Powerless Revision 1 (21 page)

Kevin leaned in to whisper to Yannick without taking his eyes away. “I know about you. I know why you’ve been banned from Darmen and why you waste your time festering up our town. I know you don’t know what kind of awful things are going to happen to you when people find out you’ve been spying for the other side. Now you tell me right now what you did and I might let you off with just a beating.”

Yannick locked eyes with him and knew he meant it.

“I didn’t talk to man or beast, fish or fowl, when I was on the job for that girl. I could tell somebody talked to her though, the way she wanted that hair back, and now I’m guessing it was you. I gave it back to her the same as I got it. I swear.”

“You swear. You swear, do you? Well, you just made another mistake because I know whom you dealt with. I know who it was who sent that man into my home to kill her. Pyrenee.”

“Okay, are you listening, man? I’m going to tell you what you’re looking at. You’re looking at someone who has never heard that name, who never did anything other than what your daughter specifically asked, and who knows the accusations you are making against him are false. Now you can either keep bludgeoning me for information I don’t have and you wouldn’t be able to do anything with, or you can get me on board and I can help you. What do you have to say to that?”

Kevin eyed him warily. In his heart he wanted to believe the problem was right there in front of him and he could make it go away, but he knew that in the end this scruffy twenty something wasn’t what kept Mira in danger. Kevin took a step back, giving Yannick some breathing room.

“Alright, that’s good,” Yannick said. “From what you said, you don’t know who came after you, and neither do I, but we can fix that. You said someone broke into your home, did he leave anything behind?”

Kevin thought about what he saw on the night of the attack, he thought about everything that happened with his prisoner, and he thought about Corey, who probably listened in on their conversation at that very moment.

“He didn’t leave anything behind, but a part of him is still here. We have a part of his body that is separated from the rest of him. It’ll be shipped off to Darmen soon so that the commanders can have a look at it.”

“Well a part is all we need,” Yannick said, showing Kevin some optimism and resiliency. “If I can just get a hold of that part, I’ll know right where to go to get you what you need. Let’s—”

“It’s not going to be that easy. The prisoner is in Corey’s possession now. We’ll have to ask him if we can get to it.”

Mentioning a meeting with Corey made Yannick’s eyes grow large. Kevin felt the same hesitation too. He had refused to cooperate fully with Corey before, and the thought of returning so soon made him nervous. Especially now that he needed something from him, Kevin knew he wouldn’t be able to keep Corey in the dark a second time.

“We’re talking about business now, right?” Yannick said. “I know it’s personal for you, but this is business for me. There will need to be some compensation. Do you understand?”

“We’ll figure that out later,” Kevin replied. “We can’t do this without Corey’s support. Either he makes it happen or the whole plan is a waste.” He said this knowing full well Corey had probably already made his decision about what he would do. Still, Yannick and Kevin made plans to meet and approach him.

Yannick watched the vapor wall around him dispel through his peripheral vision. It melted back into thin air, revealing the marketplace and all of the people going about their business as though nothing unusual had happened. Nodding, Kevin joined the crowd and was lost to Yannick’s eyes. Feeling unsettled and peculiarly vulnerable, Yannick also departed.

***

Ogden Fortst shook his head with extreme displeasure. None of the students who stared at him for hours on end five days a week could remember any of the lessons he had taught them. He thought a review session would be the perfect way to avoid teaching new material, but he never thought it would reveal they hadn’t been paying attention.

His disappointment in them ran deep, but he was equally disappointed in himself. It made him worry about how they would fare once he unleashed them upon the turbulent world. They had so much to learn if they were going to be ready for the challenges that awaited them.

“Could someone please tell me why water takes longer to boil if you watch it?” he asked. Hearing nothing but silence, he became irritated. “Come on, we spent days on this! This is unbelievable. We’re going to have a test. Are you listening? A test. And there are going to be big problems if you don’t know all of this stuff. Open your notebooks. We’ve got a lot of work to do!”

Groaning, the students complied. Reaching into their desks, they removed their notebooks. Some of them were dusty and had nothing inside but games and doodles. Will pulled his out, and when he opened the cover he found a folded piece of paper inside.
 
Carefully unfolding it, he read the contents. The note said:

“Will, your life is in danger. Meet me by the healer’s office near town square after school today. Come alone. —Mira”

He turned in his seat to look back behind him. She gave him a heavy and serious nod. Will faced forward again, folded the note, and put it in his desk.

***

Once school ended, Mira left quickly and went to the appointed place. She saw Nora rubbing some kind of shampoo into her uneven hair through the window, and then she hid in a nook by the side of the building. She heard footsteps coming and knew Will was on his way. Once he had passed by her, she popped out of her hiding spot and snuck up behind him.

“Thanks for coming,” she said, and Will jumped.

“Whoa, what is this all about? You said my life is in danger.”

“That was a joke. Your life’s not in danger. You’re totally fine. Aren’t you relieved?”

“That’s not cool at all. I got worried. Why would you do that?” he said, pursing his lips in a way Mira didn’t like.

“I just needed to get you here. I’m sorry about that. But, in a way, I just saved your life.”

Will shook his head, spat, and then turned to leave.

“No, wait! Please don’t go. I need your help with something.”

Impatiently, Will turned around and gave Mira a hard look.

“It’s about your Makara dice. Can I please see them?” she asked.

“What do you want to see them for?”

Mira didn’t want to tell him why she wanted to see them, but she knew he would figure it out once he saw the invitations. The only problem would be if he told everyone about it and ruined the surprise. But he didn’t seem like a mean-spirited boy to her, not like Jeremy.

“Can you keep a secret? My birthday is coming up and I’m going to have a party. I want to use the dice to make invitations. Don’t worry, you’ll get one too, and it’s ok if you don’t want to come.”

