The ARC 02: Talented

by Alexandra Moody

  She sighs, sounding disappointed. ‘I guess that’s almost to be expected. They’re always so busy processing people; they’re never too good at explaining everything to our new arrivals. More often than not I have people arrive here with absolutely no idea what’s going on. It can be very scary. How’re you feeling?’

  ‘Okay,’ I lie. Well, it’s not exactly a lie. She raises one eyebrow, giving me a knowing look.

  ‘I’ve been better,’ I admit.

  ‘I can imagine.’ She places the plate of cookies in front of me. ‘Careful, they’re still hot.’

  I pick one up and blow on the corner of it before taking a small bite and groaning in delight.

  ‘Good?’

  ‘Mmm, so good.’

  ‘Should we take them to the living room? We can sit there and have a chat if you like?’ I nod and pick up the plate to follow her through.

  Sitting on the couch I have a perfect view of the city outside. I bet I’ll even be able to see the sunset from here.

  ‘For the moment we’ll give you some of Beth’s clothing to wear, but tomorrow I’m thinking we’ll go to the refuse centre and get you some clothes of your own. There’s never anything too fancy there, mostly clothing from before impact, but at least you won’t be in those greys anymore. You must be so sick of them.’ I nod in agreement as I bite down on another cookie. It’s never bothered me before, not when there’s been no other choice, but the thought of wearing something different every day is exciting.

  ‘Can’t I go to school tomorrow?’ I ask. The chance to maybe see Sebastian at school in the morning is too hard to resist.

  ‘Maybe in a few days,’ she responds. ‘We want you to get settled in first.’

  ‘I’m fine, really,’ I emphasise.

  ‘How about we see how you feel after tomorrow?’

  ‘Okay.’ I feel slightly defeated, but one more day should be fine. I’ll make certain Cathy lets me go the following day.

  ‘You’ve been enrolled in East Hope High. It’s where our eldest, Beth, goes. I think you’ll find the subjects are similar to the ones you did in the ARC, so you should be back in routine fairly quickly. The only subject that can be quite a challenge are the special studies sessions—’

  ‘What are those?’ I ask, interrupting her.

  ‘It’s essentially a class to help you develop your talent.’

  I swallow uncomfortably. There had been no mention of special classes focused on our talents during reintegration. What if I’m found out?

  ‘How much were you told in your reintegration session?’ Cathy asks me carefully, when she notes the worry on my face.

  ‘We learnt about the talents, but nothing about special training sessions…’

  ‘Oh,’ she looks at me, confused, ‘I thought they would have mentioned it. Special studies is the most important lesson at school if you want to be recruited, which of course, you do.’

  The front door clicks behind me and there’s movement as people walk through it. The front door slams shut and a girl’s voice calls out ‘Mum? We’re home!’

  The sound of the voice makes me nervous. Beth, I think her name was. I’d been relieved to know I’d be living with someone my own age, but I still feel a little anxious about meeting her. I wish she hadn’t arrived here so soon; there are so many questions I still want to ask Cathy.

  ‘Mum?’ The girl enters the room from behind me.

  Cathy looks up to her, a warm smile across her face. ‘Hi Honey. We have someone new staying with us. This is Elle,’ she says, introducing me.

  I swivel myself around on the couch to greet Beth. But when I turn and stare this girl in the eyes I know immediately Beth isn’t her name. It’s April.

  What the hell is Sebastian’s sister doing here?

  CHAPTER THREE

  ‘Hi Elle, I’m Beth,’ April says, strongly emphasising the name I know can’t be true. There’s a warning glint in her eyes as she looks at me, causing all the excitement I’d just felt at seeing her after so many years apart to falter. Why is she pretending to be someone else?

  I look at April up and down. She’s dressed in a charcoal grey dress with black stockings and a black cardigan. Her eye makeup is black and despite being up here on the surface, she still retains a pale pallor to her skin. Her hair is several shades darker than I remember, but there’s no changing her blue eyes. They are just the same as Sebastian’s. My stomach clenches as I look into them, she reminds me so much of her brother. What on earth is she doing here?

