Luminosity (12 page)

But no one on the street sees when the boy becomes slack with the woman’s touch and then collapses, disappearing from our view. No one sees when she seems to be staring right at the camera, smiling.

No one sees it.

No one but us. And it’s too late.

Chapter Fifteen

The skyline is bright with lights that all look the same color and contrast. They glitter in the stark silence that is only interrupted by the occasional wailing Watch sirens. Up here on the roof, I’m alone. Well, as alone as I can be with two guards following me around. Because it is the middle of the night, though, they prop themselves against the door that leads back down into the Institution and only half pay attention to me as I stand by the ledge, glancing over the City.

The memory of my Vision and what we saw on the television continues to flutter through my mind. Every time I remember the boy dropping down on the bridge, my heart sinks deeper into my chest, so far I’m sure it is sitting somewhere by my stomach. I could have done something to help him, right? I could have gone out there to look for him. I could have done
something
to help him. But I didn’t. None of us did. All we did was sit there and watch him perish like he was some fictional character in a television show.

I wrap my arms around my chest, hugging myself against the brisk night wind. With the Keeper depending on the Visions of others, acting on them, believing in them…maybe she will stop paying attention to me. And of course, there’s always the option of just hiding my Visions from her altogether—but then I risk her Seeing this herself. And no one has ever faced the punishment of deceiving the Keeper. Nobody has ever tried.

The door clicks open and the two guards are suddenly awake again. Out of the shadow of the stairwell Gabe emerges, dressed in his black robes, just as I am. He nods to my two spies and without waiting for any sort of permission or approval from them, he approaches me. “You know, I don’t like when I go to your bunk past curfew and you aren’t in there. Makes me think something’s wrong.” He stares out at the lights, just as I had been doing. “How’d you manage to escape up here anyway?”

I laugh, rubbing my arms with my hands to keep warm. “I walked out. Figured if I was going to get in trouble for it, I would have right away, thanks to these guys.” Idly, I wave a hand back toward the guards, who have predictably gone back to half-watching what I am doing. “I don’t think the Keeper cares if I spend my night on the roof.”

“You never know.” Gabe runs a hand over his head, his eyes still directed toward the City lights. “I feel like things are about to change for the worse. I can just…sense it. Maybe it doesn’t help that my own Visions, as sparse and brief as they are, are always of something so shadowy and unknown.”

“I think things have already changed for the worse, Gabe.”

“How so?”

I hook some of my hair back behind an ear and move toward the ledge of the building. The Institution stands taller than any other building in the City. We are the center. We are the most important. We jut up from a sea of dark and grimy buildings that never seem to get clean, no matter how often it might rain. “I’ve been thinking a lot about the boy on the bridge. You know, if I didn’t have that Vision, none of us would have seen it.”

“And? We can’t See everything all at once, Beatrice. No matter how hard we try.”

“No, we can’t. But I
Saw
this before it happened, and…and then it
did
happen. And it just seems so wrong that I knew that boy was going to die before he actually did, and there was nothing I could do about it.” My chest tightens again as the images replay in my head. I close my eyes, trying to will them out of my mind. “And what if that is how it is going to be for the whole war? That all we can do is See these things happening, but none of us can actually stop it?”

Gabe doesn’t answer.

“Isn’t that what is going to happen? None of us have actually tried to
stop
the war. We are all just
preparing
for it. Why are we even letting the invasion happen in the first place if we know it is coming?”

“Maybe it’s something we can’t stop.” Gabe sits down on the ledge of the building and stretches his legs out in front of him.

This isn’t good enough for me. “And how do we know? Have we even tried?”

Gabe stares at me, his violet eyes pooling with the light from the City. “Come here.”

I sit beside him and he puts an arm around my middle and scoots me closer to him. It’s affectionate in a way that Gabe usually isn’t, and I am suddenly reminded of my heart in my stomach.

“I don’t think it is something we should talk about in this company.” Gabe nods in the direction of the sleepy guards. “Or at all, really. Not unless we want to find ourselves on the gallows along with the others who are being taken away and questioned. And I really, really don’t want anything to happen to you.”

