Charged

by G. P. Ching

  “I asked her to leave so you could rest. The anesthesia has left you… fragile.”

  “I want to see her. Why didn’t anyone tell me my mother was still alive?” My voice cracks.

  “I met you on the operating table. As for David, he’ll have to answer that himself.”

  “But, you… all of you knew where I was. David, Hannah, and Caleb, they all knew about Hemlock Hollow. Why hasn’t she looked for me?”

  “Again, not a question I feel I should answer,” Charlie says. “However, as for my part, by the time we knew who you were and where you came from, you were back home on the preservation and Jonas and David made it clear you wanted to stay there.”

  “They never told me. I want to see her.”

  “You should rest.”

  “I feel better.”

  “Don’t be fooled. The bone is in the early stages of healing. It’ll snap like a brittle twig if you’re not careful.”

  I give him a stern look.

  He sighs. “No question you’re her daughter. You are as hardheaded as she is.” From the cabinet, he retrieves a black boot. “This is called a walking cast. It will protect your bone while it’s healing.” The boot opens at the touch of a button and he fastens it around my injured calf.

  “How long until it’s back to normal?” I ask.

  “A few days.”

  I swing my legs over the side and wiggle my hips to the edge of the bed until the foot of my good leg slaps the floor. At least the hospital pants and tunic I wear allow me room to maneuver. The walking cast forces me to angle my injured leg to the side where I can put very little weight on it.

  “Try this.” Charlie hands me a cane. A few practice steps and I have the rhythm down.

  “It feels pretty good,” I say.

  “Excellent. Come on. We’ll find Laura.”

  With his hand behind my back to steady me, I hobble through the door. The hallway is freshly painted and lined with colorful art. There’s a black door every fifteen feet or so labeled with a room number. “This isn’t what I expected,” I say.

  Charlie smiles a mouthful of teeth I think must be artificial because they are too straight and white. They don’t match the scar on his head or the gray in his hair.

  “Because the reactor melted down you assumed this place would be in ruins? They use the term meltdown any time radiation breaches the outer wall. In this case, the structure was preserved and the Liberty Party rebuilt from there.”

  “How? I can’t imagine any of you can walk into a Green Republic store and pay with units.”

  With a snort, he looks at me from the corner of his eye. “Don’t you come from the preservation?”

  I nod.

  “And your people have been obtaining things for decades, if I understand correctly.”

  “Yes, but we use false identifications obtained with help from Englishers.”

  He spreads his hands. Of course, Hannah and Caleb, the same people who obtained false identifications for Hemlock Hollow, used to work for Maxwell Stuart. Although their cover was blown, it makes sense that there are others doing the same thing. “I guess I underestimated how organized the Liberty Party was. I thought after the rebellion failed…”

  “You thought we lost our best and brightest and retreated with our tails between our legs.”

  I raise an eyebrow in affirmation.

  “You don’t organize a revolution in a matter of hours, Lydia. Jonas understood the odds were against us. Still, he did his best to send a contingent in. It was rushed and sloppy. We almost won CGEF thanks to you and Korwin, but in the end, it became clear someone on the inside had leaked information about the rebellion to the Greens—a mole at the fire station. The Greens were expecting us and we couldn’t pull the numbers to overcome their militia. With more time, maybe.” He shakes his head.

  “Are you saying the loss was somehow our fault?” I ask incredulously. “Because we rushed you?” Korwin and I almost died taking the transformer down. My blood boils at the thought the effort wasn’t appreciated or fully utilized. “If the Liberty Party wasn’t ready, they should have helped us get home without risking our lives.”

  He raises a hand defensively. “All I meant was the losses we suffered were great but not terminal to our cause. Jonas acted conservatively. We lost the battle but not the war.”

  A woman in a blue uniform approaches us, carrying an unmarked brown box. “Good morning, Dr. Stone,” she says with a nod.

  “Morning. Are those…?”

  She nods. “I’ll put them with the others.”

  “What was that all about?”

  “Medical supplies. Every day we get closer to state of the art.”

