Woundabout

by Lev Rosen

  “Think these are other things Nico stole?” Cordelia asked.

  “Door on the left,” said the voice suddenly. There was a door directly to their left, which they opened. Inside that door, though, things looked entirely different.

  The children walked in squinting, because it was so bright. There were screens everywhere, lining all the walls of a giant room. Each screen showed the inside of a greenhouse, but from a robot’s point of view, so the camera was moving and shaking. Looking at all the screens at once made the children feel a little seasick.

  “Hi,” said the voice from earlier. The children realized there had been a person right in front of them the whole time, but with all the screens, they hadn’t noticed at first. And she had her back to them. She was sitting in a wheelchair made of shiny chrome. It was a fancier wheelchair than they’d ever seen, like something from the future. And she was typing at a large computer. “Just a sec,” she said. She pressed a few keys on the keyboard and turned around. She was older than they were, maybe seventeen, and wore her hair in a ponytail. She smiled, but the children got the impression she was more curious than friendly.

  “I’m Ines, Nico’s sister. Why are you looking for him?” she said. Her voice wasn’t mean, exactly, but she sounded in a hurry to get rid of them.

  “He took something,” Cordelia said.

  “Again?” Ines sighed. “What did he steal from you?”

  “No,” Connor said. “Not from us. Well, from us, yes, but originally from the Mayor. And he said he was going to tell the Mayor he could only have it back when he let your family move into Woundabout. But if Nico tells the Mayor he has it, he’ll get in a lot of trouble… ’cause of us.”

  Ines furrowed her brow and her pale eyebrows came together in a little point over her nose.

  “Okay,” she said. “Let me…” She looked around the room at all the monitors, her head turning in one deliberate swoop, until she stopped at one. “He’s burying it in the raspberries,” she said. She turned back to her computer and pressed a button and said very clearly, “Nico, get back here. Right. Now.”

  Nico’s voice came through the computer, buzzing with static. “Why?”

  “Because you’re burying something in the raspberries and I’ll tell Mom and Dad who you stole it from if you don’t,” Ines said.

  “Fine,” came Nico’s angry voice through the static.

  “And bring whatever it is you’re burying,” she said into the microphone. For a moment, a screech of feedback filled the room, but it quickly ended. “Now, then,” Ines said, turning back to the children, “did Nico tell you why he wants us to move into Woundabout so badly?”

  “He said you’d had an accident,” Cordelia said. “And the air would be good for you.”

  Ines rolled her eyes. “That’s what I thought,” she said. She sighed again.

  “So… do you run this place?” Cordelia asked.

  “I run the machines,” Ines said. “Built them, too. Designed the entire greenhouse system: temperature and humidity control, pollination systems, insect supervision. Dad drives the truck with the fruits and vegetables to sell in Woundabout, and Mom chooses which fruits and vegetables to plant and tells me how they have to be grown, so I can make sure the greenhouse is hot or dry or cold or whatever it needs to be to get the best produce. And Nico… steals things.”

  “That’s really awesome!” Cordelia said. “That you built all this.”

  “Thanks,” Ines said. “So… how did you come by a capybara?”

  “His name is Kip,” Connor said. Kip padded over to Ines and sniffed at her wheelchair. Ines bent down and patted him on the head.

  “He’s cute.”

  “He belonged to our parents,” Cordelia said. “They ran a capybara ranch, but…”

  “I know,” Ines said. “My parents mentioned it. Sorry for your loss.” She said it flatly, as though it didn’t mean anything, which the children liked, because they knew it didn’t. They didn’t have to reply. “My parents were angry when they heard you were being allowed to move into town. They’ve been trying to get in for ages. Something about the air. Nonsense. Weird little town, weird people—no offense. I like the greenhouses way better.”

  “Yeah,” Cordelia said. “I’d rather spend all day here than in Woundabout. It feels more like a home.”

