by Wren Weston
She’d only run to give them more time to work behind the scenes, and only because her father had ordered it.
She hoped she’d given them enough.
“My matron doesn’t have to force me to attend my trial. I won’t run from it.”
“Fine. Go see what they have to say.”
“You say that like you have a few senators in your pocket.”
The oracle led her down the dock. Dixon and Connell followed along behind them. “I’m afraid I don’t. The fools on the disciplinary committee do not believe in the gods, just like you. Even the lowborn senators don’t. My influence can’t save you, but my people can. They’re already making plans to break you out of Bullstow’s holding cells and deposit you at my gate. I have sovereignty. Bullstow’s laws mean nothing inside my compound.”
Lila paused. If the oracle could do what she said, it might give her father and Shaw a way out. If the hangman’s noose no longer threatened, if her only punishment would be a lifetime spent among the oracle children, then perhaps their part in her troubles could remain hidden.
Unfortunately, running and hiding would harm the Randolphs, crashing the family’s stock. Thousands of people could be affected, highborn and workborn alike.
It might even force her mother to call for her blood squad, cleaning the stain from her family’s honor.
“Do you really want to test that?” Lila asked. “I can’t recall the oracles taking in a highborn criminal, not in a hundred years.”
“I don’t want to, but I will. As I said, the oracles need you if we are to survive.”
“Why do you need me this time?”
The oracle folded her palms behind her back and stepped off the dock, leading the group across a path of beaten weeds, a path Lila had created over the last month. A dozen grackles quieted as they approached, the blue-black birds flapping away from a tree limb nearby. One iridescent feather fell like a leaf in their wake.
The naked trees rustled overhead, filling the quiet.
“My people and I have spent the last six weeks interrogating the Italian mercs you and your friends subdued in the warehouse. You’d think sixteen mercs would provide a great deal of information. Let me assure you. They did not.”
Lila recalled more than sixteen mercs at the warehouse, but not all had made it out alive. She’d killed. She’d ended souls. Being tried for sneaking into a government database seemed so small in comparison. It didn’t matter that she’d acted in self-defense, that it had been the first battle in a resurgence of war, that two young oracles as well as Oskar and Maria Kruger had been saved.
She had still killed.
She still had dreams.
But at least the math had worked out okay.
“We’ve interrogated them with truth serum as often as Dr. McCrae allows,” the oracle explained. “They knew far too much about us, and they didn’t learn what they knew by bugging a few offices.”
“Where did it come from then?”
“Headquarters. I haven’t gotten any more than that.”
“So they don’t know, and you suspect a mole.”
The oracle jammed her hands into her coat pockets. “Yes, and on my compound.”
“An Italian mole inside an oracle’s compound?” Lila shook her head. “That doesn’t sit well with me.”
“Nor with me,” Connell growled.
“I need to find the mole now before they do more damage than they already have,” the oracle said. “My people have not been able to get any further in the investigation. You already know what the Italians have been up to, and you have the skillset to find them. More importantly, I trust you.”
“What about Tristan and Dixon?” Lila asked.
“They’ve tried, but it’s been a month with no results. My sisters and I are in danger, and the truth serum cannot tell me what the Italians don’t know. I need you to tell me who I’m trusting wrongly.”
“You haven’t had a vision of your betrayer?”
“I’m not magic. I can’t just close my eyes and force myself to dream of whatever I wish. I’m subject to the will of the gods, and right now their will is for us to focus on larger issues. Perhaps they believe we other have methods of sorting this out, and I’m inclined to agree. After all, they did lead me to your location.”
“They can’t just pop a picture of the mole inside your head?”
The oracle snorted. “That would be convenient, but I suspect they have other motives for getting you involved and keeping you close.”
“What motives?”
The oracle did not answer.
“Now look who’s quiet.”
She shrugged. “I live to serve the whim of the gods.”
“An inconvenient whim at an inconvenient time,” Lila said as the group stopped before the oracle’s car. “You do understand that I can’t help you. I can’t even help myself right now.”
“Don’t wallow. It doesn’t suit you.”
Dixon and the purplecoat chuckled.
Lila shot them both a look. “If I’m found guilty, what do you intend to do? Break me out of my holding cell?”
“We need you alive.”
“Slaves are alive.”
“Do you believe that you’ve earned a lifetime of slavery?”
“Scrubbing a few pots is the least of my problems.”
“Worse will happen if you’re condemned, Lila. I don’t know much, but I know that. Hanging, slavery, it’s all the same to me. I won’t let either happen.”
“What if I don’t go with your people?”
“You’d stay if they decided to hang you?” The oracle studied Lila’s face. “No, not hanging. You’re hoping for slavery, aren’t you? You’re wishing for it.”
“I’d rather be free, but that’s not going to happen.”
