Children of Ash (Meridian Six 2) - Page 10
“Thank me by following my orders. If you do a good job, you’ll find your time here will be less hellish than it is for other prisoners.”
She crossed her arms. “And if I don’t do a good job?”
“You will be reassigned to the mines.”
Her face paled. No doubt she’d heard the nickname the other prisoners had given the mines.
“You don’t want to spend the rest of your life in the Grave, do you, Bravo?”
She shook her head. I rewarded her with a genuine smile. “Good. Run along, dear. We have a lot to do before sundown.”
Eight
Meridian Six
Children’s laughter bounced off the corridor’s packed-dirt walls. On my way to my sleeping cell, I paused to listen.
It had been so long since I’d heard such a happy sound. In the barracks where I’d been raised, there had been lots of other children, but very little laughter. Now, I sometimes got to enjoy the gift of Rabbit’s giggles, but his voice was already changing into the deep chuckle of an almost-man.
Edging forward, I peeked around the corner into the room where the sound originated. Zed waved his arms to punctuate his animated voice as he told the children a story. The candle in the center of the circle illuminated their faces and made their eyes twinkle with wonder…or was it adoration?
My stomach clenched. Maybe it was my exhaustion or the stress of the conversation with Saga, or maybe it was seeing such unfamiliar innocence in such a dark place, but the scene depressed me. Something like a clenched fist unfurled in my chest and tears rushed to my eyes.
I fell back before any of the children or Zed could see me and ran down the hall to my room. By the time I reached the doorway, the tears fell freely.
Closing the door behind me, I turned to indulge in the privacy of the dark room. But a light flared in the corner—a single match floated through the air, carried by a hand, to light a hunk of wax in a metal holder. Once the wick caught the flame, light illuminated Icarus’s scarred face.
Luckily, the meager light didn’t extend to my side of the room, charitably leaving me in shadow long enough to swipe at my eyes and nose with my sleeve. Icarus squinted at the sound of sniffling. “You’re crying?”
I shook my head. “Not really. Just tired.”
He nodded to dismiss the topic. “We need to talk.”
“Can it wait?” I’d hoped he’d take the hint and leave me alone. Apparently it was just not my lucky night. Hell, it wasn’t my lucky life.
He limped forward. With the light behind him, I couldn’t see the scars on the side of his face and body, and he looked almost handsome. “Afraid not.” He nodded toward the cot and waited until I was settled to pull over a stool for himself.
The dim light and the close quarters created unwanted intimacy. I folded my legs in front of me on the bed to gain some distance.
“What’s up?” I sounded brittle, but I was too tired to disguise it.
“We have to talk Saga out of his plan.”
I didn’t bother asking him how he knew. Despite his dramatic exit from the conversation, I should have known better than to assume he wouldn’t eavesdrop.
“I refused.”
A lazy laugh escaped his lips. “We both know he’ll convince you tomorrow.”
“I would have thought you’d love the idea of killing Dr. Death.”
“I would if I thought it was possible. Saga means well, but he hasn’t been on the inside. Hasn’t seen what Dr. Death is capable of. Even if you could get inside and kill him, which is highly unlikely, you’d have no chance of escaping the camp.”
“You escaped.”
He lifted his ruined left arm. “Barely. And that was just me. You’re talking about getting at least two other people out with you.” He shook his head to indicate the mere idea was futile at best.
“Look, I already said I’m not interested. There’s no point arguing about whether his plan can work.”
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