Firebrand (7 page)

W
e ate dinner together in a giant circle. Chief made sure that the Sumter colonists left gaps for us new arrivals. He wanted to integrate us, starting now.

“Over here, Thomas.” Chief patted the ground beside him. “Sit down. We've got so much to talk about.”

Dinner was a stew of fish and shrimp and seaweed, cooked in several pots arranged over an open fire. The food was prepared and eaten outside so there would be less cleaning up to do.

The children who served the food stared at us, wide-eyed.

I sat cross-legged and accepted a bowl gratefully. My mouth watered at the smell of the fish. In that moment, everything seemed perfect: food, warmth, safety, and a spectacular orange-purple sunset over the fort's main gate.

Beside me, Chief picked at the fish in his metal bowl. “You should slow down,” he whispered.

My hand hung in midair. I'd been gobbling steaming hot mouthfuls without even realizing it. “Sorry.”

“No apology necessary. It's just important to eat slowly when you've gone without food for so long.”

I looked at the stew. I hadn't eaten so well in days. “How did you know?”

He gave me a sad smile. “I know you've been through hell, Thomas. But you've landed now, and things will turn around.” He swept his hand through the air, indicating the circle of people eating peacefully in the twilight. “Ananias and Kell seem to have a lot to talk about. Your younger brother's made a friend too, by the looks of it.”

I did a double take. Sitting directly across from me, partially obscured by the smoke from the fire, Griffin was signing to the dark-skinned girl who'd watched us from the battlements.

“Her name's Nyla,” said Chief. “When you asked earlier if anyone was deaf, I couldn't help thinking of her. When she first arrived at the colony four years ago, I wondered if she heard a word we said. Everyone needs time to adjust, but some need longer than others, I suppose.”

Having finished his food, Griffin was turned toward Nyla. She mimicked him as he produced one sign after another. On Hatteras, everyone but my family had been reluctant to learn his language, but Nyla seemed fascinated by him. When she repeated his signs, she was so clear that I understood her.

“The wheels are always turning with that girl. So much going on inside her head.” Chief rubbed his gray beard; it was cropped unevenly, the look of a man who didn't feel the need to impress anyone. “Tell her something once, she's got it. Same with her brother, Jerren.”

It didn't take me long to spot Jerren. He and Nyla looked so different from everyone else. He rested his hands on his knees, staring at someone across the circle: Alice, it looked like. His expression was serious, as if he was trying to crack a particularly challenging problem.

Alice had noticed him too, that much was clear. From time to time she'd glance up, but she wouldn't hold his gaze. He smiled every time.

The woman called Miriam handed Chief a small pot.

“Ah, the bird,” said Chief. “Have you eaten gull before, Thomas?”

“No.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Hmm. Well, you haven't missed much. Such fat birds, and yet so little meat. Not the most pleasant thing, but you're starving.”

“Me?”

“All of you. Tomorrow, we'll fish. But for today, this'll have to do.” He passed the pot to me and tapped the metal rim. “I'd appreciate it if you could distribute this among your clanfolk. But only them—everyone else here has less need of this than you.”

I felt all eyes on me as I stood. The Sumter colonists would have known what was in that pot, and they were probably hungry too. But there wasn't much meat, and I wasn't willing to disobey Chief's instructions after such a generous offer.

I walked around the circle, placing a piece of meat in each bowl. Rose smiled. Griffin signed thank you. Ananias bowed his head. Alice scowled at Jerren. I was certain everyone felt awkward about eating food that had been denied to others. Everyone except Tarn ate it anyway.

I got to Dennis and his mother last, and the pot was almost empty. When I put more in Dennis's bowl than Marin's, she craned her neck to see how much was left. She was Rose's mother too, and I wanted her to trust me, so I split the remainder between their two bowls. She didn't even reward me with a smile.

I returned to my place and put the empty pot on the ground beside me.

“How was it?” asked Chief.

“Oh. Yes, good,” I said. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

Alice was standing now. It wouldn't have been so surprising except that she was the only one. She threw some bones into the fire and walked around the perimeter of the circle, stopping beside Jerren. “Why are you staring at me? See something interesting?”

The corner of Jerren's mouth turned upward. “Interesting . . . yes.” He stuffed more stew into his mouth. “At least, I think so. Am I wrong?”

Everyone had fallen into a hushed silence. I didn't want Alice to ruin things for us on our first night here, but Chief placed a hand on my arm before I could stand. “Don't do it, Thomas,” he murmured. “They need to work this out for themselves.”

