She had a son. I could have let her slip away. Kate’s instinctual urge to caress the bracelet caused a crackling burst of electricity in the distance, but no motion or feeling. I can’t betray El Tío. He loved me?
“Does he?” whispered a voice. Esteban floated out of the kaleidoscope of chaos, lip still swollen from a burn. “I’m worried about you, Kate.”
Thin strands of lightning leapt across the gaps between the massive dendrites as her brain sent off signals to smile. The chill worsened until she wanted to scream. The giant nerve clusters glowed, brighter and brighter, bleaching her world to a glare of pure white. Pain swam up and down her body, scraps of heat mixed with ice.
“Sleep,” whispered an echoey Althea.
Darkness.
Moments of silence preceded warmth, and everything went still.
pecks of dust floated within a shaft of sunlight before her eyes. The endless whorl of particles mesmerized her for several minutes before it occurred to her she was awake. It took another few to recognize the blurry whitish haze along the right side of her vision as a pillow. Cloth surrounded her everywhere, a bed and blankets.
Kate screamed, sitting up and swatting at the bedclothes until she stumbled, naked, to her feet. The panicked motion left her out of breath and dizzy, swooning on weak legs. She took a step back from the bed as if afraid of being near it. Alejandra’s soft moan from behind made her spin. The woman shifted in her sleep, content to rest.
She moved in a slow turn, surveying a small room with two narrow beds, two doors, and a long cabinet of drawers bearing a broken flat panel display. Of the two exits, one looked metal and had a deadbolt, chain, and bar lock. To the left of that door, in a chair, napped a woman in grey-on-grey camouflage and a dull blue armored vest. The other seemed like a bathroom. Pale blue wallpaper peeled away in sheets, patched by haphazard spots of paint, plaster, or nailed boards. Soft warmth surrounded her feet. Frazzled blue strands threaded between her toes from a shaggy throw rug. A rug she stood on―and didn’t burn.
The guard leapt out of her chair, fumbling to bring a rifle to bear. Kate backed into the nightstand, raising her hands. At the feeling of a cold surface on her ass, she went wide-eyed and gasped.
“Easy,” whispered Kate, as her face reddened.
“¿Qué es lo que te pasa?” blurted the woman, fighting the urge to shiver.
“Nothing’s wrong with me. I didn’t want to start a fire.”
“D-don’t try anything.” The woman kept the rifle not quite aimed at her.
Kate poked into the woman’s surface thoughts. She was more embarrassed at seeing her naked than Kate felt at being naked, not to mention terrified of her. A deeper mental poke discovered the woman got stuck here on guard duty because Althea protested them using any form of restraints on her. Rather than a jail cell or chains, The Watch had kept her under guard for…
“Two days?” Kate looked at the rug again. No smoke, no charred footprints. “I know you’re scared.” Two days… Did I go out like a candle? Why am I not starving? Can I still stop bullets? “Look…” She raised one hand. “I’m not going to hurt you. Please don’t shoot me.”
The woman barely moved; the rifle’s muzzle drifted up and down with each breath. Kate risked finger contact with the bed. No fire. Whole hand. Still no fire. Overcome by desire, she dove into the bedding and rolled herself into a cloth burrito. Only a sliver of skin around her eyes peeked out into the world.
Her sudden motion sent the guard stumbling into the wall, weapon shaking.
“I’m…” Kate burst into tears, snuggling into the fabric embrace.
“Está despierta!” whispered the woman, repeatedly, into a small black node in her collar.
Kate ignored her, lost in the squirming revelry of being in contact with something other than metal, dirt, or stone. Like a cat claiming its territory, she writhed and rubbed herself into the material for several minutes.
“What are you doing?” said Alejandra, sitting up.
Kate froze, staring out of a gap in the sheets at the strange yellow handmade dress her friend wore. Alejandra broke up laughing. Kate grinned at what she must have looked like, two eyes out from the dark.
“I’m not burning!”
“My God!” blurted Alejandra, scrambling over. “I wasn’t sure if you would ever wake.”
