Deliverance (14 page)

Two days later, Professor Higgins springs a third trip on us. We will be going to Lesser City 3 immediately.

My ears perk up at this news. Lesser 3 is Fischer's home town. His mother and father are there. Maybe they've heard from him, even though I haven't.

This brings another thought. Has Fischer purposefully stopped communicating with me?

I push the thought away. He wouldn't do that—not that I have a right to expect him to pursue me, not when I've been much more interested in Keegan these days.

The ride to Lesser City 3 is further still. For the first time I wish, right along with the other students, that we could take one of the newer, smoother-riding transporters instead of the old bus.

As we pass through the city, Professor Higgins takes us to a specific set of shops. “These stores have been deemed especially useful to the city,” he explains. “It is here that we will most likely find the more promising Lessers.”

He points out a grocer and I'm reminded of Jamie. Maybe one day she'll be able to work in her chosen field, after all.

Fischer's family was prosperous, I remember. The things he described to me line up with what I see. I scan the faces of the people, searching for anyone who resembles the boy with the deep dimples and wavy brown hair, but no one sticks out to me.

Kassy walks beside me as always, scanning faces but not speaking. She has never given me her thoughts about the Lessers or helping them. What does she think about my passion? I also can't help but wonder what she would think if she knew the truth—that I don't care so much about helping the Lessers these days as I do about finding Mom.

We continue our tour, and the people of Lesser City 3 barely glance at us as they go about their daily business. The shops are small and tidy, and the storefronts are cheerful and bustling. Flowers line some of the sidewalks. The people are clean, and while they're too skinny, their skin isn't the unhealthy gray pallor of the people of Lesser 1 and 2.

The difference between this place and the first two cities is glaring.

“Why is it so different here?” I ask.

Professor Higgins moves to the front of the group to tell us all at once. “These people work harder. They obey the laws and are willing to try new things that the Greaters bring their way. The other cities should aspire to be like the Lessers of City 3.”

There is little difference between this city and my own home city of Middle 3. It's almost eerie. What separates one class from another? Worse, what will happen to these people in the future? What if Supreme Moon does as I suggested and forces these people to leave their businesses, homes, and families in order to train the other Lessers? What will happen to this city when the more prosperous leave? Would the end justify the means?

By now the other trainees have stopped griping about whether or not they should have to visit the Lesser cities. Most seem to enjoy seeing new things, now that they've been exposed to it. I think it's good for them. Everyone needs to see the way the Lessers are treated. If they see it, they may come to realize it isn't right. Maybe one of them will come up with a better idea that would keep the people from being forced to leave their homes.

While we walk, I scan the streets for anyone who looks pregnant. I haven't seen many pregnant women in the other cities. Jamie would be several months along by now, but few who we pass have blond hair, and none have large bellies.

We tour a few more blocks when Berry makes his way to me. “It's too bad we won't be visiting another hospital, isn't it?”

I haven't been able to come up with a good reason for finding the hospital, but something in his voice makes me stop. “What makes you think I would want to?”

“Find the hospital? I know it's what you want to see the most. It's too bad we won't be touring it. I have a feeling you would find it beneficial.”

He can't know about Mom. How would he?

Still, he must. His words set my heart to racing. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“You know exactly what I'm talking about, and I know exactly what you're searching for. Good luck with that.”

I feel like my heart is going to explode right out of my chest. Ba BOOM ba BOOM ba BOOM. Forget Berry. I step around him and push my way to Guard Nev. Kassy frowns after me as I rush away.

“You have to help me,” I say, grabbing Guard Nev's arm. “You have to help me find the hospital. She's here. My mom is here.” The words tumble out and tears threaten to erupt from my eyes.

“What? I thought you couldn't find her.”

“She's here. I know she is. I have to see her. Please, Guard Nev. Help me.”

He swallows hard and looks around. “What good is it going to do your mom if you get demoted as well?”

