Toshi took her hand so they weren’t separated in the crowd, and Lily soon found herself overwhelmed by the teeming throngs and pressed close to him. The sun was still shining, but there was a chill in the air. Even the people dressed in drab colors, wore no makeup, jewelry, or perfume, and they never seemed to look up. The solid mass of the perimeter wall, and the Warrior Sisters on top of it, seemed to hang over them.
“Families can wait generations in the restricted zone,” he shouted over the din. “They work whatever jobs they can in the city or outlying farms and hope that they have a child or a grandchild or a great-grandchild with talent. Only the magically talented get chosen by the Hive.”
A raggedy old woman approached Lily, moaning in a language she didn’t understand, and Toshi stepped forward quickly to intervene. He spoke a few words of Japanese and a few of something Lily couldn’t hope to place and the woman backed off, doubling over with a racking cough as she moved away.
“I think she needs help,” Lily said, looking back over her shoulder. Toshi hurried her along.
“She probably does. Everyone here needs something.”
“I’m guessing they don’t have miracle soap that keeps them young and healthy sitting around in their bathrooms.”
“No. They don’t. And the Hive won’t let us give it to them, either. They won’t let us help the people here in any way. Not medically or financially.”
Lily saw the set of Toshi’s shoulders and the grim line of his mouth. “How long was your family here before you were born?” she asked.
“Only two generations,” he answered.
“What if someone comes here and already has talent?”
“They’d still have to wait. Everyone waits.” Toshi’s eyes were far away. “I’ve never heard of anyone being chosen by the Hive who was fresh off the boat, no matter how much talent they had. If the Hive wants you, Sisters go and get you. If not, you wait.”
As they wove through the streets, Lily saw people from every ethnicity and every culture she could name in just a few short blocks. Toshi led Lily off the main thoroughfare and down a series of alleys. They arrived at the back door of a shop of some kind, and Toshi let himself in as if he belonged there.
“Toshi!” a woman’s voice called out as he pushed his way in. Lily felt Toshi take her hand and bring her forward.
“And who is this?” asked an old Japanese man. His back was stooped and his hands were knobby. Lily could see arthritic inflammation, pulsing hot and painful, just under his skin.
“Dad, this is Lily,” Toshi said, while the old man tipped forward in a bow. Lily looked from the old man to Toshi’s young face, momentarily thrown, before she remembered Toshi’s true age.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Lily said politely. She bent forward, awkwardly attempting to bow back, but it didn’t come naturally to her. A middle-aged woman came forward and bowed from a place just behind Toshi’s father. There were Workers on both the old man’s and the woman’s throats.
“You honor us, Lady Witch,” the woman said.
“My sister, Hana,” Toshi said.
“Toshi?” an old voice called out from another room. “Is that Toshi?”
“Yes, Mother,” Toshi called back to her. He smiled at Lily. “Just give me a moment. I’ll be right back, okay?” Toshi left Lily to go to his mother.
Two kids came tumbling into the room like nipping puppies. The boy was about six and the girl was younger, probably only five or so. Lily couldn’t tell if they were arguing or playing, but they both stopped when they saw her, their mouths falling open as they stared at her willstone. Lily noticed Workers at their throats as well. Anger began to rise in her, which she had to quickly tamp down when she felt the Worker on her throat flutter its wings.
Hana pulled the children against her legs and shut their mouths for them with a snap. They went scampering out of the room in a flurry of excitement and delicious terror before Lily could even say hello to them.
“My grandchildren don’t see many true witches,” Hana said, blushing. She smiled broadly and stood aside for Lily to precede her. “But come in and sit. I’ve made tea.”
“They’re your grandchildren?” Lily repeated, still getting her head around the idea that Toshi’s sibling, and probably Toshi himself, was old enough to be a grandparent.
“Yes. My daughter is working in the city. I watch them during the day. They help around the shop.” Hana made a face to show that “help” was not really what they did.
