My father pulled me closer. “She’s just lost her friend, Anga. Jenton has lost his son.”
“And I’d like to know who’s responsible,” Member Solis said.
“Blaming invisible bogeymen won’t help with that,” said my father.
The Council Members and their associates still in the box were watching us now. Member Solis couldn’t be the only one who blamed Flickerkin for what had just happened. Indeed, even I could think of no one else who would want to make such a statement, except for ordinary Lefties. After all, the government was rounding up Lefties and torturing them. They had been excluded from the Games for no reason at all.
What if Nolan had caused the explosion? I had agreed to shelter him in my beast’s stall. If anyone found out that I had seen him, it wouldn’t matter that I had no part. And why was I more concerned about that than about the death of my friend? What had happened to me over the last few days?
“Poppa, I think we should go,” I said.
“We have no reason to leave,” he said. But he must have seen something in my face, because he sighed deeply and turned to Member Solis. “Well, Anga, you’ve succeeded in making life unbearable for a sixteen-year-old girl—your own foster daughter’s best friend.” He raised his head to address everyone in the box. “We should be mourning young Mr. Staliamos, not blaming each other.”
Tear-stained faces stared back at us. They were not friendly. These people were all thinking it—that Orphos had been killed by a Flickerkin.
“Poppa, come on,” I said, grabbing his arm. I didn’t know if they would let us leave, if they believed only that we were dirty by association or that we had a part in the murder. Not we, I. My father couldn’t be suspected of doing it, only of harboring me. But hadn’t I just run from the box? Couldn’t I have gotten to the island and back in time? No, I thought, I’m not wet. I would have had to swim. Surely they can see that. But perhaps they attributed a magical drying-off power to invisible people. Perhaps they didn’t care about logic at all.
I lowered my head as we set off for the exit from the box, my father’s hand firmly on my shoulder. Caster’s face rushed back into my mind. And Orphos’s body. I pictured Orphos smiling, flirting with Porti, taking every opportunity to tease her. He was such a good-natured person. We’d all assumed they’d be together, maybe even marry someday. Porti had never admitted that she liked him, no matter how plain it was to all. Not until today, when she’d been the first to run to him, even before his parents. Tears were rolling down my face again. Orphos was dead, and Porti would never be the same.
With my head down and my eyes flooded with tears, I nearly ran smack into the Deputy. He stood blocking our way out of the Council box. Four guardsmen stood behind him.
“Excuse me, Your Excellency,” said my father.
“I’m sorry, Donray,” the Deputy said. The guardsman Brach made a little motion as if tipping a nonexistent hat, his sarcasm apparent.
“For what are you sorry?” my father asked coldly.
“We must take you into custody for the charges.”
We both stared at him. My father kept a hand on my shoulder.
“It’s for your own safety, Donray,” the Deputy said. “In light of this attack, the public will not tolerate a man who has harbored a Flickerkin walking free.” My mother’s words flashed before me. The Deputy again pretended he was forced to act.
My father’s hand tightened on my shoulder.
“You don’t need to worry about Miss Hailfast,” the Deputy said. “She will come live with me. I will personally see that she is taken care of in the manner appropriate for a Member’s daughter.”
My blood froze. Live with the Deputy?
“I am no threat to anyone,” my father said quietly. “My daughter does not deserve to have both her parents taken away.”
“I’m sorry,” the Deputy said again.
“The Council can’t have voted in the last five minutes,” said my father.
“They have already voted on the charges, Donray,” said the Deputy. “No further vote is needed.”
A wall of men, the Deputy and the four guardsmen, faced us. There was no way for us to escape what they called justice. My father turned to me. “Myra, I will not let this continue. I will be back before you know it.”
“Poppa, no,” I said. But I could do nothing.
My father addressed Member Solis. “Anga,” he said, “I would be most grateful if you would take in my daughter. It would be much help to her to be with her closest friend during this difficult time.”
“I don’t think Myra is good for Miss Vale,” said Member Solis. “We’ve just seen the kind of influence she’s been. I’m sorry, but I will not be able to take her.” The woman’s eyes were cold. She couldn’t see Porti’s sacrifice as a sign of her open and friendly heart. She couldn’t see compassion and friendship as good qualities. It was when I looked into her hateful eyes that I regained my strength.
“I’ll be fine, Poppa,” I said. “The Deputy will feed and clothe me, I’m sure.” I looked up at him. “He will let me visit you.”
“Of course, Miss Hailfast,” the Deputy said. And his eyes, I saw to my surprise, were not cold. But I didn’t trust the emotion that was in them.
My father hugged me and pulled me close. “I will fix this,” he whispered. “I love you.”
“I love you,” I whispered back. And then he stood up and stepped forward, and two guardsmen approached him. Brach took one of his arms and the second man took the other, and they cuffed his hands behind his back. My heart pounded as he walked away; my vision blurred. They had taken my mother, but I had not been alone. Then they had taken my ride, and I had endured it. Now they had taken my father. I was left with the man my mother hated most in the world, the man who had tortured us. Orphos was dead and Porti shattered. But somehow, I remained standing.
