by JA Huss
I hold my breath for the next part. Because this is when I find out whether or not what I did to Jesse and Joey was worth it.
“They are no good to us. So… we’re going to cut our losses with them. But you…” Her smile is less tight now. Not genuine or relaxed, but just a little less tight. “You… you are the perfect example of what a proper Way upbringing can accomplish.” She lifts her chin up and directs her gaze to Megan next. “You as well, Miss Machette.” She glances over at her father. “I have to hand it to you, Monty. Great job with this one.”
I exhale. And maybe, just maybe I allow myself to relax. Just a little.
“OK, enough of the small talk. Let’s get down to business, shall we?” She fingers the ribbon on the folder, then unties it, and set it aside. “In here you will find your service record and our new offer for you.” She hands the folder over with a bright smile. Nothing like the tight one she was flashing at Megan.
I take it from her hand. Holding her gaze the entire time. Then put it down on the plate in front of me and open it up.
Squint at what I’m seeing. Which appears to be… some kind of contract. Only it’s written in… Akkadian cuneiform. Like the tattoos on my arms.
I look back up at her. “Is this a joke?”
She laughs. “No.” She chuckles. Like this is such good fun. “I have been watching you your whole life Johnny Boston. I thought you’d appreciate that. But the real contract is in there too. Just lift up that top sheet, please.” I do. And slip it off to the side. “Thank you. I’ll give you time and read it over carefully. Let me know if there are any errors. I’m sure there aren’t. But you are free to protest if you find anything unfair in there.”
She is as cool as they come when she says this and it makes me cautious. But then she begins to absently play with the white satin ribbon in front of her and I adjust my perception of her.
Maybe she’s more nervous about this than she’s letting on.
I read over the papers. It lists all the money-making ceremonies I’ve taken part in over the years. The problems I solved, the things I took care of, and then the few recent transgressions at the end.
Then I read the offer.
And look up at her. “What the fuck is this?”
Her smile falls and she is suddenly very serious. “It’s exactly what it says.”
“It says I’m to marry Megan Machette.”
“Oh, it says much more than that, Johnny. It says you’ve been promoted to upper circle. It says you’re no longer in charge of the banking, but you must allow the ceremony to continue in the spire. It says you will take Megan Machette home to your lake house and start a family. And it says that Megan will be pregnant within one year or this contract will be invalidated and you will both be replaced with two other up-and-comers. Now, as far as Monty goes. He put up a fight over this, but I think we both agree that it’s turning out for the best. Don’t we Monty?” She glances at him and smiles. “He’ll go back to his lab on Osprey Cay. He will recover. And then he will resume his work and all. Will. Be. Well.”
Megan grabs the folio from my plate and starts scanning it.
But that is what it says.
“I don’t understand,” I whisper.
“I don’t know how much clearer I can make it, Johnny.”
And then… then she does something weird. She nods her head. Just a very small nod in the direction of a drone hovering nearby. And she covers it up by tossing her hair.
And then she puts the white ribbon down and almost imperceptibly pushes it. Just slightly. Across the table in my direction.
I just stare at the ribbon for a moment. Because she’d made it into a bracelet. One figure eight knot on the bottom. And one sliding knot on the top. Just like the one I made for Megan two nights ago when she opened those presents.
I look up at the woman with wide eyes.
Recognize the ones staring back at me.
Because this… she’s…
She shakes her head at me. Not covering it up this time.
I look around again. Take in the situation in a whole new way.
The drones. Megan’s father, beaten and silent. The folio. The ribbon. The job offer.
Her.
My mother.
She is my mother.
And she just found a way out for me.
For all of us.
“Oh, and the Way would like to express their heartfelt appreciation for taking care of the little mess out on that island yesterday. What a freaking freak show. Amiright?”
I don’t even have words right now.
“I can see you’re confused, Johnny. And I’m not supposed to do this but—” She holds a cupped hand up to her mouth and whisper-yells, “—I’m going to explain it to you. Just in case that contract isn’t crystal clear. And… to put Megan’s mind at ease. Because I see a little residual hostility in her eyes over the condition of her father. And after I do that I have just one tiny question to ask you and then you can all go home and get on with your lives.”
I glance at Megan. Who is now staring at my mother with an open mouth. There is no hostility there. It’s… bewilderment. And I have a feeling I look the same way.
“Love is a weapon,” my mother says. “A very powerful weapon. When I came down here and presented the Way’s plans for you, Johnny. Well, let’s just say Mr. Machette wasn’t too keen on your pedigree. And even though I assured him that you did, in fact, come from some of the most pristine breeding stock we have in the Way, he was not on board. But he came round. After some convincing.”
“After you beat the shit out of him, you mean,” Megan snaps.
“Quiet now, Megan,” I say.
My mother smiles at me. Cool as they come.
But not really. Because a bead of sweat drips down the side of her face. And there’s no way she didn’t feel it. But she doesn’t wipe it away. And it slides all the way down her neck until it disappears inside her shirt.