I sigh, knowing he is right. What possessed me to say any of that aloud anyway? “I don’t want anything to happen to you either, Gabe.”

“I know. And I know how you feel, so you don’t have to tell me, as I feel the same way. We are fighting on the same team, Bea. And…” His words taper off as he looks up into the night sky, perforated with tiny, glowing stars.

“And what?”

“…I feel like you are keeping more from me than I want to know.”

It is my turn to be silent. When Gabe looks at me, I look down into my lap, unable to meet his gaze. I’m not good at lying to Gabe, and I know he can see right through me, especially now. I don’t want us to fight again. I don’t want to try and convince him again that as much as I want to tell him, I can’t. I can’t give up Echo. Not even to Gabe.

Gabe’s arm snakes from around me when I don’t reply. He runs a hand over his head again, a nervous gesture. “And, I am just going to assume, as much as it pisses me off, that you have a good reason for this…just as we have a good reason for not speaking about what the Institution could be doing and what they
should
be doing.” He reaches out and lifts my chin with a crooked pointer finger, urging me to look back up at him. “I don’t want to lose you, Beatrice. And it’s getting easier every day for us to lose each other. Especially with the Keeper so against us.”

“I understand,” I whisper, staring into his violet gaze.

“So promise me that you won’t do anything that would make it easier to do so.”

I can’t promise this. I can’t promise it because I don’t know. And Gabe knows this. Why would he ask me such a thing when he knows very well that I can’t promise it to him anyway?

Maybe to see if I’ll lie.

So, I don’t. “I can’t. I will try, Gabe, you know I will try…but we don’t know what is in store for us. We don’t know what the Dreamcatchers will do. We don’t know whose Vision will be the next one scrutinized. We don’t know what new rules will be forced upon us, and we don’t know what the next step in the Training Games is, if there is one. We could all be fighting on the streets tomorrow for all we know.” I grab one of Gabe’s hands and squeeze it, desperately wanting him to understand that right now, no one is safe. Not me. Not him. Not Mae or Brandon. Nobody. “I can promise you that I’ll do what I can to protect myself and to protect you and hopefully, when this is all over, we’ll be on this roof again talking about how silly all of this was.”

Gabe returns the squeeze, and in the next moment he leans forward, closes his eyes and presses his lips against mine in a fierce kiss. I’m paralyzed with the unknown, and instinct urges me to return the kiss, which I do, despite the fact that until this point, I’ve never once been kissed before. Not in real life. When the thought occurs to me that someone will steal Gabe away just because of this moment, I push him away with a sudden force.

Gabe’s eyes flicker back open, startled. “Beatrice?”

I stand, robes falling around my form. “I have to go.” When I look at the guards, they both have their eyes closed, dozing against the wall. They saw nothing. But that’s not to say that no one else did. I’m sure the Keeper has her eye on us somehow. I swallow the fear back down somewhere into my middle and rush for the stairs.

“Bea?” Gabe calls, his voice tugging on me like a hook caught in some fish’s mouth. But I can’t turn back. I need to get off this roof. I need to get back to my bunk, and I need to stay away from Gabe. At least until everything is settled again. I can’t lose Gabe. He’s the only constant I have.

The door flings open and bangs against the wall, waking the guards. They both jump and are quick to follow after me as I run down the many stairs back to level thirty-four. I’m moving so quickly, but somehow manage not to trip on my robe and fall down the rest of the flights. When I get to the black door with the large “34” printed on it, it slides open to let me pass.

I round the corner of the dimly lit hall and jet back to my room faster than the guards can keep up with me. Once I get there, I enter the code to open the doors and step inside. Slamming my hand on the button to lock them behind me, I slump against the wall and sink to the floor. The footsteps of the guards stop just outside, but neither of them bother to actually try and follow me into my bunk. They don’t come in here anyway. Here, I am safe. Mostly.

Putting my fingers to my lips, I feel where Gabe’s mouth was against mine and the butterflies awaken in my stomach. Why did I run away from him? Why couldn’t I have stayed? It isn’t Gabe I’m running from, though. It’s the thought of losing him.

