Текст книги "The Wall"

Автор книги: Lauren Nicolle Taylor

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Deshi slapped him on the back and gave him a massive hug with his spare arm. Joseph wheezed from the pressure. “Whoops, sorry,” Deshi said, easing off. I held out my arms for Hessa, the beautiful boy slapping at my hair like he was batting a rug.

“Bring Hessa over here,” Joseph beckoned. We brought the babies together, darkness and light. “Orry,” he said, “this is your brother, Hessa.” Deshi looked uncomfortable. He smiled but it was tight, his eyes dark and thoughtful, as he stared down at his feet.

I heard the whisper of a cough and turned to see the pale, blond couple. Apella sitting in a chair, looking like death. She reminded me of the bolts of delicate fabric my mother used to lay across a chair as she worked, translucent and feather light. Alexei was rubbing her shoulders, while trying to participate in the conversation. He spindled his way through everything, looking out of practice at whatever he was attempting. But he was trying. I pushed my way into the middle of the talking to catch up with the conversation.

“So how much time do we have?” said Joseph, his face serious, his hair curling around his ears and falling in his eyes. People stopped and turned their attention to him. That assured tone of voice made everyone want to listen.

“The diversions we set up have all been discovered and discounted. I think they will be coming back around for another sweep soon,” Gus muttered, the words tinged with accusation.

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and I jumped. Cal.

“The dogs are ready to go, Dad,” Cal said. I stepped towards Joseph and let Cal’s slimy palm slip from my shoulder. Joseph folded me into his spare arm. I turned to his chest and helped him with the remaining buttons on his shirt, looking up and fake-smiling thinly. I was never good at acting different to how I felt. I swear I could almost feel Cal’s eyes boring into the back of my head. Maybe kissing an unconscious girl meant something different to him than it did to me.

Everyone was talking at once, giving orders or asking questions, the room crowded with bodies and opinions. I felt like a child trying to get attention, having to stand on my toes just to put my head in the cloud of clashing voices and ideas.

I was done being quiet.

“Excuse me,” I shouted, but no one was listening. I put my fingers in my mouth and whistled shrilly. Everyone stopped for a second, which was long enough. Wiping my hands on the back of my jeans, I said, “What’s going on?”

Cal spoke, I wish he hadn’t, even his voice gave me the creeps now. He directed his speech towards me, sending it on a dark, grey sloth of a cloud, his words hitting my face like wet mud. “The Woodland soldiers are doubling back. Surveillance shows they will be here in approximately two hours. We need to evacuate. Now.” He sounded all soldiery. He reached his hand out to me like he expected me to take it so he could pull me out the door. I glared at him, willing him to spontaneously burst in flames. Poof! Into dust! I imagined a swirl of Cal ash being sucked up into the air-conditioning vents. Sadly, no luck. He just stood there blinking, clueless.

Joseph’s arm gripped me a little tighter. I happily dissolved into his chest.

Everyone stared at me now, but I didn’t have the effect Joseph did. They looked at me like I was an annoying interruption. It was times like this I wished I was taller. “What do we need to do?” I asked, already feeling the adrenaline of flight taking over. This is what we do. We run.

Gus spoke this time. He was all business, which suited me fine. “Pack your possessions and meet us at the dog room. We’ll fit you out and show you what to do.”

Throughout the commotion, Apella looked shell-shocked frightened, her big blue eyes wide, her tiny body shaking. I walked to her and took her hand. Her eyes were glassy, vacant. She wasn’t doing so well. “Apella, look at me.” She stared right through me. “It’s all right. Look at me. I need your help.” I considered slapping her, my hand kind of aching to slap someone. Instead, I took Orry from Joseph and placed him gently in her lap. If I gave her something to do, maybe she would snap out of it or at least be distracted. “Can you look after him for me?” She tipped her chin ever so slightly. “You packed up?” I asked Alexei. He nodded. “Ok. I’ll meet you down there. I need to get something.”

People filed out of the room quietly. Now that we knew what we were doing, the arguing was over. Then it was just Joseph and me. Cal turned back and gave me a lingering, wounded look as the door closed. I wished it had hit him in the face.

Joseph swayed a little and sat down on the bed. I rushed to him. He was still a little weak. He pulled his hair from his face and searched my eyes. I gulped. Holding out his hand, he pulled me towards him. He laced his fingers in mine, heat running through them. If I closed my eyes, it would be so easy to forget everything that had just happened and fall into a pond of golden warmth. “What’s going on?” he said.