“It could,” the oracle said. “If I were in your shoes, I’d accept my offer. But if I felt that I couldn’t, then I’d wish for death. I know what your kind do to one another after you fall. Some rival of your mother will buy you and trot you out the same night as your auction, all for her amusement and the amusement of her dinner guests. You’ll be taken out at every highborn party after that, forced into the worst sorts of humiliation. You’ll bleed whenever she thinks she can get away with it, no matter what the law decrees. That’s not slavery. That’s torture.”
Lila knew the oracle spoke the truth, but it hardly mattered. “That depends on who buys me. The Randolphs have many allies.”
“And many enemies with deep pockets. The Holguíns, for instance.”
Dixon shifted uncomfortably.
“And what about your matron? One word from her, and it won’t matter if you’re bought by friend or foe. The outcome will be whatever she wishes. If she wishes pain, you’ll receive it.”
“It is what it is,” Lila said. “What happens if I don’t go with your people?”
“You will. You don’t want the empire inside my compound any more than I do.”
“You are not my primary concern. There are things I don’t want to see more.”
“I suppose there are. My vision didn’t tell me what those things are, nor did it tell me what will happen to you in that courtroom tomorrow. Perhaps you’ll be given a slave’s term. Perhaps you’ll be condemned to death. Too many who will decide your fate have not made their choices, I suppose. Everything is blurry surrounding you. It’s always blurry.”
The woman opened her driver’s-side door. “No matter what happens, Lila, we are going to save you, whether you want us to or not. Go with my people quietly and spare yourself the tranq hangover. I hear it’s quite vicious.”
“Don’t. People could die,” Lila said. “Bullstow will hang anyone who breaks me out.”
“That’s not your concern.”
“It damn sure is,” she snapped.
“Then go with them. I already know you’ll be at my gate soon, Lila. I just don’t know how it happens or how many lives it might cost.”
Lila looked back at her sedan, parked and waiting as if it wanted to go for a ride.
If the oracle’s vision was true, then perhaps the disciplinary committee would dismiss her charges with the first few moments of the meeting. Perhaps her father had figured out a way to save her.
Or perhaps he and Shaw would stand trial in her place. She had no idea what to expect, for her father hadn’t told her anything. He’d only sent a few lines each week, urging patience, telling her to stay away and give him time.
But time had run out.
The oracle let out a heavy sigh. “Don’t make me beg. We need your help, chief.”
The word rocked her. She knew no matter how her trial played out, no one would ever call her that again. “It’s low, calling me that.”
“I’m appealing to your sense of duty, or at least I’m trying to.” The oracle’s gaze passed to Connell. “It usually works on him.”
“No, it doesn’t,” the purplecoat replied.
“Yes, it does.”
“Don’t bait me, woman. It’s a long ride back, and there are only so many radio stations that don’t annoy you.”
“Fine,” Lila said. “I’ll give you today. I can’t promise any more than that. Send me a list of everyone who has had access to your compound for the last ten years. I’ll see what I can find in the data.”
“Ten years?”
“I cast a wide net. And when I say I want everyone on the list, I mean everyone. Even you should be on the list. Even newborns.”
“You’re nothing if not thorough.”
“How long will it take for you to get such a list together?”
“I’ll have it ready within the hour,” Connell vowed. “The militia keeps a guest log and residency list on file. We just have to concatenate the data.” From his pocket, he pulled out his palm, a flexible piece of plastic and metal the size of his fist. He tapped and swiped upon the device with practiced ease.
“I know the charges against you are baseless,” the oracle said. “Whatever you did, you had reasons. Good reasons. You should come clean with them tomorrow.”
“That’s not possible.”
The oracle raised a brow. “You’re protecting your father, aren’t you? He’s not much of one if he lets you take the blame.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It never is.” The oracle slipped behind the wheel and started the engine. She left the door ajar, and a series of high-pitched dings cut through the air.
Connell shoved his palm into his pocket and got in on the passenger side. The car rocked under his weight as he settled.
“Get in. You can stay at my compound. My people will drive you to Bullstow tomorrow morning if you still want to go.”
Lila shook her head. “It wouldn’t look good for you to hide me before the trial. Bullstow would get nervous.”
“I don’t really care what makes Bullstow nervous.”
“You should. If nothing else, they’ll start watching you and your people more carefully.”
“She’s got a point,” Connell said, fastening his seatbelt. The strap barely fit over his wide chest.
The oracle tapped on the steering wheel. “Fine. Stay with Dixon. You’ve worked with him before. Work with him one last time.”
Lila frowned. Where would they work?
The shop?
“Don’t make a face. It’s only for a night.” The oracle slammed her car door shut, and the high-pitched ding finally cut out. She then backed the electric car from its spot, turned in the driveway, and headed down the jagged, rocky lane to the main road.
Dixon pulled his notepad from his pocket. Get your things, he wrote. I’ll order lunch on the drive back into town.
Her stomach growled at the mention of food.
