“You told me to take that Elder to the fourth floor, and I did. ” Doc stands straighter, defiant.
“But you didn’t kill him like I told you, did you?”
“I thought—the Phydus—”
“I think you should take some more Phydus. ” Eldest growls. “Are you protecting him, even now? Are you hiding him?”
“I thought . . . ” Doc looks small and scared. “He disappeared off the wi-com map. I thought he killed himself. ”
Eldest snorts. “You never did check to make sure, did you? Now look where we are. Frozens being killed, one of them awake. ”
“He’s dead, Eldest. I swear he’s dead. ”
I don’t know if Eldest believes him or just wants to believe him. He turns around and picks up the bucket again.
“What is that?” Amy whispers, jerking her head slightly toward the pump.
“It connects to the water supply,” I say, my mind racing. And in that bucket . . .
Phydus.
I stand up. Amy tries to hold me back, but I shake her off. I can’t let Eldest drug them anymore. I can’t let any more Phydus sink into the water. I’ve got to destroy that pump.
I grab the chair Amy and I had been crouched behind.
“What are you doing here?” Eldest asks with a sneer, catching sight of me.
I raise the chair over my head.
“What are you doing?” Eldest’s voice rises.
My hands shake. I can see the future laid out in front of me—a future with me as leader, not Eldest. And no Phydus.
Do I really want to rule without Phydus? I think of the fading bruises on Amy’s wrist, of the conflicts I’ve seen in the Ward, amplified over the whole ship. Can I rule without Phydus?
Then I think about Amy’s eyes when she was drugged.
I hurl the chair at the pump. It clatters against the metal and bounces onto the floor. The water pump continues to whirr-churn-whirr.
“What are you doing?” Eldest screeches. “You’ve gone mad! Just like the Elder before you!”
“What are you doing?” I yell back. “That’s Phydus, isn’t it? Just getting ready for another day of manipulation and mind-control?”
“YOU ARE NOT FIT TO BE ELDER!” Eldest screams. His white hair flies behind him, and he is the one who looks mad. “If you cannot do this, you cannot lead the ship! You are not strong enough to be leader! You never will be good enough!”
In three strides, I cross the room to Eldest and punch him right in the face. Eldest drops the bucket and falls flat on the ground. His nose is bleeding; the thin skin on his cheek is red and broken. I bend down, grab him by the shirt, and yank him back upright. He opens his mouth to speak, so I punch him again, but I still hold his shirt with one hand so he doesn’t fall.
“I am not weak,” I say. My voice is shaking, not with fear, but with suppressed rage. “I am strong enough to know that Phydus is wrong, and that your attempt to control people with it is nothing but weakness. If you were really strong, you’d lead this ship without drugs to do your dirty work. ”
It is not until I am done talking that I realize my voice is the only sound in the room.
“What have you done?” Eldest screams, but not at me—at Amy.
I look up. While I was punching and yelling at Eldest, Amy snuck around the pump, found a tiny door in the side of it, and quite simply ripped out all the wires.
She holds the brightly colored wires in her hand. “Well, that did the trick,” she says, smiling.
73