For Darkness Shows the Stars (10 page)

For the merest flicker of an instant, Kai looked at Elliot, as if daring her to speak. The ax fell again, and this time it reached her heart.

Dear Kai,

Happy tenth birthday! Like always, I’m going to save you some of my cake. What are you doing this afternoon? My parents are throwing a party, as usual, but there is some time after lunch and before the party. I thought we could take the cake and go get Ro and have a picnic down near the creek. Did you finish Ro’s present? I know she’s going to like it.

Your friend,

Elliot

Dear Elliot,

Happy birthday to you too! I like cake and picnics. I’m supposed to help my da this afternoon, though, so take Ro down to the creek and I’ll meet you there.

Your friend,

Kai

Dear Kai,

I know this isn’t one of our usual gliders, but father bought me this stationery specially for all my thank-you cards. Most people bought me dresses. My mother laughed, knowing how rarely I wear them. My father did not find it so funny.

Onto the thank-you card business. Thank you so much for thinking of me on my birthday. Your thoughtfulness is much appreciated. I love the wind-up kitty. I had no idea you were making me a toy also! You are really sneaky.

Your friend,

Elliot

Dear Elliot,

I had to. After you told me the Baron wouldn’t let you have a real cat in the house, I knew exactly what you’d like.

I don’t have fancy stationery, but thank you so much for the books. Your thoughtfulness is much appreciated too. I can’t believe that these are mine to keep, that I don’t ever have to give them back. I promise to keep them hidden, like you said, though.

My favorite so far is the one about the stars. Like I always knew about Alpha Centauri, because it was a Pointer, but I never knew it was part of a constellation that made a centaur. I guess I should have, given the name. I went and found it last night, but I don’t think it looks much like a centaur.

Isn’t it strange that we know about stars that we can’t even see anymore? There are so many stars in the books that no one on the islands has ever seen. One day, maybe I can build a real glider and you and I can go see the rest of the stars, and the rest of the world, too.

Your friend,

Kai

Dear Kai,

That sounds like fun. I have always wanted to see Ursa Major, for example. I wonder if it really looks like a bear. From the outlines in the star book, I think not, since Ursa apparently has a long tail, and bears are supposed to have short tails, I think. I have only ever seen bears in books, though, so how do you know?

Save room for me on that glider, and some day we’ll go see the stars.

Your friend,

Elliot

A
S THE WEEKS PASSED
and the Fleet settled into the Boatwright estate and their shipbuilding project, Elliot was relieved that there were few repeats of those first days. Tatiana seemed to have little desire to socialize with the Posts, though it left her pretty much alone, as from all reports the Groves were taking every opportunity to spend time with the Fleet.

Elliot busied herself with the harvest. It was sparse this year, thanks to her father’s eleventh-hour meddling with her wheat fields, but with the influx of money from renting out the Boatwright estate, they’d make it through another winter, and even have a bit of a surplus. In her spare time, she tried to devise a way to repeat her experiment in a safer way. Perhaps next year she’d bury a plot of enhanced wheat in the center of a conventional field, surrounding it with stalks that wouldn’t raise her father’s suspicions at a glance. Maybe she’d mix her grain in with the normal seeds in order to hide it from everyone.

Maybe she’d give up on the idea altogether and be the good little Luddite she was raised to be. After all, for all she’d tried to justify her actions, she knew they were illegal. She shouldn’t have experimented on the wheat. This was where the evil began. What was the harm, the Lost used to say, in creating a wheat strain with a shorter growing time, one that would produce more grain per stalk? From there, things became slippery. What was the harm in devising a plant with such a complete array of nutrients that it would render growing anything else for food pointless? What about a plant that could subtly poison the ground so as to make it only capable of providing sustenance for that kind of plant? What about extrapolating all of that beyond the world of plants—to animals? To people?

Her ancestors twirled in their graves.

And as she wrestled with whether she would try it again, she avoided the barn and the lab she’d set up in Kai’s old room. It was too hard to go in there now. The instinct she had to always look first at the knothole in the door was a constant reminder of his casual cruelty. His letters themselves were something worse. The words he’d spoken to her that first night, the ones he’d shared with Olivia in the star cavern, and the ones he’d said in front of everyone at the barn had left a tender place inside of her, a rotten spot that would burst if pressed. She’d prefer not to see him, and not to spend time in the room that had once meant so much to them both.

