by Pam Brondos
The words tumbled out and crashed into Nat like a waterfall. She wrapped her arms tightly around MC and tucked her head under her chin so she wouldn’t see the tears forming in her eyes. “I’m sorry, MC.” Nat’s heart ached. “You know I love you, and I can’t imagine my life without you in it.” She suddenly thought of Estos and his sister. She couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to lose her sister. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” She kissed MC’s forehead.
“Soon, make it up to me soon,” MC demanded in a sleepy voice.
“As soon as I can.” Nat laid her chin on MC’s head and tucked the blanket around her shoulders. The clock ticked loudly on the mantel. MC’s gentle snores joined the ticking sound. She looked down at her sister. If Nat had any idea what was waiting for her after she fell asleep, her worrying would never end.
A small funnel of air began spinning from the green grate. Nat leaned closer. The funnel grew faster and wider. She reached for the edge of the couch and clutched MC as the funnel ripped away the tile floor and pulled her to its center. MC spun into the darkness. A gag of dust filled Nat’s mouth when she tried to scream her sister’s name. The funnel pulled Nat higher and higher into the air until she hung suspended in the night, looking down at the roof of her house. She cartwheeled through the spinning air, grasped the ledge to her dream room, and hurtled over. The other side was dark and quiet. Nat visualized the protective bars of light.
“You’re getting better at finding your access points.” Annin’s face glowed behind the light of the white bars shooting up along the ledge. Two faint figures appeared behind her.
“Come in.” Nat motioned to Annin. The lights slowly disappeared, and Annin hopped over with her usual agility. “Would have been nice if you’d found it a few hours ago, though,” she said in a deadpan voice. “I don’t like waiting, especially when I have to wait with him.” She jerked her thumb toward the ledge. Andris hovered in the funnel on the other side with Estos next to him.
“Wait a minute, nobody said anything about lessons with Andris.” Nat took a step back from the barrier and the light bars shot up from the ledge.
“You like him about as much as I do.” Annin had an amused smile on her face. “Doesn’t matter, though, you have to let him in. Take it up with Estos. But can we get this over with so I can get some sleep?” She looked longingly at the other side of the ledge.
He wasn’t a Sister. Nat wondered what Andris was going to teach her. How to make other people feel like garbage?
“Fine.” Nat let out a long breath. “You can come in.” The bars receded. Andris’ feet landed on the ground. Estos followed and gave her an apologetic look. Annin sat down near the ledge, still wearing an amused smile.
“What’s this about?” Nat asked Estos.
“Your training, of course,” Andris answered. His eyes reminded her of the green scum that grew around the edges of the water troughs in the heat of August.
“Andris and his brothers have trained me in combat since I was ten.” Estos dipped his head. “I don’t have a Warrior Sister to teach you how to get away from a fight, so Andris agreed to train you. This is all precautionary, Natalie, as I’m certain you won’t need—”
“Remember our agreement,” Andris said with a slight warning edge to his voice. Estos frowned but closed his mouth.
What agreement? Nat wondered, growing uneasy as Andris approached her. “You and I are fighting?” Her voice trembled slightly when she asked him.
He laughed. “No, you and Estos will spar.” He looked almost pleased as her jaw dropped. “I need to observe you first to see just how bad you are. Estos volunteered to attack you.” His lips twisted into a smile. “Let’s get started.”
Estos moved slightly to the left. Nat opened her mouth but thought better of it. Estos stepped to the side and turned his head, looking into the void past Nat’s light barrier. Nat followed his gaze and felt a brush of air against the side of her head.
“Make contact!” Andris cried as Estos’ foot landed on the ground. His kick had missed her head by an inch. “I agreed to do this, now you uphold your part,” Andris barked at him. Nat looked around, confused.
“Try to block me, Natalie,” Estos whispered.
“I heard that!” Andris yelled. “Start again!”
