Evan Burl and the Falling, Vol. 1-2 (13 page)

"Just enough to keep people from trying to take them. And when you touch them, you won't feel a thing." He beckoned to Anastasia. "See?"

She held out her finger, touched my bracelet, then jerked her hand back. "Oww." Anastasia gaped at her finger then put it in her mouth.
 

He laughed. "Just a little trick I learned in my travels." That's how he explained anything strange.

"Mine won't open." Anastasia's voice cracked as she pried at the side of the locket.

"Well, that's something else. They only work when you really need them." He winked at me. I felt a frown grow on my face. He could be giving us these bracelets to soften us up for the news that he was leaving forever. I had to ask him for the truth. He wouldn't lie, would he? Papa seemed to notice something was wrong. He opened his mouth, but someone interrupted him.

"She'll make a beautiful lictora someday, my Lictor."
 

I turned. An expensively dressed man stared at Anastasia as he strode toward us. Papa had so many workers it was hard to remember any of their names, but I think this man might have been the Mayor. It was like I was invisible to him. Didn't he know I might be lictora instead of Ani?
 

"Begging your pardon Lictor, but you have a visitor. He arrived just before you. Wanted to speak with you immediately after you came to land."

"I'll see him when I'm done with my girls," Papa said. "Oh, did the shipment from Yarrow Point come in while I was away?" Papa and the Mayor began to talk about business. Anastasia played with her bracelet, but I didn't want mine anymore, not if it was meant to make me feel better about Papa leaving forever. The Mayor talked on and on and I began to wonder if I would ever get a moment alone with Papa.

I wished the Mayor would just go away.
 

Sometimes I wondered if I could make things happen just by thinking about them. I asked Mother about it one time—the one and only time Mother has ever slapped my face. She apologized later, but told me to 'never talk about such foolish ideas again.' Papa just hushed me when I asked him. But I swear, sometimes I can do things that aren't normal. I tried to move a ball once, and it rolled away from me. Ani said I was just making stories up, but I wasn't. If I could, I'd make this man go away. I'd make him roll backward, like that ball—

The Mayor wobbled on his heels, waved his arms and fell backward off the dock. Papa's hand shot out, seized the Mayor by the shirt, and lifted him back to the dock.

The Mayor patted his chest and face as if checking to see if he was really there. "Thank you Lictor... I must have lost my balance."

Papa frowned in my direction. I thought he shook his head at me, a slight jerk of the neck that only I would notice. He turned back to the Mayor. "And here I thought I was struggling with my sea legs. Are you well?"

"Yes Lictor. I'm quite in one piece."

Papa's eyes settled on the man waiting for him. "Who did you say was here to see me?"

"He didn't give a name."

"I see." Papa stared at a man sitting on a bench at the far end of the docks. "Did he say whether he wanted to see my butler too?"

"No, Lictor. Shall I tell him you're unavailable?"

"I'll be with him in a moment."
 

Just go away! And then, just like snapping my fingers, the Mayor whisked off to the man waiting for Papa. I wished for the Mayor to leave and he did. Crouching next to me, Papa lifted my chin. "Sometimes I wonder about you."

"Are you leaving?"

"I'll be back before you can say babblebox."
 

I clung to him. "Babblebox."

"Why don't you stop by Santo's on the way home," he said. "Pick out a big tangerine-lime flavored lollipop and get an extra for me. I've been craving that man's sweets for six months." He handed Ani an iron drachma.
 

Anastasia glowered at the coin in her hand like it was a paulluse beetle. I imagined the beetle burrowing into her hand, then eating its way up her arm. That would teach her to be more thankful.

"We have a whole box of Santo's lollipops at home," Ani said.

"Hmmm," Papa said. "I see. Maybe you can sneak a peek at your present."

"Presents!" Anastasia tore off down the road toward Santo's.

Now I was finally alone with Papa.
 

He nudged me. "What's the matter with you."
 

"Oh, I..." My eyes fell to my toes. "I'm glad you're back." I hugged him, turned to go, then stopped. "I was just wondering..."
 

