by Alex Fedyr
This definitely isn’t a beat-cop barbecue, Kalei thought to herself.
Kalei noticed that only about half the guests wore black gloves like her own, while other guests left their hands remarkably bare: no watches or rings, or even nail polish. The pattern was so absolute, with every guest falling into one category or another, that Kalei had to wonder at the significance of it.
Shenaia and Kalei stood at the edge of the crowd, looking for any sign of Franklin. That was when Kalei heard a voice she recognized amid the pounding notes of the music. Obeying her ears, she stepped around a flirting couple, and saw him standing with his back to her as he chatted with a couple of women. No way, it can’t be...
Kalei walked up to the man and tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around, flashing a smile when he saw her face. Kalei almost didn’t recognize him with the grin; she had never seen one on the man’s face. But she recognized the strong jaw and the stern eyes.
“Qain, what are you doing here?” She glanced at his two companions, twin brunettes who eyed her suspiciously over their wine glasses. “Where are Kas and Teia?”
The woman on the left asked silkily, “Qain, who is your Estranged friend?”
She reached out a hand to Kalei as Qain replied, “Deviah, Denae, this is my sister-in-law, Kalei.” Kalei was reluctant to shake hands, but she decided it would be harmless while she was wearing the gloves. Besides, these women looked like they would take any excuse to skin her alive, so she obliged to the courtesy. “Kalei, these two lovely ladies are the CEOs of Nexware.”
Shenaia stepped up to stand at Kalei’s shoulder as the women exchanged, “Nice to meet you.”
Attempting to find the manners appropriate to the venue, Kalei said, “And this is Shenaia, my- associate.”
The two women laughed, their voices high and airy. Deviah said, “Associate, that’s a good one.”
Denae asked Shenaia, “You’re still using that name? I thought you would have outgrown it by now. Just because you cannot age doesn’t mean you cannot mature.” The woman laughed, playing off the insult as a joke.
Kalei whispered to Shenaia, “How do they know we’re Estranged?”
Shenaia whispered back, “What do you think the gloves are for?”
“Oh.” Kalei looked at the twins with fresh eyes. No gloves. It seemed they were Untouched.
Shenaia replied to Denae, “It’s boring to stick with the things we’re born with. I see you agree with me. You picked up a new pair of breasts since the last time I saw you.”
While the women bantered maliciously, Kalei glanced at Qain’s hands, expecting to find them as bare as the ladies’. But they weren’t.
“Qain, what the hell!” Everyone stopped to stare at her, but Kalei didn’t notice. She only saw the black gloves on his hands. “When did you turn Estranged?”
Qain raised his eyebrows in surprise, then brought them together again as he mused, “Uh, I would say... sheesh, I can’t remember exactly. It’s been years...”
“Years? It can’t be years. Just last year you were bringing Kas and Teia over for us to babysit—”
Qain laughed out loud. “I knew it was a mistake when Landen sent you into SWORDE as his...” Qain glanced at the two women, and then smiled at Kalei, “....close friend. You still don’t know about the girls? Those aren’t my kids. Landen had me put up the ruse so I could keep an eye on you.”
Kalei grabbed him by his shirt. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Qain took off his black glove, reached his hand up, and grabbed her arm. His fingernails held no patterns or smileys. They were full black. She shoved him off before his darkness could find her. “So Teia and Kas aren’t your kids? Then whose are they!”
The crowd shifted and Kalei heard Landen’s voice behind her. “That’s a good question. The truth is, we don’t know who their parents are. They’re simply a pair of orphans we rescued from the orphanage.”
Kalei spun around and to look at him. Landen Franklin was a bit shorter than he looked in his pictures, but he was still a couple inches taller than she was. And he hadn’t aged a day since she last chatted with him a few months ago. Although today, he wore a trim black suit – not quite black-tie, but very sharp. He continued, “It was very difficult keeping my men away from those two. But you know how that goes, don’t you, Shenaia?” He grinned at her, but Shenaia met his attention with a level stare.
