Vagabond (31 page)

“So, the trick is the twenty minute window. Twenty minutes before take off, the body guards sweep the train.” Xavi explained as we snuck into the yard and hid in the boxcar parallel to the Celebrity train. “When that happens, and the guards are gone, we hop on, buckle in, and hope there’s nothing to make them want to re-sweep.”
 

“You’re kind of a badass. I never thought about
actually
going inside the train station before.” Claire laughed when I told her my plan. She spoke in explosives and expletives, and she only used language that ravaged propriety. In the few hours I’d traveled with her, my ears began to appreciate the cadences of her offensive language strategy. It was a different kind of freedom to say whatever was on your mind in the moment, and I loved being around it.
 

“I have to admit, someone showed me how to do it. But, you need to get to the 10
^th
fast, right?”

She nodded.
 

“Then let’s split up when we get to the Colony. I’ll go find you a Celebrity transport, and you go snag more food.”
 

We planned as we trekked through the forest. My feet grew into that achey feeling of pre-blister. I wanted to rest, but we needed distance on our side. I reached up to touch my head where I’d hit it. The new cut was slightly above the cut I’d gotten the first night I met Ono, and I was beginning to think every rock in the world had it out for my face. I paused to lean against a tree and sucked down some water from the hose on the pack. I closed my eyes, knowing that Ono’s mouth had been there many times before. I shuddered thinking about him.
 

“Want to talk about it?” Claire asked.
 

I shook my head.
 

“You sure you want to come with us? What about the hottie-jack-ass back there? You’re not going to go meet him?”

I shook my head.
 

Claire nodded. She stepped up close to me and frowned. “It’s just as well, Niko. He’s not worth it. You’re doing the right thing.”

Hours before, I was about to split up from Claire so I could make to the lake and wait for Xavi. But then I remembered all the dead bodies piled by the tracks. I remembered Mari’s face torn apart by a bullet. I remembered all the lies layered on top of each other, and even though he wanted to explain, I didn’t want to hear it. How could he explain away all the hurt he’d caused?
 

As for Ono? Even the promise Xavi delivered from him, I didn’t want. I wanted Ono to move on and live the type of life he was meant for. He had too much at stake to give it all up for a Track-girl. Seeing how easily he made himself vulnerable about me made me recognize the responsibility that came with that. He so easily confessed to Xavi what I was to him, and that type of honesty would only hurt him. Ono’s involvement with me would label him a Terrorist, and I couldn’t have that on my conscious.
 

No. It was better if I left them both behind.
 

When it boiled down to it, both of them still believed in the Republic, and I no longer could— not if I wanted to find freedom on the Tracks. I could never return to the Colonies. This was my home now, and the boys were trying to destroy the only life I was learning to live and love. If I was going to survive it at all, I had to cut them both loose, and I had to move on. It was a realization that freed me from the expectations placed on me. I didn’t have a genetic obligation to Ono, and I didn’t owe Xavi anything. Both boys had lied to me from the start, and I had to think
of
myself—
for
myself.
   

Claire stepped close and pulled me into hug. Her arms were so much like Celeste’s in the way they felt like home. Even Claire’s smell matched her sister’s.
 

Sisters.
 

In my mind, Claire and Celeste’s face blended together, one on top of the other. I could see the superficial genetic traits that linked them together… only it also linked them elsewhere. Memory layered on top of what was in front of me, and I pulled away. All those years experimenting in the lab made me very skilled at mapping genetic traits, even if they were only skin deep.
 

Claire. Celeste… Corinna.
 

I saw it so clearly.
 

“Tantalos?”

“And Tantalos loses the election by a fifteen percent margin,” Caster Pardo reported. Her blonde hair was curled perfectly over her arched eyebrows as she spoke.
 

Hanging in the corner of the vid-screen was a video of Senator Tantalos. She had beautiful silk hair and perfect, dark skin. Not a blemish speckled her symmetrical face, and it was laughable that anyone would try to dispute her Celebrity status.
 

