Alex didn’t even need to wrack her brain for a good retaliation. “Scapegoat? Who did the attacking last year? If I remember right, I was on the receiving end of the blows.”
“Just like a typical Havilah to cry innocence. You were never in any danger.”
“For being a genius I would have thought you would discover my family ties before anybody else.”
Jack waved a hand in front of her face. “Conveniently you hid behind that little disguise of yours. With that face, the Havilahs are the last place anyone thought they’d find you.”
What was left of Alex’s body began to tremble. “You know how much information I don’t have about myself. By the way, animosity doesn’t look good on you, Jack.”
She felt proud of herself for saying it. She wished Chase had been around to hear it.
“I have a right to be bitter. They set us up. They wanted you because you’re a Havilah, and whoever was in charge of that Eviar group, Eskers group, whatever, used us to get to you.”
“Yeah, they really twisted your arm. How do you know it had anything to do with me?”
Jack’s volume rose. “Haven’t you wondered about the location?”
“My hometown.”
“You’re so stupid.”
She didn’t understand him. Was he jealous? Because instead of wanting her dead, as she’d assumed, for being connected to Sephi, they wanted her alive, for being connected to the Havilahs?
“I don’t know why you’re acting this way.”
“Because something needs to change! Bonds have been paddling along, accepting ridicule. I’m not going to do it anymore! That much about history will be different.”
Jack began to move forward, and Alex tensed. Little Gossamer stepped out of the crowd and stood in between them. “I think that’s enough,” her singsong voice advised.
Reuben recoiled and twisted his nose at Little. Alex recognized that reaction. He usually only reserved it for her, at least when he thought she was Sephi.
“You know what?” Jack hissed at Alex. “For once, go figure out things yourself.” And with that, he turned his heel and stalked down the hallway like a spoiled child. Reuben ambled along beside him with Joey trailing.
“Are you okay?” Little asked.
Alex nodded, but her mind began to ache. She never enjoyed confrontation, and all the words she hadn’t thought to say, and all the wonderful comebacks flashed through her mind.
She shoved her hands into her pockets. Dodging stares, she noticed that a hood appeared on the back of her shirt. She ducked her head and shielded herself until she escaped through the hulking wooden doors. It was then that her fingers brushed against something in her pocket. She clasped her hand around a piece of paper, and before she opened the note, she knew what she would find.
She stood paralyzed on the steps of the grand building, staring at the sketch of an hourglass once again. A sketch that hadn’t been there ten minutes ago.
Chapter Twelve
“I don’t understand why they would release Jack,” Alex complained to Ellington.
For once, she was happy to be in therapy. What she didn’t understand was the way the room accessorized itself. Large, mirrored squares hung from the ceiling, dangling like Christmas ornaments on an invisible tree.
“I don’t have an answer for you.”
“Aren’t you his therapist, too? What goes on inside that crazy mind of his?”
“Even if I was allowed to break confidentiality—”
“Wait,” Alex interrupted. “I thought the objective of these therapy sessions was that you could report back to the government. Doesn’t that kind of kill the idea of confidentiality?”
Ellington’s face twitched. “It’s twofold. Anyway, even if I could share my findings about other newburies, I wouldn’t have much information for you. Jack isn’t exactly social, even here. Even with me. That’s part of the problem.”
“How could the government think his friends were harmless after what they did?”
“The system in place for evaluation is relatively foolproof,” Ellington said. “If Revealers say they’re innocent, they’re innocent. Secondly, the Patrol witnessed most of the fight in Parrish. I know you don’t want to hear that, but they were curious as to how far the Eskers kids would go, and between you and me, I think they wanted to see what you could do. They didn’t think the Eskers kids were trying to hurt you so much as they were trying to save themselves.”
“Yeah, they didn’t try to hurt me at all.” Alex slouched in her seat. “I was only blacked out for a month.”
“It went a bit too far.”
“You think?” Alex asked sarcastically. “After all that, their actions can be ignored?”
“Not necessarily. They were acting under orders, and well, the government likes to see that.”
The ornaments above their heads started to spin. Alex wondered if it would hurt if they fell on her. “That’s sick.”
“Our world is peaceful and progressive because of order. You know this. That’s why newburies stay here for several years after their deaths. The theory is that if we can get to you while you’re young, we can give you a role and, therefore, maintain the status quo.”
“You mean program us to think a certain way.”
Ellington cringed. “Stop letting Chase into your head. That’s something he would say.”
Alex choked and turned it into a cough.
“I don’t blame you for saying it, but consider the alternative. This is what sparked the Restructuring. An afterworld without order became chaotic. It’s best for children to fall into the pre-established order. Not try to create a new one. What we do and what we have works.”
“Then why is Jack so angry?”
Ellington straightened the collar of his shirt. “If nothing around here changes, neither will Jack’s fate, and, unfortunately, the Bonds tread on the same treacherous path generation after generation. Jack thought that since he was smarter than everyone else, this would change, but intelligence has nothing to do with it. He refuses to listen to my reasoning.”
