Freakling (18 page)

“Lost,” Mr. Parvel mumbled. “Everything lost. How?”

“Let’s get you all to the healer’s,” Drigg said. “Can you walk?”

Mr. Parvel ignored Drigg and focused on Taemon. “It was you, wasn’t it? You helped him — helped him steal from us. I just can’t figure out how.”

“I’m so sorry. It was an accident.”

“An accident? An
accident
?” Mr. Parvel stood up on wobbly legs.

Drigg braced his shoulder underneath Mr. Parvel’s arm and started leading him away. “We’ll work through all that later, Birch. Let’s get you and yours to the healer.”

Taemon turned to Amma. “I’m so sorry.”

She looked at him blankly. “Sorry changes nothing.”

Hours later, when Hannova, Challis, and the Parvels had recovered, Taemon had been summoned to a council meeting to explain himself. After he told the council what he thought had happened, not everyone was convinced.

“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Drigg said. “He told you what happened. That Vangie girl stole his journal.”

“But how do we know he’s telling the truth?” Mr. Parvel said.

“I vouch for him,” said Drigg. “Hannova does, too. Challis backs him up. Skies, what more do you want?”

“I want the library back!” Mr. Parvel thundered.

Hannova spoke next. “The library is a terrible loss, no doubt about it. But what’s done is done. We have to look forward. Challis, what about this war you say is coming? Is there any chance it can be prevented?”

“There is one chance,” said Challis. “He’s sitting right over there.” She nodded toward Taemon.

“Him?” Mr. Parvel sputtered. “He’s the one who started it!”

Taemon’s face burned, but he could hardly argue with that. If he hadn’t let his mind wander into that psi door, if he hadn’t felt the need to draw what he’d seen in his journal, if he hadn’t left his journal where Vangie could find it, then none of this would be happening.

Challis frowned at Mr. Parvel. “It was always going to happen that way. No use blaming the boy for doing what he’d already done.”

Mr. Parvel and a few others grumbled, but no one challenged her point. Finally, Taemon worked up the courage to ask the obvious question: “How am I supposed to stop the war?”

“You’re not going to like it,” Challis said.

He wasn’t surprised to hear that. Was putting a stop to a war ever enjoyable? “If there’s a way that I can undo what I’ve done, I’ll try. Just tell me what I have to do.”

“You’ll have to go back to the city,” Challis said.

She was right. He didn’t like it.

“Go back to the city? And do what, exactly? Steal back the books? What if they’ve read some of them by now? They’ll know how to do all sorts of things — horrible things,” he said, shuddering as he remembered what Mr. Parvel had told him about atoms. “What can I possibly do to stop them?”

“I can’t tell you exactly,” Challis said. “I haven’t seen how things turn out. But one thing’s clear. You have to keep Yens from going to the Republik. Make him part ways with the high priest. If he keeps following Naseph’s orders, there’ll be no stopping the war.”

Taemon leaned forward in his seat. “You’re telling me I have to convince Yens to step down from being the True Son.”

Challis nodded.

He shook his head. “That’s . . . impossible.”

“One more thing,” Challis said, ignoring him entirely. “The Water girl has to go with you.”

“Now, wait one minute,” Mr. Parvel said, but Hannova shushed him.

“We have a chance to divert a war,” said Hannova. “Even if it’s an incredibly small chance, we have to take it.”

A quick vote proved that this was the general consensus of the council. There was no arguing with a seer. If Taemon and Amma were their best shot at avoiding war, then back to the city they would go.

Taemon just wished it were someone else they were all depending on.

They would take the byrider. Drigg had reinstalled the original psi motor, and it was running fine. Taemon gave Amma a very unthorough driving lesson, and Challis gave Taemon a bag of food and a hug. Challis had told them they didn’t have much time, so they set out on the shortest route, which would put them at the West Gate in about two hours.

