Rojan Dizon 02 - Before the Fall Read Free Page B

wrong way. Take your pick.”
    His tone took me aback—Pasha looked like a monkey that’s lost its nut, but he could be a lion when he wanted to be, and he would always roar in the defence of Downsiders.
    I hadn’t meant it that way; it had just come out as part of my sparkling and charming personality because I was pissed at having to use my magic, but I was still getting used to Pasha’s way of looking at things. “I don’t think––”
    “No, I’ve noticed.”
    I did think then, though. All the insults when I’d worn a Downsider face, the snarls and spits. The rumours of the Upsider gangs stomping lone Downsiders. Pasha still had it, that blue-white tone lurking under dusky skin. Brought up in the ’Pit with no sun, not even the few minutes a day someone Upside managed. You could usually tell a Downsider at a glance, and the accent was what really gave them away. Given that the Ministry would rather they weren’t here, the embarrassment of them even existing when they’d been denied for decades, the chances of them getting a look at the real sun from up in Heights or above was slim. It might take years for that unearthly pallor to go. It might never go.
    “You seen this?” Pasha slapped down the news-sheet he’d been reading on my desk. I caught sight of the headline: DOWNSIDERS SPREAD NEW DISEASE . Near the bottom was another article about Downsiders scattering malicious rumours of what had gone on in the ’Pit, and how it wasn’t true, followed by a frankly laughable account of what had “really” happened. Which, naturally, given that this was a shadow—not officially sanctioned, but a mouthpiece for some of their more vocal ministers—Ministry news-sheet, was a load of old bollocks. As was the bit about mages and our unholy ways and it was all our fault. Well, it was mostly untrue. I am fairly unholy. And I had screwed everyone pretty hard when I’d destroyed the Glow.
    Plenty of people would believe it, though, about the Downsiders, and that was the problem. Why is it that a lie is always so much more persuasive to a mass of people than the truth? In this case, it was so they didn’t have to think about what had been going on under their feet all those years, so they didn’t have to feel guilty about it. People will do anything to avoid guilt.
    No wonder Pasha was looking pissed off—he was a Downsider and a mage, so he was screwed both ways. I grabbed the sheet off him, scrunched it up and lobbed it into the bin, or tried to. It bounced off the rim and ended up teetering on the pile of other papery missiles that had failed to reach their target in what I like to call my filing system.
    “No one believes what they read in there,” I lied. “It’s not even official.”
    “You don’t. Plenty of others do. And it’s official enough. So are most of the other news-sheets. They’re all printing the same. Some Downsiders tried starting their own press up, but that lasted about a week before it got fired.”
    “You had any trouble?” I asked.
    His bitter shrug said it all, a lot more than his words did. “No more than anyone else. A lot less than some. Being able to read their minds helps me avoid it, and news like Jake gets around. Look, are you ready to go? Because we’ll be late.”
    I bit back some smart comment that would only inflame things and nodded. “Go get the boy. I’m not sure I can face Lastri again today.”
    The monkey grin came back. It went without saying that he and Lastri got on famously. I was pretty sure she was only nice to him to really grind it into my face how much she hated me, but Pasha seemed to like her. I have no idea why.
    The boy was noticeably rounder in the stomach when Pasha brought him through. There was a smear of sauce by his mouth, and he snickered when he looked at me. I wondered what Lastri had told him and decided I didn’t want to know. I could sense one of her vendettas coming on.

Chapter Three
    I hurried the boy and Pasha out before Lastri