James didn’t like his use of the word chat. It implied that they would be able to speak as well, but with their mouths still tied off, James didn’t see that happening.

He watched as Shamran removed his tricorn hat and placed it on the wooden table.

“I perhaps expected this from you, James, but Celeste as well.” He clicked his tongue at her. “Come now, dear. I expected better. What exactly did James tell you? That there is a world thriving with life below the surface. That we are somehow the bad guys in all of this?” He shook his head. “The world below the clouds is dead. James has been brainwashed to bring that child” —he gestured aggressively in the direction the regulator had taken Kiri— “here to discover our weaknesses. You saw her, didn’t you? Do you really think she would be walking around barefoot if there were a flourishing civilization beneath the clouds? She was sent here for no other reason than to spy on us. Listen to reason child and help me save your brother.”

Celeste seemed to waver beside James and he felt a spike of alarm. She hadn’t seen the things that he had. It was just his word against the status quo of a dozen generations. He tried to yell, but the cloth over his mouth muffled any arguments he had. Beside him, Celeste gave a slow nod. James watched as Shamran reached over and unfastened the piece of cloth, allowing her to speak freely.

“What do you need me to do?” she asked, defeat in her voice.

James felt his stomach twist as the betrayal of her words set in. He was her brother. How could she do this? It left him momentarily stunned. This quickly changed into an emotion of anger. He flailed at his bindings, causing the chair to rock back and forth. She looked over at him, a mixture of shame and determination in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, James. It’s just too unbelievable to think that an entire world exists below the clouds. We would have found out a long time ago. What Captain Shamran says makes more sense. I trust his words more than Kiri’s.”

James glared at her. Celeste understood the look. But what about trusting my words, his eyes seemed to say. She turned away, looking back at Shamran. He smiled warmly at her.

“Don’t worry, child. We’ll get them out of his head.” Celeste nodded, her frizzy red hair bobbing with her head’s movements. “What I need from you is to speak to Kiri for us. She thinks that you believe her lies and will be more likely to talk if the questions come from you. We’d rather not harm anyone if we don’t have to.”

The image of a set of violet eyes distorted by heat flashed in James’s mind, causing a flare of rage at Shamran’s words. He pulled on his restraints until they started to cut into his wrists.

How dare he speak about not harming people after what he did below, James thought.

Kiri nodded her head, ignoring her brother’s muffled anger. “What do you want me to find out?”

Shamran eyed her suspiciously before giving a slight nod of approval. “Anything you can. We can speak more about it when we get down to the interrogation room, but for now let’s make you more comfortable and go over everything the ground walker told you.” Shamran stood and walked behind Celeste, withdrawing a key from his pocket and using it to unchain her from the chair and free her hands.

As soon as the cuffs were removed, she slammed her body into his. There was a large difference in the size of their bodies, but the force was still enough to send Shamran to the floor. The key, which had been in his hand, was sent tumbling on the ground. Celeste lunged for it but was grabbed around the ankle by Shamran. She kicked furiously, landing one square on his nose and causing a torrent of blood to spurt across his face. He howled in pain.

James watched it all unfold in shock. Celeste had been acting. She was just trying to get Shamran to unchain her. He watched as Celeste scrambled over to the key. She hoisted it up, wearing a victorious look on her face. She started to dart over towards where James sat chained to seat, when a bloody hand yanked on her arm. She only had the time to fling the key in James’s direction before being yanked backwards against the wall. James cursed and looked down at the key, which now sat on the ground a few feet from him. He yanked his entire body to the side, tipping over the chair. He could hear Celeste struggling but didn’t have time to look at what was happening. His full focus was on his hands, or rather his fingertips, which were frantically scrapping the ground for the key. He shimmied the chair to the side, searching a different area. Finally, his fingers touched something light and metallic. He nearly pushed it away trying to grasp it. The sound of Celeste’s struggle was starting to sound more labored. In a surge of desperation, James gripped the key and unlocked himself from his chains. He sprang to his feet in just enough time to see Shamran hoisting Celeste up by her throat. He smiled at James, his white teeth in stark contrast to his red, blood-stained face.

“You have a choice to make, James,” Shamran said. “You’re can either sit back down in that chair and chain yourself in, or your sister can join your mother and father.”

James gritted his teeth, looking from Shamran to the door to his side. Shamran hoisted Celeste higher in the air. She weakly struggled against his grip and he could see that her lip was bleeding. James glared at Shamran, but reluctantly sat in the chair and chained himself back in.

“Now drop the key,” Shamran demanded.

James did so, letting it hit the ground with the sound of metal clanging on metal. Shamran smiled and walked behind James to retrieve it. He practically threw Celeste back in her chair, restraining her arms and her mouth once more. Once he was sure she wouldn’t be escaping or speaking, he returned to his seat. He shuffled in one of wooden table’s drawers and came back with a rag, which he used to wipe the blood off his face. He didn’t do a very good job. With a sigh, he lowered the rag and shook his head again. James was getting tired of those head shakes.

