“No. Actually I like the colours. What’s got into you?”
“Movies or books?”
“Books. Where are you going with this?”
“That’s two points for me, I was right again. Old school. I like it. I bet you like softcover, not hard?”
“Well, yes. But what if I was lying? Hmm?”
“Then I still get points because you cheated.”
“My turn. Why were you working at the OS? You don’t strike me as someone with wicked intentions.”
“Whoa. I thought we were small-talking.”
Tension rippled through his shoulders. She’d struck a nerve.
He sat up and fiddled with his shoelaces. “Do you trust me?”
“Now, that is cheating. You can’t answer a question with another question. No ways.”
“Do you?” His voice dropped so low, Evazee wasn’t sure she’d heard right.
“I don’t see what that has to do with why you got involved with such a dodgy operation.”
He shrugged and drew breath to speak as Peta stirred and rolled on her side. Her eyes shot open. Purple had been replaced by glowing blue, which flashed once and then turned white.
“I can see them. I see streets of stone, I see a field of glass, impassable mist. It’s impossible to get to them.” She sat up and her forehead creased. “Where are we, Zee?”
Evazee nearly tripped over her feet to get to the girl. “Who do you see?”
“The boys. The one with spiky black hair, the redhead and the one with hair like mine.” She paused and glanced around at their surroundings. “Where are we?”
“How much do you remember?”
“I feel like I’ve been dreaming. I don’t know what was real and what wasn’t.” Peta ran her hands down the front of her legs and smiled at the smooth skin. “That part must have been a nightmare.” She got to her feet and stretched her arms wide, making her back click twice. “I’m awake now.” She spun in a slow circle, drinking in the sights all around. “It is so pretty here. I don’t ever want to leave. Can we stay? Please?” She ran to Evazee and hugged her.
Over the top of Peta’s head, Evazee caught Elden’s gaze. What is going on with this girl?
Elden shrugged, looking as puzzled as Evazee felt.
Zulu came back and leaned close to Peta, his eyes bright. “The darkness has left this little one. She is full of light now. Tell us, small one, what do you see when you look at me?”
Peta squinted at him with her head tilted off to one side. “I see a crown floating above your head, but it keeps disappearing and coming back. I see you split in half and the two halves are playing a game of Tug o’ War. I see your heart, all golden and strong. I see...” she faltered, hesitated. “That’s all I see. Nothing else.” She turned away from him and sat with her back toward him, her face suddenly sad.
Elden’s head swung from Zulu to Peta and back again. “How do you see all that stuff? I just see a big old slab of Zulu.”
Evazee sucked in air and pushed the girl at arms’ length to study her. “Oh my word. Drinking the water from the Healing Stream. It has activated her light Affinity. Look! She’s lighting up.”
Pale golden light began to blossom beneath Peta’s skin, tracing curly patterns along her legs and arms, winding up her throat and making her face glow.
Evazee frowned. “It doesn’t make sense though. Why is she lit up, and I’m not?”
Elden shrugged. He was focussed on grinding glowing mushroom into the ground to make the tread of his sneakers glow. “She isn’t limited by the strong negative Affinity serum the way the rest of us are.”
“Wait, what?” Hairs stood up on the nape of Evazee’s neck. “Negative Affinity serum. What are you talking about?”
Elden froze, hunched over with his foot propped up on his knee. He kept his gaze fixed on the sole of his shoe.
“Answer me, Elden. What negative serum?”
He crouched down and fidgeted with his shoelace, “It’s just a theory. Could have leaked from the lab. Something like that could have caused us all to be stuck here.” He coughed and rubbed the back of his neck.
Evazee squinted at Elden through slit eyes.
Zulu didn’t look happy at all. He circled Peta, keeping the girl at arms’ length, “This is bad. How do you know it won’t do bad things to her? Sometimes the bad thing only kicks in later.”
Peta giggled and held out her glowing arms to hug Zulu. He backed away so fast, he tripped over a log and landed in a bush.
