“How was your first day?” Sal called out to me from across the table.
Silverware tapped against plates as everyone resumed eating, content to ignore Lace’s antics. A platter of chicken made its way down the table, thanks to Lock.
“It was all right, I guess.”
“How’d you test?” Traz passed me a bread basket as he spoke. When our hands touched, I was struck by the cool dryness of his skin.
Tor grabbed some of everything passed our way and filled his mouth, placing the burden of conversation on me.
“I did fine.”
“Fine?” Lock said, filling the glass in front of me with a pitcher of water. “Sure, if that’s what you want to call it. Sera was placed in the Hub.”
I glared at him, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“The Hub?” everyone seemed to clamor all at once.
“Oh my! You’re, like, the front line!”
“That’s amazing!”
Pulling attention to the other end of the table, Elle said, “Well, my day was pretty fantastic, too. Sal and I might be moving to the City!”
Excitement exploded around the table, and all of the other girls squealed and tumbled out of their chairs to give Elle hugs. I watched, unsure what I should do, until someone kicked me under the table. I looked at Tor, but he focused on his plate, ignoring the melee around us. Turning back, I felt Lock’s hard eyes on me. With a cock of the head and a raised eyebrow, he indicated I needed to join in.
“When are you going?” I asked, leaving my seat and joining the group at the end of the table.
Sal had his arms wrapped lovingly around Elle’s waist as we each in turn hugged and kissed her.
“Well, we have to find out if it sticks first,” Elle said.
I leaned down and kissed the cheek of this amiable girl who could, in another life, have been my friend.
Elle smiled. Her joy was so wide, it filled the entire room.
“So you have to come to the infirmary tomorrow and we’ll check you out!” Jai offered as I returned to my seat.
Lock continued to avoid my eyes, and Tor was almost as useless as the chair I sat in. I listened as the chatter continued about things I didn’t understand, like tests and confirmations and waiting periods.
“Congratulations to you too, Sal,” Ash broke in.
“Yeah, I guess I’ve done my Erdlander duty!” Sal joked, kissing Elle’s shoulder.
“Sera, maybe you and Tor will be next.” Elle’s voice was cheery and full of excitement. She winked at me, and everyone’s eyes moved to us.
“They’ve been Matched for too long already,” Lace grumbled, earning a glare from everyone at the table. “What? They were out there for, like, eight months, and nothing happened?”
“They were in survival mode,” Nalla protested. “I’m sure the conditions weren’t ideal. Besides, just because you can’t seem to reMatch after Jax....”
At the mention of Jax, everyone gasped. Lace hissed and her face contorted. Water filled her eyes. Her mouth pulled into a menacing sneer. No one else looked at her. They all focused on their food, but I couldn’t pull away. The rawness of whatever had happened was tangible in the space around her, like a black hole eating away any love and warmth she possessed.
Lace’s hands curled into fists, and a tear fell to her plate, ignored.
Nalla whispered, “Sorry, Lace.”
“You have no idea,” Lace whispered, her voice raw. “No right.”
“I know. I’m really sorry.” Nalla lifted her eyes and flinched at the impact of Lace’s pain.
“Congratulations, Elle. I hope you get the jikmae out of here as fast as you can,” Lace spat before picking up her plate and leaving the table. No one spoke until the orange door leading to her room slammed.
“Nalla!” Jai scolded, turning on her friend.
“I’m sorry!”
Tor’s rhythmic chewing was the only sound at the table.
“Well, today was an interesting day in Culture,” Traz said, breaking the silence and earning a groan from the table.
“Does anyone else have a story?” Kal complained in a jovial tone, and the group laughed with hesitation.
I filled my plate with bread and meat as they spoke. Their excitement over Elle’s news and the pain I saw in Lace’s eyes made me wonder about what had happened to her before we arrived.
Eventually, everyone shared about their day, and I reached for the green vegetables at the center of the table. After drinking three glasses of water, I finally started to feel like myself again.
