The Gryphon Project (28 page)

“I’m hoping you might know what really happened that day.”

“No. But I would tell you if I did.” There was defiance in her eyes that elicited a sudden tug of shame in Phee. “Because I love Gryph, and I would do whatever I could to get him back, even if you think I’m just some slut who wants to hang off his arm for a while.”

“I don’t think that.” But she did, or she had. Until right now. With Clea standing up for herself, here in her place of work where she so clearly had the respect of those around her, Phoenix could see a little of what Gryph saw in her. She could hear Oscar’s minister voice intoning, “We are new wonders every day, each of us reborn with the sunrise …”

“I am sorry.” The words felt thick in her throat. “I am, Clea.”

Clea’s expression softened. “I didn’t actually see it happen. I was there, like, seconds after. But I didn’t see it happen. And the boys won’t tell me anything.”

It hit Phee like a kick to the gut. Clea might not have seen it happen, but she’d
been
there. Phee had known that, but it hadn’t really sunk in until now what that truly meant. The fear, the horror. Seeing Gryph like that. Her boyfriend, for whatever that was worth. In all the time that had passed, Phee hadn’t given Clea’s feelings a single thought. Oscar would be ashamed of her. Hell, she was ashamed of herself.

“I’m so sorry, Clea. It must have been awful.”

“It was.” Her eyes teared up. “It was awful.”

“I am so, so sorry that you saw him like that.”

“Me too.”

The girls said nothing for a moment, but then Phee pushed on, hoping Clea would let her.

“You’ve talked to them? The guys?”

“I’ve talked to Tariq,” Clea said with a sigh. “He’s the only one who’ll get back to me. But I think that’s because he won’t let Huy or Neko speak for themselves. They’re all locked up. Nothing in. Nothing out.”

“I’m getting the same treatment, if it’s any consolation.”

Fawn bounded toward them, soaking wet and shivering. “Can I sit in the lifeguard chair? Just for a minute?”

“Sorry, Fawn. You know I can’t let anyone up there unless they’re a lifeguard.”

“Please?”

“No,” Clea repeated. “Why don’t you go down the slide? But not headfirst this time or I have to give you a warning just like everyone else. Okay?”

“Okay.” Fawn hurried off, careful not to break the no-running rule on the pool deck.

“You’re good with her.”

“You might notice I’m good at a couple of things, if you actually saw me as a person, and not some brainless slut.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, ouch.”

Clea’s boss called over from the concession stand and told her to get back to work, so she and Phee said goodbye. Phee felt antsy. She wanted to leave right away, but she’d promised Fawn a swim, so she made herself wait another half an hour before dragging a protesting Fawn into the change rooms and then home.

But being at home was worse. She still felt antsy. There was nothing to do, and that drove her mad. She wasn’t meeting Marlin
until later, and none of the other boys were returning her calls anymore, so she just had to wait. She lay down and tried to nap, but sleep would not come. She’d been up for two days and two nights now.

Phee was so tired at dinner that she could hardly keep her eyes open. She couldn’t comprehend how Gryph could go out night after night and still function at all during the day, let alone win competition after competition. She excused herself early and shut herself in her room and tried again to sleep. She was going to meet Marlin later, and if she didn’t get some sleep now, it would be a long time before she could hope for another chance at it. She set her alarm and shut her eyes, not very hopeful.

Thankfully, she did sleep. When her alarm went off, she woke with a start. She could’ve slept for days and days, but she had to go. The house was quiet when she padded down the stairs later. Riley whined as she passed, and she paused to give him a pat. Willis let her out the main gate with stern instructions to be back by five in the morning and not a moment later this time.

MARLIN MET HER
at the benches again.

“What are you going to show me tonight?” Phee fell into step beside him as they headed off to the train station.

“A test-tube-baby factory where they make to-order babies for all those sad, desperate infertile couples with money to burn,” Marlin said with a sardonic laugh. Then he did his best TV infomercial spokesperson impersonation. “And for only $19.99, pre-select the sex of up to four zygotes!”

“Not funny.”

“We’re going back to the lab,” Marlin said. “You can help.”

“What if I don’t want to?” Phee stopped walking. “What if I wish you’d never shown me that place? What if I wish I never knew about it? What if I don’t want to because I don’t agree with you or your illegal reconning? What if I have my own opinions?”

