The Grower's Gift (Progeny of Time #1) (4 page)

 
"No, Lana, you are definitely the boss of me," he said when he came up for air, and laughed. Most of their friends laughed too. Lana's snake eyes melted into something less dangerous, if not quite friendly.

"So long as you never forget that," she warned him. "And you're right. I don't want to dirty up my knife on this little girl."

"We're going now!" the kid yelled to the others, and waited by the bar for them to collect their weapons and leave. Lana still hung on his arm, and he pushed her off gently to follow the others. She frowned but didn't argue.

Once the door closed behind her, he laid two crumpled bills on the counter to pay for their drinks. It was enough to pay for at least half the liquor in the tavern. Marvin muttered he had no way to give change back. The kid waved him off.
 

"Give it to the baker's family after you take what we owe you for the drinks."
 

His eyes flickered to Maya's again, but now, up close, his look made her take a step backwards. Maya had only ever seen eyes that cold on the dead. He looked down hastily and strode out of the tavern.
 

"Still a pompous idiot!" Giles spat when the doors closed.

"You know him?" Maya asked. Giles' eyebrows shot up into his hair. His jealousy stabbed through her like it was her own.

"Who was he then?" Marvin asked, sparing Maya the need to repeat her question.
 

"That was Tyberious Remarque, heir to the city of Neo York."

~

Once the hovercraft left, Maya followed Giles to his home, a two-story house that looked onto the square. It was one of the newer homes, built about fifty years ago and entirely self-sufficient, with solar panels able to draw power from the sun even during the winter. Giles flipped a switch and the heating units whooshed to life. At Maya's house, they sometimes had to burn wood to stay warm during long winters.

"Let's turn in, it's Market Day tomorrow," Giles said and headed to the stairs that led to the bedrooms. Maya followed.
 

 
She stripped to her underwear, a tight fitting long sleeved thermal shirt and matching leggings, and climbed under the covers of the large family bed in the master bedroom. Maybe it was too cruel to sleep in the same bed with Giles, knowing how he felt about her. But they'd been sleeping like that since they were children. She hoped he wouldn't try to kiss her again. If he did, she'd just explain to him how she couldn't return his feelings. How the only kind of love she had ever felt for anyone was that of a mother for her children. Even towards her own parents.
 

She needn't have worried. Giles stayed well on his side of the bed after he climbed in and turned off the light.
 

The wind outside picked up, swinging the doors and windows of the empty houses that lined the square. No sound entered through the thick windows of the house.

"How come you knew so much about that kid?" Maya asked.

The impossible recognition she felt still nagged her, leaving an ache in the pit of her stomach.
 

"I was born in Neo York City," Giles mumbled into his pillow.
 

Was that it? Did she only feel Giles' recognizing that kid? Usually she only felt others' emotions though, she couldn't read their thoughts.

She flipped on the light switch and balanced on one elbow to stare at the back of his head. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

He flipped over and stared at the ceiling. "Not something you flaunt in the Badlands, now is it? At least that's how my father saw it."

Maya opened and closed her mouth a few times, unsure what to say. Giles still had secrets from her? After all these years? How? Why?
 

Perhaps sensing her confusion, or hurt, though she had no real right to feel it, Giles turned his face to her. "After we left Neo York all we wanted to do was forget all about it. However, the Badlands are hardly the place for a fashion designer and his artist wife. Or so it turned out."

Giles' mother had wasted away, like so many others in the Badlands. Not even from lack of food, just lack of hope. There was no future in the Badlands. Giles' grief shared the bed with them, solid enough to touch.
 

"You might have told me sooner," Maya said and grasped Giles hand, because she thought it was safer that hugging him. "I'm glad you left the city though. Glad you're here."

It wasn't the best thing to say, maybe, but it was true. In the Badlands, all you had was the now. Maya was always sure you had to make the best of it.
 

Giles looked away to hide tears. She turned off the light to make it easier for him.
 

