Shifting Power

by Dacia M Arnold

  “No. You don’t get to talk to me like that. I don’t have to justify anything to you or anyone else, but especially your boss.”

  Ignoring this, Duke simply replied, “A little more than a day. Then I’m gone.”

  “Good.” Valerie crossed her arms and sat back on the couch. Self-centered? August should have let Kevin finish the job. She touched her neck where her only lifeline to independence was used as a weapon to kill her. The locket was in her pocket for August’s sake, who awaited the call from the conference room.

  The wide television screen sprang to life. Two other people stood next to Hyka and Jack.

  “Surprise!” Jack waved. “Sorry we weren’t able to give you a heads up, but we finally got these two together. August, Valerie, this is ummm. . .” Jack trailed off and motioned for the young man to speak.

  “Good evening, Madam DiaZem. I’m Franklin Overman. This is Shannon. . .” he paused and turned to the woman. Though they were holding hands, he whispered to her to remind him of her last name. “Shannon Sweden. We are DiaZem and, with the help of Jack and Ms. Hyka, we have taken control over the southeastern United States on your behalf.”

  “Well, Franklin and Shannon, nice to meet you,” Valerie said, nodding to the screen. It was a struggle to maintain her excitement at the small victory. “As I’m sure you all have discussed, because of the amount of hostility from the Elitists, I plan to harbor the General Population citizens from your area, at least until you can get established of course.”

  “And we are grateful,” Shannon answered. She had a sweet smile and blush about her cheeks. Her age and background were not important at the moment, but Valerie wondered about the qualifications of her new alliances.

  “I’m arriving tomorrow evening to escort the refugees back to our Facility,” August explained. “If you require anything, please let us know, and we can arrange for delivery of any assets we can offer.”

  “Logistically, we’re in search of a headquarters, much like the Facility in Denver. Jack has been helpful in identifying a central militarized location in Georgia. We plan to explore this area soon.” Franklin spoke with authority, giving Valerie better confidence in the team.

  “According to the Hamptons, the US military is still loyal to America and not the Council,” Jack stated. “We’ll discuss more of this when we return.”

  “Mission accomplished.” August clapped.

  “I expect you two will return soon?” Valerie tried not to sound as pathetic as she felt.

  Hyka smiled and nodded. With that, relief flooded over Valerie. The feeling caught in her throat. Within twenty-four hours, this would all be over and things would be back to some normal.

  “We’ll speak on separate channels to discuss details of transport,” Jack waved again, and the screen went black.

  Hyka’s call after the conference was short. Aside from being given the news of Kevin’s arrest, she assured Valerie she would be home the next night.

  “I don’t think we should advertise August being gone,” Courtney said, tapping her tablet. “I mean, what’s eight hours? And with the McGuire’s flying back in shortly after, we shouldn’t make too much of a buzz about it. If the media needs attention, Monica and I will be downstairs in our suite.”

  “August put you on call?” Valerie questioned, slightly annoyed. She would have suggested having the doctor there herself. The fact August had done so before her was frustrating.

  “Monica is on call, yes.” Courtney gave a slight smile. “What will cause more of a ruckus is Kevin losing his title and the news of his pending trial. We can use that to distract from August’s absence overnight.”

  “His trial will be public,” Valerie said in agreement. “I don’t want anyone to accuse us of being unfair or possibly associating us with what happened.”

  Courtney nodded and tapped away. “Monica wants to see you before and after August leaves tomorrow. The clinic is set up on the seventh floor next to our accommodations.” Courtney sighed and lowered her tablet. Her typical cheerfulness was gone. “You seem tense. Agitated. Fighting with August must be hard. I can’t stand it when Monica and I fight.”

  Valerie fingered the copper necklace in her pocket and frowned. “I thought I was doing a good job of keeping myself together.”

  “The people need you two on the same team, Valerie. Maybe moving romantically was not the right direction for you?”

