by Zara Zenia
The teen sagged, shoulders slumped, then sprinted in the building again and straight past me, too distracted by his own turmoil to notice.
“Hey! Wait!” I called out.
“Sorry, can’t! There’s gonna be some very angry folks back here soon. I suggest you make a run for it too. I wouldn’t want to be around here when they get back.” His voice cracked on the last of his statement, belying his young age.
“But I need help. My sister could die,” I argued, blocking his path. He was even scrawnier looking up close.
He looked up at me, unimpressed. “Yeah? Well, tell her to join the club.” The cynical tone was not lost on me. He spoke as if there were no hope left in the world to hold onto.
Our eyes met and his voice trailed off. I blushed under the scrutiny. “What?” I scowled.
“It’s you!” he exclaimed with excitement and pointed a mocha-colored bony finger at my chest.
“And you’re you, so now we’ve got that out of the way, can you help me out? It won’t take long.” I was confused as I continued to press him.
He hurried past me, grabbing my sleeve and pulling me with him. “Yes, but we gotta hurry.”
“Okay.” I followed him back to his apartment. It was full of metal racks with various devices and compu-scraps. The entire place was littered with electronics.
As I watched, he ran to the closet and grabbed a small pack before waving me on. Opening a window, he grabbed onto a gutter pipe and slid down to the alley below. Was I really supposed to follow him?
The situation wasn’t inspiring much comfort, but it was all I had to go on and he hadn’t completely denied me of help yet.
When we were a few blocks away and he’d pulled on a thick stocking cap, popping the color of his jacket, he finally spoke again.
“I’m Bodi, by the way. E-scrapper, savant, jack of all trades, male model, and budding mogul.” He grinned proudly with a set of teeth that were pearly white.
“Ok, I’m—”
“You’re Amy Allen, from Refugee Precinct 6. I know all about you,” he said as if announcing the weather. His tone was so casual that it made me unsettled. How the hell did he know who I was?
“Excuse me?” I struggled, stammering as I stared at him in shock, mouth agape.
“I got a notice last night from my client network. You are hot cakes right now and my ticket out of this shit hole,” he continued. His explanation was vaguer that I cared for it to be, and I needed him to elaborate and get on with the point.
I stopped in my tracks. “Whoa. I’m not going anywhere with you until you explain how the hell you know anything about me.” I grabbed him by the crook of his elbow and held him in place, refusing to let go. My grip on him was solid.
He rolled his eyes at my lack of comprehension and brought me up to speed. Gardax had bought the help of some powerful people who Bodi happened to be on the bad side of after he’d hacked their network and gotten caught. He’d had some temporary protection from a local paid posse but that bridge had burned this morning along with the device he was trying to fix for them.
We were on our way to turn me in, he informed me.
I acted reflexively, wrapping him in a choke hold. I gritted my teeth and gave him a death stare.
“The only way you’re dragging me in is if I’m unconscious. Like you’ll be in about three seconds if I tighten this grip,” I warned in a snarly voice. I was stronger than him and it wouldn’t be hard to kill him.
“Okay,” he croaked as I released him. “Jesus, what’s your problem?” he asked, rubbing the skin beneath his jaw where I’d started to cut off his blood supply. He coughed a little for dramatic affect.
“You told me you’d help me. Now are you a scrapper or not?” I raised an eyebrow and pushed myself so close to him that we were only an inch or so apart. He smelled like body odor.
“Dude, a prince is looking for you. And you want my help to avoid him? I’d be doing you a favor getting you connected. There’s some shady folks would ransom you, but I’m not like that. But I do have an ass to cover. Do you know what they’re going to do to me if they find out I let you go? Have some humanity, lady. Word gets out we crossed paths and I didn’t alert the bosses, just toss me in the Hudson now.” He raised his arms defensively.
He wasn’t much older than Corinne, if I had to guess. Maybe fifteen. From the looks of him and the dilapidated place he’d been scrounging in, I had a feeling he’d been on his own for a while. And damn it, I felt bad for him, remembering how hard that was, what it was like to have no one. He was desperate, and he had a way to escape this decrepit lifestyle. I couldn’t blame him, but I couldn’t allow him to get his wish granted either.
