by Scott Wilson
Finding water was easy. Salem was peppered with wooden buckets all over town, acting as rain water receptacles for horses to drink from, to water plants, and most importantly, to put out fires. In a town where nearly every building was made of wood, fire was the worst disaster imaginable.
Caden and Annika ran to the nearest bucket and practically dunked their heads inside. Water had never tasted so beautiful. It was like honey, flowers, and a big juicy steak all put together in the most satisfying way imaginable. They gulped down handful after handful, only stopping when the bucket was emptied.
Their thirst quenched, Caden and Annika headed to the streets. Navigating inside Salem was a lot harder than viewing it from above. Caden wasn’t used to walking such narrow paths; there was at least an acre between each building at the Home. The tiny spaces here made him feel squeezed from all angles. It didn’t help that every few seconds people would slam into him and Annika as they ran past, eager to make it to the church square while the action was still going on.
They followed the groups of stragglers to the stage. When they reached the center of the ruckus, Caden and Annika stood at the back of a thousand people. Everyone was craning their heads for a better view, shouting and shaking balled fists in the air. Caden stood on his toes to try and see. He could just barely make out Dom and Mr. Stercus kneeling on stage, surrounded by a dozen Holy Police.
Caden had never been around so many people. More and more filled in behind him, pushing up against him and Annika, trapping them. Caden wondered what would happen if he was recognized by the Holy Police. He’d have no way to escape. He started to wish he’d stayed with Deber.
Suddenly there was an eruption of noise that overpowered the unruly crowd, a blast so loud it caused everyone, even Caden, to cringe in pain as they covered their ears. Caden opened his eyes a slit, seeing something on the stage that he’d overlooked before: a hollow wooden cone the size of a shack. The open end was facing toward the crowd, and a tiny man in gray robes peeked out from the other end, then disappeared behind it again.
“That’s better,” boomed his voice throughout the town. “Now that you’re all quiet and I have your attention, could someone explain why these two have been brought to Gotama’s stage?”
The crowd exploded into a frenzy of incomprehensible shouts, and the little man let loose with another booming noise out of the cone. It silenced the mob as everyone slammed their hands over their ears.
“I can’t hear you when you all scream at once. One at a time.” This time no one shouted anything. A single Holy Police walked over to the small man, whispered into his ear, then handed him something that glittered in the sunlight. It reminded Caden of Tooby.
“It appears that these two are accused of possessing Iltech,” he spoke as loud as thunder through the cone. There were shouts of agreement from the crowd, but they quickly quieted down, not wanting another blast to force them silent. “This boy—a former Nobody—turned in his adopter to the Holy Police for hiding Iltech inside his jacket. But the adopter claims that the Iltech is not his. As you can see, we have a bit of a problem. And it’s made even worse by the fact that this is no ordinary piece of Iltech.”
The small man held up the shiny thing that the Holy Police had given him. There were shrieks of terror from the audience.
“Does anyone know what this horrible thing is?” he asked into the cone. The only response was shaking heads and fervent denials. Caden squinted to try and make out what it was. It was small and square and looked like it had buttons. Maybe it was a camera? Or a computer?
“This despicable instrument is called … a calculator!”
At hearing the name of the Iltech, people in the crowd shut their eyes and covered their ears as they wailed in pain. Caden had never seen how anyone outside of the Home reacted to Iltech, but now he could understand why every Nobody he’d talked to about it ran away.
“The calculator is one of the most abominable examples of Iltech,” the small man bellowed. “It takes Gotama’s gift of the human brain and turns it into mush. It makes wise men lazy and lazy men arrogant. Is this what is causing Gotama to be angered?” There was a cheer of agreement. “Should we send both these sinners to Gotama and have him deal with them as he pleases?”
That was apparently too much for Mr. Stercus. He leaped up from kneeling and stomped over to the small man. Just as the Holy Police caught up to him and grabbed his coat, he ripped the calculator out of the man’s hand and leaned into the cone.
