Child of Lies

by Eric Kent Edstrom

  She wrapped him in her arms and pulled him close.

  “Get those men into the ward,” Sensei ordered a group of Scions.

  Scions dragged the limp bodies of the other two men across the quad. From the beatings they’d taken, Jacey didn’t think either would likely survive.

  “Are there any more of them?” Sensei shouted

  “There are two more in the hacienda,” Humphrey called to Sensei. “They’re restrained.”

  “Wanda, Leslie, Tytus. Secure all weapons from the guards and bring them to me. Only you three are to touch any of them. Understood?”

  “Yes, Sensei,” they shouted.

  Sensei relaxed, which meant his scowl softened into a furious frown. He stomped to Jacey and forced her to her feet. “You’re free. Where’s Belle?”

  Jacey kept her tears at bay, drawing strength from Sensei’s presence. “The transfer room.”

  Sensei started to sprint toward the medical ward, but Jacey called after. “It’s too late, Sensei. The transfer is done.”

  Sensei trotted to a stop, shoulders drooping.

  Next to her, Humphrey climbed to his feet and absently brushed at his stained suit.

  “I’m going to check on Elias,” Sensei said.

  A horn blasted across the quad. All heads spun toward the gate.

  Beams from a vehicle’s headlights shone down the path between the mango grove and Boys’ Hall.

  Mr. Justin’s bus had arrived to collect the Scions.

  45

  I Want an Excuse To Shoot You

  The bus’s headlights beamed through the gate like furious eyes, their white-hot glow obscuring the rest of the vehicle. Its idling motor rumbled and growled. Jacey thought of the monsters from Socrates’s stories—the Minotaur. Grendel. Smaug.

  “It is a monster,” she said to herself, hair pricking on the back of her neck. “Come to devour all the children.”

  “What?” Humphrey huddled close to her, holding an icepack to the side of his head. He huddled next to her as they peered through the rear window of Boys’ Hall toward the gate. “We should get out of here. They may have weapons.”

  The horn honked again, long and harsh.

  “I think we should let them in.”

  “Are you crazy?”

  Jacey left the window and slipped up the aisle between the bunks. Though it was arranged exactly like Girls’ Hall, it smelled strange there. Jacey couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was, but she didn’t hate it. She slipped back into the quad, which was now quiet.

  Many Scions were in the medical ward, watching over the men they’d subdued, or taking turns guarding the transfer room door. Jacey hadn’t gotten any reports of Dr. Carlhagen and the senator trying to get out.

  “There could be twenty armed men in that thing,” Humphrey said, following her into the humid evening.

  “I doubt it. Mr. Justin felt the whole operation would go smoothly. He and his friend won’t be expecting a confrontation since we Scions just blindly follow directions. If he were here, he’d probably make up some story about us being needed at Children’s Villa to do some chores or put out a fire.”

  “A fire?”

  She turned on him. “I don’t know. I’m just guessing. But think about it. If Mr. Justin and this conspirator intended to steal us, they would use as few other people as possible.”

  “But you don’t know that.”

  “No. But if we don’t let them in soon, they’re going to figure out that something’s not right.”

  “Yes. And they’ll leave.”

  Jacey just looked at him.

  Humphrey got it then. “They already have the children from Mother Tyeesha’s, don’t they?”

  Jacey continued to the medical ward. “Probably. And I’m not letting them take a single one off this island.”

  Sensei met her at the door. “I was just coming to find you. I think we should let the bus in.”

  Jacey resisted making a face at Humphrey. “We need to pretend we’re following Mr. Justin’s plan.”

  The martial arts master’s eyes gleamed. “I’m proud of you, Jacey. You would’ve made an excellent fighter.”

  Humphrey stepped between them. “I’m not letting Jacey put herself into any more danger. We’re lucky she’s alive at all. I’m not going to risk losing her now.”

  Sensei shrugged. “I agree. There’s no need for her to go. It’ll be you, Sang, Tytus.”

  “We’ve got the weapons from the senator’s guards, too,” Humphrey said.

