She’s wrapped her arms around herself, rocking slightly the way I’ve seen her do so many times alone at school. So many times, curled up by herself on the roof yard, facing this Roth man in her head all by herself. But she’s not by herself right now. I won’t let her be by herself.
‘And if he finds us?’ I ask Leonard. ‘Even if he gets his hands on Gabby, and re-establishes a connection somehow, what’s to stop her from severing it again?’
Leonard laughs. ‘Oh, he’s not just gonna leave her here.’
My fists clench at that – if not here, then where?
Gabby’s tear-filled eyes turn away from the monitor. ‘What do you mean?’
‘If I know Roth,’ says Leonard, ‘he’s not gonna risk leaving you all by yourself to just sever the connection as you please. He’s gonna take you back to the future with him and make sure you never have a chance to cut him off again.’
‘How?’ I ask him.
Leonard shakes his head. ‘Beats me, but if he’s come here, then you can bet he knows how to do it. And I’ll bet my brain it’s got something to do with that Punch of his.’ Leonard holds up his hand, pointing to his palm.
‘Punch?’ I say. ‘You mean that thing that makes the lightning?’
Leonard nods. ‘Seen it, have you? His proudest creation. He was still ironing out the bugs when I saw him last. Looks like he got it working.’
‘What’s it supposed to do?’
‘Never said,’ says Leonard. ‘But it was important enough to keep secret. And if it has the power to do that—’ Leonard points at the images of Gabby’s apartment that Avin News keeps showing – ‘I’d rather not get between him and this girl.’ He holds up the droidlets to Rani. ‘Look, I’ve got new FIILES ready to go. All I have to do is load ’em up and we’re out of here.’
‘To go where?’ she says, folding her arms.
‘Killberry Beach. Burton Hills. Tokyo. Who cares?’ He flicks on the droidlets so their screens bloom to life, ready for upload blinking in white light. ‘First TLJ out of Avin we can get, we’re gone.’
TLJ. A Transit Land Jet – they leave from Fellows Junction for places pretty much anywhere in the world. You can get to the other side of the country in an hour. Other side of the planet in a few. With new FIILES, you could disappear. BMAC wouldn’t even know where to start looking. That’s what Mom was planning to do.
‘And what do you suggest we do with them?’ says Rani, waving at me, at Maggie – at Gabby, who’s gone back to staring blank-faced at the images on the news.
Leonard takes a seat at the keyboard. ‘They’re not our problem.’
Rani throws her arms up into the air. ‘Just whose problem do you think they are?!’ She moves closer and lowers her voice, but still we can hear her say, ‘It’s not as if their parents are coming to get them, Leonard.’
I watch Gabby, but if she heard, she doesn’t show it. She’s gone back to rocking herself, her eyes closed and tears spilling down her cheeks.
My fingers fidget in my pocket, rubbing the smooth hard surfaces of the droidlets I brought with us. Mom wanted to run. To leave town. BMAC’s looking for me and Gabby. And from the look of Gabby’s home on the screen, so is Roth.
And what about Maggie?
How long can I keep her safe from BMAC like Mom and Dad wanted?
I’m scared. Because I know Leonard’s right. As long as we’re in Avin, it’s only a matter of time before BMAC or Roth finds us.
‘Take us with you,’ I blurt out.
Leonard makes another pfffft sound that I know is not a yes.
‘We don’t have to take the same TLJ as you,’ I tell him. ‘In fact, we’ll go somewhere completely different. Just help us get out of Avin.’
‘Kid, even if I brought you to Fellows Junction, you need a droidlet to buy a ticket. And the second they scan your FIILES we’ll have BMAC on us faster than you can say crow pie.’
I slam the three droidlets down on the desk. ‘So give us new ones.’
His eyes narrow as he looks up at me and I stare right back. My pounding heart is ready to break through my ribs, but I don’t look away. I don’t want Leonard to see how frightened I am. Leave Avin. It’s what Mom wanted. But leave without her?
You need to take care of her …
Leonard watches me, frowning, and it feels as if he can see what’s going on in my head.
‘Leonard,’ says Rani. ‘Think of Izzy.’
