by S. K Munt
The king had said it was only because he wanted her to have the lavish wedding she deserved, and that he couldn’t justify wasting resources on such a thing while so many were still starving outside their kingdom’s walls… but he hadn’t even proposed to Miriam yet, so, Finn still had her doubts. It also didn’t help that she’d heard enough gossip through Cara’s grapevine to establish the fact that King Laidlaw had been a terrible flirt once- one that had gone out of his way to pursue the most unattainable women possible before he’d met Miriam, so Finn fretted that the reason why he hadn’t settled down yet was because deep down, some part of him was still wondering if he might be able to do better than the girl that Finn had been idolising since her first day at North Broadsound High. And if that was the case, Finn would sooner paddle out to join Paige and the independent colonies out on the Shards, then serve King Amory a day longer!
Not that leaving would be easy now that she’d accepted the king’s help and the education that came with it, in return for pledging to serve him and his people if it turned out that fate had indeed, decided that she was special. That was the deal: Everybody wanted to protect and preserve the Enigmas in their community, yes, but nobody wanted to give a bunch of potentials a free ride through life while so many others were struggling for what might turn out to be no reason, so, King Amory had offered the potentials in his kingdom a fair trade as soon as he’d started laying the foundations for his kingdom the previous May: he would give them free schooling, protection and a few other perks that would make their lives easier until they turned eighteen- like first dibs on the available paying jobs- if they agreed to work for him for five years if they ever did come into their powers. And if they didn’t ever prove to be powerful well… at least they would emerge from school as productive members of society, who would serve him in a regular job for ten years instead- hopefully as something important like doctors, or engineers.
The girls didn’t have to accept the necklaces or sign the contract that bound them to Laidlaw, but there had been a lot of pressure to do so and because the world had been so uncertain at the time, most girls had jumped at the chance to get their foot over Laidlaw’s drawbridge, and were eagerly anticipating the day that they became enigmatic too, so they could then climb the social hierarchy to the heights that Miriam had ascended to along with Paloney the Harbinger (who could see the future sometimes) and Chloe the Enmity, who could fell forests with a single thought. And also, because most feared what might happen to them if they tried to go it alone in a scary world where they were now classed as being a precious resource.
But although most girls- including Finn- would have killed to be part of the new nobility, Paige had swum for the Shards with her parents at the mere suggestion that she sign her future away to anybody, and hadn’t returned since for fear that she’d be kidnapped and enslaved if she did. The king had let her go without a fight though, sending a message after to explain that he understood that other colonies- like the ones her extended family belonged to- needed all the help that they could get as well. Still, he’d said that if she were ever to change her mind, then he’d happily set her and her family up for life in Laidlaw Castle, making her ‘Lady’ Paige Hayes.
Finn thought Paige was mad for running off to the shabby Shard islands to shack up with her farming/fishermen cousins when she could have been living in a palace and not having to wonder where her next meal was coming from… but Paige had always been fiercely independent and Finn admired that about her- admired it, and missed it desperately. Independent people were great, yes, and Finn hoped to be one someday… but they also made for absent friends, so Finn had been even lonelier since Paige had left town.
Sure, people were somewhat nicer to Finn now that she was a known ‘Potential,’ but the people she would have wanted to impress the most- her peers- were all mostly Potentials now too, so that label changed nothing as far as her standing with them went. She’d aged two years since the Strike, yes, but she still hadn’t even gotten her period yet, so she didn’t see her developing a pimple in the near future let alone the ability to manifest things. And until she did-
‘As you all know, this upcoming long weekend marks three very special anniversaries…’ the king said then, and something about the change in his tone of voice piqued Finn’s attention, drawing her out of her thoughts and causing her to clasp the stone around her neck again. ‘The second anniversary of the Strike, the first birthday of this proud nation and thirdly… the sixteenth birthday of one of our very special Potentials, Cara Wiley.’ King Amory smiled fondly down at the front row then as more than a few people cooed and looked adoringly in Cara’s direction, who ducked her head in feigned embarrassment. ‘I know you all had your heart set on me throwing a ball this Saturday night, but as I’ve already explained, I can’t, in good conscience, host a decadent feast while so many are still going without outside of our walls.’ The king lifted his eyes to the crowd again and frowned. ‘So, I’m sorry, but the ball will have to wait.’
