Authors: Brenda Cooper
So they were expecting Kayleen, too? Or just hoping? How many of us had they caught? “I heard my friends are here.”
He nodded toward the door closest to me. “Through there.”
I opened the door. The long, high-ceilinged warehouse was largely empty. The women were small in the big space. A few tables and some chairs sat in the middle of the room. Eight cots lined the wall. One open door led to a privy, and the only other way out was a big square door with no handle on this side.
Four people looked up as the door opened. Paloma had been drawing something on a battered infoslate in front of her. Tiala and Jenna were at the other table, and Dianne, who stood by the far wall, stretching, spoke first. “Alicia? I’m so sorry.”
They all looked exhausted. Dianne’s hair was messy. Tiala and Jenna looked like they hadn’t slept in days. Paloma had a vacant look in her eyes. At least they hadn’t been harmed, or tortured, or starved. Pitchers of water sat on the tables, and Paloma had a plate of the ubiquitous sweet grapes and some bread in front of her. But there weren’t enough of them. “Where’s Ming?”
Dianne flexed her arms and raised them above her head, still stretching. “Either she got away or she gave us up. Have you seen her, or heard from her?”
“Bryan is looking for her.”
Jenna gave me a sharp look. “Don’t assume you can have private conversations in here.”
Gee, she could be happy to see me. But then I’d always thought Jenna wished they left me back on Fremont. Or that I’d never been born. “They’re trying to trade you for Joseph or Chelo or Kayleen. Maybe Marcus. The goon at the door was hoping I was Kayleen.”
Paloma, who was always nicer to me than Jenna, got up and gave me a hug. “Are they still safe? Do you know?”
“Chelo was safe when I left her. I haven’t heard anything about the others.” Maybe Jenna was right and I best not say anything more about Bryan. At least he and Induan appeared to still be free. “How did you get here?”
Paloma led me over to the table where she’d been sitting. I could
see what she’d been drawing: a field of flowers from Fremont, full of thorns and lace, the beauty and the price of Fremont. So she was still homesick, and she just hadn’t seen the way the same thing played out here—that Lopali had thorns that made flowers. I popped a grape in my mouth and waited for them to answer my question.
Tiala, usually quiet, started. “We got all the way here. We found the booth Seeyan had reserved for us, and we set up. For the first day, we thought everything was fine. People came to see Ming dance, and me and Jenna led two classes, and so many people signed up for the next day we had to make a list. The only thing we weren’t having much luck with was Paloma as a healer.”
Of course not. People here never looked sick. Although surely they bumped elbows and wings from time to time. “Then what?”
“We were still careful. We didn’t all sleep at once. But the second morning, just at dawn, we were surrounded by people. They led us here. And they haven’t told us anything.”
“It was Ming’s watch,” Jenna added.
I remembered how we had gotten in here. “Have you seen Seeyan?”
Dianne narrowed her eyes at me. “No.” She was the one who had introduced us all to the wingless Keeper, used her story to help make everyone want to save the fliers from themselves. “She was supposed to go back to her life after she got you all away.”
“She’s here, in this compound. I followed her in.”
“They’re keeping her somewhere else?”
Apparently Dianne didn’t want to understand. “She had a key to the door in the wall, and to at least one of the buildings.”
The door I’d come in opened, and I looked up, expecting the doorkeeper with dinner or something. Instead, Chelo came in, and the door swung shut behind her. She stood there, pale, and looked around the room. Her hair had been piled high in braids, so she appeared at least ten years older. When she saw me, she frowned. “You didn’t need to tie Samuel up. It was a disservice. He never meant you harm.”
She was so mad at me for that, it was the first thing she thought of after being captured? “He would have stopped us. If Bryan doesn’t find Ming, his heart will break. And there was trouble brewing, even
if you didn’t want to see it. Seeyan was supposed to come by and she didn’t, and Ming was supposed to send Bryan notes, and she didn’t. What were we supposed to do? Sit on our hands and get blissed out?” I didn’t mean to sound so sharp. I loved Chelo with all my heart, but she was just so naïve.
Paloma snapped, “Stop fighting, you two!”
Chelo ignored her. “You still didn’t need to insult them. They’ve been providing us shelter and taking care of us.”
“Maybe. Not much here seems to be what it looks like on the surface.”
She gave me an exasperated look and asked, “Where’s Bryan and Ming, anyway?”