Leonard’s gaze drops and he runs a thoughtful finger along his silvery stubble. ‘All right,’ he says, grabbing the droidlets. ‘But if Roth is looking for you, we’ve stayed here too long as it is.’
TWENTY
We’re standing beside a garbage pile behind a nice looking-office building, waiting for Rani. She and Leonard led me, Maggie and Gabby out of Hexall and back into the city centre. I have no idea what time it is, but it must be late, because there aren’t a lot of people in the streets, and the ones that are around are too busy laughing and shouting so they don’t pay much attention to us anyway. Still, my nerves are buzzing from being so out in the open, the fresh winds of the Eventualies tickling my hair. I watch the Avin Turbine blink blue and red, its blades slicing at a thick, billowy black sky. The lights of the city shine off the underbellies of the clouds, making what looks like an upside-down sea of black and orange cotton candy. I think we’re pretty close to Fellows Junction, based on how close the turbine is. Other than that, I have no idea where we are.
‘What are we doing here?’ I whisper to Leonard.
He’s balancing some kind of tablet on his lap, typing away at a glass screen that’s so cracked it looks like a spider web. He looks up to check the street nervously. That has to be the hundredth time he’s done that. Like he expects Commander Roth to show up any minute.
‘Leonard?’
His eyes flick to me briefly, before he looks back at his tablet. ‘Hiding.’
‘But what is this place?’
Before he can answer, there’s a click of a lock and the door in front of us swings open. Rani stands there, a droidlet in her hand. ‘This way,’ she says, beckoning us inside.
Maggie and Gabby duck through the door, Beauty swooping along behind them. Leonard managed to scare off the other birds that had been following us back at Hexall Hall. But Beauty wasn’t having any of it and followed us the whole way here. I can’t decide whether to be mad at the thing or impressed. She’s stuck with us this long. Part of me thinks it’s because her interest in Maggie isn’t just about the Movement. Maybe the dumb bird really does love my sister.
The door slams behind me and Leonard, and I look around trying to get a sense of where we are.
An old parking garage.
I frown, looking at Rani. ‘How did you get in here?’
‘Idiots haven’t changed the entrance code since I was a kid. No one’s used it since then, I’ll bet.’
‘What? Wait, aren’t there cameras?’
‘Not any more.’
‘Well,’ says Leonard quickly, tapping his cracked tablet screen. ‘Not for five more minutes anyway. So let’s go.’
Before I can ask more questions, Rani is speed-walking across the empty lot to what looks like a panel for a circuit breaker. She clicks it open easy enough and we see it’s not a circuit breaker at all – it’s a door. A little door into a hidden room.
Rani helps Maggie through, and I follow behind. The door is so small it’s a bit of a squeeze even for me. After I’m through, I hold out my hand to Gabby but she ignores me, acting like I’m not there at all. Her eyes are red and swollen and she looks like she’s in a daze, like she’s not even awake. She’s deep inside her own mind now. Probably thinking about what happened to her parents.
‘Gabby?’ I say, trying to call her back.
She wipes her eyes with the back of her wrist and shakes her head. She doesn’t want to talk to me, so I step back. I’d want to be left alone too, I guess.
The stale dusty air in this hidden room makes my nose wr
inkle. There are cobwebs hanging from thick iron supports, and boxes of canned food line the walls. Against the far wall are four camp beds; an LED lamp sits on the end of the first one, providing the only light.
‘What is this place?’ I ask.
Rani has another lamp in her hand, and with a click it blinks to life, lighting up her face. ‘A safe house,’ she says. ‘For We Are Now.’
And now I notice the signs and photos stuck up all over the walls. Framed pictures of burning buildings and giant protests, anti-Mover pamphlets from twenty or thirty years ago. We Are Now is written in big letters on every single one. My mouth feels dry and I try to swallow. On one of the posters behind Rani I recognise the BMAC symbol, or an early version of it anyway. It shows cranes and trucks and framework because the picture was taken when it was still under construction, but there’s enough of it built to see; it’s the Movers’ Prison. The caption reads: ‘Movement is a Choice. Choose to shut the door on tomorrow. BMAC: Patrolling your Present, Protecting your Future.’
