“Didn’t Cam tell you? He’s got a plan to save us all.” Zellie watched Cam smile at Sunny and Dev as he stirred the stewed fruit.
“Yeah, he said that much. I was hoping for more detail. Having a party is nice, if crazy dangerous, and I can’t see how it’ll help.”
“Maybe it wouldn’t in a normal city,” said Zellie. “But this place isn’t exactly normal, is it?”
Cam gave the spoon over to Sunny and wiped his hands on his ragged jeans. “All right, everybody. This is a kind of ritual we’re doing. We have a snack now, and then we play a game, and after that, we feast.”
“What do we do when the Inside comes out?” asked Izzy nervously.
Cam pointed at Izzy like he’d said something clever. “That’s exactly what we’re waiting for.”
Eden scowled. “What, and then we scatter? Maybe we ought to feast first.”
“Nah,” said Cam. “If we eat too much we won’t want the game. And the game is important.”
Dev sagged against Sunny. “I’m so hungry, though. If I don’t eat soon I may die.” He looked at Cam with the big brown eyes that might have worked on adults back in the normal world but never charmed anybody in the feral city. Well, nobody but Sunny, but she’d clearly never acquired the survival instincts of a real runaway.
Ramsey said, “You eat better than most of us, you little beast.”
“I’m a growing boy,” said Dev, smirking. “Sunny understands.”
Sunny, who was watching Ramsey instead of what she stirred, said, “He’s still a kid. Obviously.”
“So what do we do once the Inside comes out?” demanded Eden. “What exactly is the point of all this?”
“The Inside coming out is what we want to happen. And once that starts, just… ignore it. Leave it to me.”
The murmurs of the gathered runaways faded as everybody stared at him, flabbergasted into silence.
“Ignore it?” demanded Ramone.
“Once the city eats you, can we run away then? Or should we still keep ignoring it until it eats the rest of us?” Eden asked acidly.
“The city isn’t going to eat Cam,” said Zellie sharply. There was no way the city would eat Cam. Zellie wouldn’t let it happen. She’d grab him and run, first: to another part of the city, to the blood-and-snow forest, even back to the real world if she had to.
Cam gave everybody a bright smile and went over to the shopping cart. He dug around for a few moments, spilling boxes and bags onto the pavement. Then he pulled out a cardboard cube. In it was a pair of brightly colored balls. “Not quite basketballs, definitely not soccer balls, but I think they’ll do if we can manage to have fun.”
“Wait a minute,” said Izzy. “When you say you want us to play a game, you mean a ball game?”
“Wow,” said Chairman. “Great idea or best idea? I want to be goalie!”
“Hey, it’ll be fun,” said Sunny. “I recognize those balls from PE class!”
Chairman was the most enthusiastic of them, although Sunny came close on his heels. That made the two of them the team captains. Everybody else grumbled and complained as they got sorted into teams. Cam pointed out the two sides of the plaza that would serve as the goals.
“Do we each get one of Ramsey and Zellie?” asked Eden. “That would be fairest, since they’re both cheaters when it comes to getting around.”
“Nope,” said Ramsey. “Zellie and I will be the referees.” He handed Zellie one of the whistles that had been in the packaging.
And the game began. It was a little bit like soccer and a little bit like basketball and entirely made up by Ramsey and Zellie’s whims. About half of the potential players stayed on the sidelines—the ‘field’ wasn’t big enough for two large teams, and Cam encouraged them to root for their teams. They got into it, screaming and laughing in a way the city had never heard before. A whole hour passed, with plenty of breaks for squabbling and ball theft and laughter, before Ramsey declared that the next point would decide the game.
The ball flew over the ground: blocked by Izzy, kicked by Deena, who passed it to Eden. At the far end of the field, Chairman jumped up and down in delight as Eden drove it past Sunny’s hapless defense, past Ramone’s guard, and over the brick they’d established as goal.
Everybody hooted and howled as they stomped their feet and rushed toward Eden. The conquering hero fought off a hug from Sunny. “Come on, girl, cut it out, you’re on the other team, have some self-respect.”
