“Just get out.”
Kayn let go of him and slammed the door behind him, leaving Ven on the floor. Disoriented by Kayn’s restraint, Ven got up and limped back out to the crowded street, frowning. Why had Kayn spared him? Was he waiting for a better time to kill him? With no idea what to think, he put that problem behind him. Coralie was more important.
Ven used the same approach as before, asking random strangers and describing her appearance. Another hour passed and he still had had no luck. This wasn’t working. He would have to think of something else. Where would she go if she was running away? She was unlikely to have any money on her, or for that matter, any food. What did someone do when they had nothing, and nowhere to stay? Though it pained him to think about it, he would have to imagine what a homeless person would do.
He decided to try something new. Instead of going up to happy couples, fishermen or late-night shoppers, he scoured the town looking for street urchins, or those less fortunate who begged for money or panhandled. He also looked for abandoned buildings that would act as shelter.
While he felt more confident about this method than the last one he’d tried, he still wasn’t getting anywhere. He was just about to fling something into the ocean in frustration when a homeless woman tugged at his sleeve. He turned around. He hadn’t spoken to this woman. It was as though she had come out of nowhere, emerging from the shadowy alleys in between the shops and houses.
“I heard you askin’ about a girl with ginger hair,” she said, giving him a toothy smile.
Ven’s eyes lit up. “Do you know something?”
“I don’t myself, but I think I know who might. Over at the other end of the wharf, there’s an empty diner. It’s awful quiet over there. Some kids live there, homeless kids with no families. They see everything, even though no one sees them. They’re bound to know something.”
Ven beamed. It was perfect. He handed the woman some money to thank her and headed off in the direction of the wharf.
The woman had been right to call it quiet. While the main part of town had been bustling even as night fell, this place was silent. Empty boats swayed on the water and seaweed gathered in a greenish mush around the wooden docks. Garbage lay everywhere. He looked around till he saw the flickering lights of the abandoned diner. Its glass windows were cracked. He peered into a dusty window, but couldn’t see anything.
He slowly opened the door, and its creaking hinges echoed loudly. Looking around the floor for something to use as a weapon in case things went awry, his eyes fell on the metal leg of a broken chair. He picked it up and peered around him. The lights of the diner were dim, far too dim to see more than a short distance ahead of him.
Moments later, he heard a soft voice from behind him.
“Who’s there?”
Ven turned around. A small boy was looking up at him with terrified eyes. The boy spotted the piece of metal in Ven’s hand and backed away.
“R-Rex?” said the boy. “There’s someone here.”
“Wait, I just need some help,” said Ven, gently putting down the metal chair leg.
Another, older boy, who looked to be around ten, walked up beside the smaller one. “Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m looking for someone,” said Ven. “A friend of mine who’s lost. She doesn’t have anywhere to go, so I was wondering if any of you might have seen her. She’s about my age.”
“How did you find us?” said the boy named Rex.
“An old woman told me. She lives in an alleyway.”
Rex seemed to be pondering whether or not Ven was trustworthy. “What does this friend look like?”
“She has ginger hair, usually tied up at the top of her head. She’s a little taller than me.”
Rex and the smaller boy looked at each other. Rex shrugged, then turned and yelled for another one of his friends. “Hey, Meek, get over here!”
“What is it now, Rex? I’m going to bed soon.” A girl who looked a little older than Rex scowled at him as she emerged from the dim room behind them.
“This guy says his friend is missing. Says she might be around here. She’s got ginger hair and she’s taller than him. Have you seen her anywhere?”
“What, just because I’m a girl, I’d know where she is?”
“Just answer the question, Meek.”
“What do I get in return, if I say I know?” she asked, looking straight at Ven now.
“I’ve got a little money left,” he said. “Actually, if you help me find her, I’ll buy you all dinner.”
“You’ll buy us all dinner?” she said, raising her eyebrows.
“Well, I don’t have that much, but I can get you something to eat, if you want.”
The children looked at each other. Ven was starting to get nervous. He hoped he wasn’t about to get scammed. He decided to play it safe.
“Look, no funny business, alright? I offered you food. If you don’t know where she is then say so, but don’t trick me. I really don’t need that right now.”
Rex glared at him. “Are you calling us cheats?”
“No, I’m establishing ground rules. If I thought you were cheats, my offer would have been much smaller.”
“Alright, then,” said Meek. “I’ll tell you what I know. A short walk outside Renneth, there’s a really big mansion where an ambassador lives. His daughter, Flora, is about the most spoiled creature you will ever meet, so spoiled that she uses her daddy’s money to hire new maids every month to do whatever she wants. We always sneak into her open window and nick all the sugared cherries she keeps by her dresser. A couple days ago these girls were lined up in her garden and she was interviewing them to be her servants. I’m pretty sure one of them had ginger hair. She was the only one with that hair, too.”
“Can you take me there?” Ven said quickly.
“Yeah, but the maids aren’t allowed to wander around the mansion, so you’d never find her. We’d have to pick a time where they’d be busy and distracted.”
“Like when?” Ven asked.
“She’s always throwing parties for her high-society snob buddies. I don’t remember when the next one is, though.”
