Luminosity (11 page)

Gabe doesn’t stop there and instead keeps going toward a table that has different pieces of jewelry set up on it. I hesitate mid-step, and Gabe stops and looks back at me to see what’s wrong. “You okay?”

“Yeah. But what could you possibly buy from there?” He picks up walking again and we don’t stop until we’re at the table. Behind it sits a young woman with long, lavender-blonde hair. She offers us a nervous smile. Everything is awkward at this part of the celebration, since Seers don’t really know how to talk to Citizens, and Citizens don’t really know how to talk to Seers. She stands up, perhaps out of respect for our stations, and then motions to her collection of silver bottle cap jewelry. Some of the caps, gathered from soda cans and beer bottles, have been decorated with glitter and charms. Others have been flattened out to form rings and bracelets or even necklace pendants. I am amazed with how this woman took something so ordinary and dull and turned it into something so pretty and unique.

“Hello. I’m Beatrice and this is Gabriel.” I introduce us semi-formally, dropping the titles of “Seer” out of our names as not to make the gap between us any wider.

“You can just call us ‘Bea’ and ‘Gabe’ though.” Gabe grins at her the same way he grins at me, and it immediately puts me on edge. “These are pretty things you’ve got here.”

The woman blushes. On her feet, she’s taller than the both of us, with a long torso and a somewhat flat face. She’s plain at best. Maybe that’s why she turns plain things into beautiful ones, because she wants to do the same for herself. “Thank you,” she says and lifts up one necklace in particular, a pressed bottle cap from a Pre-War Pepsi bottle, with gilded silver edges. The inside of the cap has been covered with a clear, plastic bubble, and under the bubble is the picture of a raven perched on the branch of a dead tree.

I’m immediately drawn to it. This woman had to have made a necklace like this specifically for a Seer to buy. I reach out and touch it, and the woman lays the necklace down in my hands. “My name is Gina.”

“This is beautiful…” I compliment, forgetting about the way Gabe smiled at her. He smiles that way at everyone, really. It’s just the way Gabe is.

“We want that one.” Gabe interjects and hands the girl a wad of cash that he pulls out from the pockets of his robes.

“Wait. What?” The transaction is over before it even began, and Gina counts the money and then smiles at Gabe and me.

“It’s all yours.” She pulls out a little box to put the necklace in, but Gabe holds out a hand to stop her.

“We don’t need that. Beatrice will wear it.”

“I will?” I’m still confused.

“Yeah. It’s pretty. It deserves to be on you.”

I blush furiously, even more so than Gina did before, and though I want to object, Gabe already has the necklace in his hands and is fastening it around my neck. “Gabe, this is really not necessary. I mean…how much did you
give
her?”

“I don’t know. And I don’t really care either.” Gabe finishes clasping the necklace and walks back around me to look it over.

I lift my hand to touch the cool piece of metal that rests at the hollow of my neck. A necklace. From Gabe. It’s too special too quickly, and I blush again. “How’s it look?”

“Beautiful.” Gabe takes my hand again. “Of course.”

We leave that stand and begin to meander down the rows, checking out the products the other vendors have to offer. Gabe’s words linger in my mind.
Of course
. I shiver.

I stare at the ground as we walk, keeping one hand on the bottle cap around my neck. I immediately know that it is something that I’ll never want to take off again. Something to cherish. Have I ever owned such a something in my life? Most of our stuff, including ourselves, belongs to the Institution.

I squeeze Gabe’s hand harder. Even he belongs to something else.

Red robes come into view, and Gabe and I come to a sudden halt. The Keeper stands in front of us, her violet eyes peering from one of us to the other, then to the necklace around my neck.

“My Keeper,” we both say in unison and respectfully bow our heads.

The Keeper doesn’t respond right away. I feel like her eyes are peeling me apart, looking into my insides, trying to figure me out. There’s a smoldering anger that burns deep within the violet orbs, and as I lift my head to stare up at her, I can see it way back there inside her mind. No one knows what’s inside there. Whatever it is, it doesn’t make her happy.

