Why didn’t she do something? Couldn’t she influence Mother? Maybe Dad could fix it.
“Dad,” I spun on him, pleading fast, “you’ve got to tell the Academy it was a mistake. That Mother misunderstood the situation. Please, we’ve got to help Jonah. He’s a good guy, and he… likes science, like you do.” Tears threatened to flood my eyes, but I blinked them back.
Dad folded his arms across his chest, his face grim. He sat in a corner, where the leaves of a robust fig tree dwarfed him. “Lenni, your mother did what she thought was right, and this Jonah has lured you away from classes….”
I couldn’t listen. “It was nothing like that! Jonah didn’t want me to miss school. I did that myself.” My chest tightened and the tears came. I glared at Dad, furiously wiping my wet cheeks, refusing to weaken. “You don’t know what it’s like around here. I feel like I can’t breathe sometimes.”
“Honey,” Dad stood and crossed the room. I let him pull me into a gentle squeeze. His shirt smelled like my childhood bedtime stories. I leaned against him, rubbing my eyes until they hurt. “It’s for the best,” he whispered into my hair. “His father was exiled.”
I stiffened, then pulled away. “So you knew about this?”
His eyes widened, surprised.
“You knew? And you didn’t stop her?”
Elyle walked to the table and set down the bowl. A waft of onion and garlic circled my head. Fresh, crisp spinach leaves in a room of decay.
“I didn’t know what your mother had planned,” Dad began, “but I can’t say I disagree with her. From what I’ve heard…”
“From what you’ve heard?” I screamed, shaking now. “Did you ask me? Consider where you got your information, Dad.” I pointed at Mother. “She lies.”
“Calm down, Lenni.” Dad patted my shoulder but I jerked away. He glanced questioningly at Mother. “Are you saying his father wasn’t exiled?”
“Well, no.” I admitted, flustered. “He was. But Jonah wasn’t.”
Mother sniffed. “You don’t want to dilute your genetic heritage with someone like him. You have a responsibility to the future.”
“What?”
“Lenni!” Elyle’s voice was a warning. Don’t get Mother upset.
“Don’t, Elyle!” I whirled violently to face her, smashing into a chair, sending it clattering across the floor. “How can you do nothing? How can you let her get away with this?”
Elyle froze, staring at me. Why had I attacked her? I rubbed my swollen eyes and glanced away. My face was hot; my head spinning.
“All these secrets you keep, Lenni.” Mother’s voice was smug as she clipped another flower. “Sneaking around with that boy. And those ghastly portraits.”
I stepped back with a jolt and bumped into the fallen chair. “Don’t insult my portraits!” I screeched at her.
“Why do you draw such dreadful pictures? And I hear you were charging for them like a beggar girl. It will have to stop.”
“Do you know every move I make?” I turned to Dad, desperate. “Please. Don’t you see what she’s doing? My life’s a prison.”
Dad rubbed his neck. His cheeks were flushed, and his eyebrows furrowed. “What do you want me to do?” His eyes flickered over Mother then away, his shoulders slumped, and I knew. He was just as stuck as I was.
“Oh, Dad.” I sighed. Jonah. My portraits. Everything taken away. And no one to help.
Just then, a knock came at the front door. Dad dashed for the hall.
“Dad!”
“Later, Lenni.”
I stomped down the hall after him. “Dad!”
He opened the front door and the sweltering heat rushed in. Two Purity officers stood on the step. My stomach lurched. Bulky men with thick necks. They were here for me at last. That woman had reported me. Sour bile rose into my mouth.
“Mr. Leonard Hannix?” The taller man asked.
“Yes?” Dad held the doorknob in a tight grip.
“We need you to come with us.”
I swallowed, leaned against the wall for support. Dad? They wanted my father? What could Purity want with him?
Mother shuffled down the hall with Elyle behind.
“Who is it, Leonard?” She pushed past me, but Dad moved to block her view.
“Nothing to worry about, Mara.” His voice was deadpan. “Elyle, please see to my wife. This doesn’t concern her.”
