Conner took a seat beside him. “I think we decided on Contrick.”
“Wow.”
“What?”
“Nothing, it’s just, I thought we agreed on Detner.”
Conner chuckled, clearly amused. “I thought you couldn’t remember!”
“I was just testing you,” Detrick said with a wink.
Conner playfully shoved him in the shoulder. “Detner,” he repeated.
They reminisced some more about their childhood until they inevitably arrived back at Detrick’s time at the Citadel.
“Can you explain to me what exactly you hate so much about the Union? Maybe I can help change your mind,” Detrick suggested. Surely Conner was misinformed or ignorant.
“For starters, the fact that they choose who gets to go to school and who doesn’t. Small towns like ours are basically ignored by the Union—unless they’re murdering people during Catharsis.”
“Uh, ‘murdering?’ You mean doing as Lilith commands?”
Conner groaned. “Right, yeah, what was I thinking? They totally deserve to be killed. Are you serious right now?”
Detrick rose from the bed, on the defense. “Conner, are you…are you not an Empyrean?”
Conner stood up and put the stuffed fox back in the closet. “If you haven’t figured it out yet, no, I’m not. It sounds like they really warped your mind over there at the Citadel. I’ve got a lot of work to do.” He chuckled to himself and crossed his arms, but Detrick wasn’t laughing.
“That’s not funny. When did you start thinking this way? Lilith the Begetter gave us life. How can you deny Her? And besides, the Union only acts according to what She’s commanded. You should read the Doctrines. Do you want me to bring you a copy next time I come over?”
“I already have a copy. And I have read it.” Conner shook his head dismissively. “That’s not my biggest concern here. My biggest concern is that you think it’s okay for Catharsis to even be a thing. There’s no mention of Catharsis in the Doctrines. It’s a practice the Union put in place a few hundred years ago to keep us in line. Do you even know how it got started? They detained innocent people from all over and killed them in public to scare everyone into submission. In, like, a dozen different towns. That’s how the Union got control of everybody.”
Detrick laughed forcefully. Conner was seriously misinformed. “You can’t possibly believe what you’re saying. Where did you even hear that?”
“From a friend. “
“Right.” He paused for a moment. “Well, I think I’m gonna go.”
“Fine.” Conner turned his back to Detrick, and Detrick responded by heading for the door.
He curtly waved goodbye to Gwenith and Gavin, who were busy hanging new shelving.
“Hey, is that you, Detrick? Long time no— Oh,” Gavin said, but Detrick didn’t stop to chat, lest Conner was somewhere behind him.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw that he wasn’t.
* * *
A week later, it was time to return to the Morleys’ house to hear out their decision. Detrick’s mom stayed behind again, but neither Kellis nor Victoria seemed to mind. She’d taken to busying herself with the orchards. Even though Detrick tried to help out as much as he could, she seemed to be purposefully avoiding him, staying on the opposite side of the property from both him and his dad.
Detrick, his dad, Kellis, and the same two paladin escorts were ungratefully ushered into the house about an hour after night church had finished—it was after midnight, and though Detrick was exhausted, he couldn’t help being curious about how tonight would play out.
The paladins took up posts on either side of the front door, James sat on the couch, and Rebecca joined him after checking on Adrianne. Detrick, his dad, and Kellis stood near the door.
“Well, out with it,” Kellis said shortly. Apparently tonight wasn’t meant to take very long.
James looked to Rebecca, who nodded despondently, and he stood up confidently to reveal their decision. They agreed to the Union’s plan to frame James for treason. “Though I firmly believe Lilith detests what you’re making me do, I realize I have no other option. So long as you keep your end of the deal and agree to never lay a hand on my wife or my daughter, I’ll do as you say. You know, all the anti-Union rhetoric you accused me of is truer now than it’s ever been.” James laughed a sad laugh.
Detrick thought James and Conner would probably have a lot to talk about.
“Noted,” Kellis replied.
