Connor swung the gate open, and I walked numbly through it. I’d thought yesterday had been bad, that I’d been robbed of my freedom and forced to make hard choices, but I knew now that I’d had no idea how bad it could get. This was real powerlessness. This terrible situation where one of my own was in trouble and I couldn’t help them.
I had no idea what to do.
I stared at the clock on the wall. Two minutes and thirty seconds since Connor had escorted me into this cheerful room and, in all that time, Chief Administrator Neville Rose hadn’t said a thing.
Neville’s office was a bright, happy place, filled with books, files, photographs, and a pile of awards for “meritorious service.” There was an empty chair beside mine that was clearly meant for Briony, but for now it was only myself, Neville, and Connor, who was standing guard in the corner behind me.
The Chief Administrator stirred, and for a second, I thought he was going to say something. He didn’t, though, just kept gazing sadly out the window. Is this some kind of contest, to see who speaks first? I had to admit, it was getting increasingly hard to resist the temptation to fill the silence. Trying to distract myself, I studied the enormous map of the world that took up all of one wall. It was colorful and pretty, showing the single landmass that had emerged after the shifting of the tectonic plates during the Reckoning sitting in the center of the ocean that covered the rest of the earth’s surface. I focused on Gull City, my eyes following the road that led out of it and through to the Gull City towns: Eldergull, Aspergull, Halligull, Stonygull, and Cambergull. Then the grasslands, and the Firstwood, and beyond that, Spinifex City and its towns: Junifex, Sivafex, Kallfex . . .
“I had people working all night, Ashala.”
Neville had finally decided to speak. I ignored him, pretending to be fascinated by the map as he continued, “It took a while to track down the boy you knew as Jaz. His name was Jade Nelson, and, as I’m sure you can imagine, his parents were devastated to hear that their son is dead. It’s a dreadful time for that family. Their eight-year-old daughter drowned a month ago.”
I jumped in surprise. Jaz had a sister? He hadn’t told me that! But then, my live-in-the-moment Firestarter had hardly been the type to dwell on the people he’d left behind.
Neville sighed. “His parents never stopped searching for him, Ashala. Never gave up hope that they might see him again one day.”
He was deliberately targeting a vulnerable spot, and I wasn’t going to let him know how much it hurt. “If his parents wanted him to stay at home, then they shouldn’t have booked an appointment with an assessor.”
“They loved him, and they were doing what was best for him. Whatever you thought of detention before, you’ve seen how detainees are treated now. The houses. The park.”
“And,” I shot back, “let’s not forget the machine.”
He gave me a stern look. “That machine is only necessary for Illegals who have broken the Citizenship Accords or those who are hiding things from the government. It would never be used on ordinary detainees.”
Yeah, it would. Neville would put almost anybody on that machine if he suspected they had useful information, and Miriam Grey would do it for fun. But I knew he’d never own up to that. “You can build as many houses and parks as you like. It doesn’t make this place any less of a prison.”
“Do you expect me to believe that Illegals are better off in living in the Firstwood? I know what your life there is like, Ashala. I’ve spoken to your friend Briony.”
My fingers dug into the arm of the chair before I forced myself to relax, aware that he was watching for a reaction. Neville went on: “Briony’s told me how difficult it is for you in that enormous forest. The way you struggle to find food for everyone, and how desperately cold it gets in the winter.”
I turned my head away, letting my hair fall over my face to hide my expression. With any luck, Neville would think I was contemplating my pitiful forest existence. And the truth was, it hadn’t been easy, especially at first, when there’d been so few of us, although Ember’s encyclopedic knowledge had helped a lot. She’d been the one who showed us what plants could be eaten and how to prepare them, taught us to grind seeds to make flour for our bread, and found herbs to use for medicine before we had a Mender. But even in the early days, when there hadn’t been Leafers to make the food garden grow, and when the stock of supplies brought in by new members or purloined from the towns had been small, it had never been as bad as the stories Bry had been telling.