“You heard them—we need to get moving,” I said, avoiding eye contact as I started throwing things in the pack we were given. I was vibrating. My heart not settling to a rhythm, fast, slow, beat one, beat one, two, three…

He held me still and put his hands to my face, turning it slowly against my resistance to meet his eyes. “I have two questions. One…” he leaned down and kissed my top lip, sparks dancing in our eyes, “why are you and Apella so chummy all of a sudden? And two…” he moved in again, his mouth pulling at my bottom lip, those sparks igniting into flame, “why were you staring at that boy like you were trying to saw him in half with your eyes?”

Lie, I thought. I bit my lip, blinking, stalling. I was trying to come up with a decent lie, anything. Putting my hands in my pockets, all I could fish out was lint and a ball of paper that had been through the wash so many times, it had become a solid ball. I didn’t want to answer either of those questions.

“For your information, I was trying to make him spontaneously combust!” I said.

He let his hands fall but didn’t break eye contact. He rested his forehead against mine.

We didn’t have time for this. “He kissed me,” I blurted. His eyes dropped down, hurt, angry—I don’t know. I put my finger under his chin, trying to lift it but it was like he was made of stone. Even in a weaker state, he was too strong for me.

“And what did you do?” he muttered softly, still staring at the floor.

I was indignant. What did he think I did? Jumped on him and had my way with him in front of the sled dogs? “I kicked him,” I said, standing back with my hands on my hips.

I could see his brows rise beneath the curtain of blond curls. He pounded his hand in his fist. “Where is he? I’ll kill him.” I felt panicked. The last thing we needed was a fight. I looked at him, bewildered.

He lifted his head, his eyes gleaming. He chuckled.

“It’s not funny!” But I was smiling. It was ridiculous. Only I could manage to get myself in this much trouble already. I threw a coat over his shoulders and started dressing myself. Everything they gave us was pure white.

Pulling on the thick, padded boots, I paused, something occurring to me. “Why aren’t you angry, or at least surprised?”

He shook his head, laughing a little. “Rosa, I’m not an idiot. You’re a beautiful girl. You don’t think men might try and take advantage of you?” I snorted. He was an idiot. Was he serious? “But I also know you can take care of yourself.” His confidence in me was startling and probably unwarranted. I blushed, covering it by throwing him the boots and a hat, which he caught easily. He put the boots on and stood. I walked up to him and pulled the hat down over his ears, giggling. He looked hilarious. His hair was poking out at all angles under the white, wool cap. But his eyes, his eyes looked amazing, the white providing the crispest backdrop for the green. I tried not to get sucked into them and show how easily I could lose myself.

I cocked my head to the side like I was listening for something. “Is that why you like me, because you think I’m beautiful?” I hated that my heart was tripping over itself. That it mattered at all. It was a stupid question. No answer he gave me would be a good one.

He looked down at me and put his hands on my shoulders, like he was going to give me a stern talking to.

“No,” he said, finitely. I shouldn’t have been hurt. I had asked for it. I stared at the floor. My white outfit made me look like a giant marshmallow. “I love you because you’re beautiful and you don’t seem to realize it.”

At this I laughed, waving my hand in the air as I took a step back from him. “You know, you should write this stuff down. You could make a pamphlet and hand it out to inept boys who have trouble talking to girls.”

He smirked, irresistibly. “Well, honestly, you already think you’re right all the time. You’re pushy. I can’t imagine what you would be like if you were vain too.”

“Nice,” I said sarcastically.

He pulled my hat down over my ears, as I had done to him, and kissed me softly. “We need to go,” he whispered.

“I’ll meet you there.”

“You can’t go,” he said, his voice laced with worry. “I’ll come with you.” He determinedly stepped towards the door.

“No. Go get ready. I won’t be long. Didn’t you just say I could take care of myself?”

“Not fair, Rosa. I don’t like you using my words against me,” he said with a wary smile.

“Too bad,” I said as I walked to the door. He grabbed my hand and we walked together, our hands straining as we went through the door and moved in opposite directions. Our fingers parted and he gave me one last, checking look. “Don’t be long,” he said in low growl that made me shiver.

He fell into line with the others. I waited until he was out of sight and hurried towards the big metal door by our cabin.