  We’ve reached the end of the hall and the room opens, really opens. I am at the base of an anthill with hundreds of blue uniforms scurrying where the ants should be. The funnel shape of the room is my clue that we are inside the concrete tower of the reactor, but that is where the similarities end. As opposed to the cold outer appearance of the concrete, inside is a bustling metropolis. I count twenty-three railed floors, each well lit and populated with smiling faces going about their day.

  “There are so many!” I say.

  Charlie grins. “Did you think Stuart Manor was the entire resistance? The Liberty Party has doubled down. We will not go quietly.”

  “Where do you get the power?” I stare up at the bright internal lighting. “Is this scamped?”

  “No need. The reactor is working again.”

  My head snaps around. “Now? It’s working now?”

  “Yes. Safely.” He pats my shoulder. “We have the best and brightest scientists and engineers on board—thorium experts. The rebellion used to scamp from the Greens in the beginning. That was before my time, of course. But over the years they leveraged what was already here on a smaller and safer scale. This reactor uses liquid fluoride instead of steam. We have an endless supply of energy.”

  I know less than nothing about nuclear science and shake my head at the magnitude of what he’s saying. The reactor is working. The Liberty Party has its own energy. “How in the world do you keep this a secret?”

  Charlie is cut off when a boy in a blue uniform calls my name. “Lydia? Lydia Troyer, is that you?”

  I perk at my given name. He removes his cap when he reaches me and his spiky brown hair is as untamed as ever. “Caleb! What a relief to see you.” I accept a brief hug. “So this is where you escaped to after the raid?”

  With a wink, he slaps me on the shoulder. “You didn’t think Hannah and I would go down so easily, did you? Once we handed Jeremiah off to Maxwell, we escaped in the tunnels under Lakehurst and made our way through the forest. Took a couple of scary nights in the woods to make it here on foot, but we did.”

  “Thank the Lord.”

  “Are Korwin and Jeremiah with you?” Caleb looks between Charlie and me.

  “No. I came here looking for Korwin. He left Hemlock Hollow without me. I assumed he’d be here. Jeremiah stayed behind.”

  Caleb frowns. “Korwin’s not here or in Hemlock Hollow?”

  I shake my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Charlie lock eyes with Caleb. Both men look equally concerned.

  “Don’t worry, Lydia. Now that you’re here and safe, we can put out the word. We still have contacts in Crater City. We will find him. The Liberty Party needs both of you.”

  “I want to help find him,” I say quickly. “As soon as my leg’s healed, I want to help look for him.”

  Caleb laughs as if the thought is inconceivable. “Don’t you worry, they’ll send a team. It’s too dangerous and you’re too important. We need you here. Hasn’t anyone told you how bad the Greens have become? They are out of control. The entire continent is a slave to Chancellor Pierce.”

  “Chancellor? You mean Senator.”

  Caleb shakes his head. “You’ve been gone a long time.”

  “Maybe this is a conversation for her to have with the council. We’re on our way there n
ow.”

  Charlie grips me under the elbow and guides me away.

  “Nice to see you again, Lydia. I’ll tell Hannah you’re here.” Caleb gives me a little wave as I hobble away.

  I am led to a bright white conference room where five people wait at a long silver table: Jonas, David, Laura, and an elderly man and woman who I’ve never met. My eyes lock on Laura. I can’t look away. I have so many questions, but for her part, she keeps her head down, her gaze glued to the pad of paper in front of her.

  “Welcome, Lydia,” Jonas says, standing and pulling out a chair for me. “Please, have a seat.”

  I lower myself into it, thankful for the rest. My leg is already sore and the injuries on my face and shoulder are throbbing slightly.

  “As I understand it, you’ve already met Laura and David.”

  I glance between the two, suddenly anxious to speak given the formality of the meeting. “Yes,” I say softly.

  Jonas aims one hand toward the elderly couple across the table from me. “This is Mirabella and Warden Grant.”

  “Pleasure to meet you,” I say politely as they reach across to shake my hand. Mirabella has a diamond ring on her finger almost as big as my thumb, and her gold bracelets clatter when she pumps my hand. Warden’s watch and sweater remind me of something Maxwell Stuart would wear, expensive and tailored.

