Page 67 of Code Bound
We walk for about an hour before Locke opens his map and declares that we’re close to the convergence point of three zones. The Red Bloom Court, the Whispering Canopies, and whatever the new area is we’ve yet to unlock. My legs are shaky after all the leaping, but they still have plenty of life in them. I’ve been to the point of my legs being too weak to hold me up before. This isn’t nearly as bad.
“You will not be able to pass into the inner regions of the Harrow until you possess the three keys from the Major Bosses of the outer,” Cipher instructs. “And the Major Bosses may prove too difficult at your current level and with your current weapons.”
I blow out a puff of air. “So, we need three keys to get to the inner Harrow, and five total to get out of the Harrow completely.”
“Precisely,” he agrees. “And you must also be a Tier Three to utilize the five keys to leave the Harrow. You can attempt to leave sooner, but you will not survive the transition.”
“It seems like everything has stipulations attached to it here,” I grunt. “Couldn’t make anything easy, could you?”
“If it were easy, everyone would live in Luxe,” he fires back.
“Oh, wow. Everyone would have food and clean air,” I mock. “What a travesty.”
“Not a travesty at all,” Cipher parrots. “It is simply the structure determined by your kind.”
I stop, frowning. “You didn’t create it?”
“The hierarchy? No. Humanity was supposed to be equal. A few select people determined they preferred power and wealth over the betterment of humanity. Thus, The Cradle remains segregated, and you are here within the Harrow, attempting to better your conditions.”
“You hear this shit?” I ask Locke, who nods his head. Sometimes, Cipher is kind enough to keep him informed as well when I ask questions. Most of the time, he doesn’t bother.
“All the more reason to kill as many of those Luxe fuckers as possible when I get there,” Locke grunts. “Bastards.”
I’d always known the Ascendants kept us segregated and purposely starved us. I’d always known we were rats to them, but to realize that it wasn’t meant to be that way, and they chose it rather than the cards just falling like they had makes it so much worse. Children die all the time in Dross because their little lungs can’t handle the air. People starve every day. Others take the Softlock way out and become Breathers until they stop breathing entirely. And this whole time, they could have just fixed it.
Hecould have fixed it.
“Why would he do that?” Cipher asks. “When he threw her away to begin with, and therefore, threw you away as well?”
“Get out of my head,” I grunt, mentally starting to build a wall brick by brick. My imagination makes it more like a Harrow Gate than I’d like, stacking piece after piece in the hope of keeping Cipher out. “You have no business there.”
He doesn’t argue for once and slips away, leaving me to stew in silence instead with my weird mental image of a junk wall. I’m so lost in thought, I almost don’t notice the shift. And Locke is less perceptive than I am. He only notices when the trees suddenly look completely different.
I stop and straighten. “Are we?—”
NEW ZONE UNLOCKED: Welcome to the Silent Forest
Cipher’s sexy voice announces the notification loud in my ears.
I grimace. “Why is your voice always so different on the notifications?”
Cipher chuckles. “Different how?” he asks, pretending as if he doesn’t know what I’m talking about. Fine. I’m certainly not going to tell him the voice is sensual and sexy. He wants to play games; I can ignore them.
“The Silent Forest,” Locke repeats and opens his map. “Oh, it looks like this zone is just a thin border between this region and one of the inners.”
Frowning, I turn in a circle. “Why though? Why is there a need for a border? Is it because you have to have the three keys to enter the inner regions?”
Locke shrugs. “Beats me. At least we don’t have to fight the man-eating flowers now.”
But something is wrong. Something is off. The name rings in my mind again and I realize it really is silent here. In the other sections, there’d been the sound of animals rummaging through the trees, of insects buzzing, birds chirping. Even in the Red Bloom Court where those creatures were often eaten right out of the air, it hadn’t been silent. There’s none of that here. Nothing makes any noise all. Nothing except us.
Carefully, I slide my mask back over my face, letting my awareness expand outward. I get little pings in the other zone nearby, the Whispering Canopies and behind us in the Red Bloom Court, small creatures moving nearby, larger ones tickling my instincts. But here . . .
There’s actually nothing . . .
“Something’s wrong,” I tell Locke, turning to him as I push my mask up. “We need to?—”
My voice chokes off as I see movement behind Locke. He’s just standing there, staring at me while I stare with wide eyes at the large vine. The largemovingvine.
