by K. T. Hanna
I’d saved the article from Sunday’s news. City Hall had been burgled, but it appeared there was nothing stolen. The armed thief was caught and shot dead at the scene when he resisted arrest. Well, that was a crock of shit. There had been no warning call, no revelation of the guards’ presence at all. And Hale’s back had been to the man who shot him.
The article said he was threatening the guard with a weapon and spun suddenly to run away. Which, in one form he was, but not because he’d been given a warning.
I scowled as I read through it while sitting on my bed again, wondering if I was going to get another assignment. Friday seemed a popular day for them. But five in the afternoon rolled around, and I’d received nothing at all.
The only thing I’d managed at all in my solitary tedium was to narrow down how to create a random execution of thought and channel it into my open thought area. That way, if I could pull it off, then SC wouldn’t suspect something was up because of my constant silence. The thing was, getting it to do so without my directly thinking about it tended to mean it only lasted for as long as I focused.
Our brains were wired like an extremely complex computer. Even that made it sound simpler than it was. While I had to be extra careful not to input certain wires in the vicinity of others, as long as I stuck to the roadmap, I was okay. Theoretically.
Taking a breath, I pushed out of my room and walked into the living room. “We on for tonight?”
Sam nodded, gesturing at the set up on the coffee table. “I was thinking of ordering pizza or burgers. Preference?”
“Either or.” Because I was such a big help. She scowled at me, and I poked out my tongue like the adult I was. “Burgers, if you’re really ordering, but I’m not picking them up.”
There was no way I was going back to that pineapple burger place. Those creepy shits had got a hold of me in the passage with no light. There was nothing that could drag me back down that path. At least I tried to tell myself this. There was a part of me almost eager to go back for a rematch.
“Typical.” Sam snorted under her breath as I went into the kitchen to help Orion prepare.
He was making this delicious smoked salmon dip that I loved. Cream cheese, sour cream, chives, garlic, and smoked salmon. Mm, I could taste it now.
“Stop salivating, I can hear you, you know.” Orion’s mock strict voice was sort of adorable. My best friend was currently not behaving like the closed-off automaton he had earlier, but instead like his fabulous self.
“Fine. Fine.” I opened the fridge and peered inside. Pigs in a blanket. Wow. Orion must be processing more than I’d realized. He always used making food as a form of distraction when working things out. But I couldn’t even remember him having made these since we came to college. It was an effective release, just like running was for me. And his pigs were the best. Ever. “You’re spoiling us tonight.”
He shrugged without looking at me. “I’m overcompensating. Plus, I felt like cooking.”
Maybe he was coming around. It could be that he had to keep up appearances around other SC agents. I hoped we could talk once we were alone. Questions might have been plaguing him too. I couldn’t sleep well because of mine. Eight weeks of school left. Midterms were out the way. Spring Break was almost over. Regionals were coming up. And I was a zombie walking around with a system in my head that claimed to be humanity’s savior.
I wondered briefly if I could hack into it. Hacking wasn’t my strong suit; programming was. Although I did have to take into account the possibilities for unauthorized access.
“You could make some lemonade, you know, instead of wasting all the electricity because you’re intent on cooling the kitchen with the open fridge.” Orion’s tone clung to bored, but he was clearly irritated.
“Oops.” He was right. I grabbed a heap of lemons out, some sugar and water from the dispenser. I wasn’t entirely sure how to make lemonade, but I’d give it a go.
He glanced at me and laughed this time. “Put that back. And he stretched to lean above me to one of the cabinets. Taking a small container out from it, he handed it to me. “Just add water and ice. Sheesh. Not even I would squeeze it fresh.”
I laughed, and for just a moment it seemed as if things had never changed at all. I allowed myself to revel in the feeling before it all came crashing down.
There was always a downside to everything. Since the universe needed a certain balance, it required that what went up must come down.
And so it was that Saturday morning rolled around, and I managed to fry the microwave. I stood there, staring at it, my hand still on the metal handle as the machine continued to cough and splutter and fire sparks everywhere. What a fantastic start to the weekend.
“Forgot to discharge last night?” Orion grinned, raising an eyebrow.
“Stop making everything so lewd.” I snapped at him, and he burst into laughter.
My head was pounding. Since I hadn’t been drinking, I knew it had to be recoil from the electric surge.
“Still, though,” Orion managed when he finally stopped laughing at me. “Need to get that under control. Makes me happy my elements don’t burst forth like that. Much easier to live with.”
“How did you get so many?” I’d wanted to know the answer to that for ages, and never found the right time to ask.
“Elements?” Orion frowned. “Apparently water as an element makes the recipient more likely to receive others. Earth and I do not mix. But I have enough of fire and air to compliment my main ability, and to work on their own. It’s more like, with more power, I can handle juggling them more. That’s all.”
“How does fire go with water?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“Fire can’t exist without air. My fire abilities are minimal, but kind of cool.” Orion shrugged, an easy smile on his face.