Neville had gone silent, and I realized that he was waiting for me to respond. “It is a hard life,” I lied, and then added pointedly, “but it’s a free one.”
“Are you so sure all of your Tribe wants that kind of freedom?” He took off his glasses and cleaned them on his robe. “I know now why you call yourself Wolf. You believe that each member of your group has some sort of connection with an animal. You with wolves, and Briony with — tree cats, wasn’t it?”
Briony, what have you done? It was so like her to have done such a good job of lying about how grim life was in the Firstwood, only to let something truthful slip out when she wasn’t paying attention. Unsure of how much she’d revealed, I kept my mouth shut as Neville said, “Your Tribe might believe that they each have a bond with an animal. You and I know better, though. You invented it, didn’t you? To make them all think that they’re special?”
I did not! Except it was better to let him think I had, so I didn’t answer. Besides, I couldn’t explain the animal bonding, even if I’d wanted to. It didn’t have anything to do with our abilities; it just seemed to be something that happened in the Firstwood. And Neville would never understand what it was like to run with wolves, the way I could. Or call crows from the sky like Ember, or have the night vision of a tree cat like Briony.
Neville put his glasses back on and gazed at me over the top of them. “You might have convinced your followers that they’re better off in the Firstwood, Ashala. You might have even convinced yourself. But consider this: If you do have such a special connection with animals, why couldn’t you prevent the saurs from taking Jaz? Because you do realize that if he’d been in detention, he’d still be alive.”
Those words struck me like a blow to the chest. Don’t let him get to you! It was hard, though, when the memory of how badly I’d failed Jaz was so raw and aching. I tried to save him — I did. . . . For a mad, stupid second, I wanted to say that out loud, as if it mattered. As if I could somehow plead my case to the world and be absolved. But I knew there was no forgiveness, not for what I’d let happen to Jaz. Or to Cassie.
Neville nodded at Connor, and I heard the door open as he left. He’s gone to fetch Briony. She was in terrible jeopardy, the same as the others had been, the ones I hadn’t been able to save. Everything seemed to tilt and go gray around the edges. Then I felt a faint sense of steadiness and strength, almost as if someone had laid a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I grabbed hold of that feeling and clutched onto it until my vision cleared.
Connor came back in, along with Briony and her guard. She sat herself down in the chair next to mine, and Neville said, “I think that you gentlemen can wait outside.”
Yeah, we wouldn’t want enforcers ruining the cozy atmosphere. Connor left with his usual quick grace, but the other enforcer lingered, casting an intense stare at Briony before making his way out. I wondered if he really thought that Bry and I were going to overpower Neville if they weren’t here to stop us. I mean, I certainly had a few ideas — a couple of those meritorious service trophies might be heavy enough to make a good weapon — except I was hardly going to try anything with the two of them right outside, not to mention all the other enforcers who were patrolling the center.
Once they were gone, Neville spoke: “I called Briony’s father this morning, Ashala. Her parents were overjoyed to hear that she’s been found at last.”
Bry put her hand on my arm, pinching my skin gently, and I knew she was trying to tell me to play along. “If
I had an Exemption, I could be with them, Ash.”
On cue, Neville chimed in, “The government doesn’t usually give Exemptions to Runners, but I think they might consider it if I make a good case. And in the future, I might have rather more influence than I do now. I’ve put my name forward as a candidate in the Gull City Prime election, you know.”
No, I hadn’t known, and the prospect of him becoming the Prime was positively terrifying. Naturally, Bry didn’t see the implications. She and Neville seemed to be trying to out-smile each other. I looked away from them both, trying to calculate how much of a disaster it would be if he actually won the election.