Elliot had kept herself so busy that she’d almost forgotten Felicia Innovation’s offer to look at her grandfather and give her expert opinion. So when she saw the Post woman walking up to the house a few weeks after the Fleet’s arrival, she was taken aback.

She met Felicia at the door. “Have you come to see my sister?” Elliot asked. “I’m afraid she’s gone to the Groves’ for dinner today.” It was the first invitation she’d had from Olivia in quite some time.

“That’s all right,” the older woman said. “Your sister has invited me here to examine Chancellor Boatwright. Didn’t she tell you? Apparently she wrote the baron and he consented.”

Elliot shook her head. Why her grandfather needed the consent of Baron North to seek medical treatment was beyond her. “Better not mention that to the Boatwright,” she said. “He’s a little short-tempered when it comes to my father.”

“That is often the case with fathers and sons-in-law, I think,” said Felicia. “I’ll follow your lead.”

Elliot Boatwright was sleeping when they arrived in his chambers upstairs. He spent most of his time sleeping now, and when Elliot reported this fact to Felicia, the Post woman’s mouth drew into a thin line.

“What does it mean?” Elliot asked.

“It means he’s old, Elliot.” But Elliot knew that wasn’t all.

Once the Boatwright was awakened and had the chance to freshen up, Elliot introduced him to Felicia Innovation.

“It’s quite an honor to meet you, sir. You once made excellent ships. Several of the boats my husband uses in his Fleet were originally built in your shipyard. You are spoken of everywhere as a great and gracious man.”

The Boatwright nodded his thanks and grunted a few syllables in response. He shifted half toward Elliot, and the good side of his face was a mask of frustration. He made a quick gesture, but before Elliot had the chance to react, Felicia held up her hands.

“I know the Reduced signs, sir. I am a Post, remember? And though I’ll understand if you don’t wish to make them in front of me, I want you to understand that I see no shame in them, just as there is no shame in being carried in a litter if you cannot walk on your own feet.”

The Boatwright’s expression softened, and he directed his next gestures at Felicia.
You. Pain. Fix.

“Yes, I am a healer.”

The Boatwright began to make another sign, then sighed and shot a look at Elliot.

Felicia turned to her. “Perhaps, dear, you’d like to wait in the hall? I think it would be easier for your grandfather to speak to me without you present.”

Elliot did as she was told. When Felicia emerged, several minutes later, Elliot jumped out of her seat and turned to her in anticipation. “Well?”

She smiled. “That man is very proud of you.”

Elliot shook her head. “You can’t get that from Reduced signs.”

“You’re right about that.” The woman’s salt-and-pepper curls were escaping from their braid and frizzing in a halo around her head. Her freckled face bore an expression of almost motherly concern. Elliot recoiled by instinct, and Felicia definitely noticed. She withdrew the arm she’d already been reaching in the girl’s direction. “But he says you have his daughter’s heart. I extrapolated.”

“You were here to see about his health.” Elliot didn’t need this woman’s pity.

“It’s very bad, Elliot, but this is no surprise to you. He sleeps, I think, because he has strokes all day long, every day. Thousands of tiny strokes that snap the neurons in his head. He’s dying.”

Elliot nodded miserably.

“There are medicines we can give him that will ease his pain, stop the palsy, and maybe even slow the progression of his descent, but you cannot fix it. Not with the means we have at our disposal.”

The rest was clear. The protocols were killing her grandfather, just as they were strangling the life out of this estate. No wonder the Lost had been so tempted! No wonder Elliot had been.

“Come. Don’t be sad. Your grandfather is an old man, and he has lived a great life. If you are alone this evening, then you should come back to the Boatwright house with me.”

“No, thank you,” said Elliot, though she kept her tone mild. She had no desire to go to the Boatwright house. Not with Kai there. Yet she knew Felicia was only trying to be kind. The Boatwright’s illness was not her fault, and as Felicia had said, Elliot’s grandfather had lived a long life, unlike Felicia’s own daughter.

“Then how about a tour?” Felicia asked. “Your sister showed me the house and the star cavern. Why don’t you show me the fields? We can take the Innovation horses. I’ve missed riding, since we brought no horses of our own.”

“I’m a poor rider.”

“We’ll go slow.” Felicia was determined, and Elliot had run out of excuses.