Jack was right. Cole no longer had his Surface heart, which meant there would be no way to go back and forth.
Cole nodded. “Hopefully the lockdown will last only until we destroy the Everneath.”
Will leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. “Just like we always said. We destroy the Everneath or we die trying.”
We had always said that. Only now we couldn’t take it back.
Just then the door flew open, and Ashe blew in. He caught sight of us around the table and looked toward the door again as if he might run out.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
Jack and I looked at each other.
Ashe frowned. “Don’t tell me. You’re the reason for the lockdown.”
Cole nodded.
“Shit.” Ashe looked at the windows, which were all covered by blinds, and tugged a loose one a little closer so that no one could see in.
“You’re not going to turn us in again, are you?” Cole asked.
Ashe shook his head. “You destroyed the orb. Which means you destroyed the single object linking us all. Which means you’ve set the Shades free. Without the orb, I’m under no obligation to do what the Everneath wants.”
If that was true—if Ashe was no longer tied to the Everneath—maybe he could help us locate where the queen was keeping the Surface hearts. Jack looked at me and raised his eyebrows questioningly. He must be wondering the same thing.
I nodded.
Jack turned to Ashe. “They confiscated all the Surface hearts. Which means maybe all those hearts are being stored in one place. We need to get to them.”
Ashe frowned, then looked at Cole. “I know where she keeps them. All the Shades know. Now that you’ve destroyed the orb, I can tell you.”
We all leaned toward Ashe expectantly.
“Hearts are kept in the center of the High Court. In a vault in the throne room. At least that’s where she keeps the Everneath hearts. I can only think that once they confiscate the Surface hearts as well, that’s where they keep them.”
Ashe caught a look at Jack’s smile and held up his hand. “Don’t get your hopes up. If you thought getting to the Tunnels was tough . . . the throne room is Fort Knox. Yes, there won’t be as many Shades around in all this chaos, but if this is all you have”—he gestured toward our knickknacks on the table—“you’ll never destroy it.”
Cole put his hands on the table, lacing his fingers. “But what if you took us to the throne room, and we could find our own hearts. Every Everliving has an affinity for his or her own heart. One time when I dropped my own heart, all I had to do was think about it and it came racing back to me. As long as we’re close enough to the actual heart . . .”
I studied his face. “Did you just remember that?”
He seemed to wilt a tiny bit under the scrutiny. “Bits and pieces are coming to me.”
I wondered if he was starting to remember because of what he’d just witnessed with the band. The professor said adrenaline would trigger memories, and I couldn’t imagine more emotional turmoil than the band vaporized before our eyes. I couldn’t decide if I wanted him to someday regain his memories—hopefully after our siege of the vault of hearts—or if I wanted him to remain clueless for the rest of his life about the pain and heartache he’d been through.
“So we go to the throne room,” Jack said. “Cole’s heart will do that magnet act, and then the second he touches it, we can zap to the Surface and plan our next move. Maybe we can research some sort of Everneath ammo we can use to destroy the throne room.”
Cole leaned forward. “When are we planning this . . . coup?”
“There’s no better time than now,” Ashe said. “The Shades are newly free. They’ll be all over the place, including going to the Surface to get their fill. They’re not limited by hearts the way the Everliving are. Before, the existence of the network kept them in place. But now they’re disorganized. The hearts are the least protected that they’ll ever be.”
I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. “The Shades let loose on humans.” I shook my head. “Can they drain them completely?”
“Yes,” Ashe said. “It’s what they do.”
“Then we really do have to destroy it. We have to destroy it all, now. Before anyone else dies.”
Jack stood. “Let’s go. Ashe, will you take us?”
Ashe nodded. He started toward the door, but Cole asked him, “Why?”
“Why what?” Ashe said.
“Why are you willing to help us destroy the Everneath?”
Ashe smiled a sad grin that dripped with oil. “You laid out a convincing argument. It turns out I have nothing to live for. And everything to die for.”
THIRTY-TWO
NOW
The Everneath. Ouros.
We followed Ashe through the chaos of the streets of Ouros. Everlivings darted in all directions, probably looking for a way out and up to the Surface. Apparently the immortals were a calm bunch until their freedom was taken away. Now many reacted as any newly caged animal would.
As we followed Ashe, I caught glimpses through windows of other Everlivings, hunkering down in their homes. Maybe they were hoping this would all blow over. Some were alone, but through some windows I could see pairs of them, clinging to each other. I had only a moment to reflect on the occasional displays of love.
We followed Ashe around a corner that led to an alleyway. Tall buildings reached into the sky on either side. We’d made it several yards before I realized that it looked like a wall was blocking off the end.
I hesitated. “Dead end?” I said.
Ashe waved us forward, and that’s when I noticed, in the center of the wall, a black, rectangular-shaped splotch that looked as if it had been drawn on with oil. It was about the size of a door.
“Touch me,” Ashe said.
We placed our hands on Ashe’s arms.
“Everyone attached?” he said.
When we all nodded, he approached the doorway. The black of the splotch seemed to reach out and engulf first Ashe and then the rest of us. It felt like a draft of cold air against my skin.
We walked through. The doorway led to a small room with no ceiling. The deep red sky hung over it.
Ashe lowered his voice. “This is the Shade entrance. Jumps to the High Court can originate only here. It’s how the queen limits who goes in and out. Otherwise, we’d have to go through the labyrinth.” He took a deep breath. “I just barely started being able to use it. Keep your hands on me,” he ordered.
