The Grower's Gift (Progeny of Time #1) (6 page)

Ty watched her run back into town, fighting the urge to follow. Rober pulled him up. "Let's go, she's right. They'll be furious if they find us here."

Ty followed Maya with his eyes until she disappeared behind the houses. "She never took the money."

CHAPTER FIVE

Maya ran into the square, tears streaming down her face, blinding her. Some of those who had trekked there from neighboring towns for Market Day still milled around, but mostly it was only her fellow townsfolk there. Marvin was talking to Eddie and Lavinia by one of the empty stalls.

"What's wrong, Maya?" Lavinia asked when she saw her.

"Mary drowned. Down by the river. We need to go collect her body and arrange a funeral."

Marvin shook his head. "Poor Mary. She had a good long life. I don't know about burying her though. It was a good day today. A funeral would spoil everyone's mood."

Maya gasped, and stared at Marvin with her mouth open.

"He's right, Maya," Lavinia said wrapping her arm around Maya's shoulder. "We should just let the river take her."

"How can you say that? Mary was one of us, she deserves a proper burial!"

"By whom?" Eddie said, fumes of whiskey on his breath hitting Maya's face. "Pastor James died two years ago. There's no one to give her a sendoff. Best to just let her float away."

"I can't believe you're all saying this!" Maya shook off Lavinia's arm, looking wildly from one to the other. "Mary shouldn't be left for the predators!"
 

She still tasted the muddy water in her mouth from trying to give Mary the kiss of life. Her left hand burned from all the power she'd released into the dead woman. How could they all be so careless?

A crowd had gathered around them, drawn by her yells.

Her father pushed through to stand by her side.

"What is going on?" he asked.

"Mary has died, and no one wants to collect her body and bury her."

Marvin shuffled his feet nervously. "Now look here, Maya. All we said is that a funeral would depress everyone. Mary's had a long life, and she has no family left anywhere."

Maya fixed her eyes on her father. He bit the inside of his cheek and stayed quiet.
 

"But…but…" Maya stammered, her bottom lip trembling. She knew they were beat down and had little enough to look forward to. However, a life was lost today. They should honor Mary.

"I will bury her myself, then!" Maya declared.
 

"Let the river take her body," Eddie repeated.
 

Maya moved to walk back to the river, but her father held her back. "You're not strong enough to dig a grave. Eddie is right. A water burial is honorable."

Giles pushed his way through the crowd to stand by her side. "I'll help you, Maya."

She gratefully took his hand. This funeral would be the most painful for him. He'd only just buried his mother and sister, and yet he was the only one in the whole town willing to help her.
 

"Hold on," her father said. "I will help too."

In the end, Eddie and Marvin went with them to collect Mary's body and carry it back to town.

They laid Mary to rest in the field next to the church. The cemetery had been filled up before Maya was even born. Death was too common in the Badlands. Ten died for every one newborn. Less than half of the town gathered for the funeral. When Giles' sister had been buried, nearly the whole town had gathered. Death of the children was harder to ignore. And, strangely, it had given the people the will to survive. For a time. Because the hopelessness of life in the Badlands always creeped back.
 

If only Maya could learn her gift, everything would be so much better then.
 

The funeral was a hasty affair, Maya the only speaker. Hopelessness filled the air, hung over those gathered like a thick fog. Tears born of it choked Maya as she spoke of the time, years ago, when Mary had taught her how to harvest the seeds of a cherry, and make sure it didn't turn wild once they grew into a tiny tree. That cherry tree still bloomed in their yard every year, and still gave fruit every summer.

No one seemed to be listening.

After her speech was over, Eddie and Giles started heaping the earth over the grave. Maya walked over to her parents.

"I'm sorry for how I acted last night," she murmured. Her mother drew her into a hug and her father stroked her hair.

"Let's go home," her mother whispered.
 

Maya didn't let go of her mother all the way back to the house. A fresh mound of mud stood where the wheat had swayed in the breeze the night before. Her father must have placed it there, wary of anyone seeing Maya's work. Maya bit back her anger.
 