“I see that you’ve made your rounds of the market, Seers Gabriel and Beatrice.” The Keeper reaches out to examine the pendant around my neck, and I silently beg for her not to take it from me. Please don’t. It’s the only thing that Gabe has given to me that I can cherish and hold dear.

Her fingers close around the bottle cap.

Gabe, in confusion, asks quietly, “Is everything okay, My Keeper? I bought that for Beatrice from this girl named Gina down there.” He idly gestures over her shoulder in the direction of dozens of vendors, any of which could have been Gina.

“I suppose so.” The Keeper lets go of the pendant and folds her hands in front of herself, a peaceful posture, one that smothers the flames in her eyes. “I am glad that we are enjoying ourselves. Seer Beatrice has been working very hard to protect these Citizens, and it’s good that they
get to see her.”

“See me?” This is news to me. How do they even know who I am? I peer around now with new eyes, and I notice that there are, in fact, people who are watching me. Pointing at me. It makes me nervous, and I tear my gaze away from them to look back at the Keeper. “How do they know me?”

“They’ve heard stories, I’m sure. Not everything is kept a secret at the Institution, Seer Beatrice. Despite our best efforts, there’s always something that gets out. And news of a girl who has potentially saved the whole City from a Dreamcatcher attack?” The Keeper doesn’t smile, but if she ever smiled, I would think that one would be perfect now. “Well, that is something to talk about.”

“Hear that, Bea? You’re a celebrity.” Gabe must have momentarily forgotten that the Keeper is standing in front of us, and he’s right back to his normal, light-hearted self. I shoot him a look to remind him not to be silly in front of the Keeper, but he doesn’t notice it and only continues, “Maybe you can sign some autographs?”

The Keeper puts an end to it. “She’ll do nothing of the sort.”

Gabe becomes quiet once more.

“I am taking Seer Beatrice back inside. A Vision was just reported before the festivities. It suggests that a female Seer will be attacked, and while the Vision wasn’t clear enough to determine who, exactly, will be attacked, I can’t take any chances.” The Keeper only looks at me when she says this, and then she pulls her hood up over her dark black hair and leaves with her retinue of guards, who had scattered into the crowd to allow for some privacy.

Just when I think she’s walking away for good, she turns and adds, “And Seer Gabriel is to report to his bunk immediately upon his return. You two have had enough of each other for the day.”

“What?” Gabe blurts, but the Keeper is already gone.

I sigh, knowing it’s no use arguing with her and instead take Gabe’s hand again. “Let’s just enjoy the walk home together, okay?”

“I don’t see what her big deal is with me spending time with you. First the secrets, and now I can’t spend any time with you?” Gabe’s irritation seeps into his every word. I understand his frustration, since I have no idea why the Keeper insists we stay apart either. I want to know so I can soothe Gabe and promise that it won’t be for long…but I have no idea how long she’s going to do this.

We walk back to the Institution and say nothing the whole way there. I come up with many reasons why the Keeper wouldn’t want me near Gabe, but none of them make any sense. Maybe she thinks he’s a Dreamcatcher? Maybe he’s in league with the enemy? Maybe he’s under investigation for something she doesn’t want me dragged into?

Maybe, maybe, maybe, but there aren’t any definites. All that’s definite right now is the fact that when our walk is over, Gabe will be away from me, and I’ll be alone in my room again, with only a bottle cap to keep me company and to fill the space that is left when Gabe is gone.

At least she let me keep the necklace.

Chapter Fourteen

Blood runs down the gutters. It flows like rainwater, except rainwater is innocent and pure. Rainwate
r gives life, and blood is the evidence of life sifting out of the living.

I am standing on a bridge, gun cradled under my armpit, combat jumpsuit soiled and stained with the grime of the City. The screams of innocent people reverberate from everywhere around me, and I don’t know which way to run. Everyone needs to be saved, and yet, I cannot save everyone. But somehow, the weight of it is on me, and it’s a heavy, suffocating weight. One I don’t want to carry, never wanted to carry, and yet I must.

