Away Read online

  “I won’t start menstruating until I get my repro clearance and permission to have my implant removed. So no worries there.”

  “Repro clearance?”

  “Permission to have a child.” Nipper stretched one front leg out toward Rachel and showed off six bladed toes. Rachel stared at the claws, fascinated; they appeared to be serrated along their edges.

  “Well.” Nandy’s face looked the way it had when they were talking about books. “We don’t need permission here. Just luck.”

  “Is Pathik your only child?” Rachel wasn’t certain why Nandy looked so angry.

  “I love him like he is, but Pathik’s not mine. His mother died giving birth to his younger brother.”

  “He has a brother?”

  “He didn’t live either.” Nandy’s eyes glittered at Rachel from across the table. Nipper growled again, low and long. “The woman who was the healer then couldn’t help them. Even Saidon—she’s our healer now—couldn’t have helped them. She’s got a great gift, but it’s limited. If someone is truly dying, she can’t heal them.”

  “Do . . . do you have any children?”

  “Do you see any?” Nandy’s voice was hard.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Nandy shook her head, swiping at her eyes with one hand, calming Nipper with the other.

  “It’s not your fault, is it, Rachel? So it does me no good to be mad at you.”

  The door to the hut crashed open, and Pathik burst into the room with a stack of kindling.

  “The wadding, Pathik! How many times do I have to remind you, hold on to the wadding so it doesn’t fall. Or next time you do all the washing.”

  “Sorry, Nan.” Pathik blinked at Nandy’s tone. “I think it only got a little dusty.” Pathik made a production of brushing the cloth off. “Time to go—they’re all waiting. I told them they could meet Rachel today.”

  “Who? Who can meet me?”

  “The children.” Nandy rose and gave Nipper one more caress. “Time to go put that dictionary to use.” She paused by Rachel, and put a hand on her shoulder. “Sorry. None of it is anybody’s fault, at least nobody in this room.” She smiled, though it was a weak version of her usual smile. “Let’s go.”

  Rachel watched her walk out the door, Nipper fast on her heels. She looked at Pathik.

  “Did I walk in on something? She’s not usually snappish.”

  Rachel shook her head. “Nothing much.” She looked at Pathik, taking in his tired eyes and his face, the face she had decided was handsome, even if its owner was often irritating. “I’m sorry about your mother, Pathik. And . . . and your brother.”

  “Why are you sorry? Has nothing to do with you.” Pathik refused to meet her eyes.

  “Because . . . because they died.” Rachel brushed past him and headed for the door.

  “Rachel.” His quiet voice stopped her. She turned back to face him.

  “Thanks.” He looked at her intently. “For being sorry, I mean.” He reached over and touched the collar of her jacket, just below her earlobe. “Are you going to be warm enough in this? The schoolroom doesn’t have a fireplace.”

  “Schoolroom?” Rachel felt oddly warm, and somehow she couldn’t drag her gaze from his.

  Pathik grinned. He let his fingers slide off of her collar. “Nandy’s our teacher. We’re going to help her today.”

  CHAPTER 5

  THE SCHOOLROOM TURNED out to be in the second of the smaller buildings. Like the building Rachel had been sleeping in, this one was made of some sort of gray block, and was utilitarian in its architecture. It did not have a door on the main entrance, which opened onto a single large room. As Pathik had said, there was no fireplace here. An aisle led up the center of the room, and on either side of it were rows of wooden benches. Rachel could see the marks left from a cutting tool, where someone planed the logs long ago. The rough cuts on the top sides of the logs were smoothed from years of use. Nipper was lounging on the bench closest to the door.

  Nandy was already at the front of the room. She took three flat metal trays down from a shelf and put one on each of three small, low tables centered in the aisle between the rows of benches. Pathik motioned to Rachel to follow him to the front, where he took a large plastic bucket down from the shelf. He handed Rachel a bundle of pointed sticks.

  “Three per tray,” he said, and started down the aisle. At each tray, he tilted the bucket and dumped a mound of sand in. Nandy came along behind him and smoothed the sand flat with the edge of a flat scrap of wood. Then she fetched a metal bowl and poured a quantity of water from it into each tray. Rachel stood at the top of the aisle, uncertain exactly what to do.

