by Brindi Quinn
“Well, duh. I am your partner, aren’t I?”
“Well, yeah, but-”
“Now let’s go!” Jobe gave her wrist the yank he’d been holding back.
Tide stumbled after him, calling behind her, “Okay, we’ll be back after the second night, then!”
The judge nodded and held up a wrinkled hand of parting. But Tide couldn’t return the gesture, for Jobe was pulling her. He was pulling her safely away from the judge.
He had to get her away.
“You don’t really think that old coot knows something about your mother, do you?” he said when they were nearly to the dome’s exit.
“I don’t really know what he could know,” said Tide. “Mom wasn’t a climber, and that guy doesn’t even know my name, does he?”
“Probably not. So if you know that, then why-?”
“Because. On the slight chance that he DOES know something. Dad doesn’t talk about her. Ever. Not since she died.” That reminded the young princess. She tried to think of the last time she’d actually seen her father. It’d been weeks. At least.
“Three years ago, right?” said Jobe.
Tide tipped her head. “Hm?”
“She died three years ago, right?” clarified Jobe.
“No, it was two years . . . Wait. No.” Tide searched her fragile memory. “Yeah, it was three. How did you . . . Oh. Right.” The Yondo family history wasn’t exactly secret.
Two years? Three years?
Lost in her thoughts, Tide went on ahead while Jobe lagged behind, watching her. He felt . . . bad. It was sort of pathetic – the state of Nero Yondo’s ‘daughter’. It was sort of . . . He shook his head. He couldn’t think like that. Ryon was all that mattered. Bringing Ryon back was all that was important.
The dark part of Jobe writhed within. It forced him to call out to the drifting girl. It forced him to give in to his cruelty.
“Ink!” he yelled. “Wait up!”
Jobe trotted to her side. She was in another place. Air-headed. Distracted. But Jobe’s next line thrust her uncompromisingly back into the present. He said,
“Don’t you think it’s a little immoral of you to be all over that THING when Foster’s suffering so badly? You do realize what Seconds do to their Mains, don’t you? They suck the life right out of ‘em.”
“Wha-?” Tide’s mouth fell open. “Where did that come from, Jobe? Don’t start being mean all of a sudden.”
Jobe ignored her. “Don’t you know, Ink? That if a Second grows strong enough, their Main will die. Allowing both to coexist puts too much strain on the dimensional boundaries . . . or so I’ve heard.”
Or so he’d heard? But Tide didn’t dwell on that part. She saw an opening. It was unexpected. It was unexplained. But it was an opening, nonetheless. If she wanted to save Rye and Foster, she had no choice but to take it, so take it she did. She jumped in full-footed. “But that’s not true, Jobe!” She thrust an arm of appeal at him. “It can’t be! Rye and Foster existed at the same time! I saw proof with my own eyes! You were there, and they were both solid and-”
“Shut up, stupid!” Jobe let out a laugh. So THAT was what Foster had shown them. It was funny, really. He could’ve shown them any number of things, but he’d chosen something like that. Something that would only confused them more. Something that would only make them teeter. Maybe the Main hadn’t really given up after all.
“No!” Tide was on the verge of tears. “I won’t shut up! Tell me, Jobe. Tell me how it was possible!”
“It isn’t possible!” He grabbed the misinformed girl by the shoulders and pressed her against the wall. “That wasn’t Rye, you idiot girl! That was Ryon! Can’t you even tell the difference? They can’t be THAT identical!”
But at the usage of Ryon’s name, Tide was sent into a downward spiral into darkness.
“Damn it.” Jobe gave her a shake. “Damn it!” He’d done something stupid. He’d delivered something tactlessly. He’d given in again to the part he hated. The defeated boy punched the wall above Tide’s head. It did nothing to the wall, but caused a raw feeling on the skin of his knuckles. As the princess started to slip into a slump, he caught her beneath the arms and pulled her close. There was nothing else to be done, so the hunter lifted the girl and carried her to the place where it would all make sense. To the place where he could safely tell her the secret.
