Freakling (12 page)

“What?” Amma asked with a smile. “What do I win?”

Taemon looked at the scenery. He wasn’t thinking about the hay-spitting game anymore. A deep anxiety worked its way from his stomach to his scalp.

Earth and Sky! Was that the city wall he saw in the distance? They must be way past the drop-off station. He should have been paying attention. He never should’ve trusted Jad.

Taemon turned and banged on the roof of the driving compartment. “Stop!”

Before the hauler came to a full stop, Taemon vaulted out of the back and ran to the driver’s side. He yanked the door open. “The city? Are you klonkers? We’re not supposed to go past the drop-off point!”

“Relax, Taemon. It’s going to be fine. First we’re going to find a place to hide the hauler. Then we’ll have our picnic. After that we’ll go for a little walk by the North Gate. I promised Vangie.”

“A little walk in the city? You
are
klonkers. Someone will see us!”

“We’ve got it all worked out, don’t we?” Jad turned and smiled at Vangie.

She giggled. “Cha. Amma and I do stuff like this all the time.”

“First time this close to the city, though,” Amma said with a frown.

“I can’t believe this,” Taemon said, pacing beside the hauler.

“Help me find a place to hide the hauler,” Jad said. “We’ll tell you the plan while we eat.”

Taemon had a hard time enjoying the picnic. Amma was quiet, too. Jad and Vangie acted like this was a holiday.

Taemon couldn’t wait any longer. He needed answers. “What’s this big plan of yours?”

“We’ll walk through the woods and sneak back to the road near the North Gate,” Jad said. “It’ll look like we’ve hiked from another gate.”

“They won’t let us in,” Taemon said. “They’ll know we’re powerless a mile away. Look at what we’re wearing. Loom-woven cloth. Buttons. Shoelaces, for Sky’s sake. We look like we’re from the Dark Ages.”

Jad smiled wryly. “Show him what you brought, Vanj.”

“This is my favorite part.” Vangie held up a big cloth bag. “Psi clothes!” One by one she pulled out pants, shirts, shoes, and belts.

“Where’d you get those?” Taemon asked.

“My cousin’s an innocent at the temple,” Vangie said. “She got them from the lost-and-found and sent them to me. She knows I have a thing for psi clothes.”

How insane were these people? Did they really think this would work? “We can’t wear psi clothes if we don’t have psi to fasten them.”

“I’ve sewn tiny hooks inside the seams,” Vangie said. “No one will be able to tell.”

“Lighten up a little. It’s your birthday.” Jad punched Taemon in the shoulder — contact humor again.

Taemon took one of the shirts and examined the hooks. “You don’t know anybody in the city. I do. I used to live here, remember? Someone might recognize me.”

“Were you famous or something?” Vangie asked. “Did you play psiball? Someday I’m going to find a way to see a psiball match,” she added with a dreamy look.

“No, I’m not famous, but still.” Taemon thought about his disaster at the psiball tournament a month ago. It had caused quite a stir. Some people might very well recognize him.

“Psiball seems weird,” Jad said. “People standing inside a huge glass egg, watching a ball whiz around? Give me a good old basketball game any day.”

Vangie pulled out a wide-brimmed hat and handed it to Taemon. “You can wear this. My cousin said it’s the latest fashion.”

The latest fashion a year ago, maybe. “This is stupid to the power of stupid,” Taemon said.

“Why? Who’s going to get hurt?” Vangie asked. She held up a shirt for Amma.

Jad tried on one of the belts for size. “No one will know just by looking at us that we’re powerless. We won’t eat anything; we won’t touch anything. We’re not even going through the gate. We’re just going to blend in with the crowd outside the gate and watch the ceremony.”

“Sure,” said Taemon. “Blend in. Jad, that belt you’re wearing is for a girl. Wait . . . what ceremony?”

Vangie gave him an exasperated look. “Today’s the day they announce the True Son.”

Skies! How could he have forgotten? In all the trauma of being sent away, he hadn’t remembered that the True Son was supposed to be announced on his birthday. Had the high priest chosen Yens? Would Mam and Da be there? He wasn’t ready to talk to them, but if he could get a glimpse, just to see if they were okay . . .

“Cha. So exciting. Then they’re going to escort him —”

“Or her,” Amma said. “It could be a girl.”

Vangie rolled her eyes. “Him
or her
through the North Gate, just like the prophecy says, and into the temple.”

Taemon’s conscience was screaming at him. They were acting way outside their authority. This plan involved breaking at least seventeen rules. So many things could go wrong. On the other hand, he might not have another chance like this. Mam and Da could be just beyond these walls. Could he really turn his back on them?

“Fine. Let’s go.”

When everyone was dressed as properly as they could manage, the four of them started on foot toward the city. They left the road before anyone could see them, tramped through the trees until they got closer to the crowd, then slipped into the edge of the throng, staying well outside the gate.

Jad was right about the ceremony. A platform had been built a few yards outside of the North Gate, and a crowd had gathered around it. Taemon could see only a little way through the gate, but from the sounds of the crowd, he figured there were quite a few people lining the street inside the city. The True Son would probably lead some kind of processional toward the temple in the center of the city. A few people had ventured outside the gate to get a better view of the platform. Taemon and his friends joined the edge of the crowd without anyone noticing.

Music cut through the noise of the crowd. Crystal shards hung in the air, suspended by psi, striking one another and ringing with a sound as clear as winter dawn. The harmonies were so intricate, no fingers could ever combine that many notes simultaneously.

