by Emily Shore
“Fast hands, Swan. Fast hands!”
12
S t A y
Instead of returning to bed like the others, I slip out through one of the patio doors and escape down the stone pathways and under the archways of the constructed dais that overlooks the gardens. The grounds are so expansive, and I realize I’ve made a few wrong turns when I end up at the stone fountain where Jade whipped Chrysanthemum. This place is truly a paradisiacal labyrinth of landscaped outdoor rooms filled with hedges, rows of tilled trees, subtropical plants, elaborate fountains, antique sculptures, and vines fusing with garden structures. After another ten minutes or so of wandering, I finally locate the Shed and breathe a silent prayer that it’s open.
I try the door handle, push down, and am relieved that it gives way. My relief is short-lived once I realize the iron gate is once again lowered to prevent any access to Sky. At least he isn’t strung up like some wild beast anymore, even if they haven’t loosened the chains. He’s able to rest his legs on the ground. Back to the wall, his head is lowered like he’s asleep. Except as soon as I kneel in front of the bars, vain hand slipping through to reach for him, Sky’s head shoots up. Slanting against the wall, he smiles. I pause.
“Smelled you when you got a little closer. Take it you had your exhibit tonight?” He nods to my damp curls.
I heave my body against the iron bars and sigh, dropping my hand into the dirt, still a good three feet from him. “Yes, Jade had the exhibit. What are you doing here, Sky?”
“Nothing much right now,” he deflects in that sarcastic tone of his, one eye cringing when he moves the wrong way because it causes him pain.
“You know what I mean.”
“You knew I’d follow, Ser. Couldn’t let you go running off to the Garden all by yourself. Even with Luc.”
“It isn’t like you were helping me,” I hiss, gripping the bars so tightly my knuckles turn white and hard as miniature moons.
Sky tilts his head to the side. “Oh, come on, Ser. I wish you’d give me more credit than that. You know how I am. I’m careful. Got to work out all the kinks, know all the angles before I jump into anything. I was getting as much information as I could. Came to your room that night and told you I was making plans.”
“But you refused—”
“Oh, I was just buying time,” he interrupts with a groan. “Didn’t think you and Luc were crazy enough to really go through with it! Well, you’re crazy. He’s just overconfident. Where is my brother anyway?”
For some reason, Sky using that term for Luc doesn’t bother me anymore. Even if I just discovered they were brothers a couple of weeks ago, the notion has more grounding now thanks to how similar they are. How both share one grandiose common interest—they can manipulate me in their own ways, but each is ready to swim through deep water, march through a forest fire, battle an earthquake, and harness the very wind for me.
“Jade did something to him.” I explain about the inhibitor that prevents Luc from using any of his skills.
After my description, Sky doesn’t seem angry or even annoyed. No, he surprises me by looking resigned, bare feet angled out and legs splayed in the dirt. “So…he saw your exhibit.”
“I guess. I don’t know. I didn’t see him. Some of the windows were tinted.”
“Was it as impressive as the Swan exhibit?”
I debate whether to relay to him information on Jade’s new Skeleton Flower. “I guess it depends on who you ask.”
“Serenity…” Sky stares at me, his eyes liquefying into that brown syrup that warm my insides. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“This exhibit is different. There’s more…”
“More of what?”
“More of…me.”
I purse my lips, watching him sag against the wall, eyes closed as he breathes a sigh through his nose. Studying him for a moment, I almost expect his muscles to tense, but they don’t. Nor do his eyelids tighten when he brings up another question.
“What does she call you?”
“The Skeleton Flower.”
He nods. “I know it. Any clients yet?”
“Just one if you can call him that. We only met for five minutes.”
“Introductory. What’s his name?”
“Neil,” I reveal.
Sky lifts his head, opening his eyes to pin me with his gaze. “What are you going to do, Ser?”
Nails scraping against the bars, I funnel as much cement as I can into my voice because I know my eyes will never be anything more than icy green gems. “I’m going to get you out of here…somehow.”
