The Grower's Gift (Progeny of Time #1)

by Smythe, Vanna

  She must have seen Isis in his arms, which made it a stupid question.

  "His tiger is hurt," Maya blurted out nervously. "And I know Eddie won't go near any Citizen or their beast, not after what happened to his brother."

  Ty's heart raced in his chest. This woman would refuse to help and it was a full day back to the city. Would Isis make it? Ty had never considered they might have need of a medic. Arrogant in the extreme. He imagined the heavy lid of a thick steel chest slamming down on all his panic and anger. Too many emotions were coming through. It wasn't safe.

  The doctor was still eyeing him belligerently until Isis let out a pleading meow.

  "Fine, take it through," the woman finally relented. "Only because you asked, Maya."

  The girl motioned for Ty to follow her through a set of smoky glass doors. The woman followed, switching on the bluish lights in the room as the door closed behind her.

  "Lay the cat on the table, I'll examine it," she ordered.

  Ty hurried to the stainless steel operating table in the middle of the room before she could change her mind. Isis' claws dug into the sleeves of his body suit, then slipped off uselessly, nowhere near sharp enough to pierce it. No animal claw, bullet, knife or laser could. Still, he should have brought a medic with them to the hunt.

  "Hold her down while I sedate her," Maya whispered, her warmth filling the room. "Don't worry, I'll make sure she lives."

  Most of his panic melted in her warmth.

  Maya stuck Isis with a long needle. Ty concentrated on the pale blue liquid as it disappeared from the syringe, willing his panic to disappear completely. Isis went limp on the table.

  "Can you save her?" he whispered to Maya.

  The woman looked at him sharply, then focused her eyes on Maya. "I'm sure I can. The wound's not very deep."

  Maya turned to him as she fixed a mask over her mouth. "Why don't you wait in the square for me? I'll find you once we're done here."

  Ty left the room. Most likely she was worried Eddie or someone else would come in and see him there. And somehow he knew he could trust her.

  ~

  Rober was milling through the crowd in the market. He pushed his way toward Ty when he emerged back into the square. "What happened? Where's Isis?"

  The compassion in his friend's eyes and voice was real, Ty knew that. Rober was one of the handful of people born with any real empathy. "They're stitching her up. That girl from the pub last night and some doctor."

  "Good. Lana's with the hovercraft and she wants to leave as soon as possible."

  "She'll have to wait," Ty said and strolled towards the first of the stalls.

  Rober followed. "She won't like that."

  Ty chuckled. "I know."

  All around them people in drab clothing jostled each other to get to the stalls. The one packed with dead rabbits, rodents and squirrels was by far the most crowded. Ty stepped back and watched them trade all sorts of things for the meat, jewelry, leather, sacks of flour, old style tablet computers. One woman even tried to trade her hair for a dead rat, but the seller shooed her away. Hardly anyone offered cash.

  People this far from the nearest city didn't have much use for money. He should have remembered it before he gave all that money for the baker last night.

  "Are you listening to me?" Rober asked, an edge of annoyance in his voice.

  Ty turned to him questioningly.

  "I asked if you have anything on you to trade?"

  "I only have my phone and some money. You should go back to the hovercraft and get some sleep. I'll be there soon."

  "I'll wait with you."

  Ty shrugged and stopped by a nearly empty stall, behind which a woman with a heavily wrinkled face and dark grey hair sat. Only a small jewelry box and a bracelet made of brown grass and clear blue beads lay on the tabletop in front of her. No one was trading anything for those two things.

  She smiled up at him, though her grey eyes were so unfocused he doubted she saw more than his outline. He picked up the box and examined the flowers worked into its surfaces. Meticulously carved, not a line out of place. His little sister Eve would love it.

  "How much for the box?" he asked the woman.

  "Some bread if you have it. Or at least enough flour to make some," the woman said in a raspy voice.

  "All I have to trade is money."

  "Money? What would I do with money?" the woman chuckled, then a coughing fit took her.

  Ty sat the box back on the tabletop.

