Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) - Jessica Brody Page 0,236

The whole of Ledôme stretched out beneath her. The boulevards with their twinkling streetlamps spreading out likes rays from a glimmering star. The parks, the gardens, the ponds shimmering in the moonlight. And not far off, the Grand Palais. From way up here, the great building seemed so peaceful and serene. Untouched by the horror and carnage that was unfolding right at this very moment.

The memory of it brought her another wave of resolve.

Finally, the elevator began to slow. Alouette looked up again as a single bird swooped and darted through the light from the dazzling beacon at the top of the tower. For a moment, as the car whined to a stop, all Alouette could see and feel and think about was that bird. What was it doing out here so late at night? Why was it up here so high?

She watched it flutter and dip as it played obliviously in the rippling air currents.

And then, it was gone. Swooping gracefully upward and disappearing into the dark night sky.

The elevator clanked into place, and its metal door rumbled open to reveal a small, octagonal room with gleaming marble floor tiles and decorative mirrors on each wall. Inside, a miniature chandelier hung from the ceiling and a heavy titan-embossed door stood like a sentry before her.

She slowly stepped off the elevator and into the chamber. It was like stepping into a tiny version of the Grand Palais. Or how she’d always imagined the Grand Palais to look.

Her heart gave a heavy thump as the door behind her clanged shut, sealing her inside.

There were no windows in here. Just her own terrified face reflected back at her an infinite number of times.

Uncertainly, she glanced around. Was she supposed to do something? Or say something? Her thoughts were cut off by a sudden whirring noise. Alouette yelped in shock just as the sound crescendoed to a high-pitched squeal. A blinding flash seared at her eyes, and all the mirrors in the room morphed into a series of glowing panels. Some of them glimmered with waterfalls of white dots, while others flashed with rows of pulsating red and blue lines. A dizzying sequence of synchronized lights roved and darted across Alouette’s face, then her neck, her chest, her stomach, her hips, her legs, and finally her feet.

Fear instantly began to rise up inside of her. Like an unwanted and engulfing wave. It ramped up her pulse and gnawed at her gut until she felt like she might faint.

And then, a siren blared.

Loud and boisterous and most definitely wrong.

Alouette’s breath quickened as panic overtook her. On one of the panels, the glowing red and blue lines flickered harder and faster like an ominous warning sign.

Doubt started to creep in. Had this been a mistake? Was this fragile hope she held in her heart nothing more than the whims and fantasies of a motherless girl desperate to give her life and past meaning?

Alouette turned around and lunged toward the elevator door. She ran her fingertips around the surface, searching for a handle or control panel, but there was nothing. She banged mercilessly, but it didn’t open.

The sirens continued to blare, and the strips of red and blue lights pulsated harder, peaking at the top of the panel. It was as if the whole room was screaming at her to get out. Telling her how wrong she’d been to come here in the first place.

Alouette’s knees buckled, and she sank down to the marble floor. She held her hands over her ears, trying to block out the sirens, but it only made the sound of her own pounding heart louder.

BumBumBumBumBumBum.

It sounded like an engine running on full throttle, moving faster and faster with no hope of slowing down. And all around her, her fear was mirrored in those pulsing blue and red lights.

BumBumBumBumBumBum.

They seemed to move in perfect synchronicity with her heart. Almost as though they were …

She gasped and stared in wonderment at the ring of glowing panels.

… monitoring her.

Then, in a moment of sudden realization, Brigitte’s words came rushing back.

“The person accessing the lock must also be alive and not under duress.”

Alouette shut her eyes and tried to reach out to her favorite sister, far across the Secana Sea, imprisoned on that little, unknown island. Alouette had to believe that she was still alive and that if she just listened hard enough, Jacqui would speak to her.

“Fear is like a wave. It comes and then it goes away. Just try to breathe.”

Alouette knew the