“What happened?” Kate clung to the blankets, not caring if she grew over-warm.
“The Prop―Althea, touched you and her hand burned. You went to sleep. She mended herself. Then, she knelt over you and put her hands on your head.” Alejandra sat on the edge of Kate’s bed. “For a long time, nothing happened but the child making strange faces and grunting. All of a sudden, she made the most awful noises. Her hands burned again, but so did you. You got all red and blistered.”
Kate shivered. “I don’t remember…”
“That huge man almost pulled her away when she screamed, but your skin grew back. The girl was crying from the pain, her hands were…” Alejandra cringed. “She is fine now. They gave her food and she restored herself again after they took you to rest.”
“I can’t believe it.” Kate sat up, letting only her head out of the blanket roll.
“Baja eso!” Alejandra waved her hand in a downward gesture at the guard.
The woman backed into the wall, letting the rifle droop a little.
Alejandra gathered Kate in an embrace of surprising strength. A hand at the back of her head pulled her close. She cried at the feeling of fingers in her hair. After a momentary squirm, she gave up trying to fight the blanket, which had become too tight to get her arms out. Her friend held her like a swaddled infant until the sounds of boots outside made them both look at the door. The guard in the room seemed ready to faint at the first loud noise.
“I need real clothes.” Kate sniffled, before erupting with sobbing laughs. “I… I can wear clothes!”
“Yes.” Alejandra went over to the long cabinet and pulled open a drawer. “They left some for you.”
Piece by piece, Alejandra stuffed garments into the blankets: panties, socks, a plain white tank top and blue pants. Kate wriggled into each item in turn, savoring every second of the feeling. She even took the long-sleeved dark shirt and put it on while hiding under blankets.
“You’re going to overheat like that.” Alejandra pulled on the blanket.
Kate fought to stay under it. “No. I like it here.”
“You’re acting like a child,” said Alejandra, as she won the tug of war with one final yank.
A knock at the door preceded the guardswoman opening it. Kate sat up, clutching fistfuls of linen. Althea, still in a plain white dress, slipped in. She seemed tired, as though recently roused from a deep nap. The man she thought of as Father entered behind her, rifle across his back. Several more Watch waited outside, while the woman that had guarded her for the night took the opportunity to duck out. A brief glimpse out the swinging door gave the impression they were in a motel.
“Thank you.” Kate thought back to the Roadway Corporation building and her thin separation from the prisoners. “You were wrong; I’m not a nice person.” She pulled her outer shirt closed in a self-hug, staring down.
Althea’s bare feet stepped between her white socks. Kate tensed. Gripped by the sudden dread her power may be gone, she feared the wrath of a jumpy enforcer.
The girl leaned forward and hugged her, whispering into her ear. “Doing bad is a choice. You do not need to be angry anymore.”
Slow arms lifted to return the embrace; all the while, Kate studied Father’s response. He seemed guarded and confused, but more tolerant. His surface thoughts still opened to her prodding; the man did not have much trust in the child’s stories of an evil presence in the land.
“You had a lot of little hurts.” Althea leaned back and put a hand on Kate’s cheek. Her glowing eyes closed, and a tingle flowed through Kate from face to foot. After a moment, the girl smiled at her. “I cannot find any sick.”
“What did you do?” Kate rubbed her hand up and down real sleeves.
Althea bit her lower lip. “Your thinking shape was like a person running real fast on a puddle of oil. Working hard but not going anywhere.” She held her arms up and let them fall against her sides. “I told it to walk.”
“Umm.” Kate fidgeted. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you just doesn’t seem enough. You hurt yourself.”
Althea shrugged. “You needed help.”
Kate squeezed her tight, sniffling. Guilt and joy warred in her heart.
“I know how much pain you had.” Althea looked with a somber expression at the floor. “I am glad I could help you.”
The child’s eyes fluttered, and she started to faint. Kate held on, guiding her to the edge of the bed. Althea recovered a moment later and grasped the mattress.
Father rushed over, taking the girl’s other hand. “You should still be resting.” Althea remained quiet as he picked her up. “What she did for you made her very tired.”
