The Breaker's Promise (YA Urban Fantasy) (Fixed Points Book 2) (5 page)

“Goodnight Cass,” I said, said, stuffing the sweater back into its hiding place. “Sweet dreams.”  I blew the candle out, and watched him fade away.

Six days before he died in my arms, I felt like I was losing my mind. Merrin had been in Weathersby for three days, walking around like the Council’s sharp-eyed lap dog, and it was starting to really piss me off. She was everywhere. Her perfect ass was there when I woke up in the morning, and it was there when I went to sleep at night. I’d be in my classes, turn around, and see her peering at me.  She was in the library when I needed to study, in the lunchroom when I went to eat. And, though I couldn’t be certain, I was pretty sure she followed me into the bathroom once. She was here to watch me and, as it turned out, she was being very thorough.

It was the same for Owen, not that I had been given the chance to talk to Owen much since Merrin’s arrival. With Merrin and (through Merrin’s eyes) the Council of Masons watching us, Owen and I needed to be very careful with the way we interacted. Even the slightest hint of our true relationship had to be cut out of our daily routine. We couldn’t touch like lovers. We couldn’t laugh like lovers. I was afraid to even look at him for too long with Merrin getting suspicious.

To make matters worse, as Owen’s ‘perfect’, it totally made sense for Merrin to hang around him and (in some cases) off of him pretty much twenty four seven.  Every time I saw them, Merrin had her hand looped around Owen’s arm. She had her head on his shoulder.  Once, she even had her hand in his pocket; like they were on the frigging Wonder Years or something.

And the worst part was; I, Cresta Karr, Owen’s actual real life girlfriend, couldn’t do a damn thing about it. I had to sit there and watch them act like a couple because, as far as anyone could know, there wasn’t a reason for them not to. It was enough to make my head explode.  Thank God for Flora. At least, since she had found out the truth, I had someone to vent to about all of this.

“And I mean, like, how is she even in all of these places at once?” I asked, walking with Flora toward the cafeteria. “It’s like the Council split her into a dozen gorgeous pieces of bitch just to screw with me.”  I looked over, and saw no one. “Could you not be invisible right now?” I sighed. “People will think I’m some lunatic talking to herself.”

“Sorry. I didn’t realize. It’s hard to tell sometimes,” Flora said, coming into view. “Though, perhaps it would be better if you didn’t speak of it at all, given the nearly omnipresent nature of her-How did you put it- stunning ass.”

“I know,” I shook my head. “But I just have to talk to somebody about it. And I’m afraid to do the mind meld thing with Owen. She’s so close to him all the time. What if she can sense it or something?”

“That would be unfortunate,” Flora muttered. Her arms were folded tight against her chest and she hunched over as she walked; giving her the appearance of someone not quite as Amazonian as she was.

“Why are you so nervous?” I asked.

“I’m fairly certain I did not do well on yesterday’s North American Works of Cinema finals,” she answered.

“North American Works of what?” I answered. “You studied movies? Where do you get these classes?” I asked, thinking my yesterday; which was a one two punch of Advanced Calculus and a pop quiz in Portuguese. “Besides, I’m sure you did fine.”

“Perhaps,” Flora conceded, biting her lip. “Woody Allen was in the Matrix films, correct?”

“Uh…sure,” I answered. “And it doesn’t matter. So what if you did flunk? It’s just a test.”

“I disagree,” she answered, shaking her head fervently. “Our progress here determines our placement once we advance into Breaker life. It’s very important that I place well.”

“You got a lot of pressure on you?” I asked, patting her back; suddenly feeling a little self-centered.

“Life is about pressure. Pressure turns coal into diamonds. Pressure creates pearls in the depths of the ocean.”

“Did you learn that in you ‘Introduction to Hallmark cards’ class?” I grinned.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” she answered.

“It’s not important,” I said. “I’m just saying that giving yourself a little bit of time to unwind might not be the worst idea in the world.”

She smiled at me, nodding a little. “I appreciate the sentiment, Cresta. But I’m afraid my family would likely disagree with you.  The Atrum line is one of oldest and most influential in all of the Hourglass. My bloodline has been influential in shaping the Breaker society as we know it today. In total we’ve had 14 Council members; including one that’s currently serving. So, their expectations are understandably high.”

Listening to her, I couldn’t help but think of Owen, of the pressure I felt while surfing through his memories. Maybe this sort of self-inflicted tension was standard inside the Hourglass. Of course, after that my mind went to the most pressing revelation in Flora’s little diatribe.

“Wait, you have a family member in the Council of Masons? Like, right now?”

“I do,” she answered.

“So, when I talk about the Council members who are perma-stalking me through Merrin’s eyes, I’m actually talking about-“

“My uncle Jasper,” Flora answered. “Among others.”

“Oh my God,” I muttered, pushing through the doors into the cafeteria. “No offense, but this doesn’t make me feel any better about you knowing my secret.”

“None taken,” she smiled.

As soon as I walked through the door of the cafeteria, my mouth started to water. I had skipped lunch in favor of studying for Dr. Static’s upcoming ‘Medical Sciences’ exam, and judging by the strong and delicious aroma, it was meatloaf night. So, of course, I couldn’t wait to grab a plate and dig in; that is, until I saw them.

