Naomi Grim (The Silver Scythe Chronicles) Part 1 (3 page)

Mr. Dunningham watched me for my reaction. I
didn't know what he was expecting. Maybe an apology, a teary
outburst? Well, he wasn't going to get it. I was at peace with my
decision, however I had no intention of going through the
year-subtraction process again. Having years deducted from my life
had literally been torture.

Both times I'd had to go to the Mill, the
sacred building where lifestones were kept, where they'd strapped
me to a mechanical chair. I could still feel the leather squeezing
my wrists and chest. Dunningham always flipped the switch himself
with demented satisfaction. I would never forget the shocks of
electricity surging through my body, causing me to twitch
involuntarily as drool ran from my mouth. Anyone who went through
the process was sick for days afterward. I had vomited for five
days straight. It made me so weak I could barely walk.

"Infraction number two—going to Litropolis with
Keira Grim, which every Grim in Farrington and the Upper Estates
knows is strictly forbidden."

Yes. There was a perfectly good reason for
that, too. We wanted to know what Litropolis was like, so we went.
Because the older Grims always painted Litropolis as this foreign
dangerous place, I wanted to see it for myself. One of the Watchers
turned us in. You couldn't get away with anything in Nowhere. I
looked at my parents, who hung their heads in shame.

"Now the youngest, Dorian Grim. Son, you have
only been an operating Grim for a year and you already have an
infraction. That's not a good sign."

Dorian nodded. In my opinion, his infraction
was worse than Bram’s and mine put together.

He had been assigned to follow an old woman. It
was his first assignment. In his eagerness, he didn't wait for the
glow and took the woman's husband instead. It wasn't his time. It
was against the Grim Covenant to interfere with death. We were only
the collectors.

Dunningham narrowed his eyes at Dorian. "When
you break the Covenant, you make our entire colony lose
credibility. I mean, that's the first rule of collecting—we only
take the Fated."

Dorian nodded. "It was a terrible mistake that
I'll never make again."

Mr. Dunningham laid his tablet on the coffee
table. "I said all that to say this—I like you, Nox. I think you're
a wonderful leader and will make a great asset to the Upper
Estates. Because of that, I'm willing to overlook your children's
numerous sins."

Father nodded in appreciation. "Thank you so
much, Mr. Dunningham. You are a kind, fair man."

So that was Mr. Dunningham's game. He would
make my father even more indebted to him by giving his unworthy
family such a life-changing assignment.

"We really appreciate this, Mr. Dunningham,"
Mother said.

"I'm sure you do, dear." Dunningham turned to
my brothers and me. "So do you want this job?"

"Of course they do," Father answered for us.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Dunningham. They won't let you
down."

Mr. Dunningham stood, and his assistant
followed suit. "This is a big job, so I'll be enlisting a couple
other Grims. This assignment begins in a week. I need them to study
and become familiar with high school culture. You won't be
invisible to them. You'll actually be living in their world as
regular students, so it's very important that you blend in. I'll
drop in every now and then to see how things are going. Young
Grims, you will have no other assignments for the time being. I
need you to focus on this."

My parents walked Mr. Dunningham and his
assistant to the door. Father watched through the peephole until
they drove away. Then he turned to us. "Woo-hoo!"

Bram stood and high-fived Father. "We're going
to be rich! Upper Estates, here we come!"

"Son, this is going to set us up for
life!"

Dorian stood and joined them, a boy in
desperate need of being accepted like his big brother. "Father, I
know we're going to do a great job."

Father removed Dorian's hood and tousled his
black hair. Dorian looked like a satisfied puppy who'd been begging
for a belly rub. Dorian was more concerned with his science studies
than he was with power and money. I think he was beginning to
realize that was the reason Father favored Bram over
him.

Mother smiled from the loveseat, but she wasn't
as excited as Father.

"What's the matter, Mother?" I asked. I could
always tell when something was wrong. The boys got
quiet.

Mother shrugged. "I'm just a little worried.
Where you're going is so much different from what you're used to. I
don't want you all to get into any trouble."

"Eleanor, don't worry. They'll be properly
trained, and Bram will be there to make sure nothing goes wrong."
Dad patted Bram's chest. "Right, son?"

"Of course," Bram answered. Mother seemed to
relax a little. Bram was many things, but he was very protective of
Dorian and me.

Just then, Father's cell rang and he answered
it. "Emery!" Emery was Keira's father and my father's good friend.
Father was silent for a moment before he hooted again. I wasn't
thrilled about this assignment, but it was nice to see my father so
happy. "Emery, we need to celebrate. Meet me at Morton's." Morton's
was the only bar in Farrington. "Kids, guess who's going to be
joining you?" Father asked after he'd hung up.

I stood from the couch. "Keira and
Josh?"

Father nodded. This made the situation a little
better. Keira would be with me, and she always made everything
okay. If I was moving to the Upper Estates, she would be
too.

Father removed his cloak and handed it to
Dorian to hang. "Children, I'll be back in a bit. We should get on
your studies right away."

"Don't worry, guys," Bram said. "I know
everything there is to know about today's American
teenager."

I wasn't so sure about that. Sure, we went to
their world a lot and got to observe them from time to time.
Learning their ways and culture was part of our schooling. We
studied four subjects: life collecting, other worlds, human
studies, and languages. Human studies was the hardest to keep up
with. The information changed often, and we had to keep up with the
new trends and current events. I'd always felt comfortable with
that, but this was different. We were going to actually have to
live as one of them for an unspecified amount of time. This time we
would be interacting with them. Mother's concern began to worry me.
If there was any possible way to mess up this job, my brothers and
I would find it.