  Charlie takes an empty chair next to Warden and folds his hands on the table. “This is the Liberty Council,” Charlie says. “We are the ruling body for the resistance.”

  Confused, I chew my bottom lip. Last year, Maxwell held a party at Stuart Manor for the Liberty Council, to show them what I could do. The only person I remember meeting was Jonas and of course, David, who was posing as Maxwell’s butler.

  I glare at David. “Why didn’t you tell me my mother was alive?”

  David sighs heavily and leans back in his chair. “You didn’t want to know. You just wanted to go home, remember?”

  My eyes dart to Laura. “Did you know? Have you known this entire time?”

  She raises her green eyes to mine. “You were safer with Frank.”

  Frank. She knows my father’s name. I recoil in my chair. “How long have you known?”

  “Since just after you surfaced at Maxwell’s. I kept you a secret for so long. I didn’t think it was possible you could still be alive after all these years. He eventually proved you were my daughter from your blood.”

  “Maxwell knew about you?” I stare at her incredulously.

  David scoffs. “Turns out Maxwell had more than a few tightly held secrets. Some he managed to keep even from me.”

  I ignore David and stare at Laura. “And you never sought me out? Never thought to introduce yourself in over a year?”

  Laura’s eyes brim with tears. “It would have been too risky, for both of us. But you’re here now. I’m looking forward to getting to know you.”

  Jonas, who has been standing during our exchange, lowers himself slowly into the chair at the head of the table. “Now that that’s settled, we have business to discuss.”

  “Nothing is settled,” I snap. Anger boils within me. I don’t trust any of them. Not Jonas, not David, not the wealthy strangers across the table from me, and certainly not the woman who is my mother by biology only. I don’t understand any of this. “Why is David on this council when he was the one responsible for having Maxwell killed?”

  Jonas shakes his head. “David did what he had to do to protect you. Maxwell made too many mistakes. He became disconnected from the Party’s goals in pursuit of his own. Killing those people in the West Hub bombing was just the beginning.”

  David spreads his hands. “Konrad had Natasha. He was pulling my strings. Still, I tried to keep you out of it. I sent you and Jeremiah to your father, hoping you’d find each other and make it home with Frank. I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to walk through the front door.”

  “What did you expect me to do?”

  “I expected you’d use your head and steal the identity of a night nurse or something, not make up a name and walk past the facial recognition cameras. My plan was to have Korwin go after you. I liked the kid; I didn’t want anything to happen to him. But he insisted on getting his father involved.”

  “It’s water under the bridge,” Mirabella says in a soft, sophisticated tone. “We’ve got to move on. My understanding is the other asset is missing.”

  I glare at her. “The other asset?”

  “Korwin,” Warden says with a tight-lipped smile. “We must bring him to safety and prepare for war.”

  “You want to find him, don’t you?” Mirabella adds.

  “Yes.” I grit my teeth at her description of Korwin as an asset. “When will you go looking? I want to help.”

  She shakes her head. “Out of the question. You’re too important to us. We will put the word out to our people in the trenches. Once we have a lead, we’ll send a contingent.”

  “How long will that take? He’s been gone for weeks. Konrad could be draining him as we speak. We can’t wait for someone to stumble upon his whereabouts.”

  Jonas holds up a hand. “Lydia, in the time since you’ve been gone, things in the Green Republic have changed. In fact, they’ve grown far worse. After our failed revolution, Senator Pierce declared martial law and named himself Chancellor Pierce. Along with the Bureau of Republic Affairs, he has turned the nation into a military dictatorship. There is no longer any semblance of free trade. The Greens control everything. Every unit of electricity, every bite of food, every job, and every drop of information communicated to the populace. They say they do it for our safety.” He snorts derisively. “They do it for power. They do it for control.”

  I interlock my fingers on the table and look Jonas in the eye. “What does this have to do with finding Korwin?”