  "No, no. Take it. And this bracelet to go with it. It is made from real aquamarine and wheat grass. It will ward away any and all evil energy from the person who wears it. Aquamarine's even been known to stop the flow of magic right in its tracks. Here, hold out your arm, I will affix it for you."

  Ty ignored Rober's shocked gasp as he stretched out his right arm. A cool stream of water seemed to flow up his arm as soon as the stones touched his skin. Maybe it really worked. Usually, the freezing cold only ever ran down his arm. Not that he liked to think of his power at all.

  "How much for the box and the bracelet?"

  The woman smiled again. "Keep your money, young man. These two things are the last of what I have to trade, unless you count the clothes on my back. Only then I would have to walk around naked."

  The woman laughed at her own dark joke and slowly rose from her stool.

  "I want to pay you," Ty insisted.

  "Give the money to the girl who took care of your pet then, she needs it more than I."

  Rober grabbed his shoulder. "You have to give her something. Let's find some bread for her."

  The woman shuffled away through the crowd. Ty called for her to wait but she didn't turn back. Rober was already hurrying to the bakery. By the time he returned with a shriveled looking black loaf the woman was gone.

  "Why didn't you stop her, Ty?"

  "She didn't want to stop."

  "Want? These poor people. It's no longer about what they want, Ty. They have so little they've forgotten about all that they could want. Trading hair for a rat to have at least some meat? Refusing money, because they might starve to death before they'll find someone to take it in exchange for food..."

  Not this same pointless conversation, again. Ty hastily checked that his ear piece was off, hoping Rober had done the same before launching into his "Save the Badlands" tirade. Most of their friends back at the hovercraft knew how Rober felt about the displaced people in the Badlands, yet someone from the city could be listening in.

  "Why do you even come out here if it makes you so angry?" Ty asked.

  Spots of color rose in Rober's cheeks. "I want to help them, not pretend they don't exist. I thought you agreed with me."

  Ty gritted his teeth and pulled Rober away from the crowd, willing all the emotions mixing in him to subside. "Sure, I agree with you in theory. In practice, nothing can be done and you know that. None of the cities are willing to take care of these people. Besides, there's no room for them in the Ring."

  "They could go north, if only someone would help them get there." Rober flicked the bracelet on Ty's wrist, uncharacteristic mockery in his eyes. They looked almost as predatory as his sister's now. "How safe do you think you are? In the long run? Think this trinket will keep your gift from showing?"

  Searing cold exploded in Ty's forehead. He grabbed Rober's throat and squeezed, watched the mockery turn to fear in his friend's eyes, hoping he'd be able to hold it in, riding the wave of fear and anger, struggling to keep the freezing cold from flowing down his arm. "Never speak of that where anyone can hear. You mention my gift again and you're going to the north."

  Ty released his grasp on Rober's neck. The stones on the bracelet were icy cold. He half expected them to be stuck to his skin in frost. Maybe it did work in stopping his power!

  Rober rubbed his neck. "Fine. I'm sorry, I went too far."

  Ty met his eyes for a moment, then looked down. "No. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." Fear of discovery, of losing co
ntrol, was a constant in Ty's mind, a burden Rober would never understand. It was growing heavier and heavier, and it always manifested in murderous rage. "I never should have told you about it in the first place."

  All that painful anger fled, ice crackling and melting when Maya ran up to them through the square.

  ~

  "Is she alright?" Ty asked Maya as soon as she stopped in front of him. She was tall, yet she still had to crane her neck to meet his eyes. Spring fields of lush green earth stretched out inside her dark eyes. Her warmth seared through the cold that still gripped his head and right arm.

  "Yes, but you should let her rest until morning," Maya replied.

  "Morning?" Rober asked. "You mean tomorrow?"

  "Of course, tomorrow," Ty cut in before Maya had a chance to. "It's alright. We'll get some sleep in the hovercraft."

  "The others won't like it," Rober protested. "Lana especially."

  Maya's eyes flickered to the blue gem bracelet on Ty's wrist. "Oh, you bought Mary's bracelet. That was kind of you. It matches your eyes."

