We Set the Dark on Fire

by Tehlor Kay Mejia

  “I’m coming with you.”

  Carmen was sliding into the seat beside Dani, her magenta skirt settling around her as she made herself comfortable for a long ride. “Are you okay?” she asked Dani once her seat belt was buckled. “I heard your father was ill, and I just thought . . . maybe you could use some company.” A strand of hair fell into her eyes, and she peered around it with a shy smile that almost broke Dani’s heart right there.

  “Okay, señora?” José asked, but Dani turned to Carmen.

  “You shouldn’t,” she said. “Mateo’s already upset about the riot. He didn’t want to let me leave the complex. I wouldn’t want to get you—”

  Carmen interrupted her with a wave of her hand. “I already cleared it with Mateo. He said as long as we don’t leave the hospital and we’re on the road by sundown, it would be nice for you to have the company.”

  But Dani had never planned on staying in the hospital, and she already had José to contend with. “I just don’t know,” she said. “My mama is fragile right now, and I don’t know how bad things are there. It might be best if we just . . .”

  “Dani,” said Carmen matter-of-factly. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m great with parents. You’re obviously upset, and I’m not going to let you guilt yourself out of a little comfort on a difficult day, so can we just go? We don’t have much time as it is.”

  One argument, then another and another died on Dani’s lips before she could speak them aloud. Carmen’s mouth was set, her eyes were concerned but somehow still sparkling, and short of being physically thrown from the vehicle, she really didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

  “Just say thank you,” Carmen said with a smirk, settling into her seat.

  “Thank you?” Dani gestured at José to drive, not at all sure what she’d do when they reached the hospital and her father was nowhere to be found.

  Of course, the ride to the capital had never passed so quickly, and Dani spent it watching Carmen out of the corner of her eye, but not for the reasons she usually watched her. The way she’d charged into the car wasn’t uncharacteristic of her, but the way she’d insisted on staying struck an odd chord in Dani. Why had Carmen been so determined to accompany her despite Dani’s reservations?

  Something was off, and little as Dani liked to distrust the only friend she had in the world, she found her mind wandering back to the morning after graduation. When she’d watched the growing closeness between Carmen and Mama Garcia in the car, thinking she shouldn’t trust either of them. One apology from Carmen and she’d been so quick to forget it all. . . . But hadn’t Carmen already proven that she would sell Dani out if it meant protecting herself?

  Then there had been the night of Jasmín’s arrest, when Mama Garcia had tried to burn the letter. Lost in everything that happened next, Dani had barely registered the way Carmen had denied knowing the elder Segunda was in the house. But she had been the only one home. Who else could Mama Garcia have been meeting?

  Dani had never thought to be suspicious, especially after their day in the marketplace. The almost-kiss. The way Carmen had encouraged her to stay and watch when the protests began. She’d been so sure that day, that Carmen was sympathetic to the cause, that there was so much more to her than Dani had ever thought.

  But hadn’t she behaved exactly like someone trying to gain Dani’s trust? Someone trying to lower a Primera’s famous guard so she would admit something incriminating?

  This time, she looked at Carmen directly. When she looked back, something twisted and flipped in Dani’s stomach. A combination of attraction and apprehension. Carmen smiled as their eyes met. Was it the smile of someone who could sell her out? Who would follow her into the capital to spy for Mama Garcia?

  Was it the smile of someone who could almost kiss her one day and then get her killed the next?

  She was so lost in thoughts of kissing and loyalty, they were pulling up to the hospital doors before Dani decided what to do about Carmen, not to mention José.

  Carmen slid out first, stepping out of the car and into the oppressive heat of the capital. Dani stalled a moment, making sure José’s eyes were averted before undoing the clasp on her watch and letting it fall silently to the floor of the car.

  She’d pretend to look for it tomorrow, claim it had slipped from her narrow wrist. But the last thing she needed today was a brand.

  Out on the street, Carmen and José stood beside her, and Dani had no choice but to walk through the front doors of the huge stucco building that housed Medio’s largest hospital.

