Of Delicate Pieces (23 page)

See the effects of truth? Like the colors of emotions?

Chase’s hand shot into the air. “Is it documented?”

“The findings? Always.”

“Publicly?”

“Yes.”

He fidgeted in his seat.

Madison flipped over what had to be her ninth page of notes. “Is that how they evaluated the Eskers kids?”

“Way to be tactful, Madi,” Linton said, but he grinned to show that he wasn’t trying to offend her.

Dr. Massin stopped in front of Joey Rellingsworth’s desk. “If those newburies would like to share, they are more than welcome. What you need to understand is that your peers faced the same judicial system as the seasoned spirits around the world, and every one of them was found to be innocent. You can’t continue to disgrace them. They were under an influence greater than them. Our minds are vulnerable out here in the open without bodies to protect us.”

The ink
! Alex wanted to object.
The ink was in all of our books, but only the greedy or the bitter could read it
. This proved something about the differences in the minds of the Eskers kids. Massin was wrong.

“I read something about spirits who are arrested by the Patrol,” said Madison. “The news usually says that they’re under some influence. Couldn’t anyone use that as an excuse?”

“That’s where the Revealers come into play because even the most persuasive of personalities can’t fool a panel of Revealers.”

“Persuasive of personalities?” Madison repeated. “I don’t understand.”

“The most infamously persuasive spirit was Syrus Raive.”

Alex felt a lump in her throat.

“Persuasive doesn’t seem like the right description.” Linton scoffed.

“Yeah,” Tess added. “Serial killer is more appropriate.”

Murderer. Alex was related to a murderer.

Dr. Massin tightened her mouth and regarded them momentarily before shuffling across the room to stick her head out into the hallway. She returned to her podium and placed her hands on her hips. “I know we aren’t supposed to discuss it, but Syrus Raive was a respected Broderick advisor before the Restructuring. He was
voted
into that position. He was a great man.”

Alex felt guilty for being glad of this. The boy in the letters hadn’t sounded like a monster.

Linton’s voice came out even sharper than usual. “Now I understand why historical figures aren’t discussed. Because of bias like yours.”

“Watch your tone, Darwin,” she sniped. “Even rumors of horrific happenings didn’t kill his support. A mind believes what it wants. How does any politician create a following? His words. His ideals. His persuasion.” She cupped her cheek and swayed. “I heard Raive speak once. He had a way about him; his words lifted you off your feet and carried you along next to him. It only felt natural to follow the course he proposed.”

“And what about when he started killing people?” Linton asked.

“No one believed it.” Massin glared. “I didn’t even believe it. It seemed like a gimmick created to discourage Raive’s following. Finally, he was indicted, and when he faced the Revealers, his actions were exposed.”

“What happened then?”

“Detainment. There are detention facilities stationed around the world. Buried alive, spirits cannot move through several feet of earth, and they can’t project without seeing where they are going.”

Alex’s question crawled up her throat. Before she could silence herself, she called out, “And what about the gifted? Is the evaluation process the same with them?”

Every face in the classroom turned to look at her. Pax stretched as high in her seat as she could without standing up.

“Good question. Reuben?” Linton asked. “Do hunters kill the gifted?”

Reuben’s eyes bugged at Dr. Massin. He puffed out his fat cheeks, trying to hold in his secrets.

“I’m only trying to speak to Reuben about something I don’t understand,” Linton said, tilting his head. “Isn’t that the whole idea of getting along?”

When Dr. Massin nodded at Reuben, he used both hands to scratch at his head. “Hunters don’t kill the gifted. Not anymore.”

“Why hunt, then?”

“To herd ’em.”

Sparks erupted around Little.

“They don’t want the gifted to become spirits.”

Chase directed his pencil at Reuben. “
They
?”

Oh, God. Alex covered her mouth with her hands. It was them. It was spirits. “Do
we
hire the hunters?”

Massin yelped and cut off Reuben’s response. “No! There are two laws we share. We aren’t to enter each other’s territories. And we aren’t to harm one another. If laws are broken, it’s like finding a criminal in the living world.”

Reuben’s tuft of blond hair stuck straight up. Jack teetered at the very edge of his seat as though he might jump up, but neither of them said a word.