  “Here, Rachel.” Nandy gestured for her to come. She took three of the sticks from the bundle and laid them next to the first tray. “Do the same with those.” Nandy pointed to the two trays farther down the aisle. “Check the points to be sure they’re sharp.”

  Rachel did as she was told. She didn’t know why she was doing it, but at least it took her mind off of the upcoming rescue attempt. She’d been fighting thoughts about it all morning. What if they failed? What if they couldn’t find her father, or worse, found him dead? She was glad for the distraction the task at hand offered.

  Three little boys spilled through the door, laughing about something. They were followed by two girls. Soon there was a small crowd of children, milling and laughing and sometimes shouting at the back of the room.

  “School time.” Nandy’s voice was low, but all of the children heard it immediately and turned to where she stood in the front of the room. When they saw Rachel they all fell silent for a moment, and then began buzzing loudly with speculation. Nandy grinned at Rachel. “They are quite excited to meet you.” She turned back to the children.

  “Seats, please.” The buzzing faded and the children scrambled to find places on the benches. All eyes darted between Rachel and Nandy. Rachel took a rough count and figured the number at about twenty-five. The age range seemed to be from around six to twelve, and they looked well-fed and healthy as far as she could tell. She had seen children in the camp during the few days she had been present, but always at some distance.

  Pathik had joined Rachel at the front of the room. He put a hand in front of his mouth and leaned toward her. “They’ve been begging Nandy since the day you arrived,” he whispered. “They all want to see if you have fangs, or glow in the dark.”

  “We have a guest today.” Nandy addressed the room. “I think you all know that we have a special visitor in camp, who helped Pathik get the medicine that Malgam needed to get well.”

  “She’s a Reg.”

  Rachel didn’t see who said it, but it wasn’t said in a friendly tone.

  “Bender.” Nandy sounded disappointed. “Come to the front of the room, please.”

  A boy of about eleven stood. He stayed where he was, though, his head hung low.

  “Bender. It’s all right.”

  The boy kept his head down, but he shuffled his way forward until he was standing in front of Nandy.

  “Bender, I want you to properly greet Rachel.”

  The boy raised his eyes and squinted at Nandy through dark lashes. He risked a sidelong glance at Rachel. “She’s a Reg.” He spoke so low Rachel could barely make out the words.

  “We’ve talked about this before, Bender. Remember our history lesson last week? Do you remember what we learned about the people over there?”

  Bender looked skeptical. “Some of them are good.”

  “That’s right, Bender.” Nandy sounded as pleased as if the child had solved some complex mathematical problem. “Some Regs are good. Remember how we learned about the collaborators? How they want to make things fair for everyone? Collaborators are Regs, and they’re good. So it isn’t if you’re a Reg or not that makes you good or bad, right, Bender?”

  Bender had raised his head while Nandy spoke. He peered at her face, and then at Rachel. “Right.”

  “What is it, Bender, that makes a perso
n good or bad? Do you remember?”

  Bender nodded. “It’s what they do.”

  Nandy nodded back to him. “And what, to your knowledge, has Rachel done? Has she done anything bad?”

  Bender squinted at Rachel. He bit his lower lip. He frowned at her, and squinted some more.

  Rachel looked back at him. She smiled, tentatively. She shrugged her shoulders.

  “Nothing bad I know of.” Bender squinted at Nandy. “And she did do good to help Pathik. So I guess, so far, she’s good.”

  “So?” Nandy crossed her arms and waited.

  Bender bit his lip again. He stepped sideways until he was in front of Rachel. He squinted up at her. “You, Rachel . . .” Bender faltered, looked at Nandy.

  “Are welcome . . .” said Nandy.

  Bender continued in a rush. “. . . are welcome to our shelter, our fire, our water, our food.” He extended his hands to Rachel.

  Pathik took Rachel’s hands in his and placed them atop Bender’s. “I thank you,” he prompted in a whisper.

  “I thank you.” Rachel smiled at Bender.

