Fear Me Not (The EVE Chronicles) (26 page)

“Are you –” I blink. “Are you
threatening
me? Your voice is bitter, you’ve been avoiding me. Don’t tell me you’re –”

“I won’t speak to you again on this matter,” Taj interrupts coldly, and walks away.

“Jealous,” I finish to thin air. But it sounds stupid, even to my own ears. He’s just warning me, nothing more.

I was a cover for him, and nothing more.     

***

The killer is watching me.

But then again, so is everyone else. The
mharata
, the protestors, Yulan and Raine and Shadus and Taj. Everyone is watching me. I should be used to it, by now. Would the killer still target me, and kill me, if they knew I was
zol
? Did the killer even ask the
mharata
if Halsi was
zol
before they killed her? A sick, hot wave of disgust roils up into my throat. That would be the heartless, practical, Gutter-like thing to do.

I can leave all of it behind. There’s still time to go back to Alisa, and Dad. I want that more than anything. I just want them to take the organ out, give me the money, and go home. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. But now I’m a pawn. As long as the EVE organ is in me, I’m a pawn in this fucked up interracial covert battle.

I take a huge breath in front of Yulan’s office. It’s now or never. He’ll take the organ out, and it’ll be over. I have to do this. This will send me back to the life I want, make me happy.

I push inside. The sharp smell of antiseptic and dry cotton balls greets me. But Yulan isn’t there. A man with dark hair and olive skin sits in Yulan’s usual chair. He’s not facing me.

“Um, hello?” I ask. The man pivots, and I know instantly I’ve made a mistake by coming here. The man’s thin eyes are blood-red. Executioner
sotho
. But it’s more than that. His face has those same high cheekbones, the same broad lips and thick, hawk-like eyebrows. I’d know that face anywhere; Shadus.

This is his father.

“Yulan is not in at the moment,” The man says, his voice silky and deep, like a lullaby. “I am Osha, of the Executioners. And you are?”

I back up to the door, fumbling for the handle. But it won’t open. I shake and twist frantically, but nothing moves, like someone is holding it closed from the outside.

“I don’t mean to frighten you,” Osha says smoothly. “But I’m afraid you cannot leave just yet. There are things we must discuss.”

“L-Like what?” I steel my stance, folding my arms over my chest and trying to play it off like I wasn’t just desperately trying to get out.

“It occurs to me my son has told you a lie. He offered an out for you – that Yulan could take your EVE organ out. This is false. Yulan cannot do that.”

“He’s done it to a lot of EVE’s who left,” I counter. “He can definitely do it.”

Osha smiles, his mouth barely moving.

“Yes. He can do it. But I won’t allow it.”

“How did you know what Shadus told me?” I narrow my eyes. “We weren’t anywhere near any cameras.”

It’s true. Since the reveal in the janitor’s closet, Taj, Raine, Shadus and I had been taking extra care not to converse in areas heavily populated with cameras. And if there were some, we always kept our voices low and our lips out of sight, so anyone watching would be unable to lip-read. Osha taps his left arm.

“My son has a few upgrades, shall we say. He’s shown them to you. I took the liberty of…enhancing them before he left.”

“You’ve been listening in on him?”

“On everything,” Osha corrects. “I wasn’t going to let my only son into this place without some form of insurance. It seems I was right to do it. Not only have I kept an eye on this hovel, I’ve found the one thing Jerai’s been looking for. No – the one thing we’ve all been looking for.”

He knows. A hard, cold mass solidifies in my throat. He knows I’m
zol
. Osha stands up, his height looming towards me, and I quickly take inventory of the room – the window. I could make it, if I fake him out. Or could I? Are adult Gutters as fast as the teens? There’s only one way to find out. Like he can read my mind, Osha sighs.

“I would prefer if you wouldn’t resist,” Osha says, matter-of-factly. “It would ensure less injuries on your part.”

“Fuck you,” I spit.

“I feel as though I know you already, bad language and all. I do, don’t I? Because everything you’ve said to him, I have heard. You are quite taken with him. I wonder – does he feel the same way about you?”

