A Merric's Tale

by Margs Murray

  I didn’t want to take them off for even a minute, but I didn’t want to get caught either. I handed them over, and Greer slipped them into a concealed pocket at his waist.

  “So this professor, who is he?”

  “He’s a professor of religious studies with a special concentration in prophets and oracles.”

  “So you think he’ll know this Pythia person?”

  “Yes.”

  I noticed two leather suitcases by the door. “Nice bags.”

  “Oh, those. Our bags would look suspicious on the train with us so—”

  “Normal?”

  “Yeah.” Greer grabbed a plate and put a Cloverfield bar on it for me.

  My shoulder’s fell.

  “Kidding. I made eggs and bacon.” He handed me a coffee mug instead.

  I sat down. He remembered how I liked my coffee.

  “Thank you,” I said while Greer plated my food.

  Greer was staring at me again. “For what?”

  “Everything.” Everything covered breakfast and the dress and last night. I wanted to mention carrying me upstairs to bed but my cheeks were getting red already and I didn’t need an excuse to go crimson.

  “I’ve taken care of the arrangements.” As always. He took the stool next to mine.

  “It was nice, being inside. Sleeping in a bed.”

  “Taking a shower, not eating my stupid bars,” he added with a large sigh. “It was all nice, better than nice, but it wasn’t real.”

  Again, not real. It felt genuine, it all felt tangible and nice, but this place wasn’t a place we could stay. Last night was a rest from danger, a danger we were walking right into this morning.

  Chapter 32

  Station

  Greer and I only had a short walk down a path before we came to a flat road. Tree limbs littered the side of the road from last night’s storm. After a short two-mile walk, we reached town.

  As we strode down the streets, Greer took my hand in his. A woman and her three young children passed us on the sidewalk. My body tensed. Not Greer. He smiled and nodded to her like this was the most normal thing. Once she was out of earshot, he whispered in my ear, “Your body language is tense, on edge. Act normal, and no one will think anything is up.”

  I didn’t know how to act normal when I was terrified or with Greer holding my hand.

  Right before the station was a small park with public bathrooms. Greer pulled me into one of the family bathrooms and locked the door. He placed his bag on the counter, opened it, and took out a small spray bottle. “We have to cover our DNA.”

  I held my breath, prepared for the burning pee smell, so I was happily surprised when it didn’t smell at all. Greer read my expression. “It’s a lot better when you don’t have to pretend to be an animal. Train agents scan people; they don’t scrape DNA.”

  “Open your mouth.” The mouth spray tasted like fake strawberries. “This lasts 48 hours. That should be long enough for us to find the professor, get our answers, and then catch a train back north.”

  “If you have this stuff, won’t they be expecting that we’d cover our DNA? And what about facial recognition? I mean, we have that in my world and we’re years behind this place. And my eyes.”

  “I have things covered. Let me worry about it.” Greer took a pack of contacts from the bag. “Can you put these in?”

  I nodded, happy at least I had once worn colored contacts for a play in school. After a minute, I had the lenses in. I caught my reflection in the bathroom mirror, and I admired my altered reflection and brown eyes. Besides being a little gaunt from all the hiking, I was the old me, like I could have stepped out of my house after recovering from a bad stomach bug. Greer walked in behind me. This is what we would’ve been like in my old life, and for a second, I imagined us going out to a nice dinner, perhaps a picnic at the Watkins Glen. I wished I had the stylists from the L’Autre Bête. “I wish I had makeup.”

  “You look nice,” Greer said.

  “Better than the uniform, I suppose.” I turned around, bitterly remembering the night with the chocolate.

  Greer moved in front of me and slipped a stray curl behind my ear. “I like your freckles.”

  “You do?” I asked and swallowed nervously.

  Greer nodded slowly. “Yes.”

  Church bells rang out the time, noon. “We’ve got to be going. Here.” He handed me a card. “Your ID.”

  My name was Hannah Osborne, and the picture was me for sure. It looked identical to my driver’s license except my eyes were brown. “How did you get this?”