I sprinted, my lungs burning. I imagined someone was chasing me, that something was biting at my heels, and it made me run faster. I passed dark opening after dark opening. The rooms that had been filled with the noise of people talking, the smells of food cooking or coffee brewing, were now hollow, empty caverns, the doors swinging on their hinges from rushed exits. This place was even more tomblike than it had been before.

I got to the door and started turning the cogs, but it was extremely hard to open. I touched the metal; it was ice cold and stuck to my hand. It was frozen shut. I hoped Apella was already down there with Orlando. I shouldn’t have left him alone.

As I was considering abandoning the door and turning around, the ground shook violently.

Not just a small shake. It rumbled, groaned, and threw me off my feet so I was hanging off the door handle, wondering which way was up and which way was down. I heard a woman scream and a man shouting words I couldn’t quite make out. It all churned up together and came out a chorus of terror. But there was no damage that I could see. No rocks falling, no vast cracks in the ceiling. I stupidly decided to continue. I gave the door the biggest shove I could, only managing to open it a crack, but it was enough to squeeze my small frame through. The snow was up to my waist and I pushed through it as quickly as I could, my white suit keeping me camouflaged and very warm.

The cabin was right there. I could see it. Just the gaping eyes of the windows showed in the snow.

Four more steps.

I heard a mechanical whirring sound, metal clashing with rock, flinty chinking. The kind of sound that makes your hair stand on end and your teeth ache, like fingernails on a blackboard.

I couldn’t see where it was coming from at first. My eyes scanned the nearby hills, searching for the origin. It didn’t take me long to see the cloud of dirt and blackened smoke on the hill opposite. Three metal blades attached to a cylinder were glinting against the snow. It was burrowing its way into the hill, like a metallic flower retreating to the earth.

I entered the cabin and grabbed Hessa’s old capsule, feeling a swell of affection for the rough-made pack. I slung it on my back and ran towards the door in the hill, pulling myself through the snow as best I could. Desperately trying to find the edge of the door, I patted the dripping ice with my bare hands. I didn’t shut it but the light, falling snow had hidden the crack. I kept looking behind me. There were no choppers. All I could hear was the clattering and clanking of metal on rock. Then it stopped abruptly. The forest breathed a sigh of relief—way too soon.

It wasn’t slow; there was no build up. It was quiet and then there was so much noise… I couldn’t find myself in it. My body shook, my brain squished and vibrated. I covered my ears but it invaded my head, a ringing, resounding, booming racket. The ground shifted and, thankfully, so did the door. I turned to the hill opposite, but it wasn’t there. It had collapsed in on itself like a sucked-out eggshell. It was nothing but rubble. The carcass showed the intricate steel frame that had held it together all these years. The twisted, broken metal looked frail and delicate, like it had been cut out of balsa. I searched the rest of the view—several other hills had been blown apart all in a line. Two more to go and we would be next.

They’d found us.

I had no time to stare. I wasn’t even sure if I should go back in, but that’s where everyone else was. That’s where Joseph and Orry were. I had no choice.

I squeezed through the door and ran, darting in and around fallen pieces of ceiling and shattered light globes. As I approached our room, I looked up and saw three stories clear above me from a giant hole in the ceiling. The shift in the earth was causing our mound to collapse. Looking left and right, I clambered over a fallen rock, only to hear a moan coming from under the debris. I pulled the mangled metal and coils of wire away, my hand getting shredded by broken glass, and found half a person. The woman’s torso was all I could see. Her legs gone, squashed under the giant, black rock. Her face was covered in dirt. I swallowed hard and swept it away from her face. She pursed her lips and let out a small sigh. Her airways clogged with dirt and rubble, she coughed. I found her hand. It was cold, the life leaving it. I was breathing so fast, my eyes darting around, trying to find something that would help. I couldn’t leave her here. I searched frantically for the rest of her. I put my shoulder to the rock and tried to push it over but it wouldn’t move. I let out a sharp cry in frustration. Her hand gripped me tightly, perfect fingernails digging into my wrist.

“Tell them I did my duty,” she said, her eyes rolling around like she was selecting the words from the air. “Tell them,” she insisted, gripping me even tighter.

I nodded, tears making my vision blurry. She coughed again. Her body lurched and convulsed once and then she was still, shock making my own body still.

But I needed to run.