Sunny released Eden into the arms of her adoring fans and put her hands on her hips. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so happy,” she said to Zellie.
Zellie twisted her mouth. “This isn’t exactly Disneyland, Sunny.”
“Still. Oh, hey, is it time for supper? Hurray! I’m starving.” Sunny bounced over to Cam and Zellie followed close behind.
Cam was standing on the fountain edge, waving his arms in the air. “Time for food, everybody! I’ve put stuff out so everybody can get something!” As the clamor died down and people turned to look at him, he dropped his voice. “And please… don’t let the party spirit you’re in fade, even if we have guests. Very important.”
Some of the runaways gathered were smart enough—or hungry enough—not to glance around. They headed over to the spread of food on the fountain edge, Izzy and Chairman in the lead.
But Eden just couldn’t resist looking to see what Cam was talking about. Zellie darted over beside her as she turned her head, scanning the edge of the plaza. The distant sun was just starting to set, and crimson fingers of light crawled around the buildings and cast long, distorted shadows. Glimmering shapes stood in the shadows, things with eyes that glinted like marbles and white grimaces for smiles. Something tapped the pavement, clack clack clack. Stiletto heels, maybe.
“If you ruin this for him, I swear to God, I’m going to drag you straight to Hell, Eden,” Zellie whispered.
”I’m afraid,” Eden whispered back.
“They’re over there and I’m right here.” Zellie gave Eden a little shake, then pushed her toward the food. Then she resolutely turned her back on the observers and moved to grab something to eat herself.
It wasn’t hard to imagine why the others were able to ignore the eyes in the shadows. They’d all been creeping closer and closer to the edge of starvation for days, and if Cam hadn’t passed out snacks before the game, his entire plan would have fallen apart. But now after the exercise and excitement of a game, supplies that could have been rationed out to last weeks were going to be demolished in an evening.
Zellie snatched up a broken end of cheese and was about to bite down when she realized Cam wasn’t eating. His mouth was moving, and he was looking off into the shadows to the west. Slowly, he hopped off the edge of the fountain and began weaving through the feasters, pushing them lightly this way and that. He didn’t move any one person more than a few steps and he didn’t stop them from bringing whatever they were devouring, but somehow when he was done there was a pattern: two rows, not quite aligned.
Cam walked down the aisle between the two rows and Zellie followed behind. He was quietly chanting a little song, a children’s song. He turned at the end of the aisle and looped around the group, then began again, chanting still. Slowly the others started to notice him. Some of them shifted uncomfortably, but full bellies contradicted their sense of danger. And others—Ramone, Deena, Ramsey, Sunny—seemed relaxed.
Zellie made them less afraid too, she knew. Everybody knew how protective she was of nearly-blind Cam. She heard Izzy whispering about it as she followed Cam down another circuit. If she was letting Cam do this, what was there to fear?
But they had it all wrong. Cam was the one who’d saved her. She tried to take care of him, but if he wanted to catch a tiger by the tail, she had no ability to stop him. All she could do was help him get the rope.
The shadows grew longer. The eyes within them glowed more brightly. They were, Zellie felt, running out of time. If Cam couldn’t get this done before the shad
ows reached the fountain, none of them would be here in the morning.
Cam’s pacing got faster, and his chanting got louder. Everybody put up with it, even though most of the kids thought he was crazy. He’d fed them well; he’d earned the right to be crazy. Some of them fell asleep, curled up on the paving stones. Dev, his head in Sunny’s lap, looked almost innocent.
Zellie rubbed her eyes. The glowing eyes in the shadows were moving. They weren’t eyes any more, but a dazzling galaxy of lights. Then, with an electric hum, the lights collided into a burst of golden glory.
Cam’s chanting faded away and Zellie took his hand. The coalescing light shifted and changed, thinning out until it formed a fiery, complicated glyph in the air. Some of the sleepers woke up and scrambled to their feet, nudging the others awake.
The glyph hovered there, flickering and shifting, humming like a wire.
“Now what?” inquired Ramsey casually.
Cam pulled his hand away from Zellie’s and walked toward the spirit he’d summoned. When he was only a couple yards away, the barely-audible humming changed, becoming staticky.