Annin’s tittering laughter filled the air. Estos took a deep breath and circled Nat with a grim look on his face. She followed his lead and tried to watch his hands and feet, but his kick to her midsection was too swift. Nat fell to her knees and clutched her stomach. Estos blurred in and out in front of her. He had a horrified look on his face.
“If your plan is to wallow on the ground the first time you get knocked down in Fourline, you might as well give up now. You’re supposed to be a Warrior Sister. Get up.” Andris nudged her leg with his worn leather boot.
She imagined the pain floating from the side of her stomach. The throbbing disappeared. She looked up at Andris. His face bore an expression that was both smug and bored.
“Couldn’t be in a worse position than the one you’re in now,” Andris said, smiling in response to her look of hatred. He held up a finger. “I take that back. A Nala clinging to your back would be worse.”
Estos extended his hand. She ignored it and pushed herself off the ground.
“Well, well, at least you can pull yourself up.” Andris clapped one hand lightly against the other. Nat brushed nonexistent dust off her pants, trying to rein in her anger. “Let’s try this again.”
“Not with Estos—with you.” She pointed to Andris.
His eyes narrowed. “Very well, he’ll be too soft on you, anyway. Take him back, Annin.”
“No,” Estos protested.
“She’ll be fine, it’s her dream space,” Andris said in a slightly patronizing voice.
Nat glanced toward the ledge. Annin and Estos had vanished.
“Estos and Barba seem to think my training you will result in something other than a colossal waste of my time.” She stiffened as he circled her. Her anger grew to a point that all she wanted to do was humiliate him and prove him wrong. He droned on in a condescending tone. “How am I supposed to train a fraud, an opportunist, to be a Warrior Sister?” He shook his head and laughed harshly. “I doubt you’ll even go.” He spat on her floor. “If you do, you’ll fail.”
This is my dream space, you jerk, she thought. His eyes narrowed and his left hand jabbed toward her face. She ducked and punched him in the stomach. A track spread before her, and Nat burst onto the brick-colored field, running away from Andris before his next strike. Bright halogen field lights popped up like flowers in front of her, lighting the way. Her feet flew, taking her farther and farther from Andris. She stopped suddenly and whirled around. He stood in a small globe of light at the start of the track.
“I don’t get you!” she yelled. “It’s your home, it’s your ticket back if I go in and—”
“And do what? Pull off whatever scheme Benedict pulls out of his arse?” he shot back. “Don’t delude yourself. You managed to get in and out the last two times, but you were never in any real danger of being discovered. You’re going into the heart of Rustbrook this time.” He pointed a finger at her. “Mudug will smell you out for the fraud that you are. He’ll catch you and we’ll be worse off than before.”
A balled-up sock appeared in the air between them and hurtled down the field. Andris opened his mouth in surprise, and the sock slammed between his teeth. He yanked at the edge of the sock, but it held fast. Nat tried to keep the image of the sock and the running field in her head while she spoke. Now would not be the time to lose the images. Her words came out slow and halting.
“If Estos, Barba, Annin, or any of the others thought I couldn’t do this, they wouldn’t send me in. You’re the only one. Why is that?” Her voice grew louder. She was beginning to enjoy herself as she watched him struggle. “I may not know
how to fight, but I can run. If you’ll shut up long enough to teach me how to get away, I’ll be fine.” Even from a distance, Nat could see Andris’ face was crimson. He let out a guttural growl.
“No? Okay, how about this. Race me,” she challenged. “If you catch me, I’ll lie and tell Estos that you’ve been training me. I’ll even give you a chair to sit in while you waste your time in my space up here.” She gestured to her head. “But if I win, no more insults. Just teach me what I need to know to get in and get away. Agreed?”
She knew he was too mad to even consider agreeing. He was going to come after her the second she removed the gag. She carefully let the image of the sock fade from her mind. Andris’ mouth snapped shut as the sock disappeared. He hurtled down the track toward her. When he hit the halfway point, she turned and took off. His cursing echoed behind her. Nat sprinted for a few minutes, then slowed her pace. He sounded like an elephant on a rampage, his feet landing heavily with each step.