Giles squeezed her hand tighter, then let go. "There's something else I never told you…"

His voice trailed off. Maya was too stunned to urge him on.

"There is a school for those who claim they have gifts in Neo York. They advertise it and everything, let it be known all who have gifts are welcome there."

Maya shot up in bed, knocking the covers off both of them. "A school? And you never said anything? Not for eight years? Not after spending night after night in the freezing cold with me trying to control my powers? You know how much I want to learn to use my gift!"

Her heart was racing. Heat was building not only in her arm, but in her chest and head as well. She took a few calming breaths once the room started spinning around her. Nothing was lost yet. She could still go to the school, still bring the Badlands back to life.

Giles sat up too and tried to take hold of her hand again. She yanked it away.
 

"I didn't want you to leave."

The sadness in his voice took the edge off her fury. Still, she was too mad to speak.

"The city is barred to anyone from the Badlands. You know that. There's no way in," Giles continued. "I didn't want to make you wish for something you could never have."

There had to be a way, Maya was sure. "I'll go there and make them let me in."

Giles grabbed her arm before she could evade him. "Neo York is hundreds of miles away, and all the roads are riddled with checkpoints and mines and who knows what else. How will you get there?"

"I'll walk if I have to!"

"In the winter? Come on, Maya, you'll learn to use your gift on your own. You're smart. I'm sure you can do it."

"I can learn a lot faster at a proper school." Once there, she'd finally be with people who were like her, who could understand her for who she truly was. She had a purpose now, a way to give the future back to the people in the Badlands.
 

"I read and reread all I could find on those born with gifts at school and the library here." Not that there was very much, and the newest books they had were thirty years old. "If there's a school for people like me, I'm going!"

Giles glared at her. "I was serious before. The city is not a place for normal people. It's no place for you. There's hardly any nature and most people just stay inside the buildings all day. Besides, you will never even reach it."

"Fine, be that way." Maya lay back down and turned her back on him.
 

She covered her head with the blanket and imagined entering the school, teachers showing her precisely how to use her gift. Others like her would be there too, and they'd talk well into the night of all the exceptional things they could do. Once she learned all they had to teach, she'd return home and heal the brittle, tired soil, plant a forest to cleanse the air, create grasslands for cattle and goats to graze and children to play in. She saw it all in her mind, as clear as if she was looking out a window.

The last thing she wanted was for Giles to try and talk her out of it. Knowing he was right and that she would never get anywhere near Neo York on her own was torture enough.

CHAPTER FOUR

"Let's go home now, Tyberious!" Lana's agitated voice screeched through the headpiece.

Ty clucked his tongue impatiently. "No, we have to hunt down all the animals before we leave."

Dawn was breaking on the horizon, and the wolves they'd let loose to hunt down would be finding a place to settle down for the day. These weren't normal wolves, altered as they were, with their sharp teeth, extra sensitive eyes and a heightened thirst for blood. Some of their unnatural abilities came from the way they were engineered, the rest were a mistake. Nature had a way of keeping a balance among its varied species that could never be replicated in a laboratory.

"Stop being so responsible, Ty, and let's leave," Lana insisted. "I want to get to sleep. We'll catch the rest next time."

"There's no telling how much damage it will do before then. They breed goats here, if nothing else," Rober cut in, making it worse.

"You stay quiet, Rober," Lana replied. "We all know you're on his side, there's no need for you to actually speak."

Some of the others laughed at this. They all wanted to leave.
 

"Shut up, Lana. We're staying until we catch them all," Ty said in his best commanding voice.
 

Not that it ever worked on Lana.
 

Isis growled low in her throat by his side. Maybe she had a scent. Ty let the tiger lead the way and followed at a distance. The copse was really only a small circle of stunted pine trees and shrubs, surrounded by a stretch of dried up earth. It was probably from one of those failed attempts at re-greening the Badlands that were made before the Ring was established and separated from the dying world.
 

