The Madness Project (The Madness Method) (61 page)

He turned and found me with my hand outstretched, even
though we both knew I wouldn’t dare try to touch him.

“What happened to you?” I asked.  “How’d you get hurt?  You
dan’ have to tell me aught else.  Just tell me that.”

“I fell,” he said, eyes glinting.

I swallowed, hard.  “And that shooter?  D’you know who that
was?”

He walked a few steps backwards with that infuriating
swagger of his.  “Does it matter?” he asked.  “Guess I got crossways with
someone, someone who didn’t want to be beholden to me.  He almost got the upper
on me.  But now I’ve got the upper on him.”

“How’s that?”

“He thinks I’m dead.”

I swallowed.  “What did Doc tell you just now?”

Shade stared straight at me.  The corridor’s weird magical
light reflected in his eyes, a chaos of grey and green and silver like
lightning, all turbulence and bewilderment.  But he had the strangest, stillest
look on his face, his lips set in a slight curve, jaw tight, brows drawn in. 
Then, bizarrely, the corner of his mouth quirked like a smile, or maybe a
grimace.

But all he said was, “He thinks I’m dying.”

Chapter 16 — Tarik

“Shade.”

I pried open my eyes to see Hayli standing over me, holding
a piece of paper in her hands.  In the low light her face had a ghastly cast to
it, pale and tired and drawn with worry.  I pushed myself up onto an elbow and
rubbed my hand over my face.

“Stars, Hayli, what time is it?”

“It’s early.  I know.  But Bobs saw some coppers out on the
streets already.  They were putting up these.”

She fluttered the paper at me, so I sat up the rest of the
way and took it from her hand.  A photograph of my face—Shade’s face—stared
back at me, right under a large block of print that priced my life at 500 kips,
for inciting violence in the streets and calling for the overthrow of the
monarchy.  My mouth twitched in a smile.

“Well?” I asked, handing it back to her.  “What about it?”

She stared at me.  “Your scarzy face is plastered all over
the city, Shade.  They’ll not stop hunting you till they’ve got you.  You’ve
got to hide.”

I snorted.  “No.  Not ganna happen.”

“They’ll catch you!”

I stood up abruptly, almost too close to her.  “You know how
many people are dead because of what happened yesterday?” I asked, cold.  “All
those people saw me there.  All those people acted because of what I told
them.  Oh sure, I could change my face, go into hiding.  But what would that do
but tell them that all those people died for nothing?  No.  I’ve gotta deal
with this.  I’ve got to face this on my own.  I’m not going to hide.”

“Shade,” she whispered.  “I dan’ want them to catch you.”

My heart gave a little jump, drawing the blood from my
face.  But I just slipped past her and said over my shoulder, “Don’t worry
about me.  They won’t catch me.  Not yet.”

I’d almost made it to the gates when Kantian stepped out of
the shadows beside me.  Somehow I managed to check the instincts I’d been
honing in my training with Jig, a mere second before I slammed my fist to my
side.  I let out all my breath and turned to face him.

“Heading out?” he asked, peering at my face in the fickle
light.

“Figured it would be smart,” I said.

“Figure you’re right.”  He tapped his felt hat onto his head
and straightened his coat, as though he were heading out for a dinner party. 
“Smart, too,” he said.  “I heard about the riot.  Good thinking, using those
workers to kick up a scene.  You did a fine job.”

My stomach knotted, and I could only stare at him in sick
disbelief.

Finally I managed to say, “Right.  A fine job.”

“Say, something I’ve meant to ask you.”

I shrugged and gestured at him to keep talking.

“Can you impersonate someone?”

I let out my breath in a thin hiss and turned away.  “No,” I
said.  “I can’t.  Why does everyone always ask me that?”

“Just thought it would be a useful talent.  I was going to
suggest, if you could do it, you might consider impersonating someone at the
palace.  Someone who might get the ear of the King.  The Prince, maybe.  You
could learn some valuable information.  Since you need to be in hiding anyway,
it might be a good use of your time.”

“I can’t do that,” I said, backing up.  “It’s impossible.”