Like every other city in the world, the day-to-day governing of Gull City and its towns was managed by an assembly of thirteen elected representatives. Only it wasn’t the assembly that was responsible for the big rules about what had to be done, or not done, in order to maintain the Balance. It was the Council of Primes who made the accords. It took a majority vote of the council to enact a new accord or alter an old one, so Neville couldn’t act on his own. Given enough time, though, he could probably persuade the Primes of some of the other cities to vote with him. Which means he could make the Citizenship Accords a lot worse than they already are. And stupid Bry was still smiling at him.
Her smile suddenly faded, and for a second, I thought she’d understood how much trouble we were in. Then I realized that she was reacting to Neville, who wasn’t smiling, either. “The problem I have,” he told her, “is that I work for the government, and the government is concerned about the Tribe. Very concerned. So I couldn’t let a Tribe member go, not unless there was some . . . cooperation.”
He hadn’t so much as glanced in my direction, but we both knew whom he was talking to. “Exactly what do you want?” I asked.
He answered in an earnest tone. “I want you to tell the Tribe to leave the Firstwood.”
“What?”
“I promise you,” he hurried on, “they won’t be punished. I’m prepared to treat them like ordinary detainees, despite the fact that they’ve broken the Citizenship Accords.”
I couldn’t believe it. He was serious. I stared at him in bewilderment. My first thought was that Chief Administrator Neville Rose had gone completely insane. My second was that he wanted to win the Gull City Prime election. With increasing numbers of Citizens asking the Question, heads of detention centers aren’t as popular as they used to be. Getting even a few Tribe members to come into detention would help to put an end to the unpleasant rumors about him. In fact, just having Ashala Wolf, the leader of the Tribe, ask them to come in might be enough to convince people that Neville was the kindly guardian he seemed. I could be getting him a pile of votes. Worse still, once rumors spread that the leader of the Tribe said detention was okay, there was an outside chance that Illegals might turn themselves in because of it, kids who wouldn’t realize that I’d never say such a thing voluntarily.
Briony’s voice interrupted my worried speculations. “You’ll help me, won’t you, Ash?” She leaned over to give me a quick hug, taking the chance to whisper in my ear, “We both know none of the Tribe will ever leave the Firstwood, so it doesn’t matter what you ask them to do.”
She settled back into her chair, and I knew she’d never understand why it did matter. Or that regardless of what I agreed to, Neville was never going to give her an Exemption. He would invent one delay after another, and all the while she’d be in danger, a piece of leverage to be used against me. She’d be oblivious to what was happening, too, and somehow that made it worse. She was so vulnerable, my flighty Briony, with her happy endings and her blond hair and her smile.
My thoughts seemed to stutter to an abrupt halt. Something was bothering me, and I wasn’t sure what. It was almost as if I could feel a hand tugging at the corners of my memory, as if a piece of my mind were trying to remind me about something important that I’d seen. No, something I hadn’t seen.
“You didn’t smile,” I said.
“What?” Bry asked.
“Before. At the park, when the guard was taking you away and you looked back at me. You didn’t smile.” Even though you were asking me for help, and you always smile when you do that.
“Well . . . I . . .” She cast a nervous glance at Neville, then drew closer to murmur, “I was frightened, Ash.”
Were you, Bry? A lot of things were rapidly piling up in my mind, tiny things that didn’t seem like anything until you put them all together. Enforcers on an unscheduled supply run into Cambergull. How Briony had been the only one to come to the center. The way she said she’d been captured by enforcers with streakers, when those things weren’t standard issue yet. I don’t think I’ve seen a single enforcer carrying one since I came here. Most of all, the lack of a smile.
Focusing all my attention on her pretty face, I said, “I know what you’ve done.” The guilt that flashed across her features was gone so fast that I would have missed it if I hadn’t been looking for it. But I was looking for it.
I pushed her away. “Traitor!”
She immediately started babbling. “I’m sorry, Ash. I didn’t mean for it to be like this. I’m sorry you got hurt, and about Jaz and everything, but honestly, he should never have eaten that rabbit. . . .”
What was she blathering about? “What does this have to do with —? Wait, you’re the one who told the government about the pact?”