  “We can’t risk exposing ourselves. We are going to find Korwin, but we can’t be reckless. We have to keep the end goal of revolution in mind.”

  “The war has nothing to do with me. Thank you for fixing my leg and for your help finding Korwin but once we do, the two of us won’t be staying. I’m going to take him home.”

  Mirabella brushes her long gray hair behind her ear, her green eyes dart to her husband’s. “You’re a very young girl. Perhaps that is why you think this does not pertain to you. Allow me to put it a different way: The Green Republic has been looking for you, diligently enough that men in hazmat suits roam the forests of the Outlands on occasion. As I’m told David has shared with you, the compound at Stuart Manor is controlled by the Greens. We have yet to determine if the classified data there has been compromised, but we’ve seen flashers fall from drones on a regular basis. We’ve taken measures to minimize the risk to us and to you, but the risk is there and so is a very real possibility they’ll find something that leads them to us. If that happens, it’s only a short distance to Hemlock Hollow.”

  “Are you threatening me? Are you saying you’d tell them where to look for me?”

  “Oh, we wouldn’t do it on purpose. I simply want you to understand that the Liberty Party is the only thing keeping the Greens from the Outlands, and the Outlands are the only thing keeping them from Hemlock Hollow. Now do you see? If we fail in our attempts at revolution, you’re next.”

  For a moment, I stare at my hands and let what she’s said sink in. My head is pounding and I’m more worried than ever about Korwin. I can’t even process what she’s saying.

  “I think I need to lay down,” I say to Charlie. He nods and helps me out of my chair.

  “Another time then,” Jonas says, more an order than a question.

  I limp through the door, aware that each of them is staring at me and none of them look happy.

  13

  Charlie takes me back to the infirmary to rest and hooks me back up to the healing boot. I fall asleep almost instantly, although my rest is riddled with nightmares. I picture tanks and huge bulldozers plowing through the wall to Hemlock Hollow, crushing me, my fath
er, and everyone else in their wake. My Ordnung is obliterated into a dust of crushed bones. Our homes are flattened under metal treads, and even our animals are killed in cold blood.

  I wake with a sharp intake of breath, my eyes moist with tears. Thankfully, the nightmare is not reality. The infirmary is quiet, the lights dimmed, and I find David asleep in a chair by my side. I can’t find a clock.

  Lights on the rubbery contraption around my lower leg blink green. I sit up in bed, fighting the ache of my shoulder and face. Incredibly, the pain in my leg from my earlier walk is completely gone. I run my fingers along the edge of the healer, feeling the hum of electricity beneath my fingertips. Charlie said this worked similarly to the bathtub Maxwell Stuart made for Korwin, but it was localized. Can I help things along?

  Closing my eyes, I find the glowing blue tickle at the back of my brain. It seems like forever since I communed with it or practiced controlling it. Sure, in Hemlock Hollow I suppressed it, a type of control, but that particular skill was far different than safely wielding it. It was a stupid thing to do. A potentially fatal mistake. My power is a stranger to me again in many ways and in this world of the Englishers could be an important defense.

  With a deep breath, I carefully peel back the bandage on my shoulder and inspect the crusty gouge of bloody flesh. I place my hand over the wound and then carefully allow the tickle in my brain to travel both to my hand and down my neck to the spot under it. My shoulder glows blue through my fingers and I watch as tiny segments of skin knit together beneath my touch, a spider’s web that thickens to cover the deep wound. The place of injury fills in, turning bright red, then purple like a bruise. My body lurches, and the boot on my leg blinks red again. The tickle within shifts, power flowing from the boot, up to my heart and back to my shoulder. It takes me a minute to figure out what’s happened. The source of my healing power has shifted from my inner reserve to the charge of the boot. The deep bruise beneath my fingers heals to normal flesh, my skin taking on the distinctive blue glow of a Spark.

  I remove my palm from my shoulder and work at the tape holding the bandage to my face. Even before I have it off, I can feel the healing energy working, warming the skin of my cheek. By the time I toss the bloodied bandage to the floor, my skin is smooth and pain free beneath my touch. Why didn’t I think to do this before?