Away

CHAPTER 13





THEY HAD TO leave the body. They made their way back to camp somehow, but Rachel didn’t remember much of the trip. She knew Pathik was near her, and her father was there too, though he was weak. She remembered stumbling through the bush, tripping and almost falling, feeling cold and numb at the same time. She remembered Peter’s bloody eyes. She wanted to go home.

A sentry must have seen their approach and alerted the camp, for there was a quiet group waiting for them when they arrived. Michael was there, and Saidon, the healer, along with several others Rachel didn’t recognize.

“Saidon is ready for Daniel. There’s a room set up for him.” Michael eyed Fisher’s arm. “Looks like you should go with them. The rest of us need to gather and talk. I’ve had the council room set up with hot root brew and food.”

“I’m fine,” said Fisher. “I’ll join the meeting.”

“Maybe you could give me a hand with Daniel first.” Pathik looked amused at Fisher’s eagerness to be included in the council meeting.

“I’d be pleased to, Pathik.” Fisher didn’t sound pleased, but he was quick to help. He and Pathik each took one of Daniel’s arms and started toward the hospital. Rachel and Saidon followed.

“Rachel.” Indigo’s voice drew her back. “I know you want to be with your father, but I think you should come to the council meeting first.”

Rachel hesitated.

“I’ll take good care of him.” Saidon smiled at Rachel. She exuded calm assurance. Rachel nodded.

“I’ll be with you soon, Father.” She wasn’t sure if Daniel heard her; he seemed to be on the edge of consciousness. The trek back to camp had taken all his energy.

The council room was equipped with bowls of steaming water, scented with some astringent oil, so the weary band could refresh themselves. There was, as Michael had said, hot root brew and an assortment of food. Rachel soaked a rough cloth in one of the bowls of fragrant water and wrung it out. She couldn’t remember a better feeling than the warm, clean cloth against her neck. She washed as much grime off of her face and hands as she could. Then she helped herself to some food—there was bread and dried meat and some dried berries. With a brimming plate and a cup of root brew, she found a place to sit on one of the benches.

Once they had all settled, Michael, who had been waiting at the front of the room, addressed them.

“Where is Peter?”

“He’s dead.” Indigo sounded as drained as Rachel felt. “Killed by a baern. But we can discuss that later. Right now, we need to make some decisions.

“We have good reason to believe that our greatest fears are true. The Roberts were planning to trade Daniel to the government. From what he says, they’ve traded two others already.” Indigo paused, to ensure all had heard him. “Two others,” he repeated. “Who do you think they might be?”

There was a cry from behind Rachel. She turned, shocked at the sound of it—it sounded so full of anguish. A woman sat two rows back, her head bowed, her hands covering her face. Another woman quickly led her out of the room.

“Are you suggesting that the Roberts took Ivy’s sons—that they were traded?” Michael looked shocked. “Did Daniel see them with his own eyes?”

“No. He heard the Roberts talking,” said Indigo.

“That’s no proof. For all we know the boys were taken by a baern as we suspected.”

“It’s proof enough for me. The Roberts plan to take those they can and trade us for goods. And they don’t care what happens to us in the government labs.” Indigo addressed the rest of the room. “I won’t have us tested and tortured and used for ill. I won’t have our gifts turned into evil. We have a chance on Salishan. We need to take it.”

“How are we any better off if we uproot our people from the safety of this camp, risk their lives in a water crossing where the boats are probably ruined if they even exist anymore, and take them to a place we know nothing about except what’s spun in old men’s firetales? For all you know the bombs rendered it sterile.”

“They didn’t render our land sterile. At least not permanently.” Indigo’s eyes flashed. Rachel had never seen him look so angry. “Let’s ask, shall we? Since we have someone here who might actually know what became of Salishan after the bombing.”

Rachel waited, wondering where Salishan was, and who would know whether it was sterile. It took a moment for her to realize that Indigo, and all the others in the room, were looking at her.

“What?”

“Do you know, Rachel? Is Salishan sterile? After they evacuated, did they track what happened to the island?”

“What island? Is Salishan an island?” Rachel thought; she didn’t remember any island called that.

“It was evacuated before Unifolle’s Border Defense System was activated. They built their system before the Unified States did, so they had time to plan things better,” said Indigo.

“Maybe it’s called something else now.” Nandy spoke up. “Salishan is how it’s listed in our records, but that name is just what the survivors of the bombs called it.” Nandy looked at Rachel. “Our forebears wrote down everything they could think of, in case we might need the knowledge someday. We have preserved their writings as much as we could. They wrote about what the world was like before they were trapped here, at least what they knew. They tried to record whatever they thought was important, everything from the history leading up to the decision to abandon people here, to how to smoke fish in order to preserve it.”

