The Mangrove Suite Read online

  Matthias grunted and dropped the revolver. Another packing sound, like meat getting tenderized. Matthias slammed into the door frame. I glanced back as he fell to the ground. Yashelia released a cacophonic scream and turned toward me.

  “Fucker,” Matthias gasped. Thomas kicked him in the head and silenced him.

  Thomas picked up his revolver and trained it on Yashelia. I eased to one side to give him a clearer shot and ready to run to get Rain as soon as he fired. Yashelia’s scream heightened in pitch, searing my ears, but I refused to cover them. Even if I had, I guessed that as much of the scream was inside my head as was outside it. Rain winced and bowed her head, hands over her ears. I took a step toward Yashelia.

  Thomas gritted his teeth and glared at Yashelia. “Leave. Now. Bitch.”

  The gun might not kill an aeon. They looked human, but their abilities and toughness varied.

  She reached out to grab Rain’s arm. Rain tried to pull back, but Yashelia’s grip was too strong. The pale aeon dragged Rain toward the window. Aeons were tough and could glide on the wind. If Yashelia got outside with Rain, I might never have a chance to see her again.

  I dove toward them, seizing a fistful of Yashelia’s long coat. The rogue star launched herself and Rain toward the window. Thomas fired. A roar of sound cut through the sound of Yashelia’s screeching voice. The bullet went through the arm Yashelia was using to hold Rain. Ichor, golden in the light from the window, exploded across Rain’s face. Yashelia released Rain just as I lost my grip on her coat.

  The rogue star hurtled out the window, breaking the glass and the frame, and tearing curtains from their posts. I slid along the floor with the force of her leap, catching up with Rain just as shattered window glass crashed down and out into the air forty stories over he city.

  I grabbed Rain and covered her head with my arms and body. The curtain came down on us, along with a heavy pole. It hit my back, sending a shock of pain through me to match hitting the ceiling of the train car earlier that day.

  But I held onto Rain. Yashelia’s scream faded into the distance. If she really was an aeon, she could survive that fall by creating a wind current like she had done before when she had escaped the train.

  I arched my back and pushed the curtain off. Rain sat up and her tongue ran out, lapping up a few droplets of Yashelia’s ichor from her lips. Thomas ran over to us just as a light seemed to come on in Rain’s eyes.

  “Jeth?” She met my gaze.

  My eyes were teary, partially from pain, but partially from disbelief. “Rebecca?”

  “Call me Rain,” she said.

  Purifiers

  Unregistered Memory, Elizabeth Ashwood, 12th Floor Restaurant, Lotdel Tower

  After a day of distributing data via the local network, Elizabeth waited in the restaurant for Jeth to arrive. She checked her watch a few times. She had not expected him to be this late. Part of her worried he must have gone up to the Mangrove Suite to spend time with the mindless girl he had bought. Part of her didn’t want to believe he would do something like that.

  The cleans were practically animals. They didn’t have any capacity for intellect, or expression, or love. Could he be so enamored with an animal that he can’t see me? She sighed and sipped her water. She fought the temptation to add a drop of ichor to bolster her diminishing network strength, and then look for him mentally. She did not fight hard.

  She reached into her purse and retrieved the bottle she carried there. She loosened the lid and held it over her water. She dripped aeon’s blood into the cup. As she raised it to her lips, a shadow crossed the table, blocking out the orange sunset coming through the westward window. Elizabeth hesitated, then looked up into the shining face of Nageddia, keeper of Lotdel Tower.

  The aeon wore a soft frown on her dark and finely featured face. Around her shoulders hung a thick robe. Her hands were folded before her. “Elizabeth,” she said. “I take it you are missing someone?”

  Elizabeth bowed her head to hide her surprised expression as much as out of respect. Nageddia would benefit from increased fame once Elizabeth and Jethro got their new network off the ground. For that reason, she seemed to like them even more than she liked her other tenants.

  “Jethro’s late.”

  “You were supposed to share a meal.”

  Elizabeth nodded.

  Nageddia’s eyes narrowed. “He is in the Mangrove Suite.” A slender boy, one of Nageddia’s attendants, approached from one side of the aeon. “Ma’am, I have contacted the purifiers.”

