As she hugged him goodbye, Fale kissed his cheek. Lisle looked pained and Fale thought it was somehow her fault. He opened the door for her, and she walked out into the darkening afternoon. Cloud cover rolled in as she hurried to the pub closest to the University where her group of friends frequently met for lunch.
Fale opened the door to a fog of smoke and a wall of sound. The live rock band played music on the corner stage. The lead singer held the mic with both hands and sweat pasted his hair in black spikes to his forehead. Fale was invigorated by the music and tapped her finger on her thigh to the beat. She loved the pub. All her friends hung out there in booths at the back. She felt safe among the friendly faces. She felt alive.
Stepping up to the bar, Fale asked for her favorite cocktail and scanned her wristband for payment. She thanked Cleo for helping her the night before and took her glass of lemon vodka twist. She walked the back booths until she found her friend, fending off attention from nearby tables. Fale laughed out loud. Izzy would have been stunning in any color, but her dark skin made her look exotic. Her eyes were almond shaped and almost always lined with dark shadows, her lips shining with pink gloss. Fale was more of a minimalist. Nelson hadn’t taught her about makeup and when you’re either studying, training, or teaching, you don’t have time for it anyway. Besides, Nelson said she didn’t need it. He said when she trained, her face flushed, and she looked made up because of her dark features. He had called her pretty. Fale hoped so because she didn’t have a clue how to be a real girl sometimes. Thank God for Izzy. “Hey,” she said, sliding into the booth.
“What happened to you guys last night?” Izzy asked. “Were you mad about our fight?”
Fale laughed. “We didn’t have a fight, Iz.”
“So, we’re all good?”
“Yep, we’re good.” Until you find out I’m keeping secrets from you… “Lisle and I just needed to go.”
“Hiya,” an extremely peppy waitress came to take their order, chewing her gum with her mouth open.
“Two waters- with squeezed lemon,” Izzy instructed, and the waitress sped off.
“That was fast,” Fale said.
“She’s been waiting for you to get here.”
“What do you mean?” Fale panicked thinking of the men from last night. “How did she know I was coming?”
“Hello? Space case? I told her. I’ve been here for twenty minutes waiting for you. She simply wants a good tip.” Izzy said.
“Then she needs to back up.” Fale felt suddenly irritable.
“Fale. What’s with you?”
“Sorry. I told you the other day. I’m just stressed, and I’ve got things on my mind,” Fale said, picking at her cuticle.
“Oh yeah, how is ‘thing’ doing? Where is he today?”
“Ha. Ha. Very funny. He’s training.”
“Is there a fight?” Izzy whispered.
“Yeah. I hate those. The Agency calls the fighters ‘warriors,’ but there’s no respect, there are no rules. Shouldn’t there be rules? Have you ever seen a fight?” Fale had never snuck out to go to the fights. They were so violent and deadly. The warriors didn’t battle for honor, they fought for money, and it disgusted her. When she trained, she imagined herself waging a battle for peace, solving disputes with honor. Ones she would win.
“You’re asking the wrong person.” Izzy said. “Sometimes I wish they’d let me in there. I’d shock them all.”
“Izzy,” Fale said furiously. “How could you want that?”
“What? To be a champion of warriors? To be rich and retire to do whatever I want instead of being in a selfless Takanori training center for my family’s sake? Studying to one day maybe get away from this place and move to the Glass Plant? I could start over in another sector. Why does it sound so awful?”
It sounds like blasphemy. Not the way of the warrior.
“The Agency warriors aren’t free to get rich and retire, though. That’s the thing. They make money for the Control Agency, and they might live to fight another day, but they are still prisoners to the system.” Fale thought about how trapped Keron felt.
“Don’t worry, Fale, your boy will be okay. He might break some bones, but he’ll live." Izzy grinned sinfully over her drink.
“You’re evil.”
“I know. And you’re practically glowing.” Izzy’s voice got serious. “Spill.”
The waitress’s shiny black ringlets dangled in front of Fale’s face as she set down drinks. She took their orders, chomping and chomping. Fale was close to losing her appetite. Izzy sat staring at Fale with her arms crossed.