I wiped my face with the back of my arm, sweeping dust into my eyes. I looked back and watched her body disappear into the wreckage as more of the ceiling rained down on her. Just the small bump of her tightly pinned hair protruded from the chaos. Is that what happens in death? Your body returns to the earth, or molds into whatever you die with?

The ground shook again, the remaining ceiling collapsed, and she was buried. No time. They would be here soon.

I ran down the hallway. The ground lurched and jolted under my feet. I pushed through the dark halls, occasionally seeing flashes of light behind me that lit up the hall for seconds at a time like a camera flash. I swung myself down the ladder, skipping most of the rungs and landing on my feet unevenly, pain shooting through my heels. There was a single stream of light coming from the door. I could hear them yelling as I approached. Joseph’s voice was the loudest. “I’m not leaving without her,” he shouted. Dogs barked excitedly.

I burst through the doors and was confronted with panicked pairs of eyes. Joseph ran to me, tripping over ropes and nearly knocking me over. “Damn it, Rosa.” His hands were shaking but he pulled me to him so tightly that I could barely breathe. I leaned back and looked at him. “I’m ok, but there was a woman… she’s gone. I mean, squashed. Oh God.” I covered my face with my hands to hide my embarrassment at that terrible announcement.

“Mila,” Matthew uttered quietly, holding a charm that hung around his neck to his lips and closing his eyes.

“Mila,” they all said in unison, each holding something similar up and copying Matthew’s actions. They didn’t seem that upset. It was like they had expected it or maybe they had accepted it already. I didn’t have time to contemplate their weird behavior just then.

I threw the capsule on the floor, trying to shake the dead woman’s face from my mind.

Apella was already settled in a sled, her arms folded neatly in her lap like she was about to go on a scenic tour. Alexei handed me Orry and slid in behind her. One of the survivors stood behind them. All the sleds were pointed directly at the wall, the dogs hooked up, jumping and straining at their harnesses. I didn’t understand what was happening. How could we ride out of here? We were underground. I laughed loudly at the idea of us all speeding directly into the wall at full pace. Splat! Everyone stared at me for a second. I was deaf from the blast. My ‘loudly’ was booming.

I popped Orry in the capsule, padded it with scraps of fabric, and slung him on my back. He was secure. Gus stood in front of us and yelled out some basic instructions, left, right, stop. Joseph nodded. I wanted to scream. We couldn’t do this.

I insisted Joseph sit in the front. We were having a ridiculous tug of war about who wanted to put themselves in danger more. But while my back was turned, he climbed out and stood in the driver’s seat. A woman slid into the front of our sled and I squatted behind her, an idiotic pang of jealously hitting me. I wanted to drive.

The ground shook again and the door to the dog room twisted on its hinges. It screamed in metallic twangs as half the ceiling around it fell down a few feet, intact but looking like a burgeoning dam about to burst.

This could have been the worst time possible. But I felt like the words would choke me if I didn’t spit them out now. I turned to Joseph and shouted, “I love you!”

I wish I could say the world melted away in that moment, that time stopped and it was terribly romantic. What actually happened was he snorted, his eyes glowing. I wanted to smack him and throw my arms around him at the same time. I knew exactly what he was thinking. Now? Now is the time you choose to tell me you love me? I tried to wink at him but I think all I did was blink both eyes. At that point, he threw his head up in the air and, although I couldn’t hear him, I could feel his whole-hearted laugh deep in my own chest, spreading warmth through me like no one else could. I rolled my eyes. I was so good at making a fool of myself.

I was speedily ejected from my happy state as the ground become unsteady under the sled and the nauseating sense of movement that was out of my control took over as the floor started rising.

We were on some sort of ascending platform, like an open elevator. Everyone’s faces were tense. Their mouths were set hard, looking up. I didn’t blame them. As we rose, we could see the destruction around us. The cavernous hideout was being scooped out like an old pumpkin, patches of sunlight streamed through vast holes. Big blobs of snow dripped and spilled over the edges like melting ice cream. The dogs were barking and everyone was clinging to their sleds for dear life.

We rose, wobbling, teetering. It felt like we were a plate balancing on a broom handle. It was dark and then suddenly we were pushed out into the frozen air like early spring saplings.

People sighed collectively in relief, but voices were quiet. We had come out on the other side of the hill and were hidden only by the mound that was fast collapsing. We didn’t know where the Woodland soldiers were. We were about a mile from the tree line. The survivors shouted at their dogs, urging them forward, and the dogs obliged.