“You’re saying you can’t make yourself look like him?”

I tried not to laugh at the irony.  “Oh, no, I could make
myself look like him.  That would be easy.  But taking on someone’s
persona…it’s not just about wearing their face.  You have to move like them. 
Act like them.  Talk like them.  And know everything and everyone that they
know.  It’s not possible.  Not on this short of notice.  Maybe if I had a year,
or two years, I could learn enough.  But not now.”  I took another step away. 
“I’ll go to the palace, though.  I’m sure there are plenty of roles I could
slip into.  Maybe I’ll dig up some intelligence for you anyway.”

He nodded, a strange, savage little smile on his lips. 
“Good,” he said.  “That is good.”  He reached out and clasped my arm.  “Fine
work, again.  I knew I could count on you.”

“Yeah,” I said.  “I’m real proud.”

I turned before he could say anything else, and escaped deep
into the back alleys outside the Hole.  My thoughts raced, chasing my
heartbeat, and somewhere deep inside I could feel how Tarik was furious, and
scared out of his wits.  Hayli was right.  They’d decorated Brinmark with the
accusation of my crime…and yet, I wasn’t even sure I’d been wrong. 

Shade’s reckless voice in my head kept urging me to keep up
the fight, to forge ahead while the public was in an uproar…but Tarik knew that
patience and a little time would pay off in the end.  A fire once kindled would
be easier to stoke, even if I let it cool a bit first.  Shade couldn’t even
show his face in public right now without risking imprisonment…or worse. 

I’d sworn to Hayli I wouldn’t leave and hide, but I had
enough sense to know I’d been wrong.  I had to get off the streets, at least
for a time.  In a few days the air would clear, and the vigilance would fade,
and I’d become just another topic of mild interest in society. 

I just didn’t know how to escape.  Part of me wanted to
believe that Zagger would come for me, that he would know, that he wouldn’t
abandon me.  As I wandered through the dark and frozen alleys, I kept listening
for the sound of his voice, saying my name.  Finally, numb and hovering on the
verge of desperation, I made my way up north to Astel’s diner.  The front of
the restaurant languished in darkness, but through the windows I could just
make out the hint of a light back in the kitchen, where the staff would be
getting a start on the day’s baking and cooking.

I headed to the back of the diner and pounded on the staff’s
door, then sank to a crouch against the wall with my knees pulled up tight. 
For a few moments nothing happened, then I heard a voice shouting,

“What’s the what, Holley?  Can’t find the doorknob wi’ your
eyes piked?”

The door flew open and Astel stormed out onto the stoop,
hands on her hips.  I breathed a sigh of relief, because if someone else had
come out, I didn’t know if I’d have had the mental energy to Cloak.  Astel
scanned the alley a moment, scowling.

“Some jape, that,” she muttered, and turned to go back
inside.

“Astel.”

She jumped a good two feet back and peered into the
shadows.  I knew she wouldn’t be able to see my face where I sat, so I sighed
and got to my feet.  The light from the kitchen washed over me, and her jaw
dropped.

“
Oh
,” she said, eyes round.  “Oh, doll.”  She swept
toward me and took my face in her hands, giving me a hard look in the eye. 
“You all right, love?”

I stood motionless, dropping my gaze from hers.  “I’m jake,”
I said.  “Just needed a place to go.  I don’t want to get you in trouble,
though.”

“Malarkey,” she said, and released me to pull the door shut
behind her.  “‘Course you can come here.  Don’t worry about it.  But is it
true?  Did you kill that sergeant?  Stars, he was a fine fellow.”

My breath hitched.  “I didn’t kill him.”  I clenched my jaw
and gave a sharp nod.  “He was a good man.”

“I know, doll,” she said.  Something on my face must have
betrayed me, because she frowned and wrapped her arms around me, saying, “Oh,
you poor love.  Wish I knew what happened, but I know this ain’t jake.”

I wanted to pull away, but she had a fierce grip on me.  If
she thought it would comfort me, I supposed I could endure it.  So I let her
hold me, and tried to drive back the pain and fear and grief that threatened
suddenly to overwhelm me.

