City of Dust: Completely gripping YA dystopian fiction packed with edge of your seat suspense. Michelle Kenney

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       Chapter 3

      ‘In the name of Arafel …? Why!?’ Max interjected, his golden skin darkening with a scowl.

      We’d finished the trout stew, and Mum was silently cutting up a fresh pineapple into hand-sized chunks. I wasn’t deceived though. I could assess her mood by the tight compression of her lips.

      ‘They want to join you, Talia, all of you, here in Arafel. While Cassius has restarted the propaganda machinery, most of the free thinkers believe an outside community thrives. The truth is, Arafel … Max … you … you’ve all become rather legendary.’

      Silently, Rajid got up from his cross-legged position by the fire and walked over towards Jas. She lifted her head, growling her warning softly, but he didn’t falter. Instead, he slowly lowered to his knees beside her. She eyed him coldly for a beat, before yawning and rolling over. I stared in surprise. An invitation to tickle her snow-white belly was a real sign of trust. Aelia shot us a satisfied look, her elfin cheeks tinged with spots of colour and I wondered, briefly, what had passed between her and Rajid. They were both Prolet Freedom Fighters, and she obviously trusted him. So why did he unnerve me?

      ‘The day after the Senate reported August as missing, a group of Prolets took off – through the old Roman tunnels beneath the ruined city of Isca,’ Rajid offered in a low voice, still stroking Jas. His voice was almost hypnotic, and I suppressed a frown. Jas had a pretty sharp instinct with people, yet she’d clearly accepted him.

      ‘Beneath the city?’ I repeated, recalling my own journey beneath the domes. ‘The Roman tunnel only leads to the Lifedome exterior wall. I had to fly the griffin over the mined land.’

      Only once in the last twelve months had I crept to the edge of the forest to stare out at the domed rise of Isca Pantheon; and the dirt-land separating the two worlds looked just the same as it always had: barren, impenetrable and terrifying. It had claimed so many Arafel lives in the beginning, and their memory rested there with their bones, in the blackened soil.

      Rajid broke off grooming Jas to look up, his face creased with disdain. ‘The Prolets are, among other things, resourceful archaeologists,’ he responded.

      ‘Your exit tunnel was just the beginning of the secret excavation work. Since then, we’ve uncovered a whole network of ancient Roman tunnels that lead out and interconnect beneath the old city of Isca Dumnoniorum … or Exeter as it was known before the Great War.’

      ‘Rajid led the excavation work. It was dangerous but incredible, like rediscovering a forgotten underground maze,’ Aelia added.

      ‘Does Cassius know?’ I asked, trying to keep up with all the revelations.

      I recalled his face the day he thought I was at his mercy – just minutes before Unus arrived. It was a look that had hard-wired itself into my brain. Cold venom. Like a death adder.

      ‘He didn’t, but he does now, of course. And the first thing he and Livia did was freeze the new freedom of movement powers August brought in to support the Integration Agenda. Cassius said it was just to retain balance until August returned. But there are those …’

      ‘… who know better?’ I muttered.

      She nodded.

      ‘And he’s sending out search parties on a daily basis to bring back the missing Prolets. Armed search parties.’

      Max looked from me to Aelia, his frown deepening.

      ‘She can’t help.’

      I’d been listening so intently, I’d forgotten Mum was at the back of the circular room, shelling beans. I gazed at her familiar face, brown and seasoned from her years spent working in Arafel’s fields. Eli and I took on her load as much as possible, but Grandpa’s death had hit her hard, especially since he’d filled the breach Dad had left eleven years before.

      ‘It’s OK, I’m not going anywhere,’ I reassured her.

      ‘Aren’t you also on the Senate, Aelia? As General in Command of the PFF?’ I asked, trying to understand how so much could have been undone so quickly.

      She smiled in a way that said everything.

      ‘You mean ex General in Command. Cassius voided my position within the first week August was missing,’ she relayed, her brow puckering.

      ‘He said there was no need for the PFF any longer, since we were working together with a new vision for Isca Pantheon. Made a big deal about all positions on the Senatore needing to be earned through the popular vote, although the prejudiced voting system hasn’t been replaced, and so guess what? The only people currently entitled to vote live within … Pantheon.’

      Max scowled. ‘But СКАЧАТЬ