“I think we both know I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”
“What she’s doing to you—”
“I can handle it.”
“You shouldn’t have to!” I slam my fist against the bars before crinkling my nose. “You shouldn’t be here! You shouldn’t have come!” I raise my voice, seething, pain seeping through.
Sky chuckles a little behind closed lips before muttering, “Silly girl.” He shakes out one of his fists, rattling the chains a little.
“What if I can’t handle it?” He flicks his head to me as I continue. “Every time she—”
“Didn’t know you cared so much.”
I grip the bars again. “You arrogant ass! Of course I care!”
Sky dips his head toward me. “How much?”
Suddenly, the iron gate seems more like an island. One great island full of gates and doors and bars full of nails ready to pound me. “Shut up. This isn’t a contest.”
“Yes, it is. And I’ll go to whatever lengths to show you.”
“Show me what?”
Now Sky rolls his eyes, calm and relaxed. “Silly girl.”
“This. Is. Not. Fair.”
“Not supposed to be.”
Luc’s words from the Aviary echo in my head, but now they are Sky’s, worming into my heart like little flames the size of threads to stitch the blood there, competing with Luc’s icicle strings. Only one can fuse with my lightning.
“Everything’s on me this time, Sky. How can I help you or him? I can’t even help myself!”
“You’re going to have to find a way. And I have faith that you will. But for now, this is the way it must be because I stay…wherever you stay.”
13
F a n T a s y
Sometimes, lightning strikes twice. For me, it happens near the fountain when a figure seizes me from behind, hands around my chest as she forces me over the sculpted stone. Déjà vu strikes me hard, and I remember my first night in the Aviary. Irony doesn’t play by any rules. Immediately, I know it isn’t Mockingbird because she would never attack me in the water despite her fast hands. Even Nightingale was a clever opponent when she pushed me down the glass staircase that first night.
Just after I go limp, allowing the water to soak me, I feel the girl hesitate, loosen just a bit. So, I take my chance, hoping she doesn’t have a weapon. In the same moment, I twist my slippery body out of her grip and crouch. Flipping my hair back, I realize this never happened at the Aviary. Even the night Peacock dumped oil on me and threatened to light a match, I stood. I endured. With Mockingbird, I ran. Tonight, my hands feel like battle axes—ready to cleave.
It’s unnecessary when I find the girl crying behind me, curled into a ball with her back to the stone fountain wall, her sobs louder than the stone children spitting water behind us. For a moment, I pause and scrutinize her—from her hands cupping her bare knees that poke beyond the surface of the water to her waterlogged orange hair that dresses her face like drippy marmalade.
“Chrysanthemum…” I take a tentative step forward. “What on earth?”
“They asked m-me…” She sobs between words. “C-cause I’m the b-best in the water because of my cl-client. I’m sorry.”
Wondering if this is some type of prank, I look around, waiting to see if any other Flowers sprout from the bushes, but there’s no one. After all, I slipped out while so many girls are still slee
ping. If more had followed me, they wouldn’t have waited until after the Shed to act. I wager this is more serious than a simple prank or initiation.
So, I kneel, allowing the water to cradle half my body, and take hold of Chrysanthemum’s hand. “Who asked you to do this?”
Chrysanthemum shakes her head, but her next words are no confession. “I can’t say. You don’t know what will happen to me. Jade’s whip is a kiss compared to what will happen.”
“Were you trying to kill me?”
The Flower shakes her head, acting as wild as a cornered bull. “No! Just trying to scare you. They hoped it would throw you. They want you to do bad in your exhibit.”
I roll my eyes at the notion because I doubt it will matter to clients how I perform in my exhibit; they’re only focused on one thing. Whoever sent Chrysanthemum, I doubt they know what occurred in my exhibit. Or after. Despite Jade’s so-called perfect system of equality, there are always new threats wherever I go. The ones here are just made of petals and not pecking beaks. They are…subtle.
