Raene and the Three Bears (The Alder Tales Book 2)

by RS McCoy

  “Oh goody,” she mumbled. The bits of glazed rabbit meat sat in her stomach like a brick, far too heavy for so early in the morning. She’d much rather have a plate of fruit or nuts.

  “That means you get your panel. I’ve already set it up.” He thrust it toward her as proof.

  Blossom accepted the slim device, all black and metal as she remembered. “The Syndicate said I was supposed to get this a week ago.”

  “Yes, I kept it from you intentionally.” Eton didn’t seem the least bit ashamed of such a betrayal.

  Blossom ran her finger across the screen and saw it prompted her to enter a code. “I can call anyone?” She sat up straight in anticipation for his answer. Holding the panel in her hand, she knew she had the ability to call Kaide, and now that she could, she wanted to more than anything.

  “Technically, yes. But you should use it sparingly. It’s common knowledge the Syndicate has access to all the files and transmissions. Anything that comes across your panel is subject to her review.”

  That’s why he withheld it from her. Blossom’s excitement was gone as fast as it had come. “I need you to help me get a message to Kaide.” She hated to do admit it to him, but she had no other choice.

  Eton lowered his voice to a whisper. “I would help you if I could,” he replied as he sat in the metal chair beside her. “But I’m only your advisor. I have certain privileges related to your position, but I can do almost nothing on my own.” To his credit, he appeared genuinely disappointed.

  But Blossom wasn’t satisfied with that answer. “He has to know where I am. This has gone on long enough.” She didn’t want to think about what Kaide thought of her absence, but he deserved to know the truth. Blossom knew where he was, knew he was safe, knew he was missing her.

  But to Kaide, she had simply disappeared. With absolute certainty, she knew her absence would destroy him, if it hadn’t already.

  “Blossom, I understand. But there’s nothing I can do. We’ll figure something out, but be patient. When an opportunity arises, you’ll know it.”

  Ignoring his protests, Blossom pulled the panel into her hand and tried to figure out how to work it. She was just going to have to risk it. Kaide needed to know she was safe, but more than that, Blossom wanted to see him—to hear his voice and see those bright blue eyes of his.

  Eton’s hand landed over top of hers, hiding the panel from view. “Please, don’t. You have to see she’s testing you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The Syndicate. She offered you a communication panel knowing you would use it to contact him. She can see everything you do on it, every word you say. It’ll be all she needs to ruin you for committing crimes against Aero. She’s testing your loyalty.”

  “That’s a test I’m definitely going to fail.” Blossom had no more love for Aero than she had for a gnat—maybe less.

  Eton recoiled. “Never say that again. Do you understand? Those words never pass your lips. Not in front of anyone. Not even me.”

  Startled by his sudden seriousness, Blossom only nodded.

  “Then let’s forget this conversation ever happened.” He snatched a mouthful of meat from her plate. “For now, you have business.”

  “Am I going to hate it?”

  “Undoubtedly.”

  “Fantastic. What unpleasant task do you have for me today?” She pushed away the plate and let him have the rest of it.

  “You have to exile a traitor.” Eton motioned to the panel. “Your code is one-nine-one-six. Enter it in, and you’ll see your open assignments. Remember, the Syndicate can see everything you do, so make sure to keep your communications professional and loyal to the Aero branch.”

  Blossom tapped the numerical buttons on the screen and watched as it changed to a virtual folder. At the top, a tab was labeled with an alphanumeric code. She had no idea what the code meant, but as it was the only one available, she tapped it just the same.

  Inside, she found a brief description of her assignment:

  PERPETRATOR: WERSA HAMMOND

  CRIME: DISLOYALTY TO AERO

  ACTION: EXILE (TERRESTRIAL)

  Blossom looked to Eton for an explanation.

  “Wersa Hammond is a trader. He routinely travels to Hydra to buy fish and sell it here in Aerona. He’s being charged with sharing Aero secrets with some of his Hydra relations.”

  “What secrets?”