Jenna answered. “We don’t know.”
“What happened?” I asked Chelo. “I thought you were safe. Part of why we left was to find out how to keep you safe.”
She sat down next to Paloma. “I don’t think I’ve ever been safe.”
Paloma handed her water and pushed the plate of food toward her. “Take a minute and then, when you’re ready, tell us how you got here.”
We filled each other in, although I left out Induan’s part, and my conversation with Amalo and Marti. It really wasn’t any of their business. I didn’t learn much from the others, except Caro’s scare about Kayleen, which worried me, especially for Joseph’s sake.
Eventually we were all talked out. But there was still a deep hole in the conversation. Jenna must have escape plans, but she wasn’t sharing them with me. Maybe she didn’t want me to know. But maybe I didn’t want to escape.
Jenna had us all strip down to our underwear and put us through a grueling calisthenics routine, working us for what seemed like an hour, so sweat poured off my face. No wonder everyone had seemed so tired. Slave driver. But she was smart to keep our strength up, and maybe it would intimidate whoever was watching us. Surely someone watched us. Jenna gave Paloma a break, but even she’d had to keep up with us for the first half hour.
We showered, putting our dirty clothes back on. Afterward, Jenna counted beds and noses. There were still three extra beds. That could be for either set—Liam and the kids, or Joseph, Marcus, and Kayleen.
I didn’t like the way I was thinking, like we were going to get caught no matter what. There was another threesome out there. Induan, Bryan, and Ming. Bryan and Induan were on our side, and Ming was a question mark.
Jenna stood in the center of the room, her eyes sweeping over us all, measuring. “I think we should have two people at a time on watch tonight.” Funny how she and I agreed on so much and yet liked each other so little. She assigned herself and Dianne first watch. I hadn’t noticed how tired I was until I realized how grateful I was that I could sleep. I’d not really slept since Bryan and I left the compound. Chelo took the bed farthest from me, a sign that she was still mad at me for tying up our keeper-boy. It wasn’t like we’d hurt him.
I didn’t go to sleep as fast as I thought. What if Amalo did choose me? Would I really do this thing? It might cost me Joseph, but then, he might be long gone already. Surely, if he’d really wanted to, he could have made Marcus keep me with him. I wanted Joseph, but what place was there for me beside him?
He surely didn’t want me to become a flier.
Maybe I could become a Wind Reader, but then I’d be in danger of going crazy like Kayleen. Maybe I should just stay myself until I knew more. But the image in my head when I finally did drift to sleep was me carrying great violet-and-blue wings lined with black bars in my arms, getting ready to pin them on my back.
K
ayleen’s soft breath beside me warmed my neck. She’d fallen asleep leaning on my shoulder during a rest break. Marcus stood by the door, his toe tapping. Sasha sat beside him, head cocked, watching us solemnly. “We should go,” I said. “How long did we sleep?”
“Too long. But Stark will meet us with col if we can finish getting through the mountain.”
I nudged Kayleen, pushing her gently off of me. “Let’s go. We need to find the others.”
She mumbled. “Caro. Caro needs to tell me something.”
“What?” The data flows down here were thin, nearly nonexistent. “Can it wait? We’ll be out from under here soon.”
She blinked. “Maybe I was dreaming.” She sat straighter, forking her fingers through her hair. “Is there anything to eat?”
Marcus said, “In your pack.”
We found little packets of nuts and flasks of water, and finished them off pretty quickly, giving Sasha a bowl of water and a few nuts. She needed better, but it was what we had. Then we were up and walking back down nearly dark corridors. Eventually, the air started smelling crisper, and then the scent of dirt mixed in. Marcus pulled a door open, and we stood on a platform made of the same material that formed the corridors we’d been walking. Beyond it, fields spread out in three directions, and above and behind us the mountain we’d been walking through bulked up in huge cliffs. A faint dampness
from the night’s rains still hung in the air, and here and there indentations in the platform were filled with shallow puddles. The thin sunlight of dawn striped the top of the cliffs above us pale orange, and a soft breeze blew the fertile smell of growing things our way. Three different roads came into the platform, and beside us, hunched so tightly against the cliff I hadn’t seen it on first glance, a longish four-wheeled vehicle blinked its lights at us.
Sasha growled, and Kayleen startled. Marcus put a hand on Kayleen’s shoulder. “It’s okay.”
