“He got tired of waiting for you love birds and went out for lunch. He’s bringing me back a sandwich and fries.” Izzy explained. “Did you eat?”
“Yep,” Fale said, squeezing Keron’s hand.
“Yeah,” he said.
She looked them up and down. “You two actually look good. I didn’t think you had any clothes. Have you been shopping?”
“We did, actually,” Fale said.
“Without me?” Izzy protested.
“Seriously? We’re on the run, Izzy,” Keron said.
The door slammed open, right into Keron’s shoulder. “Oh, sorry man, didn’t see you there,” Lisle said, carrying two boxes.
Izzy shooed everyone away from the door to her couch and pulled up two chairs. “Here Lisle,” she offered him one. He put the boxes on the coffee table. “Which one’s mine?” Izzy asked.
“That one.” Lisle pointed, taking a seat. “The other one is potato skins for Fale. Loaded.”
“My favorite,” Fale said.
“I know,” Lisle sat back smugly.
“I just ate, but I’ll take them for dinner, Lisle. Thank you,” Fale said. Lisle nodded and clasped his hands over his chest. Keron grabbed Fale’s hand.
Izzy rolled her eyes and ate her lunch. “Tell us what you found, Lisle,” she said.
“All I found out from my mentor is the wizards are looking for you, Fale. Have you had any visions?” Lisle asked.
“Not since I got my power,” she said.
“Do you know why you’re not getting them?”
“No, but I have some new gifts to ask you about.”
“I’ll get to it. It appears no one can find you, but I said I’d heard from you. Control was looking north, and I think they were close, so I told the wizards about the guest house you stayed in. Not your new names, of course, but you staying on trade; then told them you were moving south, since the coterie house is North and East.”
“Thanks Lisle,” Fale said.
“Yeah, thanks, man,” Keron said.
“Now what gifts did you get?” Lisle asked.
“I know one.” Izzy shouted. “Look at Keron’s face." Lisle looked confused. Izzy sighed. “You boys are so unobservant. She healed his face. It was all cut up two days ago.”
“I’m not a boy,” Keron said. “I’m twenty-four.”
“Whatever. Lisle’s only eighteen,” Izzy rolled her eyes.
“Wow,” Lisle sounded odd, “Amazing.”
“What’s the matter, Lisle?” Fale asked.
“I’ve never seen real healing before.”
“I’ll show you.” Fale got up and pulled Lisle with her.
“What’re you gonna do?” Keron asked. He knew to heal, there must be an injury.
“It’s okay,” she dragged Lisle to Izzy’s kitchenette. “Stand near the sink.”
“I’m coming, too,” said Izzy, hurrying over.
Fale took a steak knife and Lisle’s hand. “Do you trust me?”
“Totally,” Lisle nodded.
“I can’t seem to heal myself, only other people,” she hesitated, then slit his forearm over the sink, so it wouldn’t bleed on the carpet.
“Ick,” Izzy paled.
Keron sat on the couch. “I hate it when you do that.”
“Watch,” Fale said. She held her hand over the wound, concentrating on her magic. When she knew it was done, she wiped the blood from his arm. There was no mark, no redness, just white flawless skin.
“Whoa,” Lisle was speechless.
“But how do you know you can’t heal yourself?” Izzy grabbed Fale’s arm and turned it over to see it riddled with cuts. She inhaled sharply. “Keron, did you know about this?”
“Turns out no one can stop her when she has a stupid idea.” He shrugged. “What was I supposed to do?”
“Well, that’s true. You’ve got a point.” Izzy looked sternly at Fale.
“It’s not all,” Fale tried to call their attention back to her powers and not her character flaws. “Izzy, do you have a dull knife you don’t want anymore?”
“Are you sure? I have a rusty one, but...” Izzy grimaced and cocked her head.
“What are you gonna do with that one?” Keron asked. Concerned, he got up and came over.
Izzy laid an old steak knife on the counter and backed away.
