Reached (Matched #3)

But instead of moving down the mountain to the landing meadow, the ship hovers over us, the blades rotating so that it can stay suspended in the air. Eli flinches, and some in the crowd duck instinctively. They’re remembering firings in the Outer Provinces. Someone else moans, far back in the crowd.

The ship dips down slightly and then comes back up. The intent is clear, even to me. He wants us to move so that he can land in the village circle.

“He said he’d never try to land here,” Colin says, his face pale. “He promised.”

“Is the circle large enough?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” Colin says.

And then everyone moves. Xander and I turn to each other and he grabs my hand. We race away from the circle, our feet flying over the grass and ground, the air whipping above us. The Pilot is coming down. He might not survive the landing, and we might not either.

What would drive the Pilot to do this? It’s only a short walk from the landing meadow up to the village. Why can’t he spare the time? What is happening back in the Provinces?

The ship dips and tilts; the air is always moving in the mountains. The ship’s blades churn and the wind whips around us, so we hear nothing but a howl and a scream as the Pilot comes down, down, down, crashing through the trees, ship turning to the side.

He’s not going to be able to land it, I think, and I turn to look at Xander. We’re pressed up against the wall of a building for shelter and Xander’s eyes are closed, as if he can’t bear to see what comes next.

“Xander,” I say, but he can’t hear me.

Again the ship tips, turns, shudders down closer and closer to us, too near the edge of the circle. There’s nowhere else to run. There’s not enough time or space to go around the building. These thoughts flash fast through my mind.

I close my eyes, too, and I press against Xander as if either of us can keep the other safe. He puts his arms around me and his body feels warm and sound, a good place to be at the finish. I wait for scraping metal, for breaking stone and cracking wood, for fire and heat and an end as sudden as a flood.

CHAPTER 52

KY

Cassia’s not here anymore,” I say. My voice is a whisper. Weak and dry.

I don’t feel like I do when I’ve been asleep. I know time has passed. I know I’ve been here and that there was a time when I was gone. I try to move my hand. Do I succeed?

“Cassia,” I say. “Can someone find Cassia?”

No one answers me.

Maybe Indie will do it, I think, and then I remember.

Indie’s gone.

But I’ve come back.

CHAPTER 53

XANDER

When I open my eyes, the air ship fills the village circle. Cassia is tucked into my arms, holding on tight. Neither of us moves as the Pilot climbs out of his ship and stands almost exactly where I stood moments ago, over by the troughs.

Colin strides forward into the circle. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asks, furious. “You almost destroyed part of the village. Why didn’t you go to the landing meadow?”

“There’s not enough time for that,” the Pilot says. “The Provinces are falling apart and I need every minute I can get. Do you have a cure?”

Colin doesn’t answer. The Pilot looks past Colin in the direction of the research lab. “Find Oker,” he says. “Let me talk to him.”

“You can’t,” Leyna says. “He’s dead.”

The Pilot swears. “How?”

“We think it was a heart attack,” Colin says.

Everyone looks over at me. They still think I’m responsible for what happened to Oker.

“Then there’s no cure,” the Pilot says, his voice flat. “And no chance for one.” He starts back to the ship.

“Oker left us a cure,” Leyna says. “We’re about to try it on the patients—”

“I need a cure that works now,” the Pilot says, turning around. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to come back here again. This is the end. Do you understand?”

“You mean—” Leyna begins.

“There’s a faction in the Rising that wants to remove me from my position,” the Pilot says. “They’ve already taken control of the patient disconnections and the rations. If they succeed with my removal—which they will—I won’t have any access to ships or a way to get you to the Otherlands. We have to have a cure. Now.” The Pilot pauses. “The Rising has ordered disconnections of a certain percent of the still.”

“What is the rate?” Cassia asks. She walks out into the village circle as if she has every right to be there. Leyna narrows her eyes at Cassia but lets her speak. “We projected that they’d start releasing around two percent of the still to preserve the maximum amount of life while still freeing up others to work.”

“That’s where they began,” the Pilot says. “But they’ve increased it. They’re recommending twenty percent, with a further increase to come.”

One in five. Who would they pick to cut off first? The ones who went still early? Or later? What’s happening to Lei?

“It’s too many,” Cassia says. “It’s not necessary.”

“The algorithm assumed that people would be willing to help,” the Pilot says. “That they wouldn’t leave the still behind. And the Rising has released the sample storage. They’re giving out tissue samples to people if they’ll agree to let their loved ones be disconnected to save space.”

