The Foretelling of Georgie Spider

by Ambelin Kwaymullina

  The guards standing on either side of the gates pushed them open for us, and we stepped into a hum of voices and activity. The inside was where the centre had changed – it had never been so busy, not even when it actually was a detention centre. Every enforcer and government official loyal to Willis who’d made it out of Gull City was in this place, along with the entire former staff of Detention Centre 2. Some of the families who’d been in detention there had come here as well, although most had chosen to take their chances on their own after they’d been freed. And there were ex-detainees of Detention Centre 1 around too – not as many as I’d hoped might join the fight, but more than I’d expected.

  Connor and I wound our way through the bustling people to Willis’s office. It was in one of the buildings that overlooked the park, which was a nice view to have now they’d taken down the high wire fence that had once imprisoned the grass and trees.

  We’d almost reached it when we heard the scream. Someone was under attack!

  I took off in the direction of the sound with Connor at my side. We pelted past composite buildings, around a corner – and came skidding a halt. Not an attack?

  Shona, Cat, Laurie and some other ex-detainees were standing near the edge of the park. An enforcer was sitting on the ground in front of them, being tended to by Wentworth, and while I couldn’t see how bad his injuries were from here I could smell the horribly familiar smell of burnt flesh. Next to Wentworth were a bunch of other enforcers, all of them on their feet and glaring at Cat.

  A grey-haired man jabbed a finger towards her. “You can’t just lob fireballs around like that! This was supposed to be a training exercise.”

  “Yes, and I was training everyone to get out of the way when I’m throwing fire,” Cat replied. “It’s not my fault Alex didn’t learn fast enough.”

  “He could have been seriously hurt!”

  Shona rolled her eyes. “Oh, the poor baby, got a little bit burned–”

  “Shona!” That was Wentworth. The tall Mender rose and swept a stern gaze across the detainees. “You need to be more careful. I realise you’ve been hurt by people wearing enforcer uniforms, but these enforcers are your allies, and we’re all fighting the same enemy.” Then she shifted her attention to the enforcers. “And as for you – accidents happen in training. Alex will be fine. And if you can’t learn to work with people with abilities, how do you imagine you’re going to protect the Prime or anybody else?”

  No one said anything to that. Not loud enough to be properly heard, anyway. Wentworth sighed. “All right. Everyone take a break, and then we can start the exercise over.”

  Detainees and enforcers stalked off in opposite directions, and Wentworth went back to the injured man. Laurie caught sight of us and waved. Then he vanished and reappeared right in front of me. “Hello Ashala Wolf! Hello Connor!”

  “Hey, Laurie.” I nodded towards the park. “Have there been a lot of fights like that?”

  He shrugged. “We’re scared of the enforcers and the enforcers are scared of us. Also, we’re not the kind of Illegals they were expecting.”

  I frowned. “Exactly what kind of Illegals were they expecting?”

  “Grateful ones.”

  That didn’t make sense to me. Connor said, “You mean they think former Illegals should be grateful to Citizens for getting rid of the Accords.”

  “Yes. But Shona says, freedom is something everyone should have and no one should have to feel grateful for getting it, and besides we’re just as good as any of them and none of us should forget it.”

  I muddled my way through to the end of that sentence and smiled. “Shona’s right.”

  “I know. Are you all right Ashala Wolf? There’s no trouble in the Firstwood?”

  “No. We’re just here to meet with the Prime.”

  “I’ll go tell her you’re coming!”

  He vanished again, and we continued on. I cast a glance back over my shoulder as we went and was pleased to find that some of the ex-detainees and enforcers were now talking to each other, apparently friends, or as much friends as they ever had been. Laurie materialised among them and waved again, pointing at something to my left.

  I turned my head to find the Prime was emerging from the building ahead. She ushered us inside, down a corridor to the large, bright room she was using as her office. We sat where we always sat, in the two armchairs in front of Willis’s cluttered desk. Or at least we did once we’d moved the files that were on the chairs. Every surface in the room was covered in paper, and if it got piled any higher on the desk we’d have trouble seeing Willis over the top of it.

  I gazed at her across the papers, thinking that she looked even more tired than she had when I’d last seen her – or, no, not tired. Glum.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked.

  She sighed. “Primes McAllister and Lopez aren’t going to be able to send as many enforcers to help us take back Gull City as they thought they could. Prime Zhao has promised support too, but she’s also going to have trouble sending substantial numbers of people.”

  Connor frowned. “How come?”

  “They’re all having issues in their own cities. Spinifex City is in the midst of some kind of taffa crisis, and as for Fern City and Cloud City … I’m afraid not everyone is taking the changes well. There have been protests. Fights. Instances of ex-detainees being beaten up, and of them losing control of their abilities and hurting people.” She shook her head. “No one has died yet, but there’s been a lot of ugliness.”

  Laurie’s voice echoed in my memory. We’re scared of the enforcers and the enforcers are scared of us. I supposed it had been stupid to expect otherwise. Except I had, and my disappointment was bitter. “Is it happening everywhere? All the other cities too?”