Beyond the copse, smoke was already rising from a few of the chimneys of the town. Ty couldn't be responsible for another townsman dying from a wolf attack.

"I bet you just want to run into that girl again tonight," Lana sneered over the headpiece. "I'll grant you, she looked pretty fresh, but I'm not in the mood to share tonight."

Ty ignored her. That was another good thing about Lana. She didn't mind sharing him, nor did any of the guys she went with ever make Ty jealous.
 

The girl in the pub last night had a presence that filled the room. Most natural born ones did. That was another thing that couldn't quite be replicated in a lab. And hers was so strong, especially once she got angry. It mounted then, filled the pub, beat against its confines, lashing out to break free and cover the world.
 

A hiss, followed by a heart wrenching meow, sounded from the copse, ripping through Ty's thoughts. He slung his bow across his back and pulled out his gun, breaking into a run. In his mind, he already saw Isis in a pool of blood, wolves feasting on her flesh, her green eyes pleading with Ty to save her.

"Spread out and surround the copse," Rober ordered the others. "Ty, wait for everyone to get into position."

Isis didn't have that kind of time, and Ty could take those three wolves on his own.

"Your stupid pet, Ty, I swear," Lana panted. "I told you to leave it at home."

"Shut up!" Both Ty and Rober said at almost the same time. Someone laughed into the headpiece.

Ty reached the tree line, keeping to the trees as he approached. Isis couldn't be far. Soft growling came from the three o'clock direction.
 

The three wolves had Isis surrounded, her back against a dense shrub. A long gash had opened her side but she kept them at bay with her knife sharp claws.
 

The wolves hadn't sensed Ty yet. They would soon. He lay low and took careful aim. Grey fur and blood and bones exploded in the silent pulse from his gun.
 

One of the remaining wolves fled into the trees. The other turned, its grey eyes fixed on Ty's. It growled again and leapt towards him, a blur in its unnatural speed. Ty's shot missed its head by less than an inch.

The blur cleared into a wide open jaw, sharp teeth gleaming. Ty had no time to move, no time to raise his gun. No time for anything but to wait.

An arrow pierced the wolf's side, the force knocking it aside.

"Are you all right?" Rober's worried voice echoed in Ty's ear. "Did it get you?"

Ty shook his head and half crawled, half stumbled to Isis. She licked his hand when he bent to check her wound.

"Look what I caught me," came Lana's triumphant voice. "Can we go home now?"

She strode from the trees to their left with a dead wolf slung across her shoulders, its blood matting her hair. A revolting sight.

"This needs stitches," Rober said beside him, examining Isis' wound.

Ty stroked Isis' head, his clammy hand sticking to the fur. None of them were trained to heal.

He picked up Isis as gently as he could. It was lucky that she never grew much larger than a medium sized dog. She was all natural, and Ty couldn't let her die like this.

"They must have some sort of doctor in that town." He took off running, not caring if any of the others followed, willing his cat to live.

~

Ty ran all the way back to the town square with Isis clutched in his arms before remembering he was far from welcome there. Despite it being barely past dawn people milled around the square, yawning as they hauled benches and stools into the wide open space. Some of them even had holographic ads for the wares they sold flashing over the stalls.

The dark haired girl from the pub sat beside her friend at one of the plain metal tables, staring bleary eyed at nothing in particular.

She'd help him, Ty was sure. He was noble enough by giving them the money for the baker's family.

He ran to her stall and ignored the girl's friend who stood up menacingly. The girl's eyes widened in surprise when she saw him, her lips forming a perfect 'O'.
 

"Can you take me to your veterinarian?" Ty asked. She leaned forward to examine the wound in Isis' side. Concern and loving pity replaced the surprise in her eyes. Isis hissed softly and the girl jerked away.

"She won't hurt you," Ty said, clutching Isis tighter.
 

The girl brushed her hair behind her ears and stood up. "Follow me. We'll fix her up at the hospital."