Chase’s jaw shifted side to side.
Massin’s color is usually turquoise, but now it’s getting a little dark. I don’t think she’s being honest.

Of course she isn’t being honest
, Alex thought back to him.
We never hear much about spirits from the past. I’m surprised she’s told us this much.

Alex considered what Linton said about believing a bias. She felt willing to take Massin’s word that Raive was a good guy, only because she
wanted
him to be good.

Something Ellington told her churned in her thoughts. Those in power hire others to do their dirty work. The Havilahs did the commanding. The Bonds did the law making, and the Seyferrs did the hunting. Her family would be responsible for hiring the hunters. The Bonds were cursed. The Seyferrs were cursed. What about the Havilahs? What was their punishment?

Was Alex cursed, too?

***

Alex had so much on her mind and found it difficult to concentrate during her monthly brain scan at the medical center. The doctors claimed the visits were for their benefit, but Chase thought they were being used for research. Chase and she always planned ahead and focused on separate things during the hour exam, that way they wouldn’t accidentally enter each other’s thoughts. Her mind couldn’t sit still though. What if the doctors discovered their secret?

“You need a break,” Chase said after they returned home.

“Technically, I had one while you and everyone else slaved away at the mansion.”

“We were playing a game. Pulling mindless stunts and playing pretend. You were forced to go to workshops and go to the health center.” He pulled her off the bed, and a spark shocked them both. “Come on. You too, Rae.”

In the hallway, he attempted to position Alex back on her feet, but she imagined herself as boneless and slumped in his arms.

“Cut it out,” he scolded as her arms drooped and her head bounced off his chest.

She put her feet down. “You said I needed a break, but you take me away from my comfortable bed.”

“Your
mind
needs a break. When you sit and do nothing, you exhaust yourself with all
that
… ” He drew invisible circles around her head. “That curiosity.”

Rae perked up and nodded in agreement.

They left Brigitta and crossed the courtyard with Chase leading the way. He said their destination was a surprise, but Alex saw the playing fields flash in his mind. She didn’t tell him. In life, she was too frail to play sports, so she hid among the crowd as an outsider looking in. The nostalgia of watching the boys made her happy. Like a Friday-night-high-school-football-game-with-a-thick-blanket-and-hot-chocolate kind of happy. Some of her favorite moments in life involved being an outsider, watching the Lasalles be the stars, while she observed in the dark.

She hadn’t thought about that in a long time.

Her shoes made no marks on the grass, a sign that she didn’t belong down here. “What am I going to be watching?”

“You’re not watching.”

“You said I was going to relax.”

Rae barreled ahead of them, sprinting across the empty fields.

“You need to have some fun.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Alex spun in a circle, making sure the stadium was empty.

“Today you get to play.”

Chase took off his hat and smoothed back his honey-brown bangs. He turned the hat backward and placed it back on his head. “Catch!”

He tossed her the ball, but it slid through her hands and flipped away from her. She scowled and went to pick it up. “I expected it to be heavier.”

“Why?”

“Wouldn’t that be harder?”

“Not for the Movers. They could manipulate something made of minerals. If it was a rock, you’d be better at these games than anyone.”

But it wasn’t. All the more reason for her to go find her seat in the stands. She could count on one hand the number of times she’d thrown a ball, and she didn’t want to look like an idiot. “I don’t know how to play anything.”

“You’ll learn. Your first day as a spirit you crushed a bench the size of your bed. I don’t think kicking a ball around will be much of a challenge.”

“I’ve seen the way you play. I won’t be able to keep up.”

“Stop thinking about it so much. You’re overanalyzing.” He trotted toward her and placed his hands on her shoulders, jostling her lightly. “No one is judging you, and we’ll just mess around.”

A soccer ball came rolling in her direction, bumping against her shins, and stopping at her feet. Rae stood across the field with another ball in her arms, her brows raised.

Chase nodded at her as if to say,
Good idea
. “Looks like a challenge to me. You want to play, Rae?”

Smiling, Rae set the ball on the ground and stood poised. She took her small hands and smoothed her white hair from her face.