“Do you? Agree?”

“I don’t know. The world is set up the way it is for a reason. Good reasons, right?”

“You mean the tier system?” It had been like that, with doctors and business executives and politicians and lawyers being entitled to three recons, and then academics and accountants and pilots and such being allotted two recons, and then down the line through daycare workers and garbagemen and grocery clerks with their one each, and then everyone else, mostly jobless and destitute, not having rights to a single recon, ever. “That system was designed by the elite for the elite, Phee. Think about it. Is any one life more important than another?”

“Sure. Some crackhead from a no-per zone is not as important as my little sister.” Phee remembered the ill-fated shuttle trip to the no-per zone. Those people were not as valuable as the people she loved. No way.

“Not to you, maybe.” Marlin’s tone was challenging. “But that ‘crackhead’ has a sister too. Who’d be just as upset if her sister died. In fact, more upset than you, because Fawn has three recons to her name. She’d come back.”

“Not if Chrysalis doubted the circumstances around her death.”

“Now you’re talking about Gryph.”

“Of course I’m talking about Gryph!” Phee had to remind herself to keep her voice down. They were waiting for the train, and while there was no one else around at the moment, who knew who might be nearby, and who knew what exactly was captured by the security cameras? “Who else would I be talking about?”

“It will all work out. With Gryph, I mean.”

“Prove it. Tell me what really happened that night.”

The train sighed to a stop and the two of them got on. The car was empty, but still Marlin whispered. “I will. When we get off the train.”

TRUE TO HIS WORD
, as they made their way to the warehouse, Marlin finally started talking about what really happened.

“If I tell you this, you have to promise not to talk to anyone about it. Not Nadia. Or Huy or Tariq or Neko. Definitely not Neko. Not a word.”

“I promise.”

“And I mean it about not telling Nadia. You can’t ever tell her what I’m about to tell you.”

“Tell me, already.” Phee laughed, but it was a scared, nervous little bleat. She didn’t like the way he was talking, and she couldn’t help wondering if it was better in the long run that she didn’t know. Part of her felt sick with unease, but the bigger part of her was a complete slave to her curiosity.

“I’m telling you because you’ve always been a good friend to me, and because I can see how much you’re hurting not knowing what happened to your brother.” Marlin stopped walking. He gripped Phoenix by her shoulders and waited until she met his eyes with her nervous gaze. “Gryph didn’t kill himself, and it wasn’t an accident.”

They were in front of a boarded-up grocery store, long since abandoned, dark and ominous like a hulking, silent witness.

“I’m listening,” Phee said, although her head pounded and her thoughts leaped ahead of her, making it difficult to focus on what he was saying. She tried to concentrate. That meant that it wasn’t suicide! He’d be reconned! She glanced at her watch. It was just past midnight. Could she go to Chrysalis now? Surely there was someone there around the clock. Marlin would come with her, explain everything. Gryph could come home! But of course there was more. It was never simple.

“He was pushed.”

“Who—” Phee blanched. “Not
you?
Is that why you disappeared?”

“No, it wasn’t me.”

“Tariq?”

Marlin shook his head, eyes downcast.

“A stranger!” Phee latched on to the notion with her relief like talons. “That’s okay, then. Even if they do a lie detector test, right?
Doesn’t matter who, so long as none of—” She caught herself. She wasn’t that naive. If it had been a stranger, they would’ve said so all along. The boys were obviously covering up for one of their own. “Was it Huy?”

“No.” Marlin took Phee’s wrist, pulling her back to the present so that she could really hear what he was about to say. “It was Neko.”

“No it wasn’t!” Phee gasped. She pulled her arm away and hugged herself.

“It was Neko,” Marlin said. “I saw the whole thing happen.”

MARLIN EXPLAINED
. The boys were on the platform, waiting for the train. They were teasing Neko, which was as normal for them as breathing. One of them always had to be the target, and it had been Neko’s turn for a long while. Perhaps too long.

“You’re a coward,” Gryph said. “Why do you think we haven’t initiated you yet?”

“I’m not a coward.” Neko’s cheeks blazed with sudden anger. He gave Gryph a shove, just to prove his point. Gryph didn’t budge.

