Deliverance (2 page)

“Yes, so why am I dressed this way?”

“You're not a leader, Hana. Not yet, anyway. Won't you join me? I have a transporter waiting.” He holds out his arm.

I stare at his elbow. The last thing I want to do is go to dinner with this man. Who wants to eat with their mother's murderer?

Too bad that, once again, I don't have a choice.

I take his arm and he leads me to the elevator. Funny that I ever thought it would be exciting to ride in one. Now it appears I'll be riding in one for the rest of my life.

“How do you like your apartment?” he asks as we climb into what he calls a transporter. It's silver and sleek, shaped like something called a subway car, only much smaller. I saw a picture once, in a book from the Early Days. The door slides closed after we climb inside. “Home.” At his single word, the transporter glides into the traffic on the street. He turns to me, his eyebrows raised. He is waiting for my reply.

I stare at the machine as we move through the city. Only Supreme Moon and I sit inside.

I push my confusion aside. “Do we have to talk?”

His smile vanishes for a moment and he leans close to me. His eyes are serious, as if he's imploring me to understand the importance of his words. “I am trying very hard to help you feel at ease, Hana. You have broken the law many times, but I have faith in you. I have invested in you. So yes, we have to talk.”

He leans back and his smile reappears. “So? Your room?”

He's invested in me? I don't like the way that sounds. It's going to be a very uncomfortable night.

I opt not to tell him about the blinking red light under my clock, especially since he probably knows it's there. “My room is fine,” I say. Then I turn toward the window and watch the city pass us by.

I have too many questions already. How is this transport thing moving? Why doesn't it need a driver? How does it know where to go?

I hate unanswered questions, but asking anything of Supreme Moon is less than tempting. For now I will settle for not knowing.

 

 

 

 

 

2

 

Supreme Moon's home is like nothing I've ever seen. Pillars holding up an enormous porch rise to the sky. The building itself is white, and I count sixteen windows lining the front of both stories. And I thought
my
apartment was enormous.

“It's really something, isn't it?” he asks as the transporter stops at the front door.

A man taps the window and I realize my face is practically pressed against the glass. I quickly move away and he opens the door. “Welcome to the Great Supreme's residence.”

I don't reply because I'm not sure if I'm supposed to, but I do let him help me out of the strange machine.

Sindy is here. She smiles at me and takes my arm. I notice right away that her clothes are different. In place of the grunge clothing she wore before, she has on some type of ball gown. It's made from blue silk or satin, or some other expensive material I've never seen. It strikes me as something Lilith Winters would wear. She would have made the perfect Greater. I wonder how my former classmate—the one who hated me—did on her Test.

I glance at my own clothes and grind my teeth. They did this to me on purpose. I was tricked into wearing these clothes so I would feel uncomfortable.

Why? If Supreme Moon hates me so much, why did he bring me here?

“Come right this way,” he says. He heads inside.

Sindy guides me up the grand steps into the mansion. Down an open hallway and to the right, we reach the dining room. I shake my head for ever thinking my apartment was grand. I was sadly mistaken. This dining room could swallow my apartment whole.

A long table with about a million chairs sits in the middle. On a far wall is some type of musical instrument. I think it's called a piano, but I've only seen one once, so I'm not sure. At another end is a window, only it doesn't lead outside. It seems connected to some sort of serving area. People in uniforms line up platters of food on a counter.

“Have a seat,” Supreme Moon says. He sweeps his hand toward a padded chair. I sit, and Sindy sits beside me. “The servants will bring the meal.”

Servants? I glance at the people with the food. I thought servants only existed in books. Why would anyone need a servant in real life? I can definitely serve my own food.

I sit quietly while they heap steaming food on my plate, and I can't help feeling ridiculous. There are a dozen questions I would like to ask, but asking them at this grand table can't be the right place and time. If I learned anything from Fischer, it was that some things are better discussed in private. Still, I haven't been told about allowances, curfews, or any of the other rules the Greaters follow. Maybe there's a handbook on my HELP comp.