~
When Tide awoke, she was in a green place. A flowering place. A place that was warm and humid and bright. She was sitting in something soft. A patch of grass? Yes, a soft patch of synthetic grass. Though the grass was fake, the trees were real. They were upright flowering hibiscuses. How did she know that? She wasn’t sure. Something from long ago.
“Does it feel familiar at all?” said a voice from behind her.
Tide glanced over her shoulder. “Jobe?”
He was sitting cross-legged in the synthetic lawn. They were the only two in the small, glass-ceilinged room. The air was fresh. Not dusty or foggy. Even through the sticky humidity, it tasted fresh.
“This is the Eastfelt Conservatory, right?” said Tide, looking around.
“Sure is, girl.”
There was a dull pain at the back of Tide’s neck. “W-what happened?”
“You passed out.”
“Again?! That’s been happening.”
Jobe knew that, and it made him extremely happy. It meant that she was shifting. He just hoped that his understanding of what she actually was was correct. If not, then anything he told her would have a reverse effect.
“Ink. I have to tell you something.”
“You could start by telling me how we got here.”
“I carried you.”
“Eh?! All the way here?! What the heck! Why?! Didn’t that draw attention?”
Jobe smirked. It had. And he loved causing that sort of mayhem. There wasn’t time for that, though. There were important things to discuss. He had no idea what Foster and Nero Yondo and all of the other people involved were really up to. His time alone with Ink might become limited once they realized what he was trying to do. Today was the day. It was time to get it out. Most of it, anyway.
“I have to show you a photograph,” said Jobe.
“Ur- okaaaay.” Tide rubbed her face. This was more than confusing. “Sorry, but you dragged me all the way here to show me a photograph? I don’t really get it.”
Jobe bonked her on the head. “Shh. Just look and you’ll understand, okay?” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a cloth wallet. From a zippered flap he pulled out a folded picture. “Look.” Holding it between his fingers, he handed the photo to Tide and looked away.
Cautious, Tide grabbed the slip and unfolded it, but when she did, a strange mixture of emotions intruded her. The throbbing beneath her ribs returned, mixed with sadness and peppered with familiarity.
The photo was another of Foster, Rye, and Jobe.
“This,” said Jobe, “is a photograph from when I first moved to St. Laran. I told you before that I went to school nearby. You remember that much right?”
Tide, who was holding her breath at the thought of getting some much-needed information, nodded eagerly. Jobe rolled his eyes and continued,
“On a class trip to this conservatory, I met a boy genius that worked here. He was two years older than me and too damn smart for his own good. He was part of a lab team that worked under an inventor that was developing some drill. The boy’s name was Foster. Like I said, he was freaky smart. He was only seventeen, but he’d already graduated, and he was such a little know-it-all that I absolutely hated him at first. So, naturally, I wanted to become his friend.”
“You hated him so you wanted to be his friend?”
“Of course. So I could torment the jerk.” He ignored Tide’s look of disgust and continued, “But after we became friends, I realized that he was actually a blast. He was all professional at work, but after hours, he’d let me sneak into the conservatory with him and take whatever I wanted. And
he was super good at talking his way out of shit. He was great. Like the perfect partner in crime.”
Tide raised a brow. That was vastly different from the Foster she’d met.
“Anyways,” said Jobe, “one day he introduced me to his roommate: Ryon. Ryon was . . .” Jobe grinned. “So damn cute. He was trendy and-”
But when Jobe saw the look passing across Tide’s eyes, he stopped himself. “Stay with me, Ink. Ink Tide. Ink Tide. You’re alive. Okay? You’re alive.”
Tide shook her head. “R-Ryon?” she repeated.
Jobe nodded, grateful that he’d been able to pull her back in time. “The one in the picture. Take a good look at him. Look closely. Look and tell me what’s wrong with him.”
“He’s . . .” Tide’s eyes scanned his neck. “He’s a Second! He IS Rye!”
“No. True, he’s a Second, but he isn’t Rye. Look, girl. You’re all crushy over that guy, but you can’t see-”
“Oh!” Tide squinted. Through the picture’s fadedness, it was hard to tell, but there was something different. Something very different. “His eyes?” said Tide. “They’re . . . turquoise, aren’t they? And Rye’s are blue.” She blushed at the thought of Rye’s eyes.
