Chapter 38: Future Left to Be

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

The two miscreants slouched in opposite chairs, sporting split lips and matching glowers.

One was a Southie girl who Doctor Ivogg introduced as Razalu. A stripy shirt bulged over her belly and pudgy arms crossed at her chest. Dark hair spiraled over her head like a fern, and her green eyes blazed.

The other child, Ivogg did not need to introduce.

My mind was still ruminating over Nezuli's affliction, but with great effort, I centered my focus on the children before me. Purple spots hardly proved any nefarious scheme. I would still keep an eye out for more signs of danger, but I couldn't let fear and obsession over what could happen stand in the way of hope and progress.

I leaned forward in my chair and flipped out an awkward hand. "Alright, so... how did this start?"

"She called me fat," Razalu spat.

Fennikk clenched both armrests and twisted toward me. "I did not! I asked how her dad could afford to feed her so much. And then she called my mom lazy and stupid."

Razalu rolled her head back and groaned. "Not true. I just wanted to know why she didn't feed you properly... or save your arm."

"Whatever. I didn't need a second arm to punch you."

"Didn't hurt that much."

"You cried like a little boy."

"But I punched you back harder."

I clucked my tongue. "Hey, anyone can punch. That's nothing to be proud of. What takes skill is moving past that. Fennikk, I thought you wanted to play with the Southie kids."

Fennikk's shoulders slumped. "Yeah, but they wouldn't let me."

Razalu snorted. "You never even tried to talk to us. You were just pouting on that bench."

"I was watching because I wanted to play, obviously. But nobody invited me."

The Southie girl's sneer faded, but her voice remained hard. "Then why didn't you come talk to us?"

"I did! And you punched me."

"After you punched me."

I raised a palm to cut off the next retort. "It sounds like this was a misunderstanding. You know what I like to do after a misunderstanding?

"Drink away your misery?" Razalu suggested brightly.

I blinked at the small girl. "Uh... how old are you?"

Fennikk scoffed. "He doesn't drink. He just plays with Fluffy. Right, Mister Zafaru?"

"Actually, I like to explain my side and listen to their side. And then I tell them one thing I like about them."

Fennikk crossed one ankle over the other. "Well, I would do it, but Razalu won't."

"Will too," said Razalu.

"Oh, yeah? Then what..." Fennikk averted her eyes and dropped her voice. "What do you like about me?"

Razalu twisted her hands together on her lap. "Well... your bionic arm is super cool." A nervous half-laugh quickly stifled. "Like, it's actually the coolest thing ever."

Fennikk's eyes widened, and she straightened, fighting a smile.

"Your turn, Fennikk," I said. "What do you like about Razalu?"

She covered her mouth and mumbled something into her hand.

Razalu leaned closer. "What did you say?"

Fennikk dropped her hand and peered up at Razalu from under her eyelashes. "I said..." A bare whisper. "You're beautiful."

Razalu's lips split into a wide grin. "Really?"

Fennikk returned the smile. "Yeah, really."

A smile tugged at my own lips. Maybe Ivogg was right — these kids could do much better with the world than we ever had.

"You should play with us tonight," said Razalu. "And if anyone tells you to go away, we can both punch them."

Fennikk giggled.

I scratched the back of my head. "Well, that's great, but... maybe no more punching. Now, we still have an hour left of Mediation time. What do you want to do?"

Fennikk tapped fingers over her chin, and Razalu squinted at the wall.

"Did you really save the world by climbing?" asked Razalu.

"In part, I guess. But I didn't do it alone. I got a lot of help from a Northerner."

"Can you teach me how to climb?"

Fennikk shot up from her chair, mouth dropping open. "Oh, my Ether! Me too! I want to learn too!"

We spent the next hour on the climbing wall. The girls watched my demonstrations with bright attention, raced each other with wild abandon, and dissolved into laughter each time one of them fell.

After years of climbing to escape and to survive, watching them delight in the novelty felt surreal. Bittersweet wistfulness tightened over my chest — nostalgia for something I never had. In all of my time climbing, I had never noticed the magic.

In another life, I could have experienced this enchanted childhood.

But in this life, these children still could.

In that happy moment, my earlier fears about a new Infection or Implant felt ridiculous. So when Doctor Ivogg rejoined us, I returned his smile with ease. As both children reached the top of a wall, he hooted and whistled.