Finn felt herself deflate, because she really had been looking forward to going to a real ball: especially to one that she’d have been invited to as a VIP. But she was an optimist by nature, so she rested a hand against her rumbling stomach and thought: Oh well! I’ll take a fresh ham, sandwich over a used dress-
‘But I wanted to do something to reward you all for how hard you’ve been working and so, I’ve decided to mark the occasion by hosting a special Gala at the castle instead!’ He grinned as Finn sucked in a breath, re-inflating herself. ‘I can’t promise you much, but I have invited a few of our local artists to put on a display each, so there will be music and-’
But people were so thrilled by everything that King Amory had already said, that everything he said after was immediately drowned out by the hundreds of voices that immediately begun to shriek in delight- Finn’s included!
CHAPTER THREE
Finn knew that she and the other teenagers around her could have gone on screaming for hours, but when their exasperated looking leader waved his hands and motioned for them all to quieten down, they did so instantly, expressing their continued elation with shared grins, clasped hands and muted squeals instead.
‘Okay now remember: It’s a Gala, not a ball, all right? I don’t have free food, decorations, or the crates of champagne that my older citizens are most-certainly hankering for…’ he paused while everyone over the age of eighteen chuckled or sighed wistfully, ‘and I also don’t want families to feel as though their children aren’t welcome to attend also.’ He grinned, blinding them with his flawless teeth. ‘But there will definitely be music, which means dancing, and lots of privately owned stalls will have refreshments for sale, so I encourage you all to dress up as festively as you can-’ but again, the rest of his words were drowned out by another wave of mad cheering, so the king grinned in defeat, waved his hands dismissively at the crowd and crowed: ‘All right: that concludes this assembly for today! Get back to work, spread the word… and we’ll see you all again at the palace from six on Saturday evening, all right?’
Everyone immediately began to turn to the people they’d come with for hugs or high-fives, but Finn hadn’t come with anyone, so she just stood there, grinning as she looked from the squealing girls in front of her, to Lady Miriam onstage, who smiled proudly up at the king and extended her hand to him as her large navy-blue eyes twinkled in delight. He took her hand and kissed it chastely before pulling her up to her feet and into his arms, so Finn looked away, sighing in contentment only to end up immediately regretting having breathed in so deeply, because the scent of baking bread was only more intoxicating now that she knew she couldn’t afford it after all.
He definitely loves her… Finn thought then. But the question is; does he love her enough to make her his equal? To acknowledge that he is a king BECAUSE she is his queen?
Determined to focus on the silver lining of that suddenly bright morning, Finn turned and began to creep over to where Michelle was standing with Bonni
e, knowing that she needed to speak to her before her old friend went in to work that afternoon to serve what would probably be hundreds of desperate people looking for a last-minute Gala outfit.
No… it’s not Michelle, or even Shelly anymore! She reminded herself as she clasped her necklace, drawing courage from it. It’s Mischa now, and this is not the time to screw that up!
‘Hey Mischa…?’ Finn felt exposed, reaching out and pressing her hand to her old friend’s pale arm while she was surrounded by her besties, but when Mischa turned to regard her, she did so with a bright grin stretched across her delicate features. ‘I-’
‘Isn’t this the most?!’ Mischa took Finn’s hand in her own and squeezed it briefly, before dropping it and draping her other arm around Bonnie, hugging the taller girl to her side and crying: ‘And Bon-Bon’s going to be one of the performers too!’
Finn’s eyes widened. Bonnie had a beautiful singing voice, so she wasn’t shocked that she’d been asked to perform at the Gala, but Bonnie was also very private about her singing, so she was surprised that the other girl had agreed to make a public debut. ‘Really?’ Finn grinned. ‘That is awesome- I can’t wait to watch!’