“This horrible Iltech isn’t mine!” Mr. Stercus announced to the crowd. “This disgusting little Nobody, who I adopted out of the kindness of my heart, must have planted it on me as soon as we got to town. He probably got it from some devil black market dealer, conspiring to frame me and take over my business! If there’s anyone to punish, it’s this boy over here.”
Mr. Stercus brandished the calculator at Dom. Caden had never seen Dom like this before. He was in tears, kneeling on the ground, pleading with Mr. Stercus. He crawled over to him on his knees, babbling something that Caden couldn’t hear. The short man guided him to speak into the cone.
“Please, Mr. Stercus,” Dom cried. “I didn’t do any of that. I just … I saw the Iltech and I thought … I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought, maybe, I could get my real family back.”
“Don’t lie to these people, boy!” Mr. Stercus yelled into the cone. “I should’ve known better than to adopt a tainted Nobody like you. Once a sinner, always a sinner.”
“Mr. Stercus, father, please I—”
Mr. Stercus smacked Dom hard with the calculator in the eye. Dom howled and covered his face as blood dripped through the slits between his fingers. That was enough for the Holy Police to finally drag Mr. Stercus and Dom back to the other side of the stage and return the calculator to the small man in robes. Caden didn’t know what to think. Part of him felt like Dom deserved it, but at the same time he didn’t want to see him like this.
The crowd was getting more riled up. People were demanding that someone be punished to appease Gotama and stop Metl from crashing into Earth. One of the Holy Police dashed across the stage to the small man and said something to him. The man smiled and spoke into the cone.
“Father Yohan has been summoned,” he blared. “He will put an end to this madness.”
There were murmurs of agreement through the crowd. The Holy Police stood at attention, and a man walked up from a staircase behind the stage. He was dressed in gray robes and had a wooden pendant in the shape of Gotama’s Ant around his neck just like Mother Mildred. A mane of white hair framed his face, from the beard that reached down to his chest, to the wisps on the sides and top that stuck out like bleached fire. But despite his imposing appearance, he had a kind look on his face.
He drifted over to the wooden cone with his hands behind his back, leaned in, and spoke in a voice that didn’t sound old at all. It sounded confident and experienced, as if he’d seen all this happen hundreds of times.
“I have heard all that I need to hear,” he said. “Who are we, mere humans—less than ants—to judge each other? We should let the Great Gotama decide who is innocent and who is guilty, for only he has the power to make decisions free from Earthly sins.”
The Holy Police prodded Dom and Mr. Stercus with empty crossbows, shuffling them to the center of the stage in front of Father Yohan. Dom was still dripping tears and blood out of his eye as he kept it covered, and Mr. Stercus looked like he was smelling something foul coming from Dom’s direction. Father Yohan put a hand on each of their heads, then looked up to the sky, past the giant statue of Gotama and right to Metl overhead.
“O Great Gotama!” he yelled loudly enough to be heard without the cone. “Is there a sinner among us? Show us so that he may be punished justly, and the innocent allowed to continue to serve you.”
The crowd was silent. The only sound was Dom sobbing on stage. Caden didn’t know what was going on. Were they waiting for a sign from
Metl? Was the statue of Gotama going to move? He’d never heard of anything like that before.
Then Mr. Stercus let out a howl of agony that rippled through the air. At first it was hard to tell what was wrong, but when he leaped to his feet everyone in the crowd could see it.
His face had aged fifty years.
Mr. Stercus wasn’t young to begin with, but now he looked ancient. The skin was spread thin over his skull, and brown splotches popped out on his sunken cheeks. His hands were nothing more than gnarled masses of veins and wrinkles, and his screaming voice was dying away by the second. Moments later his legs gave out and he collapsed on stage. His bones crumbled to dust and were blown away in the wind, leaving behind just his fur coat and hat as the only evidence he’d ever existed.
