Glimmer (16 page)

The door opens and Perfection walks into the room, smiling broadly at me, happy I'm here.

"How was your walk, Nobleman?" Her hair is braided tightly away from her face, still damp from the water in the soaking tub, but she does look happier.

Horrible. Terrifying. Unnerving.

"It was fine."

"Okay then ... are you ready for the reception? A helper told me all about the food they're serving. We have an hour before it starts, are you interested in resting on the bed...?" She puts her hand out for me, but instead of pulling her into the bed with me, I take it and stand. I know I need to talk to her, soon. The clock is ticking. And I still haven't seen Basil.
Or even met Basil.

"Perfection, you know how this morning you told me you would do anything for me?"

"Of course. I meant it." She studies me as we stand there, her hand in mine.

"I need you to trust me
.
Do you
trust
me?
"
My stomach drops as I say the word trust. I know it was a word that has caused Lucy so much pain and heartache, and now I am doing the same thing to Perfection. Luring her in with the trust she has in me, just to tear her apart later.

"I trust you completely. You are my Nobleman. My everything." She looks surprised that I would even ask her where her loyalties lie.

"Then I need you to show me who Basil is."

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Lucy

The crackling radio grows louder, and my heart beats faster. I swear each time my heart contracts the volume on the radio grows until it reaches a full on BUZZ.

"What the hell!" Charlie looks at me, shocked. "I knew it. I knew it. When I saw you at the waterfront, I knew there was a light coming from you. I just didn't want to believe it was possible."

"Turn it off, okay? Before someone hears!" I grab the radio switching it off. The silence is immediate, and relief sweeps over me.

"What are you?" Charlie asks, backing away from me on the bench, cautiously. His eyes explore my body, as though he's looking for a light source to come out of me somewhere.

"It's my hand. It's not like Lukas." I see him flinch at the mention of his brother. "I don't know how it works. It heals people though, in ways Lukas's doesn't. I wasn't meaning to hide ... I mean, I guess I was. I didn't want to tell you or your parents, because I don't understand it all. Understand myself." I put the radio down and stare at my hands, as if gazing at them deep enough will explain it better.

"Lukas knows?"

"Yes. We were born the same day, when the lights went out. Just like the prophecy said. I sorta think maybe we...."

"Maybe you should be there, with him? Be another human battery?" He says it fast, like he knows just what I mean.

"I don't know if I even could, if my light is big enough, or strong enough. But if I could, then he wouldn't be bearing it all alone." My voice grows quiet, my vulnerability at being exposed trembling through me.

"We need to leave."

"Are you nuts? I'm not leaving here, with you. I love Lukas, and I am waiting for him, here."

"Not if you love him you won't. My parents can't find out about you. They seem nice and everything, but if word gets out about your light, they're going to try you out on their machine. That's what they did to Lukas. Made a machine that imprisoned him."

"They didn't mean to do that, Charlie, that's not fair."

"Well, they wanted to test their science, their machines. They didn't weigh the cost. It's cost Lukas his life. If they had never made the equipment, he would be here right now and The Light wouldn't exist, they wouldn't have survived. It's my parents’ fault." He is talking with his hands, wanting me to understand, to believe him.

"Even if they made the machine, they never intended for Lukas to have the kind of life he's had. No one intentionally hurts their child."

The words fly out of my mouth, before I can even think through what I'm implying. My father did intentionally try to poison me. But even still, I have to believe his intentions were good. He did what he thought was best. You can't fault someone for trying. If we run away, we aren't trying to do the best thing, we would only be cowards.

"I'm not running away from all of this, Charlie."

"I didn't mean we would. I mean we need to find Lukas before my parents do. What they want isn't the same as what everyone else wants. What I want. They may as well strap you to the energy machine that's in their laboratory."

"They made another one? Like at the Refuges?"

"Exactly. And if Lukas comes here, there is no way they'll be able to resist the temptation. They've been waiting to see if it will work for years."

"Even if we do leave, and look for Lukas, there's no way we would know where he will even be landing when he gets off the Refuge."