“Hi,” said Cam gently. He held out a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
The spirit’s flickering intensified and the points of the glyph of light pulsed in agitation. Then there was a sharp, unpleasant crackle and the spirit fled, darting down the street and vanishing into an alley that exited into the depths of the city.
Cam stood looking after it, his hand still out. After a moment, he looked down at his hand and shoved it into his pocket. His shoulders hunched.
“What just happened?” asked Izzy plaintively.
“We didn’t get eaten,” said Eden happily. “That’s great.”
“Not yet,” said Ramone. “Looks like there’s a new monster in the city, though. Great job, Cam!”
“Shut up, Ramone,” said Zellie as she stalked over to Cam. She turned him so she could see his face. “Are we done?”
He reached out to her face, running his fingers over her cheeks. Then, his own face drawn with exhaustion, he said, “I guess so.”
Zellie put her hand over his, then clasped it and turned to lead him away.
“Hey!” said Ramone. “What now? What are we supposed to do now?”
“I don’t care,” said Zellie. Cam didn’t say anything at all.
“What about the food?” asked Izzy.
“Do what you want with it,” said Zellie, then stopped. She left Cam standing and ran back to the cart, where she dug out her package of seeds. Then she went back to Cam and took him away to the corner of the city they called home.
* * *
“Maybe I didn’t screw up,” said Cam, a few days later, as they wandered the city together on Zellie’s endless hunt for a permanent garden. “I think the city’s changed, don’t you?”
Zellie gave him a sidelong look, then thought about it. “It’s colder. And we haven’t come across anything really weird since the party. No fire hydrant spraying rainbows, no glass pavement, no cloud-mural houses.”
“And the spirit is still around,” said Cam. He sounded happier than he had in days. Zellie couldn’t share his cheerfulness. ‘Colder’ wasn’t a good thing and neither was the lack of weirdness, not for her dreams of a garden.
“And the spirit hasn’t attacked anybody, either. Not really.”
Zellie turned to look directly at Cam. “Deena wouldn’t agree.” The other girl had burns all over both her hands, because she’d been foolhardy enough to try to imitate Cam’s approach to the glowing spirit. It had done more than bark that time; it had bitten.
“I’m sure she just frightened it, sneaking up on it like that.”
“Everybody’s having nightmares now, too,” said Zellie. She wasn’t—not about the city, anyhow—and Cam wasn’t, but she’d seen the circles under even Ramone’s eyes and listened impatiently to Eden describing in graphic detail the horrible dreams of being devoured from within.
And she wanted not to care, but she couldn’t escape the haunting idea that they’d broken the city. She didn’t like it, and not just because it hurt her dreams of a garden. The city seemed eternal and endless: they were mites as they ran around on its ancient roads, and whether or not it had intended to be kind, it had sheltered all of them as they hid away from the real world. Breaking it, and taking it from all the other runaways, was an uncomfortable thought.
But she didn’t know what to do about it. Deena had tried to reach out to it when she’d encountered it in the plaza again, and now Eden was scouring the city to beg Ramsey to carry her to a hospital.
“It’s confused,” Cam went on, oblivious to Zellie’s worry. “It’s been sleeping for so long and we woke it up and this isn’t what it expected. But you’ve noticed how often we see it? It’s following people around.”
“You say that like it’s a good— did you hear that?” She’d heard coughing from one of the alleys, she was certain. That’s what she’d been dreaming of since the food run: her grandmother finding her again. The witch’s spells had found her at the warehouse, and now her grandmother knew she was still alive, but somewhere beyond the normal world. Could she find her way to the feral city?
Well, Zellie had.
“It’s just Izzy,” said Cam soothingly. “Hey, Izzy! What’s up?”
Izzy waved from the alley where he was panting. “Eden found Ramsey. He’s going to take Deena to a hospital. But he wants you around in case that spirit thing shows up again while he’s traveling.”
Cam shrugged. “Okay. Come on, Zellie.”
Zellie looked around apprehensively, then followed Cam and Izzy.
