The Lofties (The Echelon Book 2) by Ramona Finn (ebook reader play store .TXT) 📗

authority. “Don’t try to move him. You’ll just hurt him worse.”

“But—”

Lock made a retching sound. Jerrod lurched to his side. He tore the mask from Lock’s face, but his head wouldn’t turn. Vomit poured down his cheeks and soaked into the pillow. Jerrod cursed aloud.

“Suction. Get me suction!”

“By the ventilator.”

Jerrod grabbed an evil-looking instrument, a gleaming metal nozzle hooked up to a hose. He jammed it in Lock’s mouth, and a terrible sound filled my ears, all wet and messy, like breathing through soup. I stroked Lock’s hair, trying to comfort him, but his cries gurgled through his vomit, raw with pain.

“Airway’s clear,” said Jerrod. He got Lock’s mask back on him, and I felt his breathing ease. I wrapped my arms around him and willed him to keep going.

“You’re okay,” I told him, whispering the promise into his neck. “I know it hurts now, but you’ve got to hold on. Just do that, keep breathing, and I swear, it’ll get better.”

Lock moaned, a bloody sound wrenched from deep within. His eyes were wet, the tears streaming red instead of clear. His fist thumped on the bed, and a tremor ran through him. His face twitched, then his foot, and he fell back on the mattress. He coughed, licked his lips, and finally, finally his eyes seemed to focus.

“Lock?”

He made a faint sound, lips moving under his mask.

“Jasper. He’s looking at me.”

“Why, yes. Yes, he is.” Jasper shone a light in his eyes and watched the pupils contract. “Now, let’s see—” He unwound one of Lock’s bandages, and I whooped out loud. Where there’d once been dead flesh, stinking with pus, clean new skin was forming. Lock was losing his gray pallor, his breathing returning to normal.

“So he’ll be okay?”

Jasper frowned. “He’s not out of the woods yet. But this is promising. An excellent start.”

Lock’s eyes drifted shut, and my heart caught in my throat. “What happened? What was that?”

“He went to sleep, I think.” Jasper tested Lock’s pulse and let out a shaky chuckle. “Yep. He’s just sleeping. You can stay with him if you’d like, but we should get him cleaned up.”

“Yeah. Yeah—he hates to be dirty.” I thumbed puke off his cheek. “He won’t remember this, will he?”

“Probably not.”

I leaned down and kissed him, where his mask had slid down his forehead. “Sleep well,” I told him. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

We drove back to Stillwater on a clear fall afternoon. The air was cool and bracing, the sun pale overhead. Some wistful song was playing, one I’d heard around camp.

“I’ve missed this,” said Lock. “Driving, I mean. The wind in my face, some sweet tunes on the radio. Next to a good bath, this is where it’s at.”

“Oh, yeah?” I stretched out in my seat, stretched till my back cracked. “Got a list, do you? Like, Lock’s all-time top five?”

“I do, actually. But you’re making fun of me, so I’m not gonna tell you.”

I blew him a raspberry, but he just laughed me off.

“I like this too,” I said. “I almost wish we could keep going, just head straight past Stillwater, all the way to the coast.”

Lock made a snorting sound. “That’s hundreds of miles.”

“Now, who’s making fun?” I flicked him halfheartedly. “Wouldn’t you want to see the ocean?”

“Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn’t.” Lock turned toward Stillwater, heading down the valley. “If it’s like Sky, then no. I mean, not full of towers, but... remember our Ascension?”

I shuddered. “How could I forget? Watching the Dirt fall away, trying to pick out my parents in the crowd—”

“The best part for me was the night before.” Lock smiled, sad and wan. “We had this big dinner, me and my whole family. They were all so excited, and I got caught up in it. I got this feeling, this certainty—I just knew it’d be great. That was it for me, that moment, my dream coming true. My dumb, crappy dream.” He huffed laughter through his nose.

“I get that,” I said. “I was that way with the sun, built it up in my head into this magnificent thing. And the worst part—it is. But my fantasy was so wrong, the first time I saw it, I was like... really? That’s it?”

“So we won’t dream of the ocean.” Lock flashed me a grin. “We won’t read about it, or look at pictures. We’ll drive out there one day, when all this is over, and we’ll just be surprised.” He pulled up to the gates and leaned out past the windshield. “Hey. When the earth breathes?”

“You’re supposed to wait for the challenge.” The guard shot us a black look, but he let us through. We parked our truck with the others, and I reached for my seat belt.

“I should go see Jetha. She said to come straight away.”

“I’m coming too.” Lock made to get out, but I held him back.

“You don’t have to,” I said. “I’ve put you through plenty, dragged you in deep enough. If you’d died because of me—”

“Because of you? You saved me.” Lock turned to me, incredulous. “Look, I should’ve said this sooner, but I’ve been meaning to thank you. This should have been my fight all along—not just mine, but all of ours, every worker, every Decemite. Everyone burning their lives away so Lazrad can have her empire.”

“Lock—”

He laughed so loud I jumped, and he broke out in a grin. “Don’t you see? I was living like a coward till you showed me the light. It was right there in front of me, everything I didn’t want to see, but I wouldn’t look. You made me look.” His gray eyes blazed bright. “Without you, I’d still be dying, but I’d be dying blind. I’d be dying for nothing, and what good is that?”

“How are you feeling?” I pressed my palm to his forehead, but Lock shook me off.

“I’m fine. Better than fine. Jasper knows what he’s doing.”

I had to admit he looked good, clear-eyed and ruddy-cheeked. He jumped out of the truck