Unawakened (14 page)

By noon, I had an invitation to interview with the police bright and early the next morning. For a long time, all I could do was stare at the reply, torn between worry and wonder over how quick they had gotten to my application.

“They’re either desperate or there’s a serious lack of qualified people,” I muttered, turning my college-issued laptop to show the screen to Rob.

The dae smiled. “Or they have your file flagged, knowing you’re an exemplary student, intelligent, and beautiful.”

“Flirting will not win you any favors, Mr. Lucrage.”

Rob scowled at me. “You’re going to call me that a lot, aren’t you?”

“For every single time you Miss Daegberht me, I will Mr. Lucrage you. It’s only fair.”

“I suppose there are advantages to you addressing me formally when we’re working in public. It’ll maintain appearances. Unless, of course, you want to be known as my kept woman.”

I flinched before I could stop myself. “I don’t think so, Rob. Equals or nothing.”

“You have a lot of work to do then, Miss Daegberht. I’m expecting exceptional things from you. A reputable career working with the police is a very good start.”

“Watch it, Rob. Maybe they’ll give me handcuffs to go with the gun.”

His eyes widened, and he sucked in a breath. “You have my attention.”

“Do you think they’d let me take Colby in as a partner?” I made a thoughtful noise in my throat and went to check on my macaroni and cheese roommate. It was on the pillow in the guest bedroom with an empty apple bag beside it. “We use alcohol to go on a bender. It uses apples. Colby’s out cold.”

“How can you tell?”

“It’s not moving on the pillow?” I tilted my head to the side to watch my roommate. “Okay, I will acknowledge it is extremely difficult to tell if Colby is still among the living.”

“I’m pretty sure taking Colby to your interview would be a disaster in the making. I’ll watch it while you’re gone. If you’re nice to me, I’ll even get another bag of apples.”

“Can it overdose on apples? Maybe we should find something else to feed it.”

“I’m sure Colby is fine, Alexa. However, I do think it’s a very bad idea to take it to your interview with you. They’ll ask questions. Its limited vocabulary would make answering said questions difficult. Not all dae can translate.”

“You can.”

“I’m special.”

“Others can, too!”

“They’re also special. We’re portal dae. We’ve been around the block a few more times than the newborns.”

I spun on a heel and pointed at Rob. “Explain yourself. You’ve mentioned portal dae before. What’s the difference between you and the so-called newborn?”

“All right, all right. Come sit. I’ll try to explain it, but you’ll need to be patient. It’s complicated. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about how to explain this to you for a while. You’re at a pretty big disadvantage as an unawakened.”

I scowled and joined him at the kitchen island, hopping up on a stool. “The fact the Earth’s population magically doubled is complicated. Add in the fact most people can now breathe fire, and I’m pretty confident in saying the world has gone straight to hell in a hand basket. Talk. I’ve been patient enough.”

Instead of talking, Rob reached over, grabbed the worn Bible he had taken from the vault, and slid it to me. While I scowled at the idea of getting involved with any religion, I took the book and flipped it open. “It’s your Bible. So what?”

“When I last visited Earth, that book was owned and used by approximately a third of the entire population. That’s roughly two billion people. How many people do you think dare own one now?”

My eyes widened as what he said sank in. I turned the thin pages, tracing my fingers over the printed text. A long time ago, someone had written notes and questions in the margins. “Not nearly as many.”

The government probably knew how many people chose to believe in a religion, but I hadn’t cared enough to think about it.

“The United States considered itself a Christian nation when I last lived on Earth. Times have changed.”

I had always assumed Rob was in his thirties or forties, maybe a little older. I looked up from the Bible and gawked at him. In order for him to remember America when it had been a country torn by religion, he had to have lived prior to the reformation. “Holy shit. I mean, I knew that from the history books. The high number of Christians in the United States was the only reason any religions were tolerated at all.”

“Back then, everyone had the right to believe what they wanted. I’d say without prejudice, but I’d be lying. People were not tolerant of others being different from them.”