I put my ear against the door to listen for any other footfalls, any sign that Gabe might have chased me. Thankfully, though, I hear nothing except the murmuring of the guards outside. But maybe I wanted him to chase me, to go that far to get me back.

Chapter Sixteen

I watch Echo peel back the skin of an envy-green fruit that I’ve never seen before. Juice drips down his fingers as he separates the outside from the inside, and the fruit in the middle is a deep pink. It peels apart like an orange, b
ut its fragrance is more flowery and less citrusy.

I’m starving, and my stomach growls. My legs hurt like we’ve been walking for hundreds of miles, and the arches of my feet are fallen and raw. Although the dream for me has just begun, it seems part of it has gone on without me being involved at all. “Where have we come from?”

Echo offers me a half-moon slice of the fruit and it rests in the palm of his hand, extended out toward me. I pluck it out and smell its strange essence. “We’ve been walking.”

“From where?” Popping a piece of the fruit into my mouth, I purse my lips at its sour taste and fight the reaction to spit it right back out. That would be rude, though, and on top of that, I’m much too hungry to let any food go to waste. So, I suck the juice from the pulp, which lessens the sourness and brings out the floral flavor instead.

“From the City. I am taking you to my home.” Echo chews on a piece of the fruit and makes no face. He must be used to its rather strange taste. The juice runs down his hands and arms and somewhere under the white robe with the red satin trim that he wears.

I can’t take my eyes off him as he eats. He mistakes this for wanting another piece, which he readily offers me without a touch of hesitation. I take it from him, and though I am not a fan of the fruit, I eat it all the same to sate the growling in my stomach. “Where are we?”

“In the field.”

“Where?”

Echo licks the juice off his fingers to clean them. “The field. Between the City and Aura. It’s pretty big. We’ve been walking all day.”

I look behind me, but the City is not there. Does Gabe know where I am? Does anyone know where I am? How did I get out of the City anyway? I open my mouth to ask all of these questions, but before I can get any of them out, Echo begins to speak once more.

“We will be there soon. Just over these moors is the wall that surrounds the outskirts of Aura. Once we are inside of the walls, we will be safe.”

“Safe? From what?” I forget about my other questions for now. What do I have to be safe from out here? I take another glance around, but all I can see are miles and miles of tall, golden-colored stalks of grass. Sometimes, a shadow of a bird dances across the amber field, but I can never look up in time to actually see it.

“The Rogues.”

“And where do the Rogues come from?”

Echo finishes the rest of the fruit and tosses the rind somewhere into the tall grass. “They are people who could not make it to the City in time, after the war, and were turned away. They live somewhere out here, waiting to rob or kidnap those who come through. It’s rare, though, that anyone comes through on foot. We have airships that take us where we need to go, and there are special warships that are used to leave Aura, but that is rare too.”

This is all interesting to me. I’ve not heard much about the home of the Dreamcatchers. The Keeper seems to only fill in some of the picture as far as our history is concerned. There are blank spaces throughout the retelling of the City’s past, parts that don’t quite make sense.

Just like it doesn’t make sense how I got to be out here with Echo. Or why we are running away from the City at all. But I do realize that with him I feel safe, and the apprehension that is building deep down in my core doesn’t seem as overwhelming as it could be. Echo is my calm. In this dream, he is what grounds me. The whole world could be going to hell, and I’d probably never notice if Echo was by my side.

It makes me not want to leave him in the same way that I don’t want to leave Gabe. But here we are, Echo and me, in the field of golden grass. There is no wind. Everything is quiet. I reach out and touch Echo’s face, wiping a drip of fruit juice from his chin, and I want to be here forever, frozen in time, distant and free.

…

The paranoia doesn’t get any better as the weeks go on. The City is in a panic, and today the Seers are being deployed. I stand in line with the other members of Team A who are all lined up before a gigantic bay door that leads outside. Though we can see the chaos from the Institution windows, perched high above the buildings surrounding us, it’s hard to make out exactly what has been going on outside.

“Do you really think the Dreamcatchers are running around killing people?” Mae tugs on one of the straps that holds her gun close to her chest. She looks ridiculous, since her weapon is nearly half the size she is, which throws off her balance and makes her seem uncoordinated.

