Lotus and Thorn

by Sara Wilson Etienne

  “Do you have your scope with you?” Jaesun asked.

  “Yes.” I dug it out of my bag.

  “Do you see that clump of boulders and mesquite west of camp?”

  I raised the scope. There were no guards today. Instead I caught a glimpse of white. And as it came into focus, I recognized an isolation suit and the towering Curador inside it. Edison.

  The surprise of seeing him there set off a chain of tiny explosions inside my head. Edison . . . who’d saved me. Who’d deserted me. Who’d invited me to be part of his world.

  Edison. Who’d known things about me that he shouldn’t have known. Who was part of the very system Lotus and the Indignos were rebelling against. Who was risking his life, even now, just by being here.

  Edison . . . who was the same as me.

  As I looked through my scope, all I said was, “I see a Curador down there.”

  Jaesun nodded. “Your Curador, I think. We’ve been watching him since last night.”

  If I found Edison’s sudden appearance near the camp confusing, the Indignos’ reaction was even more so. “Why don’t your guards grab him?”

  “Because he’s worth more to us this way.”

  I lowered my scope. “I don’t understand.”

  “We should keep moving or he’ll know we’ve seen him.” Jaesun continued his path along the ridge. “At the time of the epidemic three years ago, when you and Lotus lost your parents, some of the Citizens had already begun questioning the doctrines of cleansing and redemption. You know the Abuelos blamed rebellious Citizens for the new outbreak. But I for one do not believe it was God doing the smiting. I believe it was the Curadores.”

  It crossed my mind that the Indignos were being led by a madman. “For what possible reason?”

  “What do you think they’re doing with all that junk we give them? Do you think they’re cleansing our sins for us? No. We’re sure they need those raw materials to keep their Dome functioning.”

  Our trail was no longer going up, but paralleling the side of the mountain. We walked side by side now as Jaesun explained the Indignos’ theory.

  “If we find another source of food and water, then the Citizens can live perfectly well without the Curadores. But what about the other way around? The Curadores are stuck inside that Dome, inside those suits. Without us, they will have no way to get enough salvage. We always imagined that the Curadores were doing us a favor, but I think it’s the other way around.”

  We met up with a couple of guards—their grey clothes blending in with the mountain. Jaesun stopped to talk to them for a moment, introducing me briefly, and then we moved on, the trail guiding us back down the mountain.

  “So you think the Curadores are infecting us with a terrifying disease, just so we’ll keep excavating the Reclamation Fields?” I shook my head. The idea didn’t match up with what I knew of Edison. Then again, Planck and Sagan had been far from kind to me.

  “Yes. That and to keep our numbers down. The more of us there are, the stronger we are and the more supplies they have to give us.”

  “And the more salvage we can give them.” I was relieved to find a flaw in Jaesun’s argument.

  “That’s the thing. The Curadores have managed to get what they want by demanding more salvage for less food. The outbreaks haven’t hurt them a bit.”

  “So instead of helping us, you think the Curadores have been killing us.” The idea was impossible and ridiculous, but my mind kept coming back to the bitterness and fear in Edison’s voice when he’d mentioned Jenner. When he’d talked about himself and his brother being the future. What had he meant?

  And I had to admit I’d learned very little about the Curadores from Edison. All I knew was that his people had mistreated him, the way mine had mistreated me. That didn’t speak well for the Curadores.

  And there were things about Edison himself. Things that didn’t make sense. How he’d known about my sisters even though I’d never mentioned them. How he’d given me that particular bottle of mezcal. And now he was here. Why? To get the radio? To attack the Indignos? And an unsettling little voice inside me whispered, He came back for me.

  Jaesun came to a dead stop on the trail, turning to face me as he answered my question. “Yes. I think the Curadores have been killing us. Repeatedly and systematically for the last three years . . . ever since Red Death resurfaced. And I know Lotus told you about Tasch. The nature of the disease has changed. It’s swifter. More deadly, if that’s possible.”

