And if he’s being honest? Well, we’ll just see what he has to show me.
“All right,” I say. “But the minute I tell you I’m through, you’ll take me home?”
“The minute.” He gives a small closed-lipped smile.
I nod and we continue on.
When we reach a set of steps, Dorian assures me it’s not much farther. At the bottom of the stairs is a small cavern. Faded murals adorn the walls, depicting nighttime scenes, stars dancing down on dark treetops, the moon a yellow crescent, smiling upon a sleepy forest. If I didn’t know better and if there weren’t four caves like black holes peeking back at me, I’d think the world turned on edge and I was indeed staring at the nighttime sky.
Above each save one of the caves is a wooden plank nailed to the wall, labels burned into the signs. Over the tunnel to the far right is the word SOLDIERS; to the far left, OFFICERS; next to that reads GARDENS; and the one next to that has no sign. A mystery door.
“This way first.” Dorian walks straight for the gardens’ tunnel, which confuses me because how can one grow a garden without the Sun?
We’re in an ink-black tunnel, the only light a flickering bulb several yards away and Dorian’s lantern.
We stop at a wooden door under the flickering light, which goes out.
“Damn generator,” he mumbles, adjusting the bulb to no avail. In the pitch-dark, holding the lantern in one hand, Dorian sifts through that ring of keys. Squinting under the dim light, he finally finds the right one and opens the door. Nothing but darkness claws out at us.
“After you.”
Yeah, right. “No, no, after you.”
Dorian smiles like he knows what I’m thinking and strides past me into the blackness.
Feet planted in the doorway, I’m expecting this “garden” to be a cache of weapons, maybe a block of cells where they keep the Basso they kidnap. Or worse.
But when Dorian cranks something, a metal lever I think, large lamps mounted around the room slowly flicker to life.
What I find before me is indeed a garden.
The plants are duller versions of the crisp, vibrant ones I’m used to seeing up on Bellona. I spot beet greens that are pale yellow. Underripe tomatoes more resembling peaches. And banana trees, the leaves browned, the fruit a muted green.
“Not what you expected?” Dorian asks.
“Would you have expected this?”
He nods. “Fair enough.”
I walk farther into the cavern, taking in more of the space. There are wires trailing like a thick web down one of the cave walls, connecting the lamps to the generator; tubes hooked to barrels that I assume hold water line the perimeter.
“But how does it work? There’s no Sun.”
“No. No Sun. It’s kind of a backward greenhouse. Take a closer look.”
I take a few steps toward one of the lamps. It flickers with intermittent power, but it’s definitely the source of heat and light, the warmth radiating off it intensely and I’m still several feet away.
They’ve created an underground Sun. Fake Sun? Blasphemous in the eyes of the Imperi. In my eyes? Unfathomable, pure magic.
Turning in a circle, I’m able to make out three walls in the far-off distance, the fourth covered with climbing greenery and what appears to be blackberries hanging from the vines.
I move toward one of the large garden boxes where carrot greens peek out of the earth, lining several rows on one side, the other filled with tomato plants, their stalks tied to small handmade trellises. I bend down closer and find what I thought was soil is sand. I touch it, and the delicate granules slide through my fingers. But nothing grows in sand. Not that I’ve ever seen. Yet, I’m staring at a tomato plant; its fruit is small, a muted red, but ripe enough to eat.
Shocked, I look at Dorian. His expression is one of pride.
“We’ve been adapting down here for a while, finding new ways to survive.”
“Survive?”
“Well, we’ve gotta eat, right? And we can’t always risk going above.”
It’s nearly impossible to think of the Night as anything but demons living on insects and vermin, the blood of their captives.
A shiver runs up my spine and I side-eye Dorian.
He catches me staring. “What were you expecting?”
“Oh … I don’t know…” Like I’m going to say.
He walks on, taking long, lanky strides. “Let me guess. You were picturing torture devices? A pit of venomous snakes?”
“No.” Yes.
“But close.”
“All right. Maybe a little.”
When we reach the other side of the cave, Dorian cranks the lamps back off.
“Don’t the plants need light to grow?”
He stops midcrank, the lamps flickering. “Yeah, but someone else tends it in shifts. Electricity is so unpredictable down here, we’ve got to conserve.” He unlocks and opens a similar door as the first.
“How do you have electricity when we barely get it up top?”
He cocks an eyebrow. “We have the Imperi to thank for that.” And he cranks the lights completely off.
“Wait.” I shove my boot in the door before he can close it. Dorian’s eyes bear down on me, and I can’t tell if it’s anger or humor I sense in them. “So, the Night have gardens and not torture chambers. Not here anyway. I don’t see how this proves anything other than that you have a decent source of food.”
“I’m not finished. This was only part one.”
“There’s more?”
“You expected me to woo you into trusting the evil Night by showing you our gardens? Give me a little credit, V.” He lightly tosses a firm, nearly white plum at me, which I barely manage to catch. Something about it, about him, makes my insides both seethe with anger and light up with excitement.
“All right.” I bite into the plum. It’s more tart than I’d prefer, but is indeed a plum, a pleasant sweetness soon taking over the sour. Still, my lips slightly pucker. “What’s next, then?”
“Torture chambers … A toe feast…” He stares a beat, taking in my reaction to the fruit, then grins. “Follow me.”
We take a tunnel that’s one long curve as if we’re circling back around.
“So … Back up on the island … What were you doing out after dark anyway?” Dorian asks.
“What were you doing out after dark?”
“I asked you first.” He slows down, gazing over at me. “And you call yourself Give and Take champion of Bellona?”
I snort. “I don’t believe I ever claimed that sort of fame.”
“Oh.” He shoots a crooked smile my way. I begin to smile back but bite the inside of my cheek to stop, force myself to remember where I am—not in the tunnel up on the island, but belowground. Where nightmares come true.
“I was walking Nico back to his house,” I answer. Dorian stays silent but gives a slight nod. “He’d stayed late at my house to help clean up after the Night of Reckoning.” Another slight nod. “Anyway, we got caught by the Imperi. Nico handed himself over so I could get away.”
“He’ll be fine, by the way.”
“Hope so,” I say. “I think it’s safe to assume worse case for him was an escort straight home. But with the Imperi you never know.”