“Shall we go, then?” I said. I walked past the Deputy, between his personal bodyguards. I headed back to the State Complex, to the Deputy’s apartment, and the men followed me.
Fifteen
THERE WAS ONE BRIGHT SPOT ABOUT BEING FORCED to live with the Deputy. Even as I walked ahead of the guardsmen, nearly blind from the stress of all that had just occurred, I was aware that I would be in the same apartment as Caster. He was one thing in my life that was still good. And he had to be dying inside, as Porti was. He had seen something that no one should ever have to see—not on the photobox, as had the rest of us, but in the flesh.
When I reached the Deputy’s apartment, though, Caster wasn’t there. A servant, a thin middle-aged man, regarded me glumly as he let us in.
“Good day, Your Excellency,” he said to the Deputy.
“Thank you, Koren,” said the Deputy. The door closed behind us, heavy and solid. The guardsmen stayed outside.
The sitting room beyond the entrance was elegant, modern, and clean. But it was silent as death.
“Miss Hailfast,” the Deputy said, looking down at me with sad eyes. He didn’t try to smile. “I know that this has been a most difficult day. I wish I could explain all to you, but I must attend to the situation. Koren will show you to a guest room.” He turned to Koren. “Provide the lady with anything she needs.”
“Yes, Your Excellency,” said Koren.
“I will be back when I can, Miss Hailfast,” said the Deputy. “Please rest and don’t do anything rash. I promise things will begin to make sense.” He gave me a little bow and ducked out the door, leaving me with the somber Koren.
“Are you hungry, Miss Hailfast?” Koren asked.
“No, thank you,” I said. “I just want to lie down.”
I didn’t really wish to lie down, but that is what I did. I lay on a fine bed in a room decorated with expensive art and stared at the ceiling. I might be as much a prisoner as my parents; I had no idea what would happen if I tried to leave. I had said I’d take water to Nolan, but I had no hope of doing that now.
I turned on the radio, but all I heard was the
news of the attack over and over, and worse, Nolan’s name. The whole city believed he was responsible. If it was not Nolan, Sky said, then it was another Flickerkin, and what, really, was the difference? All who hid from view were suspect. I didn’t know what to think. Nolan had seemed to be himself, so far as I knew him, except that he had been afraid and dirty and in need of help. He had never shown any desire to hurt anyone. But then, I had never had a conversation with him before that went much beyond hello, and when they had tried to take him, he had seemed to know more than I did. He was defiant.
And why shouldn’t he be?
But defying unfairness was different from killing people. Surely Nolan couldn’t kill anyone, much less people he had gone to school with since childhood. The Deputy, however bad he was, still hadn’t killed anyone. Or had he? A miner had been sentenced to Judgment, I remembered. Was he with the Waters now, and had someone retaliated by killing Orphos?
I should have been with Porti, preparing for the winners’ ball. Though only one of us could have won, we both would have placed. We would have been honored with fine food and drinks and speeches. Porti would have been beaming in a fine gown, one that made her feel she was more than a beast rancher from the Head. The kind of gown she deserved to wear. She should have had that, and I didn’t know what she had now. Member Solis had been so angry about what Porti had done for me. Perhaps I had ruined everything for her.
I decided to try to call her from the voicebox receiver in my room. I wasn’t sure whether the Deputy would allow me to have a working receiver, but either I wasn’t a complete prisoner or the Deputy had forgotten to cut my access.
Bricca’s nanny answered. “Hello?”
“Issa? It’s me, Myra,” I said. “May I speak with Portianna?”
“I’m sorry, Miss Hailfast,” said Issa. “She’s not available.” And she hung up on me.
I didn’t believe for a minute that Porti wasn’t home. Probably Member Solis had rounded her up, dragged her away, and locked her in her room for her sins. Porti had to be losing her mind in there, as I was here.
There was a knock on the door, and before I could answer, Caster burst in.
“Caster!” I ran to him and wrapped my arms around him.
“Myra,” he said, cradling me.
“Are you all right?” we asked together.
“I couldn’t get my father to say more than two words,” Caster said. “How could he do this?”
“Never mind that,” I said. “I can’t believe what you saw.”
He walked past me, rubbing a hand over his hair. “It wasn’t him,” he said. “It was something else. His body wasn’t even his anymore.”
“Do they know anything about how it happened?”
“A great deal of prezine,” Caster said. “Buried and set to trigger at the weight of a hoof.”
“But who? Why?”
“Nobody knows anything,” Caster said. “It’s all speculation. Invisible men. Disgruntled miners.”
“I didn’t know prezine could do that,” I said. Though I might have guessed. It did everything in the city. All our lights were powered by it, all our machines.
“The method is supposed to be a secret,” said Caster. “Only Gregor’s father and my father are supposed to know.” Knowledge of explosives was banned along with daggers and swords.
“How are his parents?” I asked. “Did you see Porti?”
“They were devastated,” he said. “Shouting and crying, his mother and father both. Porti couldn’t stop screaming, until Member Solis came with her servants and took her away.”
“I tried to call her, but Issa hung up on me. Member Solis hates me.”
“The world is all askew,” Caster said. “Your father has done nothing but protect his wife.” He came back and wrapped me in his arms again. “At least you’re here with me.”