The shouting morphed into a shattering bellow as the supports for the platform we were on started to give way. Metal creaked and strained as it swung one way and then fell to the side with a clang. The lip of the circular plate was barely touching the edge of the bank surrounding the hole. It looked so precarious it could have been clinging to a single snowflake. We were at the edge closest to the trees. Joseph shouted and the dogs started to run, our sled bouncing off and over a growing gap between the plate and the ground as it started to recede unevenly into the ground.

But there were still groups behind us.

I turned to see their sleds swing sideways and one, two, three of them slip over the edge and fall into the cavern below. Dogs yelped as they tried to find a hold on the metal plate that was now tipped at a 65-degree angle with their claws. They were running in the air as they fell. I wanted to jump up and help them but there was nothing we could do. The people didn’t even scream. I caught the stony face of the bored woman from that first meeting. Air whipped around her face, her sled spun, colliding with the dogs attached to it, making a hollow thud as it slammed into their ribcages. Then they disappeared into the ground in a tangled ball of human and animal.

Who was left? I could see Gus and Cal at the front. Matthew was with them. Apella and Alexei were there. They were disappearing into the snow as the camouflaged sleds and outfits shrank into the whiteness. But where were Hessa and Deshi? My ribs strangled my heart as I searched ahead and behind me, but I couldn’t see them.

I thought I must have been screaming—my voice as loud as the destruction, but my mouth wasn’t even open. My head was rattling, the ringing from the explosion and the pounding panic confusing me. If Hessa dies, I will die, I thought. I won’t survive it. I won’t. I won’t. I could feel Orry’s warmth on my back, realizing I had to. I had to survive anything and everything. It would keep coming, pelting me with new torment, and I would have to keep going, for him.

I kept searching for them and we kept getting further away from the hill, or what was left of it. Joseph expertly controlled the sled. I tried to see his face, to make eye contact, but he was firmly focused on the horizon. We reached the trees and snow-covered branches slapped me in the face. It was so cold it burned. The sharpest pain, a thousand tiny needles burying into my skin. I imagined I could remove my whole face in one frozen mask. My body was warm but the wind on any part of my exposed skin was like a punch.

The woman in front of me was leaning every time we turned and I copied her actions. It made the sled move more smoothly. She was quiet and calm. These people were crazy—or so far removed from crazy, they didn’t seem human.

As opposed to me, who was frantic. Hessa. Where was Hessa? My eyes skittered in my head as I snapped back and forth, combing the frozen tundra for some sign of them. There were none.

I wondered how far we would travel. It was so cold out here. My bones felt brittle and liable to snap. We wouldn’t survive for very long without shelter. A small sense of relief reached up when I realized the dogs couldn’t go on indefinitely. We would have to stop. Then I could make them turn around. I could go back and look for my baby nephew.

But we didn’t stop. Not for a long time. The explosions had either ceased or we were too far away to hear them. The other sleds disappeared into white and I found myself disappearing too, bowed inwards like the answers lay in my belly button. I imagined the soldiers would be searching through the rubble now, stepping over the bodies and doing headcounts. My own head was going over all the possible scenarios. If Deshi and Hessa had survived the fall, they would be back in the Superiors’ custody. That thought pierced through me harder than the cold. They would be better off dead. Then the guilt that accompanied that thought was unbearable. I wished I could talk to Joseph but it was too hard to even turn my head, let alone open my mouth. I tried but my neck was stiff, my voice carried away by the wind and the chorus of panting dogs and paw pads.

We just went on and on, moving through the trees. The sled cut a light track in the snow, gliding over it, almost flying. Everywhere, things that were once familiar were almost unrecognizable. The trees were bare. The light too bright, too shiny, like the sun itself had turned into a giant, cold, fluorescent light, giving off no heat but burning everything with its stark brightness.

We turned a corner and the woods stopped abruptly. A cold, dark line of trees gave way to a perfect 45-degree slope. The other sleds were pooled at the base. The dogs strained to pull their masters up the hill. Some people disembarked and pulled the exhausted dogs up by their collars. We got to the hill and Joseph did the same. His knees reached up as he waded through the snow, looking like he was doing high kicks. I jumped out too, or more like pried my frozen butt off the seat, and battled my way up the incline with Orry on my back.