Ash refilled my glass from the dark pitcher instead. When I brought it to my lips, the flavor was sweet and thick. I savored the taste, letting it sit on my tongue for a moment. It was familiar, but I didn’t have a word for it. Yet another item to file away in the growing list of things I didn’t understand.
“I don’t think I’m that hard to please!” Jai protested something Sal had said at the other end of the table.
“Please, everyone who goes into the infirmary comes out wondering why they’re in trouble!”
The conflicting emotions within me gave me motion sickness. I enjoyed these people. Even Lace. I’d seen something within her that reminded me of Mother. Still, they were the enemy. Everything I’d seen and heard today with Dr. Vaughn reminded me that Erdlanders were killing the Sualwet without remorse or compassion. Their goal was to annihilate an entire people.
But wasn’t that the Sualwets’ goal as well?
My allegiance to them made no sense, other than my mother raising me to believe they were in the right. What did I really know other than that her family abandoned her, her people rejected me, and her heart had never fully recovered? Was the slaughter of an entire people any worse than the slaughter of one woman’s hopes?
Sal stood up, dropping Elle to the ground with a bang and a fit of giggles. “Come on! Tor, what do you think? I can totally take on Traz!”
Tor’s low voice growled across the table. “What?”
“If it came to, you know, defending the honor of my woman or something, I could totally take Traz.”
“Sal!” Elle giggled as she stood up. “You work in Food Processing! Traz is a book nerd! You can totally take him.”
“He looks pretty tough to me.” Nalla smiled at Traz with dark eyes.
Elle sat back down, and Sal began gathering plates.
“Stop flirting.” Jai pushed Nalla against Ash, who moved closer to me, his leg flush against mine.
The heat of the room intensified the closer we became.
“Oh right, like you care,” Nalla spat back. “I keep waiting for you to announce that you and Kal are going to go try for medical approval!”
“Oh my gods! Nalla!” Jai squealed before shoving her again.
Kal laughed hysterically, making Jai’s skin turn redder and redder until I thought for sure she would burst. While trying to take another drink, I realized I had finished all of my food and all of the brown liquid. Ash refilled the empty glass as soon as I set it down.
“You done?” Sal asked, reaching his hand toward my plate.
“Yeah, thanks.”
He smiled at me, then winked at Ash before turning his back. The laughter grew, and someone turned the music up. My eyes drooped, but I was relaxed and kind of happy. My mood didn’t make sense.
Jai excused herself to help Sal. She walked out to the kitchen but not before placing a hand on Kal’s shoulder as she passed.
“See!” Nalla called, laughing.
Even I couldn’t keep from joining in the fun.
Jai scowled back at us, the red hue of her skin reappearing.
“I have something special in my room.” Lock smiled, his sweetness finally reemerging from behind his walls.
Traz asked, “Is it popcorn?”
“Is it smaller than a breadbox?” Jai called from the other room.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Hey!” Elle called after him. “Get another melodisk, too. I�
��m tired of this one.”
“No! Not more of his whiny City music!” Kal complained.
“I have a melodisk,” I offered in a soft voice, pulling attention back to me. I didn’t think before I spoke. I probably should have.
“You what?” Tor glared at me, his words coming like a hiss pushed through his teeth.
“I have a melodisk. I found it when we were... out there, in the forest.”
“What is it?” Elle practically bounced with excitement.
“Just go get it!” Kal encouraged. “I can’t take another round of Hooray for Matches!”
I stood slowly, the atmosphere of room thicker and more muted than I’d expected. A hand steadied me. When I turned, it wasn’t Tor’s, but Ash’s. I pulled away from him and caught the frown that appeared on his face before I walked back to my room.
Through the door, I still heard them laughing and wanted to return. Elgon woke when I walked in, his tired eyes blinking in the light.
This was the first time I’d ever felt like I had friends, or a family. I wanted to fit in, to be a part of something, and in order to do that, I allowed myself to forget what I was for just a moment.
