Strands of Fate

by R F Hurteau

  Shane let out the faintest snort, as if Eli had said something else he found amusing.

  “Essentially, it’s just a more efficient solar array than what we’ve already got. Synthetic chlorophyll coupled with a special white membrane that’s more pleasing to the eye. Values International puts a lot of emphasis on aesthetics. I’ve heard people talk about it—they say everything will be White Solar in a few generations. Whole cities coated in the stuff, vehicles powered by their own bodies. It’s pretty interesting stuff. The science, I mean.”

  Shane blinked twice, and Eli could have sworn he saw the young man blanch, if only for an instant. Then he returned to his former, chipper self.

  “I don’t really understand it all,” Shane said, giving Mabel a rueful look. “I’m just the muscle making sure it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.”

  He flexed his arm and Mabel gave a giggle that, for some reason, turned Eli’s stomach.

  And yet at the same time he had a nagging feeling. Like they’d had a quick glimpse of the real Shane, before the wall had gone back up.

  “It’s a shame you’re leaving so soon,” Mabel told Shane, sounding saddened. “It would have been nice to have more of a chance to get to know each other.”

  Eli watched as Shane gave his sister a long, wistful sort of look.

  “Yeah,” Shane said after a while. “It would have been nice.”

  Finding himself intrigued by their traveling companion, Eli spent the rest of the ride studying Shane, half listening to the various topics the young man was discussing with Mabel.

  Pegging him as just an ignorant grunt had been easy and came naturally to Eli, but given this rare opportunity to sit with someone like Shane humanized him. Soft blond hair was cropped short, just long enough to whisper in the breeze of people passing down the aisle of the car.

  Whatever he spoke about seemed, at that moment, to be the most interesting thing he could possibly imagine. His face was animated, his eyes lighting up each time he contributed to the conversation. He used his hands a lot when he talked, making sweeping gestures to underscore his point.

  Though Eli felt sure that Shane’s uniform the day of the incident had been clean and neat, his street clothes were rumpled. A simple navy shirt and unassuming khakis were not the loud style common to the people of Gables, and at that moment Shane could have been one of them.

  Just another corporate orphan under the thumb of Val Int.

  Just a regular person trapped in the system.

  The Maglev pulled to a stop and Eli followed Shane and Mabel out into Central Station, which was much less crowded than it had been on Ross Day.

  Shane led them to the street where he flagged down a transport with ease, though Eli saw the driver give him and his sister an appraising look as they boarded.

  Eli hadn’t bothered to ask where they were going but found himself surrounded by flashes of familiarity as they drew farther and farther from the city square.

  They were heading toward his old neighborhood. He recognized stores and businesses that their own family had frequented so long ago.

  No, not that long. Just a few years. How could that be?

  The place felt different, and yet not. As if he were seeing the same things, but with someone else’s eyes.

  There was the butcher shop, where it would have been scandalous to mention the canned, lab-grown meat Mabel had been so thrilled to have brought home only days before. Steep prices in the window advertised the rare delicacies within. Real lamb, beef, and pork had been available for purchase there once or twice a week, and he had often spent hours in line with his father to make sure they got some before it was all gone.

  It was just across the street from the spa where their mother and Mabel used to wait for them. When he and his dad had picked the girls up, large brown packages of meat heavy beneath his father’s arms, they’d always been greeted with happy smiles from the salon workers and offers of beauty treatments that had made young Eli shudder with revulsion.

  He looked over at his sister now, at her worn, drab outfit, and wondered what the spa ladies would do if she were to enter their establishment today.

  He doubted there would be many smiles.

  Mabel had quieted, also looking around at the familiar buildings as they passed. She had a sad kind of smile on her face, and he wondered if she, too, were experiencing these same bittersweet memories.

  “It’s coming up,” Shane said, pointing ahead of them to where the wide, neat road curved out of sight.

  “Wagner Field,” Eli said without thinking, bringing a look of surprise to Shane’s face.

  “You know it?”

  “We used to play there as children,” Mabel told him.