  His face was intense, but there was no trace of madness in his eyes. Whether it was true or not, Jaesun believed in what he was saying. I made myself ask the next question. “What are you going to do about it?”

  “With your help, we’re going to infiltrate the Dome.”

  “Edison.” I understood now why Jaesun had brought me up here on the mountain with him. Not just so I could see Edison, but so Edison could see me.

  “Yes, he seems to be scoping out the camp. Watching our patrols. Looking for a way in. We think he’s going to come for you, maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow.”

  “And what if he’s not here for me?” Even as I said it, I realized I wanted Edison to come for me. And on the heels of that realization—another, conflicting one: I also wanted to make a home for myself here, with my sister. And thinking of Lotus, the danger Edison posed felt very real. “What if he brings more Curadores?”

  “We’re ready for that. But for now, he seems to be alone. I want you to know, no one here will make you go with him. The whole point of this camp is for people to make their own decisions.”

  “What will you do to him if I don’t go?”

  “We won’t let him hurt anyone or take anything. But if you refuse and he leaves quietly, we’ll let him go. But, Leica, if he comes for you, you need to be ready. You need to know your mind. You need to be sure what you want to do. This isn’t just your life anymore. It’s all of ours.”

  • • •

  Lotus was waiting for me when we got back from our patrol, fidgeting by the campfire. As soon as she saw me, she came over and gave me a hug. She must’ve known why Jaesun had taken me with him—that was the real reason she’d looked concerned earlier.

  There was no one else around, so I asked Lotus straight out, “Do you believe Jaesun? Do you think the Curadores are really killing our people?” I asked, hoping that she would say, No, of course not. Jaesun is crazy.

  But Lotus pulled herself tall and looked me straight in the eyes. “I do.”

  And looking at Lotus, at this camp of damaged, but determined Citizens, I could no longer deny that something was very wrong in our world. I had gotten one sister back . . . but the other? The other had been taken from me. And I could not let that stand.

  I said the words that had been taking shape in my mind as Jaesun and I had hiked down the ridge in silence. “I believe him too.”

  Still. I was so tired of fighting. So tired of being an exile. I looked around the Indigno camp and, in my mind, I could see myself making a home there. I was sitting by the fire scribbling plans for the new houses. Down in the ruins, supervising work. Picking limes for our first Chuseok Festival. Fighting Jaesun in the ring.

  I could see myself doing a hundred little everyday things. And I wanted the chance to do them. And yet . . .

  Some part of me wanted to see inside that Dome. Had wanted to ever since my mother had dared to ask her question: Do you think it’s very beautiful inside? It was time for Citizens to do more than gaze up at the Curadores’ shimmering glass bubble, wondering.

  Carefully, almost casually, Lotus asked, “What are you going to do . . . when the Curador comes back?”

  “Do I even have a choice?” I threw the words at her, suddenly angry. Mad that it had to be me. Mad that I had leave my sister. That I had to go into exile again. Like Jaesun said, it was my decision to make—but in reality, there was
no choice.

  And when I was completely honest with myself, more than anything I was furious that some treacherous part of me wanted to go with Edison.

  “I didn’t know he’d come here, I swear. I never dreamed we’d get this chance.” Lotus’s voice struggled to stay level, but there was excitement underlying her words. “I would go in your place if I could.”

  When her eyes flicked up to meet mine, there was sadness, but there was no apology in them. The girl I’d once had to push toward the fighting ring was gone. This Lotus was stronger, but there was a hardness there too.

  “You know what you’re asking me, right? Not only to leave you. Not only to become a kind of spy. But if I go with this Curador . . . I’ll as good as belong to him.” It hurt to think Lotus would just let me go. Would let me to walk into danger. “Look me in the eye and tell me you understand what you want me to do.”

  And suddenly the hardness in her eyes caught on fire and Lotus snapped. “When have you ever cared about what I want you to do? You do whatever the hell you want anyway. Don’t you get it?”