“Well?”
“I’m feeling happy? Is that believable?” Fale shrugged.
“From my friend who secretly reads romance, maybe, but the girl who loves rain and cathedral music, and fights like a demon? No. I don’t believe you’re ‘feeling happy.’ I haven’t seen you truly joyful since I saw you using your long and short swords. Have you been practicing with them?” Fale had received both razor-sharp swords in a ceremony at the Takanori Core Training Center and was only allowed to practice with them there.
“I don’t get to use them both together as the daisho until I’m fully Takanori.”
“Who says you’re not?” Izzy was indignant.
“Nelson said so. And yes, I have been happy since we met. Haven’t I?”
“Nope." Izzy shook her braids. “But I barely knew you before Keron took your self-esteem out for a drag--”
“How yous all doing here?” the waitress interrupted.
Fale accepted her second drink from the waitress and took a sip. She thought about how young she had been at fifteen when she believed she was in love with Keron and he had crushed her. They had known each other for a short time. Being schooled in the TacTrac meant she had needed “extra syllabi social interaction,” or ESSI for short. Within this group of children, Fale made friends, and she had met Izzy there, but they had never talked. Izzy had brought around Keron, and he fit well with their clique, so he stayed. When the group didn’t judge him, he kept appearing at events until he had a place of his own. Fale had admired his courage, his strength, and his body. She had begun to know him, they talked, and it seemed like he was her perfect match, but after he had shut her down, she felt stupid and humiliated. She wondered if she had imagined those qualities to begin with. For the past three years, Fale tried to be cordial to Keron at lunch, and avoid him at events.
She couldn’t afford to like him, it hurt too much. She had forced herself not to fall in love with him again. She had shut down the emotion, stuffing it into darkness. She thought she had mastered the ability to feel nothing for him but being with him now made her heart wake up from a deep sleep.
“What is that goofy smile on your face?" Izzy nearly yelled across the bar.
The musician was between sets and people’s volume had died down, so several patrons turned to witness Fale’s expression. “Geez, Iz, be quiet. It’s funny. I’ve had the worst couple of days, but I woke up yesterday morning feeling happy. I can’t explain it.”
Fale laughed as Izzy leaned over and felt her forehead. “I think you’re sick. Where are you going after lunch?”
“I thought if you weren’t doing anything, we could go to your place.”
“Here ya go,” Peppy, the waitress, returned with pizza and curried rice.
Izzy looked surprised. “You wanna come over?”
“We could do our nails or something girlish. I’ll be your guinea pig.” Fale was feeling abnormally feminine.
“Now I know you’re sick." Izzy said around a mouthful of pepperoni. “You know how long I’ve been trying to make you over?”
“Since the day you met me,” Fale said in mock exasperation, rolling her eyes. “I know.”
“Wait, do you have a date or what? Tell me the truth, Fale Valine. Who are you going out with? I know it isn’t Keron. Is it Bowen? Did he finally ask you?”
“Bowen? What? No. I’m not going out with anyone. I just came fr
om Lisle’s; I have an errand to run later and I’m meeting Keron at six.”
“Again?” Izzy looked skeptical.
“Yes.”
“There’s the smile again,” Izzy accused. “Where did you sleep last night?”
“Izzy!”
“Well?” Izzy crossed her arms.
“On Keron’s couch. By myself, of course."
“Then why do you look so guilty?”
“I don’t know,” Fale laughed.
“Where are you staying tonight?”
“Same place.”
“Do you want to sleep over on my fold-out?” Izzy offered.
“Not exactly.” Fale took a bite of her food and washed it down with her drink.
“Uh huh,” Izzy said. “You want to stay there.”
“You caught me,” Fale said dryly. “Of course, I do. One, I hate your fold-out. Two, his body is like art.”
“Even though he is grumpy as hell,” Izzy interjected.
“He’s been really sweet actually, until this morning. I said something. I don’t even remember, but he switched personalities.”
“Ever heard of bipolar disorder? I should report him to the mental system for treatment.”