They went down the alley, between red-painted walls with alien writing and turned down a street where every structure had wood-paneled upper stories over concrete ground floors. The stable part of the city had always formed a sort of skeleton, with the strange discoveries in the spaces between the reliable streets and alleys. The whole city had been stable for the past few days, though. It was like walking through a corpse.
The others were waiting in the same Fountain Plaza where they’d summoned the city spirit. The shopping cart was still there, though only half full now. Zellie was surprised nobody had run off with it entirely. Did they think she would be angry?
Eden had her arm around Deena’s shoulders. Deena’s hands were wrapped in socks from the shopping cart and her head was down. Ramsey stood nearby, talking quietly with Sunny. Dev played with a stick nearby. Zellie wondered what Ramsey was worried about; there weren’t quite enough people to attract the city’s attention, at least not until Izzy brought them.
Sunny waved and pointed out their arrival to Ramsey. He came over. “There’s something going on.”
“The city’s dying,” said Zellie, and tried to ignore the shocked look Cam gave her.
Ramsey gave her a funny look, too, then shook his head. “Not that. Something else. Something with the shadowland.” He didn’t think of the way he traveled between worlds as a Big Step, but as a change in perspective that put him into a dark place. It was why he only ever seemed to travel in order to come back with a mind-altering substance. “I keep hearing a rattle when I start to step over.”
Ice raced down Zellie’s spine and her hands spasmed into fists. “No!” She dragged in a breath. “No. You must be imagining it.” She wondered if the blood-and-snow forest would be any safer, with its monsters and its endless chill.
Ramsey shrugged. “Could be. Wouldn’t be the first time. But I thought it’d be good if you two were both here.”
“The city is just confused,” interjected Cam. “It’s not dying.” Zellie was grateful that that idea had distracted Cam from Ramsey’s other concern.
Ramsey gave Cam a cool look. “But Deena could be.”
“I’m fine,” mumbled Deena. “I should have known better. One should always know better than to try and reach for glory.”
“You’re not making any sense,” said Eden irritably. “Ramsey….”
“Yes. Ca
m!” said Ramsey sharply. “If your precious spirit shows up, keep it away from us.” He scooped up Deena in both arms and closed his eyes.
Zellie watched carefully. She knew Ramsey could do the same thing she could do, but she’d never really studied how he did it. Now, with his ridiculous, terrifying stories of a rattling sound on the boundary, paying attention was essential.
The light faded around him, as if a cloud passed between him and the already-hazy sun. He lowered his head, cradling Deena against his chest as she started whimpering. The fading light became growing darkness. Then, with a silent flicker, he simply vanished.
A heartbeat later, something else took his place. Zellie couldn’t see it, except for a shimmer in the air, but she could hear the rattling cough, she could smell the rotting teeth, and she could feel the twisted pressure of her grandmother’s attention.
Her hands went cold. Cam quietly said, “Well, darn.” Then he raised his voice. “Everybody get out of here.”
“What is that stink?” asked Eden, wrinkling her nose. Izzy backed up, and Sunny frowned and grabbed Dev’s hand.
“Dear child….” The witch’s voice crackled, and Eden turned to look at Zellie, the set of her eyes changing as the witch crept into her mind, just like she’d moved into the mind of the warehouse employees.
“Go!” said Cam again. “Somebody get Eden and Zellie out of here.” Nobody moved, and he shouted, “Everybody, come on!” Acid etched his voice as he said, “What are you doing here, you nasty piece of twine and bone? Zellie doesn’t want you. Nobody wants you. You should have died a century ago.”
Eden’s lips pulled away from her teeth. Then Dev yanked her hair hard and she screamed.
“Dev!” said Sunny in a shocked reprimand.
“Grab her!” Dev urged. “Or leave her but let’s get out of here.” That was enough. Sunny and Izzy both took Eden under a shoulder and carried her away
Zellie barely noticed. She cowered behind Cam, feeling the force of her grandmother’s rage as it focused on Cam instead of anybody else. She wanted to run away so badly, but leaving Cam to face her grandmother alone would be unforgivable.
Etiquette of Exiles (Senyaza Series Book 4) Page 17
