The Repossession (32 page)

Make you whole again?’

Julia blushed. Reverend Schneider had said exactly that. Told her she’d never be hungry ever again. He hadn’t lied actually. She looked at Cary.

‘Well at least I didn’t try to run my father over.’

‘It was an accident.’

‘That’s not what your father said.’

Genie slammed her hand down on the table.

‘We’ve all got reasons to be here. Think about the kids who didn’t make it. We’re alive. We made it. We have to tell people what’s going on. We need to stick together and

watch each other’s backs. We don’t call anyone right now.

We have to keep the element of surprise. We only have two or three people we can trust back in Spurlake. OK?

No calls and we don’t return until we’re ready. If anyone knew we were here they’d grab us back so fast you wouldn’t have time to blink. Understand?’

It took a while to get everyone to agree. That, and Rian disconnecting and dismantling the phone. Temptation is a hungry animal.

Genie was making sure everyone had a place to sleep. For most of them it was a completely new experience and they’d have to learn how all over again.

They’d been sleepless from the moment they had been teleported and for Denis that meant a long time awake.

Genie was happy that they’d kept the food down, so far.

She had only been in the system a few hours, she’d had it easy. The others were all experiencing problems with simple things, bumping into stuff mostly. Getting distance right was a biggie and even climbing stairs had to be relearned. Suddenly having a mouth full of spit was awkward, feeling the blood in your veins disconcerting, somehow gross. It was so weird. Feeling your teeth with your tongue or being warm or cold were new experiences all over again.

She found Miho crying in the bathroom, sitting in the corner with some face cream on her nose.

‘Miho?’

‘I’m scared. I don’t know what I’m feeling. I feel sick and my teeth hurt and my hands feel like lead and I’m scared about going home. I don’t think I’ve got a home any more.’

‘How did you end up in the Fortress? I remember you. You painted all those fantastic murals at school.

I heard you won a scholarship to Emily Carr. You already graduated, right?’

Miho rubbed the cream into her face, hot tears rolling down her cheeks.

‘My mother is seriously ill. My father wanted me to go to Japan to study. I mean . . . I don’t even speak Japanese.

He said I couldn’t go to art college. He was very angry. I went to see Reverend Schneider and . . .’ she sobbed, trying to take in a breath. ‘He said he’d talk to my father. He said he’d put me somewhere safe where he couldn’t get me.’

Genie hugged her, let her cry on her shoulder.

She figured that Reverend Schneider was going to come up in all their stories. They had to find a way to fix him, just had to.

Rian came back upstairs with blankets from the

storeroom. He handed some over to Randall, who’d hardly said anything yet. He was utterly bewildered by being back in real life and seemed the worst affected by memory loss.

‘Smells of dog but they’ll keep you warm,’ Rian told him. Suddenly Rian remembered something.

‘Hey, Genie?’

‘What?’ she called from the bathroom.

‘I forgot to tell you. Moucher’s still alive. My ma stitched him up. He lost a lot of blood, but he’ll be fine.’

Genie appeared at the bathroom door with red eyes.

She was wiping away tears.

‘No way. Schneider hit him so hard I swear he was dead.’

‘He was in bad shape, but she sewed up the wound and I think he’ll heal.’

Genie felt a surge of hope. Mouch was alive. It lifted her spirits. She took Randall by the arm and led him to a pile of cushions in a corner.

‘You’re sleeping here, Randy. You OK?’

Randall nodded. He seemed confused.

‘Genie? I know I heard it before, but what’s a dog?’

Genie looked at him with confusion. ‘Dog?’

Rian had also noticed his disorientation. ‘He’s tired.’

‘You know what a cat is?’ Genie asked him.

‘I had a cat when I was a kid. Can’t remember its name though.’

‘Can you remember where you lived?’

‘Seven-five-six Mulberry. You don’t forget where you live.’

‘Then you’ll remember what a dog is tomorrow.’

She helped him lie down. Randall was strange. Maybe he’d always been strange.

She met Rian on the landing, a question unasked about Randall on his lips. Genie shrugged. She didn’t know any more than he did. Perhaps the kid would feel better in the morning. It must be weird to be downsized like that.

Downstairs, they drank tea and held hands. The two of them together at last.

