The Keeper's Curse

by Diana Harrison

  There was something almost like a mental sigh of relief that emanated from him. She didn’t laugh. Or roll her eyes. Or try to change the subject. There was a pause, and then, Why did I assume she would?

  Emmy opened her mouth to speak again, but Breckin came to a halt. She looked ahead of her; they had reached the complex. Breckin opened the door for her, and the two of them made their way up to the top in silence, walking a little closer to each other than they had been before.

  ***

  The trip to Ministrial went along smoothly. Ministrial, along with thirty nine others of the fifty seven orbs (according to Breckin) had portals from Methelwood in a small room on the top floor of the main living complex. Spheres on golden rods lined the wall, all of them with moving scenery inside like the one in Alex’s old room. The sensation of falling when Emmy gripped Ministrial was just as strong as the first time she traveled this way, but less unpleasant now that she knew what was coming.

  It was late afternoon when they arrived. The sun was a semicircle on the horizon now, the sky filled with the colors of sunset. They showed their identification when they walked out of the House of Law, a building with primly dressed women clacking away on their typewriters, and men in fur trimmed cloaks. Breckin guided her out into the street.

  Emmy expected to walk into a forest like she had in Methelwood, but instead walked out into the middle of a metropolis with tall stoned buildings dressed in brambles. Breckin had to pull her away from the center of the street several times, and for good reason. In the center of the road was a silver band with poppy-red automobiles levitating several inches above it, zooming by with crafters inside them. Seeing a city with skyscrapers and cars again caused a pang of longing in her.

  They passed a street corner where a squared platform was located, with several people on it. Every few seconds another one of the automobiles would whiz up, stop, and the door would swing open for them.

  “I didn’t know you guys had cars,” Emmy said.

  Breckin tilted his head. “Sorry?”

  “Um, these things that take us places. We have something similar back home.”

  Breckin nodded. “They’re called pods, but that makes sense. Ministrial has a knack for trying to copy the real world. Once in a while some of technology and ideas even trickle down into the rest of the orbs. Since most Ministrialians have gotten to see the real world, they do their best and try to live like them.”

  This piqued Emmy’s interest. “So you can live in the real world?”

  “Live? Oh, no. I couldn’t even do that. But there are some jobs that require you to travel there, like ambassadors, research writers, and trackers, which are people that hunt down people like ...” He trailed off awkwardly, mid gesture.

  “Like my mom?”

  His face flushed and he lowered his head. “Sorry.”

  She was almost frustrated with how sensitive he was. “Don’t worry about it. So, are these jobs pretty competitive?”

  Breckin laughed. “‘Kind of competitive’? They’re nearly impossible to get because everyone wants them so badly. To get to experience human culture, see their superiority and bring it back .... I can’t wait to see more. I’ve only been to Italy once and America a couple of times.”

  Emmy shifted and didn’t respond. The reverence of non-crafters made her very uncomfortable.

  She figured they would step on a platform to take them to the Governor’s Living Complex, but when Emmy suggested this, Breckin shook his head.

  “Wouldn’t you rather walk?”

  She didn’t argue, mostly because it was true. She almost felt like she was in the real world again.

  Because of Breckin’s status, when they reached the complex, Circlet accepted the visit without any prior notice. She met them in the lobby, similar to the one in Methelwood, and escorted them up to her apartment.

  She sat them in her elaborately decorated living room. Emmy and Breckin took a seat on one couch, and Circlet sat on the other couch, across the glass coffee table, so they could see each other.

  Formalities took place for the first few minutes as they sipped offered tea, or rather, Breckin and Circlet exchanged formalities. For such a fidgety person, Breckin knew how to be polite and cordial when necessary, probably through years of training.

  Finally, Circlet put her cup down. “Now, I suspect you two are here over what you have found yesterday?”

  Emmy was surprised, but Breckin wasn’t. “Yes. Circlet, as you probably remember, I visited you a while ago, about Cyrus Crow.”

