Suture (The Bleeding Worlds) (11 page)

Fuyuko nodded slowly. "I know. But this is big. We could get into serious trouble."

Angie raised an eyebrow. "More trouble than the time we filled the boys' uniforms with itching powder?"

"Oh my god, I'd forgotten." Fuyuko laughed. "How old we were we?"

"Eleven. Paltar was scary angry, but Katsuro…"

Fuyuko's laughter fell silent.

"The way Katsuro just stared at us, looking so disappointed, was way worse." Angie smiled sadly. "Do you ever think about him? No, that's a silly question, of course you do." She added quietly. "We all do."

"That's why I need your help," Fuyuko said. "It's about Katsuro. About what happened to him."

Angie looked puzzled. "What do you mean? He died closing a tear. He saved all of us."

"I know, Jason told me. But the more I thought about it, something just didn't fit. So I went to the archives."

Angie grabbed her wrist in a painful, vice-like, grasp. "You watched the video of him dying?"

The cafeteria was mostly empty, but a few heads turned in their direction. Fuyuko's eyes widened, trying to tell Angie to quiet herself.

Instead, Angie stood, came around the table, hauled Fuyuko to her feet, and stormed out of the cafeteria, dragging Fuyuko behind her.

I was right.
Fuyuko thought.
She's far stronger than I am.

Angie pressed her palm against the reader next to her bedroom door. It barely slid open enough for a person to pass through when Angie shoved Fuyuko inside.

Angie waited until the door clicked shut.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? What kind of sick notion would make you do something like that?"

Fuyuko held up her hands, almost afraid Angie would charge at her. "It started with my counselling session with Eir. We started talking about Katsuro and how much he meant to me, and how I always pushed myself to be better because of him. And later, I was talking to Jason, and he said how Katsuro was so strong and how everyone looked up to him, and I said, 'then why did he die?' Jason couldn't tell me."

"The tear was too much. It burned him out."

Fuyuko dropped her hands. Angie's anger seemed to have given way to remorse. "That's what didn't make sense to me. If Katsuro was so great, so strong, how could a normal tear burn him out, yet Gwynn could close a world killer without a scratch? How's that possible? I mean," Fuyuko's voice shook, bordering on hysterics, "I spent my life looking up to him. I knew him better than anyone, and I'm telling you
no tear
was enough to burn out my brother."

Fuyuko's chest heaved with each breath. Dammit, how could she expect to rejoin Anusz if just yelling left her winded?

"We all agreed afterward," Angie's voice barely a whisper, "we would never watch the footage. Even without the promise, I don't think any of us would."

"I never made that promise." She quickly added to avoid angering Angie, "I never thought I would have to. I never thought it would be something I'd want to see."

"So…what did you see?"

Fuyuko contained a laugh. For all Angie's bravado, and all the crap she'd given her, Fuyuko could still hear a kernel of curiosity in her voice.

"I didn't see anything. It's password protected."

"What? Impossible."

"I thought so too. So I got Ethan out of command to try. I figured maybe they had blocked me from seeing it. But even Ethan was blocked. Afterward, it displayed a message saying any further attempts to view the footage without proper pass code verification would be investigated."

Angie flopped down on her bed. "That makes no sense. Paltar told us
all
mission footage was available. Did he lie, or was he just wrong?"

Fuyuko shrugged. "I don't know."

Angie pressed her palms against her head. "I'm really starting to hate where this is going. Just cut to the chase—why do you need me?"

Moment of truth time.

"I need you to get inside my father's head and retrieve his Zeta-level pass code."

Angie's hands dropped and her eyes bugged out. She remained motionless long enough Fuyuko worried she wouldn't be coming back.

"What did you ask me?" Angie finally managed.

Fuyuko moved closer and knelt down in front of Angie. "I know I'm asking a lot. I promise, if there was any other way, I would take it. The only way to find out what really happened to Katsuro is if I have Zeta clearance. Besides Njord and Woten, that leaves my dad. But he'll never give it to me if I ask."

"You think if I use my abilities we can just take it from his mind?"

"If it's not possible, just tell me and I'll forget the whole thing. But if my brother meant anything to you, and there's even the slightest chance it could be done, please, help me."

