by Leyton, Bisi
“You’re not even listening,” Steven realized aloud. “You—”
She kissed him. It had calmed him in the past and it no longer made her feel like losing her lunch.
“You’re trying to manipulate me.” He grinned. “It’s not going to work, but you’ve bought yourself some time.”
He left, only after she agreed to meet with him later that evening at his place--or was it the pub?
She’d figure that out later. Heading back into the house, she decided to rest before her engineering lessons. She hated the classes, but she seemed to have a decent understanding of mathematics, so they thought it would be a good idea for her to develop some basic engineering skills.
“Wisteria.” Lara Kuti, her mother, shook Wisteria awake.
Wisteria didn’t know when she fell asleep.
“Are you okay?”
Wisteria was taken aback; when her mother wanted to know how she was doing, it was usually a bad thing. “Fine?”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, why?”
Lara exhaled loudly. “Oh, so you and Steven didn’t get into a fight.”
“What do you mean?” She feigned ignorance.
Even though Wisteria was eighteen, her mother didn’t want her seeing anyone. At one point, her mother had said it was okay for her to be friends with Steven. Any talk about actually dating always ended up in arguments.
Wisteria used to think it was because her mother was Yoruba and had held on their traditions. Finally, she’d come to realize her mother liked to control her, because deep inside she was scared of something, something she’d never tell anyone.
“So, you aren’t sleeping with that joker? Because I know you're under a lot of pressure to . . . Steven shouldn’t be the one you—unless you’ve already . . .?” her mother mumbled. “Then I’ll do worse to him than Coles did.”
“Steven and I are friends, so don’t worry. I’m not sleeping with him.” This conversation was growing increasingly weird. “Wait—what did Coles do?”
“He says he was having a bad day, but you know Coles can’t stand Steven either.”
“What happened, Mum?”
“He and Captain Sterling overheard Steven saying stuff at the ration center about the nature of your relationship.”
“What did he say?”
“The kid was mouthing off about sleeping with you and another girl at the same time, along with a lot of other disturbing things that I’m not going to get into. Coles jumped over the counter and cornered the boy.”
“Coles didn’t hurt him, did he?”
That was something her mother would do.
“No,” her mother answered, letting out a deep laugh. “The boy peed on himself, though. And he was standing over a bag of flour and we think some of it got wet.” She shook her head.
“No.”
“Don’t get me wrong; Coles was going to beat him, but after that, what was the point?” Her mother sighed. “I wish I’d been there.”
Wisteria was glad her mother hadn’t been there. Judging by her mother’s expression, she would’ve seriously damaged Steven.
“The moral of this story is, Steven can’t come around here. I don’t want to ever see you with him. You’ll find someone better.”
“Who? You’d hate anyone I’m with. You even hated . . .” Wisteria paused.
“Baby, I didn’t want to corner you about your life because you know where I stand on the whole issue.”
Yeah, yeah, I know. Wait until you’re older! Wisteria recounted the same thing her mother was always repeating about dating and relationships
“Bach was supposed to be the exception, because you two were bonded,” her mother continued. “Amazingly, you broke that bond and walked away from that situation with dignity, when you never thought you could. You know I will always be proud of you for that.” Her mother smiled. “You are stronger than I’d ever imagined.”
She’d told her mother about why she broke up with Bach, since part of it had to do with her mother. Had Lara killed Coia, Bach’s mother? She’d pushed the issue to the back of her mind, along with Bach, but after two years, Wisteria finally wanted to know what she’d given him up for. “Did you kill Bach’s mother?”
“Huh?” Her mother frowned. “I thought we were past this? Bach is gone now and the Piron net is keeping The Family away. The deal you made with Lluc seems to have kept the island secure until we leave.”
“I didn’t know you were still planning on moving away from here.”
“I don’t trust Lluc to keep his word, once it becomes inconvenient. They’ve got what they want--Bach went home. So it’s only a matter of time before they’ll be back to try something else.”