"What did I tell you, Ru?" he whispered, nudging my shoulder. "You've got the magic touch."

Fennikk and Razalu scampered toward us. "Did you see that, Doctor Ivogg?"

"Indeed, I saw it," he said with a grin. "Terrific work, children. Just terrific."

"Fennikk beat me," Razalu admitted, "But she was kind of cheating because she has a super-arm." She glanced at Fennikk, who gave her a playful shove — using said super-arm. "But she said she wishes her eyes were the color of her arm. Like mine!"

Ivogg cocked his head. "Fennikk, why would you wish for that?"

She shrugged. "Green is the best color. Wouldn't you like to have green eyes, Doctor Ivogg?"

He adjusted his glasses, blinking luminescent golden-brown eyes. "No, I would never change my eyes."

"Why not?"

"Well, if my eyes were different, I wouldn't really be me, would I?"

Fennikk tilted her head as she considered.

"Anyway," Ivogg continued in a drawn-out nasal, "What difference does it make what color our skin, or hair, or eyes are, or goodness — even where we were born? We are all one team. Humanity." He leaned over, hands on his knees. "You children will lead us to peace, and I'll help the adults follow."

The girls exchanged a skeptical glance. Razalu twirled a finger through one of her curls. "Uh... how are we supposed to do that?"

"Well," said Ivogg, "I'm sure you'll find a —"

His voice strangled off with a hiccup, and his eyes fastened behind my shoulder. A familiar scarred intruder prowled toward us. His bugged eyes locked on first Ivogg and then me, disfigured lips twisting in a grimace.

Contrasting his drunken drawl from the night before, his voice slipped quietly over his words — silk snagging on barbs. "Why did you put her in mediation? She didn't do anything wrong."

Ivogg hummed a melodic exclamation like spotting a unique bird... and then watching a crocodile devour it. "Oh, hi there, Uzmed! She wasn't wrong, per se, just not the most..." He darted a glance at Razalu, twenty feet from him, and lowered his voice. "Uzmed, she punched another girl in the face."

"She was defending herself."

A patter of footsteps interrupted the conversation, and a shock of dark hair streaked past Ivogg's shoulder. Razalu leapt into Uzmed's arms. "Daddy!"

The transformation was instant. Uzmed's shoulders relaxed, his green eyes twinkled, and his lips pulled into a smile broad enough to obscure the scarring. "Hey, sweetheart! How are you doing?" A millisecond glare at me and Ivogg, so heavy with threat I felt the punch in my gut. "Has everyone here been good to you?"

She nodded, curls flopping against his shoulder. "I'm great, Daddy. I made a new friend." Razalu twisted in Uzmed's arms to beam at Fennikk.

Fennikk's cheeks pinkened, and she wiggled a few fingers in greeting.

Uzmed smiled and nodded at Fennikk, but when his eyes shifted back to me and Ivogg, his smile strained. "And how about these two?"

Razalu squirmed free, though she still clung to Uzmed's hand. "Well, Doctor Ivogg just got here, but Mister Zafaru is very nice. He helped me and Fennikk become friends, and then he taught us how to climb!"

Razalu went on to — incorrectly — demonstrate hooking a foot for balance. Uzmed's gaze glued to me, shoulders stiff and gaze unreadable. I offered a half-smile and a too-fast miniature shrug. Fuck, why did I always look guilty whenever someone looked suspicious?

"Ah," Uzmed said slowly, eyes still drilling me. "He showed you that?"

"Yep!" Razalu popped the p and flashed me an encouraging smile.

I returned her smile, but Uzmed's throaty voice jerked my attention back to him.

"Zafaru. If you still want what you said you wanted... be ready at nine o'clock tonight." Then he scooped up his daughter and left the room.

Ivogg emitted a nervous chuckle and steepled fluttering fingers. "So... what was that all about?"

I stared at the now empty doorway. Who did I owe loyalty to — the Southies who no longer considered me one of them? The mysterious seventh sentry who already proclaimed his dislike for me? The leader before me who seemed to know my mother better than I had?

How could I prevent a war when I didn't even know who to trust?

"Toothbrush," I said finally. "He has an extra toothbrush for me."