Begrudgingly, she entered the cabin, her eyes lighting over the mess inside: empty cabinets cocked, kitchen drawers opened, clothes dangling from her wardrobe. The only spotless part of the cottage was the sink and counters. She’d put away every dish, clean and useless.
Her stomach growled again as she folded her clothes and tossed them into a canvas bag, a bag she had to turn inside out again, stuffing the lining back into the pockets.
“I’m not used to picking up after myself,” she said.
No. That’s not it. You were hungry. You went through everything, looking for food.
Lila tossed a sweater into her canvas bag. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The Holguíns didn’t always feed me when I became a slave. I remember what it’s like.
“I just haven’t had time to go to the store.”
Your pride will be the first thing they take.
Lila looked up. “You’d rather I become the oracle’s lackey?”
He nodded.
“Too bad,” she said, opening the dresser’s bottom drawer. “Tell me about this mole. Surely you’ve found something.”
While Lila cleaned out the drawer, Dixon scribbled his answer. We skimmed through the videos of every interrogation between the purplecoats and the Italian mercs. We dug through the bios of the oracle’s inner circle, spending quite a few weeks and a great deal of manpower following them, but we saw nothing suspicious. Toxic even reviewed the logs from ONet, the oracle’s network. She found nothing unusual in the last two months. We have no leads.
“Where will we work?”
My apartment.
“It’s not just yours, and I don’t think Tristan will approve.”
I really don’t care what Tristan will or won’t approve of. Your stomach hasn’t stopped growling since we showed up. My first concern is getting you something to eat.
It rumbled again as if in confirmation.
Lila was too hungry to say no.
Chapter 2
Lila and Dixon peeked from the alleyway in East New Bristol, eyeing a five-story brick building across the street. The windows on the top floors gaped like prayerful mouths on a cathedral. A buzzing neon sign spelled out Mechanic near a much plainer window near the entrance. Black drapes wafted in the frigid air behind the glass. Dock doors had been cut into the front of the structure, exposing a tangle of vehicles inside. Half a dozen figures bent over an engine, cursing and arguing. Outside, a woman in a derby hat sat beside the door on a wooden stool, the butt of her tranq gun visible in her pocket.
Lila hitched her canvas bag further up her shoulder, her mesh hood lifeless in her fingers. “There’s no point in wearing this now,” she said, her breath steaming in the cold air. “I’m no longer an heir or a militia chief, and I never will be again. I’m no longer anything.”
She dropped it on the gritty, cracked street, tired of hiding her face.
Dixon retrieved it, then slipped it over her head. He took her hand and led her toward the garage. Usually they would have driven straight in, but she’d left her car in a parking garage nearby. They’d taken her two bags and her satchel, carrying them to the shop on foot.
Dixon had paid the fare as well as the gas to get them back into the city.
She already owed him money.
As they padded inside the shop, an older woman looked up from her perch at a workbench. She held a screwdriver and a box with frayed wires spraying out of it. Half her fingers had been cut away, as had part of an ear. “Heya, Hood,” Shirley called out. “I haven’t seen you in weeks. You get pinched?”
Several people in the shop turned at the question, their heads cocked to the side. The whirl and drill and pop of tools stopped.
The woman at the door turned too, peeking into the building.
“Yeah,” Lila replied, modulating her voice and pushing it lower. “Some blackcoats caught me with Samantha’s father in a
Vali roadster. I pled down to indecent exposure.”
“You have a Vali roadster now?”
“No. I didn’t have one then, either. Idiots didn’t even bother to run the plates.”
The corner of Shirley’s mouth crooked. “Small car, that.”
“I don’t need much room. Neither does Samantha’s father. He’s rather small as well.” Lila held up her thumb and forefinger, leaving only a few centimeters between them.
The people in the garage snickered.
Samantha tightened her grip on her tranq gun. “Don’t talk about my—”
“Then don’t let your attention wander while you’re on guard duty.”
Samantha harrumphed and returned to her post.
Shirley put down her part and strode across the garage. “So where were you really?” she whispered, eyeing Dixon’s face.
“Other work kept me away.”
“You ever find the asshole who tried to kill you last month? I’d half thought they’d succeeded, what with Tristan refusing to talk about you.”
“I took care of them.”
“Dead, I hope?”
“Dead is taken care of, Shirley, unless you’ve found some tonic that can bring a person back to life. Is that it, Shirley? Do you have a zombie tonic? Is that why your people are staring at me like they’ve lost all sense?”
The old woman turned her head. “Stop gawking,” she barked over her shoulder. “Not unless you want to clean the break room and the bathroom for the next month.”
Her people snatched up their tools once more. Electric drills started up immediately.
“Guan came by a few moments ago with enough food for an army. Samantha carried it upstairs. I should have known by the smell of pork lo mein who would be coming by for lunch.” She clapped Lila on the shoulder. “I’m glad you’re back. We can always use a woman of your caliber around here.”
Lila’s stomach growled again at the mention of food.
It took all her highborn willpower not to run upstairs immediately.