“So why haven’t we left?” Wisteria already knew the answer to that.
Coles didn’t want to leave. It was one of other things he and her mother seemed to spend a lot time arguing about. He didn’t feel that there was any place safer. Her mother had at least promised not to try and leave.
Wisteria doubted her mother could. Not with a toddler and less resources available to scavenge on the outside, if she did hit the road. She wasn’t sure David would leave the comfort of the community for the unknown. Wisteria wasn’t sure she’d go either.
Part of her hoped Bach would show up again and somehow tell her everything was going to be resolved between them. How that would happen depended a lot on whether or not her mother had killed Coia. “Tell me, please: Did you do it?” Wisteria sternly questioned.
“Trust me . . . you don’t want to know.” Her mother grimaced. “Be glad you don’t remember what happened.”
“You did it? You murdered her.”
“Ha! Murdered? You think what happened to her was murder? It was justice, which is what all her people deserve,” her mother sneered.
The hateful expression on Lara’s face sent shivers through Wisteria. The revelation made her feel numb. Her mother was a killer? “Why did you do it?”
“You can’t handle knowing what happened. I’m your mother--trust me on that.” Getting up, Lara moved down the hall toward the kitchen.
“Mum—”
“My shift starts in ten minutes and I don’t want to be late,” her mother instructed, as she picked up a large backpack. “Remember to drop Beck of with Cheryl, and tell the girl to make sure she gives him a bath.”
“We’re not done here! You’re going to tell me everything!”
“I’m done, and don’t you dare talk to me like that again.” Calmly, the woman headed to the door.
Wisteria was tired of this. “The secrets are never going to end. You’re never going to tell me the truth about anything. I’ll never understand why you’re always lying, or how I was able to cause an earthquake in Jarthan and teleport back here.”
Opening the door, her mother turned back. “You’re going to be late for you lessons.” Her voice was emotionless. “You better get a move on.”
“You win, Mum. I promise I won’t ask you about my life, or your life, again. I was the idiot who thought you’d be my mother and just tell me who you are.” Storming out of the kitchen, she slammed the door behind her.
“Wisteria.” Her mother followed and grabbed her shoulder.
“Stay away from me, Lara Dina, Kuti, or Demi Akanbi George, or whoever you are today.” Pushing away her mother’s hands, she kept moving.
“You’re not going anywhere!” She grabbed Wisteria’s forearm hard. “Since when do you talk to me like that?”
“Once I realized what you were. You’re twisted and selfish, and I’m tired of trying to get you to be straight with me.”
“You can keep asking about Coia, Hemlock, or whomever, but you won’t get those answers from me. I would rather die. And I don’t care how sad you are about losing your little boyfriend.”
“So you do know about Hemlock Zey! “ Wisteria sighed and shook her head. “Please tell me this one thing: Why did you kill Coia? You’re my mother and I need you for once, to be honest wi
th me. Bach’s brothers said they were going to kill you because of this. This isn’t just about Bach. I’m terrified about what they might do to you.”
“You’re my daughter. You’re strong and so you’ll handle this reality. Don’t give in to this sniveling child I’m hearing.” Her mother shook her. “You did what you needed to do to protect your family. That’s called being an adult.”
“I’ve realized one thing I don’t need and that’s you, Mother!” Breaking free, Wisteria backed away. Furious, she stomped out through the front door, leaving her mother alone in the corridor.
CHAPTER FOUR
By three in the morning, Wisteria was still sitting in the clock tower, watching the sleeping town. She’d decided to hang out there, rather than return home after her lessons. She wasn’t prepared to face her mother again.
How could the woman still keep these secrets from her? After all this time and all these years of asking and begging her mother, the woman still was unmoved. Wisteria wondered why she kept asking when it was clear her mother was determined to hurt her.
Lying on the rug in the room, she unsheathed and re-sheathed her samurai sword as she thought about all of it. Nowadays, she always took her favorite weapon with her if she was walking around town alone. She’d had too many close calls without it.