The rap-tap-tap of a gun sounds somewhere from my right, and soon after, the yelling and screaming starts all over again. Citizens dart from the shadows of one alley and into another, their footfalls slapping hard in the puddles of blood.

I twitch my gun in that direction, but when I notice that they are just Citizens, I lower it once more. I could be wrong, though. They could be Dreamcatchers. I won’t know until it is too late, and so I’ve taken to not shooting anyone, for fear it will be a Citizen and not a Dreamcatcher at all. That would make me a murderer, not a savior. And I’m to be a savior. At least, that is what was told to me.

I hear someone walking up behind me, and I twirl around, my sights aimed on whatever approaches. Again, though, I resort to pointing my gun downward and aiming at nothing. Standing in front of me is a little boy wearing tattered clothes of ugly brown. He holds a destroyed and mangled teddy bear in his hand, and it dangles by his side lifelessly. His cheeks are smudged with dirt, and his knees are scraped and bleeding.

He is so young.

The boy reaches his arms out toward me like the toddler Seers do when they want to be picked up. He must be around seven or eight years old, a little too old to be asking for comfort in this way. Something inside of me urges me to run to him, to lift him up, to hug him and hold him and tell him it will be okay. It will be okay, right?

But before I have the chance to even entertain the notion of doing this, a woman appears behind him. His mother, maybe? Where the boy is dressed in rags, this woman wears a beautiful salmon-colored skirt with a white blouse, neither of which is stained. She has a very motherly appearance about her, with full, dark curls that frame her face, and beautiful sea-green eyes that sparkle even without the light.

She reaches for the boy and takes him by the hand.

And then it happens.

The boy’s pupils dilate and become wide and empty. His little mouth opens to gasp, but his chest doesn’t rise as it should when your lungs fill with air. The teddy bear drops onto the pavement, one of its tiny paws stretched out into the gutter blood.

The boy slackens, and then hangs in the woman’s hand like the bear he once held.

The woman smiles at me. She’s smiling at me.

And I can’t move.

…

It is crowded this time when the Keeper comes to collect the details of my Vision. My two night guards, who are at least ten times bigger than I am, with guns that look ten times bigger than mine, cram into the small bunk space with the Keeper.

When I finish relaying the details to the Keeper, she looks at me for a long moment. “These Visions are very interesting, Seer Beatrice. They seem to be shifting dramatically from one thing to the next. One day they are obscure with hidden meanings, and today, for example, they are clear, with a very clear message.”

“What do you think that message is?” I ask, since I certainly didn’t think about it myself. I look at the guards, and they stare back at me. Already, I hate them.

The Keeper stands, her new red robes with the black satin lining falling down to the ground, sweeping around her feet. “That message is exactly what you saw, Seer Beatrice. A boy will die today from being Caught.”

I blink. “Can’t we save him?”

“We have no idea when during the day it is going to happen, and I don’t have the resources to set my Seers out into the streets to canvas for a little boy who could show up at any time, anywhere. I’m sorry, but it’s not something we can do.” She turns and leaves me with a ton of unanswered questions about a Vision the Keeper claims is very clear.

Shooing the guards out, I tidy myself up then leave to go find the others in the Recreation Room. The walk down to the room is a long one, since all I can think about is that boy’s falling body, and his teddy bear in a pool of blood. If only my Vision were clearer, then I could See where and when this would happen, and I could save him.

Mae and Brandon sit in front of the television as the news reporter reports on a story that is irritating Brandon. “Come on, she’s said this at least ten times by now.”

Gabe is seated on the couch, also watching the TV, so I join him, but I also keep an eye on the Keeper’s guards by the doors. They bother me.

“This is the City News reporting a devastating incident that happened on the west side today. Around five in the morning, a Watch unit entered a row home on 25th street. Tipped off by a Vision reported by one of the Institution’s Seers, they found a whole family of four already dead inside the home.”