“Just a few questions for your husband, Ms. Hannix,” said the other officer.
Mother peered around Dad and caught a glimpse of the officers. She gasped. “You’re from Purity!”
“Yes”
Their badges were pinned to their chests, gleaming with some secret purpose. Genetic Purity Council. What would they do to Dad?
“What is it about?” Mother’s hand shook as she raised it to her throat.
“Lifewort, of course.” Dad’s voice was falsely calm.
“Is it?” She trembled, grabbing my arm for support.
“Get off,” I muttered, shaking free of her.
“Yes, Mara.” Dad glanced uneasily at Mother.
“Are you sure?” Mother’s rolling chins had a jelly-like quiver that I’d never seen.
“Yes. Elyle, now, please.” Dad reached for his shoes. Then to the officers he said, “My wife has delicate health.”
“It’s not about…”
“No, Mara.” Dad’s look sliced off her words.
Mother was babbling nonsense again — it was our typical sickening family drama. Elyle grabbed Mother by the wrist, but she twisted away. The crowd of bodies in the hall flattened me against the wall. I slid into the doorway of the living room.
“What about lifewort?” Mother pushed past Dad. “Leonard did nothing wrong.”
The officers showed no emotion. “Like I said, Ms. Hannix,” began the second officer, “just a few questions.”
“Mara!” Elyle tugged at her.
“I demand that…” Mother began.
“Enough, Mara,” Dad barked.
Mother shut her mouth.
My heartbeats filled the silence. Dad had finally found a voice against Mother. Why couldn’t he stand up for me?
“Just a few questions,” repeated the Purity officer.
“Mara needs to lie down, Elyle.” Dad had his shoes on, but they were untied. He rushed out the door, then slammed it.
I hurried to the front window to watch Dad go. The Purity officers walked on either side of him, as if they thought he might try to escape. They opened the door of a small silver car. Dad couldn’t protect me from Mother now, even if he wanted to.
“Will they take him to Detention Block?” I asked, suddenly concerned. “Will he be all right? How long will he be gone?”
Elyle was still in the hall, probably trying to prod Mother away from the door.
Mother’s frantic voice burst out. “Lenni, where’s Lenni?”
What did she want now? I had no desire to see her ever again. I fingered my water stone in my pocket. It didn’t seem to be guarding me from anything.
“Hush. She’s fine. In the front room.” Elyle soothed her with a quiet, singsong voice.
“Where? I need to see her.”
“Hush. To bed with you, Mara. Time to rest.”
“No.”
“Come, Mara.”
“I need to see Lenni.” Her voice had that shrill tone again.
“You’re tired. Come upstairs.”
“No.”
A crash like the sound of a huge wave thundering against rock came from the hall.
“Lenni,” Elyle called. “I need you!”
I dashed for the hall and gasped. Elyle was bent over Mother. Mother lay sprawled across the floor with her head resting on the bottom shelf in the closet, a deep gash in her forehead dripping blood onto the mat.
“Ohh.” Mother didn’t open her eyes.
She was hurt this time, lying beached and helpless. How could she make me feel sorry for her when she was the one on attack?
“Help me get her to the couch,” said Elyle. “Hurry. We may need to call the doctor.”
I rushed to obey.
fighting indigo
Elyle trailed me across the main hall of the Academy. I could feel my face burning with embarrassment. I walked faster to leave her behind.
“Lenni! Can we talk?”
My jaw tightened. Was she going to walk me to class?
Go home, I silently willed her, as I started up the curved stone staircase to the second floor. Go home to her.
I’d been fighting everyone since Dad had reappeared. I was relieved to see him after only one night with Purity, yet I couldn’t help but resent him, too. He hadn’t even tried to help Jonah. Mother hadn’t emerged from her room last night, although she had been alert enough to make Elyle soldier me to school. Mother was a constant presence, lurking nearby. She was ill enough to faint under stress, but she wielded a power from her bed that was strong enough to strangle the sympathy I had for her.
“Lenni?”