She heard giggling and whispers from the corridor. Cautiously, she moved to the door. She’d never encountered other people in the clock tower, since the empirics left years ago. Back then, her friend, a local pastor named Jethro Webb, used to live here and took care of the place, but now it was never used by anyone.
“Wait, we need to talk about this,” Garfield whispered.
“I’m tired of waiting, Garfield; we’ve been messing around too long,” a girl replied.
Opening the door, she saw Garfield kissing the slender Amanda Weiss.
Amanda’s long fingers ran through his curly hair.
Wisteria cleared her throat loud enough for them to hear her. “Seriously?”
“This isn’t what it looks like.” Amanda laughed. “We were talking and got carried away.”
“It’s not like it’s a secret.” Wisteria didn’t understand why the girl was so unsettled. “You two are dating—I get it.”
“I haven’t technically broken up with your brother,” Amanda admitted sheepishly.
“Please tell me you’re lying.”
“I’ll explain it to him properly. He doesn’t need to know about this,” she pleaded.
“Oh, he needs to know about this.” Garfield stepped forward. “I’m going to tell him.”
“I should go,” Wisteria replied. “I can’t get in the middle of this. My two best friends are cheating on my brother? You both need to tell David by tomorrow, or I’ll tell him, and if I have to tell him, I will come find you and blood will be shed.”
“Fine.” Garfield grinned. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re apologizing to her?” Amanda gasped.
“Don’t argue about it. This isn’t the time,” Garfield retorted.
Amanda froze and moved away from the pair.
“Amanda, you owe me an apology too.”
“Garfield, we need to go now.” Looking petrified, Amanda shook her head.
“What’s wrong?” Wisteria asked.
“You—you said—told me they . . .? Green eyes, they have green eyes?” Trembling, she pointed at a spot behind Wisteria.
Wisteria spun around to see a huge guy with brown hair and green eyes.
He was dressed in all black, like he’d stepped out of the 1900s.
“Enric?” Wisteria recognized him. What was he doing here? Had he come for her mother?
“He’s one of those things—isn’t he?” Amanda whispered. “Like Didan?”
“Yes,” Wisteria replied. She looked back at Enric now. “I kept my word; I haven’t seen Bach.” Clutching the small vial of bean vine extract she kept in her pocket at all times, she faced him. “Please leave.” Bean vine, or as The Family called it, strangle weed, was a purple flower and one of the few earthly things that could harm members of The Family. If given enough, the bean vine could even kill them.
“Wisteria, I need to talk to you.” Enric stepped up to her. “It is important. The—”
Not waiting for him to finish talking, Wisteria splashed the contents of the vial at him.
As Enric ducked, missing most of the liquid, Garfield threw more at him.
She lunged at Enric with her pocket knife and he knocked her down, but not before Garfield stabbed him in the shoulder.
Enric staggered back and yanked the knife from his shoulder.
With him momentarily stunned from the shock of lowly humans stabbing him and from the poison on Garfield’s knife, Wisteria kicked him down. Taking out a dart gun she fired at him.
Enric grabbed the dart in mid-air and pulled at the gun. “D’cara,” he swore when he found he couldn’t get it from her.
“Precautions,” Wisteria smirked, as she always kept the gun strapped to her wrist. Then she fired again.
This time the dart hit his cheek.
“I will—” Enric growled.
“Shut up.” Garfield fired another dart into Enric’s chest.
“Stop! I am not here to hurt you Terrans,” Enric raged, ripping out the darts as Garfield continued to fire. “Enough!” Enric used his superior agility to leap up and seize Garfield, holding her friend up by the neck. “Or I will snap him like a twig.”
“Don’t kid yourself. There’s enough strangle weed in those darts to knock you out,” Wisteria pointed out.
“And yet I am still standing,” Enric retorted.
“Not for long. You’re sweating,” Garfield choked out. “Soon you’ll—”
“You have not given me anything that I cannot regenerate through.” He wobbled and staggered back, then dropped to the ground.