“Isn’t there one tonight?” said Rex.
“Oh, that’s not a party for her, its some sort of business dinner for her dad. Those are almost every night.”
“That’s perfect, then!” Ven exclaimed.
“Don’t get so excited,” said Meek. “The biggest danger during Flora’s parties is all the drunken idiots. Her father always has armed security. They use imported weapons from Crion, and it’s pretty scary.”
Ven was short on time. He couldn’t afford to wait until this girl held some fancy party, hoping that Coralie would be there. “Let’s do it tonight.”
“Look, you may not care about getting shot, but we do.”
“No one’s getting shot. I just need you to steal something for me, and I’ll do the rest of the work.”
Meek and Rex narrowed their eyes at him.
“What do you got in mind?”
“I need some proper clothes,” said Ven. “Oh, and tell me more about these meetings.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Ven was itchy. He was supposed to be used to wearing high-class clothing. The stuff he was wearing now might have looked flashy but its quality was abysmal. You don’t get junk like this in Cor. In Cor you get pure silk, the finest stitched cotton and detailed gold embroidery. Amused at himself and feeling nostalgic, he adjusted his dark blue military suit and crouched behind a bush in the garden of a beautiful mansion. It almost felt like he was back in Cor, on the grounds of the Grand Magistrate’s palace.
“You sure you want to do this?” asked Rex. He had brought some of the other, older children with him, along with Meek.
“Yeah. I think I’ll be fine. I used to live in a place like this once, so I know how to fit in.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” Meek sneered.
Ven wanted to laugh at how twisted fate was. “Thanks, you guys
.”
“Yeah. We’ll keep a watch out in case anything happens.”
“Be careful.”
Ven smiled at them. If things turned out well and Coralie was in fact here, he would have to think of a proper way to repay them all somehow.
He took a deep breath and gracefully walked towards the mansion’s massive front door. This was just like any of the social events back home. Nothing to be nervous about. He didn’t have to try and act like an aristocrat, he was one.
He knocked.
A man answered the door. He wore a cream-colored suit and a dark satin vest. He stared at Ven coldly. “Yes?”
“I’m here for the Ambassador’s dinner. I came here in place of my father, who is away on other business. I was told I would be allowed to attend in his place.”
The man raised his eyebrows. “Who is your father, exactly?”
“Craven Spiers.”
Ven’s palms began to sweat. Rex had given him this name. He said he had heard one of the snotty women from town using it during one of Flora’s parties. He prayed that whoever Craven Spiers was, he was well-liked by the Ambassador.
“I didn’t know Spiers had children,” the man said.
Ven chose not to respond. The less he said, the better. “Well? Can I come in, please?”
The man narrowed his eyes, but to Ven’s relief he opened the door and let him in.
Ven nodded curtly and entered the palatial mansion. He still thought the palace back home was nicer, but it felt wonderful being surrounded by luxury after so long, even if none of it was his.
“Half of the meeting has already commenced,” the man said. “Your father is obviously ill-informed, as usual. We are currently in the middle of a break. The meeting will resume in twenty minutes. Kindly help yourself to refreshments, and we will let you know when it is time to resume.”
Perfect. Twenty minutes was more than what he needed. He thanked the man and as nonchalantly as possible, walked up the grand staircase.
The mansion was full of lavishly-dressed people. The clothing style might have been different, but it still felt like home. The women’s dresses were flowery and elaborate and their hairstyles were outlandish, but beautiful nonetheless. The men wore neat silk suits and wide-brimmed hats.
Ven wouldn’t have been surprised to see Hans or Florentine around here somewhere. He smiled to himself, missing his friends.
When he reached the top of the stairs, he stopped at the end of a long hallway. The floor was lined with a deep purple velvet, and ceramic ornaments decorated the corridor. He continued along the hallway until he reached a large mahogany door. This was Flora’s room, and it was the first place he was going to try. Coralie could be anywhere, but he had decided to start in the obvious place and work his way around the house.
He had to hurry.
When Ven knocked, a girl with blonde hair tied in a massive pouf at the top of her head answered the door. She blushed when she saw Ven and squealed to her friends, lifting up her long gown and dashing inside. Ven was almost afraid. It was like looking at an obnoxious Florentine. Moments later, another girl came to the door. She was very pretty. Her long, auburn hair was tied in a plait around her neck and she wore a beautifully embroidered maroon dress.
“Who’re you?” she asked.
To his shock, Ven found himself turning red. “I-I think I’m in the wrong place,” he lied. He wanted to slap himself. He didn’t stutter when he talked to girls. Maybe when he talked to boys who were taller than him and had muscles, of which he had none, but he had always considered himself to be quite confident around girls his age.
“Invite him in, Flora, he’s sweet.”
Oh no. This was not part of the plan. “I can’t stay. I was looking for someone, one of your maids. She promised me a glass of sparkling water ages ago and I’ve still gotten nothing. She had ginger hair, if that helps.”
“Oh, Caroline is always a failure. I don’t even know why I hired her. I suppose I just thought she looked nice. Oh well. Plenty where that came from. Hey, Moira, get my cake, would you?” She turned to her friend. “It’s like they’ve all picked today to get brain damage.”
