The Blue Tower

Chapter 23

EMMA AND I are halfway down the row of beds when someone calls my name. Helena's voice is emphatic but quiet. Her face nearly matches the white sheets of the bed.

"You're still with us," I say, failing to sound excited and wishing she was Kiyo.

Helena's lips open slowly. "Can't...move."

"I couldn't either. Keep trying. It gets better. I think it's what the Scouring does to us. I lost track of you. What happened?"

"A boy...from Green. He took me and...and..." Her lips move more easily, but her cheeks redden as her voice drifts away.

"What?"

"Well, I, um, kissed him," she says. "I didn't know what else to do. I was desperate to get him off his guard. And...he was kind of cute."

"Seriously? In the middle of the Scouring?"

She smiles with her lips pursed. "What? You thought the only way was to respect the mind? Some of us can't blow somebody off their feet with the wind, but even I can turn someone's head and plant a kiss. There's more than one way to blow a boy away. And it worked—the boy from Green let go of me, like he was shocked...and a little excited. I had his hand in mine when a loud voice spoke and a fire burned everything. Next thing I know, I'm here."

I shake my head in disbelief. "Maybe as long as no one's holding you at the end, you get out? No matter how?"

"Maybe. And if you have a hold on someone else, they go with you." Helena's smile fades as she turns to Emma. "Who are you?"

"This is Emma, from Yellow," I say. "I guess that means we won?"

"Paralysis is some prize." Helena has managed to lift herself up on her elbows.

"Did you see Kiyo?"

"Two boys from Black had her. She didn't have a chance."

"No..." I stammer. "Are you sure?"

"She'd been in Blue a long time. Maybe she was due to move on. She'll be okay." For once there's sympathy in Helena's voice.

"But in Black?"

"I don't know," Helena says, glancing at Emma. "We use links to control our servants. Who knows what they do?"

Around the room of beds, there are other familiar faces from our group. Kiyo might be the only one we lost, and she's the one I most wanted to protect. I can't bear to think about her in Black. I count the bodies in the room.

"Someone else must have made a capture," I say. "There are thirteen of us in here. Who's new?"

"Me..." a boy groans in the bed beside Helena's. "Jack."

I recognize him as one of the three boys who had been chasing Max when he attacked us. Jack has the same wild look as Shelley's servant Adele, from Green. He has bushy brown hair and thick eyebrows. Even with his white robe and silver band around his neck, he looks...unmanageable.

"You're from Green?" I ask.

The boy manages to turn his head toward me. "Yes."

Helena gasps, "It's you!"

He nods, and I quickly understand the knowing look that passes between them. It's the boy Helena kissed.

The two of them keep staring at each other, maybe as Helena gets used to his feelings through the link at his neck. I can sense Emma's feelings turning from curiosity to awkwardness. She's also hungry and a little angry at Helena. I guess Helena could rub a lot of girls the wrong way.

"Emma and I are going to get some food," I say. "Want to come?"

"I don't think I can stand yet," Helena says, her lips curving into a smirk as she stares at Emma. "You go ahead with your new servant, and I'll go with mine."

No one else speaks to us as we leave. When we reach the center of the tower with the path winding down, Emma stops and looks up and down. "Wow..."

"What? Different than yours?"

She nods. "You can't see all the way from top to bottom in Yellow. It's more beautiful there, but this is amazing. So different. It's like they want you to feel the height."

"The wind moves through the tower. It keeps the air fresh."

She breathes in through her nose. "Salty."

"It's the ocean. Come on, you're going to love where we eat." I lead the way down, surprised at how the Blue Tower makes me feel proud. It's my tower. Maybe showing it to someone new makes it more like home. There's so much she'll need to learn, and so much she can teach me.

We're a couple floors away from the underwater dining hall when someone calls my name again. The voice makes me freeze.

"What's wrong?" Emma asks.

"It's Abram. Our leader."

"Who is...?" Her voice fades as she turns and sees him. His beard funnels down his chest and to his knees. His eyebrows arc like winter willows over the clear blue pools of his eyes.

"Welcome, Emma," he says, with a slight bow. "I imagine you have questions?"

She nods, and he motions to me. "Cipher will have answers. You will serve him until you convert to Blue."

I can't help but wonder: what am I supposed to do with a servant?

"The Healer chose me as Yellow," Emma says. "I will not convert."

"The Healer and the Genius are facets of the same jewel. But very well, you may serve as long as it takes." Abram turns to me. "I will show you your new quarters, fitting for third class."

"Thanks!" Third class! That means a better room, a new robe, and fewer chores. Maybe more perks. Maybe Abram will answer more of my questions. "Who is the Genius?" I ask.

"I wondered how long it would take you to ask. He's our true leader, the one I serve. He built our tower, made our rules. He watches us and will come back when all is ready."

"We say the same of the Healer," Emma says.

"Facets of the same jewel." Abram holds out his staff, the blue orb gleaming between us. "In Blue, we do not presume to understand the Genius's purpose, as you do with the Healer. The Genius makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind. He makes winds his messengers. Those of us who hold the most of the Genius spirit, like Cipher here, can use the wind as the creator does."

This explanation, strange as it is, somehow fits. When I've harnessed the wind, it never felt like my own to control completely. Maybe that's why I can use it only at certain times, in certain ways.

Abram slowly swings his staff until it points to me, the blue orb at my chest. "Now that you are third class, you may combine your power with this one's power—" he nods to Emma—"and perhaps you'll survive another Scouring."

"Another one?"

"Soon enough. If you prove yourself ready. Come along now."

He begins walking up the pathway. Emma looks to me, questions in her eyes. It's not like I have answers, no matter what Abram says. But I also know exactly what Emma feels: deep wonder, laced with fear and stubbornness. I feel about the same way.