“Very good. Too bad I don’t have a treat to give you.”
Tide scowled. “I’m not your pet, you know.”
“Ha! That’s debatable. Anyways, what else do you see, girl? There’s another difference. You can just barely see it in this pic.”
Tide scanned the picture. And then she found it. It was hard to tell, but . . . his arm. Peeking out of the bottom of his t-shirt sleeve there was something black. “A tattoo?” she said. “I mean, another tattoo?”
Jobe nodded. “Bingo! Ding! Ding! Nice job, spacey. His upper arms were tattooed. Real sexy, too. From what I hear, Rye’s aren’t.”
“Okay . . . So what the heck?” Tide fought to make sense of it. So the person in the picture with Jobe and Foster wasn’t Rye. It was someone else. Someone named Ryon. But that didn’t clear up much of anything! “What does it mean?” she asked, frustrated. “There were two Seconds that look like Rye? Rye has a twin?”
“Uh- I don’t really know how to respond to that one. The easiest way to word it is that Rye is an imposter. A copycat.”
“But how can that be?”
“Just as I said. Rye came later, so he’s Ryon’s copycat.”
“Argh!” Tide scratched at her neck. “I’m so confused! How can Rye be a copycat? Whose Second was Ryon?”
Jobe stared into her eyes. She seemed solid enough for the rest . . . but not yet. Just a little more before he’d tell her. “Let me finish my story first,” he said.
Tide folded her arms. “Fine.” She wasn’t happy with it, but because she knew she was fortunate to be getting any information at all, she’d cooperate.
Jobe stared at one of the bunches of hibiscus flowers. “When I met Ryon, everything was perfect. He was great. I couldn’t believe he was a Second. He was so haughty and rude and lively.”
“Haughty and rude? That sounds nothing like Rye.”
“Shh. Do you want to hear this or not?”
Tide made the motion of zipping her lips.
“Well,” said Jobe, satisfied, “Foster seemed to really love Ryon, but not like I did. It was more like, Foster was protecting Ryon for some reason. Foster wouldn’t tell me about Ryon’s Main. He wouldn’t talk about it at all. It was too ‘painful’ for the sap, but then one night, when Ryon was vacant, Foster told me. Everything. He broke right down like a crying girl and told me the truth about Ryon.” Jobe paused to gage Tide’s reaction. “You ready, girl?”
“What?” Tide squinted at him. “Sure I’m ready. Get on with it.”
Jobe nodded. She still seemed solid enough, so he went on,
“Foster was so freakily smart that he caught the eye of the chief inventor at his lab. The inventor introduced Foster to his daughter and they hit it off great, I guess. I never met the chick, but from what Foster said, she was all timid and innocent and boring. Well, they dated for a year or so and then they got engaged. At sixteen, they got engaged. It’s like, what’s the rush, right? Well, they were in love and her parents were supportive of it, so they all went out to celebrate. Foster, the girl, her dad, and her mom. And where did they choose to celebrate? This very conservatory, actually.”
Tide’s stomach dropped. She didn’t like the feeling overtaking her. The fragmented memory of hers tried not to connect the dots, but it was all becoming too clear for her to ignore. The hungry demon’s growl began to fill her mind.
Jobe saw it, but he kept going. He had to get it all out before she disappeared again. “Supposedly, they had a great time, and yada yada yada, bla bla bla. But then there was an accident. A bad accident, and the girl’s mom died. And then everything changed. Almost instantly, the girl developed a Second.”
Jobe paused to let her chew on it, and chew she did. There were a few moments of nothing and then, “No,” came the meek mutter of the girl who was white in the face and bleak in the soul.
“That’s right, girl,” whispered Jobe. “Ryon was your Second. And that, my partner, is the secret I’ve been keeping.”
The demon slipped around Tide, wound her tightly, and pulled her under.
~
When Tide awoke, the sky through the glass roof was dark, but Jobe was still by her side. They were still in the conservatory under the blooming hibiscus tree.
“Finally,” the tired hunter said when he saw her stir. “I was worried they’d kick us out.”