“That’s so terrible,” Mae whispers with a hand to her mouth.

“Shh, keep listening. It gets better.” Brandon gets up and sits closer to the TV, blocking half of it with his head.

“After this, the unit breached a family member’s home, as the Seer reported someone close was the culprit. With testimony from neighbors that Mr. McCue hardly comes out of his house and seems rather strange, the City decided it necessary to bring him in for questioning. Some even report that they’ve seen him engage in Dreamcatcher-like activity. We can only hope that our City will take care of this swiftly in order to prevent more deaths. This is Karen Little reporting for City News. Back to you, Mike.”

I shift in my seat, recalling the Vision I reported this morning. In this case, mine was not the Vision that tipped off the authorities to move in on this house, it was another.

“Didn’t Seer Amanda report that Vision?” Gabe asks, picking some dirt out from under his fingernails.

Brandon finally turns from the TV, like it is some big chore. “That’s what I heard.”

“I heard,” Mae chips in, pushing herself up off the floor, “that Amanda had some problems with people outside of the Institution. Something about family that she found out existed…”

“Family?” I repeat the word strangely, as none of us have families. It seems like such a foreign concept to me. How could someone figure out where her family is? And on top of that, what sort of problems could you have with them if you couldn’t go and see them in the first place? “I don’t understand.”

“Me either. But if that is the case, she could have just made up the Vision to get back at them. I mean…the reporter said that Mr. McCue was known to do some ‘Dreamcatcher-like activity.’ What does that even mean?” Gabe looks at me when he says this, as if I have any idea what it is that Dreamcatchers do, aside from what we’ve been taught.

“It all sounds strange to me. Arresting people based off of second-hand suspicion.” I pick up the remote and turn the TV off just as they are showing a video of the operation. As the camera zooms in on the struggling Mr. McCue, the screen goes black.

“Me too. How long is it going to be before everyone starts to point fingers at one another?” Mae sounds so young when she says this. Somehow, everything she manages to say comes out sounding naïve and pure. She’s younger than me by only a few years, but yet she seems like she’s ten and not mature enough to understand that it won’t be long at all until everyone is pointing fingers.

It has already started to happen.

“I had another Vision this morning,” I confess, since again, Gabe did not come around as he normally does when the Keeper is called to bunk 34A.

This draws his attention, though, and he stops picking at his fingernails long enough to lift his violet eyes to me. “Oh?”

I nod my head and glance to Brandon and Mae. “Yes. I think it disturbed the Keeper, even.”

“How so? What was it about, Beatrice?” Mae sits on the arm of the sofa where Gabe and I are seated. “Something bad?” There is worry in her words, probably because most of what I See actually does happen in some form or another…and soon.

“It was about the City. There…there was blood running through the streets…people screaming, running. Escaping.” I look down at my hands when I say this, blankly staring at them. “I was standing on a bridge holding a gun, and when I turned, there was this ratty little boy just…just standing there with a teddy bear in his hand.”

“What was he doing?” Brandon swivels around where he sits on the floor. “Just standing around?”

“Yes. And staring at me. He was all dirty, too. Then he held his arms out for me, and before I could take him, a woman appeared. A Dreamcatcher. She grabbed the boy by his hand and killed him. He just hung there limply, and she smiled the whole while. And I?” I pause here, pursing my lips together in anger. “I did absolutely nothing to stop it.”

The three of them silently stare at me. I realize now that I am anxiously wringing my fingers together. Gabe puts his larger hand over mine and squeezes. “It’s okay. You probably didn’t know, right? Usually we do not know who the Dreamcatchers are until it is too late.”

Mae perks up and bobs her head, black pigtails flopping on either side of it. “Yeah! You didn’t know. There was no way you could have known.”

“Sounded like she was just gonna do it anyway. I mean, how are you gonna shoot her with a kid standing in the way in the first place?” Brandon’s deep baritone voice is almost soothing. And for once, what he says isn’t something completely stupid.

