by Tanya Lisle
“Are you really a princess?” Olivia asked from behind her.
Brady wouldn’t let her stop or turn when she responded, still dragging her onward. “No.”
“Quiet, Olivia!” Brady snapped. “We’re gonna get caught.”
“You’re mean.”
Brady frowned, but said nothing. The rest of the kids stayed quiet as they weaved through the halls, Brady letting them into several doors with a tap of his phone. The chatter started up again soon after, though they knew well enough not to get too loud. The sounds of people came back the further they moved until they reached the final door.
“You sure he drank the whole thing, right?” Brady asked the kids behind him.
One of the other boys nodded.
Brady opened the door and let them all back into the classroom. It was a large area with movable walls hanging from the ceiling that had been sloppily pushed back. There were six round tables set up around the room, each with an intended purpose to them based on the materials available around them. Artwork hung on the wall ranging from crudely drawn to realistic to covered in text.
Several other children were in the room, all under twelve years old. The older ones among them were tending to the younger ones, helping them with the tablets or keeping them from running around too fast. They turned to see the door open, falling quiet at the sight of another adult.
“Got caught?” an older boy asked, smirking as he came closer. “I told him not to go out there. But Mr. Devenish fell asleep and us older kids had to keep the younger ones from getting in trouble. Brady’s always sneaking out.”
“We didn’t get caught, Isaiah,” Brady said. “This is Snow White. She’s the lady from the disappearing mountain.”
“She is not. Are you really?”
Snow looked down at him. “The mountain didn’t disappear. It moved.”
Isaiah’s eyes narrowed at her. She attracted a crowd of children, all of whom stayed behind Isaiah and watched. Some kept their tablets on them, clutched to their chests. Others kept them up, watching the exchange through the screen and a small light showing on the back.
“If you’re really from there, tell us something that only someone from the mountain would know.”
“That’s stupid,” Brady said. “If only someone from the mountain knows it, how are you going to know if she’s telling the truth?”
“I knew you were lying.”
“Just ask her something else,” Brady said. “Something she might actually know about. Snow, what sort of things do you know?”
“I once knew everything,” she said.
“If you know everything, then how old is Brady really?” Isaiah demanded. “He’s always lying and saying he’s way older than us, but he looks like a little kid.”
“Seventeen years, eight months, three days, five hours and twenty six minu- twenty seven minutes,” Snow said.
The feeling in the room shifted. There was a mix of awe and shock from some of the children, while others looked back at Brady with distrust. Brady didn’t pay that any attention, instead looking up at her with his eyes full of awe and wonder.
Isaiah looked hesitant as Snow looked down at him and he shook his head. “You’re lying,” he said.
“Ask her something else,” Brady told him. It was more command than request.
“Do you know why Mr. Devenish is sleeping?” Isaiah asked.
“Brady used Ms. Greenwood’s phone to gain access to the Medical Wing thirty six days ago. Among the things he took was a bottle of melatonin. When Brady asked, you crushed one tablet and put it into Mr. Devenish’s coffee.”
She barely registered the shock or silence that fell at her statement, instead focusing on the small ripple. Something changed in the time she talked to these children, though she couldn’t tell what it was. There was a very small shift, like the world around her decided to veer slightly off course. One of her keepers may have noticed she was no longer on the mountain.
“She’s weird,” Isaiah said, walking away. He looked back at Snow a few times as he dispersed the crowd, ushering the other kids back to whatever they were doing before. The other kids that Brady had in tow earlier followed in suit, leaving him alone with her.
“Come on, Snow,” he said, pulling her over to one corner of the room away from the door. He fell back into one of the bean bag chairs. He motioned Snow to do the same and she obliged, taking a seat and folding her legs underneath her, using it as a cushion rather than a chair and sitting atop it.
“How did you know that?” he asked.
He would clarify in a moment. “I know many things,” she said, though she was unsure that was accurate anymore. The longer she spent out here, the less she knew.
His eyes narrowed and he leaned forward in the chair, looking carefully over her. While his body looked like a child still, he wore a look on his face that reflected his years. “Your dress moves,” he said. “I saw it before, but I wasn’t sure. Who are you?”
“I’ve been named Snow White.”
“But who were you before you were Snow White?”
“Those who came up the mountain called me Oracle and Sibyl and Asariri and Priestess and Tapestry-”
“Tapestry?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” There was none of the annoyance in Brady that she had encountered in the others she spoke to. He continued to watch her, eyes catching on something on her dress, but he did not tire as the others seemed to.
“I am the tapestry of Fate. The Fates weave the future of all into me. ”
Brady blinked at her, now looking annoyed. “You know I’m not actually six, right?” he asked. “I just look like I am.”
“Yes.”
“I finished school years ago. Mr. Devenish passed me himself. I even took the high school classes for a little while.”
“Yes.”
“And you really want me to believe that you’re a blanket woven by magical Fates from the Ancient Greece days? That the Fates are still around even though all the people who believed in them are probably dead by now?”
“Many people still believe in fate.”
