Smoke (Smoke Series Book 1)

by Mariah Esterly

  Lanie closed the door behind her and turned a lock. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

  Gertie chose the salon chair spinning it to face the room rather than the mirror and Lanie pulled a rolling stool over to sit in front of her. “Vail.” Lanie greeted him as he flickered into visibility and sat on the edge of the bed, leaning his arms on his knees.

  “Lanie. Thank you for doing this.”

  She shrugged. “Dicie asked. I couldn’t say no.”

  Lanie turned her attention to Gertie and smiled in a reassuring manner. “So, Gertie, Vail tells me that you are having trouble remembering something that happened not too long ago.”

  Gertie twisted her hands in her lap. “Yes.”

  Lanie scooted her stool closer. “I can help with that.”

  “How?”

  She tucked her black hair behind her ears. “I have the ability to… how do I put it? See, I guess? Inside people’s minds. I can read their thoughts so to speak. It makes me a great stylist because I can tell exactly what people want before they even open their mouths. If you’ll allow me I can take a look and try to find what’s blocking the memory. Though I do I want to warn you that once I’m in there, I can’t really pick and choose what I see.”

  Gertie stared at her. The idea of someone being able to see her thoughts, everything that she’d kept secret and hidden, everything that made her Gertie, was disquieting to say the least. If she didn’t allow Lanie entrance, it was possible that she would never know what had happened that night.

  “If it makes you feel more comfortable,” Lanie offered. “You can kick me out at any time. Just block me out. I’ll get the message.”

  Gertie looked from her hands to Vail’s worried grey eyes. She didn’t want to do this. Not really. She didn’t want to know what had happened that night. Something told her that once she found out, her life wouldn’t be the same. She wouldn’t be the same.

  And that terrified her.

  “Freckles?” Vail prompted.

  No, she thought. No, don’t make me do this. Please.

  “We need to know,” he said softly, as if he could see the plea in her gaze and hated making her do this.

  He was right. They did need to know.

  Gertie nodded, once. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

  “Since what we’re doing is a bit more in depth than just a haircut, I’ll need to make physical contact.” Lanie took Gertie’s hands. “Vail, will you turn off the overhead light, please?” He did as he was asked but didn’t return to his seat, instead leaned against a wall just behind Lanie, his gaze focused on Gertie. “Okay, Gertie, go ahead and close your eyes.” After one last look at Vail, her eyelids fluttered down.

  Lanie squeezed her fingers. “Relax. This isn’t going to hurt. I promise. Once I find the block it’ll be more confusing than anything. Images can come in a flood, and it can be difficult to put them into a meaningful order, but we’ll work through them together, okay?” Gertie nodded. “Good. Now, take a deep breath.” She did. “And another. Just relax. Everything is fine.” Her voice was so soothing that Gertie felt her body relaxing. Her muscles felt heavy and her head drooped slightly. “That’s it.” A few more deep breaths and Lanie whispered, “Okay, I’m in.”

  It took all of Gertie’s willpower to not immediately kick Lanie out. She could feel her in her head, like a little tickle at the back of her brain. But beyond that there was nothing.

  Gertie tried not to think of the things that she didn’t want Lanie to know. About how she was secretly grateful for being elevated to 3rd so that she didn’t have to be a farmer like the rest of her family. About how she was jealous of Kay and how she was not ashamed of who she was or her sexuality, while Gertie herself felt nothing but awkward and embarrassed. How she’d imagined her wedding with Liam down to the food that they would serve. How she felt when she was with Vail.

  Gertie lost track of time as Lanie wandered around her head, searching for the block. She felt her muscles tense of their own volition, her breathing increased, heart beating fast. Without her verbalizing it, Gertie knew that Lanie had found it. She couldn’t help the whimper that escaped her.

  There came the sound of boots on the tiled floor. “Vail, don’t move.” Lanie commanded softly. “She’s fine. Gertie, don’t be scared.” Lanie murmured, her fingers tightening slightly. “You’re okay. This is what we’re here for.” Gertie wanted to pull her hands away, to shut her out, but she had to know.

