Away (16 page)

“We have to get Mom.” She realized just after the fact that she'd spoken aloud.

Daniel nodded. “We will.” He looked at his leg and sighed.

“You do have to rest first, Dad. But as soon as you can, we have to get her.”

“I notice you're not saying get
back
to her,” said Daniel. He looked very serious. And something else—he looked proud.

“We can't stay there. Can we?” Rachel already knew the answer. “We'll have to come back here.”

“We'll come back here for a short time,” said Daniel. “But we'll go to a different place. I think we might be safe there.” He sounded as tired as he looked.

“You mean Salishan?”

Daniel started. “What do you know about Salishan?”

“Nothing. They were talking about it in the council meeting. Indigo wants them to go there. That man called Michael doesn't.”

“Indigo's right. We have a chance, I think, if we go there. It's a huge island, from what Indigo's notes say. We might be able to live there, without worrying about the Roberts
or
the government.” Daniel frowned. “Do you really have the maps, Rachel?”

“Mom put them in my pack. She wrote me a letter too, and explained that they were important, but she didn't say why. Just that I'm supposed to be very careful with them and not let anyone get them.” Rachel looked behind her at the door. It was firmly shut. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “What are the maps, Dad? And why don't they look like maps?”

Daniel hesitated. “Only a very few of us should know.” He waited until Rachel nodded. Then he continued, his voice as hushed as hers had been. “People from the collaboration risked their lives—some lost their lives—to get the information that is on those papers. They may not look like maps, but they are—maps of borders.

“They're schematics, really, showing the details of various border defense systems. The U.S. is there, along with some of the countries the U.S. would like to invade. The schematics include the weaknesses. These weaknesses aren't much use to anyone by themselves—every system has some weaknesses, but they aren't the kind that would allow a country to get troops inside enemy territory. However, they are the kind that would allow one or two people to slip through a system. And the U.S. wants to be able to do that very much.”

Rachel frowned. “What good would it do the U.S. to get one or two people through another country's defense system? They couldn't take over that way. They would just get shot or locked up or something, wouldn't they?”

“You're right, Rachel. If they were Regs, they would be shot or locked up. But the U.S. doesn't plan to send Regs.” Daniel sounded angry.

Rachel didn't understand at first. But then it all clicked into place in her mind.

“You're saying they would send Others? Try to use them somehow because of their gifts?”

Daniel nodded. “They don't know exactly
what
the Others can do, but they know they can do something. I remember hearing from other collaborators about people in lab cages, being tested for things. None of us were sure what they were doing—we thought they might be torturing collaborators. Now I think it was some of the survivors. Indigo told me that there have always been stories of children disappearing here—when they started seeing children born with gifts, several vanished, according to the notes the early survivors left. They thought the Roberts took them, because it was soon after the split between them and the people here. But now I think that they were stolen by the government. I think they're still doing it too.”

“Is that what they were talking about at the meeting?” Rachel felt sick. “They said two young boys were taken. Michael said they were killed by a baern, but Indigo sounded like he didn't think so.”

“I don't think so either. I think they're in a government lab somewhere right now.”

“But the Others wouldn't help the U.S., would they? The U.S. left them on the other side of the Line, abandoned them to whatever might happen. They didn't care if the bombs fried every last one of those people all those years ago. Why would the Others help them?”

“Well—”

“And besides! What good would it do? I mean, all the Others can do is move packs a couple of inches or feel if people are lying or . . . see what other people see.” Rachel's eyes grew wide. “Or kill people.”

Daniel took her hand. “I believe the U.S. thinks they could take over a government, and then a country, if they managed to place just a few key players in the right spots. With the right gifts, used the right way, they might be able to do just that.”

“But still, Dad, why would the Others help the U.S.? Even if they were told they would be killed if they didn't cooperate, why would they help them? The Others don't think much of Regs.”

Daniel looked at Rachel. He squeezed her hand.

“There are worse things than dying. What would you do to protect your mom, Rachel, if somebody threatened her?” He let the question go unanswered.

Rachel thought of something. “Why did the collaborators copy the maps—what good would it do them? Did they want to sneak into other countries?”

“We copied everything we could get our hands on.” Daniel grinned. “Any information the general public wasn't supposed to have, we wanted. I don't think they had a real plan for the maps, but I'm not really sure—we got all of our information passed down in bits and pieces. All I really knew was that I was supposed to keep them safe. The only reason I knew what they were was because Peter and I were both architects, so we were able to make some sense of the sets of numbers on them.

“The thing is, if we can get word to the government somehow that we have them, we might be able to bluff our way to them leaving us alone. They still don't know exactly what the Others are capable of doing.”

“So they would be afraid to bother us?” Rachel liked that plan.

“Exactly.”

“Dad.” Rachel knew he needed to rest, but she had to ask. “Do
we
?”

“Do we what?” Daniel sounded so tired.

“Do we know what the Others are capable of?”

Daniel didn't answer. He'd finally drifted off to sleep.

CHAPTER 14

T
HE DAYS PASSED. Rachel wished they were already on their way to The Property. Still, she made certain she helped as much as she could at camp; she gathered more firewood than Pathik did, and setting up the classroom with Nandy was a regular morning chore.

“Can Rachel help teach class today?” Bender tugged at Nandy's shirt.