  Shane’s head tilted again as he took this in. “You two lived in Gables?”

  “Yeah.” Eli turned his face away to hide his scowl. “Before Val Int forced us out.”

  Shane followed his gaze, saying nothing more than, “Huh.”

  “You find it surprising that city kids could end up...what did you call us? Corp Orps?” Mabel asked with a chuckle.

  “Oh, no,” Shane said, turning back to her with a shake of his head. “It’s just that, well, you don’t act like you’re from the city. You lack a certain...I don’t know. Attitude.”

  “Eli’s got an attitude,” Mabel pointed out.

  “I do not.”

  “See?” She raised her hands in a gesture of helplessness.

  Shane laughed.

  Wagner Field was full of all sorts of kids, milling about as they streamed from one activity to the next. All around the perimeter of the park, vendors hawked their wares.

  Smells and memories assailed Eli from every direction. Freshly pressed cones and melted chocolate, the scent of corn dogs fresh out of the fryer. The stands did a roaring trade. Those selling water and snacks had the longest lines, snaking far out onto the grass while those selling toys and trinkets were ringed with curious children rather than potential customers.

  There were huge misting stations where the youngest kids laughed and ran in circles, squealing beneath the pipeworks as they splashed in puddles, safe from the blistering heat that had plastered Eli’s shirt to his chest during the drive. A huge playground sat beneath a curved half-dome that shaded it, muting its colorful plastic exterior.

  The baseball diamond had no such protection. The plates gleamed, reflecting the sun’s rays in blinding beams that made Eli grimace. Between the sickening heat and the group of laughing, roughhousing boys that was rapidly growing closer, he was regretting their decision to come here more with every step.

  He contemplated turning around and making a break for the retreating transport, but it was no good. He couldn’t leave Mabel here alone.

  “Hey, Shane! You made it!” one of the boys called. He pointed at Eli as they approached. “You brought Corp Orps with you?”

  “You brought a girl with you?” another hollered, and Eli felt his jaw clench as a wave of laughter broke out among the group. “She’s not playing on my team!”

  Mabel took the slight in stride, not missing a beat. “Well that’s good,” she said with exaggerated relief. “I came to win.”

  There was a whoop from the crowd and all at once Eli found himself surrounded as Shane pointed to his friends in turn, calling out an endless list of names that Eli would not even bother trying to remember.

  He felt himself starting to shut down, and as the teams were picked and the game began, Eli’s body was acting out of instinct. His limbs felt numb, his actions automatic as he moved from his position on the field to the dugout and back again. Time seemed to slow down as he took in the whole bizarre situation, watching Mabel laughing and trading insults with these military recruits who would usually not give their kind the time of day.

  And, to his utter bewilderment, at some point Eli found himself smiling at something someone had said. Then laughing at a joke. He couldn’t pinpoint an exact moment when it happened, but the thrill of the game took o
ver and Eli forgot to care about who he was with, or where he was, or what was happening to the world.

  For the first time in a long time, he was enjoying himself.

  He should have known it wouldn’t last.

  The game hadn’t even been close. Mabel had been picked by the other team, and was ecstatic about their victory, taunting Eli mercilessly as they all lounged beneath the misting station. They were spread out, enjoying the cool spray of water, and Eli lay on the ground beside his sister, drawing disapproving looks from mothers whose children had been crowded out by the exhausted ballplayers.

  “I’ll see you guys later,” Shane was saying. “I’m going to bring these two home.”

  “Aw, come on,” said one boy with a whine. “It’s our last day here.”

  “Go on without me. I’ll be back.”

  But the boy did not want to take no for an answer.

  “Don’t waste your time, Shane. Just stay, let the trash take itself out.”

  Eli had been getting to his feet but froze when the words hit him, his hand halfway extended toward Mabel.

  “Miles!” Shane said, his voice shocked. “Apologize, now!”

  “Relax, Shane,” said another with breezy indifference. “They’re just Corp Orps.”

  Mabel took Eli’s hands and pulled herself up. “It’s fine, Shane. We know our way back.”

