Outcast: A Corporation Novel (The Corporation) (14 page)

“I’m so sorry, Toby. No one should be taken that young,” Eta says. “Tell me what happened.” Her voice is commanding, like a captain barking orders.

“No!” Toby snaps. “You don’t understand.” He has a feral look in his eyes and my body automatically prepares to step between Eta and him, should he get too out of hand. 

Eta puts a calming touch on his shoulder. “Then tell me.”

“Not long after you visited, an amazing thing happened. Kalaen was starting to get better.”

“Better?” I say in disbelief.

“Shhh!” Eta says.

“The color was coming back to his eyes, the sores had all but disappeared—as if they'd never been there in the first place. His fever was almost gone. He started improving dramatically every hour. We even opened the window to let the fresh air in. Eventually, it was like he was never sick at all. It all happened so quickly. We didn’t have time to come get you. Then, the Guards came, as if they knew what had happened and they took him away. I don’t even know how they knew he was sick. We didn't report it. How did they know?”

“Mr. Aboca, I need you to calm down and think for me—where did they take him?”

“I don't know, they didn't say. The only thing they told us was that we should have reported the sickness and that our Medic should have reported it. They said what we did put more people at risk.”

“You said he was all but cured, so they can't be keeping him for much longer,” I say. But that’s a lie. The fact that Kalaen is the only known living person to survive this sickness will only make the Corporation take every precaution possible to not lose him.

“There’s more,” Mr. Aboca says. “A Guard just left our house.” His chest is heaving in a combination of heavy breaths and bridled sobs. “They came to tell us that Kalaen has died.”

“What?” I say. “That doesn't make sense. You said he was all but healed. The Corporation takes him, then he dies?”

“This doesn't feel right,” Eta says.

“That’s because it isn't!” Tears streaks down Mr. Aboca's dirt stained face, making him look a bit like a nightmare. “They killed him!” His fists are shaking at his side, turning white, he's squeezing them so hard. “Do you know what this is doing to Sera? These ups and downs are too much for her; I’m afraid they’ll be her undoing!”

“Let us handle this,” I say. “You go home and be with your wife.”

He looks at me, viciousness in his eyes. “You?” he gives a bitter laugh. “The son of the Corporation helping me find out why his father killed my son?”

“Now listen, that's not fair.” But he doesn't let me say anymore.

“For all we know, you're a part of this. You're probably the reason!”

Eta slaps him hard on the cheek. “Listen here!” Toby’s stunned look is quickly overtaken by eyes weighed down with heavy grief. “Ethan may have come from the Inner City, but he is as much a part of Neech as any of us here, if not more. He's the one risking his neck to bring us peace and freedom. It's your grief and anger speaking, and I understand that, but you won't be talking like that anymore under my roof. And if I hear of you spreading that hate speech around the city, I will be your undoing.” She is a little woman, but every inch of her being is saturated in a promise of retribution, should he cross the line. “Is that understood?”

He is silent, looking from Eta to me and back again. “I won't have to say anything. I'm not the only one who feels this way.”

And there it is, what I have suspected, but never been able to confirm. Until now.

“Go home, Toby. Before you say something you will really regret.” Her shoulders are back and her voice is like stone. Toby turns and goes out the door. The house is in silence.

“There's no way Kalaen is dead,” I say. “The Corp wouldn’t.”

“I agree. We need to find out why they took the boy. Now, more than ever you need to find out your father's plan, and stop it.”

“What time is it?” I ask.

Eta looks at a watch. “Time for you to get going. You don't want to be late.” I turn towards the ladder. As interested as I am to learn what she’s found out, I’m too glad for the escape. She can fill me in later, without the visual aids.

“I should have most of the autopsy completed by the time you get back.”

I try to look disappointed. “Hopefully it won’t take too long.” I hurry up the ladder.

Karis

“How'd the meeting go?” Papa asks.

I rip at the buttons of my duster, tearing it off. “If you'd been there, you'd know the answer to that question.” I tug the mask from my face with added aggression and neglect to tell him I wasn’t there the entire time.

“I take it it went badly?” Papa doesn't get up from his chair.

I go to the firewood pile and snatch up a log, bark crumbling to the floor, and toss it into the fire. The flames snap back angrily, spitting out bits of embers onto the rug. I stomp them out with my boot. I poke at the log a few times before I sit down in a chair across from Papa, ignoring his question.

