Read Online Phoenix by Elizabeth Richards - Free Book Online Page A

him,” Natalie says. “Emissary Vincent cares about
all
people, not just the Sentry. My mother thought it made her weak.”
    “If she’s flipped sides, this is great for the cause!” Beetle says. “She runs all
     the munitions factories, and without weapons, he has no power.”
    Before we can discuss it any further, the monitors spark back to life, and February
     Fields’s face appears on the screens. She breaks out into a smile, but it doesn’t
     reach her sea-green eyes.
    “Citizens, our apologies for that short technical glitch. Oh, the perils of live broadcasting,”
     she says, as if it were just some innocent mistake. “Thank you, Emissary Vincent,
     for that rousing speech. And now back to the Copper State to continue with the voting.”
    Emissary Vincent is nowhere to be seen, and is it my imagination, or have the television
     cameras moved position? A young man hurries onto the stage, casting his eyes toward
     something offscreen. He drops his ballot paper in the YES box. Beetle curses loudly. An elderly woman is called up next. Her eyes also flash
     toward something hidden just out of view. I squint at the monitor as a dark smudge
     appears in the bottom right corner of the screen—it wasn’t there a moment before.
     The television camera pans slightly to the left, and the smudge disappears, but not
     before I’ve worked out what it was.
    Blood.
    I gasp. “Ash . . .”
    He’s seen it too.
    “You don’t think . . . ?” It’s too horrible to say.
    He nods. “They shot her.”
    * * *
    We lose the Copper State. It’s over. We’ve lost.
    “And there we have it, citizens!” February Fields says brightly when it’s all done.
     “The results are in, and the nation votes in favor of Rose’s Law, five to four.”
    The screens cut to footage of each of the state capitals, where people are cheering
     and clapping wildly. A victory party is happening outside Rose’s palace in Centrum,
     with elaborate decorations and dancers in glimmering outfits performing in the city
     square. They must’ve been planning this tableau for weeks. I notice that SBN news
     skips over the Copper State in their little montage of victory celebrations.
    The national anthem plays, and the broadcast ends on a graphic of a stern-looking
     blond boy and girl, accompanied by the words ONE RACE. ONE FAITH. ONE NATION UNDER HIS MIGHTY.
    Sigur and Garrick leave the Boundary Wall, returning to the ghetto on the other side.
     A moment later, there is a terrible sound as thousands of Darklings wail in grief.
     Ash shuts his eyes, a pained expression on his face.
    “You did everything you could for them,” I whisper.
    “It wasn’t enough,” he says quietly.
    “What are we going to do now?” I say.
    “The only thing we can do—get ready to fight and defend the ghetto,” Roach says. “We’ll
     hold the Sentry off for as long as we can, but it’s not going to be easy without our
     stockpile of weapons.”
    We all look at each other, thinking the same thing: how are we going to protect the
     Darklings from the full might of Purian Rose’s forces? We weren’t prepared for this.
     Until yesterday, we thought Rose’s Law was just about keeping the Darklings segregated,
     not shipping them—and millions of others—off to the Tenth, to be enslaved and exterminated.
    “Fight or die trying, right?” Beetle mutters.
    Roach goes to talk to Juno, along with the other adults, while I hug Ash, trying to
     remain calm while the reality of what this means crashes over me. As a twin-blood,
     Ash will be sent to the Tenth along with the rest of the Darklings. It’s only a matter
     of time before the Sentry guards start shipping everyone out. How long do we have?
     A month? A week? A day?
    “It was all for nothing,” Ash whispers.
    “No it wasn’t,” I say. “We stood up for what was right.”
    Ash brushes his fingertips across my cheek, his eyes dark with grief.
    “I’m so sorry,” he whispers.
    My brow furrows.