  “No, it’s not fine.”

  Eli wished Shane would drop it. He was only going to make things worse. But instead Shane turned back to the others.

  “What’s gotten into you? I thought we were having a good time together.”

  “We were,” Miles said with a shrug, “and now we’re done, and we want to go do something else. So let’s go.”

  Eli really should have known the day had been too good to be true. He couldn’t believe he’d allowed himself to be hoodwinked. To think that the others had accepted them without bias. He should have known that they were no more important to these people than the bat or the ball, just some useful equipment to keep the game going, nothing more.

  Certainly not equals.

  He sighed. “Come on, Mabel.”

  She nodded without argument and they began to walk away.

  “See?” Miles called out. “They’re fine.”

  “This is not fine!” Shane shouted. “You need to apologize, right now!”

  “Well I won’t,” Miles said. “But I mean, the girl isn’t terrible looking. I don’t mind if she stays.”

  Looking back, Eli would not remember what happened just then. He only knew that Miles had kept talking, and that he hadn’t liked the insinuation in the recruit’s tone.

  He’d been beside Mabel one minute and then somehow he was straddling Miles, whose nose was dripping blood as he gasped.

  Eli raised a fist to punch him again. Then strong arms wrapped around his chest, and Eli felt himself being lifted backward as he struggled against his captor.

  “Easy, Eli, take it easy,” Shane’s voice said beside his ear.

  Eli’s heart was pounding, his fist still clenched as he looked up. The shocked faces of the other ballplayers surrounded him, and outside them a ring of stunned onlookers had gathered, whispering to each other with wide, judgmental eyes.

  Eli looked to his right to find Mabel, her hand covering her mouth, her cheeks pale. He looked back at Miles, who had raised himself up on his elbows to glare at Eli, the mist splattering his face, washing the blood over his mouth and down his chin in translucent red rivulets.

  “Let’s go, Eli,” Shane said with quiet urgency.

  Eli nodded wordlessly and allowed himself to be led away without resisting.

  A strange calm enveloped Eli as the next moments unfolded. He felt Shane’s firm grip on his shoulder, guiding him away from the scene of his crime. On his other side, Mabel walked quickly to keep up, making stilted jerking motions that Eli soon realized were silent sobs. He looked at her, taking in her terrified face.

  They hadn’t made it very far before Miles’s shock wore off.

  “You aren’t going to get away with this, you filthy reject!” Miles’ shout was distorted in a way that made Eli think he may have broken the boy’s nose. “Grab him! Grab them both!”

  Shane cursed under his breath. “Run!”

  They took off at a sprint.

  Six

  Hornworms of Doom

  ONYX was waiting for him when he came through the back door.

  Her arms were crossed and the exasperated look on her face suggested that Gavin was not, in fact, going to get the opportunity to close his eyes and rest for a bit as he’d hoped. He’d been running off of pure adrenaline for so long that he could scarcely remember what it felt like to sleep.

  He was in no mood to do battle.

  “Don’t you dare leave this house alone again. You have to take me with you.”

  Her voice was a harsh, pleading whisper.

  Gavin sighed, pulling off his cloak and tossing it deftly at one of the many hooks lining the wall.

  So far during Ollie’s brief stay, the sweet but simple young man had managed to drive Onyx quite close to the edge of madness.

  About as likely to get along as a hawk and a mouse, they both viewed Gavin as a neutral third party.

  It was a tiring position to be forced into.

  After accepting that Imradia was all but impenetrable, Gavin had spent the last several days excavating the entrance to the sewers that Tapestry had used in the past. When the city guard had discovered it during their retrieval of the Culeian Ambassador it had been sealed off, which made Gavin feel hopeful that its exits inside the city would not be guarded. With any luck, they’d collapsed the entrance and moved on to other things.

  Ollie had said that some of the tunnels were left as traps, so it stood to reason that those they had closed would be safe.