  “We’ve got connections.”

  Back in L’Autre Bête, some part of me assumed that my uncle had thrown out my bag and then Enzo scrambled to find my stuff. I had never thought the Galvantry had stolen it. The Merrics had no idea how infiltrated they were.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  Greer gave me his card. I had to admit; it wasn’t the best picture. It was undeniably him, but it lacked any of his charm, as if the photo was snapped after Greer stayed up for three days straight. I noticed the name. “Andrew Osborne? We have the same last name?”

  Greer took my hand into his. “If anyone asks, we’re going to the beach for a vacation to Pea Island.”

  “Pea Island. Got it.” I felt my anxiety rising. I wondered if Greer chose brown so we could look like family. “Brother and sister going to Pea Island?”

  “No! Not siblings, if you don’t mind.” Greer let go of my hand and put it around my waist instead. I jumped, and he laughed. “No one in their right mind would think we’re family. We’re pretending to be a couple, so try not to jump or scream when I touch you, okay?”

  “Okay.” My stomach twisted. Oh, how I wished this situation were anything but what it was.

  Greer must have misread my face because he dropped his hand from my waist. “Don’t worry, this is as bad as it gets.”

  “No, it wasn’t—” I stopped what I was going to say because I didn’t want to admit how much I wished we were a couple.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Just... um... any last-minute advice?”

  “Let everyone else do the talking. People have a way of letting you know exactly what they think if you sit and listen.”

  “I wish we weren’t doing this.” I leaned back against the sink. “I wish we were anyplace but here.”

  “We’ll be fine.”

  Greer went over the details of his train plans several times. We were a couple going to Pea Island on vacation together. We’d have to check our luggage. The scan would include breathing into a cubox. The whole time, we’d have to watch everything we said, both at the station and on the train, because you never knew who—or what—was listening in.

  Men, women, and children crowded into the little station, which to be honest, looked like any regular town train station.

  The train wasn’t there yet, but people were already forming a line to get on. Two young men stood at the front, scanning the people with cuboxes and patting them down.

  As we got closer to the agents, people complained.

  “Stupid Libratiers,” a man hissed. “Never had these lines before.”

  His wife jabbed his rib. “Shush and let the people do their jobs.”

  Behind us was an even longer line, and some were pushing forward. Greer took my waist to keep us together.

  Both agents opened up at the same time, and when they saw me, they had leering, unprofessional smiles. They both signaled I should come over to them. Greer looked up at them from under his eyebrows. If looks killed, they’d both be dead men. I’d watched the protocol for the last ten minutes, so I understood what to do. I put my hat and sunglasses on the table, and the agent held up the cubox, and I blew out the flame. My face popped out of the cubox with Hannah Osborne’s stats. I was a yarn shop owner from Vermont.

  “So, Hannah, you’re going down south?”

  “To the beach,” I said, and I hoped he wouldn’t ask where because I ha
d already forgotten the location.

  The guard then scanned my face and arms with his cubox. Hannah Osborne yet again. Greer was an expert.

  “You wearing a swimsuit?” he asked. He started the standard pat down and jokingly, but with dark undertones, he said, “Nope.”

  I felt exposed, like this man was undressing me with his eyes, and I would have loved to punch this guy in the jaw. If it hadn’t been a life and death situation, I might have. His fingers lingered and dug. He was halfway down my torso when he gazed up into my face, and he went slack-jawed standing there and staring at me. Crap. I’d hoped the contacts blocked my eyes well enough to stop this. They didn’t. I closed my eyes, but this guy was still staring at me. He was uncomfortably close, and I didn’t know what to do.

  Greer came right over. He put his hand on the man’s arm and said, “If you don’t stop mistreating my wife, I will enjoy your screams as I break your fingers one by one.”

  That woke the man up. “I must have drifted off there.”

  I promptly put my hat and sunglasses back on. Greer protectively put his arm around my back. And with that, we went into the train. We headed to a private car equipped with two large leather bench seats and dark wooden tables.

