The Chosen (5 page)

Ten minutes later Amy arrived in her brother’s old black station wagon. Chloe took most of Brian’s weight because of her superior strength but needed Amy to hold him straight and steady in case there was actually something wrong with his back.

“Holy shit,” was all her friend said. They carefully laid him down in the backseat and, completely unconscious, he didn’t even groan. His skin was deathly white.

“Sorry,” Chloe said, taking the driver’s seat. “The hideout’s kind of a secret, and you’re going to have to blindfold yourself somehow….”

Amy looked a little piqued, but only for an instant. “No problem. As the loyal sidekick, I should expect to be put into ridiculous situations.” She leapt into shotgun and pulled a jacket over her head.

Chloe burned rubber pulling out, and as she turned onto the street, a man-shaped shadow hugged the wall near the entrance to the alley, watching the car go. But
one
person couldn’t have done this to Brian. … It looked like he had been beaten from all sides at once. And it wasn’t like the Tenth Blade to skulk in the shadows: if they knew a Mai was there, they would have come out and tried to kill Chloe, too.

She didn’t begin breathing normally until they were going over the bridge, shooting past the National
Guard, who had been on her ass after the big duke-out with the Rogue.

Ignoring the niceties of
road
and
right-of-way,
Chloe took the car off road the moment they turned onto the street that led to Firebird.

“My brother’s going to
kill me
… ,” Amy muttered from under the jacket.

Chloe drove around to the back of the estate and honked the horn, shouting, “It’s me!” as she barreled up to the gate, which the guard opened just in time for the car not to crash into it. On the old TV show the Batmobile came roaring through a discreetly hidden tunnel into Wayne Manor; Batman didn’t need Alfred to let him in.

Must do something about that.

She pulled up to the kitchen, or back entrance, door and jumped out. By the time she had jumped out, someone was already opening the door, curious about the late-night intrusion. When she saw who it was, the female Mai bowed her head. “You have come back, Leader.”

“I need to get him into a bed or something,” Chloe ordered.
“Help me.”

The woman opened her eyes and sniffed the air. “But he—and she—are
human!
”

“Can I take this off yet?” Amy asked, still in the front seat under the jacket.

“Please! I’m begging you!” Chloe cried, frustrated.

“The One doesn’t need to beg,” the woman murmured. She called behind her in either Russian or Mai; Chloe wasn’t listening enough to be able to tell the difference.

That’s Eleni,
Chloe thought distractedly as the woman hurried back over to the car to help her with Brian. Eleni was one of the Mai who had most recently come from Turkey, like Chloe’s biological family. “Just two more minutes,” Chloe told Amy.

Among the other Mai who showed up—some blearyeyed, some wide awake—was Ellen, the kizekh who used to be Chloe’s sort-of bodyguard when she had lived with them full-time, just a short time ago. Her partner, Dmitry, wasn’t with her, which was unusual. She grinned at Chloe before giving a slight bow, genuinely glad to see her back. Everyone else bowed deeply and politely eased Chloe out of the way while carrying Brian in.

“Where are you taking him?” Chloe asked.

“The emergency ward, Honored One.” Ellen winked. “Don’t worry—we’ll have him fixed up good as new.” The Mai disappeared down the halls of the house at a trot.

“Emergency ward? We have an
emergency ward?
” Chloe wondered as she took Amy by the hand and followed them.
There really is a whole little world inside these walls
.

This was obviously one of the oldest parts of the mansion. She hadn’t been here before and was struck by the narrow stone hallways and cold, damp smell—like there was a well or a cellar nearby. Something caught inside
Chloe: this was an old house, like right out of something on PBS, and she had full non-museum-pass access. She could even live here if she wanted.

They wound up in a dark room whose lights came on a second after they got there, switched by a female Mai rubbing her eyes and pulling on a white lab coat. There were two hospital-style beds, what looked suspiciously like a gleaming, stainless-steel operating table in the middle of the floor, and antique metal cabinets full of medical equipment. The floor was old wood, completely clashing with the sterile nature of everything else.

Ellen and the other Mai carrying Brian carefully put him on the operating table.

“A
human?
” The doctor was a tiny woman with a body like Tinkerbell and huge, dark hazel—almost brown—eyes, a color unusual among the Mai. She was probably in her late thirties, but it was hard to tell.