“You’ll see.” Fale thought about what she wanted to do to the knife and let the heat travel her arm. She touched the knife. It turned to ashes.
“Holy stars,” Izzy expelled a breath.
“Disintegration,” Lisle said in awe.
“What did you destroy at the house?” Keron asked.
“My toothbrush,” Fale said. “This morning.”
“Can you do any more?” Lisle asked.
“Only one,” Fale said sheepishly.
“Well,” Izzy said impatiently, “show us.”
“Hold your ears,” Fale warned. She waited until all three of the others had covered their ears and began to cry out in a low voice, getting louder and higher pitched as her vocal cords got warm. She very soon reached a staggering volume and pitch so high Izzy’s water glass shattered. Fale stopped and a neighbor pounded on the wall. “Sorry,” yelled Fale. Izzy and Lisle’s eyes were huge, but Keron wore the biggest smile.
“You’ve been busy the last two days,” Lisle said. “Any idea what brought these on?”
“Not really. Maybe it’s time, like with my visions.” Fale hated lying.
“What were you doing when you found out you could make a sonic scream?” Lisle asked.
Fale blushed furiously. “Is that what it’s called?”
“We were working out,” Keron offered for her.
“And you needed to scream?” Lisle asked, trying to make sense of the situation.
“I hurt myself,” Fale said. Keron coughed back a laugh and, she kicked him in the shin. “Like that.”
“Ouch,” he said.
“Speaking of working out, they are talking about closing the TacTrac,” Izzy said.
“No,” Fale despaired. “It’s a terrible idea.”
“What choice do they have? Nelson owned it and left everything to you. As far as anyone knows, he’s been murdered and now you’re gone, too. There’s no one left to run it, so Control is taking over.”
“None of the teachers are willing to volunteer?” Fale asked, her heart aching.
“They have been, Fale, but people aren’t all as good as you want them to be. They’re just people,” Izzy said. She took Fale’s hands in hers. “I’m sorry, honey.”
“I know you love the TacTrac, too, Iz." Fale sighed. Every minute of the past few days had changed her. “The training center is the last straw. I really can’t decide if I’m missing my home, school, Nelson, or my past. Whatever it is, it’s gone. That part of me is empty.”
“What do you mean?” Lisle asked.
“My identity as Fale is fading. I feel like I’m becoming someone else,” she said. “I’m scared, you guys. I’m afraid if I let go, I’ll turn into someone I don’t know.”
Keron wrapped his arms around her, “Don’t let go. You’re still everything that makes ‘Fale’ the right one for this fight.”
“I see what you mean,” Izzy whispered to Fale and winked. She reached out and took Fale’s hand. “What’s this ring?”
“Oh this,” Fale took her hand back.
“My wife needed a ring for the public,” Keron explained.
Fale smiled and nodded, “No big deal." A hurt look flashed across Keron’s face.
Great Fale. That was smooth.
“Let me see it,” Izzy said, pulling at Fale’s hand. “It’s pretty.”
“Yes, it is,” Fale agreed.
“It looks like blue hemimorphite,” Lisle said.
“Could be,” Keron said. “Whatever that is.”
“It’s a minor ore of a zinc mineral,” Lisle explained.
“Thank you, Encyclopedia Lisle.” Izzy said sarcastically.
/> “Just commenting,” he mumbled.
“When’s the next council meeting?” Fale asked Lisle, effectively changing the subject.
“Not for another few days,” he informed them.
“We need to contact Taran.” Fale was being pulled to release the slaves in Garrith along with Nelson, and she wanted as much information as possible, so she could plan a liberation. There was still so much she didn’t know. Hopefully Taran was taught about his past and together they could join the puzzle pieces.
“Do you want to meet tomorrow at my place?” Lisle offered.
“We are really pushing things by being in the city so much. But we need to do this,” she agreed.
“Excuse me,” Izzy said. “What about us?”
“We can come back here when we’re done and tell you everything,” Lisle said.
Keron loosened his grip on Fale, she knew he felt like a half man next to an educated wizard, because he couldn’t compete with their shared background in magic.