"What Refuge is it?" Charlie isn't giving up.

"Refuge Two -- but that means nothing to me. I don't know the land, the maps...." I shake my head, this is stupid to even consider. Running away, again.

"Lucy, no, that's awesome. He'll have to cross a bridge when they leave. It's the only Refuge with a bridge to the mainland. It used to be Bainbridge Island, back before the blackout and it has a large bridge connecting it to us."

"And say we find him, what then? What's the plan?" I ask Charlie. There's no point of retreating if we don't know what's next.

"Then we make a new plan. We decide what we want. Who we want to be. Not according to The Light, or the Headquarters. I don't want to blindly do what the guys at the Safe House say, or my parents. I say we make a new plan. Our plan."

His words are everything I want. Everything I've ever wanted.

Freedom.

"Lukas will want to see his parents. Especially when he hears they didn't purposefully leave."

"Later. They can meet later, after we decide what we want to do."

"So we'd be a rogue group, our own Cowboy Coalition?"

Charlie smiles at me, by making a joke I'm no longer resisting his plan.

"So you're in?"

"I don't know, Charlie. Give me some time."

I hate the idea of making this decision without Lukas. If he could hear from his parents about how they never chose to leave him, how they only escaped by escaping death, his heart will be healed in ways I can never mend.

"Alright," he says gently, "take all the time you need."

Lukas

Her face scrunches in confusion. She wasn't expecting me to say that.

"Basil? Why do you want to see her? I have no idea where she is, besides, she's pretty much insane."

"Don't talk like that, Perfection." My words come out harsher than I intended, and she flinches at my tone. "Listen, I know where she is, I just don't know what she looks like. I need you to identify her for me."

"When?"

"Now."

"But we have the reception and ceremony."

"Trust me!"

"I just don't want to offend anyone by being late, the reception starts in an hour."

"I don't really care about anyone else right now, Perfection." Perfection winces at my sharpness, but I don't really care. I've got to get off this Refuge. I've got to return to Lucy.

"Of course, Nobleman." She puts her eyes to the ground, but follows me out the door.

I take Perfection's hand and tug her forward. "Come on. We don't have much time."

Once we push open the outside door to the Center, I'm careful to avoid the offices. I'm not interested in speaking with Care. Not if she's partners with Integrity. The Rehab Center is quiet, and I don't see anyone moving about. There's a long white hallway with about twenty doors on both sides and a stairwell at the end leading up three flights of stairs. It's a pretty small building for Refuge standards. I wonder, not for the first time, who orchestrated all these buildings to be built, and for who. It seems all the Refuges are at maximum occupancy, but that wasn't always the case.

I move down the hall, thankful for the small glass window in each of the doors. I don't have the time to use my light to unlock them all again. My mind races back to Lucy, when we opened all the dark rooms together. The light in our hands spilling out as we unlocked the imprisoned girls. My heart aches for her, more so when I look at Perfection. Perfection is a girl who's fine with being led blindly. I want Lucy, a girl who fought for the chance to be in charge of her own destiny.

"Perfection, I need you to look in the windows and tell me who Basil is when you see her, okay?"

She nods, and then walks to the first door. Looking through the window, she leans in close, then pulls back, quickly. Shaking her head and shuddering.

I peer around her to see what she saw, and understand at once. A Vessel stands in the room, with a black crayon in her hand and she's drawing across the entire walls. Half of the room is covered with her coloring. This girl is recreating a dark room for herself.

"That's not Basil," she says.

"Okay, keep going."

The next Vessel has blindfolded herself with a pillowcase, the next has draped a sheet over herself and sits on the floor, still as a ghost. Perfection looks at me for answers, but I have none.

I have nothing.

I've done nothing for so long, blindly allowing myself to work for the Council. Taking choice, taking chance, from these girls.

I did this.

We make our way through the first floor, with no sign Basil. When we reach the top of the staircase on the second floor we stop when a Humbleman walks out of one of the doors. 