“You know, you're bein' borderline disrespectful right now, young lady.”

“The meeting was a mess,” I spit out.

“How so?”

“Again, if you'd have been there, you'd know.”

“I'm not gonna to talk to you again about manners, Karis. If you want to act like a spoiled Candidate, I'll treat you like one. But as it is, you're an adult, or you used to be, so act like it and talk to me in a civilized manner.”

I pull from past meetings. “Hardly anyone showed up and the people that were there were demanding that Ethan give them proof of something worth fighting for. And out of all the people that showed up, one of them was Raj Verna.”

“Our old neighbor?” Papa asks, a bit puzzled.

“Yeah, he's the one that demanded the proof. I don't trust him. Where has he been all this time, if not with the Corporation?”

“What you just told me doesn't even begin to justify the mood you're in. What else happened? Did you get into a fight with Ethan?”

“Ethan isn't some sort of saint, ya know.” I push myself up out of my chair. “Ever stop to think that maybe
he
got into a fight with
me
?”

“Karis, sit down and be quiet. We have Sai tonight and I just put her down. If you wake her up, you’ll be the one handlin’ her all night, not me.” He waits until I've sat down before he starts talking again. “Tell me about what's gonna on between you two. When you two first got back, you were inseparable. Now I hardly ever see him and you rarely ever talk about him. You're fightin’ more than you should be, and it's just not right. You two need each other.”

“Maybe we just don't see eye to eye on things, anymore, Papa.” I stand up again and head for my duster and mask.

“I think the real issue here is your inability to accept the situation for what it is. You're busy fightin’ somethin’ that can't be fought. And as a result, you're lettin’ things slide in your real life. The life you need to be livin'. You treat our guest like a leper and then name him like a pet. You spend more time talkin’ to him than you do to the man who loves you. You're disrespectful to me and I'm not likin’ where this is headed. You may be turnin’ into a young woman, but you're still a ward under my roof and I expect you to obey the rules and pull your weight. Refocus your mind and do it fast.” His arms are crossed over his chest and his entire face is red from anger. Even his ears.

I hate his words. Every single one of them. More than anything, because they're true. “You need to take some breaths and I need to walk this off,” I say.

“I think that's a good idea.”

I wrap my scarf around my neck and head out the door. Men are proving to be useless.

७

Why are people irritating me so much, lately? It's as if my tolerance for them and their selfish ignorance has lowered. Drastically. In fact, it no longer exists. I can't even stand being around Papa for longer than I have to. It's like I can't look at anyone without feeling repulsed or anger from their lack of motivation and desire to do anything to make their circumstances better.

The night has a biting edge to it and I know winter will be here sooner this year than last. In my rush to get out of the house, I forgot my duster and mask. I'm fine with that. I just need to get somewhere where I can breathe. Curfew is almost here so I have the freedom of a few more precious moments. That's all I need. I wish I could just get away from it all. Pretend that this isn't my life. When I get my brother back, that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I kick at clumps of asphalt that litter the path, watching them tumble across the pitted ground. A larger piece bounces into a wall and breaks into smaller chunks. That one bruised my big toe a little but the pain feels good, in an odd way. I feel like I've been living in this surreal environment, nothing is right, everything is wrong and off axis, but this one thing—this pain I'm feeling—it’s real and something I can ground myself to.

“Karis?”

I look up and see Ethan a few yards in front of me. I feel horrible for thinking it, but he's the last person I want to see right now.

“Oh, hi Ethan.” Back before things started getting stressed between us, my stomach would get nervous and my head light whenever I ran into Ethan, which seemed like more than what should be considered coincidental. Now, not so much.

“What are you doing out here? It's almost curfew.”

“Almost.” I shove my hands down further into the pockets of my pants. I'm starting to feel a little guilty, but I don't know why. “What are you doing out here?”

“I was…coming to talk to you, actually. About the meeting.”

Oh. Great, another lecture about my absence. “What about?”

“Let's head back to your place, we'll talk on the way.”

I nod and turn back the way I came, Ethan in step next to me. He doesn't reach out for my hand, but I can see him looking at me from the corner of his eye because I'm looking at him that way, too. My fingers itch to reach out for his, but I don’t give in.

