by T. C. Edge
With a slightly more subdued energy than normal, Sophie sets about finding me some suitable shoes. I try on several pairs of various kinds, many of them adjustable, and end up being given them all.
The same goes for clothes. Skirts, blouses, dresses, sweaters, shirts and all manner of other garments are tried on and added to the bill. I’m shocked by the manner with which Sophie piles them all up without a second thought for the cost.
“Oh, it’s not my money, Brie,” she says when I query her on it. “The Council of Matrimony fund all woman who marry up. They prefer us all to come equipped with all the right clothes and looking the part.”
Well, I’ll certainly do that, and I’m happy to see that there’s some variation to the clothes I’ll be able to wear. So far, I’ve been dolled up in rather elegant, if simple, dresses. Now, my eyes turn to the prospect of wearing blue skirts and pants and sweaters, and any other item that appears more like the clothes I’m used to.
With our shopping trip concluded, and the car stacked full of bags, Sophie insists on a visit to the beauty parlour. She reaches forward and inspects the ends of my hair, and the many tangled knots that my hasty shower clearly didn’t deal with.
“Oh, this won’t do at all,” she says, shaking her head.
Next, she looks at my face, focusing particularly on my skin, which still probably carries the odour of the underlands to it.
“What have you been up to recently, Brie,” she remarks, her nose apparently capable of sniffing out the subtlest of scents.
“You know, living,” I laugh nervously.
“Well, your skin needs some work, as does your hair. Let’s get you sorted out. Come along now.”
The same beauty parlour as before sees to my transformation, putting me through a range of therapies that leave me with glowing skin and hair. My locks flow gloriously to my shoulders, and my hazel eyes jump right out with their skilful application of understated makeup.
With time galloping along, I conclude my time with Sophie at a little café, where she probes a little deeper into my experience so far with Adryan. I don’t much like talking about it too much, and yet find myself smiling as I remember my previous evening with him.
I do, however, take the opportunity to test my powers a little. Slipping silently into Sophie mind, I see if I can get her to give me the honest truth about how she feels about Inner Haven.
Usually, of course, she’d deflect the question with some canned response, painting her face with a bright smile and telling me how wonderful it is living there. Yet I know that’s not how she really feels. Beneath her beautifully manicured exterior, there’s something entirely different bubbling within.
So I project the order into her mind, and see what she tells me.
Tell me, honestly, how you feel about living in Inner Haven, I order.
I notice her eyes falter a little, a little wince dripping down. Sophie, as vacuous as she can appear, is actually a smart woman, and isn’t so easily controlled. With a couple more focused attempts at issuing the order, I finally see her eyes glaze over ever so slightly in the manner I’m looking for.
Her voice loses some of its life, and that somewhat robotic quality invades her.
For a few seconds, she remains silent, and then her jaw begins to grind.
“It frightens me,” she says quietly, her eyes narrowing as if she’s wondering just why she’s revealing the truth. “I’m scared.”
“Why?” I ask, leaning in.
I dart my eyes left and right to make sure we’re out of earshot of anyone. Her voice is so low now, however, that you could be right at the next table and hear nothing.
“I’m frightened for my husband,” she continues. “I don’t know what will happen to him, to us, now. I’m frightened for my son. If he doesn’t grow into a Hawk, he won’t be allowed to stay with us. I’m frightened of what will happen to my family.”
“And is that what a lot of Unenhanced feel over there?” I ask.
I’m just asking questions now, but the order in her head appears to have seeped beyond the initial query. Slowly, she nods her head.
“So why do you work to help them marry up? Why do you make out that Inner Haven is so wonderful, when you’re just living in fear?”
Again, she takes a moment to answer. I can see my control of her slipping. Her eyes flicker a little, working to break my spell.
“Because it’s my job,” she says. “Inner Haven need more women. I help supply them. If I don’t…”
She doesn’t end the sentence, but she doesn’t need to.
Shutting her eyes, she opens them up again and seems to come back into the room. She blinks a few times and look at her hands. They’re shivering.
“I…I shouldn’t have told you that, Brie. I’m sorry…I don’t know what came over me. It’s just stress, that’s all. Because of Rycard.”
She nods busily and smiles nervously, and I calm her with my words.
“It’s OK, Sophie. I understand. You know, you can trust me. I’m on your side.”
“Um…thank you, but there’s nothing to worry about. Forget I said anything. I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful life with Adryan, and in the High Tower no less! It’s just wonderful, Brie. So wonderful…”
She’s saying ‘wonderful’ a lot. I suppose that’s her way of trying to erase the negative comments she’s just uttered.
Our time at the café doesn’t last much longer. It becomes quite obvious that she wants to get rid of me now, awkwardly shuffling me out and into her car and ordering our return to the academy. Again, she disappears into her thoughts on the journey back, and I disappear into mine.
I suppose her comments came as no real surprise. Should her son, Maddox, fail to become a proper Hawk, he will be tossed back out onto the streets of Outer Haven. Right now, he’s showing promise, but it’s too early to tell for sure whether he’ll develop into a gifted Hawk like his father.