“How can you say that about intelligence? Isn’t this world about the mind?”
“The progression of the world is mental. But existence? No.”
Alex groaned. “You’ve gone over my head. Again.”
“Their souls are cursed, not their minds. The gifted who cursed them knew better than that. A soul gives a person a life, but a soul doesn’t keep a body alive, nor does it keep a mind alive in the afterworld. Intelligence and emotions, those are the fruits of the mind. That’s where you find your strength here. Calla Bond understood that last year; Jack did not.”
“Where is Calla? I haven’t seen her with the others.”
“Calla needed some time.”
“That’s vague.”
“I’m not allowed to discuss it, Alex.”
“She attacked me, Ellington. I think I’ve earned the right to know where she is, at least.”
Ellington’s bowtie had unraveled. It rested over his shoulders. “She needs treatment. Her mind cracked.”
Alex knew all too well what it was like to feel outside of one’s sanity. “Committed, you mean.”
“Something like that.”
“Is she still in the city?”
“She’s not.” Ellington flipped through his notes. “You were a resident of the Eskers Rehabilitation Center. Were you coherent there?”
“No. And you can say mental hospital, you know. What does my craziness have to do with Calla?”
“I’m sorry,” Ellington said. “I thought you knew.”
“Knew what?”
“The Eskers offers mental rehabilitation for both the living and the dead.”
“Gabe had a book last year that mentioned lingerers and wanderers checking in to the Eskers, but the book made it seem like they only needed a break. Not that they were crazy.”
“That’s the case with some.
Others need extensive treatment.”
Alex was afraid she already knew the answer to her next question. “Who treats them?”
“Your family, of course. The Havilahs have always maintained the treatment facility.”
“Yeah, but they’re dead. I didn’t know they were still hanging around the treatment center!”
“Do you remember anything about your time there?”
“No. Is that why Jack is so angry? He mentioned the Havilahs.”
“I figured he’d be furious at you.”
Alex shifted in her seat. “Over what though? The Havilahs never hunted the gifted, right?”
“Usually the most vocal of opponents hire others to do their dirty work. That’s something that doesn’t seem to change in death. Those in charge spend their time speaking and designate others to accomplish the ‘doing.’ The Havilahs found benefit in targeting the gifted, especially after the Cinatris decided they wanted the gifted away from Eidolon.
“I’m sure after your encounter last year with the Eskers kids, you’ve heard or read—” he paused to peer upward as though the news projections might be hovering there—“about the families of the accused?”
“Jack said they were associated with hunters. So, he’s mad because it’s the Havilahs’ fault? They encouraged others to hunt the gifted?”
Ellington twirled his pen. “It was a Bond who held the head position at the Dual Tower responsible for equal rights. The blame for the horrific treatment of the gifted falls on them. Jack is angry, but anger only causes insult to injury. Acceptance eases the swelling of hatred, but the pain must be endured. The Bonds have never been very patient.”
Alex couldn’t ignore the spinning bulbs anymore. “Why are those mirrors spinning so fast?”
Ellington followed their movements. “They’re inhaling your energy. I got tired of you making my walls freak out and pulsate. A decorator suggested this.” He shifted in his seat. “I’m not so sure how they’re making me feel, however.”
She watched the mirrors spin and reflect a million images of her face. “What do I do about all this?”
“Learn to harness your energy.”
“No.” Alex shook her head. “Not the bulbs. What do I do about this Havilah situation?”
“Oh. Embrace who you are. That’s all any of us can do. There is nothing you can do to change it. But brace yourself, too. Once this leaks out, which I’m sure it already has, the attention surrounding you will only multiply. Unfortunately, you stand on both sides of the line.”
The bulbs came to a stop.
“You are both the hunter and hunted. And anything unclear makes people nervous.”
Chapter Thirteen
The ocean composed music. It didn’t have a voice like the trees or the rain. It was more like the somber notes of a piano. The tune was as blue as the sky behind it, but it was inspiring, powerful, and addictive. No wonder the rivers flowed so eagerly to join it.
Alex spread her arms wide and laid back. Being in the waves was like swimming in a concerto.
“Why is Skye afraid of the water?” Kaleb’s voice interrupted her trance.
Past the view of her toes and the tip of the surfboard, in the distance Alex saw Skye hugging her knees, sitting on a rock. The power of Skye’s glare skipped across the waves like a pebble until it splashed them.
“She says it’s too much.”
Ever the attention hog, Kaleb had entertained a swarm of newburies all morning, but now that his company only consisted of his family, he dropped his act and gazed toward the beach.
“She’s sitting pretty close to the edge. What do you think she’d do if a sneaker wave snatched her and pulled her in?”
“She’d probably blame her survival on some flower or stone she had in her pocket.”
“I think Rae would save her,” Chase said, running his hands along the surface of the water beside Alex.
Rae danced along the edge of the beach picking up shells and twirling like a top. It was strange to see her in public. It was even stranger to see her acting like a three-year-old.
