by Miles, D. L.
“Because I want it?” she blurted.
The corner of Father Killian’s lips twitched upwards but he managed to resist a full smile. His eyes flicked towards Aeryn who shifted by the window but Dr. Ivy, the one Zia wanted to like her, remained motionless.
“Because you want it?” Ms. Madsen repeated flatly. She scribbled something down on the paper, back perfectly straight as she did so. Wouldn’t want to wrinkle her clothes would she?
“Yes,” Zia continued, “what other reason would there be? Everyone who applies is at roughly the same stage of it, so what else could you judge someone on? I graduated a year early from the Havilan Light Academy, third in my class only behind the girl that slept with two of her teachers and,”–she lowered her voice—“Hayden Rider.”
Aeryn moved around again in the sunlight, crossing his ankles.
“She’s got a point,” Father Killian said, “that’s very impressive for someone her age.”
Zia smiled, thinking that she had actually reached someone on the Board.
“But do you have any experience?” Ms. Madsen asked, flipping a sheet of paper onto the table.
“Experience?” Zia stammered. “Does anyone have experience?”
“Do you, or do you not have any experience in Tracking, Ms. Noble?”
“Not exactly experience—“
Ms. Madsen’s hand shot to the side and grabbed a stamp, slamming it down on the paper. Zia flinched again as the noise echoed about in the room.
“We cannot, in good conscience, allow a novice into our program,” Ms. Madsen said, a cruel smirk on her face. “Maybe when you gain some real world knowledge you can reapply.”
Zia’s eyebrows rose. She had been in here for less than five minutes and she was already being rejected? She jumped from her chair, fury running through her veins.
“You think just because I’m half human that I shouldn’t be allowed into the program? What? Am I less than you because only half my bloodline is in the Medea clan? Or—“
“Medea clan?” Dr. Ivy finally perked up. “You are Medean?”
“Um…yes sir,” Zia quieted down for him. Maybe she still had a chance? There was a strange sound of hope in his voice after he had heard the word “Medea”.
“You are Kehzia of the Medea clan…” Dr. Ivy tapped a large finger against his mustache before turning to Father Killian. They exchanged whispers before facing Zia again, completely excluding Ms. Madsen.
“We will allow you into the Tracker program,” Dr. Ivy began, lifting Zia’s heart higher than when she first laid eyes on Aeryn, “if you can gain some experience with a certified Ventori.”
“What? Like a co-op sort of thing?” Zia asked. She had tried to do a co-op with a Ventori in high school and it didn’t go well. Tracker’s weren’t known for being the most friendly or trusting of people; it’s almost impossible to find one willing to work with another person that isn’t family.
“We will give you a week to find a Tracker willing to teach you,” Father Killian said, black sleeves leaning forward on the table, “and if you spend the summer working with them, we will allow you into the program.”
“Okay,” Zia declared, “I can do that.”
“I think that’s agreeable, don’t you Ms. Madsen?” Father Killian looked over to his compatriot, giving her the same smirk she had given Zia.
Ms. Madsen didn’t give him any notice. “Understand, Ms. Noble, that should you fail to find a Ventori, or fail at receiving any knowledge we will terminate your pending acceptance.”
“Understood,” Zia chirped, “thank you.”
Father Killian turned to the man at the window. “Do you have any questions for her, Aeryn?”
“Nope,” Aeryn left his ledge and came forward a few steps, “but I do have something to say.”
“I thought you might.”
“Since Ventori are so hard to come by these days, I’ll be her certified trainer. A…mentor so to speak.” Aeryn took one more step towards Zia and slapped his arm over her shoulder, pulling her close.
“Really?” Zia asked, unable to hide her excitement as her voice raised an octave. This man wasn’t her ideal person, but he wasn’t hard to look at and he was willing to help her. Who was she to deny help?
“Of course,” Aeryn said, “I owe someone a favour, and this is the only way I can think to repay it.”