  Her cheeks turned red and she looked back over the crowd nervously.

  Ty unzipped the side pocket in his body suit. "She didn't want the money. She said I should give it to you instead."

  He held out a few bills. "This is for the medical supplies too."

  Maya looked from the money to his face, her eyes wide. "Mary didn't want money? Where did she go?"

  Ty pointed with his free hand. "Over that way. Here take this."

  "I must find her!"

  Maya took off running, elbowing her way through the crowd. Ty took off after her, ignoring Rober's surprised yells to let her go.

  They caught up to her as she reached the houses on the other side of the square.

  "What's the panic?" Ty asked.

  "Only that Mary…she's so old and the bracelet and box where her last two possessions. I'm afraid she's going to kill herself!" She sprinted past the last row of houses towards a frothing muddy river that had started to spill over its shallow bank.

  The old woman sat on the roots of an old oak tree, her feet in the water.

  Maya reached her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Come, Mary, I'll take you home."

  The woman laid a gnarled old hand over Maya's, her gaze still fixed on the water. "No, child."

  "Please, Mary. I will bring you some bread," Maya insisted.

  Rober strode over and held out the loaf he bought earlier. "Here, I got some bread for you."

  The woman glanced at the bread. "I remember a time when bread was white and fluffy, and everyone had enough. When these fields were covered in grass, and seasons followed each other every year like clockwork. Now the clock is broken."

  How old was she? She'd have to be over a hundred years old to remember the time before the weather broke.

  The old woman let go of Maya's hand and rose slowly. "It is time for me to go."

  "Yes, come on, I'll take you home. I'll bring you some cake later," Maya said and held out her hand for the woman to take. The woman didn't take it. Instead, she took a step towards the river and toppled in.

  "No, Mary, you'll fall!" Maya screamed . The whooshing current swallowed the woman. Ty only just managed to grab Maya's arm and pull her back before the current took her too.

  Maya shook off his grasp. "Let me go! I have to save her."

  "I'll get her," Ty said without thinking. Maya's need to save the old woman seemed to come from his own heart.

  He let go of Maya and ran further down the bank, trying to spot the woman. One of her arms rose from the water farther downstream. Ty waded into the river, only just managing to grab onto the woman's arm and haul her out.

  Her pale eyes stared unblinking into the sky, mud and muck clinging to the wrinkles on her face.

  Maya dropped to her knees beside the woman and checked for signs of life.

  She beat at the woman's chest and tried to breathe life back into her lungs. The old woman's ribs cracked like dry wood. Ty didn't want to tell her that it was no use, that the woman was dead. Maya realized it on her own soon enough.

  She stopped, then laid her left hand against the woman's chest and closed her eyes. A tear trickled down her cheek when she opened them again.

  "She's gone," Ty said.

  Maya looked at him with those deep eyes, so full of life, tears streaming down her face. "Why did she do it?"

  "She saw no point in going on. In being a burden," Rober answered, glaring at Ty the way he had before, in the square. As if Ty had the power to change anything in the way people of the Badlands lived.

  "I'll carry her back to town," Ty offered. Maya shook her head and beat his arm away.

  "No, leave now. If anyone suspects you had anything to do with Mary's death it won't end well. " Maya stood up and brushed the muck off her pants. "Come back tomorrow before dawn for your cat and then go back to your city."

  Ty watched her run back into town, fighting the urge to follow. Rober pulled him up. "Let's go, she's right. They'll be furious if they find us here."

  Ty followed Maya with his eyes until she disappeared behind the houses. "She never took the money."

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Maya ran into the square, tears streaming down her face, blinding her. Some of those who had trekked there from neighboring towns for Market Day still milled around, but mostly it was only her fellow townsfolk there. Marvin was talking to Eddie and Lavinia by one of the empty stalls.

  "What's wrong, Maya?" Lavinia asked when she saw her.

  "Mary drowned. Down by the river. We need to go collect her body and arrange a funeral."