Though Jobe had waited there hours, for the princess it was as though only a few seconds had passed – as though their conversation was still happening. For her, time had hiccupped and nothing more. That was why, without segue or transition of any sort, she chimed in with,
“W-what? I had a Second? Impossible!” She shook her dizzy head and let out a crazed laugh. “Ha! Then why can’t I remember anything like that!? And what happened to him!? Jobe, you can’t honestly expect me to believe that!”
Jobe yawned. He was glad to get right back into it. He’d be even gladder to get it over with.
“That, my girl, is what I don’t know. One day, Ryon just disappeared. Foster wouldn’t tell me why. We became distant. And then we became estranged. Didn’t speak for a year or so, and then boom! I find you. Lover-boy Foster had told me about you in such detail that when I stumbled upon you I thought it had to be the same girl, but I wasn’t sure. Part of me thought it was impossible because I’d heard that you were . . .” But he couldn’t say that part yet, so instead he went with, “I just wanted it to be YOU so badly.”
There was earnestness there. So much so, that it cracked Tide’s disbelief. Jobe was telling the truth? She couldn’t accept it, but maybe there was a chance he wasn’t kidding. Somehow he thought he was telling the truth. Somehow he thought . . .
“Go on,” she mumbled vacantly.
“I wanted it to be you so badly because . . .”
“You want Ryon,” concluded the fragmented girl.
Jobe nodded. “So sue me. I’d take him over you any day.”
With the hunter’s confession, the space around them became awkwardly uncomfortable. Sticky. Quiet. He was basically saying he wanted her dead, and while Tide was offended, she knew she had to move past it. Finding out how to help Rye and Foster was the most important thing. For them, she had to work through the mire. With Jobe, she had to get past it.
The princess let out a breath and pulled herself together.
“If what you’re saying is true,” she said, slowly and methodically, “then why can’t I remember any of it? You’re mistaken, Jobe. I’m sorry, but you have to be because it doesn’t make any sense.”
“Like I said, I don’t know why you can’t remember, but what I’m telling you is the truth. Guess you’re right about it not making sense, though. You see, Ryon was strong. He was so strong that we were sure you were going to disappear. We were hoping for it, he and
I. I mean, hell! It got to the point where he’d stay with us for weeks at a time! You should’ve been gone! You WERE gone! You’d lost the fight! And then . . . nothing. Ryon went missing. He just vanished.”
Jobe looked at her expectantly, but Tide couldn’t speak. It was all so . . . She’d been engaged to Foster? And she’d spawned a Second after her mother’s death? A Second that Jobe had been in love with? She didn’t believe any of it, really. But Jobe was so sure. He was more than sure. He clearly believed the insanity he was telling her. And there were certain things about it that maybe weren’t so insane after all. The strange reaction she had to Foster. Her blackouts whenever talk turned to fragile subjects. Her fuzzy memory.
“I don’t . . .”
“After Ryon disappeared, I lashed out at Foster. I blamed him for pulling you back. Cruel? Yes. But I didn’t care. I didn’t care about his happiness. I just wanted Ryon back. Here’s the thing, though. Foster denied it. He denied that you’d been brought back. And I had no choice but to believe him because he was so distraught over the whole thing, that . . .”
“Rye?” said Tide, voice trembling.
“Yup. Guess he couldn’t cope with the loss of you AND Ryon, so he spawned Rye, and for some reason the THING was nearly identical to Ryon. And then . . . Hey, I never met you before that day in the dome, so when I saw a doe-eyed rich girl with black hair? I was grasping at straws. I was always grasping at them. You met the description, but that wasn’t enough. There was something else. Something about you felt like HIM. It felt like Ryon. I thought it was just my imagination . . . until I looked up your fax number. When I found out it really WAS you, I was . . . well, ‘surprised’ is an understatement. I was flabbergasted.” Jobe ran a hand through his hair. “Because I thought you were dead.”
The proclamation caught Tide completely off guard. “You thought I was dead?”
“Of course, spacey. Aren’t you following me at all? Here’s how I thought it went down: I assumed that Ryon took over and pushed you out of existence – hooray! – and that you died and that your father used his influence to send some thugs after Ryon for retribution. I figured they murdered him or something. And Foster’s complete breakdown only seemed to confirm that theory, so . . .”