  Bender squinted at Rachel a moment longer. When he was satisfied with whatever he saw, he looked at Nandy, who nodded.

  “Good job, Bender. Back to your seat.” She addressed the rest of the children.

  “Why does he keep wrinkling up his face like that?” Rachel whispered behind her hand to Pathik.

  “Bender?” Pathik waited until Rachel nodded. “He’s got some trouble with his eyes—he can’t see well if things are farther than a few feet away from him.”

  “Oh,” said Rachel. She knew some children were born with less than perfect sight, but it was always corrected immediately with lasers. Not so here. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to be unable to do something as basic as seeing.

  Nandy clapped her hands twice, to get the attention of the class. “Time for spelling. Who can spell the word agitate ?”

  A girl stood and made her way to the tray at the end of her aisle. She took one of the sticks Rachel had placed in the tray and drew in the sand. Nandy came and looked at what the girl drew. “That’s correct, Rose. A-G-I-T-A-T-E. And can you tell me the definition?” Nandy smoothed the damp sand in the tray with her wood scrap.

  “To shake.” Rose watched Nandy for approval, which she got in the form of Nandy’s smile.

  “And also?” Nandy waited while Rose thought.

  “To make you mad.” Rose turned to Bender. “You agitate me, Bender!” She giggled at him, and Bender laughed back. Soon the whole class was giggling.

  “Brothers can tend to do that, Rose.” Nandy stood with her hands on her hips, shaking her head at the class antics. She gave them a minute to get the energy out of their systems and then she raised her eyebrows and tilted her head in an exaggerated way. Once again, the class settled.

  There were more words to spell, and as the lesson went on the children snuck fewer glances at Rachel and paid more attention to Nandy.

  “She certainly has a way with them.” Rachel spoke softly to Pathik, so she wouldn’t be a distraction.

  “That’s Nandy’s gift,” said Pathik.

  “You mean she’s controlling them somehow?” Rachel was disturbed by the thought.

  Pathik smiled and shook his head at her. “It’s her plain gift. That’s what we call it when someone just has a way—not something extra, like Jab, or me—but just a way with something. Nandy has a plain gift when it comes to the young ones.”

  “Why don’t the ones with plain gifts get named for them?”

  Pathik shrugged. “It usually takes longer for those kinds of gifts to surface. And sometimes people have more than one. With the other kind, you never get more than one.”

  Rachel considered that. She stole a glance at Pathik.

  “You had a brother,” she whispered. Pathik watched her, waiting to see what else she was going to say.

  “And Rose.” Rachel nodded toward the little girl. “Bender is her brother.” She waited expectantly.

  Pathik gave her a quizzical look. “Yes?”

  “Rose and Bender are siblings.”

  Pathik just looked baffled.

  “A single child saves all children—one child limit, one child limit.” Rachel uttered the slogan in a singsong tune, the way she had heard it all her life. “That’s the law. One child. Nobody has siblings.”

  “Nobody?” Pathik sounded amazed. “We don’t have many here, but when we do it’s considered a great thing.”

  Rachel thought. “Well, Poolers can have more than one child, at least in some cases.”

  “What are Poolers?”

  “Sort of . . . workers. You get put in Labor Pools if you can’t find Gainful Employment, or if you get Identified for something. Some people never get out. Some Poolers come from families who have been in the Pools for generations.”

  Rachel and Pathik both fell silent, thinking about how different their lives were.

  The spelling lesson ended, and Nandy strode to the front of the room again. “Today,” she said, “Usage is canceled. Indigo has called a council, so we’ll need the room for that. Tomorrow, Indigo will be gone on trek, so Usage will be led by Saidon. For now, school is out and you are free to go!”

  The children erupted in one joyous explosion and streamed out the door. Nandy laughed as she watched them go. She turned to Rachel and Pathik.

  “Could you two tidy up? I’d better go make sure they all get where they should go.”

  Pathik nodded, and Nandy left, Nipper padding along behind.

  “What’s Usage?” Rachel retrieved the pointed sticks from the trays and bundled them back up. Pathik scooped the damp sand into one tray and stacked the other two on the shelf where they belonged. He set the third in the corner so the sand could dry.

