The Lofties (The Echelon Book 2) by Ramona Finn (no david read aloud .txt) 📕

in Derrick’s place. A sick chill coursed through me. I’d never do that to Lock, never bury him in the dirt. I’d take him up the mountains, past the snow line, to the sun. I’d leave him there, where the pines could keep vigil.”

“Nothing’s changed for me,” said Ben. “What I felt for you then, I still feel it now.” He didn’t say the rest—that he could see my feelings had changed—but I heard it in his tone, in that subtle resignation. Guilt closed my throat, and I couldn’t breathe. I still cared for him—of course I did—but everything had changed. What had once felt clear and simple now felt tangled beyond recognition.

“Your friend—” Ben touched my arm. I snapped back to myself as abruptly as though he’d slapped me. I pulled away without meaning to, and Ben looked stricken.

“Sorry,” I said. “I’m on edge, is all. Is Jetha back yet?”

“About half an hour ago. But—”

“I need to see her.” I drew myself up, shaking off the cobwebs. “Lock didn’t throw his life away for nothing. We found something, spying for Reyland. Something that could help you.”

Ben exhaled sharply. His eyes had gone flat, maybe with disappointment, maybe just from the sun going down. “She’s unloading the trucks,” he said, already turning away. “They just came from a swap meet. Go inside and I’ll bring her to you.”

“Ben?” I started after him, but he picked up his pace, hurrying across the square. I let him go. I’d hurt him, I knew, but now wasn’t the time. I swallowed my guilt and headed back inside, back to Lock’s bedside and his slow, labored breathing.

“It wasn’t for nothing,” I told him. “I won’t let it be.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ben was quick, true to his word. I’d just dragged a chair to Lock’s bedside when I heard them in the hall, two sets of footsteps, Ben’s and Jetha’s. I stood to greet them and held my hand out to shake.

“Myla.” Jetha gripped my hand and pumped it twice. “You’ve been working with Reyland?”

I nodded. “Me and Lock.”

Jetha bent over him and pressed her palm to his forehead. “Brave boy.” She frowned. “Starkey should be here. Jasper, too. But it wasn’t safe any longer, all of us in one place.”

“I know. Ben told me.” I sat down, feeling tired. “We found—we found—” I hunched over, squinting, as my head filled with static—loud, surging static that overpowered my senses and drowned out my thoughts.

“Myla?”

“What is that?” I clawed at the base of my skull, at the buzzing shivering down my spine. “Don’t you hear—can’t you feel—”

I heard Ben shout, felt Jetha’s hand on my shoulder. I realized I was listing and forced myself upright.

“Outside. What is that?”

“I don’t hear anything,” said Ben. I brushed him aside, drawn to the call. It tugged at me, whispered to me, calling me to its source. My feet moved without my say-so, down the hall, out the door, across the cobbled square. A new truck was arriving, its flatbed piled with crates. I circled around it and stood waiting.

“Jetha?” The driver hopped down, a man I didn’t recognize. He glanced between me and Jetha, fingering the blaster at his side. I edged toward him, head thrumming, dimly aware of Ben barking over my shoulder.

“What’s in those crates?”

“Food from the swap meet. Blankets and toilet paper. A few guns from the meet. Should I—”

“That.” I pointed at his blaster. “Where’d you get that?”

“I swapped for it. What’s it to you?”

Jetha reached for it. “Let’s see it.” I stood transfixed as she turned it over in her hands, examining it from all angles. I felt every shift, like water in my skull. Jetha disengaged the plasma tube and handed me the blaster. Immediately, my head cleared, like when I’d touched Lazrad’s cannon, a slow, quiet resonance rippling through my body.

“This,” I said. “I felt when it got closer. Like a signal.” I thrust it back at Jetha, wanting it out of my hands.

“These are new,” said the driver, eyeing me with suspicion. “All the Decemites have them, since a few weeks ago—punch through breastplates like cardboard.” He reclaimed his weapon and peered down the scope. “That, and they don’t miss. They’ve got these sights for moving targets. Like, it’s not just crosshairs. These ones anticipate, show you where to aim.”

“I’ve seen these before.” I clenched my fists. “They had them at the caves, when they attacked me and Lock. And Lazrad had hundreds of them, and cannons, and drones.”

“Cannons?” Jetha’s brows shot up. “What are you talking about?”

“That’s what I’m telling you. She’s got this whole stockpile, enough to outfit an army.” I swallowed hard, tasting copper. “That’s what she’s doing. She’s making new Decemites, dozens, maybe hundreds of them. She has maps of other Domes, and she’s—”

“Wait. Slow down.” Jetha held up her hands. “Other Domes? Are you sure? Where are they?”

“We didn’t check all the maps. But there’s one past the mountains, far to the east. I could take you there, maybe, but...” I glanced at the blaster again, clenching my teeth against its pull. “What do you know about those things? Have you opened one up, figured out how it works?”

“We’ve tried,” said Ben. “But Jasper went with Starkey. He was our tech whisperer. The rest of us, we tinker, but this isn’t like fixing a radio.”

“We need to get to him.” I squinted past the gates. “These weapons, they’re about to be everywhere. We need to know how to deal with them. How to knock them offline.”

Ben came up behind me, and I felt his hand on my shoulder. “You’re thinking of Lock, aren’t you? Of Jasper’s nanobots? You think he could save him.”

I stiffened. “So what if I am? We need to warn Starkey, anyway. Warn all the other camps. They need to know about those weapons. Plus, with more Domes out there, that could be more sources of gretha. Folks you could trade with, without crawling to Lazrad. If we can save Lock while we’re at