“So who are you?”
“I’ve been named Snow White.”
“And you come from the mountain that disappeared. Kitty was there and she said the mountain was just gone when they left.” He paused, looking at Snow as if he were expecting her to say something. When she said nothing, he continued. “What happened?”
“I was no longer stopping the mountain, so it continued.”
“Mountains don’t move.”
“Most don’t.”
“If that’s true, look me in the eye and tell me you come from a moving mountain. And that there are actually real living Fates who made a tapestry into a real person.”
Snow watched as Brady went from annoyed to very small in the moments after her eyes met his, just as all the others who insisted meeting her eyes had done before. It was not fear that made him shrink so much as a look of stunned awe, like he had never seen anything like her.
“I do come from a mountain that moves by the will of the Fates,” she told him. “They didn’t create me, however. I was gifted to them as a child to replace the one that came before me. They use me to create the future of all mankind.”
“Not much of that left.”
Snow looked up at the man, Mac as he was so often referred to, as he reached down and grabbed her roughly by the arm. He dressed in the same uniform she had seen others wear, ones who carried weapons and killed as often as they offered kindness. His arms and legs were covered and he wore a black glove over his left hand that rubbed painfully against her skin.
She complied as he hauled her to her feet, once more attracting a crowd of children. Isaiah was back among them, keeping the rest behind him and glaring Mac down. “You aren’t supposed to be in here. No unauthorized adults unless Mr. Devenish says so.”
“That’s why I’m taking this one, kid,” he said. He turned back to the door and hauled Sn
ow with him as roughly as he could manage, not turning back to see any protesting children.
Snow passed one last glance over them as Mac pulled her out of the room. In the corner, Olivia went to Brady’s side and waved a hand in front of his face, but he didn’t so much as blink in response.
“Not even going to ask why?” Mac asked. The snarl did not leave his voice. “You probably already know, don’t you?”
It was much different having Mac guide her than Brady. Where Brady tugged gently and pulled her by the hand, Mac insisted on holding her by the upper arm and hoisting half of her body into the air, making it difficult to keep her footing. She let her shoulder drop and her arm fell out of his grip. She gently touched her arm where his leather glove left a bright red mark on her pale skin.
He tried to grab her again, though his hands continued to miss her arm as she walked. “How are you doing that?”
“I am placing one foot on the ground after another.”
He reached out and Snow let him grab her by the arm again. He was only going to grow more violent the longer she kept him away and he was a curiosity to her. She could see a faded mark on the back of his right hand where he had once been claimed. He dragged her close enough that she could almost touch it.
They entered a small room, furnished with a simple table and two chairs, and Mac slammed the door shut behind them and shoved her at one of the seats. He locked the door behind them with a physical key, tucking it into his pants pocket as he went around the table. “Sit,” he said, taking a seat on the other side of the table. “I have some questions.”
She took a seat opposite him, her eyes straying down to his hand. She could almost make out who marked him.
“Who are you?”
“I’ve been named Snow White.” She grew tired of hearing that question.
“Don’t give me that shit,” he said. “The cute act isn’t going to work with me. Who are you really?”
That question would also grow tiresome very soon. Humans spent a lot of time asking her the same questions. She hoped that the answer Brady settled on would be the one to keep Mac interested long enough for her to get a better look at the mark. “I am the tapestry of Fate.”
“What the fuck kind of bullshit is that?” Mac demanded. “I said no cute shit and you want to go trying to tell me about fate?”
“You have been marked by one,” Snow told him, finally able to make out the mark. “Niyati and Kumari.”
“That’s two.”
“She is two,” Snow agreed, continuing to watch his hand and see what it was in his life that she chose him for. “You wished for a destiny as a child. You lived in another compound under military rule with diminishing resources. Your father tried to protect you and was too weak to survive when the raiders invaded, let in by a survivor your people had taken in several weeks earlier. You shot the man who killed your father, but were taken by the raiders. You escaped them when you modified their waste disposal unit into a particle bomb and killed everyone in their base. It took your arm, as well as any other survivors from your home, but you survived until those at this complex found you and brought you in.”
Mac sat in silence listening to her and never taking his eyes off of her. His eyes met hers and fear crossed his face as he wore the expression of a small child looking up at his very angry father. His jaw went slack and he looked like he wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t leave his mouth.
“I am leaving,” Snow said, getting to her feet. Now that she knew what his purpose had been, there was no point in continuing in his presence. She opened the door and was gone a few steps later, letting the door close behind her, the lock still in place.
Chapter 6
“Just don’t look her in the eyes, whatever you do,” Mac told Ed, putting the nearly empty cup of coffee back on the table. “I don’t know what she did to me, but something happened there. Somehow she got the keys off me without me even noticing and-”
Ed put the tablet down between the two of them and hit play. There was no sound, but the video showed Snow speaking for a moment, then standing up and walking out the door. Mac sat across from her, not moving the entire time.
“Well, I don’t think she got the key off you,” Ed said, watching as the video played out. “What did she say to you, anyway? I’ve never seen you that out of it before.”
