Venus City 1 (29 page)

“You already
knew
!” She accused.

Her mother's response was a sneer. “Of course I knew. Do you really think you know more about what's going on than I do? You lived in your own little fantasy, thinking everything was as it appeared, that everyone was who they say they are. This world is not what you thought it was, foolish girl.”

Braya's eyes watered. “What are you talking about? How did you know that? Aren't you going to do anything about it? He-he could be dangerous!”

“The only dangerous one is
you
,” her mother replied harshly. “Naivety is the crux of all that's wrong in this world, and you're living proof of it. Now get off my doorstep before someone sees you.”

She attempted to shove the door closed, but Braya pressed her weight into it, mustered all of her strength to keep it open, if only by a crack. Her mother pushed at her arms, pinched her, tried to wrestle her off the door, but Braya clung tightly, gritting her teeth.

“No! I can't leave yet,” Braya ground out. “Why-why,” she gasped. “Why are you doing this, Mother? After all you taught me about how worthless men were, why are you
socializing
with one? Mother—”

“I'm not your mother,” she said derisively. “Stop calling me that. I've told you you've shamed this family! Address me by my proper name. Charlotte.” She continued to swat at Braya, trying to get her off her door. “Get off my property, crazy girl.”

Charlotte's nails sunk into Braya's arms, and with a little cry of pain, Braya stumbled back. The door slammed and Braya tripped over the steps, her head colliding with the ground—and then she passed out.

****

Braya awoke to the feeling of something running through her hair. It was pleasant, and it made her not want to open her eyes. But she quickly became aware of how much her back hurt, and how chilling the air was.

She cracked an eye open. It took her a few moments to collect her bearings, but she soon realized she was sprawled out in someone's yard. It wasn't her mother's yard… Their house was across the street—had someone deposited her here? She let out a scoff—of course, her mother wouldn't want the neighbors to see an unconscious girl at her doorstep.

Braya's head was propped up on something. There were hands still raking through her hair, and Braya glanced up to see Asher staring down at her, a look of so-far-gone concern and tenderness evident in his face that Braya's heart skipped a beat. And she felt a swell of…well, she was glad to see him.

Asher's crystalline gaze melted a little, and she presumed he'd finally noticed she was awake. He removed his hands from her hair and helped her sit up from where her head had been resting in his lap. It still hurt a little after being knocked out—she had a fleeting worry she'd get brain damage soon from being violently rendered unconscious so many times—but she felt well enough to move around. And certainly well enough to de-haze. Well enough to confront Page.

A thought occurred to her. “How did you find me here?”

He regarded her carefully. “It was the link. I could...sense your trouble. Just like last night when it led me to the jail, it led me here today.”

She narrowed her eyes. Braya wanted to comment on it, remark on how
convenient
that dumb little bond seemed to be for him. Instead, she said offhandedly, “Are we going to de-haze?”

“No,” he answered, standing, “We're doing something else tonight. Ness needs our assistance.”

Braya scowled. “Ness? What could he possibly need us for? We haven't even finished the Moon District last night—”

“Gained an appreciation for our work now, have you?” He cast her a sideways smirk as he began walking down the hill, hands in his pocket, nonchalant as ever, no trace of his previous concern anywhere in his posture.

“No! It's just—it's suspicious,” she proclaimed.

“I thought everything about us was suspicious.”

“That's giving you too much credit,” she grumbled, falling into pace with him. They were walking in the direction of the Rail station. “I just mean that he's never needed our assistance before, so why can't he have one of the other Locers help him?”

“Everyone else is busy,” Asher hedged. “I told you we all have our jobs we do...well, for tonight things are getting mixed around. Circumstances are changing a little.”

“Busy with
what
?”

Asher refused to say more about it.

****

He surprised her by taking a different route on the Rail. Usually they rode it to the Heart District and got off at the stop that she'd chased the twins to those few weeks ago, but she figured they must be meeting Ness wherever it was they had to do...whatever it was. Asher was scant on the details.

The Rail cut through the elegant hills of her own Senna District and the stop that Braya and Asher got off at was another one that had barely any people, just like the one at the field where the chapel was. There was a grassy plain that spread out from beneath the hills, much like a rug sticking out from under a large, hulking piece of furniture, with a few sparse trees dotting the edges of it. Braya realized it was completely hidden by the Senna hills, and none of the wealthy residents wanted to have their home stooped on the steep slants of the back of a hill, so it made it an almost unrivaled spot of secrecy.

Braya noticed a spiraling tower off in the distance like the one in the field behind Heartland, and she figured they were going to go up to the Petti again.

The closer they got to the tower, the more Braya could see a large spread of glowing white just at the base of it.

“What is that?” She asked Asher, squinting in an attempt to make out the object.

“You'll see,” he replied evasively, the corners of his lips twitching.

As they drew closer, Braya began to sense that whatever it was, it was massive. Its shape was still hard to discern—it resembled a massive blanket of white strewn over something lumpy.

It didn't take long for her to realize what it was, but she didn't commit to the thought until they'd reached it and she could confirm with herself that it was indeed a
tree
. It was the strangest and most unnatural tree she'd ever seen, though. Its trunk wasn't nearly as tall as those in the wedding courtyard in Heartland Manor, but it was thick and coarse, its roots knotted and whorled in their attempt to bury into the ground. The color of the bark was a gleaming light blue, like a color caught between the hue of Leraphone's hair and the shade of Asher's eyes. Its branches were wiry and long, stretching over a great portion of land like a canopy or tent. Its leaves and flower buds were that of a haunting, chilling white, and they draped over the branches like matted hair, nearly low enough to touch. The space below the reach of the tree glowed with the vibrancy of an afternoon sun, and Braya could make out two figures about thirty feet away, bent over and hacking at the ground.