“Please, please don’t tell Jade,” Chrysanthemum pleads. “She’ll send me back to the Glass District!” She isn’t a cornered bull anymore. No, she’s a frantic Flower trying to hold onto her new roots for dear life. I couldn’t care less what she’s done. No girl deserves to be pinned under the Glass District. Or here, for that matter.
Raising my chin, I say, “Go back to bed, Chrysanthemum. Whoever you have to tell, let them know you did well. Tell them you rattled me, and you escaped before I saw you.”
I should have expected Chrysanthemum to throw her arms around me, nearly knocking me over despite how soap-bubble soft she seems, but it still takes me a second or two to register the embrace. By the time I do, Chrysanthemum finishes and scampers out of the water, droplets curtailing her heels as she disappears down a garden path. My turn now. Part of me wants to return to the Shed, but Jade will come for me at first light because she intends for me to accompany her to Sky’s visit. What can she possibly have in store for him this time?
Sleep is delayed even more after I change into a white nightgown and climb into bed only to flinch when I realize I am not alone.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I advise Luc. I pull the covers up to my neck, undeterred by him standing across from me. It’s better not to approach him. Not with that ticking time bomb under his skin.
“I haven’t seen you since the exhibit. Forgive me for assuming the worst.”
“Don’t worry, Luc,” I spit out, begrudging the words. “Your Swan is still as white as ever. She just lost a few feathers is all.”
“I couldn’t have predicted any of this. Jade is far more cunning than I gave her credit.”
“Sky tried to tell you.”
“Spare me my brother’s hindsight ability, Serenity.”
“If you’ll spare me the pity party.”
When I open my eyes this time, Luc is standing right in front of me, prepared to lower himself to the bed next to me, but I raise a finger in warning, motioning to the dull hum I can hear from beneath his skin. “Luc—”
“I can control it,” he assures me before sinking onto the bed. He sweeps aside my hair. “If I can, I will slaughter every one of them. You know I will.”
I curve into my pillow. “I think we both know it’s too late for that. This is bigger than just you and me. There’s more at stake.”
“Enlighten me.”
I debate on whether to tell him. “Mockingbird is here.”
Luc bristles but maintains his composure once we both take note of the increased humming. “I will handle Mockingbird. You still haven’t told me what happened after the exhibit. Who called for you?”
“How do you know someone did?”
“I am not blind. I was there.”
Right…because the preservation of my innocence is what he cares about the most.
This time, I swat his hand away when he tries to brush his knuckles across my cheek. “Don’t touch me. I don’t have any modesty left thanks to Jade, and I’ll be damned if you take my privacy, too.”
“Serenity…what happened?”
“Nothing,” I exclaim and sit straight up in bed, feeling all the butterflies ready to launch right for him, antennae prepared to blind him. “He didn’t touch me; he didn’t even stand up. He just sat there and stared and talked! Are you satisfied? I’m going to sleep,” I snap before dunking my head under the covers again, wishing they would become waves to swallow me whole. Or leaves.
“What do you expect me to say? Jade offered, and perhaps I should have refused. I couldn’t have known. I don’t deserve to see you like that.”
Infuriated, I pitch the covers back so hard they crack against his cheek. “Don’t you dare make this about you, Luc. This isn’t about what you don’t deserve!”
Deep inside, all my butterflies bang against my chest wall with the power of charging rhinos, just daring me to attack Luc, but with his inhibitor, I restrain myself and siphon all my fervor into my words.
“No girl deserves that! No girl deserves to be a Flower under glass or a Bird in cage or a body in a Temple because we’re human beings with souls and spirits and skin that’s worth more for what’s inside than what’s on the outside.”
Luc leans closer to me but doesn’t reach out, though I recognize his resolve in the tapering of his brows. “You are worth more.”
“Get out!”
My hand practically chomps on the air when I point to the door.