Caden immediately thought of Dom and hoped the same thing wasn’t going to happen to him. But Dom looked exactly the same. He was still kneeling on stage and had stopped crying. He lowered his hands from his face, and his eye looked as good as new. There was no blood, no sign that it had ever been hurt.
“Gotama has spoken!” Father Yohan announced. “The true owner of the Iltech has been dealt his due justice, and the innocent in needless pain has been healed. Such is the benevolence of the Great Gotama. We are his Ants!”
“We are his Ants!” repeated the crowd. Caden was too stunned to say anything. What had just happened? Did he just witness a miracle? From somewhere in the crowd there came a shout.
“But the red X is still there! Metl is still going to hit us!”
Fearful murmurs spread as people stared and pointed up. They had expected the X to fade away and Metl to retreat to its old position in the sky after the Iltech sinner had been dealt with. But nothing had changed, and the crowd grew anxious. Father Yohan spoke into the cone.
“My fellow Ants, have you already forgotten the miracle you just witnessed? The Great Gotama is watching over us, making sure that his believers are safe! Everything is part of his grand plan. Do not lose faith now, when we are on the verge of his greatest sign in a thousand years. Now is not the time to fill your hearts with fear, but with joy and love for Gotama and Metl in the sky.”
Father Yohan turned to Dom who was still kneeling in disbelief. He offered Dom a hand and helped him stand up.
“You, boy,” Father Yohan said. “You have witnessed Gotama’s greatness firsthand. Do you believe he would allow Metl, his finest creation and our eternal home, to simply crash into us?”
Father Yohan offered Dom the wooden cone. Dom spoke, and his amazement echoed through the town.
“Gotama saved me. I … I didn’t ask him to, but he did. It’s because he knows I’m not an Iltech sinner. And I don’t think anyone else here is either. If you are, then you should give yourself up to Gotama right away. Gotama is great! Gotama is great! Gotama is—”
Father Yohan gently ushered Dom away from the cone. With a smile on his face, he leaned in to speak again.
“With such passion, I’d say we’d be missing out if we didn’t recruit you to the Church. What do you say, boy? You were a Nobody, weren’t you? It seems your adopter had ill intentions in his heart. Will you join us in the Church to help repair your wounded soul, crying out in pain?”
Dom didn’t need to go near the cone for everyone to hear his enthusiastic yes. Father Yohan put a hand on Dom’s back and guided him off the stage, escorted by two Holy Police. The remaining Police picked up Mr. Stercus’s clothes. A few puffs of dust billowed into the air. The small Father from before cleared his throat and returned to the cone.
“Thank you very much, Father Yohan. As we’ve stated before, there is nothing to worry about. We’ve almost figured out what Gotama is trying to tell us, and any more distractions are just wasting the Church’s time. Please remain calm. We are his Ants.”
The crowd repeated his words, not nearly as excitedly as before. The short Father and Holy Police on the stage left, and the audience began to disperse. Everyone scuffled away in varying states of confusion, fear, and forced smiles. They didn’t look convinced by the Church’s words.
Caden just stood there, still in shock by what he’d seen. It wasn’t until someone slammed into him walking past that he was knocked back to reality, suddenly very aware of how much he stood out. He was one of the few without some sort of head covering, not to mention his denim overalls that looked out of place in a sea of white and brown cloth. Caden felt like he was one stare away from being put up on stage and turned to dust too.
Annika was right. Coming down here had been a mistake.
Thinking of Annika, Caden turned to talk to her. They needed to figure out what to do next. Caden looked around, expecting her to be standing right next to him. But she wasn’t there. Caden panicked and tossed his head in every direction as more and more people bumped into him and gave him suspicious glares. But she wasn’t anywhere.
Annika was gone.
Chapter 8
Twelve
His face burning red and his heart racing, Caden forced himself to keep moving with the flow of the crowd. The last thing he wanted was to stand still and stick out more than he already did. His eyes ravaged the crowds, desperate for any sign of Annika’s lime-green dress and bonnet, but it was as if she’d simply vanished.