Evazee frowned at Elden and turned away to study Peta, who glowed brighter. “We need more water from the Healing Stream. Zulu, how do we do that? What about your village? Can we go back?”
He was already shaking his head before the words had left her lips. “I can’t go back. It was too close last time. They nearly caught me. I won’t go back.”
“Maybe they’ll realize that they can’t force you to believe what they do. You can show them a better way.”
“But I don’t have the answer that I’m seeking yet. I can’t face them until I can prove what my heart feels.”
Evazee pointed toward Peta with a smirk. “Are you telling me she doesn’t qualify as a miracle?”
Zulu shook his head. Peta grinned at him and a shudder passed through him. “Maybe, maybe not.”
“Peta, do you know where to find the Healing Stream? Can you see it?”
The girl picked flowers that none of them could see. She looked up and her eyes lost focus. “The Healing Stream is far-far. But I feel there are pools close by.” Her head tilted. “Not one pool, but many.”
“Could you take us to them?”
Elden folded his arms across his chest. “This is madness. Pools of what? How can you know that what she’s seeing is real?”
“Listen. Right now, she’s the only one who’s not still under the influence of the dark Affinity enhancer being pumped into our rooms. So I think I would rather listen to her than to anyone else. Besides, we’ve got to get away from here before the drums start playing.”
~*~
There was no reason to believe that the healing was anything less than it appeared to be, yet it left Kai cold. Even that felt ugly. What if he was just sour because his own ability had left? Tau’s miracles were worth celebrating. All around him, people cheered and screamed, but he turned his back on them to watch the people on stage. The three women clapped, but the man stood with a finger to his ear, eyes narrowed. Kai wished his Affinity was working. He felt so blind without it.
The man on stage switched to full-on performance mode. He walked to the front of the stage with his arms outstretched and a smile that showed all his teeth.
“Do you see the power of thinking right? Can you see that there is nothing that would be impossible for you?” He was right on the edge of the stage now, projecting all the way to back of the open courtyard.
Kai felt for Runt’s tiny bottle of water still hanging around his neck. He wanted his Affinity back. He wanted to be able to see, to know what was broken and what was whole. It was such a small amount of Healing Stream water, though. Should he drink it or use it as eye drops? Besides, what if he needed it again like he had in the spirit cuttings? Using it was a silly thought, and he dismissed it.
Kai dropped his gaze and slipped along the edge of the stage. He needed to be invisible, stay anonymous, fly under the radar.
And sneak backstage.
He stepped on a blonde girl’s toes, and she hugged him and laughed. He squeezed between a big belly and a guy who stood doubled over. Laughing or crying? Kai couldn’t tell which. He didn’t stop to find out but pressed on toward the corner of the stage.
The preacher perched on the edge of the stage, staring up into nothingness. His voice dropped to a whisper. “I can see it. It’s coming down. Can you see it? Can you feel it?” He stretched out his hand. “Now!” His hand dropped, and an explosion of sparkly glitter fell on the upturned faces of the worshippers in the middle of the room.
; Kai grabbed the moment, bolted upstairs, and slipped behind the curtain. He stood backstage in the dark and felt like his heart might explode. This was one of the worst ideas he’d had all day.
~*~
Peta hummed as she skipped along ahead of them. She led without a moment’s hesitation. The light that she gave off was just enough for them to see by. The path they followed led along a cliff face.
Zulu walked with Peta, slipping in behind her as they reached the narrow path. Evazee followed the two of them, and Elden walked at the end. Elden was quiet, the same way a stormy sky is quiet before the lightning and thunder starts.
“You can’t sulk the whole way, Elden.”
“You think I’m sulking? You have no clue, do you?” He hissed under his breath.
“Tell me what’s wrong. You know you can be honest with me.”
“Honesty. You want honesty.” Elden tripped on a rock, and the stumble seemed to shake his words loose. “My sister is here somewhere, probably dying, and all we do is pick the youngest to lead us on a quest for holy water. Why am I the only one who thinks this is madness?”