Ellen quietly jerked her head at Chloe.

“Oh—She bowed her head and spread her hands, palms up, a curt but heartfelt gesture of respect. Then she immediately began examining Brian, who made pathetic little sounds as she prodded him.

“Why does the other human have a jacket over her head?” Ellen whispered to Chloe.

“I was trying to keep the location of Firebird secret,” Chloe whispered back, not wanting to tear her eyes from Brian. The doctor was ripping off Chloe’s make-do bandages and probing the wound. Instead of normal
medical instruments she used her claws, with amazing precision.

“Someone clean this guy up with sterile towels while I work on him/’ the doctor snapped. “The rest of you”—she looked up, managing to fix everyone with the same look—
“get out!”

“Please, Honored One,” she added to Chloe after a moment.

Chloe paced in the small study outside that served as a waiting room. Everyone else went to bed, bowing obeisances and backing away from her just like she had seen them do with Sergei. The gestures seemed a little more extreme, a little more heartfelt than the ones for him, though. Ellen had brought the back of Chloe’s hand to her forehead as she bowed, like something a knight would do in the Dark Ages, swearing fealty. It was all a little uncomfortable.

Chloe had expected many things if she ever returned to the mansion or the Mai: disappointment about Chloe’s decision to leave them, anger over Chloe’s love for humans, sadness that they had “lost” someone to the outside world. Cold shoulders, at least. And maybe, from the slicker ones who wanted her back in the fold, hugs and kisses and smothering love. But certainly not worship.

It looks like they would do anything for me,
she mused distractedly. Their immediate agreement to help Brian was unbelievable. Not only was he a human, not only was
he once a member of the Tenth Blade, but he was the
son
of the
head
of the Order. The enemy was in their camp and they’d welcomed him with open arms. Well, sort of.

“So wait, what was that you were saying before? That I’m the hero and you’re my
sidekick?
” she finally asked, trying to distract herself with her and Amy’s previous conversation in the car.

“Yeah, like Batman and Robin. Xena and Gabrielle,” came the voice under the jacket.

“Um, we’re not gay. At least not me. And what about Paul? Who’s he?”

Silence.

“Arch-villain, maybe,” Amy countered. “Nemesis, perhaps. He’s already jealous of your powers. Right now he could be plotting your doom.”

“You, uh, you want to talk about something?” Chloe ventured. It was a strange way to have this conversation: while she was nervous about Brian, at Firebird, with her friend, who had a jacket over her head. Yet it seemed as good a time as any.

There was a pause. “No,” Amy said stubbornly, but she didn’t sound certain.

“I heard you and Paul talking at the coffee shop earlier. I wasn’t spying on you,” Chloe added quickly, reacting to the face she knew her friend was making. “I was practicing verb forms with Kim on the roof.”

“He wants to break up,” Amy said softly.

“And you … ?”

“I thought it was pretty good. … I mean, it wasn’t perfect—he’s a little hard to get through to sometimes. But it’s a
real
relationship. Not like any of the other guys I dated … We were doing it right. Friends
first,
you know?”

“Yeah, but …” Chloe bit her lip, unsure how to say it. “Philosophy aside, do you
like
him?”

“Yes,” Amy said, a catch in her throat. “When he isn’t being a
douche bag!
”

“Did he start acting like this before or after you told him about graduating a year early?”

“Why?” her friend demanded.

“Well… it’s a big thing, Amy. Kind of out of the blue.” Chloe realized she was no longer talking about Paul. “I mean, it wasn’t like you were planning it all along….”

“Well, your
turning into a cat
kind of came out of nowhere, too!” Amy snapped indignantly.

Chloe took a deep breath, forcing herself not to respond to that. It was hard.

“Yeah, but you’re going to be leaving us. Permanently—the beginning of the end, you know? It’s hard for me to imagine losing you. And I’ll bet it’s harder for Paul, who’s in the middle of losing his family. His parents have barely spoken since the divorce began.”

Amy grew silent and seemed to pull into herself a little, as if she was actually thinking about this.

Just then Kim came calmly padding into the room. “Hello, Chloe. Hello, Amy.” Once again, the girl with
the giant cat ears was unfazed by anything; it was like she had been expecting them.