  “Thank you, William. Tell them to hold back for now.”

  “Is Jeth in trouble?” Elizabeth asked, unable to stop herself.

  “He may be,” said Nageddia, “but do not fear. I am merciful.”

  “Please,” said Elizabeth. “He may be acting like a fool, but let me try to contact him before you send someone up there.”

  “You are brash, Elizabeth.” Nageddia’s lips formed a small smile. “I understand your concern, but it is the rogue star. Somehow, she breached the security of this tower and made her way to the Mangrove Suite.”

  Elizabeth had heard over the network about the attack on the train. Her heart skipped a beat. “Could she be after Jeth?”

  “This is the second time today they have been in contact.” Nageddia turned to the boy. “Tell the purifiers to form a perimeter.” The aeon’s smile faded completely as she waited for the boy, whose eyes glazed into the network for a few seconds, and then Nageddia returned her solemn gaze to Elizabeth once again. “Please, do not be any more brash tonight. My security is already on their way to the Mangrove Suite.”

  Elizabeth choked back her first attempt at a reply. She turned and stared down at her plate. I trust Nageddia. She’s a powerful friend, for both me and Jeth. She won’t hurt him. I trust her. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I will take care, Nageddia.”

  “Nothing in the universe is infallible, but trust in me, Elizabeth.”

  “I trust you.” Her head remained bowed, and she fought back tears. “Thank you.”

  Nageddia’s hands folded together. She swept away from the table where Elizabeth sat. Elizabeth listened to more orders given to the purifiers through the boy, a more secure proxy way to network for an aeon who might be under the scrutiny of another of her own kind.

  “Have the purifiers tighten the net,” said Nageddia.

  Elizabeth’s hands trembled, wrinkling the tablecloth. She reached into her mind network. I have to tell Jeth what’s happening. Tell him to be careful.

  I released my embrace of Rain as the veins of light in the room flickered above us, unstable from the shock of Yashelia’s passage on the structure of the room. Thomas turned to keep the gun trained on its former owner, Matthias, still lying on the floor. I wished right then that I had seen this coming. I’ve tinkered with machines before. I’ve even dipped into some sites to train myself using gun-range records. I’m not a great shot, but I could have done something more.

  Thomas glanced at me. “You alright?”

  I carefully felt down my side and found a few cuts and tears in my shirt from the broken glass but nothing serious. The only blood I saw on Rain was the few drops of Yashelia’s ichor on her cheek.

  “We’re fine.” I rose and helped Rain to her feet. “Thanks, Thomas.”

  Rain turned her eyes toward Thomas. He was still watching Matthias. Rain walked over to them, careful even in shoes, on the broken glass. She reached for the weapon in Thomas’ hand, staring down at Matthias. “He wanted to kill you.”

  “I know.” Thomas sounded numb.

  I walked over to them and put my hand on Rain’s shoulder. “He’s no threat to us now.”

  Thomas glanced at me, looking past Rain. His eyebrows were up and beneath them his eyes appeared terrified despite his otherwise calm exterior.

  “Yashelia is gone,” I said. “We just need to call in the security force and explain things.”

  “And what about me?” said Rain. “I remember
being Rebecca. I remember everything.”

  I swallowed and shook my head. Then I looked at Thomas. “We can’t let anyone know she’s not clean anymore.”

  “But why isn’t she clean? She definitely was about five minutes ago.”

  “The blood,” said Rain. “The blood of the aeon contains memories, but not all of them complete. This is only temporary.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked.

  “Rebecca studied it. Before the end, she knew.”

  “You mean, you knew!” I said, unable to hide my anger. “You are Rebecca.”

  “Maybe,” said Rain. “I can’t be sure, and even now I’m losing memories. I can feel it.”

  “How do we stop it?” My fingers tightened on Rain’s shoulder. “There has to be a way.”

  “Do you hear yourself?” Thomas asked. “If the aeons haven’t told us how they can restore someone from being cleaned, then they don’t want to us to know. It’s been two generations since they arrived on Earth. They didn’t forget to tell us.”

  I nodded. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to find out.”