“The reformation,” I reminded him. “That’s what changed things.”

“I missed the reformation. Trust me when I tell you this is not the same United States I remember.”

History had always been a love of mine, and the more I learned about the pre-reformation United States, the more I wondered why the country—and the world—had changed so much. On a historic level, it had been a swift shift. A few hundred years had turned the Land of the Free into a prison.

I doubted anyone knew for sure how and why it had happened, although I had my guesses. Frowning, I flicked at the Bible’s thin pages and listened to the way the odd paper rasped. “I’ve read some about the world before the reformation.”

“In a way, I think the reformation is the ultimate cause of the Dawn of Dae. Sure, it took a catalyst wish to begin, but there’s a universal condition.”

“Explain,” I demanded. “Catalyst wish? Universal condition? What are you talking about?”

“Back up, Alexa. Let’s start small and work up, okay? It’s really complicated, and I don’t want to confuse you more than I’m going to already.”

While I scowled, I nodded my agreement. “Okay. What was the United States like before the reformation? What was it
really
like?”

“Very different.
Everyone
owned guns and other weaponry; people didn’t even need a license for hunting rifles. You needed licenses for handguns in most places, but they were easy to get. Religion caused significant rifts among the general population. International trade was stronger, too. Also, America was far more diverse. People from all over the world lived here. Spanish was commonly spoken. The caste system didn’t exist. Every citizen could vote. The Presidency was limited to two four-year terms, and elections were a big deal. It was a democracy, once upon a time.” Rob frowned, staring at me. Reaching out, he brushed his hand against my cheek before taking hold of a strand of my hair and twirling it around his finger. “There wasn’t nearly as much of a stigma about couples from different castes being together. Sex was also a
lot
more… private.”

I giggled at the memory of Rob’s reaction to the brothel. “That explains a few things. Brothels weren’t common?”

“Prostitution wasn’t exactly legal. A frightening percentage of the population believed abstinence from sexual relationships was the only way to prevent pregnancy and disease, too. Birth control was regulated, and people killed each other over their opinions on abortion and women’s health.”

My mouth dropped open. “No way.”

“I was very startled when I learned how commonplace birth control is now.” Rob shrugged and untangled his hand from my hair. “Back then, if you were a poor woman, you probably wouldn’t have had access to health care. You wouldn’t have been able to afford it.”

“Afford it?” I demanded. “But it’s a basic right.”

“It wasn’t then.”

“No way. How could people work and contribute if they were sick?”

Rob tilted his head to the side. “You assume everyone worked, Alexa. Unemployment and difficulty finding work was commonplace. Not everyone was paid a fair wage, either. Homelessness was a bit of a problem.”

Homelessness was a new word for me, and I frowned, trying to figure out how someone could survive without a place to live. Living in the fringe was hard, but shelter could always be found.

Dead fringe rats couldn’t work. People died often, especially if they risked going out on a winter night, but shelter was always available in a group home. Some people chose not to take advantage of it, but the option was always there. “Homelessness? People didn’t just go to the group shelters? Why not?”

“They didn’t exist like they do now, Alexa. Space was limited or they had to be paid for. Homeless people often had no income and relied on kind souls to give them money or food.”

“How is that even possible?”

“How is it not?” Rob challenged.

I didn’t have an answer to that, which alarmed me almost as much as the idea of people who didn’t contribute. Maybe the elite controlled the lower castes with an iron grip, but everyone earned their way—and although it was difficult, people
could
rise to a better place in life.

I had done it through my sweat, blood, and tears. It could be done. It was hard, but it was possible. Like everyone else, I worked hard. “I don’t understand. Everyone contributes. Sure, it’s not fair to those in the lower castes. I know it; I’ve been there. But, no one starves. Everyone has the right to see a doctor. Everyone has a place to stay, even if it isn’t a great place.”