The video of Senator Tantalos faded into one of Chancellor Petrakis. “Within an hour of his re-election, Chancellor Petrakis has revealed his intention to raise the standards for Celebrity status. He claims that certain traits that used to be desired are now mediocre in comparison to the possibility of more— that current science suggests there are more possibilities and untapped potential within the human genome, and he intends to increase funding to the G.E.G.'s Special Projects Division.”
 

“Excuse me?” Claire asked.
 

“You try to hide it, but you look just like her. I didn’t really notice it before with Celeste, but between you and Celeste and Corinna on the vids, I can see it.”

“Niko?” Claire warned.
 

“That’s why they couldn’t prove her Celebrity status. The seven of you were already gone.”

After we’d eaten, Xavi’d closed his eyes to the sun and to us, so Celeste and I decided to take a walk. She climbed up the tree behind me, and we sat to look out over the field and watch the stars rise. The grass stretched in waves of green around us, and we kicked our feet from the branch we sat on.
 
I could still see Xavi’s body stretched out below us, and I wondered what he was dreaming of.
   

“How did you become a Vagabond?” I whispered.
 

Her eyes narrowed. “That’s a pretty personal question?”

I nodded. It was rude to pry, but Celeste wrapped herself in so many secrets that I wished I knew the truth of her. We sat in silence for a minute and listened to the crickets playing their violins.
 

“My sisters and I… we coordinated. We planned an approved camping trip, and we left from there.”
 

“You weren’t born into it?”

“Not as many of us are born into this life as you’d think. Some people get on the wrong side of the law, and flee for their lives. They end up living a life out here they’d never imagined, but they live. Others leave voluntarily. They want
 
a type of freedom the Republic is not willing to give. They want to live and love without shame… Then, there are spies.”

“Spies?”
 

Celeste looked out over the field and took in a deep breath. “There are people who want to end this way of life. They pretend to be a Vagabond to infiltrate the Rebels…” Celeste sighed.
 

“Why would someone voluntarily leave the Colonies?” I asked.
 

“Niko, I know you struggle with letting go. I struggled too at first, but I’ve learned so much. I couldn’t stay and watch the Republic contort the definitions of Humanity.”

“How can you say that? The G.E.G. protects us from gene—“

“How do you know about the G.E.G.? Thought you were a Stationary?”
 

I clamped my mouth shut. In defending the G.E.G, I was giving away where I was from.
 

Claire frowned. “You need to quit figuring things out, Niko. It’s dangerous.” She started to walk away, and I followed. I couldn’t let it go.

“Why did you all run?”

“I can’t tell you that.”
 

“Chancellor Petrakis?”

She sighed. “Damn it, Niko. Leave it.”

“It was him?”

Claire threw her hands up in the air. “Fine. Yes. He threatened to kill us if my mother ran for Chancellor. He threatened to wipe us from the records to undermine her Celebrity status. The funny thing was, I didn’t even know I was a Celebrity offspring. My parents hid it from me because they wanted me to grow up humble.” Claire laughed. “Humble. How’s this for humble?” She spread her arms out and twirled in circles under the trees. “Only five of us got away. Corinna had to stay behind, because she grew up under the eyes of the entire Republic and couldn’t exactly disappear. She practically lived her entire life being a feature in the vids. She’s also close to our mother and couldn’t stand the idea of leaving her behind, from what Celeste has told me. Another sister… she didn’t want to leave. They murdered her.”

“What are your Republic names?” I asked.
 

Claire shook her head in warning. “Those names are dead, Niko. We are different people now.”

“So, you said there’s only five of you out here. One sibling is dead. One is still in the Republic with your mother,” I ticked off the intel. “Where’s the eighth?”
 

 
Claire groaned. “Let it go, okay.”
 

“I’ll figure it out.” I knew I was pushing my luck, but curiosity got the better of me. Something told me this next piece of the story was important. Something told me that I already knew the answer, but didn’t know how to formulate it into an image in my head.
 