  Greer put our bags in the overhead compartment. Still seething from moments before, he plopped down onto one of the lush leather seats.

  “I’m sorry,” I said and sat across from him.

  “For what?” he asked, still mad.

  “I had to... you know.” I pointed to my hat and sunglasses.

  “Those idiots. Not your fault. They should fire him.” Greer turned to the window. “The man was probably like that with all the woman who came through his line. He’s a pervert, and he’ll be fired.”

  “Do you know an employee in transportation?”

  “You could say that,” he said. “The goal is to keep the trains safe and to search for explosives, not to take advantage of people.”

  Greer’s pat-down must not have been as thorough. “How did they not feel...?” I didn’t have to say ring or necklace; he already knew.

  Greer smiled a wicked smile and leaned across the space between the seats. He put his arms on each of my sides, boxing me in, and whispered in my ear, “People might be listening.”

  He lingered inches from my face, all mint and clover. My body tingled, and my fingers ached to touch his face, his hair. Greer shook his head, tucked the same unruly curl behind my ear, and returned to his side of the compartment.

  Out of my window, people were still crowding into the train. I noticed about forty Libratiers entering the cars. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. “How long is the ride?”

  “We’ll be there in two hours.”

  “Two hours? We’re traveling so far. That’s like plane speed.”

  “Magnetics are fast.”

  There was a sudden knock at the door, and we turned to see four guards, the conductor, and two of the stewardesses standing at our door.

  Crap, crap, crap. Crap was all I could think. They had caught us. I didn’t know what to do, but Greer was more than ready. He stood up and went to the door. “What’s the problem?”

  My heart pounded in my ears. What were we going to do if they found us? Run? Where? How? The windows were large enough for us to squeeze through, but what then? They might be carrying a freeze gun like Rudolf had. I’d be home with the Merrics tonight and Greer… God, they’d kill him. They’d turn him into a gnat. No, a flea.

  “Our apologies. We are sorry about this, but it appears we’ve somehow overbooked. We hoped that you would share your cabin. There will be a full refund, Mr. Osborne, and two free tickets to anywhere in America,” the conductor pleaded.

  “That better be the deal for us too,” a woman’s voice called from behind the crew.

  Greer gave them a million-dollar smile. “Not an issue. Hannah, is that all right with you?”

  “Sure,” I said with my freaking heart in my throat.

  “Are you sure, ma’am? You seem upset,” a stewardess asked. If only she knew who I was, and the danger Greer and I were in at that very moment

  Greer still smiled. “It’s her first time on a train. She’s new to the transit, and this will be the fastest thing she’s ever ridden.”

  Two round women with big fluffy hair bustled their way through the others.

  “Get her a drink,” said the woman in the black dress. Blue-green jewels pinned back her fluffy coif.

  “Get us all a drink.” The other woman, who wore a lavender shawl and a white and purple polka-dot dress, glared at the stewardess. “And it better be free.”

  “Yes, right away,” the conductor said to us. He turned to the stewardesses. “Everything is on the house for this room.”

  The two women eyed me up on the seat. “Mind taking the other side, honey pie? I get sick moving backwards.”

  I shifted to the other seat. Greer joined me and protectively put his arm around me.

  The stewardess followed us in with her drink cart. “What can I get you?”

  “Mojitos for everyone!” the woman in black demanded. She threw her purse down on the seat, chanting, “Mojitos, mojitos, mojitos for everyone!”

  The other woman with the shawl sat back, studying Greer and me. After a moment, she said with a smile, “Make it champagne.”

  The woman popped the cork, and some champagne spilled onto her cart. She offered the glasses to Greer, and he hesitated before taking it and putting it in my hand. I should have said I was too young. I should have mentioned being eighteen and that I wasn’t allowed, but I hadn’t paid attention to my age on my ID. Not good.

  The woman in the shawl gave us both a smile. “I can tell you two are celebrating something so spill.”

  Playing the part, Greer looked at me. “We’re in love.”