Lily smiled and looked around her. She couldn’t read any of the Japanese calligraphy, but the walls were lined with row after row of box-like drawers, each with its own label, and she could smell the different herbs and roots inside.
“An apothecary shop?” she guessed.
“Just so,” Hana replied. “And we even have a few crucibles who come from the city to shop here,” she said with pride. “Our herbs are the most potent in the restricted zone. That’s why they allowed my daughter to have more than one child. That, and because of Toshi’s talent.”
Lily didn’t know if she’d heard right. “Allowed you to have more than one child?”
Hana frowned. “Yes. It’s the law,” she said uncertainly. “One child per couple unless there is proof that there is talent in one of the families. Then you may have two.”
“Lily’s not from Bower City,” Toshi said from the doorway as he rejoined them.
Toshi’s father made a surprised sound in the back of his throat. They looked with confusion at Lily’s willstone.
“Lily’s from Salem,” Toshi explained. “She and her coven were traveling west when they were chosen by the Hive.”
They couldn’t have looked more surprised if Toshi had said she was from the moon, but they were too well mannered to show it. Hana made herself busy pouring the tea.
“We’d heard an outsider had been brought to the city,” Toshi’s father said. “We didn’t really believe it, though.”
A tense silence followed. Lily thought they might ask her questions about the east, but they didn’t. She didn’t know if they were frightened to ask because of the Hive, or if it was simply considered rude in their culture. As she tried to decide if they were waiting for her to offer information about the east or if she should keep her mouth shut, Lily watched the old man grip his bowl of green tea with swollen fingers. Even that small movement was agony for him.
“Let me,” she said, taking his hand. The rose willstone still stashed in her bodice flared, and she heard Toshi gasp.
“No, Lily!” he said, jumping forward to pull her away from his father.
Lily felt a prick at her throat. She waited to feel the whole sting, but the Worker stayed where she was, waiting to see what Lily did next.
“Easy,” Toshi said, struggling to keep his voice calm. “Just put your hands at your sides and relax.”
Lily did as she was told and she felt the Worker remove her stinger from the top layer of skin on Lily’s throat. Toshi slowly released his grip on her as the Worker stood down. Lily’s skin itched under the Worker’s barbed feet as she repositioned herself, but she didn’t dare scratch.
Toshi let out a long-held breath. “You can’t use magic in the restricted zone. I should have been more clear.”
“No, I should have understood that,” Lily said, shaking her head at her own foolishness. “As if you wouldn’t heal your father—and I’m guessing your mother, too—unless something much worse was threatened. With such a dark rose stone, you’re probably a better healer than I am.”
Toshi looked like he wanted to ask her something, but he held back. He waited until they had hastily finished their tea, said goodbye to his family, and were back out on the street. They walked along in pensive silence for a while before Lily finally spoke.
“The Hive doesn’t let people in the city help the people in the restricted zone—not even family—so more aren’t tempted to immigrate,” Lily guessed.
Toshi nodded. “Population is a problem. They us
ually only allow one child per couple to keep it under control. I proved to have talent when I was seven, so my parents were allowed to have Hana. Apart from that, there are no perks for the people who come here. Just the hope that maybe your child will get out.”
“You wanted to bring me here the first day.”
“I wanted you to see more than the wealth and prosperity of Bower City. I wanted you to be the kind of person who cared more for people than she did for power. You haven’t disappointed me.” His eyes slid to the side as he looked at her and then drifted down to where her rose and golden willstones were hidden in her bodice. “You have more than one,” was all he dared to say.
“You saw that, huh?”
“I felt it. Keep it hidden. It makes you vulnerable.”
“I know.” She thought of Carrick for the first time in weeks. She stopped and turned to Toshi, the memory of what he and Gideon had done to her reawakened. “Can I trust you?”