“Did they give you these abilities, or did you discover them yourself?” I wanted to push the questions as far as I could.
“Well, I...” He paused as if trying to remember. “Water was easy, but I got that from drowning. I think around senior apprentice I started realizing I could tap into fire and air too. If you have any other affinities, you’ll probably hit them around then too.”
His smile was meant to be reassuring. But why didn’t he question it when he got it? The why of it too? “So you just noticed it one day after you’d hit that rank?”
Orion nodded, his smile still in place. “Yep. That’s generally how it’s done. Sometimes people come out of their death with multiple, but that’s rare, and none of those have the strength that someone with a singular initial powerful element does. It’ll all come in its time.”
That wasn’t the Orion I’d grown up with. He’d never been accepting of anything he couldn’t prove or disprove. Everything was a science experiment with him. Absolutely everything. So why had this defeated him?
It wasn’t the time to confront him about it; I needed more information. More time to figure out just what it was that had changed. All I could do was hope I was valuable enough to the system that it’d give it to me. I’d get right on gathering that information once I went out and bought a new microwave.
If nothing else, at least my bank balance was much healthier.
The fact that we hadn’t had a task since we’d lost Hale made me worry. This lull was bigger than any I’d had before, in my total month of being a zombie anyway. I knew both Sam and Orion didn’t like to call what we were a zombie, but technically we’d been brought back from the dead. So I was sticking to it.
“Want to come with me to get a new microwave?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to or not, but I did want to ask.
Orion eyed me for a moment. “Sure. Give me a few.”
I laughed this time, genuinely happy that he was coming. “I’ll give you an hour. I need to shower and wake up first.”
“Sleepy head.”
If
only he knew.
Daylight made the world seem less sinister. Or so I thought it would. But even in the sunlight there were shadows in the alleys, under buildings, and around streetlights. My brain tried to trick me more than once, so often that I wondered if I was just talking myself out of what was really there.
Shadows reminded me of Hale and gnawed at me with guilt. Perhaps if I’d realized the guy in the doorway was real and not in my head, maybe the Driver would still be alive. Or not. The best laid plans weren’t made out of ifs and buts.
Orion didn’t talk along the way. I wanted—more than anything—to be able to talk to him without fear of anything or anyone listening in. Since finding out that Orion was in the program too, he’d become withdrawn, and I couldn’t figure out why. Withdrawn and oddly subservient. While not the most boisterous guy I’d ever met, Ry wasn’t what I’d call timid. He knew what he wanted, and he stood up for himself and others.
But this version? He was a pale imitation of the boy I’d become best friends with almost two decades ago. How had I not noticed it sooner?
“Can you talk about it?” I had to ask something. It was eating me alive.
Ry jumped slightly, though I couldn’t blame him. I did ask the question without any preamble. “Nope. Can’t at all.”
Because he didn’t have the ability to partition his mind. At least I thought I did, even if the other half got a little suspicious sometimes. I really needed to figure out how to loop some thoughts. Right now it was working for me.
“I was running through my tutorials the other day. I’ve unlocked several new ones. Being an eel is kind of cool, you know.” I tried to pace myself. We were almost at the store. They had a small microwave like the one we’d had on sale. Thanks to the internet, I knew it had several of them in stock. It was my best bet.
“New tutorials?” Orion smiled a little absent-mindedly. “That’s great.”
He wasn’t really paying attention. “Yep, and then I got to skin a rabbit.”
“Awes—” He looked at me, a little green, like he was going to barf. “Wait? Skin a rabbit?”
“Oh, you were mostly paying attention then. My bad.” I winked at him, and he attempted to smack my shoulder, but I bounced out of the way. “That’s more like it. Where’s my Ry? You’ve been hiding for the last couple of weeks.”
He glanced around and looked at me, but he didn’t smile. His lips tugged downward into a frown. “I’ve been thinking a lot.”
“Oh.” Did that mean he’d been thinking a lot with the help of the system, or that he’d been trying to hide his thoughts. Surely there had to be ways for others to hide theirs. “Care to share?”
“Can’t.” He repeated it with some stress this time, drawing the word out as he reached up to deliberately scratch his head.
Yes, I knew about the voice in his head, but this was getting ridiculous. “Why the fuck not?”
He stopped and stared at me, his expression incredulous.
“You know why not!” he answered me hotly, irritation flushing his pale skin as he glanced not very surreptitiously around like he was checking for eavesdroppers.
“Actually, I don’t.” And I took a breath, because I was fed up.
I was fed up with having died, with being tied to SC, with not knowing what it was they were actually up to. Not to mention with my best friend acting like a different person. “I don’t understand why you can’t talk to me. If it’s because of something stopping you, we can work that out. We always figure out alternate paths.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned against the nearest wall. I kept my eyes out for shadows. Clawed hands could reach for us when we least expected it.
Finally he spoke. But the words were soft, and I had to strain to hear them. “It’s not that easy to understand.”
“Try me.” I stood in front of him, my arms crossed, my temper ebbing. Sometimes I could smack myself. I couldn’t know what he’d been through these two years with having to keep these things all bottled up.