“All right, I’ll make a deal with you. You get me the number I need off this phone, and I’ll let you take my picture and send it in. Tell them you’ve spotted me. That should count for something, right?” I asked in a cheerier voice, aiming to be able to compromise with the little weasel.
Bodi studied me in that wary way I knew well because it was how I viewed other people too. “Okay. But I need a little more. Let me plant a tracker on you, then you ditch it somewhere with something of yours. a jacket or something.” It wasn’t a terrible idea. I could roll with these punches.
I agreed and explained, in broad strokes, what was going on. He took my phone and examined it. We settled in an alleyway behind a rotten-smelling dumpster, and he pulled out a series of tools from his pack, plugging the phone into a small box and fiddling. Sparks flew for a moment and my heart sank. That wasn’t a good sign.
“Got it,” he announced, grinning through his safety goggles. I closed my eyes against the relief. “Thank you,” I murmured as a prayer song of gratitude.
Darla’s number in hand, we walked over to another bodega and I spent a very large portion of my remaining money on a basic burner phone, punching the numbers in. This option was far more important than having food. I could always scrounge in dumpsters to stay alive, but I’d never be lucky enough to stumble upon a burner phone.
It rang and rang, and my nerves ate at me so furiously, I didn’t think there’d be much left of me if she didn’t answer. I held my breath and waited, a tumbling wreck inside.
“Hello?” Darla’s voice finally answered in that fake-nice voice she’d used when we first met. She must be expecting someone else to be on the other end of the receiver. I saw right through her phoniness.
“It’s Amy. I did what you said. I got away and the prince knows nothing. Now, tell me, is Corinne okay?” I asked, fear rippling through me as Bodi looked on, pretending not to hear my conversation.
“Well, well, well. Look who is a little lying piece of trash. The prince does know something. He knows you didn’t just quit, you dumb bitch, and now he’s looking for you. For that, and for making me wait twenty-four hours for a fucking call back, you’re going to be punished,” she said, her voice far too calm. The hairs raised on the back of my neck. Darla’s threats got worse every time I spoke to her.
The phone clicked and then heated. I pulled it from my face and the tiny screen lit up with a picture. It was Corinne in some tiny, dark space. She was tied, her skin red and enflamed where the rope cut into her. Somewhere beside me, Bodi gasped, but luckily, he was out of sight of the camera.
My eyes welled with sorrowful tears and pooled over the sides of my cheeks, running down my face and burning me. “Corinne!” I cried. “Corinne, honey, I’m doing everything I can.”
“Save it. Your sister knows what a failure you are. And here is her permanent reminder.” Her voice was wicked and sinister.
Darla appeared in the shot, blocking Corinne for a moment. Something red glowed in her hand, and when she touched it to Corinne, eliciting a scream of agony, I realized what it was. Darla’s voice was raspy and grotesque from years of smoking, and now, I had to watch as she tortured Corinne with one of her godawful cigarettes.
The hot end seared into Corinne’s sensitive skin as if it were a branding tool, l
eaving a permanent mark forever, just like Darla warned. She snickered with amusement, watching my sister writhe in delirious pain. It was a struggle and a nightmare to endure witnessing this terrible act of abuse, even over the phone.
Fat tears rolled down my cheeks as I begged her to stop. After what felt like an eternity, Corinne’s shrieks became little more than moans as Darla dotted burn marks up and down her arms. The damage had been done. Corinne whimpered and then went limp and quiet.
“Please, please stop!” I pleaded. I would do anything to take my sister’s pain away and bear the burden myself.
Darla turned back to look at me, angling her head to the side with those cold, lifeless eyes of hers. Her stare was like glancing directly into the soul of the devil.
“You want me to stop?” She smiled. “Okay. You’re right, this is too easy to cover. Let’s make her really remember how you messed up.” She pulled a pair of kitchen scissors out and my stomach dropped. The sky was the limit as far as the twisted ways of torture that Darla could inflict on the world.