I pulled the melodisk out of my woven bag on the bed. “Come on, buddy. You want some dinner?”
Elgon stood and stretched, pushing his front legs out before him. I left the door to the room open so he could follow when he was ready.
“What is it?” Kal asked, running up to me and taking the melodisk from my hand.
“I don’t know. It’s not labeled or anything.”
Kal flipped the disk over in his hand and breathed on it before wiping it on his shirt, removing what fingerprints and dust he could.
The table was empty, and most everyone reclined in the main area—all except Traz, who stayed at his place at the table, sitting backwards in the chair and facing the group. Tor stepped out of the kitchen with a glass of the brown liquid in his hand. He leaned against the wall and glowered at me, the kind of look that made my bones melt into caramel. The warmth of the room crept into my skin.
Kal knelt in front of the bookshelf the tonifier was on. He flipped it open, taking Lock’s melodisk out and throwing it across the room at him before putting mine in and closing the top.
“You suck.” Lock laughed as he picked the disk up off the floor. He walked toward his room but stopped as soon as the music from the melodisk began to rise.
Discordant sounds, flowing together with a vibrating perfection, saturated the air. Soft and low the thrumming of an unfamiliar instrument joined in, creating an undeniable rhythm. I closed my eyes and allowed the music to penetrate me and fill my senses. Instead of my usual closed-off state, I opened my internal eye and watched the music dance through the air, sweeping us all into its momentum.
A rising tide washed against me as images of a shimmering sea reflecting a dancing sky played out before me. Colors and joy surrounded me, pulling me into bliss.
A growl pulled my attention back. Elgon stood in the doorway of my room, hair spiked out in defense and teeth bared. A voice joined the tones coming from the melodisk, flowing without words through the inconsistent but perfectly suited rhythms.
“Elgon, what is it?”
I stepped toward him but stopped when the growl intensified, this time from behind me. Everyone fell quiet, transfixed by the music, as if they were transported to another plane. I noticed Lock swaying in place, and Elle’s eyes rolled back in her head. No one moved, mesmerized by the sound. Except for Tor. His drink slipped from his hand and shattered on the ground. Shards of glass spread out in a pattern of destruction. No one looked.
Tor hunched forward, his posture positioned for attack. Elgon crouched on one side, Tor on the other. Something was bringing the animal out in them. I ran to him, forced myself into his line of sight.
“Tor!”
Tor’s blue eyes sparked. His lip curled, and Elgon’s corresponding growl increased. Around me the Erdlanders remained still, hypnotized by the music, unaware of the danger around them.
“Tor!”
I shoved him, slamming my palms into his chest. I shook his shoulders and screamed in his face, but nothing broke his attention from the music. The temperature around him rose. The air vibrated with intensity, and the sun’s baking heat washed over me, parching my skin.
Pushing and screaming, I fought to get his attention before something bad happened. The music called to me, trying to pull me into its trance, but somehow I managed to resist.
Tor raised his hands, the dangerous glow of fire radiating from his palms, sparking into the air. Out of options, and unable to pull his attention to me, I did the only thing I could think of. I opened myself to the passion of the music and reached up to Tor, bringing my lips to his. I pushed myself against him, forcing the kiss on his unresponsive frame until the outline of two hands on my back burned against the fabric of my shirt.
Breaking free from the music’s spell, Tor kissed me back. Then grabbed me and pulled me to him—so close that had I needed my lungs to breathe, I would have suffocated. As it was, I absorbed oxygen from the air, content just to be closer to him.
“Tor,” I whispered into his mouth, hoping he was with me now.
“Yes?”
“We have to get out of here.”
“All right.”
He didn’t move. His hot hands still pressed against my flesh. The music rose to a fevered pitch, and Elgon’s growl turned into a howl.
“Now, Tor!” I yelled, pulling away from him. I took his hand and prayed he would let me lead him from the song.