We did as he commanded. Then we rose up in the air, the chamber we had just been in growing small beneath us. The chaos of the city of Ouros shrank as we glided through the atmosphere. The outer ring of the labyrinth, the Ring of Water, came into view. I watched it move beneath me as if I were looking out the window of an airplane. We continued over the Ring of Wind and then the Ring of Fire, which was accompanied by a gust of hot air. It was the only time I could feel the effects of any of the rings.
We began our descent just as the bulls-eye of the labyrinth came into view.
Ashe guided us gently to the ground in the middle of a medieval-looking courtyard. On one side of the courtyard stood a tall, gray cinder-block wall. I recognized it as the wall surrounding the High Court, but we were on the inside, not the outside. If we had been on the outside, we would’ve been surrounded by the Ring of Fire.
There was no fire where we were. But unfortunately, within seconds we were surrounded by four Shades.
“I thought you said it was unprotected!” Jack shouted.
“I meant there wouldn’t be hundreds,” Ashe answered. He stood in front of us with his arms out, facing the Shades. “I’ll take care of them. Go that way.” He pointed one direction, along the wall. “Look for a red stained-glass door. It will lead you to the vault. And hurry!”
By the time he finished speaking, he was already fighting with the Shades and we were already running down a corridor that ran adjacent to the wall.
If we encountered any more Shades, we were screwed. Especially without Ashe. None of us could even touch them. The gray stones of the wall blended together as we sprinted. My chest burned with the exertion. Jack seemed to sense it, and he reached back to grab my hand.
Just as Ashe had promised, we came to a red stained-glass door. The wood around the door looked heavy and sturdy. An intricate iron design created a pattern in the glass. Jack tried the handle, but it didn’t budge.
He took a step back and bent his knees, ready to spring.
I held my hand up. “Wait! The iron!” I said, worried he’d be hurt.
But he didn’t hesitate. He crashed through the glass, tearing the iron as he went. The rest of us quickly but carefully stepped through the giant hole he had made.
“Jack, your arm!” I said.
His shoulder sported several cuts, deep enough that blood trickled down his arm.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Just go!”
We followed the zigzagging corridors until we reached a giant steel door with what looked like a ship’s wheel on the outside.
“Shit,” Cole said. “It’s a literal vault.”
He tried to turn the wheel. Nothing happened. Jack grabbed two of the outer handles. But it looked as if the spindle of the wheel was welded to the door, and it wasn’t possible to move it.
None of us was strong enough.
I looked at Jack, at his bulging muscles. And I formed a plan. I crouched on the ground, holding my stomach.
“Becks!” Jack dropped to my side. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head, not really proud of the lie I was about to tell. But I was desperate. “Nothing. I just feel a little . . . faint.”
He put his arm around me, but I shrugged it off. “I need Cole. I need him to feed me.”
Jack tensed beside me.
Cole bent down, waiting for Jack to move aside, but Jack didn’t budge. “C’mon, man,” Cole said.
Jack shook his head. “The Everneath itself should be feeding her. She shouldn’t need you down here.”
“Obviously she does. We have no idea how the High Court operates. Maybe it’s draining her.”
Huh. That sounded credible. I glanced sideways at Cole, and he winked at me. He knew what I was doing.
Jack moved aside, and Cole knelt down. “Let’s make it good,” he whispered under his breath.
I raised my face toward his, fluttering my eyelids for effect, and Cole planted his lips on mine.
Jack watched, his face resembling a hot air balloon being blown up beyond its safe size. Veins popped out on his forehead.
Will stepped up beside him. “Hey, bro, settle down.”
Jack involuntarily flung him aside, throwing him against the wall. Just a little bit more, I thought. I put my hands in Cole’s hair.
That was it. Jack blew a gasket. He reached down to grab Cole, and as he did, I broke the kiss and said, “Jack! The door!”
He immediately directed his anger and rage against the door. He grabbed the spokes of the wheel and tore the entire thing off its hinges. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before, even in the movies. He threw the door to the opposite side of the room, where it became embedded at least a foot into the wall.
He stood there, breathing hard.
I went to put my hand on his arm, but he shook me off. “Give me a minute,” he said. I felt so bad that I had to do that, but it was necessary. Wasn’t it?
I wasn’t sure it was ever fair to mess with someone’s emotions the way I’d just messed with Jack’s, even though part of me believed the end justified the means. I’d probably be debating that move for a long time to come.
I walked into the vault, and my mouth dropped open. I don’t know what I’d expected when the vault was opened, but it wasn’t the giant warehouse that I saw in front of me. Rows and rows and rows of shelving units, at least two stories high and reaching back farther than I could see. The only point of reference I could think of as to the size of the place was a giant indoor football stadium. And every shelf held hundreds, thousands, of items. Random things: pencils, erasers, corkscrews, lightbulbs, coins, rings, pendants, necklaces . . . all sorts of objects.
All sorts of hearts.
“What do we do now?” Will said.
Jack still looked too angry to speak.
“We wander the aisles, hoping our hearts find us,” I said.
Cole shook his head. “I’m not sure your heart will be in here,” he said. “For some reason I think that the hearts of transitional people, like you, they’re immune to the lockdown.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re not fully developed. Your heart still belongs to me. Not the Everneath. I think it’s still wherever the old Cole hid it.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Maybe this is something you could’ve remembered before we came here!”
Jack squinted toward the room we’d just come from. He held up his hand. “Shades are coming.”