by J D Morganne
“Noodle what?”
He had divided Jerus because of technology and power. Now, she was learning he’d had help. The whole time. “Oh, I see where you get all your fancy gadgets.” She slammed her fist on his desk and the hologram of Jaxon shuddered before disappearing. “How long’ve you been”—
Cayman put his hands up as if to tell her to calm down. “This was before you were Emiir. It’s something you don’t have the capacity to understand.”
“All this time. And we thought we were isolated from everyone. And then you invited a soldier you claim is a part of the most powerful army into our home, and he doesn’t even remember how destructive he is?”
“He wasn’t supposed to cross the border.”
“But he did! He’s in my house. Around my family. He’s been there for months.”
“Well. You know better than to trust strangers. You’re an emiir for earth’s sake.”
“Get laid, old man.” Beck wanted to screw a root fresh through the center of his brain. “What would you need a destructive, obedient soldier for?” She could only imagine, and the things she imagined were violent, bloody, tragic. “What do you need him for?”
Cayman could use Jaxon to strengthen his army. Torchers’ main source of power were flames, too. He could be making a deal with someone who had far more influence than him. What kind of deal? Well, he liked his computers. Jaxon was from Obedience and was dumb to a lot of simple-minded tasks, like turning a doorknob. Told Beck tech had fried his brain, too. A deal to gain more knowledge of technology? To gain more technology, period? Garbage computers and wi-fi? Access to… everything.
Or was it what Beck thought? To try to take Jerus again? If he had tried to overthrow Beck before, what was stopping him from doing it again? And if Jaxon was as powerful as Cayman thought, of course he would want him by his side. He was a leech for powerful people because he was weak. He needed others to do his dirty work for him.
“I should be gathering my Lions right now. Why do you need him? I wanna know.”
Cayman bobbed his finger under his lip, his eyes inscrutable. He tapped his desk to open the wall and nodded for her to leave.
“The Treaty of Divii stands,” Beck said, when Cayman had been quiet for too long. “It’s simple. Whatever—whoever—crosses the border is in violation of Divii terms, unless the offended party decides it’s not. And I already told you and your Torchers he wasn’t your problem.”
“Emiir Beck.” Cayman sucked air through his teeth and out through his nose. He clenched his jaw, then went on to say, “Think carefully. I have something you want.”
Something twisted in Beck’s chest, and she felt like she’d run a marathon. Cayman hadn’t taken something. He’d taken someone. He had stolen many people from her, but this thing was alive and, of course, Cayman would dangle him in front of her at a time like this.
“Zoey still asks about you. Are you interested in an exchange?”
Bastard, she thought. She wanted to cry until her tears devoured her whole, but she would never show Cayman weakness. Never again.
She loved Zo more than anyone else in the world. Her younger brother, half her blood. It seemed eons ago since Cayman took him to Alasta, away from her. Such a long time since she felt at peace. She wanted nothing in the world than to read him to sleep like she used to. To churn him homemade ice cream. To follow through with all the promises she had made.
Cayman had gone through great lengths to get where he was. He’d said he would trade Zo for Jaxon, but he’d find a way to have them both. Jaxon was leverage now—to make sure Cayman would never hurt Zo, to make sure Beck got him back eventually. She wouldn’t be swayed, and she wouldn’t be swindled.
“The treaty stands. Firm. And if you or any of your freaky-lookin’ Torchers cross into Jerus again, I’m gonna rain the hell I’ve been waiting to on Alasta. And then I’m gonna have a fancy party… while you fall.”
Cayman exhaled. Finally, he nodded, having known it would end like this. “I had hoped we could come to an agreement.”
“We can both agree we’re done here.”
17
Walking up on the house, Beck spotted Nano digging with a shovel through the side yard. She paused and sulked, her energy draining from her in an instant. She couldn’t fathom why he would ignore the fence around her blueberry garden or the horses snorting. He was now fishing out the few of Aria’s pigs, which had dumbly stumbled into his maze.
