by T. C. Edge
So when I get back to the academy, I do so with that single thought in mind. Even the sight of Drum, appearing through the door and trundling off down the street, doesn’t pick me up. I make no attempt to rush after or call out to him. I merely watch him go and then slip inside the academy before anyone else can rise.
In the hall, however, I have one more person to deal with. Thankfully, it’s only Nate, still charged with collecting the early morning post from the incoming drones.
I drag my limbs through the door like a caveman, my knuckles all but scraping along the floor. Through my hazy, blurred vision, I see the little boy sitting behind the reception desk.
“Hi Nate,” I mumble, my eyes fixed to the stairs.
“Morning,” he yawns. “Where have you been so early?”
Oh God, not him as well.
“Walking…”
“Must have been a long walk,” he giggles, stretching out his scrawny arms across the desk.
I near the stairs. Please don’t speak to me again.
“Um, Brie…”
My chin sinks lower.
“Yeah, Nate.”
“You’ve got some mail. Two things, actually.”
Two?
I curve my course towards him. On his desk, he plants a simple electronic letter, and a larger box.
I move over and scoop up the letter. I slide off the seal and the words begin to glow.
Dear Miss Melrose,
I am writing on behalf of one Adryan Shaw.
If agreeable, he would like to officially initiate the
courting process with you.
I have been told by your chaperone, Sophie Winchester, that you
would prefer to receive correspondence directly. While highly
irregular, it is within your rights to do so.
Mr Shaw would like to meet you this evening for your first
official function. Please make your way to the western gate
to Inner Haven at 7PM. Mr Shaw will be waiting for you.
We wish you all the best of luck in developing a fruitful bond.
Sincerely,
Katherine Kirkland,
The Council of Matrimony
I quickly read the letter through, before tearing off another seal at the bottom of the note. This time, the glowing words fade and fizz out, disappearing forever.
“What’s that about?” asks Nate.
“You wouldn’t be interested.”
I grab the other package, and open up the box. Inside, I find another note, this one handwritten in a beautiful, flowing script.
Dearest Brie,
I’ve been told you’re seeing Adryan tonight.
You must be very nervous! Just remember to relax and
be yourself and you won’t go too far wrong.
I know you still have the dress from the ceremony (unless
you’ve already sold it!) but I thought that this
occasion called for something new.
I have enclosed a dress for you to wear. It should fit you
perfectly. Wear it with pride, my dear!
All my love,
Sophie
Xxx
p.s. Don’t tell Brenda
My usual inclination upon reading such words would be to roll my eyes and consider this entire thing ridiculous. But, even in my current state of exhaustion, I can’t help but be touched by Sophie’s kindness.
Sure, perhaps she’s doing all this for selfish reasons. Perhaps me and all of the other girls are just projects for her, dolls to dress up and marry off to the most esteemed gentlemen she can find. But I don’t care. Whatever her motives, it’s a sweet gesture.
As a drowsy smile struggles to pull up my lips, I reach in and my fingers bring out a simple, and yet beautiful, blue gown.
“Is that a dress?” asks Nate. He reaches out and slides his fingers along the fabric. His eyes widen. “Wow…it’s so soft. Are you going to wear it?”
“That’s what dresses are for, Nathan.”
“No one wears things like that around here. It looks like that one you wore at the ceremony.”
“Yes, well, all Unenhanced have to wear this colour in Inner Haven. It shows status.”
“You’re going to Inner Haven again?!”
I nod, and fold up the dress once more, hiding it away in the box in case Mrs Carmichael should come wandering into the hall.
“I am. Tonight.”
“So lucky!”
I don’t answer. I scoop the box under my arm, and set my sights on the winding stairs once more.
“Nathan, do me a favour. Don’t tell anyone about the dress. Especially Mrs Carmichael…and Tess.”
He shrugs through an apparent lack of interest.
“Erm, sure. I won’t.”
Good. One less secret to worry about.
Truly, my world is a web of them now.
14
Blue used to be my favourite colour.
It was those hours spent in the eastern quarter, on the top of the warehouse, looking out over the distant mountains on clear days. That’s when I developed a particular fondness for it. When the sky was bright and clear, the mountains would be visible. I suppose I just associated the colour blue with freedom.
Now, however, that fondness is beginning to evaporate, and a new association is beginning to form. Blue now represents something more sinister: the slow, but steady weeding out of the Unenhanced, and their gradual slide towards total extinction.
I’m wearing the colour now, of course, and I’m looking at it too. I’m looking at what made me love it in the first place, and wearing the very reason I now loathe it.
I’m in perhaps the only place in the city that gives me peace. The very rooftop where I’ve spent so much time alone. The afternoon is growing late, and the sky is starting to fade and darken. Yet still, it’s light enough, and blue enough, to draw my eyes to the northwest, and the towering mountains that lie there.
I’ve been sitting here for some time now. Sitting in awe and quiet reflection. I’d slept through morning and straight past lunch, but woke with an urge inside me, an itch that needed to be scratched.