  ‘Uh … hi … Beth?’ I’m at a loss for words. I clench my hands into fists on my lap and try to stop them from shaking. This is all too much.

  A young boy bolts into the room, his arms out wide as he swoops and circles like he’s a plane. This must be Jackson. He looks like he’s had too much sugar the way he’s practically bouncing off walls. When he sees me he stops, freezing to the spot. He gapes at me, then over at Cathy, before running back out of the room.

  ‘He’s not too good with new people,’ Cathy explains. ‘But he’ll come around.’

  ‘Elle was it?’ April says. ‘I’m heading down to the local courts to play some basketball. Do you want to come?’

  It takes me a moment to respond, as I have no idea how to act around her. She’s treating me like I’m a complete stranger, but I can tell by the way she looks at me, she knows exactly who I am.

  ‘Yeah, that’d be great,’ I say. Maybe if I’m alone with her I’ll be able to get some answers about why she’s acting so differently?

  ‘I’ve got some clothes and shoes you can borrow if you like?’

  ‘Okay.’ I stand and go to follow her, but quickly turn to Cathy. I still have so many unanswered questions.

  ‘Go ahead,’ she says, standing herself and gathering the empty cookie plate. ‘It will be good for you to meet some of the other kids before you start school. We’ll see you at dinner.’

  I follow Beth into her room. It’s next door to mine and similar in that it looks out over the city, but this is where the similarity ends. There are no pink flowered quilt covers in here. Instead, the walls are painted a dark, gloomy grey colour and the bed is covered with black sheets. With Beth’s own sombre attire, she’s almost lost in the wallpaper in here.

  She takes some exercise gear out of the drawers and throws it to me.

  ‘April, is it really you?’ It’s difficult to keep the happiness from my voice and takes every ounce of my self-control not to run up to her and give her a hug.

  ‘Don’t call me that,’ she spits through her teeth. She slams the drawer shut, the small dresser rocking from the impact.

  ‘Okay … sorry.’ I hadn’t expected such a venomous reaction.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she whispers, her eyes flicking over to the open door.

  ‘I was about to ask you the same thing,’ I reply, in an equally hushed tone of voice.

  ‘I live here,’ she responds. This isn’t the April who was once my best friend. She’s changed so much in the last few years. If it wasn’t for her deep blue eyes I can’t imagine I would have even recognised her.

  ‘So…’ she urges.

  ‘I was taken,’ I respond. ‘Then they brought me here. I was so relieved when I saw you just now. What’s gotten into you? Why are they calling you Beth?’

  My ears perk up and we both look to the open door as we hear the patter of small footsteps in the hallway.

  Beth looks back to me, but the anger from her face slides and she sighs. ‘Get changed. We’ll talk outside.’

  Walking through the streets of Hope I am truly able to appreciate how vast the city is. It’s exactly how I always imagined a city above the ground would’ve looked before impact, and it’s amazing.

  There are the buildings, which of course I’d seen from the car, but they aren’t just the faceless walls of glass I’d seen from a distance. Up close there’s so much more to them. Many of the windows hold these colourful and old, weathered signs, advertising shops from be
fore impact, like a poignant reminder of the world we lost. Several of the shops have been restored and are filled with all types of goods up for trade.

  I pass an enormous cafeteria, teeming with people, with wide open doors that allow tables and chairs to spill out onto the sidewalk. There’s a grocery store that displays fruit and vegetables for sale in massive crates out front, and a large barrel of flowers by the doorway. The flowers are arranged in brilliantly vivid bunches and the colours and fragrance from them is almost too marvellous to be believed.

  It’s far louder than I ever could have imagined and the noise is constant and ceaseless. Away from the Atrium or the dining hall in the ARC there was only ever the soft hum of the lights. Here there’s never a second of peace. There’s the sound of car engines purring, music, odd beeping noises, people walking and talking, the sound of some machine drilling in the distance. And those are just the noises I can label.

  I find my eyes are drawn to anything and everything. Seeing people wearing different and strange clothes, the blue sky, the sun, trees, buildings, cars, and bicycles. Looking at them all I can’t decide what astounds me the most.