“People aren’t actually agreeing to such a thing, are they?” Cassia asks.

“Some are,” the Pilot says.

“But they can’t bring anyone back,” Cassia says. “No one has that technology. Not the Society, not the Rising.”

“The tubes have never been about bringing people back,” the Pilot says. “They’ve always been used to control the people who are here. So I’ll ask again. Do you have a cure?”

“We need more time,” Leyna says. “Not much.”

“There is no more time,” the Pilot says. “We’re getting low on food. People are running away from the Cities and into the Boroughs, where they attack those who are left, or they take off for the country, where they die of the mutation because we can’t get to them in time. We’re running out of the ingredients Oker recommended for inclusion in the fluid and medication bags, and none of the scientists in the Provinces has found a cure.”

“There is a cure,” Cassia says. “Xander can show your pharmics how to make it.” She holds out a tube to the Pilot. She’s at the game table and she’s throwing down all her cards.

For a second I think Leyna and Colin aren’t going to let Cassia get away with it, but neither of them says anything. Everyone watches to see what Cassia will do next.

“How many people have you tried it on?” the Pilot asks, taking the cure from Cassia.

“Only one,” Cassia says. “Ky. But we can make more.”

That makes the Pilot laugh. “One person,” he says. “And how do I know Ky really got cured? When I last saw him, he wasn’t even still.”

“He was sick,” Cassia says. “You saw him yourself. Everyone here will vouch for his illness.”

“Of course they will,” the Pilot says. “They want passage to the Otherlands. They’ll agree with anything you say.”

“If this is your last chance to come to the village,” Cassia says, “then you should at least see what we have. It won’t take long.”

Leyna moves closer, smiling, as if she’s been in on this all along. But when she gets near enough to Cassia that the Pilot can’t hear, Leyna hisses, “Who? Who helped you?”

Cassia doesn’t answer that question. She’s protecting the people who helped with the cure: me, the guards, Anna, Noah, and Tess. “It’s Oker’s base,” she says loudly. She’s looking at the Pilot but speaking to everyone, trying to get them to go along with her in this. “And it’s the ingredient he wanted in it. This is Oker’s real cure, and it’s working.” She starts down the path to the infirmary. “It would be a shame,” she calls back to the Pilot, “if you came all this way and then didn’t get what you needed.”

The Pilot follows her across the village circle, and so do the rest of us. Cassia pushes open the door to the infirmary as if she’s perfectly confident that everything inside is fine. But I see how her lips tremble when Ky looks up at her, his eyes clear and aware. She didn’t know it was working, at least not this well. And then, for a second, it’s like none of the rest of us are here. They’re the only two in the world. “Ky,” she says.

“Can we run yet?” he asks her. His voice is barely a whisper. Everyone, including Leyna and Colin, leans in to hear Ky, even though what he’s saying isn’t meant for the rest of us.

“No,” she says. “Not yet.”

“I know,” he says, and there’s a half smile on his face. She bends down to kiss him, and his trembling hand reaches for hers, but he can’t move it far enough yet. So I lift up his hand and put it on hers. I help him to reach her. For a moment, I’m a part of it all. Then I’m just apart.

The Pilot looks down at Ky and then up at me. Does he believe us? His expression doesn’t give anything away. “Oker said this was what you should use?” He’s asking me directly. It’s my turn to convince him now. Cassia and Ky have done what they could.

“Oker told me about his work in the Society,” I say. “I know that he was part of the team that originated the viruses. I know how much he wanted to find the cure. And I think he did.”

“If what you say is true,” the Pilot says, “we’d need to do a full trial of the cure somewhere else.”

“How secure is the medical center in Camas where Indie found me?” I ask.

“We still have control over it,” the Pilot says. It’s a strange feeling to have someone I once believed in deciding whether or not he believes in me. I meet his gaze, the two of us standing face to face.

He knows I’m not telling him everything, but he decides it’s enough. “I can fly the three of you out now,” the Pilot says. “Seeing Ky might convince some of the pharmics and medics to start a trial. Where can we find more of the plant you used? Do you have stock on hand?”

“Yes,” Anna says. “I stayed out digging them all night.”

“And I may know where we can get more,” Cassia says. “My mother saw a field with this flower once. The Society destroyed that field and Reclassified the grower, but there might be something left. If we can bring my mother back, she’ll remember where she saw the flowers.”

“Let’s go, then,” the Pilot says. “Get Ky on the ship.” He turns on his heel and walks out the door without looking back at us.

“Thank you,” Ky says to me as we bring him onto the ship, Cassia close behind.