I flinch, and Osha laughs, the sound like a snake humming. I concentrate on the medical equipment behind him. It’s electric. I dwell on my anger, my fear, my shame, forcing it to burn like a tattoo in the forefront of my brain.

Osha goes still, his laughter fading, replaced by a sinister smile as sharp as a dagger.

“Do not,” He says. “Try it.”

I clench my fists and grimace. His face instantly transforms – a light purple tinge on his cheeks and neck, his pupils snapping into slits. His nails grow long and black in a split-second, his canine teeth lengthening. An inhuman, hissing growl overlays his words.

“Do not try me, human.”

“I said FUCK YOU!” I scream, and dive behind the desk. The medical equipment flashes a bright green and implodes. I hit the ground hard, a sharp ringing bouncing in my skull. Metal and glass embeds in the walls, the floor, and Osha’s back. But he doesn’t even flinch. He walks over to the desk, sticking his terrifying face around it, his sharp incisors gleaming as he smiles.

“It will take more than that, little
zol
.”

I see his fist split-seconds before he jabs me in the stomach, the sharp pain hammering the breath from me in one final blow.

The world spins. From behind me, I hear the door open like I’m hearing it through water. Shined shoes and suits hover above me. Sunglasses that get taken off. Pink, pale eyes. A mharata. The pink bores into my soul, as if searching for something. I swear they spark with light, but it quickly dies. The mharata looks up and nods at Osha, and that’s all I see, because my head lolls back, my eyelids protest, and the world suddenly goes dark. 

14. The Judgment

The policemen think I am pretty. Of course they do. All humans think Gutters are pretty, save for the ones who hate us. They are disturbed by my calm demeanor, and my Gutter blood, but they have seen worse. They deal with the darkest of human scum, after all.

There are two of them – a fat one and a very skinny one. The fat one sits at the desk, and the skinny one stands by the door. My lawyer, hired for me by the Adjudicator
sotho
, sits to my right. She is a small woman with a large, puffy face and a sharp tongue. The fat policeman leans forward.

“Ulsi, what do you know about the disappearance of Victoria Hale?”

They’ve called in many Gutters to this same room – a disused broom closet in Green Hills High that has been converted to a questioning room. They called in many after the explosions, and many more after the murders. But I am the first to be called in this instance. I am one of the Gutters who knew her best, after all.

I fold my hands over each other before I speak.

“I know she has been missing for a week, now. I know her disappearance triggered the closing of the school, since it was officially deemed ‘unsafe’. I know the last time I saw her was lunch that day. She ate with Dakota and I in the main hall.”

“Did she mention anything? Anything at all? Maybe something that was troubling her? Or something she complained about?”

I smile. “You must not know her very well, detective. Victoria was a very private, closed-off person. It was rare to hear about her troubles, and even rarer for her to share them with me. Dakota was more of the person she felt closer to.”

“But you
were
friends,” The officer insists.

“We were…acquaintances. She was one of the few humans who was very understanding of me. She was blunt, yes, and swore too much. But underneath that prickly layer, she understood the universal hardships of existing very well.”

The officer knits his brows and shakes his head.

“Okay, alright. So you knew her. And she didn’t seem bothered before she vanished.”

“Oh, no,” I correct quickly. “She seemed progressively more and more bothered by something. It was clearly eating away at her. She was irritable. She snapped at Dakota several times, and I had to remind her gently to stop being so quick to anger. Something was surely bothering her, but she never spoke of it.”

“When did you notice the change?”

I tap my chin. “Sometime before the Winter Ball, I believe. Mid-December.”

“Did you notice any odd behaviors before she went missing?”

I smile again. “She was quite the odd one in general. I didn’t notice anything odd. But I did find it odd she was spending so much time with Shadus. She spent time with all three
sotho
, and they all seemed to like her very much.”

I recall how Taj looked at her when they were dancing the night of the Winter Ball, but I put it out of my mind. Jealousy is better suited for humans. And my chance with him had long come and gone. I clear my throat.