  “That whole place is weird,” Ines said, shaking her head. “I’ve been up into town three times. That was enough. No internet? No modern tech? It’s like they’re some outdated machine that won’t allow upgrades. Don’t get me wrong—I know upgrades can be a hassle, but they make things better. These greenhouses used to operate so slowly. This wheelchair,” she said, tapping it, “used to squeak and turn. So I upgraded it.”

  “It’s really cool-looking,” Connor said.

  “Thanks,” Ines said, wheeling closer to them, Kip following so as to continue being petted. “It was hard work, but I’m proud of it.” She smiled down at Kip and scratched behind his ears.

  “Do you…” Cordelia started, but let the question trail off, afraid it was rude.

  “What?” Ines asked.

  “Is the wheelchair so you can run the robots better?” Cordelia asked after a moment. “Or do you need it?”

  “Both,” Ines said. “I was working on a robot—like the ones in the greenhouses—and I made a stupid mathematical error and the balance wasn’t right and it fell on me. Stupid, stupid mistake. Sometimes I get so angry at myself when I think about it.” She shook her head, and Connor and Cordelia thought about how angry Cordelia had gotten at Kip, even though it wasn’t really his fault. “Anyway, spine broke, they tried to fix it, surgery after surgery, until I’d had enough and decided to just move past it, best as I could. All these surgeries and recoveries wasted time I wanted to be doing stuff, y’know? Building robots, going to the movies—I missed twenty-seven movies I wanted to see in the theater ’cause of those surgeries.”

  “It’s so cool how you build robots,” Connor said. Cordelia nodded in agreement.

  Ines smiled, looking pleased with herself. “Yeah, it is,” she said. “My parents moved us here because they wanted to get into Woundabout for its magic air, or whatever, but I moved here because I saw the space to create something amazing out of these greenhouses. And that’s what I’m doing.”

  “So you don’t want to move to the town?” Cordelia asked. “Nico said—”

  “No. These greenhouses—this tech. That’s what I want to be doing. I don’t care about the town. Ridiculous.” She lifted Kip up into her lap and petted his belly in silence for a few minutes.

  Cordelia looked around at the computers and monitors and shiny mechanics and turned back to Ines.

  “Do you think…” Cordelia started, then paused. “I mean, you’re good with machines. So, I guess, do you think trees could be run by machines?”

  Ines raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, all the trees in the greenhouses are run by machines,” she said. “But I’m guessing that’s not what you meant.” She leaned forward. “Is there a tree machine in town?”

  The children stared at her silently and opened their mouths to answer.

  “I’m here,” Nico interrupted, walking into the room, holding the crank. “Oh, hey, mates,” he said, noticing them. “Sorry about the note, but I was in a hurry.”

  “There you are,” Ines said, putting Kip down. “Your friends are here to save you from some trouble, but first you talk to me.” She folded her arms across her chest. “What have I said about moving to Woundabout?”

  “That you don’t want to,” Nico said, looking down at the floor.

  “Right. So why are you planning on blackmailing the Mayor to get us in?”

  Nico kicked the ground silently and let out a long sigh.

  “Well?” Ines asked. “Why go to the trouble of stealing from the most important man in town—the man who, by the way, ensures that the town buys our fruits and vegetables?”

  Nico wouldn’t look up. He mumbled
something so softly the children couldn’t understand it.

  “What?” asked Ines. Nico glanced over at Connor and Cordelia, then back at the ground.

  “Because I want it to be like it used to be.” He looked up suddenly, his eyes angry and red at the edges. “Why don’t you want it to be like it used to be?” he said loudly. He took a step backward, as if he realized how angry he sounded. “Remember when you used to help me make race cars and we’d race down the hill? But now you say it’s too much work for you to get up the hill. Or how we used to play catch? Or even how you used to let me help you build the robots? That was fun. Now you kick me out of here if I even touch one.”

  “I just don’t want you to get hurt,” Ines said, shaking her head. “I couldn’t keep myself from getting hurt—I don’t want that to happen to you.”