Usually I would've agreed. But Alice had just lost her sister. Her father had attacked her. She was unpredictable on a good day. Today, she might try anything.

I couldn't go against Chief's wishes, though, so I stayed seated and finished my stew. Across the circle, Tarn seemed just as conflicted as me. She rocked forward as if she planned to intervene, but she didn't rise and she didn't say a word. In the quiet, I was certain that everyone was watching Alice.

If she'd expected an apology, Alice was out of luck. Jerren didn't seem embarrassed at all. So she walked straight to our casemate, and didn't look back.

“I'm sorry,” I told Chief. “She's just tired.”

He waved it off. “I told you Jerren is intense. Sometimes he just does stuff to annoy us. Like the way he was staring at Alice. He's like a son to me, which is probably why he feels this need to cause a scene.”

I was confused. “But Alice went over to him, not the other way around.”

“Yes. Just like he wanted her to.” He seemed amused. “Don't worry about it. I think it's going to do him good to have you all here. And in the meantime, I'll get him to apologize to Alice tomorrow.”

“I'm not sure that'll go down very well. Alice can be”—I tried to find the right word—“prickly.”

He laughed at that. “Which is precisely why Jerren must apologize. And if we're lucky, we'll be around to watch the sparks fly.”

»«

The air was humid and still within the casemate. We bedded down on threadbare blankets, and waited for the rest of the fort to fall silent. I took inventory of the figures lying around me, but my thoughts always returned to the three people who would never be with us again.

“Alice.” Tarn whispered her daughter's name, but the sound carried anyway. There was no reply.

I propped myself up on one elbow just as Alice batted her mother's hand away. Tarn hovered a moment longer, and then rolled away. After what had happened to Eleanor and Joven, I'd figured they would take comfort in each other. I was wrong.

Marin was sitting cross-legged, watching me. “I know you're all awake,” she said, voice low and even, “and so I hope you'll listen. We have suffered great losses. We have no leader to turn to for advice. And our only hope is to become one with our new hosts, to let go of everything we were and accept the limitations of our new lives.”

Rose sat up. “We don't need to let go of our elements, though.”

“That's exactly what you need to do.”

“Why? Because mine still works and yours doesn't?”

Marin inhaled sharply. “You call those water funnels you made an element?”

“The people here may have a use for what we can do. Maybe we should tell them about our elements.”

“Don't be naïve, Rose. They're not going to trust something they don't understand and can't control. They'll be scared. And what do you plan to say about Thomas? He's only combined once, yet it cost Joven his life. You think the Sumter colonists want
that
?”

“Thomas is the reason we're here now,” said Ananias in a monotone. I couldn't tell if he was taking my side, or holding me responsible.

“So why don't we ask Thomas what
he
thinks?” pressed Marin.

Everyone was silent then, but I didn't answer straightaway. I was thinking that Alice hadn't said a word in my defense. And that a weaker element meant I'd be able to hold Rose. But above all, I was thinking that if we were going to forge a new life on Sumter, our best chance was to be just like our fellow colonists.

“I think we need to adapt to our new life,” I said. “We need to let go of the past.”

No one spoke. I got the feeling everyone was considering what those words meant, and exactly what they were letting go. Too late, I realized that I probably shouldn't have said anything. After all, just about everyone had lost more than me.

Only Marin was still sitting up now. I watched her watching me, and though it was dark, I would have sworn I saw her smile triumphantly at the lingering silence.

As I lay down and closed my eyes, I thought of Griffin and Ananias, and Rose and Alice, and whether we would be as safe here as I hoped. Or if misfortune, like Plague-carrying rats, simply migrated to wherever it could find an easy target.

I
was the last to wake. The sun was already high, but we were shaded in the casemate.

Griffin knelt beside our father, tilting a water canister. Father's eyes were closed, his cuts and bruises still angry and raw, but he swallowed as the water trickled into his mouth.

Alice, Rose, and Dennis were there too. “Where's Ananias?” I asked.

“He left with Kell,” said Rose. “Our mothers have already gone to work. But Chief told everyone to let you sleep.”

I didn't need to ask what everyone had thought of that.

A shadow fell across the space. Jerren was standing against one of the large stone pillars. “I'm supposed to help you move your stuff,” he said.

“Move where?” asked Rose.

“To your new room. I don't see how you're going to fit in there, but it's all we've got.” He picked up the bag nearest to him, but Griffin snatched it back. Jerren laughed. “So that's where the hidden treasure's kept, huh?”

Griffin threw the strap across his shoulder.