“Wh-wh-wh-ere do you think we’re going?” I said through chattering teeth.

“Beats me,” Joseph said between his boots crunching through the snow.

The woman who had seemed like a statue up until now spoke. “We’re going home.” She smiled and turned her eyes frontward again, still sitting comfortably in the sled.

Joseph put his arm around me and pulled me close, our hips colliding softly. Heavily padded suits provided an unwanted barrier. “Oh, and by the way, I love you too,” he said as he winked at me and then imitated my attempt at winking, blinking both eyes hard.

I blushed, thinking the snow must be melting around my feet. Must he show me up at everything?

I bumped him with my hip and he fell forward into the snow. We both started laughing, a kind of hysterical laughter that drew away some of the stress we were feeling. He pulled himself up, gave me his irresistible smirk, and we dragged the sled dogs to the top of the hill. The dogs were panting, their long tongues hanging out the side of their mouths. They were spent.

We got to the top and my body cracked, the laughter throttling out of my lungs like a vacuum was sucking the air out. My frozen limbs pulled up and away from me as I remembered.

Run.

The need to flee was so strong, I wanted to jump off the incline and roll down the hill. Keep running and never, ever look back.

Joseph stopped still, his beautiful eyes unblinking. Disbelief stung right through us both. The woman in our sled grunted impatiently and finally climbed out. My eyes flitted to her, irritated at why she had waited until now to help us. She pulled the dogs. It was a battle, though. Now that we had stopped running, the dogs seemed to think they had done their part. Their legs were still. Breathless, they leaned down to lick the snow, little puffs of steam floating from where their warm tongues had touched the ice.

I put my hands to one of their heads and rubbed between its ears, burying my fingers into the soft fur and holding on like it was an anchor. It whined before the woman yanked the harness violently and urged them forward.

Neither of us could move.

I pulled Orry from my back and Joseph carefully shook him free of the capsule. His cheeks were pink and his nose was cold but he was ok. With his other arm, Joseph pulled me close to him. I moved stiffly, my legs buried in snow, my heart somewhere in my stomach. Never in a million years did I ever think we would be back here.

“It’s ok. It’s not the same one,” he said close to my ear, his warm mouth tickling my skin. I nodded weakly. If it was ok, how come he hadn’t budged either?

The rails were mostly buried with snow. But the shape of their path was still evident. Small sections of rusted steel poked out from the white here and there like vague zebra stripes. This twisting path led directly into my nightmares.

The black hole laughed at me. Its stone border grinned with chipped and stained teeth. I could almost see it screaming and howling, with ghosts flying out of its ghastly mouth and flames licking the walls. I felt her arm link in mine but she didn’t push me. She was waiting. She would move when I moved. “Cla—” The name caught in my throat and stayed there, gravelly and uncomfortable.

Joseph started towards the entrance, following the others, assuming I would follow. The tunnel whispered, ‘Hessa,’ for my ears only. I squatted down in the snow, removed my gloves, and plunged my hand into the ice. I let out a squeak as it both scalded and froze my fingers. It hurt but I wanted to feel something else, just for a second. The ice around me turned pink from my cut-up hands.

I shrank back. Blood. Always more blood.

Joseph stopped when he noticed I was still stuck in the snow and beckoned me with his spare hand. Get up and go, I thought.

I was the kind of person that needed time. And I seemed to be someone who was always running out of it. Always having to kick myself, force myself to get over it and move. I wondered if this would ever change or if I would always be fighting and wading against the current.

I trudged on, feeling a strong sense of deja vu. But as we got closer, I could see what Joseph was talking about. It was not the same. Not at all. I hesitated anyway… until the horribly familiar sound of blades slicing through the air started me running to the entrance. I burst through and crouched in the shadows, waiting for it to pass. It got louder and then the sound dissipated into the atmosphere as the chopper swung around and headed back in the direction of the mounds.

Turning my gaze inwards, everyone was unpacking their stuff and stacking it against soot-smattered walls. The dogs were being watered and fed. The weird thing was they were all pinned against the wall like the tracks might rip up and bite them. I stormed in, ready to demand they take me back to look for Deshi and Hessa, when I heard a voice yell, “Rosa, wait!” before I slammed into something solid, hitting my nose quite hard, splinters of pain shooting into the backs of my eyes. The solid thing clanged and then it flickered before me.