“I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “She must have seen some good in you, or she would not have helped. I’m not sure I trust you not to be a danger.”
“Not her,” whispered Althea. “The Many.”
Kate fell to sit on the bed. “I believe her. There is something evil out there. He showed himself to me. Your daughter”―Althea grinned wide as she said that word―“has done for me what I never imagined possible.” She looked him in the eye. “I’ve never had reason to want to protect anyone other than myself.” Again, she cringed away from the girl’s innocent face. “I let his lies consume me.”
“She has forgiven you,” said Father. Althea rested her head against his chest, ready to sleep. “It may take the rest of us more time. What will you do now? Back to your fancy city, or do you wish to petition the Council to stay?”
“Yeah right,” mumbled one of the men outside on the stoop.
“I have spoken with some of the strange people,” said Alejandra. “I would like to live in this great city where life is comfortable and safe.”
“The metal city is bad,” muttered Althea. “Everyone is mean and likes to hurt each other.” The child shifted, clinging to Father.
A wave of fear spread over the room, leaving Kate feeling like a six-year-old after a scary dream. From the look on Alejandra’s face, the effect had hit her the same way. Rifles chirped to life outside the door as the Watch spun around in search of a threat.
Althea drifted off to sleep, and the strange fear faded.
“Perhaps I should stay here,” whispered Alejandra. “The spirits suggest it.”
Father lowered his powerful voice a notch. “Querq is strong and safe, and we have the support of the Zero police.”
Alejandra smiled at him. He held eye contact with her for a moment.
The low-battery chirp from the bracelet reminded her of El Tío. He treated me okay, but I had to kill for him. Tiny slits of blue light where Althea’s eyes almost closed flashed with a blink. If I return to the city, he’ll ask me to do it again. If they learn I’m fixed, they’ll make me an assassin too. This is caveman land, but… “Umm.” These people seem happy. “I’m not accustomed to life out here, but I’d like to stay for a while. At least until I’ve repaid some bit of this favor.”
Father nodded. “Then I will speak to the Council.” Althea mumbled to him in a half-awake stupor. “She trusts you, but the Watch remain wary.”
“I’d watch me too.” Kate chuckled. “I need to make a short trip before I settle in. I have to see Esteban.”
“The Zero man, Ahmed, has asked us to make sure you speak to him.”
Shit. Kate grimaced. “Did he say why?”
Father moved for the door. “Something about not getting your name.”
ate leaned on the doorframe by the tiny bathroom, frowning at the dry, useless toilet. The bathtub didn’t look as if it had seen water in a decade; cobwebs linked two metal pails to the coral-hued fiberglass. She approached a grimy mirror over the sink, unsure why she felt surprised at seeing no dramatic change in her appearance. Doubt gripped her, and she closed the door.
As if afraid to damage any piece, Kate removed her clothes and placed each one on the cleanest spot she could find near the old sink. She set her feet shoulder-width apart on the dingy throw rug, flexing and releasing her toes with nervous anticipation.
“Now or never…”
One arm raised, she concentrated. An azure fireball puffed into existence, many times brighter than the weak light creeping in from the tiny frosted glass window over the tub. It hissed and fluttered, ripples of fire swam around the orb her mind had created. Kate watched the rug around her feet.
No smoke.
She let the fireball dissipate, and made another. Still, the rug showed no sign of damage. Kate ‘grasped’ the top of the fireball with her left hand and stretched it into a serpent of flame, which coiled around her.
“A-Alejandra?” she asked, surprised at how timid her voice sounded.
“Yes?” A muffled voice through the door.
“Am I awake?”
The woman pushed the door aside and gawked at the streamer of blue flames. She barely registered Kate’s lack of clothes.
“What are you doing?”
“Testing,” said Kate. “Can you touch me?”
She concentrated on keeping the fire away from the flaking plaster ceiling and the molded shower curtain, turning her back to Alejandra.
After a moment’s hesitation, a tentative fingertip poked her shoulder blade, followed by four more, and a full palm.