Kalei interrupted the exchange. “So what? It was all a joke? Some kind of sick game?”
Landen set his glass down on a nearby waitress’s platter. “I wouldn’t call it a game. It was more of a means to keep in contact. Family visits are much more personal than a security camera on the wall, not to say that we didn’t take advantage of both opportunities. Speaking of family, I’m betting you are here to find out where your husband is, right? Don’t worry, he hasn’t left the city. I made sure of that. I believe they kept the kids penned up with him too. As for their exact location, well, I’m afraid I can’t share that information with you. But...” He waved the subject off with a sweep of his hand. “This isn’t the place to be talking about family disputes. This is a party! I think it’s time to kick things off. How ‘bout you?” He smiled at her, his face radiating energy and excitement.
Kalei pressed her hand against her forehead in an attempt to drive back a growing headache. “No.” Her head was spinning. Why the hell was he keeping tabs on her? And what did he mean when he said that he’d made sure Fenn hadn’t left the city? But what pissed Kalei off the most... “Why the hell would you take two innocent girls and put them in harm’s way! Raising them around a bunch of Estranged?” Kalei spun around and walked up to Qain, her face just inches from his. “And you. How could you lie to your brother! What happened to the venturing entrepreneur Fenn was always looking up to? The big brother who was always doing everything bigger and better because he was just so awesome like that. Where the hell is he? ‘Cuz he sure as hell ain’t you!”
Qain laughed and leaned back. “Oh, I’m still at the top of the food chain, sis. I’m on the Board of Directors for the number one tech company in the world. I’ve got ladies, I’ve got drinks, and – even better than all the rest – I’ve got top access to the best stuff in the whole damn city.” He wiggled his black fingers in front of her nose as he grinned maliciously.
Kalei pulled her gun. Behind her, a couple of voices cried out and the crowd pulled back as sudden as a quickly drawn breath. Then everyone froze.
Kalei glanced over her shoulder. Shenaia had her gun drawn too, aimed straight at Landen Franklin’s head. Franklin and a half dozen of his guards scattered throughout the crowd had their own guns and returned the favor. For the most part, everyone bore standard issue pistols, but Landen’s revolver was twice the size, silver, and polished to a reflective sheen. There was no branding it, the gun was clearly custom made. The overall design was as sleek as any sports car’s, with the cylinder shaved down until just enough metal remained to hold the bullets, and a deep red ink was painted into every streamlined etching along the barrel.
Kalei lifted one hand up in surrender and, with the other, she slowly placed her gun on the floor, turning to face Landen as she did so. She glanced at Shenaia, who still held her gun at the ready. Kalei forced a polite smile onto her face, stood up straight, and said, “Come on. I’m sure your guests don’t want to start off the night with bloodshed.”
Franklin looked off to the side, knitting his eyebrows together quizzically, then he looked back to Kalei and replied, “You know, I have to disagree. I think they do.” He pulled the trigger.
Kalei heard the sound of a voice blaring over a speaker. The thick distortion the microphone added to his voice reminded her of the time she went to see a comedian with Fenn. The man had pranced back and forth across the stage, sending the entire audience into fits of laughter with his quips.
But this voice wasn’t telling jokes. He sounded serious, impassioned, excited. She tried to focus her attention to hear what he
was saying, “...proven ourselves to be the best this city has to offer. Every single person in this room has the power to make a difference in this city. And we already have. Take a look around, between the tech and port industries, Celan has the biggest economy of any other city in Dendara. Why? Because we made it that way.”
Kalei’s head was groggy. She couldn’t fully wrap her thoughts around what he was saying. She couldn’t even make sense of where she was. She felt like she was... floating. Her arms and legs hung limp before her, but they came in contact with nothing. Around her, she felt... nothing. The only thing she felt was a tight pressure across her chest and hips.