Taemon sat behind Amma on the byrider. Holding on to her waist gave him a weird feeling. Not bad, just weird. Adding to the weirdness were the psi clothes he was wearing, the same clothes he’d worn in the city on his birthday; they felt more uncomfortable than ever.

They got off to a rough start. It took a while before Amma could run the byrider’s engine at a constant speed and steer at the same time. She was getting better as they went, but she tired quickly, which meant they had to stop frequently. Taemon wished he could talk to her, bounce around some ideas about what to do once they got to the city. But he knew she needed to focus on driving.

About an hour into the drive, they had yet to see another vehicle. Tall spindly pine trees lined the paved road. A bald eagle swooped down on the left and settled on a tree to watch them go by.

“Did you see that?” Amma asked. “The Eagle is a good sign for us right now. It means we’re going to succeed.”

Taemon grunted. The other meaning for Eagle was isolation. That was probably the more likely outcome.

The byrider started veering to the left.

“Don’t look at the bird.” Taemon said.

“Why?”

“Where you look is where you go,” he said. “That’s the first rule of driving with psi. If you don’t want to go there, don’t look at it.”

“Got it,” she said. The byrider’s path straightened out.

When they crossed a bridge over a small stream, Taemon noticed the reeds growing along its banks. Reed was a better sign for them right now than Eagle. Reed was all about thinking, and that’s what Taemon needed to do. Think. Think of a plan.

Skies, he did
not
want to go to the city! What would they do there? How could they stop Yens? Even with Amma’s psi, the task seemed impossible. They were outnumbered, outpowered, and outsmarted.

The byrider began weaving in the road.

“Need a rest?” Taemon said.

“Nah,” said Amma. “We’d better keep going.”

They swerved onto the shoulder of the road, kicking up rocks and narrowly missing a ditch.

“Not if you keep driving like that. We’d better take a break.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Amma cut off power to the engine, and they slowed to a stop. They led the bike across a shallow part of the ditch, then found a shady spot and sat down. Taemon pulled some salted meat out of the sack, broke it, and handed half to Amma.

“Is it my imagination, or does using psi make you hungry?” she asked.

“It used to make me hungry,” said Taemon. “But I’m always hungry.”

“I can’t believe how much concentration that takes. How do people do it all day every day?”

Taemon shrugged. “You get used to it. After a while you don’t have to think about it so much. When I first lost my psi, I kept forgetting it wasn’t there anymore. Kept trying to use it, you know, to open doors, turn on lights, get dressed.”

Heat rose from his neck to his face. What was he thinking, talking about getting dressed? He was so stupid when it came to talking to girls. He turned his head and ripped off another bite of the tough salted meat.

Amma cleared her throat. “So, when we get to Deliverance, what do we do first?”

“We’ll find my parents. They might be able to tell us something about Yens.” And even if they couldn’t, Taemon would feel a whole lot better knowing they were okay. “After that, I don’t know.” He stared down at the ground. “This is hopeless.”

“Hey.” Amma touched his arm. He looked up at her. “Where you look is where you go, remember? Don’t look at hopeless. We don’t want to go there.”

“What else is there to look at?”

“Form an image in your mind of what you want to happen, then do what it takes to make it happen. It’s just like using psi.”

“Only I have no way to make it happen,” Taemon muttered.

Amma frowned. “If that’s what you think, then why did you come?”

“Challis said I had to.” Taemon shrugged. “Besides, what other choice do I have? Sit around and wait for the war to start?”

Amma stood up. “We have lots of choices right now, Taemon. About a million.”

“Name one.”

“Running away.”

“Where? We can’t go back to the colony. We can’t live in Deliverance.”

“So? There are other cities. We have a byrider. We have a couple days’ food. We could go anywhere. We could go to the Republik.”

Taemon scrunched his brow. “How would we get there? Drigg said no one can cross the mountains.”

“There’s got to be a way. We could do it. Why not?” Amma threw one hand up in the air and let it fall.