  She could feel Lanie considering the best way to shift it, to release the memory behind it. Gertie wished she could see what Lanie was seeing, but where ever she was, it was just black to Gertie, a blank space.

  She felt a slight pressure fill her head and then she screamed.

  Gertie was far too drunk. She shouldn’t have let Kay talk her into going out. Why had she let that happen? And why had she drunk so much once she was out?

  Rain soaked through her dress ruining the black lacy fabric as she leaned against the bricks of a building and pulled her heels off her aching feet. Gertie told herself to be careful that she didn’t step on anything sharp as she walked, but her drunken mind forgot it almost immediately.

  Still, she made it back to her building without injury. There was a man waiting outside the door and through the glass she could see two more waiting in the lobby by the mailboxes.

  She glanced at her bracelet and the time flashed across it. Too late, or early, for that many people to be lingering. She straightened her shoulders and walked up to the door, holding her bracelet to the lock sensor.

  “You alright?” the man next to the door asked.

  Gertie nodded, but didn’t say anything as the door unlocked and she walked inside. The men that had been by the mailboxes were now waiting at the elevator. She joined them, trying to ignore the looks that they gave her and the way her wet dress adhered to her body.

  When the elevator arrived, they let her go in first she punched her floor button and asked, “What floor?”

  There was a pause and she could have sworn one of the men leaned to look over her shoulder. “Seven.”

  Gertie swayed a little, cursing her drunkenness and tapped on seven again. The doors slid close. She leaned against the wall and stared at her filthy feet, shivering slightly from the cold water that clung to her skin. Everything in her was screaming that something wasn’t right. What were the odds that each of these men lived on the same floor as her? And that they all happened to get home at the same time? Something was definitely wrong.

  But the men didn’t make a move toward her and when the elevator came to a stop on the seventh floor they all left the elevator ahead of her, two of them taking the hall to the right and the other to the left.

  Gertie hesitated, tempted to ride the elevator back down. She could go to the checkpoint and ask one of the guards to come back with her. Or maybe back to the bar where Liam had left her. He might be there, looking for her.

  That was silly. She was only twenty feet from the safety of her apartment. She could hear their footsteps disappearing down the hall. She slipped out of the elevator just as the doors were closing. Taking a deep breath, she stumbled to her door, shoes dangling from her right hand.

  Her slid open. She felt rough hands push her into the dark space. She stumbled, falling forward crashing into the coffee table. She let out a cry as her head made contact with the hard surface.

  The door to the hall slid shut and the room went completely dark. Dazed, Gertie stumbled to her feet, spinning in a slow circle trying to catch her bearings. She couldn’t tell how many were in the room with her, only that they were there.

  One of them grabbed her shoulder from behind, fingers digging into her flesh, making her gasp in pain. She took a firmer grasp on one of her heels and swung it in an arc, aiming for where she hoped his face would be. She heard him scream and yanked back, preparing to swing it again. Arms like solid steel bands wrapped around her pinning her own to her sides.

  Gertie’s eyes began to adjust to the da
rkness. In the next instant she lost all sight, as pain exploded on the left side of her head. When she could see again she found that she was on the ground. One of her attackers was straddling her, his hands wrapped around her neck.

  Gertie couldn’t breathe. The pressure on her throat was cutting off her air supply. “Dose her.” She heard someone say.

  “I’m trying. You have to hold her still.” Someone else snapped back. She lashed out, feeling her fist make contact with some fleshy body part. Someone grunted and the pressure on her throat released. Gertie took a deep breath and felt a brief moment of satisfaction before a heavy fist smashed into her face. Her hands fell limp to her sides as another blow landed on her.

  “Don’t kill her. We need her alive.” One of them hissed.

  “Not much of a fighter now.” The man on top of her sneered, his hands returning to her throat. “Do it.”