“What is this?” Braya asked in wonderment. Despite its ethereal appearance, there was something beautiful about it.

“It's a tree,” Asher smirked. “Though, truthfully, I know little about it. Ness had it planted yesterday, and yes, we used an Ephraim seedling to do it.”

Braya narrowed her eyes at him. Leraphone had told her that the people outside Venus referred to the fragments of the scattered Sares as seedlings. Never had Asher coined them as such… “Ephraim
seedling
? How come you've never used that term before? You always used to refer to whatever scraps of magic you lot had as...well, you didn't really call them anything. But I know you didn't use that term.” She stared at him haughtily. “You were in there, weren't you? You were listening in on my conversation with Leraphone!”

She
knew
she hadn't been imagining his presence.

Asher smirked. “And if I was? You'll find I've been many places you weren't ever aware of.”

She started. What exactly did he mean by that? She knew he sometimes followed her into her classes, but where else had he trailed her? Her room? The bathroom? Her house...?

A loud squawk interrupted her train of thought. Braya started. Perched above her on the branches of the tree—she hadn't seen them upon her first glance because they blended in so well—were at least a dozen Finchwhites. One of them had gotten too close to the other, and now they were screeching at each other. Braya had never seen one before—they must have been attracted to the magic of the tree. What in the world could the tree mean? She wondered.

“Hey!” She said indignantly. Asher was already several feet ahead of her, and when she caught up to him she took notice of the two men digging under the tree that she'd glimpsed before. Now she could recognize them. The twins, Junho and Jinho. They were using Moon Tamer batons infused with glowing red orbs as shovels. Her annoyance simmered away in a blink and she asked, “What are they doing here? Is that their job? You said this tree was put here only yesterday.”

“Keen observation,” Asher complimented her. “They're digging. This isn't their normal job. It's actually this that changed everything around today. Normally they do what we're taking care of tonight with Ness.”

“Which is?”

“You'll see.”

She was beginning to hate that phrase.

They passed the twins—who, by the depth of and shape of the holes, looked like they were digging
graves
—and entered the tower's elevator. At the top she was greeted with the same scene from the night she'd raced with the Locers. Gleaming white, circular platforms floating high above the land below them, and the deep vastness of the
real
night sky suspended formidably above them.

Ness was standing in the center of the platform, completely still. His helmet cast a shadow across his face, and his eyes were shut. When he heard Braya and Asher approach, they fluttered open, and Braya quickly averted her gaze.

“You're late.”

“We made it in time, didn't we?” Asher muttered. “I saw you had both the twins digging. In a hurry, are you? Who did you get to replace them for the delivery?”

“The only one who has enough leisure time these days,” Ness replied darkly. “All he does is hang around that damn manor all day planning his wedding.”

Braya could feel Asher tense beside her. “Are you serious? How could you put him on this job and order me to bring
her
along? She knows him—”

“Does that matter any longer?” Ness countered. Braya noticed him staring at her, and it unnerved her. “Things are happening soon, very soon. There won't be any more need to hide things, to hide us.
It's
coming.”

Braya scowled, not liking the sound of the conversation. “What's coming?” She tugged on Asher's sleeve. “What is he talking about? Is it the war?”

Asher's jaw was clenched. He didn't answer her, but continued his conversation with Ness, gravely. “So, that's it? That's what this is about? We're finally—you're—”

“Asher, be grateful,” Ness said reproachfully. “We've been in this God forsaken city for nearly six months. This has been long overdue. In a few days, everything will fall into place.”

“What's he talking about?” Braya asked more urgently. She was getting impatient and hated the way they talked about their plans with just the right amount of detail as to keep her clueless.

Asher titled his head so that she could see his eyes, his eyes that were no longer twin shades of a beautiful, pearly blue, but of mismatched eyes the color of splintered ice and molten gold. He was angry. There were more traces of his souring composure—his furled fists held tightly at his sides; his clenched jaw; his fiery expression. Braya sighed, as if to forgive him for not answering her question.

“He's here,” Ness announced.

Three floating rigs of metal were zooming over the Petti platforms in their direction. A man strapped in a floating suit was dragging them by a cord, and brought them to a graceless stop in front of Braya, Asher, and Ness. They clattered loudly against the platform, and Ness immediately moved from where he stood to check the contents of the rigs. They were square-shaped pieces of metal large enough for a car to park on that had seemed to be installed with the same magic material as the floating suit that the man was wearing. When Ness pulled the tarps away from the rigs, Braya could see that they were piled in Moon Tamer gear. So they were definitely the reason all of the gear was missing, Braya thought bemusedly. What they would need all of that for, she had no clue.

Asher was being peculiar now. He seemed intent on blocking her from view with his body.

“You didn't have any problems?” Ness was asking the delivering man, who was masked.

“No, everything went smoothly,” replied a familiar voice. Braya caught a motion out of the corner of her eye and around the bulge of Asher's shoulder, and assumed the man was taking his mask off. Why was Asher trying to hide her from him? And why was his voice so familiar?

Braya made a decision. She snaked her arms around Asher's middle and allowed her hands to rove over his stomach. Her fingers dipped under his shirt and grazed the muscled skin of his stomach. He jerked in surprise—while she had to force down the forbidden aches of desire that rose up at the skin contact—and gave Braya the opening to step around him.