  “No!” Jacey said, yanking Humphrey out of the way. “And I’m surprised at you. We’re not putting guns into a situation where there’s a bunch of tiny kids. If there are armed thugs on there, things could go very badly. We need to see what the situation is first.”

  Sensei folded his arms, though his expression was more amused than angry. “What is your plan?”

  Jacey smiled. “Do you have the gate remote?”

  Sensei dug it from a pocket and held it up.

  As Jacey related her plan, Sensei’s lips spread into a nasty smile. Even Humphrey grinned.

  ° ° °

  The gate finished its long and grinding slide open, and the bus motor roared. Jacey watched from the Boys’ Hall window, occasionally elbowing a boy away as he pressed too close to peer through. “Really, Humphrey, the discipline of the Nines in here is abysmal.”

  Humphrey scowled and clapped his hands, ordering his Nine to line up. The remains of Vaughan’s old Nine, consisting of a handful of small boys, stood around not really knowing what to do. Elias had been leading it, but he was currently bleeding in the medical ward.

  Jacey shooed them toward their bunks and pulled the shutters closed. Sensei appeared at the door and waved to her.

  All was ready.

  The bus pulled onto the quad just as she stepped from Boys’ Hall. Sensei slipped inside to stay out of sight.

  Steeling herself, Jacey strode toward the bus. There were no doors at all on the side facing her, so she passed in front of it, heart beating with fear that the monster might lurch forward and crush her.

  On the other side, she found a door. It folded open, and steps led up toward a driver slouching behind a huge steering wheel. He wore all black, but unlike the senator’s guards, he was fat. A bushy beard covered his face, and his small eyes gleamed from deep sockets.

  “You must be Orson,” she said. “You’re late.”

  He peered down at her. “Where’s Justin?”

  She stepped aboard, using the handrail to pull herself up.

  Time for the first bit of misdirection. She smiled at the driver and pointed toward Boys’ Hall. “He’s inside the medical ward, lining up the Scions. He realized we all needed vaccinations before leaving campus.”

  “Oh. Well, go tell him to get a move on. I’m sick of this island.”

  Jacey made the final step and peered down the rows of seats. The four members of Mother Tyeesha’s staff sat in the front seats. Each held an infant. Four older kids sat behind them, each with older babies in their arms. The one-year-olds, Jacey thought.

  Behind them were two men. They looked bulky, but not like the senator’s huge guard. These men were flabby and sour-faced. Jacey squinted. They were covered with scratches and dirt, faces slick with sweat. They’d clearly been scrabbling around the rainforest searching for the children.

  And they’d recovered only twelve of the thirty-six.

  “Go!” the driver barked. “I’ve got no more patience left.”

  “Can your men come along to assist, please?”

  “What do you need them for? Can’t the Scions walk from there to here?”

  “The Scions aren’t strong enough to move the machine through the door. We need some muscle.”

  “The machine? What machine?”

  Jacey twisted her lips and held up her hands in a shrug. “I don’t know what it does. Some kind of medical thing. Mr. Justin told me we needed it if we were going to help the children in North Ame
rica.”

  The driver stared at her blankly, then his face cleared. “Oh yeah. The machine!” He twisted in his seat. “Kyle. Ivan. Go carry the damn machine out.”

  Jacey backed down the steps, keeping her smile to herself. She cut in front of the bus and led the men toward Boys’ Hall. They said nothing about where she was heading, and the driver didn’t call out either.

  Stupid thieves. They don’t even know which building is the medical ward.

  Jacey stepped through the door and into darkness and kept going. A flurry of blows, grunts, and curses sounded behind her. By the time she turned, the two filthy men were on the floor.

  Sensei passed one of the two pistols he’d appropriated from the men to Tytus. “Lock it up with the others.”

  Tytus held it away from himself, as if it might explode. He gently placed it in a footlocker and clicked the latch in place. Horace had eyed it greedily, but stayed back. Sensei had told him in no uncertain terms what would happen if he were caught with a weapon.

  “Now we wait,” Jacey said.