And yet Rycard, too, might well be facing a similar fate. Hawks simply cannot operate with one eye, and should that transpire, he’ll be considered to be nothing more than a regular Unenhanced.
As such, he could well be relegated to Outer Haven, along with Sophie and their son. And should Maddox develop his full promise, he’ll most likely be kept among the Enhanced, taken off to be raised by someone else.
As a mother and wife, the concern in Sophie is palpable. And yet, despite it all, she’s constantly working to bring other women into the fold, helping them transition from Outer to Inner Haven. That is her duty, and if she failed to perform it, her place in Inner Haven would also be in doubt.
It’s a three-pronged attack on her fears. Both her, her husband, and her son, could all be discarded for their own different reasons. And all it takes it for one of them to occur, and it will tear her family, and her life, apart.
From that moment on, I look upon Sophie in a very different way. She’s just a slave, like so many others, part of the system that seems destined to destroy her, one way or another. She’s one of the many that the Nameless – that I – am trying to free.
Dropping me off at the academy with a host of bags in hand, I give her a warm hug before departing.
“Send my love to Rycard,” I say. “And keep well, Sophie. I’ll see you soon.”
“I will, sweet Brie. Enjoy your date tonight.”
She smiles, and the car door shuts, and away onto the busy streets she goes.
Turning, I cross the threshold to the academy, getting plenty of funny looks from the residents of Brick Lane as I go. Made-up as I am, with my hair so glossy and my fingers gripping tight to so many fancy clothing bags, I look entirely out of place.
I suppose, in many ways, I am so out of place here now.
Before I pass through the door, however, the sound of voices reach my ears. One belongs to Mrs Carmichael, clear as day. The other is also familiar, and sets my teeth on edge and my heart racing as I step inside.
Because standing with my guardian, I see the black ey
es and grey hair and thin lips of the last person in the city I wanted to see again.
Turning to my intrusion, Agent Woolf looks right through me, and a smooth voice drones from her throat.
“Ah, Miss Melrose,” she says, before uttering the opposite sentiment to me. “Just the person I wanted to see…”
20
I step into the hall with a sudden caution spreading through me. Glancing at Mrs Carmichael, I see a similar affliction in her eyes, a warning issuing from within them.
The only other person present in the room is Nate, standing behind the front desk. Quite why he’s here I don’t know. The position of gathering the mail is one he’s only required to hold in the morning. Perhaps he was just passing through, or went to open the door when it was rung.
Whatever the case, he stands there with a firm glare at the back of Agent Woolf’s head. Around here, she’s not a popular woman.
I have to think fast, though. And my immediate suspicion is that she’s here, as she said she would be, to follow up on some loose threads and make sure that all the residents’ memories tally up. Clearly, she’s found something of interest to her.
And clearly, that involves me.
“Good afternoon, Agent Woolf,” I say as casually as I can manage. “What brings you here?”
I move on around to the desk where Nate stands and drop my bags beside him. He continues to glower beneath burning eyes at the woman, only passing his gaze to me when I speak.
“Nate, would you mind taking these bags to my room please?”
He doesn’t need to be told twice. Scooping up my shopping, he immediately begins working his way towards and up the spiral staircase, offering the agent a final dagger-infused stare as he goes.
She doesn’t appear to notice, or care. I guess she’s used to it.
My slight delay has given me an opportunity to relax a little. When I turn to look at her again, I’ve managed to cool my beating heart and steady my breathing. Her ice-cold eyes, like black diamonds, continue to follow my movements.
Finally, she answers.
“I’m here to talk to you, Brie, about your friend, Joshua Brent.”
Of course she is.
“Oh, are you still investigating that?” I ask, semi-dismissively.
“I am,” she responds dryly. “There are some inconsistencies that I’ve unearthed around here. I need to just clear them up.”
“OK, that’s, um, not a problem at all,” I say, checking my watch. “Shall we get on with it then?”
I begin moving towards the corridor at the back of the hall, heading for the common room. No doubt it will be occupied right now, helping me buy some time.
Her monotone voice stops me.
“Not here,” she says. “I’d like you to accompany me to my office in Inner Haven.”
I stop on the spot and slowly turn.
“I…I’m sorry, I have an important engagement,” I say.
Mrs Carmichael adds her voice to the fray.
“I was just telling the agent exactly that,” she says, turning to Agent Woolf. “She is courting a Savant, as you know…”
“Yes, I’m well aware. It isn’t a problem at all, Miss Melrose. The City Guard headquarters isn’t far from the Court House, where I assume you’ll be meeting Mr Shaw. I will have him informed of your location. He can collect you from outside once we’re done.”
I consider several excuses as she speaks. None of them are logical enough, however, and she’ll no doubt have a workaround for each. I have no choice but to agree, and to do so willingly. Showing any signs of guilt right now could be fatal.
“That sounds agreeable,” I say, nodding respectfully to her. “I will need to just go upstairs and get changed, if that’s OK?”
She nods her consent, and I begin working my way up the spiral staircase. I find Nate on his way back down the corridor, still grimacing. His eyes lift a little when he sees me.