“Hold on!” Chase shouted, racing to the sidelines to grab another ball. His enthusiasm made him seem as young as Rae, who rubbed her hands together before placing them on her thighs.

“Why do I have the feeling she’s going to smoke us?”

“Because she’s had a century of practice. We should get a head start.” A ball flew from Rae’s direction and smacked Chase in the side of his head.

“I don’t think she agrees.”

The three of them lined up as Chase counted down. “Three … two … one … ”

It was harder than it looked. Alex moved objects with her mind; she withstood a banshee attack, but trying to run down a field while kicking a ball was difficult. She had a clear view of Rae, dribbling the ball with grace that no toddler should ever display. Alex was left in the dust, but even from the losing end of the race, the breeze that tickled her face and whipped through her hair felt incredible. She understood the appeal of the nightly games.

Rae won easily, raising her short arms above her head in triumph. She ran a lap around the perimeter of the field.

Chase took off his hat and placed it on Alex’s head. “Nice work.”

“I was terrible.”

He angled his head. “Yeah.” He spun the hat on her head, turning the brim backward. “Get this out of the way.”

He bent to kiss her, and Alex slid her hands under his jersey, running them along the muscles etched there. She loved how the electricity between them tickled her palms. He lifted his head to stare at her, wetting his lips before turning his head in the opposite direction to kiss her again.

Hollowed voices echoed from the nearby tunnel. “You think that’s what people come here to see?” Kaleb yelled. “By the way, we saw you two get beaten by a toddler!”

Chase refused to let go of Alex, and she didn’t mind.

“Ignore them.” He cradled her head with one hand and pressed the other against the small of her back.

“I know who I’m picking for my team!” Gabe bellowed.

Alex pressed her head against Chase’s palm and saw Rae continuing her victory lap, whizzing past Kaleb and Gabe, slapping their hands as she went.

Chase sighed, and kissed her one last time. “You’re early,” he grumbled to his brothers.

Kaleb bunted the ball with this head. “I could do without the PDA, but we didn’t want to miss this.”

Alex’s shoes untied and her clothes wrinkled. She hated that her mind made her discomfort and displacement so obvious. “You came to watch me fall on my face?”

“Exactly. Not to
suck
face. So break it up, you two.”

Chase cleared his throat. “No one is asking you to watch.”

“We thought we could help. We could teach you a few things.”

Chase wiped the side of his mouth with his thumb. “I don’t need any advice.”

“Not about that, you pervert. I thought I told you to knock it off.” He tossed the ball, which bounced off Chase’s shoulder. “Keep your lips to yourself here. This is sacred ground.”

Alex repositioned Chase’s hat on her head. “Is that what you tell Little Gossamer?”

“Yeah right.” Kaleb jogged down the field to retrieve a ball but projected himself back. “She’s not exactly my flavor.”

“She’s so nice.”

“Therein lies the problem. I have someone else meeting me here tonight.”

“Who?”

“Pax Simone.”

“Aren’t they friends?”

Kaleb shrugged.

“You’re such an ass. Did you do that on purpose?”

Kaleb shrugged, passing a football from one hand to the other.

Gabe took a step closer to Alex and leaned over her shoulder. “He doesn’t want anyone to assume he wanted a backup for Skye.”

Kaleb froze, ball in hand. “Not true at all. Have you ever known me to back down from a challenge?” He chucked the football to Alex. She swatted at it, and it clunked to the ground. “Pax is more … ”

“Authoritative?”

Kaleb considered the word. “Informed is better. Useful is another good one. I can get some information out of her.”

Rae retreated to the hill behind the gap in the stands and began picking daisies. Alex tried to go with her, but the boys wanted to set up a two-on-two. Although she was unskilled, Alex admitted it was fun to run a route to try to get away from a defender to catch a football. It was especially fun when Chase was the defender and she was trying to elude him. After Kaleb threw a ball that stretched at least sixty yards, Alex dove to catch it, expecting to fall flat on her face. Instead, Chase intercepted the ball. He let out a little whoop and winked at her. Alex was so angry at his arrogance that she took off full speed in his direction. She’d watched enough games to know how to wrap her arms around someone and tackle them into the dirt.