‘Thanks Finn!’ Bonnie still wore her old glasses, but she had large, pale olive-green and almond-shaped eyes, so the spectacles only magnified how pretty they were. ‘I’m nervous about performing, and Aaron’s not exactly thrilled to have to share me all night, but I’m sure, we’re all going to have a ball during all the other parts regardless- even if it’s not actually a ball!’
‘I hope so!’ Finn cleared her throat and turned back to Mischa. ‘But umm... about that dress at Suave I asked you to put aside for-’
‘Don’t worry!’ Mischa said, smiling knowingly. ‘It’s still on hold for you! I mean, I haven’t taken it out of the window yet, because it draws a lot of interest, but it’s got a Sold sign on it-’
‘The white one?’ Mischa nodded and Finn sighed in relief, mentally picturing the pretty, ivory-coloured satin rippling prettily in response to her exhalation. It was hard finding a truly beautiful piece of clothing those days, but Finn had found one that was blessedly too small for any of the other Hive girls to bother coveting. ‘Thank you! I still won’t have the money for it until tomorrow, but if you can-’
‘All right bitches! We have LOOKS to plan!’ Cara cried then, turning away from whoever she’d been talking to and facing the rest of them. She already had one pale elbow linked through Mila’s deep copper one, but she linked the other through Bonnie’s then and like clockwork, Bonnie and Mischa adjusted the hold they’d had on one another, so they formed a chain of girls, who wore dazzling smiles, with shining eyes as they strode away.
Finn felt that familiar pinching sensation in her chest- that twinge she usually got just before she turned invisible again- but Mischa turned back and called out: ‘Come right after school tomorrow okay? See you then!’ And Finn didn’t know if she ought to feel better- or worse. On one hand, Mischa hadn’t forgotten the conversation they’d been having before Cara had interrupted, so that was encouraging, and she’d even been included in on Bonnie and Mischa’s excitement briefly. But on the other hand, well, Finn and Mischa would have at least eight classes together between then and the following afternoon, so it pained her to be reminded that Mischa probably wasn’t going to ‘see’ her until after school the following day- not in a way that counted, anyhow.
‘God… they look so ridiculous when they do that, don’t they?’ a voice asked then, and when Finn turned to see Georgia Janks standing at her side and scowling after the Hive girls, she didn’t know how to react. Technically, Georgia spoke to her all the time- probably more than anyone else at Laidlaw Academy ever did! However, she only ever addressed her when she had something mean to say to her, so now that she was saying something vicious about someone else, Finn honestly didn’t know how to respond.
‘Um…’ Finn began, and she was about to say something benign about how the only thing she could think about was the smell of baking bread in the air, but before she could say a word, Georgia turned back to her with cool blue eyes and said slowly:
‘Not as ridiculous as you look, pining after them though…’ Georgia winced as Finn did and then patted her shoulder in a consolatory manner. ‘Can’t wait to see the suave dress that you’ve got Shelly holding for you though. Is it the trailer-park chic dress of your dreams complete with pleather and spandex? Or are you still too flat to go full white trash on us yet...?’
Finn’s mouth popped open, and though a million retorts pooled on her tongue like acid, the king stepped down off the stage right in front of her then before Finn could spit anything out, forcing Finn to press her lips into a thin line before Georgia snorted, whipped her plait in Finn’s direction and then sauntered back to her friends.
‘Good morning, Miss Monroe,’ the king said to her then, smiling blandly down at her- completely oblivious to the fact that every cell in Finn’s body was sparking in outrage. Georgia had a lot on her, yes, but Finn was never at a loss for words- ever- so it killed her that she’d had to take that dressing-down mutely. ‘Looking forward to the Gala?’