  Sensei motioned to Kirk and Tytus. They slipped out the back window. Moments later, Jacey saw their dark forms sidle close to the bus.

  The driver poked his head out his window and shouted. “Justin! Let’s get going!”

  Jacey felt Humphrey’s presence next to her. She sought his hand, found it, and held it tightly. On her other side, Sensei stood like a compressed hurricane.

  “Don’t worry,” she said to him. “I could take down the driver myself. He’s not in good shape. He burns cigarettes in his mouth.”

  “That’s called smoking,” Sensei said.

  “What—?”

  She cut off her question. The driver had gotten out of the bus. He was momentarily illuminated by the headlights as he passed in front of them.

  Jacey stepped out and waved to him. “I need your help.”

  “What now?” he shouted, striding toward Boys’ Hall.

  He got three more steps before Tytus and Kirk wrapped him up and took him down. The man screamed and writhed.

  Sensei ran out and got the man’s attention with a pistol to the forehead.

  Jacey stepped close to the man. “Welcome to the Scion School. Now. Where were you planning to take the Scions?”

  The man’s mouth clamped tight, though his eyes were wide.

  “Don’t answer her,” Sensei said. “I want an excuse to shoot you.”

  The icy tone got through to the man.

  “I don’t know! Don’t kill me.”

  Jacey arched an eyebrow. It wouldn’t hurt if the man felt a little fear. She put on an indifferent tone. “Kidnapping Scions is going to get you in a lot of trouble, Orson.”

  “Like death,” Sensei said, pressing the gun harder to the man’s skin.

  “No! Please!”

  “Who are you working with here besides Mr. Justin?”

  “No one. He’s the only person I know.”

  “You trusted the wrong person, Orson. He’s inside the medical ward right now. Laughing that you fell into Dr. Carlhagen’s trap.”

  Orson’s eyes narrowed, and a nervous laugh escaped his quivering lips. “Trap? Maybe you’re not so smart after all. Justin is my brother.”

  Jacey exchanged glances with Sensei. He shook his head. He hadn’t known about Mr. Justin’s brother.

  “Take him to the medical ward and strap him down,” Jacey said.

  Sensei lifted the man and, with Tytus’s help, started dragging him toward the medical ward.

  “Nice of you to bring us a bus, Orson,” Jacey called after him.

  Humphrey slipped his arms around her.

  She whispered, “And even nicer of him to bring us a boat.”

  46

  I Couldn’t Protect Them All

  Jacey had never seen the medical ward so crowded. Two of Senator Bentilius’s guards were tied down onto cots. From the looks of them, the straps weren’t really needed. Another had already died. Two more had been brought down from the hacienda where Humphrey and the others had left them bound hand and foot. They sat on the floor, backs to the wall, faces glum.

  Miss Dayspring attended to Elias, her usual meek demeanor gone now that she had a task to attend to. The bullet had only grazed Elias’s side, leaving a furrow that produced a lot of blood. “Two centimeters to the left and it would have taken his pancreas,” she had said. Summer sat at his side, brushing the hair from his eyes.

  Orson and his men were also strapped down. Orson called for Mr. Justin so loudly that Sensei eventually gagged him.

  There was no sign of the butler.

  Several Scion girls and boys had all received minor bruises and cuts in the mêlée, but nothing a bandage and an ibuprofen couldn’t handle. Miss Dayspring seemed very relieved to have something to do besides worry about the senator. She paid special attention to the youngest Scions, cradling their faces in her hands and talking to them in a strange high-pitched tone of voice. Jacey thought it was meant to be childlike, but it sounded stupid.

  Jacey interrupted Sensei’s interrogation of Orson’s men. They weren’t saying anything, except with their eyes, which kept going to Orson. He obviously held something over there heads that they feared he could use even in his current state.

  Sensei stared at her, eyes black and full of barely contained anger. It was not directed at her, though. She flung herself at him. He started, hand raised to deflect an attack, but she was wrapped around his neck, hugging him tightly. Slowly he returned the hug.