“What can I do?” she asked after a moment.  “Tell me how I
can help.”

I cleared my throat and gently extracted myself from her
grip.  “I need Kor.  Need to talk to him.”

She nodded several times.  “You need Kor,” she said, and
nodded again, decisively.  “Of course.  Think I can help you there.  What
should I tell him?”

“Tell him…tell him I need to walk the world a while.  He’ll
understand.”  I smiled faintly.  “I hope.”

“Sure thing, doll.  You want to come in, get warm?  No
one’ll bother.”

“No,” I said.  “Thanks though.  I’ll wait out here.”

She disappeared into the kitchen, and I could hear her
shouting to the staff.  A few moments after her voice died, laughter and the
buzz of conversation replaced the silence.  I sank down onto the stoop and
buried my head in my arms, letting the wind tear through me.  I dozed off a few
times, sleeping fitfully after that troubled night when I’d discovered my
fourth gift.  Fourth.  My head throbbed with pain and everything inside me
shuddered as if the world were fracturing around me.

I must have slept longer than I thought, because it seemed
like mere minutes had passed when someone laid a hand on my shoulder and sent a
static charge down my arm.  I jumped, heart pounding, only to find Kor crouched
beside me.

“Hey, kid,” he murmured.  “Stars, you look like hell.”

I unlocked my arms from my knees and dropped my head back
against the wall, but couldn’t seem to find my voice to say anything at all.  I
kept waiting for Kor to rebuke me for what I’d done, so when he just wrapped an
arm around me and dragged me up, I pulled a step away from him.

“What’s wrong with you, Kor?  Why aren’t you blaming me for
what happened?” I asked, trying to stand tall and steady, when I only felt
folded in on myself, small, torn.

Kor studied me in silence, his hand still poised between
us.  After a moment he lowered it and said, “Think you’re already getting
enough of that from yourself.”

I snorted and turned aside, my hands in angry knots at my
sides.

“You don’t need this burden,” he said.  “Things happen when
you do this kind of work.  You have to just move on.  You can’t let it eat you
up or it will kill you.”

“Forget what I’ve done?” I asked.  My skin crawled, cold,
numb.  “And lose my humanity in the process?”

“Sometimes you have to accept that you have to lose so
others can live.”

I backed another step away.  “Not like that.  I can’t accept
that.”

He shook his head and waved me toward him.  “Don’t make a
peck of difference right now.  Come on, kid.  Let’s get you off the streets.”

He tossed a soldier’s canvas rucksack at my feet.  I
crouched down to open it up, and found one of Tarik’s suits rolled up in neat
bundles inside, along with a pair of shoes, a hat, and an overcoat.

“Zagger got that together for you.  He’s waiting with the
motorcar at Gibbs Crossing.”  He turned around, leaning his shoulder against
the wall.  “Go on, unMask and get changed.  I’ll make sure no one sees you.”

I nodded, though he couldn’t see me, and closed my eyes,
focusing on calling back Tarik’s face and body.  As soon as the last shreds of
pain faded, I dressed in the suit and hat and button up shoes, fingers shaking
in the wind. 

The kitchen door behind me creaked and clanked.  I grabbed
the rucksack and scuttled back into the shadows, hissing, “Kor!”

He spun around and planted himself in the doorway just as
the door swung open.

“Where’s the lad?” Astel asked.  “He set off already?”

I pressed myself back against the wall.

Kor took a step back from the door, shrugging.  “Yeah.  Already
lammed off.  Sprouted him for some coin.”

“Poor thing,” she said and stepped out into the alley,
flicking one glance over the shadows, right over me.  “You take care of that
one, Kor.  Hear me?  He’s something special.”

“Don’t worry.  Thanks, Stel.”  He swung away from her,
heading in my general direction and saying over his shoulder, “I’ll drop in a
bit later.”

She nodded and disappeared inside, and I let out all my
breath in a slow exhale.  I fell in step beside Kor, only the clap of my heeled
shoes too loud in all the silence.