Rebecca didn’t seem to find it as amusing as James did. She was now wiping tear after tear from her face, her breaths sporadic. She glared at Kellis. “You family-wrecking sons of—”
James shushed her loudly. “Sweetheart, don’t.”
But seemingly not hearing her husband, Rebecca rose from her seat. “No. No! You’re stealing my husband from me. He’s never harmed anyone in his life. He only wants what’s best for Aeos, and you’re killing him!”
Detrick took her remarks so personally that he felt like he was the only Union person in the room. Ever more, he was trapped in this cruel plot of Victoria’s making. It was as though the Lismores were pawns in this game as much as the Morleys were, and Victoria was watching them both destroy each other from the inside out.
“If this were up to me, Rebecca, you’d be joining your husband,” Kellis said, his voice uncharacteristically raised. “But this is the deal Victoria’s agreed to, and so I must obey. But don’t think that means you can act however you want. If you don’t mind your tongue, you’ll lose your pardon with us.”
And with that, Rebecca dropped back down to the couch, clearly defeated.
As the group returned to their car, Detrick looked behind himself back to the house and saw James and Rebecca through the window. They stood embraced, with James’ head nestled into his wife’s shoulder.
Detrick didn’t like this one bit.
CHAPTER 8
FISHING
Detrick decided he should do two things: patch things up with Conner, and then call off their quasi-friendship. At least that way they could end on good terms. Things were getting complicated with his family’s assignment, and Conner and his extreme views on the Union would put him in a precarious situation. What if Conner went into one of his rants, and someone overheard? Detrick would be in a lot of trouble.
He picked up Conner from his house one morning, and they went for a walk through the forest outside of town. Detrick didn’t want to risk anyone else hearing their conversation.
“Listen, Conner,” Detrick said as they walked. “I wanted to apologize for how out of hand our conversation got the other day. We both probably said things we shouldn’t have. I don’t want things to be strained between us.” They stopped at a clearing in the trees that revealed a sliver of the ocean beyond. Conner was unusually silent. “Can I make it up to you? I’ll eat dirt if you want.” He watched the expression on Conner’s face shift from thoughtful to amused. What a breathtaking smile. Suddenly, calling off their friendship seemed such a silly idea.
“Let me think,” Conner replied as he rubbed his chin with a rough hand. For a reason Detrick couldn’t place, he wondered what that hand felt like. Conner’s hands must have gotten rough from years of working with wood and tools. It was an intriguing revelation. Detrick drew in a sharp breath and pulled his hair behind his shoulders. The humid beach air was making it poof more than normal. Hopefully Conner wouldn’t notice. He wished he would answer him already to dispel this annoying tension.
“How about…you agree that the fox’s name is Contrick?”
Detrick laughed, maybe more forcefully than seemed natural. “Oh wow, I wasn’t expecting you to deal a low-blow like that. But…how about I agree to consider naming the fox Contrick. And until that time comes, we just refer to it as Detner. Fair?”
Conner laughed back. “Sure, whatever you say, buddy.” He playfully clapped Detrick on the back. Touched him with one of the hands Detrick had just been thinking too hard about…
“I was thinking,” Detrick blurted out. “We haven’t been able to properly catch up since I moved back. Would you want to do something—go fishing, maybe?”
“Oh yeah, we should totally do that!”
One more time together before calling it quits couldn’t hurt anything, right?
They walked back to town, all the while discussing their plans, and stopped near the Pillar before saying their goodbyes.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” Conner said. “We’ll go fishing. I’ll catch more fish than you, you’ll be jealous, I’ll pity you, that whole deal.” Detrick assured Conner with a laugh that it would be the exact opposite.
They hugged briefly to finalize their reconciliation.
As Detrick headed home, he couldn’t wipe the beaming smile from his face. Conner’s charisma was contagious. Detrick could feel that he was much less tense than usual. In fact, his parents were able to tease him relentlessly about it without him retaliating. He didn’t tell them why he was feeling so great. He simply brushed it off and reveled in his good spirits.