  She was shouting now. “You left me! You left us! If you’d just told Tasch and me what you were going to do, if you’d asked, we would’ve helped you. We could’ve distracted the guards, kept a lookout, maybe gotten away with it. Or maybe we wouldn’t have! It doesn’t matter, because either way, the three of us would’ve been together.

  “But you didn’t do that, did you? You chose to do it yourself. And your choice, Leica? Your choice left me alone. Can you imagine what that was like? Mom and Dad dead. Tasch dead. Sister exiled. Ostracized by everyone. Sarika barely speaking to me because of the secrets we kept from her.”

  Lotus was shaking as she paced back and forth. I wanted to go to her, wanted to comfort her, but I couldn’t because I was the one who had cause this pain. And I wished more than anything I could undo it.

  She went on. “And I still don’t get a choice because you’re the one the Curador is interested in. Do you know what I would give to infiltrate the Dome? To give Tasch justice? But it’s not my choice.”

  Lotus stopped pacing and turned to face me. Her anger back under control now, her voice calm and confident as she looked me in the eye.

  “So yes. I’ll tell you exactly what I want you to do. Despite the fact that all I’ve wanted since you left is to have you back . . . despite the fact I’m going to miss you like hell . . . what I want is for you to leave again. When that Curador comes for you, I want you to smile and flirt and do whatever it takes to get inside that Dome so that you can find out what happened to Taschen. And what the hell is happening to our people.”

  Lotus fell silent, her torrent of words hanging in the air between us. I wasn’t sure if she was finished, and she didn’t look sure either. So I let the silence rest for another beat while I figured out what to say.

  She was right. All of it was right . . . and there, by the campfire, I told her so. It hurt to admit it and I said that too. But the thing that she was most right about is where I started. “I’ll miss you like hell too.”

  CHAPTER 13

  HALF ASLEEP, I thought it was the pup.

  The almost silent footfalls. The rustling of the sleeping bag. Then I remembered that they’d shut the pup away somewhere so she wouldn’t bark—in case he came.

  I opened my eyes and there, looming over me, was the white isolation suit. Edison.

  He looked happy to see me, if a little nervous. And I was surprised when the same bright agitation echoed through me. But now was not the time for that. I put that feeling aside, tucking it away for later. Edison put a finger to his lips—signaling for me to be quiet—then motioned for me to follow him.

  For a second, I froze, understanding that I was about to walk away from everything and everyone I knew. Again.

  They took Tasch from me.

  And with that thought came movement. Blood rushing in my ears. I slipped out of my sleeping bag, shoved my feet into my boots, and glanced back at Lotus. She kept completely still, but she was watching me. Her eyes were wide, her short hair messy from sleep, giving her a startled look. As if she was truly understanding for the first time what she’d asked me to do. Then Edison took my hand—his heated glove sending a ripple of warmth up my arm—and led me away. Through the Indigno camp.

  It was like a dream. We skirted around sleeping bodies and crept along the edge of the still-lit bonfire. Stumbling down the steps in the dark. The whole camp was holding its breath around us. It seemed impossible to me that Edison couldn’t hear it. I thought I heard a faint whine and I got an unexpected pang, thinking I wouldn’t even get to give the pup’s ears a last scratch.

  “Where are we going?” I whispered.

  Edison pulled me into the shadow of the ruins. His voice was barely a whisper through his microphone. “I’ve been studying this camp. I found a path along the base of the mountains that’s hidden by an overhang. The guards won’t spot us.”

  Maybe not the guards, I thought. But Lotus was tailing us through the camp. Staying ten meters back. For a second, I imagined turning on Edison. Confronting him here and now about the outbreaks and Tasch’s death and his questions about my sisters. Then I could stay here with Lotus.