  Rain pulled away from my grip and turned her back on us. “I don’t know why they haven’t told us,” she said. “But Rebecca may have. I can’t. I can’t reach that memory.”

  Thomas took a step back from Matthias. “You want to find something that, by the way, probably got Rebecca cleaned in the first place. They’ll want to clean us, too, if we go looking for it.”

  Matthias let out a harsh chuckle from the floor. “You’d deserve it, you bastard. You sell the bodies of cleans for a living.”

  Thomas’s fingers trembled on the gun. “They don’t know what they’re doing. They only know they enjoy it.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  Thomas lowered the barrel of the gun to point at the floor between them. “Shut the fuck up.”

  “Oh, did I hit a nerve?” Matthias chuckled again. “What’s the matter? Gonna shoot me?”

  I walked over to Matthias, who lay on his side, looking up at Thomas. Whatever Thomas did, and whatever I might think of it, he didn’t deserve to hear this kind of shit from a thug like this one. I walked around Matthias and planted my heel on his shoulder. “You heard him,” I said. “Now you can shut up or I can start pressing.”

  “Don’t hurt him,” said Rain. “Jeth, don’t hurt him.”

  “Oh, the girl who just woke up is begging you. Jeth, you’d better listen to her. After all, you’re gonna want to fuck her later, right?”

  My pulse jumped, and the world looked redder than the sunset should make it. I raised my foot. Then I stomped it down on Matthias’ shoulder with all the force I could muster. Something cracked inside the man, and he screamed out. “Next time you get shot,” I said.

  A cold breeze from the broken windows answered me.

  Then came a clatter of footsteps in the stairwell back near the elevator. I glanced at Thomas and Rain. “If this is security, don’t tell them about Rain.”

  Thomas frowned at me for a long moment, then he nodded.

  Rain bowed her head in a long nod. “I don’t want to lose these memories.”

  I paced around in front of Matthias, and then looked down at his face.

  Matthias gasped from pain and met my gaze. “If I tell them, they’ll clean me. Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen.”

  “I bet you won’t,” I said, fingers clenched. Boots thundered in the hall outside, then a pair of men in white-plated armor with fiery patterned trim, turned the corner, submachine guns at the ready.

  I put my hands up immediately as I recognized the purifiers, and I opened my fists. One of them shouted at Thomas to drop the gun. My friend didn’t hesitate, though he winced at the volume of the purifier’s modulated voice. The pistol clattered to the floor.

  Rain stood looking vacant, the cover she needed to maintain. The purifiers stormed into the room. Two more white-armored troopers appeared in the doorway and I knew there were probably even more of them outside. Purifiers never did things half way, or so was their reputation.

  “Hands on your head.” The lead purifier trained his weapon on me. I obeyed. Thomas did the same.

  He nodded his masked head. Another one kept his gun on me while the leader moved on to Matthias. The thug on the ground looked up at the purifiers. “You got me, you bastards,” he said through wheezes of pain.

  I may have messed him up more with that stomp on his shoulder than I initially thought.

  The purifier leader hesitated for a moment, seemingly doing nothing as Matthias glared at him. He had accessed the mental network. “Convict Matthias Tannenmoore, on your feet.” One of the other purifiers dragged Matthias up, where he looked as though he might fall. The leader turned to me, networked for an instant, then said, “Jethro Gall and Thomas Fenstein, the team will escort you and your clean downstairs.”

  I glanced at Rain. She returned my gaze with a vacant stare. Purifiers led us out of the room and to the elevator.

  Unregistered Memory, Elizabeth Ashwood, First Floor Lobby, Lotdel Tower

  The crowd of people behind Elizabeth in the tiled lobby of Lotdel Tower murmured rumors as to why they had been sent downstairs. Without Nageddia present to reply, they would get no solid answers. Elizabeth had no plans to tell what she had heard in the restaurant. Her eyes moved side to side and she noted about half of the people she could see were networking, obviously seeking more answers. Her eyes focused on the elevator doors. Jeth needs to be safe. I know he’s done something stupid, buying that clean, but why did things go so crazy so fast?