Evazee halted. Her mind ran wild with words, phrases, sentences. None of them glowed, none of them made it out of her mouth. She placed a finger in the middle of his chest and glared at him.
Elden squinted at the finger and frowned at her scrunched-up face. “You’re not saying anything. What’s up with that?”
Evazee’s nostrils flared with the effort of bottling all the things she wanted to say. It was so much easier when the right ones glowed.
“Are you trying to be mysterious? It’s not working.”
Evazee stamped her foot in frustration. All the floating words dropped like dead birds and tumbled out. “I can’t help thinking that you’re the reason we’re stumbling about in the darkness. Somebody pulled a stupid stunt with the dark Affinity serum, and I think it was you. Did you think that would work? You call this mad.” She waved a hand over their group, “What do you call it when you bring a whole bunch of us here with no way of getting back. And not just us, but a broken child, too. She’s vulnerable. Did you think twice before dragging her into this mess? Why not leave her at home? You’re the reason why we can’t pray and ask for help. I’m doing the one thing that I think will help. Not only us, but help you find your sister. If that’s mad then so be it.” She poked him once in the chest, spun on her heel, and ran to catch up with Zulu and Peta.
21
Kai tucked himself into the soft folds of the curtain for a moment, breathing slowly to stop the black spots dancing in his eyes. The light was dim backstage, but he could see enough by spilled stage light to make out a narrow staircase leading up and down close to where he stood. Indecision froze him.
On impulse, he reached for the bottle of Healing Stream water that hung around his neck, opened it, and drank a drop. He hesitated for a moment and then downed it all. He blinked twice, three times. No difference. That was a waste.
He had no idea what he was looking for, just an overwhelming conviction that this whole service was a sham. Don’t think too deeply, just move. Upwards. He took the stairs two at a time, hunkering down as he got closer to the top. He crouched with his back pressed up against the wall. The noise from the gathering below filtered through to backstage. Kai could hear everything as well as if he were in the audience. Risking a peep, he glimpsed an open door to a control room manned by five people. They stared at huge screens of what was going on below, conferring in quiet voices. Four of the screens were trained on the people with a central one showing what was happening on stage.
Kai blinked. When he opened his eyes, all five people at the controls wore glowing helmets of green. He blinked again, and the helmets were gone. Could this be his Affinity coming back?
He had to get closer. He waited until all those in the control booth were focussed on the furthest screen, pointing and rubbing their chins. Kai slipped off the stairs and tucked himself just outside the control room door where he could see and hear.
“We’re losing this section at the back. 7A. Can you see?”
“Another miracle? More glitter?”
“No, too soon.”
“Maybe a word of knowing? What about that girl? The brunette.” One of the operators poked the screen with a chubby finger. “I know her. She’s about to move up a tier but hasn’t told anybody yet.”
“And she’s right in the middle of the section we’re losing. Perfect. Do it!”
One of the operators reached for a microphone. “Stage, you’re losing section 7A. There’s a brunette third seat from the right, second row. She’s about to move up a tier. Now is a good time for a knowing.”
Kai watched the middle screen. The preacher pointed to the section they’d singled out. He squeezed his temples with his fingertips, eyes shut and lips moving wordlessly. A glimmer of green shot around his head, quickly branching off and spreading until his whole cranium was circled in pulsing light. For a moment, Kai’s vision flickered, and the preacher stood before the audience, hollow but filled with swirling darkness, shot through with slivers of glowing green. In a blink, he was back to normal.
The preacher’s head shot up, and he pointed again. “The girl with brown hair. You’ve got your hand to your chest. Yes, you! I sense great change coming your way. You are excited, but you are nervous as well. And ...” he paused, with his head tilted to one side, “you are heart sore. You don’t want to leave your friends behind.”