  Her expression hardened. “No, because nothing’s changed in the other cities. Primes Kettridge and Singh won’t support the repeal. They’re demanding a new vote with all the Primes present. And Mangrove City is refusing to do anything until after an election’s been held to replace Prime Grant.”

  “Terence killed Grant!” I spluttered. “And tried to kill the rest of you. Don’t they care about that?”

  “They don’t believe it,” she replied. “Not even with Primes McAllister and Lopez telling everyone what Terence and Neville did. There’s no proof, you see, and I hate to say it, but …” Her lip curled. “I think it’s easier for them to believe that Illegals did those things than that a Citizen did.”

  Connor made a frustrated noise. “Surely they must know what Neville Rose is capable of! He was about to undergo an Adjustment for breaking three sets of Accords before Terence broke him out of custody.”

  “I’m afraid too many people still think of Neville Rose as someone who did bad things for good reasons,” Willis replied. “He always did claim everything he did was to protect Gull City from an Illegal threat. And if people believe Illegals are responsible for the things that have happened since, it only goes to prove to them that he was right to be concerned.”

  I slumped in my chair, feeling like I’d been slugged in the gut. After everything we’d been through, and everything we’d done – after everything Penelope had done – it hadn’t been enough. We’d taken away the laws that made it okay to hate and fear us, but not the fear or the hate itself. And it sounded like if some of the Primes had their way, that hate and fear would bring those laws right back.

  Willis cast a concerned glance at me. “It isn’t all bad, Ashala. We’ve got a sizeable force here now. Even with minions, it would be difficult for Terence to overrun this place. And once we get reinforcements from the Primes who are willing to help us, we should have enough people to take back the city.”

  “When will the other enforcers arrive?” Connor asked.

  “Another couple of weeks, I think. We’re going to–”

  Whatever else Willis was saying was lost beneath the sound of a shout inside my head. Hey, Ash!

  I’m with the Prime, Jaz. Is this important?
>
  Yes. Connor’s with you, right? I’ll tell him to distract her.

  There was a moment of silence and then Connor leaned towards Willis and asked a question we already knew the answer to. “How is the training progressing with the ex-detainees and the enforcers?”

  Willis launched into an explanation, and I called out to Jaz, What is it?

  First of all, you can’t react to what I’m going to say in front of the Prime. You know you usually show whatever you’re thinking on your face, right?

  I’m fine. Tell me what it is.

  Have you got a blank face?

  Just tell me!

  Terence is here.

  My legs acted all on their own and shot me to my feet.

  Connor and Willis both stared at me, and I started babbling. “Um – sorry. I just remembered, I have somewhere to be …” Jaz, WHERE IS HE?

  On the grasslands. He says he’s here to talk. Pepper caught him, and Wanders-too-Far and Gnaws-the-Bones are guarding him.

  Anxiety tightened my chest so fast I almost gasped for air. Jaz’s baby sister was alone with Terence … no, she wasn’t. Pepper couldn’t have better protection than two gigantic saurs. I drew in a breath and said, “I’m sorry, Prime Willis. The thing is, I promised I’d do something with some of my Tribe today, and I got so caught up I completely forgot. If we don’t leave now we’ll be too late getting back, and I don’t want to let them down. We can come back the day after tomorrow, if that’s okay.”

  “Of course you must go,” Willis said. “I’ll see you soon.” She smiled a weary smile at us. “With any luck I’ll have better news for you by then.”

  Connor wants to know why you just leaped into the air like something bit you on the bum. Well, okay, he didn’t say the bum bit, I added that myself. But he said the leaping bit. Way to keep your cool, Ash.

  Tell him what’s happening. And stop mindspeaking me for a moment!

  Willis opened the door for us, and as I passed by her, she said, “Ashala? If there’s anything I can help with, please do let me know.”

  I met her shrewd gaze. She didn’t believe the explanation I’d given for leaving, but she wasn’t going to press me. “Thanks. I will.”

  Willis closed the door after us, and Connor and I hurried out into the centre, moving as fast as we could without attracting too much attention. We couldn’t bring anyone else into this, not without risking Terence being attacked and Conclave rules being broken. And he says he’s here to talk. Which might or might not be true.

  I took hold of Connor’s arm, and whispered, “I’m going to get more details out of Jaz.” Then I called out in my head, We’re on our way. Where is Terence exactly?

  At the Traveller, where it meets Little Blue.

  The Traveller was the saur name for a river that meandered across the grasslands and Little Blue was the stream it connected up with. Even flying, we were a few hours away. How’d he get so far into the grasslands without Em warning us he was coming?

  She did warn us. That’s how Pepper caught them – Em told her where she needed to go. Only Em said there wasn’t much time between her sensing them coming and them getting here. She thinks the Blinker can move people further and faster than we thought.

  The Blinker’s here too? He’s incredibly dangerous! Tell Pepper to be careful, he can vanish in an instant–

  She knows! Stop panicking.

  What does Terence want to talk about?

  Won’t say. But it has to be to you or Em or both of you. Daniel’s Running Em to Terence and Em says, you should let her handle this. But she’s about an hour further away from Terence than you are.

  Too long. Tell her we can’t wait.