“Supreme Moon won't demote me.” I'm surer of these words than I am of anything else right now. He needs me and my ideas. I have no idea why, but I'm sure I'm right.

“And what about me?”

I pause. What about Guard Nev? What about Keegan, for that matter? What if my actions get them demoted?

Memories of Mom's eyes and smile and smell play through my mind. She once told me, “Lessers are the key.” It's almost as if she knew this day would come. “Please,” I say.

He sighs. “I'll try.”

I resist the urge to throw myself at him in a hug. I have a feeling it wouldn't go well on his part.

Berry watches every step I take, but I don't care. Now that I've realized I'm not getting demoted for this, I don't care if Supreme Moon himself were here to stop me.

After a few blocks, Guard Nev takes my elbow. “Follow me. Quickly.”

We dart into an alley and the rest of the group moves on without us.

“Keep up with me,” he says.

My legs burn as I try to match his long steps. We turn from one alley to another, and then a third before we reach the hospital. This one is larger than the small clinic in Lesser 1. Hope surges through me. Mom might be inside this very building.

I barge inside and straight to the front desk. “I'm looking for a patient. She was brought here a few weeks ago from Middle City 3. Her name is Mya Norfolk.”

The woman at the counter frowns. She has no old computer like Fischer had back home. All of her files are stacked in piles behind her and around her. “I'm not sure, sweetie.”

“I remember,” a different woman says. She steps from behind a pile. “She had the mutation, right?”

I nearly choke with relief, and I nod. They know her. She's here! If I talk, I will cry.

The woman's eyes soften and she pats my hand. “I'm sorry, ma'am. Mya Norfolk had already passed away when she reached the hospital. I remember her, though, because Mya was my mother's name.”

“Passed away?” The words come out in a whisper. I'm not even sure it's my own voice.

I try to run, but Guard Nev grabs me. “Just wait,” he whispers into my hair. It's then I realize his arms are around me, holding me in place. “Hold on.”

I blink several times, my breath coming in short, painful bursts.

“Did you know her well?” the woman asks quietly.

“My mother,” I choke out.

The woman takes in my clothes and full cheeks. She frowns. “Why was she here?”

Why was she here? A Lesser when I am obviously more? “Why are any of you here?” I shout. “No one deserves this!”

“Hana!” Guard Nev hisses. Now his grip on me isn't comforting, it's painful. He drags me from the building and into the street.

“You cannot incite some sort of rebellion. Never speak like that again.” He shakes me. “Do you understand me?”

Tears burst from my eyes and I sob. Mom is dead. I will never see her again. Was she even given a proper burial? I collapse in his arms and he lets me stay there, sobbing. He says nothing and does nothing. I'm glad because nothing he could say would make this better.

After a few minutes of crying, the woman comes outside. “Miss, I'm sorry. She has a cross, though. Would you like to see it?”

“A cross?”

“Yes ma'am, to remember her by.”

I have no idea what she means, but I allow her to lead me through the alley and to the back of the hospital. A field stretches out for miles, and in almost every available space are wooden sticks. They've been nailed together to form a small “t”, and it hits me. A cross, like from the Bible.

I've never seen a grave marked with a cross.

“How are you allowed to use a religious symbol?” I ask.

The woman frowns. “What do you mean?”

Her sincerity rips my emotions apart and I look out over the field. Thousands and thousands of crosses cover the land, so much so that almost no grass can be seen.

For two hundred years they have been marking those who died with a cross. Someone, in the very beginning of our country's history, refused to give up their beliefs. They were defying our government even back then, even though the people today aren't aware of the significance. No wonder Fischer and his family found God here. Religion's presence is stronger here than in any of the other cities so far.

“Thank you for showing me,” I finally say. “I'm sorry I shouted at you.”

She smiles kindly. “It's OK. I understand.”

We turn away from the field in silence and walk back to the street.

“Are you OK?” Guard Nev asks.

I take a shaky breath and glance around. “I don't know.”

“Are you going to be OK to go back to the group?”

