow inside Cole’s chamber intensifies. Then the torch flame slides open.
I crowd in front of it. A cloud of frosty smoke billows out, obscuring the opening. Then a set of steps unfolds from the capsule, leading to my feet.
I step closer, arms held wide to hug him and never let him go-
Ophelia shoves me out of the way and starts to dash up the stairs toward Cole.
I leap on her and we crash into the railing. The thin metal gives, sending us both over the edge. My nails dig into the rusty metal of the rim to keep from going over as Ophelia dangles from my boot, which starts to slip off.
She stares up at me. “They made me kill my Maddie.” Her eyes turn to slits. “Take them down.”
She lets go, her body somersaulting once before slamming into one of the spires from the Lady’s crown.
Blood gushes from the wound, dripping down onto the Lady’s eyes, where it mixes with the drizzling rain and streams down her stone cheeks.
Pulling myself back over the edge, I collapse, a mangled heap of emotions.
The rain’s all but stopped now. Dawn seeps through the clouds, the fledgling rays warm against my ice-cold skin.
I look up and gasp.
It’s Cole.
He steps through the last wisps of the fading cloud of cryogenic frost like a beautiful angel from the old tales, coming down from the clouds. He’s rubbing his eyes as if he just woke up from one of his nightmares.
He sees me … and stops.
I can’t move.
All this time, I imagined running to him if I ever saw him again, scooping him up in my arms.
But now that he’s standing just a few feet away, I can only stare, paralyzed with emotion, overpowered by watching a wish I dared dream becoming a reality before my eyes.
My mind races. There are a million things I want to say.
When I open my mouth, all my thoughts logjam in my throat.
“Hi,” is the only thing that comes out.
“Hi,” he says back, staring at me with those big brown eyes.
Just hearing his voice again is like the first spring day after a long, hard winter. I bask in his brightness, taking him all in. “You’ve gotten taller,” I finally say. As I clear my throat, I feel my eyes growing moist.
His lower lip quivers. “Lucky, why are you sad?”
The words send a pang through my heart. “I was so afraid you’d think I wasn’t coming for you.”
He looks confused. “But you always take care’a me.” His eyes grow sheepish.
The dam breaks. I can’t contain the flood any longer. I bury my face in my hands. So much has happened … so many have suffered … and died. Yet I endure. And so does my brother. And we have each other. And as fleeting as that may be, it makes everything just a little less dark.
I feel his warm hands around my neck and I open my eyes.
“Are you okay, Lucky?”
Laughter bursts from my lips, from deep within a well I thought had dried up ages ago. “Yes, buddy. I’m okay … now.”
Somehow, I find the strength to lift him up.
Two Squawkers appear in the distance, our transport back to Infiernos no doubt.
Hugging Cole tight, we both stare out across the brilliant waters, watching as the strong current creates ripples that spread across the horizon as far as the eye can see.
forty-one
I press my face against the window of our tenement.
You can never really pull together the threads of an old life after they’ve unraveled.
It’s not like our neighborhood in the Parish is any different. In fact, it’s still exactly the same as the last time Cole and I saw it-the cobblestone streets filled with potholes, garbage littering the alleys, plumes of smoke from the factories draping the horizon in a cloud of smog … the haunted faces of the passersby, hustling to get indoors before curfew. Nothing’s changed.