Taemon looked for his parents. He couldn’t see them yet.

He smelled luscious aromas from the vendors’ carts. It’d been forever since he’d had a lamb roll. Too bad eating was out of the question.

The psi clothes didn’t fit right, and Taemon had to resist the urge to tug at his collar. He looked again for Mam and Da. They must be here somewhere.

The noisy crowd began to settle as an ornately decorated carriage floated in midair toward the gathering. Two lines of temple guards walked behind it as it traveled along the outside of the city wall, no doubt using their psi to lift and propel the carriage. When it passed by, Taemon craned his neck and tried to peer inside, but the thick curtains covered the window. Was it Yens?

Vangie squeezed Jad’s arm. “This is so exciting. The True Son must be inside.”

As the carriage stopped near the platform, a man stepped up on the stage. Taemon had no trouble recognizing that salt-and-pepper beard entangled with shiny charms, that garish robe — definitely Elder Naseph.

The old high priest turned to face the crowd, his back to Taemon, and began to speak, amplifying his voice with psi. “At last, the True Son is among us!”

The crowd cheered. Taemon had to stop his friends from clapping with their hands. He glanced around to see if anyone noticed, but luckily everyone was fixated on the carriage.

Again he scanned the gathering for his parents. They weren’t here. Surely if Yens were the True Son, his parents would be close to the platform. Did that mean Yens hadn’t been chosen? Or that Mam and Da objected to the ceremony?

Elder Naseph encouraged the crowd by waving his hands. “The True Son is the greatest among us, yet he desires only to serve. He will bring us into a higher level, an elevated existence. So that you may know the one who is to serve you, I will tell you the remarkable things he has done.

“One day as he played by the ocean with his younger brother, his brother was careless and fell into the sea.”

Earth, Sun, and Sky.

It was Yens.

“The True Son ran to get help. But when he came back, he saw that the boy had been sucked into a dangerous sea cave. Everyone thought the boy’s life was lost. But the True Son did not give up. He reached into the sea itself, pulled air out of the water, and sent it into the boy’s mouth so he could breathe.”

How did Elder Naseph know the part about breathing underwater? Taemon had never told anyone, not even Yens.

“When the rescuers carried the boy out of the sea cave, he was barely alive. The True Son nearly lost his life that day as well, so great was the exertion.”

An outright lie. And it rolled off Elder Naseph’s tongue smooth as honey.

The crowd gasped and oohed. They were sopping it up.

Elder Naseph continued. “This is the selfless sacrifice that characterizes the True Son. His psi is more powerful than any of us has seen, and yet he uses it only for the good of others.

“To you, the true people of the Heart of the Earth, to you I present the leader of the new Great Cycle of power — the True Son!”

The carriage door swung open, and out stepped Yens. The crowd roared its approval. He looked taller, his shoulders a bit broader, his hair longer. And his smile was as smug as Taemon had ever seen it.

“He’s so striking!” Vangie gushed. She bounced on her heels like a three-year-old.

He thought about telling his friends that the True Son was his brother. But what if word got back to the whole colony? People might treat him differently, making it harder for him to fit in. And they might want to know all about the True Son, which was the last subject Taemon wanted to talk about. He decided to keep quiet for now.

The crowd hushed as Yens spoke. “True people, this great day falls on Quake — the day of revision. Seeing old things with new eyes. I urge you to see your psi with different eyes. See it as a way to improve our community. Dedicate your psi to the united vision of the elders, for whatever they ask of you will be for the benefit of all.”

It was Yens’s voice, but the words sounded stiff, as though the text was memorized or rehearsed. While Taemon listened to the rest of Yens’s rousing speech, he watched the high priest and saw him nodding with a lofty air. The priests were up to something; he felt sure of it. But what? And how did Yens fit into their plan? Whatever it was, Taemon was sure it would bring more money into the temple.

Yens’s speech concluded, and the crowd cheered again.

“That you may know the extent of his power,” Elder Naseph said, “the True Son has a very special display, which shall be the sign that begins the Cycle of Power.”

Yens raised his hands and looked up at the sky. His fondness for the dramatic hadn’t changed.

The crowd murmured, unsure what was coming.

The ground shook. First a tremble, then the land visibly rolled and buckled. Parts of the wall crumbled. People gasped, laughed, and shouted with delight. Cement chunks from the wall fell toward the crowd, but the flying debris was easily fended off with psi.

An earthquake? How was Yens doing that? A rock about the size of a watermelon tumbled from the wall, heading directly toward Amma. Everyone saw it. Everyone expected she would whisk it away with psi.

Amma watched with horror. She seemed paralyzed with indecision. Taemon knew exactly what was going through her mind: If she moved out of the way, people would know she was powerless. But if she didn’t move out of the way, she’d get hurt and people would still know she was powerless.

At the last moment, Taemon shoved Amma out of the rock’s path. In the same instant, the rock abruptly changed direction and tumbled harmlessly away. Someone in the crowd must have helped out with a shove of psi.

It took a few seconds for Taemon to realize what he’d done, the way he’d pushed her with his hands like that. His attempt to keep Amma safe had exposed their powerlessness.

A murmur cascaded through the crowd. Yens turned his attention to the disruption. Across the sea of people, he caught Taemon’s eye. Recognition showed on his face, followed quickly by anger.

“Run!” yelled Taemon.

On the way home, Jad and Vangie were laughing it up inside the hauler’s cab, no doubt exaggerating the excitement of the day. In the back of the hauler, the mood was different.