Brandon brushes his scraggly hair out of his eyes, but the breeze from the vents pushes it back into his face and his efforts are immediately futile. “Probably. Did you see that one clip where this man was running down the street, grabbing people by their hands, infiltrating their minds? They just dropped down to the ground, one-by-one, like dominoes.”

“They don’t even bother to hide in the shadows anymore. They are just out there, in the open. And anyone could be one of them.” Mae stops fiddling with her straps and turns to stare at me when I don’t respond. “Bea?”

Something about this doesn’t feel right. That’s all I can keep thinking as I watch the others suit up and prepare to deploy. What are we going to change by going out there? No one even told us what we are to do, aside from shooting suspected Dreamcatchers. But even then, how are we supposed to know who is a Dreamcatcher and who isn’t until it’s too late?

“Sorry. I was running behind.” Gabe’s voice shatters my thoughts. He stops beside me, but doesn’t say a word to me, nor does he look in my direction. “When are we heading out?”

“Five minutes,” Mae chirps and holds up her wrist, which is wrapped in a silver watch with a violet face. It looks cartoonishly big on her little frame.

I stare at Gabe and the obvious way that he seems to be ignoring me then I dismiss it in favor of more important and dangerous thoughts. It is fine if he wants to ignore me now, just as long as we don’t lose each other later in the mass chaos on the other side of those doors. “Five minutes.” I echo Mae’s words, violet eyes flickering to the rotating lights that suddenly come alive, casting their orange-red hue around the bay.

The Keeper appears on a catwalk to the left of us. She clears her throat and speaks loudly, with no need for a microphone. “Seers. Today, you are to set forth on your first, real mission. It has been many, many years since we’ve had to battle the Dreamcatchers in this fashion. They have somehow managed to breach the City and are dangerously close to threatening the security of the Institution.”

“No one mentioned that before,” Brandon mumbles.

“The truth is, Seers, if they come any closer, then our very existence is in peril. The Seers cannot be proficient once we are infiltrated. Our powers are connected to one another and once tapped, we will be threatened, exposed, and possibly defeated.” The Keeper continues, arms raised in the air as if addressing a massive crowd, when in all reality there are about forty of us down here: Team A, Team B, and Team C.

I notice Rachelle leaning on a column as if all of this were some normal event. She picks the dirt out from under her nails and flicks it away, not even looking at the Keeper as she continues her speech. Rachelle looks as though she was already privy to this new information. As if someone already told her.

“We cannot allow this to happen. When you set out today, you will experience another side of your gift. You have learned how to harvest your Sight, you have learned how to physically combat those around you, and now you will learn how to seek out the Dreamcatchers.” As if knowing we were all asking “How?” in our minds, the Keeper only pauses for an instant then answers all the unasked questions. “You will find, as you walk the streets, that you will be drawn to the somewhat painful aura of the Dreamcatchers. We, of course, had no way of teaching you this without bringing one of them into our midst. Perhaps, though, you might have felt it at the execution we had some time ago.”

I try to think back to the day we saw Paradigm riddled with bullets. I remember how I couldn’t look away, and the way that she was staring at me in return. I remember how my chest felt tight, squeezing until Paradigm fell to the ground, dead. A shudder crawls up my spine and goose bumps form on my arms.

“You must be careful. Just as soon as you feel the connection, they could be a mile away or they could be standing right next to you. Do not take any chances.” The Keeper pauses, and the “s” sound reverberates through the bay. We are all quiet. We know what this means. Taking no chances means shooting and killing people who may not be Dreamcatchers at all. We will be adding to the chaos before we even begin to quell it.

“This isn’t going to be pretty,” Gabe remarks in a whisper to the group. I look over at him, but he is still pointedly staring in any direction but mine.

“Do we really have to…just shoot people? What if they aren’t Dreamcatchers?” It finally clicks for Mae, and her eyes darken when she figures out the answer on her own.

“Then they are dead,” Brandon answers.

