When Copper Suns Fall (20 page)

“This is where it happened. I lost her right
here. My sister, Asa, was kill—lost here. I remember it all, now.”
He trembled, swallowed hard, and then rammed a fist into the tree’s
trunk like it was a cardboard prop from a puppet show.

“Faris. What are you doing?” I grabbed his
fist, turned it over, and examined both sides. No cut or scrape or
anything. Instead, I saw smooth skin and gray fingernails. I
gasped. He jerked the hand away. Our eyes met. His glinted yellow
and cleared just before he turned his head. Suddenly I realized how
little I knew about this Caducean boy. Or was he really a boy?
Doubt tickled my mind with scratchy fingers. Part of me still said
I should fear him. The other half wanted to throw my arms around
him, embracing him until his pain went away. No one knew that loss
of a sibling heartache better than a twin who’d lost her other
half, too.

He dropped to his knees and closed his eyes.
“Do you see now? You’re not the only one haunted by unreachable
things, ghosts of people you love.”

Feeling beyond selfish for making him open
the gates, I eased to a squat beside him and said, “That’s why you
have friends willing to help.” How did he lose his sister in a
place hidden behind my house? A nagging voice said it was somehow
my fault. I didn’t push him for answers. Instead, I laid my hand
over his.

He studied our hands, laced his fingers with
mine, and met my gaze with sad eyes. There in the shadows under the
largest tree in the world, in a place hidden by a secret
passageway, I craved this connection. What I thought was an animal
less forest came alive with chirps, squawks, and croaks when, a
honeysuckle-scented breeze filled the air around us. Faris’s eyes
filled with awe when he glanced at me.

“You’re doing this,” he whispered.

“No, I’m not,” I said, my heart racing.

“Yes, you are.”

“I’m just a confused girl, nothing more,” I
said to convince myself more than him. Somehow I’d reacted to
Faris’s emotions, the same way I’d done with Seth in the
library.

“You’re more than that, and you know it,” he
said.

“I’m sorry about your sister. I know how you
feel,” I said without breaking our gaze.

Then it happened. He reached out, cupped my
neck, and pulled me to him in a kiss, light and feathery and
different. My first kiss. His hands were strong but gentle, and his
fingertips were soothing. Our wet skin plastered against one
another sent chills of pleasure through my body. He laid his lips
on mine gently as if asking permission to kiss me. Then he pulled
back, glancing into my eyes. I read the silent request in those
eyes: sad, doubtful, uncertain. Just as I was.

But I didn’t care about what he might be, and
what couldn’t happen between us. I lunged forward, weaving my arms
around his neck, and pulled him to me like a life rod. His lips
came down on mine harder this time, parting them. We fell into an
abyss neither of us was prepared to escape. Rose scents filled the
moist air as my hands massaged the slick, warm skin on his back. At
first, I thought maybe Cornice’s rose bushes might be the source of
the scent. But this wasn’t Cornice. I was on Batts Grave, a living
dreamscape. In my happiness, I felt the surge from within me as a
gentle breeze moved across us, chilling my skin.

And then the dandelion flakes floated by
us.

Fiery heat surged through my body and washed
away at once when, a river of reality drowned the moment.

“Faris, the screamers. I thought you said
they weren’t anything like dandelions?” I said, my heart
sinking.

A grumble shattered the magic. I thought my
stomach was acting up again until I realized the ground rumbled.
Faris studied the flakes flying around us. “Curse it.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked. My arms were still
draped around his neck. He reached up and eased them away.

“The wind set the screamers off.” He glanced
at the golden thing again. “We have to go. I shouldn’t have let
things get this far.”

“Can I have a say in that too-far statement?”
Before he said anything, my necklace sprung to intense life. Pain
waved through my chest, knocking the breath out of me. I doubled
over. Faris caught me. Behind us, a circular area on the crape
myrtle lit up and blackened. Faris narrowed his eyes at the light.
Something like a growl rumbled deep in his throat. But I was pretty
sure it was the pain making me delirious.

At once, thunder shook the earth, knocking us
off balance. We tumbled to the ground, me on top of him—a teasing
shadow of the closeness we’d shared only moments ago.

“Not again. Not this time, you don’t,” Faris
said.

