Out

Chapter 24

Arcis, 324 E.V., Cent. 40

The gate of Arcis stands wide open and though he swore to meet me there, Aron is nowhere to be found. No one stands there, in fact; it is as if the officers deserted the moment they received report of our rush on Quarantine. The first foot into Arcis is mine. Crossing the threshold into the city of my birth is at once terrifying and calm—terrifying because all the corners of my mind are spinning in different directions.

The houses are smaller than I remember, and yellowed as if they have not been cleansed since I left five years ago. Moss grows in cracks and tops of walls too, a strange phenomenon because greens are not seen during the Centennial.

My Sparks and I take the main road together, searching for any signs that our fellow Cerani are here, but there is nothing. Windows are boarded up, lights turned out, and a few faces peek up to look at us, only to return to their hiding places as quickly as they appeared. The hospital lies straight ahead, but once again, it looks deserted.

"Adrau!" a male voice calls. "Zafirah!" I stop at the sound of my name and turn on my heel to see a man with his face pressed between his front door and the jam. He beckons to me as soon as I make eye contact.

"Yes?" I ask, confused.

"You are looking for the Feral—no, not feral. The tribe. Those people. Yes?"

"Yes," I say.

"Hospital. Achad has them."

"Thank you..."

"I wish to remain nameless," he says. "You understand why. But you are welcome, Zafirah. Your father was one of my closest friends and I am sad he is gone."

"Thank you," I say. The man touches his nose and retreats inside again.

Fear rules this man. Achad was right all those years ago.

The Cerani are silent as we walk through Arcis, perhaps because it feels like a cemetery. Everything is neglected and crumbling. This is not the way I remember Arcis. Though it blurs together in my memory as a sea of grey, it was never this depressing.

The hospital is not far from us now. Once again, the doors are flung open for us, as if Achad is welcoming us to his fair city.

At the closest open doorway, I turn back to my Cerani sisters.

"Let me go in alone first," I say. "Follow in a few minutes."

No verbal confirmations are made but several curt nods indicate their agreement. I step inside the threshold of the hospital, a place a thought I would not see because I also thought a return to Arcis wasn't in my future. Instead of being structured into rooms and wards, the building is one large, long room, and at the far end, clumps of people sit, huddled.

"It worked?" Achad. The voice I dreaded. "I am shocked—here you stand. Can it be? And alone too... have you finally ditched those parasites?" The man himself emerges from a shadowed corner with a whip in hand. He twirls the barbed point without releasing the whip from its casing. He walks along the far wall, balancing his attentions between me and his huddled hostages. I, in turn, walk towards him slowly.

"Or if they did accompany you, as I suspect, all the better. Thank you for saving me a return trip!" He flicks the whip from the casing and allows the cording to drag along the cement floor behind him.

"That was a clever trick you pulled," he jeers, flicking a low-hanging light bulb. "Turning off all my lights and unlocking the doors. It didn't quite pan out the way you had hoped; all the Arci remain in their houses. I told you that fear is poison."