“You are sweating,” said Alejandra. “But so am I. It is stuffy in here.” The hand departed, followed soon by the soft click of a closing door. “Put something on.”
“I was afraid they’d burn.” She let the flames dissipate.
Kate burst into laughing sobs and scrambled to dress without falling headfirst into the toilet. She lost another minute reveling in the feeling of fabric touching her skin. After a long stare at herself in the mirror, she held up a tiny fireball. The low-intensity orange lit her face like a scary campfire story. More energy turned it blue and heated it. Her clothing didn’t smoke or smolder.
Alejandra had no chance to react when Kate rushed from the bathroom and tackled her into a hug on the bed. Once the initial shock wore off, she reversed it, overpowering Kate with ease and pinning her down.
“What is wrong with you?”
“She did it! She cured the curse.” Kate sat up. “I am afraid I’ll wake up and find it’s all a dream.”
“I am awake,” said Alejandra. “Which means you are too.”
Kate held her unworn socks as she walked, trying to step within patches of sunlight. Enamored with the sensation of the ground feeling warm, she ran into Shepherd from behind. The impact brought her back to the present; two Division 0 hovercars sat amid the primitivism in the intersection-turned-square.
He dragged a large metal case from the back end of a truck, balancing it over one shoulder. “You okay?”
The sight of him triggered an instinctual prey response; his silhouette brought forth a bad memory of an aug ganger―one time she was grateful to be untouchable.
Shepherd waved a hand past her eyes. “Still nuts?”
“I’m…” An absence of hostility in his expression calmed her. “I’m supposed to talk to one of the zeroes.”
He twisted and walked to his left. “Down this way.”
Kate ducked the cargo box, not that she had to. His shoulder was over her head.
“They brought in a drop building for an office.” He looked down at her. “Please don’t look at me like that.”
“Sorry. Bad memory of an aug. That, and you wanted to twist my head off a few days ago. The kid thinks I was under the influence of some kind of evil force.”
“Maybe. You wouldn’t be the first person who started off wanting to hurt her.”
“I can’t even think of how I was so close before. She’s s
o sweet.” Kate blinked. “Wait… what? You?”
Shepherd stopped by a stack of similar boxes, lowering the container in place among them. After clapping his hands clear of dust, he gestured at a side street and resumed walking. “I don’t remember all that much to be honest. Mercenary work… Might’ve been Syndicate. I had a lot of metal. Both arms, headware, strength boosters, at least one eye.” He held his hands out like claws. “Reapers too. Nine-inch blades in every finger. Somehow, I wound up with this psycho organ harvester. As best I can remember, I’d gone insane myself… too far from human.”
“So how did you run into her?”
“I don’t have a lot of those memories left.” Shepherd rubbed his forehead. “I think I was his bodyguard, and somehow Althea wound up inside the place we lived. In the state I was then, I saw an intruder and had to destroy it. I didn’t know or care she was just a little kid―all I saw was a person that didn’t belong there.”
Kate gulped, following him through a left turn. “How did…”
“The only memory I have of that night is the face she made.” A tear formed in his eye, glistening in the sun as it slid down his cheek. “Such terror in those eyes. In that moment, all my pain and rage twisted into this uncontrolled need to protect her, more than my own life.”
“She took my anger away too.”
Shepherd pointed at a silver box on spring-loaded legs. It resembled an enormous carton that delivery food might come in, only with a door instead of a pull-tab. “The Zeroes think she left a telempathic imprint that programmed me.” He chuckled. “Probably true at first, but not now.”
Kate put a hand on his arm, a bicep of almost inhuman proportion. “These don’t feel metal.” She looked down. “Sorry, I don’t mean to pry. I’m so confused. I can’t believe she actually fixed me.”
“She fixed me too.” He pointed at the portable structure and winked. “Zeroes are in there.”
She remained silent as he jogged away, back to his work detail. Esteban was nowhere near that huge. The memory of the grin in his eyes made her smile. Happiness fell away to dread when she looked at the door. Division 0, the psionic police, the people El Tío were convinced would want to ‘put her down like a dog.’
Daugher of Ash Page 24