  I re-adjust the clothes Beth gave me. I’m wearing long, black bootleg track pants, a plain white t-shirt and a black zip up jacket. The material feels so strange and foreign against my skin. I never thought I’d miss my greys, but I feel strangely exposed without them.

  A burst of laughter erupts from up ahead as a boy unsteadily rides a bike down the street with a girl sitting on the handlebars. They both squeal and laugh as the bike begins to tip over.

  Beth walks next to me, not nearly as overwhelmed by the world outside as I am. I glance down at my fidgeting hands as I work up the courage to ask her the question I’ve been desperate to ask since the moment I saw her.

  ‘Do you know where Sebastian is?’ I ask.

  ‘What do you mean?’ she responds.

  ‘He was taken. I need to find him.’

  ‘What?’ She stops me mid-step, grabbing my arm. ‘He’s here?’

  ‘You didn’t know?’

  ‘Clearly.’ She takes a breath and clears her throat. ‘What about my dad? How is he?’ She may sound nonchalant, but her eyes show the depth of her anxiety. She must’ve been desperate to ask me about her family.

  ‘He’s okay. He’s not handling Sebastian being taken too well though.’

  ‘When did Sebastian get taken?’

  ‘A couple of weeks ago. How is it you don’t know? They said he’d be at school.’

  She drops her hand from my arm and her cool façade returns. ‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Hope’s a big place and East Hope High isn’t the only school. He’s not there.’

  My shoulders slouch, defeated. ‘I don’t understand. They said he’d be there. You don’t know where he is then?’

  ‘Obviously.’

  ‘What can we do? Could we try a search for his username on our cuffs?’ I ask.

  She shakes her head. ‘Can’t search for users on these. You can only get them by bumping cuffs.’ I search her face closely. I almost believe she doesn’t care. Almost…

  She starts walking again and I have to jog a few steps to catch up with her. We walk in silence for a block, before I attempt to talk to her again.

  ‘I’m so confused … Beth. Can you please just explain what’s going on?’

  She doesn’t respond.

  ‘Where would they have taken Sebastian? Why are you living with these strangers? Where’s your mum?’

  ‘She’s at home. Probably starting dinner about now.’

  ‘I know where Cathy is. I mean your real mum.’

  She ignores me and keeps walking.

  ‘They keep talking about people being talented. I still can’t even begin to wrap my head around that one. Could you at least tell me about that?’ I let my irritation seep into my voice.

  Beth laughs heartlessly under her breath again, but keeps walking.

  ‘C’mon. Please?’ She continues to ignore me so I reach out and grab her arm, stopping her. ‘Would you please tell me?’

  She looks me up and down. A malicious smirk turns at the corner of her lips. ‘Oh, I can do better than tell you…’ she murmurs.

  She looks around before turning down an alleyway. Nervously I follow. It’s narrow, and evening has started to hit, so thick shadows are sprawled across the walls and at my feet. The hustle and bustle of the city disappears as we move away from the street. The eerie quiet sends a shiver down my spine. I guess not everything above ground is all sunshine.

  ‘Where are you taking me?’ I call, as I trudge after her. Again, she doesn’t turn around. The smell of something rancid reaches my nose as I near a dumpster that is overflowing with its filth. I scrunch up my face in disgust and begin to breath through my mouth, sticking as close to the opposite wall of the alley as possible, while I walk past it.

  ‘C’mon Beth—Shit!’ I curse as I stumble over an empty crate. I bend down to roll up the bottom of the pants Beth has lent me. This is ridiculous. Where is she taking me? She’s not acting like herself.

  When I look up Beth is nowhere to be seen.

  ‘Beth?’ I slowly straighten up. The other end of the alley is too far for Beth to have reached in such a short time, and there is nothing between the exit and me. She’s completely disappeared.

  I pull my jacket in closer and, tucking my arms around me, I half-turn to check over my shoulder. I’m still quite close to where I entered the alley.

  I look back to where I’d last seen Beth. Maybe I should head back to the apartment? I have no idea where she’s gone.

