Fif15teen Read online

  Chapter 21

  Law 30

  Do Not Fear the Reaper

  He was lost in the forest all night, afraid to stray from what seemed to be the same tricky path that looped in an enormous circle. It was pitch dark when he finally stumbled into the Dog’s tree city having no idea how he managed to find it. He was met by a profound silence that gave him the shivers. Where did everybody go? There were no boys swinging precariously above his head. No howls or yips reached his ears from high places. To his chagrin, there were no ropes or ladders dangling to the ground either. The tree city was locked up tight, and Akeem was stranded on the ground in the creepy silence. He called for Doc several times but received no response. Finally, although he felt foolish, he howled loud and long, and after a time a face peeked down at him.

  “Pudge! Throw a ladder down,” he called eagerly. After a few anxious minutes, a rope ladder descended. He climbed rapidly then helped roll the ladder up and secure it to a tree. Akeem glanced around. “Where is everyone?”

  “War council. Thaniel’s here and it ain’t pretty. Come on, they’ve been asking for you.” The red-haired boy led Akeem along several walkways, up ladders and down a knotted rope to a large dwelling perched at the center of five enormous trees. The house was the largest that he had seen in Fifteen besides Castle Haven. Pudge pulled aside a strip of cloth, and Akeem stepped in. The room was packed with boys. They sat crowded on the floor and perched precariously on ledges; many hung from the rafters like bats. All heads turned toward him in unison. They looked at him appraisingly, and he had the sinking suspicion that he had just walked in on a conversation about him.

  “It’s about bloody time!” Gideon shouted, shattering the silence. The room erupted in noise; a hundred questions were screamed at him, causing a riotous racket. MacNab boomed for silence, but the rowdy boys paid him no mind. The moment that Thaniel stood to his feet the room became instantly hushed.

  “They have my blacksmith,” Thaniel said brusquely, and Akeem nodded in confirmation. “And what of the girl, what was her name?”

  “Piper,” Doc responded.

  “Yes, good name,” Thanial said while picking the dirt from beneath his nails. “Where is she?”

  “She’s dead…” Akeem began but before he could continue, cheers rose to a deafening level. Boys clapped him on his back, congratulating him on his first kill. He tried to talk over the din, but his words could not cut through the joyous uprising that followed. Thaniel raised a glass, and soon every boy in the crowded room was raising a toast to him. Nobody heard his protests; no one wanted to know the truth. He looked at Doc, pleading. Doc raised a curious eyebrow. Akeem returned his silent question by shaking his head ever so slightly. With that simple gesture Akeem confessed what he had wanted to confess to Thaniel and his Dogs. He did not kill Piper. Doc understood and he raised a finger to his lips advising Akeem to keep silent. Once again, the crowd quieted when Thaniel began to speak.

  “Piper’s death will be a hard blow to Pox and her wicked Angels, but it still will not make up for the loss of my blacksmith. Dregg is a Dog and belongs with us. We will get our blacksmith, and we will get our revenge!” Thaniel shouted, and the boys erupted once again into a frenzied, howling mass. Akeem was suddenly so weary he could barely stand. He didn’t remember the last time he had eaten or slept. The last forty-eight hours had been an exercise in forced wakefulness. His body had been through enough to put a grown man in a stupor. His entire being was tired on the deepest level, and his poor mind was ravaged.

  As the boys raged and stomped the floor, he silently slipped away. He stepped into the cool night air and stared up at a full moon tinged red with haze. His mind replayed the look on Quinn’s face over and over again. Just like the Dogs, she thought he killed Piper. How could she? He fumed. She didn’t know him at all if she thought he was capable of murder without the slightest hint of remorse. Even if he had killed Piper, he would have done it to survive. In this place, there weren’t many options—it was kill or be killed. Would she have preferred to see him lying on the sand with an arrow shot through his heart? She cried for a girl she barely knew and turned her back on him. Why? He had always been there for her. He thought of her at every waking moment since he first saw her curled up with Aly in their matching pajamas. Every day, since his arrival in Fifteen, he racked his mind for ways to find her. Now it all seemed ridiculous. She was happy where she was. Did she even care if he lived or died? He lowered his head and rubbed his temples where a headache was brewing. He couldn’t fool himself; it didn’t matter what she thought about him, he had to find her and he would drag her home kicking and screaming if he had to. But first he needed to get away from these Dogs. He needed to find a way to Castle Haven and steal her away before she got hurt. He was forming a plan when Doc stepped up beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Akeem shrugged it off violently.

