Away (24 page)

He put the string on the table in front of him. He shaped it, until it made the outline of a heart. Sentimental, but if Malgam was seeing, he would understand Indigo was saying he loved him. He looked at the heart for a long time. Then he picked up the trekker and gathered all the loose beads on it. He held them in his hand and looked at them for a moment. Then he slid them all to the other end of the string. He knotted them off, trapping them there. All the days, over. He stared at the vanquished beads, even though it was hard to look at them. He hoped Malgam was watching. He hoped he wouldn't watch too long.

The door to his cell opened. One of the men came in, holding the black case he had had with him the day before. Indigo knew what was in it.

“So,” said the man, “I guess we'll see how resistant you're feeling today, shall we?”

Indigo ignored the man. He closed his eyes and began to try to picture a tube of liquid, just like the one he had seen when he was a young boy, on another terrible day. But this time, he tried to picture the tube inside his own head. When he saw it, he sighed, relieved. Then he began to scrape at the tube's walls, making them thinner and thinner.

 

 

NANDY WAS TENDING to Pathik's rib in the main room when Malgam screamed. She had asked him not to look anymore. She told him it would only bring him pain. But she knew he couldn't stop.

She ran to the bedroom where he had gone to rest, Pathik right behind her. One look at Malgam's face told her everything. She turned to Pathik; he had seen too, though Malgam turned to the wall immediately. She took his hand and led him toward his father. Then she retreated and pulled the cloth across the bedroom doorway.

 

 

THE COUNCIL ROOM was packed to capacity. People wanted to know what had happened to Indigo. Rachel sat in the back next to Vivian, listening to the murmur of the crowd. She noticed the Roberts girl, the one she had briefly shared quarters with, standing in the back of the room. She realized she'd never even learned the girl's name. Fisher nodded to her from up front next to Michael. Malgam was nowhere to be seen, and she didn't see Pathik either. Daniel stood at the front of the room.

“Please,” he said. The second time he said it the crowd began to quiet.

“I know you all want to hear about Indigo.” Daniel held his hand up at the swell of sound from the crowd. “I know. But all I can tell you is that he isn't here. He was captured, and we believe he was taken to a city called Ganivar. We don't know if he is alive or dead right now.”

“He's dead.” The crowd's gasps turned to whispers as Malgam walked up to the front of the room. His eyes were red, but he looked determined. Pathik came up the aisle behind his father, and stood with him. Daniel took Malgam's hand and whispered something to him. Malgam nodded. Then Daniel stepped over to Pathik and hugged him.

“My father died to protect us.” Malgam looked at the people in the crowd. “He died because he was being tortured in order to force him to give information about where we are and what we can do. And he didn't want to do that. So he used his own gift to end his life.”

The crowd buzzed louder; only a few knew Indigo had a gift. Even fewer knew what that gift had been. Malgam waited a moment to let the people expend some energy, but then he held up his hand.

“I know Indigo wanted us to seek a better place. And I am going. I invite you all to come. The place is called Salishan. Some of you have heard the stories about it. It's an island, and we can go there, and we can live. Without the threat of the Roberts. Without the threat of the Regs. We can live a better life.”

“It's a firetale, no more!” Michael thundered the words from the front row. He stood. “I'm sorry, Malgam, for the death of your father. But Indigo had many dreams that were not realistic.” There were some noises of assent from the crowd. “What we need to do is stop the threat of the Roberts. They are our real worry, not the Regs. And now that your father is gone, you need to step into his place and lead us. But lead where we can follow.”

Malgam glared. “I've told you many times, Michael, I don't need to lead. Just as my father didn't need to lead. People will do what they wish. And as my father did, I can only try to show our people what is right, and invite them to follow. Here, now, we hate the Regs. And we fear the Roberts. And I see no end to that. If you want to stay, then stay. But I am going to Salishan. I want something better, and I believe it's there.”

“We can fight the Roberts!” Michael turned to face the assembly. “We can use our gifts to—”

“To what, Michael?” Malgam spoke quietly, but every person in the room attended his words. “To kill?”

“Sometimes you have to kill, Malgam. The Roberts don't hesitate to kill us.” Michael held out his hands.

Malgam shook his head. “Perhaps sometimes,” he said, his voice weary, “you do have to kill. I don't know. I
do
know that right now, it doesn't feel like we have to make that choice. We have other choices.”

Jab stood. “Would we still have Usage, on the island?”

“Yes, Jab. We will always have Usage. Because we will always need to get better at our gifts.”

“Usage isn't just about getting better, though.” Jab jutted his chin out.

“No, it's not. It's also about how to use our gifts for the good, Jab. You know that.”

Jab sat down. “Just a bunch of rules,” he muttered.

Malgam looked across the room, at all the faces he knew so well, at the people he had grown up with, and learned to love. And then he walked back down the aisle and out of the room.

 

 

THEY LEFT IN the morning. Nobody else from camp had decided to go. Fisher was there to wish them well. But the rest of the camp kept to their beds.