In the background, somewhere out in the nothingness, the voice continued. She recognized belatedly that it was Landen Franklin’s voice. “...isn’t the only valuable resource in this city. We are a valuable resource to this city. So why should we let our resources go to waste? Why should we lose our minds and our bodies to the ravages of old age? Why should we let everything we are, and everything we’ve built fade away just because time has decided we’re done?”
Kalei forced her eyes open, tired of being left in the dark. She saw another pair of eyes about forty feet below, peering back at her. She blinked and realized she was looking at a lion. Abruptly, she yelled and tried to pull back, but there was nothing to grab, nothing to push off. Instead, her sudden movement sent her spinning as she realized she was dangling by a harness, with the cord attached firmly to the center of her back. And beneath the harness, she was appalled to find that someone had dressed her in tight blue, polyester shorts with a black halter bikini top. The harness fit awkwardly around and under her breasts, acting more as a push-up bra than an actual restraint. Around her, the world slowly slid by and she saw curtains, a dark recess with lights and scaffolding, and then – an audience. About fifty to a hundred people looking up at her. She glanced down again and realized she was dangling above a stage, with the lion penned in a small glass enclosure below her.
Kalei knew she had to find a way out. Her hands scrambled to find the clasps of the harness. She knew she could survive the fall, even if it was a forty-foot drop. I mean, I’m Estranged. I survived a gunshot to the head. A little fall should be nothing. Her racing heart didn’t seem to agree.
But as her hands closed on a clasp, she noticed the lion shift with anticipation below, and she realized that it wasn’t the fall she would have to worry about.
At the head of the stage, Landen Franklin turned around, a small microphone pinned to his shirt. He saw her and smiled as he said, “Ah, our first guest is awake. See? This is what I’m talking about. Not even a bullet could quench the fire in this young woman.” The crowd roared and cheered in response.
Kalei tried in vain to stop herself from spinning, but the world continued to turn, and as the clapping died, Kalei found herself facing the left half of the stage. Lying on the floor, dressed in halter-top and shorts to match Kalei’s, complete with a harness strapped around her chest and a cable stretched out slack behind her, was Shenaia.
“Shenaia!” Kalei didn’t know why she called out. Perhaps it was just to make sure the young woman was alive. Seeing her lying limp like that awoke fierce emotions of fear and concern in Kalei that she didn’t know she could feel toward the teen. “Hey! Shenaia!” Kalei couldn’t see if her efforts were working. She was already spinning away.
But she heard Landen say, “Ah, I see your sister is stirring as well.”
Kalei yelled at the curtains, “Why the hell are you guys always calling her my sister!”
Landen and a few members of the audience laughed. “Kalei, you can’t be serious.” As Kalei turned again to face the crowd, Landen walked over to the front of the lion’s cage to look up at her. The lion stood up, eying the man hungrily. Landen looked into her face, and Kalei glared back at him, hungrier than the lion. After a brief pause, Landen laughed again. “You really don’t know. Kalei, that’s your sister Jenna over there.”
Kalei didn’t have a response. Even as he finished saying it, her spinning harness turned her to look at Shenaia. She was starting to sit up now. Her short hair was mussed, the heavy makeup was smeared... at this distance, it was hard to see much more detail than that. But now that he said it... it had been almost twenty years since Kalei had seen her sister, even if she was alive... but now that he mentioned it, there was no mistaking the way she held herself, the set of her jaw as she clenched her teeth, and if there was still any doubt—
Shenaia abruptly leaped after Landen. “Franklin, you son of a bitch!” The harness stopped her attack, but the way she fought and pulled against it brought a memory to the forefront of Kalei’s mind. A bully had pulled Jenna by her backpack, and she had fought against the restraining straps with the exact same stance, the exact same swipes of her hand as Shenaia did now. The bully had gone to the hospital and Jenna was suspended for a week. This really was the nineteen-year-old version of her sister Jenna. How could she not see it...? Then again, she had never expected to find that her older sister was younger than her. Yet before Kalei could fully grasp the idea, the harness spun Kalei away from her sister, and she found herself facing the curtain again. Kalei wasn’t sure if it was the spinning or the roiling emotions that made her nauseous.