Zia didn’t bother to ask what he meant and instead relished the expression on Ms. Madsen’s face.
“You may terminate her pending acceptance at any time over the summer should you feel the need,” Dr. Ivy said, finger still tapping against his face. “But do try to teach her well, Mr. Rinehart.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Aeryn started pushing Zia towards the door. “Let’s get started then.”
He opened the door and shoved Zia outside once she shouted another “thank you” to the Board members. When they were in the hallway, under the bright fluorescent lighting she looked up into his grey eyes.
“Rinehart?” Zia questioned.
“Yup.”
“You’re Aeryn Rinehart,” she said, astonished, “the Aeryn Rinehart, greatest Ventori in all the world next to Havilan the Light? That Aeryn Rinehart?”
“You know,” he chuckled, “technically I’m the greatest living Ventori ever right now, since she’s dead and all.”
Aeryn started moving down the hall, leaving Zia with her mouth hanging open. She had no idea who he was ten minutes ago. She didn’t know who he was when they had gone into the interview room. But now he was her hero; not only that, he was her mentor.
Her mentor was Rinehart the Unbreakable.
Chapter 4:
“So what happens now?” Zia asked, running out the front doors of the Trade School. Aeryn walked under the clouds that blew in the breeze, looking up at the impending storm. Zia chased after him down the busy street, avoiding a mass of people as they exited a bus. It was hard to run with such heavy pants on, especially since she was used to wearing shorts or jeans.
“I mentor you,” Aeryn shrugged, his hands swinging with his long strides. Zia managed to match his pace.
“But what does that mean? Like…am I just following you around all summer?” The initial excitement was beginning to wear off, and the reality of how hard this was going to be to hide was setting in. But she shook it off and peeked up at Aeryn from the corner of her eyes. He was so cool, and she could feel power and determination wafting off of him. She wanted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. How many times had she drifted off in class with images of her meeting him? Of course she hadn’t known what he looked like then, but she had easily filled in the blanks. But her imagination was nothing compared to the real Aeryn Rinehart.
“Pretty much,” he said, looking down at her in the same way, “but since you’re seventeen you need to get your parents to sign a consent form.”
Zia’s heart skipped a beat but quickly returned to its normal pace. Well, its normal pace around Aeryn, which was faster than she thought it could even move. The butterflies soared in her stomach, and she ignored the jelly like feeling her legs did. Having her knees buckle in front of Aeryn was not a thing she wanted to happen.
“Okay,” she said slowly, “where do I get one of those?”
“Let’s worry about that later.” Aeryn took a sudden right and started crossing the street, not bothering to look for cars. Zia glanced both ways and decided it was safe before stepping off the concrete. He said, “Right now I’m starving, Tracking is hard work.”
They hopped onto the other sidewalk and he began moving inside a forest-themed restaurant. Aeryn signaled the waitress for a table for two.
“You got back from a job?” Zia asked, unable to mask her eagerness. “What were you doing? Did you catch anything?”
As the waitress began to lead them to a table by the window, Zia’s mentor got very serious, very fast. “Rule number one in Tracking kid, don’t talk about the job. To anyone. Ever.”
/> “Right,” she agreed and they sat down. Out of habit, she picked up the menu but kept her eyes on Aeryn. “Because it’s dangerous to let people know who you’re Tracking, because they could come back for revenge.”
Aeryn laughed over the plastic pages. It was loud and full, genuine, Zia thought. “No. It’s dangerous because half the things we have to do to catch STRAYs are illegal.”
“Oh…so what’s rule number two?” Zia pretended to gloss over the menu, but found her eyes kept rising up to watch Aeryn. The way he bit his lip as he made his choice was very childlike, but kind of cute too. This was the badass Ventori she had daydreamed of most of her life? It was surreal to see his small quirks in action.
“Rule number two?” Aeryn pondered. He glanced at Zia before returning to the menu. “Don’t involve humans.”