“You're sure you're not coming?” Rachel was the last to speak to Fisher. She had seen him say his good-byes to the rest of the group. He'd talked a long time with Pathik, and they'd parted with a hug. Rachel wondered what they had said.

He smiled at her. “Not this time. Are you sure you're going?”

She nodded. “You know I am.”

“I'll see what I can do here. I think maybe some of them just need time to think about going. Who knows, some of us may show up when you least expect us.”

Rachel didn't think they would. She felt like she would never see anyone from the camp again. She thought of Bender, and smiled. She would miss some of the Others.

“Well,” she said. “Good-bye, Fisher.” And she turned away and began to walk.

CHAPTER 24

T
HE BOATS WERE there, just as the stories claimed. They were nine days out from camp, out of high tide's way on a wind-scoured beach. There were three, upside-down, metal hulls shining in the midday sun. As they drew nearer, they could see that two of them were ruined; the bottoms were riddled with some sort of bullet holes. The third boat was oddly unharmed.

“Should have hit all three, from the looks of the trajectories.” Daniel was examining the bullet holes.

Malgam joined him. “Maybe the third wasn't here when those were shot.” He and Daniel exchanged a look. “Wonder where it might have been.”

The seaworthy boat was barely big enough for the six of them. When they flipped it over, they found two sets of oars stowed neatly beneath it.

“Let's load it up and get it on the water.” Daniel set his duffel inside the boat. Nipper leaped in and settled on a cross board. The night before they left camp, Rachel had watched the Woolly bump his head against Nandy's hand, asking for attention.

“Will he come?” Rachel had seen how sad Nandy looked as she stroked Nipper.

“He should stay here, where his home is.” Nandy frowned.

“But I thought he was yours.”

“He's not mine.” Nandy scratched Nipper's forehead. “He belongs to his own self. But I will miss him.”

In the morning, Nipper had had his own ideas. He followed fast on Nandy's heel and refused to leave her, even when Malgam tried to chase him away. After the third run at him, Malgam had trudged back to Nandy, breathless.

“I think you'll have to let him come, love.” And Nandy had called to him, and petted him and laughed. And so Nipper came with them.

Pathik stepped up and put his bags in the boat too. He turned to look at Rachel. For the first time since they had left The Property, he smiled a real smile. Rachel smiled back at him. She looked around at Nandy and Malgam and Vivian and Daniel. Everyone was smiling.

The water was fairly calm right offshore. They strapped everything in and consulted the map and the compass to be certain they knew which direction they should head. Daniel and Malgam took the first stint at rowing. They had about eight hours ahead, if they'd figured correctly.

Rachel watched the shore recede behind them. She didn't feel afraid at all.

That changed.

CHAPTER 25

E
LIZABETH WATCHED AS Jonathan walked toward the greenhouse. His image was speckled with smudges and dirt, from the greenhouse glass that hadn't been properly cleaned since Rachel left. Elizabeth didn't care. She didn't care about much now.

“I've made a little something to eat, up at the house.” Jonathan still sounded almost shy about his presence in the main house. He'd been staying there since they all Crossed. She wasn't certain if he was worried about EOs coming around or if he thought she would kill herself as soon as he let her out of his sight. He hadn't asked if he could stay; he'd just shown up with an overnight bag the night they left, and moved into the guest room.

“I suppose it's more of your soup?” Elizabeth smiled. He didn't seem to know how to make anything but soup. They'd had endless varieties of it, soup for lunch, soup for dinner. She sipped some to please him, but she wasn't ever hungry.

“I tried something a little different.” He turned to go and then turned back. “You coming?”

“I'll be there soon.”

The table in the dining room was set for two. He'd tried to put everything in the right place, but he had the water tumblers wrong. It looked like the “something a little different” was sandwiches. She sat while he was still in the kitchen, so that he wouldn't have a chance to fuss at pulling her chair out.

He came out carrying a pitcher of water and a book.

“What's that?”

“This,” he said, pouring her water, “is a book from Bensen Library.” He sat down at his place.

“It smells quite musty. Do we have to have it at the table while we eat?” She looked at her sandwich with a marked lack of enthusiasm.

“It's a book about that island. The one Rachel said they were going to find.”

Elizabeth kept her eyes down.

“At least I think it is.” Jonathan flipped the book open to a marked page. “It says here that these islands were excluded from Unifolle's border system—cost too much money, of course. And the big one has to be the one Rachel meant—she said they called it Salishan. Here.” He pointed at a map in the book. “It's just called ‘relinquished lands,' with a number next to it.”

“Why would I care to know this, Jonathan?” Elizabeth had to steel herself not to scream at him to shut up. She didn't want to know about where Rachel was going, about where
she
should have been going, with Indigo. She didn't care.

Jonathan looked up from the book. He watched her for a minute, and then he spoke.

“You don't care now, Elizabeth. But I know you. I know you will care someday. And I think I might be up for a trip, myself. But that trip will take some planning, and some finagling and some work. And I just figured I'd start that going, while you get some rest.”