  When he was done he sat on the first bench and tilted his head toward the space next to him. “Might as well sit.”

  Rachel did, careful to leave enough space between them that they wouldn’t accidentally touch. She could still feel her cheeks flood with warmth when she thought about him touching her collar back at the hut.

  “Usage is what we call the lessons we have for learning about our gifts. About how to get better at them, and about the proper way to use them.”

  “Do you go to Usage?”

  “Anyone who has a gift does, until Indigo grants us passage.” Pathik was going to continue, but a boy poked his head in the doorway and cleared his throat.

  “Council’s coming. This room should be clear.”

  “We’re invited to council today, Fisher.”

  Pathik’s tone made Rachel turn and take a closer look at the boy. He looked slightly older than she and Pathik. He was tall, with wavy blond hair. From where she sat she couldn’t see the color of his eyes, but she could tell he was appraising her with a certain interest. He entered the room, and walked up the aisle to stop in front of them.

  “So this is Rachel, I take it. A very brave woman, from what I hear.” He grinned at Pathik and then extended his hands to Rachel. “You, Rachel, are welcome to our shelter, our fire, our water, our food.”

  His eyes, upon closer inspection, were brown, and at the moment sparkling with humor. Rachel was noticing flecks of gold in them, tiny little flecks placed just so, when she realized that Fisher still stood with his hands extended to her. Both he and Pathik were staring at her, one with an irritated look and the other with a rather open appraisal. She jumped to her feet and placed her hands on top of Fisher’s.

  “I thank you,” she said gravely.

  “Since Pathik doesn’t seem eager to do the honors, let me introduce myself. My name is Fisher. I’m very pleased to finally meet you, Rachel.”

  Indigo and three other men entered. The men took seats on the benches, while Indigo continued to the front of the room. “Where is everyone else, Pathik?”

  Pathik eyed Fisher, though he spoke to Indigo. “They should be here soon. Nandy had to take the children to Saidon, who will watch
them during the council meeting. Then she had to fetch Malgam.”

  As if on cue Nandy and Malgam appeared, and joined the group seated on the benches.

  “Do you mind moving down a bit, Pathik?” Fisher moved to the end of the bench Pathik and Rachel were sitting on.

  Pathik didn’t move at all. “You don’t want a place next to Michael today, Fisher? You seemed to think that was the best seat, last council meeting.”

  Fisher remained standing at the end of the bench, but his smile disappeared. “I stand by Michael every day, Pathik, as you know. I owe him that much.”

  Rachel felt like she was being squeezed. The two boys just stared at each other. Finally, she nudged Pathik. “Scoot down,” she whispered.

  Pathik dropped his eyes to Rachel. He sighed and moved over. Rachel scooted too and Fisher, grinning, took a seat next to her. Rachel turned her focus to Indigo at the front of the room. She refused to look at either Pathik or Fisher.

  Nipper slunk into the room. He walked up the aisle casually and flopped down near Indigo’s feet.

  “Well,” said Indigo, nodding toward the Woolly, “it looks like we can now begin.” There was a low laugh from one of the men on the benches. Rachel turned to look; it was an imposing-looking man, with white hair grown well past his shoulders. He was missing his right arm.

  “You laugh, Michael, but Nipper may be an important participant in our quest.” Indigo motioned toward Nandy. “Nandy has an idea as to how he may help us rescue Daniel.”

  Nandy walked to the front of the room and spoke.

  “You all know Malgam’s gift.” The men nodded. Pathik and Fisher nodded too. Rachel wanted to raise her hand and say she did not know Malgam’s gift. Instead she jabbed Pathik with her elbow, and shot him a questioning look. She’d asked him on the trek to camp what his father’s gift was, but he’d only told her what the name meant—a mixture, a combination of elements.

  “Just listen,” he said. He barely looked at her when he said it. But Nandy must have seen the look on Rachel’s face. She smiled at her.

  “Malgam can see from other people’s eyes, Rachel. He can see what they see, as if he were looking at the same thing—as if his mind and their sight were intertwined.”