  “Leave me alone,” he hissed. Doc took a step back, confused and hurt. Akeem raised his face to the sky. He was fed up with this war and these pathetic boys that lived for killing. He was disgusted by them, appalled. Why didn’t they understand that if they put their weapons down, if they stopped fighting long enough to think, together, they might find a way out of this hell? What was all of this fighting for anyway? It made no sense. Were the Dogs and the Angels just pawns in a battle between Pox and Thaniel? Was it their hatred for each other that began this never-ending feud? He shook his head in frustration.

  He suddenly understood Dregg. He understood why the boy lived alone in a cave in the woods far away from the Dogs of Fifteen. He understood why Dregg’s hold on reality was slipping too. He could clearly imagine what it felt like for the former blacksmith’s apprentice to continually make weapons for a war he didn’t believe in.

  Doc stood to the side looking at him expectantly. Akeem wanted to say something, to explain what was going through his mind, but he couldn’t. There was nothing to say. He turned and stormed off toward the nearest ladder. He needed to get out of here, but Doc’s voice brought him to a halt.

  “We have to do something. They’ll attack tonight, and they won’t stop until either every Angel in Castle Haven is dead or they themselves are. I’ve never seen them in such a rage.”

  Gideon stepped out of the shadows, thick bandages wrapped around his head. “I’ve seen the likes of this when I first arrived, ages ago. We were riled up like snakes in a basket just like the Dogs are tonight; Thanial led us fifty strong into a vain attack on Castle ’Aven. When it was said and done, all but a ’andful of Dogs and Angels were dead and cold. I wager we’ll all die this time.”

  “We don’t have to die, we can choose not to fight. We can take a stand; use this energy to find a way out of here for all of us,” Akeem said hopefully. Gideon laughed hollowly.

  “It won’t work, mate. It’s not the nature of Fifteen.”

  “I’m going to Dregg’s cave. Come with me, both of you. Help me find a way home,” Akeem pleaded.

  “Stay here, you’ll be safer in the trees,” Doc pleaded.

  “There is no safe place in Fifteen, Doc, but at least the Angels can’t burn down Dregg’s cave. Those tunnels go deep; it’s the perfect place for a few booby traps,” Akeem said with an eyebrow raised.

  “Brilliant idea, mate. Go and protect Doc. If any of us come back, we’ll need ’im. I’ll send the weakest ones with you. You’ll look after them, won’t you, Akeem?” Gideon asked wearily, but Akeem was too choked up to do anything but nod his head.

  “Gideon, I strongly advise against fighting. You’re just starting to think straight. Your head needs more time to heal. If you get hit again…” Doc said urgently but Gideon interrupted him.

  “Blimey, Doc, one would think you fancy me. It’s sickening,” he spat, but the half smile that rose on his lips said something completely different. “I go with Thaniel. It’s me place to be at his right ’and.” He knocked a fist against Akeem’s chest adamantly. “Don’t waste your time searching for an escape. The only way
out of Fifteen is through death’s own doorway.”

  “This is ridiculous, Gideon, its suicide,” Doc grumbled, shaking his head in disgust.

  “I’ve been ’ere long enough; I’m ready leave.”

  “But you just said the only way out of here is to die,” Akeem reminded him.

  “Aye, if that’s what I ’ave to do to leave this place, then I’m ready to do that too,” Gideon said gravely before disappearing into the darkness.