by V. St. Clair
“I know,” his mother said. Topher believed her.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry my work caused the death of someone you cared about. I don’t expect an apology to help anything, but you have it anyway.”
She acknowledged this with a tilt of the head.
“I can’t really accept your apology or offer you forgiveness, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
They stared at each other for another long moment.
“Is Risa going to be a problem in all of this?” Topher changed the subject. “Jessamine said she was quite bitter during her stay here, and while I can understand her feelings, I am growing quite edgy about people who may pose a threat to Jessamine right now.”
His mother frowned.
“Risa is still very hurt over your abrupt absence from her life, especially after she became Gifted and you never spoke to her again. Now Carl is following in your footsteps, and it has stirred up some of her worst fears of betrayal and isolation.”
“You still haven’t answered my question. Is she going to be a problem for Jessamine?”
His mother pursed her lips and said, “I’m not sure. I don’t think she would do anything to jeopardize Jessamine’s rule.”
Topher frowned, not entirely reassured by the answer.
I’m going to have to clear the air with her sooner, rather than later.
There weren’t enough hours in the day to do everything he needed.
“Can we work together for the good of Jessamine’s rule? Or are our differences insurmountable?” he asked his mother sincerely. He had no idea if he would be able to work peacefully with the people who had conspired to murder the Viceroy if they made a similar request of him.
“We will probably never be close again, but yes, we can work together.”
Topher nodded.
“Thank you.”
“I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for Jessamine, and for the future Ash would have wanted for our people if he was still alive to see it.”
“Then I thank you on the Vicereine’s behalf,” Topher amended, stung by the knowledge that his own mother loathed him. It was perhaps this moment of vulnerability that made him blurt out, “I hear things in my head sometimes.”
He immediately wished he could take the words back.
“Excuse me?” she looked confused by the blunt admission.
“Have your people been trying to hack into my neural network? I’ve been wondering about it for quite a while now, since I occasionally get intrusions into my thoughts by an outside voice. It speaks in fragments and never responds to any question I ask of it. I thought perhaps you were working to attack the Provo-Major from the inside, and I was the unlucky one you targeted first.”
His mother raised her eyebrows, mildly concerned for him, which was mollifying since it perhaps meant she didn’t completely hate him, but she didn’t answer his question.
“Is the voice in your head all the time?”
“No. Only occasionally and without warning. It’s the reason I knew something bad was going to happen on the night of the attack, which drove me to go to Jessamine and prepare to fight.”
She answered his earlier question. “None of my people are trying to hack the Majors’ neural networks. I hadn’t even considered such a thing was possible until you mentioned it.”
Great, then I’m just crazy.
“Our technologists are confident it isn’t, but they are also unaware of the problem I’ve been having.”
“Does anyone else know about it?”
“Jessamine, and only recently,” he admitted.
“Then why did you tell me?”
Topher frowned and said, “I have no idea. Perhaps because, despite everything, you are my mother, and I would like to think I can trust you.”
“In future, you should not. I have spent the last ten years avoiding the sound of your name and the very sight of you. I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m not sure I can trust myself not to in a moment of pique.”
Topher swallowed a lump of emotion and said, “Thank you for your candor. I’ll leave you now.”
He walked out of his bedroom without waiting for her to follow and made his way down the landing and through the living room, ignoring the others and glancing only fleetingly at the papers strewn about the table as he opened and shut the front door behind him.
He was merging into traffic with his aerial speeder before he realized there were tears in his eyes.
8
Risa Vorhees
For eight years Risa had been desperately hoping to see Topher again, if only to clear the air between them and see how he was doing. Now she had seen him twice in the last few weeks, and on both occasions he had treated her like a piece of furniture, not worthy of consideration.
“I don’t know what I expected,” she told Ana, rubbing her eyes and organizing the sheets of paper they had been poring over in the living room. Though each sheet was labeled ‘detailed Augenspire layout’ along with the floor number, they were depressingly sparse.
“It’s not your fault he’s being an ass,” Ana assured her.
“I’m sure he’s got a lot going on right now, with the new Vicereine and everything,” Risa allowed, trying to sound equable and not whiny.
“That’s no excuse for a lack of common courtesy.” Ana scowled on her behalf, folding her arms across her chest. “Well, I doubt Hera will be in much of a mood to continue tonight’s meeting.” She got to her feet and brushed off her clothing.
“You two are leaving already?” Maxton’s face fell at the prospect, though he helped them gather their things.
“I don’t think we’ll accomplish much more tonight,” Risa sighed. “I know Hera’s not going to be great company after dealing with Topher, but it’s not too long until curfew so we’d better be going.”
Ana raised an eyebrow and said, “Jessamine cancelled curfew, remember?”
Risa winced. It was hard to unlearn years of conditioning that told her if she wasn’t back in the Academy before eleven o’clock she would be punished by the Provo. Tonight she had actually been looking forward to using curfew as an excuse to go home and spend some time alone with her thoughts; Topher’s brief visit had left her in low spirits.