And I suddenly realize she’s playing for the cameras.
She’s in as much danger right now as we are.
And the only way we all walk out of here alive is if I sign this contract, take this new job as Megan’s… stud? I’m not sure there’s a better word for it. And do exactly what they say.
“Just let her talk,” I add.
“Thank you,” my mother says. “Like I said. Love is a weapon.”
“Tell me something I don’t already know,” I huff.
“Yes. You probably do understand that better than most. But it’s very powerful too, Johnny. When I suggested that you be paired with Megan here, no one was convinced. Least of all Monty. We typically need permission from living parents to have a pairing.” She looks at Megan now. “So we took you. And him. And… changed his mind. But I wasn’t convinced he was really on board. And that bothers me. A lot.” She shoots Megan a super concerned look. “So I told him we were going to leave you chained in that dungeon so Johnny could rescue you. Be your protector and take you on a grand adventure. One that would bond you together like soul mates.”
She sucks in a deep breath of air and folds her hands in front of her on the table. Proud of herself. And this, I think, is disturbingly real.
“And look what happened. It worked.”
“I wouldn’t call what we did over the past few days a grand adventure,” Megan spits.
“No,” my mother says. “The lab was a buzzkill. But it needed to be cleaned up. And we needed you on board with the pairing.” She eyes me when she says that. Maybe even squints a little. Waiting to see if I have anything to add.
I don’t.
“Two birds, one stone, as they say,” she continues.
The little girl’s words back on Logan’s yacht come back to me. Oldest trick in the book.
Then, unbidden, the tattoo on my father’s arm. Sisyphus and his eternal punishment. Pushing that boulder uphill. And my mother’s name written below it.
She was his downfall. She was his eternal punishment.<
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And Megan will be mine.
But I’m going to do it anyway. We’ve been through a lot in the past week. My mother’s scheme worked to perfection, didn’t it?
Because I love her. We did bond. And we want to be together now.
And this new offer is really just… a checklist. Boxes to be ticked off. Maybe even… a rulebook of sorts.
It’s something, at least. More than I had before this adventure started.
“And you did a brilliant job, Johnny,” my mother continues. “Well done.” Her eyes are locked on mine. “If I had told you that you were going to be paired up and married off to a complete stranger and expected to produce a child within one year, what would you have said?”
I sigh.
“That’s right. You’d have told us all to go to hell.”
Has she been watching me all this time? Did she, somehow, hear my conversation with Charlotte Kane back at her tenth birthday party? Hear me reject her?
Or does she just know me that well because I’m a part of her?
“And now?” my mother asks.
I look over at Megan, reach for her hand, and bring it into my lap. Unable to imagine my life without her. There is no going back. No matter what happened here today, there’s no way to turn back. Then I look back at my mother and say, “I love her.”
“You love her,” she whispers. “And you will love that child too, Johnny. I promise you. Even though it’s an order and you must follow it, you will still love that child. You will protect it, and care for it, and keep it safe for as long as you live. We’re counting on you to do that. Can you do that?”
I nod and swallow. “I can.”
“Good,” she says. Leaning back in her chair. “Now. I only have one more question.” She snaps her fingers and Samuel appears again. This time handing my mother a stack of photographs. She places them on the table and pushes them towards me. “Do you recognize any of these people?”
I pick up the photos and look at the one on top.
A man. Covered in tattoos. Chains around his neck and shoulders. Dogs snarling on his arms. Nearly shaved head. A look in his eyes that only says one thing.
This guy is insane.
And for a moment I wonder if that’s what people see when they look at me?
“Do you?” my mother prods.
“No,” I say. “I’ve never seen him before. Who is he?”
“His name is Nicolas Tate.”
“What did he do?”
“He’s… killing children at the moment. Which leads me to the second picture. Do you recognize that woman?”
I flick the picture of the thug over to the side and study the woman. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Very pretty. But again, it only takes one look into those blue eyes to see the same thing I saw in Nicholas Tate.
She’s one of us.
“No,” I say. “I have never seen her either.”
“Good. That’s good. But there’s one more. Please look at the last picture and tell me if you’ve seen her.”
I flick the second picture over on top of the first one and study the one on the bottom.
The little girl from the lab.
Indie.
I look up at my mother and find her staring at me intently. Warnings flashing in those blue eyes that look very much like mine. Do not lie now, that gaze says. Not when we’ve come this far and you’re practically home free.
“Yeah,” I say. “She was at the lab yesterday.”
My mother glances up at the nearest drone and nods. “What happened to her?”
I know they’ve already gone back to that island and found what I did. They had to have noticed she wasn’t among the dead. “I took her with us. But I killed her on the yacht. She attacked me and… I’m sorry if she was important. I didn’t know. She’s dead. We threw her body overboard.”
My mother lets out a long sigh of satisfaction and leans all the way back in her chair like she just got home from the most stressful day of work in her life.