  Eton slipped into his usual formal tone. “I’m not allowed to disclose those until you’re given direct access. Aero treats their security and privacy with the utmost importance.”

  “So this guy knew things that I’m not allowed to know, and he told them to some fisherman in Hydra?”

  Eton nodded. “According to the report.”

  “What does that mean? That he didn’t really do it?” Blossom glared as she waited for the answer.

  “His wife, Kiza Hammond, is the sister to Commissioner Thorrow. One could speculate certain political advantages might be gained by her absence.”

  Blossom looked back to the panel. “But she’s not exiled. He is.”

  “Aero law doesn’t distinguish between the two. If one is exiled, the family is exiled as well.”

  “So this trader and his wife are going to be exiled from Aerona because someone wants to get to the Research and Development Commissioner?” Blossom asked, recalling her personnel lessons.

  “Yes, along with their daughter, Helena. They all go.” Eton’s passivity was clearly a well-practiced guard to stay neutral. He disliked it as much as she did.

  “Where do they go?”

  When he didn’t answer right away, Blossom knew the answer was bad. “Where do they go?” she repeated.

  Eton set his jaw. “The manner of their exile is listed. Terrestrial. They’ll be brought to the surface and sent away.”

  Blossom didn’t see what was so terrible about that. Sure, it wasn’t the ideal situation, but they could always make their way somewhere else and start over.

  Then she remembered the view from Aero Tower. “The ground is covered in snow.”

  Eton offered her a half-hearted nod. “Most die of exposure before they get south of the frost.”

  “They can fly,” Blossom realized. “As birds, they could get south—”

  “They’d have to leave their daughter behind. Children don’t have totems.”

  “That’s awful.” Blossom slumped in her chair at the idea of it.

  “Told you you’d hate it.”

  Blossom announced, “I’m not taking any part in this.”

  “You have to. It’s your assignment. If you don’t, Syndicate Mercer will punish you in an equally creative manner. And she’ll pass this task off to Peppers. You can’t save them.”

  She groaned her disappointment. A moment later, she made her decision. Blossom sprang up and darted to her closet.

  “What are you doing?” Eton eyed her as suspiciously as a thief.

  “Getting dressed.” Blossom found a dozen suits hanging in her closet, each one of the light blues or greys of Aero. Careless as to the color, Blossom grabbed one and threw it on the bed. From her pocket, she pulled out Hale’s coin—still bare on one side—and set it on the bedside table. Then, as she promised never to do, Blossom began to exchange her Pyro clothes for Aero ones.

  “But why now?” Eton continued, his shock evident in his voice.

  “So we can help them.” Blossom found Aero clothes to be hysterically complicated, with so many different pieces, she didn’t even know where to start. The pants were easy enough, but once she realized she was supposed to wear a pair of slim shorts beneath, she had to pull them off and start over again.

  “Would you like some help?” Eton finally offered.

  “Just tell me where this goes.” Blossom held up yet another fabric puzzle piece.

  “It’s a vest,” he said as he pushed out of his chair. “But you need the shirt on first.” Arriving at the bed, he motioned to a long-sleeved shirt with a row of butto
ns down the front.

  The sight of it reminded her of Kaide’s cloak—of the buttons he so meticulously worked to remove it just for her.

  Blossom shook the thought away and slipped her arms into the shirt.

  “I thought Terra girls were supposed to be modest,” Eton asked, his head listed to the side.

  She only shrugged and continued dressing. “You already saw everything. You and that little old man.” She didn’t mention that she’d seen the look in Kaide’s eye when he looked at her. Blossom knew what it looked like when a man desired her, and Eton had none of that.

  “It’s my job to accompany you in every way. I can’t advise you very well if I don’t have all the information.”

  “Then I hope you consider yourself fully informed on my bare figure.” She pursed her lips and shot him a look.

  Eton allowed himself a chuckle. “You’ll be a formidable adversary if you learn to tame your tongue.”

  “I have no intention of taming anything. Am I ready?” Blossom held her arms to her side and let him check her over. The fabric touching her skin felt wrong in one hundred ways, but she stood still and waited for his assessment.

