For Darkness Shows the Stars (8 page)

“P
ERHAPS YOU’LL BE MORE
keen on this,” Olivia said, as if attempting to steer the conversation in a brighter direction. “Over here, there’s a spot where if you whisper, you can hear it all over. Where is it . . . ?” Elliot could hear her stumbling about in the darkness.

“Let me help you,” said Kai. “Give me your arm. There, that’s better. This way?”

Their voices drifted away from the main group, and a moment later, Olivia’s disembodied whisper echoed through the cavern. “Here it is,” came her hushed syllables. “If you talk here, you can be heard everywhere. But over here—” Her voice cut out.

“Now that is interesting,” said Donovan.

“There are directional whisper zones, too,” Horatio said. “You can whisper in one place and be heard only in a very specific other. There are some markers that show how—whisper by the yellow rock, be heard by the other yellow rock, and vice versa. Let me put on a light so I can show you.”

He relit a sconce so there was at least enough light that they wouldn’t trip onto their faces, and within moments the group had dispersed over the interior of the cavern, each trying out a separate whisper zone. Tatiana alone remained aloof, and Elliot took a seat beside her sister.

“This is what I get, I suppose, for allowing a bunch of Posts into the sanctuary,” Tatiana said with a long-suffering sigh.

“Now, Tatiana,” Elliot said. “Don’t pretend you never played with the whisper zones yourself. You used to make Benedict and me come down here and play Gavin and Carlotta with you.”

“I was ten,” Tatiana sniffed, but then her tone turned teasing. “How we scared you with that game! Is that why you hate coming down here? Are you still afraid of the dark?”

“No,” Elliot insisted. It wasn’t the ghosts of Gavin and Carlotta who scared her in these caverns. It was the ones of her ancestors and their Luddite expectations.

“You sure?” Tatiana leaned in and began to whisper the sing-songey rhyme. “
Gavin and Carlotta come, When their names three times are sung. Stand before a mirror clear, Let them whisper in your ear
.”

“Stop it!” Elliot shot out of her seat.

Tatiana laughed. “So you
are
still scared.”

“No,” Elliot said, and hoped it was true. “It’s like you said. It’s a children’s game. And not a very nice one to play in front of the Posts.”

Tatiana laughed again. “Why, because they come from Reduced stock? That’s silly, Elliot. You’re either born Reduced or you’re not. These people know what they are.” She dropped her voice again. “
If your image doesn’t give you fright, Then you are a true Luddite. But if the glass shows you a haze, Reduced you’ll be for all your days
—”

“I said stop,” Elliot hissed, and she swept off the bench and away from her sister, shivering a bit in the chill of the cavern. This dress wasn’t warm enough for the sanctuary. She’d worn a sweater over it at her mother’s memorial service four years ago, but that sweater had been long since relegated to the rag bin.

There was hardly enough light to see her way as she walked deeper into the star cavern. Horatio stood with one lantern and whispered near a stone painted yellow, while at a corresponding yellow stone across the way, Felicia and Donovan listened intently. The whisper zones were ancient, too. Her ancestors had to have something to entertain themselves with other than scary nursery rhymes during their years spent in the dark.

She walked around in a little circle, rubbing her arms and looking up at the stars in the roof. When she was younger, she’d dreamed about sneaking Kai in here to see them. Now he was here on her sister’s invitation, and he was remarkably unimpressed.

“Miss Elliot,” said a voice in the blackness, and out stepped Andromeda.

Elliot stopped short and pressed her hand to her chest in shock. “I didn’t see you.”

“I know. Luckily, I saw you.” Andromeda’s eyes looked even more odd in the distant, dim glow from the few lit sconces, their daytime glittering blue nearly swallowed completely by her dark pupils. “Are you going somewhere in particular?”

“Just wandering. What did Mrs. Innovation mean back there? Was she talking about the admiral? I’m sure if he wishes to see the sanctuary, my sister will oblige him—”

“No,” said Andromeda stiffly. “She doesn’t mean the admiral. She means her daughter.”

The Innovations had a daughter? “Oh. Where is she?”

“Dead.”

Elliot swallowed. “Oh, I’m sorry—”

“I think the Grove girl is down there with Wentforth,” Andromeda said quickly, gesturing further into the sanctuary. “How old is she, by the way?”

“Fourteen,” Elliot blurted.

“Fourteen.” The Post nodded. “He’s eighteen. Four years is a long time, don’t you think, Miss Elliot? It makes for many changes.”

“Please, call me Elliot.” What was she getting at? At its surface, only the age difference between Olivia and Kai. But Elliot was quickly learning that nothing this Post girl said possessed only one meaning.

“Of course, Wentforth has always had a rather foolish preference for Luddites. I’d thought he’d grown past it. Excuse me, Miss Elliot.” She brushed by and away.

Elliot stumbled forward into the darkness. So Andromeda, at least, knew of her former closeness to Kai. It was clear from the Post’s attitude that she didn’t think much of Elliot, either. Elliot wondered what Kai had told her.

“—stuck in the past.” His voice stopped her dead on the path. For so many years, it had only existed like this—disembodied, solely the product of memory. It was hard to believe he was here again, even though he was more distant than ever.

“Not all Luddites are,” Olivia’s voice joined his, low enough to be a whisper.

Elliot put out her hands and turned around in the darkness, but she couldn’t see them at all.

“My brother and I are very interested in the new Post technology. We have sun-lamps in our home, and Horatio wants a sun-cart, depending on how much we make from the harvest.”