“Are you saying that because my best friend is a human?” she questioned. There was no way he could know anything about her, but Rinehart the Unbreakable was a great Ventori. Zia wasn’t going to be surprised if he knew things about her that even she didn’t know.
“You grew up in the North, right?” he asked back, and she nodded. “Well they have pretty much all humans and only a few clan members so chances are you only know humans. But they can’t get involved in Tracking; too corruptible.”
Zia tried to imagine Iscah being corrupted but just couldn’t. There was no way some Caster would be able to convince her to become his minion.
“I know another clan member,” she said, deciding against mentioning Iscah, “he’s actually trying to become a Tracker too.”
“Hayden Rider?”
“How did you know?” Zia set her menu down, not even hungry. How could anyone eat on a day like this?
“You flinched when you started talking about him,” Aeryn shrugged as if noticing something like that was no big deal. But she had mentioned Hayden at the interview so he must have put this all together.
“Will he need to get experience too?” Zia asked. “Will he have to get a mentor for the summer?”
Aeryn looked at her again, this time setting his menu down over the red and while plaid cloth. “Maybe, I don’t really know about it. I try not to get involved with the Board’s affairs unless I’m getting paid for it.”
“Okay.” Zia was going to assume that Hayden would need a mentor, especially if he had gotten Ms. Madsen on his review board. It was hard for her not to smile at that, because there was no way he would get a better mentor than her. After all, she had Rinehart the Unbreakable!
They spent the next couple of hours together, but their conversations were unusual to say the least, and not what Zia was expecting. She had tried steering the conversation to Tracking, and what she would be doing to get experience, but he avoided it. Aeryn kept telling her that she didn’t have to worry about it, that it would come naturally, but what was that supposed to mean?
It didn’t matter. Zia was certain that the coming summer would be the best she had ever had.
Aeryn stood on the edge of the Redcreek Bridge, looking down into the murky waters below. Getting there was easy enough, since the death was ruled a suicide there was nobody putting up orange tape and getting in the way. Aeryn glanced at a group of people holding candles and rethought his statement; no officials getting in the way and trampling the evidence.
The wind ruffled his hair into his eyes and he brushed it back with a sigh. This wasn’t the ideal case for a novice to start on, but Zia wasn’t exactly normal, or a novice. It would have to do. As he surveyed the bridge that the woman had jumped from last night he spotted something on the ground.
He knelt down and wiped his fingers across the planks, noting that there were a few loose splinters that seemed out of place. But not only that, there was also some residual blue dust; Caster class dust.
Aeryn rubbed the dust between his fingers, thoughtful as he eyed it. Another strong breeze and it was gone, taken away with the storm as a few drops of water began to fall. He straightened himself and moved to the group of mourners, hoping to listen in for a clue or two about the victim. Hopefully they didn’t recognize him, with his particular connections.
Three women stood in front of a photograph of the woman, holding candles against the setting sun and sniffed back tears. She was pretty, this Ventori that had supposedly jumped in her ball gown. Her smile reminded Aeryn of Kehzia, or Zia as she liked to be called, and he wondered if she would end up with the same fate.
During their meal together he had seen the way she kept looking at him, with that dopey look of awe and wonder, but there was something else there too. She respected him, saw him as a hero, as a Light Knight or something. Aeryn plucked a flower from his pocket and set it in front of the photograph, and walked away without a word to the mourners.
His feet left a trail in the dirt as he blazed down towards his horse. The black steed, Aeryn’s closest friend now, whinnied as he approached. He patted the horse and climbed up, taking one last look at the bridge.
“I won’t let it happen again, kid,” he whispered and rode off towards the city.
Dealing with consent from Zia’s parents was no trouble at all for her. It especially helped since they weren’t going to know anything about what she was doing, and she could forge both of their signatures perfectly onto the appropriate form. She had just finished filling out the consent form from City Ark when there was a knock at her bedroom door.