  “I remember.” Her fox-face was amused.

  “Well, we found the portal while following Cyrus into the woods during our peacekeeping lesson,” Breckin continued. “It was at the Morrison’s Spot, and he was snooping around it for a long time. I have reason to suspect that he knew it was there.”

  Her blonde eyebrows raised into her bangs. “Do you, now? Do you have any proof?”

  “I was there too, Ms. Circlet,” Emmy spoke up. “We both saw him. It was really suspicious. He only left because someone called him away.”

  Circlet sat back in her couch, a distant look in her eye. She had heard Emmy, but chose not to listen. “Well, I was curious to where this portal led to, and when we arrived, it was abandoned.”

  There was a long pause of anticipation.

  “It wasn’t one of the fifty seven orbs,” Circlet said. “And it was really, really small. There was one mansion, several cottages surrounding it, and an extensive backyard, and that was it. The wall circumventing the orb was right around it. There were a few animals, but no people. Isn’t that peculiar?”

  “Very,” Breckin said through gritted teeth. “Cyrus is here just a few days and finds this thing?”

  “But that’s just the thing, Mr Crawford. Orbs take months to make – how could Cyrus have possibly known about it?”

  Stars burst in front of Breckin’s eyes. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe it was the orb he was living with Thoreoux in?”

  “Or maybe he was solving the scavenger hunt with the rest of the class. Crawford, you’re expecting me to arrest the boy on two eye witnesses of someone simply circling the Morrison’s Spot?”

  Breckin’s breathing became shallower and shallower, and Emmy figured it was time to step in. “Ms. Circlet, no disrespect, but that’s not all. You know where Cyrus Crow has been, and who he’s working for. It’s pretty obvious.”

  Circlet blinked in surprise; she had forgotten Emmy was there. “Where he probably was. I have no proof Mr. Crow has done anything wrong.”

  “So that’s it? You’re going to risk all of Methelwood because you don’t have clear evidence?”

  “I would love to discuss it with you if you have something viable,” Circle replied calmly. “But then, and only then.” She turned to Emmy. “So, how are you studies going, Miss Rathers? Are you preparing for you upcoming admission exam?”

  “I’m getting there,” Emmy said, determined to keep her control.

  “Good. The trial is going very well, as you’ll be interested to know. I’ve been able to find a panel of sympathizers for a jury, which will hopefully help Annie’s case. You’re lucky to have a governor as a friend, bending the system for you.”

  Emmy glared at her, hating that she needed her so much.

  “Well, if that’s all, I guess we’ll be going,” Breckin said, formalities gone. His voice lowered Emmy back down to reality. “Let’s go, Lana.”

  Emmy followed him out the door without a goodbye, trying to maintain a balance between respect and disrespect for the governor. She didn’t want to upset Circlet, but she was too angry to be polite.

  Breckin exploded when they reached the sidewalk.

  “It’s like she’s defending him! Ever since I got here she did her best to protect me and now the only threat that has ever showed up since I arrived is here, and she won’t do a thing.”

  She knew she should probably tell him to calm down, but it would have been hypocritical of her. She wanted Cyrus gone
too; she still had no idea how he knew about how she could hear Breckin telepathically. “It is weird. Especially what they found in the orb – to me that sounds like more evidence against Cyrus than less.”

  “I know,” he mumbled. “I’m sorry I dragged you out here.”

  “Hey, don’t worry about it. We aren’t giving up, okay? We don’t need her.” She hesitated before saying what she said next. “Cyrus came to see me today. And he threatened me.”

  This did not help Breckin’s blood pressure. “He what?”

  I’m going to kill him.

  “I know you’re telling the truth. We know he’s out to hurt us. All we have to do is prove it, which won’t be too hard considering we know he’s going to try and do it.”

  Why would he want to hurt her, of all people?

  “You’re right. Hey, if he ever threatens you again, let me know. I’ll deal with him.”