  “Yeah,” Nico said, looking down, “but I can be careful. And what about the other stuff? We used to… have fun. Now you’re alone in your lab all day.”

  “Not all day,” Ines said, sounding genuinely surprised. “I go out—you know I’ve been going on dates with one of the train conductors.…”

  “Well, you don’t hang out with me,” Nico said. “You have time for a train conductor, but not me?”

  “I…” Ines nodded. She glanced at Connor and Cordelia, who turned away, staring at the video monitors so Nico and Ines could have some privacy. “I just thought you didn’t want to have anything to do with me now. I mean, how much fun can it be for a kid to hang out with his wheelchair-bound older sister? Isn’t that boring?”

  “No,” Nico said, sounding surprised. “We always have fun together. Remember when we would build forts and make shadow puppets?”

  “Yes.” Ines smiled. “I remember that. You’re right. We should do that. I’m sorry I haven’t been fun. But it’s not because of my legs. And Woundabout isn’t going to fix my legs anyway.”

  “You don’t even want to try?” Nico asked. The children turned their heads slightly, curious about her answer.

  Ines tilted her head, thinking. “It’s hard,” she said. “Wondering if I could undo what happened. And I even tried for that—all those surgeries. But I couldn’t keep living like that—hoping to be fixed and always failing. I realized I didn’t need to be fixed. I like my life now, Nico. And if I get caught up in thinking, If only I were more this or more that, then I’m not going to like my life. I’m just going to wonder about this other life. So, no, I don’t want to try. I’m happy. I’m not broken. But I am sorry I haven’t been hanging out with you. I’ll fix that, I promise.”

  Connor and Cordelia looked at each other and wondered if they were broken, or whole. Ines made it sound a lot easier than it was. She seemed powerful, maybe kind of bossy, but she built robots and ran a city of greenhouses, and they believed her when she said she was happy. Connor wanted to build cities one day, too, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to if he still felt broken when he tried to build them. And Cordelia wanted to have a gallery filled with her photos, and she knew she couldn’t take enough new ones to fill that gallery if she just kept looking at all her old ones.

  Ines wheeled over to Nico and hugged him.

  “Okay,” Nico said.

  “Now, you need to listen to your friends,” Ines said, turning back to Connor and Cordelia. “They have some important stuff to tell you, and were about to tell me something about a tree machine in town.”

  “We used the crank,” Connor blurted out. “On the park, and made it bloom, like you saw, and then on the river. But the Mayor knows it was us and he said he was going to find proof it was us and kick us out, send us to foster care, where we’ll be split up.”

  “So we didn’t want you to tell the Mayor you had it—he’s so angry he would never let you into Woundabout then,” Cordelia finished.

  “Oh,” Nico said. For a moment his face looked as though he hadn’t slept in days, as though he’d just lain in bed, staring at the ceiling, worrying about his sister, and now there was no point in worrying anymore. He took a deep breath. “Thanks, then. Though I guess it doesn’t matter,” he said quickly, as if he wanted to get it over with. He looked away, out the window at Woundabout. “Why would he be mad about the park blooming, though?”

  “And how can a crank make a park bloom?” Ines asked.

  “I don’t know,” Connor said. “Aunt Marigold said it was like a lock that kept things from changing in the town.”

  “Like a machine!” Ines said, her eyes glowing like her computer screens. “Well, that’s my area of expertise.”

  Chapter 22

  So,” Ines said after examining the crank and asking about the holes it went in, “a system of locks to prevent change, a machine that makes flowers bloom—I’d love to see that. It sounds fascinating. You should finish it. Unlock everything else. Get the machine working at full capacity.”

  “What’s ‘full capacity’?” Cordelia asked.

  “All the way on,” Ines said. “That’s the best way to test the machine. When you’ve done that, I can check for unusual signals or currents going into town. I might have to go and find the places where these locks are, though.”