The side yard held most of Beck’s gardens, but Nano would harm her lemon trees, pear trees, tomatoes and onions with his ramming and drilling. He knew better than to get anywhere close to her field of orange trees, but he was still dangerously close to everything else. Her nails bit into her palm, but she continued straight into the house, and upstairs.
Beck spotted Aria outside Jaxon’s door, hugging her coat to her. It was Mid-Season and she was standing in a coat? “What’re you doing?”
“Wakin’em up.” Aria returned her curious gaze, as if she too wasn’t sure. “Where’d you go?”
“Cayman. You need a coat to wake him?” Beck knew many things about Jaxon fascinated Aria from a medical perspective—the difference in anatomy and mentality. She liked his recovery speed.
There were a few things Beck noticed about him, none of which she liked—the snobby face he made whenever he was listening to someone’s conversation, as if he was smarter than everyone in the room. She didn’t like that his room was twenty degrees when outside was wax-melting weather. She didn’t like that he ambled about like a supercilious prince and locked himself in his room, as if he expected everyone to be at his beck and call.
Aria pulled her scarf up around her mouth and braced.
“Hurry up,” Beck said. “His chores ain’t gonna do themselves and Nano’s out there tearing up my yard.”
Nano had spelled his name Jackson on a wooden nameplate. It had taken one “I’m not my father” from Jaxon to notice he had gotten something wrong. Nano had replied, “I ain’t ya daddy neither,” before scraping out the C, K, S and chiseling X. Jaxon had left it that way and no one else had bothered to change it. Aria worked it out of its wedge and replaced it with the one she’d spent all morning carving.
“Really?” Beck nudged her shoulder. “Slut.”
“It’s his house now, too.”
“Since when? That should’a been Breaking News.”
Aria knocked softly on the door.
Beck twisted up her mouth. “What’s that gonna do?” She pounded her fist on the door, before letting herself in.
When the room belonged to Zo, colors would leap at her from pictures he’d drawn and taped to his walls. Now, the walls were empty and colorless. Jaxon had removed the mattress from the rails and now it sat on the floor, below one of the windows.
“Jax?”
Five fans hummed through the room, drowning out Aria’s voice. Three old humidifiers misted something that smelled like hot metal, like a pan left heating long. Beck tried to wiggle the stench out of her nose to no avail. A half-full five-gallon water case held his closet door open. There were three more empty ones inside and two filled with rusie coins.
Aria picked up an empty glass on the floor by his fairytales and a folded pair of gloves. “He left without wearing these?” She set them both on the small table near the doorway.
“This is dangerous beyond com... where did he get this stuff?”
“Jax?” Aria said again, before flicking on the light. As she tiptoed to his bed, she was careful not to knock over his stack of survival guides and how-tos. How to Be Social, How to Stay Alive. And Beck’s personal favorite, How to Adult.
She didn’t think he needed any help in that department. With a chuckle, she picked up the book. “Where’d he get this?” She flipped through pages bookmarked with twigs.
“Markets in Jerus. I don’know. Where is he?” Aria lifted the blanket, but he wasn’t in bed. She grunted and tapped her foot on the floor. “Guess he left again.”
&nb
sp; “Again? How often does he do this?”
“He works at Bongani’s sometimes and he pays him.”
Was that where he got his money to hire her guards? Beck closed her eyes tight, feeling out of her depth. She tossed the book and dry twigs went flying across the room, one landing in the glass Aria had set on his table.
“What happened with Cayman?” Aria said, sensing Beck’s frustration.
“Ask me when we’re not standing in the robot’s room.”
Grunting, Aria snatched Beck’s arm and dragged her across the hall into her garden room. She locked them inside. They backed through the gray mist of sprinklers overhead, past thyme, basil and cilantro. Whirring lamps popped when the sunlight triggered them off. Beck pulled her into an aisle of low-light Dracaenas.
Aria backed against the wall. “Ktaa klaaht hesch?” She concentrated on Beck, her eyes full of hope.