“You can’t imagine your way out of this!” he yelled while running.
You don’t think so? What was it Barba had said, intelligence over brute force? Nat imagined the breath and muscle a real race required. She focused and felt the sweat begin to trickle down her brow. The track veered to the left. Andris’ slapping feet sounded close. In a moment, he’d try to lunge and grab her. She glimpsed back. He was within a few yards, but his face was bright red. She smiled and quickened her pace. They rounded the turn and hit the second straight leg. It wouldn’t do to just beat him on a track field. She had to disappear to show him.
The track melted away, and the meadow near the crooked message tree appeared. Nat took a second to enjoy how simply the images were coming now that she’d had some practice, and then she bolted to the right toward the overgrown path in the forest. The branches whipped around in the wind. She jumped over rotted logs and ferns that brushed the thick tree trunks. Andris’ crashing noises became more and more distant as she wove her way to the hiding place she remembered. Skipping over a fallen log, she paused, stepped on its elevated trunk, and jumped onto the lower branch of the neighboring tree. She scaled the tree, grabbing three more thick branches until she was at least twelve feet off the ground. Two more branches up and a leap would get her to a cliff overhang. She tucked her body as close to the trunk as she could and slowed her breathing.
Andris wasn’t as far behind as she expected. He rounded the fallen log within a minute. She watched as he spun around and followed the line of the cliff wall. She settled back into the tree and waited. Five minutes passed, then ten. Nat climbed the next two limbs and jumped toward the cliff. She started a slow jog toward the rock chute leading to the red boulder.
When Andris finally showed up at the boulder, Nat had a collection of odd pinecones and leaves laid out on its crooked top. She looked up. The chase had sapped some of his anger, but not much.
She tossed one of the smooth cones into the air. “Do you know for certain I’ll fail if I go back in, Andris?” Her voice was quiet as she curled her fingers around the cone.
Andris lifted his chin and looked at her.
“You don’t, do you?” She stared at him from atop the boulder, chin resting on a raised knee.
Andris wiped his brow. “No,” he said finally.
The forest disappeared. A thick red mat and a single floating halogen bulb took its place.
“I’m going back.” She looked into the blackness surrounding them. “Estos has too much to lose, and now so do I.” She took a step closer and pressed her arms tight to her side to keep him from seeing her shaking. “I’ll take whatever training, whatever advice you want to give, but I just beat your sorry butt in a fair race, so don’t tell me I’m a fraud or that I’m going to fail. Especially when you don’t know.”
Andris nodded slowly. “All right,” he agreed. He took a step toward her, shaking his head, his expression more curious now than angry. “Do you know how to do anything besides run?” he asked, rubbing his short beard.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Always use direct eye contact,” Barba said for the hundredth time. “Don’t look above, below, or to the side.”
Nat glanced at the lab classroom’s door.
“No, no, you’re looking to the side. Your job is to observe emotions and anticipate movement. And for the love of all things, do not speak more than absolutely necessary. Warrior Sisters are not loquacious, they are—”
“I know, Sister. They are aloof, fierce, and aware.” Nat recited the oft-spoken descriptions she’d heard over and over during her training the last few weeks. “They’re everything I’m not,” she said in a tired voice and slumped over the stainless-steel counter.
“You have more Sister in you than you know, Natalie,” Barba said with a hint of impatience in her voice.
Ethet held up her hand, silencing Barba. The classroom in the Science Center became eerily quiet. As far as Nat knew, she, Barba, and Ethet were the only people in the entire building, since everyone was still on break. Cairn had given Ethet a set of keys to the building so she could use a centrifuge to extract plant oil. The location was convenient for Nat’s final training lesson.