With some resistance, he followed.
I screamed at Elgon as we scurried past, not worried any of my new friends had witnessed our odd behavior. They all remained in a stupor. While I worried about them, I had to get Tor and Elgon away before things escalated. That would be much worse for us than a few awkward questions.
Elgon’s fur vibrated as he struggled to look at me, breaking the hold of the music.
“Come on!”
The mountain hound whimpered. He looked back at the source of the music a moment longer before shaking himself and joining us on the black platform. I opened the access panel and pressed the screen for the first floor. The chamber filled with Tor’s light as the walls came down around us, and the transporter whisked us away from Pod Thirty-four.
23
Outside, Tor and Elgon stood in the darkness, staring up into the dimly lit sky. There were no stars here, and it was impossible to see the moons behind the massive buildings. If I closed my eyes, I could block out the silence and imagine the sound of waves beating against the shoreline.
My companions sighed in unison. More connected them than life alone in the forest. I opened my eyes and reached out to touch Tor, but Elgon stepped between us, placing his forehead against my hand.
~You okay, Monster?~ I asked quietly, leaning down to him. I scratched his ears while his sharp eyes bored into mine, as if he were trying to tell me something.
“He wants to go home,” Tor whispered.
“I know. Me, too. But we can’t.”
“Not back to the cave. Not to the forest.”
“What are you talking about?” I spied a wistful look on Tor’s face, a dreamy, faraway gaze that reminded me of the look my mother wore when she talked about her childhood. The look of an exile.
Elgon pulled away from me, and he and Tor began walking side by side.
“Tor, where are you going?” I trailed a little behind, not willing to let him out of my sight. His pace quickened. I jogged to keep up but stumbled in the boots I had to wear. Panic rose again. What was he doing? Where was he going?
“I don’t want to be here, either. We’ll find somewhere to go, I promise. Please. Tor, give me some time.”
He walked on without a word, without any indication he heard me, in a straight line, past other pods, past Linguistics, past a building marked “DISCIPLINE.” Lights cast down onto the paths, revealing the barren landscape o
f the camp. No life thrived here, no grass, no trees. I couldn’t even hear any animals. Only the low hum of mechanical automation resonated around us.
He kept going until we were on the outskirts of the camp, where roads and fences separated us from the barren field beyond. Darkness bombarded us, and in the distance I found the silver slice of the smaller moon.
“Happy?” I panted. “You found the end, now let’s go back. They might all still be listening to that music; they may not have noticed we left. Did you see what happened to them?”
“Why do you care?” Tor turned on me, embers still smoldering behind the blue in his eyes.
“I don’t!”
“Yes, you do. Since we got here, you’ve been lying and trying to fit in.”
“I’m sorry that I don’t want to be dissected like a sea urchin in one of their labs! I’m trying to keep us alive!”
“If you wanted to stay alive, you would run with me.”
“You can’t run, Tor. Where would you go?”
He turned and looked past the fence, past the field, past the forest. He inclined his head and pointed to the distant mountains. “We can go there.”
“The mountains?”
“The Erdlanders never go there.”
“No one does. That’s insane. The Devil’s Daughters live up there.”
“Stories. Myths. Like man-eating fish people. Haven’t you figured out that none of it’s true? Nothing we know is true. Sera, the only thing we know anymore is that we aren’t safe and it’s just you and me. We’re the only ones who matter now.”
“They may be stories, but we don’t know what’s out there.”
“We don’t know anything about what’s in here!” Tor railed, frustration brimming in his voice.
I shook my head, trying to formulate a coherent thought and make him understand. He was right. I didn’t want to leave. I knew these people were the enemy. They would just as soon kill me and study me as easily as they had torched the fields. Still, I wanted to know these people, this other side of myself. I needed to know who I was. As much as I hated them, I also found a comfort in being here like I’d never known before.
Two Moons of Sera Page 14