“Oh, that's right. You can't hear a thing I'm saying.”

“He's deaf,” snapped Alice.

Jerren gave a salute. “That's the word I was looking for. Thanks.” He cocked his head to the side. “Wait. I didn't notice you at dinner yesterday. Were you there?”

Alice picked up a bag and threw it at him, almost knocking him over. Jerren kept hold of the strap and slid it onto his back. The corner of his mouth twisted upward in a smirk. “Guess I'll take this one, then.”

We traipsed after him. I wanted to bring Father along too, but I'd need Ananias's help for that. At least we were leaving him in the shade.

We climbed a set of steps in the middle of the battery and stopped at the second floor. Jerren turned left and followed a metal walkway to the end. From here the parade grounds spread out before us. “You coming?” he shouted to us.

He led us into a corridor with flaking white walls. There was a corrugated metal door at the end, which Jerren pulled open. “There are no windows in this room,” he warned us, “but we'll leave a lantern for you. Actually, it's a pretty good room, all things considered. Faces north, for one thing, so it stays cool.”

The room was pitch-black, so we dumped our bags and headed back out. On the way to the stairs, we passed another room. I spotted the outline of windows, but they'd been bricked up. “What's in there?” I asked.

Jerren paused to look at the wall, which seemed odd. Surely there weren't so many rooms in the fort that he needed to think about it. “Gunroom,” he said.

“Kind of a large room,” said Alice. “Does the colony really need that many guns?”

Jerren shrugged. “I've never been inside. Chief doesn't like anyone except adults handling weapons.”

Alice tried the door. “It's locked.”

“I just told you: Chief doesn't like—”

“I know what you told me. It just seems strange you've never been inside. The fort's such a small place.”

“Did you know every part of your colony?”

“Yes, I did.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, I'll bet you did.”

Jerren continued down the steps, but Alice didn't follow. She was looking at the sailing ship moored to the southwest of the fort. It was smaller than ours and sleek. “That's an impressive ship,” she said. “Whose is it?”

Reluctantly, Jerren stopped. He didn't seem as cocky anymore. “The colony's. Everything is shared, remember?”

Alice gave a wry smile. “Good. Then it's ours too. I think I'll go take it out.”

She hurried down the steps. Impulsively, Jerren reached out and held her sleeve. She shot him an accusing stare, but I wasn't fooled. She'd baited him into doing it.

For a moment, he seemed unsure of himself. I half expected him to mumble an apology. Instead, the smirk returned. “The ship is used for rescue and reconnaissance,” he explained, still holding her arm.

“Reconnaissance of
what
? You ought to know this area perfectly by now.”

There was silence as each eyed the other. There seemed to be a lot in that look: mutual distrust but also mutual respect, a kind of grudging acceptance. “Reconnaissance of anything we'd like to know better,” Jerren said finally.

He let go of her sleeve then, and walked away. But not before I saw something I'd rarely seen before: Alice turning red. Blushing.

»«

I'd only just returned to my father when a man joined us and explained that Chief wanted to see me. He led me through the main gate and around the outside of the fort to the piece of land that Chief had called the peninsula. It was about thirty yards across and forty yards long, covered in tufts of grass and surrounded by rocks. Below the rocks, marshland abutted the harbor water.

The peninsula was split into two parts. On one side, cages were built around a chicken coop. On the other was the goat enclosure.

Chief was leaning over one of the cages, twisting a piece of wire. He heard me approaching and waved. “Did you get breakfast, Thomas?”

I shook my head, no.

He sighed. “I'm sorry to hear that. Kell was supposed to bring you some. Instead of which, he's off playing bows and arrows with Ananias.” Chief straightened slowly, hand pressed tight into the small of his back. “Kell's my right hand, Thomas. I couldn't run this place without him. But there are times I think he hasn't grown up at all.” He raised his eyebrows. “It can get a little frustrating, especially when it costs you breakfast.”

“I'm fine,” I lied.

He gave me a stern look. “You're the leader of your colony. Starving yourself won't help.”

“I'm not the leader.”

“Yes, you are.” He sat on the cage. “You had the chance to give yourself the largest portion of gull meat yesterday; instead you took none. Kell would've kept most of it for himself and hoped no one noticed.” We both laughed at that. “You say you're fine, but you're not. So why don't you tell me what's really been going on these past few days.”

I wasn't sure where to begin, or what to tell him. When I didn't immediately answer, he handed me a tool and patted the cage. One of the strips of wire running across the top had snapped.