  “You’ll need to take off that ring.” Eton nodded toward her hand.

  Blossom curled it against her chest. “No.” There was no way she would allow this ring to leave her finger.

  “It’s easily noticed. If Syndicate Mercer sees it, she’ll require you relinquish it to her. I’m honestly surprised she didn’t take it last time. You’re better to leave it here.” When she didn’t move, Eton took a step forward. “It’s clearly valuable to you. If you mean to keep it safe—to keep it at all—then it has to stay here. No one can ever see it.”

  Blossom’s determination to appear Aero fled from her like a candle flame in a windstorm. She wanted to help an innocent family, but she wasn’t sure she could part with his ring. Her finger skimmed the engraving, the single word, Beauty. She could hear him say it in that voice of his. Hello, Beauty, he’d say. Or, Good morning, Beauty. And her heart would stop beating and race like a drum all at once.

  Horrified, Blossom tugged the ring from her finger and offered it one last longing look before she placed it in Eton’s open palm. She might as well have chopped off her whole finger and handed it to him. She felt as incomplete as the wine glass she shattered on Kaide’s floor so long ago.

  “Now am I Aero enough?” Blossom held out her hands and let him look.

  Eton’s eyes tracked up and down, from her newly-shaved head to the toes of her pointed white shoes, taking in every stitch.

  At last, he allowed a curt nod. “Aero enough, but not a Vice Syndicate, yet.” Eton stepped away long enough to collect a floor-length cloak from the closet.

  He might as well have brought her a snake.

  Blossom didn’t want it. The sight of it solidified the reality of her new position. Where the black cloak of Pyro represented the esteem and power of Kaide’s position, this white Aero cloak was yet another mechanism to keep her trapped here.

  “Go on,” Eton pressed, draping the cloak over his forearm to display it for her.

  Blossom reached out cautiously and skimmed the fabric with the tip of her finger. It was incredibly soft, as smooth as baby fox fur. Each thread held a hint of shine so the whole cloak seemed to shimmer in the light. Along its midline sat a row of opalescent buttons, lined on each side by delicate filigrees embroidered in matching white.

  “I have to?”

  Eton nodded and held it up. Blossom slipped her arms in. Wearing this cloak was nothing after she’d already given up her alder wood ring.

  As she worked to close the buttons along the front, Eton asked, “Now, what is your plan, exactly?”

  “I’m going to exile the Aero traitor so the Syndicate will trust me and let me have my totem.”

  Eton blinked, clearly at a loss over the unexpected answer. “I thought—”

  “But I’m going to do it my way.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I’m going to buy them enough supplies to survive the journey to the capital. Then, they can make their own way from there.”

  Eton closed his eyes and sighed. “You can’t do that. She’ll find out. She always does—”

  Blossom put up her hand to stop him. She’d heard enough of his protests for one morning. “This is what I’m doing. I don’t care if you like it or not. You don’t have to help me. But if you’re not going to help me, point me in the direction of the nearest market, and give me some money. Just don’t stand in my way.”

  As she knew he would, Eton caved like a puffed-up pastry. Blossom didn’t so much as glance at her reflection in the mirror before she maneuvered her newly dressed form to the door of her room. This wasn’t her, not really. This was an Aero abomination of the girl called Blossom. The real Blossom was in Pyrona, reading books in Kaide’s private library, listening to jazz, and feeling his fingers rake through her curls.

  “What’s that?” Eton asked as they filed into the elevator.

  “What?” Blossom looked down to see if she missed a button.

  “That song you’re humming. I’ve never heard it before. Either that, or you’re really bad at humming.”

  “Probably both,” Blossom answered, disinterested in explaining her experiences with jazz. She’d have to be more careful.

  When Eton was certain she wouldn’t sway from her plan, he brought her to a small train platform. It was covered in cool white tile from floor to ceiling, and a slender silver train sat with doors open, waiting for them.