"It's not…" Angie's lip trembled. "I can't lie to you. It's possible. You should still forget the whole thing. Going into someone else's dreams is dangerous. Especially if you're purposefully trying to get information they don't want to give up. You risk psychic feedback that could damage your own mind. If you push too hard, you could injure your dad too."

"You did it with Gwynn. How is this any different?"

Angie groaned. "Woten was worried about Gwynn's dreams. He thought somehow the Fallen might be able to find him through his subconscious mind—"

"Is that possible?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure. What I'm trying to tell you is I'd been connected to Gwynn through dreams for eight months before I tried to involve myself. And even then, we were having a picnic. It's not like I was trying to find out some buried secret. In order not to risk his own mind, I'd have to know him a lot better. Besides, if I just show up in your father's dreams, you don't think he'll be suspicious? I mean, he knows what I can do."

"What about me?" Fuyuko asked. "I know him. Maybe it wouldn't seem so strange for his daughter to be there. Could you somehow put me there?"

Angie turned a pale shade of green.

"Do you have any idea what you're asking me to do?"

"Yes, and I already said I'm sorry. I'll apologize a million more times if it means you'll help me."

"Do you really think there's more to Katsuro's death?"

Fuyuko grasped Angie's hands. "I'm sure of it. I wouldn't be here otherwise."

Angie stared into her eyes, perhaps searching to see if she meant what she said. Finally, she nodded. "Ok, I'm in."

Gwynn awoke from a dreamless sleep. He reached to his chest and felt the amulet Alice gave him. Had it really kept the bad dreams away, or was it just the power of suggestion? Still, given his current roommates—Jason, Caelum and Brandt—would never let him live down crying out in his sleep, he was thankful for the reprieve.

They occupied a number of trailers outside the quarantine zone established by the military and local state troopers.

"Since we have no idea what currency will be used," Njord explained upon their arrival the evening before, "all our supplies and housing arrangements will be handled outside of town on our side of the dimensional fence. So, if you think you'll need snacks, make sure you pack ahead of time. Also, each of your teams is being assigned a vehicle. These have been outfitted with transmitters that should create a small cellular network, so we'll be able to communicate. The transmitters have about a three kilometre range, so with us spread throughout the city, our coverage should be decent. But remember, if anything happens to a vehicle, it will cause a decrease in our coverage net, so treat them with care." Njord eyed Brandt directly.

"What?" Brandt blurted. "I smashed
one
car,
one
time, and now I have a reputation? Bullshit."

"In terms of supplies, that goes for gas as well. Make sure you have a full tank each day before heading into town."

Natalie raised her hand. When Njord nodded toward her, she said, "I still don't understand why we're here. Why didn't they send in one of the brainiac teams?"

"Speak for yourself," Caelum said. "I happen to count myself as being intelligent enough to carry out this mission."

It struck Gwynn everyone seemed more at ease without Woten in the room. He doubted any of these conversations would've taken place in Suture.

"Look," Natalie continued, "I'm not saying we're dumb. Well, maybe not
all
of us…" She looked at Brandt.

"Man, why is everyone shitting on me today?" Brandt said. Caelum gave him a reassuring pat on the back.

"…I'm just saying we're usually the combat team. Why send us in for a pure recon mission?"

Some others nodded their agreement.

"Were you in that cornfield? Because when I was there, I watched some guy who was normal and harmless turn into a Curse in a matter of seconds. While this may not be a combat mission right off the hop, it could become one at any moment. The idea here is to reduce the likelihood of casualties. Hence send in those who can handle a fight right from the start. Anyone else have some doubts they'd like to express?" Njord asked.

"Not doubts, sir," Jason said. "Just wondering, with us split up, what's the procedure if we get into trouble?"

Njord pointed at Jason with a smile. "Now there's an excellent question, and the point I was about to address next." Njord held up his arm, displaying the watch/tether. "On the side of the tether, there are two buttons. If you press them simultaneously they will send a distress to all of our watches, which will vibrate and the face will turn red. The tethers are also tied into a GPS that will triangulate based on our ad-hoc cell network to indicate the location of the member in distress. It won't be precise, but it'll get us close. Best thing to do if you get into trouble, try to make it close to your vehicle. If you're right next to it, the GPS will pinpoint you much easier. That said, under no condition should you attempt to Fold out. Research Department says you'll hit a dimensional wall and probably have your atoms scattered." He surveyed their expressions for understanding. Their grim looks satisfied him. "Anything else?"