“Hi, Kim,” said Amy from underneath the jacket, like Cousin It.

“I think you can take off the blindfold now, if that’s what that is.” Kim didn’t smile, but Chloe was beginning to get used to the other girl’s extremely dry sense of humor.

She pulled Amy’s jacket off as gently as possible. Her friend’s frizzy hair staticked anyway, billowing around her head like a goth clown’s.

“How’d you know it was me?” Amy asked, running her hands back over her hair, trying to do something with it and failing.

“Your smell,” Kim answered primly.

“Yeah?” Amy wrinkled her nose, also sniffing. “Speaking of, it
definitely
smells a lot like cat here….”

Kim looked startled and slightly mortified.

“So this is the Cat Cave, huh? The secret hideout?” Amy looked around eagerly.

“I’ll give you the tour later,” Chloe promised.

“What happened?” Kim asked.

“I found Brian left half dead on the street. I think the Tenth Blade probably thought they finished him off, or maybe some people came by and interrupted their ‘business….’”

“And you brought him here.” It was a statement, a wry question, an accusation, all in one.

“What else was I supposed to do?” Chloe demanded. “I know it’s weird and I’m sorry—I could promise it will never happen again, but I don’t think I can promise anything anymore. I’ll make it up somehow. …” She sat on the couch, head in her hands. “No one really seemed to mind that much/’ she added, to the floor.

“That is because you are the One, Chloe,” Kim said gently, sinking gracefully onto the couch next to her. Amy took a plush chair across from them. “They would die for you if you commanded it.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Chloe muttered.

“It’s the truth. I know this is hard, but you are our spiritual leader. You always have been. It’s not so much your destiny as your birthright.”

“But some of these people are too young to have ever even had a … uh,
the One
before! Why should they just suddenly accept me as their new leader?”

“Chloe,
the One
is not an inherited position, like a king or certain Republican presidents,” Kim said with the faintest smile and Chloe got her joke. “Just because someone is Kemnet’r doesn’t mean that his or her child will be. The One must be
different:
not only pure of heart, strong, determined, and willing to do good, but chosen and blessed by the Twin Goddesses with the abilities to make things so. Nine lives, to lead her people to battle again and again if need be.
Connection
with the past, previous Chosen Ones. Connection with the present, her Pride, in a way that is beyond metaphysical.”

Chloe looked at her.

“I don’t know about the last two.” Then she remembered a presence at death, a feeling of her mother being there. Comforting like a powerful protector, powerful as anything that could defeat death. “Okay, just the last one.”

“You stopped a battle between your Pride and the Tenth Blade single-handedly,” Amy pointed out.

“I
died,
remember? That’s what put the kibosh on things.”

“Even so,” Kim said, nodding.

Chloe sat back, feeling somehow defeated in the face of the eternally calm—and serene—girl next to her. “You don’t worship me, though, right?” she said in a small voice. “You’re, like, my only real friend here.”

Kim cocked her head, thinking about it for a moment. “I … revere the position of the One and her sacred duties,” she said slowly. “And no leader is ever perfect, even ones gifted with the divine. You, like every Kemnet’r before you—you could definitely use an adviser.”

“Hey,” Chloe said, annoyed but amused. “I said
friend,
not adviser.”

Kim turned her paws up, shrugging, but there was a wry smile on her lips. “I think you may find you need both in the upcoming days.”

“I’ll be the friend,” Amy said diplomatically. “You can be the adviser.”

“I never said I was going to take this on,” Chloe
pointed out. “I’m from a culture of choices, you know. Not destinies.”

“As the old man said in that movie you took me to, cYou must of course do what you think is right,’” Kim said, referring to the night they had all gone to see
Star Wars
. “But whatever choice you make as the One, it can only
be
right.”

“No pressure, though,” Chloe muttered sarcastically. First Amy offered to be Jet Girl to her Tank; now Kim wanted to be Obi-Wan to her Luke. It was kind of bizarre.

The door to the emergency room opened and the doctor came out with her hands shoved deep in her pockets, just like on TV. She even bowed that way. Even though being bowed to all the time was weird, it was pretty good for the ego. Like the cute waiters at a Japanese restaurant.
Of course, I’ll have to put a stop to it
.