Detrick met up with Conner before dawn the next morning, and the two walked south along the shore until the sun crested the horizon. Though it was May, the weather had been cooler than usual.
Ending at a cove with a single shoddy dock, they unloaded their packs, both still half awake. The air was cool, and the pine forest sent out a calming fragrance. Before even setting up their lines, they sat at the end of the dock with their legs dangling off the edge. The waves were almost nonexistent, and they could see a school of fish using the dock for shelter from the birds of prey that would snatch them up.
“Shall we?” Conner said, rising to his feet. They set up their poles, securing them to the dock, and decided to watch the clouds.
Detrick was quite content except for the nagging uneasiness he felt from the silence between himself and Conner. He hated small talk, but he wasn’t sure what else to say.
Thankfully Conner seemed to catch on to this. “So, what was the Citadel like? I mean, besides the Union.”
“Beautiful. Really beautiful. Vines creeping up every building, magnificent architecture, and just so peaceful. You wouldn’t expect a large city to be, but it was.” Detrick sighed wistfully, watching as a vase-shaped cloud was blown apart by the high winds.
“Maybe when my mom and Gavin visit the Lilith statue, I should tag along after all. Might as well,” Conner said.
“Are they planning on it?” Detrick asked. That would be such an awesome experience for Conner. Perhaps seeing the statue would remind Conner of Lilith’s love for him. He was so worthy of it.
“At some point, yeah.”
They sat in silence a bit more, morning melting into noon, until Detrick’s line began tugging from a bite. They both leaped to their feet, and Detrick reeled in the first catch of the day.
“Whoever said fishing was hard work has obviously never been fishing,” Detrick said happily as he tossed his fish into a bucket of water.
“I don’t think anyone’s ever said that fishing is hard,” Conner replied.
“Oh? Where’s your fish, Conner?” Detrick quipped.
“Touché, Fish Boy,” Conner said, smirking.
The rest of the afternoon passed by uneventfully. The single fish that had been caught sat motionless in the bucket, biding its time.
“Hey, uh, Detrick?”
“Don’t talk, Conner. You’ll ruin this perfect moment. So relaxing.”
“Perfect, my ass—look at your fish!”
Detrick jumped to his feet as he saw that his fish had jumped out of the bucket and was flopping helplessly on the dock.
“Grab him! Come on, you can do better than that!” Conner cheered Detrick on as he was fighting to grab the little fish. Detrick finally landed a hold on it, but it fought back with all its might, eventually managing to wriggle itself out of his grasp. Unfortunately for it though, it landed right back in the bucket. Detrick wiped the fish slime off on his shirt, while Conner was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe. He had to throw a twig at Detrick to wipe the scowl off his face. Detrick responded by tossing water from his fish bucket at Conner.
“It’s freezing!” Conner said, melodramatically shivering. He threw water from his own bucket at Detrick, and after a short, intense battle, both were chilled to the bone with seawater. They made a fire to warm back up and brewed hot tea. They cooked and ate the fish and then munched down some bread.
“I brought a blanket,” Conner said as they thawed. “You know…just in case.” He pulled a thick woolen blanket from his pack and threw it around the both of them. After a while, Detrick could feel Conner’s body heat creeping over his arm. It was more inviting and more comforting than the fire that glowed in front of them, and yet it made Detrick’s stomach flip.
As the sun began to set, they decided it was time to head back. Stinking of the beach, but ultimately contented, they packed up and began the short journey back to Edgewood.
“How did I even get sand in my hair?” Detrick asked, running his hands through it.
Conner laughed. “I think you’ll have to shave your head. Your hair’s too long anyway,” he teased.
“I like it long. So…what are you going to do with your awesome catch?”
“You mean this?” Conner asked, holding up a massive imaginary fish. “I’ll probably have it stuffed and mounted on the wall above my bed.”