It would have been wrong of me, but I wanted to smile. I liked the feel of his arms around me. It wasn’t fair for me to like it, though, because Porti would never have Orphos’s arms around her. And she had wanted that so badly.
Caster kissed me, only a peck. “My father hasn’t hurt you again, has he?”
“No,” I said. “He acted like he was sorry.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my voice.
“As soon as he gets home, I’ll talk to him,” Caster said. “I’ll do what I can to get your parents out of jail.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I don’t think it will help. I don’t know what will help.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he said. He kissed me again. This time it lasted a little longer. I stood on my tiptoes and got lost in it. Here was one thing that helped. But I pulled away. It wasn’t right.
“I have to see Porti,” I said. “After all she did for me, I can’t let her sit alone.”
“Of course,” he said. “Here.” He pulled a key out of his pocket. “So you can come and go.”
“Thank you,” I said. I hugged him, and as much as I didn’t want to, broke free and headed out. I was afraid Koren or some other servant or a guardsman would appear and stop me, but no one did.
It was dark outside. Darkness didn’t normally bother me because there was little crime in the city, much less in the State Complex, but today everything was off. I walked briskly, not looking from side to side, trying not to look for hidden sensors. Every little square thing seemed to be one. Along with everything else that had happened, I had flickered. What if somehow they could catch me even when I was visible? What if the Deputy learned of the trigger point? What if I were to fall and hit that exact spot? I didn’t know if there was some other trick that could undo me, another accident around a corner. I was a stranger to myself now. As I walked, I looked down at my body to make sure I was still there.
There was no one in the courtyard, and I easily reached Porti’s door. I knocked, at first quietly, and then louder. No one answered.
“Porti, it’s Myra,” I called. I waved at the peephole in the door. I couldn’t believe that no one was home. Even if Porti really was not there, surely Issa would be, and she couldn’t turn me away from the door as easily as hanging up a receiver. I knocked again.
Slowly, the door opened a crack. It was Member Solis herself.
“I came to see if she’s all right,” I said.
“She’ll be fine,” said Member Solis.
“I’d like to talk to her,” I said.
“This is a bad time.” She started to close the door, but I put out my hand to stop it. I wanted to push my way in, but what would that do? She would only summon her servants to throw me out.
“Please tell her I came by. I don’t want her to think I’ve abandoned her. He was my friend, too.” I choked on these words as the image of Orphos’s body displayed on the huge screen popped into my mind. “Tell her to call me when she can.”
“I will tell her,” said Member Solis, and then she shut the door in my face.
I stood there on the walkway. Porti was inside, and I couldn’t see her. I doubted Member Solis would tell Porti I had been there. She would let Porti believe that I had abandoned her after what she had done for me. All because of who my mother was? Because of what I looked like? The tears that had been for Orphos began falling for myself.
I didn’t want to go back to the Deputy’s, but I could think of no other option. There was no friend I could turn to whose parents wouldn’t treat me as Member Solis had.
I walked slowly out of the building and back into the courtyard, keeping my head down. Member Solis had known me nearly all my life. She had been cold to me, and rude, but she had always allowed me in her home. Tears filled my eyes and nearly blinded me, but I pressed forward. I wished Hoof were with me. She would still love me, being too dumb to see that I was short and pale. Perhaps I would go to the stables, never mind Nolan, never mind anyone. No one could keep me from my best comfort. I determined that I’d do that, go to the stables, when an arm grabbed me around the waist from behind.
I screeched in surprise and tried
to pull forward, but the arm pulled me back. I was pressed into the hard front of a man’s body.
“Where are you going, Leftie?” a man’s voice asked.
“Out to plant another explosive?” said a second man from behind me. In front of me, I saw only the empty courtyard. There was none of the ordinary bustle and laughter, no one but me and the two men.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of part of the man’s face. “Is that you, Brach?” I gasped. “I know it’s you. You’ll be imprisoned.”
“I’d like to spend time with your Flickerbitch mother,” said the other man, whose voice I couldn’t place.
“Help! Help!” I screamed. I kicked Brach’s shins, but he held me fast.
Then one of the men yelped, and Brach dropped me. I fell forward, landing on my hands and knees. I twisted as I rose, ready to defend myself, but there was no need. The men were occupied, fighting someone unseen.
“Run, Myra!” a man’s voice called. But one of the men landed a blow on what looked like thin air, and then the other man connected. I couldn’t simply run away. I ran toward Brach and kicked him as hard as I could in the back of the knee with the heel of my ladies’ boot. He collapsed forward into invisible arms. The invisible man tossed him aside, then landed one more good blow to the second man’s head.
“Damn it, Myra!” Nolan—for who else could it have been?—grabbed my hand. “Come!” He began to run, and I ran with him, out the side of the courtyard and into the street.
“Flicker!” he whispered urgently.
“I can’t!” I said. And if I could have, I wouldn’t—I’d be seen.
“Come on,” he said.
I kept going, holding a solid hand I couldn’t see, afraid I would trip over his feet and take us both down.
Two more guardsmen, the only people on the street, saw me and gave chase.
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