  It was cooler inside, and Dani stopped in the lobby, everything inside her a knot that would not come untied. “I’ll just see where his room is,” Dani said, an idea coming to life just in time. She didn’t wait for an answer, just walked up to the reception desk as if she did this every day. Thankfully, José and Carmen stayed put, out of earshot.

  “Excuse me,” Dani said, smiling. “My cousin and I are here to visit my father.”

  “Name?” she asked, and Dani hesitated, just a beat.

  “Before we get that far, I just want to check something with you,” Dani said, glancing back at José for effect. “Our uncle insisted on accompanying us, and while I know my father doesn’t mind his criminal record or his tendency to get . . . boisterous in confined spaces, I just wanted to make sure the hospital didn’t mind him coming to the room.”

  The woman paled a little, looking over Dani’s shoulder at José’s hulking silhouette. He stood at least a foot taller than Carmen, his arms crossed meanacingly across his chest.

  “To clarify,” Dani continued, drawing her attention before José could get suspicious. “He’s not dangerous or anything, unless there’s any sharp instruments around, or anyone makes direct eye contact with him. He gets a little . . .”

  “I’m sorry,” the woman interrupted. “But unfortunately, we only allow immediate family into the patient rooms.”

  “You don’t say,” Dani replied. “Well, if it’s a hospital rule, I’m sure they’ll understand.”

  She returned to José and Carmen to deliver the bad news. At first, she was sure José would cause a scene and demand to be sent with Dani, but thankfully he took a seat in the waiting area.

  “Be back here by sundown,” he said. “I’ll be watching the entrance.”

  “Of course,” she said. “Thank you.”

  She headed for the hallway, hoping she could find a side door and slip out unnoticed, but as she rounded the corner back to the reception desk, Carmen was right on her heels. “Dani, wait!”

  It was all she could do not to groan aloud. “Look, they said . . .”

  “Please,” Carmen said, tossing her hair. “I’ve charmed my way into far more difficult situations than this. I told you, I’m coming with you.”

  Dani looked at her, every heartbeat evidence of the time she was losing. This was the moment of truth. Could she trust Carmen or not? She certainly hadn’t expected to have to make this decision so soon.

  “Do you know what room he’s in?” Carmen asked, looking around for a sign to point them in the right direction.

  Dani wished there were a sign to tell her what to do instead. She had her suspicions in one ear, telling her that Carmen couldn’t possibly have changed her mind about Dani so quickly, that she had to have some ulterior motive, and whatever it was could be deadly.

  But in the other ear was the whisper of a nearby creek, a nose grazing hers—a feeling that she could step forward into nothingness, and Carmen would hold out her arms and keep her from falling.

  “Dani?” Carmen asked, an expectant look on her face.

  Looking at her, Dani felt that pull the same as always. The pull she hadn’t known at twelve years old meant more than just relief at finding a friend in a new place.

  Carmen was beautiful, and mysterious, and fascinating, and Dani wanted so much to trust her. But at this unexpected moment of truth, she found some walls were just too high to be breached.

  “I’m sorry,” s
he said finally. “But I need to see my family alone.”

  Carmen smiled. “I know you’re scared, but—”

  “No,” Dani said, freezing the word at the edges in a way that stopped Carmen in midsentence. “I’m saying I don’t want you to come with me. It won’t help. It’ll only make things worse.”

  This time, the lie hit its mark. Carmen’s face fell, but only a little. “Is this because of the other day?” she asked. “Because, Dani . . . if that wasn’t . . .”

  “It isn’t about that,” Dani said. There was no time to go down that road. Not with sunset only a few hours away. “It’s about now. This is my family, they don’t know you. I barely know you. And I don’t need your help.” Her voice was hard this time, and she didn’t have to fake it. Every suspicion she’d courted in the car wove through her words like metal. “I’m sorry for wasting your day, but if you would wait here with José while I take care of this, I’d appreciate it.”