  The doors to the elevator opened. Elizabeth’s breath caught, but instead of Jeth, Nageddia and her small entourage of servants, including the young boy from earlier, emerged. Nageddia swept out of the elevator behind a pair of bodyguards without visible weapons. Elizabeth scowled at her feet, trying not to blurt out her question for the aeon who owned Lotdel Tower.

  She’s doing her best to help Jeth. She has to be trying. My job is to remain calm.

  Elizabeth evened out her expression and then looked up from the floor. Nageddia stopped just a meter or two from the crowd where her guards formed a perimeter to keep the people back. Nageddia pressed her palms together, redness and dark spots of ichor-giving wounds visible on the back of her hands.

  “My people,” said Nageddia. “The rogue star has invaded this tower.” A ripple of soft voices ran through the crowd. “Remain calm. For your safety, please remain here until the purifiers secure the higher floors. The rogue star will not attack you here, and the purifiers will keep you safe.”

  Fear ran through Elizabeth, not as a chill, but as a fiery wave, one mingled with her anger. How would Nageddia’s forces deal with the rogue star, as well as the people who the monster attacked?

  “One of the other tenants of this building encountered the rogue star earlier today on a train. Please, be cautious.” Nageddia turned to the boy whose eyes were glazed with ichor. Her voice lowered in volume, but Elizabeth could still hear her thanks to being at the front of the crowd. Nageddia said, “William, where are they?”

  “Network indicates they are on their way down.”

  “Good,” said Nageddia.

  Elizabeth stared at the aeon and the boy and waited. A clank drew Elizabeth’s attention to the elevator as its doors opened again. A team of purifiers in their shocking white and red armor escorted four other people out of the elevator. Thomas Fenstein, Jeth’s friend, stood beside a black man in a suit and handcuffs with a growing purple bruise on the side of his head. Behind those two walked a beautiful woman with tanned brown skin and dark hair in baggy clothes, and beside her, Jeth, with bloody streaks down one side of his shirt. Elizabeth’s eyes moved from Jeth to woman beside him. Her eyes looked empty, a clean.

  The group made their way to Nageddia, and Elizabeth stared at them as the group of purifiers dispersed except for the team leader who stood beside the four. Jeth, what have you gotten yourself into? Elizabeth stepped forward from
the crowd.

  Nageddia’s eyes locked on her, jaw set. “Stay where you are, Miss Ashwood.”

  Elizabeth froze at the edge of the perimeter. She met Nageddia’s gaze and tried not to show the fear she felt. “Please, don’t make me wait to see if my partner is alright.”

  Nageddia’s expression softened just a little. “For a moment. Come forward.”

  Elizabeth bowed her head and walked past the guards to Nageddia and the four. She looked up and found Jeth’s eyes on her. She turned toward him. “Are you alright, Jeth?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” Jeth nodded to her.

  Elizabeth nodded to him, but she couldn’t help her brow creasing.

  Thomas glanced over his shoulder at Jeth but said nothing. Nageddia motioned with a hand, and one of the guards gestured for Elizabeth to move back. Then the team of purifiers regrouped and took the four of them through the crowd, past Elizabeth, and out into the vein-lit night outside the tower’s doors. Elizabeth watched them go. You had better tell me everything, Jeth. I can’t keep worrying about you like I’m doing now. She swallowed hard as the doors closed behind the purifiers.

  Night

  They drove us north in a pair of armored cars, but we didn’t go far. Interrogation at the purifier hall six blocks from Lotdel Tower surprised me with its speed. The purifiers knew we didn’t know anything. Except for Matthias. Despite the thug’s insinuations earlier, I didn’t like to think what would become of him.

  I told my story to a recording memeotect, omitting the part where Rain had regained her memory from Yashelia’s blood. If they caught me, I could be in serious trouble, but I kept those thoughts tight to my center to keep them from radiating out to the memeotects in the building.

  Security released Thomas, Rain, and I just before midnight and gave us all a ride back to Lotdel Tower. I was starving, having eaten nothing since I left the office after lunch. The restaurants were closed, and I had little left in my apartment. Luckily, Thomas kept a cold box in the Mangrove Suite to store food for his cleans. Rain and I took the elevator up with him. On the remnants of the day’s ichor I reached out and checked for reports on the rogue star called Yashelia.