Kingdom of Cages(16)

Chena wasn’t even sure Administrator Tam saw them leave.

It turned out that was just the first line of the day. Mom also dragged them to the bank to see how much they had in positives (not much), to the rental office to hear the prices on empty houses (too much), to the school administrator to hear the price and conditions of classes (way too much), and to the passport office so she could get chipped for getting to and from her job at the geothermal power plant.

By the end of it all, Chena was seriously regretting her morning’s excursion, and Teal was mad enough to spit at her. Mom wouldn’t even consider letting them go somewhere, even on the roof garden of whatever building she was in, no matter how many times they swore they’d stay together, they wouldn’t talk to strangers, and any other model behavior they could think of. It was all a complete no-go. She just glowered if they tried to promise too hard.

They missed dinner sitting in line. By the time they got to the dining hall, there was nothing left but a kettle of the hot cereal, which had been cooking long enough to get crusty. It still tasted good, though, and Chena ate without complaint. She had expected Mom to be verbal, telling them the shifts were a strictly temporary thing, that it wasn’t going to be that bad, but she wasn’t. A cloud of silence had descended around her, and it stretched out to include Teal and Chena. Teal ate fast and spent the rest of the time fidgeting with her comptroller. Chena tried to get a quick look at what she was doing and failed.

She hiding it from me? she wondered, and the thought left her feeling strangely angry.

By the time they got out and headed back toward the dorms, twilight had descended. They walked, silent, side by side, Chena wondering what they’d have to wait for next.

All at once, the world around them shifted and rustled, as if the wind had picked up. Chena’s head jerked up, automatically looking for a changed sign or warning light.

Then the forest bloomed. Bright white cups lifted up from nests of dark green on the forest floor. In the trees, the vines spread velvet blossoms colored deep purple, bloodred, and cobalt blue, the petals stretching themselves out until the flowers were the size of Chena’s head.

In answer, the twilight seemed to break into a million fragments that swarmed around the flowers. Big angled zigzags of darkness darted around the trees, and smaller dots zoomed around the flowers so thickly, the petals were almost lost inside the clouds.

“What is it?” breathed Chena.

“Bats,” said Mom. “And beetles, I think, going after the nectar in the flowers.”

A gust of wind carried a thick, sweet perfume to Chena, along with the noise of the flapping and screeching overhead and a high, tinny drone that could be heard even under the perpetual sound of rustling leaves and falling water.

“I don’t like this,” muttered Teal, rubbing her arms. “I’ve got creeps.”

Chena wanted to tell her not to be a baby, but Mom was already moving. “Let’s get inside, then.”

Chena wanted to rebel, but those were practically the only words Mom had said since they had left the bank, so she decided now was probably not the time to argue.

She was not surprised, however, when inside turned out to be a lot less interesting than outside. People sat around the common room, mainly on pillows on the floors, and they talked or played games with counters and cards. Chena wandered around the room a little, looking over the shoulders of the other kids, but they mostly glowered at her or pointedly turned away. With all the adults around, it was no place to start something and try to break her way in. She didn’t see Sadia anywhere.

In the end, she finished her prowling and ended up against the wall next to Teal. She slid down the wall until she sat next to her sister, who was messing with her comptroller.

“What are you doing?” she asked softly. Mom wasn’t going to be any help here. She’d found a bunch of other women, all in villager clothes, to talk to.

Teal just hunched farther over her comptroller.

“Come on.” Chena nudged Teal with her shoulder. “Show me.”

“No.”

“Please?” Chena tried. Come on, I’m bored.

“No,” repeated Teal. “You’ll laugh.”

“I won’t, I swear.” Chena touched her mouth to seal the promise. “What is it?”

Teal glanced around, spotted Mom in her cluster on the other side of the room. “I’m ’crypting a spy list,” Teal murmured.

“A what?” Chena pulled back, but remembered in time not to laugh.

“A spy list.” Teal looked back down at her tiny screen. “You know, I figured if Dad’s a spy out there for the Authority, there might be spies here, so I’m making a list of who we’ve seen and who they are…” The sentence trailed off again and she shrugged. “Stuff like that.”