I needed to come here. I needed to see the city, and the lands beyond, with the new eyes I’ve been given. I needed to feel the sweep of wind on my face and gaze on the mountains that I’ve long wanted to visit.
All of it is clearer now, crisper. Like an old faded picture that’s been fully restored, its tiniest details brought back to life. I gaze upon the distant mountains and see them ten times more clearly that I have before.
Instead of blocks of blurred green littering the lower reaches of the hills, I now see individual trees. Instead of bands of dark blue, I see rivers and rushing water. Instead of dark grey and black smudges, I’m able to make out specific rock formations and craggy peaks. I even see a cave, what was once a tiny black dot to my eyes now visible as an entrance into the mountainside.
It will take me some time to get used to these eyes of mine. And some time to learn how to control them. Here, quiet and still, I’ve been able to peer as far as I can into the distance, and hold my gaze there. If I lose concentration, however, they quickly rush back and return to normal.
I never knew it would be like this. Several times in the past, Tess and I have wondered how Hawks actually used their eyes. We knew they could see great distances, but could never quite figure out how it worked.
In the end, we’d usually conclude that they merely saw ‘better’ than the rest of us, seeing several times further just like the birds of prey they’re named after. But now that I’ve experienced it first hand, I’ve realised that it’s so much more than that.
Not only is everything clearer and more detailed, and my natural ability to see further enhanced, but I can actually ‘zoom’ in with my eyes, as long as I focus long enough. I suppose it’s less zooming in, and more just focusing on a particular point, and letting the details of that point begin to form. If I turn suddenly to another point, far away
in the distance, it’s not immediately clear. I need to wait for my eyes to adjust, take in the light, and then watch in glorious wonder as the world comes to life, so many miles away.
It’s a truly breathtaking experience.
However, I can’t linger too long on the roof. Checking my watch, I find that the clock is ticking by fast.
And I have a date to get to…
I can’t help but find the situation marginally amusing. My first date. Ever. And it’s with a Savant.
Hardly an ideal match for me.
With my dress hidden beneath my jacket and my head covered in my trusty cloak, I climb down from the warehouse roof and work my way towards the Conveyor Line. As I go, I pass by the site of the second attack by the Fanatics, still cordoned off and under investigation.
I shake my head as I pass. It’s all for show. I wonder what the people would feel if they knew the Consortium was behind it all? Would they riot? Would they rise up and join the Nameless? Or would they just roll over and let the Court do what they want.
Honestly, my faith has been somewhat shaken. I wouldn’t be surprised if they chose the latter.
I journey on, travelling the roads I’m so used to, and working my way around to the western quarter once again. This time, there’s no car to chauffeur me to the gate, no one to dress me up and do my makeup. That I’ve had to do on my own, with a little help from the secret stocks I found hidden under Tess’s bed.
I go to the farthest point I can on the Conveyor Line before stepping off and walking the rest. When I reach the long road leading towards the gate, where the people grow thin and the world grows quiet, I practice a little more with my eyes, focusing hard on the hulking Brute standing in the distance.
He stands there, to the side of the gate, looking decidedly bored with his lot in life. I keep my eyes on him as I move, watching him stare blankly out down the street, until a beeping sound blares and my eyes suddenly come shooting back down to earth.
I’m shocked to see that I’ve wandered right into the middle of the road and nearly been hit by a passing car. Inside, a rather grumpy looking man shakes his fist at me. I don’t need to be a lip-reader to know what he’s saying.
I step back onto the pavement and the car whirs on, passing down towards the heart of the western quarter. I make a mental note to only zoom with my eyes when I’m both stationary and not under the scrutiny of anyone who might see.
Had I done that under the watchful gaze of a City Guard or Con-Cop, they might just have put two and two together.
Shape up, Brie, I grunt, reprimanding myself internally.
I continue towards the gate without taking any further risks. When I reach it, I find the Brute bearing down on me. This one’s frankly gigantic, even bigger than the man who I met at the bachelor ball.
“Name and identification number,” his voice thunders.
“Erm, Brie Melrose. And I don’t have an I.D. number.”
He lifts up his trunk-like forearm and taps on an interface.
“Ah, yes, Miss Melrose. I was told to expect you. Come this way.”
He guides me to the door to the right of the gate and opens it up. I follow behind in his shadow, feeling like a tiny child next to him as he ducks through the opening.
I flash my wrist and check my watch. 7.03PM.
Not a good start. Savants don’t take kindly to poor time-keeping.
As we pass through the door, I step to the left to escape the Brute’s endless shadow.
“Here you go, Miss Melrose,” he says, pointing with a giant finger.
I follow it up the short road towards the Outer Spiral, where a car sits waiting for me. And outside it, dressed in his light grey suit, stands the rigid form of Adryan.
“Have a good evening,” remarks the Brute, before returning to his station.
I’ll say this about him and his kind: they’re always terribly polite. Every Brute I’ve met so far – which, admittedly, are only a few – have been rather well-mannered and docile. The similarities between the Brutes and Drum just keep on coming.