Toshi took her hands and drew her against him. He lowered his head as he put his arms around her to whisper in her ear. If anyone—or anything—was watching, all they would see were two people embracing in a quiet alley. She felt his warm breath on her neck as he spoke, and the shivers it sent down her back made the Worker at her throat twitch in agitation.
“I’ve waited a long time for you. I know what you want, and I want it, too—but not here. I’ll have to make some arrangements.”
They walked through the restricted zone back to the trolley station in silence. When they went through the turnstile, the Worker lifted off Lily’s neck and she felt her shoulder loosen for the first time since she got there. On the trolley, Lily kept stealing glances at Toshi, reconsidering. His mother was sick, maybe dying. If Lily claimed him, and then left Bower City, he’d have to choose between his witch and his family.
Toshi got her back to her rooms at the villa before the sun went down. He brushed his lips across her cheek before he left her at her door.
“Did you have a nice afternoon?” Rowan asked as she entered the ladies’ sitting room. He sounded unnaturally formal even for their currently estranged dynamic, and as she neared, she saw he wasn’t alone. Ivan Volkov, Bower City’s Head Mechanic, was sitting across from him. He stood when Lily joined them.
“I did,” she said. “I didn’t know we were having guests tonight.” She switched to mindspeak with Rowan. Where is everyone?
Still watching the Hive, he replied. I felt someone disturb the ward I set on our rooms and came back to find Ivan at the door. I don’t know if he was just knocking or if he was trying to break in, but he didn’t look suspicious.
“Good evening, Miss Proctor. I’m so sorry to intrude,” Ivan said.
“Please, call me Lily,” she said, taking a seat across from Ivan. “Were you looking for Toshi? He just left.”
“No, I came here to speak with you—about Toshi, as chance would have it,” Ivan replied.
It was the first time Lily had the opportunity to study Ivan in detail. The straight-backed way he sat, his highly polished shoes, and the careful way he chose his words hinted at an era long past. Lily wondered how old he was and decided that if Toshi was in his sixties and looked twenty, Ivan could potentially be twice as old as Toshi.
Lily took an unasked-for cup of tea from Rowan with a small smile.
You’re in a good mood, Rowan remarked in mindspeak. He didn’t look at her. She could feel jealousy yawning in him like hunger, and she had to remind herself again that it was his idea that she get close to Toshi in the first place.
Toshi agreed to be claimed, she answered.
Did you claim him?
Not yet.
Why wait?
We were in the restricted zone.
So? What difference does that make?
The surveillance is so much harsher there, and I’d already caused a scene. What kind of scene?
What happened?
Lily found herself rattling off an explanation before she remembered that she didn’t need to explain herself to him anymore. I had just tried to heal his father, and the Worker attached to my throat almost stung me. Toshi guessed that I have more than one willstone and he didn’t think it was safe—
Rowan was not pleased. What do you mean, Toshi guessed?
I’ll show you the memory later. Just let me deal with Ivan first, okay?
“Excuse us,” she said to Ivan. Exchanges in mindspeak happened as fast as thought, but the rapidly changing emotions involved could still be noticeable to a sensitive onlooker. Ivan had been watching Rowan and Lily like he was at a tennis match. “You wanted to discuss Toshi?”
“Er—yes,” Ivan said, his eyes still bouncing between Lily and Rowan. “I’m afraid what I’m about to say is rather frank, possibly even rude. I’m taking a big chance by coming here, but I feel I must.” Lily motioned for him to continue. “Stay away from Toshi,” he said. “Your affinity has been noticed. Even planned upon.”
Lily nodded and smiled. “I didn’t really think it was an accident Grace has been so conspicuously absent and that he was chosen to escort me around the city in her place. Was she hoping that I’d take a liking to him and speak more freely than I would to her?”
“Just so,” Ivan agreed.
“What was she hoping to find out?”