“Oh, yes…of course. I suppose we can stay a bit longer, then.”
Something in her voice must have signaled her lack of enthusiasm, because Ana narrowed her eyes shrewdly and said, “Actually, Max, I wanted to check out your progress in the garden and see if the beans are still hanging in there. Risa, if you want to head home I can catch up with you later?”
Risa exhaled in relief, thankful for the excuse to be alone.
“Hey now,” Max interjected, defensive. “I haven’t killed a plant in weeks now.”
Ana twirled her index finger in a lazy circle and said, “Yippee,” the good-natured sarcasm evident in her tone.
“In that case, I think I will head back. You can tell me if the beans survived tomorrow.” Risa excused herself, stepping out of the front door and shutting it behind her.
Darkness had already fallen, despite the earliness of the hour, and Risa glanced around reflexively to gauge her surroundings and determine if anyone was outside with her.
The sounds of a party in a backyard nearby were barely audible, but she didn’t encounter another human being until she had left the neighborhood entirely and approached a main thoroughfare in search of a bus stop.
The bus was pulling away from the stop as she approached, and with a frantic wave she managed to get the driver to acknowledge her and stop, opening the doors for her with a disgruntled look on his face.
“Thank you,” she greeted the man, stepping onto the bus and scanning her biochip.
He spared her emblem a glance and muttered something too low for her to hear, and Risa took a seat in the first vacant spot she could find, keeping an eye on the road as the bus pulled away again. This bus wouldn’t go directly to the Academy, but it would get her close enoug
h to walk the rest of the way if she got off at the right stop.
Downtown ground traffic slowed them considerably, as the clubs and bars along this street were among the most popular in Silveria and did a booming business at this time of night. Risa grabbed the metal pole near her seat and braced herself for the jerky starting and stopping of the bus, which seemed to happen every ten seconds or so.
I’ll be lucky to get home by midnight at this rate, she thought ruefully, idly fingering her emblem.
She stared out the window and watched the passerby, wondering what it would be like to be one of them. If she had never been Gifted, her whole life would be different. She could be like that group of girls over there, walking arm-in-arm along the sidewalk in high-heels, stumbling drunkenly and laughing raucously about it as they weaved unsteadily.
Two men stood kissing under a streetlight the next time they stopped, one in jeans and a T-shirt, with bright white hair coiled in a knot behind his head and the other wearing a three-piece suit and glasses.
A sandwich stand was set up outside of a club further down the road, wisely calling out to the people exiting the club and tempting them with the promise of good food.
Risa let her thoughts drift aimlessly, wondering at the lives of all the people she passed and nearly causing her to miss her stop when it finally came.
“Wait!” She jumped to her feet, running to the front of the bus and apologizing to the driver as he opened his doors once more for her to depart.
The further she moved away from the bustle of downtown nightlife, the fewer lights dotted the roads leading to the Academy. While not afraid of the dark, she started to get nervous at being alone in it, as the streets rapidly emptied and became alleys the further she walked.
Little noises began to startle her, and she kept her ears strained for any signs of pursuit—a reflex of being a Gifted alone at night. They all seemed to know someone who had been accosted by a group of intoxicated, bored people who felt low and wanted to make someone else feel even lower. Since society had been taught to treat them like freaks for the last several hundred years, it was going to take Jessamine a long time to fix that reflex.
Hopefully she can stay alive long enough to try.
A crunch of gravel behind her drew her attention, and Risa flinched and looked behind her, squinting in the semidarkness. There was nothing there but an empty alley, and she mentally chided herself for being silly and set out again. She hadn’t been walking for thirty seconds before she heard it again, closer this time.
She whirled around again. Nothing.
Concerned now, she picked up her pace, turning sharply off of the road and crossing over a grassy hill that would get her to the Academy quicker, though it was slick with dew. As she struggled to avoid slipping, she glanced behind her and saw a large figure in the shadows hurrying after her.
There were no lights on the hill, as it wasn’t meant to be used as a thoroughfare, but Risa thought the figure looked huge, like a body-builder of some sort.
Or someone in armor…
The thought sent a thrill of fear through her and she took off running, slipping in the grass on the steep downward slope and landing hard on her back, sliding out of control. Wet grass and mud raked up the back of her clothing unpleasantly, and she frantically looked behind her for her pursuer but could no longer see them.
For a moment she thought she was safe, sliding to a stop as the hill leveled out and jumping back to her feet, adjusting her clothing and looking in all directions.
She had no idea what made her think to look up at the last minute, but she saw something huge and dark hurtling towards her in the air and panicked, clutching her emblem and activating her Gift.
Between one blink and the next she switched place with her attacker, which unfortunately meant she was flying through the air towards the place she used to be standing. Since she lacked technology to keep her airborne, she rapidly fell back to the ground, landing on her feet and tripping, using the momentum to roll back to her feet and keep running while her assailant tried to recover from the change in orientation.