  But that was nothing more than a fantasy. Even if Edison answered me, I’d have no idea if he was telling me the truth. And then it would be over. I’d lose my only way in. I’d lose the Indignos’ only way in. If I wanted to know, if I wanted to stop what was happening to the Citizens, I would have to infiltrate the Dome.

  So instead I asked, “What are you doing here?”

  The light inside his suit flicked on. “I’m here for the same reason I was out in Tierra Muerta when we first met. We picked your voice up over our intercoms yesterday.”

  “You came for the radio.” I was half relieved, half disappointed. “For Earth.”

  “No. That first time, I came to find the radio signal,” Edison said. “This time I came to find you.”

  “But why?”

  There was a combination of hurt and confusion in his eyes. “I thought we . . .”

  I’d thought so too. “Then why leave me to the Indignos?”

  “Well, you seemed to be doing perfectly well on your own. And I thought I’d be more help to you alive than dead.” His bright teeth flashed against his dark skin. Then his amber eyes caught the light and beneath his bravado, there was real warmth. I still didn’t completely trust Edison, but I wanted to. I looked at his perfect face illuminated by the light. Edison might be one of the Curadores, but maybe he didn’t have to be my enemy.

  And I realized that going into the Dome was different than being exiled. This time I was choosing. This time I had a purpose. I’d tried to protect my sisters once, and I’d tried to do it alone. Now I looked at the spot where I knew Lotus was hiding in the shadows and nodded. This time I would do it with allies.

  “Okay, then . . . now what?” I said.

  “Now we get the radio and get out.” He pulled me back out of the ruins and down toward the workshop.

  I helped him load the radio components on the slideboard. Lotus was still following us, and through the doorway, I spotted her. She stepped out of the shadows, the moonlight lighting up her damp face.

  Edison finished strapping on the harness, then took my hand. He looked down at me, his face uncertain and vulnerable. “You know if you come with me, you can never come back.”

  I met his eyes and the lie was harder than I expected. “I’d never want to.”

  WHEN SHE CLIMBED OUT of the sorcerer’s basket, the middle sister was amazed to find herself in a great house in the heart of the forest.

  The sorcerer kissed her cheek and said, “My dear, you will be happy here. I will give you everything your heart yearns for.”

  But after a few days had gone by, he said, “I am afraid I must leave you for a while. I will entrust you with the
keys to my house and you may wander everywhere and look at everything . . . save for the one room this key unlocks.” And the sorcerer held up the smallest of the keys. “Do not disobey me, or you shall surely perish.”

  He gave her an egg as well, saying, “You must carry this egg with you wherever you go and keep it safe . . . for you will suffer a great misfortune should it be lost.”

  She promised to do as he said. But as soon as the sorcerer was gone, the cunning sister tucked the egg away safely in a drawer. Then she began to search the great house for clues to the fate of her sisters.

  Every room sparkled with gold and silver. Jewels and delicate glass graced every corner. The sister had never seen such splendor. And at last, she found the forbidden door. She took the smallest of the keys, fitted it into the lock, and turned. With a click, the door swung open.

  “FITCHER’S BIRD,”

  FROM FAIRY TALES OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM

  BY JACOB AND WILHELM GRIMM,

  EARTH TEXT, 27TH EDITION, 2084.

  CHAPTER 14

  THERE WERE NOISES coming from somewhere in the camp. The distant clinks and clatters of someone making breakfast. Maybe Lotus had gotten up early and was bringing me something to eat—hopefully not nettle tea. But I really didn’t care what she brought . . . I was ravenous. Like I hadn’t eaten in weeks.

  An idea drifted into my mind . . . or maybe it was more like a memory. Or a voice.

  When you wake up, I won’t be there. But don’t be scared.

  I opened my eyes. But I wasn’t in my sleeping bag staring at a tarp-covered ceiling. Instead, I was in a wide bed, snuggled up under a gloriously thick purple blanket. There were wide windows at both ends of the room and the light coming through them was the soft yellow of late afternoon.