“But it became clear that month that she and Shadus were…something more. Have you spoke with him? He may know more.”

The officers shoot each other a look that I know very well, a look that’s infamous around the Gutter circles. They’ve already spoken to him. And they’ve found him less-than-agreeable.

“If that’s all, officers, my client needs to return to packing her things,” My lawyer interrupts. The fat officer sighs.

“Yeah, right. Let us know if you think of anything more, later.”

“I will.” I smile. “Thank you.”

  My lawyer stays while I leave, since they are calling in yet another Gutter for questioning. She represents most of us in the inefficient and undoubtedly corrupt human court of law. The FBI – supposedly one of the human’s best forces - haven’t solved the murder of Halsi. If it was the Adjudicator
tori
they would’ve solved it within the week.

Taj and I pass each other. He’s the one they’re calling in, then. He stops and nods at me.

“Ulsi.”

“
Sotho
,” I make a small bow. “I wish you strength for the questioning.”

He scoffs. “I won’t need it. They are exceptionally weak and ineffectual.”

My chest wells up with a strange lightness, but I keep my face neutral.

“I agree.”

Taj looks very weary, and worn. He’s been extremely snappish since Victoria disappeared. Raine and Shadus have, as well, with Shadus exhibiting the worst of it. But Taj is quietly tortured by her missing status, and everyone can see it.

“I hope they find her soon,” I try. Taj flinches, golden eyes sore.

“If I – if I upheld the laws, she wouldn’t be gone in the first place. It is my fault.”

His voice is so splintered, I can feel the pain in it as clearly as if it were my own. He cares about her. He cares about her very, very much, and I am both saddened and joyful of it.

“Certainly not,
sotho
. It is the fault of whoever took her. Do not blame yourself.
Down the path of self-hate lies untruth
,” I say the last part in Rahm, a quote from the Ki’eth.

Taj inhales, then exhales it, and tries a weak smile. “Yes. You’re right. I will try to keep that in mind more often. Thank you.”

I watch him go into the room with renewed, straighter posture. It’s not much, and it may not last, but for a second he looks less troubled, and that is all I could have hoped for.

As I walk to my room, I observe the lawn of the school. The protestors are by the hundreds, now, and the media cameras constantly flash as they take pictures and video. Two explosions, one murder, and a missing persons case – it took far more than it should have to close the school. But the human government, ever stubborn and slow to catch on, finally relented and ordered the complete evacuation the day after Victoria disappeared.

Green Hills High School is finished.

The day after Victoria disappeared, her father came to the campus. Her father begged the principal to find her. He broke into tears and had to be helped to his car by the CIA.

The security presence is dwindling, but very slowly. The
mharata
are returning to the reservation one by one, and the police leave only the bare minimum of patrolling squadrons. There are rumors the killer got Victoria, and they body just hasn’t been found yet. And there are stranger rumors still – a Gutter swore she saw Osha on campus the day Victoria vanished.

But that is impossible. Osha, unlike Jerai or Kyz, rarely leaves the reservation. He’s done it once – and that was to attend a banquet thrown by the United States President. But that was it. In my memory, he has not left since, preferring the company of his command office in the Executioner tower.   

I don’t know what to believe, anymore. But something deep within me is unsettled. Some inexorable feeling of danger creeps through my body with greater weight as each day passes.

Something is about to happen. I do not know what, but it is something important, dark, and unstoppable.          

So I pray to Asara from the Ki’eth, my hand clasped over my heart and my eyes fixated on the stars just beginning to peak through the twilight. My Rahm words filter through the empty hall, echoing eerily

“In this moment I am small, and alone, and afraid, Great Mother. In this moment I am far from you, and from everything I know. Find me in the darkness, Great Mother, and lead me into the light, so that I may dance free of my chains, and dance free in your honor.”

15. The World

Alisa bounces in the passenger seat of the truck, blonde ponytail coming undone as she points eagerly out the window.

“Look! That’s the house we wanted at first, but they sold it. That’s the pool, it belongs to the community, so we can go whenever. There’s a convenience store just by it, and if you - Vic! Are you listening to me?”