Never. I never want to return to Greater City.

Instead, I nod.

We turn to retrace our steps back to Professor Higgins when someone catches my eye. He's a janitor of sorts, and he empties trash into the garbage bins outside. It's his face that makes me look twice, and I remember how Fischer said his father worked at the hospital. It's what got Fischer interested in being a medic in the first place. This janitor has the same full cheeks and dark, curly hair as Fischer. Could this be Fischer's father?

I quickly approach him. “Excuse me, sir, do you have a son?”

The man pauses and takes in my clothes. I must seem so odd to these people. “Yes, ma'am,” he says slowly.

“Is his name Fischer?”

He frowns and shakes his head, but then he pauses. “You must be thinking of Rico's son.”

My breath catches and I step forward. “Rico?”

“He's inside. I think he had a son named Fischer. Would you like me to get him for you?”

I glance at Guard Nev who frowns. “Please hurry,” I say. Bossing him around feels wrong on so many levels, but he does as I ask, and a few moments later he reappears with the man named Rico.

“You asked about my son?” Rico asks. He wrings his hands and watches me intently.

“Do you have a grown son named Fischer? One who tested as a Middle?”

To my surprise, tears fill the man's eyes. “Do you have word from him? He wrote faithfully his whole time away, but the letters stopped a few weeks ago.”

Hot dread seeps through me at his words. “I haven't spoken to him in a few weeks, either,” I admit. “I don't know what happened to him.”

Rico's shoulders sag and he drops his head. “Then why have you come?”

I swallow back my fear that Supreme Moon had Fischer killed. It is more likely that he demoted him to a different city—maybe Lesser 4. “I don't know why I approached you, except I remembered Fischer said you worked here. We—we were friends.”

The man looks up and watches me curiously. Finally, he nods. “If you hear from him, can you let me know somehow?” He seems to realize what he just asked, or maybe of whom he asked it. “I'm sorry, Miss. I didn't mean disrespect.”

I shake my head. “It wasn't disrespect, and I promise to let you know. It was good to meet you.”

He nods and I hurry away.

Guard Nev doesn't ask questions. He seems to have accepted that I have a lot of secrets. He obviously has his own.

He takes me back to the rest of the group. Professor Higgins flocks to me, his gray hair askew and his eyes wide with worry. “Where have you been? I nearly called in the guards.” He looks Guard Nev up and down. “The only reason I didn't was because of him.”

The absurdity of Professor Higgins' face strikes me as funny in the oddest way. “I'm sorry, Professor. I got lost. Guard Nev found me and helped me back.”

“Well, I'm glad you're OK.” He continues to watch my face, and I'm sure the evidence of tears is still strong. He doesn't ask though, and soon the tour is over.

We load up and begin the long ride back to Greater City. I can feel Berry's gaze on me, but I don't look at him. Not yet, anyway. I will deal with him later.

I place my hand on the window as we pass through the city gates, and I whisper one last goodbye to Mom.

 

 

 

 

22

 

I lie in bed, staring at the ceiling. The auto shutters opened long ago, but I never went to sleep, and the sunlight means nothing to me.

Mom is dead. She's been gone for weeks and we never knew it. Does Dad know? Supreme Moon? If the Great Supreme knows, does he even care?

I have one consolation—she believed in God before she died. I hope—I must believe—that I will see her again in Heaven.

At some point the HELP comp chimes, so I crawl from bed and make my way to it.
Brunch today. Guard Nev will escort you. S.

They won't let me have a single day off. It must be a strategy, on their part. If they keep me busy, then I won't be able to get into any trouble on my own.

It takes an hour to make me feel human again, and then I make my way down to meet Guard Nev. He greets me at the bottom of the stairs. He's not his usual, distant self today. He almost treats me like an egg that might crack. I don't know if I like it or hate it, so I don't think about it.

The transporter takes us across the city to the Mansion.

“Good morning,” Sindy says with a smile. “Supreme Moon is waiting for us in the dining room.”