What had he said, she wanted to know? He’d said a whole lot of everything and a whole lot of nothing. Beck bit her thumb nail. She’d had the journey back to consider her options, but what it all came down to was that she was wrong. She was wrong for letting Jaxon live with them. She was wrong for not demanding more answers. “He shouldn’t be here.”
“Why? Whoishe?”
“Cayman says he’s supposed to be dangerous. And, listen, he’s been in contact with the robot’s king because he said Jaxon was sent to him.”
Aria hiked her coat up on her shoulders. “For what?”
Beck shrugged in response. He had refused to surrender that much.
“We… we can’t kick him onto the street.”
“Don’t see why not.” Beck batted her eyelashes, hoping to come off as sincere as possible.
“Ooh, you’re mean. We’re not throwing him out. Can’t we wait and see what he’s…”
“Don’t you read? Waiting is the secret ingredient for a disaster sundae, and Ria...”
“I know the recipe well.”
“Yeah, so why would I wait? Handle it.”
“Me. No.”
“Fine, he’s Nano’s toy. He can”— Someone rapped at the door, stopping Beck mid-speech. They both peeked around the shelves to find Jaxon’s lean silhouette on the other side. Beck pulled Aria back. “We’ll introduce’m to the tunnels first,” she whispered.
Aria poked her lip out in skepticism. “You think that’s safe?”
“Nope.” When Beck checked over her shoulder, Jaxon was gone. “But I want to know how he interacts with celecomb. After that, he goes.”
Though apprehensive, Aria nodded her agreement. They both went downstairs into the kitchen, where Jaxon was squeezing lemon dish liquid into excessively soapy water.
“Not a—no!” Aria rushed across the floor, around the island to the sink and slapped his hand, prompting him to drop the bottle into the abyss of white suds. “What did I say? Two or three squirts. Squirts. What is a squirt?”
Jaxon held up his pinky finger and covered half his nail.
“Exactly. It’s like three dishes in here. You know…” She flicked a finger at him, and suds flicked onto his nose. “I’m starting to think you got a rebellious streak, but I’m gonna double your chores if you do this again. Ka!” She raised her hand like she would slap him and though he was taller, he ducked out of her reach.
“Don’t be scared’a her.” Nano snatched an apple from one of Aria’s elaborate dishes and tossed it to Jaxon. “Come’out when you done.” He shoved the kitchen door open with his shoulder and jumped down the steps.
Jaxon bit the apple and held it with his teeth, while he went in search for a bowl. He sniffed Aria’s oatmeal still creamy and warm in the pot. After pouring himself a heaping bowl, he buried his head in the pages of a novel, a title Beck had never seen in her library.
“You want something to drink?” Aria said in a comically ingratiating way. It was almost like she hadn’t threatened to knock some sense into him a moment ago. It was cloying enough to make Beck feel physically sick.
Jaxon tipped his head and looked at her. He was about to say something, but the painful screech from Nano lifting the window made him turn his head.
Nano pushed a broad pipe through the window. Before Aria could demand he stop whatever atrocity he was about to commit, gooey mud glugged from the pipe into the dishwater. It spurted across the counter and near Jaxon’s feet.
“No.” Aria jumped on the counter and into the brimming sink. “Who dropped you on your head, huh?”
Jaxon laughed.
“Is this funny? You think mops are funny too?” Aria bent her knees and crouched low, trying to push the pipe back out.
Nano ran over and slapped her legs through the window.
“Why are you doing this?” She shoved his hands, repeating the Terramulken word for why, “Weey? Weeyo?”
“Gotta build a course.”
Beck slouched her shoulder on the doorframe, bored of all Nano’s shenanigans. “Why’s he doing it the long way? No manipulation?” Beck walked past Jaxon to get to the sink. “That idiot’s gonna clog the drain.” She glanced at Jaxon, who hadn’t deviated from his book. She waited for him to ask her how things had gone with Cayman.
“He’s mad about something,” Aria said, and kicked the pipe. It stalled but chugged back to life, spraying mud all over her legs.
Jaxon had Beck’s attention. She watched him finish his oatmeal and lick his spoon. She watched him stick his finger in his book before closing it. She watched his smile with deep concentration when he handed his bowl to Aria. “Loving sunrise, Jaxon,” she said.