  “Sure,” Carmen said, her voice small. “I’m sorry for pushing, I just . . . I thought you might need a friend.”

  Dani’s heart squeezed in her chest. It was almost painful, how much she did need a friend, how much she wanted to believe Carmen meant it. But Dani had been burned once before, and she couldn’t afford any more mistakes.

  If Carmen was really working with Mama Garcia, she’d likely ask the woman at the desk the moment Dani was out of sight. She’d find out there was no Señor Vargas in this hospital. But at least she wouldn’t know where Dani was going.

  And if she wasn’t spying . . . if she was really just here as a friend . . .

  Dani shoved the thought aside. She had made her choice. She didn’t have time to question it now.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she said, trying not to meet Carmen’s eyes and failing. The hurt in them seemed so genuine, but Dani knew all too well how emotions could be faked.

  “Take your time,” Carmen said, trying to smile. “I’ll be here.”

  Dani hoped against hope that she really would. That Dani had it all wrong. But Carmen was definitely hiding something from her, and today was the wrong day to gamble on what it was.

  “Thanks,” she said, and then she was off, trying to look like someone who really had a sick father down one of these hallways. No one stopped her. As she walked deeper into the hospital, looking for a side or back entrance that couldn’t be seen from the street, she tried to leave Carmen and everything she implied in the waiting area.

  She would need all her focus if she was going to do what she needed to do.

  Finally, a quiet hallway ended in a door that groaned when Dani pushed it open, and she found herself in a courtyard, surrounded by a low wall. The plant life just beyond it was beginning to take the area back, vines breaking through flagstones to reveal earth so alive it was almost red.

  The hospital wasn’t far from the marketplace, and Dani oriented herself as quickly as possible, avoiding the main street until the building was out of sight, trying not to think about how different this would be if she’d chosen differently in the waiting room. If she were hand in hand with Carmen right now, giggling as they pushed their way through the crowds Dani now navigated alone.

  Irritated, Dani forced herself to focus. There would be plenty of time to second-guess her decisions when she was safely home. Right now, she needed to find Sota, or someone who knew what had happened to him.

  It was a long shot, but it was the only one she had.

  The first thing she’d have to do was find a way to rule out the vast majority of the market’s shoppers and loiterers. The narrower the window for observation, her maestras had always said, the greater the chances of getting it right. So, what would a La Voz agent be doing in the marketplace today?

  Too carefree, she thought, passing a group of young women with crushed ice and syrup from the stand where Dani had once gotten into a fake argument with the wolf-eyed girl.

  A man charging past the lime stand was too determined, a scowl on his face. No La Voz agent would give away so much. Anyone here on resistance business would look relaxed but observant; they’d return to the same places more than once.

  Dani started scanning faces she’d seen twice more closely, moving in small circles around the restroom where she’d once met Sota, assuming it hadn’t been a random location. Not much about the way La Voz operated seemed random, after all.

  Dani was on her third circuit when she realized she’d seen the same tunic on every pass. The girl wearing it was slight, brown skin warm against the cool gray. Three times past, and Dani hadn’t seen her face, which meant she’d been circling around the post she now leaned against. Possibly avoiding Dani’s eyes?

  Silently, Dani moved closer, pausing at a stall full of stuffed children’s toys in bright colors, picking one up and examining it in a way she hoped didn’t look forced. Next, she fingered the fabric of a scarlet dress embroidered with bunches of vibrant bananas, as if considering the quality of the fiber, taking a look at the hemline.

  She tried not to think about the last time she’d pretended to be interested in a market’s wares, or the girl she’d been with that day, now sitting alone in a hospital waiting room. . . .

  Hopefully.

  Dani was close to her target now, and she shook herself for the second time. She needed to focus. She made sure not to stare too long or walk too straight. If the girl was intent on avoiding her, she’d be on high alert.