  Marvin shook his head. "Poor Mary. She had a good long life. I don't know about burying her though. It was a good day today. A funeral would spoil everyone's mood."

  Maya gasped, and stared at Marvin with her mouth open.

  "He's right, Maya," Lavinia said wrapping her arm around Maya's shoulder. "We should just let the river take her."

  "How can you say that? Mary was one of us, she deserves a proper burial!"

  "By whom?" Eddie said, fumes of whiskey on his breath hitting Maya's face. "Pastor James died two years ago. There's no one to give her a sendoff. Best to just let her float away."

  "I can't believe you're all saying this!" Maya shook off Lavinia's arm, looking wildly from one to the other. "Mary shouldn't be left for the predators!"

  She still tasted the muddy water in her mouth from trying to give Mary the kiss of life. Her left hand burned from all the power she'd released into the dead woman. How could they all be so careless?

  A crowd had gathered around them, drawn by her yells.

  Her father pushed through to stand by her side.

  "What is going on?" he asked.

  "Mary has died, and no one wants to collect her body and bury her."

  Marvin shuffled his feet nervously. "Now look here, Maya. All we said is that a funeral would depress everyone. Mary's had a long life, and she has no family left anywhere."

  Maya fixed her eyes on her father. He bit the inside of his cheek and stayed quiet.

  "But…but…" Maya stammered, her bottom lip trembling. She knew they were beat down and had little enough to look forward to. However, a life was lost today. They should honor Mary.

  "I will bury her myself, then!" Maya declared.

  "Let the river take her body," Eddie repeated.

  Maya moved to walk back to the river, but her father held her back. "You're not strong enough to dig a grave. Eddie is right. A water burial is honorable."

  Giles pushed his way through the crowd to stand by her side. "I'll help you, Maya."

  She gratefully took his hand. This funeral would be the most painful for him. He'd only just buried his mother and sister, and yet he was the only one in the whole town willing to help her.

  "Hold on," her father said. "I will help too."

  In the end, Eddie and Marvin went with them to collect Mary's body and carry it back to town.

  They laid M
ary to rest in the field next to the church. The cemetery had been filled up before Maya was even born. Death was too common in the Badlands. Ten died for every one newborn. Less than half of the town gathered for the funeral. When Giles' sister had been buried, nearly the whole town had gathered. Death of the children was harder to ignore. And, strangely, it had given the people the will to survive. For a time. Because the hopelessness of life in the Badlands always creeped back.

  If only Maya could learn her gift, everything would be so much better then.

  The funeral was a hasty affair, Maya the only speaker. Hopelessness filled the air, hung over those gathered like a thick fog. Tears born of it choked Maya as she spoke of the time, years ago, when Mary had taught her how to harvest the seeds of a cherry, and make sure it didn't turn wild once they grew into a tiny tree. That cherry tree still bloomed in their yard every year, and still gave fruit every summer.

  No one seemed to be listening.

  After her speech was over, Eddie and Giles started heaping the earth over the grave. Maya walked over to her parents.

  "I'm sorry for how I acted last night," she murmured. Her mother drew her into a hug and her father stroked her hair.

  "Let's go home," her mother whispered.

  Maya didn't let go of her mother all the way back to the house. A fresh mound of mud stood where the wheat had swayed in the breeze the night before. Her father must have placed it there, wary of anyone seeing Maya's work. Maya bit back her anger.

  She could bring hope back to the Badlands. Only first she had to learn to use her gift properly. And that meant leaving her home and her family behind.

  ~

  They ate a dinner of cold turkey and black bread in the kitchen. Her father didn't offer her wine tonight. Her mother tried for some light conversation, but Maya couldn't force out more than one word answers.

  She had to tell them she was leaving. Had to make them understand.

  Each time she worked up the nerve to tell them, her mother would ask a question. About Maya's work at the hospital; about Giles and how he was coping all alone; about Mary and her stories of the days before nature started dying.

  A lump as hard as rock formed in Maya's throat as her mother brought out the leftovers of her birthday cake. There was no other way. Maya going to the school in Neo York was the best chance any of them had.