Even after Luc departs, my dreams still reel from the ghost left in his wake.
“I intend to learn much from our friend today,” Jade informs me as we approach the Shed.
Thanks to last night’s events, I’m still struggling to keep my eyes open while wondering how I can possibly perform for the exhibit later tonight. Focusing less on my surroundings and more on Jade, I watch as she retrieves a device from inside her robe. To me, it looks like a small harness with tiny electrodes fixed to the leather.
“What is that?” I ask before her hand touches the Shed handle.
“This device just happens to be a lie detector, and it will send out a shock anytime my prize in there decides not to tell the truth. Far more accurate than the polygraphs of the past, this not only detects any anomaly in heart rhythm, but it also scans areas of the brain and relays the feedback to me through here.” She taps her ear to a transceiver before declaring, “I look forward to learning more about Kyle.”
Jade’s methods know no boundaries. Already, I can imagine her Venus Fly Trap closing in on Sky, vines crawling into him like snakes hiding in weeds. Her lips part as soon as she steps inside; she craves him, but it can’t rival the thirst in my heart. Without Sky, I am dryer than a dirt road in a drought.
“Good morning, Kyle,” Jade chirps as she undoes the sashes on her robe and lets it drop to the ground. Beneath, she wears a black fishnet and lace dress that leaves little to the imagination. With her almond-milk skin, the black dress reminds me of chess pieces competing against one another. After all, this is just a game to her, right?
I linger near the front door as she approaches him. Some of the Seedkeepers must have hooked him to the ceiling again because his arms are chained above his head, giving Jade unadulterated access. At first, she toys with him, fingers curling against his chest, cupping his neck, and holding him still so she can whisper something in his ear, but Sky doesn’t notice her other hand like I do. The one with the harness she slips onto his head while she keeps him distracted. Jade latches it tight. In the same moment, Sky’s eyes connect with mine. Dark earth meeting green frost. And I don’t bother to hide the panic, the same panic that causes all my butterflies to leap back, cramming their bodies and wings down into my stomach because they want nothing more than to find some sanctum away from the cursed hole. What will happen once she discovers Sky is part of the Sanctuary? Will she try to kill him right here?
Retrieving her whip, Jade sweeps it up the line of Sky’s back—still bandaged from
her whip marks the other day—even as he thrashes against her, trying to dislodge the harness from his head. As soon as he does, Jade lifts a small remote and presses it once. My first instinct is to step forward when Sky flexes and shakes his head wilder than a wildflower in a typhoon, but I dig my nails into my sides instead. He groans but only for a moment.
“That is a little taste, Kyle, of what will happen if you lie to me.” Jade flaunts the remote near the side of his face just within reach of his eyes. “Now, why don’t we start with something simple?” She winds her body to his front and eyes him once before asking, “Is your real name Kyle?”
Sky grits his teeth. “Yes.”
Jade tilts her head to the side to study him, finger traipsing along his cheek even as he flinches. Considering the harness doesn’t electrocute him again, I know it worked, and why not? We played with these names as children. They are the ones we chose when Kerrick and Serafina forged documents for us as we grew. They are as much a part of us as our real names. We wear them close to our skin. Like pretend role players we can summon at any moment we choose.
“Very good,” Jade commends him. “And now…you are not just any ordinary trespasser, are you, Kyle?”
This time, when Sky tries to answer in the affirmative, the device triggers a shock. Growling, Sky clenches his fists as Jade confirms, “That will be a no. Tell me…Kyle, are you a smuggler?”
When he doesn’t answer, Jade presses the remote, and I do step forward when the pain shudders into Sky’s face. After another moment of heaving, he opens his eyes so I can see the bloodthirst there. Imagine my fingers lapping up the sweat that travels down the sides of his face. Little samples of barbarism in every drop.
“Are you a smuggler?” Jade repeats.
Sky grips hard, knuckles turning white as he bellows, “No!”