“Hmm. what should I take?” she said, dragging the pointed end across Corinne’s cheek. Looking back, she warned darkly, “Don’t fuck up again, Amy.” Then she grabbed the bulk of Corinne’s hair and lopped it off in one chop. “Next time, it’ll be something that doesn’t grow back, and when I’ve finished with her, I’ll find you and dissect you like the vermin you are.”
Blood trickled down the blades of the scissors and I knew she’d cut Corinne in the process. Corinne didn’t flinch. She was probably too numb from the pain or passed out. Her eyes were sealed shut but I could tell that she was still breathing by the way her shoulders raised up and down.
“I’m so sorry, Corinne. I’m . . .” I cried, not having the words to finish. Words held no value anyway. It was action that would take her pain away.
Corinne looked up at me then, her eyes cold and hard, her jaw clenched. “Get the cops and find this bitch.”
Darla’s hand slapped Corinne’s cheek with a painful, sharp whack and the call dropped. I knew that Corinne would probably have to pay for that statement, but I almost smiled when I realized that the little light of survival was still burning within Corinne. She had the vibrance to fight, and as long as she wasn’t giving up, neither was I.
It took me a moment to refocus. My hands were shaking, my vision clouded by tears. My shoulders shook with sobs. I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed to wake up soon from this nightmare.
“Shit. you’re in it deep too, huh?” Bodi said, finally breaking the silence, and I looked back at him, nodding as my mind raced. His eyes were curious and careful.
“I’ll find you.” Darla didn’t know where I was. The cheap burner phone couldn’t be traced. It was a rare moment of freedom and I seized it. For the first time in this ordeal, I had the upper hand.
I punched in Gardax’s number and held my breath, waiting to hear his voice. There would be no Darla waiting to listen in on the call. This realization gave me fervent energy and hopeful enthusiasm.
But he didn’t answer. The automated voice on the other line instructed me to leave a message, so I did. I hurried to tell him everything I could fit in a message. It felt like I was ripping open all the carefully maintained boxes in my mind, but I clung to the hope that it would be worth it. I told him how Darla had tricked me into thinking we were friends, then used everything she knew about me to torment me. How she had Corinne and was hurting her to prevent me from reaching out to him.
If the concern in his eyes was sincere, maybe, just maybe, he could help. I prayed that he’d be able to hear the message without it being intercepted by Darla first.
Finally, I drew the phone away and clicked it off, praying that he’d get it, praying that I hadn’t just sealed Corinne’s death warrant.
“So, what are you gonna do now?” Bodi asked. I’d almost forgotten he was there in my ambitious focus.
I swallowed and recentered. “Right, our deal.”
He shook his head. “Nah, it’s okay.” He lifted his shirt and revealed a crisscross pattern of scars from his hip to his armpit. “We all tryin’ to survive, right? Look, I’ve got a backup place, off the grid. I’m headed there. You can lie low there too, if you want. Safety in numbers, eh?”
And for the first time in as many years as I could remember, I hugged someone other than Corinne. Maybe there were good people left out there in the world after all.
Chapter 15
Gardax
I’d not rested easy, and when I woke, it barely registered. The whole night had been little more than a waking dream. Amy intruded into every thought, every dream. My sleep had been restless, and my eyes burned with fatigue.
“Rise and shine, brother,” Darbnix’s voice reached my ears, so deep it sounded almost artificial.
I sat up and looked toward the direction of his voice. Through the sheer, iridescent curtains of my bed, I could see him lounging in a chair, staring out at the view below.
“A fascinating planet, is it not?” he murmured. “Such lush natural environments and yet the populace hide themselves away in these massive concrete hives, as if they are afraid of the planet that gives them life.”
Darbnix was most at home in the wild, which suited him well to his province of Noor, where the bulk of Trilynia’s food and sustenance came from. “I have acquired a number of interesting plant and animal specimens for our eventual return, though. I’ve quite enjoyed my excursions into the wilderness here.”