“I can’t be late,” I said through my teeth. Somehow, Elyle’s efforts to help made it worse. Mother had sent her. Mother controlled everything.
I tried not to stomp up each step. People were already staring at us and I didn’t want to make a scene.
“Let me help, Lenni.”
“Help?” I was on the top step now and I spun around to face Elyle, my shoulder bag almost swinging into her face. “You could have helped last night,” I hissed as quietly as I could. “Jonah doesn’t deserve this.”
“I’m trying right now. I’m trying to help you understand her,” Elyle said.
That was too much. “Understand what?” My voice was caught between a whisper and a yell, and a first-year kid glanced over at me on his way down the stairs. “What I don’t understand is how she got them to believe her lies.”
“I mean understand her illness.” Elyle’s voice was calm, her eyes warm with sympathy. “Why she acts this way.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Listen, I promised myself that I wouldn’t talk about it, or worse, embarrass myself at school. So just leave, and let me go to class like I’m supposed to.”
“Lenni, I want to protect you. Explain why she has certain… anxieties.”
“I don’t need protection.” My voice was too loud. Why couldn’t I just shut up?
“Maybe you do.”
“What does that mean?”
Now people really were staring. I even noticed Redge in his wheelchair watching from the second-floor landing. Everyone’s eyes were on me as they made a wide path around us on the stairs.
“What is Jonah supposed to do now?” I continued, unable to stop the gush of words and the hot flush seeping through me. “Why should he get expelled because of her? How am I going to see him again?” My cheeks were sure to be flaming red by now.
Elyle reached out for me with both arms, her fingers extended, grasping for me. “Let me help you calm down. There must be a room where we can…”
“No.” I didn’t want to hear her reasons. I didn’t want excuses for Mother’s behavior.
Elyle’s fingers touched my arm with a gentle sweep. I tried to brush her away. She reached out again. I pushed her hands hard away from me.
“Leave me alone.” Each word was a boulder, thrusting her back.
Elyle teetered on the edge of the stair. With her eyebrows raised in alarm, she reached for me again. No, she couldn’t fall! I stepped toward her, tried to grab her hands. Our fingers touched then slid apart.
“Elyle!” I screamed, willing her to stop falling.
She slipped backward down the stairs, her eyes fixed on me. Others shouted around me. I froze, unable to turn away, unable to prevent what was happening.
Elyle tumbled down, twirling and spinning. When her head banged the railing, her eyes blinked horribly shut. People tried to block her fall, but Elyle thudded on, until she came to a stop in a silent heap at the bottom of the stairs.
Oh, Mur! What have I done?
I stumbled down the stairs, slipping as I jumped down three steps at once, dodging a girl who had fallen, crunching over the pieces of her smashed slate.
“Move! Please!”! shouted.
Elyle was too still. One arm behind her as if broken. Her head thrown back and to one side.
Don’t let her be dead. Oh, don’t let her be dead.
I knelt beside her, a crowd of people around me. I listened for breath from her nose, from her open mouth, but I heard nothing.
“Get help!” someone said.
I squeezed my fists against my eyes to keep the tears in. Mur, help me! I had done this. I had to fix it. I had to do something.
The woman! Had I really healed her? Maybe I could do it again. I had to try.
People gasped and talked in loud voices. I fumbled in my bag for my slate, my fingers too jittery to keep still. I grabbed the slate. Powered it on. Closed my eyes, took some deep breaths, and tried to envision Elyle, as she now lay, broken at the bottom of the stairs. One arm twisted. Her head bent at an angle. Once I held the image, I reached out to find the energy that was Elyle.
Please, Mur. Elyle has fallen. I am here.
I felt Mur’s warm wind and the lick of sunlight on my face, then wham! I collided with Elyle’s energy. It was thick and hard to penetrate. I pushed my way through the sludge, hating the clogging dampness, and finally broke through into a place of utter cold and gray mist. The air was musty and dense. Gray rock stretched as far as I could see, broken only by a winding gray river. It was a bleak, miserable place. It couldn’t be Elyle’s world.