“I didn’t think anything would happen — you have to believe me. I wanted to go home. They said I could go home!”
“You were home, Bry!” I was so overwhelmed with rage, I was almost sputtering with it. Briony had betrayed us all, selling the Tribe out to the government and for nothing more than an illusion. In a single angry moment, I shouted out the truth she couldn’t bear to acknowledge: “And it was a better home than you’d ever had with your parents, because they don’t love you. They think you’re some unnatural thing, and they’ll never love you.”
The color drained out of her face, and for a second, she just sat there, pale and trembling. Then her eyes went flat and scarily mindless and she leaped for me, knocking the two of us to the ground. Bry was screaming, over and over, “They do love me. They do! They do!” We rolled across the floor, banging into furniture and toppling books as Neville jumped to his feet, calling for the enforcers. She was shrieking and clawing and kicking, really trying to hurt me, and I was so enraged that I was fighting right back. She tried to scratch my eyes, and I slapped her hand away, striking the edge of her jaw, which was painful in a satisfying kind of way. She howled, throwing a vicious punch at my side, and another. Something sharp dug into me, and Connor and Evan charged in, dragging the two of us apart.
Briony clung to Evan, clutching her face as if she’d sustained some severe injury, which I knew she hadn’t. For some reason, Connor kept trying to get me to sit down in the chair. He was shouting something, but it took me a second to understand what it was. “Ashala! You’re hurt!”
What? I looked down, puzzled to find my white shirt marred by a spreading red stain. I’m bleeding? How? But then I realized.
They hadn’t taken away all her possessions after all. Briony had still been carrying her little knife.
I slid to the floor, the world shattering into fragmented images: Evan hustling Briony out of the room, Neville screeching for someone to fetch Wentworth, and Connor’s hands pressed to the wound in my side to stop the bleeding. He’d done this before, I thought vaguely, when I’d received that other injury. Had it really only been two days ago? Then everything faded into darkness.
When I regained consciousness, blurry figures wearing red robes were swarming everywhere. Someone spoke urgently. “Doctor, the blade was poisoned!”
Wentworth shouted, “Somebody get that collar off her!”
Confused, I thought, My neck isn’t hurt. Then I realized that she must want to Mend me, and the rhondarite would stop her ability from working on my wounded body.
The stone band was pulled away, and I tried t
o fall asleep and Sleepwalk. But I couldn’t. Instead, I drifted, sometimes rising to the surface of consciousness and sometimes falling beneath it, as if I were being carried along on the tides. It would have been peaceful, except that the connections my mind had made in Neville’s office spread out around me like a net floating on water, trapping me among painful truths.
I’d thought I’d been unlucky when I was captured in Cambergull. Now it seemed a bit too unlucky that a troop of enforcers — including the one who knew exactly what I looked like — had happened to be there at the same time I was. Briony told them where I was going to be. And her story about how Ember hadn’t sent anyone to the center after they’d heard what happened. That should have struck me as wrong instantly, and would have, if I hadn’t been so caught up in being terrified for Bry. No matter how futile or dangerous Em had thought it was, she definitely would have sent someone. Daniel, probably, since he was the fastest of the Runners. Although Briony herself was much quicker than she’d ever let on. She had to be, or she couldn’t have gotten in and out of the Firstwood fast enough to maintain contact with the government without arousing suspicion. Why didn’t I see it? Why hadn’t I noticed something was wrong, before she’d told them about the pact, before Jaz had died?
Grief washed over me, weighing me down, and I began to sink. I fell gently away from consciousness and life, drifting through nothingness, until my feet touched what felt like dirt. The blackness winked out, leaving me standing among trees — big tuarts and smaller peppermints and, in between and around, all the other plant life of the forest. The Firstwood? Sort of. Everything was brighter than it should be, the colors so vivid it almost hurt to look at them. Plus I was glowing with a faint blue light. Was this the Balance?
The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (The Tribe) Page 6