Rachel nodded. “I think they must have been talking about the relinquished islands. There were a couple of them. One very large, a couple of smaller ones. They were left out of Unifolle’s border plans because the expense to include them would have been exorbitant. They did evacuate people from them and relocate them on the mainland.”

“The large one—is it sterile?” Indigo sounded impatient.

“I don’t know,” said Rachel. “It’s never really talked about. It’s not like people are allowed to go there.”

Michael gave Indigo a pointed look.

“Means nothing,” said Indigo, though he sounded disappointed that Rachel didn’t know. He turned away from Michael. “Rachel, thank you. I think you should go tend to your father now. We have things to settle here.”





WHEN RACHEL KNOCKED on the battered metal door of the hospital it was opened by the same wavy-haired man who had opened it before. He stepped back when he saw her, and the look on his face was a mixture of fear and distaste. In that moment, Rachel realized that she was the reason he had rushed away so quickly the last time she was here. She had thought it was Malgam who frightened him.

“Here for your da, I suppose.”

“Yes.” Rachel frowned at him. He didn’t even know her, yet he acted as though she was a bad person.

“He’s in the same room Malgam was. So you know the way.” The man made no offer to escort her down the dim corridor.

“Is there a light I can use?” Rachel wasn’t sure she did know the way. She remembered that there had been several doors off the corridor. She remembered it had been dark.

The man grunted. Grudgingly, he retrieved one of several oil jars perched on a shelf and lit its wick. He handed it to her.

“Thanks.” She hesitated only a second before her pride propelled her toward the corridor.

It was as dark as she remembered, but she found her way. She passed several closed doors before she came to the room in which she thought Malgam had convalesced. There was light underneath that door. She knocked quietly, and immediately heard footsteps.

“Rachel?” It was Pathik’s voice, low but audible from the other side of the door.

“Yes.”

The door opened. Beyond Pathik, Rachel could see her father lying on the same metal bed Malgam had been in, his face unnaturally pale, glistening with sweat. The healer, Saidon, was seated in a chair next to his bed, her hands on his injured leg. Her eyes were closed and Rachel saw, as she drew nearer, that she was trembling.

Pathik led her nearer. She knew, somehow, with no words exchanged, that now was not the time to speak. So she stood, and let Pathik hold her hand, and watched. Daniel smiled at her when he saw her, but he remained silent.

Saidon breathed deep and even, and she pressed her hands gently on Daniel’s leg with each inhalation. Rachel could see the wound clearly, and it looked much worse than she had thought it was during their trek back to camp. She didn’t understand how he had managed to walk on that leg at all.

For a time there was no sound other than that of Saidon’s breathing. The wound didn’t change in appearance at all, though Rachel had half expected to see it mend before her eyes. But Daniel’s face did get more relaxed. He looked as though his pain was easing as Saidon worked on his leg. She took a few more measured breaths and then opened her eyes. She took her hands off Daniel’s leg, and rubbed them together as though they were stiff. When she looked at Rachel it was as though she was looking from someplace very far away.

“He’ll need time to recover. His leg is infected. He has many other wounds, too, though none so severe.” Saidon shook her head. “They are savages.”

“Saidon.” Pathik spoke softly, but there was a note of admonishment in his tone.

“I know, Pathik, I know your grandfather would like us to hold our judgment. And I do, most times. But when I see something like these wounds—these wounds are meant to torture, Pathik. Those Roberts knew exactly what they were doing to him. And they probably enjoyed it.” Saidon started to say more, but she bit her lip. She looked tired. “I’ll go now. But I’ll be back tomorrow for another session. It will take a few more.” She put a hand on Rachel’s shoulder. “He’s lucky, and he’s strong. As long as he can rest and eat he should be fine.”

“Thank you,” said Rachel. She wasn’t certain exactly what she was thanking the healer for, but she knew her father looked less strained than he had when she’d arrived.

Saidon smiled. “You’re welcome, child. Your father has always been good to me. To all of us here.” She turned to Pathik. “Can you walk me out, please? I imagine these two have some talking to do.”

“I’ll come back in a little while,” said Pathik. Rachel nodded. When the door closed behind them, she went to her father.

He was still awake, though he must be exhausted. Rachel sat in the chair Saidon had used. She watched his face, her father’s face. For a time, he simply watched her too. Then he smiled again.

“I see your mother in you.”

Rachel smiled back at him. “She always says I look like you.”

“Maybe a bit. But I see her beauty in your face.” His smile slipped away. “I missed so much.”

Rachel said nothing. She thought of her mother, and wondered if she was fixing a meal for Ms. Moore, or getting ready to go to Bensen for supplies. She imagined walking into the parlor of Ms. Moore’s house with Daniel, and watching Vivian’s face light up with joy.

“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.