Kaleb chuckled, falling forward on his board. He rested his chin on it and tapped his fingers against the surface of the water. If Alex listened closely enough, she could hear the pings of sound it added to the song of the ocean, like strums of a guitar. It was mindboggling that one person could have such an effect on something so vast.
“I thought Rae didn’t like crowds,” he said.
“This is hardly a crowded beach,” Chase noted. “Maybe she needed a holiday as much as we did.”
Every year before the chaos of autumn activities, the newburies got a mandatory holiday, a chance to unwind before the chaos of the season kicked off with the Autumn Mask and continued until All Soul’s Day in November. When news spread that the holiday could be postponed this year, Alex wasn’t disappointed because she felt comfortable inside the confines of Brigitta’s campus. She would only venture to the more crowded areas of the city if Chase accompanied her. She made the mistake of saying this aloud, and Gabe labeled her institutionalized. She agreed to go to Moribund to prove Gabe wrong … and because the Lasalles would be surrounding her.
They had always been the four crutches holding her up. Without Jonas, they were only three; they teetered but still held.
Kaleb’s voice was muffled by his board. “There are more chaperones than usual.”
“Chaperones?” Alex asked. “Where?”
“All over the place because of the hocus pocus witch hullabaloo. I think if Halloween wasn’t around the corner Eidolon wouldn’t be so hyped up about those gifted sightings. Everyone likes a good scare this time of year.”
“Dr. Massin told us it wasn’t a big deal,” Chase said.
Kaleb flattened his mouth. “Massin was sent from Broderick Square. They don’t want us to panic.”
Alex felt a headache coming on.
“But you know, I think people like the panic,” Kaleb added.
“You mean, you like it.”
“It’s entertaining.”
Excitement had an energy and life of its own, no matter how positive or negative the source. In life, when a hurricane would set course for Parrish or a rare snowstorm would dump a few feet on the town, people moaned and complained, but they welcomed the thrill of it all. The exhilaration pumped life into the tedium of everyday existence.
Gabe paddled back in their direction, grinning. Athletics interested him the least out of his brothers, but he caught the most waves—he told Alex that surfing was all about physics. When they entered Moribund that morning and announced their plans to go out into the Pacific, Alex’s mouth formed an O, large enough for Chase to reach out to close it. Surfing seemed like such a bodied thing to do, but the boys assured her that the thrill was worth it, the art of feeling out the waves and becoming one with a force of energy greater than them.
The quiet town of Moribund consisted of one main street of shops. Every few feet, the sidewalk broke to reveal side streets leading to small communities of large stone and stucco homes.
“How are we supposed to rent the boards?” she asked Chase.
He stopped to hold the door for an elderly lady leaving the market. Alex did a double take when the woman thanked him.
“She can see us?”
Kaleb led them to a building with a window shaped like a wave. “They can all see us here. The town is in on our secret.”
Alex couldn’t believe it. Imagine thinking it was normal to spot a ghost while you went out to buy milk.
“They keep quiet about us, and in exchange we give them all the money from the haunted house every year. They make bank on the fall tourism and live comfortably because of us.”
They thought themselves into wetsuits and rented boards from a tanned, muscular man that spoke to them in surf jargon Alex didn’t understand. The boys bobbed their heads in agreement to whatever he said, but Alex remained shell-shocked by the whole ordeal.
The guy asked her if her name was Judith, and when Kaleb scolded him, he slapped his knee and called her Bunny instead.
When his brothers trotted out to the ocean, Chase gave Alex a quick lesson. The instructions jumbled in her head, but she knew they’d remain in her memory until she could smooth them out. Like magic, when she needed to paddle, she remembered to crawl stroke. The terms “pearling” and “corking” presented themselves as reminders that despite her weightlessness, she needed to pretend to act like one of the bodied. When she waited for waves, her mind shuffled through the etiquette; but, the chill of the ocean water drained her energy much like the effects of cold weather. Alex would rather lounge on the board recharging under the beams of the sun, like a human battery pack.
She wondered how this experience would have felt if they were alive. She and Chase grew up spending their summers on boats, but while the Lasalles learned to wakeboard and Jet Ski, Alex kept her crippled body in the boat. It was something she complained about but didn’t mind because she was afraid of anything she couldn’t see. It was impossible to see anything more than a foot under the murky waters of the Chesapeake Bay.
“You want the next one, Alex?” Kaleb asked.
“No, thanks.”
“Sure? I would’ve thought you’d be eating these waves.”
She liked the idea of it all. The freedom. But she didn’t want to move right now.
“Alex, do you know what’s going on over there with Skye?” Gabe asked.
Alex didn’t open her eyes. “She’s afraid of the water.”
“No. I mean, why she’s talking to Pax.”
Alex lifted her head and squinted through the sun. “Is she with Kaleb’s stalker, too? Skye’s distant cousin?”
Kaleb came to Skye’s defense. “She said they’re barely related. Her last name wasn’t even Gossamer in life. She changed it when she got here so everyone would know her family.” He continued to stare at the scene on the beach. “You said Pax is the legacy leader? She’s kind of cute.”
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