“I’m sure I could give you a discount,” Kai replied with a chuckle that seemed to go straight through Elliot’s soul. Since Captain Wentforth had discovered the cache of sun-carts, Kai owned every single one of them. Kai’s voice sang through her nerves, making her hair stand on end and sending ribbons of heat over the gooseflesh on her arms.

“No, you’re not like the Norths,” he continued. “They’re obsessed with their position, with the old ways. But there are too many Posts like me now, and more born every day. The world isn’t the same place we grew up in, where the Luddites make the rules and we all have to abide by them. Look at their estate. It’s falling apart. They’ll be left behind.”

“Tatiana can be a little snobby, yes,” said Olivia. “But don’t tar Elliot with that brush. You should see her and my brother talking about how they’d like to improve their farms. Fortunately, my brother has the means to actually implement the improvements.”

“Your brother and Elliot are close?” Kai asked.

Now it was Olivia’s turn to laugh. “Not like that. They’re friends. We’ve been good friends with the Norths for the past three years, ever since we lost our father. Horatio and Elliot love to talk about their crops. Elliot’s the only one of her family that seems very interested in the subject, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“I have noticed that the Norths do not seem as interested in their property as they might be.”

“She tries her hardest,” Olivia said defensively. “And if Horatio ever did take an interest in a woman, I wouldn’t mind if it was Elliot North.”

“Perhaps you don’t know her as well as you think,” said Kai.

Elliot caught her breath.

“I’ve known her for years,” Olivia argued. “I doubt your opinion of a person can change after so many years.”

There was a pause before Kai spoke again. “I envy you that innocence, Olivia. But people can be deceptive. I hope you never learn what that is like. I grew up on an estate, and I spent four years in a Post enclave, and the only people who have never lied to me are the Innovations. Even my father—though I don’t blame him. He was trapped by the world he was born into.”

Elliot bit her lip to hold back the sob that rose in her throat.

“How horrible,” said Olivia. “Well, I’m not like that. I was born a Luddite, but I see a future that includes us all.”

“You’re unique among your caste then,” Kai replied. “But do not trust the Norths. Any of them.”

“Elliot?” Horatio came upon her so quickly, she almost jumped out of her skin. He held a lantern in his hand. “Have you seen my sister?”

She blinked in the sudden brightness of the lantern. Now she knew where she was—another whisper zone. This one was marked off by a blue stone.

“I think she’s . . . just down here.” She pointed ahead of her and Horatio widened the aperture on the lantern to shine ahead. Sure enough, about ten meters away, Olivia and Kai stood close together near another blue stone. Olivia was squinting into the light. But Kai stared back at them, his black eyes steady and focused on Elliot, his mouth drawn into a tight line. And, as she watched, he reached out his hand and placed it on the blue stone.

How he’d known she was standing there, Elliot couldn’t guess. But he’d meant her to hear every word.

Dear Kai,

I can’t come to the barn tonight. Tatiana is becoming suspicious. Ever since she took over the household duties, she’s been acting like she can tell me what to do as well.

Yours,

Elliot

Dear Elliot,

Of course she does. She knows your mother isn’t here to protect you anymore. But you know what the solution is: stay out of her way.

Stay here.

Stay with me.

Yours,

Kai

Dear Kai,

I only wish I could. But my mother isn’t here to do quite a lot of things anymore. So I’ll have to settle for imagining I’m with you.

My father wants to tear down the apple grove. He says it obstructs his view to the sea. He wants us to buy all our apples in the future, but I doubt Mr. Grove will give us a good deal, given that my father hasn’t spoken to him in years.

He’s also been complaining about the Posts’ string-boxes. You don’t think he would make you give them up, do you?

Yours,

Elliot

Dear Elliot,

Tatiana isn’t the only suspicious one. You know Case, who oversees the dairy? He saw us together in the loft last week. He says I’m the biggest fool who ever lived.

I don’t think he’s right.

But, just to be safe, I’ll put out the lamp. We’ll pretend we’re the ancient explorers, and find our way by the stars.

Yours,

Kai

Dear Kai,

I don’t need to see the trail to know you’re at the end of it. My grandfather’s compass may not work, but mine is still true.

Yours,

Elliot

E,

Your da made me move to the laborers’ barracks. Find me there.

K

Dear Kai,

I’ve sent this letter through the hands of Mags. I trust that it has come to you safely. Mags and Gill will offer you lodging in their cottage. You should take it. So far, however, I can do nothing about the work order. My father is being very unreasonable—there is no other Post on the estate as qualified as you to be his mechanic. I don’t know what he’s thinking!

You don’t think Case said anything, do you?

Don’t worry, I’m sure my father will come around. Eventually.

Yours,

Elliot

Dear Elliot,

I miss you. And I miss the barn. It’s not that fieldwork is hard, but it is so boring. Gill told me the tractor broke. He’s sneaking me into the barn tonight to fix it.

Meet me there.

Yours,

Kai

Dear Kai,

I have wonderful news. My father’s record player broke tonight. He needs someone to fix it. I wonder who that could be?

Yours,

Elliot

Dear Elliot,

Another night in the barn . . . alone. There’s nothing to fix. There’s nothing to build. And you can’t come because your father is at home. I thought the fields were bad, but I’m here with my machines and I’m still bored out of my skull.

Did you hear that Case has left for points unknown?

Yours,

Kai