I heard his voice inside a vacuum as darkness
eased in from the sides. Even outside the Wall, the blobs managed
to find me. And the jumbled whispers—speaking fast, soft, loud,
shrilly. Those creepy, horrid voices were back. I slammed my hands
over my ears, faded in and out of a blackout.

“Stay with me, Chela…do this together,” Faris
said.

Struggling to stay awake, I felt Faris’s
fingers lace with mine, and then I heard something else.

Another boy’s voice said, “Chela! Hear me,
please. I’m here. Look for me. Please don’t leave.” It was Micah.
He was here in Batts Grave. How could that be? And where was he? I
fought to stay awake, to call out to my brother. But it was as if
my lips were frozen shut. I made a muffled cry with my closed
mouth. Micah’s voice faded. It was too late.

Faris’s voice drifted back into my mind. The
black lines I’d seen in the Ruins appeared, covering our entwined
hands and arms. Pressure filled my head. I squeezed my eyes shut,
fighting a blackout.

Moments later, cold air slapped my face. I
opened my eyes as a renewed energy washed over my arms and legs. I
was propped against the re-locked gate back on the Cornice side. I
glanced at the black lines fading from my right hand and rubbed the
sore skin under my necklace.

I shuffled to my feet and stood at the gate.
Micah had called out to me. I needed to tell Faris. We had to go
back. Running to the side of the house, I peered down the driveway,
scanning the trees for crowbots. Faris was gone.

I thought the border guards assigned to watch
over my house would rush over to arrest me and banish him. They’d
put me away for life this time, and I wouldn’t have to worry about
facing the Dim City kids at Swordfest. But I’d never seen a crowbot
sitting in Cornice’s trees. Not ever. The border guards remained at
their posts across the street. None of them had seen Faris. He was
like a phantom. And Micah was like a ghost.

I touched my tender lips, glanced up and down
the deserted road. He’d vanished. Only this time it wasn’t a dream,
or a memory. He wasn’t a ghost. Our kiss was real.

And just like the lights lining the edges of
the sky at dusk, I had fallen.

Chapter Sixteen – Perfect Match

On the way to the Cradleshack, whispers
carried across Castle Hayne’s nighttime, drilling into my eardrums
like tiny demons. I’d spent the last four weeks in Minders Camp,
discovered my wings, almost died. I’d been probed by a Tainted,
heard my brother’s voice inside another world, and fallen for a boy
who belonged to a mythical group. But for some reason, I wasn’t
ready to face this crowd, a group that consisted of gifted kids
from all eight Boroughs.

The air was filled with nasty odors again.
Anxiety swelled in my chest. The feeling was almost as stuffy as
the amber colored dress I wore pooled around my ankles, making it
difficult to walk. Border guards patrolled the outside of the
building, and SOCS were nowhere in sight. Odd.

Dr. Van Meter denied my right to visit Micah
this month. He said the hospital clientele was uncomfortable around
violence, and the Beast tamer was all about that. Denying my visit
probably made him feel superior, the doctor of vesselism. What
other way was there to get back at me for screwing up his plans?
Under Governor Winthrope’s orders, Micah’s vesselism had been
placed on hold until after Swordfest in a month. Maybe Van Meter
denying my visit was for the best. I needed extra time to
understand what I heard in Batts Grave. And I didn’t trust myself
to have the control I did a month ago.

Something in me was wildly different. I
wasn’t sure if said something was all good.

One thing was good, though. I was glad to be
with my other two Bermuda Threes, Jalen and Lexa, for the first
time in weeks. As I walked arm in arm with them, I realized any
sacrifice was worth seeing my friends smile.

Rock opera with its fast strings and female
vocalist’s inhumanly high notes sounded outside the Shack. Memories
from the Falling Lights Festival came back to me when, we walked
through the double-glass doors. Even though it was decorated in a
different way tonight, the place still reminded me of Faris. The
silver cloth draped over the walls made me think of his eyes.

Inside the room, Rianne Templeton bounded
over to us. She wore a light blue dress with ruffles that bounced
as she walked, reminding me of a human cotton ball. Lex told me
she’d been assigned as the gathering leader because of her perfect
behavioral record. Her card would be scored first while mine would
probably be thrown out of the pile. After spending the last five
days with Faris Toulan, I didn’t care one bit about being paired
with other boys.