A door opened, and Stark emerged with a flask of col in one hand and cups in the other. As he poured the drink, Marcus asked him, “All clear?”
“It was when I left an hour ago.”
We’d been in the tunnels at least three or four hours, maybe more. Time of day inside the cave was a slippery thing. I sipped the col. It must have been unusually strong; I felt braced immediately.
“Anything else on the Star Mercenaries?” Marcus asked.
Stark poured himself a drink. “We think they’re landing where you were—in the spaceport near SoBright. That means they’ll be close. We’re staging you out of Charmed.”
I wanted to laugh. Maybe we’d be charmed away before the Stars found us after they landed at SoBright. Hadn’t whoever designed Lopali heard of more normal place-names? But Marcus just nodded. Then Stark added something that took all the laughter away. “Rumor has it that Alicia and Chelo have both been captured. And it looks like their captors aren’t from Islas or even Silver’s Home. It looks like they’re from here.”
I felt like I’d been punched. “When? Do you know where they are?”
“Last night, and I think so.”
Kayleen asked the next question on my tongue. “But we’re helping the people here. Why would they be after us? I mean, we gave them their freedom, if the last work we did was good.”
Marcus asked her a question. “You were lost in the Lopali data for a long time. Think hard. Does everyone here agree with everyone else?”
“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “Well, more than at home. But yeah,
you’re right.” She still looked angry. “But Matriana and Daniel should have kept us safe. They hired us. They gave you the feather.” She pointed to his leg. The feather sheath was still strapped to it, thin and almost invisible, like a tiny sword belt.
He fingered it, his thumb stroking the quill where it protruded slightly from the sheath. He glanced at Stark. “How do you know? Are you sure it’s Lopali natives?”
Stark nodded. “But not who. Doesn’t matter, really. Whatever group it is, their targets were Chelo and Joseph and you, and maybe Kayleen. And now they have Chelo.” He paused and grinned. “So it’s time you taught them a lesson, right?”
Marcus smiled. “I believe so.”
I didn’t say anything. I just wanted to go get my sister, and all the others, and then I wanted to leave here. I didn’t care if we went to the war or if we just spent the rest of our lives in ships. I was done with Lopali.
Stark said, “They’re at the fair. Whoever it is. In the area out back where they store booths off-season. You know where it is?”
“Yes,” Marcus said. “Thanks. We appreciate your help.”
“Just be at Charmed when you promised, okay? That’s what we need most of all.”
“We’ll do what we can,” Marcus said patiently.
I wasn’t so patient. “I’m not leaving without Chelo.” Or anybody else. But I let that go.
We climbed into the four-wheeler. Stark disappeared the way we’d come. We rumbled off the platform and down between two newly planted fields, driving slowly. There were no other vehicles on the road this early, although Keepers and slave bots walked the rows on one side of us, weeding and watering. They paid us no attention.
The long vehicle was only wide enough for two across, so I sat beside Marcus, and Kayleen sat behind us. Behind her, a cargo area carried wings. More than three pairs. I pointed behind me and asked Marcus, “Are we flying away with those?”
“They’re there if we need them.”
Kayleen mumbled, “Caro,” from the backseat.
I turned around. “Did you reach her?”
“She says Mohami has her and her brother and Liam all safe in a
room in the dark. She sounds happy enough, except she’s mad she missed a morning ceremony, whatever that is.”
I frowned. “Do you think it’s true? If it’s people from here that have the others, could they be captured, too?”
One look at Kayleen’s face, and I wished I could take my words back. Marcus, however, said, “Probably not. Mohami is Keeper of the Ways of the Fliers of Lopali, so he’ll side with Matriana and Daniel.”
“So who’s not siding with them? Tsawo?” I’d mistrusted him, but then he was uncle to Paula, and seemed to accept what we were doing.
Marcus shook his head.
I remembered the blond flier from the first night we were here, at the feast, and how she’d looked angry at us just for existing. But I hadn’t seen her since, and I didn’t know her name. So instead of asking about her, I simply watched the fields bump by, and the sun hit them, one by one, brightening the greens and golds. This far from civilization, only a few fliers graced the skies, even in this prime early morning flight time. Yet again, I wished skimmers were allowed on this world and we could fly in machines between places. Traveling on the ground gave me a long time to worry about Chelo, and Alicia, and Paloma.