“That’s true, Bea. Not like you could have shot her even if you wanted to.” Gabe squeezes my hands again, then lets go and puts both of his hands behind his head, stretching out lazily. “It does sound pretty grim, though. What did the Keeper say?”

“She told me that there wasn’t anything we could do to save the boy. She just took her notes and left. I thought maybe she’d be concerned to hear that the City would be in such a state…but it is as if she already knew this was going to happen somehow.” I thoughtfully run a hand through my hair, tugging on the tresses that get stuck between my fingers. “Maybe through her own Visions?”

“She is the Keeper. She probably does already know a lot of things that we don’t know, or that we See later.” Mae shrugs her shoulders and stands back up, bouncing on her heels. Her cheerfulness is refreshing, and though she looks like she is going to leave, I wish she would stay for that reason alone. “I have to head off to the shooting range for target practice. Those guns are too heavy for me, and I don’t want to get caught by anyone else’s bullets before I can fire my own.”

Her words make me sick to my stomach.

“Remember to hold tightly when the gun jerks back. Your aim will be better.” Gabe tosses the helpful information out there then his questions return to me. “So why do you think that boy was reaching for you? And why were you just standing on a bridge doing nothing?”

“I have no idea. But I felt so heavy. Burdened. And I knew I had to save everyone, but I couldn’t move. It was like I was stuck there, transfixed. I don’t know how else to say that even though I wanted to move in my Vision, I couldn’t. Something kept me where I was. Something wanted me to witness this poor little boy’s death.”

“Huh,” Gabe huffs.

“What?”

“Nothing, I mean…it just seems strange, is all. Your Visions are becoming clearer…but more unclear as you get them. Haven’t you been realizing that? I mean, the stuff that you say happens usually happens, but then there’s all this other stuff that feels like some sort of a puzzle. Or a game.”

I think on that for a little bit. It is true, and I have realized it more now than ever. It’s like my Visions are trying to tell me something without actually telling me anything. And why would that happen? Why wouldn’t they just show me like they usually do?

And then I remember: Echo.

What if Echo is the one who is messing up my Visions? Can he even do that? Or what if my Visions know about Echo? Do Visions know? Can they learn?

“Interesting,” I finally say. What more can I say, really? It’s not as if I can let Gabe know about Echo. I can’t tell him that maybe that’s why my Visions have been so clear and unclear. I can’t tell anyone.

“It is. Maybe it’s something you should talk to the Keeper about?” Brandon’s suggestion brings Gabe and I to look at each other. I toss a glance over my shoulder at the two guards who stand by the doors of the room, watching me. Always watching me.

Gabe and I don’t have to say anything to each other to know that talking to the Keeper about any of this is probably not a good idea. Not with her being so suspicious of me of lat
e.

“Maybe,” is all Gabe says. But in this case, “maybe” is more of a “that is never going to happen.”

Brandon grabs the remote and turns the television back on to watch the same breach footage over and over again.

I catch a glimpse of a scene where Mr. McCue is being dragged away and into the back of an unmarked, shiny black van. To the right of the picture, there’s a view of a bridge that spans a busy street. I squint and tilt my head, getting up from the sofa. “Do you see that?”

Brandon peers closer at the TV. “See what?”

“That.” I push my finger against the glass. The whole tip of it nearly covers the very tiny and blurred image. I move it out of the way so Gabe and Brandon can get a closer look.

“It’s just a kid,” Brandon comments.

Gabe kneels on the floor in front of the TV and looks closer. “It’s a boy.”

“On a bridge,” I note.

A moment later, another figure appears. She wears a salmon-colored skirt and edges up behind him. No one on the scene is paying attention to what is happening yards away. No one sees when she reaches out and touches the boy.

“There! Right there!” I blurt in panic. The guards by the door are alerted to my yelling and push off the wall in unison. They start to cross the room as I tap my finger against the TV screen over and over again.