“Don’t let that woman back in my head, Brie. Please…”
“Don’t worry,” I say, “she’s only here for me. She’ll be leaving the academy momentarily. You can stick around here, if you want, until she’s gone.”
He nods, moves to the wall, and takes a seat as I press on towards my room.
Unsurprisingly, Tess is still at work, our time together now so fleeting. We’ve barely spoken two words to each other for a week now. Since she found me passed out on the floor after returning from the outerlands, I still haven’t really had a chance to talk with her…
And then the thought hits me, and a strike of panic cuts through my chest.
Tess found me in that state, my hands cut and my mind delirious. Mrs Carmichael said she heard my feverish ramblings as she helped patch me up, heard me mumbling on about the firefight and the river and the toxic mist.
I think back, quickly rushing into my own mind to find the memory. Mrs Carmichael had told me that Tess didn’t know what to make of it, that none of it made sense to her.
But what if it did? What if I’ve been talking about other such things in my sleep? What if Agent Woolf found all of those things in Tess’s head when she went exploring?
I pace around the room for a minute, wondering what the hell to do. Thinking how stupid I was to not include Tess when Zander hid Mrs Carmichael and my memories. I never considered that she really knew anything. I took it all for granted.
Now, has that doomed me?
Has that doomed us all?
I can’t be sure. Maybe Agent Woolf never went looking for such things? She was, after all, only searching for our knowledge of Drum. Why would she bother looking for anything about me?
The fresh thought helps to calm me a little.
Most likely, she’s merely here to find out why I rushed off after hearing of Drum’s fate. That is all directly linked, and she’d have seen all that play out from the various kids who were in the hall at the time.
If that’s the case, perhaps I can figure a way around this? It’s bad, but not as bad as discovering all of my crazy ramblings from Tess. My friend may have not put it all together, but a woman like Agent Woolf?
Well, that’s her job, after all.
Still, there’s nothing I can do but follow her instructions. And right now, taking too long to put on some clothes is going to appear suspicious.
So I quickly pull out some new garments, choosing to dress more comfortably this time in blue pants, a shirt, and a light sweater, and work my way back into the corridor. I pass Nate, take a deep breath, and emerge at the top of the spiral staircase, steadying my pacing heart once more as I descend.
I find Mrs Carmichael in a tense conversation. She looks quite timid – an unusual disposition for her – as if Agent Woolf’s taken the time to explore her mind a little further. As soon as I arrive, my guardian’s eyes lift to me sheepishly, eagerly turning from the penetrating gaze of the cold and otherworldly Savant.
Agent Woolf turns with her, rotating her head like an owl.
“You’re ready. Good. Let’s go,” come her droning, mechanical words.
I pass Mrs Carmichael with a look of assurance to help alleviate her concerns.
After all, if I get found out, then there’s a good chance that she might as well. She probably doesn’t care much about what happens to her, but more the kids. Naturally, should she fall, that first domino will go crashing into the next, and the next, and on and on until they’re all lying flat.
And should that happen, all these kids will end up out on the streets.
It’s strange to say it, but that might just be the least of my worries. While the fate of this academy might be balancing on her shoulders, the fate of the city appears to be on mine.
And truth be told, it’s starting to get real heavy.
And my knees are just beginning to buckle…
I follow the agent out of the building, dressed up in the light blue colours of the Unenhanced that contrast so distinctively with the dark, urban hues of Brick Lane. Agent Woolf, of course, wears her li
ght grey, walking upright and rigid as she approaches a vehicle parked a little way down the street.
That, too, sticks out quite firmly, and I’m surprised I didn’t notice it when I returned here with Sophie.
It’s sleek and dark and emblazoned with the city insignia, a clear indication of its birthplace across the wall. An inquisitiveness follows my step as I go, every set of eyes that bear down on me refusing to leave until I step into the car and disappear out of sight. And even then, their eyes just stare at the vehicle until it, too, whirs off away towards the western gate.
My light blue outfit would be enough to garner significant attention. The fact that I’m being taken off in an official vehicle of Inner Haven with a Savant takes such interest to a whole new level.
My mind, however, isn’t occupied by any sort of awkwardness or discomfort at the collective gaze. I’m getting well used to that.
No. Right now, I’m thinking furiously about how to deal with any query Agent Woolf sets down, and I’m working away busily in my head in an attempt to shield any new memories I’ve formed that my be incriminating.
The only mercy I’m getting right now is that Agent Woolf has little interest in speaking with me. Until we arrive at her place of work, she appears content with merely staring forward in silence.
Sitting on the right of the car, I turn my head to look out of the window, making sure my eyes cannot be seen. Then, I begin blurring my memories and focusing on the task at hand. If I need to repel her, I will.
I just have to hope that Zander’s training is enough.
I’m so preoccupied that I don’t actually note the passing of the time, or look upon the outside world as it alters and shifts from colourful and vibrant to bland and lifeless. Only the curving nature of the Spiral gives me any feeling of motion, the car swirling around towards the core of the city.
Before I even know it, the vehicle is slowing right up under the shadow of the High Tower. I take note of our position and see that we’re on the southside of the Inner Spiral, with the Court House a little way away to the north.
I turn to Agent Woolf, and speak for the first time.