  “You’re probably right. I moved really fast. I think until the necklace, I was just clawing for something steady,” Valerie said defensively.

  “No one thinks letting you keep the necklace is a good idea.”

  Valerie shot a look at Courtney. Had they all been talking about this behind her back?

  “Well, until anyone else is in my position, I doubt their opinion holds any weight in my decision to wear it,” Valerie snapped, but she instantly regretted it. No one understood the weight of everything she carried on her shoulders and in her womb daily, but lashing out at Courtney wasn’t the right answer. Valerie sighed, defeated.

  “Well then, it seems I have overstepped my boundaries. Here is your schedule for tomorrow. I will see you in the morning.” Courtney let herself out.

  She was now alone in the apartment except for Caleb, who was sleeping in his bed, and Duke, who was still temporarily residing in the spare room. The silence made her uncomfortable, so she started music low. A slow melancholy cello played. Valerie pulled the locket out and set it on the table. Dr. Kingston had warned her not to take the tiny prison into the TTC or the baby’s room and risk releasing the spirit inside. She opened the door to Janie’s room and turned on the small night light in the corner.

  The weight of her daughter settled on her hips, and another weight rested on her shoulders. A dread. By the time she sat down, she had named the feeling. Guilt. She was torturing August and was too blind to see how bad she had hurt him. Emotions welled up in her chest because she knew she cared for him. The magnetic pulls from both him and the locket continued to manipulate her into thinking she was in control. She cried in waves. He was one of the few people left she could trust, and she had been a complete jerk.

  The door opened slightly, and she thought she might have woken Caleb, but Duke peeked his head into the room. He rolled his eyes and sighed loudly before reporting into his headset that she was fine.

  Thoroughly insulted, Valerie wiped the remaining tears with the back of her arm. She returned to the dining table to retrieve the locket and went to bed.

  “I can’t stand him. August keeps him around to spite me,” Valerie complained to Hyka, who was on the small display screen in her bathroom, while she got ready for her appointment with Monica.

  “I’m still confused over this grudge you two can’t seem to drop.”

  “I’ve always had this gut feeling he’s straddling the fence.”

  “Dad trusted him. Both our dads. He’s loyal to August, and August to you.”

  “Yeah, well. That’s a rock I can’t throw.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know if we can come back from this,” Valerie said, mindlessly touching her necklace.

  “His jealousy of Jarrett you mean? Why do you think you keep holding on to the locket? To Dr. Jarrett?”

  Valerie huffed but had no defense. Hyka didn’t need a show of strength. She was her friend. If Valerie could tell anyone her logic, this would be the appropriate person to divulge to.

  “The possession means power. Having him in this locket gives me the ability to be independent, something I never had before. This man destroyed everything I ever had. Now I have him forever imprisoned, and I trust no one else with the responsibility to keep him confined. Not August. Not anyone. Without the locket, August is in control. We aren’t equals. I rely on him and not the other way around. With the locket, I’m not reliant on anyone for survival. He can’t see how this is helping me. If he can’t rationalize the reason I keep it, then how is he able to rationalize our relationship? Hyka, t
his isn’t love. Being a DiaZem is just a sick trick Mother Nature plays on those with power.”

  “Have you considered letting him go?”

  “August? Courtney would kill me,” Valerie laughed.

  Hyka’s expression remained still while her eyes moved to the locket and back to Valerie’s face.

  “Oh. Um, I think after the baby comes, and things calm down with the East Coast, then I’ll send it to the Pacific Fleet DiaZem in a concrete box and let someone throw the damn thing overboard.”

  “You say that, but do you think you’ll be able to part with his energy even then? You haven’t stopped touching the locket since we started talking, Valerie.”

  Valerie put her hand down.

  “I’ve got to run and get these last few people to the airport for tonight. Call me if you need me before we get back. Otherwise, we’ll chat tomorrow, huh?”

  “Yes. Talk to you later. Be safe.”