Rachel hid her grin and continued to distribute the sharpened sticks the children used to write in the sand trays.

“I thought you didn't like Rachel, Bender?” Nandy smiled at Bender while she scratched Nipper, who was, as always, reclining on one of the benches. His leg had healed well, and he seemed fit as he had ever been.

The boy's cheeks flushed with shame. “I was being ignorant.” He looked up from beneath his lashes to see if using one of the previous day's vocabulary words was going to get him anywhere.

Nandy laughed. “Yes, Bender, you were being ignorant. It appears you've changed your opinion now. But I think Rachel wanted to observe Usage, so you and the rest of the gifted are going there today instead. The rest of us will work on math, and we'll do spelling tomorrow.”

“But I practiced my words just so she could see! Can't you go to Usage tomorrow, when we usually have it, Rachel?” Bender used his most persuasive pout.

“I think we have plans for tomorrow, Bender.” Rachel saw Nandy's questioning look and nodded slightly.

“Off with you now, Bender, and get the others.” Nandy shooed the boy out of the room. She turned back to Rachel. “So it's tomorrow?”

“I think so. Dad's been feeling strong enough for a few days now.”

Daniel had been resting and regaining his strength. His leg was almost completely healed, and he said he felt strong enough to make the trip back to The Property. The plan was to use one of Peter's key to Cross, find out if his wife and child were still alive, get them if possible. Then return, using the second key, with Vivian and Ms. Moore too, of course, and get to Salishan.

Rachel had asked about the keys during one of the evenings she spent with Daniel in his bakery building room—she wanted to know how Peter had come to have three.

“Military issue,” Daniel had said. “When the Border Defense System was first activated, soldiers still Crossed fairly often for one reason or another, mostly diplomatic excursions to neighboring countries. Not along the Line, of course, but on other parts of the System. The keys were originally issued in sets of three to commanding officers who were going to Cross troops to escort diplomats. One for the trip over, one for the trip back, and one for insurance. Ideally, they were supposed to turn in two expended keys and one unused one at the end of a mission. Or have a convincing reason why they had to use the third. The collaborators got hold of some sets early on when one of the supply officers defected. The set Peter was in charge of safekeeping had been passed through the years from collaborator to collaborator.”

“If you're going tomorrow I'm sure there'll be a council meeting tonight.” Nandy's voice brought Rachel back to the schoolroom. “Michael will want to get his opinion registered, as he does about everything.”

Rachel nodded. “I don't think it'll have much effect on Dad's plans. He has his mind made up that tomorrow is the day.”

Nandy nodded. “I think Indigo agrees. He said he was going.”

Rachel wasn't really surprised. She could see it in Indigo's eyes, hear it in the questions he asked her about The Property. He wanted to see Ms. Moore. She wondered what had been in Ms. Moore's letter to him.

“Well, off to Usage with you, young lady.” Nandy smiled. She reminded Rachel of her mother just then.

Usage was held in the smaller of the two buildings next to the hospital. Or at least the parts of Usage that could be held in such a small, interior space. Rachel had learned that it consisted of two parts: theory and practice. Theory was all about how gifts should be used, and it was held inside. Practice was just that—practicing gifts, honing them. Some practice was held inside, but some practice had to be held outside, depending on the gift.

Rachel paused at the door of the building. She was about to knock on it when it opened, and Pathik smiled at her from inside.

“Are you ready to observe?” He made a sweeping gesture with his hand, bowing and bidding her to enter the building.

“Oh, fancy,” she said.

“Welcome, Rachel!”

Pathik's grin disappeared as Fisher came up behind him.

“I think we're all ready for you.” Fisher smiled and reached over Pathik's head to hold the door open. “Let's go find you a place to sit.”

Rachel started to enter but Pathik stepped in front of her. He turned to Fisher.

“We'll be in shortly.”

Fisher continued to hold the door open, his arm over Pathik's head.

“Any particular problem?” Fisher tilted his head at Pathik.

“No problem at all, Fisher.” Pathik smiled, a warning in the curve of his lips. “We'll be right there.”

Fisher removed his hand from the door and let it fall toward Pathik, who stopped it with a foot. After a glance at Rachel, Fisher nodded.

“See you inside.” He turned and left.

Rachel poked Pathik in the back, hard. “What?”

He turned to face her. “What?”

Rachel crossed her arms. “ ‘We'll be in shortly'?” She waited. “Did you have something you needed to talk with me about?”

“No.” Pathik wouldn't meet her eyes. He scuffed the bottom of the door with his toe.

“Then, shall we go inside?”

Pathik opened his mouth to speak, but didn't. Finally he moved aside. “After you.”

There were about a dozen kids in the room—some close to Rachel's age, but not all—sitting on the floor. She saw Jab, and Kinec. She recognized some of the others from having seen them around the camp. Indigo was at the front of the room and he smiled as Rachel came in.

“Welcome, Rachel. Have a seat anywhere.”

Rachel chose a seat toward the back of the room. The whispers she heard as she settled in didn't sound exactly friendly to her. Pathik sat down next to her.

“Can we all welcome Rachel, please?” Indigo looked intently around the room.

“We agreed she could be here. Doesn't mean we're happy about it. A Reg, at Usage.” Jab sounded disgusted. He didn't look at Rachel.