  My eyebrows crease as I try to decide what to do next. I’m not certain I’ll be able to find my way back. The buildings had all looked so similar and I’d been so distracted on our walk here, I hadn’t seen any landmarks that could help me find my way back. I look down at my CommuCuff, uncertain how well it would be able to direct me out here.

  Maybe Beth just got a little more ahead of me than I thought? I take a few hesitant steps forward. ‘Beth?’ I call louder this time, hoping she can hear me.

  ‘Behind you,’ Beth’s voice whispers in my ear. I leap up and squeal with surprise, as my heart jumps into my mouth. I hold my throat with my hand and bend over, trying to calm myself.

  ‘Where did you come from?’ I wheeze. She pats me on the back and continues down the alley.

  ‘Told you I’d show you what being talented was,’ she taunts.

  ‘What are you talking about? You didn’t show me anything.’

  ‘Come on Elle, think about it.’ She turns back and taps her finger against her head. I can tell she’s enjoying this. I look around for where she’d been hiding.

  ‘Seriously where’d you go?’ She shrugs in response. I want to glare at her, or say something spiteful, but I’m distracted. Something’s different about her eyes. It’s like the rings are brighter than usual. They’re almost purple in colour, rather than her normal blue.

  ‘What’s wrong with your eyes?’ I ask.

  ‘Nothing!’ She lifts her hands to rub them and turns to keep walking. I start to follow, but then stop. I don’t want to play this game anymore.

  ‘April, what is going on?’ She stops in her tracks when she hears her name, turns, and marches back towards me.

  ‘Elle, you really can’t call me that.’ The sarcasm has dropped and instead her voice has a pleading edge to it.

  ‘Then you really need to explain…’

  ‘Fine.’ She pushes her hands through her hair. ‘What do you want to know?’

  ‘Tell me more about being talented,’ I ask quietly, scared to say something that will raise her hackles again.

  She huffs out an irritated breath before she begins. ‘People who are tainted have developed talents, but it’s not something that will affect you too much. You’ve ended up in East Hope. Everyone knows you only go to East Hope if you’re an untalent.’

  ‘A what?’

  ‘An untalent,’ she gro
ans as though I’m completely thick. ‘It’s a person who’s been affected by the mutation, but doesn’t develop any new faculties that allow them to do the extraordinary. Most people are untalents. Often they have some capacity for precognition or retrocognition. Untalented precogs barely even count as talents in my book.’

  Utter confusion must be written all over my face. It’s like she’s speaking a completely different language. She catches my expression and rolls her eyes. ‘Weren’t you listening in your reintegration session?’

  I stare at her blankly. ‘They didn’t explain in this kind of detail…’

  ‘It’s simple. Untalents have very weak talents. A talented person might have a mutation that enables them to move large objects with just their mind. But, an untalent with a similar mutation might only be able to lift a pen a few inches off the ground.’

  ‘And you?’

  ‘I’m in the east, so what do you think?’

  I look at her uncertainly. ‘I think you just disappeared from far in front of me and then somehow reappeared behind me.’

  She laughs hysterically. ‘Elle, I was hiding behind the dumpster over there.’ I turn around to look in the direction she’s pointing and see the dumpster I’d walked past earlier.

  I fold my arms across my chest and avoid meeting her eyes when I turn back. ‘Oh,’ I reply. I shouldn’t have said what I thought, but she disappeared from sight. With everything that’s going on, what did she expect me to think? I’m not even certain I believe her dumpster explanation. I would’ve seen her. I shiver and rub my arms. The alley is starting to get quite cold now and I’m not used to such an unregulated temperature.

  ‘There are, of course, some people in Hope who could probably do something like that,’ she continues. ‘I doubt we’ve really even begun to see the extent of what humans are now capable of.’

  ‘What about the people you live with, your family?’

  ‘Untalents.’

  ‘Okay. So where are the people that can disappear?’

  ‘They’re in the north. On the other side of the river.’ She walks towards the wall lining the alley and sits on a crate. ‘But untalents aren’t allowed to go there. It’s too…’ her voice trails off as she looks for the word, ‘dangerous, not to mention illegal.’