  Panic gripped Gertie. They were going to drug her and then do God knows what else. She bucked her hips, kicking her legs to try to dislodge the man who straddled her. Her fingernails raked against any skin she could find.

  And then suddenly she couldn’t move, her body went limp under the weight of the man on top of her. She hadn’t even felt the needle go in, but it must have. She tried to make her arms stir, to do something, but they wouldn’t respond to her commands. Tears leaked from her eyes as she realized that she was well and truly helpless.

  “Did you do it?” one of them asked.

  “No, I didn’t-” His voice choked off. Gertie felt something warm splash over her bare legs followed by a loud thud.

  “Steve?” Someone asked, the fear plain in his voice.

  No answer.

  There came three loud thuds, the sounds of someone being thrown against walls, a single scream and then gurgling. “Carl?” the man straddling Gertie said.

  No answer.

  He looked back down at Gertie. “Who else is here?” His voice was harsh with fear.

  Gertie tried to shake her head, to answer that there was no one there. She couldn’t move, not even her eyes. Which is why she saw the greyish smoke that formed behind her attacker as he looked down at her. She had a vague impression of burning red eyes. She watched in horror as the stiletto heel that Kay had made her wear seemingly materialized out of thin air and the heel was driven deep into the neck of the man on top of her. He let out silent scream clutching at the protruding object. He pulled it out sending a spray of blood over Gertie’s face and chest.

  He fell to the side, his hands pressing against his wound. Even with his weight off her, Gertie couldn’t move. The grey mist hovered over her, as though considering. Now that it was still Gertie could clearly see eyes, a nose and mouth, an entire person encompassed in the smoky haze.

  It sighed. “I suppose it’s too soon for you to know about me.” Its voice was throaty and deep. “And so, you will forget.”

  The mist descended, sinking into her.

  And Gertie forgot.

  27

  Gertie

  “Gertie?” came Vail’s voice. She squeezed her eyes tighter against the overwhelming need to cry. What she’d seen—what they’d both seen—was too much, too much for her to comprehend.

  “Gertie?” Vail said again.

  Her eyes fluttered open, stinging against the low light. Both of the faces in front of her were concerned. She took a huge shuddering breath and nodded, letting them know she was okay. She tried to form words, to smooth the lines of worry from Vail’s face, but they clung to her tongue unable to leave her mouth.

  Lanie let go of her hands and pushed her stool back. “Okay, wow. That was a little more... intense than what I normally see.”

  Vail pushed away from the wall, stepping toward them. Gertie twisted her fingers in her lap, wanting to reach out to him, to feel the comfort of his hand on hers, but she felt self-conscious in front of Lanie. His eyes flickered between the two of them. “You saw it? You saw what happened that night?”

  Lanie hadn’t taken her brown eyes off of Gertie. Gertie could tell Lanie was working through all that they had seen, trying to make sense of it in the same way that she was.

  She nodded slowly, finding her voice. “We did. But I still don’t understand what happened.” She looked at Lanie, feeling uncertain.

  Lanie stood and went to the table, where she poured a glass of water and brought it to Gertie, pressing it into her hands. Gertie wondered briefly if she had figured out what the block had been hiding and if she was buying time.

  “Well?” Vail prompted.

  The petite girl shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. “I think- I think it was a shade.”

  Gertie nearly dropped the glass she was holding. She didn’t know much about shades, just that there hadn’t been one in a very long time, and that the only Extras to have one were members of the monarchy. She shook her head. “No, no. That’s not right. That can’t be it. I’m not even an Extra. They tested me before I was moved to 3rd. They wouldn’t have let me move if they’d found anything.” She thought of the images she seen, the grey mist that had surrounded her. No one else spoke so she continued, “I’ve never seen it before. That doesn’t make any sense,” Gertie argued, grasping at anything that could keep this from being true. “It can’t have been a shade because the only family that has ever had one ever is…”

  Lanie’s voice was steady. “The St. Clare’s.”

  Vail swore. “Well, I guess we know why the Chancellor is watching you.”