“Nothing,” Mac said just a little too quickly. “I told you there was something weird about her. She’s -”
“Dangerous?” Ed asked, shaking her head as she kept watching the video on the tablet. Mac still stared blankly forward in the empty room. “Maybe. I’ll see if Downstairs will take her.”
“I was thinking outside,” Mac said. “Who knows what she’ll do if she gets to our food.”
“I’m not putting her outside to die, Mac,” Ed told him firmly. “If she’s actually dangerous, they’ll be able to handle her down there. You get back to work. If you find her again, I’ll deal with her. Just give me a call. I need to set her up so we stop losing her anyway.”
Mac got to his feet and let out a sigh, shaking his head. “You’re being too soft on her, Ed.”
“Maybe. Get back to work.”
Mac nodded before he left the room, leaving Ed in peace. She picked up the tablet and watched as Mac finally realized he was alone in the room. He slammed his fists down on the table and went to the door. He pulled on the handle, but the door wouldn’t move.
Ed closed the video. It was going to be a very long day.
***
Despite her efforts, Ed found herself back where she was comfortable. Her back against one wall and her feet pushing against another, she balanced in the tight space with a screwdriver in hand, trying to get the panel off to get a better look. One of these panels had shorted, though they weren’t sure which ones controlled which sections and most of them were rusted shut.
Ed managed to pry hers open, revealing several breaker switches. She flipped the first one, hearing nothing. She flipped it back on again and heard the distant beep as something in the section came back to life. Looking around, she shuffled over a few feet to get to work on the next panel.
“Who designed this thing?” Lenny asked. He let out a final grunt, followed by a slam as he got his panel open. “It’s not just one panel, they put all the panels for this section here, and then they build a wall around only half of them? Why?”
“And they put them this close to the ceiling,” Ed muttered. “The least they could do is install a ladder.”
“Hey, it’s this one!” Lenny said. He waited until Ed was looking before flipping several switches on the breaker without causing a single distant beep.
“Perfect. I’ll get Iris to pull up the specs for that one. You get your shit.”
“Can do, boss.” Lenny let his legs relax. He dropped, landing lightly on the ground below and went out the small door to get his supplies while Ed went to her phone, scrolling through schematics for the area until she found the ones she needed. Lenny was good enough to be able to finish this job on his own, so all she needed to do was find the right documentation.
Lenny opened the door a moment later. He looked confused. “Hey Ed?”
“Yeah?” She glanced down, but kept going through her phone.
“Visitor.”
“Who?”
Lenny looked back out the door before looking up at Ed again. “I think it’s that Snow White chick you mentioned before?”
Ed tapped on the schematics on her phone and sent them to Lenny before she jumped back down to the ground. She leaned around the door to see Snow standing there, looking around at everything but the two of them. She looked relaxed and not at all like she had intentionally vanished without a trace earlier.
Well. Ed was supposed to find her anyway.
“Len?” Ed held up a screwdriver. “You’ll need this one.”
She tossed it toward him and Lenny scrambled, ducking out of the way as it nearly hit him in the face. He let it drop and picked
it up. “Thanks,” he said, heading back into the narrow column of a room to get back to work.
“Hello Snow,” Ed said, wiping her hands off on her pants.
“Hello Ed,” she said, settling her gaze on Ed. “When you did not find me today, Mac would come and attempt to speak with me again. Being assaulted is very unpleasant, and Ms. Greenwood demands to know why I spoke with her son, though I have explained several times.”
“I… wait.” Ed’s brow furrowed as she tried to parse out just what Snow said. As far as she could tell, Mac hadn’t been physical with her, seeing no marks on her fair skin or signs of even her hair being out of place. With the tense of what she said all over the place, Ed wasn’t sure when any of what she said happened.
“Did any of this actually happen?” Ed asked after a moment.
“Not yet.”
“Okay. Let’s walk.”
Ed led the way out of the section, but stopped before the exit. She let Snow go ahead of her, watching as she got to the door and put her hand on the handle. It turned easily under her hand and she pushed it open, walking through it without holding it open.
Ed tried the handle and found the door still locked. She pulled out a key to open the door for herself and followed Snow out, finding the other woman patiently waiting for her. “That door was locked.”
“Yes.”
“How did you open it?”
“I turned the handle and pushed the door open.”
“But how did you unlock it?”
“I didn’t.”
Ed could already see this line of questioning was getting her nowhere. Still, she couldn’t help but hope that there was something in this. Snow did come to her, after all. If she understood right, she came to her hoping to get away from Mac. There was a chance Ed could get some answers about who she was and why she was here.
Or, of course, this might be a ploy to get Ed alone and murder her quietly, leaving the Janus Complex without someone to turn on Iris up here.
Ed steered them toward the more populated areas of the complex, veering towards the mess hall. As much as she didn’t think Snow would try to kill her, she would feel a little better talking to Snow while surrounded by several armed men and women, many of whom had poor impulse control.