She heard something heavy behind her and sprinted frantically into the Academy, where the lighting became better and it would be harder to drag her off without anyone noticing. Squinting into the distance she could see the silhouettes of three people in the distance, and she activated her Gift again, rapidly switching places with one of them.
“Hey!” One of the men she had burst into the group with called out in surprise, but she continued running, legs burning but determined not to stop until she reached the safety of her dormitory.
Although, if a Major is targeting me, nowhere is really safe…
Risa had no idea if someone was coming after her specifically, or if she just happened to be in the area when they were hunting. She didn’t stop running until she had burst into the lobby of her dormitory, showing her emblem to security as she hurried past them, taking the elevator to her room.
In her room, she took the time to catch her breath and compose herself, glancing in the mirror. Her face was white with fear; even her lips were pale. Her orange-red hair was plastered with mud in the back, as were her clothes, and she began tugging them off of her, only belatedly thinking to call someone.
She was halfway through dialing Ana’s comm when she remembered her friend was likely still at Hera’s with Maxton and wouldn’t be able to get to her quickly, even if she wanted to.
Who else can I call?
As soon as she had the thought, she knew the answer. Grimacing, and wondering if it was the right thing to do, she pulled up Carl’s number instead.
It rang twice before the blank display was replaced with the face of a tired-looking Carl.
“Risa,” he blinked once. “This is a surp—what happened to your hair?” he tilted his head as though trying to turn the display to see her better.
“Can you come over? Now?” she blurted out. Something in her expression must have been worrying, because Carl simply said, “On my way,” and ended the call.
Risa paced the room to vent her fear, glancing out the window every few seconds and frowning ruefully at the flimsy locks on it.
At least the window has locks. If anyone wants to get at me, they just have to come in through the main door.
She wondered when Jessamine would get around to allowing them door locks and whether it would be before or after Risa got murdered.
Don’t be silly, she chided herself. No one is trying to murder you.
She blinked and forced herself to change clothing, doing her best to wipe the water and mud off of her skin with a nearby towel and hoping Carl wouldn’t barge in while she was semi-nude.
Thankfully, Carl knocked before entering, and Risa was dressed in an oversized shirt and shorts by then.
“Are you okay?” he asked without preamble, looking around the room for threats with his hand on his emblem.
“I’m fine—I think,” Risa amended, teeth chattering as she sat on the edge of her bed, pulling a blanket around her. “I’m probably overreacting anyway.”
“To what?” Carl asked, expression still serious. For a moment, Risa could see him as a soldier, calm and poised and in control of the situation. She hated the small part of her that acknowledged it was a good fit for him.
“I was walking home from my cousin’s house and I noticed someone following me. I couldn’t see who it was, thanks to the crappy lighting in the in-between, but it’s got me really freaked out.”
“Are you sure they were following you?” Carl seemed to realize he’d phrased his question poorly because he added, “I’m not trying to cast doubt on your ability to judge a situation. I’m just trying to gather information.”
Risa nodded.
“I thought maybe I was being paranoid, but every time I looked back there was no one behind me. So I left the road entirely and tried going down the hill instead.”
“Yikes, that explains all the mud.” Carl gestured at the pile of dirty clothe
s in her hamper. “The hill is a nightmare to navigate even in broad daylight.”
Risa chuckled darkly.
“I looked back and he—well, I don’t know if it was man for sure—was running after me. Of course, the lighting on the hill is almost nonexistent so I couldn’t make out anything except that they were either massive or wearing armor.”
“Armor?” Carl grimaced, understanding the implication immediately.
“Like I said, it was dark, so it’s hard to be sure.”
“Did they continue pursuing you?”
Risa clasped her hands together to warm them, nodding.
“They were behind me on the hill, and then I slipped and fell down most of it. When I got to the bottom I didn’t see them anymore, but something felt off so I looked up—I have no idea why—and I saw them flying towards me.”
“Flying?” Carl looked truly alarmed now, his expression grim.
“Well, they were sailing through the air towards me. I obviously can’t tell if they were truly flying or if they maybe ran and jumped or something.” She had no idea why she was trying to talk herself out of it being a Provo-Major, except that the prospect was so horrifying.
“How did you escape?”
“I panicked and switched places with them, which I think threw them off, and I took off running until I saw another group of people and swapped with one of them.” She slapped a hand to her mouth in horror.
“Oh my God. I didn’t even think—what if it was just a Major bent on tormenting a Gifted, and I swapped out with another Gifted without even thinking about it in my desperation to escape. What if I just traded myself for another innocent person?”
Carl moved to sit in front of her, though he made no effort to touch her, perhaps thinking it would be unwelcome. Risa couldn’t make up her mind on whether she wanted him to hold her hand or not right now.
“You panicked and did what you could to survive. Anyone would have done the same.”
“But if something happens to the other Gifted—”
“Then it will be the fault of whatever Major decided to chase you all down, and not you,” Carl assured her. “Do you have a reason to believe you were being targeted specifically, or do you think it’s random?”