I was pretty sure I could survive some unsterilized water.
“Alright, here,” Trevor said finally, pointing out a place on the map. “This should be pretty close to the place Luke told me about. Tell your elite to wait for you there, you can check every day if you want, or just stay there.”
“Sound good?” I asked.
“Fine,” Penelope agreed.
Trevor took out a pen and paper drew a map and directions on the bottom.
Penelope scrawled a quick note.
We’re safe. Gone to shelter. Find me.
We tucked the note into the hiding place where we’d found the first one, only a little deeper. Hopefully, nobody would find it if they weren’t looking in the just the right place, which meant it would still be there whenever Tobias came back.
It was nearly dark, and the sky was a deep lavender behind the cloud cover and ashfall.
My stomach was still queasy and tense, with occasional spasms of pain that made me stop to catch my breath. I hadn’t eaten real food in several days. But I didn’t feel like eating. I couldn’t stop thinking about Mrs. Hartmann.
What would Damien think, that I’d found his mother and left her there, rotting in a cage. I hoped he’d understand, but how could he? Would I even get a chance to see him again, to explain? So much had happened since he’d opened the gates, saving me from his father’s wrath. Did he mean to share that memory with me? Did he want me to find the cure? Our paths seemed to be growing farther apart with each step I took into the wilderness, away from the citadel.
Trevor walked silently behind me. At one point he gave my hand a squeeze, but that was it. I was grateful he wasn’t pressuring me to talk like he usually did. He was in a foul mood too. He already hated the elites, for what they stood for; but he’d never really experienced what they were capable of. To be used, manipulated, until you couldn’t even trust your own mind. How could you beat an enemy like that? Maybe he was realizing his revolution wouldn’t be easy as he imagined.
“Hold up,” Penelope called after we’d been walking a few more hours. It was late now, and the elixir in my system was all used up. I could tell, even if I wasn’t wearing the monitor, because my feet and legs were aching, my muscles burning. I curled my fingers around my last vial of elixir, holding it up to the light and tapping the glass. It was nearly empty, but there was probably a drop or two left. I wanted to drink more, but it would be selfish not to share, and I was sure Trevor would tell me to save it for an emergency.
“What’s up?” Trevor said. “We don’t have that much further to go.”
“Shopping outlet,” Penelope said, pointing to a low row of wide, open buildings with large broken windows.
“Looks like a slagpaw den to me.”
“We can clean up when we get to the base,” I said.
“Easy for you to say,” Penelope said, crossing her arms. “You’re human. You can look like shit and they’ll still accept you. In fact, the worse you look, the better. But what about me? I’m an elite, and I look like this,” she gestured down at her figure. I could see her curves and slim form even through the bulky, soiled clothes she was wearing. She’d left Crollust looking like a princess, but now she was wearing the tattered remains of the bloody nightgown she’d picked up in Sezomp, barely hidden by Tobias’s dark coat.
With the long sword at her side, not to mention the bullet hole under her collar, she looked terrible and dangerous. And she was hungry, I could tell. Unease flickered in my mind. Should we really even be walking into a rebel hideout with a hungry elite in tow?
“She’s got a point,” I said. “If we show up with her like that, they’ll have a heart attack.”
“Fine,” Trevor said. “Ten minutes.”
Trevor stood guard out by the front as I followed Penelope into the building, stepping carefully through the broken glass. It was a large warehouse, with steel rafters, mostly just a shell of bricks. One corner was completely eaten up by weeds and bushes. A large tree had fallen through the roof, and was fostering dozens of large, bright orange mushrooms.
I turned my flashlight on, covering it with my sleeve to block the light, so it was just barely bright