“Iz, you’re not helping.”
“So, you wanna go get pretty for brawl-boy, huh?”
“Iz.” Fale rolled her eyes.
“All right. I love Keron, and you are really starting to grow on me. Promise you know what you’re doing."
Of course I don’t.
“Sure, Izzy.”
“Hurry up then, ‘cause we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“Really? I thought I was… kinda, at least, pretty already.”
“Honey, pretty is for little girls, we’re going to turn you into a woman.”
When the waitress came around with a scanner, they were ready to go. It felt so good to bond with Izzy, and it couldn’t hurt to look feminine for Keron. Like a woman. Maybe he’d see her as something other than a sprout, or a piece of meat, like this morning. Fale was excited for the first time in her life to be a girl. She walked with a bounce to her step and felt confident about any attackers because of her new enchanted dagger. She had taken a vow and did not want to kill anyone, but if it came down to her life, or an assailant, she hoped she would choose wisely. For now, though, a makeover was a time for her to not have to think about the enormous weight of her situation and how heavy it felt pressing down on her, like being inside one of the metal compressors at the plant.
Izzy led the way to her cluttered studio apartment as the sky turned dark and little raindrops began to pitter patter on the sidewalks. Thunder rumbled far off in the distance and the cool breeze made Fale shiver. She imagined Keron on his break and thought he was probably enjoying the cool breeze. She shivered again, but it was a nervous feeling like someone was watching without announcing themselves. Fale scanned the area, but she didn’t see anyone who appeared to be looking her way. Most people were hurrying to get inside before the clouds opened up and poured.
The girls made it to Izzy’s just as the heavens released their pent-up deluge. They shrieked, running into Izzy’s room. They put on music and Izzy danced around Fale. They did each other’s nails, which meant Izzy had to fix her own. Then Izzy played doctor with Fale’s eyebrows.
“Ouch,” Fale complained. “You do this all the time?”
“Every day,” Izzy said. “I only plucked the middle, you big baby. I haven’t even shaped them yet.”
“Sheesh,” Fale pouted.
“You know what makes me mad?” Izzy applied a peel off mask and fanned Fale’s face.
“What?”
“I heard from my parents on the way back to their apartment last night that the fundraiser money isn’t even going to the families.”
“Strange. What’s it going to?” Fale picked at her mask, and Izzy tapped her hand.
“Stop that. It’s really for building some metal soldiers.”
“What? Like robots?” Fale asked.
“Yeah, I guess.” Izzy took off Fale’s mask and it made her eyes cry.
“It’s not for families at all.” The astringent made Fale sneeze.
“I know. Maybe since the robots are metal and so are the fantocci, they thought it was the same thing.” Izzy shrugged.
“I doubt that.”
“Who knows?” Izzy finally coated Fale with a light moisturizer.
“Whew,” Fale said. “I’m glad I’m done.”
“Done?” Izzy laughed. “Now you’re ready to start.”
Fale let Izzy do her make up and went to her happy place. She thought about lounge pants and coffee mugs and smiley face flatcakes…
“I can’t put lipstick on with you smiling,” Izzy snickered. “Relax your mouth.”
Fale obeyed. Once she sobered, she couldn’t stop the insecurities from nagging at her mind. Will he really like this? Am I being stupid? Maybe I’m not the beautiful type. She reined in her doubts. So what if Keron didn’t like it? She had the right to look nice for herself. Right?
“Are you ready?” Izzy asked.
“Yep.” Fale said it with a pop at the end.
Izzy turned her to the vanity and Fale looked for herself in the mirror. Her eyes were shadowed in golden brown and her thick black lashes made her clear eyes glow from within. Izzy had used the makeup not to color, but to contour, and Fale’s face had lost its girlish roundness, angling in under her cheekbones.
“The lipstick is all day wear,” Izzy said. “So, you can’t mess it up.”
“How will I get it off?" Fale asked.
“You have to wash it off with soap, like the rest of it, silly.”
“Thanks, Izzy,” Fale hugged her friend around the shoulders. She finally looked like a mature woman. Nelson had raised her more like she was a boy. It felt liberating to lean on her feminine side for once.