The man ahead of me, I suspect, won’t be quite as respectful. It probably won’t be intentional, more a side-effect of his emotional disability. Marching towards him, I expect a frank word on the lateness of my arrival.
I’m surprised to see that I don’t get it.
He moves forward with the smallest hint of a smile on his face. As before, his lips remain shut. Perhaps he hasn’t yet mastered the full, toothy smile yet.
“Good evening, Brie,” he says, stepping before me. He stops short, and bows his head as every Enhanced did at the bachelor ball.
I quickly recall Sophie’s lessons on ‘preparing for life in Inner Haven’. Like at the bachelor ball, all greetings between men and women in Inner Haven are conducted in this fashion.
So, I perform my own little bow in return.
He steps forwards a little closer, and his arms reach out to me. I can’t quite decide if he’s moving in for an uncomfortable hug, perhaps in an attempt to perform a more common greeting on the other side of the wall.
My arms open up and come forward too. I feel foolish when I realise he’s merely removing my jacket for me.
“There we go, much better,” he says, revealing my blue dress.
He turns suddenly to his car and begins moving away. I hurry to catch up as he opens up the door and puts my jacket inside.
“So, what’s the plan?” I ask, trying to sound casual but, inside, feeling far more nervous than I expected to be. “Is there some specific function to all this? We going to need to jump through a few hoops to, you know, make this official?”
My humour, or attempt at it, doesn’t go down well.
“Don’t speak like that around here, Brie.” He leans in. “Wait until we’re alone.”
And that’s the second time I’ve felt foolish in as many minutes.
Welcome back to Inner Haven…
He doesn’t speak again until we’ve climbed into his car and the door is sealed shut. Then he deigns to answer my question.
“There’s a general process we need to follow,” he says, turning to me in the backseat. “I have more leeway than others, though. If needs be, we might be able to expedite things.”
“And…the end goal is, what exactly?”
He frowns.
“Surely you’ve been told.”
“Well, not in so many words.”
“Hmmm. Well, to maximise your subterfuge here, we’ll need to marry.”
My insides shrink and dry out, like old rotten fruit. I was afraid he’d say that.
“You don’t look happy with the idea. I was told by Lady Orlando that you were committed to this mission?”
“I am, I guess. I mean, it’s all just happening very fast. And now, marriage? It’s a lot to get my head around.”
“Why? It’s a simple document. We merely need to sign a piece of paper for the records. Nothing else is required.”
“That’s what marriage is here?”
“Yes. What else is there?”
“Um, I dunno. A ceremony. A celebration. A party.”
“Of course, that’s how you do it in Outer Haven…”
“Yeah, that’s just the normal way to do it. Marriage is meant to be about love, you know,” I say sardonically. “That’s something people like to celebrate with the people they care about.”
“Don’t look at me like that,” he warns.
I recoil. I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong.
“Like what?”
“Like you are. You think, because I’m a Savant, I don’t understand the concept of love.”
“Well, do you?”
His grey-blue eyes sharpen, glinting like the edge of a silver blade. They contrast so strikingly with his jet-black hair and creamy pale skin.
He falls silent for a moment, and then turns away.
“Our marriage will be nothing but a sham, Brie,” he says calmly. “It will merely allow you greater access to ce
rtain doors. It carries with it no other obligation than to let you carry out your mission.”
“The mission. Right. And, what is it exactly that I’m here to do?”
His eyes come back to me.
“They really haven’t told you, have they?”
“Told me what?”
His staring eyes bring my heart to life. I feel it drumming behind my chest, shouting out a warning.
And then his words come again.
“You’re here to kill Director Artemis Cromwell.”
15
For a good few seconds I stare into Adryan’s eyes, unblinking. Then, slowly, I turn down to look at my feet. His words take a few moments to sink in.
And once they have, I begin to laugh.
“I didn’t think you Savants had a sense of humour,” I say.
“We don’t, as a general rule.”
My eyes swing back to his, hoping to see some lightness in them.
“But you do? You’re joking, right?”
Please say yes. Please say yes.
“No. That is why you’re here. That’s what all of this is about.”
I enjoy a second bout of temporarily silence. Once more my feet become the focal point for my eyes. Then, in a sudden rush, I grab the door handle, open it up, and storm out of the car.
I set my eyes on the gate, fifty or so metres away. I’m so wired I might just try to test out my new Dasher powers, my muscles vibrating and humming and getting set to explode.
I hold back the urge and stick to mere marching, stamping my feet hard as I head for the exit. Back to Outer Haven. Back to the academy. Back to my old life.
I should never have come here. I should never have signed up for this.
A voice comes at me as I go. I’m only about ten metres from the car.
“Brie, stop.”
I don’t. I carry on, quickening my pace just a little.
I hear Adryan scampering behind me, rushing to catch up. Thankfully, this close to the wall, there aren’t many people around. A few cars drifting around the Spiral. A few pedestrians walking in their formulaic manner along the streets. Perhaps people can see us from up in their apartments, watching this little scene play out.