“I should have known lies and coercion wouldn’t work with you two. It didn’t work with your parents either.” James and Celeste tensed. “Yes, those two discovered the truth and were planning on telling the whole fleet. I tried to talk some sense into them, just as I did you two, but… well, at the end of the day they had to be stopped.” James looked into Shamran’s eyes and was surprised to see true sorrow in them. “Vinci lost two great citizens that day. If only I could have convinced them…” He sighed. “It’s all in the past now.”

Out of the corner of his eye, James could see that Celeste was trembling. That fact would have made James surge with anger if it wasn’t for the fact that his anger level had been holding steady at max for quite some time now. James watched as the look of sorrow disappeared from Shamran’s face, replaced with a firmer expression.

“Try to understand. We only do what we must. We target communities that we have determined have supplies in excess and request supplies from them. It’s only after they refuse that we are forced to take action. And I do mean forced. We stop several times a month to get supplies, but all it would take is coming up empty handed in one or two of those descents to threaten the food supplies of the entire fleet. Jespers can only feed so many. I’m sure you heard the rumors of the poor return we got from the last descent before we stopped here. Charlie—that foolish idiot—always refuses to use violence until he absolutely needs to. He thinks he’s helping, but all he’s doing is sparing one village to condemn another. If he and the other Divers didn’t return from this descent with supplies, then we very well could have starved. Perhaps not all of us but several hundred at the very least.” Shamran stood up and moved to the large window in the room, peering out into the blackness of the night. “This is who we are. These are the burdens we must carry. Your parents didn’t understand that.” He turned back around to face them. “I hope you two don’t make the same mistake.” He let that sink in for a few moments before moving to the door. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find out from that child why the bloody forest went dark.”

James yanked on his chains but could do nothing to stop Shamran from leaving the room. With a soft click, the door shut behind him, leaving Celeste and James alone. They shared a glance. Celeste blinked away a few tears, but James could see the determination in her eyes. They nodded, and both started sliding around the room in their chairs looking for anything that could free them. Celeste found a blade on one of the shelves scattered around the room and began filing away at her restraints. James spent his time trying, with difficulty, to open the numerous drawers of the desk, hoping to find a spare key. After about five minutes of this, they heard the familiar sound of the door sliding open. James and Celeste jerked their heads towards the door, fixing it with glares. They, of course, expected to see Captain Shamran standing in the doorway. They were surprised, though not necessarily relieved, to find themselves face to face with Charlie, the Diver.

“If looks could kill,” he said, glancing between James and Celeste. “Though, I suppose I’d already be dead if that were the case.” He sighed, inspecting the two of them, specifically the fact that Celeste was in the process of trying to cut through the metal chains and that James had pulled open half a dozen drawers. “If I’d waited another five minutes, perhaps I wouldn’t have had to interfere at all.” He walked up to James and crouched in front of him. The thick scent of smoke hit James like he had run into a wall. James cringed at the scent, it bringing him back to the scene of fire blazing all around him. He looked into Charlie’s eyes and saw… exhaustion. Charlie lifted up his hand, brandishing a key. “I wasn’t lying when I said you weren’t cut out to be a Diver. It was a compliment, not an insult.” And then he placed the key in James’s hand, stood up, and walked towards the door. James hurriedly unchained himself and ripped the cloth away from his mouth.

“Why?” James demanded.

Charlie stopped in the doorway, turning back to show his tired eyes. “I believe that you can help us find a better way. Because this…” He looked at his hands. “…can’t continue.”

James waited for Charlie to shut the door before hastily undoing Celeste’s chains. She ripped the cloth from her mouth, tearing it in the process.

“I’m going to kill him,” she said through heavy breaths.

“First, we have to save Kiri,” James said, helping Celeste to her feet.

The two hurried to the door and slipped into the hallway. James took off in the direction that they had taken Kiri, Celeste following close behind him. Up ahead, the corridor took a sharp right. James made the turn without slowing down. He immediately came to a halt and quickly backed out of the hallway. Celeste nearly fell over trying to avoid crashing into him.

“What is it?” she whispered.

James peeked his head around the corner. “Two regulators. They’re watching the hall.”

Celeste peeked around the corner as well, seeing the two standing in the hallway. They weren’t patrolling. They were simply standing there guarding the hallway. It would be impossible to sneak past them and fighting them wasn’t going to be any easier. The only reason they hadn’t spotted James was because they had been turned sideways speaking to each other. Celeste placed a hand on James’s shoulder.

“We need to go for help,” she said. James gritted his teeth and tensed his muscles. The idea of leaving without Kiri didn’t sit well with him. “We’ll come back for her.” She turned him to face her. “We’re going to save her, and we’re going to kill Shamran, but right now we need help.”