Rani cranes her neck around to see what’s caught my eye. She huffs, and rolls her eyes. ‘Mother and her charming We Are Now chapter used to meet in the restaurant upstairs to plot whatever awful anti-Movers rally or attack they felt would help their cause. When I was little, Mother always made me come along. She didn’t tell the others what I was, of course. She was too humiliated. But she wanted me to see how the rest of the world saw my unnatural ability. Wanted me to know there were consequences if I ever decided to use it. Anyway, whenever a chapter member was wanted by police for burning down someone’s home or place of business, they’d hide out here.’
I feel claustrophobic. It’s like the anxious feeling I get every phase-form day, but all of them compounded and piled on top of each other. With all this anti-Movers crap, who knows? There might even be a Shelving facility somewhere around here. Rani grew up around these people? She must have been frightened every single day.
There’s a scream of springs as Gabby takes a seat on the furthest bed, facing the wall. Was growing up like that for her too?
‘What if someone comes down here?’ Maggie’s chewing her hair again, ignoring Beauty, who’s pecking lovingly at her feet.
‘Look at this place,’ says Leonard.
‘It hasn’t been used in years,’ says Rani, offering Maggie what looks like a can of fruit cocktail. Maggie slurps the whole thing down in one gulp and my stomach grumbles. We haven’t eaten all day. Rani tosses me a can and I pull the tab and crack it open. The juice is sweet and the fruit hits my belly with a cool splash, quenching my hunger pains.
Rani smiles and tosses me another can. ‘BMAC does a good enough job keeping the Mover ‘threat’ under control for We Are Now, so they haven’t been as active lately.’
I guess that’s true. The We Are Now attacks happened in the days before I was born. Before BMAC was up and running. Now they mostly just protest to make BMAC implement stiffer Mover policies and penalties.
‘Besides,’ says Leonard, setting up his computer on top of a few jars of spaghetti sauce, ‘we’ll be gone first thing in the morning. Before anyone even knows we’re here.’
First thing in the morning, we’ll leave Avin behind. My fingers fumble for a piece of pineapple as Maggie takes a seat on the bed beside Gabby’s. Tomorrow morning, we’ll leave Mom behind.
A gentle hand rests on my shoulder. ‘You should get some sleep,’ says Rani. ‘All of you.’
Maggie’s all too happy for a rest and she lays down, asleep before her head even hits the pillow. I wish I could do that. My body weighs a thousand pounds right now, my limbs are rubber. My eyes feel dry and swollen. But I know I won’t sleep. My head is too full to sleep. Full of Mom.
And Dad.
And Oscar Joji.
And Roth.
Gabby sits on her bed, staring at the wall, her face unreadable as ever. She hasn’t spoken since Dunedin. Since she found out about her parents. I guess, after everything that’s happened today, sleep won’t come easy to her either.
A light tingle interrupts my thoughts as my Shadow tries again to get a feel for me. I guess he hasn’t been zapped by a jolt of terror from my end for a little while and he wants to make sure I’m not dead. I reach out into the fog with my mind, trying to show him I’m still here, that I’m all right. No sooner does he sense me than he retreats back into himself, satisfied that I’m OK and happy to shut me out. Because that’s our normal. Ignoring each other. I made it hard for him to ignore me today.
Leonard’s on the floor, leaning against one of the iron beams. He’s hunched over his tablet and computer, hands working furiously. He’s emptied his duffle bag, and the contents are strewn around him. I recognise the pungit ray on his left. The droidlets for me, Maggie and Gabby sit on his right, blinking with white light, ready to be loaded.
I sit down beside him with my can of fruit, trying to get a look at the screens. ‘You think you can finish?’
‘Hmm?’
‘The FIILES,’ I say, chewing on a cherry that tastes like sugary heaven. ‘You think you can get them done tonight?’
Leonard lets himself grin – only half. ‘Is there another option?’
I don’t answer that. He knows there isn’t.
‘Then I guess I’d better get on with it.’
I know he’s patronising me, but it makes me feel better. I’d rather he was confident than unsure. Though I guess he ought to be confident by now. After all the FIILES he’s made for Mom.
Mom.