Finn wanted to say yes, and confess that she’d been looking forward to that moment for over a month. But she was still so angry that tears were pricking her eyes and choking her throat along with all of her unspoken words, leaving her no choice but to nod, swallow hard and smile before turning away like a frightened bunny who couldn’t string a sentence together in front of her ruler. Or in front of Miriam behind him, who probably thought the world of Georgia too. After all, Georgia was as accomplished as Miriam had been at her age, which made them more alike than Miriam and Cara were.
Don’t cry! Finn commanded herself for the millionth time in her life as she made her way through the crowd and toward the school. Not here! Not now!
Finn didn’t cry. But as she sucked in the deepest, most calming breath she could manage, she was hit so hard by the aroma of that freshly baked bread again that her eyes and mouth instantaneously watered and her head spun, reminding her of the glaring fact that although the other Potentials were growing stronger every day, she was just getting weaker to the point where the stone around her neck was beginning to feel less like a status symbol, and more like a weight she was expected to carry in order to pass a test that she was destined to fail.
*
‘This is bullshit,’ Aaron Bragg declared halfway through their mathematics class later that afternoon. He tossed his ratty notebook onto the desk in front of Finn then waved his hand over the sums that he’d scrawled messily across it. ‘Are you understanding any of this?’
Finn looked from Aaron’s work, to the teacher at the head of the class, who was blessedly too preoccupied helping out a seventh grader to have heard Aaron curse, before she slid the book back across their adjoining desks, wondering why the only people talking to her that day, were the ones that she wanted to ignore her.
‘Well, I understand about half of what we’re supposed to be doing here,’ she whispered, then frowned at his work, which had been scrawled all over the page, crossed out and written over so many times that there were angry dents in the paper and pen marks on the desk itself, ‘but none of whatever it is that you’ve done there so-’
‘Whaddya mean?’ Aaron demanded, scratching at his scalp and messing up his long, frizzy and oily brown curls that little bit more while flashing the place he’d inked Bonnie’s initials into his wrist. ‘Which parts make sense, and which don’t?’
Finn wished he would keep his voice down, because there were serious consequences for talking during class, but she could tell he wasn’t going to leave her alone until she’d given him a satisfying answer, so she sighed and leaned over, tapping the margin of his page with the tip of her pencil, which was full of scribbled symbols- logos from old heavy metal bands. ‘I mean that those look great-’ she pointed her stubby pencil to one of his fraction equations before she continued softly, ‘-but that is illegible. Serious
ly. What you’ve written there could be absolutely correct, or even Stephen-Hawking level genius stuff-’ she leaned back, being careful not to breathe in through her nose after she’d noted that he’d attempted to keep his body odour at bay with patchouli oil, ‘-but you haven’t set it out properly. And your handwriting-’
‘Naw man...’ Aaron moaned the words softly, pressing his hand to his chest to feign surprise. ‘Are you telling me that my dream of becoming a doctor like Stephen Hawking is dust because of my sloppy handwriting now?’
‘Actually no,’ Finn whispered and smiled as she did, opting not to correct his Stephen Hawking comment in favour of keeping the interaction light. Aaron was a pain in the ass on the best of days and insufferable on the worst, and he only ever talked to her when there was no one else for him to talk to too- which bothered her on a molecular level. However, he had lost both parents and his home during the Strike, and had run out of the last of his ADHD medication well over a year beforehand, so she tried not to take his moody disposition personally. Besides, he was important to Bonnie, so like with Cara, Finn tried to take his abuse in stride, knowing that she had to pick her battles. ‘I mean… have you ever met a doctor with good penmanship before? Because I sure haven’t.’ Aaron snorted as though conceding that she’d made a point, so she dared to look him in the eye before she said, more seriously: ‘It’s the fact that you don’t put the effort into balancing your fractions that you do balancing the M and A in the Metallica logo, that’s gonna-’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Aaron threw down his own chewed up pencil before muttering: ‘I asked for math advice Monroe, not-’
‘This is math advice,’ Finn hissed, tapping his notebook again before turning her chair more in his direction and saying quietly: ‘Look; I’m as lost as you are. Maybe some people can read equations like words, but all I see is gibberish, okay?’