“After people, animals and birds are this colony's most valuable resource,” Chief explained. “One hole and we'd lose our chickens. So what do you suggest?”

I studied the wire, grateful for the change of subject. Surprisingly, my first instinct was to join elements with Ananias—we could melt the two ends together again—but elements were out of the question. Which left me with only one choice: “We use a small piece of wire to cross the gap.”

Chief frowned. “You're not afraid it'll be too weak? What if it gives out?”

“It's at the top of the cage. Unless you have really agile chickens, we'll be all right.”

He raised an eyebrow. “And what if I tell you we're out of wire?”

I puffed out my cheeks and looked at the cage again. The wires crossing the top seemed particularly close together. “We could just spread out the other wires so they're equally spaced.”

“And do what with the broken wire?”

“Save it for future repairs.”

Chief clapped me on the back. “Then get on with it.”

As I began the process of detaching the wires from the ground and sliding them along, Chief took a water canister from his pack and sipped from it. “Why do you think I'm chief of this colony, Thomas?”

I moved the first wire into place and twisted it tight with the tool Chief had given me. “Because you're experienced.”

He laughed. “Experience is code for
old
. Which I am, I suppose. But no—I'm chief because I care. Not about me, but about
everyone
.” He stared up at the fort. “I have no direct family here. The way I see it, every person on this island is my family. And I've discovered that the key to being a leader is the ability to listen. Listen hard enough, you might even hear things that people haven't said.”

I stopped what I was doing. “What do you mean?”

“Let's take your group, for example. Your father is the oldest male—natural choice for a leader, but no one refers to him that way, which means he wasn't chief even before he got injured. Ananias would be the next logical choice, but he's in shock. My guess is that he was connected to the girl you dropped overboard yesterday. And that's an interesting situation too. Father and daughter die on the same day, but only one of them got a funeral.”

“He fell overboard.”

“That's what Alice told me, yes. But she also has bruises on her neck like she's been strangled. Still quite fresh. Two days old at most. She looks like the kind of girl who can handle herself, which means the person who attacked her was a man. And I know for sure it wasn't someone from your family, which means it was her father. Who mysteriously died.”

I moved the next wire into place, but my hands were shaking. Chief noticed, and placed his hand on top of mine. “I've made you nervous. I'm sorry.” He eased the tool from me and continued what I'd begun. “You look as old as me right now, Thomas . . . carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. My father used to say ‘a burden shared is a burden halved.' I'm not trying to alarm you. On the contrary, I'm trying to show you that you don't need to carry the burden alone. Tell me how I can help you all. Please.”

It was the last word that got to me—the way he said it as if he craved my trust. So I told him about the pirate attack, and how we'd stolen Dare's ship during the hurricane. How the pirates had claimed our island as their own, and Kyte had died because we were too slow to escape. How I'd heard Chief's message and knew that it was the answer to everything, even though not everyone had been sure. I told him that Eleanor fell, and her father threw himself overboard.

I didn't tell a single lie, but I left out a lot. And all the time I hoped that no one would ever contradict me.

When I was done, Chief was quiet for a while. “You're a brave boy,” he said.

“No, I'm not. Not everyone wanted to come here, but I promised them it would be all right. Now mine is the only family that hasn't lost a member. I can't stop thinking it's my fault.”

He didn't tell me I was wrong, and I was grateful for that. He just kept sliding the wires along and twisting them and saving the chickens for one more day. “I'd like you and your friends to form a food-gathering group. Sumter's resources aren't enough to provide for everyone.”

“We'll do whatever you need,” I assured him.

“I know you will.” He moved the tool from his right hand to his left and flexed his fingers. The joints were red and swollen. “I've seen so many people die since the Plague started, Thomas. And with every death, I remind myself that here was a person who trusted me. It never gets easier, and I can never reason my way out of it. I'd like to tell you that you'll get over what you're feeling now, but you won't. Not really. You'll be reminded of it every time you look at Alice and her mother. Just as I'm reminded of death every time I look at Jerren and Nyla.”

“How so?”

He stared at the outline of Charleston, a few miles to the west. “They came here four years ago. Beautiful children. Hard workers too. And their parents were the best of any of us. But they contracted the Plague during a trip to one of the harbor islands.”

I surveyed the harbor and wondered which of the thin strips of land it had been. “If there were rats, what were they doing there?”

He handed the tool back to me. “Gathering food,” he said matter-of-factly. “Just as you will be tomorrow.” He paused to let the words sink in. “There's a reason we call them suicide squads.”