“I guess we can wait for you, right, Keron?” Izzy said.
“Whatever.” He dropped his arms from Fale and crossed them over his chest.
Fale noticed the change immediately, but she didn’t know what had caused it. “Keron are you ready to go back to the house?” she asked tentatively.
“Yep.”
Oh good, one-word answers.
“Izzy. Lisle. I think we’re going to leave. We’ll be back tomorrow at lunch time, so there’s no confusion.”
“See ya, Fale,” Izzy said.
“Are you okay?” Lisle asked Fale and narrowed his eyes at Keron, who glared back at him.
“I’m fine,” Fale assured. “He just needs a nap,” she said sharply as if Keron were a child.
He’s acting like one.
“Come on, Keron." Fale took his hand and said, “Bye, guys.”
They were in the marsh when Fale said, “Okay, you stubborn man, talk.”
“‘Bout what?”
“Are you serious?” she exclaimed. “Please don’t insult me. Give me credit for noticing that you have totally shifted gears.”
“Fine,” he said.
“That’s it?” she yelled at him. “You’re going to give one-word answers to me?”
“Yep.”
“Grrr.” Fale dropped his hand and stomped back the way they had come.
“Where are you going?” he yelled at her.
“I’m going to find the machine, because you are insufferable.”
“The shops are all closing.”
“I’m not going to the shops. I’m going to the plant.” She tossed her words over her shoulder.
“The plant? No. It’s too dangerous,” he said. “Fale? Do you hear me? Come back here.”
Fale continued walking. She had not started this fight, but she wouldn’t back down now for anything.
“Great,” he ground out. “Hold up, I’m coming with you.”
“Suit yourself.” She walked faster. Keron jogged to catch up with her.
Though the area outside the plant was dark, the fire-filled urns were always burning in the entryway. Fale crept from the shadows, up the walled ramps, and lingered at the doorway in an alcove. The sky was turning a deep violet, shrouding the Industrial Plant in lucky shadows for Fale. She didn’t check behind her, she knew Keron would be there and she knew she was safe from that direction, so she progressed. At night, the plant workers would be changing shifts. Fale didn’t have to wait long. When she saw the first of the late-shifters approaching the forever open doors of the plant, she played her cards and walked in behind them. It felt like the plant was swallowing her up in its gaping mouth. The entrance was cave-like, it had not been made modern, and for effect fires played in urns on either side of her. When the workers split to go to their different departments, Fale doubled back to find the administrative offices. The modern hallways were dark. A few of the offices on either side of her had lights behind the frosted glass, and some held moving shadows. Fale went to the president’s office. She jiggled the bar, but the door wouldn’t open.
Keron pushed her out of the way.
“It’s locked.” she whispered furiously at him.
“I know, but I fix locks all the time. I’ll have this one open in no time.” He lifted the leg of his pants and pulled two slim tools from his calf, then looked at her with his eyebrow raised.
“Just open the door,” she said.
He quickly disabled the lock and she pushed him aside to slide the door open. Fale was about to walk into the office when someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. Her heart jumped to her throat. When she collided with Keron’s chest, she was livid. “What are you doing? You scared me to death.” she whispered passionately.
“Look.” He pointed down to a tiny red line crossing the doorway. “The light came on when you opened the door.”
“An alarm,” Fale took a great breath in. “You saved us.”
“Yep.”
“Oh stars, if you’re going to be like that-” She didn’t finish and stepped over the beam of light into the dark office. There was hardly enough light to see the objects in the room. She frantically searched everywhere, while he stood static with his arms crossed. Nothing that could be her machine was there. There were prototypes and metal gadgets galore, but none fitted her key. She realized she was sweating and panting. The room was hot, and it seemed to be getting smaller. Or was it her?
“Are you done?” Keron asked calmly.
“Are you seriously not helping me here?”
“Helped you get in, didn’t I?” He smiled in the darkness.
“I’m going back.” He was frustrating her to the point of distraction. She would find the tech designers office next.