Rianne beamed at us. The glitter on her
cappuccino-toned skin reflected in the new strobe lights. A boy
with almond-shaped eyes like Rianne’s bounded over, draping an arm
across her shoulder. He beamed a smile of perfect teeth, glancing
at me as he nudged Rianne.

“My brother, Sean. Try not to let him charm
his way onto your scorecards tonight.” Sean wrapped his hands
around Rianne’s neck in a playful way, shaking her. She turned
toward me and smiled wide. “Chela? You mean to tell me they let you
out of the suit?” Rianne said. I nodded.

“Welcome back to the home zone. Come on in.
The gathering just started,” Sean said.

“No need to tell me twice. I’m Alexa Walsh.”
She beamed at Sean, walking right up to him to offer her hand as if
she were a lady from the historical south. The way her red baby
doll dress gathered around her shoulders made her look like a
goddess. I was happy to see her smile. It made every grueling
moment I had trained with Seth worth the pain. There was no doubt
Sean would somehow end up on her score card tonight.

The scorecards were a matchmaking system.
They contained eight slots, giving kids from any of the eight
Boroughs an equal chance to be paired with a suitable boy or girl
from every city. At the end of the night, the Conservancy pulled
the top two matches on each person’s card from a compureader. It
was a system designed to generate the perfect match.

“I already know who’ll top my wish list.”
Rianne beamed at Jalen. His honey face reddened, his big grin
boosted by the plum colored suit he wore. He shot a nervous glance
at me and smiled. Even I couldn’t ignore his well-toned body.
Basically, my best friend’s sexy meter had exploded without me
seeing it happen.

“So what do you say?” Rianne said to
Jalen.

“If my date doesn’t mind giving up a few
dances.” Jalen linked arms with me.

“I don’t. Seriously,” I said.

Rianne gave us a knowing look before she
said, “You don’t have Lucia somewhere bringing up the rear, do you?
She has some of my music.”

“We thought she was already here,” Lexa
said.

“Nope. I’ll see her at school, anyway. Maybe
I’ll see you again soon, Chela. Toodles.” Rianne strolled off into
the crowds to greet other new arrivals.

My gut tingled. Something about Lucia’s
absence nagged me. Even though members of the Conservancy were
standing around, and border guard patrols had been reinforced for
the festivities, I still didn’t feel good about Rianne’s news.

Across the room, Audrina and the lollipops
glanced in my direction and snickered. Against Bess’s wishes she
wore the black dress that stopped way above her knees. Her
wide-eyed look to me sent the silent message: “If you tell Mother
or Father, I’ll kill you.” I returned a smug grin that said, “Got
you. Will use this to my advantage next time you grate my
nerves.”

The Conservancy leaders manned the scorecard
machines. In the past, it wasn’t uncommon for somebody to tamper
with cards. The women and men whose outfits reminded me of
something similar to rip-offs from the medieval times watched over
the compureaders like black-beak hawks.

“Will Chela the Fair honor me with a dance?”
Jalen held out his hand. I hadn’t even heard him walk up behind me.
“You owe me one.”

“That I do,” I said, bowing and taking his
hand.

Jalen was always there to rescue me. Dancing
with him kept the watchful gaze of the Conservancy leaders away
from me, the Girl-Who-Faced-the-Beast. The same girl who held on to
her scorecard without adding a single boy’s name yet, because her
mind kept wandering back to Faris.

“I guess we know who is at the top of your
card,” I said.

“Really? Who might that be?” Jalen said.

“Would said someone be wearing light blue
tonight?” I said.

“Boring. Maybe she’s wearing something more
exciting,” he said, looking at me in a way that made me understand
why so many girls drooled over my best friend these days. I
frowned, trying to figure out what he meant. That was until Rianne
busted up the moment.

“There you are, Jalen. Can you help me move
the punch bowls? I mean, only if you’re done dancing,” Rianne said.
I gave him a smug grin and made a mental note to tease him about
Rianne later.

After about a half-hour of watching Lexa and
Sean drool over each other, I craved fresh air. I couldn’t focus on
phony smiles when all I thought about was what Micah’s voice had
said in Batts Grave.