He didn’t look at her. “Hi.”
“You likin’ that read?” Aria returned a smile and seemed to float for a moment as if she had forgotten she was battling Nano through the window.
“It’s fine, except, I don’t think Jonas understands his purpose.”
“He’ll get there. Keep reading.”
Jaxon smiled. He passed Beck with his head down and erased his name next to dishes on the chore-board. Then, he spent ten seconds fumbling with the knob and keylock, before getting through the screen door and going to help Nano in the yard.
“You better tread lightly,” Beck warned.
“What I do?” Aria pretended to be innocent, but a smirk played on her lips.
“Don’t lead him on like that.”
“I gave him a book. Whoa, look out. Somebody better stop me. I’m out of hand.”
Beck didn’t think that was it, but Aria’s relationships weren’t her business. They both knew what type of attention she demanded from men she liked. Beck sighed and slumped back against the counter. She hadn’t realized she’d walked that far, and now that stupid pipe was sprinkling mud all over her arm. “Ugh.” She looked up at Aria, still stomping around in the sink. “I want to get him to the tunnels.”
Aria huffed at Nano’s negligence before giving up. She sunk onto the counter next to Beck. “Then, let’s go swimmin’.”
18
They trekked downhill to get to the Tite Skyrail. Because of Beck, they passed through the gates with no wait time. The skyrail took them halfway up the mountain, to another platform, active with men and women dancing in vibrant, showy costumes. Someone was howling in tune with scattered drumbeats that echoed through the mountains.
Over Beck’s shoulder. Jaxon slouched and shrank himself to get through the crowd. Nano had him carrying most of the bags, even though he was already panting. “Because he’s back on two feet,” he had said. “Need to tone those calves.”
The rest of the hike up Mt. Garrida was quiet, save for chirping insects and birds. Aria lifted a Restricted sign and chain that opened to a sequestered path.
“This spot’s ours,” Beck heard Nano say.
Cayman had disclosed more than he knew, but what resonated with Beck was the idea of Jaxon having fought in wars he couldn’t remember. It was hard to believe his face was the face of danger. Nothing about him was threatening. He still hadn’t learned how to live in their environment. Thi
s was his first time hiking since he got his casts off and if he tripped one more time, Beck would have to call a rescue team.
Aria shrugged her bag up on her shoulder. “I’m gonna go ahead,” she said.
Beck trusted Aria, but she didn’t trust the ears in the trees. Everything they did around Jaxon would have to be in private. If she could speak kit fluently, they’d hold all conversations in Terramulken around him. She racked her brain, but she hadn’t come up with a conclusive reason why Cayman would want Jaxon. She knew he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, even if that meant crossing the border.
“Cayman says he learns fast,” she said, after being quiet for too long.
“We knew that. What else?”
“That’s it.”
“Ya eyebrow’s doing that twitchy thing. You’re lyin’.”
“We’re not talking about it out here.” Beck nodded at their gear. “Let’s set up.”
They stopped a short distance from the cliff edge and went to work setting up a camp and building a fire. Laughter broke through the trees nearby, but they had this spot to themselves.
Mt. Garrida was about swimming away depressions. When Beck was younger, her mom would hike the three of them to the top and take turns cliff-diving. Those hot days, her cheek pressed to her mother’s bosom, the warmth of her strong arms, resided in Beck. She was dying to drown it all out. “Jax.”
“Yes, Emiir?” He was in the midst of unpacking Aria’s sunscreen and reading over the label and didn’t stop to give her his attention.
So tolerant. So obedient. There was no way he was who Cayman said.
Beck wouldn’t let Jaxon’s disregard annoy her. “Let Aria put some of that on you.”
“Some of?” Nano said, rubbing on his own sunscreen. “I bet not. He’s a grown man. He can do it his-self.” The sunlight brightened all the twists and creaks of jealousy at Nano’s mouth and eyes.
“I’ll do it,” Beck offered, holding out her hand. “Come here.”