Since Father had gone out to celebrate with Mr.
Emery, we thought it only fair for us to celebrate with Keira and
Josh. Although I wasn't sold on this assignment, pretending to
celebrate was a good excuse to see Keira and get an unscheduled
break from our study time.

Mother seemed lost in her thoughts and absently
waved us away when Bram asked for permission to go to Brickman's.
Brickman's was an eatery where Grims our age socialized. I texted
Keira, and she replied that she and Josh would meet us
there.

The streets were virtually empty when my
brothers and I began the six-block walk to Brickman's. This was
study time, so most Grims were home being taught by their parents
while we were free to roam the streets. I had to admit it was a bit
exhilarating.

The Mill loomed far ahead of us. Its sharp
edges and tall cylinder-shaped towers looked sinister in the
distance, but the Mill was the heart of Nowhere. It was where the
lifestones were kept. Not only did the lifestones keep us alive,
but they provided our city with power and electricity. We each had
to donate a portion of our lifestones to the Generator Fund. The
lifestones were crushed and then put into an enormous generator.
Without them, we would expire and our colony would stop running. I
had been inside the Mill only once—every Grim took a tour on their
thirteenth birthday. I remember seeing the room—where the hundreds
of glass vials were stored. Each Grim in Nowhere had their own.
Lifestones were added to your vial, signifying how much longer you
would live. The Mill was sacred, the most important part of
Nowhere.

I took a deep breath of the crisp, late morning
air. The sky was eternally gray and bleak in Nowhere. It always
looked as if it was going to rain, but I loved it. Classical
instrumentals blared from speakers attached to light posts. None of
the music we listened to contained words. We were supposed to think
up our own as we listened. The sky and the music set a comfortable
atmosphere. The human world was much too bright in the daytime. I
always had to wear shades for fear I'd go blind. Don't even get me
started on their music.

Several Watchers turned a corner, heading
toward us. They were men in perfectly pressed black suits and
shades. Bram said their shades contained cameras so they could
record our every move.

"Just look straight ahead," Bram
muttered.

On the opposite side of the street, one of the
Watchers whistled to us. Gideon. We ignored him and kept
walking.

"Young Grims," he called.

We stopped, but only Bram addressed him. "Yes,
sir?"

"Where are you going during study
hours?"

"To Brickman's," Bram answered. He knew better
than to lie. There was no point. Eyes were everywhere.

"During study hours?"

"Yes, sir. Mr. Dunningham just left our home.
We're engaging in a major assignment soon, so we're taking a little
break to celebrate before we begin our research."

I breathed a sigh of relief. There was no lie
in that.

Gideon nodded as if he knew the assignment Bram
was speaking of. "Very well. Carry on."

Bram zipped up the front of his black hoodie
and stalked ahead. "That's what I'm talking about."

Dorian and I struggled to keep up with Bram's
long strides. He wore a self-righteous smirk.

"What?" I asked.

Bram looked at me. "Didn't you see it, Nay? The
respect he gave me when he heard we were on that assignment? That's
just a taste of how it will feel when we get to the Upper Estates."
Then he turned so he was walking backwards. "You won't be
questioning me. I'll be questioning you, pissant!" he yelled to
Gideon.

I yanked his arm. "Bram!" I looked back. Gideon
was down the street. He paused and looked back, but I was sure he
hadn't heard what Bram said.

"What? We're in good now. What's he going to
do, turn us in to Dunningham? Dunn loves us now."

"Correction," Dorian said. "He loves Father.
I'm pretty sure he hates us."

Bram shoved his hands in his pockets. "Either
way, they won't touch us."

The last thing Bram needed was a license to do
whatever he wanted. He was putting the cart before the horse
because Mr. Dunningham could easily give this assignment to another
family if we screwed up. But there was no use telling Bram
anything.

Bram pulled the door open once we reached
Brickman's. "Ladies."

Dorian rolled his eyes, and Bram kicked him in
the calf as he walked through the door. The place was empty except
for Keira and Josh, who were already sitting in a booth in the
back—our booth. Naturally they had arrived before us—they only
lived two blocks in the other direction.

Keira sat on her brother's left side. I hurried
to sit on the other side of Keira before Bram could. Bram and
Dorian occupied the seats across from us.

Keira beamed. "I can't believe we got this
assignment, and better yet, we get to do it together."

"I know." Bram nodded. "I can already picture
our house in the Upper Estates. Maybe we'll be neighbors," he
added, raising his eyebrows at Keira.

I hated when they flirted with each other. I
had the urge to kick him under the table, but I knew he'd only kick
me back much harder.

Keira smiled and looked down at the menu. "I'm
excited, but we have a lot to learn about them. I mean, when I go
to their world, I try to block out as much as possible. So much of
it seems so silly." Keira was a diehard for the Covenant rules. If
it weren't for me and my brother, she would have a perfect record.
Going to Litropolis had been my idea. Keira hadn't wanted to go,
but I had to know what it was like over there.

"I think it'd be cool to live there," Josh
said. Josh was Dorian's best friend. They were inseparable, much
like Keira and I. "I don't know, it's just seems different—not so
serious."

Bram nodded. "I second that, Josh. I get tired
of following all these stupid rules for no reason. Just because
somebody said."

"They have rules in that world too, Bram," I
warned my brother. I didn't want him thinking when we went there it
was going to be a free-for-all.

"Well, if I lived in their world, I could be a
scientist," Dorian said. "That would be cool."

"Sorry, little man, you're a Grim and that's
all you're ever going to be." Bram tapped the edge of his menu on
the table, which annoyed me to no end. "I know they have their
issues, but they can choose who they want to be in love with. Kiss
and hold hands when they want, with who they want. . ."