Will took a few steps closer to her and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small pouch and jingled it in front of her. She could hear the dice clattering inside.

“Sounds like an interesting party,” he said. “But do your parents know about this?”

Will’s question made Mira think of what her mother said. Mira hadn’t been sure what she meant at the time, but now seemed like a good opportunity to find out.

“Oh, no, they don’t know about this. They know I’m going to have a party and make invitations, but they don’t know I want to do this. It wouldn’t be cool if my parents found out about this, right?”

“That’s funny you say that because you didn’t seem interested in it before. But, yeah, some people think it’s all bad and they don’t really know what it’s about.”

Will loosened the drawstring on the pouch and dumped the dice into Mira’s cupped hands. Seven dice of various sizes and shapes spilled out. Some were polished and some dull, some were made of wood and others made of bone; some appeared very intricate while others were very simple.

“Wow, they’re beautiful. Where did you get them?”

“Most of them I made myself. I saw a kid playing Makara in Darmen one time. I guess you can buy the dice in shops there, but he showed me his and I started to copy them.”

She examined the images that appeared on the sides of the dice. There were so many that she was impressed Will had remembered them all, though he could have made them up and that would have been impressive too. She saw an arrow, a fork, swans, a hand, fish, a knife, a wheel, a key, a tree, a man, a woman, a chair, a nose, a spider, a gust of wind, a book, water, a question mark, the number three, fireworks, lightning, a heart, a star, and a mouth. There were other shapes too Mira couldn’t easily identify, and some of the sides of the dice had nothing on them.

Will seemed pleased enough that she admired his work to let her take her time with them. She noted her approval of just about every image.

“So how exactly do you use them?”

Will chuckled and shook his head.

“There’s only one way to find out,” he said, motioning to take back his dice.

“Ok, wait a second, just one thing.” She moved to the healer’s steps and began rummaging in her bag for something. Pulling out some paper and a small wooden case, she removed the cover of the case and revealed an inky sponge. She rubbed the side of one of the dice against the ink and then stamped it onto a piece of paper. Pulling away the stamp revealed a bluish mark with an image of fireworks inside of it identical to that of the dice. She repeated the process with a few other images and soon the paper and wooden case returned to her bag and the dice returned to Will’s pouch.

“Thank you very much for this,” Mira said, looking up at Will.

“No problem. I hope your party is a success. Maybe I’ll live long enough to see it.”

Mira left with a smile on her face because it seemed like at least one of her classmates would attend her party. She returned home to find her mother hard at work in the kitchen.

“I’ve got it. I’m all set to make the invitations. What are you making?” Mira asked.

“You’re going to have some cookies to go along with them,” Jeana replied. She mixed a bowl full of batter with a big wooden spoon.

“Ok, great! Thanks so much. I’ve got a good feeling that everything is going to work out perfectly.”

***

A miserable feeling that things were going drastically wrong turned in Kevin’s stomach. A dusky light caused long shadows to stretch across the road on the way to the outpost. He wondered how much of his shame he would have to reveal to do what needed to be done.

Entering the outpost, Kevin saw that the crowds had cleared out and the stands shut down. Still, he got the feeling after only a few steps that someone followed him. He resisted the urge to look back and instead pushed on to the staircase. Once he could no longer see the courtyard and had dropped down a few steps into the shadows, he stopped abruptly and waited.

“What’s the plan here?” a hushed voice asked from behind him. Kevin turned back to see Yannick against the wall on the stairs. It looked more like he was hiding than lurking. Preferring not to look at him, Kevin returned his eyes to the steps before him.

“It’s simple. We request an audience with Corey and hope he grants it. If he does, we make our case to have access to the prisoner. We cooperate fully at all times and respond honestly about our intentions. Is that clear?”

Yannick didn’t answer, which Kevin preferred to any disagreement. The man silently trailed behind Kevin, who worked his way down to Corey’s office. Unsure of what he would find on the other side, Kevin cracked open the door. Only a dim light trickled through. Entering, he saw that only one woman, Corey’s personal assistant, occupied the office. She sat at an empty desk, obviously waiting for his arrival.

Before letting go of the door, he motioned to Yannick to enter. He hesitantly peeked through, and showed no small degree of relief at finding a nearly empty room. While Kevin approached the young woman, Yannick hung in the partially concealed corner near the doorway.

“Good evening. May I help you?” she said with a professional demeanor.

“Good evening, Natalie. We would like to make an appearance before Corey.”

Natalie nodded her head.

“What is the purpose of your visit?”

Kevin snorted imperceptibly and broached a wry smile. She knew exactly why they were there and he wanted to call her out on it. He checked this impulse and went along with the formalities.

“It’s important that I speak with him concerning the recent breach of my home.”

Nodding again, she rose from her desk.

“I’ll take you to a room where you can wait until I can communicate with him about your request and deliver an answer. Please follow me.”

She led Kevin to a door in the opposite corner of the office from where he entered. Yannick stealthily maneuvered his way behind them. Natalie removed a large, old key and unlocked the door. She pulled it open and then promptly kneeled down to attend to her shoe, allowing Yannick to enter after Kevin unseen.

They entered a room with earthen walls held together by thick roots. Candles burned on stands in the corners, shedding light on a long table and chairs in the center of the room, which had a musky, gritty smell to it.

The door closed behind them, and they heard the key turn the lock. Yannick gave Kevin a hard, uneasy look. Together, they approached the table and made out a wooden, locked case at the far end. Kevin didn’t need to guess to know what the case was, and after a moment it rattled and shook, revealing that it contained exactly what they had come for. The word “bait” crossed Kevin’s mind. He felt the pain of the memories it meant to extract.