Storm

Chapter Thirty-Four

"We're screwed," moaned Max. "We're screwed, we're screwed, we're screwed."

I would've told him to shut up if I didn't also believe it.

How had we even ended up here? Of all places...

"This thing is impenetrable...I don't understand...," Asten muttered as he pressed his palm flat against the nothingness once more.

I just continued staring at the ceiling, sprawled out at the center of our invisible cage. "I know."

"It doesn't make sense." I could tell that Asten was unbelievably frustrated. I was too. I didn't understand how they'd even managed to get such technology.

Maybe they were with the Equator after all.

But if they were, they wouldn't be waiting two weeks to give us a fair trial. They would have already chained us up and have us sent down to the Equator on helicopters to die.

"We're screwed," Max mumbled again, as if saying it one more time would make it less true.

I stood up suddenly. Sitting wasn't doing me any good. All my mind could do was run in circles, wondering whether our friends were even still alive.

"We've got to do something," I announced. I pressed my palm against the nothingness again, trying to calculate how it could work. Trying to understand what could be holding us in place.

There was no sign that something existed. I looked up but there was nothing on the ceiling, nothing on the floor. Whatever was creating the barrier was most definitely out of our reach.

Which meant we weren't getting out by force. We needed to think of something else.

We needed to manipulate them into letting us out.

I turned to face the other two, smiling tightly to myself. "I have a plan."

________________________________

I was already doubting myself.

Honestly, I had a bad feeling about this. It didn't seem like it was going to go nearly as well as I was hoping.

I was banking on the fact that they knew little about us and would believe whatever we told them.

The sun was barely above the horizon when the older dark-haired boy re-entered. He carried a tray with four paper bowls filled with some unknown food. It looked like brown mush, and I wouldn't dare ask what was in it.

Max was on the ground pretending to be asleep. Asten sat with his back against the solid cage, eyes half open. I knew he was far more alert than he was letting on. I stood up from where I'd been sitting and stared at the dark-haired boy, eyes wide.

This had better work.

The boy met my gaze as he ventured close and put the food down right by the edge of the cage. Then, he kicked the tray straight through the nothingness. I stared down as the mush sloshed out of one of the bowls. I became momentarily distracted by the technology -- did it actually work where anything could enter but nothing could leave? It reminded me of some kind of messed up invisible Chinese handcuff cage.

The boy turned to leave, but I called out before he could exit. "Wait."

I prayed he wouldn't ignore me. Fortunately, he paused.

"I have something to tell you."

Focus on the story. Focus on the lies.

He turned back around, eyes locking on my face, reading every single line as if trying to decipher what I was telling him. "And why should I listen to you?"

"Because you'll want to hear this if you want to live."

A small smirk replaced the irritation lacing his features. He didn't seem at all fazed by my implied threat.

"Mmm, what? You've got an army just outside our boundaries waiting to come crashing in here to help you escape? I don't think so." He shook his head like I was a pathetic waste of his time. "Don't worry, you're not the first to stand there, and not the first to try such useless lies."

I shook my head and swallowed. He was already suspicious. This wasn't going exactly as I'd hoped. "No...but I'm guessing you've probably had people stolen from you. Family. Friends. The Equator's reach is far...."

He immediately became stone-faced. "So? Everyone's lost someone by now. There's no denying it."

"And I know you probably want answers...," I added quietly. I guess I was also basing on the assumption that they didn't know too much about the Equator and that they wanted to know more. I knew I had back before I'd ever seen it for myself.

The dark-haired boy looked as though he wanted to shut me down, like he wanted to tell me to shut up and leave. But something stopped him.

Something had him hooked.

"And?" he asked.

"I can offer you those," I replied. I sucked in a deep breath. This was where the lying would come in. "Our friend..." I nodded my head towards Max who was on the ground. "Well...he actually came from the Equator. He lived through a lot of what's going on down there, knows some of the people. We found him wandering after he'd escaped...he told us a lot. A ton. And if you let us go, he can tell you everything you need to know and answer any of your questions."

It wasn't the worst lie. But it was one. We'd realized that admitting that all of us had gone through the Equator would probably turn them against all of us rather than allow them to hear what we'd have to say. They'd honestly probably shoot us on the spot if they'd known what we'd been through. Our history didn't really scream trustworthy.

The dark-haired boy raised an eyebrow. "That's it? That's all you've got."

I stiffened as I realized where this was going.

"The answer is no." He shook his head with a cruel smile. "I don't think you can help me any bit."

Before I could get in another word to convince him otherwise, he stormed out, leaving us alone with our broken escape attempt and a tray full of mushy breakfast.