The cafeteria was loud and full. It was about seven o’clock; prime dinner time for Breakers. But, even given the throngs of people surrounding us, and the fact that he wasn’t sitting in his usual spot, I had no problem spotting Owen immediately. He sat with a plate in front of him. His fork was up in the air, letting a hunk of meatloaf dangle as he talked. Of course, Merrin was next to him. She wore a deep red flowery dress; which really pissed me off. Because, not only had she worn a different outfit each of the four times I had seen her today, she looked frustratingly flawless in all of them.

I bristled a bit, like I always did when I saw them together. But it was what came next that really sent a dagger into me. Owen laughed, and not that fake laugh that he gives people when he’s trying to be polite or talk his way out of an awkward situation. This was the real laugh; the deep in his bones, Owen bearing laugh that lit my day up and made me feel worthy whenever I earned it. And maybe it shouldn’t have upset me the way it did. It made sense, I guess, that Owen and Merrin would have a connection. They had known each other a hell of a lot longer that Owen and I had, after all. And maybe having the Council behind her eyes didn’t make her automatically evil. But that wasn’t the point. That was my laugh; mine. And he was giving it to her.

“You know what, I think I lost my appetite,” I said to Flora and backed out of the room. Owen must have seen me too, because I wasn’t three feet down the hall and his voice was in my head.

Cresta, what’s wrong?

I didn’t answer.

Cresta, I know you can hear me. Just tell me what happened.

I took a left, toward my room, and kept ignoring him.

Cresta, you’re scaring me.

I sighed.
You can’t talk to me like this. What if she can sense it?

She can’t
, he answered, his ‘voice’ sounding much softer now.

You don’t know that
, I responded. I pushed into my bedroom and plopped down on the mattress.

She doesn’t mean anything to me, Cresta.

Don’t lie to me
, I answered.

Fine, she doesn’t mean what you think she means
, he relented.
She’s important to me Cresta. We shared a lot of our lives together. Of course I care about her. Of course I care about what happens to her. Do you want me to be the type of person who wouldn’t?

The room was quiet and still. Staring up at the ceiling, I remembered last year; being locked in a room just like this, staring up at a ceiling just like this one. Did I ever really leave that place?

I’m just tired of her winning all the time,
I answered.
She’s beautiful. She’s confident. She knows who she is, and her future belongs to her. The rest of us are being investigated and, for some reason, the Council rewards her. She always gets what she wants Owen.

What are you saying?

I swallowed hard, as if the words I was about to say were actually going to come from my mouth.
We’re not the same, Owen. I know we’re both Breakers, but it’s different for me. We come from different worlds. And it’s not about you loving me. I know that you love me; really, I do. But how do you even know what love is? You spent most of your life believing that the person you belong with was going to be picked by some machine or whatever. And that person; she isn’t me. What if, in the end, you realize that it’s the Breaker life that you really need?

I know what love is because you showed me
, he answered. I could picture him, sitting next to Merrin in the cafeteria trying to keep a nonchalant smile on his face; making sure she didn’t suspect that anything was amiss.
And if you think that what the Council did to Merrin was a reward, then you haven’t been paying attention. They’re in her head all the time, every day. She can’t have a minute to herself. Everything she sees, everything she hears; even her thoughts are recorded and combed over by the Council. She acts like it’s an honor because a piece of her has to believe it; because the Council looks at even that. But I promise, I know her well enough to know that she isn’t honored; not at all.

I’m-

Let me finish,
he interrupted.
And as for this other nonsense, if you think that there could ever come a day when I’d turn my back on you, that I’d want for a different life, then you don’t know me as well as you think you do. Genetics be damned. There is no one in the entire world more perfect for me than you. I don’t need a machine to tell me that; not that that’s how we do it anyway. I know we’ve spent a lot of time hiding the future, hiding each other. But that won’t last forever, Cresta. One day, the future will be here. It’ll be wide open for the whole world to see. And my future is you. Okay?

Okay.

Good
, he answered.
Now come get some food.

Okay
, I smiled. I started to stand, but something wouldn’t let me. It was as if all the energy poured out of me like running water, leaving my body heavy and useless. My eyes started to sting as water filled them. Was I tired? Maybe. I had certainly be up long enough to warrant a little fatigue, but this was something different. I tried to lift my arms. Too heavy. I tried to open my eyes. Impossible. What was happening to me? How does a person go from perfectly fine (if a little upset) one moment, to practically comatose the next? This had Breaker hijinks written all over it. Was it the Council? Had Merrin heard Owen’s conversation with me? Was the jig up, and this was some sort of insta-punishment?

A warm calm crept over me. It filled my head with fog and, though I really tried to fight it, made me feel less stressed about the whole thing. Like a lullaby, the calm sang to me. It told my arms that I would be alright. It told my legs not to run, not to move. It told my eyes that I had seen enough for now. And finally, it told my mind to sleep.

The next thing I knew, I was standing. The calm was gone, and my body was mine again. The walls and ceiling of my room in Weathersby had been replaced with a long familiar road. I didn’t have to look at any of the buildings lining the street to know where I was. I had been on this street too many times to ever forget it. It was in my bones, a part of me.

“Crestview,” I muttered, staring at the general store where Casper used to swipe packs of cherry cola flavored gum for me, at the parking lot of Desoto High, where I had spent too many afternoons watching Owen from the corner of my eye, at the side street that led down to the place where my house used to be. “This isn’t real.”

I felt a presence beside me, a small figure resting on my right side. I turned, though something inside of me told me who I was going to find before I even saw her. And there she was, with her straight dark hair, pale, near translucent skin, and odd, pupil-less eyes.  Wendy stood beside me, smiling and staring off into the distance.

“I suppose real is all a matter of perception.”