  “I failed, Sensei,” Jacey whispered. “I couldn’t protect them all.”

  Sensei cleared his throat and pulled himself free from Jacey’s arms, but he took her hands in his. “You didn’t fail. Belle made her own choice. We had a plan and she ignored it.”

  Summer got up from Elias’s cot and came over. “Belle likes to boss people around, but she isn’t very good at following directions. If she got caught, it’s her own fault.”

  Jacey’s tears welled up again. It seemed they had no end. “You don’t understand. I was strapped down in the machine, the transfer was about to begin. Belle sneaked in and switched places with me.”

  Summer, Sensei, and Humphrey gaped, and all spoke at once. “She switched places with you?”

  “She saved me,” Jacey said, then laughed through her tears. “She wouldn’t admit that it was for me. She said she was doing it to be with Vaughan.”

  Humphrey ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “That makes sense. Sort of. Vaughan and I spoke with her via reader before she got through the gate. Vaughan told us he had a plan to save a copy of you. So you could, you know, become an AI.”

  “Belle wanted to be with Vaughan,” Jacey said. “That’s all she’s ever wanted.”

  “So Belle is an AI?” Summer asked. “But is that even . . .”

  “Someone give me a reader,” Jacey said.

  Summer snatched a reader from the edge of Elias’s cot and walked it over to Jacey.

  Jacey took it. “Vaughan? Are you there?”

  No answer.

  “Vaughan?”

  47

  A Spark of Light

  Life was simultaneously cool and warm. Both sensations pleasant. Belle floated in the surf along Isaac’s Beach, feeling utterly weightless as the swells lifted and dropped her, rocking her as gently as a nurse would rock an infant’s cradle. The sun, somewhere to the west, made the water turquoise, the green hills emeralds, the sand white diamonds.

  The luxurious rays warmed her skin, filled it with life-renewing radiance. The ocean sustained her from below and carried her toward the beach.

  The coarse sand of the shore rubbed against her skin, and she rolled onto one side, then onto her knees, and finally climbed to her feet. On unsteady legs, she stumbled the last few meters onto dry land. She looked down at her body and watched with great interest as the water flowed from her naked skin. Her flesh rose in goosebumps as the easterly breeze blew across her, already drying her.

  The water
drops sparkled, sending glittering starbursts to her eyes, and they seemed to fall in slow motion. She turned to face the sun and spread her arms out to embrace its radiance.

  I shouldn’t enjoy this, she thought. I shouldn’t be naked out here on Isaac’s Beach.

  But she couldn’t find any reason to be ashamed or to cover up. It seemed that the island, the sun, and the Caribbean breeze worked together to clean her and swaddle her in contentment.

  She licked her lips and tasted the ocean salt. She was neither thirsty nor hungry, nor did she feel any particular urgency to be anywhere other than where she was. If she had any discontentment at all, it was that she would like to sit down but didn’t want to sit in the sand. She noticed a plush white towel on the ground.

  She snatched it up, shook it out in the wind, and carried it up to a drier patch of sand. There, she spread it out and lay upon it to bask in the sun.

  As relaxed as she was, a tiny thought began to nag at the back of her mind, a sense of fear. Like a half-remembered chore she was supposed to have done. Had Sensei told her to run some laps? Had Socrates given her an assignment she’d forgotten?

  The feeling did not grow but remained as a pulse of constant incompleteness. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she had forgotten something very important. It bothered her enough that she stood, figuring she would return to campus. She plucked up the towel and wrapped it around herself.

  Just as she finished tucking in the tail end, she felt his presence. She didn’t know if he had been watching. She didn’t care.

  “I’ve never seen you wear your hair down before,” Vaughan said.

  Belle reached up to touch it. The breeze had already dried it, and it flew about her, strands crossing her eyes and getting into her mouth. She tamed it as best she could and tucked it behind her ears. Long white locks fell over her shoulders, caressed her back. “I didn’t have a rubber band,” she said. Though in truth, she didn’t really want to tie it back.

  “I like it down better,” Vaughan said.