As Caden followed random strangers, the crowd grew thinner. People spread out back to their homes and shops, and Caden suddenly realized he had no idea where he was. Even worse, people were starting to notice him more. In the center square he was just another face. But now, down whatever street he was on, he was in someone’s neighborhood. A plump woman sweeping outside her door gave him a dirty look, and a group of kids stopped playing their game of rocks in the street and stared as he passed by. These people knew everyone else who lived there, and they had no idea who this overall-clad, gloved stranger was.
“You lost there, Blondie?”
Caden jumped at the voice. He spun and saw an old woman sitting in the road. She was covered in burlap sacks and had wild, straw-like hair. The way she peered at him with her narrowed eyes and the smirk on her dust-covered face made Caden feel like she knew exactly who he was. He didn’t like it.
“No, I’m not lost,” Caden said quickly. “I’m going home. Bye.”
The woman let out a laugh that shook her burlap coverings. If she had arms or legs, Caden couldn’t see them. She spoke again, her voice crackling like a dying flame.
“Blondie, I promise I’m not as dumb as I look. Now, tell me: are you lost in the good way or the bad way?”
Caden’s brain was yelling at him to get away, but just like before when he’d felt pulled toward the stage, he felt something pulling him toward the woman.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. The woman grinned.
“There’s only two kinds of people who are ever lost. Ones who have done something bad, and ones who are about to do something bad. Which one are you, Blondie?”
The more Caden spoke with this woman the more he felt he should just listen to his brain and get out.
“I’m just looking for my friend,” he answered.
“Oh. Well then. Your little friend wouldn’t happen to be a girl about your age, would she? With a green dress, long braided hair, looking like she’s up to the same kind of trouble as you?”
Caden wasn’t sure what to say. She was probably talking about Annika, but he didn’t know if giving this woman any information was a good idea. His silence was more than enough for her. She smiled in a satisfied way.
“Pretty little thing, she is. You picked yourself a nice little girlfriend. Hope she’s not off running away with some other boy. Not that I’d blame her much.”
“Where did she go?” Caden finally asked. If this woman knew where Annika was, then he might as well take a chance. The faster he could find her the faster they could come up with a plan.
“Well well, getting antsy, are we?” she snickered. “I saw her run over there, by the market street. Hop
e she wasn’t trying to get away from you.”
Caden mumbled a “thanks” and took off down the road. He was happy to get away from the old hag. Everyone in Salem made him uncomfortable. Maybe these people were perfectly okay with watching someone get turned to dust on stage, but he wasn’t.
When Caden reached the row of food shops, he tried his best not to look like he was hysterically searching for someone. Or starving to death for that matter. He ignored his rumbling stomach and strolled past the wooden displays of fruits, vegetables, and breads under the sun-bleached awnings. He tried his best to act like an average customer, even though he had no idea what an average customer looked like. But there was no one around. The only life in any of the shops was a cloud of flies in the butchery buzzing around a stone cleaver. Caden gagged on the putrid smell and he brusquely walked away, as lost as before.
“Hey!”
A loud whisper came from a narrow alleyway. Caden looked down and saw heaps of garbage piled against the sides of buildings—rotten food, moldy wood, horse manure. It made the butchery smell like daisies in comparison. But then Annika peeked out from the very end and it could’ve smelled like the Home’s outhouse for all that Caden cared. He’d found her!
Annika beckoned him down the alley. Caden waded through the piles of garbage and met her at the shadowy dead end. They were hidden from view in this dark corner of town.
“Where did you go?” Caden asked, half relieved and half upset.
“I slipped away to find us some food,” she said. “Sorry I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t want to cause a fuss in the middle of the crowd. I think my haul makes up for it though.”
Annika held out her hands and revealed apples, strawberries, and even half a loaf of bread fresh from the oven, still exuding heat and a sweet aroma. Caden’s mouth watered and he made a grab for some, but then he stopped himself.
“Wait. How did you get all this?”