And then I have a really crazy thought. Did she send me to that lab because she knew the little girl was there? Did she want me to kill her?
Or… or did she want me to not kill her? And she knew I wouldn’t once I saw how young she was. And she knows I’m lying right now.
I don’t know. There is no possible way to know that without asking. Which seems to be out of the question right now.
“Perfect,” she says. “Now. Would you like us to give you a lift home? Or would you prefer to call your friend, Logan, to pick you up? Because we’re confiscating your yacht as evidence.”
Jesus Christ. Well, that wasn’t subtle. I’m glad there’s nothing on that yacht to incriminate us. They won’t find any trace of that little girl because she was never there.
But Logan is going to be pissed when he finds out he won’t get his payback.
I brush her thinly-veiled threat off as just a warning, decide I can deal with the fallout later, and say, “Logan, thanks.”
Because we’re done here. And we’re still alive.
And just as I think that my words to Megan two nights ago come to mind. You should believe me because you lied to me. You set me up. And you’re still alive.
I glance up at my mother but she’s busy snapping off orders to Samuel about something.
Is this how she shows me her love? By letting us go home? Not free, but freer than we were. Taking Megan’s secret with us?
Does she know about it? Did she just cover for us?
She turns back to me and smiles as she points to the folio. “Did you sign it?”
“Oh. Was I supposed to sign it?”
“You are. There’s a pen—”
“I see it,” I say. Spotting the pen in the folio’s crease.
“Did you read it?” she asks. And when I glance up at her she’s got one eyebrow raised.
“I see what it says. It all seems fair.” I pick up the pen, sign the document, close the folio, and hand it to her across the table. Then I spy the Akkadian cuneiform version off to the side. “Can I keep this one? It was a pretty cool effort and I’m kinda in to this stuff, you know.”
Her face brightens as she tucks the folio into a leather bag that was sitting at her feet. “I do know. But it’s just the Epic of Gilgamesh.”
“You must think you know me pretty well.”
“As well as one can in my position.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.” I fold the cuneiform contract up and stick it into a side pocket of my pants.
“No.” She sighs. “I suppose you’re right. But don’t make the mistake of thinking you know me, either. Now. If you’ll excuse me, I have to be going.” She directs her gaze to Megan. “Samuel will be your father’s nurse for the foreseeable future. Then he will take your place in the lab. I’m not sure how much you enjoyed your work, but if you want to continue your science projects I’m sure Hannah what’s-her-face would be happy to include you in her little lipstick adventures at Bright Berry Beach Cosmetics.”
My mother smiles.
Megan, to her credit, says nothing. Even though I’m pretty sure she has no idea what my mother is talking about.
I do though. Maybe the suggestion was genuine, but she’s telling me, in no uncertain terms, that she knows who every one of my new associates are.
In other words…
Watch your back. Because you’re definitely not safe yet.
But she also hinted that Megan should continue her work. And directed her to a lab that might be able to help her out with that.
So she does know about Megan’s secret.
She does know that the plan to take down the Way… or the Company… or whatever it’s really called—is already in place.
And that means she must know we can’t use it yet. Not without killing innocent kids.
So…
“Thank you,” I say.
“It was the least I could do,” my mother quips back.
CHAPTER THIRTY - MEGAN
Johnny
and I stay seated as we watch his mother walk onto the sand, slip off her sandals, and then casually make her way to the dock.
She steps onto the yacht, turns for just a moment, shielding her eyes from the sun, and then turns again, and disappears into the interior cabin.
We both let out a long breath.
“I’m gonna call Logan. Let him know what just happened.”
“What did just happen?” I ask.
“I’m not sure.” Then he glances over at Samuel, who is busy with something inside the maintenance shed, and says, “We’ll figure it out later. Right now I just want to get off this fucking island.”
He leaves the shade of the tent and wanders down the beach. The drones, all six of them, follow him. Buzzing around him like pests. He swats them away when they get too close, and then starts talking into the phone.
A hand on my shoulder startles me and I push back from the table and stand up quickly. Whirling around to face… Samuel.
“I’m sorry to startle you. I just wanted to let you know that I’ll take good care of your father.”
I walk around the table and sit in the chair our host just vacated.
Then pick up the white ribbon she turned into a bracelet and stare at it for a few moments before redirecting my gaze to my father. “Are you OK, Daddy?”
It’s painful to look at his face, so I can’t meet his eyes. It’s clear that whatever happened to him was very… unpleasant.
But our secret is still safe.
“He will be OK,” Samuel says. “They smashed his foot with a hammer when he refused their offer for you. Then broke his jaw. It will take six to eight weeks for him to heal, but I repaired him the best I could. He will be able to work again. They left his hands alone, so they’re counting on it.”
I look down at his foot, which is in a cast. Then back up at Samuel. “Are you really a nurse?”
“I am now. But don’t worry. In my other life I was a world-class orthopedic surgeon.”