“Homeless people back then didn’t have any of those things. They were usually outcasts from society, too. Unfortunately, a lot of them were retired military personnel. They had outlived their usefulness to the government. Health care was bought by the rich and often denied to the poor—especially if you were a woman. That did change over the years, but it was a violent, bloody endeavor.”

“Violent? How?”

“Mass shootings, terrorism, that sort of thing.”

“Mass shootings? They actually happened?” The idea someone could just get a gun and open fire on crowds had been mentioned in the history books, but I had never really been able to imagine it. Baltimore was pockmarked with the evidence of gun violence, but it always seemed distant and surreal to me. “What is terrorism?”

Rob blinked at me. “You don’t know what terrorism is?”

I tilted my head to the side. “Should I?”

“It’s when someone tries to frighten a large population with the threat of death and violence.”

“So it’s like the police if we break the law?”

“Not exactly. I mean, I suppose you could consider fear of cruel and unusual punishment a form of terrorism, but it’s not what it meant back then. Most terrorism was driven by religion, racism, or some other form of prejudice. One group would announce their intentions to kill or harm the other group. Then they’d launch surprise attacks on the group. The United States was hit by such an attack. Terrorists took control of a handful of planes and crashed them into notable structures in several cities. Thousands died.”

I snapped my fingers. “Like countries threatening each other with nuclear strikes! That happens sometimes.”

“Unbelievable. They’re still using traditional, large-scale nukes? That technology is hundreds of years old. Why are they still using traditional nukes?” Rob threw his hands up in the air. “I give up. I’ll never understand Earth.”

I snorted. “Don’t worry, I don’t understand it either, and I wasn’t born yesterday. How does this relate to the dae?”

“That’s the question of the hour. The important thing is this: when I lived here, people had the ability to freely, without obstruction, pursue their ambitions. Many failed, but
everyone
had the right to try for what they desired in their lives. Because so many people were actively chasing their dreams and beliefs, it wasn’t a situation conducive to the formation of dae.”

“I think I follow. So, dae are a manifestation of ambition, right?”

“Right. That’s important. Before the reformation, people had hope they could escape their situations and become something new. You’re an exception, Alexa. You’re an exception because you’re exceptional. You’re practically unique.”

“There are three other students in my class who were merit-based, Rob. I’m not
that
rare.”

“Extraordinary, Alexa. How many people live in Baltimore? How many are in your age bracket for your class?”

I blinked, frowning as I considered it. “I don’t know, at least a couple of hundred thousand I guess? Baltimore’s a pretty big place.”

“Census before the Dawn of Dae reports the Baltimore region had a base population of six million, including all surrounding farmland territories, port districts, and suburbs.”

“Okay. And?”

“Of those six million, only seven hundred thousand were eligible for admission into the Bach studies program. You are one of
four
for this year. There are over four million people in the lower castes, a little under two million in the middle castes, and the remainder are in the upper castes. Of your group of four, one
might
make it into the Master program.”

“For someone born yesterday, you’ve done your research,” I grumbled.

Rob’s smile chilled me. “I like knowing the enemy, and this society is my enemy.”

A shiver ran through me. “So what? It’s difficult to make it into the Bach program. Of course it’s going to be hard to make it into the Master program.”

“In the United States I remember, all you had to do to attend school was have the money to pay for it, and if you were smart enough, your college or university would help you pay the costs of tuition. There were mass exams to judge intellect, and all students who graded well enough could go to college—usually one of
their
choice.”

Once again, I felt my mouth drop open. “Are you serious?”

“Very. The world is a changed place and not for the better. Gun violence is down, which is a good thing, but the hopes, the dreams, and the aspirations of the people were crushed, packed into boxes, and discarded for a rigid system designed to subdue instead of help people grow. That’s the universal condition, Alexa. Suppressed passions, hopes, dreams, and silent wishes no one dares to express are the catalyst for a dawning. When it reached critical mass, boom, you have the Dawn of Dae. All at once, the suppressed powers of human belief, dreams, wishes—whatever you want to call it—erupted. It’s a bit like a nuclear blast, except instead of radioactive ash, you got the dae.”