She could bring hope back to the Badlands. Only first she had to learn to use her gift properly. And that meant leaving her home and her family behind.

~

They ate a dinner of cold turkey and black bread in the kitchen. Her father didn't offer her wine tonight. Her mother tried for some light conversation, but Maya couldn't force out more than one word answers.
 

She had to tell them she was leaving. Had to make them understand.
 

Each time she worked up the nerve to tell them, her mother would ask a question. About Maya's work at the hospital; about Giles and how he was coping all alone; about Mary and her stories of the days before nature started dying.
 

A lump as hard as rock formed in Maya's throat as her mother brought out the leftovers of her birthday cake. There was no other way. Maya going to the school in Neo York was the best chance any of them had.

"I'm going to the Ring," she blurted out before her courage failed.
 

Both of her parents turned to her sharply. Then her mother smiled tentatively. "What are you talking about, Maya?"

Maya steeled her voice, her heart. "Giles told me they have a school for people like me in Neo York, people with special abilities."

Her father leapt to his feet and slammed his fist against the table. "You
have
no special ability. And even if you did, you can't go to the Ring. They'll never let you in. You'll die in the wilderness."

"The same will happen here," Maya shot back.

"You can have a full life here, if you are careful," her father replied. "Like Mary. She was 101 years old."

Maya had made up her mind during Mary's funeral. The lush green grass Mary remembered from her childhood could grow back, if only Maya learned to use her ability properly. And that meant going to Neo York. "You can't stop me. I'm of age."

"You can't be serious," her father bellowed. "How will you even get there?"

Her mother had tears in her eyes as she looked from one to the other. She locked her eyes on her husband's and held them. He shook his head, but she nodded, silently asking him to agree to something. He shook his head fiercely, and her mother looked away, clutching her hands together so tightly they shook.

She turned to Maya, her eyes still wet with unshed tears. "Let's sleep on it. We'll talk more in the morning."

Maya's fire died under the pleading in her mother's voice. "Yes, alright."

She followed them upstairs and lay down on her bed fully dressed. The whooshing of the river grew louder outside as the night grew deeper. She counted the seconds in her mind, not wanting to even think of the silent decision she had made downstairs in the kitchen.

It was childish to think her parents would just let her go. She was naive to expect it. At least this way, when they would find her room empty tomorrow morning, they'd know where she went.

And hour or so later, her father's snores filled the hallway. Maya rose and began to pack. It took her all of five minutes to cram an extra set of clothes, a comb and her toothbrush into a black backpack. She decided to leave the shiny black tablet that held her books and photos. If worse came to worst her parents could trade it. Still, at least they'd have one less mouth to feed after she was gone.

Her father's snores followed her as she tiptoed from her room and down the stairs. She nearly screamed out when a hand clasped her arm in the kitchen.

Her mother materialized in front of her. "Shhh, don't wake your father." Then she pulled her into a tight embrace. "Don't go," her mother whispered.

Maya didn't want to let go, but had to, before her resolve melted away in her mother's warm arms. "I don't want to. I have to."

Her mother brushed a strand of Maya's hair away from her face and kissed her cheek. "I know. Even if we stop you today, you'll just go some other day. You have such life inside you, Maya, such fire. I always knew you couldn't be tamed. Please come back and see us again. Please come back."

"I will. I promise, Mom. Thank you for understanding."

Tears made her choke on the last words.

She
would
be back. No matter what.

Her mother's ghostly white face looked through the window, watching Maya run across the field towards the town. She only turned back the one time. Any more, and she'd run right back.

~

The light was still on in Giles' kitchen. Maya rapped loudly on the window and pointed for him to let her in.
 

"What now?" he asked when she walked past him into the house. She hadn't expected such coldness in his voice. Perhaps it was for the best. This was goodbye after all.
 

A half empty bottle of wine sat on the kitchen table. Of course he'd be drinking, today's was the first funeral since his sister's.