  She tried not to be touched. What she should have told him was that she was a strong modern woman who could protect herself. But the alternative was having him around more.

  “Okay,” she said.

  Neither of them spoke the rest of the trip home. She couldn’t help but notice the silences were never awkward with him.

  Chapter 13

  Break In

  “So, what do you think?” It was Persephone, twirling the keys to the school around her index finger.

  The three girls – Emmy, Jade and Persephone – had spent almost every waking moment outside of school together that week. The library had become their main base point to talk, pretty much because no one ever came in there.

  “It’s a good plan,” Emmy said, only half listening. Since the plan was so simple, not much could go wrong. There was only one part left. “But you know that we still need some identification to get into the room with the downloader.”

  Persephone groaned beside her. “Yes, that. Well, I guess if we have to we can make a sub-plan and steal someone’s ID.”

  Impatience began simmering inside Emmy; she needed to know what was buried inside her subconscious now. “Is there a quicker way? Isn’t there some kind of skeleton key that opens every room in Urquhart?”

  “Well, dignitaries have them,” Jade said. At Emmy’s puzzled expression, she continued on. “Important people, like the governors for example, would have identification that would open every outlet to every door. They all have the same security system.”

  “Okay, so, dignitaries are just another word for political people?”

  “Not just political people,” Jade said. “Anyone really important. You know, business owners, old money families, sometimes famous people – that sort of thing.”

  Cranks began turning in Emmy’s head, faster and faster. She barely took note of the second thing Jade had said; she had Emmy at political figures.

  Maybe it was because she had been thinking about him non-stop all week, but he flitted across her mind regardless.

  “But also political people,” Emmy said out loud, turning to Jade. “Do you think you could invite Breckin over for dinner tonight?”

  ***

  The rest of the afternoon went by both incredibly quick and agonizingly slow for Emmy. Both she and Jade had a shift at The Noir Beanery in the evening, so Persephone left it to them to deal with this part of the plan.

  He came, just as he always did, at six o’ clock in the evening on the mark, after his lesson with Oka (whom Emmy wasn’t entirely sure what part he played in Breckin’s life, but he appeared to be a specialty teacher of some sort). His presence was immediately apparent to her, and almost involuntarily she jerked up and looked at the doorway where he was, a halo of light from the lanterns hanging over his head.

  “He’s here,” Emmy said to Jade. “You ask him, okay?”

  She left to go help a customer before Jade could say no.

  All afternoon Emmy had a skip in her step at the idea of spending the evening with him, but now that he was here, a knot had formed in her stomach. Emmy was annoyed with herself; for the first time, seeing Breckin had made her go shy. It was revolting.

  Inevitably he ended up at the front of the line on Jade’s side, Rozelyn beside him.

  “Hey Breckin – yes, I know, don’t tell me,” Jade said, almost bored. “And Roz! What are you doing down here?”

  “To see my favourite cousin, of course.”

  Jade waved the compliment away, but she was glowing. “Well, it’s good to see you too. I know you hate coffee, but do you want something else?”

  “A cinnamon bun, if that’s okay,” Rozelyn said.

  “Great.” Jade turned to Emmy, who gave her an urgent gesture. “Oh, and um, hey – while you two are here ... since we haven’t talked in a while, do you want to have dinner with us upstairs later?”

  Breckin and Rozelyn exchanged a worried expression, which Jade understood right away.

  “Relax,” Jade said. “We won’t feed you lattes and pastries. We have real food, too.”

  Their expressions softened at that.

  “Okay, sure,” Rozelyn said. “We’d love to.”

  “Excellent! Come by in about an hour and a half. Alright, so you owe me ten twenty five.”

  Breckin paid for the pair of them and wandered off to wait for the drinks. Jade flashed Emmy a thumbs up, triumph plastered on her face. Jade, Emmy thought, would make the worst spy in the entire world.