“I brought you some cookies,” Win said as Zia turned to face her, “I thought you might want something sweet to celebrate after your job interview.”
Zia shuffled the consent papers into her bag, being sure to make it look casual and not rushed. She always hated how rushed people looked in movies, and nobody ever noticed.
“Thanks,” she said and she spotted two large books underneath the plate, “and I guess you brought some college to go with that?”
A weak smile and a shrug from her mother. “I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to look at what they have to offer, for when you’re ready to go. I’m not trying to push you into anything.”
“I know,” Zia said, standing to take the plate from her mother, “want to look at them with me?”
“I’d like that.”
They sat down on Zia’s bed, after she flattened out the unmade blankets for a clear space. Her gut kept telling her to confess to her parents what she was really doing; that she didn’t have a job in records at City Ark, and that her late hours were really because she would be out Tracking with Aeryn. But it made Win so happy whenever Zia pointed out that something in that stupid college catalogue was interesting.
She didn’t want to take her mother’s hope away.
Because the hope of her going to college was the only hope Win had left.
That evening Cash and Zia accompanied Win to the hospital, for her regular checkup. Normally the appointments were during the day, but due to the new Accords being signed there was a problem with her doctor; he had to witness one of the signings for healthcare. Now, all Specters in the city were being given equal healthcare options, not that they wanted it.
So while Win and Cash sat behind closed doors, Zia waited in the small waiting area. Today she knew they were talking about more treatment options, but it would only prolong the inevitable. But even if it was just to add another day, Zia was willing to try it. It also reinforced her belief that Win could never know that she had started her official Ventori training with Aeryn.
A vent overhead buzzed to life, brushing through Zia’s hair. She glanced up at it, letting the air blow over her face, letting it soothe her. Her eyes closed, and only reopened when it the breeze died. She lifted her head, and looked towards the door her mother sat behind. How was it going?
A person threw themselves into the chair next to her with a huff, and she glanced over to see her hospital buddy Melinda there. Her dark hair was in a high ponytail, with her messy bangs falling in front of her eyes.
“Hey, Mel,” Zia gave her a smile, despite the dread in the pit of he
r stomach.
“’Ey, Zee,” Mel sighed. “How’s it going? You graduate yet?”
Zia had never told Mel of her dreams of becoming a Ventori, though she had mentioned it as a possibility. But Mel was human, and didn’t understand the honour and respect of it all, though she claimed she did. She related it to being a part of the Human Guard, but Zia didn’t think it was even close to that.
“I did, just the other day,” she leaned further into the seat, “how are you doing?”
Like Win, Mel was afflicted with the sickness but she didn’t show it. Mel was all attitude and snark, which Zia loved. It was nice to talk to someone who could hurl insults back at her; Iscah just couldn’t handle it.
“I’m doing good,” she shrugged, looping an arm around Zia’s shoulders, “they think I might be able to make it pretty far past thirty.”
“If anyone is going to ensure they live just to spite someone, it’ll be you,” Zia tried to joke, and it got a laugh out of Mel. Her whole body shook as she did, but it was just who she was, it had nothing to do with the sickness.
“Did you hear about the signing for Specter Healthcare?” Mel suddenly asked.
“Yeah,” Zia snorted, “they can actually come up here for it.”
“Ugh,” Mel rolled her eyes, “can you imagine? A Specter coming up North just to fix a cold?”
Zia laughed. “They don’t even get sick, I don’t see why they had to make an Accord for it!”
Zia and Mel laughed, not even caring about the elderly woman that sat across from them. The woman squinted her eyes at the girls, and finally spoke, “You know nothing of this world.”
The girls faltered. Mel stood, ready to fight but Zia put a hand on her wrist. “What was that?”
“It is because of humans,”—the woman looked to Zia—“and members like you that there is war in this world. If you do not change your ways…I am glad I will not be in this world much longer.”