Was she serious? She looked serious. If they went to the Republik, they wouldn’t have anywhere to go, wouldn’t know anyone who would help them. But how was that different than what awaited them in Deliverance? Maybe she had a point.

Except that it felt completely wrong.

He shook his head. “We should at least try.”

Amma knelt down and looked Taemon in the eye. “Why? Why should we try?”

Taemon leaned back. Sometimes Amma was one intense girl. “Um . . . because we said we would?”

“So what? We can change our minds, can’t we? Because it’s hopeless, right?”

Now she was getting downright annoying. Taemon began packing the food and water back into the sack. “We shouldn’t argue right now. We have to at least try to stop this war. We’re not running away, so let’s just get going.”

Amma sat back on her heels and crossed her arms. “I’m not budging until I know why you’re doing this. And I’m the driver, remember?”

Taemon glared at Amma. What did she want him to say? She could be so infuriating. They were wasting time. He threw the sack to the ground. “Look, we’re doing this because it’s the right thing to do. Those flaming priests got their hands on those books, and they’re making weapons. If there’s even a chance of us stopping a war, we have to try.”

Amma picked up the sack and patted Taemon on the head. “Good. Now we can go.”

He followed her to the byrider and wondered what went on in that girl’s head. Or any girl’s head, for that matter.

An hour later, Taemon figured they must be a couple of miles from the city wall. He tapped Amma’s shoulder. “Let’s stop here. We need to talk before we go any farther.”

Amma nodded and brought the byrider to a stop. They both hopped off, and Amma grabbed the handlebars to lead the byrider into the trees by the side of the road.

“Not like that,” Taemon said. “Use psi.”

Amma nodded and let go of the byrider. It wheeled itself toward the trees while the two of them walked behind it.

They sat down in the shade of the trees. “Now it gets tricky,” he whispered. “You’ll have to use psi for both of us from now on.”

“I know how to use psi,” Amma said. “I’ve had it all my life.”

“I’m still getting used to that idea. You did a good job of hiding it.”

She smiled. “I thought for sure you would figure it out from the earthquake. Remember? When I moved that rock out of the way?”

“That was you?” Taemon stared in disbelief. “Still, you’re not used to doing everyday things with psi. When we’re in the city, you can’t forget and use your hands.”

Amma nodded.

“Okay,” he said. “Now take the backpack off my shoulders, and I’ll pretend I’m doing it.” Taemon felt the straps yank his arms backward. “Slow down!”

Amma took a deep breath. This time the backpack eased itself off his back and floated to the ground.

“Much better. Take the water bottle out and remove the lid.”

“You can’t keep telling me every little thing,” Amma said. “I’m pretty sure I can figure out how to get a drink of water.”

She drew the water out of the bottle and toward her mouth. She gulped. “See? I did it.”

“Good,” Taemon said. “Now some water for me.”

“You got it,” she said. Another glob of water floated out of the bottle and toward Taemon. He opened his mouth and sucked it in. The last few drops splashed up his nose and made him cough.

Amma laughed.

“Hey, no flubbing around.”

“Sorry,” Amma said. “Couldn’t resist.”

Taemon pulled out paper and a pencil from the sack they’d brought along. He drew a diagram of what a simple light switch looked like inside a wall.

“All light switches are identical so that everyone knows what to envision when using psi to turn a light on and off. That makes it so that anyone can flip any switch. Slide the metal up, and the circuit is complete, which makes electricity flow to the light and turn it on. Slide it down, and the circuit is broken, which makes the light turn off.”

Amma nodded. “So all switches look like this?”

“Yep,” Taemon said. “Unless for some reason you don’t want anybody else flipping your switch. Then you can make it different, and only you know what it looks like. Now let’s talk about doors. Do you know what a standard door latch looks like?”

“No,” Amma said.

He drew another diagram, this time of a common door latch.

“Same principle works for doors. If you want anybody to be able to open a door, you have a regular latch that looks like this. Very simple. Anybody can lift this little lever here and open the door.”