“I feel like we have a real opportunity to gain some ground and support in the meetings.”

“But?”

“I feel like you’re somewhere else at the meetings, Karis. There are moments when you being engaged and would have really had a strong impact, but you aren’t paying attention.”

“Ethan, that's not fair—” A wave of exhaustion slams into me.

“These are
your
people, Karis. They don't trust me, yet. We agreed that we would do this together because it was—is—something we
both
feel passionatly about. When you're not there, when you look like you'd rather be somewhere else, or that you don't have an interest in what I'm trying to convince them to do, it's all for naught.”

“Don't blame the lack of an uprising on me, this isn't my fault.” I catch myself before I follow my thoughts with words, because they're dark and I don't want to say something that I can't take back.

Ethan stops, grabbing my elbow. “What is going on between us?”

I take a deep breath. “Look, we're both on edge and I think we can agree this
thing
between us isn't going away. It’s getting bigger.”

He's quiet for a little bit and his voice is soft when he speaks again. “What
thing
between us?”

My words are a little less hard than before. “Oh, come on. You can't pretend like you haven't noticed it, too. It's like there's this wall growing between us, and neither one of us is doing anything to tear it down.” I pinch my eyes shut and swallow the lump that’s formed in my throat. “What if it just keeps getting bigger and stronger?”

I can hear him swallow, too. “Do you want it to?”

“No, I don't. But it just seems like there's so much we don't agree on anymore. It's like we're not the same people who met in Dahn. The same people who fell in love.”

“We aren't the same people. No one is the same as they were the day before. And tomorrow they'll be even more different than they are today. That's just how things are. We aren't stagnant beings. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped loving you. I don't want to be fighting with you all the time. I want us to be partners; in this and in the rest of our lives.” His fingers slip from my elbow to my hand.

“I still love you, too,” I say, “but I can't ignoring the right thing to do because you don't agree with it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Going and getting Ajna. I talked through it with Gandā and—”

“
Gandā
? Who is Gandā?”

“The Untouchable.” I shouldn’t have brought this up.

“You've named him? Karis, he's unconscious. You can't talk to him about anything. Not and get any feedback, anyway.”

My softness disappears, irritation taking its place. “I can talk to him if I want, and I do. All the time. In fact, it's nice having someone listen to what I have to say instead of always trying to shoot down my ideas and discourage me. I've actually worked out a lot of my plan while talking to him.”

“You can't be serious about going through with this!” Ethan rakes his fingers through his hair.

“I am, so please don't try to talk me out of it anymore.”

“Because an unconscious man doesn’t disagree with you, you think your plan is a sound one? Do you even have an actual plan, or is it more of a, I think I’ll bust into the Inner City and wing it? Because I really think that’s all you’ve got. What about the uprising? I need you for that. I need you to be there and invested one hundred percent. Have you thought about what will happen to the rest of us if something happens to you when you go to Dahn? Because it will. What will it do to Jeret, Journey, me? Or how about your brother?”

“My top priority is getting my brother back, and yours is taking your father down.”

“Don't put it like that, Karis, you know it isn't that simple.”

“I put it like I see it.”

“Aghh! I hate it when you get like this! You're so....impossible to even interact with.”

“Like what?” I get indignant.

“So prideful and self—righteous. You don't see reason and are never willing to compromise.”

“Once upon a time, you told me those were qualities you liked about me.”

“You hate your mother so much, yet you are so much like her.”

“I told you never to talk about Rebeka here!” I take a step closer to him, my jaw set. “No one can know that we saw her.”

“That she's Akin's little pet, you mean?”

“Take that back!”

“No. What do you care, anyway? You don’t even like her.”

“Take it back!” I shove him hard in the chest.

“You're acting like a child, Karis, and I’m not going to let you suck me into it. You can find your own way back home, I trust?”

“Better than you can.”

“Good.”

“Good.” I go to say one last thing, but he beats me to it.

“While we're on this little honesty kick, I've decided to find the proof that the people of Neech need, with or without your agreement. And maybe, while I'm doing that, we should take a break.”

I swallow the lump that's taken form in my throat. “Oh, yeah? Well, I've already made that decision for myself; I’m breaking up with you!” And with that last childish remark, I spin on my heel, blood boiling, and my breath seething.