‘You know what worries me most, Ri?’

‘What.’

‘It worked. The Fortress don’t know it worked. They don’t know we’re alive, but when they do, this thing is going to be worth billions to someone. We’re just nine kids who want revenge on Reverend Schneider, but someone has a fortune invested in this idea and they won’t want us telling anyone about it.’

Rian understood.

‘We’d have to get us all to Spurlake, hope Officer Miller

will protect us and then get out fast.’

Genie nodded. ‘We just proved teleportation works.

We’re going to be valuable. The Fortress will want us back real bad. We’re like returning astronauts or something.

Y’know, those guys who went to the moon, like forty-odd years ago.’

‘They’ll want to study you all,’ Rian agreed. ‘That so sucks. You’re right, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.’

‘They’d cut us up like lab rats or something. Don’t tell the others. But we have to keep it secret until we’re ready.’

Renée appeared in the doorway suddenly, wearing one of Marshall’s sweaters. ‘Your pig is making noises outside. I can’t sleep.’

‘Probably needs water,’ Rian told her. ‘I’ll get the bucket.’

Rian left to deal with the pig and Genie looked at Renée and smiled.

‘I heard what you said, Genie. We got to be smart.

We have to protect ourselves. You’re right, we’re like the first people on Mars. We could be celebrities.’

‘They’d never let us get that far, Renée. If they let the world know we exist then they will have to account for all the other missing kids. Either way, they won’t

ever want to admit to the world they were using live kids in experiments.’

‘I guess you’re right.’ She looked disappointed.

‘And tomorrow?’

‘You’ll see. We need to build up strength. Everyone’s muscles are so weak right now. Get some sleep. OK?’

‘You look cute with a shaved head, y’know. You going to grow it long again?’

‘I’ll just be happy if it grows. I want to be normal.’

Renée laughed. ‘Yeah, right, normal, whatever. That’s so going to happen. Night.’

It was four a.m., still dark outside. As far as Genie could make out, everyone was asleep, although most were restless, having shallow dreams. Genie was stood in the bathroom, resting her head against the mirror as she let cold water flow over her hands. She had no idea how long she had been there but it had been a while. She’d hugged Rian until he’d fallen asleep in her arms and then lain there, totally awake. She, more than most, realized what a miracle it was that she was alive and able to see Rian again, let alone hold him, feel his hot flesh against her, something so simple and utterly precious. Amazing also to be able to stand here and feel cold water trickling over her hands.

But did she deserve it? She had doubts.

Someone entered the bathroom behind her and closed the door.

‘You too?’ Renée asked.

Genie didn’t move. ‘I never realized how much I like water flowing over my hands. Never knew how important it was to simply breathe, Renée.’

‘Can’t sleep. Can’t get used to being solid. Feels so heavy. I never knew how you could feel how heavy you are. It just feels so weird.’ Renée came forward and sat on the toilet. She totally understood why Genie was acting strange.

Genie shut off the tap and dried her hands, moving towards the door to give Renée privacy.

‘I used to dream about snow,’ Renée whispered. ‘I had the same thing going over in my head for over a year.

Kept looking up and seeing snow and imagining it melting on my eyelids. Just that, thinking about snow and knowing I’d never feel anything, ever again.’

Genie understood. She’d only been trapped in the Fortress for moments, but it was enough. She was again standing on the transmission platform, watching her own body disintegrating, like so many grains of sand in the wind. It was a terrifying but fascinating impression that would stay with her for always.

‘I’m worried, Genie,’ Renée finally confessed. ‘I’m

worried about what’s inside us. If everything is going to work inside. I mean, what if it suddenly goes wrong. How do we know this is going to last? What if I start falling apart? I saw what happened with other kids.’

‘We’re OK,’ Genie reassured her. ‘I’m pretty sure we’re OK.’

‘How do you know?’

‘ ’Cause we can walk and talk and see. It’s all in the right place, Renée. If it wasn’t, nothing would work, nothing would work at all . . . and it does.’

Renée wasn’t mollified. ‘Of course you could be more worried than you’re letting on, else you wouldn’t be standing in the bathroom for half an hour wondering if your hands are going to wash away.’