When the servants finish, Supreme Moon takes a bite. This seems to signal that Sindy and I should eat, too, so we do.

For a few minutes there is silence, and then Sindy and Supreme Moon make idle chitchat.

I'm wondering why I'm there. I could have eaten alone in my apartment—would have rather eaten alone in my apartment.

“You must have figured out by now that I have something to discuss with you,” Supreme Moon says, interrupting my thoughts.

“I had wondered, yes,” I say. It's mostly true, but I hadn't realized he had an actual topic in mind.

“We need to run some tests on you,” he says. His tone is easy-going and friendly, as if he's telling me about a new shirt he bought. “The tests won't hurt, but they will let us see into your mind. We do this for anyone who tests as Greater from a lower station in life.”

I'm thankful my hand isn't holding a fork because I would probably drop food all over myself if it were. A second Test? “I don't understand.”

“Think of the tests as dreams. You will be given medicine to help you sleep, and while you sleep you will have monitors placed on either side of your head. The monitors will read your dreams. That is all. It won't hurt, and it can do no damage.”

I swallow hard. I don't see how this could possibly be a good thing, or why it's necessary. Wasn't that what the Test was for in the first place? It's the thing that told them I should be Greater. I didn't claim anything. I have nothing to prove.

I can't argue with the Great Supreme, though, so I say nothing.

“You have questions,” he says.

“No questions.”

He watches me quietly for a moment. Then he goes back to eating.

The conversation is finished.

He and Sindy continue their meal, but I was done as soon as Supreme Moon mentioned the tests.

These special tests can only be for one purpose. Supreme Moon tried to get information out of me once, just by asking.

I refused to give it, and now he's going after it another way.

The people I met in Middle City 3—what if I reveal who they are? Where to find them?

I'm glad for the long sleeves of my cotton shirt because they hide my goose bumps. It seems like a lot of trouble, promoting me to Greater just to get the names of a few measly Christians.

When the meal is finished, Supreme Moon invites us into his sitting room.

“I think you'll like it here,” Sindy says to me. Her smile seems genuine, but she works for Supreme Moon, so I'm not really sure how much I can trust her. “You must have some questions about the city.”

Now's the time, I suppose. “I did wonder about my allowances.”

Sindy pauses and glances at Supreme Moon. They both laugh. “I'm sorry, Hana,” she says. “I thought you realized. Greaters get no allowances. You can have whatever you want, when you want it. Of course, that's as long as you've earned it.”

“Earned it?”

“You earn things by following our rules. Doing what we want. Telling people what we instruct you to tell them. Of course, you also have to perform your work satisfactorily, or in your case, your training. As long as you're doing that, you get what you want.”

There is no hiding the truth about the way things are run, not in Greater City. Back home we were coddled and lied to. Here they must tell it like it is.

“And I can use all the electricity and hot water I want?”

Sindy smiles again. “Absolutely.”

I already know what I'll do as soon as I get back to my apartment. It feels too good to be true.

The night ends, and Supreme Moon stays home while Sindy rides with me back to my apartment.

“Sleep tight, Hana,” she says as I climb from the transporter. “Your tests start in the morning. Be ready.”

I stare for a few minutes before I nod. The morning? “OK.” I hadn't expected it so soon. In spite of her wishes, I doubt I'll be getting any sleep at all.

 

 

 

 

3

 

“Drink this,” Sindy says. We're in a huge room—Sindy calls it an auditorium—with monitors and machines lined against every wall. Above the room are windows. People stand in the windows, watching the chaos below. They're watching me, and they have been since I arrived at dawn.

Sindy hands me a small syringe of clear liquid, and my hand shakes as I take it from her. “What is it?”

She smiles an empty smile and shrugs. “Just something to help you rest during the test.”