  Slowly, painstakingly, she closed the yards between herself and the narrow-shouldered girl. It was too late now for her to melt back into the crowd. Dani felt a thrill of triumph as she reached out to touch her elbow. If it wasn’t someone she recognized, or someone who recognized her, she’d keep walking, but she would have bet her priceless watch that this was a La Voz operative.

  When the girl whirled around to face her at last, there was fire in her all-too-familiar gray eyes. It was the wolf girl from her first trip to the market, looking furious.

  “Can’t you take a hint?” she hissed.

  Dani grabbed the other girl’s arm, moving smoothly to avoid causing a scene. She only needed a second to plead her case. “I need to talk to Sota,” she said, hoping the honest concern in her eyes would be enough.

  “Shut. Up.” There was alarm now where there had been anger. “Meet me in the bathroom in two minutes. If you’re not there in two minutes, I will be gone. And you will not find me again.”

  Dani nodded her understanding, saying a silent prayer to the god of fate and chances that Sota was alive, and she would get the chance to tell him what she had realized that sleepless night after the riot. That she wanted to do more than exist on the fringes. That she wanted to fight back against the husband who thought he could control her, the government who thought they could decide who deserved to live and die.

  That she wanted to make her own choices, and she was ready to start today.

  17

  For a new Primera, social alliances can be the key to success. Choose your friends carefully.

  —Medio School for Girls Handbook, 14th edition

  “IS HE ALIVE?”

  “What do you think this is? A dominoes club?” the girl asked, her tone harsh and condescending. “If you’re going to blow your cover and run down here every time there’s a scuffle, you’re even more useless than I’ve been telling him you are.”

  “I didn’t blow my cover,” Dani said. “I told him—”

  “Sick papi, yeah, we know. Trust me, we’ll have plenty of follow-up work to do on that one. I’m not sure you realize that if you ruin this, you’re not the only person who suffers. We would lose the closest spy we’ve had to the Garcias in years. It would be a huge setback for us. So . . . not everything is about you.”

  “I’m sorry,” Dani said, though she wasn’t sure she meant it. “I just have to talk to him. If he’s . . .”

  “Don’t start crying on me, okay, this isn’t a romance novel,” snapped the other girl. “Yes. He’s alive. But I barely got him o
ut. And we were the only ones. Everyone else was arrested or killed.”

  Quick as it had lifted, the weight was back, ten times heavier than it had been just a moment ago. She saw their faces as they sat in their chains. Proud, brave. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “It was terrible, the explosions and—”

  “We didn’t set off those explosions,” snarled the girl in shadows across from her. “That was your friends in uniform.”

  “I know!” Dani said, too eager, cringing at the sound of her voice. “I saw them. That’s what I wanted to talk to Sota about.”

  “Look, he’s not in great shape for talking, but he’ll be pissed if I don’t take you to him, so whatever. Let’s go. We need to get you back to that hospital as soon as possible, because if you give youself away over this I swear on everything I believe in—”

  “I won’t,” Dani promised. “No one is expecting me until sundown.” She failed to mention Carmen and José in the waiting room. That would be her secret.

  “Great.” The girl laced her hands together and held them out to Dani, who set a foot in gingerly, looking up at the window without enthusiasm.

  “What’s your name?” Dani asked on impulse. She could hardly call her “wolf girl” out loud, no matter how fitting a moniker it was.

  “What do you think this is, a date? Get up there.”

  Dani’s stomach dropped as she was hoisted to the windowsill. This was a joke you could make if you lived outside the repressive atmosphere of the inner island. If your entire romantic history hadn’t consisted of being sold to the highest bidder, and an almost-kiss in the bushes with a Segunda who might be trying to have you killed.

  “I’m Alex,” she said, landing gracefully beside Dani on a low rooftop outside the bathroom window. She brushed off her hands like she’d done it a thousand times.

  Dani nodded, trying not to break whatever moment had inspired her trust.

  She followed Alex over the rooftops as the early afternoon turned late, the air growing heavy and muggy in their lungs. The city spread out below them like patchwork, lights glimmering to life as the tallest buildings cast short shadows across the bustling city.