Flora flipped her hair and turned her back to Ven. If the first girl had been an obnoxious Florentine, then this girl was the female version of Kayn. But who was Caroline? Had Coralie changed her name?
“I’d like to speak with her, if that’s alright,” said Ven. “I won’t file a complaint. We all mess up once in a while. I’ll just tell her she has to be more responsible. Where can I find her?”
Flora and her friends stared at Ven like he was a fool for defending servants. “She’ll probably be in the kitchen with the rest of them.”
“Thank you.”
He turned and left, and Flora closed her bedroom door behind him. He could feel butterflies in his stomach. What if this Caroline just happened to have the same hair color?
He headed down the staircase and shuffled past the crowd of extravagant party-goers with thin glasses in their hands to an opulent dining room. He only had about twelve minutes left to find Coralie. When he had located the kitchen, just beyond an elaborate display cabinet, he forced open the swinging doors and peered inside, his heart racing.
Inside, half a dozen maids were bustling about cooking, cleaning, and scrubbing away at the dishes. He scanned the heads until finally, he saw a flash of ginger.
“Excuse me,” he said to the closest maid. She turned to him. “Could you ask Caroline to come here? I need to talk to her.”
“Did she do something wrong, sir?”
“No, nothing. I need to ask her something about the food. Could you send her here, please?”
“Right away, sir!”
The girl called out, and Caroline peeked her head out from behind the crowd of maids, then walked up to Ven. As soon as he got a glimpse of her face, his heart sank to the bottoms of his feet.
Caroline was Caroline. Not Coralie. She wasn’t here.
The dejection on his face must have been very visible, because Caroline the maid looked nervous.
“What’s the matter, sir?”
The crushing disappointment was making his chest heavy. “Are there any other female staff working here who have the same hair color as you?” There was a hint of desperation in his voice.
Caroline looked at him blankly.
“I know it’s a dumb thing to ask, but I’m just wondering.”
Still appearing perplexed, she thought for a moment. “I don’t know about girls, but there’s this strange boy who has the same hair color as me. He takes care of the garbage, mostly. He’s out in the back garden all the time.”
Ven didn’t know what made him thank her as he made his way to the back garden. But he went anyway. He refused to give up. He walked, farther and farther, not caring that the meeting he was supposed to attend was going to start in less than three minutes. When he reached the large glass doors leading to the garden behind the mansion, he looked around, not knowing what he was supposed to be looking for. It was dark now, save for the lamps that adorned the lawn. Ven walked the whole perimeter of the garden, his heart sinking faster with every step he took.
Then his eyes fell upon a face that he could never forget. No matter how she wore her hair, whether she had it tied and hidden under a bandana or messily knotted at the top of her head, he would know her anywhere.
Coralie was standing four feet away from him. She was wearing boys’ gardening clothes and had a large metal shovel in her hand, digging away at weeds in a flower patch under a bright lamp.
“Hey,” he said.
Coralie jumped. The bandana that had been hiding her hair fell to the ground. When she squinted in the low light and made out who had spoken, the shovel suddenly lay in the dirt, forgotten. She stared and stared.
“Ven? What–”
“Let’s get out of here, Coralie.”
She didn’t say anything. After a moment, she stumbled towards him and began to cry. Tears were falling down h
er face to the grass, and she did nothing to stop them. When she finally reached him, Coralie flung her arms around him.
“What’s with you?” He hugged her back. “You never cry.”
His voice had become oddly quiet.
Like a wave, he felt pain for how their lives had changed so quickly. But everything was alright now. He didn’t care if he had to sleep in the dirt, because the one connection he had to his old life was here with him, and everything would be fine.
“We need to get out of here,” said Ven. “Let’s just run. Jump over the bush and run.”
Coralie sniffed and nodded. She took his hand.
“What’s going on here?” came a haughty, cruel voice. They wheeled around to see Flora frowning at them. “You’re not – you’re not a boy. Who are you, really?” she said, looking directly at Coralie now.
“I’m a girl. Is that a problem?”
“It’s a problem because you’re a liar. You lied to the people who put clothes on your back and gave you food to eat. We could have you arrested, you know.”
“And yet, your garden is ten times nicer than the garbage dump it was before I started to work here. Who cares what my gender is? Did you ever think for a minute in that flowery head of yours that I just liked dressing like a boy?”
Flora’s nostrils began to flare. “Daddy!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Without wasting another second, Ven grabbed Coralie and ran, as fast as his legs could bear. He would not let some spoilt brat mess things up, not after they had come so far. He kicked aside the lawn chairs and colorful clay vases lining the neat lawn. He didn’t dare look back to see if Flora was in pursuit.
They leaped through a wall of hedges, making a beeline for a row of trees beside the mansion to use as cover. They had just managed to reach the front lawn when three armed men appeared, clicked their blasters and took aim at their foreheads. Ven and Coralie froze. Ven hastily looked around for an exit, but they were surrounded.
“You’ll have to stop there, I’m afraid.”
The Regenerates Page 10