No one volunteered anything, so Njord assigned the bunking arrangements and everyone grabbed something to eat and split to try to get some sleep. Gwynn hadn't gone right away. Even with Alice's reassurances, he dreaded sleeping and meeting that man again. It felt too real for him to be comfortable. After almost a decade of recurring nightmares, he'd become well acquainted with them. This felt totally different.

Alice found him sitting on a small hill, staring out at the flashing lights of the distant blockades.

"Do you think they know?" he asked.

"Who knows what?"

"The people, over in that city." Gwynn nodded toward the haze of lights several kilometres further away than the blockade. "Do you think they know something is wrong? Have they seen someone turn into a Curse and live in constant fear of it? Is that why no one seems to be trying to leave?"

She sat down next to him, close enough he felt her warmth. Odd how—late August, in Florida, the air hanging about them like a warm, wet, towel—he could still tell the difference between the warmth in the air and the warmth of a person.

"I don't know." She drew her legs up and rested her chin on her knees. "They might not even know something is wrong."

"How's that possible?"

"Zeus said this is an incomplete resolution of a paradox."

Gwynn laughed. "Wow, and I thought Woten's calling it a 'bleed through' approached being technical."

"Yes, well, Zeus likes to sound wiser than anyone else in the room. Probably comes from an inferiority complex because he has a daughter far smarter than himself. That town is in between places. If one of its citizens walked out of town, they might still be in their own world, or perhaps they would end up on another and become a Curse, or maybe they'd just slip between the cracks of our physical world and cease to exist. It's hard to tell. Since I haven't seen anyone try to leave, I'm guessing they know some reason they should stay in town."

Gwynn nodded slowly, "Do you suppose that's because something happened, or because of some other reason, like…" He frowned, searching for the right word.

"Instinct?" Alice suggested.

"Yeah, I suppose. I mean, if this is something the universe, the Veil, God, or even Fate, are trying to make happen, maybe some instinct kicks in telling them to stay put. It seems stupid going to such effort to save something, just to have everyone get killed in the process."

 
"I hope you're right. I'd hate to be in there if it suddenly decides to tear itself apart." She stood and touched Gwynn's shoulder. "You should get some sleep. Tomorrow will probably be…stressful."

"Right."

He stood, brushed himself off, and followed her back to the trailers. Walking into his assigned trailer, he shivered as the air conditioned air struck the perspiration on his skin.

"Incest is wrong, bro." Jason laughed.

"What?" Gwynn asked.

Jason, Brandt and Caelum erupted into laughter. Heat rushed into Gwynn's cheeks.

"It's cool, we're not really laughing at you," Caelum said, probably in response to Gwynn's visible discomfort. "It's funnier because Jason's been sitting here the whole time waiting to say that to you. Thank God you came in when you did. Another five minutes and I think he would've charged out there just so he could get it out."

"Yeah, the boss here doesn't come up with good lines often. He gets pissed if he manages one and doesn't get to use it," Brandt said.

"Wow, here I am trying to give Gwynn a hard time, and now it's all turning around on me."

"You know the old saying, Karma's a bitch," Caelum said.

"Whatever. Anyway, Gwynn, how is Alesandra? Is she all right?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. She's smart and easy to talk to. I think we're good with her on our team."

"Good. Cause there's no way we're blowing our mission before these other two jokers."

Brandt and Caelum raised such a rowdy denial Njord hammered on the door and told them to stifle it. A few quieter laughs and discussions later, the lights were doused and the boys agreed to try for some sleep.

The dread of what waited in his dreams kept Gwynn awake for some time. While he lay there, he cast his thoughts back on the day. He'd met
the
Zeus. During their conversation, he'd realized how far away from his new companions he was. But after, he'd found a new friend in Alice, and these final moments of the day with the three boys in the trailer, he'd felt like he belonged. Perhaps for the first time, coming to Suture seemed right.