I could feel the electricity working itself back up, regardless of having destroyed our microwave. The little squash ball could barely hold the uncontrollable sparks that emerged with my moods. Clamping down on my temper was my best bet.
Orion shook his head and looked away. “I can’t make you understand right now. Not yet.
“Why not yet?” I stood there, watching him expectantly, waiting for him to say something.
But the silence between us grew uncomfortable. I didn’t know what to say to him, how to reach him and let him know what I could do. Hell, right then I was equal parts worried for and irritated at him. This was frustrating and limiting.
“Look, you should go home. You don’t look too well. I’ll go get the microwave myself.”
I set off at a slow jog, knowing he wouldn’t follow because physical activity was his least favorite past time. Always had been. Even though sending him home might have been a bit callous, if he couldn’t tell me what was up because the program might hear him, then what was the use? While he didn’t know for certain if I was in SC, he’d just been his old usual self. Acting for my benefit. Putting on a mask. But now that I was here in his world, with him, knowing what he knew. Well, now everything was different. I didn’t know how to fix that.
But I intended to find out.
By the time I got home with the new microwave, Orion had retreated to his room. While I’d been blunt about him not confiding in me, I hadn’t been nasty. Honesty sometimes came back to bite me in the butt. I wanted him to talk to me. I needed him to. Lugging that appliance back with me definitely put a strain on my arms, but luckily for me they didn’t have a handstand race in the regionals.
I’d even picked up some microwavable mac ‘n cheese as a treat for myself. Despite that, I wanted an apple. There was nothing quite like the juicy taste of that first bite. Plus, I desperately needed sugar.
I also had to wait until it was dark, because I had an idea, and Orion needed to be asleep in order for me to see if what I had planned was achievable. Maybe he was down because of his wound. I hadn’t checked on him to see how it was healing for at least a week. There were more reasons for him to be angry with me than I’d realized. Maybe that’s all it was.
I sat down in front of the large window that let in a portion of the light for the main room. Sunlight crept over half of my body, warming it perfectly while the other half threatened to shiver to death. Late afternoon was one of the best times in our apartment. Comfortable. Warm. Peaceful.
Assignment Notification.
Well fuck. I closed my eyes, hoping it would go away, but no such luck. Reluctantly, I paid attention as the information began to appear on my screen.
Location: Liberty Bell
Objective: Retrieve package that has been placed inside the enclosure that holds the bell and return it directly to Nya.
Time Limit: By midnight tonight.
Reward: Dependent on the mission’s success.
Caution: Beware of guards, police patrols, and normal vandals.
This day was turning out to be super fun. Picking myself up from the couch, I gave the warm seat one last look. Knocked on Orion’s door and let him know I’d be gone.
“Just heading out. Be back later tonight.”
“Job?” The word was spoken sharply as he raised himself on one elbow to look at me.
“Solo, I think.” I was pretty sure this would be. It didn’t mention having to meet others either. And it didn’t sound particularly dangerous either.
“Be careful.” Emotion lay under those words and made me want to hug him and tell him that it’d all be okay. But those were instincts I’d always had with Orion. Until I could figure out how to separate him from his own SC thought-wise, they were instincts I had to ignore.
The Liberty Bell sat in a brick and glass building with a large lawn on
one side, wide sidewalks with balustrades and skinny trees on the other. The Independence National Historical Park could get really busy, but luckily tonight the cool air was on my side.
My night clothes had been washed and smelled faintly of Orion’s washing supplies. I’d forgotten he’d done that for me. No scent of blood, no stains. I wondered how many times he’d had to perform a similar washing ritual for himself.
How many deaths had he seen? While he might not have always seemed it, he was sensitive. Killing people, losing people—it had to have hardened him some. Maybe that’s what he didn’t think I’d understand. It could be that he thought I’d think less of him for compartmentalizing the horror.
Arriving at the park at dusk was far less conspicuous than if I’d walked there at night. Still, a few couples lingered as they walked through the beautiful gardens. Several groups huddled close together around the sandstone building that encased the bell.
Shadows moved of their own accord as the sun’s rays worked harder to bathe the world in its bloody light. Here and there I could swear I saw eyes, watching me, watching others, waiting.
I shook myself and shoved headphones in my ears. A lot of people, including college students, walked around with them. All part of blending in, or else maybe it was more about tuning the rest of the world out.
I had an assignment to concentrate on. Something I’d never thought about before all of this happened. How to steal from a national monument.
It wouldn’t do to linger around it, and I had to wonder when this package had been delivered. No one around me appeared to be from the program, but then I’d met three people other than Orion, and one of them was dead now. So I wasn’t exactly an expert.
My gut churned. In a cramping, hey do you want to go to the bathroom sort of way.
Except I knew nothing was wrong; it was just the way my spidey-sense developed after my accident. Couldn’t have been something cool like a directional warning beaming into my brain or anything. Nope. Had to be physical discomfort.