"Go ahead. You can ask me anything."
 

"Are-you-going-away-forever?"
 

His eyebrows furrowed. I silently begged him not to make me ask again. His face turned serious. A long terrible pause, the kind adults make sometimes before they tell you something horrible, like 'remember that nice little kitten we gave you? Well, it died. And we're not going to be getting another'.

"Yes," he said finally, "of course I'm going to have to go away again."

"I'm talking about forever."

"Forever?" He smiled, but there was no twinkle in his eyes. "Why would you think I was going to leave forever?"

"I heard you and Mother fighting about it months ago, before you left the last time."
 

"Ahh, well that would be why you're not supposed to eavesdrop. You might get the wrong idea."
 

He hadn't really answered the question. "Well are you? Leaving forever?"

"You remind me of your mother," he said. "Of course not. You're my little Bell. I could never leave you forever."

I watched him carefully. He didn't look like he was lying—there was a sadness in his eyes, but he was being honest. I touched his hand. "I love you, Papa."

"I love you too little Bell." He pulled off his coat and put it around my shoulders. "Wear it home for me, will you?"

Wearing Papa's old leather coat was my absolute favorite. Breathing it in, I smiled. Papa's clothes always smelled like tool oil and cedar shavings and the cologne Mother bought him each year for his birthday. I walked to the edge of the dock and onto the beach. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Papa talking with the man who came to visit. The man seemed so familiar. They seemed to be arguing. Papa pointed at him and the man shoved Papa's finger away. I'd never seen anyone push Papa like that. I imagine most men would lose their hands for touching Papa in a way that didn't please him.

Shoving my hands into the coat, I walked slowly in the surf. Papa never explained how the worn old coat worked—it felt cool when the weather was hot and warm when the weather was cold. When I asked he said, "Child, you've got one healthy imagination," or "It's nothing. I picked it up from a street trader in the New Republic."

Playing with the pocket flaps, I felt the smooth leather. As I flipped the pockets open and closed, I saw a tiny zipper I'd never seen before. I slid the zipper and found a tiny leather book inside. It was mostly blank pages, a few with writing. A number of pages looked to have been torn out. What I read didn't make sense, until I came to:

Execute the boy immediately.
 

I read the note again. At the bottom I found a signature.

Terillium Amadeus

My body shook. I'd read stories about bad men who killed people, but now Papa was one of them. I imagined him signing his name at the bottom of the letter, grinning at the thought of a boy dying. Suddenly, I hated Papa for making me love him, for making me care whether he was leaving or staying.

I couldn't let him go through with it.
 

I had to stop him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Evan

Thursday

6:33 am

40 hours, 16 minutes until the falling

I opened my eyes. Pearl's skin was clawed and scratched; her fingers sticky and red. Blood covered her chin and lips.

My blood.

A vision flashed through my mind. Her teeth clenched into my shoulder; her mouth tearing flesh from bone. We'd always been so scared of what lived outside the courtyard gates. We should have been more worried about what lived inside.

My shirt weighed heavy on my shoulders. It, too, was soaked with blood.
 

A crash behind me. I jumped to my feet, caught Ravenna by the shirt. My other hand formed a fist.

Ravenna shielded her face. "S-s-sorry." I backed away. The noise came from a fallen rack of tools.
 

That's right, little girl,
a voice said.
Don't upset the beast.
 

My eyes drifted to Pearl. Ballard moved to lift her, but Pearl lurched. She pulled back into the shadow of a clanker, her gazed locked on me. A raw patch ran around Pearl's neck where the chain of the necklace lay.

She didn't blink. "Take it back."
 

Slowly she rose then lunged at me. Ballard grabbed her by the leg as she got her fingers around my wrist. Ballard ripped her away. She screamed. Spit flew from between her lips. He stuffed a rag in her mouth. Squirming and fighting, Pearl almost got away until all three Warts bound her feet and hands until she was no more than a rolled rug slung over Ballard's shoulder.

Mazol jerked his head toward the door. Pearl screamed into the gag, wriggling and fighting. I made out a single word as Ballard carried her out of sight.
 