“You’re welcome. Drive him crazy. Since you twisted your hair already, and it’s been raining, wait ‘til you’re ready and take it down. It’ll curl up nicely.”
Fale’s new look was not something she would be keeping up with. She felt like a princess. She was being given the gift of this day. Her Takanori spirit was simple and she was conflicted with this new desire to look better than her natural self. She wondered if Nelson would be proud of how she looked, or if he’d want to wipe her face. She decided not to care. Today was a day for bonding with Izzy. Hopefully Keron would be pleased.
Fale wanted to show Izzy her new dagger, but she couldn’t figure out how to introduce it or demonstrate it without explaining the circumstances behind it, so she didn’t say anything. She began to feel guilty. They listened to a few songs, singing along, then Fale excused herself. “I’ve gotta go, Iz. I need to get a tincture from the apothecary before I meet Keron." She gathered up her bag and walked to the threshold.
“Good luck.” Izzy smiled conspiratorially. “What do you think he’ll say?”
Fale laughed nervously. “I’m about to find out..."
Chapter 7
Once the sky cried its heart out, drip-dropping metallic pings echoed throughout Alloy City’s roofs and structures. Instantaneously, Fale’s skin prickled and her heart rate climbed. She got the feeling she was being monitored again. Even after surveying the empty courtyard, her intuition was heightened. Once she had completed a few blocks of left turns, the feeling went away and was replaced with a sense of purpose as Fale glanced at her timepiece in the darkness. It was almost six. The apothecary was two doors down, and she was vaguely wondering how Lisle’s presentation went, when a tall dark figure barreled into her.
“Ooof.” The sound she made embarrassed Fale as the man pushed her into a seven-foot-wide alley between buildings.
Focus, Fale! She had not seen the attack coming and chastised herself. What use is all my training if I can be caught so unaware? She let him push her into an alcove so she could reach down to pull her dagger up and put it to his throat.
Keron held her arms to
steady her and she sputtered, “What are you doing? I almost killed you!”
He looked at her with eyebrows raised and mouth agape, like she was crazy. “We got out early and there is someone following me. What are you wearing? Never mind. Quick, did you have a vision of this?”
“No. Sorry.”
“They’re coming,” he whispered, listening to male voices. “Just act natural then.”
“In an alley?"
Keron took hold of Fale’s face with both hands and kissed her. “Oh. Now I get it,” she whispered against his lips.
“Shut up, Fale.” He dipped his head to hers, hunching his shoulders, but holding her head gently. Keron’s lips pulled at Fale’s. She was lost. She pulled her bottom lip inside her teeth and let it go. He ran his tongue along the edge of her lip, and she groaned. Keron chuckled. The metal part of his body was hidden in the shadows that covered Fale. The only thing visible was a couple exchanging passions. Keron’s arm snaked around her waist and pulled her body closer, his mouth moving against hers in an urgent caress. The followers came upon the alley and continued a few feet.
“Where’d he go?” one asked.
“He’s a smart one,” a deep voice answered. “Probably figured out he had a tail.”
“What about the guy in the alley?”
“He wasn’t alone, if ya catch my meaning.”
“What do we tell- “
“Shhh,” the deep voice said, obviously the smarter of the two. “We’ll go back and report. See what they got on the girl.”
By the time the coast was clear, Keron had thoroughly kissed Fale. Twice. When he let go of her, she sagged a little. He chuckled. She couldn’t muster up any anger at him for laughing at her. She was dazed. Suddenly Fale remembered her dagger and pushed him backward. “I almost killed you,” she said fiercely.
“I’m the one who pushed you over." He smiled. “Not a very good defense, by the way.”
“Because I was putting this enchanted dagger to your throat, stupid.”
“Where’d you get it? What’s it do?”
“Lisle enchanted it to cause my attacker a mortal wound.”
Keron paled. “You could have nicked me with that thing!”
The Key of F: a young adult fantasy romance (Freedom Fight Trilogy Book 1) Page 9