  Valerie opened the door, expecting to find Teresa waiting for her. Instead, August stood there with a clenched jaw. She tucked the locket inside her shirt and walked toward the elevator for her appointment. The rooms within the hotel were relatively soundproof, but August could have easily eavesdropped on her talk with Hyka.

  “I didn’t think you were coming.”

  “I need to see everything’s okay before I leave. I still worry about you even if you don’t need me to.”

  “Hmm.”

  “I can leave now instead of tonight.”

  “Did you come here to fight with me? Because to be honest, I’m tired. I’m the size of a cow, and I could really do without you pouting around every time you see me.”

  They continued in silence to the room that had been converted into Monica’s clinic. Monica let them into the substantial suite, which had an examination chair where a couch and desk would usually be. The couple had arranged orange and yellow vases on the kitchenette counter, and soft music played overhead.

  “Are you having any pain today?” Monica asked while typing notes on the computer.

  “Pain in my ass.”

  “I’ll leave when she checks your vitals.”

  Monica glanced between the two and wrapped the blood pressure cuff around Valerie’s arm.

  “Satisfied?” Valerie asked after all her stats came back normal.

  “And the baby?” August asked in response.

  “You’re really starting to remind me of someone.” She meant Jarrett.

  He knew it. August slammed the door on his way out.

  “Are you okay?” Monica asked, putting the Doppler wand to Valerie’s stomach.

  Valerie waited to hear the wubb, wubb, wubb, wubb of her daughter’s heartbeat before answering. “Ready for this to be over.”

  “And then what?” Monica sat down and faced her. “What will happen then? Will you strap a copper bracelet to your baby and run away?”

  “If I do, I’ll tell them it was your idea.”

  “You’re not just leaving him behind, Val. You’re running from all of us, everyone who loves and cares for you.”

  Valerie paused. “I hurt Courtney’s feelings last night.”

  “She’s a strong woman, but you’re attacking the wrong people.”

  Valerie wrung her hands and didn’t make eye contact. Pretty harsh from an obstetrician to a pregnant lady.

  “I’ll call Court. We can walk down to the terminal together when August leaves,” Valerie said.

  The plane engine whined on the other side of the glass in the terminal. The metal locket dug into her hand as Valerie held her breath and gripped the piece in her pocket. She was nervous, excited, and anxious. August left with a short hug, but nothing more. She might miss him but was looking forward to her freedom and didn’t care who noticed or what they would say. A mental timer started: six hours until Hyka and Jack returned. As August’s plane taxied away, she could feel him leaving her. No pain, but the farther he got was like being conscious of losing a memory.

  Courtney and Monica watched the plane lift off and travel out of sight. Valerie waited for them to turn to her. She imagined her face was as bright as the excitement in her heart.

  “The locket’s working! I feel amazing,” she beamed.

  Courtney’s expression was lackluster. Sad, even. Duke huffed. His upper lip curled toward his nose as he left them all at the gate in disgust.

  “Let me check your vitals before you start celebrating,” Monica said and motioned her over.

  “No one understands what it’s like to be physically tethered to someone for survival.”

  “Val, we all just want you to have a happily ever after. We want you to find love and be happy. Be whole again,” Courtney said, putting a hand over Monica’s.

  “Vitals look good.” Monica removed the stethoscope from her ears. “Any pain?”

  “Only from the disapproving looks you two keep giving me. I am whole and happy. I’m better than I’ve ever been.”

  Valerie could have skipped her way out of the terminal, singing at the top of her lungs all the way to the train. Back through the security gate, Bernie sat devotedly, matching her excited smile with a wave as he bid Valerie and her company a good evening.

  Voices whispered in Caleb’s room when she reached the apartment. Caleb’s light was on. Thinking Teresa was having a difficult time getting the boy to bed, Valerie stuck her head in and was startled to see Duke sitting on the bed.

  “What’s going on?”

  “He got scared and cried.”