“I believe we are almost done, Natalie,” Ethet said and placed a stoppered vial full of a balm made from the plant oil next to Nat. I hope so, Nat thought. Her brain felt ready to explode from all the last-minute information they were cramming into her. So much information, but so few answers. She stifled a yawn and rubbed her sore arm. Her body ached from the hours of self-defense drills Andris had run her through with Estos the night before.
Ethet poured a brown liquid from a thermos into a battered cup and handed it to Nat. She eyed the herbal tea with suspicion, wondering if it was the same foul brew Ethet had been forcing her to drink since she’d arrived back on campus the day after Christmas.
“The balm fights infections.” Ethet gestured to the vial and crumbled a dried herb over a fine linen cloth with her other hand.
Nat sipped the sludge-like tea and made a face.
“Pay attention, Natalie.” Ethet frowned. “This wrap and the dennox are useful for both open wounds and bites. You may find need for it during your journey.” Her authoritative voice forced Nat to focus on the strip of linen. Ethet folded the fabric over several times and tucked it into a cloth case that held a small collection of herbs. “Fortunately these herbs grow on both sides of the membrane,” she said as she tied a knot in the leather string binding the case. “There are more herbs I wish I could give you . . .” She regarded Nat for a moment and pressed the case into her hand. “Don’t forget to bring this tonight.”
Nat stared wearily at her. “I won’t. Are we done now?” she asked, glancing at both Sisters. The aching pressure in her head was almost unbearable.
“Yes, we’re done,” Ethet said gently. Barba nodded in agreement.
Nat sighed, slid off the stool, and walked out of the classroom. She wandered through the deserted halls of the Science Center and out the entrance. The December day was bright and pleasantly warm for winter. Little pools of melted snow covered the walkways crisscrossing the quad. She picked a walkway at random, wondering where to go. She could return to her room, but the idea of spending her last few hours in the dorm was not appealing.
Strains of piano music spilled out from an open window in the college’s chapel. Nat paused and listened to the swell of the music, then pushed open the chapel door. She sat in a pew at the back of the church next to a stained-glass window. A woman played on a grand piano near the altar, utterly lost in the music. Other than the pianist, the chapel was empty. Nat stared at the woman as she played, awed by her focus and intensity. The music soared through the open space of the church. Nat closed her eyes, frustrated with how all of them had evaded so many of her questions over the past few weeks.
She didn’t realize Cairn was sitting next to her until she opened her eyes minutes later. She glanced his w
ay and then focused on the rust-colored tiles. A small puddle was smeared between her boots.
“Barba asked me to find you,” he said.
The music stopped. The pianist looked up and saw them sitting at the back of the chapel. She gathered her music as if embarrassed and exited through a door near the altar. Nat shot a perturbed look at him.
“I just saw her. Isn’t it a little late for more lessons? I’m leaving in a few hours,” she responded, wanting nothing more than to be left alone to clear her mind.
“No more lessons. She was just a little concerned about how you were holding up.” He leaned forward and laid his hands on the pew in front of them.
She turned to him. The bright lights hanging from the ceiling reflected off his glasses. “I’ve been training with and listening to your family and your friends for weeks, and I still have no idea how Fourline can be . . . how it’s even there,” Nat said.
He looked away from her and cleared his throat.
“Vow of silence for you, too, huh?”
“Natalie . . .”
“I don’t mean to be rude, but would you just go?” Nat rubbed her forehead. “Tell Barba and Estos not to worry, I’ll be there.” She wouldn’t break her promise to help Estos. It was too late for her to change her mind, anyway—that opportunity was lost weeks ago when she’d told her parents about the fake scholarship money.
“Natalie,” he said again, “not telling you everything is only to protect you. I promise you that.”
“You can’t fault me for wanting to know what I need protection from,” she snapped.
Cairn stood, his hands still resting on the back of the pew. He hesitated, then leaned down and whispered into Nat’s ear, “Years ago I was wondering the same things you’re wondering right now.”