"Murderer."

Pearl—the affliktion had taken her mind. She confused me for someone else. Mazol. Yesler. The real killer.
 

You gave her the skull.

"I was trying to help her."

You were trying to prove your innocence.

"No—"

I stopped. Everyone stared. They couldn't hear the monster—they thought I was talking to myself. They'd seen me use sapience. They'd seen me almost kill a ten-year-old girl.

"There's no way you could have known," Henri whispered.
 

"Known what?" I snapped.

"That it was Pearl who attacked you." She put her hand on me. I pulled away.
 

"What was that?" Henri said.

I avoided her eyes.

"What stopped Pearl from killing me?" she said.
 

I stared at a clanker behind Henri.

"That's why your fingers are bloody, isn't it? You've been using sapience."

I needed more time to figure out what was happening. I couldn't be causing the affliktion. Unless, the rubrics...
 

Pearl said, 'Take it back.'
 

'Murderer.'
 

Could the rubrics be causing the affliktion? No, Pearl started itching before I gave her the skull. I had to get that pendent from Pearl before Mazol discovered what it did. I moved to the door. Mazol stared at me. Yesler too. I expected anger, but their faces were stretched with terror.
 

After all those beatings, all those years of abuse, their fear was priceless. Yet dread wasn't enough. I wanted them to hurt. To feel my pain. I smiled. Fear made me smile. No. Because I could hurt them, I smiled. Revenge lay before me. All I had to do was reach out and take it.
 

And then I saw me as my father did. He was right about me. The heart of a nightmare beat inside me. I couldn't deny it any longer. I stepped back, pressed against a clanker. Still they stared at me.

This is your chance. Crucify Mazol. Save yourself.

I leaned over a rusted oil drum to support my sagging body. "I can't."
 

Then do it for the others.

I shook my head. Yet I watched my arm reach out toward Mazol. The monster was taking control. Images flashed through my mind.
 

A whirlwind circled inside the Elusian. The toys, the books, the pictures, all the things I'd so carefully collected, exploded before my eyes. The hutch crumpled in on itself. Debris whipped through the room, circling around me. The fireplace erupted with blue flames.
 

Nightmares or memories?
 

I'd been resisting sapience, hadn't I?
 

The blackouts. The waking up where I don't remember going. The forgotten hours. These were the moments when the shadow owned me.
 

Mazol and Yesler were frozen in place. My fingers clenched into a fist. Mazol clutched his chest. He'd be screaming soon—

Ballard burst through a door. The moment broke. I collapsed to the ground. He whispered in Mazol's ear. My uncle's mustache twitched, the kind of pleased tick I'd seen before. Some of the girls whispered to each other. Some stared. I couldn't leave them. I had to keep fighting. The images from the destroyed Elusian couldn't be real. It's not possible. No one can do those things. Not a sapient. Not a monster. Not me.

Mazol aimed a kick at Ravenna. "What're you staring at? Get to work!" He turned to Yesler. "Get the gimp—" He glanced at me, cleared his throat. "Get
Burl
bandaged. The others will have to make up for him until he's healed up."

Yesler didn't move.

Henri whispered into my ear, "I was right about you."
 

Mazol pushed Yesler at me. "What are you waiting for?"

"In the closet," Henri said, "I believed in you."

I shoved past Yesler, grabbed Mazol's arm. "What are you doing to the Roslings?"

Mazol pulled away. "I don't answer to you."

"Tell me the truth," Henri said. "Please."
 

I watched Mazol. He'd seen the letter before I stole it. He knew I'd turn dangerous someday. It couldn't be a coincidence that the Roslings started dying the same week I became a sapient. Mazol was the murderer. He must have been planning it, waiting until my transformation. He wanted everyone to think I'm the killer.

"Where's Pearl?" I demanded.

"Where do you think?"

"Tell me!"

"She's gone the way of a two week Shade."

The room spun. I grasped his shirt. "You killed her."

"We all saw what happened," Mazol said.

"I thought she was Yesler."

Roxhill and Othella started crying.