‘It’s not like when you were in the Fortress, Renée.

You’re out now. They can’t switch you off. We’re real.

We’re OK. I know it.’

Renée didn’t say anything. She finished her business and flushed, quickly washed her hands.

‘Come on, let’s try to sleep. Still time before it’s light,’

Genie whispered, opening the door.

‘I’m not sure I know how any more.’

Genie took Renée’s hand.

‘You have to find a happy place and curl up there.’

‘That what you do?’

‘Yeah. Sometimes it’s hard to find, but that’s where I go.

No one can find me there.’

Renée was looking at Rian sleeping. ‘He’s so lucky he’s got you. I got to get myself someone like him.’

Genie smiled and gave Renée a hug. ‘You will. I know you will.’

Genie moved away and crawled back on to the bed and lay beside Rian. Barely awake, he turned over, pulled her close. She listened to his heartbeat and wrapped an arm tight around him. She realized that she was scared of the future. She wished that they could slip away and disappear, just the two of them. She wanted him all to herself, forever.

Renée paused a moment to stare at them. Yes, she wanted a boy just like him. A boy who would hold her tight, every night, and care desperately about her. But from out of town and a little taller and definitely not blue.

Preferably someone who had never heard of Spurlake.

‘Go to bed, Renée,’ Genie told her from the darkness.

‘Going.’

Genie had worked out a work schedule. Each one of them needed to build up their strength, their arms and leg muscles in particular, and find a way of being ‘normal’

again. There was a lot of bickering. Between them all they came up with ten crazy ideas a day, but nothing exactly workable. No one could quite decide what to do next, except they were all agreed they needed to get revenge.

They pretty much accepted Genie’s argument that they had to stay secret – that if the Fortress knew about them they’d come running with guns and grab them back.

They knew that. Didn’t want to accept it, but it was a reality. Renée had pretty much got everyone in line, making them think they were all precious escaped animals and the zoo would be pretty keen to get them back if they knew where they were. But of course, they would have to make contact with their families soon. Couldn’t stay out in the boonies forever.

It was late morning on the third day. Cary came to find Genie and Rian in the back room, where they were

sorting out suitable boxes and baskets to collect the apples. He looked pretty serious and dramatically dropped the phone on to a sack.

Genie and Rian stared at it with surprise. It was supposed to be in pieces.

‘Someone made a call,’ Cary said.

Genie was incensed. ‘You’re kidding me. Who? After all we said.’

Cary looked at Genie and shrugged. ‘It had to be someone smart enough to know how to put this back together. I found it under the sink. I was clearing the blockage and—’

Genie hit the wall in anger. ‘We’re so screwed. They’ll be monitoring calls. The Fortress listens to everything.’

She was feeling crushed. She’d felt so safe here.

‘Who? And how much did they give away?’

Rian asked.

‘I feel sick,’ Genie stated, flopping down on to a box, feeling intense despair. ‘We have to call the group together. We have to find out what they said.’

‘I would suspect Julia, she’s desperate to call home –but no way would she be able to put the phone back together,’ Rian said.

Miho appeared at the doorway suddenly. She looked guilty and nervous.

‘It was me. I made the call. I’m sorry.’

‘Miho!’ Genie exploded. ‘How could you? You put us all at risk.’

She looked down at the floor. ‘I know, I know, but I wanted to hear my mother’s voice. Just wanted to hear her.’

Cary kicked a box across the room. ‘What did you tell her, Miho?’

‘I just told her I was coming home.’

‘That’s it? That’s all?’

‘Nothing about the farm?’

‘You don’t understand. She’s sick. She has cancer. I didn’t want to wait,’ Miho said, tears in her eyes. ‘She’s in hospital. I just wanted to know if she was still alive.’

‘The Spurlake Hospital?’

Miho shook her head. ‘Abbotsford. There’s a clinic there.’

‘You sure you absolutely didn’t say anything about the farm? What exactly did you tell her, Miho?’

Miho looked away. ‘I told her I was alive, that I loved her and I was coming home . . . soon.’

‘What did she say? Where does she think you are or what you’ve been doing?’ Rian asked.

‘She thought I was in Kobe in Japan. She thinks my father kidnapped me. He went back there two years