***

The subsequent contribution did not result in any new information about the Seven Sentries or a possible second Implant Era, but it did produce one astonishing success: a golden-brown breadloaf baked just by me. Ivogg sang praises and clapped my shoulder hard enough to sting. Meanwhile, I fantasized about Rekkan's reaction.

At dinner time, the greenhouse crew reached the cafeteria first, the Northerner gardeners gathered at one table and Southies circling a different one. At the center table, Rekkan's long legs stretched out before him, and his arms folded across his broad chest. A fresh white t-shirt hugged his broad shoulders and biceps, and the light bronze of his skin accentuated the highlights in his dark-blonde hair.

Just one night apart, and heat unfurled through me at the mere glimpse of him. Ether, had he always been so fucking sexy?

For the few seconds before he noticed my approach, I ogled him shamelessly. Giddy anticipation strummed through me — both to sit next to this beautiful specimen of a man and to reveal my accomplishment.

I plunked down next to him with a bright smile and snatched his hand, squeezing it in mine. "Hey, how was the greenhouse?"

He returned the squeeze with a gentleness utterly at odds with all of his calluses and muscles. That adorable, crooked smile flickered past his face. "It was fine. It's a quiet crew." His smile faded and gaze sharpened. "What put you in such a good mood?"

"Just wait."

As the rest of the usual group arrived, the table center folded down, loaded, and returned. The golden-brown breadloaf peaked above mountains of fruit and platters of fabricated meat and cheese.

I straightened my shoulders and fought a childish grin. "You see that bread? I made it."

Rekkan swung a glance from me to the food and back. "Alright."

"Alright? It's good! I mean, it's... there's nothing wrong with it."

"And so?"

My shoulders dropped, stung by his ambivalence. "And so it's the first time I've made anything good."

The rest of the table filled their plates with food and sliced into the bread — crusty, steaming slabs — but Rekkan wasn't even looking. He pulled his hand away from mine.

"I don't know why you're suddenly obsessed with cooking." Rekkan glared at Ivogg, who chatted with Zhina as he buttered a slice of bread across the table from us. "Ivogg must be a really motivating teacher."

Hot defensiveness flared in my belly. "Wow, really? This has nothing to do with Ivogg. I need to learn to feed myself so I don't just rely on others all the time."

He huffed a derisive snort. "Ah."

"Ah, what? Are you seriously jealous of Ivogg?"

"Why would I be jealous of the person who has to train the world's worst cook?"

Wow. That... that stomped my next argument into the ground and my heart along with it. I stared unseeing at the feast spread before us and chomped down on my tongue to fight back tears.

In my peripheral, Rekkan cupped a hand over his forehead. "Fuck. Zaf, I didn't —"

A bell chimed through the cafeteria's speakers. Ivogg, Zhina, and Mekkar exchanged glances, and all three rose to their feet.

"A visitor has arrived!" Zhina announced. "Zafaru and Rekkan, would you like to accompany us to greet the newcomer?"

Rekkan's hand closed over my forearm, but I wrenched my arm free and jumped to my feet. "Sure, I'll come."

As I followed the three leaders toward the door, Rekkan remained seated, and my heart sank. It's fine, I told myself. If he is going to be an ass, why would I want him around?

But when a familiar set of heavy footsteps caught up to us halfway down the corridor, relief washed over me. Even if I wasn't willing to forgive him yet, his presence comforted me.

Pink and orange seeped over the domed ceiling, a remarkable likeness to a real sunset, and the chitter of birds mingled with the gurgling creek. A bush rustled behind me, which I used as an excuse to sneak a glance at Rekkan. His head bowed and thumbs hitched in his pockets, eyes distant.

When we reached the top of the spiral staircase, Zhina swiped her keycard over the red light at the entrance. Rekkan edged a half-step in front of me, blocking me from going any further, but Ivogg and Mekkar lined up beside Zhina. Three sets of arms spread wide to welcome the visitor.

The door opened.

And their arms flopped to their sides.

A woman stood alone in the center of the elevator. Her nose wobbled off-center, one nostril gaping and the other a bare slit. One side of her lips drooped almost to her chin, revealing raw, red gums and snaggly teeth. Strips of skin peeled away from her face like hangnails, and heavy-lidded eyes pinned to just one of the three leaders.

"Hello, Mekkar," she rasped.

Mekkar's shoulders caved, and his voice left in a broken whisper. "Hello, Serigg."


You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net