“There’s also a boy. Do you remember any of the rumors that went on during that election?”

“There were so many.”

“Petrakis’ last child? The boy he got to raise, was my mother’s seventh.”
 

I nodded, and a Novocain numbness infiltrated my capillaries. Ono’s story clicked into place. He told me his mother was a Celebrity when he mentioned he didn’t miss his father, but I’d forgotten until now. Not only was he a double-Celebrity, but his biological parents were political contradictions. What could the G.E.G. possibly be playing at? It set him even higher in genetic gradations than me, and I couldn’t help but understand why the partnering would upset the Chancellor.
 

I kept my connection to Ono from Claire. I couldn’t be reminded that I was meant for him— genetically designed to be his partner. It made it too hard to say goodbye to that possibility. The information didn’t matter to the conversation, and it should no longer matter to me. That’s the gift of moving on. I was allowed to sever any possibility I wanted to.
   

Berenike frowned. “I got my notice.”

“You’re not happy about it?”
 

“They are lowering me a Caste. And there this— there’s this bo—”

I shook my head. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered. She was about to confess something, but I was too scared to hear it. I didn’t want to know the last letter on that three letter word.
 

“They don’t know what they’re doing?” She gulped in air. Her voice was thick with liquid anger.
 

“Don’t let this ruin your night! It’s the Nicholas Celebration! You can’t be angry on the—“

“Not everyone can be as upbeat as you, Nikomedes. My line should move up, not down. Just because you’ve been flagged your entire life doesn’t mean the rest of us have been able to prepare for disappointment the way you have.”
 

My bottom lip fell so that my mouth made a stupid O. I couldn’t find a response.
 

She gasped as it came out, like it was something she’d said in her head a million times but never out loud… at least not in front of me. “Niko, I’m sorry.”
 

“We’re late,” I whispered. I got up and adjusted my ponytail. “Let’s head to the square, okay?”
 

I wanted to join.
 

I said it in my head, but I couldn’t say it out loud. It meant too much.
 

My eyes were open too wide to ever close them again. It didn’t mean that I completely discredited the goal of the G.E.G., but I no longer believed in how they did it. They needed to be cleansed of corruption. They needed to remember the bigger picture, and those in power had forgotten that picture a long time ago.
 

“I want to join.” I finally pushed the words out, and Claire froze solid. We’d been walking for hours in silence, and I finally made a decision that would set me free from my past. I wanted to set a new course— one that I’d chosen for myself.
 

“You sure, about this?”

“Yes. What do I have to do?”

“We all do our part,” Mama sighed. She tugged at my hair with the comb. It was being unruly and knotted in places at the base of my neck.
 

I clenched my teeth at each pull. “But, Mama, I don’t want to—“

“Everything you do can help or hurt the cause. Even just picking up garbage on the sidewalk can influence things. What if someone sees you doing this? What if this person bends down and picks up the next piece of garbage he sees? And so on and so forth. Even the smallest of efforts can ripple out with good or bad. So, as little as this may feel to you now, it’s connected to something bigger than yourself. Be stoic, honey. Never choose yourself when doing so could harm the world.” She whispered it sadly, and I wondered how many desires she had learned to live without.
 

We sat in the grass to rest while Claire explained the first step. The air was fresh and had that tangible taste it gets when a storm gathers. We’d have to wait the rain out under the canopy, and I already missed my tent.
 

“You’ve heard parts of the chant?”

“My barred teeth are broken chains. What does it mean?”

She laughed. “It surprisingly means nothing but the amount of information and rank someone has in the Revolution. The more you know of the chant, the higher up you are. Spies spend hours analyzing every word, thinking they lead to clues, locations, and intel. But really, you climb your way up the Revolutionary ladder, so to speak, by how much you are privy to the lines of the chant. Other than that, it’s just a pretty poem.”