  It was slow, back-breaking work. Alone in the dark, Gavin had almost managed to pierce through to the other side of the debris, one shovelful at a time. He had no way of knowing for certain if it was a feasible way in, but at this point it was the only hope they had. He was tired, and sore, and not disposed to entertain Onyx’s incessant need to complain about Ollie.

  “We can’t do this again, Onyx. They’re keeping tabs on the village. What if they do a patrol and find us both missing? You need to stay here and let me search. You’ll have to cover for me if they show up while I’m gone, I can’t trust Ollie with that job.”

  “Then take him with you!”

  She jabbed a finger toward the front garden.

  “I can’t ,” Gavin reminded her, his patience wearing thinner by the second. “He just escaped from Imradia. Sneaking around is hard enough without an untrained, and highly recognizable, tag-along. I’m sorry, Onyx, but we’ve been over this. He needs to stay here, where you can keep him hidden. He shouldn’t even be out in the garden alone. He probably wouldn’t even notice a patrol coming until they were hauling him away.”

  She was tapping her foot now in an irritated manner, her hands clenched against her mouth as she bit her knuckle, perhaps in an effort to stop herself from speaking.

  It didn’t work.

  “There’s got to be somewhere else we can take him,” she whispered at last, desperation evident in her words. “Anywhere in the village is fine with me. He’ll be close by if we need information, but he won’t be...here.”

  She glanced back over her shoulder with fearful eyes, as if expecting that Ollie might appear behind her at any moment.

  Gavin had been in and out of Solara as often as he dared. He knew that Nero’s spies could be in the village, but he was willing to take the risk that they weren’t. The people of Solara had all suffered at the hands of the Elder Council. Most of them, Gavin would trust implicitly.

  But he did not want to put the burden of keeping Ollie hidden on any of them. Harboring an Imradian fugitive was a dangerous proposition, especially now.

  Onyx’s initial sympathy towards Ollie’s weakened state had soure
d as the young man recovered from his ordeal. Under her care, he’d sprung back to life as quick as a wilted flower in her garden.

  But Onyx’s private nature clashed with Ollie’s inquisitive one. He was young, an idealist, and constantly attempting to be helpful. Gavin didn’t mind him, but he did mind being stuck in the middle.

  If the two of them did not work out their issues soon, Gavin would have to seriously consider sleeping in the dirty entrance of the tunnel.

  At least he could have some peace that way.

  “Yesterday he was picking my tomatoes.” Onyx was still railing in her angry whisper-yell. She moved to the table, slamming down a cup of tea, presumably for Gavin, so hard that the liquid sloshed over the sides. “Just ripping them off the vine, cheerful as you please!”

  Gavin needed to quell the growing storm before things could get out too out of hand.

  “I’m sure he’s just trying to help.”

  “He was pulling them off the vines, Gavin!” she said, mimicking Ollie’s lack of tomato picking skills with exaggerated gestures in case Gavin had misunderstood the severity of the issue. “Everyone knows you twist a tomato off the vine. Or cut it. You don’t just yank like some, some...savage!”

  Gavin couldn’t help it. He chuckled. This might have earned him a stern talking to, if not for the sudden sound of the front door opening behind them.

  “He’s coming!” Onyx yelped fearfully, disappearing into the kitchen in a blur.

  Gavin let out a sigh, and Ollie appeared beside him a moment later.

  “Oh, Gavin! I didn’t hear you come in!”

  The young man walked over to the table and plopped down a large basket of produce.

  “I was just helping out in the garden. There’s something so relaxing about it, you know? I mean, the world is in chaos and we’re heading for war, but the vegetables, they don’t care about any of that, do they? They still need watering, and weeding, and picking!”

  “I’m sure Onyx appreciates the effort,” Gavin said loudly, “But you know, she is rather particular about her garden. Perhaps it would be best if you check in with her first before you—”

  “Oh, right, that reminds me!” Ollie interjected, his eyes wide. “There were these weird caterpillars, huge. They have this crazy horn and they’re green and fat, do you know the ones? Anyway, I brushed up against one, and it gave me such a start I trampled a couple of the pretty flowers.” His cheeks flushed as he spoke, and he looked abashed.