"I'm going to that school tomorrow," she said. "But I'll be back soon."

Giles laughed a harsh laugh. "Of course you are, and of course you will."

"What do you mean?"

"And of course I'm coming with you," he finished.

Maya shook her head. "No." Although, if she were honest, she'd expected him to say it.

"I can't let you go wandering in the Badlands on your own, now can I?"

He sat down at the table and took a swig of wine from the bottle, chasing away the sadness that spilled from his eyes, no doubt.

She took the bottle from him and took a drink herself, the sour taste burning her throat. "What will you do there? You can't enter the school with me."

Giles shrugged. "You can't be in the school all day. And my two brothers are somewhere in Neo York. I haven't seen either of them in eight years."

Maya smacked herself on the forehead, a little too hard. "Of course, you still have family there."

He grinned at her as she rubbed the sore spot on her forehead.

"Now we have to figure out how to get there," Giles said. "We had that hovercraft when we left, but my father traded it years ago."

Maya sat down at the table across from him. "Don't worry, I have it all figured out. We'll ask those kids to take us. That Tyberious owes me a favor for saving his cat today."

Giles threw his head back and laughed.
 

"You're joking, right?" he finally managed to say, still shaking with laughter.
 

Maya felt the blood rush to her head. "No, I'm not. You said yourself he was like the ruler of Neo York. If anyone can get us in, he can."

"Right. And you just have to ask him nicely and it's done. Come on, Maya."

"That about sums it up, yes," Maya said. "And if it doesn't work, we'll walk there."

"I guess we're walking then," Giles said and took another swig of wine.

"Why would he say no?"

Giles wiped a drop of wine from his chin. "Because no one from the Badlands is allowed into the Ring, and because he's a Remarque. He's most likely just like his mother. He already looks exactly like her."

Maya screwed up her eyebrows, not even sure what kind of question to ask. "What's that got to do with anything? I saved his pet, and he will return the favor."

 
Giles' hands shot up, and Maya instinctively jerked back. But he just held the palms towards her, wiggling the stumps of his missing fingers. "He stood right by her side, her mirror image, when she ordered this done to me! Right before she kicked my family out of the city. He'll never do you any favors, and he'll never go against his mother."

Maya gasped, too horrified to speak. After a few breaths she found her voice. "But…but…why?"

Giles lowered his hands. "My father displeased her. Got an order she placed wrong. He was to make her shoes from real crocodile leather, only he couldn't find the animal anywhere. So he faked it, and sold it to her as real. He lost his right hand as punishment, me and my brothers all lost fingers."

Maya's stomach turned at the barbarity. "But Ty…he couldn't've been much older than you. Surely he had nothing to do with your punishment."

"That's all you heard? I knew you liked him. It was all over your face last night."

"I don't like him. I'd actually prefer never to see him again. His dead eyes scare me. But I need him, and I'm being practical."

"Can't argue with his cold eyes. He never so much as flinched while I screamed."
 

Maya took Giles' hands and willed some of her warmth to calm him. "He's our best chance of getting into the city. Once we're there, we never have to see him again."
 

Giles stared at her for a moment, then smiled. "Like I said. I guess we're walking."

Ty couldn't be all bad. He had jumped into the water to get Mary's body out, and he'd been so worried about his cat.
 

Maya let go of Giles' hands. "We'll see. Go pack now. We leave at dawn."

CHAPTER SIX

The alarm buzzed into Ty's ear at six in the morning. He slowly rose, careful not to wake Lana or any of the others sleeping in the command room of the craft. Rober rose too and joined him by the door.

"Wait here, I'll go alone," Ty whispered as he passed him.
 

"Yeah, Rober. Let your boyfriend have some breathing room for a change," Lana muttered, her voice thick with sleep.

"Go back to sleep, Lana," Ty said. He gave up convincing Rober to stay after that.

Before they left, Ty filled a bag with as many weapons as would fit.