“I’m not certain.” Ivan frowned, his aging boxer’s face creasing deeply between the brows. “Toshi has more talent than any mechanic I’ve ever seen, present company excluded, of course.” Ivan tipped his head to Rowan, who nodded back. “But I fear he has some radical tendencies that have prevented him from advancement thus far. I have petitioned to make him my second for some months now, and as yet I have not received an answer. Make no mistake, Toshi is being tested as much as you, my dear, and I would hate for his involvement with you to—well, there’s no way to put this delicately—ruin not just his chances of achieving his goal, but his life as well.” Ivan leaned toward Lily. “It’s possible that you’re too valuable to imprison, but mechanics are not witches.”
“I’ve been imprisoned before,” Lily said quietly. “And I have no intention of repeating that experience or allowing it to happen to anyone I care about.”
Her answer did not satisfy Ivan. “Toshi has been my apprentice for forty-two years. He thinks he knows how Bower City works.” He looked at Lily with a mixture of fear and sadness that had been tempered by the weight of decades. “He thinks he understands, but I can’t convey to you the extent of his miscalculation, and I’m afraid once he recognizes his error it will be too late.”
Ivan looked down at the floor, momentarily lost in his own misgivings, before standing. “That is all I came to say. Both too much and too little, I expect.”
Lily and Rowan stood. “It’s been a pleasure,” Lily said. She furrowed her brow. “I think.”
Ivan smiled. “You are a dear girl,” he said. As he lifted her hand to kiss the back of it, she felt him wedge something about the size and shape of a toothpick between her fingers. “I do hope the best for you,” he said earnestly.
He dropped her hand and turned to Rowan, giving him a polite little bow before leaving.
He slipped me something. Why wouldn’t he just give it to me?
He must be hiding whatever it is from the Hive, Rowan replied.
I have no idea how to look at it without being seen, she told him.
Rowan’s eyes darted around at all the flower arrangements in the room.
There’s no place to take it out here. I’ll think of something, he replied. Give it to me.
Lily moved close to Rowan in order to hide the exchange. She put her hand into his and felt the texture of his skin on hers. He grew still as she swept her eyes over the familiar curve of his shoulder and the cut of his jaw just above her eyelashes.
She saw again his dream of California. She didn’t know whether it was a memory she was replaying in her head or whether she was picking up on Rowan’s thoughts, but she could smell the barbeque, see the bluer-than-blue sw
imming pool, and hear the comforting murmur of friends’ voices laughing and chatting in the backyard like he’d imagined once. She glanced out the window. The golden California sun was lowering to meet the ocean, warm and lazy.
“We’re here,” she said, breathing in the scent of jasmine and taking in the magnificent view. “We made it.”
“Not all of us,” he replied. She looked at him and remembered. This wasn’t his dream, and Tristan was dead.
Rowan let go of her hand, taking what Ivan had given her with him, and moved away from Lily. She stayed where she was, wondering if she was ever going to get used to this.
The rest of her coven arrived shortly, breaking the tension between them. They shared images of what they’d seen while they were scouting for a way to leave the city. It did not look promising. While the coven went about the outward business of pouring tea and eating fruit and cakes and acting merry like they were on holiday, they showed Lily the difficulties they’d encountered when they’d tried to find a way out of the city.
It looks like you can walk in or out whenever you want, Juliet said anxiously in mindspeak while she nibbled on a cinnamon scone, but you can’t. Tristan and I tried and we got stopped.
And it wasn’t just because it was us. We noticed that no one else was going in or out, either, Tristan added.
Lily sipped her tea and looked out the window. Toshi took me to the restricted zone today.
She shared the important parts of what she’d experienced that day with her coven, but stopped short of showing them when Toshi embraced her in the alley. He’d only done it to conceal the fact that they were whispering to each other—if concealment is possible with a Worker at your throat—but still, she felt strange about it. She didn’t want Rowan to see it. She ended the memory right after Toshi guessed that Lily possessed more than one willstone.
Toshi is willing to let me claim him, but it’s too dangerous for him, she explained. He’s been set up to get caught trying to join my coven, or at least that’s what Ivan thinks.
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