She stomped past him and out the door, tripping the alarm. Her eyes were wide as she looked at Keron in terror. He let his head drop backwards and shook it, then stalked toward her, grabbed her by the arm and said, “Let’s get outta here.”
They ran for the entrance as fast as they could. Office doors opened as they darted past, down the halls, turning left, then right, then left again. Fale felt like they were mice in a maze. She saw the doors and thought they would make it. She was so glad the cave-like entrance was always open. As they pushed through the set of glass doors, a cage began descending at the mouth of the cave. Keron cursed and Fale screamed in frustration. She pumped her arms as she pushed her muscles harder. The gate was lowering too fast. She dove across the slick, polished concrete floor. The gate was two feet from the ground. Fale felt a hand on her back. She was caught! They had her. Then she felt a violent push and she slid through the gate just as it was closing. She pulled her feet up and lay there in fetal position.
Keron!
Desperately she looked back to see his valezsan foot caught sideways in the gate. There was a grinding noise as the bars tightened on his foot and tried to close. Security people showed up on the other side shouting and waving metal rods. They stuck a rod through the gate and poked Keron with it. He automatically stiffened and quaked as electrical current ran the length of his body.
“I’m coming!” Fale yelled to him.
“Nnnoo,” he called. “S-stay aw-way.”
“I can’t,” she cried, running up to him.
He pulled his foot with all his strength and it moved a few inches. The machine continued to whir and click as the wheels turned uselessly. Fale grabbed his ankle and pulled. A security watchman pushed his stick through the bars and hit her in the shoulder. She froze and gritted her teeth through the pain of a thousand wasps buzzing in her ears. Her fingers felt like they could release bolts of lightning. That’s it. When she could move again, she turned toward the guards with her palms outstretched and unleashed a stream of fire. Stunned, they backed up, but she could already hear the clomping of boots and yelling from down the street. Control was on its way. They pulled together and Keron’s foot looked like it was bending under the weight of the machination. The yelling was getting closer and t
he people inside plant could hear them, too. They began calling for Control.
“Come on, Keron. One more good pull and we’ve got it.” She encouraged him, trying to calm her own anxiety.
They both pulled, and Keron pushed against the gate with his other foot. The people inside cautiously crept back toward them. Suddenly, his foot was expelled from the pressure and the gate slammed into the concrete. He scrambled to his feet and grabbed Fale’s hand. They took off like racers at the track and ran to the left.
“Why are we going this way?” Fale asked.
“Because those people are going to tell the Control agents, we went this way, but as soon as we’re out of sight, we are heading North.”
Fale appreciated his ability to maintain logic during a crisis. A trait they did not share. True to his word, as they rounded the closest building, they swung right. Peeking around a business office, they could see the agents reach the gate and several people pointed in the direction they had gone. As soon as the agents began running, so did they.
Finally hidden by the marsh, Fale stopped and bent over with her hands on her knees. “I need to catch my breath.” She laughed lightly. “That was an adventure, huh?”
“Sure.”
“Are we back to this?” She stood up to look at him.
“What do you want me to say? Thanks for getting pissed at me and tripping the alarm that almost got us both caught tonight?”
She growled at him. “You are impossible today, you know that? I don’t know what your problem is but get over it. There are bigger things than us going on.”
“Glad you realize that,” he said.
She turned and walked back to the house by herself, before she could start crying out of frustration.
They ate leftovers from their mini fridge for dinner in silence. Fale’s anger began turning into confusion and loneliness the more Keron pulled away from her. She filled the tub to bathe and remembered how different last night had been. Why had he shut her out? Without Keron, she was missing part of herself.
Fale wanted to use her powers, but she didn’t have anything to heal or destroy. She wanted to scream badly but thought against it. She settled for making flames in her palm as she sat in the tub. It was boring, but effective. She felt a release of some of her anxiety.
The Key of F: a young adult fantasy romance (Freedom Fight Trilogy Book 1) Page 20