The Gender Lie(87)

Viggo had recovered from the struggle with the snake, but I could tell we would need to take another break soon. Still, his discomfort didn’t keep him from answering my question.

“Matrus. I doubt that Desmond has informants in the queen’s inner circle, but with royalty, it’s all about location, location, location.”

I let out a small chuckle—hard to do when running—and then asked him, “So he knows where the queen is going to be?”

“So do you—don’t you remember what celebration is coming up soon?”

I frowned, and then started doing the math in my head. The Patrian calendar was different than the Matrian one, and I hadn’t really paid much attention to the dates when I was serving my time in the re-education program. It took me a minute to remember.

“The Solstice Celebration!” I exclaimed.

Viggo nodded. “Yup—the queen does her little ceremonial blessing of the waters at the Moon Temple, right?”

I nodded. The tradition began when Matrus was founded. It was in celebration of the lunar New Year—a symbolic act of embracing femininity and the power that it bestowed in wisdom, endurance, and patience. The ceremony was held in a small temple just outside the palace that had been built in a cave which had housed the first settlers who’d fled Patrus and its laws.

Suddenly, an image of the silver case with the egg sitting in Desmond’s office flashed in my mind’s eye and I gasped. Viggo shot me a curious glance and then slowed to a stop, taking the opportunity for a break.

I turned back, my heartbeat doubling.

“Vi… what is it?” he asked.

I looked at Viggo and then back at the way we had come. “The egg. It’s still in the facility.”

Viggo glanced back at the miles of forest between us and the building, and sighed. “It’s gone, Vi. We can’t go back for it.”

I nodded, having come to that conclusion myself. “I know,” I said. “Sorry… it just feels weird not having it.”

He nodded, his expression pensive. “Okay… We need to keep going. Time’s running out.”

Letting the egg go in my mind, I turned and we continued moving.

It was hard to gauge how long we had been traveling so far, but I knew we were running short on time—we must have passed the three-hour mark.

I could feel the seconds ticking by, each one more tense than the last. I kept a wary eye out, looking for anything unusual in the underbrush.

Which was how I noticed some rustling in the trees to the left of us that seemed to be keeping pace and then some. At first I thought we might have attracted the attention of some other predator, but through a break in the trees, I saw what clearly looked like legs and shoes. I felt a moment of alarm and had opened my mouth to warn everyone of it when it suddenly burst through the foliage just in front of Viggo and rushed right toward us.





37





Viggo





The cramp in my side had been intensifying over the last few miles and it felt like my chest was about to come apart, but I sucked it up and pressed on. I had no choice but to keep running—if it killed me, it killed me. I would be dead soon if I stopped anyway.

I had been keeping a wary eye on our surroundings, when a boy crashed through the brush, rushing toward us.

I slid to a stop and turned to face him fully, my mind instantly working to figure out how to disable him without harming him. I didn’t recognize him—he was moving too fast for me to pick out any key features or characteristics—but it didn’t matter, so long as I could get him under control.

I curled my hands up into fists and assumed a fighting stance, watching the boy as he barreled headlong toward us. I braced for impact, intent on using his momentum against him by rolling him over my back, when Tim darted between us, turning to face me.

“Don’t!” he pleaded, his eyes wide with fear.

I froze and watched as the boy behind Tim slid to a stop as well, panting hard. He leaned over and coughed, sucking in air. It was obvious he had been running for a long time in an attempt to catch up. As he straightened, I recognized him.

“Oh. Hello, Jay,” I said and he offered a wave, still wheezing. I looked at Tim. “What’s going on?”

Tim shifted nervously and looked at Violet. “Didn’t go to Ms. Dale first,” he said, addressing his sister. “Went to Jay. Asked for help.”

“So… Jay’s here to help us?” Violet asked, looking relieved.

“I didn’t want to stay with her,” Jay said from behind Tim, looking both uncomfortable and disturbed. “When they brought you upstairs, I stayed below and grabbed some things that I thought you might need.” He shrugged off the large backpack he was wearing and held it out. The bag was over-packed, and I could see the seams straining.