It's not really an answer at all, but it does let me know she expects me to drink it. Now.

I place the syringe against my lips and push. Bitter syrup rushes past my tongue and down my throat. A shudder grips me from the chemical taste.

I glance up at the windows when I see movement. Supreme Moon has arrived. I wait for him to look at me, but his eyes never meet mine.

He's here to see what I can tell him in my sleep, and that is all. Speaking of sleep, I can barely keep my eyes open.

“How are you feeling?” Sindy asks.

I blink. Blink. Blink.

“I'm tired.”

She smiles again, but this time it's genuine. “That means the medicine is—”

I know I'm dreaming, but my brain is in such a fog I can't make the images stop.

Mom is there.

Ms. Sewell from school is there.

The blinking lights are there.

The blinking red light under my clock is there.

Even in the mist, though, I can tell I'm being poked and prodded.

A sticky heart monitor on my left shoulder. A cold metal probe near my right ear.

Wake up!

I try several times to force my mind out of the murk, but nothing works. Everyone who's here is going to see my dreams. I saw the monitors hanging on the walls. I can only assume my thoughts are already playing on the big screens.

“She's not fully under,” someone says.

After another moment, I drift further away. Deeper. Deeper. Deeper.

“Hey. It's been a long time.” Fischer smiles at me and I smile back.

“I missed you,” I say. I tell myself to wipe the stupid grin off my face, but Fischer's presence has me way too happy.

He glances away, his lop-sided grin in place. His brown hair has that curl on his forehead, the one I always want to brush from his eyes.

“I missed you, too,” he says. “You look beautiful.”

My stomach tingles and I definitely can't stop the stupid smile now. “Thank you.”

I look around and see we're in the hospital, and not just any hospital, the one from Middle City 3. I turn back to Fischer excitedly. “Is she here?”

Fischer knows who I mean. His dancing eyes dull some, and his easy grin fades away. He doesn't speak, only shakes his head. “I'm sorry,” he mouths.

I take a shaky breath and wrap my arms around my middle. “How can I find her?”

He puts his finger to his lips and shakes his head again.

And then I remember. He isn't real, and my thoughts aren't safe.

“When can I see you again?” I ask.

The last time I saw him was a few weeks ago. He had brushed his fingers across my cheek, protected by the darkness of my front porch. That was the night I learned Supreme Moon was sending me away from Middle City 3.

Fischer doesn't answer, but his gaze bores into me. His passion for life emanates from every part of him.

Why doesn't he speak?

I feel like I'm stuck in a swamp of dark ink that oozes through my head.

“Do you think about me?” I ask. It seems like a safer question.

His smile returns and I relax. “Always.” His voice catches, and he reaches out to brush my cheek again.

I shiver.

“I have to go now,” he says.

“No,” I say. “I just found you.”

“Keep trying.”

“Keep trying what? Can't you stay?”

He shakes his head.

He isn't walking away, but for some reason he's getting farther and farther from me.

“Wait!”

My eyes are gritty and I blink rapidly to clear them.

It's only a few moments before I realize I'm awake. Fischer is gone and I'm alone again in Greater City.

I see Sindy first. She isn't frowning, but a slight wrinkle creases the middle of her forehead.

My gaze drags to one of the doctors across the room. He huffs and begins pushing buttons on the monitors to shut them down.

“What happened?” I ask. My voice comes out dry and scratchy, and I swallow hard.

Sindy glides over with a glass of water. “You finished your test.”

“So soon?” It went much too fast. I take the water and gulp it down. The desert in my throat disappears.

“You were out for nearly two hours.”

How is that possible? I only spoke with Fischer for a few minutes.

If I was out that long, I could have said things I don't remember. I swing around to the big screen, like my evil doings will be posted for all to see. It's blank. Empty. I glance up at the windows, but Supreme Moon is gone. What did he hear in my thoughts?

“You did fine,” Sindy says.