Yet, there, kneeling beside the river, was Elyle. On the river’s surface swirled translucent rainbow pools of light, currents of pale pink, yellow, and green. Elyle knelt on a rock and watched the river. She bent over and looked into the swirling light, as if searching for her reflection.
Elyle, I called. If only this were a dream. If only I could wake us both.
Elyle turned, stared without seeing, and returned to her search. She dipped her hands into the river and let the rainbow light play on her fingers. I could see color draining from her fingertips and swirling down into the water.
I lost something, she said.
I moved closer to her, wanting to sob, to pull her to me, and burst free from this place. I’ll help you.
Elyle ignored me.
I inhaled the thick, muggy air. I had to draw Elyle, not as this lost fragile creature, but Elyle as I knew she could be. In this silent, dull place, I reached for her, aware that in that other place, I was sketching her on my slate.
When I gripped Elyle’s shoulders, I found I could hold onto her. Elyle softened into the pressure and allowed herself to be pulled to standing.
I wanted to hug her and beg forgiveness, yet she looked so confused, and the light that was left in her body was so dim, so clouded. I knew her light was being tugged down into the river. I knew she was dying, but I couldn’t let her go. I had pushed her. I had to pull her back. I kept drawing Elyle as I wanted her to be, not broken and dying in this gray, miserable place.
I’ll help you, I said again.
Let her go. It was Mur.
I can’t.
You must. Mur’s words held a warning.
No!
Mur was silent, but I could feel her disapproval.
Elyle’s eyes shifted. Yes, she said.
I turned from Mur. She was wrong. I would heal Elyle.
In the gray world, I touched the smaller break in Elyle’s right arm — the one that had been twisted by the fall. Its texture, its energy signature, prickled with sharp points. I stroked it until it became smooth. Then I tackled the larger break at her neck. It was a chasm of inky indigo shadow. I attacked it straight on.
Get out of here, a powerful male voice boomed out at me.
Something knocked me away from Elyle. Surprised, I let myself be pushed away. The voice was not Elyle’s. Who — what had spoken to me? The indigo?
I approached the chasm
again and it shoved me with more force this time.
Get out, it roared.
I would not. I began to explore more cautiously. Elyle’s heart, first, pumping strong and well. Then her lungs, filling and releasing. Then her right arm again, which I sewed together with needles of light.
Elyle reacted to my touch. The two sides were battling within her — the older original force and the new invasive one.
I returned to her neck and began to pull gobs of indigo out of the chasm. It was cold, so cold, in my hands, but now Elyle was fighting it, too. I tugged at the indigo. It resisted, then released. Elyle and I were winning the battle.
“Lenni.” I heard Elyle’s voice from a distance. I pulled the last indigo shadow off her and returned to my body.
My eyes opened to the main hall of the Academy. People were gathered in a tight, hot circle around Elyle and me. Their voices boomed too loud in my ears. Their faces pressed in on me. My body was shaking and weak.
“Wow! Did you see that?”
“She’s alive!”
“What happened?”
My slate was in my lap and I glanced quickly down to see what I knew was there — what I had chosen to draw. A sketch of Elyle strong and well, kneeling beside a rainbow river. I had done it! I had healed Elyle! I had pulled her back.
“Lenni,” Elyle called again.
I looked down into her warm eyes. Her cheeks were rounded into a smile. She sat up and moved her right arm, the one that had been broken.
“Did anyone call a medic?” I asked. I wanted to be sure that Elyle was well.
People stared in amazement from me to Elyle.
“They’re on their way!” someone answered.
“How did you do that?” another asked.
“That’s some kind of boost!”
“Maybe it’s no boost.” It was Jobey’s voice.
I sucked in a breath, alarmed. Would they think I was skidge? I was too tired, too weak to worry much about what they might think, or if they would tell Purity.
“Don’t move,” a girl told Elyle. “You’ve had a terrible fall. Do you remember anything?”
Then my head began to swim in circles, and a throbbing tremor started to pound within me. I shut my eyes.
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