Landen addressed the audience. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you our honored co-hosts for this evening: Kalei Distrad and Jenna Kendrick.” The crowd cheered and clapped amiably. Landen walked back across the stage and presented the lion with an outstretched arm. “And let us not forget our dear friend, the honorable and ferocious Max!” Again, the crowd cheered and clapped. The renewed energy in the audience had sparked Max’s interest, and he began to pace the front of his cage, licking his jowls as he beheld the noisy morsels.
“And now, let’s get on with the main event. Jared, will you come up here, please?” Kalei’s spin was already turning her away from the theatre, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw a man in the third row stand up.
Kalei was facing Jenna now, and the young woman was quickly working at the straps on her harness while everyone’s attention was on Jared. She managed to get one leg loose when Landen Franklin said, “Jenna, don’t be a spoilsport. Here, before you take that off, let me show you what it’s for. Ted, can you take off the safety for me?”
Kalei turned her head to try to see what Ted was doing in the shadows behind Jenna, but her endless rotation carried her too far around to see. She was getting tired of this game. She tried to reach up and grab the cable that held her, which was fairly more difficult than she had imagined, but right as her hand closed around it, she heard a click and dropped. She had probably fallen no more than a few inches when the harness pulled her to a stop again, but those three inches were enough to scare her shitless. She didn’t want to mess with the cable anymore. She felt the full terror of every foot of empty space between her and the stage. Adrenaline pounded in her veins and she closed her eyes to try to block out the height, but the darkness only added to the sensation of spinning and made her stomach heave. She opened her eyes again and saw that she was now turning back to the center of the stage where Landen stood facing the audience with Jared on his right and Jenna on his left.
Franklin said, “Okay, so we’ve got the safety off. Now, Jenna, you see your sister up there? Wave hi for me.” Jenna didn’t wave. Neither did Kalei. He continued, “Ah, a couple of spoilsports. Anyway, keep an eye on your sister and take a step forward.” Kalei couldn’t see them anymore, but the cable hoisted her a foot higher. “Now take a step back.” The cable lowered Kalei back to where she started. Landen said, “You see how this works? Every time you take a step back, your sister drops closer to Max. He’s a bit desperate for company, so I don’t recommend letting her get too close to him. You’re still welcome to take off that harness if you want, but I’m not sure Kalei will appreciate you for it.” He laughed, and the crowd laughed with him.
Kalei heard Jenna mutter, “I’ll keep it on, thanks.”
Landen said, “Sor
ry, we didn’t hear you.” Kalei spun back around in time to see him walk to the front of the stage and accept a microphone from a stagehand. He walked back to his place and held the microphone out to Jenna. “Can you repeat that?”
Jenna squared her shoulders, pulled a smirk onto her face, and joked amiably, “You talked me into it. I hadn’t realized how sexy this harness is. Maybe if you’re lucky, I’ll let you try it on sometime.” The audience laughed, but Landen just smiled stiffly.
“Anyway, none of you came to see two sisters play with a lion, although we could call that icing on the cake. Tonight is E-night!” The audience approved enthusiastically. Landen continued, “So, on my right, we have our dear friend Jared. This man is terminally ill. His body has already begun to decay, his strength is fleeing him, and every day from here on out, he is doomed to watch as he wastes away into nothing. Unless Jenna here can cure our man.”
The audience cheered again as Landen offered Jenna the microphone. Jenna... Kalei thought. This is so weird, Shenaia is so... but Shenaia is Jenna, and Jenna is Shenaia. Kalei’s head was spinning faster than the harness. She turned her attention back to the issue at hand: escape. She searched for something, anything she might be able to grab on to, but the curtains that sailed by were more than ten feet out of her reach, and she doubted she had enough cord to inconspicuously swing over there.