  “You have a train?” Blossom asked when she saw it. Was it possible she’d been so out of it she’d missed a network of train lines throughout Aerona?

  “This is the Robin, a train reserved for Aeros of a certain class, though some are wealthy enough to buy passage. Kind of like the portals.”

  “Can’t we walk?” Now that she had a half-dozen layers of Aerona’s finest fabrics draped over her body, the cold tunnels might actually be tolerable. Anything would be better than a train.

  “You’re a Vice Syndicate now. Walking in the tunnels would be highly unusual.”

  Blossom sank to the low bench inside the car and gripped the nearest handhold. Her stomach already churned at the idea of sliding through the earth in this metal snake. “I don’t have a good track record with moving things,” she warned him as the doors pressed shut, sealing them inside.

  “I remember.” Blossom didn’t imagine the experience of dragging her to the portal room, forcing her inside, and holding her against the wall while she threw up on his shirt was a pleasant memory for Eton.

  To this day, it filled her with a sick sort of satisfaction. He could have let her have her real totem. He could have let her go. He could have pretended he never saw her land. She could have gone home to Kaide, and they could have figured something out.

  But Eton had obeyed his orders. He’d captured her—using force, as necessary—and brought her back to Aerona. The spittle on his crisp, white shirt was a far smaller punishment than he deserved.

  The train lurched into motion, sailing down the slim tunnel with nothing more than a quiet clacking as it drove along the tracks. Blossom closed her eyes and imagined herself in the transport, sitting in Kaide’s lap, or in a portal room with his lips pressed hard to hers, his hands taking in all he could—anything to still the swirling in her stomach.

  “Blossom?” Eton’s voice pulled her back.

  “What?” she snapped.

  “You’re humming again. And we’re at the Emporium,” he said as he motioned to the open doors and the awaiting, white platform.

  Blossom huffed and rushed for the door, but Eton caught her by the arm. “No, not like that. In control, even when you’re not. Try again.”

  He released her, but it was too late. She was already angry, her lips pressed in a thin line and her eyes narrowed at him.

  “That’s terrible. Try again. You can be angry, but don’t show it. Even you can do
better than that.” He smirked when he knew he’d won.

  Blossom wasn’t one to have her pride wounded. As much as it pained her, she swallowed down her anger and forced her feet onto the platform with slow, careful steps, though she would have much preferred to stomp away from him.

  “Better,” he conceded quietly.

  Had Blossom not felt the movement of the train, she would have thought they were still at the elevator to her apartment. The platform looked eerily the same—though everything in Aerona was that same ugly white. Even Blossom was covered in head-to-toe white.

  It made her sick.

  But rather than an elevator, this platform had only a small hallway that led to a secure door. Eton scanned his palm to open it and reveal a bustling marketplace.

  Storefronts lined the enormous circle—at least two hundred paces across—and in the middle, a railed balcony. Even from where she stood, Blossom could see a dozen food shops with skewered meats, smoked fish, and baked goods. A flower shop overflowed with ruby-pink daisies, gold chrysanthemums, and soft lavender.

  “The Aerona Emporium,” Eton announced with practiced airs. He stepped to the edge of a balcony, and when Blossom joined him, she saw why he stood there. This was merely one floor of many. There were at least eight, if she counted right, each a ring that sat deeper than the one above it.

  From such a vantage, Blossom was tempted to leap. Her falcon wings would spread wide and carry her easily as she soared, flying past shops and patrons as naturally as the wind itself. Her fingers found the edge of her metal bracelet and tugged. She sighed when it remained firmly in place, as always.

  For a good hour, Eton led her from shop to shop and let her pick out what she wanted—a pair of large, warm winter coats, and a smaller one for the girl. Three hats lined with elk fur and matching gloves for each. Boots she could only hope were the right size. An oversized bag stuffed full of water bottles, preserved meats, matches, and various other survival gear.

  When it was time to pay, Eton produced a slim, white square, no larger than her palm and as thin as the thinnest metal. He showed it to the balding man with a mallard totem before depositing it back in his pocket.