  “Newlyweds,” the two women said more or less together.

  “How did you guess?” Greer asked as he placed his glass on a table by his armrest. He was right, let people talk first and they’ll tell you what they’re thinking. Greer's eyes locked on mine. So good-looking. Too good-looking.

  “She looks at you like she’s never had to clean your toilet,” one of them said.

  “And he’s looking at you like he’s never seen your dark side,” the other said, but I didn’t know which one and I didn’t care because Greer was selling this loving thing hard and he was still gazing into my eyes.

  “She doesn’t have a dark side.” His free hand pushed my hair back from my face.

  “Oh, yes, she does. All women have a dark side and a light side. She’s showing you the pretty one right now, but give her time and you’ll see the dark all right.”

  “Never.” Greer’s fingers gingerly lifted my face up towards him and chastely, ever so softly, he placed his warm lips on mine. The kiss lasted only a second, but the taste of mint lingered. His face was full of dissatisfaction and longing for more. Or at least that was what he wanted the woman to believe. I wished so hard I was merely acting.

  “Oh, get a room,” the blue-jeweled woman said.

  “We had a room,” I said, and they all laughed. If we had our own room, I was sure Greer would be sitting on the other side watching the cows go by.

  “Young love,” the polka-dot woman said between sips of her drink. “I remember my Harold looking at me that way. Oh, I’m done already. Mary, please get that nice stewardess back in here. Drink up... what’s your name? It’s free.”

  “Hannah, and my husband is Andrew.” I swallowed the rest in a large gulp and the champagne slightly burned my throat. I held out my glass, but Greer took it and placed it next to his.

  He whispered in my ear, “Champagne hits harder than people think, and you don’t drink.”

  “Iris and Mary, and we’re on our way to visit friends on the shore.” Iris pushed her lavender shawl off her shoulders.

  Mary fluffed her hair. “A whole week without the husbands. Just seven fun-loving gals and the ocean.”

&nb
sp; “And drinks.” Iris opened the car door. “Oh, Stewardess. We’re empty.”

  When the stewardess returned a few moments later, I understood what Greer had meant. My head felt fuzzy and warm. As if he had read my mind, Greer pulled me in closer with his arm, and I leaned on his shoulder. This was an act, but I’d enjoy it while I could.

  “It’s so nice to see a happy couple,” Iris said. “Especially when the country is falling apart.”

  I nodded because that was the best thing to do when someone says something like that.

  Mary with the blue jewels finished her drink and handed the glass to the stewardess. “Make it a double this time,” she said to her and then turned to us. “Just dreadful. Dreadful. There was another Galvantry attack this morning, and then the poor lost princess—”

  “I’m sorry, we didn’t hear about the attack,” Greer explained. “We were very busy this morning.”

  “I’d suppose not.” Iris blinked at us. “You were too busy with that love business, I suppose, but it’s been all over the news. Tragic. Kansas.”

  The stewardess had added an umbrella to Mary’s glass, and Mary plopped it out of the drink and onto the table before saying, “Twice the casualties of Boston.”

  “Boston was terrible.” The smells and sounds flashed in my memory all too clear. I trembled, and Greer’s arm squeezed me closer to him.

  “Boston was. All those poor dock workers. Twenty-seven in total. Please don’t let us spoil the honeymoon. We should have kept it quiet.”

  I recalled my cousin attempt at killing me by dropping my hand in the chaos.

  “Are they sure it was the Galvantry?” I asked without control. What the hell? My hand went up to my mouth. What was I thinking? I shouldn’t have asked that.

  “Yes. Of course. Who else would do it?” The woman took offense that I would think for a second it wasn’t them.

  “Hannah, I think you’ve had enough to drink.” Greer put a bottle of water in my hand. “Next time the stewardess comes in, I’m ordering you a sandwich. I apologize. She comes from a small town. It’s not like it is in the cities. I blame her uncle. He’s a conspiracist on all things Merric. He believes the most ridiculous rumors. He told me once that the Merrics have unnatural powers.”