  “Where’s Teresa?”

  “It’s late, Valerie. August got off fine without me. I relieved her seeing as I’m here anyway. Not everyone has a village to help them raise a kid.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Duke ignored her and made his way to his room. Five and a half more hours and she would have Hyka back.

  Valerie went back into Caleb’s room. He wasn’t crying. He was sleeping. She pulled the door to just a crack. She found it odd that Duke could get him back to sleep with the light on. When she was in her own room, she took out the locket and set it on her nightstand. A sharp pain stabbed lightly in her lower abdomen. She picked the locket back up and carried it to the tub, where she then lowered herself down into a warm bath and set the charm next to her. The water rippled over her belly like shallow water over an island. Sixteen more weeks until the baby was born. She thought about her daughter and about Monica’s unintentional suggestion earlier: Janie could wear a tiny copper device as she grew and would not be affected by the DiaZem gene. Not a single thought of the baby growing up included the Facility, hotel, or August. Sure, she cared for him for all he’d done for her, but even that wasn’t enough to keep her there. With him gone and Kevin safely in custody, Valerie felt safe and more secure than she had in months.

  Maybe she could reach a compromise with August once the baby arrived. The Council would be more aggressive at finding her and the baby and she would need more protection than ever. Valerie could leave with Janie and Caleb, go into hiding to remotely provide guidance to the Rebellion. August would likely not call upon her regardless, but if appearances were keeping her here, then appearances could put him into power and her in solitude. Her closest friends would join her, and they could live somewhere. Anywhere. Away.

  Valerie activated the small monitor mounted on the wall. She flipped through the displays from the control room: maps of the DiaZem counts, blue for allies and red for the enemy. Jacqueline and Akoni’s power footprint traveled down the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii by boat, while the Pacific Fleet moved further north into place. A few flights were in the air. August was still en route to Florida, nearly halfway there. Soon, Hyka and Jack would be on a plane back. Valerie considered waiting up for her friends to return but decided against it as she was tired from the day’s stress. She pulled the plug and waited for all the water to drain before getting out.

  She picked up the locket and sat on the edge of the bed in a thick robe, looking out to the western horizon. She could see the sk
yscrapers downtown, which were well lit in the otherwise dark night, and the headlights of cars driving down the highway and up the mountains. Fireworks used to light up the horizon in the summer from the stadium. Now the big lights shining brighter than the rest didn’t mean a game was underway. The lights illuminated the burial place her father had converted into a memorial for the millions that died just months before. When Scott died. When she found out she was pregnant. She wondered if she regretted not being able to tell him; if Scott knowing would have made his passing harder on her or him. She wondered if he knew what was happening in those seconds before he passed. If he knew he would not live from the shock. She didn’t find this a painful curiosity. The ambiguity was comforting.

  The analog clock on the wall ticked in the silence of the night. Ten-thirty. Valerie hung her robe and slipped into bed. She commanded the lights off and the overhead fan on; the hum was like a purr, wooing her to sleep.

  In her dream, a tree fell across her back, and the pain woke her like a knife to the stomach. Valerie screamed. Her abdomen contracted to the point she couldn’t breathe. Her short, rapid forced breaths were no match for the tightened muscles throughout her torso. She forced herself up and the lights shined bright in the room. She felt unrelenting agony, and then there was the gush between her legs. There was no knife. Just the pain.

  “No, no, no, no,” she cried as she breathed through the never-ending contraction. “MONICA!” She screamed again, this time bursting lights, shorting circuits.

  Valerie looked over to her nightstand. The locket was gone. Duke must have snuck in while she was asleep.

  “MONICA-A-A!” The pain would not ease up. Valerie knew, without the locket, she would have this baby.

  She sucked in a breath against the torture and tried to stand. Even taking small steps was unmanageable. She slowly knelt down on all fours. The immense contraction subsided. Carefully, she crawled toward her daughter’s room. The technology was her only hope for survival.