“You know a good taxidermist?”
“He’s decent. But he specializes in real fish, so I might have to pay extra for this one.”
As they passed Detrick’s house, they said their goodbyes.
Detrick showered off the beach and replayed the day’s events in his head. He hadn’t had this much fun in a long time. For once, he didn’t feel like an adult or like anything was expected of him. He’d simply lived in the moment. It was something very foreign to him, but it didn’t scare him at all, the way foreign things were supposed to. In a strange way, his time with Conner that day had felt so natural…as though Detrick had never left town at all, and they’d grown up together and had been friends this whole time.
No longer did he feel that their differences were cause enough to break off their friendship. Shutting off the water, he knew one thing was for certain—seeing Conner again couldn’t come soon enough.
* * *
Conner quietly opened the door to Timberworks and saw his mother leaned over the counter, her head in her hands. “Mom? What is it?”
She raised her head. She’d been crying. Her eyes were puffy, and she looked more exhausted than Conner had ever seen her. “Sorry, Conner. I didn’t mean to let you see me like this. I’m just a little overwhelmed. Someone from the Commerce Division stopped by today. Apparently, the written warnings and threats from the paladins to drop our prices are no longer cutting it. We’ve gotten our final warning before they shut us down.”
“What?” Conner exclaimed. “That’s ridiculous.”
His mom seemed too lost in thought to hear him. “But we can’t lower prices even one more shell. Business is terrible as it is. We can barely afford the raw materials we need to work in the first place.” She sighed. “Should we just give up? Maybe I could get a job doing something else. I don’t know what to do, Connie.” She shook her head.
“Mom, we’re going to be fine. We’re good at what we do. We’ll make it. Don’t worry.” He hugged her, outwardly expressing hope but secretly scared for the future of their shop—their life’s work. For months now, they’d been getting threats. The Union was claiming that Timberworks was charging their customers an unfair amount, and Conner had almost blown up at the paladins at least half a dozen times because of it. How dare they try to dictate the shell price of their products? How dare they threaten his mother, who worked harder than anyone else in town and who Conner knew would give anything for those she loved? Paladins were such bullies, and Conner despised them.
Conner and his mother locked up and went upstairs.
CHAPTER 9
SOUP
The passing weeks found Detrick spending almost every day with Conner. Whether they were relaxing on the beach, reading in Conner’s room, or just walking around town, no activity seemed complete without him.
Detrick’s parents, predominantly his dad, took to questioning him about his friendship with Conner, as they could see that it was fast becoming the most prevalent thing in his life.
“You won’t let this interfere with your duties to the Union, I trust?” his dad asked one day as Detrick was getting ready to leave the house.
“Of course not, dad,” Detrick said as he was putting on his shoes. “There’s not much else to do around here when we’re not meeting with the Morleys.”
“Detrick, there’s always something to do. We’ve got the orchards to maintain. And if you want the Grand Magistrate to give you more responsibilities then you need to give her reason to do so. This assignment with the Morleys is an excellent opportunity for that. Do you really think Conner is worth risking your future with the Union for?”
Detrick had had enough. “Nothing is being risked! I’ll just hang out with him for a while and then come right back-” He started to tie his shoes again.
Detrick’s dad held up a hand to silence him. “You need a break from socializing so you can focus on what’s important.”
Detrick didn’t recognize his father these days. The words didn’t seem his own; it was as if Victoria was speaking through him. “What is it with you lately?” he asked, dropping the laces. “Back at the Citadel, you were begging me to stop taking work so seriously. Why the switch?”
His dad stood in silence, perhaps gathering his thoughts. “The stakes are higher now. Back at the Citadel you were helping to dictate others’ futures. But now…now our future is at stake as well. When you were gone the other day, Kellis told your mother and I that. He said he thinks Victoria’s becoming more and more irrational due to an illness—something to do with her heart.
Powerless: Aeos Book One Page 6