A loud groan fills the bay as the massive doors unlock. All at once, the three teams take a step back away and stare nervously at the seam, which slowly begins to part. Our guns are loaded with beacon bullets, and we are as ready as we will ever be.

“I wish you luck, Seers. Eradicate as many Dreamcatchers as you can until you are ordered back to the Institution. Remember to stay alert! Don’t take any chances.” The Keeper pauses there as the doors finally open and the dim light from the outside fills the dark room. “Kill or be killed.”

With those last words, our teams are ordered forward and before we even have a chance to think about what we are running into, we are all hustled out of the Institution and into the streets of the City. I cast a look over my shoulder and watch as the bay doors shut behind us, locking us out. A seed of panic begins to grow in me. I know this will not turn out to be something good.
Echo, isn’t this when you are supposed to save me?

Team C takes off to the left and hurries down a through street. They are quick to disappear, and quick to open fire. We hear the pat-pat-pat of their machine guns and the clinking of the shells as they hit the asphalt. Rachelle and Team B gung-ho it right into the center of the City, which I should have expected, being that all Rachelle cares about is bringing home glory.

Our team, Team A, is following Gabe today. “Listen! Despite what we have been told, I don’t want you shooting up just anyone, you hear me? Look and listen. Observe. Feel. But don’t just go out there killing anything that moves!” Gabe shouts at us, his dark hair falling in his face at the end of every punctuated sentence. Sweat beads on his brow and drips down the sides of his face. He’s nervous. We are all nervous. I can even hear Mae’s teeth chattering together in her head. “Do you understand, Team?”

The air resounds with a series of “Yes, sirs” and “Yeahs!” I don’t shout anything. I’m too busy staring at Gabe and wondering if we’ll make it back to the Institution alive so that I can apologize to him for running off after he kissed me.

Gabe turns and starts for President Street, one of the main roads that lead to a more populated area of the City. We march double-time, and the mix of our boots hitting the ground, the screaming of Dreamcatchers and Citizens alike, and the eerie calm of the streets brings an uneasiness to our mission. I wonder if Gabe has a plan as he keeps marching ahead, running by the occasional Citizen gathered in a window, peering out into the disorder beyond. Does he feel where he is going, or is he just running blindly into mayhem?

As we turn a corner, we nearly collide into each other as those in front of us suddenly break the cadence in order to avoid stepping on a crumpled body huddled in a street gutter. Half of the corpse’s head is blown off, and though I don’t get a good look at it, I piece together that it is probably a woman, since the body is rather small.

“Oh my goodness!” Mae puts a hand to her mouth to hold back the reactionary retching.

“Keep moving!” Gabe reminds us through the com in our helmets, and we are back to marching in two lines. When we near the end of the street, he puts his hand up in a closed fist, signaling for us to stop. He lowers his hand, and we crouch on the ground.

At first, I don’t know why we’ve stopped. But then, I start to feel it: a strange, tugging sensation that burns and feels empty at the same time. I’ve felt it before, with Paradigm, but never with Echo. Why haven’t I felt this with Echo? I can tell we all feel it.

“They are near,” Brandon whispers, his hand on the side of his head. He holds it like he has a headache. My head is also beginning to throb as the feeling becomes more intense.

“They must be getting closer.” I peek up at Gabe to see what his next move will be. All of us are holding our heads now, and though it doesn’t exactly hurt, the throbbing is a nuisance and I can’t think straight. Between my ears, it is hot and murky. I can hear Echo’s voice calling to me:
Beatrice, save me…

His words physically hurt. I whimper, and Mae looks back at me in concern. “Beatrice?”

I wave my hand to dismiss Mae’s unease. Then I hear Gabe yelling, “There! That one!”

We look ahead, but all I see is a family standing in the picture window of their home, staring at us with wide eyes. There’s a mother in her pale blue robe, a father with his arms around his wife, and two children in their pajamas. The others in Team A pull up their weapons, fumbling with them since we all let our guards down while holding our heads. Our sights are aimed at the family, but no one in particular.
Which one, Gabe?
We all must be thinking the same thing. The family might have stopped breathing by now, standing in the line of fire from a dozen machine guns.