  The gates loomed up ahead of us. We’re leaving now. Let me know if anything changes!

  Will do, Ash.

  His voice went silent and I communicated everything he’d said in quick sentences to Connor as we moved through the gates.

  Then we were in the sky, and flying towards an aingl.

  THE AINGL

  ASHALA

  The world contained nothing but the rush of air for what seemed like forever. Then we finally began to descend, plunging to the ground to land about twenty metres away from a big river, a small stream, two saurs, and three people.

  Terence Talbot was standing by the banks of the Traveller, a thin figure in Gull-City-blue being loomed over by the massive bulk of Wanders-too-Far. The Blinker was further away with Gnaws-the-Bones half-curved around him. And Pepper was marching up and down in front of them all with her chest puffed out and her black pigtails bobbing. She came running over to bounce to a halt in front of us, eyes shining with pride. “Wanders and me caught an aingl and a minion.”

  “Have they given you any trouble?” I asked.

  “No,” Pepper replied with a disappointed sigh. “Actually, they’ve been kind of boring.”

  Boring was good. Boring was great. But I didn’t say so out loud because I knew Pepper would never agree with me. Then Wanders’s voice rolled into my mind. Eats-the-Fire says that Holds-the-Secrets says we cannot eat the aingl. Or the smaller one.

  Eats-the-Fire was Jaz’s saur name, and Holds-the-Secrets was Ember’s. No, you can’t. We’re in a sort of truce with Terence.

  But you are Leads-the-Pack. Holds-the-Secrets has to do what you say.

  Another voice chimed in, deeper and older. Gnaws. It would only take two bites to finish them both.

  You can’t eat them! Besides, I’m not sure you could kill Terence. He’s made of some pretty tough material.

  Pepper sniffed. “Saurs can eat anything. Tough material just takes longer.”

  Gnaws put in hopefully, I am a very patient eater.

  No one’s eating anyone! At least, not unless he attacks us first. Out loud I added, “Pepper, Connor and me are going to talk to Terence. You keep watch, okay?”

  I didn’t want her too close to Terence, although I supposed no distance was really safe with the Blinker around. Pepper resumed her marching, and Connor and I continued on. With every step I took, I got angrier. I was furious that Terence was here, in my place near my Tribe. I wanted to reach into his chest, rip out whatever passed for a heart and – oh. This anger wasn’t mine. Or not all mine.

  I grabbed hold of Connor’s arm, stopping him from going any further. “If we attack him we’re the ones breaking the Conclave rules.”

  “I know that, Ashala.” His voice was calm. Rational. Which was good except I knew the sheer fury that lurked beneath the surface. He was angry for what had happened to Penelope, and for what Terence had done to me, and for the person Terence had taken from Connor before that. Back when he’d been an Assessor, Terence had been in charge of an Assessment that had gone wrong and resulted in the death of Connor’s mother.

  “You want to rip his heart out,” I said.

  “Wanting to rip someone’s heart out isn’t the same as doing it.”

  I almost laughed at that. “Connor …”

  “You don’t need to worry that I will lose control,” he told me, and I heard the resolve in his voice; he had his rage in check. “But, Ashala, I won’t allow him to harm any of us. If he attacks …”

  Now my anger came through, spilling out into a wolf’s smile. “If he attacks, we attack right back. And I guess we find out how tough aingls really are.”

  We loped on, side by side. As we got close I muttered to Connor, “Let me do the talking. He knows me a bit, but he doesn’t know you at all, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.” You’re too near to this. Don’t let him bait you into giving him anything of what you are. I don’t know if it was because of what I had said or what I hadn’t, but Connor nodded agreement.

  We stopped a wary distance from Terence. He looked much older than when I’d seen him last, with grey running through the brown of his hair and lines around his mouth. This was the face of Prime Talbot, rather than the younger ordinary Citizen he’d been pretending to be when I’d met him in Spinifex City.

  His gaze
met mine, then dropped to my neck. A hint of a smile touched his lips and warmed his eyes, as though contemplating a pleasant memory. I shivered, remembering the feel of his fingers around my throat. Then I lifted my chin, baring my neck to him. Daring him to try again. He gets no part of me either. Especially not my fear. “Hello, Terence.”

  “Ashala Wolf.” His voice was as soft and precise as I remembered. His nose wrinkled as if he’d smelled something bad, an automatic reaction of revulsion, and I remembered that too. It was how he reacted to anyone with an ability.

  Terence’s gaze drifted to Connor. “You are the one who used to be an enforcer. Neville Rose has spoken to me of you.”

  Connor said absolutely nothing. Just watched him with a face devoid of emotion that gave Terence no clues as to what he was thinking or feeling. Terence didn’t seem to know what to make of it and after a few seconds he turned his attention back to me. “Where is my sister?”

  “She’s on her way,” I answered. “But she’ll be a while.”

  An emotion I couldn’t identify flickered across his face. “I cannot wait. I have come to issue an invitation to the Conclave. I am assuming that Ember has told you about our family meeting?”

  Even for Terence, this wasn’t making much sense. “Ember’s already going to the Conclave.”

  “The invitation is not for Ember. It is for you.”

  “Me?”