“I think you should listen to Enric,” Amanda whimpered.
Wisteria looked over the doorway and saw a tall Famila girl, clutching Amanda by the neck.
“We do not need this one,” The Famila girl warned with a broad smile. “It would be a shame to have to harm the mate of such a mighty warrior.”
“Radala, I do not need your help,” Enric grunted in The Family’s Dialect. “I can handle the Terrans.”
Wisteria could understand and speak The Family’s Dialect, thanks in part to the time she’d spent in the RZC lab when she was eleven, and also to Bach who’d taught her a lot when they were together.
“Clearly.” Radala laughed at Enric and looked over at Wisteria. “Do we have an agreement, Terran?”
“Let her go!” Garfield yelled.
“I will, if you listen and stop this nonsense with the darts,” Radala proposed. “I will even let your friend go so she can get help.”
“Okay.” Wisteria didn’t trust them, but now they had her friends.
Radala let go of Amanda. “You had better run before I change my mind,” she warned, in English now.
Looking terrified, Amanda sprinted out of the room.
“Why have you come back?” Wisteria asked Enric. “You promised you wouldn’t.”
“I remember the agreement and we will resume it once you have done what I tell you.” Enric rose and pointed to the room where she used to meet with Bach. “We will discuss this privately.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Garfield protested.
“I will make a deal. Let us talk, Wisteria—alone--and I will not break your little boyfriend’s face.” Clenching his fists, Enric glared at Garfield before looking back to Wisteria.
“I’ll talk to him,” Wisteria agreed.
Garfield didn’t move. “No way, Wisteria! They tried to kill you the last time.”
True, but this was about Bach, so she wanted to know. Maybe he’d died from his wounds? Covering her mouth in horror, she imagined the worst. Playing down her display of fear, she followed Enric into the clock room. “I want to hear what he’s got to say.”
&n
bsp; “You are going to help us track down a Famila,” Enric stated when they were alone.
“Is Bach missing?” she assumed. Why else would Enric come to her?
“No, it is his brother, Lluc.”
This made no sense. “Why do you think I can help you?”
“You opened the Room of Ages and also created your own threshold to escape from Jarthan. Those abilities will help us track him.”
“I don’t know how, or why, that threshold opened and brought me back. Why don’t you find a Red Phoenix agent, or one of your wonderful empirics? They can find Famila too. I just hope they don’t kill him first.” It finally dawned on her why he’d come to her, of all people. “Those people would probably harm him. You don’t think I’d hurt Lluc because of Bach.”
“That is right. Even after he abandoned you, you are still loyal to him because the Mosroc is impossible to break for Terrans.”
“For Terrans? Bach has broken the Mosroc?” Wisteria waved her hand. “No, I don’t care. That’s behind me, along with all of his nonsense.” She rubbed her neck where the last of Bach’s shana spots had once been. “Do you see it?”
“I do not see anything,” Enric replied.
“Exactly, all the shana is gone.” She had developed shana, black spots on her neck, back, and arms when she’d been in a relationship with Bach.
The shana had been something Bach had passed on to her. It was a sign of their deep emotional bond, the Mosroc. The spots often appeared, then they grew or shrunk, depending on her emotions and health. After Bach left, she’d worked for months to permanently suppress the spots. Eventually, she discovered that by controlling her breathing and concentrating, she could make the spots vanish. Now after almost two years, they stopped re-appearing. “He’s of no concern to me and neither is his brother.” She forced a smile.
“You are lying.”
“You’ve wasted a trip. You want me to help you to locate what . . .? A bunch of Famila kidnappers or Red Phoenix agents who took Lluc who knows where? That’s suicide, and I wouldn’t do it if even if it was someone I cared about.” Wisteria wanted to believe her own words. “I could care less about Bach’s brothers.”
“I am not asking you to go after him,” Enric corrected. “How could you possibly help in that way?”