"Don't say a word," I utter to Perfection. Her delicate face, frozen, tells me she won't make a sound. We walk forward, toward the Humbleman, and my confidence grows with each step we take. In turn so does my light.

"Humbleman, is the Rehabilitation Center your assigned duty?"

He bows deeply to me, touching his forehead, then his heart, in reverence to me. This motion indicates that he's a true believer, they are the only ones who bother with those outdated motions.

"Yes, Your Nobleman. I'm Humbleman Right, and I work here. I was trained as a doctor before ... before the blackout. I look after the Vessels here. What do you need, are you lost? I can help you find your way out." He tries to usher us back downstairs.

"Do you find their behavior odd? I'm not a trained professional, but just seeing them through the window, it seems as though they are ... disturbed?" I ask.

"Yes. I've tried to discuss this with the Councilmen. Don't tell them I said anything ... I've tried to discuss the worsening condition, but they won't tell me what happens to the Vessels to get them to this point of deterioration." He wrings his hands together, and his eyes dart between Perfection and I. I don't trust him. "I am just doing my part for The Light."

"Of course you are ... I have a question for you. My Noblelady had a helper, Grace. She was reassigned to this Refuge. Can you take me to her?" I need to hear from someone else what happened to Hana. I'm not ready to believe she is dead as Care claimed

The Humbleman's eyes get big, and I know in an instant he knows something. I let my light grow so the illumination throws him off, wishing Lucy were here to help me decipher the situation. She's able to see things clearer than me.

"She is ... she was ... she--" he stops as Care comes up the stairs. "What lies are you spreading Vessel Care?"

It's clear Care's rushed up the stairs; her frail body seems exhausted by just the one flight.

"I'm not spreading anything. I need to talk with you, Nobleman. I have more I need to say. Please listen."

"This Vessel is an old has-been Integrity lover. Don't listen to her, Nobleman. Let me take you back to the great room. A reception is waiting for you, yes?" The Humbleman says, anxious for Perfection and I to follow him.

"No, I want to hear." I look to Care, wanting her to continue.

"I think you may have misinterpreted what I said when I told you Grace was gone."

"No, I understood perfectly. Integrity told me as much himself in the journal he left me. He wants girls in dark rooms. He wants them to suffer.  He doesn't believe every Vessel is capable of living in light. He wrote it down himself!" I shout at her, unable to cork my emotions, not even wanting to.

"Words are not always what they seem. Intentions get lost, Nobleman, and one bad choice doesn't mean you should throw out all that Integrity teac-- all that Integrity believes."

"So what did I misinterpret?" I ask, nearly ready to burst, throw my fire out once again -- this time at anything and everything. I'm ready to burn this entire place down, to put to rest all the cryptic teachings and codes, all the subtext and agendas that means nothing to me or to the girls locked in these doors. 

"Grace is alive. She's just gone. Very, very gone. I am forbidden to do anything to help her return."

"Where, where is she?" I scream at her, my heart flooding with fear, yet still seized with relief.

"This is unacceptable. This is
my
Center
,"
Humbleman Right shouts. "
My
domain. No one has access without
my
permission!"

I respond quickly, without thought. I throw all the light within me at him, fiercely, fast. Lifting my hands to the sky, my white light pours out to the Humbleman, blinding him on impact.

"Quick, Care, open a door to a room, we need to put him inside."

She responds quickly, but not quick enough, as she tries to tug the keys off of Humbleman Right's belt.

"I got it," I say, as I push myself towards the door, opening the lock with one touch of my hand. A young Vessel sitting inside shrieks in fear as we barge in. I take the sheet from her bed and point to the chair.

"Perfection, bring him over!" She looks startled, but moves without a second guess. She pushes the blinded Humbleman forward, as he grabs at her, screaming for her to help him.

No one is helping the Humblemen anymore.

"Care and Perfection, take the Vessel to another room, and then take me to Grace. And Basil. I'll take care of him."

The women leave, with the terrified girl, and I turn back to Humbleman Right.

"I can burn you right here and now. I can obliterate this entire Center with one wave of light. I can destroy you."