The camera had zoomed in on the girl they’d picked out. Tears streamed down her face, and she nodded with her hands clasped to her chest. The preacher’s voice dropped low, full of authority, “I say to you, do not fear. Embrace your new day. Embrace your promotion. You have earned it. By the sweat of your brow, you’ll be moving up. It’s a new day for you. Throw off anything holding you back.” The preacher’s voice was building in intensity. “Cut off the doubters and those who would see you held back by their own insecurities.” His voice roared through the air, “Today is your day!” The crowd erupted in cheering and clapping.
It turned Kai’s stomach. He clapped his hands to his ears and shut his eyes. He didn’t want to see such a sham, didn’t want to hear the lies. When he opened his eyes, a girl stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. He recognised her as the one that had miraculously been given her ability to walk back. Her entire chest was covered be a breastplate of dirty green, glowing light. Sweat beaded on her forehead from the laps she’d run around the gathering.
“Excuse me. What are you doing here? Do I need to report you?”
Kai said nothing.
Suspicion grew in her narrowed eyes.
She leaned toward the open doorway, not taking her eyes off Kai for a second. “Guys, we have a problem.”
~*~
Kai threw himself down the stairs, hesitated for a moment behind the stage curtains, heard footsteps, and ran out onto the stage. The preacher blinked at him, his face changing as the men upstairs yelled into his earphones. Kai leapt off the stage, shoving people out the way as he came down and hit the ground running.
He ducked through the crowd, out onto the street, not stopping or looking over his shoulder to see if he was being chased. The streets were busier now than when he’d first walked them, but he managed to find his way back to the dining hall, now deserted. Ruaan and Zap sat by a window and talked in low voices. They looked up as he ran to them.
“Kai! Where have you been, man?” Zap punched his arm as he got close. “We’ve just been arguing whether to go look for you or what.”
“I wouldn’t call it arguing exactly.” Ruaan scratched his head. “What’s going on? You look stressed out.”
“You missed such great food. Whoa.” Zap rubbed his belly. Ruaan’s eyelids drooped.
Kai leaned out the window to see if anyone followed him. The people walking below all ambled along harmlessly. “Do we have somewhere to stay yet?”
“Oh yeah, that nice girl showed us our rooms. We’ve all
got our own, but they’re right next to each other. Come on. We’ll show you.” Zap led the way out of the dining room, down a broad, carved staircase. Ruaan fell in behind the other two, yawning and stretching. A short way down the street, Zap took them through a carved arch with no doors, up a stone staircase that twisted upwards in regular bends. The rooms they’d been given were on the top floor of a stone building that seemed to be carved out of a single rock five stories high. By the time they’d climbed five flights of stairs, Kai’s legs were shaking. He pulled the other two into his room and shut the door. There was barely space for anything but the bed.
“Um, I don’t know if you remember, but I did say we each got our own room?” Zap backed into the corner of the tiny space looking twitchy.
“I want to hear where he’s been. He can’t exactly tell us through the walls, you know.” Ruaan sat on the bed gingerly, his knees poking up nearly as high as his shoulders. “Wow, this is a bit extreme.”
Kai turned towards them, “Guys, I found Bree.”
“That’s brilliant! How is she? Why didn’t you bring her?” Zap looked ready to tap him on the head to see if his brain was still working.
“She’s... different. It’s like a huge part of her has been shut down. Stolen, even. She doesn’t want to be rescued, but being here isn’t helping her. She needs a different environment, but she won’t believe me if I say that to her. It’s so horrible. I don’t even know what to make of it. She wants nothing to do with me.”
Ruaan stretched himself out on the bed, tucking both hands behind his head. His feet poked off the end of the bed like flagpoles. “What did you do to make this girl so angry at you?”
“The last time he left this place to go home, he left Bree in the desert outside the Darklands surrounded by darKounds.” Zap spoke before Kai could.
“You make it sound like I did it on purpose. I was trying to take her home, away from here. I was so sure it would work, but it didn’t. Now she’s injured, all bent out of shape, and won’t listen to me.” He sank onto the bed next to Ruaan’s long legs and buried his face in his hands. “The thing is her dad was taken by darKounds years ago. She’s had trouble trusting anybody since then.”
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