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Sofia stared at her. “I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”
Marianella took a deep breath. “I’m going to tell you something. And you can go public with it. Use your city contacts. I just can’t be on the continent when it happens.”
Sofia’s face went dark.
“Alejo Ortiz took funding from the AFF,” Marianella said. “For his campaigns. They’re one of his largest contributors, in fact. All secret. When Hope City achieved its independence, Alejo would become president, of course, and at that point he’d officially pardon the AFF as actual freedom fighters.”
“They would be,” Sofia said. “Freedom fighters.”
“They’re terrorists,” Marianella said. “And that’s how the city sees them now. If you take that information public, Alejo will be arrested and deported to the mainland. They won’t let him back into the city.”
Sofia’s eyes glittered in a way that made Marianella feel hollow.
“I remember the day I told him about my nature. We were in the Dockside Motel. The neon lights were shining through the window.” Marianella laughed at the memory, and it was a laugh like a stab wound. “He’d already told me about the AFF by then. I thought trading secrets would be romantic, like trading wedding rings. I’m so stupid.”
“Not stupid,” Sofia said. “Only naive.”
And then she walked across the room and sat on the arm of Marianella’s chair. She brushed the hair away from Marianella’s face. “It’ll only be temporary,” she said. “Your departure.”
“Yes, of course. When the city completely belongs to you, I’ll come back.”
“You can’t possibly go alone.”
“I won’t.” Marianella took a deep breath and lifted her face to Sofia’s. “Book passage for Eliana as well. I promised her you could do that in exchange for her helping me find out about the virus, and it will be good to have a human with me.” Marianella wondered when that had happened, when she’d begun thinking of humans as something other.
“It’s too dangerous,” Sofia said. “A human can’t make that trip yet.”
“Your icebreakers are safer than any run by the city. I trust you.” Tears glossed Marianella’s eyes. “You need to be rid of Alejo as soon as you can. Even if it’s just for me, for what he did.”
“We’ll find some other way,” Sofia said, cupping her hand under Marianella’s chin.
“There is no other way.” Marianella looked at her. “Unless you want to leave the city to the humans.”
There was a moment, brief and flickering, when Marianella thought that Sofia would agree. That she would give up her goals, just to keep Marianella at her side.
But then it was gone.
“If it’s the only way,” Sofia said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
ELIANA
Eliana smoked a cigarette in front of her tenement building. It was late enough at night that even the smokestack district was silent. No voices echoed through the night, no music spilled out of the windows. The air was still and cold. It reminded Eliana of the amusement park.
A suitcase sat at her feet. It contained as much of her life as she could put into one piece of luggage. Which, as it turned out, wasn’t much at all.
She smoked her cigarette down to the filter and flicked the butt into the darkness. She hadn’t said good-bye to anyone. Not Maria, not Essie, although she hoped both of them would stop thinking of this place as home and heed her warnings and get out of the city if they could. She couldn’t say good-bye to Diego. At least her parents had memorials at the mausoleum, twin urns with twin plaques. But she hadn’t said good-bye to them, either.
It was too risky even to say good-bye to the dead. Ortiz could be watching the mausoleum. The only thing that Eliana had done to prepare was to look up Mr. Vasquez’s forwarding address. At least they’d have a place to go once they landed on the mainland.
The clock tower struck three. Eliana jumped at the sudden noise. Just as the last gong faded away, a sleek black limousine pulled up in front of Eliana’s building. Luciano stepped out and opened the door for her.
“Miss Gomez,” he said, and his soft voice sounded like screaming in the darkness.
Eliana picked up her suitcase and carried it down to the car. Luciano took it from her and slid it into the trunk. Marianella had called her yesterday afternoon and told her the payment for helping Sofia was ready. Eliana had thanked her and placed the phone back into the cradle and stood there with her head buzzing. Last night Eliana couldn’t sleep. The knowledge that her dream was so close to becoming real kept her up. She’d ridden the trains with no destination in mind, staring out at the gray buildings and the gray people and the silver-gray light of the streetlamps. She’d gone to the edge of the city and put her hand against the dome’s glass. And she knew nothing was keeping her here.
It wasn’t a decision. It was just a fact. Hope City was no longer Eliana’s home.
Marianella and Sofia were sitting side by side in the backseat. Eliana sat across from them. She felt empty without her suitcase. Marianella smiled when Eliana climbed in, but she didn’t say anything.
The driver’s door slammed shut, and the engine hummed to life. Luciano pulled the car away from the sidewalk. When Eliana tried to look out the window, she only saw her reflection.
Marianella and Sofia didn’t speak. They didn’t look at each other. But Eliana noticed how Sofia’s hand was laid on top of Marianella’s, a gesture of comfort she’d never expected to see.
Eliana didn’t speak either. After all, there was nothing to say.
They arrived at the docks, which were as desolate as the smokestack district. The air was colder than Eliana had expected. Luciano opened the door again, Eliana’s suitcase sitting at his feet. They stood off to the side as Marianella and Sofia climbed out of the car. Sofia pulled Marianella’s suitcase out of the trunk and held it for her. Marianella smiled.
“The ship is waiting for you,” Luciano said—u
“Give us a moment,” Sofia said.
Luciano nodded, and then gestured for Eliana to follow him on board the ship. She trailed behind him, breathing in the scent of salt and metal. When they reached the gangplank, she looked over at Marianella and Sofia. They were kissing in a pool of yellow light from the streetlamps, Sofia’s hands in Marianella’s hair, Marianella clutching at Sofia’s dress like the world was ending.
Eliana stared in surprise. She couldn’t help herself.
“We should give them privacy,” Luciano said softly into her ear.
“Are they really—” Eliana didn’t quite know how to ask the question. She looked away, over to Luciano. Her face burned. He didn’t seem particularly bothered.
“I believe they love each other,” he said, and carted Eliana’s suitcase up the gangplank.
Eliana looked over at Marianella and Sofia again. They weren’t kissing anymore, but their bodies were pressed close together, and they looked at each other the way Eliana had once looked at Diego. It struck her as strange that Sofia could love at all.
Eliana left them to each other.
Luciano was waiting for her on the walkway of the ship. He smiled at her like a porter and led her away from the gangplank. Walking into the ship was like walking into catacombs. The hallways were narrow and low-ceilinged, and the few scattered lights flickered in time with their footsteps. Everything was old and stank of the sea.
“How long is the trip going to take?” Eliana asked. She thought about asking him about the reprogramming that Marianella had mentioned, but she wasn’t sure it would be appropriate.
“About two weeks.” Luciano glanced at her. “But there’s enough food and water to last for four, in case of an emergency. The ship is co