I beg myself not to think about her. Sitting alone in some BMAC cell. Worried about Maggie. About me. Which of course only makes me think about her.
‘My mom,’ I say quietly, ‘she knew about all this?’
Leonard doesn’t look up. ‘All what?’
I reach for the pungit ray, turning it over in my hands. There’s a panel missing on one side of the metal tube, a mess of delicate wires and tiny cylinders assembled carefully inside. ‘About you. And the war in the future. About Roth and Oscar Joji. You know, all of it.’
He nods.
‘So she knows about Gabby then?’ I say. ‘That she discovered pungits?’
Leonard scratches hard behind his ear. ‘I mean, she knows Roth had a Mover that managed to sever the connection. I don’t know that I ever mentioned the name Gabriela Vargas to her.’
No, I don’t think I did either. No one seems to talk much about Gabby.
‘She should have told BMAC,’ I say, suddenly angry with her. ‘In the future. She should have told them how she severed the connection and then they could just cure all of us once and for all so this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.’
Leonard stops typing. ‘Just cure us? You think you need to be cured?’
I drop my eyes to the pungit ray, trying to get away from that stare. Do I think I need to be cured? All I can do is shrug, because I don’t know. I guess things might be easier if I wasn’t a Mover any more. I shrug again.
Gently Leonard takes the pungit ray from my hands. I watch him connect one of the wires to one of the tiny cylinders, then another, before he finally clicks the on button. There’s a quiet hum from the little machine and he points it towards me. He grabs the mirror from among the strewn contents of his bag and holds it up so I can see myself, the pungits fanning out above my head.
‘You’re not sick, kid,’ says Leonard. ‘You got something that makes you special. A power. Don’t let BMAC take it away.’
Power? I’ve never thought of it that way.
After what Maggie’s Move did back at school, I guess maybe Leonard has a point. What Maggie did when she Moved Roth – that was powerful.
No wonder Mom didn’t want BMAC to find out.
I watch my sister, curled up on her side and fast asleep. First Dad gave up his life for her. Now Mom.
There’s a click as Leonard turns off the pungit ray and unhooks the little copper wires.
‘What about you?’ I ask him, knocking back what’s left of my fruit can. �
�Why do you want to help my mom?’
‘Because she helped me,’ he says, putting the ray into the duffel bag. ‘After Rani Moved me, the two of us were on the run from BMAC. I came here with nothing, no FIILES, and Rani was just a kid. I knew if we didn’t set up some bogus FIILES fast, BMAC would find us easily. We needed help. When I managed to track down the articles on Joji and your family, I read about your mom’s job. She was working for the government, in the Service Avin offices.’
Setting up marriage licences and liquor licences and stuff like that. That was a long time ago. I can’t even remember Mom going to a normal job.
‘I needed droidlets, and she could get ’em,’ explains Leonard. ‘So I told her what I knew about Joji and her baby and Roth.’ He stops there, looking uncomfortable.
‘And what happened?’
He sighs. ‘Look, kid, you have to understand that when you’re desperate, you do things you don’t want to do.’
‘Like what? What do you mean?’
He shakes his head and clears his throat. ‘I, uh, well, I blackmailed her. I told her that if she didn’t get us the droidlets, I’d tell BMAC about the baby.’
I frown. ‘You threatened Maggie?’
‘Well, I’m not proud of it.’
‘You must have terrified her,’ I say, thinking of Mom, alone with two little kids, facing this strange Hexall Hall man at her door.
Leonard smiles warmly. ‘She was scared, sure, but your mom’s pretty sharp. She figured I couldn’t go to BMAC without getting myself into trouble in the process. So she told me that if I ever went to BMAC about her daughter, she’d rat on me as soon as they came for her.’
I grin. That sounds like Mom. ‘Is that why you do all that droidlet stuff for her? Cos she can turn you in whenever she wants?’
He laughs. ‘Well, that’s certainly one of the reasons. But really, I think she comes to me because she knows she can trust me. After I failed at threatening her to get us the droidlets, she helped us anyway. I think she took pity on us, to be honest. It was a big risk. And it saved Rani and me. I owe your mom.’
Movers Page 14