  The knot in Emmy’s stomach didn’t let up when they left, but rather intensified. It wasn’t an entirely unpleasant knot, but anxiety, even if it was anticipation, was still anxiety. Jade seemed to notice this energy in Emmy, and whenever she walked by, she noticed Jade had a slight smile on her face. Emmy tried to deflate the bubbling in her stomach, worrying Jade knew exactly why she was excited.

  At long last their shift came to an end, and the girls rushed upstairs to change for dinner. As they untied their aprons in Jade’s room, they rehearsed several times how they were going to ask Breckin for his citizenship badge, Emmy leaving most of the work to Jade.

  They two girls met up with Alex and Gabe in the hall, and the four teenagers traveled down to the kitchen together to find Vera not in her usual mood.

  The kitchen was tidier than Emmy had ever seen it. The only messy thing in the room was Vera herself, spots of food covering her clothes and face, darting from one side of the room to the other with the speed of a hummingbird.

  “Mom, you can calm down,” Jade said. “It’s just Roz and Breckin.”

  Vera glared at her daughter so fiercely all four of them took a step back. She slammed the bowl she was holding in her left hand onto the table.

  “‘Calm down’, dear? Maybe next time you can give me a warning exceeding an hour when you invite your friends over!”

  Jade simply rolled her eyes and headed over to the wood stove and began stirring the venison stew. The other three followed her example and began to set the table. Jade’s father, Sol, burst in a few minutes later, glowering at everyone and sat at the table, not helping. Emmy couldn’t entire blame him; a violent storm had started up earlier that day, and since he spent most of his days outside, Sol would have had to endure the worst of it.

  Only a few minutes later dinner was ready and with impeccable timing, Breckin and Rozelyn walked through the door.

  Sol attempted to change his demeanour for the guests, rising from his seat to shake Breckin’s hand and greet his niece. Everyone sat down then, and Vera began pouring food onto everyone’s plates.

  It only took a few minutes of grumbling talk about the weather before Sol decided to engage Breckin with the topic that Methelwoodians seem to cherish above all others: war.

  “So, boy, you and that Oka character seem to be spending a lot of time together lately – have you been discussing the orb relations lately? Tensions seem to be rising anywhere?”

  Emmy secretly wondered if Breckin was sick to death of this sort of talk, but he politely replied. “Well, Oka and I have been talking lately about Freestone and Beaucott. Apparently
Freestone tried trading with Beaucott, and of course, they can’t pay them back.”

  Sol snorted. “Why am I not surprised? Freestone is very conservative; they’re probably using it as a reason to start fighting with them. Not that’ll it be much of a fight. Beaucott is useless in those matters.”

  “It really is their own fault,” Rozelyn said. “They don’t arm themselves at all.”

  “Philosophers, the whole lot of them,” Sol said in a derisive tone. “They’re completely disconnected from reality.”

  Breckin nodded although Emmy saw some doubt in his eyes that he didn’t voice. “I’m sure any month now Ministrial will cut some of their benefits.”

  “Well no doubt, they’re a drain!” Sol said. “Maybe if they spent less time coming up with useless theories and more time contributing to the rest of the orb community Freestone wouldn’t be so annoyed with them.”

  “They’re not all useless theories.” Emmy stopped mid bite, not recognizing the voice at first. It was only following all the eyes at the table did she realize it was Gabe who had talked, and quite sternly at that. “Have you ever actually read their stuff? Try Balthazar’s manifesto on orb interactions, or Indigo’s ideas about contemporary palewraith usage. The Beaucott people are unconventional, but they’re not stupid.”

  Emmy couldn’t believe it. Gabe had just spoken more in the last thirty seconds than he had in all the times she had witnessed him combined. She realized then that she had misjudged him as shy, but he was just extremely introverted. Sol looked as surprised as she did.

  “Well, if their ideas are so progressive, how come they have never been tried out?” Sol said.

  “Because then Ministrial would have to relinquish some control, and they would never let that happen.”