“You are so.” This from Huy. “That’s okay. You’re just a little kid. You’ve got time to learn to do big-boy things.” He lunged for Neko, making a grab for his pants. “Still got diapers under there?”

“Don’t touch me, Huy.”

“Why not?” Huy made another grab for his pants. “Afraid you’ll catch my faggot cooties?”

“Shut up!” Neko’s face went even redder, and his eyes flashed darker.

“Knock out the cameras, then,” Gryph challenged. “I dare you.”

The colour drained from his cheeks as fast as it had come. “What for?”

“Because,” Tariq said, “he told you to.”

“Yeah? Well, cowards do what they’re told. Cowards are sheep,” Neko said. “And I’m not a coward, so there. Knock out the cameras yourself. ”

But his bravado had gone too far. The resulting defiance did not go over well. Gryph got right up into his face, staring down at him, his nostrils flared with rage. Gryph narrowed his eyes. Spittle formed at the corners of his mouth. “Do it.”

“Sure.” Neko stammered out the word, aiming for nonchalance. “What do I care?”

Huy and the others stared at him, arms crossed across their chests, while Gryph still had him locked in his glare.

“So get going.”

Once the cameras were disabled, it was only a matter of minutes before maintenance showed up to repair them. If the guys were still hanging around, there’d be no doubt who was to blame.

“Okay, okay.” Neko sprinted down the stairs and was soon back with a handful of rocks. He aimed for the first one and missed. He missed again with the second.

Gryph took one of the rocks and threw it. With a quiet crack, the lens shattered. “You do the other one, or we’re done. No more hanging out with us. You go your way, we go ours.”

“Back to after-school care,” Huy said with a laugh.

“Go easy on him, Gryph.” This from Saul, who had mostly stayed out of this taunt session. “He’s only little.”

“I can take care of myself!” Neko aimed a rock at the other camera at their end of the station. He nailed it so hard that the camera lens shattered and the whole thing slouched in its casing.

“That’s better.” Gryph gave him a hard slap on the back. “Now, one last challenge for today.”

“What do you want me to do?” Neko braced himself for it.

“You’re going to push me in front of the train,” Gryph said. The others eyed Gryph, not sure where he was going with this. You never knew with him. They’d play along, though. It usually made sense in the end, like the prank with the doors. Although that one had gone a little too far.

“What?”

Saul clapped a hand on Neko’s shoulder. “You heard him.” Out of sight of Neko, Saul raised his eyebrows at Gryph, questioning him silently.

“Yeah.” Gryph grabbed hold of Neko and shoved him toward the edge of the platform. “There’s a new program that stops the train before impact. Don’t you watch the news?”

“You’re making that up.”

“Not at all.” Gryph grinned at the other boys. “Am I making it up, guys?”

“No,” Huy said at once.

“Nope,” Saul and Tariq added reluctantly, not sure where Gryph was going with this particular prank. Saul glanced down at the people at the far end of the platform. No one was looking their way. He almost wished someone was, so Gryph’s bravado might falter.

It was a Saturday, and this was the Industrial Sector, so not many people had reason to use this station. Just a handful, none of them wanting to share the platform with a group of unruly teenagers, even if one of them was Gryphon Nicholson-Lalonde. Gryph was wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses anyway, so none of the bystanders could tell who he was.

“Want to try it out?” Gryph gave Neko another little shove. “Want to try out this brilliant new technology?”

EVERYONE HAS A LIMIT
, and Neko had reached his. He’d had enough of the teasing.

“You’re full of shit.” In a quick, instinctive move that drew on almost ten years of twice-weekly karate classes, Neko caught his leg behind Gryph’s knee and spun him. Gryph teetered but didn’t fall.

The train was coming.

With a hearty laugh, Gryph pushed himself forward and latched on to Neko.

“You think you’re some kung-fu expert?”

The other boys came at Neko with karate chops and high-pitched
hee-yas
.

Neko slapped at them all. “Leave me alone!”

“Why?” Gryph said as he shoved him closer to the track. “Can’t hack it? What’re you going to do? Cry?”

The familiar ding-dong sounded, announcing the approaching train.

“Shut the fuck up, Gryphon!” Neko shoved him back, hard. Teeth gritted, eyes blazing, he locked arms with Gryph. “Shut up! You think you’re such hot shit—”