“I wouldn’t know. Coel doesn’t allow me off the ship much,” I grumbled. He was speaking in such a pacifying, trance-like lull that it angered and frustrated me. Didn’t he know what a nervous wreck I was about this whole Amy situation?
Darbnix chuckled. “The costs of being the eldest, I suppose. You’re too precious and delicate to risk.” His voice was only slightly resentful, but I felt the barb anyway.
“Hmph. Step into the training module with me and I’ll show you just how delicate,” I argued.
He laughed again. “No doubt. Listen, I’ve heard reports that you may have found your bride. Is it true?” He glanced over at me for the first time since he began talking.
I shrugged into a robe and walked to the transparent wall. “I suspect as much, but I can’t know until I’ve scanned her, which is proving problematic.”
“Left that good of an impression on her?” he teased, but it stung.
I scrubbed the sleep from my face, sighing. “I don’t know. But she certainly left an impression on me. I can barely pass a few moments without thinking of her, worrying where she might be. She’s in danger of some kind, but she couldn’t or wouldn’t trust me.” I looked back at him. “I don’t like being helpless.”
Darbnix nodded. “No, I imagine you would not. Is there anything I can do?” A purple watch lizard jumped from his pocket and onto his shoulder as he stood and walked toward me. Those damn things were so annoying, and he never left home without one slinking by his side.
I shook my head and bade Vesper to bring up Amy’s file, allowing Darbnix to glance through her information. “We’ve enlisted the help of the human authorities, however they’re slow and bogged down by bureaucracy. Coel tells me that the best we can do is wait, but I’d much rather be doing something, even if it is just walking the streets looking for her,” I explained. I couldn’t sit idly by, fretting while waiting for people to do something I felt like I might have a capability of performing myself.
“She has a pretty strength to her,” he nodded, skimming. “As for Coel, he has your best interest in mind, Brother. Jokes aside, you truly are too important to our people to risk.” He shook his head as if it pained him to admit that fact.
I threw him a dubious expression. “Yes, it’s not like I have any siblings who could assume my role if something should happen to me.” My tone was frisky, yet sardonic.
He laughed. “I don’t think so. Better you than me. I don’t have a taste for the glitz of the capital. I’m much happier working the la
nd, making myself useful. Erebis is yours to keep. As for your woman, I make frequent trips to the surface and I’ve made some contacts. I’ll look into things, see if I can assist.” His smile and tone were both genuine.
“I’d never turn down the offer. Thank you, Brother,” I said, clasping hands.
“By the way, can you point me in the direction of your researcher’s offices?” He asked, reaching into his pocket and pulling his scanner out. It was scratched and looked to have sustained massive abuse.
“What did you do? Hurl it in a volcano?” I couldn’t help but bellow with laughter. So it appeared as if I wasn’t the only one having issues with the fragility of the device.
He smiled sheepishly. “My pets got curious.” He shrugged. The lizard on his shoulder leapt at the scanner, and he pulled it off, grasping it firmly by the tail. “No! Leave it,” he said firmly. “I don’t want them to make it worse,” he groaned with frustration.
I nodded and told him where to find Lifiya’s lab. We parted ways, and I focused on the business of the day. There was a lot to conquer, and I had to find a leaping-off point.
Darbnix and my brothers were all on the ship, or would be shortly, in preparation for the ball the following night. We were hosting another soiree, this one even more grand than the last. I could do nothing but dread it. What was the point? I couldn’t get Amy out of my mind long enough to look at another woman, and even if I could socialize with guests, I knew none of them were my bride, so the whole affair felt pointless. Everything seemed superficial and trivial. If Amy’s life was in danger, I felt guilty about leaving her in the shadows while I entertained dinner guests I cared nothing about.
But I must not think only of myself. My brothers had not gotten any closer to identifying mates, and I needed to keep them on task, unlike the last party where they, most of them, anyway, spent the occasion practicing their charms on their eager attendants, even after negative readings disqualified them from the possibility of being matches. I wasn’t the only one looking for a mate, and I couldn’t assume a selfish attitude on the subject.