  “But the Mayor said he’d kick us out if we didn’t return the crank,” Connor said.

  “Tell you what,” Ines said. “You get kicked out, you can come stay with us. We have plenty of food, and I could use more hands for some of the machines I’m building. You sound like you’re both pretty good with technology. You should come stay here anyway.”

  “Or,” Nico said, “I could return the crank. Put it back in the case in the Mayor’s house. Then no one will get in trouble.”

  “But then we wouldn’t get to see what the machine does,” Ines said. “And everything the crank has done so far is good. I can’t imagine the machine is a bad thing. It allows change. It’s like with my robots—I tinker with them and change them and make them better. Sometimes I accidentally make things worse, or break things.…” She trailed off for a moment, her eyes far away. “But that doesn’t matter,” she continued, shaking her head. “I fix it. I learn from my mistakes. My robots get better. Besides, you can’t really stop it. The town didn’t stop change—I mean, you’re here. They’re just hiding from it. That’s not the same.”

  Connor and Cordelia thought about the recent changes in their own lives—the deaths of their parents, coming to Woundabout. Their lives, they knew, would be better if those changes hadn’t happened. But then they also would never have really met Aunt Marigold, never seen the trees in the park explode with petals. If change really was unavoidable, they were glad it wasn’t all bad. Connor would have said that even if a building collapsed, and it had been a beautiful building, at least they could build another. And Cordelia would have said that even if a photo came out all wrong, it could still be a breathtaking picture.

  Ines turned to the children, and they looked up at her, focusing on the present. “Turn on the machine. Find the next place for the crank.”

  “We don’t know where it is,” Cordelia said. “We just sort of know where the statue was pointing.”

  “You have a photo of the statue on that camera?” Ines asked. Cordelia nodded. “And you’ve been mapping on your smartphone?”

  “Yes,” Connor said.

  “Hand ’em over,” Ines said, reaching out. Slowly, the children gave her their gadgets. Ines turned back to her computers and, in a flurry of plugs and typing, connected the devices. The screens around the room started showing the photos Cordelia had taken and the map Connor had drawn. They flicked back and forth, like some sort of code, until finally they settled down. Spread out over all the monitors on one wall was a photo of the statue pointing, and Connor’s map.

  “This dot here,” Ines said, pointing at the map. “That’s the statue?” Connor nodded. Ines typed a few more things into her computer. “Then, there,” she said, a red dot appearing on Connor’s map. “That’s where another winding spot will be… except…” Ines turned back to the computer and tapped her fin
ger on her chin a few times. “Yeah, that’s where it is, but it’s underground. If the statue is pointing correctly, anyway.”

  “Underground?” Cordelia asked.

  “I know where it is!” Nico shouted suddenly. “The sewers!”

  “The sewers?” Connor echoed. Sewers were usually disgusting and filled with rats and the things you flush down toilets.

  “I use them to get places when I don’t want to be seen,” Nico said. “To lift stuff. They’re real nice. Walkways, tiles. It’s like they used to be used for, like, strolling or something. And we can use them to get to the Mayor’s house, too. To put the crank back. If you don’t want to find the last winding spot.”

  Connor and Cordelia looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

  “Well, I guess we could at least go to the sewers,” Connor said. “We can decide what to do as we walk.” Cordelia nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, then,” Nico said. “Follow me.”

  “Turn it back on,” Ines barked at Connor and Cordelia as she handed back the camera and phone. “I want to know what it does.”

  “Thanks,” Cordelia said after a moment. “For everything.”

  “You want to come?” Connor asked.

  “I do…” Ines said, looking back and forth between her monitors and the crank. “But I really can’t. Got greenhouses to run. But come back and get me when you’ve turned it on. I’ll set the greenhouses up so they can run without me for a while.” She turned back around to her computer, giving Kip one more pat on the head as she did so.

  Feeling as though they’d just been dismissed, the children and Nico left the house, Nico leading the way toward Woundabout and the sewers.