  Lanie’s swung her eyes to Vail, her gaze sharp. “What?” In clipped tones, Vail explained about how they had met, and the video feeds that went directly to the Chancellor’s house. “Why didn’t Dicie think to mention this when she asked me for this favor?” Her voice was harsh, angry.

  Gertie suddenly realized the danger that Lanie was putting herself in by helping them. An Extra living in 2nd couldn’t be too careful about who she interacted with. With the Chancellor watching Gertie, they’d increased the risk of Lanie being discovered at least tenfold.

  “We couldn’t figure out why they were watching her.” Vail said, as if that excused that Dicie had left out the crucial piece of information when asking for Lanie’s help.

  Gertie shrugged, apologetically. “I’m boring.”

  Lanie let out a long breath, smoothing out her hair and releasing the anger in her with the same motion. “If they suspected that she was the granddaughter of the last reigning monarch then they would want to keep an eye on her.”

  Gertie set the glass she was holding down and clenched her hands to try to hide their shaking. “That can’t be true, though. I was born in 5th. I have a birth certificate that proves it. It’s not something you can easily fake. My parents certainly wouldn’t have had the capability to do that.”

  “No, they wouldn’t. But that would be easy enough for a member of the royal family to fake.” Vail sat on the low bed, leaned forward to rest his arms on his knees. He was quiet for a minute. Then his eyes shot to Gertie. “Your grandfather. Remember what he said on Friday?”

  Gertie’s mouth hung open, remembering. Could this have been what he meant when he said that he knew she would have questions soon? He’d worked in the 1st Section as a gardener. He’d known Princess Katherine. Had he somehow smuggled her out of the palace at the Princess’s request when she’d seen the unrest in the country?

  Wordlessly, she shook her head, as if the motion would make it untrue. It was impossible. The Princess’s baby had died before the rebellion reached its full fever pitch. They’d had a funeral.

  Her mind swam at the idea, and her vision blurred. She swayed slightly where she sat. In an instant Vail was crouching in front of her, his hands warm on her own trembling ones. “You okay?”

  She shook her head, not daring to look at him. She was far from okay, and if she looked at him, she just might break. She had hoped that coming here would give her some answers but instead it had only raised more questions.

  Vail ducked his head to meet h
er eyes, the concern she saw there, the worry was nearly her undoing. She caught her lower lip between her teeth, biting down to keep her tears in check. “Freckles? I know it’s a lot to take in and the last thing you probably want to do is talk about it more. But we should go to the Office.”

  Gertie shook her head. “I don’t want to go there.”

  “I know you don’t want to, but we need to. This is big.” His hands moved up her arms and cupped her face. “We need more information, and the Office can help us.” A pause. “Atkins needs to know.”

  She gave a jerky nod, though her every instinct wanted to fight him on this. The enormity of what they had learned weighed on her. If she was what he and Lanie were saying, then her whole life had been a lie. Her family wasn’t her family. Her parents had been executed—no, her entire family—had been executed when she was a baby. And the people she had trusted the most in the world had lied to her for her entire life.

  She was all alone.

  He stood up in front of her, pulling her to her feet. Lanie’s hands gripped Gertie’s shoulders, solid and comforting, as she had been through the entire exchange. “I know it’s scary, and not what you expected. There are worse things than having a badass warrior inside you.” Gertie couldn’t help but smile. Lanie wrapped her in a hug and then stepped back. “If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

  “If there’s some way you can have me go back to three weeks ago when the most I had to worry about was my job and my family, that would be great.”

  Lanie laughed and squeezed her hand one last time before leading her and an invisible Vail into the waiting room. The receptionist who had greeted Gertie when she came in was gone, and Lanie waved her out of the front door.

  As they walked through the streets of the city, hopping from one district to the next they were both silent. Gertie was unaware of anything beyond the gentle guiding pressure of Vail’s hands. She followed his silent directions in a daze and before she knew it, they were standing in front of the brick wall in the abandoned building that would give them access to the Office.